As an author, you want to influence people. Whether you want to give them information, help them solve a problem, or just escape in a good story, you want to have an impact on someone. How many people can do this well for millions of people?

I don’t want this to come across like I am jumping on the bandwagon of writing about Steve Jobs today, but hearing about his death has had me thinking all day. Of course I’d never met the man, but he has effected my life. Here are some of the things I admire about him:

• He worked with computers, yet made people feel like they were a part of something bigger.
• He was an innovator.
• He wasn’t afraid to take on the big corporations, but he did it gracefully. He was about what he was doing, not who he was trying to out-do.
• He always added that little something extra that made people really excited for press releases. People expected magic.
• He was very clear. I’ve looked to Apple’s website design on multiple occasions for inspiration.
• This clarity translated into style. I don’t know about him personally, but like I said, I’ve looked at his stuff for inspiration, and I think it has influenced everything from product design to decorating to clothes.
• I’ve heard it said of his products, and experienced it myself, that they are intuitive. What you wish something could do, it just does it for you in a way that makes sense.

This guy did what he was passionate and brought other people along with him. He thought about what they needed and how to bring it to them. He was able to make things that are complex very clear and clean in a profound way. He was one guy, but he has touched millions of lives.

And he was “promoting” computers.

I think we can obviously learn a lot from this guy. How can you translate these principles into your own work; into your own writing? The world has lost a great leader, but I hope we can all learn a little from him and carry those good parts into the things we do.

Image courtesy of Apple

Get Rich Click!

The lists are an expanded version of those appearing in the May 22, 2011 print edition of the Book Review, reflecting sales of the eweek ending May 7, 2011.

Get Rich Click! is a comprehensive source of information from one of the world’s most successful Internet entrepreneurs. This book outlines proven strategies and techniques for the Internet entrepreneur, and is full of real-life success stories about people of all ages who have made millions online.

Eisler had a conversation with Joe Konrath, a successful self-publisher, here about why he did it and what is going on with print and ebooks. The conversation is a bit long, so I’ll pull out a few points here from their conversations, and from a blog post by Mike Shatzkin, industry analyst and Founder and CEO of The Idea Logical Company.

First off, Barry Eisler has been on The New York Times bestseller list before. What they call “legacy publishing” has been good to him. Yet he made a calculating decision to go it alone for his next book because he believes he will benefit overall by this route.

The guys spent a bit of time decrying the error of publishers who are clinging to paper. They say that publishers are asking “will paper disappear?” But this isn’t the right question. Of course paper won’t disappear, but it will become marginalized, just like bows and arrows or horses and buggies (though from the offices at BookMasters, you might sometimes wonder how much horses or buggies are marginalized…we frequently see Amish coming into town).

They say that publishers are trying to slow the digital transition by things like agency pricing. The question shouldn’t be about paper, it should be about reading.

Publishers that cling to paper will become nonessential in a digital world. Authors can go straight to market through various channels. Authors get a higher percentage of profits when they go it alone (though with lower prices, this might not always be as straightforward as it seems). Plus the author gets control over title, cover, and price, and they can maintain better long tail possibilities and get to their market more quickly.

Yet is digital success replicable like this for most authors? Mike Shatzkin points out that Konrath is a great multi-tasker, but not everyone can do all of that. He says many could benefit from service providers that can help the potential self-publishing author for fees or a much smaller percentage than a publisher would take.

Konrath and Eisler do mention a need for help a bit in this portion of their conversation:

Barry: To turn a manuscript into an actual book and get it into the hands of a reader, we still need an editor, line editor, copyeditor, proofreader, jacket copy writer, bio writer, cover art designer, and digital formatter. Plus there are various marketing and sales elements, too. You manage all these functions yourself, and this is one way in which I’d argue that you really are, if not exceptional, then at least unusual.

Joe: I wouldn’t disagree with that.

Barry: So as legacy publishing dies out, where will other writers turn to for assistance with the critical functions I mention above?

