Adidas Wilson's Blog, page 186
March 7, 2017
Bacon, soda & too few nuts tied to big portion of US deaths
Gorging on bacon, skimping on nuts? These are among food habits that new research links with deaths from heart disease, strokes and diabetes.
Overeating or not eating enough of the 10 foods and nutrients contributes to nearly half of U.S. deaths from these causes, the study suggests.
“Good” foods that were under-eaten include: nuts and seeds, seafood rich in omega-3 fats including salmon and sardines; fruits and vegetables; and whole grains.
“Bad” foods or nutrients that were over-eaten include salt and salty foods; processed meats including bacon, bologna and hot dogs; red meat including steaks and hamburgers; and sugary drinks.
The research is based on U.S. government data showing there were about 700,000 deaths in 2012 from heart disease, strokes and diabetes and on an analysis of national health surveys that asked participants about their eating habits. Most didn’t eat the recommended amounts of the foods studied.
The 10 ingredients combined contributed to about 45 percent of those deaths, according to the study.
It may sound like a familiar attack on the typical American diet, and the research echoes previous studies on the benefits of heart-healthy eating. But the study goes into more detail on specific foods and their risks or benefits, said lead author Renata Micha, a public health researcher and nutritionist at Tufts University.
The results were published Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Micha said the foods and nutrients were singled out because of research linking them with the causes of death studied. For example, studies have shown that excess salt can increase blood pressure, putting stress on arteries and the heart. Nuts contain healthy fats that can improve cholesterol levels, while bacon and other processed meats contain saturated fats that can raise levels of unhealthy LDL cholesterol.
In the study, too much salt was the biggest problem, linked with nearly 10 percent of the deaths. Overeating processed meats and undereating nuts and seeds and seafood each were linked with about 8 percent of the deaths.
The Food and Drug Administration’s recent voluntary sodium reduction guidelines for makers of processed foods and taxes that some U.S. cities have imposed on sugar-sweetened beverages are steps in the right direction, Micha said.
A journal editorial said public health policies targeting unhealthy eating could potentially help prevent some deaths, while noting that the study isn’t solid proof that “suboptimal” diets were deadly.
The study’s recommended amounts, based on U.S. government guidelines, nutrition experts’ advice, and amounts found to be beneficial or harmful in previous research.
“Good” ingredients
—Fruits: 3 average-sized fruits daily
—Vegetables: 2 cups cooked or 4 cups raw vegetables daily
—Nuts/seeds: 5 1-ounce servings per week — about 20 nuts per serving
—Whole grains: 2 ½ daily servings
—Polyunsaturated fats, found in many vegetable oils: 11 percent of daily calories
—Seafood: about 8 ounces weekly
“Bad” ingredients
—Red meat: 1 serving weekly — 1 medium steak or the equivalent
—Processed meat: None recommended
—Sugary drinks: None recommended
—Salt: 2,000 milligrams daily — just under a teaspoon.
Source:
http://www.startribune.com/bacon-soda-too-few-nuts-tied-to-big-portion-of-us-deaths/415583824/
Should Indie Authors Publish Exclusively With Amazon or Not?
We have been closely following the ascent of indie publishing superstars here at the Observer. They aren’t driving the conversation at the New York Review of Books yet, but these writers do have their hands on the wheel of the actual economy of writing fiction.
Lately, the best source of information on what’s going on in this new market is the website Author Earnings. It’s a joint venture between one of the most successful indie authors, Hugh Howey (whom we have talked to at length) and his collaborator, Data Guy, an anonymous numbers cruncher who devised the methodology for answering the questions Amazon won’t. Author Earnings just released a new report, and this one goes beyond Jeff Bezos’ baby, estimating total e-book sales at Apple, Google, Kobo and Barnes & Noble as well.
We recently covered Data Guy’s report on the still growing market for e-books, despite wide media reports to the contrary.
Thanks to this report’s wide view, Author Earnings is able to provide substantive guidance on whether or not indie authors should make titles available exclusively on Amazon, or if they should go wide and sell them via every possible retailer. Books sold only through Amazon get invited to join the Kindle Unlimited program, the company’s Netflix for e-books. In fact, Amazon pays authors in that program more money than non-exclusive authors earn in all the other channels combined, the report explains. But it’s not quite that simple.
The report also says:
“’Wide’ authors who are able to effectively take advantage of promotional opportunities at other retailers often see far more than the a quarter of their sales coming through non-Amazon channels; some high profile indies are doing so well at other retailers that Amazon now represents less than half of their sales.”
