Sunday, May 1, 2011

Publishing Content Modern Delivery

NEW:   FIND IT on iBooks!  Book lovers can now download Psychological Précipice onto your iPad, iPhone, or iTunes using the Apple Bookstore application iBooks. 

What is Apple iBooks?  The Apple iBooks application is a new way to read your favorite books on a electronic device. If you own a Apple product you can download the application onto your device, purchase a book, download,  and read on the go.

As an author, I am thrilled to have had my book pick-up and approved for listing by Apple iBookstore. Being a author is sometimes like feeling you have accomplished something great by becoming published, yet quickly become aware you are NOT the only one out there doing the same thing among a vast sea of literally thousand of new book titles published daily. That is a lot of books….and, everyone wanting their work to stand on its own so it can get listed in even the coveted New York Times Bestselling List, or prime shelf space on the many brick and mortar bookstore shelves.

Now, with the accessibility of modern electronic delivery mechanisms, everyone can reach a larger audience with their wares, sort of speak.

We are truly fortunate to live in such a society which offers new technology to make our lives efficient and more rewarding by gaining access to what was not available as far back as 2006 when Amazon’s Kindle was just making its debut, while others were announcing how Electronic Readers will be the wave of the future, but many remained speculative.  Perhaps because their full potential and reach had not yet been experienced on a larger world platform.  As readers gained access to Electronic Readers in 2007, this fear of risk decreased partly due to changing needs of consumers demanding things “on the go,” and corporations wanting to maintain profits; which translates into keeping up with want the consumer wants if they want to stay in business.



Be Open To Change and Adjust Quickly, Or Else!
In 2011, we see the full force of corporations not adjusting to consumer demands. In 2011, we are now deciding if we want to subscribe to a publication to receive electronic format downloads to our home computers, Smart Phones, and iPad, just to read the daily newspaper. Nationwide, larger publishers have downsized in this economy due to a sharp drop in newsstand sales. Barnes and Noble closed another store due to a decline in sales, then later there was a report on CNN reporting bankruptcy, and it goes on and on.

"January 2011: The New York Times is reportedly getting ready to charge readers for access to the venerable newspaper's online content. The newspaper is expected to announce in coming weeks that it will institute a metered pay plan in which readers would have access to a limited number of free articles before being invited to subscribe, according to a report in New York magazine that cited sources close to the newsroom.
The report also suggests that a content deal could be in the works for Apple's long-rumored tablet, which many expect to be unveiled on January 27. Apple has reportedly been shopping its device to media companies in Australia to gauge interest in having their products available on the device when it's released.
A New York Times representative's comment seemed to indicate that changes were coming to the Web site.

"We'll announce a decision when we believe that we have crafted the best possible business approach," Times spokesperson Diane McNulty said. "No details till then."
Among the country's largest newspapers, only The Wall Street Journal has managed to continue charging online subscription fees. The New York Times abandoned a two-year experiment with the Web-subscription model in 2007, suggesting that the company's projections for subscriber revenue were small compared with advertising sales." Read More:

"Barnes and Noble Bankruptcy: The nation's second-largest book chain, has filed for bankruptcy protection and is closing about 30% of its stores nationwide………”


Can you imagine, not having access to a book because your local library decides they just don’t have the space to shelve all the books published annually? As a society we would become limited in our scope and perspective, but no longer is this true with access to Modern Publishing efforts. Everything imaginable is within our computers reach.


E-readers sales going up - poll

NEW YORK - ELECTRONIC readers have surged in popularity in recent years and will continue to gain traction with Americans…..About eight per cent of US readers use an e-reader. But a Harris Interactive poll released ….showed that about 12 per cent of Americans, or one in eight, said they are likely to get one in the next six months.  “With e-reader sales expected to continue to climb and as more devices now become available, it is inevitable that reading habits of Americans will change,” Harris said in a statement.
The poll of 2,775 US adults, showed that e-reader owners were far likelier to buy books than other Americans. About one fifth of e-reader users bought 21 or more books in the past year, far about the 12 per cent of Americans overall who shopped at the same rate. E-books now make up about three per cent of book sales but analysts expect that to quadruple by 2015.
According to consulting firm Forrester Research, Amazon.com's Kindle, launched in 2007, has already sold about 5 million devices while Barnes & Noble Inc, the largest US bookstore chain, has sold about 1 million 'Nook' e-readers since its launch last year. Other leading devices include Sony's Reader and Apple Inc's iPad computer tablet, which has e-reader capabilities. -- REUTERS


So what does this all mean?  If you are a book lover, the numbers show a increase of people purchasing their reading material online since est 2006, and E-Readers used for this delivery of content is only expected to rise in the years to come.

DOWNLOAD  Psychological Précipice onto your iPad, iPhone, or iTunes using the Apple application iBooks.

