Posts filed under ‘Announcements’
Wordclay’s Parent Company Issues Press Release
On Monday, Author Solutions, the parent company of Wordclay and the world leader in indie book publishing, issued the following press release:
Author Solutions President and CEO Kevin Weiss Issues Statement about Choice and Opportunity in Book Publishing
Bloomington, Ind. (PRWEB) December 7, 2009 — Kevin Weiss, president and CEO of Author Solutions, the world leader in indie book publishing, issued a video statement Monday addressing the importance of providing expanded choice and opportunity in the book publishing industry.
During the three-and-a-half-minute statement Weiss addresses concerns that the rise of self-publishing, including ASI’s groundbreaking partnerships with leading traditional publishers, signals the destruction of the industry. Rather than the end of an industry, Weiss views these new alliances as signs the industry is adapting to new realities.
“The publishing industry has been around for many, many years, and it will continue to be around for many years into the future, but what it looks like will be different,” Weiss said. “And that’s the thing that’s difficult for people today. Change is hard. You can either be impacted by change or you can embrace change.”
Weiss also addresses protests lodged by writer’s guilds in response to last month’s announcement of a publishing partnership with women’s fiction publisher Harlequin Enterprises Limited. Weiss takes exception to these guilds’ position that only traditionally-published books can succeed.
“There are plenty of books in traditional publishing today that just don’t make it; it’s a hits business,” Weiss said. “It’s why the publishing industry is going through a transformation today and the consumer has everything to say about what is good content and what isn’t good content. To say that in order for a book to make it in the marketplace it has to blessed by a traditional publisher doesn’t make any sense in 2009.”
To view Weiss’s full statement, visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lT6ynw614G0. For more information on how Author Solutions and indie book publishing are increasing the number of opportunities and choices for authors, readers and publishers, log on to authorsolutions.com.
About Author Solutions, Inc.
Author Solutions, Inc. (ASI), an Inc. 5000 company, is owned by Bertram Capital and is the world leader in indie book publishing–the fastest-growing segment of publishing. ASI’s self-publishing brands–AuthorHouse, AuthorHouse UK, iUniverse, Trafford, Xlibris, and Wordclay–have helped more than 85,000 authors self-publish, promote, and bring to market more than 120,000 new titles. Through strategic alliances with leading trade publishers, ASI is making it possible for publishers to monetize unpublished manuscripts, develop new literary talent efficiently, and provide emerging authors a platform for bringing their books to market. Headquartered in Bloomington, Indiana, ASI also operates offices in Indianapolis and Milton Keynes, England. Visit authorsolutions.com, or call 1-888-519-5121 x5238 for more information.
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Wordclay Author Reviewed in ‘The Gay & Lesbian Review’
We’re excited to announce that Wordclay author A.J. Walkley was featured in the November/December 2009 issue of ‘The Gay & Lesbian Review / Worldwide’ for her book, Queer Greer.
The review by Sheela Lambert entitled “The Young and the Bi”, highlighted three books each portraying a teenage girl struggling and accepting her bisexuality. Lambert praised Walkley’s realistic portrayal of Greer’s struggle with her torn feelings for both a boy and a girl. Lambert also stated, “All three authors have a good ear and create an authentic teen voice in their narration and dialogue. All three successfully capture the angst of adolescence: the pressure on teenage girls to be thin and feminine and to have a boyfriend; the loneliness, isolation and confusion experienced by teens who are different; and so on.”
Published in early 2009, Queer Greer chronicles the life of Greer MacManus, a teenage girl trying to navigate high school while having feelings for a boy and a girl. As she begins to experiment with drugs, self-mutilation and her own sexuality, she finds herself alone. Throughout the entire book she learns how to be comfortable with her bisexuality and embrace who she truly is.
A.J. Walkley is a reporter, freelance writer and novelist from Fairfield County, Connecticut. She graduated from Dickinson College in May 2007 with a degree in English and minors in creative writing and film. After spending three months in Malawi with the Peace Corps, Walkley returned to the U.S. and now works as a media correspondent in the United Nations.
