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One of the newer ways for self-publishing authors to get their books out is to start a Kickstarter fundraising campaign. I have helped to fund a couple of these ventures, but never tried to help a book by posting about it here at Kid Lit Reviews.
Well, today I am actually going to do just that. Traditionally published children’s author, Chuck Whelon (Dover Publications, Simon & Schuster, Michael O’Mara Books, SKODA Man Press), and winner of the 2002 Web Cartoonists’ Choice Award for Best Fantasy Comics (The Weird Worlds of Pewfell Porfingles), is publishing a story/puzzle book called Wizard Pickles (which will be reviewed soon). Here is the Kickstarter video about Wizard Pickles:
Wizard Pickles tells the story of young Mazie Pickles and her Aunt Wilma. Aunt Wilma works as a wizard at the local castle. Well, she did, until angering Queen Blackthorne, who is set to award the Golden Cup at the annual Picklefest. For one, Aunt Wilma has lost her wand, which was found by pickle gnomes. The pickle gnomes had a glorious time using the magical wand to reek havoc throughout the village. Now, Mazie needs to help her aunt retrieve the wand before anything worse should happen (hint: it does!)
Every page in Wizard Pickles is filled with different picture puzzles for readers to solve. They range from simple search-and-find activities to muddling mazes, cryptic codes, and complex logic problems that will keep you baffled for many hours of puzzling fun! More than a puzzle book, Wizard Pickles contains a mystery story that runs throughout the whole book.
Chuck is looking for a total of $1000, meager by Kickstarter standards. The campaign is open until September 17th and offers many perks to those who pledge from $5 to $500.
What I have always liked about Kickstarter book campaigns is the opportunity to help wonderful authors and books you can believe in, and help the book travel from conception to publication. As with Wizard Pickles, most book campaigns give you enough information that you can discern the story and the illustrations, getting a good idea if this is a book you would want your children or students to read. For a small $5—less than a cup of Starbucks coffee—you can help a deserving author’s dream come true.
Here are the Fund “Rewards” Pledge of $5 or more – a PDF eBook of Wizard Pickles Pledge of $20 or more – the above, plus a Hardback edition of Wizard Pickles (PDF offers endless solving of the puzzles!) Pledge of $35 or more – all the above, plus your name (or any name you choose) on the Dedication page of Wizard Pickles Pledge of $50 – all the above, plus a copy of Chuck’s original game Legitimacy*(Minion Games $40.00)
The “rewards” increase from there. To see them all, and to read more about Wizard Pickles and Chuck Whelon’s plans for publication, go to the Kickstarter link below:
Chuck explained to me that many publishers loved Wizard Pickles, but when the book got to the marketing department, they had a difficult time categorizing his book and this makes any traditional publication all but dead. So Chuck did what any author who truly believes kids will love their book does: He found a way to get it published.
*LEGITIMACY “The kingdom of Legitimant is in turmoil. The old king has died, leaving no legitimate heir… He has, however, left several illegitimate ones.
“Since you were an infant, your mother has told you of the royal blood that runs in your veins. Now the time has come for you and your trusty animal sidekick to set out on an epic quest to fulfil your destiny and claim the throne that is your birthright.
“Whether you choose to follow a path of righteousness or use every dirty trick in the book, you’ll need nerve, cunning and just a little luck as you assemble an assortment of strange creatures and magical objects to out-maneuver and overpower your rivals and prove that you are, indeed, the one true heir of Legitimacy!” [website]
Legitimacy is a fast-paced board game for 2—6 players, who fight to claim their birthright as heir to the throne of a magical kingdom.
Chuck explains the game’s creation like this,
“I created and designed the game as a showcase for my illustration and graphic design skills, and as something strategic and fun to play with my 8 year-old son which would not give me a competitive advantage!! It is fun to play and has a unique mechanic where your character can switch from being good to evil, or vice-versa.”
Chuck Whelon is a proficient author and illustrator of many children’s books, comics, and games. Below is a sampling.
Traditionally Published by Chuck Whelon Where’s Santa? Where’s the Penguin (in multiple languages) Word Play: Write Your Own Crazy Comics (also many other editions) What to Doodle? Alien Invasion! Create Your Own Monsters Sticker Activity Book The Comic Book Guide to the Mission . . . and many more, including Games Published by Minion Games Legitimacy Those Pesky Humans Battle Merchants Tahiti . . . and many more Comic Book Series Pewfell Trogs Rooftops
⇓⇓⇓⇓⇓⇓⇓Now you have the total scoop!⇓⇓⇓⇓⇓⇓⇓
HELP WIZARD PICKLES MAKE IT TO PUBLICATION. Even a small $5 pledge goes a long way in this Kickstarter book campaign!
Book size: 17″ x 11″ — 26 pages (12 full-color spreads)
Written by Julia Dweck
Illustrated by Brian Allen
Sleepy Sheep Productions 9/01/2014
Age 3 to 6 24 pages x x
“What’s a Jack-in-the-box without his home? Poor Jack has never jumped out of anything before, but his worn out box. Can Barker, the neighborhood dog, prove to Jack that there are many more exciting jumps outside in the great, big world?”
