Everyone has probably heard that a study showed less reading comprehension when students read a text on-screen than when they read it on paper. What this article reveals is that the students were reading a PDF on a computer screen—not an ereader. There aren’t any definitive studies about comprehension on ereaders. I’d be willing to bet there is little to no difference.

An area that highlights a big difference between e- and p- books is our “map” when we’re reading. When we hold a paper book, we know where we are in the text—not just “Chapter 3,” but also we’re aware that we are about, say, a tenth into the book and have some ways to go until the end. We don’t have that with ebooks, even with the percentage indicator that Kindles provide. Further, when we go to find information, it’s very hard to locate the lines we want in an ebook. In paper books, we have a recollection of where the lines were on the page and can usually find them. These differences often make it difficult to read an ebook. And I thought it was just me!

The article points out that humans haven’t evolved a set place in the brain where reading takes place. Instead of having one brain function that handles that, we use a number of different faculties, including the visual—which explains the “map” function of the above. What the article doesn’t say is that it seems as if we invented a sort of software to read. It’s interesting, isn’t it?

Lastly, the author makes the point that ebooks shouldn’t struggle so hard to emulate books, when one can make them a multi-media experience that takes books to a new level. While I agree, from a small publisher’s perspective, it’s a bit of a nightmare. More complex content to install!

I point out to them that letting other people publish your book removes a lot of control—when the book is launched, the cover, the marketing, sometimes even your original audience. Traditional publishing also removes a lot of potential income from your pocket—publishers will only pay an 8-10% royalty on work that might have taken you 10-20 years to write. In a time when authors are creating major markets for their ebooks, there is no reason to sell short your Intellectual Property (let’s call it IP from here on for the sake of brevity). But this goes further than most authors think.

• You should own your own publishing company—I recommend you create an LLC.
• You should buy your own ISBNs. Don’t use ISBNs from a “publishing” company. They are not doing you a favor. Those numbers point to them as the owner of that IP, not you.
• Even if you publish a paper book with a big publisher, think carefully before signing away the ebook, audio, app or film rights. Those are worth real money.

It’s not just unknown self-publishers who should keep their IP. Many top name authors are publishing their own work now.

In a recent interview, author Salman Rushdie told “The Daily Show’s” Jon Stewart how he sold the film rights to his critically acclaimed book, Midnight’s Children, to an old friend for $1. Why? He wanted control of the film (he wrote the screenplay) and he wanted someone who understood the book to make the movie. Yes, it took almost 5 years to make the movie and get it into distribution, but the film accurately reflects the book. And that matters (not to mention the money)!

My husband is in the process of writing a very complex program. For the contact page, he decided to look into using reCAPTCHA, which he discovered is a free anti-spam program recently acquired by that behemoth of the Internet, Google.

Google is very proud to tell developers that they are taking advantage of web users. As many know, Google is scanning in and digitizing books, sometimes without letting copyright holders know. They use a common enough technique, called OCR, or Optical Character Recognition. Many people I know have offered their services for this not-inconsequential task. Google figured out that they can offer the reCAPTCHA  program for free to developers, then get users to solve their OCR problems for free. Here’s what they say:

About 200 million CAPTCHAs are solved by humans around the world every day. In each case, roughly ten seconds of human time are being spent. Individually, that’s not a lot of time, but in aggregate these little puzzles consume more than 150,000 hours of work each day. What if we could make positive use of this human effort? reCAPTCHA does exactly that by channeling the effort spent solving CAPTCHAs online into “reading” books.

So they have figured out a way to make you work for them. Call me an alarmist, but this is a very worrisome trend from the company whose motto used to be,

“Don’t Be Evil.”

I am a recovering shy person. This is a shock to some reading this, as they think I am pretty outgoing.

Really, I was so shy I often hid my face. I could barely talk to people. The thought of speaking to people made my stomach ache and gave me blinding headaches.

But I made this crazy mistake. I printed 3000 copies of a novel I wrote… and they were just sitting in my garage, not going anywhere. I HAD to do something.

I made my first forays out in self-promotion in print – creating email campaigns to get attention. That lead to some phone interviews with reporters. [Click here for some pointers on how to conduct yourself during a phone or radio interview.] And, remarkably, they went well. This led to an “aha” moment.

I discovered that it’s not about me (or you). It’s about the work.

I realized that the only thing about me these people wanted to know was the book (and now, whatever information I am conveying). They aren’t, in fact, interested in me.

For some reason, this allows me to keep my shy self hidden, and able to communicate about the book. My biggest breakthrough was when I appeared on a noon TV news show, dressed in pirate regalia, and chatted about my book. I got through it by NOT thinking about myself. Only about my book and exactly what the news anchor was speaking about. (Another big no-no for shys is allowing yourself to think about the future. Stay in the moment!)

A big fear for we shys is failure. The “what if I screw up?” “what if I fart or belch?” “What if I spontaneously grow a huge zit while on camera?” Again, you have to learn to stay in the moment. Plan what you will say, not what you fear.

I’m not saying this is the only way. This was my breakthrough. But I figure if it can happen to me, as shy as I was, it can happen to you.

