Category Archives: Writer Reference

Baker & Taylor’s Axis 360 in Pilot with Simon & Schuster to Make eBook Titles Available to School Customers Read more about Baker & Taylor’s Axis 360 in Pilot with Simon & Schuster to Make eBook Titles Available to School Customers

Baker & Taylor has put up a press release:

Baker & Taylor, the world’s largest distributor of digital and physical books and entertainment products, announced today that through a pilot program it will now be able to make available more than 450 popular ebook titles from Simon & Schuster imprints to classrooms and school libraries using the Axis 360 digital media circulation platform.

The pilot allows Baker & Taylor’s K-12 customers to purchase access to many popular, classic and award-winning Simon & Schuster ebooks for school-aged readers. Simon & Schuster titles are now available from Baker & Taylor via Title Source 360, the company’s new, comprehensive collection development and ordering tool for library and educational customers.

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How To Design The Best Book Cover for Online Sales

ALLi Partner member Simon Avery, book designer at idobookcovers.com, explains the most important principles of cover design for books to be sold online.

From ALLi Self Publishing Advice:

The rise of online book retailers such as Amazon have changed the rules of book cover design. And authors who realise this stand to do much better in their sales.

I’m always surprised to see how many books’ covers are not optimised for online sales – which means authors who do so can grab a huge advantage. A cover designed with Amazon in mind can put you firmly above the competition, including books by trade publishers.

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Kurt Vonnegut’s eight rules for writing a short story

When it came to giving advice to writers, Kurt Vonnegut had some great stuff.  He famously warned people away from the use of semicolons by describing them “transvestite hermaphrodites representing absolutely nothing.”

Eight years before his passing, Vonnegut published a collection of short stories titled “Bagombo Snuff Box.”  The book was made up of previously published short fiction from his early (and short) career from the 1950s writing for magazines.  These works did not appear in Vonnegut’s previous collection, “Welcome to the Monkey House.”

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Vivalogue Announces New Self-Publishing Forum for Independent Authors

New Westminster, B.C. (PRWEB) November 29, 2013 – Vivalogue, an author services company based in New Westminster, BC, has strengthened its commitment to independent authors by launching a new networking cooperative for self-published authors and writers considering self-publishing.

The network “Raindance for Independent Authors” grew out of the Raindance Book Festival for Independent Authors held November 9, 2013 in Richmond, B.C. Believed to be the first of its kind in Canada, the festival included a book fair, workshops, editors’ ‘blue pencil’ sessions and a book drive supporting Frontier College. The festival was organized using a collaborative model which encouraged authors to contribute their collective time and talents. Authors identified this collaborative aspect of the festival as a key benefit of participation and expressed interest in continuing these relationships.

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