Publishing Evolution #84: Writer Communities & Author Websites
Have you contacted your favorite authors or gone to their websites? Do you like knowing more or less about them? Search for your favorite author; do they have a website or blog? Can you interact with them via web?
I have not contacted any of them nor have I visited their websites before this exercise. My wife contacted one of them and got an autographed copy for a birthday present for me, though. I do not personally need to know anything about an author to enjoy a book.
Most of my favorite authors did have their own websites. I found it humorous that the Rick Riordan site was blocked from the library as "it may be harmful to your computer".
2.Does the idea of a book being published based on popular vote give you more or less faith in the material?
I think I would have more faith in the material this way as it was popular enough to be rated so highly. Yes the result would be skewed by friends and family, but if the voting numbers are high enough, the popularity vote would diminish. While I still would more than likely not read it, I would purchase a titles like this for the library.
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Publishing Evolution
Publishing Evolution #83: Paper to Pixels
Do you prefer paper or pixels? Is getting the material faster on the computer or is reading in a paper form more important to you? Why?
This depends on what I am doing. Normally I do not care if I read pixels or paper. If I am playing a game of D&D with some friends, I have found that paper is better than digital copies of the books. It takes a lot less time to look through a physical book for a rule than a thick digital title. I have patience so it does not matter if I can get it faster as a digital title.
Does price influence how you get your books or is it availability? Would you pay the same price for a digital book as you would for a paper copy?
Price would be a big deciding factor. I prefer to get my books free through the library. The library does not have a good selection of roleplaying books, but I will not get a title if it is to expensive. Some roleplaying titles I will get the PDF of because it is much cheaper than their physical counterparts. And no, I would not pay the same price for the digital copy as I would for the physical copy. This is not logical to me. If I wanted to pay that much, I would get the physical copy.
Do you like the idea of preview and then pay?
Yes. This is a great model and more of the bigger publishers should do this. Most of the self published comic books will allow you to read the first issue or two for free before they start charging for the rest of the series.
Do you prefer paper or pixels? Is getting the material faster on the computer or is reading in a paper form more important to you? Why?
This depends on what I am doing. Normally I do not care if I read pixels or paper. If I am playing a game of D&D with some friends, I have found that paper is better than digital copies of the books. It takes a lot less time to look through a physical book for a rule than a thick digital title. I have patience so it does not matter if I can get it faster as a digital title.
Does price influence how you get your books or is it availability? Would you pay the same price for a digital book as you would for a paper copy?
Price would be a big deciding factor. I prefer to get my books free through the library. The library does not have a good selection of roleplaying books, but I will not get a title if it is to expensive. Some roleplaying titles I will get the PDF of because it is much cheaper than their physical counterparts. And no, I would not pay the same price for the digital copy as I would for the physical copy. This is not logical to me. If I wanted to pay that much, I would get the physical copy.
Do you like the idea of preview and then pay?
Yes. This is a great model and more of the bigger publishers should do this. Most of the self published comic books will allow you to read the first issue or two for free before they start charging for the rest of the series.
Publishing Evolution
Publishing Evolution #82: Print on Demand.
Is it higher or the same as traditionally published books?
I think that the majority of prices were higher than standard published titles for one main reason. One a normally published book, enough copies are printed that distributors are able to offer a decent discount. For the POD titles, there is generally no discount.
On Lulu, The Zombie Survival Guide was $13.95 (eBook). I can get the kindle edition for $9.99. I can also get them free from the library (via the branches or Overdrive).
Have you read any of them? Would you?
I can say with absolute certainty that I have not read a self published book. I do not have the time to take a chance on a title (because I would rather game than read) so I have to make sure that the title is well received. I prefer to look on Amazon to see how well a title is reviewed. I prefer to read titles for YA as well. Lately, the only way I have time to catch up on my reading is to listen to the title on audio. There are currently not many self published titles being turned into an audiobook.
What do you think of self publishing?
Self publishing is fine by me. I personally prefer to spend my reading time else ware, though. I would probably be quicker to read a self published graphic novel over a book.
As a reader, do you prefer books that have gone through the traditional route and have the confidence of a company’s financial backing, or do you not care how the book got printed, you’re just glad it did?
I would prefer to have a book go through the traditional route mainly because I feel that it will have a better change to be edited better. Plus, they are available for free through my local library.
Is it higher or the same as traditionally published books?
I think that the majority of prices were higher than standard published titles for one main reason. One a normally published book, enough copies are printed that distributors are able to offer a decent discount. For the POD titles, there is generally no discount.
On Lulu, The Zombie Survival Guide was $13.95 (eBook). I can get the kindle edition for $9.99. I can also get them free from the library (via the branches or Overdrive).
Have you read any of them? Would you?
I can say with absolute certainty that I have not read a self published book. I do not have the time to take a chance on a title (because I would rather game than read) so I have to make sure that the title is well received. I prefer to look on Amazon to see how well a title is reviewed. I prefer to read titles for YA as well. Lately, the only way I have time to catch up on my reading is to listen to the title on audio. There are currently not many self published titles being turned into an audiobook.
What do you think of self publishing?
Self publishing is fine by me. I personally prefer to spend my reading time else ware, though. I would probably be quicker to read a self published graphic novel over a book.
As a reader, do you prefer books that have gone through the traditional route and have the confidence of a company’s financial backing, or do you not care how the book got printed, you’re just glad it did?
I would prefer to have a book go through the traditional route mainly because I feel that it will have a better change to be edited better. Plus, they are available for free through my local library.
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