Tenebris

Podcasting your book and Amazon's play for independent publishers

In recent news, The Book Standard ran a short piece on podcasting audio books called, "A Novel Approach to Podcasting." It features tech-savvy author Mark Jeffrey, of The Pocket and the Pendant.

In older news (still playing catch-up), Amazon.com continues to try to develop its image as a vehicle for independent publishers. They have announced Amazon Shorts, a line of short fiction that readers can purchase for 49 cents a download. See "Amazon does an iTunes for Literature" (Earth Times).

I post this as a follow-up to an AP story from a couple of weeks ago (that I suspect I may also have forgotten to blog): "Big doors opened by Amazon.com: Authors and small publishers benefit from global reach." I think the AP story probably reflects the Amazon PR department's first attempt at making the case that independent publishers should work directly through them. This is the first bit of corporate strategy to follow upon the company's purchase of Booksurge last April.

Amazon keeps track of sales and inventory for its Advantage publishers, and automatically reorders books when stocks are running low. Members pay a $29.95 fee, and Amazon takes a 55 percent cut of sales -- about what most wholesalers charge.

The story manages to glide right over it, but that 55% tells you about all you need to know about this strategy, methinks. When  you take out the middleman-distributor, who benefits? In this case, Amazon.com. Why not the publisher? Why not the author?

[Added: There is a fairly lengthy discussion of the pros and cons of the Amazon Shorts program on the blog Whatever. Worth a read.]

The niche publishing meme continues

The AuthorHouse PR team successfully pitches the long tail angle of POD publishing to the Dallas Morning News in:

Target audience? POD is for you
Self-publishers can find technical niche or fill out a family tree
12:00 AM CDT on Saturday, August 20, 2005
By JEROME WEEKS / The Dallas Morning News

The New Writer's Thesaurus

A friend (and fellow Magnetic Fields fan) brought this to my attention today:

           

The Oxford American Writer's Thesaurus Compiled by Christine Lindberg ISBN 0195170768, hardback, 1128 pages, Oct 2004

From the description:     In addition to the more than 300,000 synonyms and 10,000 antonyms found in the thesaurus, each of our distinguished editorial board members (including David Auburn, Michael Dirda, David Lehman, Stephin Merritt, Francine Prose, Zadie Smith, Jean Strouse, David Foster Wallace, and Simon Winchester) has contributed frank, funny, thoughtful, and, most of all, word-wise mini-essays on words that they particularly love, hate, admire, or are just plain puzzled by.

So that's on my Christmas list.

Lulu Sampler 2

There are a couple of recent storefronts that truly, truly deserve some focused attention, but in the meantime we must content ourselves with another Lulu sampler....

OTTO RAHN: the real "Indiana Jones", by Nigel Graddon
Description: The long awaited first English language biography of Otto Wilhelm Rahn, one of the most enigmatic men of the 20th Century. In 1930 language scholar Rahn travelled to the South of France to find the Grail treasures, convinced he had cracked a code in the pages of Wolfram von Eschenbach's classic novel "Parsifal" and identified the hiding place of the Treasures of theTemple of Solomon. Many believe Rahn was ordered to the Languedoc by Hitler and his inner circle to find these ancient talismans of power. Even today no one knows if Rahn ever did find the Grail. Otto Rahn took his secrets to the grave when in March 1939 he committed suicide...or did he?

Les aventures d'un GO desorganise  [editor's note: G.O. stands for  Gentil  Organisateur]
This book is written in French - From Mexico to South-East Asia via the Caribbean, the author – dive instructor for the last 15 years – leads us through four years of extraordinary travels and hilarious adventures while working as a GO for Club Med.

Overcoming Lust in a Sex-crazed World
The mind is a terrible thing to waste, especially when it is occupied with lust. This short book has been written as a helpful tool to those who want to know what they can do to rid themselves of the sin of lust. Lust is God-dishonoring, painful, and embarrassing sin. The epidemic with Christian pastors and laymen across the United States alone is staggering. No man is safe when they turn on their TV or when they read a magazine at the periodicals section of the local bookstore, or even stand in line at the supermarket with the magazine covers on the shelf! Overall, every bit of ammunition that can be mined out of the bible to help us as men overcome the addiction of sexual sin, or of the temptations surrounding lust, will be a help to the battle for purity overall. It is with great prayer that this work will be of help to you.

The Film Freak Central 2005 Annual
FilmFreakCentral.net's first published collection, The Film Freak Central 2005 Annual compiles reviews of 2004 theatrical releases by the site's own Walter Chaw, Travis Mackenzie Hoover, and Bill Chambers. Content exclusive to the book includes an essay on Matthew Barney's The Cremaster Cycle by Walter Chaw.