Shy Authors, go out and pursue interviews. Focus only on the reporter. Look in her eyes (or her forehead, if other people’s eyes freak you out (for many shys, eyes are creepy)) and only interact with what they ask. I think it might work for you.

DIY (Do-It-Yourself) Self-Publishing

This is self-publishing in fullest sense of the word. You read the books, the blogs and self-publishing forums and do everything—from editing to cover design, from typesetting to acquiring a printer, from selecting a distribution plan to marketing.

And that’s great. I know a lot of people who did it this way—including myself.

If you are the sort of person who loves to learn a new process, who revels in discovering all the details that go into creating a book, and then moving forward, this path is for you! Go for it!

Assisted Self-Publishing

Perhaps you are less sure of yourself in a new venture. No harm no foul if you hire some assistance in areas you don’t have expertise in. This can entail:

hiring a book shepherd (disclosure: I am one) to guide you through the steps to producing a book

hiring some experts in typesetting, editorial expertise, cover design and/or marketing (aka: outsourcing)

hiring a book packager who does all or some of the tasks needed to create your book. (Further disclosure: my company does all these things as well.)

This is the course many people follow: hiring help to create the most professional book they can (and often this is also within the realm of what they can afford). It’s a very well-respected path. So much so that many consider it the “norm.”

Self-Publishing with a Team

This method, which Alan and two more of my client’s have used, is much like the occasional outsourcing model above, only it is more structured. What I’ve noticed is that those who have a previous background in business tend to select this path. It entails hiring the best practitioners at their particular craft (typesetting, book design, marketing) and making sure that each of them works together to produce a quality product or coherent marketing plan. One client simply runs everyone. Two have bi-monthly Skype meetings where the team members tell what they are doing to produce their contribution to the book. Ideas are exchanged (since pros not only know all about their area, but also have thoughts about other steps in production).Yes, this is more expensive.

Think of this approach as more like setting up a franchise store, rather than a Mom and Pop shop (DIY or assisted self-publishing). Just because someone can apply more money than Joe DIY should not be worth public condemnation. It’s a business decision, plain and simple. Not every book that is more funded will succeed better than someone with $500 and a lot of moxie. But it has a better chance.

There’s no one way to self-publish. Like any other business, it’s up to you, your pocket-book and your sense of how to approach your market that helps you choose your publishing path.

No, not that one, either.

It’s N-I-C-E.

As in, “Yes, your cover is very nice” or “Yes, your story is very nice.”

That four-letter word should make you worry. A LOT.

When I first wrote my book, Captain Mary, Buccaneer, I had several people read it. They all told me it was NICE. Now, let’s be clear here: the book is about a bisexual pirate woman who terrorizes the Caribbean (sparing no gory detail). Nice is not a word I would use to describe it. [They later said the same thing about my cover. And I listened to that (here’s the autopsy on why it’s such a bad cover)]

They were being “kind” to me. But this weak and false praise doesn’t help me to grow as a person, an author, or a self-publisher.

So I pressed, badgered and cajoled until I got real answers. When I finally had some actual criticism—some of it stuff I didn’t want to hear—I sat down, reread the book… and dropped ½ of the manuscript.

You can’t grow without criticism. You’ll never grow as an artist. You won’t understand your customers as a businessperson if you won’t hear what your customers really want (and once you become a publisher, you enter into the realm of business).

That doesn’t mean you have to change everything just because one person said something. Or accept someone’s mean-spiritedness as an actual, helpful critique. Apply this four-step method for evaluating criticism:

Remove your ego.
Pretend the book/cover/marketing plan belongs to someone else.

Consider who is offering the critique.
Is it a fellow author, person who is part of your target market, or publishing professional? Or is it someone whose judgement you wouldn’t accept on clothes; you certainly wouldn’t on an artistic work?

Does this criticism have merit?
“I thought the subplot was weak” requires more questions to see what they found lacking. “I hated the cover” - and after further questioning, you discover they hate brown. Identify and quantify what it is the person(s) found lacking.

How do the changes effect the whole project?
If you drop a subplot, how will your protagonist find the bloody hatchet in Colonel Mustard’s library (hello CLUE!)? That looks like a case where you need to strengthen, rather than remove, a subplot. What if you made your cover orange, as person D suggested? Time/money/production may be impacted. Perhaps your market test shows people who like your subject hate orange by a wide margin.

So next time someone tells you your book is NICE, don’t just settle for that weak “compliment.” Press them for what they really think. And wear your grown-up undies, because they are quite likely to tell you!

Would YOU be mad or upset?

I’ll admit it raised my blood pressure some. But because of the way we have set things up in our accounting and shipping, I was able to quickly check to see if I could verify the shortage.

We use only FedEx as our shipper (unless the recipient agrees to pay for shipping). Both FedEx and UPS provide tracking numbers for each shipment. After a shipment has been made, you can determine when it was delivered and who signed for it. (Note that multiple box shipments all have an additional number for each box in the shipment).

When we ship out an order, we record the tracking number on the invoice, which is then sent (via mail or email) to the store’s or wholesaler’s accounts payable department.

