Plug Your Book

Apple releases iPhone SDK 3.01 beta to developers

2009-06-30T19:33:00.001-04:00

iPhone SDK 3.1 beta and iPhone OS 3.1 beta are now posted to the iPhone Dev Center. These versions are for development and testing only and should be installed on devices dedicated to iPhone OS 3.1 beta software development. Please read the iPhone OS Pre-Install Advisory and the iPhone SDK 3.1 beta release notes before downloading and installing.

Use the Apple Bug Reporter if you discover compatibility or functionality issues while testing with the iPhone OS 3.1 beta release.

You are receiving this email because you are a Registered iPhone Developer that has opted-in to receive marketing or technical information. If you have any questions, or if you would prefer not to receive future communications from the iPhone Developer Program, please contact us or go tohttp://developer.apple.com/contact.

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Steve Weber is author of ePublish: Self-Publish Fast and Profitably for Kindle, iPhone, CreateSpace and Print on Demand

and Plug Your Book! Online Book Marketing for Authors

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Amazon kills fast-shipping offer for niche paperbacks

2009-06-30T10:58:00.012-04:00

Amazon today dropped its decade-long practice of offering overnight shipping on most niche paperbacks. In a new warning displayed on its Web site, the online bookseller is warning shoppers that most of these titles will take an extra day or two of "processing" time.

The warning applies to the vast majority of paperbacks manufactured via Print on Demand (POD). Starting today, Amazon began displaying the warning in two places on book detail pages. First, in small, black type at the top of the page:

This item is not immediately available to ship. (In stock but may require an extra 1-2 days to process.)

And again, in large green type, directly under the retail price:

Price:$17.05 & eligible for free shipping with Amazon Prime
In stock but may require an extra 1-2 days to process.

Until now, Amazon had offered one-day shipping on POD titles. The vast majority of those titles were printed by Lightning Source, a unit of Ingram. Usually the books were shipped from Lightning Source in an Amazon box, making it appear the book was shipped from Amazon's warehouse.

With POD, paperbacks are printed only after a customer orders and pays for the book. Amazon still offers overnight shipping on a relatively few POD titles -- those that sell so briskly that Amazon stocks copies in its warehouses. Here is one example of a POD title that sells more than 200 copies per week on Amazon, yet is not stocked at the company's warehouses and is subject to the delay.

UPDATE FROM AUTHOR: This afternoon, Amazon removed the two messages regarding delayed shipping from the affected POD titles. As an experiment, I signed into Amazon with a non-Prime account and purchased one copy of the title mentioned above, eBay 101, and paid $17.98 for overnight shipping. However, when I view the tracking for this order on Amazon's Web site, the estimated delivery date is July 3, about three days from now. I hope Amazon will give me a break on the $17.98 if delivery actually takes three days.

Ironically, Amazon has been urging publishers to switch to its in-house POD services, BookSurge and CreateSpace. A policy statement on Amazon's Web site suggests that requiring publishers to use Amazon printing services would enable the company to prepare shipments within two hours. But the warning about shipping delays appears with most BookSurge and CreateSpace titles.

POD expert Morris Rosenthal speculates that the warning about shipment delays might be Amazon's response to complaints about long shipment times for POD books. Subscribers to the company's Prime shipping deal are offered overnight shipping for only $3.99.

Publishers have increasingly turned to POD. According to Bowker Inc., POD titles exceeded the number of offset-printed titles for the first time this year.
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Steve Weber is author of ePublish: Self-Publish Fast and Profitably for Kindle, iPhone, CreateSpace and Print on Demand

and Plug Your Book! Online Book Marketing for Authors

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Q&A: Should I publish my Amazon Kindle eBooks with Mobipocket?

2009-06-28T14:07:00.011-04:00

QUESTION: It seems that eBooks published with an account at Mobipocket automatically appear in Amazon's Kindle Store, and are also available to Apple iPhone and iTouch users. What are the advantages and disadvantages of publishing through Mobipocket, instead of directly through Amazon?

ANSWER: In theory, there's no reason not to list a book with Mobipocket. I get a few sales a month through them -- for every 25 Kindle sales, I get one or two Mobipocket sales.

Mobipocket is a Paris-based eBook company that Amazon bought a few years ago. Its eBook format is the underlying language for the eBooks in Amazon's Kindle store. Books listed with Mobipocket automatically show up as Kindle editions, as long as the publisher selects Amazon as one of the authorized retailers.

So, for publishers outside the U.S. without a U.S. bank account, Mobipocket is a convenient backdoor to the Kindle store. By contrast, if you sign up as a Kindle publisher like most individuals, through Amazon's digital text platform, you need to have a U.S. address and bank account.

However, there are a few snags you can run into by going directly through Mobipocket:

It takes considerably longer for each title to appear on Amazon's site after you've uploaded it. Exactly how much longer, I'm not sure -- perhaps 10 or 20 days additional. This isn't a deal-breaker in itself, but it can be a problem -- what if you spend several days trying to figure out what the "problem" or delay is, when there wasn't a problem in the first place? It's just a hassle. And there is no publisher support at Mobipocket or Amazon's site, dtp.amazon.com. So even if you post an issue or problem at one of these official support boards, it's very, very unlikely that any tech support people will read or answer your message.

