We know that access to books – in all forms – is critical for children to develop into readers.
Now, through a new White House-led initiative, First Book is helping connect children in need across the country with access to thousands of e-books. The initiative, announced today by President Obama, is part of a broad effort to ignite kids’ love of reading by improving access to digital content and public libraries.
Through the initiative, called Open eBooks, publishers are providing $250 million worth of e-books for free to children from low-income families. 10,000 of their most popular titles will be included.
The books will be accessible through an Open eBooks app, which is currently being developed by the New York Public Library, the Digital Public Library of America and the Institute of Museum and Library Services. Once complete, the app and all the e-books will be available to programs and classrooms serving children in need through First Book.
Know someone working in the lives of children in need? Encourage them to sign up with First Book.
The post First Book Joins White House to Bring Thousands of e-Books to Kids in Need appeared first on First Book Blog.
If you write for young children, this might be just the ticket for you to get published. Check it out.
knowonder is looking for creatively crafted read-aloud stories, written in 3rd person limited.
The focus and mission of knowonder! magazine is to help parents promote, encourage, and teach creativity, imagination, and literacy to their children.
Their audience is parents and their children between the ages of 3 and 10. We publish 10 fiction stories per month on the web site. Additionally, weThey publish both print and digital collections of stories from the 500 stories available on our web site.
Stories: Story submissions should be fiction. They sometimes accept an occasional non-fiction story but this is the exception, not the rule. They encourage writers to submit stories that are full of action, adventure, and/or fun. They discourage stories that deal with everyday lives of children or present familiar things in a familiar way. They encourage creativity and imagination, and most of all, fun! Each story should be one that a child will love to listen to. Imagery and action are key elements that we strongly encourage.
Story word counts may range between 500 to 2000 words. Call outs are appropriate and do not count toward the total word count. Call out activity ideas or “talk time” ideas are welcome! We are willing to entertain longer stories. We may be willing to accept stories told in rhyme, but have very high expectations for proper meter, etc.
Fiction: We pay $25-50 per fiction story. Each published story is also eligible for the monthly Editor’s Choice Award and a $100 cash prize.
Articles: We are currently looking for volunteers to help us build out this section (fun facts). Please see the submission guidelines for more information on what we are looking for in this category.
for You by You articles: We are currently looking for volunteers to help us build out this section. Please see the submission guidelines for more information on what we are looking for in this category.
Kid Stories: We do not pay anything upfront for Kid Stories or Kid Art, however, we hold a monthly contest and award kids with great prizes each month!
Click here to submit a story. (Note: you will need to create an account with them. It’s quick and painless, and once you’ve done it, you’ll be able to use that account to submit work to lots of other publishers, too).
Before submitting, however, they ask that you please do these two things:
1. Read through our legal agreement. By submitting to us, you acknowledge that you have read and accept our legal terms and agreement.
2. Read our submission guidelines! We have accepted a lot of different stories in the past, but we are narrowing our focus and want you to have the best chances possible of getting your stories published. So please read these guidelines before submitting to make sure you’re sending us something we really want to see.
Here is what they are looking for. This is very good explanation of what makes a good book for this age group. I cut out all the examples from books they provided, but when you have time it is worth studying. Here’s the list:
Narrative stories that are fun, adventurous, engaging, silly, imaginative, creative, have great characters, are memorable, entertaining, flow well when read aloud and have action! Remember, you are sitting by the bedside of the child, you have just enough light to read-aloud. The child’s eyes are closed, or even if they’re open he’s imagining what you are reading. knowonder! wants stories that will paint images in a child’s mind and encourage use of all 5 senses as they imagine amazing visions of their own.
Read-Alouds – knowonder! stories are read-aloud stories.This means that a large majority of stories you submit to knowonder! should be stories that a parent or older child can read out loud to younger children. These are very different in form, format, function (etc.) than picture books. Our stories have just one picture and rely, instead, on imagery created inside the story. In that sense, our stories are much more akin to chapter books and young adult fiction. Therefore, be careful to write stories that aren’t envisioned from the beginning as a picture book.
SDT—This stands for Show-Don’t-Tell and is a well-known method for drawing the reader into a story. Please look it up; research SDT. Then check every sentence to make sure you are following the rules!
Narrative– please don’t eliminate good narrative because you are attempting to Show-Don’t-Tell. Narrative includes telling a story using description and well written prose that allows the child listening to create the pictures in his own mind. Imagery and style come in to play here. Give the child the opportunity to use all of her senses when engaging in the story.