Opening
“Jack’s little heart began to thump, As he prepared to take a jump. He swung around and then he flexed. His thousandth jump was coming next.
“Then tightening his coils, he sank, And listened to the music crank. He sprung out free, no longer trapped. His rusty spring broke loose and SNAPPED!”
The Story
Cue music, wait . . . wait . . . wait . . . JUMP!
There goes Jack, from jack-in-the-box fame, making his thousandth jump, give or take a few. He‘s flying high. He’s flying a little too high. Oh, my Jack is flying higher than he has ever or should ever fly. He lands with a thump and realizes he jumped clear out of his box, and the box—his home—is gone!
Jack takes off looking for his home. Down the hallway he jumps over all sorts of toys—hula-hoop, little green army guys, jacks (of the spiked kind) and balls of assorted sizes. He rounds the corner and instead of his home, he runs into a big nose dog. Jack grabs a bubble gum wrapper to protect himself, but Badger is not interested in hurting Jack. Badger wants Jack to go outside with him and see all the ways he can jump.
Together, Badger and Jack jump into a twisting jump rope, hop on a trampoline and reach the sky, and then jump off a cliff into a waterfall, bungee jump off a bridge, and ride a jumping horse. Best of all, Badger and Jack jump into a 7-layer chocolate cake. They fall to the bottom and must wait for the birthday girl to set them free. Still, Jack has not found his home. Will he ever figure out where it landed?
Review
Jack is a highflying jack-in-the-box. The illustrations fill each spread from edge to edge with brightly illustrated scenes of Badger and Jack jumping high from the most unusual places (for a dog and a toy). They turn upside down, flip one way then the other, and wear equipment for some of their jumps. Badger is a cute small dog, perfect for Jack. Young children will adore both characters.
I like the idea of the scene in which Jack grabs the bubble gum wrapper as a shield against a canine attack. The scene is funny. Everyone knows a bubblegum wrapper will not provide protection from an oncoming dog attack. Everyone but Jack, that is. Looking at this illustration, the garbage can does not look like it is on its side. It looks like another wall, or a door, with its flat, unadorned presentation against the flat detail-less wall.
Badger has the biggest, most adorable eyes, set in a face every child and parent will love. Jack conveys much emotion on his tiny face. He is dressed like a medieval joker. As a jack-in-the-box toy, Jack would please any child with his brightly colored hat and clothing. His jumping skills will definitely be the hit of the house should he ever put them on display.
Jack must literally think “out of the box” after losing his box/home. How is he going to jump, and enjoy jumping, without a box to hide in and then jump out of on cue? Badger has the answer and is eager to show Jack how to jump. Badger looks like a puppy and puppies must play. Is that why Badger buried Jack’s box/home? When Jack and Badger return home Badger gives Jack his other half. Jack jumps over and around it but refuses to jump in it. He wants to keep jumping with Badger. With a high five (no fist bump for these two—refreshing), Badger and Jack seal their friendship.
I like Jump. It follows the prolific Julia Dweck formula: a good story told well with interesting, brightly colored illustrations. She has not gone wrong yet with this formula and has produced one more hit. Young children will love Jump’s story and illustrations. It has loads of humor, wonderful rhyming, and unusual messages for kids so young: think out of the box, expand your horizons, and seeking out friends that are different than you can be rewarding. Jump’s messages are perfect for parents, too, making Jump a truly exceptional story.
Summer is almost officially here. Time for a grand vacation and KLR has a trip fantastic ready for you. Just grab hold of the green ticket and remember, “anywhere is possible.” Get ready to traverse Egypt and the Suez Canal, walk through the lush stalls of a Cairo marketplace, and visit the Pyramids and of course, The Sphinx.
Egypt is not what your style? Keep hold of that green ticket, hop into a tandem-rotor helicopter, and head over to Africa. Spend the night in the Treetops Tree Lodgein Nairobi. The same hotel in the trees where Princess Elizabeth awoke a Queen. Watch giraffe, zebra, and gazelles from the safety of a hot air balloon, all the while traveling with a baby elephant to keep you company and carry you across the desert.
Ready to take off? Grab the green ticket and go – admittance is FREE!
Ace London by Mirza-Javed & Kaj Melendez and illustrated by John Worsley . . 978-0-9570321-0-1 for Age 7 to 10 31 pages
“In an abandoned schoolroom in South London lies the rusted, hulking wreck of an old aeroplane, partially buried in fine sand. How the aircraft got there is a mystery, but hidden deep inside the twisted carcass of corroded metal and glass is an incredible secret: a fabulous passport that sails across time and space. Mighty forces that once powered the plane still surge through its skeletal remains, beckoning yet another adventurer to brave the aviator’s chair. From Barry O’Brien, the co-creator of Disney’s Hannah Montana, comes Ace London, the world-spanning adventures of an imaginative young English boy and a mysterious forest elephant named Hannibal. Glide across East Africa, soar past Kilimanjaro, and race through the sun-soaked side streets of Cairo, as Ace London tries to find his way home.”