VISIT  Psychological Précipice Website    BUY NOW Link to learn more about other purching options at BUY Amazon    |      BUY Barnes & Noble



Until Next time: à Donf


Wednesday, December 29, 2010

iPhone and iPad users sue Apple over privacy issues

(Reuters) - A group of iPhone and iPad users have sued Apple alleging that certain applications were passing personal user information to third-party advertisers without consent, a court filing showed.


In the lawsuit seeking class action, filed in a federal court in California, the complainants sought a ban on passing of user information without consent and monetary compensation, according to the case document posted on scribd.com.

Along with Apple, maker of popular apps such as Textplus4, Paper Toss, Weather Channel, Dictionary.com, Talking Tom Cat and Pumpkin Maker were also named co-defendants in the lawsuit.
More

Saturday, November 27, 2010

How To Super Charge Book Sales

GET a distributor. My choice is LULU.  An Apple Approved iBookstore Aggregator. The choice is easy due to their current success, and the customer services is responsive to your every concern.

Did you know LULU has sold over 5,000 Lulu eBooks which have been purchased through the Apple iBookstore?  To learn more about LULU sales and how to get your books on the iBookstore explore their website.

Another benefit to listing with LULU  is your published book is added to Apple iBookstore's distribution which reaches internationally to distribution channels in not only the United States, but to Canada, the United Kingdom, France, and Germany.

 
FAQ:
Apple iBooks Link

About Retail Revenue
Many retail channels have rules governing acceptable and maximum list prices. Each channel may adjust your price to comply with their pricing policies. Your price and revenue On Lulu will not be adjusted.

iBookstore Pricing & Revenue Calculator
Apple has established currency-specific pricing tiers for all eBooks sold in the iBookstore in the U.S. and international regions. Apple takes a 30% commission on all sales. This tool shows you how a Lulu eBook will be priced on the iBookstore in each country, and calculates creator revenue per iBookstore sale.

In the United States:  If your list price is $9.99 for an eBook your Revenue is $5.59
In the United Kingdom:  If you list price is  £4.99 for an eBook your Revenue is £2.79
Canada CA$9.99 ...... ............expected profit is CA$5.59
France, Germany €4.99.......... expected profit is  €2.79

Saturday, September 11, 2010

http://www.wix.com/communityproject/aDonf


Free website - Powered By Wix.com

Training Creative: What It Takes To Train Generation NOW

ScienceDaily    - Human development scientists and computer game developers designed a video game that teaches kids how to resolve conflicts peacefully amongst themselves. Inanimate objects, such as pencils and erasers, come to life to lead players through a series of common scenarios in which arguments are about to occur. The player is prompted for the non-violent solution and is rewarded for choosing correctly.

Human Development Scientists And Computer Game Developers Design Video Game That Teaches Conflict Resolution To Kids

Saturday, July 3, 2010

YOU Are the Product




NOSTALGIA - Vivid: Jon Hamm playing Don Draper of MAD MAN Kodak Carousel Slide Projector


"My first job. I was in house at a fur company. This old pro copywriter, Greek, named Teddy. Teddy told me the most important idea in advertising is "new". It creates an itch. You simply put your product in there as a kind of calamine lotion. He also talked about a deeper bond with the product; nostalgia. It's delicate, but potent. Teddy told me that in Greek, nostalgia literally means the pain from an old wound. It's a twinge in your heart, far more powerful than memory alone. This device isn't a space ship. It's a time machine. It goes backwards and forwards. It takes us to a place where we ache to go again. It's not called The Wheel", it's called "The Carousel". It lets us travel the way a child travels; around and around and back home again to a place where we know we are loved."


Saturday, April 10, 2010

Apple iPad iBooks: How To Get Your Book into the iBookstore


iBooks on the iPad -- powered by eHow.com

To distribute your content on the iBookstore, you can work directly with Apple or with an Apple-approved iBookstore aggregator.

Aggregators can provide a variety of services, including helping you to meet the iBookstore's technical requirements, delivering your content, managing your content's metadata, and marketing. Please note that if you choose to work with an aggregator to distribute your content on the iBookstore, Apple's contractual and financial relationship is with that aggregator.


Here's a list of Apple-approved aggregators for the iBookstore:



BiblioCore

CD Baby

Constellation

INgrooves

Ingram

LibreDigital

Lulu

Smashwords

Sunday, March 7, 2010

Personal Branding How To - What you need to know now

Do You Need a Brand or a Personal Brand?
By CreateSpace

On the surface, a brand and a personal brand seem so similar that it's not necessary to have two separate categories. In reality, they couldn't be more different. A brand is an image designed to appeal to the widest possible audience. It's an exercise in cautious messaging. In most cases, companies spend a lot of time and money developing a brand. Committees form. Focus groups meet. Stress levels elevate until the perfect brand identity emerges.


