A useful site for authors

There is a free service you can use to send files that are too large to email called yousendit.com. This service allows you to securely send files up to 100MB.

To use yousendit follow these simple steps:

1.  Visit www.yousendit.com
2. Click ‘Plans & Sign Up’ on the top left hand side of the screen, next to the yousendit logo.
3. Sign up for a free ‘Lite’ account.
4. Once you have an account you can log in and start sending files.

How does it work?

The person you are sending the file to will receive an email from yousendit, which contains a link to download the file. All they need to do is click the link and the file will download to their computer.

Should I use the Free Trial option?

No! This is a free trial for a paid plan, rather than a Lite account which will always be free. You do not need to enter your credit card details to use the Lite account. Fees apply only when you sign up for a Pro, Pro Plus or Corporate Suite plan.

As a Lite user you can only send one file at a time; to send multiple files just zip (if on PC) or compress (if on Mac) and then send that packaged file.

Right now ePub is the latest thing and, well, used by all the major publishers and ebook retailers, but will it really last and be the best format in which to publish ebooks. I'm concerned that the book industry has made some very big decisions based on what device manufacturers have on offer, rather than what's good for the product.

The more I think about this the more I think that ePub may end up as the Betamax or WAP of our generation. EPub is a format driven by first generation technology, not the needs of the publishers, authors, or consumers. Nor is it a format that does justice to the books themselves - it hardly replicates the beauty of text designs achievable from a printing press.

Yes, there is the International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF) behind it to set it as a standard, but they were working on establishing these standards based on such simple delivery methods. Such early devices. As technology improves and reading habits evolve, we really have to keep our minds open and rethink the book and its delivery methods. As the quality of screens, device linkages to the net, and delivery formats evolve, we are going to see print-type reproduction available and why won't these be in already dominant standards like traditional HTML delivery which can deliver a 'book' page as beautiful as any printed work.

Further, we will only carry so many devices, and tablets have taken off so much faster that predicted. There is a plethora of ebook readers for ePub available, but do I really want another device? The more I use a tablet, the more I think the answer is a resounding 'no'. My ereader sits in the cupboard gathering dust. The primary gaps at present between tablets and ereaders, such as the Kindle and others, are that the tablets have light-emitting screens rather than reflective and have a very brief battery life. Once these problems are solved then we will have no need for these two devices in our bags. Will this send ePub the way of Beta?

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1.      Life isn't fair, but it can make for good material.

2.      When in doubt, write another line.

3.      Life is too short to waste time hating your writing.

4.      Research your work. Just because you’re writing fiction, doesn’t mean you don’t have to get facts right.

5.      Test your manuscript or writing on experienced writers.

6.      Pick your battles. You don't have to win every argument with your editor or publisher.

7.      Every sentence doesn’t have to be perfect from the start. That can come later.

8.      Cry with another writer. It's more useful than crying alone.

9.      It's OK to get angry with your editor. They can take it.

10.   Save story ideas. Start your notebook now.

11.   When it comes to proofreading, resistance is futile.

12.   Make peace with your editor so they won't screw up your work.

13.   It's OK to let your children, parents or spouse read your manuscript, just don’t take their glowing review as gospel - they are not professional editors.

14.   Don't waste your time being envious of successful writers. You have no idea how many drafts they did.

15.   If a change has to be made behind your editors’ back, you shouldn't be making it.

16.   Everything can change in the blink of an eye. Don’t worry about having to rework whole sections if necessary.

17.   Take a deep breath. And just keep writing.

18.   Get rid of anything that isn't advancing the story, beautifully written or clever.

19.   Giving your characters obstacles to overcome, really does make your story more interesting.

20.   It's never too early to start marketing your work. Ultimately selling it is up to you and no one else.

21.   When it comes to defending what you love in your work, don't take no for an answer.

22.   When it comes to marketing your book, don't miss an opportunity.

23.   Tell your friends. Use Facebook and other social media to market your book.

24.   Burn the late-night candles, use your favourite writing tools, wear an inspiring shirt.

25.   Over-write, then cut.

26.   Be eccentric now and then. You can always delete later.

27.   One of the most important writing traits is persistence.

28.   No one is in charge of completing your manuscript but you.

29.   Frame every sentence with these words 'Is this taking my story somewhere important?’

30.   Always find time.

31.   Listen to everything everyone says about your work, then ignore 80% of it.

32.   What other people think of your work is none of your business, unless it’s the other 20%, your editor or publisher.

