Kobo Trying A New Publishing Path

Now, where is that path?

Panzer was out in the Catosphere today.  Our big bad kitty pilot stopped in at The Bookseller site.

He couldn't believe what he learned in a post by Lisa Campbell and Sarah Shaffi. Kobo is jumping into the traditional publishing venue. They've signed a contract for digital and print publishing rights for a book by Kevin Donovan.

Panzer says, "Is this just the beginning of a bigger change at Kobo? Or just a fluke? Only time will tell."

To read the full post, tootle over to Kobo

Mystery Fanfare: EDGAR AWARDS 2015!

Nope. Nothing again this year.

Panzer got woken from his nap by all the meowing and paw clapping going on in the Catosphere. A quick trip showed our sleepy kitty boy that there is a lot of excitement and partying going on tonight.

According to a post at Janet Rudolph's Mystery Fanfare blog the 2015 Mystery Writers of America Edgar Awards have been presented. No surprise that Stephen King won Best Novel for Mr. Mercedes.

Panzer says, "It was almost worth waking up for, but it would have been better if I won an award too."

To read all the other winners, tootle over to Mystery Fanfare: EDGAR AWARDS 2015!:

Rakuten Completes Acquisition Of OverDrive

30,000 libraries?

Panzer was out tootling around in the Catosphere today when he found some breaking news.

Back in March our kitty boy reporter told you about Rakuten's planned takeover of Overdrive. According to a post he found at the Publishers' Weekly site, the deal is now completed. Reportedly, Rakuten paid $410 million dollars for Overdrive and it's assets, including access to 30,000 libraries.

Panzer says, "Hmmm. They own Kobo and now Overdrive. My books are on Kobo and I use Overdrive through Smashwords. Let's hope things don't change."

To read the post, tootle over to Rakuten acqures Overdrive.

Hugo Awards and Puppygate

Get my paws out of the litter box.

Today's post is late. When Panzer got home from the vet's today, he took a long nap. As soon as he woke up, he hopped in the Panzermobile and hit the Catosphere at cat-warp speed. Our big bad speeding kitty stopped in at The Guardian site.

According to a post there by Alison Flood, there's quite a brouhaha going on about this year's SF Hugo Awards.

Why?

Puppygate.

What's Puppygate you ask?

Puppygate is a term George R.R. Martin came up with. There are two groups, one called the Sad Puppies and the other the Rabid Puppies. Each group encouraged their followers to buy memberships for Worldcon so they could vote for stories and novels they wanted to get nominated for the Hugo Awards. Apparently, some of those nominated feel the two groups succeeded in loading the nominations with their picks. Hugo Award nominees Mark Kloos and Annie Bellet have withdrawn their work from the competition.

Panzer says, "What do you expect? They're not the smartest potato on the truck. They're puppies. You want smart? Get a kitten.  No kitten would have anything to do with this kind of litter box game."

To read the full post, tootle over to puppygate storm

A New Panzerism

Panzer on boxes:

Trust me. This is why cats love cardboard boxes.

Shhhh ... Do you hear them, yet?

Just scrunch way down and pull the top closed ...

lay curled up and totally still ...

then you can hear mice sing.

Now stop whining and get in the box, Mom.

Enter A New DIY Publishing Company

Be careful. Always read everything first.

Panzer found an interesting post at the Publishers' Weekly site today.

It seems Books-A-Million (BAM) is jumping into the do-it-yourself (DIY) self-publishing market. According to a post by Clare Swanson, BAM will be offering print books, ebooks, and distribution services to indie authors. There's a link in the post to the BAM site so you can decide if this option might be for you.

Panzer says, "Be careful! The post says you can pick up your print books in South Portland, Maine or Birmingham, Ala. Unless you live near one of these cities, it's an awfully long trip to get your print books!"

To read the full post, tootle over to BAM self-publishing

Goodreads to Add Free Audio Samples

Audiobooks at Goodreads?

Panzer stopped in at GalleyCAT today. Our big bad kitty boy found a post by Dianna Dilworth about a new feature coming to Goodreads.

According to Ms. Dilworth's post, Goodreads (which is owned by Amazon) will begin offering samples of audiobooks from Audible.com (which is also owned by Amazon). In addition to your Goodreads account, you'll need an Audible.com account to listen to the audiobook samples.

Panzer says, "Hmmm. Sounds like Amazon's way to gain more Audible.com account owners. I knew things would change when Amazon bought Goodreads."

To read the full post, tootle over to Goodreads to Add Free Audio Samples

Raising Printing Funds With Kickstarter

Is the Catosphere getting bigger?

Panzer decided to do a little digging in the Catosphere today at the Book Life site. Our investigative kitty reporter found an interesting post by Drucilla Shultz. Yesterday's post by our kitty boy was about raising fund with Dragon's Den, today we learn about Kickstarter.

