Sunday, April 22, 2012

Online Book Self Publishing


Using Create Space for Online Book Self Publishing


“A wonderful thing about a book, in contrast to a computer screen, is that you can take it to bed with you.” Daniel J. Boorstin

The world wide web has become a commonplace directory of all things. Period. There is no escaping the fact. According to (http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm) the world total for internet users is 2,267,233,742. That is a lot of billions! The latest world population total is over 6 billion. That means to me that the little ones growing up now possibly total 3 billion of that 6? As an aspiring writer, I still have an “old school” view of books. And even considering online book publishing sends chills up my spine. Sure, most of the sites have disclaimers regarding ownership rights remaining with the authors, but, do I want to take a chance that somebody out of 2 billion people is going to “rewrite” my stories and tweak them just enough to eek by my copyrights? By nature, I am not a trusting individual. Online book publishing is an interesting concept, however for those who think that “post your book online for free” doesn’t come with a catch somewhere. It apparently appeals to 91,200,00 hits on my engine search for “Publish your book online.” (http://www.booksie.com/) At this site, booksie.com, as I read the parameters for posting a book, there was a statement regarding the fact that anybody who posts on this site can edit works. What? Maybe I didn’t read it correctly but really? I logged into their Facebook page and noticed a large amount of the posts were from the booksie administrators themselves. Apparently, their www website has a lot of bugs and is hardly ever functioning correctly. When I am ready to self publish a book, it will not be for free online publishing. There are reputable sites such as https://www.createspace.com/ through Amazon.com that can assist me with creating a work that will be legitimate. And I can have hardcopies printed. Because holding a book is a tactile experience that you can’t have with an e reader!

Sunday, April 1, 2012

MOBILE PUBLISHING


Digital Media Effect On Writers

As the digital world turns each rotation births new and exciting modes of expression. Doomsayers cry the sky will be falling. Guy Patrick Cunningham, (2012) calls it “fragmentary writing.” (http://www.themillions.com/2012/01/fragmentary-writing-in-a-digital-age.html/). I agree. Text messages and tweets are fragments of full sentences. A Japanese poetic form, haiku, is similar in nature. Haiku form evokes emotions. Haiku is linear. Haiku is concise.
                                             “As the wind does blow
                                              Across the trees, I see the
                                              Buds blooming in May”         
                             (http://www.international.ucla.edu/shenzhen/)
One can see the similarity of haiku to texts and tweets. The trend of utilizing mobile cell phones for viewing content, including books, has increased. Mobithinking.mobi estimates users at 6 billion worldwide. Entire books and even comic books are digitalized for cell phones. 2011 estimated sales of cell novels and comics combined are $108.3 million and growing. (http://www.publishers.org/press/30/). This new media is a boost for writers. With increased distribution possibilities, digital marketing is becoming huge. A prediction at ineedhits.com states, “mobile ad spending will jump to $20.6 billion by 2015.”
It is believed that the cell phone novel originated in Japan. This supports the idea of continuing the haiku tradition. History reinvented to accommodate new generations. As usual generations may clash at new ideas. Writers who refuse to run with the tide may find themselves out of work. Personally, I don’t like digital ebooks but I would prefer reading on a © Kindle with a larger screen over trying to read anything on a cell phone. However, I will not hesitate as a writer to jump on this financially lucrative venture. Book publishers and filmmakers are discovering Novelists. Hard copies have sold in the millions and anime films are popular in Japan. I believe this trend will occur in the United States.
At (http://www.textnovel.com/story/The-Cell-Phone-Novel-Manual/) their wonderful statement “many other young aspiring authors, each inspiring another, began to join the movement creating a new wave of innovative literary technique, awakening a new passion to write and read in teens all over the world” is in itself inspiring. For an interesting view on Comic book novels watch this video: (http://youtu.be/lJRvWLrCS8Q/)