.
Bill Melendez productions is currently offering free review copies of the first installment of ACE LONDON through participating bloggers.
The offer is simple. Accept a FREE copy of Ace London, and we will send you a high-quality, full-color PDF of the 31 page book. In exchange we ask you for an honest review on Amazon and/or Goodreads (link listed below the sign-up form). If you have your own blog, that would be great, too.
Fill out the form below and the book will be on its way. **Your name and email address will be kept completely private. We will only use your email address for the purposes of this offer.
Today is a rather long post. Eleven-year-old Nate Rockledge, his older sister Abby, and his once best friend Lisa Crane are here for a short interview followed by a review of the new–and the final–Nate Rocks book: Nate Rocks the City. Let’s get started.
Today Kid Lit Reviews welcomes Nathan Rockledge (aka Nate Rocks), his older sister, Abby, and his know-it-all classmate, Lisa Crane. They are all characters in the Nate Rocks series, the newest being Nate Rocks the City. Since this is the last book, I thought it would be fun if you each talked about your favorite moment from the series. Who wants to go first?
Lisa Crane : Oh!! Me! Me!
Yes of course, Lisa, go ahead.
Lisa : Well … In Nate Rocks the Boat, there was this scene where Nathan was leaving for summer camp and his parents were giving him a going away party…
Nathan: Oh no! Really? Do we have to bring that up here?
Lisa: Hey! She said I could talk about my favorite moment from any of the books, right?
Nathan, please, Lisa, cont–
Lisa: So anyway, we were playing horseshoes – Nathan and me – and of course Nathan was missing them all, while I was getting them all. So I kindly offered to show Nathan how it’s done, only he got a little too close to me, and BAM the next thing you know, he’s on the ground crying like a big old baby. He says it’s because I hit him, but I think it’s because I beat him at horseshoes.
Nathan: You gave me a black eye!!
Abby: It was awesome.
Nathan: Can we move on?
Sure, Nathan. How abou–
Abby: Ooh – I have one!
You characters sure are, um, ready. Abby?
Abby: So in Nate Rocks the World, Nathan was trying to get back at me for – well that really doesn’t matter – anyway, he put food coloring in my shampoo bottle, but Dad wound up using it instead of me, and he wound up with PURPLE hair! HAHAHAHA! It was so funny, and Nathan got in so much trouble.
Nathan: You got in trouble, too.
Abby: Not as much as you though – it was classic.
Nathan: So far, this interview isn’t quite as much fun as I thought it was going to be.
I’m sorry, Nathan. You’re the star, so what is your favorite moment?
Nathan: Hmmm, that’s such a hard question because I had so many great moments in every book! I really did love going to New York City in this last book though. I got to save the city from aliens, I jousted with knights in the museum, and the last scene – well let’s just say if you’ve read Nate Rocks the World, I had a chance to go full circle. I don’t really want to give anymore away than that. Overall though, the entire series was a blast. I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did – even the parts with Abby and Lisa.
Lisa: “Hey!”
Abby: “Not funny, Nate.”
Nathan: Thanks for reading and thanks for having us on your blog today!
Hey New York! Are you ready for Nate Rocks? Fifth grader Nathan Rockledge has been counting down the days—and meals—until his class trip to New York City. Now that the big event is finally here, he can barely stand the excitement. After all, isn’t this what being a fifth grader is all about? Oh sure, his Mom is one of the chaperones, his annoying sister Abby is tagging along, and that know-it-all classmate, Lisa, will be there as well. However, none of that matters. Not when he’ll be with his best friends, Tommy and Sam.
While seeing the sights, his teacher wants his class to take notes, but Nathan has other ideas. With paper and pencil in hand, Nathan prefers to doodle, transforming himself into Nate Rocks, boy hero. Amid ninja pigeons to fend off, aliens to attack, and the baseball game of the century to save, will Nate Rocks be able to save the day one more time?
Opening
“The piercing sound of the house alarm rips through the neighborhood as our car pulls into the driveway. ‘Nate! Come quick!’ Mrs. Jensen screams over the sound of the siren.”
The Story
Nate’s fifth grade class heads to New York City for their class trip. The chaperones include Nate’s mom and her best friend, Mrs. Crane, mother of the most annoying girl in the entire world—Lisa. Thanks to a Philadelphia Philly baseball player, the kids are getting two extra days and tickets the Phillies versus Yankees baseball game at the end of their trip. Nate counts his days by meals, starting with eleven meals. Nate savors every New York meal, even in the hotel cafeteria.
