Zombiepalooza!

Best selling Author Amanda Hocking is throwing a Zombiepalooza all October. She's doing lots of giveaways, original shorts, guest posts, etc. I'm even participating with an excerpt from Super Zombie Juice Mega Bomb and a free copy of House of the Dead III on the 17th.

If you love zombies or just have a passion for Halloween be sure to check it out!

Mentorship Opportunity from The Bookshelf Muse

I spend a lot of time on forums. One of the things I've noticed is that new writers are always looking for mentors. While established writers pretty much all seem to be very generous with their time (I've received tons of help from others), no one has the time to focus on mentoring one individual.

If you are looking for an established author to mentor you, check out this great contest at The Bookshelf Muse.  Angela Ackerman writes both YA and MG. If you write in those genres check the contest out.

Did I mention she's into Zombies?

Authors Guild Silent Over iBooks Text-To-Speech

I haven't been writing long enough to have a strong opinion about the Authors Guild. However, I found this posting on Slashdot interesting.
It seems that the Authors Guild stopped Amazon from including text-to-speech by default on all ebooks (it's available on some, but not others, depending on the publisher). However, they aren't bothering to insist that Apple do the same. I'm not sure the reason, but on the surface, it does look like a double standard. Hopefully, they will ask Apple to get in line soon.

I've just updated my homepage; adding two free short stories. Monster, in the Mirror and Steve, Space Stowaway. I've even added links so you can download them to your ereader.

Ralph Lauren Disguising Fall Catalog as Kid's eBook

The Wall Street Journal ran an interesting story about Ralph Lauren disguising a clothes catalog as an eBook for kids. I guess it's never too early to start indoctrinating kids to be mindless consumers.
"Dr. Seuss and Shel Silverstein may have some competition in the children's book department, thanks to Polo Ralph Lauren's first storybook, "The RL Gang." But unlike Mr. Seuss and Mr. Silverstein, Ralph Lauren and his team have created an online virtual experience... [and] Since it's never too early to teach children to shop online, young readers will also be able to click and purchase fall pieces, including the ones worn by characters in the story."

They are donating 15% of the proceeds to a charity, probably to soften the backlash. Hopefully, most parents realize this is a marketing ploy.

SCBWI to become eBook Publisher?

That's the advice given to the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) by Rubin Pfeffer (some industry bigshot) in his speech given at their annual conference. I'm not sure this is really such a good idea, but it's an interesting concept none the less.

$99 eBook readers by Christmas -- I think so.

In case anyone missed it--if you did, you were probably under a tree (reading your Kindle, of course). But Amazon just announced two new kindles, starting at $139.

The $139 model doesn't come with G3 wireless (so on the $139 version you can't download books anywhere), just WiFi and of course no color screen yet. But it does show just how quickly the prices are falling. Books-a-Million even had the Sony eBook reader on sale last week for $99 (and promptly sold out). 

I think, this Christmas day, Amazon better be ready for some major traffic.  As I predicted before, I think $99 is the price point where parents will start buying eReaders for their kids. And I think, we'll see this price as the entry point for most eReaders by Christmas

I know I plan to have several free short stories up by then. Hopefully, it will be perfect timing to start building some readership.

Self-publishing and Why Net eBook Percentages Stink

There's been some interesting blogs recently about self-publishing eBooks:
Kidlit.com
A Newbie's Guide to Publishing
It's great to get two different takes on the subject.

Now that I am finishing up my latest manuscript, the question becomes do I take the traditional route to publication? The answer for me has always been yes, but how does the changing world of eBooks play into that?

One of my main concerns is with e-book rates. It seems like "25% of net" is the going rate right now. Well, that just stinks. How do I know just what the publisher's costs really are?
Check out these two articles about how Hollywood and the RIAA cook the books it makes it look like they aren't making any $$$. They claim Harry Potter lost money! The second story says how recording artists make an average of $23 for every $1,000 in sales. That just stinks.

I know not every company works like that. And I do want to sign with a Big 5(6) publisher, but I want to make sure I get the best terms I can. I guess that's were a good agent will come in handy.