Amazon will contact you for additional documentation. If you upload the books through Mobipocket and you are in the U.S., Amazon will contact you via e-mail and ask for you to provide your bank information, even though you have already provided all this information to Mobipocket. Why? So that Amazon can report and pay royalties on sales of Kindle editions in the United States through Amazon, not Mobipocket. So, essentially, they are getting you to set up a Kindle publisher account, even if you don't sign up through DTP. I am guessing that they do this as a method of preventing authors or publishers who might intentionally (or unintentionally) avoid paying income tax on eBook sales. However, no real explanation is given in this e-mail Amazon sends, so it's confusing. Some people don't receive the e-mail, and some people think it's a scam, which is understandable.

One little perk at Mobipocket: you can price your books below Amazon DTP's minimum of 99 cents. This can be handy if you want to get exposure for an excerpt.

Steve Weber is author of ePublish: Self-Publish Fast and Profitably for Kindle, iPhone, CreateSpace and Print on Demand

and Plug Your Book! Online Book Marketing for Authors

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Glitch at Amazon Advantage sends bogus order cancellations

2009-06-26T09:52:00.004-04:00

A technical glitch at Amazon's Advantage program yesterday sent an erroneous order cancellations to all the program's participating members. Advantage is Amazon's consignment program for small- and midsized publishers.

The text of the e-mail:

Greetings from Amazon.com Advantage,
Please be advised that the Advantage Operations team is in the process of suspending orders for a number of titles that have either:
1. Been ordered, but not confirmed, or
2. Been ordered and confirmed, but never sent to Amazon.com
If any of these items have become avaiilable (sic), you can reactivate them in your account by clicking on the 'Items' tab and selecting 'Update Item Status' on the green tool bar. Alternately, you may contact Advantage Vendor Services via the 'Contact Us' link (located at the bottom of every page in your account) to re-activate your suspended item(s). Please include the ASIN/ISBN/UPC.
Additional steps that you should take:
1. Review the items in your Advantage account. Notify us via the 'Contact Us' form of any which are no longer available.
2. Take note of those items which are listed in your account under an old ISBN/UPC number. If any of these items is no longer available, please ask us to close them from your account.
3. Add any new titles - ISBNs/UPCs - to your account. You may enroll them individually through the Advantage web interface, or in bulk by Excel spreadsheet - both found under the Items tab of your Advantage account.
Thank you for your attention to this matter.
The Amazon.com Advantage Operations Team

Apparently the same message went to all publishers with Advantage accounts, even those without active titles. Amazon has posted the following update:

Earlier this morning we sent out an email in error regarding the suspension of titles in your account. This was supposed to go to only a select few accounts, where the outstanding purchase orders had not been confirmed. Due to a glitch, it was sent, in error, to all advantage members. Don't worry, your account is still fully functional and no titles have been suspended. No action is required on your part.

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Steve Weber is author of Plug Your Book! Online Book Marketing for Authors

Q&A: How can authors market their Kindle books?

2009-06-18T14:17:00.004-04:00

Question: I've read Plug Your Book, which discusses online marketing of physical books. Now that e-books are available on Amazon via Kindle editions, how has online book marketing changed?

Answer: The more things change the more they stay the same. Online book marketing works just the same with Kindle editions, except that e-books give you a few additional possibilities.

E-books have some obvious advantages for authors and publishers -- lower productions costs, the ease of updating/revising, incorporating reader feedback and suggestions.

Kindle editions give authors the same marketing advantages that you get with traditional books. In a nutshell, free exposure.

For example, where I recommend that you give away "free samples" or excerpts of your book -- the Kindle gives you more possibilities. You can publish sample chapters or anthologies/compilations of your work. In the Kindle Store, some books are sold for 99 cents per chapter instead of the customary $10 or $15 per book.

All the regular advantages of Amazon exposure -- the way your book can work itself into the recommendations system, and gain word of mouth -- works with Kindle editions just as well as it did with paper books. For authors who aren't famous, self-published or otherwise, Amazon is an automatic book marketing system.

Having said this, Kindle sales are still a small percentage of paperback sales, at least in my experience. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has stated that about 35 percent of book sales are via Kindle. But this doesn't square with common sense -- there are more than 80 million paperback book buyers on Amazon, and less than 1 million (perhaps less than 500,000) Kindle owners. While I can believe Kindle owners buy more books than the average book buyer, I don't believe they're buying THAT many more books, and it's certainly not reflected in my sales reports.

On the other hand, digital editions are an expanding part of the publishing business, while paper editions are flat or declining. So, it's a good idea to get involved with Kindle editions and to be on the lookout for Kindle competitors and alternatives.

I also believe that the terms for Amazon's Digital Text Platform are terrible -- only 35 percent of revenues go to the author/publisher? Very Scrooge-like on Amazon's part.

