tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post3188664480751216356..comments2024-03-28T02:00:11.260-05:00Comments on A Newbie's Guide to Publishing: Stanza and the Future of EbooksJA Konrathhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08778324558755151986noreply@blogger.comBlogger16125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-53455376917720073282010-10-04T09:58:40.781-05:002010-10-04T09:58:40.781-05:00Stanza is one of my fave ereaders (I currently hav...Stanza is one of my fave ereaders (I currently have 6 on my iPod Touch) and I've had no trouble getting my Webscription books from Baen to load wherever the wi-fi works. I too started reading ebooks on my PalmIII, before any Palms had color screens or rechargeable batteries. <br /><br />I agree that format has everything to do with getting ebooks into readers' hands. I was pleased, when I first found them, Baen had begun offering books in multiple formats so they could be read on anything you might have, or even printed out on your own printer. Heretical thought now, but they didn't care and they didn't use DRM, still don't.dafaoltahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02267343560982775574noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-59405706879856955372009-12-17T16:07:32.441-06:002009-12-17T16:07:32.441-06:00An informative post Joe, but having long experienc...An informative post Joe, but having long experience of online music publishing I echo AL Hartley. The door to actual release of a book is wide open but the downside is not only the danger of drowning in a sea of dross, not to mention good stuff, but having to take on a considerable burden of promotion.<br />Still, these factors may be ofset to some extent by the sheer size of the audience and the searchability of online content -- no need to trudge the streets to find a book.alphasunhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09179223520184169961noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-8933209839043391352009-09-10T10:16:32.250-05:002009-09-10T10:16:32.250-05:00Great post! I agree with you that ebooks are the f...Great post! I agree with you that ebooks are the future.<br /><br />Stanza is great if you only want to read text from free books. But it will not allow any artwork and cannot read purchased eBooks. Most reviewers either omit these facts or simply overlook them.<br /><br />Those are severe limitations if you want to read something besides Grimm’s Fairy Tales, The Art of War or Robinson Crusoe. eReader is also free on the App site and has a much wider capability for accepting e-material. This includes artwork and paid eBooks.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.ipodtouchmicrophone.windows-gadgets.com/ipod-touch-blogs/apple-ipod-perfect-christmas-gift.html" rel="nofollow">Apple Ipod perfect Christmas gift</a>ipod touch bluetoothhttp://www.ipodtouchmicrophone.windows-gadgets.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-57215239601202266922009-09-08T20:41:14.737-05:002009-09-08T20:41:14.737-05:00You're right. I know you're right, and I w...You're right. I know you're right, and I want to be happy about it. But as an author it scares the hell out of me. There's soemthing wonderfully democratic about anyone being able to produce and sell an e-book, but if the market is flooded with material which wouldn't otherwise have been published, how do the professionals avoid getting lost in the deluge? If authors can't make a living from their work, what happens to the quality of the books which are available? Or am I being paranoid and neurotic?A.J. Hartleyhttp://www.ajhartley.netnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-47784179869054507232009-09-01T22:55:41.081-05:002009-09-01T22:55:41.081-05:00I like your marketing idea. I'd give it a try...I like your marketing idea. I'd give it a try if I felt my book was right for your audience (or the other way around.) Your ideas are challenging and well worth considering.<br /><br />www.thelakethatstolechildren.comDouglas Glenn Clarkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08443280817118202633noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-18245919262266363942009-08-30T20:15:07.278-05:002009-08-30T20:15:07.278-05:00Quick update. I did two bookstore events this week...Quick update. I did two bookstore events this weekend, drew about 50 folks at each event...<br /><br />The cool thing, though, is that I brought my laptop and streamed both of these events LIVE over the internet while I was doing it.<br /><br />Last night's event had a little over 50 viewers. Today's had 47. One of the viewers was on the other side of the country, and sent me an email afterward. Total stranger. And bought my book online.<br /><br />The reason why I mention this here is that if you wanted to stream your bookstore and library events... it would be very easy to do. So that instead of reaching the 30-100 folks in the physical location of the event, you could reach an audience of several thousand viewers who can watch Live from home.<br /><br />ustream is connected to twitter and facebook, so that you can tweet an event and link your facebook status to the fact that you're doing an event...<br /><br />and then folks can watch.<br /><br />If you've 5,000 twitter followers (or 20,000 myspace friends), a huge chunk of them would watch your event if it was Live.<br /><br />I know everybody on this blog would. I would.<br /><br />All you need is a laptop and wireless connection.<br /><br />_____________________<br />Stacey Cochran<br /><a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Colorado-Sequence-ebook/dp/B002AVVQGE" rel="nofollow">Bestselling author of The Colorado Sequence</a>Stacey Cochranhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14128613653591282474noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-31890742774246428442009-08-29T23:53:42.804-05:002009-08-29T23:53:42.804-05:00Alright Joe, I'm sold. And yours will be the ...Alright Joe, I'm sold. And yours will be the first ebook I read. I'll have to read on my laptop but that's okay until the iPad comes out next year. So I'll download Stanza - and which of your crime books should I start with and what is the best way to do download it? I live in Australia so I can't buy for the kindle. Cheers, AussieAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-44626754746557934012009-08-29T23:38:09.556-05:002009-08-29T23:38:09.556-05:00Great post, and I agree ebooks are the future.