Literary device usage—simile, metaphor, imagery, onomatopoeia, alliteration, hyperbole, and use of idioms are all devices that pull readers into the story, make the story exciting, liven up the characters, and make reading aloud fun and engaging.
Plot—A good story will include a well designed plotting of events that somehow effect the main character. Every word, sentence, and paragraph should be analyzed to make sure it is significant to that plot and moves the story forward.
- Beginning–jump right into the action, in medias res! Remember the children are lying in bed, waiting for the action of the story to begin. Write your beginning in a way that will have them mesmerized so much they’ll quit squirming and listen.
- Middle–remember these pointers– rising action (with action being the operative word here), the main character engaging in some conflict, active voice, and keep moving!!!
- Great endings / tie-backs / punchlines–A well written story will follow the plotting to a point where the action rises to critical mass and Explodes! Then it will come down and have a rap up. Good endings do not fall off cliffs, they have a punch line (not necessarily a funny ha!ha! punchline, although that would be nice) but a great ending that has punch and ties back to the conflict, characterization, repetition, or some other element of the story. Wrap up stories nicely. The last line is the hardest to write for a reason. It takes work to get it just right. (Finding a great ending is like the scene from Sister Act where Whoopie Goldberg punches that young red-headed nun in the stomach and out comes that great high note!!! Ahhhhh!!!)
Words—check your writing for weasel words. Do you overuse the word “that,” or any other word? If you have more than one “that” on a page you should just take them out; I’m sure that you will find that you don’t need them. Also, use a thesaurus!! If you’ve used a descriptive word more than once, look it up in a thesaurus and use a synonym. Also, check your word choice–again use a thesaurus! Thesaurus.com should be your best friend! When writing for children an author must look at every single word. How do the words fit together to make a sentence? How do those sentences flow to create a paragraph? How does each word, sentence, and paragraph come together to paint a picture in the mind of a child?
Repetition—Children giggle when funny things happen in stories; they engage when funny things repeat in stories. I’m not talking about rhyme; I’m talking about rhythm and beat and repetition of lines, actions, etc…. A well crafted story will roll off the reader’s tongue and skip along through the child’s mind.
Characterization—Have you been around children? If not you should spend some time listening to them, seriously eavesdropping! You should talk with them, interact with them, keep a notebook nearby at all times, and jot down what they say and do. Each character in your story should be developed so we can see them, hear them, and understand them. They should be quirky, exceptional, and unique. No two children are the same in the real world so they shouldn’t be the same in fiction either. Characters should be dynamic and well rounded, not static and flat. Static means they don’t change, and flat means boring. Show each character through their actions and traits.
Voice—Dialogue should move the story along and help us hear the voices of the characters, especially the voice of the main character. That voice should be unique, whether it’s sad, happy, spunky, thoughtful, philosophical, or whatever, the words chosen should bring that voice out so we can hear it. The tag-lines should be well written. As our editorial team discussed dialogue, we decided we don’t want too much dialogue in our stories. Remember these are read-alouds. The more narrative prose and the less dialogue the better. Not that we don’t want any dialogue – we just don’t want a story that is 75% dialogue! We are looking for more description, imagery, and narration in between because this lends well toward reading aloud.
Point of View—After careful consideration, we’d really like knowonder! stories to be written in 3rd person. First person is also ok, but not the norm. Also, as I looked through the stories I noticed some of the ones we like best are written in 3rd person omniscient. This style is considered archaic nowadays. But I’ve had to consider why. Third person omniscient allows the author/narrator to step into the mind of every character. The powers that be say this is too confusing for a child. J.R.R.Tolkien and C.S. Lewis wrote in this manner. Even J.K. Rowling steps into this style in some of the Harry Potter books. When interviewed on this, she stated it was necessary to step into the mind of Voldemort on occasion and even into the minds of Hermione and Ron. The important point? It moved the story forward. Sticking with 3rd person limited in the mind of only the main character will be our norm, but occasionally the listener might want to know about the minds of different characters.
Tense—Past tense is best for read-alouds. Please stick to past tense. Novice writers tend to switch tense and point of view. No present tense and no switching tense please!
You are your best critic– Write a first draft. Read it out loud. Look carefully at the beginning, middle, and end. Look at each of these guidelines and see if you can spice up your story before submitting to our editorial department. Rewrite. Revise. Submit. We’ll send suggestions as needed. Our goal is to encourage your own creative genius to blossom. (A note on formatting- Justify flush left, no double spacing, only one space after punctuation. (Word-processing has been allowing for the extra space now for many years).