Has your book been featured in a publication? Let us know! We would love to feature you here on our blog. To submit press about your book, please visit the Press Breaks section on our Bookstore home page.
Happy writing,
Kate
Oprah’s Book Club: Say You’re One of Them by Uwen Akpan
Many of us in the book world have learned that Oprah Winfrey has supreme power to influence the direction of the popular book buying community. Several titles that she selected in the past have created huge waves of sales, controversy and interest.
People have been excited recently, having heard rumors that there was a new pick on the way.
Well we have a winner.
Say You’re One of Them by Uwen Akpan is unlike Oprah’s other 60-plus recommendations. The Nigerian born author has been recognized with awards, nominations and accolades* for this collection of stories. Notably, Akpan, who teaches in Zimbabwe, has a strong talent for selecting the voice and narrator to best convey the piece.
The terrible settings and situations and the gentle nature of the characters are a hypnotic combination. The situations in Rwanda and Kenya and other African hot-spots are fully and unapologetically drawn out with brutal honesty and a powerful sense of the humanity of the individuals involved. The writing can help us to more fully understand what humanity means and what it is that makes life so precious.
Admittedly, I have not agreed with every selection for the Oprah Book Club, but this one is worth considering.
Uwen Akpan is a perfect example of what all writers might be capable of. Having come from a world in which resources were very limited, he has moved mountains with raw talent.
*Finalist for the Los Angeles Times Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction
Nominated for the Guardian First Book Award
Nominated for the Caine Prize for African Writing
Nominated for the Story Prize
Winner of the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Best First Book, African Region
Nominated for the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award
-1000 Chimps
New York Times Reports Sony Plans to Adopt Common Format for E-Books
This is an excerpt from the New York Times article by Brad Stone-originally published 8/12/2009 Read the full article>>
“Paper books may be low tech, but no one will tell you how and where you can read them.
For many people, the problem with electronic books is that they come loaded with just those kinds of restrictions. Digital books bought today from Amazon.com, for example, can be read only on Amazon’s Kindle device or its iPhone software.
Some restrictions on the use of e-books are likely to remain a fact of life. But some publishers and consumer electronics makers are aiming to give e-book buyers more flexibility by rallying around a single technology standard for the books. That would also help them counter Amazon, which has taken an early lead in the nascent market.
On Thursday, Sony Electronics, which sells e-book devices under the Reader brand, plans to announce that by the end of the year it will sell digital books only in the ePub format, an open standard created by a group including publishers like Random House and HarperCollins.
Sony will also scrap its proprietary anticopying software in favor of technology from the software maker Adobe that restricts how often e-books can be shared or copied.
After the change, books bought from Sony’s online store will be readable not just on its own device but on the growing constellation of other readers that support ePub. Those include the Plastic Logic eReader, a thin device that has been in development for nearly a decade and is expected to go on sale early next year.”
This is an excerpt from the New York Times article by Brad Stone-originally published 8/12/2009
See full article: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/13/technology/internet/13reader.html
Richard Russo’s New Novel: That Old Cape Magic
Richard Russo, Pulitzer Prize winning author of Empire Falls, Straight Man and a number of other very well-received novels, has written a new book. That Old Cape Magic, like his other works, manages to convey several generations of a family and their conflicts and triumphs. Russo has a strong ability to show parallels between father and son, young and old, past, present and future.
That Old Cape Magic focuses on a married couple, most specifically the husband. Jack Griffin is successful against his own best wishes with regrets regarding the path he chose in life and the other options which he feels may have been more fulfilling. He drives around with his father’s ashes in the trunk of his car. His mother calls his cell phone obsessively and continually from her nursing home. Psychologically, he has spent much of his adult life running away from the dramatic upheaval of his parents’ earlier lives-unfulfilled and unfaithful.
