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Reading books has always included a social element (“What books have you read lately”). But it’s now been given a bump as new technology allows readers, without regard to geographical boundaries, to converse with each other — and the author — in real time while still reading.

Among the just announced winners of Digital Book World’s (@DigiBookWorld) Publishing Innovation Awards is the ebook 11 Days in May: The Conversation That Will Change Your Life by JD Messinger (@JDMessinger); voted Best Non-Fiction Ebook.

The PIAs honor “the most innovative ebooks, enhanced ebooks, and book apps....It is the mission of the PIAs to highlight excellent publishers/authors, encourage new thinking, and improve the reading experience in the digital age.”

11 Days in May utilizes Democrasoft’s (@Democrasoft) WeJIT (@myWeJIT) technology, in collaboration with Vook (@vooktv), to allow readers to communicate directly with the author and other readers. These topic-based discussions are made possible with embedded WeJIT links in the ebook that direct readers to an online discussion forum. Conversations can be shared beyond the confines of the ebook via email, Facebook, Twitter, and other sharing methods built into WeJITs.

Read this in full.

WeJIT discussions and polling links from the ebook 11 Days in May.

News release: “WeJIT Connects Readers and Authors Inside the eBook.”

The following video explains how WeJITs work:

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The Globe and Mail’s (@globeandmail) John Barber (@JohnBarber14) thinks “the true dinosaurs of the new age are authors.”

Once happily enclosed in the “stables” of publishers willing to nurture and develop their talent, even if they never wrote a major bestseller, droves of so-called “mid-list” authors now find themselves roaming among the ever-present throng of wannabes flogging unpublished work in an indifferent market. And that throng is most likely to produce tomorrow’s bestsellers, even if they begin life as obscure, self-published digital texts that, only after they find a following, are taken up and heavily marketed to mainstream prominence by major publishing houses.

Many mid-list authors have fallen victim to increasingly sophisticated, widely available sales data, according to agents and publishers. Publishers can now assess every author’s lifelong sales thanks to such services as Nielsen Bookscan in the United States and BookNet Canada.

And once reduced to pure numbers, those track records determine the fate of proven writers looking for cash advances to begin their next books. “Everybody knows the numbers now,” Toronto literary agent Denise Bukowski said in an interview. “You can’t lie about the numbers.” Retailers don’t order books from authors whose previous work sold indifferently, she added, so publishers respond by cutting them loose.

Read this in full.

Contact Somersault (@smrsault) to help you strategically publish and market pbooks, ebooks, and audiobooks.

Learn about SomersaultSocial, our Web-based author online marketing education modules.

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Author Mark Sullivan (@MarkSullivanBks) shares his learning experiences writing novels with James Patterson. Sullivan says, “I thought I knew what I was doing when it came to commercial fiction. Working with Patterson, however, I discovered quickly that I didn’t.”

Characters, especially heroes and villains, were to be thought about carefully. They had to be human, above all, and then we had to subject them to terrible ordeals that took them to the brink of their capacities and beyond….

Exposition was severely limited. The old adage—show, not tell—was critical, and the element of surprise was paramount….

The sum of this advice was to sacrifice all for the story and the characters. Outlines were trusted navigational charts, yet we were free to sail in other directions as the novel evolved. But if you were going to change something, it had to be a terrific change….

Read this in full.

Also see our previous blogpost, “James Patterson Explains Why His Books Sell Like Crazy.”

Contact Somersault (@smrsault) to help you strategically publish and market pbooks, ebooks, and audiobooks.

Learn about SomersaultSocial, our Web-based author online marketing education modules.

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On NPR Books (@nprbooks), correspondent Lynn Neary explains how self-publishing, once considered to have a negative connotation, has now become a legitimate endeavor.

Read the transcript in full.

The Wall Street Journal similarly covered the topic in its article, “’Vanity’ Press Goes Digital.” And read The Globe and Mail's "Goodbye vanity: Self-publishing goes mainstream."

Also see our previous blogpost, “Guy Kawasaki's New Self-Publishing Instruction Book,” and others in our Self-Publishing archive.

Contact Somersault (@smrsault) to help you strategically publish and market pbooks, ebooks, and audiobooks.

Learn about SomersaultSocial, our Web-based author online marketing education modules.

Add our Facebook page (http://facebook.com/SomersaultGroup) & Twitter stream (http://twitter.com/smrsault) to your Flipboard account on your iPad, iPhone, or Android. 

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And be sure to bookmark and use daily the SomersaultNOW online dashboard; especially the Publishers tab.

The New York Times (@nytimesbooks) book section asked people in and around the world of graphic design to name one of their favorite book covers from 2012 and briefly describe its appeal. Do you agree with their selection?

