Amazon Studios & Bootstrapping Original Content

What does it mean when the major online retailer of books and movies is getting into the content production business? It’s more industry convergence that proves that “content is king”, even when it’s crowdsourced…

I think that Amazon is doing a kind of Zeroes2Heroes approach to getting original content, but on a bigger, Amazon scale: promises . . . → Read More: Amazon Studios & Bootstrapping Original Content

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Meeting Michael Slade and talking about eBooks

Earlier this week, I had an opportunity to sit down with Canadian author Jay Clarke (aka “Michael Slade”).

He’s a former lawyer and the author of over a dozen crime novels, in a genre sometimes referred to as “Mountie Noir”. (It’s a great label – almost as good, IMHO, as “Tartan Noir”, which refers to . . . → Read More: Meeting Michael Slade and talking about eBooks

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From Rockstars to Sleuths: Has 3D Game Storytelling Matured?

Have gaming and interactive storytelling finally matured to a new level? This is the impression I’m left with after reading reviews and watching clips from Rockstar/Team Bondi’s impressive new game, “L.A. Noire”.

Granted, I’m no gamer. Hell, I’m practically a neophyte. In the last year, I’ve probably spent more time playing Bejewelled and Angry Birds . . . → Read More: From Rockstars to Sleuths: Has 3D Game Storytelling Matured?

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On Writing: Having Uncommon Thoughts in Common

To observe and comment on your life and world, you need to have a certain amount of objectivity – detachment – from it. If you’re too-comfortably living inside your world, you really can’t see the outside shape of it. . . . → Read More: On Writing: Having Uncommon Thoughts in Common

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Repost: It’s Still About Story Telling: Writing in the ePublishing Age

I enjoyed this article by Nilofar Ansher. It deals with the way new media and technology play a role in moving the control of opinion away from from critics and specialists and into the hands of consumers. In fact, consumers are ever-more becoming producers. I think this is the real shift: the audience is not only listening, they’re talking back. . . . → Read More: Repost: It’s Still About Story Telling: Writing in the ePublishing Age

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What Independent Author Stacey Cochran learned from self-publishing

I found this article to be a very useful, first-hand account of the challenges and advantages of self-publishing.

I think that opinion tends to be divided between those who feel that eBooks are opening new opportunities for readers and writers, and those who feel that the eReader medium is still too immature and under-refined compared . . . → Read More: What Independent Author Stacey Cochran learned from self-publishing

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Preview Owe Nothing Free, on Google Books

In the spirit of “try before you buy”, I invite you to read a preview of my novel, Owe Nothing, on Google Books.

Owe Nothing is my non-mainstream look at Vancouver: an adventure novel based upon real people and places that I knew when my family lived in dodgy Kingsway Motels for over a year. The . . . → Read More: Preview Owe Nothing Free, on Google Books

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Is an eReader or Tablet in Your Future, or mine?

I read this 2010 Survey of Book Buying Behaviour that gave some interesting stats on eReader adoption rates among book buyers. Compared to buyers of printed books, eBook purchasers are a small lot, but growing every day.

The survey said, among other things, that of the 9800 some-odd people surveyed…

eReader owners represent about 7% . . . → Read More: Is an eReader or Tablet in Your Future, or mine?

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How do you set a price for an eBook edition?

What’s the right price, relative to the cover price of the printed edition, or relative to the expectations of the eReader market?

This is something I must resolve for myself: when I publish “Owe Nothing” in eBook format (which I am going to do fairly soon), what is the best price? I’ve seen eBooks on sale . . . → Read More: How do you set a price for an eBook edition?

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Writing as a Form of Cocoon…

I tend to write the most and the best when the process is driven by a personal memory or feeling – something that might have been evoked by a unexpected sound or smell, or a memory triggered by that. Sometimes, a new perspective or pattern of thought evolves, which was brought on by a recurrence of events during the day. . . . → Read More: Writing as a Form of Cocoon…

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