Archive for the ‘Electronic / Digital Publishing’ Category
Friday, July 30th, 2010
Intro: I’ve been teaching a writers’ workshop at our local Camosun college on how to write a mystery novel. My students are eating it up, telling me that they’re learning lots of practical and usable tips and techniques, so I thought I’d offer bits and pieces of the workshop in my new Friday Mystery Writing blog posts.
The information is gleaned from my little non-fiction e-book primer called Youdunit Whodunit! How to Write Mysteries. .
Don’t forget to slip in the Sly Bits:
- As mentioned earlier, a good mystery must follow the Rule of Fair Play. This means the audience should receive the same information as the Protagonist, thus giving the reader a chance to solve the crime by the end of the story
(more…)
Tags: crime fiction, detective fiction, ebook, Electronic / Digital Publishing, fiction, genre fiction, mystery, mystery novel, mystery writing, self-promotion, self-publishing, writing how to, writing skills
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Thursday, July 29th, 2010
I recently had the pleasure to assist Michael Hanson, a former officer with England’s famed Metropolitan Police, publish his first fiction e-book.
The Black Widow is an intriguing police procedural mystery from a man who’s been in the trenches. To purchase ($2.99 US) or to find out more information, check it out at Smashwords.com. The Black Widow will soon be available from a number of other online booksellers.
The Black Widow by Michael Hanson
Michael kindly offers this note of appreciation for my electronic publishing services, my brief how-to primer, Self-Publish Your E-Book in Minutes, and for my e-publishing course:
When you are getting a little long in the tooth and want to publish a book, modern technology and publishing changes mean that skilled help is necessary.
The lecture on E-Book Publishing given by Nicola Furlong makes it easy for all ages, and her creativity and imagination give the necessary encouragement to take this step to publish your book. She was tremendous help with mine.
Her blog will keep you up to date in a rapidly changing world of fiction and nonfiction reading.
Why not let The Black Widow spin you her web?
Tags: crime fiction, detective fiction, Electronic / Digital Publishing, mystery, mystery novel, self-publishing, smashwords
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Monday, July 26th, 2010
It’s taken a month or two but I’m really pleased to announce that my e-book version of Unnatural States is now available on Canada’s fab online bookseller, Kobobooks.
UnnaturalStates
You may read an excerpt and buy my paranormal thriller from Kobobooks for $2.99 at
Unnatural States.
To read some reviews, check out the book trailer and find out more info, please visit Unnatural States.
You may always experience Unnatural States in a cool multi-media format at Unnatural States Quillr®.
Posted in Ebooks, Electronic / Digital Publishing, Marketing, Multimedia Storytelling, Publishing, Self-Publishing, Writing | No Comments »
Monday, July 5th, 2010
Recently, I was fortunate enough to listen to an excellent free webinar, offered by Enhanced E-Book University, on enhanced e-books.
Three interesting guests:
- Jessica Goodman, Wiley and Sons, explained their “How to Cook Everything” app
- Theodore Gray, Touch Press, on creating his wildly popular app, “The Elements, and
- Rhys Cazenove, Enhanced Editions, about producing the very popular, “Death of Bunny Munro”.
The trio offered excellent information and advice.
UnnaturalStates: John & Harry Battling
It was so cool to learn that others are embracing the multimedia enhanced book platform. Though different from our UnnaturalStates Quillr® concept, they were all hip to offering stories and information in a whole new way.
Text alone storytelling and reading is just so five minutes ago!
Read more and see some video of the webinar here.
Tags: Electronic / Digital Publishing, enhanced e-book, ereaders, multimedia storytelling, Publishing, quillr, writing how to
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Tuesday, June 29th, 2010
I’m delighted to announce the electronic publication of my latest how-to primer. This time, I tackled electronic self-publishing with Self-Publish Your E-Book in Minutes!.
I jumped on the digital wagon last year by re-publishing my mysteries as e-books. Soon, I began instructing others—many had failed with traditional publishers or were wary of costly Print on Demand—at a Victoria, B.C., college.
Self-Publish Your E-Book in Minutes
I immediately found the demand far exceeded my eager students and concluded that a practical, simple and affordable how-to primer on electronic publishing was needed.