It further points out that the Amazon market can be fickle. The market share for indie books at Amazon took a nose dive through part of last year, though it has largely recovered. Other sources of revenue can smooth overall income streams.
Sci-fi scribe Howey told us that he experimented with both wide release and exclusivity, finding he made far more money and reached far more people by gaining access to the Kindle Unlimited audience. Romance superstar Marie Force, by contrast, told us that she would never close a road by which a new reader could find her work.
The two stances illustrate the question facing every indie author. Amazon is by far the largest market for e-books and, if Kindle Unlimited were its own company, it would be the third largest e-book seller. “To completely ignore a retail channel of that size makes zero sense,” the report contends.
On the other hand, writers without a following may feel they can ill afford skipping any market. There’s more than enough money changing hands on any of the major channels to afford any writer a very good living if they can only attain a small piece of any one.
Author Earnings muddies the waters by noting that “if a title appeals to Canadian or Australian audiences, it will be unavailable in the retailer channels where almost half of those countries’ e-book purchases occur.”
Author Earnings ultimately settles on a recommendation that can only work for writers who have more than a few books out: Put some into Kindle Unlimited and go wide with others. When an author blows up on one channel, readers who like the book that becomes popular often want to go back and read the rest, as another popular sci-fi writer, Christopher Nuttall, explained for us. But if a book becomes popular in Apple’s iBooks, readers won’t be able to buy the writer’s Kindle Unlimited books there.
On the other hand, Amazon only requires exclusivity in three month increments. So a writer could wait for that window to end, then add the books they held back to the other pools. Even if they lose money in the short term by leaving the Kindle Unlimited pool, it could be worth it in the long run to solidify new fans.
If it’s your first book: flip a coin.
The report provides a number of interesting insights about the market for e-books across the English speaking world. For example, while Amazon dominates all of these markets, Kobo is putting up a respectable fight for the $136 million spent on e-books in Canada, and Apple is making a strong showing for the $126 million market in Australia (the US e-book market represents more than $3.2 billion). Read the report itself for other insights.
Author Earnings derives its data by scraping the sales rankings off of various e-book retailers’ sites and correlating that with final sales data shared with those that run Author Earnings. These two pools of information allow it to derive estimates for all e-books sold. More on its methodology can be found here.
Source:
Should Indie Authors Publish Exclusively With Amazon or Not?
SoundCloud launches cheaper, $5 subscriptions
Streaming-music service SoundCloud launched cheaper, $5 subscriptions Tuesday, giving people the option of paying less for most of the same features of its $10 option but without the full music catalog.
The company, often called the “YouTube of audio,” first launched an all-you-can-eat music service last year for $10 a month. That transformed SoundCloud into paid subscriptions from its all-free stockpile of user-uploaded tracks for the first time, but the company is facing the prospect of running out of money this year if business doesn’t pick up.
The cheaper plan strips away ads and allows offline listening, just like the $10 plan. But people paying $5, which converts to around £4 or AU$6.50, will be locked out of millions of tracks included only in the pricier tier. The $5 members can hear a 30-second preview of such songs.
SoundCloud is unique among music services because of the foundation it’s built on: tens of millions of unofficial recordings, be it Chance the Rapper’s Grammy-winning mixtape or an unsanctioned DJ remix. Listeners flock to the service, with 175 million people tuning in every month. By comparison, Spotify last disclosed it had surpassed 100 million active listeners in June. But launching a $5 tier isn’t groundbreaking. Both Pandora and Amazon offer lower-priced options that crimp listening somewhat while still unlocking features that a free listener doesn’t get.
In an announcement late Monday, SoundCloud renamed its $10 service SoundCloud Go+ and called its new $5 plan SoundCloud Go. The more expensive Go+ offers unlimited listening of 150 million tracks, including tens of millions of officially licensed songs. The cheaper Go tier has access to 120 million songs. SoundCloud didn’t characterize the music that will be out-of-bounds for lower-priced members, but $5 subscribers are likely to find themselves locked out of some official songs by big artists.
The new plan launched Tuesday in the US, UK, Australia, Ireland, France, New Zealand, Canada and Germany. SoundCloud’s free, ad-supported version is unchanged.