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Steve Weber is author of Plug Your Book! Online Book Marketing for Authors

Book promotion technology roundup

2009-06-14T09:26:00.003-04:00

"Artists drawn to Comics Festival"http://tinyurl.com/m4lc3k about 6 hours ago
"Convert PDF files into eBooks | ISTE's NECC09 Blog"http://tinyurl.com/nm7dtk about 8 hours ago
"Self-Publishing Tips - ShelfTalker: A Children's Bookseller's Blog ..."http://tinyurl.com/lkppov about 15 hours ago
"David R. Collins Writers' Conference June 24-26"http://tinyurl.com/m4uj25 about 18 hours ago
"Atlantis word processor can create EPUB ebooks | TeleRead: Bring ..."http://tinyurl.com/mksnd8 1 day ago
"Simon ' Schuster to Sell Digital Books on Scribd.com | LISNews"http://tinyurl.com/mwojhx 1 day ago
"Ninomiya-kun book-reading 'bot is like a three foot tall Kindle"http://tinyurl.com/l77tzx 1 day ago
"Democracy - Nonfiction Matters - Blog on School Library Journal"http://tinyurl.com/lux6l4 1 day ago
"Old, real book vs. Kindle alternative: Which wins?"http://tinyurl.com/n56djg 1 day ago
"Innovation: Print-on-Demand-ish Yaoi? -" http://tinyurl.com/ncjnjz 1 day ago

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Steve Weber is author of Plug Your Book! Online Book Marketing for Authors

Book marketing roundup for Friday

2009-06-04T12:01:00.002-04:00

Sherman Alexie on Kindle "elitism."

Author's do-it-yourself video drives book sales in paperback, e-book.

The "Truth" about self-publishing according to Writer's Digest.

Quality control in self-publishing.

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Steve Weber is author of Plug Your Book! Online Book Marketing for Authors

Amazon warns authors it may censor blogs

2009-05-28T10:32:00.004-04:00

When Amazon launched its Connect author-blog feature in 2006, chief executive Jeff Bezos hailed it as a new opportunity for authors to talk directly with readers.

Now, after a few million unfiltered blog posts, Amazon wishes authors would just shut up. The company has tucked the blogs away from direct view, and warned authors it may begin monitoring and censoring them.

What happened? Well, some authors have been referring Amazon customers to their personal Web sites, where they sold books as downloadable e-books or paper copies sent through the mail. Amazon received no fees for the sales.

Amazon's "community rules" prohibit users from discussing prices or competing retailers. The company's staff routinely deletes such details from customer book reviews, but author blogs weren't closely monitored.

After debuting author blogs with a splash on its home page in 2006, Amazon has steadily reduced their visibility. Last year, the company began truncating new posts, then deleting them entirely from book product pages. Starting yesterday, authors who wanted to continue blogging were asked to agree to new terms, with Amazon reserving the right to monitor and delete certain content:

We ... have no obligation to use, post or distribute your Submitted Materials. We may monitor and, in our discretion, remove your Submitted Materials at any time.

The agreement doesn't specify what kind of materials Amazon might find objectionable. Amazon says future blog posts will appear at the bottom of a new section of its site, Author Central.

Not all authors were using AmazonConnect to intercept Amazon sales. Some were using the feature to post extended book descriptions and excerpts. Some authors found the process faster and more reliable than providing revised or corrected bibliographic data to Amazon's cataloging department.

Amazon's author blogging program is separate from Kindle publishing for blogs, which enabes bloggers to collect subscription fees via Amazon's e-book reader.

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Will Kindle crash Nielsen BookScan?

2009-05-21T09:31:00.012-04:00

Quick, how many copies of your books sold this month?

Most authors know their Amazon Sales Ranks, but few can tell you how many books have sold, and where.

Amazon's ranks are the poor man's Nielsen BookScan, they reveal the rate at which a title sells relative to competitors. But if you want real, hard numbers -- how many copies sold and where people bought them, you need BookScan.

Remember those checkout scanners at your local Barnes & Noble? BookScan is watching. Unlike some other bestseller lists, BookScan actually counts the cash readers pay for books.

BookScan is like an author's credit report. Just as you can't get a loan without a decent credit report, you can't get another book deal if your BookScan numbers stink. In this blog post, editor Alan Rinzler explains why authors need BookScan, and how lousy numbers can ruin your career. (Problem is, most authors need a loan to pay BookScan's subscription fee, $5000 a year for full access.)

BookScan includes sales from Amazon and the brick-and-mortar chains, covering about 75 percent of retail sales. But BookScan doesn't reach one growing channel -- big-box retailers like Wal-Mart, Sam's Club, and BJ's Wholesale Club. They don't report to BookScan.

Now, perhaps there's an even bigger leak in the hose: eBooks. Until recently, they've been an afterthought, and BookScan hasn't even bothered. The conventional wisdom was eBooks were stuck at 1 percent or 2 percent of the business.

But this month, BookScan was whacked upside the head by two Kindles and an iPhone. Jaws dropped when Amazon honcho Jeff Bezos claimed that 35 percent of Amazon’s unit sales are now Kindle editions (for titles available in paper and Kindle). Frankly, I didn't believe the 35-percent figure, but Bezos had a 35-foot chart to prove it.

But BookScan isn't reporting this explosion in eBook sales. Nielsen's Dennis Halby says they'd like to get eBook numbers, but don't have an estimate on when that might happen. And considering the terrarium-like Kindle environment Amazon is building, I wouldn't be surprised if Amazon keeps a lid on things. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if Amazon launched a BookScan rival.

How much market share does Amazon have in eBooks? Nobody knows. I'd guess it's 75 percent and rising fast.

