Yesterday, Publishers Weekly announced that Barnes and Nobel had canceled their 10,000 book order of Obama’s Challenge: America’s Economic Crisis and the Power of a Transformative Presidency. The book, written by Robert Kuttner and published by Chelsea Green is scheduled to be officially launched at the Democratic Convention which starts on August 25.
The reason Barnes and Nobel canceled the order, according to PW, because Chelsea Green has signed an early exclusive agreement with Amazon. The sense is that Amazon’s attempt to get a lock on print-on-demand is costing independent bookstores and authors significant money.
Hut Landon, executive director of the …read more

Publishers Weekly today announced that the Author’s Guild is warning Simon and Schuster authors to be extra careful when signing an addendum to their book contract that alters their ebook royalties.
According to the article, the addendum may actually change author’s rights in favor of the publisher.
I don’t have a contract with Simon and Schuster so I haven’t seen the letter in question. But I know how important it is to understand throughly any contract you sign. Publishers are like any business – charged to make a profit, and will often do so almost anyway they can.
The article also suggests …read more

A. F. Stewart, a writer and blogger in Nova Scotia, has started a petition aimed at getting Amazon to mend it’s ways regarding their attempt to force POD publishers to use their printer, BookSurge.
I’ve signed it knowing my signature may not mean much since it’s unclear what such an effort might mean. But it can’t hurt, and it felt good to take some action.
Thanks A.F.
Write well and often,

Two newsletters:
Abundant Freelance Writing – a resource for freelance writers including 3x a week job postings.
Writing With Vision – for those who want to get a book written.
Image from http://www.sxc.hu

Over at Publishers Weekly, Jim Milliot reports that a major topic of conversation at the London Book Fair this month is Amazon’s continuing attempt to force POD publishers to use Amazon’s BookSurge if they want their books listed on the now gigantic online e-tailer. Jim makes a series of interesting points, including:

Although Barnes and Noble’s online service grew 10% in 2007 that still represents only 10% of Amazon’s total business.
Concerns over Amazon’s action might drive services like Google and/or MSN to start their own content delivery option.
The recognition that Amazon may be in a position, or at least getting …read more

Arghhhh… I just sent off the wrong version to a client. In this case, it wasn’t all my fault, not that it matters.
For this project we’ve got three people involved. Me, the client and the client’s secretary. I write, submit to the client who edits on paper, gives that to his secretary who enters the edits and sends the revised edition to me. I should have worked with the secretary to determine exactly how we’d deal with version numbers, but I thought what I was doing was clear… chapter number, brief title, date, my initials. We muddled along with me …read more

A client recently asked me what the difference between a copy editor and a proofreader is. The short form is that the proofreader is, for the most part, looking only for typos. The copy editor, however, goes further and looks for style problems, technical punctuation and grammar problems and even awkward sentences.
You might want to read the article I wrote called: What’s the difference between proofreading and copy editing?
Write well and often,

Two newsletters:
Abundant Freelance Writing – a resource for freelance writers including 3x a week job postings.
Writing With Vision – for those who want to get a book written.

Hmmm… 52 New Writing, Editing and Translation Jobs today.
We’re moving into the holiday season. In the U.S. that starts with Thanksgiving and lasts through January 1. Trade publishers tend to almost shut down. It will be interesting to see how freelance writing jobs hold up.
Write well and often,

Two newsletters:
Abundant Freelance Writing – a resource for freelance writers including 3x a week job postings.
Writing With Vision – for those who want to get a book written.

According to Publishers Weekly, publisher Houghton Mifflin has signed a deal to get at least some of its books on cell phones. Initially, the books will only be available on Embarq, Qwest, Orange UK and Bell Mobility (in Canada), but more carriers are said to be coming online soon.
Sigh – it looks like I’ll have to give up my position of trying to be the last person in the world to have get a cell phone… this sort of announcement makes the iPhone look good just because of its excellent screen.
Are any of you reading whole books on your phone? …read more

Mark Chillingworth states in his post, Wiley: publishers must push e-books, states that Wiley and others are urging book publishers to push ebook readers. The emphasis in the post is on textbook publishing, and, if I’m understanding correctly, the idea is that publishers could improve their bottom line if they were able to deliver more (text)books digitally; to do that, they’ve got to get readers to adopt ebook readers.
Well, maybe. I mean, that does make sense, but the ebook readers currently available still leave a great deal to be desired.
The iLiad is newish, looks good, uses something that’s supposed to …read more

It’s so tempting to think that your book will be a best seller if only you can find the right trade publisher. But the odds of that are truly small.
There are other ways to make money with a book. I’ve written about some of the alternatives in an article called Earn $1.25 Per Copy of Your Book or $85?
No magic bullets, of course, but some ideas you may want to think about.
Write well and often,

Two newsletters:
Abundant Freelance Writing – a resource for freelance writers including 3x a week job postings.
Writing With Vision – for those who want to get …read more