Source:
https://www.cnet.com/news/soundcloud-go-five-dollar-subscriptions/
This Home Was 3D Printed in Only 24 Hours and for Just $10,000
3D printing is incorporating itself into our clothes, our medicine, and, now, even our homes. Apis Cor., a company dedicated to building the world with printing has built its first ever 3D-printed home in Stupino town, a region near Moscow, Russia.
Construction took only 24 freezing hours during December, 2016, through temperatures of -35°C (-31°F). The home, equipped with a living room, kitchen, bathroom, and a hallway, was made on-site, a world’s first for 3D-printed building constructed in that amount of time.
The total cost of construction for the 38-square-meter (409-square-foot) home was $10,000, including the expenses of work, materials for the construction, and furnishing. That’s $266 per square meter ($81 per square foot), but the company is confident that a square house with a simpler design and averagely priced material would cost only $223 per square meter ($68 per square foot).
[image error]
The construction of the home was made possible by a mobile 3D printer. Once the mobile printer had completed the walls, it was removed with a crane manipulator to allow manual workers to come in and finish the job.
Source:
https://futurism.com/this-home-was-3d-printed-in-only-24-hours-and-for-just-10000/
Alkaline Diet: Benefits, Foods to Eat and Avoid
One of the more popular diets running around the public consciousness as of late is the alkaline diet or alkaline ash diet. You see a lot of websites and programs dedicated to the alkaline diet.
At its basic level, the alkaline diet is supposed to balance out the pH levels in the body’s blood and urine. But what are the alkaline diet benefits? What are alkaline foods? If you are curious about the alkaline diet plan, we’ve got the basics for you.
We cover the health benefits, alkaline ash diet foods, and everything you need to know if you’re considering this popular diet.
How Does the Alkaline Diet Benefit Your Health?
The first thing to know when researching an alkaline diet is that it may work, just not for the reasons that many sites and books tell you it will. The entire focus of the diet is to eat foods that balance the pH levels in your blood and urine.
The fact is that our body has a number of built-in systems to regulate the pH in blood because if it were to change due to outside forces such as food, you would probably die. One such system of our body that helps regulate pH is releasing or exhaling carbon dioxide.
That being said, the diet may be able to entirely change the pH levels in your urine, but testing urine is not a very good way to test your body’s overall pH levels.
All things considered, the benefits of an alkaline diet are not in balancing pH but in the diet itself. The alkaline diet promotes healthy eating. The diet promotes eating a lot of healthy foods like fruits and vegetables.
It’s also a diet that’s low in meat, gluten, and dairy. All of this has many positive health benefits.
The alkaline diet is a decent diet for weight loss. Consuming large amounts of fruits and vegetables will add a great deal of fiber to your diet, which is helpful for weight loss because it helps the body feel full for a longer time period.
Fruits and veggies are also beneficial because they are naturally low in calories and saturated fat. Combine this with regular exercise, and you’ve got a pretty winning combination.
Diets filled with fruits and vegetables also tend to be good for overall health as the fiber that can be found within has been shown to benefit heart health. The antioxidants in fruits and vegetables also are believed to fight free radicals, which could make them effective as prevention methods for various cancers and cardiovascular diseases.
While the alkaline diet may not work the way it is advertised, it definitely does have a number of health benefits that you may want to consider. At the very least, it is a fairly well-balanced diet for weight loss if you combine it with exercise.
If the alkaline diet sounds like it may be for you and your health goals, the next step is to figure out the different types of food you can and cannot eat while on an alkaline diet and which foods you can eat in moderation. We’ve already done a little work to help you out.
Source:
http://www.foods4betterhealth.com/alkaline-diet-benefits-foods-to-eat-and-avoid-30376
How Publishers Can Build on Self-Publishing’s Victories
Print sales are on the way up, or at least finally not falling, depending on whom you speak to. Consumer ebook sales are dropping, but likely to be stabilizing against their huge initial growth, and non-consumer ebook sales are on the rise. The threat of the super-markets are no longer as strong as they look increasingly elsewhere. We have finally accepted digitization, and it is now a core part of most publishers’ businesses. The often acrimonious divide between self- and traditional publishing has quietened, as they sit, with caution, alongside each other. And with Amazon—though still challenging—we understand the pros and cons and are learning to work with or around them.
It would be wrong, however, to think that all is now rosy. There are still fundamental issues with the traditional publishing business model; we’re not going to see a surge of new bookshops filling high-streets any time soon, and the all-powerful customer will continue to demand more for less, or preferably for free. We are long past any return to the past. But we do now have a brief time to exhale while moving toward the future.