Later, when we receive the FedEx bill, we have a shipping spreadsheet where we determine how much each title cost to ship in that particular shipment (if there is more than one title). It also shows the weight of each book in that shipment.

These 2 tools helped me resolve the above problem. I responded to the Accounts Payable representative with the following:

~a PDF of the invoice
~a spreadsheet showing that the weight of the intended shipment matched the shipment weight on the FedEx bill
~an official letter & link from FedEx showing the shipment had been signed by the wholesaler’s representative (along with the weight)

Faced with overwhelming facts, the AP said, “Thank you for making it so easy to confirm that we were in error” and promptly paid the full amount of our invoice.

I don’t know of anyone who has won an argument with this large wholesaler by shouting. Facts, and only facts, win the day every time.

BTW: Yes, my office pretty much looks like the one pictured above. However, I know where everything is. Do not **** with my system!

When self-publishers call and want to leave a message, they never listen to her phone message. Especially the part about giving an ISBN number for their book. The title is not a good way for her to find out if it is in their database.

Listen to the instructions on the phone message! Write them down. If necessary, call back and listen to them again.

If your book isn’t in the Ingram database, the clerk can’t order your book. B&N doesn’t buy directly from authors; they buy from wholesalers. In fact, the stores no longer even have the ability to write checks directly.

If you self-published a book and don’t have it distributed, consider working with an independent bookstore. If there aren’t any in your area, think what kind of store could work with your book: a gift shop? A specialty store? Think outside of the (Big) Box Store!

If your book is in the Ingram database, but only as a Print-On-Demand through Lightning Source, B&N clerks usually decline to work with an author. That’s because so many POD books are non-returnable and short discount (20%). The book must be returnable and at a regular discount (40%) for B&N to work with an author.

So many self-publishers do not understand that a book is a commodity that needs to be substantially discounted to work in the book business. If you don’t want to discount, that’s your business decision. But don’t expect bookstores to carry your book. If you DO want to have bookstores carry your book, select the “standard distribution” option when you set up your LSI account.

She said the single biggest reason they don’t carry self-published books is lack of a professional-looking book.

Have a professional-looking book. Covers DO matter! An amateur-looking one won’t impress. Also, make sure that the book is professionally edited and typeset. Your book should be competitive with any other book on a bookstore’s shelves.

She has stopped booking author signings. They aren’t profitable (studies show most book signings only sell 4 copies), they are a pain to set up, and no one shows up – embarrassing the author and the staff. She IS interested in events – that is, something that brings in customers to interact, like a workshop or mini-seminar. Multiple author events are best.

Do you know other authors you can cross-market with? Or do you have a workshop or seminar you can do based on your book? I once did an all-pirate panel in conjunction with a city’s “All City Reads” of Treasure Island. I got 6 experts on various aspects of piracy (me included, I’m the author of the historical novel Captain Mary, Buccaneer). It was fun, and we all sold books!

I asked her if she would be able to keep her job, since it seems that her job description is being eliminated by the lack of author events. She tells me that most of her job has moved to outside sales/bulk sales of books, and that her job title will soon change to reflect that.

That means you have a very slim chance to have an event in B&Ns in the coming years. Again, think of other places to have a book event.

At our local B&N, the Nook sales area is front and center. She tells me this makes a lot of people mad. They are there to buy a BOOK. A “real book” fan herself, she has recently acquired a Nook and admits she finds it nice to have. She believes there is ample room for both physical and real books.

Do you have your book in both physical and e-book formats? You should.

She admitted she has no idea if Barnes & Noble can survive the changes in the book business. And that worries her a lot!

Keep up on book industry news. People who were “in the know” knew better than to do business with Borders for the last 2 years of their existence. Sign up for industry newsletters and magazines like Publisher’s Lunch and Publisher’s Weekly (yes, they cost money). Also keep up to date with blogs like GalleyCat.

In this lovely little film, Glen Miller gives us a short visual tutorial of what it takes to produce a limited edition book, in this case Suzanne St Alban’s memoir Mango and Mimosa.The film, set in a Leeds, England bookbindery, is here.

In Santa Fe, New Mexico, The Palace Press is printing a few hundred limited edition books concerning Georgia O’Keefe (one of my favorite artists), with the pages printed on an old letter press. The process was filmed and the further explanation is here.

Many thanks to Shelf Awareness for pointing to these movies.

But it was the characters they didn’t choose that interested me. In Adult Literature (Flavorwire’s piece is heavily skewed to the childrne’s/YA books), let’s consider the following:

Madame Bovary
Moll Flanders
Scarlett O’Hara of Gone With the Wind
Scout Finch of To Kill a Mockingbird
Anna Karenina
Lily Bart in The House of Mirth

Children’s literature

Meg Murray of A Wrinkle in Time
Anne of Green Gables
Harriet of Harriet the Spy
Charlotte of Charlotte’s Web (OK, she’s a spider, but she’s also very much a female)
Laura Ingles Wilder, the Little House series
Mary Lennox of The Secret Garden

Who are your favorite female characters in adult or children’s literature? Inquiring minds want to know!