Not only does Amazon have the biggest eBook channel, they've got many titles exclusively. Amateur and professional writers alike are uploading gigabytes of words to Amazon's Kindle Store every day. And why not? There's no barrier to entry, no registration fee. Any high-school kid in America can upload their latest book report to Amazon and charge $20 for it, and lots of them are doing it.

One link is missing, though: None of these gazillion eBooks have a industry-standard identifier, as BookScan requires for tracking. Not a single ISBN on Amazon eBooks -- not the ones from Random House, and not the ones from the random kid down the block.

Believe it or not, even when a savvy self-publishing author buys an ISBN for his or her book from Bowker, and submits it with the rest of the metadata through Amazon's Digital Text Platform, Amazon ignores the ISBN. In the Kindle Store, the only identifier for eBooks is the proprietary Amazon Standard Identification Number.

Granted, 99 percent of these do-it-yourself eBooks aren't selling in meaningful numbers. But some do, and only Amazon can see the diamonds in the rough. Just this week, the company announced plans to cash in on these indie books. AmazonEncore will identify the ones with potential, clean them up, relaunch them, and push them to brick-and-mortar bookstores.

And that's how, over the next few years, Amazon could become a major power in book publishing. Meantime, it could make the New York Times, USA Today, CNN, and Wall Street Journal bestseller lists obsolete.

I don't know how this will shake out. But if I were working at BookScan or at a company who provides services for self-publishing authors, I'd be dusting off my resume. Or maybe uploading it to the Kindle.

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Authors can sell their own book on Amazon Marketplace

2009-05-20T16:45:00.003-04:00

Most small publishers these days use a distributor to get books into the hands of retailers. Today this is easy to arrange thanks to print-on-demand firms such as Lightning Source, which can wholesale your book through Ingram Books. But some self-publishing authors prefer to handle sales fulfillment themselves, for a variety of reasons.

Handling the shipping chores provides access to buyer information, giving publishers who sell a line of related books the ability to upsell and pitch new titles directly to those buyers.

A third option favored by many authors today is to allow retailers to handle most sales, while reserving the option to ship books in times of emergencies, such as when a major outlet like Amazon unexpectedly goes out of stock on your title.

Anyone with a U.S. bank account can open an Amazon seller account to list copies of books for sale in exchange for a 15 percent commission and certain other fees. Aside from being the Internet's main destination for book shoppers, selling on Amazon allows you to start selling without devising your own billing and marketing system.

Amazon will deposit funds from your sales to the bank account you designate. You'll also receive a shipping credit that will cover most of your shipping costs.

Amazon charges a 15-percent commission on Marketplace sales and separate fees of $1.23 and 99 cents per transaction. The 99-cent fee on each sale is waived, however, if you become an Amazon Pro-Merchant subscriber. If you sell more than 40 books per month on Amazon Marketplace, the subscription will pay for itself.

Having a Pro-Merchant subscription also provides access to bulk sales and inventory tools that can help automate your bookkeeping. A Pro-Merchant subscription also enables you to enter your book into Amazon's catalog by creating a product detail page, a handy option if you are the sole distributor of your book.

Another advantage of selling your book directly on Amazon Marketplace: You can capture the buyers contact information (email, street address) which can be handy if you plan to upsell your readers to more products or consulting services.

You can also use Amazon Marketplace to sell remainders, imperfect books, and autographed copies.

If you'd rather not handle customer service, you can ship your books to Amazon's warehouse and have them fill the orders. See Fulfillment by Amazon.
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Amazon cuts social-networking features for authors, customers

2009-05-19T13:58:00.006-04:00

Amazon killed its "Friends" networking feature that had enabled authors and readers to forward messages through the online retailer.

It's the latest in several recent steps Amazon has taken restricting communication among authors and customers. (Update: please see the first comment below this post; Amazon has blocked new authors from its Connect blogging feature.)

Until recently, Amazon's "Friends" feature has been a popular way for authors to recruit amateur reviewers to critique their work, as explained in this guide.

Here's how it used to work: Authors who visited a reviewer's profile could click a link to send a "Amazon Friends Invitation." If the invitation was accepted, the friends were listed on each others' Amazon profiles, and could exchange e-mail through Amazon. Privacy was assured because neither friend needed to make their e-mail address public.

The Friends feature had enabled self-published authors to supply complimentary review copies and compete with big-name authors with more resources. Few independent authors can afford $15,000 to enroll their book in Amazon Vine, in which Amazon mails advance review copies to its Top Reviewers.

Now, do-it-yourself authors will need to work harder to find reviewers. On the redesigned profile pages, there is only a yellow button on the top right labeled "Add to Interesting People." Clicking here produces a pop-up box containing a checkbox for "Add as an Amazon Friend." But the process is no longer reciprocal; Amazon does not notify the person you've selected as a friend.

If you have an Amazon account, you can visit your own Amazon profile page at this address: http://www.amazon.com/gp/pdp/profile/. Here are examples of other Amazon profiles:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/pdp/profile/A2KEKKJ9CAC2KC
http://www.amazon.com/gp/pdp/profile/A2BMBIS5SKD7AB
http://www.amazon.com/gp/pdp/profile/A3UM5IR9AZL1WZ

Clearly, this eliminates most of the benefits of being "friends" on Amazon. If there is no way to communicate, the value of the friendship is diminished.

