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Henry Baum commented on the blog post Their, There and They’re: Dude (or Dudette) You Need A Proofreader 1 week, 1 day ago · View
Fixed. I guess that was my fault b/c I proofread this.
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Henry Baum commented on the blog post Apple’s Self-Publishing App is Useless 2 weeks ago · View
Thanks, Mick. I’ve talked to some non-tech-headed people and they don’t think $30 and an upgrade is such a small thing. Beyond that, I think Apple’s taking too small a step. What they need is a self-publishing iTunes right now if they have a hope of catching Amazon, and these loops – small as they [...]
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Henry Baum commented on the blog post Apple’s Self-Publishing App is Useless 2 weeks, 1 day ago · View
Thanks, Jon. This really seems like a misstep on Apple’s part, or a baby step when Amazon’s miles ahead.
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Henry Baum commented on the blog post Apple’s Self-Publishing App is Useless 2 weeks, 1 day ago · View
I’ll admit an overreaction to the cost of an upgrade vs. the cost of my hardware upgrade to run Logic. But it’s the same principle – a “free” app is actually costing me $30. And there are plenty of Mac users out there for whom an upgrade isn’t feasible on their machine.
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Henry Baum commented on the blog post Apple’s Self-Publishing App is Useless 2 weeks, 1 day ago · View
OK, the expense isn’t gigantic – but it’s still Apple’s M.O. – to release new software that requires an expense somewhere else, and that bugs me. An upgrade isn’t always seamless either – I just got past a time when I was getting dozens of kernal panics after an upgrade. It was fixed free, but [...]
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Henry Baum wrote a new blog post: Apple’s Self-Publishing App is Useless 2 weeks, 1 day ago · View
Maybe it’s great – but I’ll never know. Sounds great, in theory :
Now anyone can create stunning iBooks textbooks, cookbooks, history books, picture books, and more for iPad. All you need is an idea and a Mac. Start with one of the Apple-designed templates that feature a wide variety of page layouts. Add your own text and images [...]
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Henry Baum commented on the blog post Book Sales Aren’t Everything 2 weeks, 1 day ago · View
Sorry if it seems like I’m singling you out. It was really a reaction to the chorus of support for Konrath’s claim that publicity is meaningless, without anyone saying: but wait, I like publicity. I would absolutely love to make a living writing. In fact, I really need the money. It’s just not entirely realistic [...]
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Henry Baum wrote a new blog post: Book Sales Aren’t Everything 2 weeks, 2 days ago · View
Has self-publishing lost its way? The reason that I got interested in self-publishing was because of the traditional publishing industry’s obsession with marketing over the quality of books. It seems like the vibe around self-publishing these days is echoing trad publishing’s marketing obsession. I understand wanting to sell books. I’m desperate to sell books as well [...] -
Henry Baum commented on the blog post Taking Issue with Konrath [Updated] 2 weeks, 2 days ago · View
Yeah, I admit it’s sort of a humblebrag and I’m happy about it.
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Henry Baum commented on the blog post Taking Issue with Konrath [Updated] 2 weeks, 2 days ago · View
I don’t mean to dump on commercial fiction – b/c my problem actually is that my books straddle the line between commercial and literary. As I wrote, my books are (more or less) crime fiction and science fiction. But I have a lot of Amazon reviews calling my books “boring.” They’re not boring – they [...]
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Henry Baum wrote a new blog post: A Self-Publishing Success Story 2 weeks, 2 days ago · View
Andrew Sullivan posted an email from a reader – who we’ve reviewed and interviewed in the past – about his leap from self-publishing to AmazonEncore (which I didn’t know had happened, so congrats Tim!). He writes:
After finishing a first draft of the manuscript, I jumped through all the typical hoops: got an agent, wrote a fat book proposal, [...]
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Henry Baum commented on the blog post Taking Issue with Konrath 2 weeks, 2 days ago · View
I don’t think literary fiction will ever outsell commercial fiction (at least not for a couple of centuries), but I’m just saying at some point more literary readers will have ereaders so different sorts of writing will be more successful. People probably won’t be making Konrath money, but it will be possible to at least [...]
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Henry Baum wrote a new blog post: Taking Issue with Konrath [Updated] 2 weeks, 3 days ago · View
I’m very happy about Konrath’s success. It’s encouraging to everybody. If I make 1/10 of what he’s making, I’ll be ecstatic. But there’s sometimes a problem with writers like Konrath or Cory Doctorow touting their success when they’re each in a very unique position. Doctorow advocates giving away books for free permanently because it’s worked for [...] -
Henry Baum commented on the blog post Authors Need Analytics for Ebooks 3 weeks ago · View
Well, it would be no different than web analytics – so it logs traffic source, location, etc. but not a person’s identity.
Author Central already tells you where in the country print books or sold – so I’m not sure why they can’t at least let people know that about Kindle sales.
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Henry Baum wrote a new blog post: Authors Need Analytics for Ebooks 3 weeks, 1 day ago · View
Yesterday, I was looking at my Kindle sales, which reliably sell the the same amount every day (which is not a huge amount, I’m no Konrath) and I was wondering why I couldn’t break through with more sales. Am I getting the exact same traffic to my Amazon page every day? How much of that traffic leads [...] -
Henry Baum wrote a new blog post: People Online Are Mean 3 weeks, 3 days ago · View
Meghan Daum has a very interesting post in The Believer about what it’s like to be a columnist for the L.A. Times and the amount of invective that’s thrown her way:
These days, being attacked isn’t just the result of saying something badly, it’s the result of saying anything at all. I can testify to this, because for more [...]
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Henry Baum commented on the blog post Why Our Opening Lines Shouldn’t Have To Kill (Our Careers) 1 month ago · View
Personally, I find this comment sort of awkward. The purpose of writing isn’t just to “compete in this market,” it’s self-expression. Though it’s of course hard to sell a War & Peace today, that shouldn’t dissuade anyone from having that ambition. I feel sort of alone in this, as the vibe around self-publishing these days [...]
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Henry Baum commented on the blog post The 99 Cent Debate 1 month, 1 week ago · View
Couple things – writers can set their books for free via KDP Select or by setting the book to free elsewhere. And these books are competition b/c more writers are doing this: http://kindle-author.blogspot.com/2011/12/kindle-ebook-sales-report-day-1.html So what’s better: selling 5 books at $4.99 or 100 books at $.99? That’s what authors are facing. In theory, you’ll make [...]
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Henry Baum commented on the blog post Review: The Digitally Divided Self by Ivo Quartiroli 1 month, 1 week ago · View
Well, because it’s well done. There are some seriously flaky New Age books out there, and this is at least well-argued and comprehensive. Here’s his bio, he’s not a snake-oil salesman: Ivo Quartiroli has been a software programmer, publisher of Italian technology and spirituality books, and computer science book author. Complementing his professional accomplishments in [...]
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Henry Baum wrote a new blog post: Review: The Digitally Divided Self by Ivo Quartiroli 1 month, 1 week ago · View
This book begins with blurbs from some very heavy hitters, and some of my favorite writers, on the subject of new media – writers like Douglas Rushkoff and Erik Davis. Erik Davis, in particular, writes on the more-esoteric take on the rise of technology, in books like Techgnosis. It could help to have some familiarity with esoteric [...] - Load More