Drucilla Shultz's post is about an interview with Josh O'Neill who is with the small press Locust Moon. O'Neill had the idea for a book titled Little Nemo: Dream Another Dream. To raise money for printing, O'Neill and Locust Moon went to Kickstarter and raised $150,000 for the book.

Panzer says, "There's more than one way to raise money to publish your book."

To read the full post, tootle over to indie publisher

Children's Book Success Story

Whew! That was quite a trip today.

Panzer took a leisurely trip out into the Catosphere today. While our bad boy was tootling around out there, he made a stop at The Guardian site. He stumbled onto a post about an indie success story.

According to a post by Alison Flood, the indie children's book The Little Girl (or Boy) Who Lost Her (or His) Name has sold 500,000 copies and sales are still going strong.  David Cadji-Newby and three others founded the Lost My Name publishing company in 2012 for the sole purpose of publishing the book. Sales were slow to begin with. Then, last year they went on the Dragon's Den show where they secured an investment. Sales took off.

Panzer says, "Sounds like Dragon's Den is better than Kickstarter."

To read the post, tootle over to Dragons Den picture book

A New Panzerism

Panzer on the human idea of closure:

Mom's goldfish Molly died. Mom said she wants closure.

Silly idea. Cats don't waste their time that way.

Mom, Molly was a goldfish.

Humans should understand each moment passes away forever. It's gone. There's no way to enter the past.

The past is like water disappearing down the toilet with Molly. She's gone to some unknown and unknowable place.

A better place for Molly? Perhaps.

Podcasting Made Easy

Left foot forward. Right foot back.

It's been quite a while since Panzer has been to Elizabeth Spann Craig's mystery writing site. So our big black kitty explorer decided today was the day to stop in there. He's doing the Happy Cat Dance. He found a post for you as soon as he got out of the Panzermobile.

Mystery author Ms. Craig explains how she taught herself about podcasting and using Sound Cloud. She then explains how she did an interview with herself, saved it to Sound Cloud and embedded the link at her site.

Panzer says, "Looks pretty easy to me. Let's try it."

To read the post, tootle over to audio

Scribd Expands Its Audiobook Library

Panzer made a kitty pit stop at GalleyCAT today.

Our big bad kitty boy found a post about subscription service Scribd. Panzer tries to keep up with the going-ons at Scribd. His ebook Cats and Crime is offered there as are his friend Fiona L. Webber's romances.

I need to look into this.

According to a post by Maryann Yin, Scribd's subscription service audiobooks have increased by 9,000 with the signing of an agreement with Penguin Random House.

Panzer says, "Hmmm. Maybe it's time for me to get into audiobooks too."

To read the full post, tootle over to Scribd Expands Its Audiobook Library

Stephen Hawking Sings Monty Python… Galaxy Song (Music Video)

Panzer's Favorite Space Guy Sings For You From space

Terms Of Amazon HarperCollins Contract

Means more readers for me.

Panzer was taking a leisurely trip around the Catosphere when he stopped in at the Slate site for a few kitty treats.

Our big bad kitty reporter told you on April 2 about the new Amazon Harpercollins contract. Well, he found a post by Alison Griswold about the terms of that new contract.

And ... readers may not be happy about those terms.

The contract gives publishers the right to determine their own ebook prices.

Readers say price is Too High?

Amazon says, "This price was set by the publisher."

Panzer says, "Let me get this straight. Publishers can set the price however high they want. Let them. If readers don't want to pay hardcover prices for an ebook, they can buy my ebooks for ebook prices."

To read the full post, tootle over to Amazon and HarperCollins Contract

Bookmate Subscription Service Agreement

So many. Who will win in the end?

Panzer was doing his daily business in the Catosphere when he found an interesting post about another ebook subscription service. Before Kindle Unlimited jumped into the ebook subscription service business model, there were already several monthly subscription services to choose from on the market.

According to the synopsis of a press release at the Publishers' Weekly site, Bloomsbury, Faber Factory and Harlequin have signed an agreement with subscription service Bookmate. The agreement gives Bookmate access to 15,000 ebooks to bring their total library up to half-a-million ebooks. If you want to read the full press release, the end of the synopsis includes a link to it.

Panzer says, "Everybody is getting into the ebook subscription service market. There's so many I'm tripping over them."

To read the press release, tootle over to Bookmate Deal

A New Panzerism

Panzer on the zen art of teaching cats:

When you tell a dog to sit,
it means he can relax and get off his feet for minute.

But ...

if you tell a cat to sit,

It's not going to happen.

that cat has to wake up, stretch,

and ...

then get up to sit.

No, I think you can take sit off the list of things to teach a cat to do.

Indie ReCon Global Online Conference

Hurry! We don't want to be late!

Panzer found a super FREE treat for you today.

Our big bad kitty investigated the Indie ReCon Global Online Conference for you. It turns out the conference is online so there's no travel costs. There's no cost to register. So it really is FREE. This is a conference for indie authors presented by indie authors. Speakers will include Bella Andre, Mark Dawson, Joanna Penn, CJ Lyons and others. The conference runs from April 15-17.

