Events in September

• 13-15 September, 2012 Florida Heritage Book Festival and Writers Conference, St. Augustine, Florida
• 23-25 September, Mountains & Plains Independent Booksellers Association. Denver-Marriott Tech Center, Denver, Colorado
• 20-23 September, Southern Women Writers' Conference, Berry College, Mount Berry, Georgia
• 21-22 September, Central Coast Writers' Conference, Mission Plaza, San Louis Obispo, California
• 23-23 September, The 2012 National Book Festival. National Mall between 3rd and 7th streets; 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Washigton D.C.
• 21-22 September, Kentucky Women Writers' Conference, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky
• 21-23September, Southern CA Writers' Conference, Los Angeles, California. Location TBA
• 21-23 September; LitFuse: A Poet's Workshop, Tieton, Washington
• 23 September, Brooklyn Book Festival, Brooklyn Borrough Hall & Plaza, Brooklyn, New York
• 26-30 September ; Fall for the Book, Throughout Northern Virginia and DC, and Maryland. Check the link for the full schedule.
• 28-30 September South Dakota Festival of Books with activities in various locations throughout Sioux Falls, South Dakota
• 28-30 September, Baltimore Book Festival, Baltimore, Maryland
• 29 September-6 October, Banned Books Week

August Events for Readers and Writers

Some interesting and informative events around the country. Take part

11 - 12 August, Montana Wild West Fest with reenactments, cowboy poetry, dance hall, vendors and other events. Check site for schedule of events.

3 - 4 August ; Mississippi Writers' Guild Conference, Meridan Community College, Meridan, MS

3 - 5 August, Willamette Writers' Conference, Portland Oregon Sheraton Hotel, West Linn, OR

5 - 10 August; Cape Cod Writers' Center Conference, Resort and Conference Center of Hyannis, Cape Cod, MA

11 - 12 August, Santa Barbara Summer Writer's Poetry Workshop, Presidio State Historic Park's Pico Adobe, Santa Barbara, CA

17 - 20 August ; Sun Valley Writers' Conference, Sun Valley Resort, Ketchum, ID

24 - 26 August, Killer Nashville Mystery & Thriller Conference, Hutton Hotel, Nashville, TN

Catalog from GITP

Here's a free booklet that highlights some of the books Get It Together Productions (GITP) has worked on. Along with featured titles, the booklet contains a list of all the authors who have employed GITP through Summer 2012. A list of links for readers and writers is also included.
Another booklet/catalog will be issued in the Autumn, with more featured titles as well as writing tips.

A similar booklet is available free for Kindle Primers.

Enjoy!

Book Industry Info 6 July

Amazon expansion continues, particularly in their Publishing Arm, as they have made a strong bid to acquire all the titles from Dorchester Publishing.

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For the journalists--a dire prediction was reported in The Atlantic: Fifteen years from now, 90% of the news stories will be written by--algorithms. With many of the newspapers I've recently read, I think that would be an improvement, especially if the technology can edit!

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Improvements have already started in Barnes & Noble's electronic division since Microsoft invested bunches in the program. It's not just on the stock market, either. Already sales reports have increased, and there's a bit more author/BN interaction, including an affiliate program. BN also plans to expand nook stores including adding foreign markets.

 

All this seems positive, to me; how about you?

Pew Study: Library Patrons and E-Borrowing

Interesting article republished in in Shelf-Awareness: Pew Study: Library Patrons & E-Borrowing I'm a Library junkie and will borrow a book before buying. If I really like it, THEN I'll buy it. I haven't yet borrowed an e-book. Have you?

Publishing Publishers

Did you know there were two AVALONs? There’s the Avalon Publishing Group, established in 1994, which includes the imprints Avalon Travel Publishing, Carroll & Graf Publishers, Marlowe & Company, Nation Books, Seal Press, Shoemaker & Hoard, and Thunder’s Mouth Press.

And there’s Avalon Books, primarily producing romance, westerns and mysteries...Well, there was Avalon Books. This month, Amazon Publishing has acquired more than 3,000 backlist Avalon titles that will be republished under Amazon’s West Coast Imprints.

Did you know Amazon has imprints?