My personal take on why Amazon has been scaling back these features: certain account details -- such as wish lists, birth dates, "favorite items" and recent purchases -- were visible to other Amazon Friends. Although these displays can be adjusted using profile settings, Amazon has received complaints by folks irritated by a perceived privacy invasion.

The good news is, there's more than one way to contact Amazon reviewers: Googling their names and the hometown they list on their Amazon reviews. For example, when I published my latest book, there were several dozen new reviewers I was able to find by Googling their name (provided they didn't use a nickname when signing their Amazon reviews). Eventually you can find contact information from the reviewer's blog, Web site, or other social-networking profile.

Amazon has been gradually cutting its social-networking features available to authors. Other recent changes:

Authors' Amazon Connect blog posts are truncated on book detail pages. Previously, the three most-recent posts appeared on book detail pages in their entirety, now only a few lines appear. Also, authors can no longer specify which titles the blog posts will appear with, which severely reduces their value.
Book detail pages no longer contain a link to the author's profile page. Currently the only practical way of finding a profile to search Google for "Amazon.com: profile for [name]."

One more detail: Technically, it's still possible to send a Amazon Friends invitation, but you need to know the person's Amazon-registered e-mail address beforehand. If you do, click the link at the bottom of your profile page labeled "Invite new friends."

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Amazon Encore: Cherry-picking Astroturfing, or an author breakout tool?

2009-05-13T16:13:00.006-04:00

Interesting announcement today from Amazon regarding a new program to reissue books that have been well received, but were insufficiently marketed and have sold poorly.

Even great books can be overlooked. Amazon customers raved over “Legacy,” a self-published novel by 16-year-old Cayla Kluver, with customer review titles such as “loved it, loved it,” “rich lyrical tapestry and story” and “breathtaking in scope and execution!” Despite winning several prizes from literary groups and accolades like this from readers, Kluver’s debut novel achieved only modest sales. Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) today announced a new program, “AmazonEncore,” to help readers discover exceptional books from emerging authors, such as the program’s first book, “Legacy.”

AmazonEncore is a new program whereby Amazon uses information such as customer reviews on Amazon websites to identify exceptional, overlooked books and authors that show potential for greater sales. Amazon then partners with the authors to re-introduce their books to readers through marketing support and distribution into multiple channels and formats, such as the Amazon Books Store, Amazon Kindle Store, Audible.com, and national and independent bookstores via third-party wholesalers. This summer “Legacy” will be revised by the author and re-issued as an AmazonEncore edition in print on Amazon websites around the world, in physical bookstores, as a digital download from the Kindle Store in less than 60 seconds, and via spoken-word audio download on Audible.com.

This sounds eerily similar to a program announced a few years ago in connection with Amazon's BookSurge self-publishing subsidiary. In this Forbes column, the author describes the program enthusiastically. Haven't heard much about that program recently.

Cayla Kluver, author of the first title selected for AmazonEncore, Legacy, posted about it today on her Amazon Connect blog:

For the last few weeks, I've had to be pretty tight-lipped about everything that's been going on, but now I can say that I have signed a deal with AmazonEncore, selling the publication rights for Legacy. The new edition will be released in hardcover on August 18th, 2009!

Contract negotiations wrapped up excellently in April, thanks to Kevan Lyon, my literary agent, who is now one of the most fantastic people I know. She has already done more for me than I would ever have expected, and I often wonder how there are enough hours in the day for her to get done all that she does! I've met with the people who will be handling the book at Amazon, all of whom are geniuses; some revisions to the novel (clean up stuff mainly so it can be sleek and shiny when it's re-released in hardcover on August 18th) are being made with the help of an editor; and today, a national press release went out, which you can read here. It announces both the AmazonEncore program and my book, which they have chosen to be their launch title.

New cover art has been designed by Melcher Media, the interior layout concepts are fabulous, and I'm flying high. The new edition of the book is available for preorder on Amazon, where you can get a look at the cover, a couple of interviews with me (including a video one!), and the new prologue and first chapter. Here's the link: Legacy, AmazonEncore Edition.

I also have a new website: www.caylakluver.com, which has a lot of additional and supplementary information (press and rights contacts, bio, FAQs, etc.).

It's been a fantastic ride from when I first started writing, to struggling for an agent/publisher, to self-publishing, to signing with Kevan and Encore and ending up where I am now. I am so thankful for everyone who has been there to lend a hand (or hold mine) through the process, and who bought the original edition of Legacy, which has now been pulled from the market and will never be heard from again. Sad, but ultimately a good thing! I am also, of course, immensely grateful to Encore for taking a chance on me.

Thanks so much again to all of you out there -- I'm having the time of my life, and will be sure to keep you updated!

The customer reviews for the original edition makes it seem there was real support for the work, but there were also a couple of complaints about the writing. (I can't talk too much; when I was a teenager, I couldn't write worth beans.)

Sounds like it could be a great program for Amazon and the authors, depending on the terms, which aren't explained in Amazon's press release or its AmazonLegacy page. For a few years, it has been possible for authors from small presses (and self-published authors) to be quite successful purely on Amazon sales using print on demand. But the major bookstore chains are loathe to carry such books, which are often non-returnable.

Will Amazon really have the clout to get these new authors and niche titles into bookstores such as Barnes & Noble, Borders, and independents? Or will this put even more small presses out of business -- as soon as demand for a book is proven on Amazon, the author is cherry-picked from the publisher who took the risk in the first place? Stay tuned, this will be interesting.

