Let’s talk editing. I’ve been trained as a copy editor, have edited newsletters for content and grammar, and have had four separate editing experiences as a writer. I also began my publishing career as a proofreader, learnt a bit about graphic design, and was a desktop publisher. I’ve worked on text the traditional way and…
Tag: iUniverse
From Paper to Pixels
This is from a talk I gave to my fraternity on their Career Day. We are in an age of transition. Like those who went from calligraphy to the Gutenberg press, so we are going from pen and print books to tablet computers and ebooks. Up until early last century, manuscripts were written by hand.…
The DRM and Price of eBooks
There has been much discussion between publishers and between pundits about DRM: digital rights management. DRM allows “copyright holders to prevent unauthorized duplication of their work, either to maintain artistic integrity or to ensure continued revenue streams.” (Wikipedia) A book with DRM on it controls where an eBook can be read, how many copies —…
Prepping Manuscript for Smashwords: Tedium Personified
In an attempt to get the eBook version of Lifeliner out to more markets without paying iUniverse a fortune, especially since they are non-responsive to author concerns other than filling up the inbox with marketing e-mail, I’ve decided to use Smashwords. Smashwords will take your MS Word document and convert it to many eBook formats,…
Ditching iUniverse, Going in a New Publishing Direction for “She”
I wrote my second book — my first novel She — during National Novel Writing Month last November, revised it and got reader feedback and revised it again during Christmas and January, and then I had to decide: head down the traditional road this time and seek an agent or go back to iUniverse? It…
The Sheriff of Nottingham Works for iUniverse and Amazon These Days
You may remember I wrote a couple of weeks ago about the lack of sales information from iUniverse. Well, today the sales reporting software worked, and I just about choked on my hot chocolate. I called up iUniverse to see if I’d misread the figures, but nope, they were right. To backtrack a bit, so…
Fellow iUniverse Author Wins Leacock Medal
Terry Fallis, a fellow Publisher’s Choice and iUniverse author, has won the 2008 Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour, which includes a cash prize. I’d like to point out that he beat traditionally published — and well-known — authors like Douglas Coupland and Will Ferguson to win this coveted prize.
Amazon BookSurge Ultimatum
Just when you think selling books couldn’t get any harder, along comes the wonderful news that Amazon is using its hefty muscle to force POD publishers to use BookSurge (which it owns) to print their print-on-demand (POD) books else risk having the Buy button for their authors’ books turned off. Sure, you can still purchase…
Stop the Presses!
Contrary to what I’ve been telling everybody, Lifeliner is not being stocked at Indigo at Bay and Bloor, but at the World’s Biggest Bookstore on Edward Street near Yonge and Dundas. You will find it either on the Hot and New Nonfiction display at the front of the store or upstairs in the Biography section.…