Personal brands would fail miserably if developed under the same process. Personal brands are multifaceted snapshots of an individual. In short, it is your personality on display in a public forum. It is not contrived. It happens organically. An abundance of caution is the wrong way to go here. Personal brands thrive under the risk of being completely transparent. In the ultimate of counter intuitive thinking, personal brands are most effective when they appeal to a narrow, passionate audience. Even passionate detractors of a personal brand are as likely to spread the personal brand's message as the followers.


There are exceptions, but rarely is it possible to have both a brand and a personal brand. They are just too diametrically opposed to work together in a successful manner. With a product on the market (whether it is a film, book, or music), the question presented is which brand type is appropriate for you. The answer in most cases is a personal brand. As an artist, you are looking for passionate followers. While they may love your art, they won't be part of your word-of-mouth campaign until they connect with your personal brand - you.


Creating a personal brand is both easy and scary. It.s easy because you are just being you. In essence, you are an open book. However, not everyone is going to like what they see, and that is the scary part. It's not fun being disliked, but it's what happens when you build a passionate following. It always comes with passionate dissent. That's when you know your message is getting out.


I would be remiss if I didn't offer a word of caution. Things said on the Internet tend to live forever on the Internet, and seep into "real" life. Don't compromise your future or your safety. Be passionate but don't be impetuous when building your personal brand.


So, go ahead, be yourself, and build your personal brand. The passion and sales will follow.

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Is Rupert Murdoch or Carlos Slim Heir Apparent to Successful Publishing Spin-off?

Is Rupert Murdoch or Carlos Slim Heir Apparent to Successful Publishing Spin-off?

GYTTORP, Sweden, October 7 /PRNewswire/ -- When Bombadil Publishing, the world's foremost youth-to-youth publishing house was founded in 2007, it was hard to predict that it would take the world by storm. Even harder to predict that it would have over 15,000 budding authors in its network and a presence in 89 countries before its second anniversary.
To view the Multimedia News release, please click: http://www.prnewswire.com/mnr/bombadilpublishing/40424/

Saturday, July 11, 2009

The Book Trailer
























MARKETING: The New Documentary For Book Sales
By: Dr. L. R. Lofton, Psychologist


In 2006, I attended a filled to capacity one day seminar on the Future of Publishing. The electronic book reader, now known as the Amazon Kindle along with other manufactures, was the latest and greatest in the future of how those in publishing viewed options to increase book sales and even increased readership for daily newspapers and magazines.

Since then, there have been several revisions and improvements to the Kindle technology, and book sales have found a new platform to market books.

The main objective being to increase book sales and solicit new customers. The Video. Really? Is this the new creative marketing outlet? Well it would seem so.
  • Increase Book Sales
  • Get New Customers
If you remember the launch of the 1st exciting MTV Music Videos, it would seem a “re-invent” of sorts is occurring in the Book Publishing Marketing industry. It is called “The Book Trailer.”

What is it?
A Book Trailer is a Documentary Style Video used to market a book. It also has effective marketing uses to promote a new Seminar Event, Training Program idea, or to Self Promote a Product & Services. There have always been commercials on television to advertise new products including books, yet the Book Trailer is uniquely different if produced and executed correctly.

The book publishing market is, well let us face it, saturated. Unless you are a well known author and have a major publishing house behind you to advertise and market your product, a person’s book publishing efforts may very well get lost among the over saturated pool of other new authors determined to get their market share.


On a positive note everyone is now on the same playing field with the increasing availability of self publishing options, and the ease at which anyone interested can obtain short videos to market a new product, be that for a viral marketing campaign on the internet, or to broadcast on cable television. Another aspect of the Book Trailer concept is how those with Creativity to Spare, can unleash their ideas, and vision for their book enough to fulfill their creative side for months!




Book Trailers can be used for Marketing in Movie Theatres as well:
Link: Screen Vision Gets You Access To Your Local Market of Potential Customers



If you have a book project the public would benefit from knowing more about, then the solution is here. Get a Book Trailer!

Think of it as Blockbuster Sales

How this is different from just creating a home movie and posting it onto You Tube is a Book Trailer is of professional quality, specific to your product, and it has a call to action.

You will not be required to be a modern day Ad Man; leave this to the experts. Learning what is involved and how this new Marketing option can benefit you the author, is important. If nothing else to keep you current and ahead of the game in the business of book sales.

If you are a new author you may have been spending several hours updating and practicing delivering your “sound bits” or practicing how to convey the most important aspects of your books’ contents. Some things you may want to have at the forefront you can comment on briefly are the following:

What is your book about?

What was your motivation for writing the book?

What is unique and new about your book?

What is one important concept you hope the reader will learn from reading your book?