See all 19 covers.

Also see our previous blogpost, “Christian Publishing's 2012 Best Book Covers.”

Contact Somersault (@smrsault) to help you strategically design your book covers.

Learn about SomersaultSocial, our Web-based author online marketing education modules.

Add our Facebook page (http://facebook.com/SomersaultGroup) & Twitter stream (http://twitter.com/smrsault) to your Flipboard account on your iPad, iPhone, or Android. 

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And be sure to bookmark and use daily the SomersaultNOW online dashboard, especially the Innovation tab.

The Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (@ecpa), in conjunction with Dickinson Press as the sponsor, has announced the winners of the ECPA | dp Book Cover Awards. A total of 101 covers were submitted from 19 publishers for the 6th annual program.

Launched in 2007, the awards aim to educate, promote, and recognize superior cover design in Christian publishing. This year, the program presented two awards: one for design and one for research-based marketability.

Highlighting the art aspect of book covers, the ECPA Book Cover Design Award focuses on the design merits of a book cover, including the level of conceptual thinking, the quality of the execution, and appropriateness for the market. Design winners are:

·         The Hole in Our Holiness by Kevin DeYoung; designed by Josh Dennis (Crossway); in the Small Publisher category

·         Daddy, Is That Story True or Were You Just Preaching? by James W. Moore; designed by David Carlson (Abingdon Press); in the Mid-Sized Publisher category

·         Love Does by Bob Goff; designed by Connie Gabbert (Thomas Nelson); in the Large Publisher category.

Highlighting the science aspect of covers, the Research award is based on the consumer-buying research of the Research Institute for Social Change, which measures consumer motivations as it relates to cover design and book sales. Covers were judged and analyzed on how well their design elements match characteristics of their intended audience. Research winners are:

·         Spark by Jason Jaggard; designed by Kristopher Orr (WaterBrook Press); in the Small Publisher category.

·         What Every Man Wishes His Father Had Told Him by Byron Forrest Yawn; designed by Koechel Peterson & Associates (Harvest House Publishers); in the Mid-Sized Publisher category

·         Soul Detox by Craig Groeschel; designed by Curt Diepenhorst (Zondervan); in the Large Publisher category.

Also see our previous blogposts:

·         “The 2013 Christianity Today Book Awards”

·         “The 2012 Leadership Book Awards”

·         “ECPA Announces 2012 Christian Book Award Finalists”

·         “Christian Book Award Winners for 2012”

·         “2012 Christian Small Publisher Book of the Year Award Winners Announced”

·         “ECPA Announces 2011’s Best Book Covers.”

Contact Somersault (@smrsault) to help you strategically design your book covers.

Learn about SomersaultSocial, our Web-based author online marketing education modules.

Add our Facebook page (http://facebook.com/SomersaultGroup) & Twitter stream (http://twitter.com/smrsault) to your Flipboard account on your iPad, iPhone, or Android. 

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And be sure to bookmark and use daily the SomersaultNOW online dashboard, especially the Innovation tab.

At the recently held LitFlow-Thinktank (@LitFlow) in Berlin, publishing pundit Jane Friedman (@JaneFriedman) said publishers must demonstrate their continued relevance in light of current technology that minimizes the barrier to entry for authors to publish their own books apart from depending on established publishers. She said:

Publishers, for the first time, have to earn their keep by providing a value that extends beyond production and distribution — and possibly even editorial direction. The biggest problem that authors must solve for themselves, year after year, is (1) staying competitive, current, and discoverable in a shifting digital landscape (2) having the right tools to be effective and in touch with their readers, and (3) having a strong network of connections that helps them better market and promote. All of these things are well within a publisher’s ability to assist with, only they haven’t been putting any resource into providing such assistance. They have been focused on their own corporate problems of shifting to a digitally enabled business, and squeezing as many sales as possible out of their mastery of print book sales and distribution. Most of the thinking is centered on self-preservation. But I’d like to suggest that the best self-preservation measure of all is becoming a house that’s known and respected for — in the eyes of its authors — being an active, long-term partner and resource. By empowering each author to do better, the publisher is ensuring more sales over the long run.

Friedman suggests 3 ways publishers should add value to continue attracting authors:

1. Create an author collective, where authors assist each other in branding, marketing, and promotion.
2. Make available an author education program of 101/evergreen education in the form of white papers, webinars, tutorials, screencasts, Q&As, and events.
3. Devote at least one person full time to nurturing author development and community.

Read her presentation in full.

Listen to her presentation.

Also see eReport’s (@nztaylor) coverage, “How publishers can stay in the game.”

See our previous blogposts, “Guy Kawasaki's New Self-Publishing Instruction Book” and "Publishing Must Reinvent Itself."

