Cover via Amazon

A quick note about recent developments.

Barnes and Noble predicts that digital books will surpass hardcopy sales within two years.  Certainly the trends are clearly in that direction.  For writers, this may be a welcome development, as the route to digital publication is much shorter and easier.  But then there looms the major challenge of book promotion.  That’s the major challenge of the future for writers.

Broken Pencil has just issued an important post about audio books.  Almost simultaneously, we learn that Audiobooks.com books can now be easily and directly downloaded into Kindle e-book readers.  Hmmm, just two weeks ago, I passed on a purchase on the Kiondle DX while my brief visit to the US, solely because of its limited access to audio books.  Well, next time…

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Now comes along a new publication model that may create its own revolution.  It is an innovation building on the new arrival of “micro-payments.”  You know, the option to buy a single product for, say, 99 cents with a single mouse click.  Several major players, including PayPal and Google, are moving into this space.

Cleeng has its own unique approach.  It is a WordPress plug in that works in a clever way.  Bloggers can write their blogs as usual, but with Cleeng, they can also identify protions of their blog as “Premium Content” that readers need to pay for to access.  To understand the process, it’s best to visit the Cleeng website and view its brief, informative and clever demo videos.

Now you, as a writer, can start making your fortune, 99 cents at a time.

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Watch the video at YouTube.

You can do just that by reading Joanna’s blog.  This is one resource that writers should really dig into.  Don’t just accept the latest blog post.  Check out the archives, examine Joanna’s sidebar.  You will experience a real crash course.

As you probably know by now, a “virtual” book tour is one that is made without leaving your computer.  A writer simply organizes a blitz of pre-arranged blog interviews.  An quick accumulation of attention by bloggers is an effective way of getting the word out.

For some details about how to do this, read a guest column at Joanna’s blog that deals with the subject:  Blog Tours for Authors:  The 5 Commandments of Blog Tourists.  For yet another take on the subject, read The Benefits of the Virtual Book Tour, posted just today at Fiction Writers Review.

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If you distribute your PDF ebooks from your own website, you may wish to provide your readers with the link to this free reader.

Image via CrunchBase

Writers now have a new way to sell their work online:  PayPal Micro-Payments.  PayPal’s new procedures make purchases from a website as easy as dropping a quarter in a vending machine.

This opens the door to selling even short fiction, feature articles or other short works, as well as full-length digital books to a world-wide audience.

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The process is simple.  Just upload a recording from your computer.  Once it’s uploaded, you will be given an estimated cost based on length.  If you agree to the price, the transcription will be done, and you will be notified once it is available for download.

The service can even record an interview you do over the telephone, and then provide the transcript.

Visit the SpeechPad website and watch the demo video, which illustrates just how simple the whole process is.

This service may be very useful to non-fiction writers and journalists.

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“In keeping with the mission of Writer’s Digest, and in order to provide our consumers with the most complete information, inspiration, products and services to further their craft, we are proud to expand our portfolio to address a real desire of aspiring writers—to get published, be it by indie publishing or by traditional means,” said Sara Domville, president, F+W Media. “Fully supported by the trusted experts at Writer’s Digest, Abbott Press brings the same respectability, integrity, and commitment to editorial excellence as our Writer’s Digest brand, while maintaining a unique identity of its own, for the benefit of our authors.”

Through this strategic partnership, Author Solutions will manage Abbott Press on behalf of Writer’s Digest, taking responsibility for sales and publishing activities, while delivering a comprehensive array of publishing, marketing, and book-selling services, designed specifically for Abbott Press authors. The educational and editorial services provided to authors fall under the respected Writer’s Digest brand umbrella of Writer’s Digest Books, Writer’s Digest University, The Writer’s Digest Conference, and Writer’s Market.

“This is a landmark alliance, as Writer’s Digest has been the relied-upon source for support and education for writers for more than 90 years. Its entry into the self-publishing arena further exemplifies the sea change toward indie publishing which puts the control squarely with the author,” said Kevin Weiss, Author Solutions president and CEO. To learn more about the publishing packages available through Abbott Press, visit abbottpress.com or call 866-697-5310.

About Abbott Press

Abbott Press, a division Writer’s Digest—the oldest and most respected publisher devoted to the education and advancement of writers—is an indie-publishing service provider dedicated to helping writers bring their literary vision to print. Author Solutions, Inc., a leader in indie book publishing, will fulfill publishing, sales, and marketing services for Abbott Press. To learn more about the publishing packages available through Abbott Press, visit abbottpress.com or call 866-697-5310.

About Writer’s Digest

Writer’s Digest is devoted to helping writers develop their literary skills and hone their publishing acumen to enable them to be successful and get published or find an agent. Since 1920, Writer’s Digest Magazine has chronicled the culture of the modern writer and today continues this tradition through relevant first-person essays, interviews with bestselling authors and profiles with emerging talent. Writer’s Digest also features practical technique articles, and tips and exercises on fiction, nonfiction, poetry and the business-side of writing and publishing. The Writer’s Digest Community includes Writer’s Digest Books, Writer’s Digest University, The Writer’s Digest Conference, and Writer’s Market. Writer’s Digest is a division of F+W Media, Inc.

About Author Solutions, Inc.

Author Solutions, Inc. (ASI), is owned by Bertram Capital, and is the 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 top trade publishers and writer’s organizations, ASI is making it possible to develop new literary talent efficiently and provide authors a platform for bringing their books to market. Headquartered in Bloomington, Indiana, ASI also operates offices in Indianapolis. Visit authorsolutions.com for more information. For the latest news, follow us on Twitter @authorsolutions.

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OnSwipe, a start up worth watching, is an exciting new facility which will make it easy to publish your work for the iPad.  It is still in its very first days, but interested writers can sign up to be a beta tester.  To be honest, I think this is a major direction for publishing in the future.

For a fuller account of the developers and their concept, check out this article.  If it sounds interesting, check out a very informal video demo.   And then go to the OnSwipe website to sign up.

QUESTION: Are YOU looking forward to making your work optimized for the iPad?  What plans are you making to move in this direction?

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With it, writers break down their work into smaller, separate chunks, each becoming a separate document.  Writing Outliner then provides an overview of the entire project, presenting an array of information that will help organize and push the project forward.  It is rather like one of my favorite Word add-ons, Chapter by Chapter, but on steroids.  It also offers a Scrivener-like cord-board to assist with initial brain-storming and organization.  The software also facilitates versioning backups.  And at the end of the project, it will spew out the final work as a single document.

To understand its power, visit the software’s website, and click through the “learn more” steps.

The software is not cheap, at $79.00.  However, if you catch this post in time, it will be offered  at a one-day 63 percent discount, or $29.00, at Bits du Jour sometime between 23-26 January, 2011.

While Writing Outliner is more powerful, you wish to consider instead the free program Chapter by Chapter.  There’s a good, recent review about why it is so helpful at Tony Levelle’s website.  Here’s another older, but useful review.  And here’s the software’s homepage — download it from here.

And don’t forget:  the new PC version of Scrivener is expected to exit its beta-stage development on 1 February, 2011, and become available to the general public for a very reasonable cost of 40.00, if I remember correctly.  This software, made popular as a major word processor on the Mac platform, offers outling and cork-board capabilities as well.

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