eBook, Self-Publishing, Starving Writers Gain Ad-Supported ePublishing

eBook, self-publishing, on-demand publishing - these ideas have been proposed for a dozen years. 

Rather than sell books, can an author earn enough from advertising to compensate his/her sweat equity?

The Writing Ecosystem

Ten years ago, BLOSM (i.e. By the Light of the Silvery Moon) analyzed the book publishing funnel. In rough figures, 10 million authors have the ability and would like to be published. 100,000 get published each year. 1,000 make more than $10,000 per book. The rest earn a small advance.

The ecosystem fails authors, publishers, and the reading public. Only book retailers, with full rights to return unsold books, benefit. 

How the Internet Changed Writing

Today, the publishing business is still centric around selling a bound volume. Internet success stories include:

• Amazon extended the life of Long-Tail books through on-demand publishing and a huge inventory of titles.
• Amazon has gained traction with the Kindle. Sony has had some success with their eBook reader.
• Bloggers have gained fans and tested ideas through their blog; and won publishing contracts as a result. Problogger has reported on his and other successes as a book author.
• Hundreds of top writers have blogs - to extend the marketing of their works beyond the publisher efforts. 
• Thousands of great writers have published online, gaining millions of fans. But, at eCPM of $1.00 or less from CPC ads, these popular writers have not been able to sustain via advertising alone.

BTW, ebook is green. We save trees; gasoline to drive to the library or the book store; the massive waste to move books from forests, to print shops, warehouses, retailers, and a home; and equal waste to recycle or dispose of old books. If you prefer the form factor of a book, for the sake of the environment, buy an iPhone or an eReader.

The Ad-Supported Book Model

An author and his friends approached tEarn with the idea for ad-supported books. Rather than ads that clutter the pages of his work, exitmercials appear between the chapters of a work. Sample works online include the classic works of Jane Austen and some non-fictional works. 

We extended our exitmerical features to support the effort. This includes better display on an iPhone as an eBook reader (i.e. 10 million and growing) and large screen TV's (i.e. 26% of home users) where one can read while sitting in the comfort of a couch.

• At estimated mature value of $0.30 per adpack view and a 10 chapter book, we estimate that each reader is worth $3.00 gross. This beats the royalties of less than $1.00 earned through book publishing.

• With just a few thousand readers, success of the model beats the advances available through publishing. Thus, niche non-fiction and fictional works can benefit - without print. 

• Further, the model scales. Works can become best-sellers scaling through the Internet to reach millions of fans. Low-friction access to content requires no credit-card commerce. Great works can be supported solely by advertising revenues. 
  

Can Exitmercials Support Starving Writers

Can high eCPM exitmercials support starving writers? 

We're monitoring the results with this group of authors. Success brings benefits to both readers and writers without friction. Let's wish all the best.

To learn more, visit http://onlinepublishing101.blogspot.com/

Amazon to Launch Content Delivery Network against Akamai and Limelight

Amazon to Launch Content Delivery Network

This morning, Amazon announced that it would soon launch a content delivery network (CDN). This new service, which does not have a name yet, will be complimentary to Amazon's existing web services and will work seamlessly with S3, Amazon's online storage solution. Like most of Amazon's web services, this new product will not require a contract and does not have any minimum-usage requirements. Amazon did not announce a specific launch date, but it expects the new service to be available by the end of this year.

With this new service, Amazon is going up against a number of established companies, including Akamai and Limelight, which are almost synonymous with content delivery. While these larger CDN providers tend to target enterprise customers, though, Amazon's pay-as-you-go plan seems to be geared towards smaller businesses and developers who might not have a sustained need for a complex CDN solution.

Just like Amazon's S3 and E2 shook up the market for online storage and cloud computing, this new CDN solution will surely drive down the prices for content delivery. At first, however, Amazon's new service will not support streaming video or live broadcasts. Because of this, Akamai and Limelight don't have to fear the competition with Amazon just yet, but we would be surprised if Amazon did not add more video specific features to its CDN in the future.

Preemptive Move

Interestingly, as Om Malik points out, New-York based Voxel just announced a CDN solution based on S3. Amazon rarely pre-announces new services, so we definitely agree that this announcement today should be seen as a preemptive move by Amazon.

NEWS: Self-Publish Your Own Magazine With MagCloud from HP Labs

Ed: An iTune for magazines? $0.99 per issue? POD option for subscribers and publishers. Does this counter the current trend of free content supported by advertising?