Contact Somersault (@smrsault) to help you publish and market your ebooks and pbooks.

Learn about SomersaultSocial, our Web-based author online marketing education modules.

Add our Facebook page (http://facebook.com/SomersaultGroup) & Twitter stream (http://twitter.com/smrsault) to your Flipboard account on your iPad, iPhone, or Android. 

Get our blogposts delivered into your email inbox.

And be sure to bookmark and use daily the SomersaultNOW online dashboard, especially the Publishers tab that includes links to self-publisher services.

Above Infographic (click to enlarge) is by TeachingDegree.org.

But for a contrasting viewpoint, read Futurebook's (@TheFutureBook) "Print and Ebooks Cannot Co-Exist After All" by Adam Juniper.

Also see our previous blogposts, "Infographic: How Ebooks are Reshaping Publishing," "BISG Report: More Ebook Buyers Buying Print Books," and "Books vs Ebooks."

Contact Somersault (@smrsault) to help you publish and market your ebooks and pbooks.

Learn about online marketing with SomersaultSocial.

Add our Facebook page (http://facebook.com/SomersaultGroup) & Twitter stream (http://twitter.com/smrsault) to your Flipboard account on your iPad, iPhone, or Android. 

Get our blogposts delivered into your email inbox.

And be sure to bookmark and use daily the SomersaultNOW online dashboard.

Somersault was given early review access to Guy Kawasaki (@GuyKawasaki) and Shawn Welch’s (@shawnwelch) forthcoming 324-page book APE: Author, Publisher, Entrepreneur — How to Publish a Book (Nononina Press, 2012, ISBN 978-0-9885231-1-1, Kindle edition).

In describing their work, Kawasaki and Welch have coined the term “artisanal publishing,” which they say consists of “writers who love their craft and who control every aspect of the process from beginning to end. In this new approach, writers are no longer at the mercy of large, traditional publishers, and readers will have more books to read.” Kawaski says,

In 2011 the publisher of one of my books, Enchantment, could not fill an order for 500 ebook copies of the book. Because of this experience, I self-published my next book, What the Plus!, and learned first-hand that self-publishing is a complex, confusing, and idiosyncratic process. As Steve Jobs said, “There must be a better way.”

With Shawn Welch, a tech wizard, I wrote APE to help people take control of their writing careers.

Among the chapter titles are:

·         Tools for Writers

·         How to Write Your Book

·         How to Finance Your Book

·         How to Avoid the Self-Published Look

·         Understanding Book Distribution

·         How to Convert Your File

·         How to Price Your Book

·         How to Guerrilla-Market Your Book

Kawasaki and Welch have done a huge service for hesitant or nervous authors who want to self-publish (they've also lobbed a huge salvo into the ramparts of traditional publishers already agitated over the revolutionary changes occurring in the industry). The book is packed with helpful, practical advice and direct links to important online sources (the only thing missing is a link to the wealth of publishing and marketing information at SomersaultNOW ☺). Also check out the Kindle/iBookstore/Nook/Google Play/Kobo Royalty Calculator on the book's website.

If you want to become an expert at self-publishing, buy APE.

If you want experts to help you publish and market your book, contact us (@smrsault). ☺

Also see our blogposts, "Self-Publishing a Book: 25 Things You Need to Know" and "Free iBook Targets New Writers, Missionaries, Christian Journalists," and others tagged "Self-Publishing."

Learn about online marketing with SomersaultSocial.

Add our Facebook page (http://facebook.com/SomersaultGroup) & Twitter stream (http://twitter.com/smrsault) to your Flipboard account on your iPad, iPhone, or Android.

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Laura June (@laura_june), features editor for The Verge (@verge), observes that “ebooks are apparently lousy with typos.”

Many of the typos — the letter "c" in place of what should be an "e" — appear to be the casualties of a hasty OCRing of some actual text of the work. OCR (Optical Character Recognition) is a process of scanning a book and using software which recognizes the scanned words as words, rather than merely as images, converting the images into text files. Anyone who has ever used OCR software knows that the process is far from perfect and always demands a serious attention to detail in the copy editing phase, once scanning is done, because the software doesn’t "read" the text perfectly. This seems to be at least partially what is happening in my Kindle edition of Foucault’s Pendulum, and it’s unacceptable....

[P]ublishing is changing very fast, and to keep up with that pace, publishers are moving quickly to get their books into stores like Amazon and iBooks. That’s great, I want as much content available as possible. But I also demand, and believe that all readers should demand, the high quality that book publishers have always offered to their customers....

Read this in full.

Let Somersault (@smrsault) help you achieve editorial excellence in your published content.

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Be sure to bookmark and use daily the SomersaultNOW online dashboard, especially the Writing / Editing tab.