33.   Redrafting heals almost everything. Just keep writing.

34.   However good or bad a paragraph is, in time it will become clear whether you should delete it or keep it.

35.   Don't take your writing too seriously. Few others do.

36.   Believe in your own work.

37.   Learn the basics of narrative structure.

38.   If you don’t know what narrative structure is, Google it… now.

39.   Don't audit your writing. Put it down and redraft later.

40.   You, your friends and family get only one life, unless you make them characters in your book.

41.   Be kind to the characters in your book - then kill them off somehow.

42.   All that truly matters in the end is that you loved the process.

43.   Write every day. Miracles are waiting inside everybody.

44.   Throw all your deletions in a pile, you may need some later.

45.   Write what you know.

46.   Your best work is yet to come.

47.   No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and write a new sentence.

48.   Yield to your publisher, every now and then.

49.   Agents and publishers aren’t always fair, but they make good material for your next book.

50.   If all else fails, sit down and read a classic for inspiration.

With acknowledgment on inspiration to Regina Brett.

This post is the base of a presentation/discussion with the New Media for Science group at Sydney University about my perspective and experience on ebook publishing.

* * *

 An important first point: the rise of ebooks and other forms of online publishing is not about stopping print; it’s about:

  Broadening the delivery options for your work.

Building a community with your readers. 

An important second point is a simple one: there’s no one simple answer about how best to publish ebooks, or similar, in this area right now. We are all experimenting and that can be expensive and time-consuming. But because of this, now is the time to innovate and come up with exciting new ways of delivering work.

* * *

I used to think that online publishing would take a similar shape to print publishing, that is, new filters (publishers) would appear and we would come to trust them and know to go to them for the most important and reliable information.

My idea has now changed a little. Social media and mobile devices have transformed publishing opportunities to the point where we are now all peers – of a sort – with access to a vast array of information that we can make successful, or not, through our own small inputs and comments. Those who trust us do the same, ultimately creating a wave of influence as broad and powerful as any print publisher could hope for.

It’s just that we do it ourselves. Most likely without the aid of anything other than the author showing us what they’re written by posting it online. It’s the reader (feedback, communication) that’s important, not the brand (imprint, URL).

Publishing effectively

Portability is the transformation that should compel you to publish your work online: the impact of the iPhone, iPad – and the wealth of tablets about to be launched – cannot be ignored for those involved in the generation or publishing of ideas.

Not only is online publishing now portable, but these devices allow us to converse and engage with readers more than ever before – providing amazing opportunities for academics. The key to understanding why these opportunities are so important to embrace is taking a step back and looking at your fundamental role.

Anyone involved in ideas' generation should be looking at how they can communicate their ideas most effectively to the world.

Effectiveness of communication could be measured many ways, but put simply, I see it as getting your message out to as many people as possible in the most efficient and cost-effective way.

This means looking at the tools available to you to reach your audience and as academics, your audience is not only your peers but your students too – and where are they going for their information:

Google, blogs, social media, etc.

So you need to be discussing your work and communicating with your readers in their own spaces. You cannot expect people only to come to you; you must be out there for them in their community and helping to build it.

Building a community means being open and accessible.

Currently, academic success is based largely on a measurement of publishing success and output: journals, peers, articles, citations, or your publisher and their reputation. It’s a closed circle of specialists. An ivory tower scenario, largely passing over those from outside this environment.

Measurement in the future will probably be increasingly about where you stand in your broad and global online community, which will include your students, and others from outside your traditional academic world. The important thing is to be accessible and to be able to be found.

So how can you be accessible and where should you be to be found? This diagram gives an indication of places that are currently important – it’s not exhaustive and will probably change … quickly.

You’ll notice that ebook and book are just the beginning. And by ebook, I don’t mean a PDF on your website. I mean an electronic copy of your work in a completely different style to your hardcopy version, perhaps in epub format, or as an App-type publication with interactivity to help create your community: links to further information, other pieces of your work, videos, podcasts, or wikis.

This is a circle of communication where your research may be commented upon, tweeted, blogged and then, hopefully, people may seek out your book. If managed well and openly, it could be an endless loop with you and your work at the centre.

It may seem like a lot of work to publish across all these platforms. It’s not that bad. These can be set up with cascading links, so with one click you can send out to your blog, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter.

Books and ebooks: the pros and cons

Looking at the pros and cons of books and ebooks from both the author and publisher perspectives gives a more rounded understanding of what each party faces and which format might be best for your work:

Book

Pros: established delivery methods; traditional user-friendly format; may be useful for driving sales of enhanced online editions (ebooks, website visits) through word of mouth discussion by readers.