Publishers have long had a reputation for chasing horses that have already bolted. See in recent times the flood of wizards and Scandinavian murders, through to erotic fiction and coloring books. And there is a current danger that publishers may start congratulating themselves on repeating what has proven successful elsewhere.
Social media has been a phenomenon in recent years, so now most publishers have an active presence on all the major platforms. Moreover, events have boosted other creative industries, so now most publishers do events. The key word here is “do,” which implies repetition. There are many other examples, but perhaps the most useful one is from self-publishing.
Many self-published authors have taught traditional publishers an ego-puncturing lesson over the last few years. From being close to the customer, building fanbases, tireless and innovation promotion, through to metadata, pricing and even just business-sense, some self-published authors have led the way and made millions in the process. At times they have made the traditional sector appear what we are—an industry dreamed up by English graduates—and we should be grateful for the embarrassment
That said, one of the most dangerous things traditional publishers could now do is simply replicate what the self-published authors did successfully, while adding nothing else. While this would generate an ego-reinflating uplift, it would only be temporary. Ultimately, without book publishers actively showing the value that they can add, there is no need for them to exist.
Keeping with the self-publishing example, we should replicate from the relevant lessons we have been taught—but only as the starting point. From that base, we should then demonstrate to authors, and sub-consciously to customers, the unique values that traditional publishers offer: from production expertise, to global licensing, to bookshop relationships, to sales and distribution networks and hopefully much more.
Traditional publishers are owners of vast conceptual assets and are in a very exciting position: we hold the licenses to massive amounts of fantastic creative work produced for us. We need to demonstrate that we can match what others are doing successfully and then add value to the products, sales and marketing that is unique to us.
The first step is asking the question that maybe some publishers fear asking: what do they uniquely offer? And once they have an answer, as hopefully they do, they should be loud and proud about it. Book publishers have a big opportunity, and rather than shying away from it, we should embrace the challenge of proving ourselves.
In summary, it is great that we have opened our eyes to what is proving successful elsewhere. But repetition is the starting point rather than the end result. It is the clearly defined and unique value that we as traditional publishers add that will define the future of our industry for many generations to come.
Source:
http://www.digitalbookworld.com/2016/how-publishers-can-build-on-self-publishings-victories/
How to Write That Book You’ve Been Meaning to Write
If you’re like a lot of entrepreneurs, you dream of writing a book on your area of expertise. The thing is, while many have this dream, far fewer actually realize it, and that’s a shame.
What’s stopping them? Usually self doubt and time. They aren’t secure in their ability to write a great book (or set their sights so high they’ll never reach their goal of creating a bestseller) or they simply don’t have (or make) the time to dedicate to the project.
Having published my own book (and with more books in my future), I have a thing or two to say on the subject.
Before you can actually start writing a book, you need to understand your motivation for doing so. Are you looking to become a rich and famous author? If that’s your m.o., you might need to let that dream die. Few authors become rich or famous, so you might be setting yourself up for failure from the start.
On the other hand, wanting to establish yourself as an expert in your industry is a great goal. People are impressed with authors, and being able to hold up your book after you speak at an event or in a sales meeting could just be your ticket to more business.
Going to the great effort of writing a book shows potential clients that you’re serious and professional. People like surrounding themselves with success, and publishing a book indicates that you are successful.
Acknowledge Time Constraints
So you’ve established your goals and you’re ready to write. Only you have an incredibly busy month ahead of you. When can you fit it in?
The honest truth is: you might not be able to. Rather than forcing the writing (creativity doesn’t work that way), find time in your schedule when you can dedicate 15 minutes, an hour, half a day, whatever you’ve got, to sitting down at your computer to write. If now isn’t a good time to get started, wait until you have more time and mental headspace to begin.
Set Deadlines
Most people work well under the pressure of deadlines, and they’re great for book authors. Start with the big one: when do you hope to have the entire book finished? This could be anywhere from six months to a year. Be realistic, given your schedule, but also slightly aggressive so you don’t have time to slack off.
Then break that time down into smaller deadlines. Chapters usually make good deadlines. It may take you writing the first chapter to see how long it takes you to then set deadlines for completing subsequent chapters.
And if you miss a deadline? Don’t be hard on yourself; just get back on track.
I’ve Written My Book … Now What?
You thought writing it was the hardest task, but now you’re about to embark on another adventure! If you plan to publish your book (and I assume you do), you have two options: self-publishing or the traditional publisher route.
