Starting Your Own Publishing Business

We'll start our own business.

Panzer was over at the e-bookbuilders blog today. He found an interesting post about starting your own publishing business. On March 20 my bad boy told you about a post by Spencer Madsen at The Toast blog about starting your own small press. Today's new post is an excellent companion to the first one.

The e-bookbuilders post has links for articles about setting up your business, writing a business plan, picking a name, and how to setup your business in the U.S. and Canada. There's also information on book distribution, publicity, and more.

If you're looking for in depth information to set up a publishing business, tootle over to A Publishing Business

House of Thrones (Game of Thrones meets House of Cards Parody) | #Toasty...

Panzer hopes you like this video, Game of Thrones meets House of Cards. My bad boy is laughing so hard he fell off the computer desk.

Kobo's Challenge Part 2

Makes sense to me.

Panzer was out at Publisher's Weekly today.

My bad boy found a follow-up post about Kobo's challenge to the Canadian ebook pricing agreement. He told you about the challenge a few days ago.

The post at PW explains the judge's reasoning behind his suspension of the agreement.

If you're interested in reading Kobo's arguments and the judge's reasons for suspending the agreement, tootle over to Canadian Judge

George R.R. Martin Posts Free Chapter

Patience is not a cat virtue.

Panzer was out in the Catosphere today.

You all know how much my bad boy loves FREE stuff.

Well ... he found Game of Thrones author George R.R. Martin has posted a FREE chapter from Winds of Winter.

Panzer says, "The site is overwhelmed right now. You'll need a lot of patience. It took me ten minutes to log on!"

If you want to read the chapter, tootle over to Excerpt

Diesel eBooks Closing

Is Amazon winning?

Panzer was over at Publisher's Weekly today and found a disturbing post.

PW reports that Diesel eBooks Store is closing its virtual doors on March 31. All customers are being notified to download their ebooks from their libraries by then.

Panzer say, "I'm sorry to see another store close, so soon after the Sony closures. Maybe Amazon is winning."

The post at PW has a link to the original Diesel announcement.

If you want to read PW's post, tootle over to Diesel eBooks

20 Inspiring Pinterest Boards for Writers

Pinterest?

Okay, Panzer admits it. He's been looking at getting a Pinterest account.

My bad boy knows there are other authors who have accounts. They put up photos of the locations in their books, the characters in their books and the plots in their books. It seems like readers like to know about authors and their interests.

But ... he hasn't been sure whether he wanted an account or not. So, when he found this post at The Write Life blog he read every word of it. These are Pinterest boards that are not just inspiring for writers, but also to see how others put their boards together.

If you're thinking about setting up a Pinterest account, tootle over to 20 Inspiring Pinterest Boards for Writers

Jill Kemerer: Building an Author Platform Wore Me Out

I need a rest.

As soon as Panzer read this post at Jill Kemerer's blog, he knew he wasn't the only one drowning under the pressure of building his platform. He thought you might need some inspiration for your author platform building too. There are lots of suggestions for getting "out of your comfort zone" and expanding your platform.

Panzer says, "The main take-away point in the post for me is do one thing each day. I can handle that."

If you want to learn how to expand your author profile, tootle over to Jill Kemerer: Building an Author Platform Wore Me Out: Four score and seven years... Wait. How long have I been building that imaginary plywood stage called an author platform? A long, long t...

Kobo Challenge to E-book Ruling

Kobo vs. Amazon?

When Panzer learned there was a post about Kobo at the Financial Post blog, he headed the Panzermobile over there.

My bad boy discovered Kobo has filed a challenge to the Canadian Competition Bureau's agreement with four ebook publishers to allow discounting on ebooks. Kobo points out that since a similar agreement was reached in the U.S., Sony has left the market and Barnes and Noble is losing money. Apparently, the only company flourishing under the U.S. agreement is Amazon. Kobo feels that will also be the outcome in Canada, and hence Kobo's challenge. The Competition Tribunal has agreed to issue a stay to implementation of the agreement and to allow Kobo to present its arguments.

If you want to read the post, tootle over to Kobo Challenge

Starting Your Own Small Press

Do you still want to do it?

Panzer brought home this post by Spencer Madsen at The Toast blog.

Madsen tells you the good, the wrong, and the just plain ugly things he did starting his small press.

Do you always want to go with the cheapest printer? How many copies of an author's books should you order? What price should you charge to make a profit? Madsen answers these questions and a lot more.

Panzer says, "By the time you get to the end of Madsen's post, you'll have learned everything you need to know to start your own small press."

Warning: this is a very long post, so bring a huge cup of tea with you.

To learn about starting your small press, tootle over to A Small Press

Chuck Wendig Talks Amazon

Say it isn't so!

Panzer stopped in at Chuck Wendig's terribleminds blog.

Panzer doesn't go there very often because Wendig uses bad words and that makes my bad boy's ears hurt when I read the posts to him.

But today he wanted to know what Wendig had to say about Amazon.

And ... what Wendig said was this:

Amazon is NOT your friend.

Wendig argues Amazon is so large that it can do whatever it wants to authors. The big thing it can do to you is cut your royalties any time it wants.

And ... there's nothing you can do about it if all your sales are through Amazon.

To read what Wendig says about Amazon, tootle over to Diversify Your Publishing