Featured post Archives - Publishing Talk

Jon Reed 13th October 2010 Facebook, Facebook pages, FBML, HTML, Static FBML

How to Customize your Facebook page

A Facebook page is a great way to promote your book: you can use it to connect with your readers, encourage discussions around the topic of your book, automatically pull in your latest blog postings, and send updates to your fans.
By default, a Facebook page has tabs for Wall, Info, Photos, Discussions and Boxes, with the Wall tab being the first thing you see. But you can also personalize your page with a customized tab that offers more information about your book, draws people in and gives them a clear call to action. You can even make it the first thing people see when they visit your page for the first time. Follow these 5 easy steps, and you too can have a customized Facebook page.

Digital Featured post Opinion

Jon Reed 26th July 2010 Andrew Wylie, disintermediation, eBooks, John Sargent, Macmillan, Odyssey Editions, Random House

2010: A Publishing Odyssey

Über-agent Andrew “the Jackal” Wylie has hatched an audacious plot. Or maybe he has just seen the future. Either way, he has disintermediated the publishers he works with – for ebooks at least. With last week’s launch of Odyssey Editions, his Kindle-only ebook imprint, a range of his authors are now available digitally for the first time. To me, this seems inevitable. Many authors and their agents get the new digital realities – and, more importantly, the opportunities – while too many publishing discussions still focus on a protectionist response to the ‘threat’ of digital. If publishers won’t grasp digital, authors and agents will.

Digital Featured post

Tom Evans 15th July 2010 Amazon, Amazon Digital Text Platform, apple, Apple iBookstore, epub2, HTML5, iPad, iPhone, Issuu, Kindle, Lulu, Myebook, Smashwords, Stanza

Do iPad or do I Kindle? – Part 2

Should authors and publishers publish for the Kindle, the iPad, or something else? Some of the current options are:
– Print – not going away in a hurry
– Publish for the Kindle and iPad via the Amazon Digital Text Platform
– Publish for the iPad via the iBookstore
– Publish via a third party ebook app like Stanza
– Publish via an aggregator like Smashwords, Lulu, Myebook, Issuu
If you are an author, my advice is to write, create accompanying audio and video assets and by the time you are ready to publish, there will be more than one route open to you.

iPadivity: Creativity and Productivity on an iPad

A new way of working merits the introduction of a new word – iPadivity.
noun [n] :
1. the phenomenon of increased creativity and productivity when using an iPad – and activity while doing the same
2. the generation of new ideas using an iPad
3. profitability from generating and using iPad apps

Four ways to make life easier if you self-publish

Self-publishing your book is now easier than ever. Self-publishing your book well, however, can still be a real challenge. You will often hear mutterings in publishing spheres that, “You can always spot a self-published book just by looking at it”. And in all fairness, it’s not too surprising, especially if you have chosen to do as much as possible yourself. I’m going to hazard a guess that it is unlikely that as an author, you have also trained and worked as a designer, typesetter, editor, proof-reader and marketer in between writing your book! It’s undoubtedly going to be hard to get the same effect as a publisher who has spent thousands on a book’s production. However, there are some basic things that you can do that will make your life much easier and help your book blend in with the best.

eBooks Featured post future of publishing

Rich Holman 12th May 2010 agile, development, eBooks, print, skills

Roads? Where we're going, we don't need roads

There is a lack of skills in the publishing industry to deal with new emergent paradigms. But it’s not just skills and structure that are lacking, but culture and attitude. In a period of accelerating change we need vastly more efficient methods of developing new concepts. In this post I want to share some thoughts about some of the changes that would be required for publishers to become more agile, generalist and collaborative in an age where we are all becoming publishers, authors, creators and consumers and as such all have a voice and opinion as well as the ability to implement our own ideas.

conferences Digital Featured post

Jon Reed 25th April 2010 apps, Digital Rights Management, iPhone, London Book Fair, London Book Fair Digital Conference, mobile

London Book Fair Digital Conference

Publishers get real about digital as they are told: “This industry doesn’t owe you a living”.
I was lecturing at Birkbek yesterday, on digital publishing, social media marketing – and men in their pants in Basingstoke. For this was the key takeaway message for me at this year’s London Book Fair Digital Conference, which I attended and live-tweeted last weekend: if publishers don’t produce digital content, such as apps, there are plenty of men in their basements in Basingstoke in their pants who will.

Publishing Twitterati Flock Together at the London Book Fair

The publishing Twitterati were out in force at the London Book Fair last night, for London Book Tweet – the official tweetup organised by the London Book Fair and Publishing Talk. Despite a little ash-depletion, 50-odd publishers, authors, agents, journalists, trade association representatives and other book trade folk squeezed a bit of tweeting-up in between ligging drinks at various stands and going on to the Canongate party. Many thanks to all who came, and to those who made it all possible with their creative contributions.

conferences Featured post Tweetups

Jon Reed 15th April 2010 #LBF10, #LBFDC, #lbtweet, Digital Conference, Earls Court, Flickr, London Book Fair, London Book Tweet, Twitter

London Book Tweet – bring on the Twitterwall!

Are you at the London Book Fair on Tuesday 20th April? If so, there are still places at the London Book Tweet After Party! London Book Tweet is the official tweetup of the London Book Fair, organized jointly by the London Book Fair and Publishing Talk. The publishing Twitterati will be out in force, tweeting, drinking and networking with fellow publishers, authors, agents, journalists and other book industry folk – and we’d love you to join us!

5 killer iPad apps for authors

The iPad delivers something very specific for authors that ereaders don’t: quite simply, it is the ability to write. Will I be getting one? You bet! Will I wait a while? Yes too as I specifically want it to act as my mobile writing toolbox and I want 3G. Also the apps I need aren’t quite yet available in iPad format. So apart from the obvious ability to write, here’s what I plan to use it for and my app shopping list for developers to step up to the plate with – some of which I know are ‘appening!

Featured post future of publishing magazines

Jon Reed 12th March 2010 Chris Anderson, Digital, iPad, iPhone, magazines, Rupert Murdoch, WIRED

The Future of Magazines

Many have seen online magazines and newspapers as a threat to revenues – notably Rupert Murdoch. But what if you could create content and a user experience so compelling that people would willingly pay for it? We’re already seeing signs of this with iPhone apps. The iPad could take things a stage further. I talked about the Minority Report moment on this blog back in 2007. I also said magazines would get there before books. With the iPad, I’d say that moment is pretty much here. And the magazine will be WIRED – coming to an iPad near you this summer.

Announcements Blogging Featured post

Anna Lewis 10th March 2010 author, award, Blogging, blogs, Boing Boing, Cory Doctorow, London Book Fair, London Book Tweet, Neil Gaiman, Seth Godin, tweetup

Nominations open for the Author Blog Awards 2010

The Author Blog Awards aim to highlight to readers the great content that you can find in author blogs and microblogs, reward those authors who engage with their readers online, and encourage other authors to do the same. Nominations are now open so please head over to www.authorblogawards.com to nominate your favourite author blog.