The group goes to Central Park, The City Zoo, the Statue of Liberty, and The Metropolitan Museum of Art before the final trip to Yankee Stadium. The last two days of the trip, Nate’s dad and older sister join the group. Mrs. Cogin, Nate’s teacher, gives each middle grader a journal to write notes about their trip as reference for an essay they will write later. Not much for words, Nate tends to draw his notes. Several times during the trip, Nate envisions himself as Nate Rocks, a hero to those around him. As Nate begins drawing the area around him changes. People are gone or settings change. Always, someone grabs him and an exchange like this occurs,
“Nate! Thank goodness we found you!”
“Me? Why me?”
“Why because you’re Nate Rocks, of course!”
Nate does whatever needs done, such as stop robotic birds from destroying New York City. The urgent task that only Nate Rocks can accomplished is competed and then this same adoring thanks occurs,
“You did it, Nate! You saved me/us!”
Finally, someone sharply brings Nate back to reality, reminding him that he is holding up the group or just annoying his mother. The last day of Nate’s trip to New York City culminates with a baseball game, the Philadelphia Phillies against the New York Yankees. Nate Rockledge goes out in Nate Rocks fashion one last time.
Review
Nate Rocks the City ends the Nate Rocks series. At age ten, Nate rocked the world and the boat and at age eleven, he rocked the school and now the city. In each one Nate envisions himself a hero, his current surroundings melting into a different scene and situations only an imaginative eleven-year-old boy can outwit. Nate’s biggest problem is fifth grader Lisa Crane. Lisa and Nate have spent a lot of time together as they grew up, thanks to their mothers being best friends. Nate sees Lisa as annoying and he is correct.
Ms. Toz writes like a pro. Punctuation errors, capitalization, spelling, and typos are all missing from Nate Rocks the City. One look at the credit page explains why the text is clean. Ms. Toz hired an editor from a company called There for You. Nate’s last story flows well from one scene to the next. His creativeness shines and makes his drawings come alive in his mind, on his pad, and for the reader. Ms. Toz thoroughly researched New York City and its sites before writing Nate Rocks the City. From the exhibits at The Metropolitan Museum of Art to the shops in Times Square, she has the details.
It is odd that both dad and Abby, Nick’s fifteen-year-old sister, would join the group midway through the fifth grade trip, like it were actually a family vacation. I suppose it was a way of getting all the usual characters into the story and for that, it is hard to place blame. Dad working as another chaperone at least fit nicely into the story, when he wasn’t getting the boys lost in the city, but Abby really made no sense.
All through the story—and in every Nate Rocks series—Nate envisions himself the hero of one situation or another. It is easy to know when Nick goes off on one of his tangents! You will find an exclamation point at the end of nearly every sentence! Nick sees these adventures as something exciting! At Yankee Stadium, Nate finally becomes that hero, exclamations not needed. I like the idea of Nate behind what happened, but the scene did not stand up. I would love to explain why, but it is the ending and I have no right to ruin it for anyone.
Nate Rocks the City is an enjoyable story with terrific imagination, too perfect annoying mom behavior, and a giant sense of fun kids will enjoy. The story is a fast read. Not wanting to leave the story helps this along. Kids will love Nate Rocks the City, whether as a fan of the series or a first time reader. Nate knows how to put on a show. Like the others, Nate Rocks the City can stand on its own, but read in order is more fun as Nate gets better with each book. The series is perfect for boys. Even young reluctant readers will find the Nate Rocks series worth keeping. I am sorry to see Nick leave us, but he does so in fine Nate fashion. Nate does indeed Rock the City!
. The Adventures of Max, Book 1: Little Dude by Michelle Hennessy illustrations by Luke Harland 3 Stars . . From Press Release: Max always dreamed of surfing. Every day he’d go down to the beach and watch all of the other surfers riding the waves and having tons of fun. The sun was going …
4 Stars Chase Danger, Super Spy: Pirates of Pineapple Island Chase & Lisa Olivera Adam Goodman 32 Pages: Ages: 4 to 7 ................... From Website: 7-year-old super-spies Chase Danger and Princess Ali Bali must think fast when they discover pirates have stolen Zalezgon’s magical pineapples. But that’s not all! Ali’s little brother Aiden has been [...]
One thing I was looking forward to seeing at the Bologna Book Fair is whether or not there would be a focus on electronic books (otherwise known as e-books or digital books) for children. With all the hype about Amazon’s Kindle and Apple, Inc.’s recent announcement that they had agreements with five of the six largest publishers that would allow them to distribute e-books on i-Pads, I wondered if this technology would be highlighted at Bologna. Well….after spending four days at the Fair I didn’t come across anything to do with e-books. However, I did come across the books What Lola Wants, Lola Gets! and Tyrone the Clean ‘o’ Saurus (written by David Salariya, illustrated by Carolyn Scrace, published by Scribblers) which were receiving a lot of attention! These two books are reported to be the first books to use augmented reality technology for young children. Simply put, when you hold certain pages of the book up to a web-cam you see the characters burst vibrantly to life in full 3D animation, accompanied by music! Check out this video to see it in action.