Jack and his wife are heading to a wedding in Cape Cod where he spent his summers as a child. This brings memories of who he believed he would become-a successful screenwriter-and doubt about the validity of his life and relationships as they now stand. He chose to become a Professor and has achieved academic success but Jack Griffin is not reluctant to admit to himself that he would still like to give it all up and pursue his creative dreams, even though he is in his later 50’s and well-established.
Russo sets a good example for any writer who is trying to maintain the delicate balance of enough information and overall satisfaction with a story. It can be difficult to write and edit a story that fully engages a reader and still covers new literary ground in otherwise familiar settings and constructs. Each of us would be lucky to possess half of his ability.
I recommend reading That Old Cape Magic and Russo’s earlier works as a study of story development, character development, passage of time and style.
-1000 Chimps
Barnes & Noble Launches e-Book Store: Rumors Circulate of Plastic Logic Partnership
This week, Barnes & Noble opened their e-Book Store online. They have hit the ground running with plans to grow aggressively. The word on the Web is that they are going to be partnering with Plastic Logic to distribute content via a device scheduled for release early next year. The device is said to be a big step in the right direction, hopefully minimizing the annoying parts of the Kindle2, Kindle DX and Sony Reader.
It would be logical to assume that Barnes & Noble will be able to establish themselves in a market that they have dominated for so long. They understand books and consumers, which is quite clear when you visit their site. The eBook Store interface is extremely user-friendly. People can download the apps they need in order to interact with the new eBook Store, including options for your computer, iPhone and Blackberry.
Overall, I think that this is a healthy development. While I don’t see any indication yet that there will be an interface such as the Digital Text Platform available to upload content to the Kindle Store, I would be surprised if this is not in the works. The strength that Amazon has brought to the e-book market is a good starting ground and I believe that strong players getting into the game will drive Amazon and any other serious participants to adapt and improve.
Barnes & Noble’s new eBook Store has a clear impact on your ability to sell your book. Familiarize yourself with this new development, so that you can be one step ahead of where your target audience is going.
-1,000 Chimps
Blogging Vacation: Wordclay Blog Team Breaks for Holiday Weekend
Hey everyone,
The Wordclay Blog Team will be breaking for the July 4th holiday, but don’t worry, we’ll be back next week with fresh ideas; and if you have an interesting weekend (whether writing or seeing an author reading), we encourage you to submit your stories to us at blog@wordclay.com. Thanks again for visiting, and we’ll be in touch!
-The Wordclay Blog Team fiurnt8zqg
Authors Who Market: Offering Author Solutions to Promoting and Publishing Books
Recently, Tribune-Review ran a piece in their publication called “Market Savvy Authors Can Take a Nontraditional Way to Audience,” in which Rege Behe explores the emerging benefits of self-publishing (and self-promoting) a book as opposed to blindly submitting your manuscript to publishers who may not even read your potential bestseller.
Essentially, your potential to spread the word about your book (and earn higher royalties per copy sold) with self-publishing is only limited by your enthusiasm to personally market your book and tap into any valuable connections you may already have.
For example, Ray Goss could use his experience in radio to market his self-published book, while others such as Lisa Genova (author of Still Alice, originally through iUniverse) or Barbara Burstin (author of Steel City Jews: A History of Pittsburgh and its Jewish Community, 1840-1915) have self-published only to receive rave review from some of the best magazines in the world, leading to traditional publishers scrammbling to sign them for another book.
Reporter Behe does mention the stigma of self-publishing, too, as its method is shunned by the hyper-literary-minded and even some bookstores; but given the lack of editorial and design control imposed by traditional publishers, not to mention the significant cut in royalites you earn with traditional publishing houses, may overwhelmingly overturn this negative sentiment toward companies like Author Solutions, Inc. (and Wordclay) in the very near future.