Joe: We’ve talked about this before.

Barry: I know. I was trying to prompt you in an unobtrusive way.

Joe: Right. Okay, unobtrusively, I think agencies will morph into what I call E-stributors.

Barry: I agree with the concept, even if I don’t like the nomenclature.

Joe: You don’t like “print,” either.

Barry: Not when you’re talking about paper. There’s paper print and digital print. I think the better distinction is between paper and digital.

Joe: I know, I know. Anyway, E-stributors will be a combination of publisher and manager, handling all the elements you mention above for authors who don’t want to manage those elements themselves.

Shatzkin points to BookMasters as one of these service providers or E-stributors. He says we offer “a range of self-publishing services, including access to all the editing requirements discussed by Konrath and Eisler along with some human-intermediary handholding that many authors will need.”

Is Eisler’s decision what Shatzkin calls “a benchmark on the road to wherever we are going?” Others have been successful with self-publishing, but walking away from half a million dollars is glaring to even the most reticent digital adopters.

The publishing industry is changing. BookMasters is on the cutting edge of where it is going. Let us help you with your writing projects. We can help you with every aspect from print to digital.

Photo: borman818, Creative Commons
Horia Varlan, Creative Commons

According to the case administration website:

“In light of the ongoing impact of the difficult economy of the past few years, and the rapidly changing retailing environment for books and related products, it is essential that Borders restructure itself to reposition its business to be viable and successful over the long term.

“To that end, we have determined the best route to undertake the necessary reorganization of our business is through the filing of a petition for reorganizational relief under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code.”

The site also affirms that during this reorganization period:
Borders stores are open for business
Borders.com is operating as usual
Borders Rewards programs remain in effect

The list ends with something more of a judgement call, Borders will continue to maintain its strong national presence.

For more on the history leading up to the filing, check here.

We want to keep you, our publishing partners, aware of what is going on, so here is a quick timeline and links to recent articles with more information.

December 31, 2010: Borders announced that it was delaying payments to some publishers (Publishers Weekly)

Early January: Borders approaches publishers for talks about extending bills for books already shipped to buy time to sort out their debt. Publishers didn’t take to the plan. (Wall Street Journal)

January 25: Borders confirms they are selling their Day by Day Calendar kiosk business to generate more cash. (Detroit News)

January 27: GE Capital makes a tentative commitment for a $550 million senior secured credit facility, but that is contingent on Borders obtaining $175 million from other lenders and another $125 million of junior debt financing from lenders and suppliers. This would include publishers who would accept promissory notes in lieu of payment. (Bloomberg)

January 30: Announcement that Borders is delaying payments to “certain parties–vendors, landlords and others.” (Shelf Awareness)

February 1: Borders may file for protection from creditors (i.e. bankruptcy) as soon as next week, according to three people familiar with the matter. (Bloomberg)

For how AtlasBooks is handling this issue, please check out our post What Is Going On With Borders and What Does It Mean for Me?

Photo: doortoriver, Creative Commons

A question many of you may be asking right now is, “what does this mean for me?”

You may have seen in the news that some in the industry have decided not to ship directly to Borders for now. This is the stand AtlasBooks is taking. In fact, it is the stand we have been taking for about 2 years now.

We’ve known that Borders has been struggling financially for years. We made this move in an effort to ensure that we, and therefore, our publishing partners, will be paid for inventory sent to Borders. Though we do not sell direct to Borders, the chain still has had access to and has sold books by our publishing partners. We also still present new titles to them. They order the books through wholesalers that we work with. This means that our payment comes from the wholesalers and per their payment terms with AtlasBooks. We have been preparing for a dilemma like Border’s for years, and now others are catching up.

There is speculation that Borders may file for bankruptcy.  We will be watching and waiting, like everyone in the industry, to see if this comes to pass.