June Events for Readers and Writers

These are a few interesting writers conferences and conventions happening in June.
The list of U.S. Science Fiction Cons for June is quite extensive; check this link to see many of them.

5-7 June 2012
BookExpo America 2012
Jacob Javitz Center
New York City, NY

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7-8 June
Eighth Annual Clarksville Writers Conference
Clarksville, Tennessee

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8-10 June
5th Annual National Black Book Festival
Doubletree Hotel
Houston, Texas

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12-16 June
Western Writers of America Convention
Albuquerque, New Mexico

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14-17 June
Children's Writers and Illustrators Conference
Corte Madera, CA

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17–18 June
88th Australian Booksellers Association Conference and Trade Exhibition
Sidney, Australia

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18–20 June
Association of American University Presses Annual Meeting
Chicago, IL

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22-25 June
American Library Association Show 2012
Anaheim Convention Center
Anaheim, CA

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28-30 June
2012 Jackson Hole Writers Conference
at the Jackson Hole Center for the Arts
Jackson Hole, WY

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Be Productive

Another Ripoff?

Read the WRITERS BEWARE recent post about a new self-publishing venture.
The article's conclusion, although addressing PW specifically, says the basics for authors who are considering any self-pub schemes: "...As it is, authors who choose PW Select Plus are signing up--and paying--for a service based only on a very broad description, which lacks many of the specifics authors should carefully evaluate before signing up for any self-publishing option."
In other words--Get All The Facts!!

April Events For Readers and Writers

APRIL is National Poetry Month

A few other events for this month.

• April 8–14, 2012: National Library Week
   
• April 15–21, 2012: The 11th Annual Cowboy Poetry Week
   
• April 16–18, 2012: London Book Fair
   
• April 20–21, 2012: The 51st Western Heritage Awards
   
• April 20–22, 2012: The 20th annual Pike's Peak Writers Conference at the Marriott Hotel in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
   
• April 21–22, 2012: Los Angeles Times Festival of Books
   
• April 23, 2012: World Book and Copyright Day

Get involved

Red Adept Review Site Closed

In Mid March, the popular online site Red Adept Reviews, ceased publication. A true loss to the Indie Author. If any of your titles had been reviewed at RAR, and you didn’t grab the actual text you can still do that for a few more weeks. Just type your name, or the title in the search box. Be certain to list all the information with the review (date, reviewer, etc.) so you can use it later. Any ideas who will fill this void?

Ebook Pricing Lawsuit?

How are ebooks priced? Not those titles produced from the many Indie Authors, but those from traditional publishing houses--especially the Big Five? It's been a mix of super-high prices (with ebooks costing more than their paperback counterpart) and occasional deep discounts. How is it all determined?

In 2010, a breakdown of costs comparison was done at Gizmodo. It seemed there were a lot of pro-publisher stats. First they took the hard copy edition as the model to work with, then stated the bookseller gets a 50% discount (At Amazon...40% is the standard for other outlets, with 3% to the distributor); and the publisher pays 15% royalty to author (they didn't mention this happens only after the author has sold 10K copies or more)...

Considering the majority of what they call "real" books sold are trade paperbacks, NOT hard copy editions, the information given didn't tell the whole story. Then the ebook distributor they modeled was Apple--which, in 2010, was the most demanding and the hardest for which to format an ebook. They also didn't consider that once the ebook is formatted the costs to produce it for different readers drops off.

Another 2010 article inThe New York Times stated:

"In fact, the industry is based on the understanding that as much as 70 percent of the books published will make little or no money at all for the publisher once costs are paid."

(This begs the question of why the publishers don't go to POD to reduce costs.)

Now, two years later, after all types of back-and-forth, blah-blah-blah in blogs and forums, there seems to be some official follow up. Read about it in this CNET report and the Wall Street Journal. The Justice Department is now involved, and behind-the-scenes Apple information is revealed.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out.

Read an eBook

Here are two very different selections you could make for Read an eBook Week (March 4 -10). From GITP Author connections we present:

Linda Sandifer's western romance Desire's Treasure.

