Happy Mothers' Day

Happy Mothers' Day

to

Mom's Everywhere!

From Panzer, Me  and What's His Name

Importance of Book Spine Design

Maybe it has a spine.

Panzer spent some time exploring the Catosphere today.   My big kitty explorer is still catching up on the news he missed last week. Over at Publisehers' Weekly he found a post by retired bookstore owner, Carol D. Chittenden.

According to Ms. Chittenden, designers and art directors should put as much time into designing a book's spine as they do the cover. In bookstores most books are on shelves. They're displayed with the spine out ... not the beautifully designed cover. When the book browser, and hopefully book buyer, is walking along the shelves, the spine needs to grab their attention. The book's spine design will get the book browser to pull the book from the shelf and see that well-designed book cover.

Panzer says, "Makes sense for dead tree books ... but do my ebooks have spines?"

To read the post, tootle over to book spine

100% Author Royalties At Gatekeeper Press?

Always check your sales numbers.

Panzer was out taking a leisurely trip in the Catosphere today. Our big bad kitty pilot found that while he was managing the cleanup from the water disaster at home, he missed some important news.

According to a press release over at the PRNewswire site, a new self-publishing platform called Gatekeeper Press has entered the market with Amazon and Smashwords for indie authors' business.

Gatekeeper Press offers 100% royalties to authors on the sales of their ebooks and dead tree books.

How can they do that?

Simple. They charge for their services. They offer four packages for which the author pays upfront: 1) ebook coversion and distribution, 2) paperback design and distribution, 3) cover design, and 4) editing. Since they make their money from the packages of services they offer authors, they can then give the author 100% royalties.

Panzer says, "Interesting concept. But how many copies of my ebooks would I have to sell to break even on  the cost of the ebook package?"

Note: The press release includes costs and, if you read all the way to the end, a link to the Gatekeeper Press site.

To read the post, tootle over to Gatekeeper Press

FastPencil Sold Back To Steve Wilson

Mom here. The house is mostly back to normal today with only a couple of things to replace from the water damage.

So, Panzer was free to hit the Catosphere today. He went to see what's been going on over at Publishers' Weekly.

My big brave kitty boy found a post by Jim Milliot and Calvin Reid about FastPencil. According to the post Steve Wilson is buying FastPencil back. Turns out FastPencil is a partner in the Books-A-Million self-publishing platform. Panzer already told you about the BAM! publishing platform's pickup locations for print books. 

Let's look again.

Panzer says, "I wasn't too sure about this new platform, but maybe the BAM! publishing needs another look if FastPencil is part of it."

To read the post, tootle over to FastPencil

The Tail End Of The Tale

Keeping my paws dry.

Panzer here again. Mom is still mopping up water and running fans to dry things out. So just a quick post today.

I found a post over at the Killer Characters site. It's a cute little story about ghost cats and the people they haunt.

I say, "I think you'll like it."

To read the story before it's gone, tootle over to the tail end of the tale

Water, Water Everywhere Plus A Freeware Program

Help! Water is everywhere.

Panzer here. I'm posting for Mom today. I'm very slow at keying because, as you know, cats don't have thumbs.

We have a little house problem today. A hose broke on the washing machine. A river runs from the laundry room across the kitchen and into Mom's office. It's not a pretty site for a cat whose paws are wet up to his belly. Unfortunately, I was napping on Mom's lap when she jumped up to see where the water was coming from. Nuff said about that!

I did make a short trip into the Catosphere this morning. I took a trip over to author Lynn Viehl's Paperback Writer site.

Lynn's post is about the Hott Notes freeware program. She says the program has a notebook feature that a writer can use to organize your manuscript.

I say, "You should bookmark Lynn's site. She's the author of 54 books in genres including steampunk, fantasy, science fiction, romance, young adult, christian adult, and nonfiction. Whew! I have a hard time just keying the genres; I don't know how she can write all those books!"

To read the post, tootle over to Freely Sticky

(I'm not sure if there will be a post tomorrow. Depends on the water level!) 

A New Panzerism

Panzer on the proper use of words:

You know semantics matter.

How come when there's a heavy rain humans say, "It's raining cats and dogs"?

That's all wrong you know.

Cats don't like water. You know that, right?

Just do it, Mom.

Raining cats and dogs, huh? That doesn't even rhyme.

The correct saying is It's raining hogs and dogs.

Next time it rains really hard, I want you to turn to the person next to you and tell them, "It's raining hogs and dogs."

Agatha Awards Announced

Really. I don't care.

Panzer got woken up from a sound sleep by the sound of cats and kittens out in the Catosphere.  He went out to see what all the noise was about.

He followed the noise to the Mystery Scene site. Our very tired kitty boy discovered the Agatha Awards were announced tonight. The Odds Are Against Us, by Art Taylor, (Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine) won the Best Short Story Award.

Panzer says, " Skipped me again. Twice in one year."

To read the post with all the winners, tootle over to Mystery Scene

Authors Up in Arms about Kindle Unlimited (Again)

To KU or not to KU. Which?

Panzer made a trip over to the Indie Reader site. Our big, bad, kitty boy found a very disheartening post by Danny O. Snow there.

It turns out Kindle Unlimited may be readers' heaven, but it's authors and publishers' hell. Royalties for KU participants are now even lower than they were last year. So ... some authors and publishers are turning their work into paperbacks to be sold on Amazon and opting out of KU. They can get higher royalties and aren't in competition with their KU ebooks.

Panzer says, "Hmmm. Makes sense to me."

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 Authors Up in Arms about Kindle Unlimited (Again)

New Author Publishing Platform Booktrope

Let's look into this.

Panzer was out at the GeekWire site today.

Our big. bad, inquiring kitty found a post by Frank Catalano there. Mr. Catalano is writing about a new platform for ebook and dead tree authors called Booktrope. The platform has an interesting premise. The author submits a book to Booktrope for evaluation. If accepted, a "team" is formed to create and publish the book. The team then splits the money from sales.

Panzer says, "I have my own team already. It's Mom and What's His Name. I don't need anybody else on my team."

Note: The post includes a link to the Booktrope site so you can read about the company.

To read the post, tootle over to Booktrope