Because bookstores are perhaps slower to adapt to the changing publishing industry, self-published books may have a harder time reaching their shelves. That said, Behe also offers some tricks of the trade when marketing your book online. For example, creating an author Web site with your book details and order information will not only act as a base of operations for the writer, but also allow Internet surfers to stumble upon their book naturally when searching on different keywords. Combine your Web site with social networking and perhaps some book giveaway promotions, and BOOM! your chances for success just skyrocketed in the publishing industry!
The Point: Self-publishing with companies like Wordclay, iUniverse or AuthorHouse (all Author Solutions brands) can indeed be more beneficial to authors, especially emerging authors, than endlessly (and sometimes fruitlessly) seeking a traditional publisher to back you, even if your book has great potential!
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Market savvy authors can take a nontraditional way to audience
Microsoft Bing: The New Verb for Authors and Search Optimization
Microsoft has come out with a new search engine. In a world where “Google” and “Facebook” are used as verbs, then it’s entirely possible that Microsoft’s new search engine at www.bing.com could also amend our future vernacular as well. I assume that this is a goal of theirs, among others of course.
Obviously, the search function is not unfamiliar, but Bing is more visually appealing than Live Search; and the default images on the homepage are more colorful and inviting, too.
Those of us who spend our days working and playing on computers try to learn about everything that comes to our attention that we don’t necessarily understand yet, like Bing for instance. Already, the bloggers out there are testing the new tool to see how it competes with Google. I have seen several side-by-side assessments of similar searches and evaluations of the quality of the results. Thus far, it appears that the Bing engine and Google are rather comparable to each other.
- Simple Thoughts: Bing vs Google>>
- BetaNews: Bing vs Google Faceoff: Round One>>
- BetaNews: Bing vs Google Faceoff: Round Two>>
One advantage to Bing that I’ve discovered is that the image search results are displayed in one continuous page that you can scroll through, rather than page after page of 25 images.
I hope that those of you out there who are marketing your books will take the time to familiarize yourself with this new tool. It will definitely become increasingly important if it is adopted by users, and authors must be certain that the efforts they have taken to maximize your relevance in Google search results will also be fruitful in Bing.
Microsoft has already faced some criticism, as there was a “bug” that briefly was forcing users of Internet Explorer to reset Bing as their preferred search engine. Even if the users manually attempted to switch back to whichever other platform that they preferred, IE would kick the default back to Bing instantly. Microsoft addressed the issue and resolved it rather quickly, but the impression that I get is that Microsoft will be going out of their way to make Bing a hit.
We would of course love to hear more from the writers out there who are starting to explore the advantages and disadvantages of Bing so that we can all mutually benefit and maximize our presence in this highly competitive environment.
Nashua Telegraph Author’s Forum: Wordclay Author Michael Philion Celebrates Native Americans in Baggattaway
Sunday, May 24, 2009, author Michael Philion and his Wordclay publication Baggattaway were featured in the local Nashua Telegraph Author’s Forum, where he discussed his motivation for writing the book and the audience he is trying to reach with his new novel.
From the Nashua Telegraph Author’s Forum:
WHAT MOTIVATED YOU TO WRITE THIS BOOK? HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN WORKING ON IT?
I heard an account of a battle during Pontiac’s Rebellion (1763) in which Indian tribes violently retook a Michigan fort using their game of baggattaway as a ruse against the English. I developed a novel around this historical core idea. Active writing and rewriting took two and a half years.
IS THE BOOK GEARED TO A PARTICULAR TYPE OF READER? WHAT DO YOU HOPE READERS WILL TAKE FROM THE BOOK? Baggattaway is geared to the literary fiction reader, especially those interested in Native America and sport. My hope is that readers will register the shocking loss of cultural identity for the Native American tribes and celebrate its temporary resurrection.
READ THE FULL INTERVIEW AT NASHUATELEGRAPH.COM>>
ORDER YOUR COPY FROM THE WORDCLAY BOOKSTORE>>
Final Note: Let author Philion stand as an example to all those emerging writers who are self-publishing their first book. Start marketing locally, and reach the readers around you first; then you’ll have a much easier time reaching millions of interested readers around the world through Internet coverage like this…
