Archive for March, 2008
New Video Tutorial Released: How to Make a Book with Wordclay’s Publishing Wizard
Wordclay has released their latest video to provide a live preview of the publishing wizard working its magic to make a book. The three-minute video, How it Works: Wordclay Self-Publishing Walkthrough, can be viewed on YouTube among other video sites, such as Google Videos, Blip and Revver.
I’d describe the video as the How it Works page on Wordclay.com coming to life. It doesn’t give tons of detail about the intricacies of the wizard, but instead provides a basic overview if you’re curious about how to maneuver through the wizard.
So, who’s behind the Wordclay videos? They’re put together (more…)
Add comment March 27, 2008
AuthorTree: Free Author Web Sites & Internet Marketing for the Future
Introducing the AuthorTree community, Author Solutions’ latest invention from the publishing and marketing laboratories. This time, however, they’re dealing in free author Web sites, which is fairly awesome in this marketer’s humble opinion.
Markets are ever-growing and evolving, just as the name AuthorTree suggests, and unless writers adapt to the digital marketing environment that has become so fertile in the last decade, authors will certainly lose the spotlight, wilting and withering in the darkness.
Fortunately, there are some smart people working at AuthorTree.
Not being the most familiar with the AuthorTree community specifics, I read through the FAQs and ventured down the rabbit hole that would hopefully lead to a brand spanking new author Web site. To be honest, it was far easier than I had originally anticipated.
Registration took maybe two minutes, and all that was required was my name, e-mail address, username, password and security question.
After I logged into my account, I was able to use the Administrative Wizard to input my book and biographical info as well as feature images of my sample cover and my author picture.
As it turned out, I found that I could start (and manage) my own blog, post reviews about my book, list literary events coming soon alongside relevant time and location info, and even select the Web site skin and layout, i.e. my theme, for my entire page.
It was pretty rad to say the least.
The AuthorTree story gets even better though (more…)
5 comments March 26, 2008
The Series Publication Sequel: How Print-On-Demand Can Benefit Literary Magazines and Trade Periodicals
For those of you who haven’t yet read the comments on the Periodical and ISSN blogs, Valya is thinking of starting a journal, and she’s wondering if Wordclay, a free print-on-demand publisher, is the right choice.
Who can blame her? The idea of a print-on-demand periodical is a relatively new concept, even though I’m not sure exactly why. To me at least, it just makes sense to order as many copies of a journal as you need, so you aren’t out hundreds of dollars on unused copies that end up collecting dust in your cramped office.
Still, Valya has questions, and I aim to answer them.
Valya: “You say, ‘You can always pay a small price for the Stock Cover Art and submit artwork with directions for our professional designers.’ What if I want to design my own cover with my own photography? Is there an acceptable format that I can send to you to have printed?
Justin: You can design the complete cover if you are capable of doing so. You can also contract your own designer to lay it out for you. The exact specs for each of our formats are in the FAQs toolbox. The best formats to use when sending the cover would be a layered .psd file or .tiff file, and if possible a PDF of the full cover as well.
But unless you’re an experienced designer, I don’t recommend laying the cover out yourself. The whole concept behind Wordclay is DIY publishing through being affordable.
Not only will you devote tons of time to laying out a cover, or perhaps tons of money hiring a designer (and you’ll still have to pay Wordclay a custom quoted fee to use the cover you provide anyway), but often times the smallest formatting error can throw the whole design off for the printers.
For example, you may miss a trim line or you may not leave enough room for the imprint or barcode – what then? Your cover looks only half as good as it could have – that’s what.
That said, the two best options (in my opinion), are either (more…)
9 comments March 26, 2008
Serial Publications: What’s an ISSN? And Can Wordclay Accommodate Your Journal Publishing Goals?
First and foremost, let’s define the ISSN and the ISBN to avoid confusion.
An ISSN (International Standard Serial Number) is a simple eight-digit number that identifies periodical publications like literary journals, trade magazines and other serial publications.