I really doubt that someone at Amazon is reading through the millions of customer reviews, searching for that hidden gem of a book they want to boost because of the warmness of their hearts. More likely, they are identifying books that are selling well on Amazon now, and identifying those that can sell even better, if backed with proper marketing and national brick-and-mortar distribution.
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How to get a Library of Congress Control Number (LCCN) for your book

2009-05-12T12:37:00.002-04:00

It’s pretty simple and costs nothing for self-publishers to obtain a Library of Congress Control Number (LCCN) before publication. Library of Congress numbers are helpful if you want to sell your book to libraries, since some libraries order every cataloged work.

First, apply to participate in the Preassigned Card Number Program. (Here's the Library of Congress FAZ).

You should receive a user name and password within about two weeks. Then enter your title, ISBN, and other details into the system, and you’ll receive the LCCN within about a week via e-mail. The Preassigned Card Number Program links the book to any record which the Library of Congress, other libraries, or book vendors might create.

Self publishers can open an account here. Click "open new account" at the bottom of the page. Getting a new account takes a week or two, then each time you apply for a LCCN for a new title, it takes a few days.

The LCCN is a serially based method of numbering books in use since 1898 at the Library of Congress. Librarians use it to locate a specific Library of Congress catalog record in the national databases and to order catalog cards from the Library of Congress or from book distributors.

Upon receiving your LCCN, print it on the copyright page.

Self-publishing authors should remember to send a complimentary copy of all their books for which a preassigned number was provided. Publishers who don't meet this obligation can be suspended from the program.

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Amazon launches Kindle eBook store optimized for iPhone

2009-05-11T12:47:00.003-04:00

When Amazon introduced its free Kindle eBook reader in March, there wasn't an easy way to shop for Kindle books on the phone. Generally, shoppers had to switch to a desktop computer because Amazon's regular PC site frequently makes the iPhone's Safari browser crash. A stripped-down version of Amazon's site released last year didn't allow users to search the Kindle store.

So buying a Kindle book from iPhone has been a very cumbersome process. After two months, though, Amazon has rectified this. The Kindle iPhone reader's "Get Books" button now opens Safari to a Kindle Store optimized for the iPhone.

"The most common feedback we heard from customers was that they wanted a better experience for purchasing new Kindle books from their iPhones," said Ian Freed, Amazon's vice president for Kindle. "We’ve been working hard to respond to that feedback with a new web site optimized for Safari on iPhone and we're excited to do that today."

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Kindle books won't pay affiliate commissions for Amazon Associates

2009-05-07T13:11:00.004-04:00

Perhaps this news came out six months ago, and I missed it. Or maybe Amazon slipped this into the fine print in yesterday, knowing it would be ignored amid the Kindle DX media frenzy.

In the last paragraph of yesterday's announcement of Kindle DX on the official Amazon Associates blog:

Please note that books formatted for kindle are not eligible to receive referral fees through the Associates program. Associates can earn referral fees on qualifying sales of the following Kindle products: Kindle reader sales (this includes Kindle and Kindle DX), Kindle magazine, newspaper, and blog subscriptions.

Speaking as a longtime Amazon affiliate, here's the irritating thing about this: Amazon is displaying Kindle editions on my site's Omakase banner ads. In other words, I'm paying to host Amazon ads that Amazon isn't paying me for, even when they result in a sale.

The first three titles they're showing on my sidebar (pictured left) are Kindle editions. No indication that the ads are for Kindle editions unless, of course, you click on them and leave my site. To add insult to injury, one of the ads is for a public domain book they're giving away free.

Omakase ads are displayed based on the browsing history at Amazon. I'm not sure if other Associates banners and widgets are doing this. It certainly explains for me why my Associates payouts have dropped like a stone recently while my traffic and clicks have gone up.

Bookselling roundup for Wednesday

2009-05-05T15:54:00.002-04:00

Kindle could replace textbooks at some schools

Cable TV show will feature books

Amazon drops plan for subscription fee to sell collectible books

Libraries tell Google: We don't trust you that much

Niche publisher gripes that Amazon wants too much of his money

Google e-mails FAQ on proposed settlement and Book Search partner program

2009-05-02T08:00:00.001-04:00

Received this e-mail from Google Book Search on Friday afternoon, May 1:

Dear Google Book Search Partner,

We're excited about the proposed settlement agreement regarding the Google Book Search Library Project. We want to make sure rightsholders everywhere have enough time to think about it and make sure the settlement is right for them. We wanted to let you know that the court has extended the opt-out deadline until September 4, 2009.

We also wanted to share with you some of the most frequently asked questions we've heard from partners about the proposed settlement and the Google Book Search Partner Program. If you have specific questions about the settlement, we ask that you contact Publisher Sub-Class Counsel, at bookclaims@debevoise.com. Authors can contact Author Sub-Class Counsel, at bookclaims@bonizack.com.

Best regards,
The Google Book Search Partnerships Team
books-support@google.com

What does the settlement mean for the Partner Program?
The Partner Program will continue to be available to publishers in parallel to the settlement.