Thus, Self-Publish Your E-Book in Minutes! was born.
It’s brief, practical and succinctly covers all the essentials of electronic publication, like formatting, uploading and marketing, and is available online at Amazon.com and Smashwords.com for $0.99.
Tags: Electronic / Digital Publishing, ereaders, iPad, iPhone, kindle, kobo, non-fiction, Publishing, smashwords, writing how to
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Wednesday, June 23rd, 2010
How cool is this?
Just discovered a terrific review for my little how-to write a mystery primer on Amazon.com. Been there since end of April but somehow I missed it.
The reviewer, William Polm, gave it 5 out of 5 stars, calling Youdunit Whodunit! A good overview of mystery writing, with great tips included.
Cover for mystery writing primer, Youdunit Whodunit!
He goes on to say:
I enjoyed reading this short book. It is a brief but savvy overview of writing mysteries. It doesn’t go into a lot of examples or long explanations. But the text is written in and clear conversatiional and reader-friendly style. It should be good for those new to mystery writing and can serve, as well, for more experienced writers that would like a quick review.
And, besides covering the requisite need-to-know information, there are frequent helpful tips.
I would buy it again, if I lost it.
For those interested in this type of material, highly recommended.
Check the review out for yourself and perhaps buy the little gem here.
Thank you, Mr. Polm!
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Tuesday, June 22nd, 2010
Good news.
Prices for popular e-readers Nook and Kindle are coming down below $200.
Getting better all the time. Full NYT article here.
Gotta buy one soon…
Tags: amazon, ebook, Electronic / Digital Publishing, ereaders, kindle
Posted in Ebooks, Electronic / Digital Publishing | 2 Comments »
Monday, April 26th, 2010
Heather Reisman, head honcho at Indigo Books & Music and Kobobooks, announced the arrival of yet another contender in the already competitive world of electronic book reading devices.
Look out Kindle, step aside Nook, run for the hills iPad and put ‘em up Sony reader ’cause there’s a new kid in town: the Kobo eReader.
logo for kobobooks
Too bad about the unimaginative name; however, this new device is much cheaper at $150 CA, than its main competitors. This comes at a price as it lacks wireless capabilities.
And who said ebooks were a fad? Welcome little Kobo eReader.
Especially LOVE that you’re a Canuck.
Tags: chapters indigo, ebook, Electronic / Digital Publishing, ereaders, heather reisman, iPad, kindle, kobo, Publishing, sony reader
Posted in Ebooks, Electronic / Digital Publishing, Publishing | 2 Comments »
Sunday, April 11th, 2010
Things are hotting up in the ebook price point war between online booksellers and publishers.
My niece, Anica, carrying 2010 Olympic Torch
Before Apple came along with it’s iconic iPad and soon to be open iBookstore, online booksellers, like Amazon, set the prices of most new ebook releases at $9.99US, regardless of the publishers’ wishes.
This is going to change as Apple has agreed to set its prices higher, between $12.99US & $14.99US.
Now, other retailers, like Barnes & Noble and Amazon, are “yelling Uncle!” and complying. If they don’t, they’ll lose market share tout suite.
Good news for authors and publishers; less so for readers. I like the idea of giving more price weight to newly-released ebooks.
Every dollar counts and the effort, art & craft are worth it.
Tags: amazon, Apple, ebook, Electronic / Digital Publishing, iPad, Publishing
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Saturday, March 20th, 2010
Attention writers!
You may have already been published or perhaps have struck out trying to find a traditional print publisher.
You’ve heard of print on demand and other forms of self-publishing but are wary of costs.
You still want the opportunity to get your work into readers’ hands.
Well, it’s very possible to do so in an extremely inexpensive yet effective way: self publish your work as an ebook and sell it online!
Cover for A Hemorrhaging of Souls
I’ve done it several times and am now selling electronic books at a number of major online book selling sites, like Amazon Kindle Store, Kobobooks and iTunes.
You can do it, too…and if you live in Victoria, BC area, you can spend Saturday, April 24th, with me at the Publish Your Own Ebook course offered by Camosun College.
(more…)
Tags: ebook, Electronic / Digital Publishing, writing how to
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