What Is Best Digital Format For Your E-Book? Hmmm, Let's Take a Look

Due to some responses I received from a post I made yesterday on my other blog, Publishing/Writing: Insights, News, Intrigue, titled 'IDEAlliance (The International Digital Enterprise Alliance) Seeks Standardization for Mobile Magazine Publishing', I have come to the conclusion that others may be as confused as I once was RE the exploding mobile digital publishing arena.

Did I say "once was" confused? Let me clarify; actually I was born confused and have stayed confused all my life :) I just get patches of clarity from time to time --- It doesn't mean I'm an expert in anything, except perhaps as a journeyman in confusion --- and I'm not even a master in that.

Anyway, some seem to be a little discombobbled about what PDF, MOBI and ePub digital formats are all about and what the benefits of each are.

So tonight I'm offering a 3.5 minute YouTube video link that explains some differences and two text links that will fill out your understanding of the three main digital formats and digital and electronic publishing in general.

ePub vs. MOBI vs. PDF: Which format should you use for your eBook?  --- A great text link.



Electronic Publishing --- A great overview text link.


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A Unique, Ageless, Creative and Very Private Artist Comes To Light

Janet Ruttenberg paints in Central Park

Tonight's post delves into a truly unique and timeless artist with scads of stamina whose very life provides a lesson for writers, publishers and ALL creative people --- can you discern what it is?

Just imagine an 82 year old woman leaning over a 15' by 15' canvas, spread out on the grass in New York's Central Park, wielding a 40" long brush as she 'dabbles some yellow paint and describes the curious pull of the vast lawn, with its tableaux of couples, families and single New Yorkers, all set beneath the elegant skyline of Central Park South.'

"Central Park is really like a cathedral," she says --- 'She' in this instance is Janet K. Ruttenberg, the 82 year old, very rich widow of former industrialist and philanthropist, Derald H. Ruttenberg.

Just imagine, if you will, an elderly lady wearing a battered straw hat, pushing a shopping cart with art supplies into Central Park. A bag lady? One worth millions plus, yes. This is just so deliciously dripping with real life drama, but, with a very unique twist --- Janet K. Rittenberg has never intended her work for public view. She painted only for her self- enjoyment and private viewing of close friends AND as she, herself, said "I'm interested in working. It's like cracking a code."    

"Sarah M. Henry, the chief curator and deputy director of the Museum of the City of New York, called Mrs. Ruttenberg’s work 'a major discovery.' "

“To see someone who has worked in a career that long, who has made work on such a large scale, who is so accomplished and unique and who has never done it for public view — that’s just very unusual,” she said.

This wonderful real life story holds many life lessons and I just could not NOT post about this marvelous 82 year old dynamo --- a newly discovered, very accomplished artist--- Oh, the irony of it all :)

From The New York Times by Lisa W. Foderaro:

A Private Artist Goes Public

The Painter Janet Ruttenberg Likens the Sheep Meadow to a Cathedral

Janet K. Ruttenberg hovered over a 15-foot-long piece of paper that was spread across the grass in Central Park. It was an unusually balmy October afternoon and she was painting one of her favorite subjects: the Sheep Meadow. Wielding a 40-inch-long brush, she dabbed some yellow paint and described the curious pull of the vast lawn, with its tableaux of couples, families and single New Yorkers, all set beneath the elegant skyline of Central Park South.

“It’s really like a cathedral,” said Mrs. Ruttenberg, who has spent the past 15 years documenting Central Park in watercolor and oil paints. “People come and take pictures of the frieze of buildings, just like they would if they were in a great cathedral.”

At 82, Mrs. Ruttenberg is the grande dame of park portraiture in New York City, though until recently no one would have known it. She has refused to sell a single painting and has never exhibited her work until now — 17 of her paintings are on view at the Museum of the City of New York in a show called “Picturing Central Park,” which runs through Jan. 5.

Janet K. Ruttenberg with a Lance of an artists brush

“I’m just not interested,” she explained of her decision to ignore the art market and paint only for herself. “I’m interested in working. It’s like cracking a code.” After a lengthy disquisition on the tricky composition of a group of nearby picnickers, the interrelationship of individual leaves and the elusive skin tones of a bare-chested man, she asked: “Who the hell can think of selling and galleries when there’s all this drama going on?”

And the truth is, she never had to: Mrs. Ruttenberg belongs to a class more likely to underwrite museum shows than to appear in them.

She lives in a grand duplex apartment on one of Manhattan’s most rarefied blocks — Beekman Place. It is where she raised four children with her husband, Derald H. Ruttenberg, a prominent industrialist and philanthropist who died in 2004 at age 88. She now shares the apartment with her maids and original works by Picasso, Matisse, Goya, Ingres and others, as well as clay sculptures by her daughter Kathy Ruttenberg, a successful sculptor and painter.