0 Comments on The newest thing in children’s books……augmented reality technology as of 1/1/1900
Thank goodness I was given a Kindle for Christmas two years ago. I say that because the three-day O’Reilly Tools of Change for Publishing Conference (TOC2009) in NYC this week was all about digital publishing and I could smugly raise my hand when... Read the rest of this post
Jane R. said, on 2/13/2009 4:06:00 PM
Sounds fabulous. I’d really like to attend, but it’s pricey and I’ve been caught in the downsizing frenzy.
Bill Peschel said, on 2/13/2009 7:52:00 PM
Welcome back! And I’m looking forward to finding out more about the convention.
Maxine said, on 2/14/2009 11:06:00 AM
Yes, welcome back! It’s been too long. Lovely to read your characteristically upfront and unspun account - I often hear about the more sciencey end of these conferences so your perspective is particularly fresh (and funny)! More, soon, please.
Brother Rene said, on 2/14/2009 5:53:00 PM
eBooks or paper books, none of them will last forever.
Forgive me Lynne, but here in the cloister I’m not allowed to have a blog of my own. So, I’m using your subject matter (eBooks & the death of the paper book) and your informed blog to escape the silence and rant a little.
Most of today’s paper books are printed on rather inexpensive biodegradable paper using petroleum or soy inks. The bindings are soft and the glue is weak. They’re not made to last even part of a millennium let alone for the millennia. Remember the great libraries of Persia? They disappeared
E-books are no better. If only published electronically what device will they be read on a thousand years from now? What if there is a catastrophic event, natural or man made, and electronic knowledge is wiped from the earth? No hardware, no software, no nothing. Where will the survivors (and there always are some) go to learn.
My professional predecessors (monastic scribes), working alone in their screened carrels within the scriptorium, spent their entire lifetimes copying all of the major works of Western European and Islamic knowledge and (censored) scientific data available to them.
Because of its longer projected lifespan animal skins such as parchment and vellum replaced the less stable (and cheaper) papyrus as the writing medium of choice. Permanent ink was a careful mixture of Oak Gall, copperas and gum Arabic. This combination has lasted amazingly well for over 800 years. And, if your lingua franca includes Medieval Latin there are still tens-of-thousands of pages out there to be read if you can find them. (Think hidden in caves.)
You may want to become (like me) a proponent for putting all important works (sorry, “The Cure for Jet Lag” doesn’t qualify) on more stable substrates than paper, parchment, vellum or digits.
The first man made objects to leave the solar system, the two Pioneer spacecrafts contained a 6” x 9”plaque of gold-anodized aluminum, telling our friends out there who we were. This gold plated approach is far too expensive for this monumental project.
As the informed businessman said to Benjamin Braddock (Dustin Hoffman) in the 1967 film “The Graduate”, “I just want to say one word to you, just one word- PLASTICS. “
I’m sure that the right plastic (they tell us it will be here forever) properly embossed, would provide the perfect (cheap) material for recording all of our important works. And, all of the world’s accumulated knowledge could probably be accomplished for less than the cost of the war in Iraq. Put it all in a cave and deeply carve directions to the site on various stone outcroppings throughout the world. Then sit back a couple of thousand years and wait.
Books are nice, the Kindle is cute and computers are great, but we need to store our knowledge on something permanent.
Morris Rosenthal said, on 2/15/2009 1:24:00 PM
Lynne,
Great meeting you in person. My read of the grown-ups at the show (ie, people making a living publishing books) was that all the honor system and business-by-donation speakers left them cold. But I also had an epiphany on filling out the post-conference questionaire and seeing the questions on inspiration. It never crossed my mind that people might take three days out of their lives and go to a publishing conference in hopes of being inspired, but that does sem to be a large part of what O’Reilly is hoping to do with TOC. Maybe it works for employees who are locked up in cubicles all day, not my background so I can’t say.
Morris
Bonnie Calhoun said, on 2/15/2009 7:11:00 PM
The seminar sounded great, and like you said, it’s a good place to network.
Digital books and digital magazines like mine are the wave of the future. The economy has not even bottomed out yet, and cost need to be reduced on every level just for survival’s sake. For example, if I had to do a print version of our 50+ page magazine, I could never afford to do it.
Book publishers are thinking the same thing.
Nothing lasts forever…even burned DVD’s and CD’s have a shelf life. Hey *snort-giggle* even I’m not going to last forever. Thirty years ago the mediums in use were high tech compared to what we had fifty years ago.
Who knows…in fifteen years maybe we’ll be imprinting stuff inside crystals like StarTrek
As a publisher do you stick with just publishing seminars or do you go to book conferences like ThrillerFest at the Grand Hyatt in July?
Dave Newton said, on 2/15/2009 10:04:00 PM
Yes, tell us more, because you tell the truth so well.