Ornamental Gardening in Acadiana & the Gulf States: Questions and Answers
In "Ornamental Gardening in Acadiana and the Gulf States," a veteran gardening columnist answers hundreds of questions raised by gardeners in Louisiana's steamy coastal region and the neighboring Gulf states. Questions and answers are grouped into 10 chapters covering the most popular types of ornamental gardening in the Deep South, including annuals, perennials, bulbs, vines, roses, shrubs, lawns, groundcovers, landscaping and maintenance.

Basic Copper Smithing and Flame Painting on Copper, by HandiCraft Video [Editor's NOTE: Video!] Description: Follow along with this video as Skip Matthews, America's premiere flame painter, demonstrates the techniques of basic copper smithing and then turns his talents to the production of one a kind flame painted artworks on copper using nothing more than an oxy-acetylene torch and a few common hand tools.

The Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, by United States. Army. Corps of Engineers. Manhattan District
Description: This document by the Manhatten Engineering District scientifically and logically examines the bombings which may have ended World War II.

Master Sudoku: Puzzles of Varying Difficulty, Volume 1
Description: Master Sudoku guides you through varying levels of Sudoku difficulty, from Tyro through Master. Containing over 149 puzzles, Master Sudoku will satisfy your urge to sharpen your mind. So empty your schedule, sit back, and prepare to be puzzled.

CyberRadicalism: A New Left for a Global Age
Description: A collection 15 essays by the authors covering a full set of new and unique theoretical work on the crisis in socialist theory, the impact of the information revolution, globalization, the rise of the right, and an outline and practical examples of strategy and tactics on how to deal with it.

How To Be A Hitman
A Technical Manual for Independent Contractors Originally published by Paladin Press Written by Rex Feral

The Grand Duke
New Edition of the vocal score of Gilbert and Sullivan's The Grand Duke. Please note that the edition is in 'proof' status at this time. It is ready to be enjoyed, but there will be further revisions before it is considered final. This is the June 2005 revision, including a new Introduction, Commentary and Appendices.

Bad blogger seeks to make good

I am a bad blogger. Not bad as in Bad Lieutenant, but bad nevertheless. Bad at keeping up. Bad at fulfilling my obligations to readers (both of you -- and by the way I owe you some cookies). Bad at any number of things. Also bad at running, which is neither here nor there. It has been a hot, hot summer, and I have become one slow blogger.

But in an attempt to kill, or at least wound, several birds with one stone, let me recap some recent developments in the world of independent publishing, which is the nominal topic of this-here blog.

Bob Young, CEO and founder of Lulu (and my boss) showed up on a PODcast called This Week in Tech (or TWIT) to talk a bit about his background with Red Hat and how he came to be the guy who is trying to revolutionize publishing. The podcast, which is Episode 18 of the program hosted by Leo Laporte, can be downloaded HERE. Not only is the show interesting, it is assembled by professional broadcasters who know exactly what they are doing. It came as a shock to me, but this podcast has generated more ripples than just about any media coverage Lulu has ever received. This program is apparently the number one podcast on iTunes, with an audience that numbers in the hundreds of thousands. Impressive.

A nice, juicy story featuring Lulu appeared in the Sunday Times of London a few weeks ago, a notable placement that went unnoted here. The story, by Kira Cochrane, is called "Publish and Be Damned Self Reliant." [The reporter sadly neglects to mention the UK company Publish and Be Damned (PABD).] Lulu also showed up in a few non-wired newspaper stories this week, including the Columbus Dispatch and the Hamilton Spectator.

Yours truly was interviewed by the Self-Publisher News, a newsletter being published by Milton Stern, author of Harriet Lane, America's First Lady.

Lulu showed up in a story in the Bay Area Guardian, a weekly paper in San Francisco, in a story called "No Money Down." I don't think I've linked to this one yet. The premise is quite good, and often overlooked by other journalists: there are a small handful of web sites that allow individuals or small groups to start businesses without any capital. eBay, CafePress, and Lulu all fall into this category.

In the news world, the NYT ran a good story on Warren Adler titled "Steal This Book. Or At Least Download it Free." Adler is author of The War of the Roses and a number of other books and he is an advocate for self-publishing. His marketing technique, which is familiar to all of us working in the Internet realm, consists of giving away his content in serialized form on the web, and then selling a hard copy of the complete work to the folks who liked it. This try-before-you-buy strategy is fairer for the consumer even though it may work against the name-brand author hoping to sell a lot of copies of his or her latest title quickly. Had I been able to read one chapter at a time beforehand, I would never have shelled out thirty-something dollars for Don Delillo's Underworld a few years ago.

Xlibris has been busy spamming people again, and the sardonic POD-dy Mouth (bless her) has had a go at gutting the latest marketing dreck from that stubbornly unwise company. At least they seem to have retired the overworked Mercedes Bournias. One Tracey Rosengrave seems to have taken her place. Free marketing advice for novices: don't harvest email addresses; don't buy email lists.