Didactic stories– Didactic means preachy. A moral can be woven into a story without making it come across as a lecture. Characters should grow naturally out of the choices they make, the events in the stories, and their interactions with other people. We get stories all the time that are obviously written with the express purpose of teaching a lesson. Many of these types of stories will fall flat with children. Should we teach them good values and morals? Can we use literature to teach lessons? Yes, absolutely! But let it happen naturally. Also, because of the nature of what we are (2000 words or less) this can be difficult to do without forcing it. So keep in mind the the main purpose of knowonder! is to make reading fun. It’s more important for children to learn to love reading at this point than it is for us to play parent and try to teach them through the stories we write. Think about fables and parables and how relateable they are.
Click this link to read their full Submission Guidelines to make sure you are not sending in the types of stories that stack their desks. You will also find the Editor’s favorite stories and why. Good luck!
Talk tomorrow,
Kathy
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As Perseus expands their digital distribution to agents and authors, Bloomsbury is preparing a director competitor to Constellation, Faber Factory and other ebook distribution platforms for publishers. Launching soon, the new service, called Bloomsbury Connect has been in development for months under the direction of managing director, group sales and marketing Evan Schnittman. It’s a companion to the Bloomsbury Reader program, announced in April, which launched last week with almost 600 titles.
Bloomsbury Connect is a “service solution,” focused on publishers, while Bloomsbury Reader is a full “publishing solution” for out-of-print titles, focused on agencies and estates. Bloomsbury Connect will provide clients distribution into all major ebook channels, with support on retailer marketing programs and unified sales and royalty reporting through their association with Royalty Share. Bloomsbury is also partnering with a major ebook conversion company to offer clients conversion services at preferential bulk rates.
Consistent with their global publishing strategy, Bloomsbury Connect will distribute ebooks in all the territories worldwide where Bloomsbury already publishes. In one significant point of differentiation from many competitive plans, Bloomsbury gives clients the option of epublishing under the agency model (as long as the vendor allows it) or a wholesale model.
Bloomsbury Connect expects to launch with some of their own physical distribution clients. They plan to charge a commission of 15 to 20 percent, depending on volume and scale. The service is designed for publishers, but may work with some of the “true publishing” units established by literary agencies–though only to the extent that they publish titles with clear, unfettered rights.
The new Bloomsbury Reader is the company’s proposition focused on literary agencies and estates, run by digital media director Stephanie Duncan. They offer royalties of what the company calls “25 plus 5″–or what most people would call 30 percent–with Bloomsbury providing “quality conversion” and all other standard publisher services. The licensing term includes “an out-clause based on performance after 5 years,” Schnittman says. He adds, “we need a minimum of five years” at the potentially low-level sales of these back-in-print titles. While the rates are below what other newly-created digital publishers are offering, Bloomsbury is targeting long inactive material and trying to make it commercial again. “We are trying to raise the dead,” Schnittman said.
The company is currently pitching the new Bloomsbury Connect, Bloomsbury Reader, and their expanding Bloomsbury Public Library to both publishers and agencies as a broad set of digital options.
The Perseus Books Group’s digital distribution platform Constellation is adding a service offering targeted at the many literary agencies helping their authors epublish, called Argo Navis Author Services. After presentations to a small set agencies, Perseus announced that Janklow & Nesbit and Curtis Brown “are planning to make [the service] available to their clients.”
Separately, co-head of publications at ICM Sloan Harris confirmed to Publishers Lunch that the agency is close to finalizing a deal to participate in Perseus’s initiative. “They are not going to be an exclusive destination for us,” Harris said, “but I expect that they will be one of our most-favored outlets.” As for next steps, “We need to finish our deal [with Perseus], and go back around to every single client on every single title and recommend participation in appropriate cases.” Once everything is in place,
It's been amazing reading all the buzzing back and forth from authors and illustrators. I can't help but think about the famous line, "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore..." The sentiment seems to be, I want to do this myself. I hear you. I'm not completely sold. For me, it makes sense to mine my OP books and proceed with eBooks/enhanced eBooks, apps, etc; But even with 30 something titles under my belt, I still need an editor. Not that I always agree with what they say, but with the right editor, a healthy dialogue about how to make a book work, still feels like a necessity.