Self-Publish Your Own Magazine With MagCloud

from ReadWriteWeb by Sarah Perez

Have you every wanted to run your own magazine, but never had enough money or a large enough audience to make it worthwhile? Well, if there's one thing that the self-publishing industry can cater to, it's the long tail. Now, thanks to a startup called MagCloud, even the smallest of ventures can produce their own, professional, full-color magazine and without the costs normally associated with hiring traditional publishing companies.

About MagCloud

MagCloud is another project to emerge from HP Labs. Earlier this year, HP Labs launched BookPrep, a print-on-demand service for out-of-print books. Now, they're delivering MagCloud, a project devoted to providing small independent publishers the ability to publish digitized magazines as well as economically print on demand. Using HP's Indigo technology, the magazines are printed when ordered in full color on 80 lb paper with saddle-stitched covers.

How To Use MagCloud

To get started with creating a custom magazine, you must first create a PDF of your content using a tool that outputs high-resolution PDFs, like Adobe InDesign. You'll also need to have a PayPal account in order to sell the magazines with the markup you choose. Since the service is in beta at the moment, orders must be sent to a U.S. shipping address. Publishers can request an invitationhere.

Browsing the MagCloud Selections

For those just interested in reading the MagCloud produced zines, you can create an account and then browse the selections of magazines available or subscribe to receive email notifications from the publisher as to when new issues are available. You can also choose to subscribe via RSS, but the feed does not contain the magazine's content as posts, only notifications when new issues are released.

There are already tons of magazines to browse through in diverse categories ranging from Art to Food to Literature to Finance and so much more. For example, RWW readers might be interested in the soon-to-launch magazine "The Rubyist" (for Rubyists, by Rubyists), which will focus on technical content and happenings in the world of Ruby, Rails, and Merb. Or for the more business-minded, the magazine "Professionally Speaking" may appeal, which gives tips on public speaking, giving presentations, etc.

Another great thing about a self-published magazine is that you can just purchase the issues you're interested in - the same as buying from the newsstand. You don't have to commit to a full subscription.

Previewing a MagCloud Magazine

A Great Addition To The POD World

As we noted earlier this year, the print-on-demand industry has really been heating up. Amazon launched CreateSpace and another Lulu-esque service called Wordclay began offering paperback publishing. Even casual publishing outfits like CafePress and Blurb have continued to offer options for less serious writers. Now, MagCloud seems to be a perfect addition to join the POD space. If you want to join MagCloud yourself, the signup page is here.

Top 100 Advertisers Shifted $1 Billion To the Web Last Year At The Expense Of TV And Newspapers

from TechCrunch by Erick Schonfeld

The top 100 advertisers in the U.S., who represent 41 percent of total advertising spending, shifted about $1 billion last year from TV and newspapers to the Web. An analysis from Ad Age shows that overall media spending in “measured” categories (TV, print, radio, Web) by the top 100 advertisers was flat in 2007, with 0.3 percent growth to $61.3 billion. But spending on Web display ads rose 33 percent to $4.2 billion. The article notes:

Put another way, these top-tier marketers increased measured internet spending by $1 billion; slashed newspaper spending by $674 million; and cut TV budgets by $406 million.

This is yet one more piece of evidence that dollars are flowing from traditional media to the Web. The analysis is based on data from TNS Media Intelligence for 2007. TNS only measures display advertising, and not search...

NEWS: (Only) Two Visions for the Future of Blogging?

(Only) Two Visions for the Future of Blogging?

An interesting battle of the blogging titans was covered in the "Bits" section of today's New York Times. It's basically an exchange between popular technology bloggers (and blog owners) Michael Arrington and Rafat Ali. Their differing views are worth examining because they touch on a hot button issue in blogging and journalism: How are new for-profit business models impacting blogging and the journalistic integrity of bloggers?

In their personal scrap Mr. Arrington and Mr. Ali are tackling the difficult question of profitability models for blogging. Mr. Arrington seems to favor a monopoly approach, where blogs are brought together to form a kind of trust to benefit everyone. Mr. Ali, on the other hand, is apparently attempting to attract venture capital support for individual blogs to create verticals targeting niche markets.

What their disparate visions don't directly address is the individual blogger who either doens't get paid, doesn't get paid enough to do it for a living, or has no intention to blog for money. What will happen to these independents as blogging becomes more "professional", increasingly vetted, and commercialized? In short, is blogging worth paying attention to and will it survive intact if it doesn't attach itself to a business model of sorts?

Where's the Innovation in Business Models?

Chris O’Brien

I've been following closely a theme that has developed here in recent days. It began last week with David Sasaki's post about thelegacy of the Knight family, continued with Dan Gillmor's call for more entrepreneurial thinking in journalism, and was amplified byJ.D. Lasica's call for newspapers to innovate or die...