Panzer says, "Hurry up and register so you don't miss out!"

To read about the conference and to register, tootle over to Indie Recon

The Digital Age And Business Models

It's been a long day.

Panzer has been flying around the Catosphere today looking for news for you. Our kitty pilot of the Panzermobile found an interesting post at the Publishers' Weekly site.

According to a post by Andrew Albanese, you can now obtain an English language version of Dosdoce.com's New Business Models in the Digital Age report. What business models have evolved in the digital age? And where are they going? While the report was prepared for industry professionals, it is worth reading by writers to see what the future might hold. Mr. Albanese's post contains a link to the site to download the report in various formats.

Panzer says, "Mom is going to read it to me after my nap. It looks pretty long, so I need an energy refill."

To read the post, tootle over to Report

Oyster To Jump Into Ebook Sales

You're making a big mistake.

Panzer found some more big news for you in the Catosphere. Yesterday our big bad news reporter told you about Kobo's  entrance into the ereader market. Today he discovered Oyster is jumping into the ebook retail market. So, yesterday Kobo announced Amazon competition and today Oyster announces Amazon competition.

According to a post by Calvin Reid at the Publishers' Weekly site, Oyster announced they'll be adding an ebook retail store to their subscription service. The store will carry ebooks from the big five publishers. While Oyster's services are only available in the U.S. now, there are plans to expand internationally this year.

Panzer says, "I think they're making a big mistake. It doesn't look like there's any place in the plan for indie authors. Smashwords has had an agreement with Oyster since the beginning and contributed a lot to their size."

Note: this is a l-o-n-g post, so bring a b-i-g cup of tea.

To read the full post, tootle over to Oyster

Kobo Takes On Amazon In Ereader World

Panzer was tootling around in the Catosphere when he heard laughing and hand clapping and backslapping. He followed all the noise to the GalleyCAT site.

It's coming! I can see it!

Our big kitty boy discovered the cause of all the frivolity. According to a post by Dianna Dilworth, Kobo has entered the ereader market ... and ... their ereader is in direct competition with Amazon's Kindle Voyage. And the price? It's $70 less than the Voyage. Included in the post is a link to Kobo's site with their original post.

Panzer says, "Happy Cat Dance! Happy Cat Dance!"

To read the post, tootle over to http://www.adweek.com/galleycat/kobo-takes-on-amazon-with-new-ereader/101705

A New Panzerism

Panzer on cat inventiveness:

Do you wonder what I see when I'm staring at the space over your shoulder

and ...

you turn around and don't see anything?

Do you wonder what I see when I'm staring at the floor

Gotcha! Made you look.

and ...

you look and squint and don't see anything?

Actually ...

That's because there's nothing there.

Lucky Breaks For Writers

It feels so good between my toes.

Panzer was out in the Catosphere feeling lucky today.

Why?

Because our big bad kitty stopped in at the Huffington Post site. There he found a post by Holly Robinson about lucky breaks for writers. Ms. Robinson has seven tips for finding your lucky breaks. She starts off with the usual write a lot, enter contests, and then moves on to attending conferences and associating with professionals. She has four more lucky breaks for you to try. According to Ms. Robinson, each lucky break you take advantage of will help you in the long run.

Panzer says, "I feel like I'm running through a patch of four leaf clovers!"

To read the post, tootle over to 7 tips for writers

Dear Kitten YouTube Video

Words of Wisdom
From An Older Friend

Amazon and HarperCollins Contract Negotiations

What do you see there?

Panzer just can't get a nap this week. Today our poor sleepy boy got woken up when he fell off the windowsill because of all the noise from the Catosphere. After he washed off his fur, he skedaddled out in the Panzermobile to find out what all the yowling was about.

According to a post by Jim Milliot at the Publishers' Weekly site, Amazon and HarperCollins are having problems with their contract negotiations. Apparently, the contract with HC contains the same terms as recent contracts with other publishers.  Mr. Milliot points out in his post that the source of the information about the contract negotiation problems is the Business Insider which counts Amazon's Jeff Bezo as an investor. There's a link in Mr. Milliot's post to the Business Insider post so you can read it too.

Panzer says, "Hmmm. Better check your sources."

To read the full post, tootle over to Amazon and HarperCollins

Smashwords: New Amazon Service Eliminates the Need for Authors...

Nope. Didn't scare me.

Panzer was over at the Smashwords blog today. Our poor kitty was such a scaredy cat he came right home. After I read Mark Coker's blog post all the way through to him and explained what day this is (in the USA), he was laughing so hard he fell off my lap.

Panzer says, "Guffaw ... Snort ... Cawff ... You've got to read this."

 Note: This is a very, very, very long post ... but don't bring a cup of tea to read it. Your keyboard will be all wet when you figure out what's going on.

To read the post, tootle over to Smashwords: New Amazon Service Eliminates the Need for Authors...: The publishing industry is reeling today after news broke this morning about Kindle Author , Amazon