Category Archives: Writing

eBook, General

OS X Mavericks is here, and it brings iBooks to the Mac!

Posted on by Shawn E. Bell

Apple announced new hardware and software today, including the FREE release of OS X Mavericks available on Apple’s website HERE.

For authors, Mavericks brings iBooks to the Mac.  From the Apple press release:

With OS X Mavericks, a new chapter in the iBooks story begins. Now you can launch the iBooks app on your Mac and the books you’ve already downloaded on your iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch will automatically appear in your library. And there are over 2 million more books in the iBooks Store, ready for you to download with just a few clicks.1 Reading books is intuitive and easy — turn pages with a swipe and zoom in on images with a pinch. If you’re a student hitting the books, keep as many open as you like and search through them with ease. And when you take notes, highlight passages, or add a bookmark on your Mac, iCloud pushes them to all your devices automatically. iCloud even remembers which page you’re on. So if you start reading on your iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch, you can pick up right where you left off on your Mac.

You can find out more about the new products HERE and OS X Mavericks HERE.

You can find out more about iBooks HERE.

Screenwriting

Today in Awesome Film History: The Maltese Falcon

Posted on by Shawn E. Bell

On October 3, 1941 first-time director John Huston’s film ‘The Maltese Falcon’ premiered in New York City starring first-time leading man Humphrey Bogart.

From Wikipedia:

The Maltese Falcon is a 1941 Warner Bros. film noir based on the novel of the same name by Dashiell Hammett.Directed by John Huston, the film stars Humphrey Bogart as private investigator Sam Spade and Mary Astor as his “femme fatale” client. Gladys George, Peter Lorre, and Sydney Greenstreet co-star, with Greenstreet appearing in his film debut. The Maltese Falcon was Huston’s directorial debut and was nominated for three Academy Awards.

The story follows a San Francisco private detective and his dealings with three unscrupulous adventurers, all of whom are competing to obtain a jewel-encrusted falcon statuette.

The Maltese Falcon has been named as one of the greatest films of all time by Roger Ebert and Entertainment Weekly, and was cited by Panorama du Film Noir Américain as the first major film noir.

Dead Tree Books, eBook, Success Stories

Kindle Direct Publishing Announces Kindle MatchBook

Posted on by Shawn E. Bell

Amazon is officially launching Kindle MatchBook in October.  The announcement on their website can be seen HERE.

According to the announcement, “For thousands of qualifying books, your past, present, and future print-edition purchases will soon allow you to buy the Kindle edition for $2.99, $1.99, $0.99, or free.”

The program is making ebook versions of print books purchased new from Amazon, going all the way back to 1995 when Amazon first opened its online bookstore.  This is great news for customers … and it can be great news for indie publishers as well.

Amazon’s official notice to us authors and publishers:

Kindle MatchBook is an innovative new program which enables you to offer your Kindle book at a discount when readers purchase your print book, so you can sell more books.

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Dead Tree Books, eBook

Goodreads changes reviewer policy, irks members

Posted on by Shawn E. Bell

Goodreads’ has drawn a line (a read line?) in the sand regarding reviewer policies.  The new policy includes deleting “content focused on author behavior” rather than on actually reviewing the book.

From the website:

Since our inception, Goodreads has lived by a few simple principles with our reviews. You can see our full policy in our review guidelines, but at a high level, we believe:

1. Reviews should be about the book. If you think a book is a masterpiece, tell people why. If you hated the book, say so. If it had potential but fell short, share your perspective.

2. Members are not permitted to harass or threaten other people. We have always dealt with this promptly when it has been brought to our attention.

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Dead Tree Books, eBook

CALL FOR ENTRIES: Shelf Unbound Writing Competition

Posted on by Shawn E. Bell

SHELF UNBOUND WRITING COMPETITION FOR BEST INDEPENDENTLY PUBLISHED BOOK, SPONSORED BY HALF PRICE BOOKS

Shelf Unbound book review magazine announces the Shelf Unbound Writing Competition for Best Independently Published Book sponsored by Half Price Books. Any independently published book in any genre is eligible for entry. Entry fee is $30 per book. The winning entry will be selected by the editors of Shelf Unbound magazine.

“Independently Published” books include self-published books (such as those published through CreateSpace, Lulu.com, iUniverse, etc.) and/or books published through small presses releasing less than five titles per year. Books entered in last year’s competition are eligible for re-submission in this year’s competition. There is no limit to the number of books an individual can enter; each book is a separate entry.

The official rules for the competition can be found at here.

To submit an entry, email a PDF or Word Doc of your entire book, including the cover, toMargaret@shelfmediagroup.com, subject line Contest Entry (or mail a physical copy of your book to: Shelf Media Group, PO Box 852321, Richardson, Texas 75085-2321), and send a check for $30 made out to Shelf Media Group to Margaret Brown, Shelf Media Group, PO Box 852321, Richardson, Texas 75085-2321, or pay via PayPal (click on this link and select “Competition Entry Fee”). All entries received (and entry fee paid) will be considered.

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