While there is far too little happening on this end, there are some efforts to identify a way toward a more sustainable journalism that are worth noting:

• Newspaper Next: Sponsored by the American Press Institute, Newspaper Next just released the second version of their research called, Making the Leap Beyond Newspaper Companies.Newspaper Next has been instrumental in pushing newspapers to look beyond ads for revenue. And they map out how to get there by creating a framework for newspapers to begin identifying opportunities.
  At the same time, the latest report chastises newspapers for being too timid when it comes to innovation, especially on the revenue side: "On the business side, too, innovation must happen faster because core revenues are declining steadily. But even when launching new products for consumers, companies are mostly sticking to existing business models."

• VillageSoup: Ask Richard Anderson, one of the founders, what kind of business he's in, and he'll tell you community hosting. Not journalism or media. Though he does publish two local newspapers. Richard is also a News Challenge winner. He sees businesses as members of the community who buy subscriptions to the site (which include the ability to run ads, but also many other services).

• MinnPost and New Haven Independent: Both sustained by NPR-style funding models (foundation support, member subscriptions).

• ProPublica: Paul Steiger's new public interest journalism project, funded by foundations and a few rich people.

• The Public Press: An embryonic effort by Michael Stoll to build a non-commercial news organization in the Bay Area (disclosure: I'm one of many, many folks who have advised him on this project).

• Representative Journalism: Leonard Witt's plan to have a community pool its resources to hire a journalist to cover it.

• The Next Newsroom Prototype: This represents maybe some of the best, most comprehensive thinking I've seen on the business and content side. (Note: This is different than my Next Newsroom project). But this draft plan, formulated by Chris Peck and Bill Densmore (with contributions from many others) contains a number of intriguing concepts, such as a community ownership plan and new ways to think about delivery of the print product. And its overall goal is to de-emphasize the dependence on ad sales. Read and it and steal some of these ideas. Better yet, print out a copy, and give it to your friendly, neighborhood venture capitalist.

What Journalism Needs: A Product People Want

When journalists were asked in a recent survey to identify the most important aspect of their work, 91% said "make my publication successful by creating appealing content for its audiences."

What a turn-around from the not too distant past when such sentiments would have been denounced in many newsrooms as pandering to the public and giving people what they want, not what they need.

How Can Ads Support Community News?

I'm going to be posting weekly questions here on Idea Lab to spark discussion by the various authors, as well as our community of readers. This week I'd like to follow up on the recent theme of new business models for local news sites. Many small hyper-local community sites start up with Google AdSense ads and other automated, quick ways of bringing in a small revenue stream. Eventually, though, they need to make more money than that, and must turn to local businesses to advertise. But it's difficult to entice small businesses online, as they are more likely to employ Google AdWords if they do anything at all. So how can community news sites get local businesses to advertise, and is there something they can offer the businesses beyond just a display ad or a place in an online directory? Is there a more creative partnership they might have, where reader/contributors could give the business honest feedback on the site -- positive and negative?

NEWS: Blogging: the equal of in-depth narrative journalism?

Blogging: the equal of in-depth narrative journalism?

At the Nieman Narrative Conference, Nieman fellow Josh Benton offered up what Poynterblogger Roy Peter Clark, a self-described veteran of writing conferences, characterizes as "the most dynamic presentation" on blogging that he has ever seen. 

Benton proposed that eye-witness reporting in real-time via blogs is a interesting and complementary component to long-form narrative journalism. The theory was derived from a work by author James Fenton, an advocate for what he terms "journalism in its natural state," in which natural journalism is an antidote for the vanilla, rehashed wire copy that frequently crops up. 

Benton then went on to create a chart that he calls The Benton Curve of Journalistic Interestingness (see photo). In this view, blogging becomes "a form of critical reportage rather than a form of standard commentary or self-expression," writes Clark. 

Benton described two different periods in which a story is at its "most interesting:" right after the event, and then later on, once an investigative writer has moved beyond the basic what, when, where, how, and why, and found a unique angle for a long form narrative piece.  Conversely, the story is at its least interesting when it's in the "conventional reporting" stage, in between blogging and narrative. 

No one would argue that blogs are becoming an increasingly important news source. And they do have more liberty to search out what's interesting. But is conventional reporting as trite as Benton's chart would have it seem?

Let us know if you think Benton is on to something.

Source: PoynterOnline

Ed: Timeliness versus depth of analysis.

Investigative journalism struggling to survive

The Columbian Journalism Review asks the question: If newsrooms are in a state of financial woes, will investigative journalism, which is expensive and time-consuming, survive? 

While bigger papers are holding onto it, regional and local papers are finding it difficult to do so. 

