Perhaps the biggest news so far this year in the book world is the announcement by Amazon late today that it will acquire Goodreads, the social media book review and recommendation community. Subject to some closing conditions of the deal (the purchase price has not yet been revealed), Amazon will acquire Goodreads in the second quarter of this year. Goodreads has shown extraordinary growth […]
Month: March 2013
Publishing Service Index – April 2013 | TIPM
This is the PUBLISHING SERVICE INDEX for APRIL 2013. This update reflects some review updates and the collapse of Vantage Press last November. TIPM received a very high volume of feedback on services since the last index at the end of January, both positive and negative, and this is also reflected in the latest index […]
Self-Publishing Conference UK – Slideshow Presentation
This is the slideshow from my presentation ‘Choosing a self-publishing provider’ presented on Sunday, March 24th, 2013 at the Self-Publishing Conference, University of Leicester. The Independent Publishing Magazine | TIPM Media
The Self-Publishing Conference UK – University of Leicester, March 24th
One of the real benefits of self-publishing conferences is that authors get the opportunity to come together and share their writing and publishing experiences. It is also a great opportunity to get to meet authors and people working in the book industry. I am looking forward to this weekend when I will attend the UK’s premier […]
More Self-Publishing Solutions From A Maturing Community
One of the real strengths of the self-publishing community is its ability to quickly identify its weaknesses and shortcomings and find cost-effective and workable solutions when authors globally share their experiences, information and resources. I’ve worked in a number of different sectors, from retail, artist management and promotion, through to publishing, but I don’t think […]
Ex-Freelancer and RPI Authors Prepare to File Petition with IC3
Readers of The Independent Publishing Magazine will know that we have reviewed and reported on the travails of U.S. publishing service provider Raider Publishing International (RPI) over several years. TIPM first reviewed RPI back in 2008. At the time I considered RPI to be innovative and something of a bright new star in the self-publishing […]
Guest Post: How Bowker uses its U.S. ISBN monopoly to rip off new authors
An author or publisher who wants to distribute a print edition of a book in the United States will eventually have to get an ISBN (International Standard Book Number) assigned to the title. ISBN records contain author, publisher, size, format, topic-related information, pricing, and other data needed by retailers, libraries, and book distribution systems. Some […]
Random House Blinks in SFWA Standoff
It was always going to be a case of who blinked first. In the case of the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America against Random House’s recently introduced digital imprints, de-listing of RH’s Hydra and Alibi imprints by SFWA was only ever going to result in a protracted and explosive handbag fight, or someone making […]
Lulu Partner with Author Solutions to Offer Premium Marketing Services
It seems a week in the self-publishing world does not pass by without Author Solutions being in the news for the right or wrong reasons. Last week TIPM reported that US attorneys, Giskan Solotaroff Anderson & Stewart LLP, are currently investigating the practices of Author Solutions, the largest global provider of author services. This week, in something of a […]
Random House Digital Imprints | It’s a duck!
If it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck and walks like a duck, it’s a duck. Late last year, Random House, one of the big six publishing houses (now five following the US Department of Justice’s approval of the merger deal with Penguin), launched three digital-only publishing imprints alongside its already existing digital […]