Tag: indie news

Happy Friday once again. Where does the time go? Your intrepid IU admins have once more scampered, scurried, and scoured the interwebz looking for yummy tidbits to feed your ravenous minds. So, here is another truckload of writerly stuff, things, and to-do that you may find of interest!

It is always good to have some options for getting your writing and your name out there. If you’re into nonfiction or perhaps tripping over boxes crammed with old personal essays, the Write Life provides this list of 19 websites and magazines that want your personal essays.

You may remember that in the movie, My Big, Fat Greek Wedding, the father was always saying that you could give him any word, and he would show you how the root of that word was Greek. Of course, English as we know it today is a hodgepodge language consisting of Latin, German, French, and many other languages. However, the influence of the Greek language on our own is strong.  Here is a handy list of Greek words that have become mainstays of modern English.

One of the common failings we see in character-driven popular fiction is that the characters seem two-dimensional. It may not be easy, but it is necessary to render your characters whole, so the readers can become more fully immersed in the story. Of all the different approaches we have seen to accomplish or improve upon this, Sarah Gribble offers a really interesting and unique approach: Write a Eulogy to Get to Know a Character in Your Novel.

While we in the main room argue back and forth about whether print books will ever be replaced by eBooks, audio books are gaining in popularity. Have you ever thought about narrating your own audio book? (H/T The Book Designer)

That’s it for this week. We’ll close with a philosophical question: as a writer, are you more plagued by procrastination or ambivalence? Leave a comment and tell us. If you can’t decide, maybe just come back later and do it. Or not. I dunno.

Welcome to Friday. A lot of people don’t know the word “Friday” is derived from the latin term fridaeus, which is translated literally as “Glad that’s over.” That’s not true, but it should be. Anyhoo, as you know, stuff is going on out there and it spans the spectrum from nefarious to hilarious. Or possibly just mildly interesting. Here is some of that stuff.

For all you bibliophiles and collectors out there, you may be interested in learning that a copy of Lady Chatterley’s Lover used by the judge who presided over the novel’s 1960 obscenity trial will go up on auction this fall. This version contains annotations from the Judge’s wife, pointing out all the naughty bits! They must have been a fun couple.

If you are not yet in the audiobook game, you may want to give that another think. Seems audiobooks are the fasting-growing segment of the digital book market.

Every once in a while, people like to know what kind of marketing is moving the needle. For instance, you might wonder if Amazon sponsored ads work. Short answer: Yes. Longer answer: Your mileage may vary. That’s true of all marketing, really. But Amazon has adopted the Google approach to ad placement, packing the top of the page with so many ads that organic traffic becomes less relevant – because scrolling. Ain’t nobody got time for that!

From our It Was Bound to Happen division, we have sad news for all you readers and authors who just will not give up your print books: you are destroying the planet. Are you happy now? Power to the pixels, baby!

Be sure to set your internet dials for this station next week as we finally announce the winners of our 2013 Procrastinator of the Year Awards.

It’s Friday again. You know what that means. You don’t? Aw, sorry, Skippy.

Okay, it means, if we really have to tell you, that it’s time to get edjumacated about the goings on in the publishing industry. There’s always something new, and we mean to ruin it for you. Wait, that r-word was supposed to be REPORT, not ruin. Silly me. I hate it when my fingers get typing Tourette’s.

There’s another vanity publisher in town – can you believe it? These guys just don’t get that we’re on to them already. But it’s true – David Gaughran writes about HarperCollins’ new offspring: Elm Hill Books.

Suddenly, everyone wants to get into the book business – or at least when it involves selling them at a beach resort on a beautiful island. The Guardian reports that even a White House press officer joined the race for this bookshop job in the Maldives.

And Penguin Random House has made some waves (not at a nice beach resort, though) with their new policy on lending eBooks at libraries, Publishers Weekly reports in their article entitled Penguin Random House Changes Library E-book Lending Terms. The consensus is that this is bad news for authors with series books, and hopefully they will realize this is yet one more reason that going indie is better.

In other news, some authors have been getting creative in their quest for the almighty dollar. One author who shall remain nameless (because I made him up) lives in the back hills of a remote area and realized he needed a vocation that would enable him to write while on the job. And, with the favorite local sport being alcohol consumption, he decided to start his own designated driver business. He calls it “Guber.” Way to go, dude! I bet he gets some juicy stories during his fares.

Next week, we’ll see what other interesting innovations redneck writers have created, or not.

It’s Friday again. How time flies when you’re chained to a desk in a dank cellar.

It’s time once again to learn a little something about what’s going on out there in the world of publishing, writing, and whatnot. The news can’t escape our relentless admins any more than a naughty cheerleader can escape a serial killer in a B horror movie.

If you counted Kobo out in trimming your distribution channels, you may want to reconsider. It seems Kobo and Walmart have announced an ebook partnership.

For about the hundredth time (or so it seems), publishing industry watchers find that Barnes & Noble is teetering. Is the founder, chairman, and acting CEO really the problem here?

Crown Publishing has recalled a cookbook it published and marketed after critics pointed out the recipes include certain berries and mushrooms that can induce vomiting and diarrhea. Crown is a division of the Random Penguin empire. Yeah, those guys.

On the lighter side, while conducting tireless historical research, John Emmerling makes an amazing discovery involving an invention to cure writers block!

That’s it for this visit. Be sure to stop by next week, when we debut our latest book: 101 Festive Uses for Industrial Waste Drums.