Disguised as a nun, Paris McKenna hides her father's treasure map in her saddlebags and sets out to find the legendary lost mission of Santa Isabel and its fabled riches. But lawless Arizona Territory is no place for a beautiful woman alone. She needs a guide as mean and tough as any outlaw, and she gets her wish in dangerously handsome bounty hunter Nate Brannigan.
Brannigan is willing to do just about any job if the price is right. He's prepared for what the desert has to throw at him, but he isn't prepared for a treasure protected by a curse, a gang of thieves hot on his heels, and a whole lot of unholy thoughts about "Sister Frances." But Nate Brannigan is no saint. And when he finds out Paris is no nun, their treasure hunt takes them on a wild ride across untamed borders of desire they've never crossed before.

Available for Nook and Kindle.

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Jeff Gibson's novella, Last Rites of Passage.

Two "gracefully aging gentlemen" embark on a trek into the wilderness to visit again the special places of their youth. Increasingly threatened by unpredictable weather, bodies that aren't what they used to be and serious injury, the gentlemen push on, until they find themselves battered and nearly immobilized in a mountain basin two miles high.
For one of the men, the trip stirs memories of a time half a century gone, when he and another boy vied for the affection of a girl named Till; a time of joy, adventure, youthful exuberance and life-changing events the man still struggles to understand.
A coming of old age story and more, briskly paced, adventurous and humorous.

Available for Nook and Kindle.

More Events for March

Beginning today: it's Read an eBook Week, March 4-10, 2012. Click on the GITP Authors in the side column to get some ideas. All have interesting ebooks to delight and educate. Mysteries, Westerns, nonfiction and more.

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The fifth annual Women of the World Poetry Slam will be held in Denver this year on March 7-10, 2012.

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EPIC's EPICon will be held 15 – 17 March in San Antonio. EPIC (Electronic Publishing Industry Coalition) was established in 1998 and holds it’s annual CON each year in a different city.

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30 - 31 March is the 6th Annual Northern Colorado Writers Conference, at the Fort Collins Hilton, Fort Collins, Colorado.

Small Press Month

Small Press Month is a nationwide celebration highlighting the work produced by independent publishers. Held annually in March, Small Press Month raises awareness about the need for broader venues of literary expression, showcasing some of the most diverse, exciting, and significant voices being published today.

The National Book Critics Circle (NYU) is one of many organizations with event for this month.

Tidbits 12-31-2011

Some fun and newsworthy notes to end 2011.

Akel Studio has an informative breakdown for photographers thinking to buy new equipment in 2012. Do you really need it? ==============
The fun and social interesting list of Banished Words is now up. Amazing! (ha ha). ==============
For Writers, this post at Terrible Minds has good information to heed. ==============
Photographers, history buffs, nature lovers, make note of this National Park's Service announcement. On the dates January 14–16, April 21–29, June 9, September 29 and November 10–12, 2012, there is no monetary excuse not to visit some of our nation’s greatest beauties. ==============
Here's interesting feedback on the new KDP Select program Amazon is running. David Wisehart has put up his personal info on the Make It Free feature that Select offers to authors.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Amazon Kicking Up Dust

Another brouhaha brewing. This time around the Kindle Owners' Lending Library. Borrow books for free, says Amazon (if you have Amazon Prime). However it seems some publishers are upset by this.

Here's a the skinny in a good overview from the LA Times.

Kodak Thinking Ahead

Or not.

It's so strange that a company that was the forefront and innovator in photography has seemed to miss the boat in the 21st century. I hope they get things righted.

Kodak Today

Kindle goes Tablet

Here it comes!

For Western Books and Readers

So often it's said that Westerns are "dying" and no one is interested in reading them. Reaction to a new Facebook group, Western Book Readers, certainly doesn't support that idea. In the two weeks since the group's inception, it already has more than 300 members. Some are authors (who are also readers), and the discussions are lively. Check it out!

New e-reader available

Just when it seems the e-reader market was saturated and about to become redundant (because of the capabilities of smartphones and tablets), a new one hits the market.

Google has joined the e-reader realm. Offering not only books for sale, but the vast library of stored books they have already squirreled away. You'd think they'd drop the price to snatch some of the competition, but they didn't. Not good, since Amazon is lowering prices this fall when they introduce their tablet. Nook is also considering price reductions.

The interest and success of this new product seems iffy.