Investigative reporter Loretta Tofani conducted a freelance investigation of hazardous Chinese labor practices, which was rejected by three papers before The Salt Lake Tribune picked it up. Because The Tribune could not afford its own investigative work, Tofani had to finance her whole investigation on her own. "It was very difficult doing [the Tribune story] as a freelancer. I'm not sure if I would do that again," said Tofani.

Though finding papers to publish investigative reports is not easy, investigative journalism is not giving up yet. The Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting attracted 120 entries this year, a number that is consistent with past years. 

Also, Paul E. Steiger, former Wall Street Journal managing editor, heads ProPublica, a nonprofit, non partisan investigative journalism project that hopes to be the "best financed shop for investigative journalism." 

Investigative journalism is a valuable form of journalism because it "is one of the things [investigative reporters are] able to make a difference in that not everyone else can," according to Washington Post reporter Dana Priest.

Blogging Ecosystem of Distribution Gadgets

Legacy publishers purchase lists and mail products. The distribution costs absorb 60% of revenues. Online publishing has zero distribution costs. A rich ecosystem of web 1.0 and 2.0 tools help publishers to gain readers and subscribers.

Web 1.0 Tools

Web 1.0 tools include emails, forums, and groups. Mailings to friends and strangers; discussions with groups; and participation in forums bring visibility. For example, joining a Google or Yahoo group and posting to the group's mail threads and digests can produce instant views. Similarly, posting to a forum on Craig's List or Facebook creates quick results.

However, these methods produce transient results. Popular groups and forums gain thousands of posts per day. Thus, your posts disappear into a huge pile after a few hours or days. Without repeated posts, your message is lost.

Further, these tools lack the feature to bring visitors back to read the latest postings.

(Ed: Despite the growing mindshare of social networks, thousands of web 1.0 forums and groups continue to thrive with loyal communities. Active effort is required to befriend these communities.)

Using Social Media to Grow Your Blog’s Readership

This week we’re looking at five different methods that I’d use to find readership if I were starting a new blog. So far we’ve explored guest posting, advertising and networking - but today I want to turn our attention to the explosive and dynamic area of social media.

Web 2.0 Gadgets

The new web provides a plethora of tools that distribute content, track subscribers, and share popular content with Internet users. These tools can be called widgets, gadgets, or code snippets. In essense, a blogger adds some code to their blog and the code provides features that automate services.

RSS Feed to Readers

An RSS (Really Simple Syndication) allows users to subscribe to your blog.


This auto-sends your blog to RSS readers such as personal pages at Google, Yahoo, or Live; readers such as Google or Netvigator; and social networks and social media portals such as Facebook, Technorati, ... Subscribers click to read your posts.



The RSS feed is a built-in feature of every blog. Search robots from Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, and hundreds of others also use the RSS feed to analyze every article of your blog.

You can add buttons to your blog to simplify subscriptions for readers.

• My Yahoo - put a button on your blog.


• Add Google Button - Information for Publishers

Multple formats for feeders complicate publishing and subscribing to feeds. Hundreds of sites provide readers. Many companies now provide simple solutions that allow a publisher to outsource the feed process. A single gadget supports multiple formats and many readers.

• FeedBurner - supplies a single subscribe icon that redirects to a page of readers. FeedBurner tracks subscription stats for bloggers. They also have a mail subscription service that tracks email subscribes and automatically sends new posts by email.


• AddThis - a single subscribe icon for multiple readers


• How to assemble a Feedburner alternative using Wordpress plugins ...

Smart Self Subscriptions

To promote yourself among friends, bring your content closer to your circle of friends and interested readers at social networks. Two networks that already support RSS include:

• Facebook - import as Facebook notes or choose an RSS application. Note that Facebook does not report imported notes to the newsfeeds of your friends. Manually 'Post an Item' to promote one article among your friends.


• Technorati - this is a blogger community that shares and rates blogs. Although Technorati has a robot that eventually discovers every blog, opening an account and feeding your blog accelerates the process.

As the OpenSocial trend opens more social networks to third party developers, you will be able to syndicate your blog to many more networks.

Adding User Comments to Blogger

A list of user comments encourage readers to interact.

Blogger supplies the RSS URL 'http://adecon101.blogspot.com/feeds/comments/default/'. The trick is that your blog becomes the RSS reader that subscribes to your own feed. Copy this URL, change the blogname to your name, and create a Feed part (i.e. panel) using this URL. Your page automatically shows the latest comments from readers.

Permalink and TrackBack

The permalink is the permanent URL for a page. This allows readers to link to your page on their blog. Usually, the permalink includes the date and title. If you change the date and title, the permalink may change. So, make changes to archived articles with care.

The trackback searches and lists sites that have linked your page.