What would be a great visual to convey one important aspect of your book?

Answering these sorts of questions can help build a draft template for a Documentary Style Book Trailer for yourself!


Until Next Posting à Donf




Dr. L. R. Lofton, Psychologist, specializes in a Differentiation Based Approach to confronting and addressing life dilemmas to achieve personal success in the relationships we pursue. We get you implementing, not just planning for success and fulfillment.

Find content driven strategies for sustaining relationship success and the life you can both envision and design at
Lofton Consulting.
Our services never stop short of ensuring you lead with your personal best!


The Psychology of Business DevelopmentAchieving Business Success
Signature Creativity: Become a Creative Entrepreneurial Thinker
Tools Of The Trade: Achieving business success by developing your skills and staying ahead of the game
Case Studies: Learning resource for business success

RelationshipsQuality Relationships: How to manage great relationships in work and life
Self & Knowing: How to be the best YOU, you can be

To Learn More Visit Lofton Consulting

Sunday, May 27, 2007

Get Published

How do you become a published writer?

Remember a writer always writes. This may seem elementary however the biggest obstacle in the publishing business is meeting deadlines. Recently I read a insider comment on how they love deadlines. They especially loved the "whooshing sound they made as they passed by".

As a short recap on the topic, contact a few publishers and do your research. Write a book proposal, update your personal biography, and make it a priority to perfect your marketing pitch.

In this recap it is assumed you have already started a project, and will continue to do so despite rejections. Some will argue it is best to contact publishers before you start your intended work, but this goes against reason especially if you intend to pursue all publishing options. Even if you receive a rejection, ask yourself would it be better to have a completed project to market to others, or have an idea that got rejected?  At least with a project nearly completed you can continue to submit to others.  So just continue to write your book.



Write a book proposal, update your personal biography, and make it a priority to perfect your marketing pitch.



Send a letter with a short outline to a publisher. Explain your project as concisely as you can. Identify your audience you are aiming at and state why you believe your book would have appeal. Keep all this very short, as most publishers are deluged with requests for publication. Ask if the publisher would like you to send in a chapter, or send it with your outline. Be mindful this contact may lead to a working relationship, so be polite and make sure everything you send is well written.

It was mentioned earlier the most important lesson is to write, and often. Deadlines fly by so quickly so attempt to set a writing deadline.  If paid for your efforts this will typically set more importance and keep you to a end date for publishing. 

The next important lesson is your project's marketing potential.

The next level to getting published. Lets consider a couple of months from now you have all the content of your book complete. You have sent out some leads and are feeling very confident and assured you are on track to having your goals accomplished. You receive a call unexpectedly. It is a busy publisher on the line from your top pick of publishing options. The caller says "I am so glad I got you on the phone today." They inquire "Can you tell me briefly what is your book about?" You stammer, the big idea is there, but you have so many concepts and important things to mention, your reply leaves the caller confused.

Listen, when someone says ".....briefly" they mean keep it brief and just the facts. The key to having a book published, especially by a major publishing firm is will your book have the meat behind it to market well and ultimately receive great sells.

Subsequently, you would be better served front loading your process with spending a great deal of time practicing your marketing pitch of what your book is about and fine tuning your outline points when your write your book proposal to assure you have appeal in the target audience. Do your research to see what is selling already. In doing so you are conveying to perspective publishers you have done your homework, you may be ready to push forward, and more importantly you establish early a good working relationship so important in today's marketplace.

In future entries to this topic we will talk more about "your process" and how important the relationships are in publishing. But for now, at least early into your process, perfect your material, get feedback about your target audience, and ensure the publishers you contact have an interest in your intended demographics.

Be patient and be prepared for disappointments in the early stages.

Bobbie Thomas on Twitter

Author Resources

Books

Psychology: News events at Amazon.com

NOSTALGIA - Vivid: Jon Hamm playing Don Draper of MAD MAN Kodak Carousel Slide Projector

"My first job. I was in house at a fur company. This old pro copywriter, Greek, named Teddy. Teddy told me the most important idea in advertising is "new". It creates an itch. You simply put your product in there as a kind of calamine lotion. He also talked about a deeper bond with the product; nostalgia. It's delicate, but potent. Teddy told me that in Greek, nostalgia literally means the pain from an old wound. It's a twinge in your heart, far more powerful than memory alone. This device isn't a space ship. It's a time machine. It goes backwards and forwards. It takes us to a place where we ache to go again. It's not called The Wheel", it's called "The Carousel". It lets us travel the way a child travels; around and around and back home again to a place where we know we are loved."

About Me

My photo
A Psychologist with one simple goal of making the concepts of psychology accessible. She has written a comprehensive book titled Psychological Précipice which discuses qualities such as growth, change, intimacy, happiness, and even regret.