With all the back and forth about apps and eBooks, I am still unclear about how to proceed on my own. I am in talks with a couple of newly established startups who are interested in producing some of my OP books. There is more clout and muscle and dollars there to help produce and promote. Then again, if I do it myself, (assuming I can find a way to produce a title digitally) I would own it!
Having produced four CD's for children and gotten my music on the itunes store, I can tell you that sales have been lackluster. I know much more now about social media, given that blogging and twittering really weren't around when I started, but I don't think we should underestimate the role of promoting. I always go back to a piece on NPR about websites. They said something along the lines of, a website is like a bilboard in your basement. It can be marvelous, but unless people know it's there, what's the point?
I so appreciate the time people are putting in to e is for book. It's a community. We all seem to be going through this at the same time. I am looking forward to more success stories and ways to move forward. I think we all agree on what we need to be doing, I just want to be more clear on the path!
(This was also posted on e is for books.
I left the conference yesterday as it ended, with so much information swirling around my brain. Being from Los Angeles, I was really happy to see snow beginning to fall outside. Even though it isn't something we have in LA, I know snow and it was comforting to see something familiar floating down around me as I headed towards the subway. This was a sharp contrast to the last two days of hearing about things I am so unfamiliar about, dropping down, all around me, with much more speed than the snow.
Someone wrote there are three types of people facing the digital publishing wave. There are those who want to pretend it's not happening. There are those who want to retire before it takes over. Then, there is the group who is embracing the change. When I heard that, I knew I had to embrace the change. Maybe if I were living in my fantasy farm house with my converted barn studio and wealthy enough to never need to work, I might just play more music and forget about picture books.
But, I work in my converted garage studio in Los Angeles and I frankly don't see ever being able to retire. Don't get me wrong, I have lived and breathed picture books since 1980. I will always LOVE picture books. It's been that way since I first read William Steig's The Amazing Bone. I wanted to live in the forrest with Pearl, the pig. Picture books are magical. I know I'm preaching to the choir, but I want to make it clear, I love picture books and have loved every day I have been lucky enough to wake up and create them.
When I first came to NY to sell my first book, I knew the players. It was easy to find them. You looked at your favorite picture book, and there was the name of the publisher. Harper and Row, the holy grail. I sold my first picture book there. Even met Shel Silverstein because I mistakingly took his notes for A Light in the Attic. He met me at the elevator at Harper in Row, waiting for me to hand him back his book. (Oh, if I only had stopped along the way to make a few xerox copies!!!) Green Willow books, Harcourt and Brace, Little Brown, Antheneum, Scribners. (Now a makeup store) Okay, I'm feeling very old all of a sudden!!!! The point is, now, there are so many new players on the block hoping to be the publisher of picture books. These people, for the most part, haven't been editors who have worked their way up by graduating as English Lit majors and finding low paying jobs as assistants and then if they were lucky, to move into becoming an editor. These are people from the tech world. Yes, you have to be a story teller to make games, but it's a different type of story.
Maybe that's okay. Maybe that's part of the shift. Stories will change in this new age. They already have. A Hole to Dig, Harold and the Purple Crayon, The Missing Piece. There are books that most likely wouldn't get published these days, as traditional picture books. Marketing departments would kill them. How can we sell a book about a boy and a crayon? We'll have to get Crayola to sponsor it. Maybe Dreamworks will do a movie. Then there would be interest with a movie or TV deal in place. Probably should see if we can make a digital crayon which starts off purple but can morph into a rainbow of colors while you draw! It will be a good followup to Charlottes WebSite that we are going viral with. We'll need the website because kids don't like spiders and maybe we can get them comfortable first on our website after they play a few games. If Charlottes WebSite gets a lot of hits, we can greenlight the book.
Am I sounding a bit too cynical? I suppose. That's one of the virtues of having seen a few things over the years. At Digital Book World, I was witnessing a new group of players. &
I have been coming to NY since 1980 for picture books. With thirty something books under my belt as an author/illustrator I am sensing something different in the air on this trip. (That's including the freezing weather, coming from sunny Los Angeles!) I just came from the opening ceremonies for the 2nd Annual Digital Book Conference at the Sheraton Hotel.