Bookmarks and Social Media

Dozens of sites allow sharing, rating of bookmarks. Some call this social media. This includes del.icio.us, digg.com, Google, Newsvine, and Yahoo. Proponents claim that social media produces more timely rankings when compared to Google's method that depends on history and longevity.

When users see something they wish to save - they bookmark, tag with keywords, and optionally rate and share with the community of Internet users.

Early services required users to download a toolbar application such as those from Google and Yahoo. Recent gadgets such as AddThis or FeedFlare allow users to bookmark with dozens of sites, if the blogger adds the gadget to their blog.

Adding social media support helps the social media site more than the blogger. However, it has become a socially required feature for every blog.

Optimize Keywords for Search Engines

Tagging your content with the right keywords (i.e. Search Engine Optimization or SEO) to improve your ranking at Google, Yahoo, and Live has been over-hyped. Technorati claims hundreds of millions of blogs. Legacy magazines and newspapers total hundreds of thousands of sites. Seeking to improve your rank and visibility by selecting what Google believes is the right keyword is an exercise in futility.

Bloggers are better advised to know their readers, organize content around keywords that are relevant to their readers, and ignore search engine ranking systems. Promoting using legacy web 1.0 methods, RSS feeds, social networks, and social media is more likely to produce results. Search and social media sites need to advance their semantic systems to modernize their rankings. Writers should focus on communicating.

Conclusion

Write well. Don't forget to build distribution. Use Web 2.0 tools.

PS: Identify and post more distribution tools for publishers in the comments.

(c) Dash Chang, 2008

List of Writers who Blog

Blogs have taken off with a vengeance.  What a perfect place to tell the world our inner feelings about our writing lives--whether it's to tell of our accomplishments or just a place to vent about publishers, agents and the whole shebang. 

All My Little Words...C.K. Blogs

Young adult writer blogs about books, movies and daily events. 

Authors For Charity

The blog is about our organization, Authors For Charity and will contain 

information about us, including book signings and events planned.

A Writer's Leap

A freelance nonfiction writer takes the leap to becoming a novelist. Daily posts chronicle the process from the very beginning, from early ideas through the "Dear God, what have I done?" stage, culminating in publication or institutionalization. (I suppose they're not mutually exclusive.) Also includes musings on the freelancer life.

A Writer's Words, An Editor's Eye

Life as a freelance writer, writing advice, information about electronic and small press publishing, interesting things, and random musings of writer and editor Lillie Ammann.

Boomer Chick:  Musings of an Over the Hill Chick

Just an ordinary day in the life of an over the hill boomer chick.

Betsy's Blog

Chicklit author Beth Pattillo's blog done from the POV of the main character of her inspirational chicklit coming out summer of '05.

Brenda Bradshaw's Blog

Brenda Bradshaw's "The Life & Times of the Unpubbed."

Chrys' World

Almost daily journal of life and writing.  I list the works I am currently 

working on, sending out queries/synopsis, and general writing issues.

Confessional

The place where erotic/romance author Vivi Anna lets it all out. 

Rants, raves, and everything in between.  Use extreme caution when 

entering her realm...you never know what's going to come out of her mouth.

Cosmos and Chat 

Rambling thoughts and other fun stuff from chick lit author Marianne Mancusi - www.mariannemancusi.com

Crystal's Thoughts

Crystal loves the beauty of English language. She is captivated by words, sentences, paragraphs, and chapters, and reads and writes incessantly. You found Crystal! Now read her blog.

Down River Drivel

Just a compilation of thoughts about myself, family, friends and various 

interests from writing to health problems, hobbies, politics - you name it! 

Might not be there right now but something may be there in the future on 

virtually any topic.

eBook Promotion for Self-Published Authors

Promotional tactics for the self-publishing author.

Erin Yes

Writing from the borders of consciousness, Erin Yes explores the 

transcendental and the "terror of reality."

Every Day *is* Mother's Day

Cindy Appel's, A look at our world through a blonde mom's eyes.

_Holme 

Personal website of writer Chris F. Holm.

Horror/Mystery/Crime/Sci-Fi and Romance Writer

This site is for all who want to post information about the latest news in the horror/mystery writing field. Or if you just want to chat about you're latest writing attempt. Authors can post their stories for others to read and respond to if they wish. The site is a communication device for authors to promote their projects and to get feedback from their peers.

How to Promote Your Self-Published eBook

Promotional tips from marketing guru Dorothy Thompson.

Incessant Randomness

A freshly started blog, to aid me in  writing regularity, in other words if I 

feel there are people out there paying attention to me, that will spur 

me on to continue writing.  That is not to say that this is a purely 

narcissistic endeavour (well all writers do want to be read) more it is 

to ensure that I no longer procrastinate in pursuit of my dream to be a 

published writer. 

