Oprah's latest pick

Okay, I think I can safely say that just about every writer would love to have an endorsement by Oprah and here's why:

LITTLE, BROWN to print 650,000 copies of new Oprah selection.

This was announced by PW in big bold letters.

Of course, there was the author of The Corrections (Jonathan Franzen) that decided he didn't quite want all the commercial attention and I suppose it's hard to truly judge how one would feel until one is in that situation BUT, as writers we do want our work to be noticed, especially after we've spent so much time, sweat, tears and sometimes blood creating our written product.

We write because we can't not write and we all strive for success but how we measure that success can vary. Sure, I'd love to have a book that I've written and managed to find a publisher who believed in it, recognized by Oprah; but, I think more than anything else I'd love to write a book, find a supportive publisher and have fans and readers who genuinely connect to my story.

I look forward to that happening in the near future.

In the meantime to everyone one I say "Write On!"

The World of Publishing and Marketing

Another change in the world of ePublishing, and therefore eBook delivery and availability, is bringing ebooks closer to the masses.

Cost is often a reason for the success and/or failure of eBooks. Readers, distribution, readability are only a few of the issues affected by cost. Now an Australian software company is releasing a product that promises to streamline the cost and time of converting pdf to a common ePub standard.

For more details here’s the link:

http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6696787.html


And Dan Brown’s newest release - The Lost Symbol - is causing a price war among eBook releases as Amazon makes it available for a low price on the Kindle.

For more info go to:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125297229016310315.html?mod=rss_Books


And on the multimedia/marketing front, thriller novelist Clyde Ford has taken the audio/visual book trailer concept to a new level. Here’s the link for more information:

http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6601539.html?rssid=192


Move over Oprah? Well, maybe not. Bin Laden is now coming out with his own booklist and endorsements. Hummm! It will be interesting to see what affect this has.

http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/14/bin-ladens-reading-list-for-americans/?hp


And Google launches a new way to read the news - Fast Flip.

http://mashable.com/2009/09/14/google-fast-flip/

What I believe this is telling us as writers is that more and more consumers of the written word are wanting it faster, more entertaining on a multimedia level, and via more of the technological gadgets that are available. The printed version will always be in demand, but like the US Mail, publishers will have to adapt to a change in the level of demand for the analog version of the written word as digital versions become more prevalent.

We should all stay tuned to the wild and exciting world of publishing and marketing.