Th...Great post, and I agree ebooks are the future.<br /><br />Thought you might like to know, though, Stanza isn't the first app of its type in terms of multi-format readers that work on multiple devices. I've used mewbook for many, many years on Palm PDAs, a Sony Clie PDA, a number of pocket PCs and a small, tablet computer that I've dedicated for use as an ebook reader. <br /><br />Mewbook is free, it reads multiple formats and allows the reader to change the font face, size, color, and the "paper" color too (reading ebooks in color is one benefit of using a computer as your ebook reader). It even has search and bookmarking capabilities, and allows the user to change the page orientation (portrait to landscape and vice-versa). In fact, it's because I'm so happy with my current ebook reader that I haven't felt at all interested in the Kindle or Sony Reader. Either one would be a step (or two) backward for me at this point.<br /><br />Now here's what I want to know: given that I have a full-color, lightweight, touchscreen-based, full-featured ebook reader already, why can't any e-reader manufacturer replicate this on a mass scale? What's so hard about tweaking a netbook or small tablet like mine to make it run as a dedicated ebook reader with an application like mewbook on it? I get that Amazon and Sony want to be the primary (or only) ebook vendor for their reader owners, but what's stopping Dell or Apple from cranking this one out?April L. Hamiltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06450879359445096462noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-46782856921386681042009-08-29T17:07:47.031-05:002009-08-29T17:07:47.031-05:00I haven't managed to get my hands on an ereade...I haven't managed to get my hands on an ereader yet, but a big factor with me - and I'm surprised no one has mentioned it yet - will be readability...i.e. the extent to which the screen mimics plain paper and ink. That was meant to be the amazon kindnle's big selling point. I would be interested to hear more on this...Adam Ehadhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05213623660238077376noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-49315368146276476082009-08-29T00:05:00.181-05:002009-08-29T00:05:00.181-05:00On the tech front, I streamed my first video inter...On the tech front, I streamed my first video interview LIVE tonight over the internet with a panel of three authors from different parts of the country.<br /><br />I'm using ustream.tv - which is kind'a like YouTube, except you can stream LIVE content, rather than saved files.<br /><br />To really make this shit hum, I had my panelists on Blog Talk Radio simultaneously (also LIVE) and so callers were able to call in. We had callers from Texas, California, Maine, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania.<br /><br />This was our first LIVE video webcast interview, and we had 52 viewers. Not a terrible first show.<br /><br />I would love to have you and Blake on at some point to talk about e-readers and Amazon Kindle (our audience is largely Kindle enthusiasts)... we're doing the show LIVE on Friday nights at 11PM EST, and all you have to do, Joe, is be able to use a telephone.<br /><br />Let me know the best way to reach you, Joe. Let's get you and Blake on together sometime in the next month or so. It'd be fun!Stacey Cochranhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14128613653591282474noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-45887040436590059272009-08-28T22:22:38.584-05:002009-08-28T22:22:38.584-05:00I just want to say thank you, Joe. Because of your...I just want to say thank you, Joe. Because of your posts about e-books, I made my (formerly) out-of-print first novel, IDENTITY CRISIS, available for download in June. Just got my first royalties payment from Amazon today. Small change compared to you, because I'm such a small name (at this point, anyway--hope springs eternal :)).<br /><br />Even so, it's small change I wouldn't have if I hadn't read your posts and e-published my book back to life. So thanks again!<br /><br />I continue to read your posts on this subject with great interest.Debbihttp://midlistlife.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-537299719092296722009-08-28T18:02:00.172-05:002009-08-28T18:02:00.172-05:00The DAT (Digital Audio Tape) format failed because...The DAT (Digital Audio Tape) format failed because the record industry lobbyists got Congres to pass a law requiring DAT machines to have built-in copy protection that would prevent users from hooking up two DAT recorders and using the first as a master and second as a slave to run off multiple copies of the master tape.