I walked in to the ballroom and sat at a table where only one other person was sitting. We shook hands and introduced ourselves. It turned out, he was one of the reasons I came to New York in hopes of meeting! I spent the next half hour speaking with Oceanhouse Media founder and president, Michel Kripalani. Today, in Publisher's Weekly they announced the one millionth Oceanhouse Media download on itunes. After I congratulated him, I asked when they might take on an author who wasn't on the scale of Dr. Seuss or The Berenstan Bears. His answer wasn't surprising. He said that if it comes down to Dr. Seuss or Barney Saltzberg... need I say more? The good news is, there are only so many Seuss books! Michel admitted that at some point they will have to bring in other authors.
He also showed me on his iphone how they promote other Oceanhouse titles when you are reading one of their books. I suggested that given their clout in the market, it would be a perfect opportunity to take someone who wasn't a household name and promote them as well. Michel seemed to 'get' the concept and even if it's not something he's jumping to do anywhere in the immediate future, he's open to the idea.
A Story Before Bed won the best picture book app award. This is published by Jackson Fish Market.
Jackson Fish Market - Handcrafted Software and User Experiences for web, iPhone, iPad, and more...Forgive me for missing the co-founders name who spoke but the first thing he said was, and I am paraphrasing, "We are not a book publisher." I will say the concept of a parent or grandparent being able to record their voice to go with the book went over very well with the room. They have given over 70,000 away to service men and women so they could narrate stories for their children back home. He said there's no reason all books couldn't do that. I agree!
I was struck by his comment that they are not book publishers. I had a meeting before I went to the conference, with yet another tech company making children's apps. The field has blown wide open.
In 1980 I came to NY the mecca for publishing. It is now clear to me, as publishers scramble to get a digital division up and running and lots of small companies jump in to the picture book world, that the entire world is the mecca for digital publishing. It's too soon to say how this will unfold, and certainly not everyone will survive this surge wave of digital publishing, but it's an exciting time to be a writer if you embrace this new dimension of publishing. Potentially, it will help all of us.
More tomorrow when I spend the day listening to the experts!
The Illustrated Section:
Illustrator Dani Jones wanted to fill the void of a central marketplace for digital books and comics, so she created The Illustrated Section. All items are available as a downloadable pdf format making it as simple as possible for readers to enjoy the content. Completely independent from any bookseller, Dani simply wanted to have a place where artists can sell their comics and books without any hassles trying to find such content. She’s always looking for more stuff, so please contact her if you’ve got something to sell.
Happy New Year!
It’s a new year, and, now that I’m finally starting to settle down after my monster move, I’m back on Day By Day Writer. I’m excited and pledge that I’ll be with you at least three times a week.
So, with the new year comes good news and bad in the publishing industry: Borders is still in financial trouble and delaying payments to vendors in a short-term effort to fix things. But on the upside, both Amazon and Barnes & Noble reported strong sales of their ebook readers, the Kindle and Nook, respectively. Amazon says 2010 Kindle sales were at more than 8 million units, with B&N claiming “millions” of Nooks were sold.
I can attest to this, as I had a hard time finding one this Christmas.
Although a paper-book lover, I definitely see the benefits of going digital. Aside from the obvious benefit to trees, e-readers are great for avid readers who travel a lot. My father is one of those. He makes long trips a few times a year, and on those trips, he carries a good four or five, maybe more books. And I’m not talking about little thin books. When he left my house a couple days ago after the Christmas and New Year holidays, he left with me the James Bond Union Trilogy — a three-book pack — because it couldn’t fit in his suitcase. He had another three books already in there!
For people like my dad, an e-reader, at a little more than 8 pounds for the Kindle, is a great idea. And although we had had conversations about how we both preferred the feel of paper, I took a leap and bought an e-reader for my dad for Christmas. After much research, I chose the Kindle, but both Best Buy and Target — all my local stores — were completely sold out of the devices when I was shopping, proving their popularity. Amazon happily sent one my way, however, and my dad was surprised and pleased. A gadget lover, he quickly loaded it up with his favorite books, and I caught him reading his Kindle on the couch a few times before he left. Next time he flies across the world, his suitcase will be a lot lighter, but he’ll be able to carry with him many, many more books to enjoy.
The popularity of e-readers is great news for publishers and us writers. Book sales have been waning the last few years. But, if people like their e-readers, they’ll want books to read on them.
And good books are good stories no matter whether they’re printed on paper or e-ink.
So, this year, keep up the writing. E-reader lovers need more stories.
Write On!
You would think being a working professional in the software geek world that I would have the latest of everything. But I do stay behind the trends — maybe because I know of all the kinks that exist in early technology releases.
However for e-readers — I always thought that I would never want one because I do like the tactile sensations of holding a book and smelling its pages.