These are hard times for Borders, but they are still a force in the industry. According to Publisher’s Weekly, “Despite its problems, Borders still accounted for 8.5% of dollars spent on books in the third quarter, according to Bowker’s PubTrace Service…For Many publishers, Borders remains their third largest account behind B&N and Amazon.”

At least for now, Borders is still alive and selling. And as long as they are, whether that be short-lived or if they rebound and move forward, we will be monitoring the situation, and if it makes good business sense, we will be getting books to them to sell in a way that is safe, yet still effective for our publishing partners.

So what does this mean for you, our publishing partner? In summary, your books are still available to Borders to be sold, but we believe your payments are more secure as they are coming from more financially stable trading partners.

Photo from http://www.flickr.com/photos/doortoriver/3174319743/

BookMasters New York Office

The company’s strong focus will be on Digital (eBooks and Composition), Manufacturing (Offset and Digital Printing) and Distribution Services (Fulfillment, Marketing, and Sales). Expanding BookMasters’ presence in New York City is an affirmative sign that the company continues to win market share in an industry where other service providers are scaling back operations. BookMasters expects to see steady sales growth through the last half of 2009, leading into substantial increase by the year-end 2010.

According to an article from http://foxnews.com, “I have been unfaithful to my wife”, he said in a bombshell news conference in which the 49-year old governor ruminated aloud with remarkable frankness on God’s law, moral absolutes and following one’s heart.  He said he spent the last five days “crying in Argentina.”  His family did not attend.”

“Sanford’s announcement came a day after another prominent Republican, Sen. John Ensign of Nevada, apologized to his Republican Senate colleagues after revealing last week that he had an affair with a campaign staffer and was resigning from the Republican leadership” (http://foxnews.com)

To read more about sex scandals in the public eye, Sex Scandal America, is a book dealing with the history of sex scandals in America from Pocahontas and the Puritans to George W. Bush’s past.  This book exposes the scandals of national political figures and celebrities. 

To purchase

“Everyone knew Anna Nicole Smith.  People wanted to touch her.  They wanted to be with her. They wanted to be her.  Anna was larger than life.”  Everyone will remember the viscous, beautiful, blonde that created media attention and speculation.  Finally there has been a verdict in her unexpected death.  “Anna Nicole Smith’s best friends Pol’ Atteu and Patrick Simpson, win by a landslide against convicted felon Jody Babydol Gibson.

“Tuesday, June 16, 2009, in the County Los Angeles, Superior Court the judge ruled in the favor of Pol’ Ajeu and Patrick Simpson.  Long awaited verdict and justice had been served against Jody Babydol Gibson.  The judge ruled on all counts and in favor of the plantiffs Patrick Simpson and Pol’ Atteu as the true authors of the book Anna Nicole Smith-Portrait of an Icon.  Seeing as Simpson and Atteu were Anna Nicole’s best friends, it was obvious from the beginning who the real authors were.  The plaintiff’s attorney Eillen Keusseyan really showed her strengths in our legal system and won this all the way through.  The judge exposed in the trial that defendant Gibson had posed in trying to facilitate in the process of marketing and distribution as their publicist but plaintiff’s shortly terminated contracts for a break in original agreements.  The judge continues to then expose that Gibson continued in the process by stealing the book and came up with a false temporary business to process by stealing the book and came up with a false temporary business to publish the book behind the plaintiff’s back.  Meanwhile Gibson claimed to be the real author of the book.  Judge ruled against Jody Babydol Gibson, awarding all rights of the book back to Simpson and Atteu, as well as all costs that set them back within publishing and damages.  This was a great and honorable day for Patrik and Pol’ and now they can move forward peacefully in honoring their late best friend Anna Nicole Smith with their tribute to her as a very special human being Anna Nicole Smith- Portrait of an Icon.”

( For more information contact : Kelly, The Prestige Group Public Relations, Kelly@thepresstigegrouppr.com )

 To purchase Anna Nicole Smith Portrait of an Icon,  please go to www.atlasbooks.com