Jeff Jarvis of BuzzMachine has penned another buzzworthy essay (in which Lulu makes a cameo appearance): "Who Owns Content?"

Novelist James R. Winter offers a somewhat vitriolic blog post on the topic of print-on-demand: "Why POD Sucks."  It serves to remind us once again, as if we needed reminding, that a few bad apples spoil (the perception of) the barrel. Not to take away from his general point, but he doesn't seem entirely up to date on the applications of POD or the current state of the technology. But it's easy see why novelists would hate print-on-demand.

Have I mentioned yet that Issue 3 of JPGMagazine is out? Its theme is Fabulous.

Lulu book sampler

As you will have noticed, the Lulu storefront of the day has virtually disappeared from the blog. I hardly know what to post anymore! It used to be true that quirky, interesting, or especially good titles jumped right out at me, but these days the flood of new material is so torrential that it is hard to know where to shine the flashlight into the water.

But one thing I can do is deliver a more or less random list of recent titles that might make for interesting browsing. If there are enough of them, no one is likely to make any assumptions as to the criteria used. So here goes....

Better Judgment: Confessions of a Mistress, by Gwen Masters
This is the true story of an erotica writer and her personal experiences as she, against her better judgment, chooses to get involved with a married man. Published by www.voracitybeat.com “the erotica beat for women.”

Road Warrior Survival Guide | practical tips for the professional on-the-go, by Greg Rosner
There are tons of useful books, magazines and web sites which will help you hype-up your hybrid, tweak your smart-phone and speed up your laptop. But this book has a wider view; how to use tools, software and services in a way that will streamline your life. This book is for professionals who travel often, telecommute, or work from a virtual office and are seeking ways to become more productive working remotely.

iNVERSION, by Eric Durchholz
Slip into something Uncomfortable. A new-born goddess, Xenectra, enlists victims of the demon Rotharique to join her in fighting an onslaught of deities from the Purgamentum, a realm somewhere between Heaven and Hell. Informally knowns as God's dumping ground, the Puragamentum's security has been breached by the demon Rotharique who uses the cast-off pieces of old gods to become ever-more powerful. As he worms his way into the lives of several mortals, he gains unprecedented access to Earth and begins to wreak havoc with governments and other human institutions.

Home Education in Modern English, by Leslie Noelani Laurio
Volume 1 of Charlotte Mason's Original Homeschool Series translated into plain English by Leslie Laurio.

Tecnología de Información al alcance de la mano, by Jacobo Rubinstein
El libro provee conceptos, metodologías para aprovechar la tecnología de información en las mejoras de los negocios.

The Evolution Diet, by Joseph Stephen Breese Morse
For 2 million years, humans evolved to eat a certain way: in the hunter/gatherer style, which consists of snacking on plant foods while roaming around before hunting and consequently filling themselves with animal meat. For the last few thousand years, however, our culture has forced us into a diet that is contrary to this. As a result, it is increasingly difficult to eat the way we were designed to eat.

The Outrageous Life of Henry Faulkner, by Charles House
The life of painter and poet Henry Faulkner, from his childhood in rural Kentucky to a flamboyant bohemian existence in New York, Los Angeles, Key West, and Sicily. The author sheds light on the tragic tensions experienced by the artist in contemporary America.

Downfall, by Chris Keogh-Ly
2012 - London has vanished from the face of the Earth. Two hundred years later a plan is hatched to find it and only one man can get them there.

How to set up a backup server (and client) with Amanda on Linux, by Daniel Hawk
This book will guide you through the process of creating a backup server and clients that use the amanda tool built into Fedora and other distributions of Linux. Everything you need to know to back up your company's servers with a single backup server is in this manual.

Emo: A Rita Montgomery Mystery, by Alison Allen
Rita Montgomery is a PI who's having a slow day when the phone rings. It's teen sensation Laurel Roberds' manager, offering Rita a whole lot of cash to be the teen's bodyguard. With mortgage and car payments looming, Rita says yes, and is thrust into the "emo," teenage slang for emotional, world of the teen superstar.

Black Boots, Green Suits, by V.K. Banks
Black Boots, Green Suits is a story about women going through basic training prior to the Persian Gulf War. This is the first play in a three part series. In this first part, the women change from civilian clothes to black boots and greens suits, learning what it means to be a women in an army designed by and for men and what it means to wear the uniform. The women journey through eight weeks of training and by the end of this journey much happens in their personal world and in the world around them.
 
Gulf Coast Gardening with Randy Lemmon, by Randy Lemmon
Randy Lemmon is the host of Houston's GardenLine radio program, on Clear Channel's TalkRadio 950 KPRC. Over 1.4 million Houstonians garden for a hobby or pastime, and GardenLine is where they listen for advice and information on gardening and landscaping.