But behold — I now have a Kindle! I have a flower and butterfly skin to personalize it and to ward off a certain person of the testosterone persuasion from taking it on future business trips. Hee, hee.
Back in July, I posted about leaning towards getting an e-reader. After much research, I decided to go with the Kindle.
I must say that I’m loving it so far. I love the design (I’m a buttons girl) and the e-ink display, which lets me read in direct sunlight. I got the Wi-Fi version because I have a wireless network at home and Atlanta has tons of free hotspots.
I also love that I can download WORD documents onto my Kindle and use the “Text-to-Speech” feature. I catch a LOT of bad stuff in my W-I-P when I either read back my pages or have some type of voice program — so that was an extra plus.
I plan on traveling a lot for business and writing conferences in the near future, so it’ll be good to just bring my Kindle instead of 4 or 5 books.
Will I continue to buy regular books? I’m sure that I will. Especially writing craft books. But I think I will buy probably more digital books because of the ease of storage — especially non-fiction books. One of my co-workers, who has a Kindle, says that he actually reads more.
I’m not sure how the digital landscape will affect the industry, but I don’t believe that e-readers will kill publishing. There are definitely some kinks to figure out — especially with the pricing structure and the protection against download piracy, but I think digital books and e-readers are here to stay.
What do I have on my Kindle so far? Revolution by Jennfer Connelly and The Grand Design by Stephen Hawking.
So do you have an e-reader or you sticking with physical books? Are you a hybrid like me and have both types of books?
As a break from editing the bare breasts and sex out of my Egyptian novel Eye of the Moon for a US publisher, I’m reading Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall and Jeff Jarvis’s What Would Google Do? simultaneously. The three make very odd companions while I shift from 1500 BC to the 16th century, and then on to the digital world of now.
In What Would Google Do? Jeff Jarvis suggests we have to kill books to save them. He says they’re dead because they’re frozen in time with no means to update except by new editions, they’re a one-way relationship – the author seldom benefits from the reader, they’re expensive to produce, they rely on ‘blockbuster’ economy – few winners/ many losers, they’re subject to ‘gatekeepers’ (do we know this!), they aren’t read enough (according to Jarvis, 40% of printed books are never sold) and then there’s the problem of ‘returns’.
On the other hand books that are digital can be linked and updated, can find new audiences and can grow and live on beyond the page because of interaction and discussion.
I can understand that literacy may be ‘rekindled’ as a result of the Kindle and similar devices being able to offer a rebirth of books that are out of print. But I’m not sure about rekindling ‘visual’ literacy. The fact that we all carry favourite picture book stories around in our heads suggests a strong interaction with the page as a child. I doubt this kind of engagement and a development of visual literacy is possible in a digital format picture book.
So on reading what Jarvis had to say generally about books being dead, my first thoughts were – Why does everything have to be so interactive? Can’t a book just be a book? Why this clamour for digital interaction? Can’t a book, like art, or theatre stand alone? A work of art is still a work of art with only one person viewing it. How would we experience the ‘redness’ of red if we did away with real art and only viewed a Mark Rothko digitally. And theatre doesn’t expect comments to be thrown at it from the audience (except in Shakespeare’s times). Do writers really need interactive audiences drawing on the opinion of everyone, to survive?
Then I reread parts of what Jarvis was saying. And came back to the word ‘re-invention’ – rather than killing the book. What about putting the book online in full for a few weeks? Or serializing extracts from the book for a limited time? (some ABBA bloggers are doing this already and may be able to give feedback). Or putting up a free PowerPoint or video version of the book? (I’ve tried the visual PowerPoint route as a marketing device to get publishers interested but generally they’ve been lethargic and haven’t seen it as a tool to market the book publically.) What about ads in a book?
He cites Paulo Coelho who says ‘blogs’ have given him a different voice that attracts new readers. Coelho invites readers to make a movie of his nove
The New York Times is reporting that Sony will be selling ebooks for their reader in the open ePub format only. This means that they will also be scrapping "proprietary anticopying software in favor of technology from the software maker
Adobe that restricts how often e-books can be shared or copied."
This means that books purchased after the change will be able to be read on a variety of other ereaders, opening up options for consumers.
“There is going to be a proliferation of different reading devices, with
different features and capabilities and prices for a different set of consumer
requirements,” said Steve Haber, president of Sony’s digital reading unit. “If
people are going to this e-book shopping mall, they are going to want to shop at
all the stores, and not just be required to shop at one store.”