With self-publishing, you handle everything on your own. You hire an editor and a cover designer, and then upload the book to Amazon and Nook. If you want a hard copy book, you work with a book printer like Lulu. You also market the book yourself. You will spend quite a bit to get this book available for purchase. So why would you want an option that involves so much work? You are going to do most of the work regardless of which route you take, and by self publishing, at least you get to keep more profit.
If you want to pursue the traditional publishing route, it is much more competitive and difficult to break into, and there’s a significant time delay for when your book is actually released.
In traditional publishing, typically you work through an agent who will require you to put together a book proposal, (think business plan for your book.) Then they shop your book around to publishers, trying to stimulate interest. If one is interested, they will negotiate a book contract and a modest advance. First time authors don’t typically get too much $10K-$20K, and you will not get the second half of your money until all the edits the publisher requires are made on your manuscript. You may be asked to heavily edit the book or even significantly rewrite part of it.
But traditional publishers will get your book into major bookstores. Depending on the size of the publisher, they may also use their internal PR team to set up interviews for you, but this will only be for a short time. They won’t do all the marketing for you, most of that will still fall to you.
The drawbacks to traditional publishing are that you give up a hefty percent of your book royalties, and it’s a harder game to win. Still, having a well-known publisher on the spine of your book will give you some credibility that self-publishing might not.
Writing and publishing a business book can be so rewarding, and yes, it’s worth the time investment, stress, especially if you are establishing a brand. If you’re serious about writing a book this year, start researching options now.
Source:
https://smallbiztrends.com/2017/03/how-to-write-that-book.html
Amazon Unveils First East Coast Bricks and Mortar
Online retailing giant Amazon.com Inc. plans to open its first New York City bookstore in Manhattan’s Time Warner Center, the company said late Wednesday.
The 4,000-square-foot store is slated to open in the spring in the Shops at Columbus Circle on the edge the Central Park. The multistory shopping center, owned by Related Cos., is home to clothing and shoe stores such as Coach and Cole Haan as well as several upscale restaurants, including Per Se.
Amazon AMZN, +0.16% is excited with its location in the Time Warner Center, a spokeswoman said in an email. A Related Cos. spokeswoman also expressed excitement with the deal.
Amazon has been making a push into the brick-and-mortar retail sector after focusing on online sales for many years. Amazon opened its first brick-and-mortar bookstore in Seattle in 2015 and now has two others — in San Diego and in Portland, Ore. Plans are in the works for stores in Chicago and Dedham, Mass.
Source:
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/amazon-to-open-brick-and-mortar-bookstore-in-manhattan-2017-01-04
Audie Award
An Audie Award (or Audie), bestowed annually in the United States, recognizes outstanding audiobooks and spoken-word entertainment. The Audies have been granted by the Audio Publishers Association, the not-for-profit trade organization of the audiobook industry, since 1996. The nominees are announced each year in February, and the winners are announced at a gala banquet held in May, usually when the BookExpo America fair is happening. The Audies are sometimes promoted as “the Oscars of the audiobook industry” and serve as a way to promote audiobooks.
Awards are given in about thirty categories. Some of the awards relate to types of writing, including abridged and unabridged fiction and non-fiction, and such genres as romance, fantasy and mystery; other awards recognize excellence in different styles of narration and production, such as multi-voiced performance and production values. Over the years, the structure and the categories of the awards have changed. These changes are reflected in the lists of the Audie award winners in the external links below.
The 2016 award ceremony was held May 11 at the Adler Planetarium in Chicago and was hosted by Paula Poundstone.
Awards are given out in the following 29 categories only for works sold in the US that contain at least 51% spoken word content:
Audiobook of the Year
Fiction: titles that don’t fit into the following nine specific fiction categories.
Literary Fiction & Classics
Mystery
Thriller/Suspense
Science Fiction
Fantasy
Paranormal
Romance
Erotica
Inspirational/Faith-based Fiction
Non-fiction: titles that don’t fit into the following ten specific non-fiction categories.
History/Biography
Autobiography
Business/Personal Development
Inspirational/Faith-based Non-fiction
Humor
Original Work: not based on a print work
Young Listeners
Middle Grade
Young Adult
Audio Drama
Best Female Narrator
Best Male Narrator
Best Narration by the Author
Multi-voiced Performance: multiple readers with little to no interaction
These are given to the Industry at the Audio Publishers Association conference:
Excellence in Design
Excellence in Marketing
Excellence in Production