The crowd at her museum opening included Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, as well as Oscar and Annette de la Renta — old friends of the Ruttenbergs from when the two couples had neighboring houses in the Dominican Republic. Mr. de la Renta even lent his voice to the exhibition, recording a song for one of Mrs. Ruttenberg’s most striking works, an oil painting of tango dancers on which video of actual Central Park dancers is projected.

Continued at original article source

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Successful Self-Publishers Are More Than Writers - They Are Business Owners

Self-Publishing movement
bouncing upward and onward

That's right! The old stereotype of a reclusive, sometimes intelligent but socially shy or inept personality that shuns interaction and only lives to write and has no other life or purpose will never be a successful self-publisher --- Unless some streetwise, third party recognizes his/her talent and helps him/her in this endeavor (sort of like agents in the TP system).

So, it appears that only entrepreneurs should apply for self-publishing. This is probably more true than not --- ACTUALLY, it's probably more true than not for writers wanting to be successful in the old traditional publishing model with agents and big house publishers, etc.

Anyway, the self-publishing movement is enticing more of these entrepreneur-writer types out of the woodwork because the movement is definitely MOVING forward.

Let's look at some insider, statistical numbers that prove more what I've said above - These numbers provided by Bowker (the world's leading provider of bibliographic information management solutions designed to help publishers, booksellers, and libraries) in this piece provided by Digital Journal:

Self-Publishing Movement Continues Strong Growth in U.S., Says Bowker  

2012 ISBNs show nearly 60% more self-published works than in 2011


A new analysis of U.S. ISBN data by ProQuest affiliate Bowker reveals that the number of self-published titles in 2012 jumped to more than 391,000, up 59 percent over 2011 and 422 percent over 2007. Ebooks continue to gain on print, comprising 40 percent of the ISBNs that were self-published in 2012, up from just 11 percent in 2007. 

"The most successful self-publishers don't view themselves as writers only, but as business owners," said Beat Barblan, Bowker Director of Identifier Services. "They invest in their businesses, hiring experts to fill skill gaps and that's building a thriving new service infrastructure in publishing."

The analysis shows the growing prominence of a handful of companies that offer publishing services to individual authors.  More than 80 percent of self-published titles came to market with support from just eight companies, including Smashwords and CreateSpace.
Bowker's research on self-publishing includes surveys of authors that provide insight into where the market is going and services required by these writers. Those who intend to self-publish most often plan to bring fiction to market, followed by inspirational or spiritual works, books for children and biographies. The majority cite finding a traditional publisher as an obstacle. They also feel challenged by marketing – a hurdle that becomes bigger with increasing numbers of books in the market.

Original article continues here


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Can PubSoft Be Helpful in Pulling Traditional Publishing Into the Digital Age?

So much has changed in the publishing industry almost at mach speed --- And yet, so much has remained the same, especially in traditional publishing (TP).

TP wants its old business model (print) to remain as much the same as possible, especially now since the majority of revenue (though declining) still comes from that model. That being said, TP also realizes, more and more, that the tipping point is fast approaching when most revenues will result from digital products; as such, they are fervently searching for economical and efficient ways to adapt and transition to digital.

Enter PubSoft - 'Pubsoft is publishing software for the next generation of great publishers. The strength of the system is in the intuitive and easy-to-use administrative portals that allow publishers and authors control over their marketing and platform building activities. Publishers can manage author accounts, upload ebooks, sell direct to customers and distribute royalties. The system can be used to automate daily administrative tasks, provide a direct to consumer sales opportunity that builds a strong, engaged reader following, and provide a two-way marketing and sales environment for authors.'

This purported publishing solution software appears to have a lot to offer to both major houses with several imprints, down to a handful-of-titles independent publisher.

More details at Good-E-Reader by Mercy Pilkington:

PubSoft’s New Platform Stands to Revolutionize the Publishing Industry

While so much about publishing has changed in just the last few years, one of the unfortunate truths about publishing is that so much has not changed. The traditional publishing model, as most authors, readers, and booksellers know it, has not changed much in the last few hundred years, in fact. With the advent of digital publishing, self-publishing, and ebook-0nly and digital-first publishing, traditional models are looking for ways to keep up with the changes coming at them.

PubSoft, a new platform aimed at helping publishers brand themselves and reach out to a category of consumer called “influencer readers,” released some news today about what it has to offer to a wide variety of publishers, from major houses with several imprints, down to a handful-of-titles independent publisher.

“Pubsoft’s unique digital publishing engine is a game-changer in the publishing sector. With Pubsoft, publishers can quickly and easily create and manage a custom ebook store to enable direct-to-consumer ebook sales, including branded mobile publishing for iPad devices. The Pubsoft platform gives publishers the power to engage and manage authors with SEO-optimized author and book landing pages, social media marketing integration, distribution capabilities across multiple channels and online content sampling and multiple point of purchase options.