What is the difference between the settlement and the Google Partner Program?
This settlement covers books that are being copied by Google (primarily in libraries) without the permission of any rightsholder. Books in the Partner Program are displayed by Google only with the permission of one or more rightsholders of the book. A book that is covered by the settlement can be in the Partner Program. Some books (such as those published after January 5, 2009), however, can be in the Partner Program but not the settlement.

Can I participate in both the Partner Program and the settlement?
Yes. Google intends to make available to Partner Program participants revenue models similar to those that are in the settlement. For books that are in both the settlement and the Partner Program, you will have the option to participate in the revenue models available through the settlement or the Partner Program.

What is opting out?
As with any class action settlement, you have the option to opt out of the class. If you opt out of the class, you will not receive any of the settlement's benefits, you will not be bound by any of its terms and you will retain the right to file your own lawsuit against Google relating to the Google Book Search Library Project. When you opt out you are not removing your books from the index. Under the settlement you will have the right to remove books. The court has extended the opt-out deadline until September 4.

My books were scanned in both the Library Project and the Partner Program. Should I still claim them?
Yes. Books covered by the settlement may also be in the Partner Program and you may wish to claim your books under the settlement to obtain its benefits. Any books scanned by Google under the Library Project could be eligible for a cash payment if they are covered by the settlement, even if you separately provided copies of them to us through the Partner Program. If the settlement is approved, you would be paid for each book that Google scanned on or before May 5, 2009 without your permission. In addition, if you claim your books under the settlement, you could also choose to manage these books through the settlement. Or, you could manage them through the Partner Program. You can claim books at any time, but in order to be eligible for the one-time cash payment for books scanned on or before May 5, 2009, you must claim them by January 5, 2010.

How can I find out which books were scanned under the Library Project?
Click on "claim books and inserts" at http://www.googlebooksettlement.com/. See the question "How can I find out if my books and Inserts have already been digitized?" in the Google Book Settlement Help Center at http://www.googlebooksettlement.com/help/bin/answer.py?answer=134644. If you have ONIX files, also see the information on "How to Identify and Claim Books Using an ONIX File" at http://www.googlebooksettlement.com/help/bin/answer.py?answer=128054#onix.

My in-print books were scanned under the Library Project and I do not want people to see them online. What do I do?
The settlement is not yet approved, so Google is not displaying any book content under the settlement. Once the settlement is approved, in-print books scanned at US libraries, which are currently viewable in Snippet View, will no longer be viewable online in the United States at all. You can claim your in-print and out-of-print books to receive the one-time payment for them, if they were scanned on or before May 5, 2009, but even if you do not claim in-print books, the books will no longer be viewable.

My out-of-print books were scanned under the Library Project. What are my options?
Once the settlement is approved, the default view for out-of-print books will be similar to the Partner Program view today with many of the same display options available as are available in the settlement. If you claim these books under the settlement, you will receive the one-time cash payment (if the books were scanned on or before May 5, 2009) and any additional revenue from the monetization options you choose. You will also have the option to remove or exclude your out-of-print books from the display uses authorized to Google under the settlement.

Does the settlement apply to publishers outside the United States?
Yes. Holders of U.S. copyrights worldwide can register their works with the Book Rights Registry and receive compensation from institutional subscriptions, book sales, ad revenues and other possible sources, as well as a cash payment if their works have already been digitized.

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Barnes & Noble offers free audiobooks

2009-04-29T15:23:00.003-04:00

Barnes & Noble is offering nine free audiobook stories by big-name authors on its online store. You can listen to the MP3 files on your iPod or other digital music player.

The free nine downloads include:

The Babysitter's Code by Laura Lippman
Super Goat Man by Jonathan Lethem
Best New Horror by Joe Hill
Great Day by Kurt Vonnegut
Fathers by Alice Munro
Truth or Dare by Elizabeth Berg
Ysrael by Junot Diaz
Merrano of the Dry Country by Louis L'Amour
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain

The offer is here, and expires Sunday. Barnes & Noble also is offering 50 percent off the price of one audiobook.

B&N's new Audiobook MP3 store offers downloads of more than 10,000 titles at prices from $10 to $20, which competes with Amazon's Audible.com subsidiary.

Amazon.com Widgets

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The secret way to get your free Amazon 'Author Store'

2009-04-20T09:51:00.018-04:00

The instant I heard about Amazon's new Author Stores, I just had to have one.

I've got a new book to plug and bills to pay. Plus, I'm supposedly an online book publicity guru. How would it look if Mr. Book Marketing was the last guy with an Amazon Author Store?

Pretty lame, that's how it would look.

Being a self-published author, I'm always keen on looking "legit." And wouldn't you know, Stephen King and Stephenie Meyer had their Amazon stores open for business on day one, back in January. And I guarantee you, neither of them has the foggiest idea what an Amazon Author Store is!

Where was my Store? My biography, my banner picture, my discussion boards, my tempting spinoff products? Anyone can have a friggin' blog, I wanted my Author Store!

Well now I've got one, and I'm going to tell you exactly how I did it. I signed up for the Author Store beta test by entering my e-mail address and waiting patiently.

After a week, I hadn't heard back from Amazon. So, instead of waiting for the engraved invitation, I signed up again. Nothing. The next week, I signed up again. Nuthin. You get the picture.

After about 12 weeks, I still hadn't heard back from Amazon, and I'm getting used to that. But guess what? They opened my Author Store anyway. Yahoooo!