But an ISBN is a 13-digit number used to identify monographs (or books) that are expected to have an individual life apart from a periodic appearance. The author, subject and genre could all be the same, but a divergence in primary or secondary title will call for an ISBN.
Now check out this definition of serial publication:
“A publication, in any medium, issued in successive parts, usually having numerical or chronological designations and intended to be continued with no predetermined end. But this definition excludes works intended to be published in a finite number of parts. The ISSN is applicable to the entire population of serials, whether past, present or to be published in the foreseeable future. Serials include periodicals, newspapers, annuals (reports, yearbooks, directories, etc.), the journals, series, memoirs, proceedings, transactions, etc. of societies.”
Essentially, if you want a standardized identifier of a trade or literary series that universities and libraries around the world can reference, then an ISSN might be useful. The flip side of the ISSN, though, is that if any change occurs within the title or the general management of the serial publications, then a new ISSN would be required for coming (altered) issues.
If you’re confused with all this book identification mumbo-jumbo, we recommend visiting http://www.issn.org/ where you can drop a line to the ISSN International Centre.
That said – here’s what I would do.
2 comments March 25, 2008
The horror of book formatting - House of Leaves
Had I thought about this morning’s blog a bit sooner, I would have brought in my copy of House of Leaves, by Mark Z. Danielewski, to illustrate the epitome of a book designer’s nightmare (kind of apropos, considering the subject matter of the book).
But I didn’t expect to find all the crazy formatting inside (and trust me, the few pages from the book posted on Amazon don’t even begin to show all the craziness). I mean, you’ve got the basics: quotes on the chapter starts, footnotes, pull quotes within the text.
But there’s actually three styles of footnotes: one from the author of the book within the book, one from the main character researching the book, the house, the film about the house, and one from the publishers—I cannot even begin to describe how convoluted everything is. (more…)
Add comment March 20, 2008
A Wordclay Solution: How Print-On-Demand Can Benefit Literary Magazines and Trade Periodicals
Truth is literary magazine and trade periodicals suffer constantly. When the editors aren’t trying to squeeze every penny out of their meager printing budget, then they’re dealing with flighty designers, artists, volunteer readers combing through hundreds of submissions, event coordinators, venue staff for readings, journals returned to sender – if you can name a single part of the production or printing process, then it’s undoubtedly an editorial stress as well.
Trust me, as a previous editor-in-chief myself, I understand completely. Looking back, I’m surprised I didn’t pull all my hair out and develop an ulcer in the meantime.
But as I started working for Wordclay, the journal benefits of Print-On-Demand technology and companies like Wordclay – companies who are trying to automate the publishing process – occurred to me.
Let’s cut to the chase then.
Running a literary magazine, like anything, takes money, usually at least a couple thousand per issue. Unfortunately, funding for many magazines and periodicals primarily comes from outside sources such as university reserves, local or state grants as well as independent donations. Frankly, subscription sales can barely keep most periodicals afloat, which means editors have to rely heavily on the renewal of their annual donations and grants. And editors print, all with the constant threat that their outside funding might not come the next year around and then the magazine will, literally, go under.
So how exactly can POD technology and Wordclay help prevent quality magazines from biting the dust before their time?
First, obviously, Wordclay is free. An editor could use our free story and poetry templates from the Genre Lounge and design a galley all by themselves, designer free. Then, if you’re not concerned with cover art, you could opt for a free cover. Or you can always pay a small price for the Stock Cover Art and submit artwork with directions for our professional designers. Comparatively, it will save you time and money using Wordclay even with Stock Cover Art, then contracting a busy designer who might not care about the look of your emerging journal.
(Note: Read about the controversial shipping cost later in this blog) (more…)
5 comments March 18, 2008
Fresh Products Help Authors Self-Publish Independently: Claim Space on Amazon and Kindle, Be Your Own Publisher and Sport a Winning Logo
Before the ground thaws and you finally decide to wash the dried salt off of your car, there’s a time when you begin to wake yourself from your winter comatose and feel your way to the computer, blinded by the light reflecting off your sun-starved skin. But when your eyes begin to focus on your screen, be sure to brace yourself. Wordclay has fresh new products sprouting in the Services Store to help you shift into high gear with more ways to self-publish independently and successfully.
