Ebook HowTo & Author Spotlight

Ohio State University has a good tutorial online on how to do a basic ebook. Click here for the link.

Also, Author Spotlight was kind enough to shine the spotlight on me yesterday. They are open to sign-ups from other other authors. Here’s the link to mine: Author Spotlight

epublishabook.com’s Interview of Rasana Atreya

Author Interview – Rasaba Atreya, a successful author born out of annoyance with advertisements … (via ePublish a Book)

Author Interview – Rasaba Atreya, a successful author born out of annoyance with advertisements … Rasana Atreya, author of Tell A Thousand Lies, left a comfortable job in IT because she thought roughing it out as a penniless writer was romantic. She’s a blogger, and the mother of two grade-schoolers…

I’m The Next Big Thing! (No, Really :)

Laxmi Hariharan tagged me for the weekly meme of The Next Big Thing! The tagged author gets to answer ten questions. So here goes:

Ten Interview Questions for The Next Big Thing:

1. What is the working title of your book?

Half a House

2. Where did the idea come from for the book?

I saw an episode of a wacky grandfather in my head. When I transcribed it to paper (okay to my laptop), the grandfather’s wife, even more eccentric, demanded to be let in. And what are grandparents without a grandson, right?

The grandparents also have an eccentric, correspondence-course taking friend. But all is not wacky in their world; the granddaughter is having problems with her in-laws.

3. What genre does your book fall under?

Despite how it sounds, this is not YA. It is the same genre (sort of) as my other book, Tell A Thousand Lies. Mainly women’s fiction, with some humor thrown in.

4. Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

The movie is already playing in my head. I can see their faces, but can’t think of actors to play them. Not yet. Besides it is difficult to visualize a globally known character playing a sari-clad grandmother, don’t you think?

Having said that, I’m kind of partial to Dame Judy Dench.

5. What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

Gosh, I’m going to have to work on this.

6. Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

Self-published. I chose the same path for my first book despite having a publishing contract.

7. How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

I wrote snippets involving the grandparents over four years ago. When my other novel demanded to be told, I set this aside.

8. What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

It is in the same genre as Khaled Hosseini’s or Vikram Seth’s books except their books are classier and, well, less wacky.

9. Who or What inspired you to write this book?

I Had A Dream.

10. What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?

That I don’t shy away from nutty characters?

>><<

Tag you’re it!

Sept 5 –Holly Michael
Sept 12–Garnette Arledge
Sept 19 — David Cleinman
Sept 26 — Allison Bruning
Oct 3 — KS Brooks

Rules:

Answer the ten questions about your current WIP (Work In Progress)

Tag five other writers/bloggers and add their links so we can hop over and meet them.

It’s that simple.

Self-Publish or Go the Traditional Way? The Debate

David Vinjamuri has a terrific article in The Forbes on this. Worth a read whether you’re traditionally published or chose to go the self-publishing route.

A direct quote from the article. (I picked this because a lot of writers seem to think being published traditionally will free them from promoting their work):

“An entire generation of traditionally published authors has come of age learning to self-promote.  Particularly for mid-list authors the burden of writing and marketing a book a year without much assistance can be crushing.  Some publishing houses have trimmed back even further, limiting editorial assistance to new writers to proofreading and line editing rather than structural editing.

These authors feel less beholden to publishers and more independent.  They have been forced to become entrepreneurs, but are not rewarded commensurate with their contributions.”

Here’s another quote:

“One thing that mainstream and Indie authors seem united on is contempt for is the royalty structure that mainstream publishing houses apply to eBooks which is much less favorable than for printed books.  This is foolish and counterproductive for publishing houses.  Indeed, authors like Edgar-winning mystery author Lawrence Block and Margaret Muir have already embraced indie publishing for the obvious economic benefits.  There are also many authors who started as self-publishers and are making a solid living in Indie-land.  Many of them would be considered midlist or even minor celebrities if they had more visibility to the existing publishing world – I’m thinking of people like Robert Kroese and Rachel Thompson here.”

Click here for the entire article.

How’s This for Promotion?

According to an article on Mediabistro.com:

To help promote the new film The Intouchables, The Weinstein Company and Weinstein Books are giving away a free eBook with movie ticket sales.

In exchange for buying a ticket to the film, theater goers who buy a ticket to see the film between July 27 and August 3 will get a code to redeem a free copy of the eBook You Changed My Life: A Memoir, a memoir by Abdel Sellou, the man whose life the film is based on.

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Now all I need is someone to film my book. I’m set because I have ebooks to give away.

Are Publishers Faking It?

According to a rather interesting article Matt Shoard on the blog meandmybigmouth, even big publishers are trolling Amazon and Goodreads to post natural sounding reviews in an effort to jack up sales of books. According to a former industry inside (who was named in that post), it isn’t uncommon for marketing people to have anonymous logins on Amazon which they use to post glowing reviews of the book they’re promoting.

Book Promotion For Introverts

If you’re like me, you’d rather write than promote. Okay, you could be an extrovert and still feel that way. But the fact of the matter is that it is harder for us introverts to promote our books. I know I’d be overwhelmed without the protective barrier of the internet. Writer’s Fun Zone has a nice article on this. Click here for it.

Edible Cookbook: How’s This For Book Promotion?

Directly from the Shelf Awareness Newsletter:

Inhabitat showcased “The Real Cookbook” from German design agency Korefe, “a delicious creation made of 100% fresh pasta. Flip it open for some toothsome inspiration, and tear out the pages to use as sheets of lasagna. For both the seasoned chef and the novice cook, just bake the book and eat!”

Autographing ebooks

With the rise in popularity of ebooks comes the need for electronic autographs. Kindlegraph’s been around for a bit, but only now do I see enough people using it. For a primer on Kindlegraph, click here.

Do You Promospam?

If you are a writer, and spend lots of time online, no points for guessing what promospam is. So do you? Check out an interesting post by blogger India Drummond. Click here for the post.