Posts Tagged ‘Electronic / Digital Publishing’
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
Posted in Ebooks, Electronic / Digital Publishing, Publishing, Self-Publishing, Writing | No Comments »
Saturday, July 10th, 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.
Cover for mystery writing primer, Youdunit Whodunit!
The information is gleaned from my little non-fiction e-book primer called
Youdunit Whodunit: How to Write Mysteries.
STORY STRUCTURE (PART 5 Continued)
LOOSE THE HOUNDS INTO THE MIDDLE:
Other mid-story development tidbits:
- Never introduce the guilty party late in the book; that’s betraying the rule of fair game
- Generate more complications resulting from the criminal’s efforts at concealment or escape; these often result in a really big problem: a second murder or crime
- Remember that the strongest stories are intertwined, so construct your main and sub-plots to resonate or reflect one another. Perhaps your main mystery is a missing child; then a strong sub-plot would be to have one of your character’s searching for their birth family.
- Make it personal: have someone the reader likes be affected by the first murder or crime: maybe as a suspect? Or is in love with the suspect? Or their life’s changed by the crime?
Remember how MURDER SHE WROTE’S Jessica Fletcher always had some relationship with the victim or the suspect? So much so that no one would ever really want to be close to her!
- Develop and show strong motives for at least three characters and you’re off and running
…MORE how-to write a mystery tips and techniques continued in the next post!
Find out more information or how to purchase this e-book, jam-packed with ways to immediately improve your writing, click Youdunit Whodunit (only $2.99US!).
Tags: crime fiction, detective fiction, ebook, Electronic / Digital Publishing, fiction, genre fiction, mystery, mystery novel, mystery writing, self-publishing, writing how to, writing skills
Posted in Ebooks, 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
Posted in Ebooks, Electronic / Digital Publishing, Multimedia Storytelling, Self-Publishing, Writing | No Comments »
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
Posted in Ebooks, Electronic / Digital Publishing, Publishing, Self-Publishing, Writing | No Comments »
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 »
Wednesday, May 12th, 2010
I’ve taken my supernatural thriller, originally published as a multimedia Quillr and reworked it into an e-book called Unnatural States .
It’s now available on the iPhone, Kindle and Smashwords website. See links below.
UnnaturalStates
Only $2.99 US for this fast-paced thriller that mixes bioethics, religion and the supernatural.
Check it out at:
iTunes App Store
Amazon.com Kindle
Smashwords.com
Prepare to be intrigued, challenged and shaken up!
Tags: ebook, Electronic / Digital Publishing, genre fiction, horror, inspirational fiction, iPhone, kindle, mystery, paranormal, smashwords, supernatural, unnaturalstates
Posted in Ebooks, 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
Posted in Ebooks, Electronic / Digital Publishing, Publishing | No Comments »
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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