Cubicle Cowboy, by Jeff Metzger
Cubicle Cowboy is a bawdy satire about losing one’s identity in American corporate culture. The protagonist is so thoroughly brainwashed by the corporate behemoth that he cannot even remember his name at the end of the story. His only vestige of self-consciousness is his employee badge number: 65436. Our hero labors day in and day out, drowning in the monotony of his cubicle culture. In order to ward off insanity, his personal life grows more and more outrageous as he attempts to prove to himself that he is something more than a cog in the machine. He becomes romantically involved with a mysterious and troubled co-worker; he acquires a stripper roommate and drama ensues; he takes physically taxing (and profoundly bibulous) overnight vacations to Mexico and New Orleans. And all of these scenes are transparent attempts to prove that he is alive, which his cubicle and his headset and the absurd bureaucracy of his employer are striving to refute eighty hours per week...

C'at Chi: The Ancient Art of Napping, by Larry Richardson

C'at Chi Master Mew Meow-Meow teaches cats and their human companions how to achieve the highest, most satisfying level of unconsciousness -- Napping Nirvana. Original color photos and humorous text will lead you down a peaceful path to restful shores. (Makes a great gift for insomniacs, cat enthusiasts, enlightened beings and those who love them.)

Lulu makes Time Magazine

Albeit in a very brief article, Lulu finally makes TIME Magazine this week in "A Market of One."

This marks a relatively rare Lulu appearance in the U.S. national  press (although there was the Wall Street Journal story a couple of years back and sites like Slashdot and News.com are, of course, national). The international press, on the other hand, continues to love the Lulu story--see today's updates to the previous post. 

The Sunday Telegraph on Lulu

Yet another important UK paper, The Sunday Telegraph, offers its take on Lulu, this one predictably skeptical: "They haven't sold because they're not very good. But at least the readers decide," by Roya Nikkhah.

It's funny, really, that so few members of the conventional media seem to be able to let go of the good vs. bad distinction. This is also why the subject of blogs remains touchy among journalists. It is hard for established media voices to grasp the truly libertarian nature of the Internet itself.

[Updates added on 9/9]

The e-publishing alternative, Belfast Telegraph

Web authors slip rejection
Sydney Morning Herald (subscription) - Sydney,New South Wales,Australia
... as How to Cook a Peacock and Ten Crochet Dude Dishcloths have, against all the odds, been published, and read, via an American website, www.lulu.com, which was ...
See all stories on this topic

Bad books are welcome here
Washington Times - Washington,DC,USA
... How to Cook a Peacock" and "Ten Crochet Dude Dishcloths" have, against all the odds, been published, and read, via an American Web site, www.Lulu.com, which ...
See all stories on this topic

And damned if I can get this link to work, but it shows up in Google News:

 Bloggers can now benefit advertisers
Media Week, UK - 7 hours ago
... But, as the recent UK launch of the personal publishing site Lulu.com indicates, the phenomenon of personal publishing is of major interest to the media sector ...

Bloggers seek to tackle reality television

Cameron and Damien Barrett, identical twins and longtime bloggers, are waging an online campaign to get themselves onto the reality television show The Amazing Race. They've asked fellow bloggers to help out by linking to their site, and I am happy to oblige.

I have been waiting for the first reality show contestant to publish an account of his or her experience as a Lulu book. While I can't give away any secrets, I have high hopes that it will be soon. The Amazing Race, for those who don't follow such things, is highbrow as reality shows go. Inviting bloggers to participate is a terrific idea.

BBC Radio

Hmm. I made a brief appearance today on BBC's Radio Ulster talking about Lulu.  I believe you can link to the stream by clicking here:
Arts Extra - Catch up with the latest news in the world of the arts.

If I came across as an idiot, please feel free not to mention it.

Remaindered books (or Bob gets a new desk)

           

Bob Young of Lulu

BBC News offers a fairly clear take on what Lulu is all about in "Rewriting the rules of publishing," a piece notable in part because of its generous use of graphics, including Jennie Breeden's drawing of a comic book artist banging her head on her drawing board and Bob's new chair and desk, which is made entirely of remaindered copies of his book How Red Hat Changed the Software Business--and Took Microsoft by Surprise. That memorable title is now available on Amazon for forty-five cents, which makes it cheaper than buying artificial logs this winter, no?

[and this update from the Edinburgh Evening News, which apparently makes a practice of simply rewriting BBC stories without getting any new information. Like a game of telegraph (in which one person whispers a story to another going around a room), the details subtly shift in this retelling: "Writers in with a shout thanks to Lulu." See also: "Lulu rivoluziona il sistema editoriale," in  the Italian paper Corriere della Sera.]