If you’ve procrastinated all winter, kick winter’s butt out the door. Now’s the perfect time to plan your DIY book project. It’s Spring, things are fresh and new and there are more publishing options than ever in Wordclay.
First, there’s a new way to publish: Be your own publisher. You can still use Wordclay’s free publishing (more…)
1 comment March 13, 2008
Author Networking: The Top 24 Online Reading and Writing Communities You Need To Know
Greetings and salutations from Wordclay, Internet surfers.
Last week, drafting the text for the Memoir Genre Spot, imploring authors to join online writing and book communities, it suddenly occurred to me that authors may already be too exhausted at the end of the day, tired from writing, publishing, marketing, day jobs, families, dogs and whatever number of other worldly pursuits you’ve got, to actually pour what little, precious energy they have remaining into tedious searches for online communities.
Not when there’s so much quality late-night television, and with the writer’s strike over, it’s only going to get better. Or worse, depending on your viewpoint – worse in the sense that shows will be more likely to keep your attention.
So I opened my laptop and, over the course of a few weeks, compiled a list of The Top 24 Online Reading and Writing Communities.
7 comments March 11, 2008
Breaking News: PC Magazine Reviews Wordclay
Thursday, March, 6th, PC Magazine posted their review of the Wordclay Web site and publishing service. In the article, Errol Pierre-Louis, Reviews Producer, compares Wordclay to other self-publishing companies.
“I checked out other print-on-demand type self-publishing sites for this review, and none of them offered the ease, quality, and diversity of premium services without having you pay an up-front fee. Lulu.com comes the closest to matching Wordclay’s features: It offers more printing options (hardcover, brochures, e-books), but Wordclay still provides more extensive premium services and cover templates.”
In order to adequately review Wordclay, Pierre-Louis actually published a manuscript using Wordclay’s publishing wizard. A slideshow that accompanies the article displays how easy Wordclay has made the publishing process.
“The other self-publishing sites I visited (Arbor Books, Mimeo, Xlibris, and more) didn’t compare to Wordclay in terms of ease and usability. Perhaps more important for the struggling author, they charge you $199 or more for the privilege of using their service, whereas Wordclay doesn’t cost you anything to use, though of course you’ll have to pay (or your readers will) for each copy printed.”
Add comment March 7, 2008
When creativity is too much of a good thing.
I freakin’ love designing title pages and chapter starts. It’s a small thing, but brings me a little bit of joy, everyday.
The best is when an author, who’s purchased Custom Typesetting, has no real preference for the design. They don’t care about the font style, the font size, where I place the text, or my adding a glyph to dress up the page. They tell me that I’m the professional and I know what’ll work best for their book.
So, I watermark an innocuous glyph behind the chapter title, dropping the chapter start about a third of the way down on the page. Or I right-align the chapter title, choose a really big font, and make it 50% black. Or find a really graphic, crazy-looking font, letting the letters in the title dress up the page.
And the book looks good. And, mostly, the author was right to trust in me. I’ve surprised them with what we’re capable of doing… I’ve helped them realize their vision when they didn’t even know they had one… I’ve made real, in black (or gray) characters on a white page, what they saw in their head but didn’t know how to tell me. And I feel great!
But sometimes, not very often, I mess up. I overestimate their flexibility, doing something way too modern for their tastes, and making them think I don’t know what I’m doing. I create a design that’s the exact opposite of their vision, though they didn’t specifically tell me what their vision entails, or I wasn’t hearing right when they tried to communicate it. Or I just go overboard, using an element from an image they’ve supplied as a repeating motif in the book — and choosing their least favorite part of the image. (more…)
Add comment March 6, 2008