In the 60s, the rebels were shouting for free speech. The Web geniuses like Cory D. are writing code, and most of their products are dedicated to “aggregation” — sucking in and republishing. “Content” is what costs money to produce. The idea is to start a business that sucks in everybody else’s “content.” Luckily, the Web content people, like the NYTimes, for instance, are starting, timidly, to talk in low tones about charging readers to read what they write and publish. As a hopeful Web publisher myself, I’m thinking about it myself. What have I got to lose. The aggregators “promoting” my content by republishing it. What a shame that would be.
Andrew Savikas said, on 2/16/2009 7:52:00 AM
Hi Lynne,
I’m thrilled you enjoyed the conference, and even more thrilled you’ve shared your experience with others on your blog. The amount of conversation that spilled out of the conference halls and onto twitter and the wider Web is what inspires us!
The crux of Cory’s keynote from where I was sitting was that publishers should demand the option to sell their works without DRM. For example, we at O’Reilly have years of sales data on dozens of titles demonstrating that neither selling without DRM nor even explicitly posting book content for free negatively affects our print sales (and more often actually improves them). That said, I recognize that’s a choice (as it should be) for each publisher to make on their own — provided the device maker or sales channel gives them that choice.
If you’d like to learn more about what’s behind our perspective on the issue, see Tim O’Reilly’s seminal Piracy is Progressive Taxation.
Thanks again for the feedback, we really do pay attention to it. See you next year!
Karen Hill said, on 2/16/2009 9:44:00 AM
Great meeting you at TOC!
The ideas around “free content” are far from finalized, and I agree with the huge number of speakers that DRM isn’t the answer to prevent theft– it may actually encourage it. What depresses me is that this theft is considered morally okay because it’s digital– can you imagine (as a colleague once said)– strolling into the local bookstore and taking a book off the shelf and walking out? Of course not– it’s just that the container for the content is “invisible” as digital that this gets excused and generally accepted.
But we cannot rage against the internet storm on this one. I think the answer lies not in DRM, but in pricing the content to match the convenience– very much the iTunes model where buying the content is more convenient than the effort to download free. Sure, the student with more time than money may still make that effort, but they always did– we called it copying tapes or borrowing from friends.
Another comment that got me thinking was Tim O’Reilly’s, the idea of the book as a souvenir. There are a lot of possibilities in that word. I need to think more about how this would work in the academic publishing world.
Cheers!
DMcCunney said, on 2/16/2009 3:32:00 PM
Oh, dear. Rage against Cory Doctorow all you want, but he’s right: DRM is a problem, not a solution.
First, it *doesn’t* protect you. Any DRM scheme is likely to be cracked about a day after it is released, and your precious material will appear in various illicit areas, ready for the taking. At least, you *hope* so. And why should you do that? Because it means someone cared enough about your stuff to *bother*.
Second, it provides an annoyance for your readers. The more effective the DRM is, the more annoying it will be. Pretty soon, you annoy the reader enough that they don’t buy.
Let’s get serious about the problem. Exactly how much money have you lost to piracy? I’ll bet right now you don’t *know*, and you *can’t* know, because there is no way to tell. If you think you are losing a lot of money to piracy, I’m sorry, but it may be wishful thinking. The vast majority of authors would *like* to be so popular that people will make a point of pirating their books.
Theft will always be with us. The retail trade calls it “shrinkage”, as does what it can to minimize it, but it’s an annoyance, not a disaster.
Instead of draconian measures to prevent theft, you are better advised to concentrate in increasing your *sales*. Provide real value for the money, price appropriately, and make it *as easy as possible* for the reader to give you money. The majority of the market will pay for value. Your challenge is to *provide* value, let the reader know that you exist and have stuff they will want to buy, and provide a simple means for them to do so.
Remember, you are competing for the reader’s discretionary *time*. The time they spend reading a book is time they could be spending doing any number of other things for fun. Your challenge is making reading your books preferable to watching TV, seeing a film, playing a game, or any of the other things people do for recreation.
I fear that the majority of authors who complain about piracy of their works as the reason for low income really need to consider the alternative: maybe they just haven’t written books that enough people want to read.
Note from the Wicked Witch of Publishing(TM): Thanks for stopping by Dennis, and for taking the time to leave a comment. Personally, I have not lost a dime through stolen digital files. Why? Because I don’t intend to expose the entire book online. I did just put up a digital file of the jacket, front matter (testimonials & acknowledgments), and table of contents. We’ll see if that helps increase sales of the print version. I’m not sure 1% of the market is motivation enough for me to throw the entire book up. I do have a PDF ready to sell if and when I get ready. [Dennis is a Linux Adminstrator at The Feed Room.]
Aline’s recent post about evolving definitions of literacy came just after I’d read that in China, writers text message extremely short stories on their cellphones. In the week before that I read two manuscripts on my laptop. Google News has almost replaced my daily newspaper, but I’m too much of a print junkie to quit the New York Times cold turkey.