Ink in My Coffee

A witty and candid look at the ups and downs of a freelance writer's life.

Ink on Paper

Ashley Shaffier's blog about breaking into comic book writing, finishing a  novel and trying to get published. 

Inside of a Dog

Natalie R. Collins look on the writing industry at Readers Room 

I Want To Walk The Dream

Poet Sam Wright's blog.

Jason Rodriguez - The Moose in the Closet 

Jason Rodriguez, aspiring comic writer and current editor of Western Tales of Terror and Elk’s Run, both offered through Hoarse & Buggy. 

Kathy Holmes Blog

Kathy Holmes' Fiction for Real Women

Karen's Komments

Paranormal romance adventure writer Karen Magill expresses her opinions on life and the writing world in this unique blog. 

K.C.'s Write For You

K.C.'s Write For You is a blog about the freelance writing life, from the 

perspective of a stay at home freelance writer and mom of 3 dogs and 2 

cats.

Kyra's Blog

Weblog of Kyra Davis, author of Sex, Murder And A Double Latte. 

Let's Write a Story

A site for those who like to write to come together to write a story.

Life's Journey

Journal entries, daily muse, poetry, original paintings in progress, links to writing and art sites.

Literary Chicks

Collective weblog of chick lit authors Michelle Cunnah, Alesia Holliday, and Lani Diane Rich.

Manic Mom's Mental Myriads

Stop by and have a laugh from Stephanie Elliot's Manic Mom's Mental Myriads on Motherhood, and some other stuff too, but mostly motherhood, wifehood, thoughts on writing, etc. No politics will be discussed here or geography, and I will not be solving any mathematical equations. Just some BS on whatever I feel like blogging on...

My Daily Diatribe 

Stacey Klemstein's Rantings and ravings of a typical author.

My Fiction - Short Story Entries

Short stories and informative links to writing sites.

Michelle E. Ellis' Nutter's Gang

Writer of psychological horror, chick-lit and Erotica. Editor at Wild Child Publishing and Dred Tales ezine. Proofreader and book reviewer. Daily musings of a crazy writer.

Oblique Angles

Humorous, wacky, slightly out-of-focus essays by humorous, wacky, slightly out-of-focus writer.

One Kentucky Writer

One Kentucky writer's life

Pulses, Verses and Other Flotsam

Ray Van Horn's Anecdotes about music, my interaction with musicians in the business, poetry, essays and random crap...

Pump Up Your Online Book Promotion

Promoting Tips to pump up your own online book promotion!

Ravings Of A Liberated Writer

Ups and downs of an unpublished writer.

Ritual Gossamer

Maureen Allen's new blog that features part of the first chapter of her new book, The Witches of Jedburgh, and various rants and observations.

Romancing the Blog

What's hip, what's now, what's tomorrow in the romance world.

Shannon McKelden's Blog

Observations, opinions and offerings from Chick Lit/Romance writer, Shannon McKelden.

Shatter

Writer Douglas Hoffman's blog.

So5Girls

The So 5 Girls dish about writing and life.

Soul Mate Connections

Everything you need to learn about soul mates. How to find yours, or if you have that person in your life, where to look, how to recognize them and mistakes not to make in any relationship by Myrna Lou Goldbaum. 

Southern Comfort

Karin Gillespie's popular writing and promotion blog.

Snarkspot

Jennifer Weiner's constantly-updated take on books, baby, and news of the world.

Spinning

The writing process, reviews from a writer's viewpoint of all forms of story, brief bits of inspiration, and metaphorical reality disguised as much as possible to test skill and hide within the words.

Steve Thorn Weblog

Blog of Steve Thorn, aspiring author, husband and father of five.

Terry's Place

A place where I share those aspects of my life related to writing. 

Texas Tawk

I intend to promote my work(writing) on my blog.  However, I want to entertain the reader and will have funny stories posted. Some about growing up on a Dude/guest ranch, others about life with teenagers, or life in the fast lane while attempting to keep all the balls up in the air at once.

The Conjurers

Blogging the creation of my YA novel. 

The Dish

Mimi Dish's purely subjective venting on a variety of subjects. Beats paying for Xanax.

The (Mis)Adventures of a Single City Chick 

Chick lit writer Christina Arbini's musings of life in the "single" world.

The Soulful Academic

A blog for those who love discussing books, ideas and writing.

The Starchild's Universe

This site is a blog draft representation to my GI-NORMOUS novel, The Starchild.

The Writer's Life Blog

Dorothy Thompson's blog on writing, author interviews, marketing tips and more.

