Amazon’s new Kindle Fire takes on Apple iPad
The competition between Apple and Amazon for the hearts and minds of readers continues to be good news for us all. Amazon has just announced a new series of Kindle products that includes the Kindle
Best Writing Advice Ever
“Time is not free–that’s why it’s so precious and worth fighting for.” — Anne Lamott I’m a huge fan of Anne Lamott. Not just because she celebrates “sh*tty first drafts,” but because she explains
The Power of Social Media in Building an Audience
Yesterday when I opened my iGoogle page, “today’s spotlight video” looked something like this. Because I love both soul and gospel music, I clicked on it–and became an instant fan of an unknown singer who
How Viable is Self Publishing? Proof is in the Numbers
Clearly, 2011 is a tipping point for self-publishing–moving this new publishing model from backwater to the forefront of the publishing world. It’s all happening despite the bow-tie traditional publishers who still would have authors believe
Giving a Talk About Your Book
Having run the Stanford Publishing Courses for over 15 years, I had the good fortune of working with some of the most eloquent and polished speakers in the country–including John Kennedy, Jr., Guy Kawasaki, Brendan
Choosing Typefaces
One of the most common questions that indie authors ask: which fonts should I use in my book? The typefaces you use matter. They set the tone for your book. They affect readability. And they
Delivering Ideas: 2011 & Beyond
What does it mean to be an author? How do you deliver ideas powerfully? How can technology help? Since it’s the beginning of a new year, I think it’s a good time to grab a
The Biggest Problem with Self-Publishing
The biggest problem with self-publishing your book: distribution. The companies that help authors self-publish (Amazon’s CreateSpace and others) generally have options that will get your books into the databases of traditional distributors such as Ingram
New Award for Literary Science Writers
It’s been a big week for Palo Alto. Last night Obama showed up for a $30,000-a-plate dinner at the home of Google VP Marissa Mayer. The Dalai Lama spent two days speaking on altruism at
Book Design Faux Pas: Five Ways to Signal You’re a Rank Amateur
Recently I asked several self-publishing companies to send me samples of books they’d produced. I told them I wanted to check the production values of those books–paper quality, binding, cover stock and so forth–before deciding