<br /><br />I was a laserdisc early adopter and regretted it. Around 1980, the only laserdisc players were made by Pioneer after Magnavox bailed. My Pioneer LD-1100 cost $800, was huge, noisy and never played discs reliably. The early catalog of discs was small, the discs and video transfers were highly variable in quality and there was the infamous "disc rot" problem. These problems were gradually solved.<br /><br />The real reason videodiscs failed was that practically no video stores except for a few specialty dealers in big cities, like Dave's Video in Studio City, rented discs.<br /><br />That limited the appeal of the format to obsessive film buffs and videophiles.Peter L. Winklerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16005846686173676213noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-20954491791515835772009-08-28T16:15:36.610-05:002009-08-28T16:15:36.610-05:00I had a videodisc player. But VCRs came first, and...I had a videodisc player. But VCRs came first, and movies were released on VCRs first. They just cost well over $100 per videotape, and were for the rental market.<br /><br />Star Trek II was the first budget-priced home video. It was released in 1983 and priced at $39.95. <br /><br />RCA CEDs were priced at $20, or $30 for double disk sets. <br /><br />As for cheap DVD players, you can get them all over now. Budget-priced no frills versions are oftne on sale for thirty bucks. Might be a loss lead, but it might also be the license cost went down.<br /><br />When Star Trek went budget, other movies followed suit. The videodisk was at two disadvantages. First, more people had VCRs than disk players. Second, VCRs recorded television. So videodisks, and later laserdisks, were beaten by VHS until DVD came along.JA Konrathhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08778324558755151986noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-27602595390323397632009-08-28T14:58:23.391-05:002009-08-28T14:58:23.391-05:00Nit picking:
You could actually buy Star Trek I o...Nit picking:<br /><br />You could actually buy Star Trek I on video disc (not laserdisc, these things actually played like a record) before it was available on videotape.<br /><br />Your $30 DVD player is most likely an illegal one. Last time I read about it, it cost around $20 per unit to license the patents necessary to build a DVD player. At best, it's a loss-leader.<br /><br />And let's not forget that media companies have ALWAYS resisted new technologies, formats, and distribution channels for their content. In the end, though, it always opens up and they always make more money.Adriannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-30410573006962068172009-08-28T13:43:19.992-05:002009-08-28T13:43:19.992-05:00At least one of the "big boys" won't...At least one of the "big boys" won't have to compete with Stanza, as they are in fact Stanza! Lexcycle, the creators of Stanza, were acquired by Amazon back in April:<br /><br />http://www.lexcycle.com/lexcycle_acquired_by_amazonAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-15373485943944472332009-08-28T12:35:39.967-05:002009-08-28T12:35:39.967-05:00Great post! I agree with you that ebooks are the ...Great post! I agree with you that ebooks are the future. But the current model isn't going to work. If I have to pay $10 for an ebook and invest $400 in a reader when I can pick up a brand new hardcover at B&N for $17, or a bargen HC for $6 or a paperback for a buck, why am I going to invest in a reader that will probably be obsolete in a year or two? The big problem is control. Publishers and authors want control of the work and are afraid of people simply trading the file around and not paying for it. The music industry went through this painful process, but now everyone is out buying songs for $0.99. Why bother stealing a song if you can buy it legally for $0.99. Some will, but some of them have gone to jail, too. But as long as publishers are trying to lock up book formats and sell them for $10, ebooks are not going to be anything other than a novelty. That's not going to last, though. Sooner or later publishers will figure out that they can save a bundle of money by selling books only through ebooks or print-on-demand instead of having to pulp hundreds of thousands of books every year. One thing authors better be prepared for though - the days of the million-dollar advance are going to be coming to an end. Publishers are not going to be able to afford it with the market open to massive competition and people buying books for $3.00. As a reader and reviewer, it's exciting to think of all the books I'll be able to read electronically and the money (and space in my home) I'll save, but we are not quite there...yet. But I think you are right - we are going to get there pretty soon.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02378547566593756176noreply@blogger.com