Sony opening up to a common standard creates a very different playing field in the ebooks market. As Charlie mentioned last week Sony just came out with a cheaper version of its ereader, and the Times suggests that a reader with wireless capability is also on its way. It seems the ebook wars are far from over.
(Thanks to GallyCat for the tip)
With the Kindle staying securely put in North America British readers have been complaining about a relative lack of good alternatives to the Sony ereader, with the iLiad device being one of the few other good choices but a hefty price tag to boot.
However I now see in yesterdays Times a review for the new Borders ebook reader, which so far sounds like a good option.
The screen size is the same as that of the Amazon Kindle, but overall the
device isn’t as wide. It makes it possible to fit into a large jacket pocket and
is easier to hold. Finally, it is a tiny bit cheaper - costing £189, compared
with the Sony Reader at £199.
But there’s no love at first sight with the Borders reader. The feel is more
matted and plastic than metallic and shiny.
To see and touch the Sony Reader or the Amazon Kindle, is to be attracted to
smart and seductive looking devices. You will never desire the Border’s device
in the same way. To my mind that is a good thing.
It is just not that special but it doesn’t try to be. It is what is on the
inside that counts.
It feels sturdier than its rivals and looks like it can deal with the rough
and tumble of travel. It will need to be able to as it does not come in a case.
Since we're book lovers, and gadget nerds, we have put together a little page on BookFinder.com to try and keep you guys up to date on all of the new ereaders, ebook stores, ebook formats, etc. The technology is still in infancy and there are a lot of different formats and readers out there so hopefully this will at least go part of the way to help you figure out which ereader is the one for you.
And for thoes of you who would rather have your hadcover pried from your cold dead hands than read off a screen, never fear our database of over 150 million new, used, rare, and out of print books isnt going anywhere.
I was reading this article on the NY Times about book pirating. Seems like there is an increase of people posting digital books on the web for free—sort of like Napster did with MP3’s. I didn’t realize that this be could be an issue since books are such a different format from music. But technology is making it easier:
Now, with publishers producing more digital editions, it is potentially easier for hackers to copy files. And the growing popularity of electronic reading devices like the Kindle from Amazon or the Reader from Sony make it easier to read in digital form. Many of the unauthorized editions are uploaded as PDFs, which can be easily e-mailed to a Kindle or the Sony device.
Some authors like Ursula K. Le Guin are pissed with good reason, while authors like Stephen King don’t think it’s worth the effort to track down the pirates. Then, you have other authors like Cory Doctorow who don’t seem to mind or even cater to free digital access. Her offered his latest young adult novel Little Brother as a free electronic version on the same day it was published in hardcover.
Hmm…I don’t know. I remember when all that Napster stuff went down and the music industry went all Supreme Court because it was hurting sales. Not sure if this could possibly go the same way.
Personally, I do still like to actually hold a book in my hands. So I’m not sure if I would be interested in a pirate digital book. I have lots of friends who adore their Kindles and so if digital books are the wave of the future—then more hackers may start posting these online editions for free.
But I can see how authors would get pissed that they’re not getting paid for their work and the copyright infringement isn’t cool either.
You can check out the NY Times article here.
The novel opens when a body falls from the sky. Now, you can help the writers figure out what happens next...
I'm serious. Over at the blog for the novel Flight Paths, you can actually write your way into the the book. The idea began with Kate Pullinger, a web writing pioneer and novelist. I've dug her digital work for years. She's joined by Chris Joseph, another digital author. Both teach at the Institute of Creative Technologies at De Montfort University.
The book will allow readers and writers to interact online and in real life, sharing stories, videos, and images on the website. You can actually particiapate as they write a new networked novel. My head is already buzzing with short short video ideas that I want to share.
If you are unconvinced, this Wired Magazine article takes a closer look at the evolution of the networked book: "From the complete expressive freedom of "A Million Penguins" to the careful scripting of "These Wicked Games", each crowd created concrete works, though vastly different in length, content, salability, and final format. What I have learned is that it would be possible to crowdsource a novel, but I think it would have to be done in a more controlled way than we did," said Jeremy Ettinghausen, Digital Publisher for the U.K.'s Penguin Books."
Last year I attempted a networked story on this site, but never managed to muster the support I needed. Read Writing War Stories For Children here.