Tonya Ramagos' Blog

Tonya Ramago, author of romance and erotica romance novels.

Trapped by the Mormons--Living Life Behind the Zion Curtain 

A day in the life of writer Natalie R. Collins, who lives behind the Zion Curtain in Utah.

Vicky's Blog

Thoughts, inspirations, dreams, and spiritual aspirations of women's fiction author, Vicki M. Taylor.

Who Let the Blogs Out?

Karyn Lyndon, Chick Lit author

Writer Momma

A journey detailing the ups and downs of writing from home with toddlers underfoot.

WriterWannabeHack

A struggling freelance writer just trying to make it in OC.

Youth - Our Greatest Natural Resource

Kelly Curtis writes humorous and inspirational anecdotes on being a parent of empowered youth.

	Deep Genre	Constance Ash, Carol Berg, Barbara Denz, David Louis Edelman, Kate Elliott, Katharine Kerr, Laura J. Mixon, Kevin Andrew Murphy, Madeleine E. Robins, Sherwood Smith, Lois Tilton
	Eat Our Brains	Bradley Denton, Steven Gould, Rory Harper, Morgan J. Locke ,Maureen F. McHugh, Madeleine E. Robins, Caroline Spector
	Fangs, Fur, & Fey	Jes Battis, Jim Hetley, Jim C. Hines, Tim Pratt, Cherie Priest, Maggie Stiefvater, Sara Zettel...and waaaay too many more to list here.
	Foul Papers	Shannan Palma and Lorien Dana.
	Magical Words	David B. Coe, Faith Hunter, Misty Massey, and C.E. Murphy.
	No Fear of the Future	Jayme Lynn Blaschke, Chris Nakashima-Brown, Stephen Dedman, Alexis Glynn Latner, Jess Nevins, Jess Nevins, Zoran Zivkovic'
	SF novelists	Alma Alexander, Charles Coleman Finlay, Cherie Priest, Chris Dolley, Chris Roberson, Daniel Abraham, David Forbes, David Louis Edelman, Hal Duncan, Jeff VanderMeer, Jim C. Hines, Jim Hetley, Kate Elliott, Kristine Smith, Marie Brennan, Mindy Klasky, Nalo Hopkinson, Naomi Kritzer, Scott Lynch, Scott Westerfeld, Simon Haynes, Stephen Leigh, Steven Savile, Tate Hallaway, Tim Pratt, Tobias S. Buckell
	Talking Squid	Stephen Dedman, Chris Dickinson, Nick Evans, Russell B. Farr, Robert Hood, Chris Lawson, Garth Nix, Ben Peek, Robin Pen, Cat Sparks, Jonathan Strahan, Sean Williams
	The Inferior 4+1	Paul Di Filippo, Elizabeth Hand, Lucius Shepard, Paul Witcover
	Wyrdsmiths	Eleanor Arnason, Tate Hallaway, William Henry, Douglas Hulick, Naomi Kritzer, H. Courreges LeBlanc, Kelly McCullough, Lyda Morehouse, Sean M. Murphy, Rosalind Nelson.

