publishing

How Next Issue can rescue magazine publishing

Yesterday I posted a review of the news aggregator News360, which I like as a product but fear for as a business. I feel this way about a lot of content aggregation plays.

Zite, for example, was acquired by CNN, otherwise who knows where it'd be. And then there's the heavy-hitter, Flipboard: can $60 million in funding make this business work? If not, it's overpriced for acquisition.

But there is one professional content aggregator that is not just a great product, but a nice business, born of cooperation between rivals. It's also possibly the only way … Read more

Convert MS Word docs to e-books for free

The first time I heard someone say "Everybody has a book in them," I recommended that they see a doctor right away.

At least that explains all those books I've read that appear to have traveled through the author's colon. Writing can be painful, but there are limits.

Lots of people have unpublished novels and other book-length documents sitting forlornly on their hard drive, waiting and waiting for an audience. If your magnum opus (or even half-pint opus) is a Word document that's ready for the world to fall in love with, give the free … Read more

Publishers gain ground on music-video payday

Songwriters and music publishers don't want to get left out of the online music-video boom.

The top sites -- Vevo and YouTube -- are among the sites already paying fees to the major music publishing companies for music videos, but independent publishers have been left out. Today, the National Music Publishers Association announced that it has reached a "new model agreement" with Universal Music Group that ensures indie publishers get paid.

David Israelite, chief executive of the NMPA, told CNET this morning that the deal with Universal calls for the label to pay indie publishers directly and … Read more

Self-publishing a book: 25 things you need to know

Note to readers: I originally published the article back in 2008 and have updated it a few times, most recently on June 13, 2012. This article primarily addresses self-publishing a print book, though many of the tips apply to e-books as well. For specific information about publishing an e-book, see my companion article, " How to self-publish an ebook."

I know, I know. This is a column about cutting-edge electronics. So, apologies to gadget-heads as I take a brief sojourn into the land of self-publishing, which has become a lot more high-tech than a lot of people realize.

A few years ago I wrote a book. A novel. "Knife Music." Contrary to what you might think based on my day job, it's not a cyber-thriller, though it is a mystery/thriller with a medical/legal slant.

Its short history is this: I worked on it for several years, acquired a high-powered agent, had some brushes with major publishers, then, crickets.

I could have tried to go for a small publisher, but I was told mine was "a bigger book" with more commercial aspirations and prestigious small publishers were interested in more literary tomes. I also learned that many small publishers were being wiped out by the "self-publishing revolution," a movement that's not so unlike the "citizen journalism" or bloggers' revolt of recent years that's had a major impact on mainstream media, including this publication. The basic premise is anyone can become a small publisher. You call the shots. You retain the rights to your book. And you take home a bigger royalty than you'd normally get from a traditional publisher--if you sell any books. … Read more

Facebook plugs in WordPress for social sharing

WordPress bloggers rejoice, now there's one more way to get stories out into the public. Users who use the popular Web publishing platform can now add in Facebook features via a new plugin spreading news of stories, social publishing, and individual mentions.

Facebook engineers and open source partners built the "Facebook for WordPress" plugin. No coding is necessary and the plugin is mobile-friendly and supports internationalization.

"Once the plugin is installed, you can cross-post content published to WordPress to your Facebook Timeline and the Facebook Pages you manage," Facebook engineer Matt Kelly wrote in a … Read more

Canvas 14 creates sophisticated tech illustrations

Canvas 14 from ACD Systems is an enterprise-class technical illustration program. With it, you can create, refine, and publish sophisticated illustrations, animations, and documents.

It combines the drawing and illustrating features of a premium graphics app, the 3D modeling and drafting capabilities of CAD, and the collaborative capabilities of a productivity suite in one surprisingly intuitive package. A quick-start guide, copious documentation, and a helpful sidebar called the Canvas Assistant made getting to know this capable but complex software easier than we expected.

To try Canvas 14 for free, you must select that option during installation and complete the process … Read more

Amazon plucks wholesome publisher to boost original titles

Beefing up its portfolio of original content, Amazon today agreed to buy the publication rights for more than 3,000 backlist titles from wholesome romance, western, and mystery publisher Avalon Books, for an undisclosed amount.

The 62-year-old Avalon is a niche publisher whose authors include romance novelists such as Holly Jacobs, who wrote "Everything But A Groom," and Carolyn Hughey, author of "Shut Up & Kiss Me."

The titles may sound racy, but the content isn't. The guidelines listed on Avalon's Web site for authors submitting work includes such admonitions as, "No cursing … Read more

How to self-publish an ebook

A while back I wrote a column titled " Self-publishing: 25 things you need to know," which was mostly about how to create and sell your own paper book. After folks asked me to do something similar for e-books, I created this article, which has now been updated a few times.

I begin with one caveat: The whole e-book market is rapidly evolving, and a lot of self-publishing companies are offering e-book deals bundled into their print book publishing packages, which makes them harder to break out and evaluate. It's all quite complicated, and in an effort to sort through the confusion, I've decided to offer a few basic tips and present what I think are some of the best options out there for creating an e-book quickly and easily. As things change -- and they will -- I'll do my best to keep this column up to date. … Read more

Amazon, Independent Publishers Group reach settlement

Amazon has reached a settlement with the Independent Publishers Group over sales of the e-book versions of the nearly 5,000 titles distributed by IPG.

In February, Amazon stopped selling digital versions of titles distributed by IPG, which represents more than 500 publishers, owing to a disagreement about terms. As The Wall Street Journal points out in its report (subscription required), publishing terms cover such things as wholesale pricing, payment requirements, and marketing.

The Journal paraphrases an unnamed source as saying that IPG's terms, in February, were not as good as those from rival distributors. But IPG's president … Read more

How Amazon is changing the rules for books and movies

If you want a glimpse into the way Amazon sees your digital future, look no further than Jeff Ragsdale's new book, "Jeff, One Lonely Guy."

Last October, after being dumped by a girlfriend and mired in depression, Ragsdale posted a flier around New York City on a whim that read, "If anyone wants to talk about anything, call me." It listed his mobile phone number. Calls streamed in, by the dozens, then the hundreds, and now well into the tens of thousands.

Some callers left messages. Others texted. And many spoke with Ragsdale, sharing their … Read more