Category Archives: Technology - Page 2

Bill See – From Indie Musician to Indie Author: Every you need to know to DIY

Posted by Victor Volkman on June 18, 2011 No comments

On June 16th, Irene Watson and Victor R. Volkman spoke with legendary punk rocker Bill See about publishing and marketing his own memoir. Bill See was the lead singer for critically acclaimed Los Angeles indie rock band Divine Weeks before continuing on as a solo artist.He shared his D.I.Y. know-how from his band days now to promote and market his own book and covered several topics:

How the music industry was revolutionized and is still trying to adjust to the changes and speak to the theories and similarities to the literary world.
The pros and cons of self publishing vs. traditional publishing.
Marketing/promoting: Traditional media vs. underground, blogging and social media, etc.
Pros and cons of hiring a publicist as a self published author. What is money well spent in promotion.
Most important aspects of promotion before actually starting the campaign (i.e. title, keywords, metadata, keywords, social media, book trailers)

Bill See, from the band Divine Weeks

Bill See has just released his first book “33 Days: Touring In A Van. Sleeping On Floors. Chasing A Dream,” a memoir about breaking away from a turbulent upbringing and going on tour in a tiny van across the U.S. and Canada in the summer of 1987. Bill has a unique perspective having watched the music industry revolutionized by the internet, and with the advent of self publishing hitting the literary world, he sees a lot of similarities.

33 Days: Touring In A Van. Sleeping On Floors. Chasing A Dream

Listen to the PodCast!

Kate Harper – How to Publish and Sell Articles for the Amazon Kindle e-Reader

Irene Watson and Tyler R. Tichelaar spoke with e-book author and product designer Kate Harper about how to re-purpose existing articles and even blog posts as Amazon Kindle e-books. Kate is inspired by the current blending of arts with technology. A former adult education teacher, Kate Harper has a special skill of knowing how to assist the creative, non-tech person, deal with new and fast changing technologies that affect their careers, such as how to format books for e-reading devices like the Amazon Kindle. We covered a range of e-book production details including:

How e-book publishing world has changed (and how selling on Amazon is like having a free marketing department).
How anyone can publish on Amazon quickly and easily (there’s no excuse anymore for not finishing that book!)
Why publishing articles are better than publishing books
The advantages of selling an article on Amazon, rather than selling it to a magazine or newspaper.
Rules of thumb for formatting and selling articles for the Kindle (and how it is different than a book)
Watch out for the fear mongers who say you need to pay experts (and how can do this for free)
Other places to publish and sell your e-article (since you retain full rights to your work)
Why this is the best time in history to make a living being by being a writer (and how I accidentally started selling an article on Amazon)

Kate Harper

Kate has published several ebooks and her most recent one is “How to Publish and Sell Your Article on the Kindle” which explains how to prepare and sell articles in the ebook marketplace so they can be read on multiple devices. Kate lives in Berkeley, California and works as indie designer for several manufacturing companies who produce gifts, stationery and housewares. She has licensed over 700 designs throughout her career and specializes in mixing words with art to create humorous and playful pieces. Samples of her work can be seen at www.kateharperdesigns.com

How to Publish and Sell Your Article on the Kindle

Listen to the PodCast!

Valerie Bradley-Holliday, PhD – Writing as a Working Mom

Posted by Victor Volkman on September 17, 2010 1 comment

On September 16th, 2010 Tyler R. Tichelaar and Victor R. Volkman spoke with author, social worker, and busy mom Valerie Bradley-Holliday, PhD. Valerie’s doctorate degree is from The Union Institute and University, a distance-learning program based in Cincinnati, Ohio. Her specialization is Social Psychology. She has a Master of Social Work Degree from Wayne State University. Valerie shared with us critical items to success as a writer and working mom:

Time management: keeping it all together
Respect for yourself and your craft as an artist
Professionalism and its importance in producing quality products
Dealing with frustrations and setbacks
Accepting success and being prepared to act on it
Self-publishing perils and benefits of using it.

Valerie Bradley-Holliday

Valerie has a husband, three sons and three adopted dogs. She has two published books (Places to Be Blessed and Northern Roots) and third book (Elmwood) is in progress. Her first love is writing. She writes like some people eat popcorn. Her varying interests include: art, singing, gardening, and reading. After being raised by her grandmother, Valerie put herself through undergraduate school by working as a kitchen helper and a certified nurse’s aide. She has taught several classes in her field at the graduate level, later served as an adjunct professor at Northern Michigan University and currently serves as an adjunct for online universities. As an active member of the National Association of Social Workers, she received credentialing for the Academy of Clinical Social Workers. Her professional experience includes working with domestic violence victims and facilitating related support groups. Valerie has also worked as a career counselor at Soumi College (now known as Finlandia University) in Hancock, Michigan. She counseled abused and neglected children and their families in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Valerie is currently working on a book about Elmwood, an African American Community that was located near Crystal Falls in the Paint River area.

Places To Be Blessed

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Walt Shiel – Print Book Design, Typesetting, and eBooks

Posted by Victor Volkman on March 19, 2010 No comments

On March 18th, 2010 Tyler R. Tichelaar and Victor R. Volkman spoke with veteran author and publisher Walt Shiel about some of the most confusing topics for the self-publishing newcomer: print book design, typesetting, indexing, and even eBook production. Walt’s publishing company, Slipdown Mountain, has published three novels, two military history titles, two other nonfiction titles, and one short story collection. It’s subsidiary Five Rainbows Services for Authors and Publishers was spun off to meet the demand for assistance from self-publishers. Walt addressed some of these key points in today’s interview:

Book Design & Typesetting

• Is there any difference between designing a book and typesetting it?
• What are the key decisions a book designer must make?
• Isn’t typesetting just pouring the text into the typesetting software, adding some formatting, and letting the software work its magic?

E-Book Design

• Does design and/or typesetting matter at all in creating an e-book?
• Aren’t there software packages that can create e-books virtually automatically?
• Do readers even care if an e-book is well-designed as long as they get the content one way or another?

Indexing

• What is an index and how is it different from a concordance?
• Doesn’t the author know better than anyone else what should be indexed?
• What do you need to know to create a useful index?

Independent publisher Walt Shiel claims he is now into his fourth career, following career stints as an Air Force pilot, telecommunications engineer, and aerospace engineer on the B-2 bomber program at Northrop and the F-22, F-35, and F-16 pilot training programs at Lockheed Martin.Walt has been a freelance writer since 1992, with magazine articles published in the US, UK, and Australia. Currently, he writes the “Warbirds” column for Cessna Flyer magazine and the View From The Publishing Trenches blog. Walt has served on the Board of Directors of the Upper Peninsula Publishers and Authors Association for the past four years.Walt, his wife Kerrie, and his daughter Lisa founded Slipdown Mountain Publications LLC in 2003 in North Texas but relocated to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula in 2004.

Since then, they have published three novels, two military history titles, two other nonfiction titles, and one short story collection.In 2007, they formed a subsidiary, Five Rainbows Services for Authors and Publishers to meet the demand for assistance from self-publishers. Converting print books to Kindle and ePub formats has become a major part of this business over the past year.

Walt has written two military history books (Cessna Warbirds and T-41 Mescalero), a Michigan historical novel (Devil in the North Woods), and a short story collection (Pilots and Normal People). He also edited a reprint of Flying for France by James R. McConnell. His new book — Rough War: An American Fighter Pilot’s WW II Journey to Burma and Back — is due out in mid-summer 2010.