Fiona L. Woods's Blog, page 387

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

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 GuySings 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