“The platform streamlines backend workflow tasks, automating online marketing functions and administrative work and allowing publishers to capture and analyze author, reader and revenue data. Pubsoft delivers a dashboard that gives publishers the power to capture metadata and drill down into book, author and reader levels for insights that can supercharge marketing campaigns, inform key business decisions and drive broader product strategy.”

Good e-Reader spoke with Kbuuk and PubSoft’s Dougal Cameron about what this platform has to offer everyone involved in the life of a book.

article continues

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Publishers Need To Determine User Personas on Mobiles For Better Book Marketing/Sales

Mobile devices hold audiences for
your book sales

In today's expanding digital publishing world with ever increasing mobile devices --- publishers need to figure out just where in the hell their most probable customers reside among the mobile community.

Of all the mobile users (fastest growing digital doers) where (or on which device) are most of the readers of my particular genre?

Why is this important? Because each category of mobile device are separate entities with their own design and utility needs that need to be customized for each.

Just how do we decipher this useful bit of information?

It's often damn hard, I'll tell you that --- But, one way (and maybe the only way for publishers/writers outside the digital device manufacturing industry) is through research done by digital device manufacturers to determine best business practices within their own industry.

Tonight's post is research done by Flurry, a mobile ad firm, that analyzed the usage data from more than 44,000 devices - grouped under the two major categories of iPhone (Smartphone) and iPad (Tablet).

Great results depicted on a pretty 'persona usage' chart:

Looking at the persona or demographic groups depicted in the chart above, on which device would you say the audience for your book genre is mostly located?

Get more info from the original FOLIO magazine article :

iPad and iPhone Uses Differ Sharply

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Lit Crawls, The Thirsty Scholar Pub and a Cocktail of Books and Booze

A Lit Crawl hosted by Washington Square Review
at the Thirsty Scholar pub in the East Village last year.

Live and exciting events for sure --- with a purposeful and fun ambiance! 

Let the publishing industry fret about the future of print. An ever increasing digitized age has grown weary, moved on and created a more intensified and three-dimensional 'literature as live event' concept AND this concept appears to be real, down-to-earth and thriving.

The fast growing tentacles of Lit Crawls - think Pub Crawls, but with the added ingredient of writers, authors and publishers; both established and newbies - have spread from San Francisco (where they began in 2004) across the United States and overseas.

A goal of mine today is to acquire a list of the upcoming 2014 Lit Crawls, book passage and attend them ALL next year; beginning with Manhattan and the East Village and Lower East Side of New York - where I'll get my basic training for the rest of the lit crawls across the U.S. and overseas.

I figure by the time I get overseas, I'll be in good enough shape (booze-wise and cleaning-the-pipes-wise) to really open her up and have a couple of new film noir detective novels written (written from the belly of the beast Lit Crawl pubs), ready to go right to the silver screen. 

Yeah, now that I have the time, I think this will be a worthy goal, indeed --- What do you guys think?  

Now, this from Laura Collins-Hughes in The New York Times:

A Heady Cocktail of Books and Booze

A 2012 Lit Crawl map

LET the publishing industry fret about the future of print. In an ever more digitized age, literature as live event appears to be thriving.

A case in point: the sprawling web of Lit Crawls — like pub crawls, but with authors — that have made their way from San Francisco, where they began in 2004, into literary strongholds across the United States and now as far as London, whose inaugural Lit Crawl was last weekend. Next month, Los Angeles will have its first.

But this weekend the action is closer to home, with the sixth annual Lit Crawl Manhattan. For three hours on Saturday evening, the bookishly inclined will take to the streets of the East Village and the Lower East Side, seeking their literary fix in bars, art galleries and the occasional pizzeria or laundromat.

According to Suzanne Russo, director of Lit Crawl NYC, it is not a series of sit-downs featuring glossy, boldface names, but a gritty, low-budget affair, both more accessible — there are no tickets, and admission is free — and more locally oriented, giving lesser-known New York writers a turn in the spotlight. For that reason, Ms. Russo said, it draws people who aren’t part of “the nerdy literary crowd” — though it draws them, too.

Bronwen Hruska has participated in past crawls, both as a novelist and as the publisher ofSoho Press. She sees a marked contrast between what she called the party feel of Lit Crawl, filled with writers interested in having fun, and events studded with literary stars, which, for the audience, can feel “almost like worshiping at the foot of your idol.” Lit Crawl, she said, is “much more approachable as a literary festival.”

“I hired a baby sitter,” Ms. Hruska said. “I’m going this weekend.”