INDIVIDUAL AUTHOR BLOGS

Lynn Abbey   Joe Abercrombie   Daniel Abraham   Lou Anders   Eleanor Arnason   Neal Asher   A.A. Attanasio   Fiona Avery   Paolo Bacigalupi   James Barclay   John Barnes   Steven Barnes   Max Barry   Christopher Barzak   Lee Battersby   Jes Battis   Elizabeth Bear   Greg Bear   Gregory Benford   John Birmingham   David Bishop   K. J. Bishop   Jayme Lynn Blaschke   Gwenda Bond   Marie Brennan   David Brin   Poppy Z. Brite   Steven Brust   Tobias S. Buckell   Lois McMaster Bujold   Emma Bull   Stephanie Burgis   Michael A. Burstein   Bonnie Burton   Jim Butcher   Pat Cadigan   Rachel Caine   Jeffrey Carver   Jonathan Carroll   Jay Caselberg   Amy Sterling Casil   Mark Chadbourn   Matthew Cheney   Ted Chiang   Douglas Clegg   Hugh Cook   Rick Cook   Paul Cornell   D.M. Cornish   Kathryn Cramer   John Crowley   John Dalmas   Ellen Datlow   Keith R. A. DeCandido   Peter David   Stephen Dedman   A.M. Dellamonica   Chris Dolley   Sylvia Engdahl   Paul Di Filippo   Thomas M. Disch   Cory Doctorow   Marianne de Pierres   Diane Duane   Andy Duncan   Hal Duncan   David Anthony Durham   David Louis Edelman   Kate Elliot   P. N. Elrod   Josh English   Rhonda Eudaly   Jennifer Fallon   Mick Farren   Charles Coleman Finlay   Lynn Flewelling   Eric Flint   Phil Foglio   Jeffrey Ford   Diana Pharaoh Francis   Leo Frankowski   Dave Freer   Christopher Fulbright   Adam Corbin Fusco   Neil Gaiman   David Gerrold   Allyn Gibson   Gary Gibson   William Gibson   Felix Gilman   Laura Ann Gilman   Gavin Grant   Bob Greenberger   Jaq Greenspon   Daryl Gregory   Nicola Griffith   Jon Courtenay Grimwood   Beverly A. Hale   Shannon Hale   Laurell K. Hamilton   Peter F. Hamilton   Steven Harper/Piziks   M. John Harrison   Jess Hartley   Sara M. Harvey   Glenn Hauman   Angeline Hawkes   Simon Haynes   David Herter   Jim Hetley   Jim C. Hines   M.K. Hobson   Nalo Hopkinson   Sarah Hoyt   Walter H. Hunt   Charlie Huston   Paul Hutchinson   Alexander Irvine   Chris Jackson   Ben Jeapes   Trent Jamieson   Matthew Jarpe   Gwyneth Jones   J.V. Jones   Tamara Siler Jones   Robert Jordan   Drew Karpyshyn   Nicholas Kaufmann   Kay Kenyon   Larry Ketchersid   Caitlin Kiernan   Crawford Kilian   Kevin Killiany   Kaza Kingsley   Ellen Klages   Mindy Klasky   E. E. Knight

Mary Robinette Kowal   Nancy Kress   Ellen Kushner   Margo Lanagan   Jay Lake   Geoffrey Landis   Justine Larbalestier   Richard Larson   Tim Lebbon   William Leisner   David Levine   Paul Levinson   L. Lee Lowe   Jason Erik Lundberg   Scott Lynch   David Mack   Ken MacLeod   Nathalie Mallet   Nick Mamatas   John Marco   Louise Marley   Gail Z. Martin   George R.R. Martin   A. Lee Martinez   David Marusek   James Maxey   Paul Mcauley   Todd McCaffrey   J.M. McDermott   Ian McDonald   Sandra McDonald   Steven E. McDonald   Maureen F. McHugh   Juliet McKenna   Robin McKinley   Una McCormack   John Meany   Holly Messinger   Karen Miller   Syne Mitchell   L.E. Modesitt, Jr.   David Moles   Sarah Monette   Elizabeth Moon   Daniel Keys Moran   Lyda Morehouse   Mark Morris   James Morrow   Nina Munteanu   C.E. Murphy   Derryl Murphy   Steve Nagy   Ruth Nestvold   Naomi Novik   Eric Nylund   Terri Osborne   James A. Owen   Philip Palmer   Susan Palwick   Jennifer Pelland   Steve Perry   Mike Philbin   K.T. Pinto   Jerry Pournelle   Tim Pratt   Cherie Priest   Andy Remic   Mike Resnick   J.W. Rinzler   Alastair Reynolds   John Ringo   Chris Roberson   Adam Roberts   Madeleine E. Robins   Justina Robson   Benjamin Rosenbaum   Christopher Rowe   Rudy Rucker   Brian Ruckley   Matt Ruff   Kristine Kathryn Rusch   Nick Sagan   Michelle Sagara   Patrick Samphire   Brandon Sanderson   Pamela Sargent   Steven Savile   Robert J. Sawyer   John Scalzi   Karl Schroeder   Will Shetterly   William Shunn   Alison Sinclair   Martin Sketchley   Matthew Sanborn Smith   Dean Wesley Smith   Kristine Smith   Jeff Somers   Wen Spencer   Ryk E. Spoor   Bruce Sterling   Jason Stoddard   David Lee Stone   Matthew Stover   Jonathan Strahan   Charles Stross   Tricia Sullivan   Karina Sumner-Smith   Steph Swainston   S. Andrew Swann   Michael Swanwick   Shanna Swendson   Mac Tonnies   Jeffrey Thomas   Catherynne M. Valente   Greg van Eekhout   Jeff VanderMeer   Edd Vick   S. L. Viehl   Bev Vincent   Jo Walton   Dayton Ward   Lawrence Watt-Evans   Peter Watts   Martha Wells   Scott Westerfeld   Richard C. White   Edward Willett   Dave Williams   Liz Williams   Sean Williams   Tad Williams   Walter Jon Williams   Robert Anton Wilson   Andy Wolverton   John C. Wright   Frank Wu   Sarah Zettel

Ed: Flypaper experiment.