Author Archives: Shawn E. Bell

Beagles, Big Bear Lake

Inland Empire: Donation made to outfit pets with microchips

Posted on by Shawn E. Bell
BeagleDogSan Bernardino County’s Devore and Big Bear animal shelters will provide 5,000 animals with microchips at no cost to families. The michrochips are part of a $36,079 donation from the Animals aRe First Fund, ARFF, a nonprofit organization that supports the San Bernardino County Department of Public Health, Animal Care and Control (ACC) Program. Microchips offer a safe method to identify an animal’s owner by using a unique identification number assigned to the implanted microchip. Through this service, the ACC Program can assist in the reunification of lost pets that may otherwise be impounded at animal shelters. The Big Bear Animal Shelter will use their share of the funding to provide thousands of animals with microchips at no cost to pets passing through the shelter. To support a homeless animal this holiday season, please visit ARFF’s website HERE.
Jeep

Filson makes awesome more … awesome-y!

Posted on by Shawn E. Bell

The American Expedition Vehicles Brute Double Cab Pickup Truck is one of my all-time favorite off-road vehicles.  They don’t sell them anywhere near me (the closest authorized dealer is down in Oceanside), and they’re the most expensive Jeep I’ve ever lusted after.

The AEV Brute Double Cab is a customized 4-door JK Jeep Wrangler, that’s stretched, beefed up, and made spectacular by the Michigan-based company, American Expedition Vehicles with skid plates, available Warn winch packages, and more.  There are even more varying degrees of awesome available from the factory.  This particular vehicle offering is not just the upgraded JK, though.  Underneath that sheet metal beats 6.4 liters of American Hemi V8 can-do whup-ass.  This Jeep is the Captain America of Jeeps.  It is hoo-rah on wheels.

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National Forests, National Parks

Take a hike with Street View through U.S. National Parks and Parks Canada

Posted on by Shawn E. Bell

On Wednesday, Google launched a collection of images from more than 44 national parks and historic sites across the United States and Canada after travelling through the destinations earlier this year.

From Google Maps Product Manager, Evan Rapoport:

What do tents and hiking boots have in common? You don’t need either to start exploring or planning your next adventure to some of the best national parks and historical sites across North America.

Working with the U.S. National Park Service and Parks Canada, our Street View cars, trikes and Trekkermapped more than 44 locations with beautiful, 360 degree panoramas.

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eBook, Success Stories

Fact: Self-publishing my non-fiction as ebooks makes sense

Posted on by Shawn E. Bell

“Having registered that digital is the busy end of the business, I realised I could do more, and faster, on my own”

Anthony Hayward posted on The Guardian today about his adventures in self-publishing.  From the article:

Last year, ebook sales in the United Kingdom more than doubled, as did their share of the entire books market – to almost 15%. Despite an understandable reluctance on the part of many readers to join this revolution (and in time it might well prove to be that) ebooks are here to stay – so why not embrace them and discover the advantages?

As a journalist and author myself, I have done just that. After writing more than 20 books, with major publishers behind them, I have found it increasingly difficult to get new ideas accepted. It is also frustrating as a writer to have a non-fiction book that is up-to-the-minute when “completed”, only for it to come out maybe nine months later and seem slightly dated.

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eBook

Bowkers continues to fight it’s growing marginalization by publishing silly fact-light statistics

Posted on by Shawn E. Bell

Yes, another quarter … another weird Bowkers “report.”

On October 9, 2013, Bowkers issued a ‘report’ with gems like:

“…The analysis shows the growing prominence of a handful of companies that offer publishing services to individual authors.  More than 80 percent of self-published titles came to market with support from just eight companies, including Smashwords and CreateSpace…”

and

“…Ebooks continue to gain on print, comprising 40 percent of the ISBNs that were self-published in 2012, up from just 11 percent in 2007…”

You can read the whole “report” HERE.

It’s important to note, however, that ebooks sold through eRetailers like Amazon don’t require ISBN numbers.  The vast majority of ebooks on Amazon – the world’s largest retailer of ebooks – use ASIN numbers, which are Amazon’s own internal numbering system.

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