The world of print is changing fast. A woman came into the store where I spend some of my time and bought three novels. She then took note of several other books that she wanted to download to her digital book collection. She saw me wince and explained that for travel this was a wonderful tool–she could take twenty-five books with her on a long flight. I immediately thought of the tote bag bulging with weight that I carry with me onto a plane so I will be assured of a choice of reading material, and my perspective began to change a tiny bit.
What if, instead of being that paragon of literacy, the devoted bookworm, I’m actually a person with deficient reading skills? What if I learned to enjoy the many different ways of reading–from a book, from a laptop, from a portable digital reading device, from the tiny screen of a cellphone? How much more freely I could roam the world, without the weight of my books and my need for bookstores that will sell me reading material in English.
Perhaps as we examine literacy we need to realize that children who rarely touch a book may be forging new ground for us all. They are literate in ways that many of us have yet to explore–and, in light of the world’s dwindling supplies of wood pulp, that we may be forced to explore sooner than we anticipate.
What about you? Are you a multi-faceted reader, or are you like me–helplessly enthralled by the weight of a book and the sight of print on a page?
0 Comments on The Tiger’s Bookshelf: Looking at Literacy as of 8/5/2008 3:05:00 PM
What I have always liked about Kickstarter book campaigns is the opportunity to help wonderful authors and books you can believe in, and help the book travel from conception to publication. As with Wizard Pickles, most book campaigns give you enough information that you can discern the story and the illustrations, getting a good idea if this is a book you would want your children or students to read. For a small $5—less than a cup of Starbucks coffee—you can help a deserving author’s dream come true.
Chuck explains the game’s creation like this, 
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Sounds fabulous. I’d really like to attend, but it’s pricey and I’ve been caught in the downsizing frenzy.
Welcome back! And I’m looking forward to finding out more about the convention.
Yes, welcome back! It’s been too long. Lovely to read your characteristically upfront and unspun account - I often hear about the more sciencey end of these conferences so your perspective is particularly fresh (and funny)! More, soon, please.
eBooks or paper books, none of them will last forever.
Forgive me Lynne, but here in the cloister I’m not allowed to have a blog of my own. So, I’m using your subject matter (eBooks & the death of the paper book) and your informed blog to escape the silence and rant a little.
Most of today’s paper books are printed on rather inexpensive biodegradable paper using petroleum or soy inks. The bindings are soft and the glue is weak. They’re not made to last even part of a millennium let alone for the millennia. Remember the great libraries of Persia? They disappeared
E-books are no better. If only published electronically what device will they be read on a thousand years from now? What if there is a catastrophic event, natural or man made, and electronic knowledge is wiped from the earth? No hardware, no software, no nothing. Where will the survivors (and there always are some) go to learn.
My professional predecessors (monastic scribes), working alone in their screened carrels within the scriptorium, spent their entire lifetimes copying all of the major works of Western European and Islamic knowledge and (censored) scientific data available to them.
Because of its longer projected lifespan animal skins such as parchment and vellum replaced the less stable (and cheaper) papyrus as the writing medium of choice. Permanent ink was a careful mixture of Oak Gall, copperas and gum Arabic. This combination has lasted amazingly well for over 800 years. And, if your lingua franca includes Medieval Latin there are still tens-of-thousands of pages out there to be read if you can find them. (Think hidden in caves.)
You may want to become (like me) a proponent for putting all important works (sorry, “The Cure for Jet Lag” doesn’t qualify) on more stable substrates than paper, parchment, vellum or digits.
The first man made objects to leave the solar system, the two Pioneer spacecrafts contained a 6” x 9”plaque of gold-anodized aluminum, telling our friends out there who we were. This gold plated approach is far too expensive for this monumental project.
As the informed businessman said to Benjamin Braddock (Dustin Hoffman) in the 1967 film “The Graduate”, “I just want to say one word to you, just one word- PLASTICS. “
I’m sure that the right plastic (they tell us it will be here forever) properly embossed, would provide the perfect (cheap) material for recording all of our important works. And, all of the world’s accumulated knowledge could probably be accomplished for less than the cost of the war in Iraq. Put it all in a cave and deeply carve directions to the site on various stone outcroppings throughout the world. Then sit back a couple of thousand years and wait.
Books are nice, the Kindle is cute and computers are great, but we need to store our knowledge on something permanent.
Lynne,
Great meeting you in person. My read of the grown-ups at the show (ie, people making a living publishing books) was that all the honor system and business-by-donation speakers left them cold. But I also had an epiphany on filling out the post-conference questionaire and seeing the questions on inspiration. It never crossed my mind that people might take three days out of their lives and go to a publishing conference in hopes of being inspired, but that does sem to be a large part of what O’Reilly is hoping to do with TOC. Maybe it works for employees who are locked up in cubicles all day, not my background so I can’t say.
Morris
The seminar sounded great, and like you said, it’s a good place to network.
Digital books and digital magazines like mine are the wave of the future. The economy has not even bottomed out yet, and cost need to be reduced on every level just for survival’s sake. For example, if I had to do a print version of our 50+ page magazine, I could never afford to do it.
Book publishers are thinking the same thing.