Unlike Stephen King, I don't have a fancy banner, a supersized portrait, or promotional video. I'm not even in the Store Directory and might never be. In fact, the only reason I know about my store is from searching Amazon.com for my name. That's when I found the little logo for Amazon's Steve Weber Store. Aha!

Apparently your Store biography is automatically populated with the text from your Amazon Profile bio. So, if you haven't entered anything there, do it now. I changed mine a few days ago, but my Store still has the old text. Believe it or not, when I updated it, Amazon said the changes would take effect in about 12 weeks. Well thanks, Ammy, but my bio will be different by then! Hey, have you guys heard about the Internet?

Now, here's an interesting point: At least two other authors are named Steve Weber, and neither has an Amazon Store yet. Will Steve Weber #2 get an Author Store too? I have no idea. Will his Author Store say "Steve Weber #2"?

How does Amazon decide who is first? Is it Amazon Sales Rank? Or is it just the beta?

And what about the other Steve Weber? Will he be Thing 2 or Thing 3?

Will my Author Store really sell any more books? Who cares, I'm just relieved to have one, so I can Twitter about it. Anyway, my favorite experience with my Author Store so far was informing my wife that she now had a brand new way to "share her thoughts with my other fans." Priceless!

Amazon.com Widgets

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Amazon blames 'glitch' for adult-themed controversy

2009-04-13T09:21:00.002-04:00

Amazon blamed a "glitch" in its sales ranking feature for excluding adult and gay-themed books from bestseller lists over the past few days.

Over the weekend, adult or gay-oriented fiction and nonfiction books on Amazon were missing their customary sales rankings. The excluded books included Baldwin's "Giovanni's Room," Vidal's "The City and the Pillar" and Jeanette Winterson's "Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit."

The policy prompted critical remarks on Web sites such as Facebook and Twitter.

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HarperCollins to post free book content

2008-02-14T22:54:00.002-05:00

In a bid to boost book sales, HarperCollins Publishers will begin offering free electronic editions of some of its books on its Web site, including a novel by Paulo Coelho and a cookbook by the Food Network star Robert Irvine. Read more at the New York Times.

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Steve Weber is author of Plug Your Book! Online Book Marketing for Authors

Amateur book reviews: Smart crowds or dumb mobs?

2008-02-11T19:49:00.000-05:00

National Public Radio carried a story today about online book reviews. It was relatively complimentary about the "democratization" of book reviews thanks to Amazon. I tend to agree, the more opinions that people are able to filter through before making a buying decision, the more likely they are to buy.

It's certainly true that online reviews can be gamed, but I think the vast majority of book buyers can see through to the truth.

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Feedback changes at eBay prompt seller revolt

2008-02-05T20:43:00.000-05:00

After the feedback changes announced this week at eBay, I wouldn't be surprised if there's an angry, torch-wielding mob beating down the front door of eBay's headquarters right now.

The new feedback policy prevents sellers from giving a bad buyer a neutral or negative feedback.

Huh? I've had about 5,000 transactions...

To continue reading, click here

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Amazon's BookSurge increases author royalties

2008-02-04T16:13:00.000-05:00

Amazon's self-publishing unit, BookSurge, announced Monday it would increase author "royalties" from 25 percent to 35 percent. The announcement came in an afternoon e-mail to the company's customers and prospects:

As a company focused on providing customers with the best possible publishing experience, we are pleased to announce that we are passing on cost savings to our customers in the form of increased royalties! Effective February 1, BookSurge increased the royalty rates authors receive on sales of trade paperback books through all retail channels from 25% to 35%; this includes sales coming through from Amazon.com, Alibris.com, Abebooks.com and the BookSurge online bookstore.

We are committed to helping you achieve your publishing goals; giving you a larger share of your book's sales is just one way we can help you succeed as an author. We hope you'll give us an opportunity to show you the BookSurge difference on your next publishing project. Don't hesitate to contact your publishing consultant if we can answer any questions or be of further assistance.

Happy Publishing!

David Symonds
General Manager
BookSurge

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Did Amazon's Kindle come 25 years too late?

2008-02-01T08:04:00.000-05:00

Amazon's move to digital content makes perfect sense. The more it can focus on e-content, the more profitable it will be.

Electronic books, though, have a long way to go. What will probably be a bigger success in the near term is audiobooks. After announcing nearly two years ago that it would develop its own digital audiobooks store, Amazon said yesterday it would buy Audible.com, which has sold downloadable audiobooks for years.

It won't be long before most people in the U.S. have an MP3 player built into their cellphone. Whether they'll know it's there is another matter.

What's holding back e-books? The conventional wisdom is that the reading public isn't quite ready for them. But maybe the problem is simply that not enough people read anymore.

At least one famous tech guru has declared the Kindle "dead on arrival" -- none other than Apple's Steve Jobs.

“It doesn’t matter how good or bad the product is, the fact is that people don’t read anymore,” he said. “Forty percent of the people in the U.S. read one book or less last year. The whole conception is flawed at the top because people don’t read anymore.”

Hey, what about the other 60 percent of us, Steve?

What's next? The New York Times' Bits column envisions a service allowing readers to seamlessly switch from a print book on an e-reader to listening to the same book while you're driving to work, then switching back to reading.

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Steve Weber is author of Plug Your Book! Online Book Marketing for Authors