Small Press Blog

The Single-Greatest Publishing App

Yes, I know that it sounds rather odd to think about an app when you talk about writing or publishing, but I can tell you that this app has changed the way that I do all of this.

What is it?

It's DropBox.  What does DropBox do? It allows you to sync information across devices. So, for example, I am currently working on a book that makes great use of a database. In my DropBox folder, I have deposited both the front matter (the text) and the database. I have DropBox loaded on my iPad 2, on my netbook, on my Android phone, on my computer at home, and on my computer at the office.

From any of those devices, I can access my files for the book. Any changes I make on any of those devices syncs out to all of them as soon as I log on to that particular device.

In addition, it's an easy way to create a back-up. Once you have dropped your files into the DropBox folder, those files actually live in the cloud.

One thing to remember, though, is that when you are working on your book, make sure you are using the version in the DropBox.  It does not sync to your desktop. You want to make sure that you are using the most-up-date version.

Clearing the Sales Channel

As I noted yesterday, the second edition of Complete Guide to Online High Schools will be available within the next couple of weeks. This availability will include both the print and digital versions.

So what am I doing now?

Yesterday I sent an email to my rep at Lightning Source letting her know to suspend availability of the first edition. I don't want any further print copies sold now because I would prefer that people buy the new version. It will be better and more inclusive of the number of available schools now.

Part of the reason for closing down Lightning Source early is that there are sellers on Amazon still selling my book (although you will note that it is no longer available from Amazon). Where do they get the book from? From Lightning Source, for the most part. Some copies are used. I want that stopped because it is now all about sales for the second edition.

I also went to Payloadz.com to suspend sales of the digital version of my book. Truth be told, the second edition will never make its way there. It will start on Amazon in Kindle form and then, in a few months, I will push it out for sales elsewhere.* The world has changed a great deal since I began using Payloadz. To my thinking, there are now better ways to do digital. More on that later.

No turning back now.

The Ever-Elusive Database, Part 2

So I am not done with the database, but I did get an amazing amount of work done. It should be done by the end of the week and that works for this project. Considering that there are hundreds of listings with quite a bit of information on each, this is a time-consuming project.

One of the things that I discovered was that I need to get some work done to the database. I have a couple of ways that I would like the data to export that it is not now capable of doing. That's the sort of work that I can get done cheaply on eLance.

The Ever-Elusive Database

I am spending this long weekend working on the ever-elusive database. The rest of the book is done. However, the challenge with the database is:

1. Making sure that I have all of the schools that I can find and that are a good fit; and

2. Creating the text that goes with each listing. The listing information (address, telephone number, etc.) is relatively simple, but I do need to have a couple of sentences for the listing as well.

But this weekend I am ploughing ahead. I will let you know Sunday evening how it all went.

Choosing a Partner

I have recently written an article for the Virtual Earner website about how to select a partner for creating your web presence. One thing I mention over there is that it is about more than web development skills.

I encourage you to go take a look at:

Choosing a partner to develop your web presence

Can I write a book in one month?

I have a book that I was working on for a while, but other things have intervened. I now actually have some time and some desire to finish this book. Most of it is still to be written and that includes a significant amount of text to be inserted into my database.

All that being said, I have time this month, a significant amount of time, and it works on a number of levels, so I am going to do it. Really all it takes for me is time and the strength to write every day. This is my fifth book, so I have some sense for how this all works.

I hope to report here periodically on my efforts as I work toward publication. I will probably start my putting in some time tomorrow. That is the hard part.

Why is that hard? Because I have to see if my memory of how much has been done matches the reality of what has actually been accomplished. I expect that I have a lot to do.

Mike Rounds on Credibility

Working on the other stuff

As loyal readers know, I am an advocate of having multiple revenue streams. I know it doesn't sound as romantic as being solely a book publisher, but it certainly helps pay the bills.

I am also an advocate of making sure that all my products whether print or web are of good quality. A recent project that I have been working on is a redesign of my main website on online high schools.

So why a redesign? Here are a few reasons:

1. The site is three years old and looks much the same as it did those three years ago; and
2. There were things that I wanted to do that I could not do with the old design; and
3. I thought I could make more money with the site by doing a redesign.

The new site went live two days ago and it seems to be doing all three of those things. Perhaps. Always hard to know until you are a month or two into it.

So what does a website design have to do with publishing books. I am able to tell that many of the books that I sell come from folks who go to that site and then click through to Amazon. If that is your model, and it is certainly mine, then it makes sense to have a website that attracts folks and that provides a real service.

And that is redesigned upon occasion.

I encourage you to take a look at the new site.

New Book, Day 36

I have been having working done on my database. It will allow me to export in ways that I could not do so before. Why is this important?

Take a look at the data you will be using for your book. For me, this is easy because it includes hundreds of school listings. Are all of these schools exactly the same? Of course not and that is why I want to be able to export in a myriad of ways. My thought is that you create a database, so that you can write/create multiple books in as easy a way as is possible.

I now have the ability to export into my preferred format information that could produce eight different books (at least), but means that I do not need to keyboard in that information. This takes a book that could take months and turns it into a one-month project (once the database is done).

It also means that, should I keep up with the database, new editions are so very much easier. I would like to get to the point where I have new editions every year. This will make that goal easier.

Steve Harrison on marketing your book