Cons: expensive production and distribution; unsatisfactory retail environment (lack of control over supply and stock availability, expensive delivery with distribution accounting for approximately 70% of the retail price); rarely deal directly with purchaser.

ebooks

Pros: international distribution; direct promotion; immediate delivery; easily updated; cheaper production and distribution; author may deal direct with buyer.

Cons: lower price point; piracy/security problems; reading device market is fragmented and not well-established.

Blog/website

Pros: active editorial; easily updatable; immediate; sponsorship and advertising possible; can sell ebook or hardcopy to visitors.

Cons: cannot charge for content

Reading devices

While there are many platforms available for selling your book, by focussing on a few you can get 80% or so of the current market. Here are the three main readers at the moment:

Amazon Kindle – Can be read and synced on Kindle, iPhone, iPad, PC, Mac, Android device, and BlackBerry. Wireless connectivity. Battery lasts 1 month with wireless off, or 10 days in full use. Can read epub, and PDF formats. Black and white e-ink screen. 

Sony Reader – Can buy books from the Sony Reader Shop (not in Australia yet), but can use other sites such as Books on Board or Smashwords. One battery charge lasts 2 weeks. No wireless connectivity. Can read epub, PDF, Word, Text, RTF formats. Black and white eink screen. 

iPad – Many apps available to read pretty much any type of ebook format. Battery life is short; an issue if you are from power for more than 1 day. Wireless connectivity (3g model). Colour LCD screen. 

Both the Kindle and Sony are quite restricted in terms of the file security (DRM). The iPad is freer due to the fact that you have multiple App options available to you all the time on 1 device.

A final note: publishing for money vs publishing for effectiveness

On the whole, commercial publishers see the growth of electronic publishing as a somewhat expensive annoyance to their traditional sales avenues – this is because they are looking from a sales and marketing / revenue perspective – not purely an effectiveness perspective. Ebooks being just another cost they must bear in an already difficult economic environment – and working under an already difficult business model, where cheap online bookshops are undercutting consignment-based high street stores.

Books purchased online from overseas are usually cheaper than those available at your local Dymocks – and ebooks are generally cheaper again.

It’s fundamentally difficult making profits from products that are time-consuming to produce, heavy to transport and sold at low retail prices online or in shops.

Academic publishing has always been a little different to retail, trade publishing, as it’s called. Academic publishers rely on textbooks for the bulk of their income and profits, and these profits allow them to publish monographs – more often than not for the advancement of learning rather than to make a profit from them.

Engaging with you clients or prospects is critical. But how is it best done? 

From a young age we have stories read to us because they help us understand and engage with complex concepts, or simply entertain us. This ability to absorb information so effectively through storytelling is hard-wired into our brains.

Using storytelling in your business

Using storytelling concepts in your business, for example by publishing a book telling your story or business philosophy, will lift your levels of engagement with your clients and add to your marketing and communication.

Think of your communications mix as the process of meeting someone: 

• Your advertisement is the attention-seeking shout ‘hello’
• Your brochures are the handshake, and
• Your book is the dinner conversation over a glass of wine.

Five Benefits of a Book

1. A book for your business will help you get more time with your clients and form an integral part of your marketing:

2. Your business story becomes a book to be read in the recipients’ leisure-time, without the distraction of email, Internet and marketing flyers that so often become lost in inboxes or in piles of papers on a desk.

3. People do not throw books away.

4. Books provide a warm tangible engagement; but they also provide you with plenty of content to work with in other areas of your communications strategy: for example, release the work as an ebook, extract chapters on your website, and Tweet key points.

5. Importantly, a book gives you time. Time to tell your corporate story and it is this that elevates your message to a level where the reader remembers because you have engaged with them. They feel that they understand you; and that you understand them.

How might your book be used?

For the price of a few mass media print advertisements, you can have hundreds of copies of your own branded corporate book, which can be used in a great variety of ways:

·       As a welcome for new clients

·       As a loyalty gift and reminder of your services to current clients

·       To help position you as the authority in your specialty

·       To give away or to sell, when your in-house experts appear at speaking events.

So think about your corporate story or the philosophy of your business and how telling it in a book may help create a deeper, longer-lasting relationship with your clients and prospects.

With your story presented in the right way, they might just enjoy having dinner with you.

Writing a book is essentially the same as setting up a small business. You have created a product, now its time to tell people it's available to buy. Hopefully they will love your book and recommend it to their friends and family. So to get that word of mouth going, here are details of free or inexpensive resources available to help you market and sell your book from our New Media Sales Wheel.

Each element of the wheel provides a different benefit, which when combined, create a broad-based marketing strategy to help you reach your potential customers and develop a fan base.