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.

No books for sale

Things continue to move forward. I received confirmation today from Lightning Source that my book will shortly no longer be available. It is my understanding that they have to wait until there are no orders to be filled and then they shut it down.

It seems odd that for a very short period of time I will have no books for sale anywhere. My three Ten Speed Press books are no longer available on Amazon except from outside sellers. At one point, I had four books all selling on Amazon and in bookstores. And then there were none.

Which is fine. By the summer, I will have at least five books and/or related products for sale on Amazon and elsewhere. That works for me.

I got the database back today. It is in even better condition than I would have hoped. It will be very helpful moving forward. That being said, I will be spending much of the next three days doing little else besides working with it. While all of the listings are in there and much of the additional text, I now must look at each of the close to 300 records and make adjustments where necessary. Some of those adjustments are editorial in nature and some are technological in nature.

I am excited about how this is all coming together!

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.

The Amazon Smack-Down

This was rather predictable. The State of California needs money. They decided to get some of that money from online sales by attempting to tax folks. In particular, they were looking at Amazon. Governor Brown signed legislation that allowed for this.

Amazon, of course, retaliated by shutting down the accounts of all of the California-based affiliates. This is in the neighborhood of 100,000 companies, charities, and individuals.

I do get California's point. They need money and local businesses can't compete with online sales (in part because what makes the online sales cheaper is the lack of sales tax). That being said, Amazon was very specific about what they were going to do if the legislation passed.

As it happens, I am one of those Amazon affiliates and my account has indeed been shut down. In my case, it was a relatively small amount of money per quarter. Still, every little bit helps. However, I know of a number of businesses that are predicated solely on being Amazon affiliates and selling books as an affiliate. I can only imagine what this will do to their ventures.

If it were me, I would be considering a relocation to Nevada. Perhaps ten feet across the border!

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.

Scalzi and the Electronic Publishing Bingo Card

Clearly, I am a fan of self-publishing, electronic publishing, and the like, but there is also some realism involved with how you can be successful in doing so. John Scalzi, noted science fiction author, has created a bingo card that is just plain fun, but is also very accurate with regard to electronic publishing and, not coincidentally, with self-publishing.

It's located here.

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.