The lineup — more than two dozen events spread out over three phases, beginning at 6 p.m. — includes interactive games, like a round of “naughty trivia” with Ophira Eisenberg, the host of NPR’s “Ask Me Another”; ghost stories with Lapham’s Quarterly at theMerchant’s House Museum, which may or may not have ghosts of its own; a performance by Farrar, Straus & Giroux’s house band, the Savage Detectives; and straight-ahead author events, like the New Voices Reading Series “Radical Latinas” program.

Jack Boulware, executive director of Litquake, the San Francisco literary festival that spawned the crawls, said they offer readers and aspiring writers a level of access to authors that auditorium-style events tend not to allow.

“You can buy them a drink,” he said. “You can go to the after-party and hit the dance floor with them if you want. You can talk to them in a social setting. They’re not just whisked offstage. It’s much more democratized in many ways.”

Lit Crawl is also about as low-tech as a brick-and-mortar bookshop. Depending on the space in which an event takes place, Ms. Russo said, even a microphone or a projector might be too much to expect.

The timing of this year’s crawl, and a Friday night benefit at Le Poisson Rouge, is not ideal, Ms. Russo said: Yom Kippur begins Friday at sundown and lasts until just after 7 p.m. on Saturday. This week, the novelist Lore Segal bowed out of her scheduled event, citing Yom Kippur commitments, but is now back on, Ms. Russo said. But, she noted, only one event curator asked, because of the High Holy Day, to be scheduled in a later slot.

Continue reading

'Enhanced Hardcovers' Or 'Devalued E-Books'?

We've all heard of 'bundling' in consumer-offered products. You supposedly get a better deal (price) if you bundle things together --- say like combining auto and home insurance on the same policy or combining telephone, cable and internet together in one 'bundle'.

Does it work? Sometimes, but you really have to keep track of your own services' costs to see if the bundling saves you enough money to be worthwhile.

Next month (October 2013) Amazon will be offering e-book plus print book bundled packages called Kindle MatchBook.

One publishing industry executive previously envisioned such a product as being beneficial but his price points (more expensive) were way different than those being offered by Amazon (cheaper) next month. He called his version 'Enhanced Hardcovers' and felt the bundling would entice consumers and add to the profit of both authors and publishers.

Others, on the other hand, feel the cheaper price points in Kindle MatchBook will further devalue e-books and make them seem like simply add-on items. 

Tonight's feature article and discussion will explain a little about Amazon's Kindle Matchbook and Enhanced Hardcovers and you can decide for yourselves if you believe the new packaged product will be worthwhile or not. 

By Rachel Deahl in Publisher's Weekly:

Are Publishers a Match for Kindle MatchBook?

When Amazon announced on Tuesday that it was launching a program to bundle print and e-books, called Kindle MatchBook, the effort drew little response from publishers, and even less participation. Among the major houses, HarperCollins is currently the only one participating, and it is doing so in a limited fashion. With publishers largely unwilling to talk about the program—most houses PW contacted declined to comment on MatchBook—the question remains whether publishers are not yet willing to try bundling, or whether they simply don’t want to try it with Amazon.

Through MatchBook, Amazon customers can buy e-book editions of new print titles, as well as e-book editions of print titles they have already purchased, at price points ranging from $2.99 to free. The program is set to go live in October and, currently, offers a mix of self-published titles (18,000 by Kindle Direct Publishing authors), as well as titles released by Amazon Publishing. A spokesperson for HarperCollins said that the house has "a selection of our backlist books" available through MatchBook. Amazon remains confident that more publishers will join the program in the future.

Bundling has been a simmering topic in the publishing industry. Some executives, like Evan Schnittman, formerly at Bloomsbury and now at Hachette, have publicly said that the approach could be beneficial. What Schnittman conceived, though, was not a program along the lines of MatchBook. In a previous story, Schnittman told PW about what he calls the “enhanced hardcover,” a bundle with print and e-book editions of a title offered at a price point 25% higher than the standard hardcover price point. The enhanced hardcover, he felt, would entice consumers, while also working towards the profits of both authors and publishers.

MatchBook is nothing like Schnittman's enhanced hardcover concept and, for some, the price points it offers are underwhelming. One publisher, talking off the record, said he was nonplussed about MatchBook. He felt the low prices in the program "further devalues e-books," and makes them "look like a throw-in item."

All the major publishers declined to say what they think of MatchBook, or whether they will join the program. Agent Robert Gottlieb is even skeptical about whether publishers have the right to submit their books into the program.

Gottlieb, chairman of Trident Media Group, said MatchBook exemplifies “a further erosion of the value of authors’ work.” More importantly, for Gottlieb, is the question of whether a program like MatchBook is covered under existing contracts authors have with publishers. “I don’t believe there are provisions in contracts for this type of arrangement,” Gottlieb said, noting that clauses around digital rights ownership in standard contracts do not cover a transaction like the one proposed by MatchBook.

Continued at original article

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