Nothing lasts forever…even burned DVD’s and CD’s have a shelf life. Hey *snort-giggle* even I’m not going to last forever. Thirty years ago the mediums in use were high tech compared to what we had fifty years ago.
Who knows…in fifteen years maybe we’ll be imprinting stuff inside crystals like StarTrek
As a publisher do you stick with just publishing seminars or do you go to book conferences like ThrillerFest at the Grand Hyatt in July?
Yes, tell us more, because you tell the truth so well.
In the 60s, the rebels were shouting for free speech. The Web geniuses like Cory D. are writing code, and most of their products are dedicated to “aggregation” — sucking in and republishing. “Content” is what costs money to produce. The idea is to start a business that sucks in everybody else’s “content.” Luckily, the Web content people, like the NYTimes, for instance, are starting, timidly, to talk in low tones about charging readers to read what they write and publish. As a hopeful Web publisher myself, I’m thinking about it myself. What have I got to lose. The aggregators “promoting” my content by republishing it. What a shame that would be.
Hi Lynne,
I’m thrilled you enjoyed the conference, and even more thrilled you’ve shared your experience with others on your blog. The amount of conversation that spilled out of the conference halls and onto twitter and the wider Web is what inspires us!
The crux of Cory’s keynote from where I was sitting was that publishers should demand the option to sell their works without DRM. For example, we at O’Reilly have years of sales data on dozens of titles demonstrating that neither selling without DRM nor even explicitly posting book content for free negatively affects our print sales (and more often actually improves them). That said, I recognize that’s a choice (as it should be) for each publisher to make on their own — provided the device maker or sales channel gives them that choice.
If you’d like to learn more about what’s behind our perspective on the issue, see Tim O’Reilly’s seminal Piracy is Progressive Taxation.
Thanks again for the feedback, we really do pay attention to it. See you next year!
Great meeting you at TOC!
The ideas around “free content” are far from finalized, and I agree with the huge number of speakers that DRM isn’t the answer to prevent theft– it may actually encourage it. What depresses me is that this theft is considered morally okay because it’s digital– can you imagine (as a colleague once said)– strolling into the local bookstore and taking a book off the shelf and walking out? Of course not– it’s just that the container for the content is “invisible” as digital that this gets excused and generally accepted.
But we cannot rage against the internet storm on this one. I think the answer lies not in DRM, but in pricing the content to match the convenience– very much the iTunes model where buying the content is more convenient than the effort to download free. Sure, the student with more time than money may still make that effort, but they always did– we called it copying tapes or borrowing from friends.
Another comment that got me thinking was Tim O’Reilly’s, the idea of the book as a souvenir. There are a lot of possibilities in that word. I need to think more about how this would work in the academic publishing world.
Cheers!
Oh, dear. Rage against Cory Doctorow all you want, but he’s right: DRM is a problem, not a solution.
First, it *doesn’t* protect you. Any DRM scheme is likely to be cracked about a day after it is released, and your precious material will appear in various illicit areas, ready for the taking. At least, you *hope* so. And why should you do that? Because it means someone cared enough about your stuff to *bother*.
Second, it provides an annoyance for your readers. The more effective the DRM is, the more annoying it will be. Pretty soon, you annoy the reader enough that they don’t buy.
Let’s get serious about the problem. Exactly how much money have you lost to piracy? I’ll bet right now you don’t *know*, and you *can’t* know, because there is no way to tell. If you think you are losing a lot of money to piracy, I’m sorry, but it may be wishful thinking. The vast majority of authors would *like* to be so popular that people will make a point of pirating their books.
Theft will always be with us. The retail trade calls it “shrinkage”, as does what it can to minimize it, but it’s an annoyance, not a disaster.
Instead of draconian measures to prevent theft, you are better advised to concentrate in increasing your *sales*. Provide real value for the money, price appropriately, and make it *as easy as possible* for the reader to give you money. The majority of the market will pay for value. Your challenge is to *provide* value, let the reader know that you exist and have stuff they will want to buy, and provide a simple means for them to do so.
Remember, you are competing for the reader’s discretionary *time*. The time they spend reading a book is time they could be spending doing any number of other things for fun. Your challenge is making reading your books preferable to watching TV, seeing a film, playing a game, or any of the other things people do for recreation.
I fear that the majority of authors who complain about piracy of their works as the reason for low income really need to consider the alternative: maybe they just haven’t written books that enough people want to read.
Note from the Wicked Witch of Publishing(TM): Thanks for stopping by Dennis, and for taking the time to leave a comment. Personally, I have not lost a dime through stolen digital files. Why? Because I don’t intend to expose the entire book online. I did just put up a digital file of the jacket, front matter (testimonials & acknowledgments), and table of contents. We’ll see if that helps increase sales of the print version. I’m not sure 1% of the market is motivation enough for me to throw the entire book up. I do have a PDF ready to sell if and when I get ready. [Dennis is a Linux Adminstrator at The Feed Room.]