Thanks to Shelf Awareness (a great electronic resource for those of us in the print industry, as many of you know), I spent all morning reading this article in Newsweek about the Kindle, the new e-reader just released by the same company that runs Amazon. I know that name -- and often, the concept of internet book sales and digital books -- is likely to incur hisses from the bricks and mortar booksellers. I admit to feeling some stirrings of indignation myself at the sometimes smug sense of inevitability with which the author (as most journalists, seemingly) wrote about the increasing viability of digital tools for reading. But, as is my habit, I'm trying not to make this an us-vs.-them thing (i.e., those vapid digital people vs. us serious print people, or those hopelessly old-fashioned meatspace people vs. us progressive connected people). Because as usual, I don't think a viable e-reader and a healthy book market are necessarily mutually exclusive. (For example, I used Google to research the article's claim that "studies show that heavy Internet users read many more books than do those not on the Net", and despite many of my colleagues' assertions it seems to be true, at least according to this report from Statistics Canada.)
The Newsweek article also led me to two new blogs about the intersection of books and technology: if:book, a project of the Institute for the Future of the Book, based right here in Brooklyn; and Teleread, "News & views on e-books, libraries, publishing and related topics". Now I've got lots more perspectives on this revolution/evolution/intersection/ flash-in-the-pan, or whatever it is, to absorb and use to create my own opinion. Not bad.
If only my eyes weren't so tired from reading words on a screen all morning. Hmmm...
What do you think, intelligent and bookish readers? Have you thoughts on whether the Kindle will indeed make e-books viable, and if so what that means? I would love to interact with you in this digital forum. Or if you'd prefer to engage in real-life conversation, I'll be talking to customers at the bookstore later today -- you could drop by.
Do NOT miss Kristen McLean's post Trendwatch: Inanimate Alice at pixie stix kids pix. She discusses the intriguing possibilities of digital storytelling and where to find some examples on the web today.
I am so grateful for this link to Jean Gralley’s take on digital picture books. Click on Books Unbound. Fascinating!
I recently discovered this brilliant Mac application called Delicious Library. This program goes down as just another reason why Macs are superior to PCs, but I digress. Essentially as all or most Macs on the market are releasing with built in iSight camera's, this application scans the barcodes of your at home library of books and creates a visually stunning virtual bookshelf complete with all the linked data from Amazon in the field to the right. It actually converts your camera into a scanner. Amazing! It even includes the retail price and what value the book is currently trading at. It takes about 10 minutes to do maybe 50 books and before you know it, you can shop for similar books with a click of a button. I know it sounds terribly clichéd, but I have become a total addict. There are several books I own that I would love to have more like, but rarely can I sort through all the noise.
I love seeing this library of all the books I own on my screen. Sure they are on my shelf too, but you can't really interact with them in the same way. For example, you can recommend a title you own (no matter how old) to a friend and it will build the buy now link and jacket image right into the email. Plus you can make a note of who from your computer's rolodex has borrowed a particular book and get a reminder email in a months time to get that book back! The delicious library will scan the barcodes of your dvds, cds and games. Sick. And for the iPod-geeks, you can sync you iPod notes with this tool and then take your inventory with you when shopping in bricks and mortar stores. I am not sure how this is beneficial yet. Need to mull. I foresee this exploding from RFiD book tagging in the near future. My one qualm is that this really only supports Amazon's sales. Get there faster publishers!
Justin Renard, Puffin Marketing Officer
*Justin does not work for Delicious Library - as far as we know
** Or Apple
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Recently at the New Yorker, tetchy old fogey and lousy former film critic David Denby has published a lament about how few teens are reading books these days. He has one great overheard line—a student saying “Books smell like old people”; and he builds in a few caveats (“It’s very likely that teen-agers, attached to screens of one sort or another, read more words than they ever have in the past”); but mostly he is describing a decline of western civilization via smartphone. “If teachers can make books important to kids … those kids may turn off the screens,” he wraps up, making clear his real issue here: a favored primacy of one form of technology (ink on paper) over another (e-ink or pixels on screens).
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I figured you were busy, busy, busy with prep for the conference which is why you haven’t been following up! At least I know you’re OK and just busy :) Been meaning to call to be sure, but now I know so won’t bother you! lol See you in a few days :D :D :D
Very useful information, Kathy. Thank you. I’ve been eyeing Swoon Reads for a while now.
Thanks! Your hard work is appreciated.
Kathy -
do you know if any of the deals involved payment of advances?
Just curious.
Janet
Looking forward to hearing your Market Report and hopefully chatting with you this weekend. Thank you for all you do and see you soon! Jen