Nathaniel Dean James's Blog, page 4

What it Means to be an Indie Publisher

Disclosure: I am an Indie author. I own a stake in my own Indie publisher. I review books. Let’s be clear about one thing. I take no side in the debate over the rise of self-publishing and its implications for…

A Poem

The Bay Bridge – Reflections on Yesterday  We broke the night to a deep-kick bass line beneath the barnacled pillars of the old Bay Bridge. And I would give July back to the summer sky to run the lines of … Continue reading →

Is there any Hope for Football?

I’m no big fan of football. There was a time – about a million years ago – when I called myself a Liverpool supporter and followed the Permiership and La Liga with a kind of halfhearted interest, but no longer. … Continue reading →

Book Review – Letters to a Young Contrarian

  Author: Christopher Hitchens Title: Letter to a Young Contrarian Available at: Amazon My Rating: Excellent ***** Synopsis by publisher: “In the book that he was born to write, provocateur and best-selling author Christopher Hitchens inspires future generations of radicals, gadflies, … Continue reading →

Digital Rights Management – Why I don’t worry about it, and why you shouldn’t either.

I find it very ironic that much of the current dispute between Amazon and Hachette has its roots grounded in DRM. If the word on the street is anything to go by, publishers have tied themselves to the eBook retailer … Continue reading →

Gatecrashing the Cosy Consensus on Amazon

Originally posted on David Gaughran:
A group of bestselling traditionally published authors – including James Patterson, Scott Turow, and Douglas Preston – engaged in an act of breathtaking hypocrisy on Thursday with an open letter calling on Amazon to end…

Using Text-to-Speech as a Proofreading Tool

I’m far too lazy to go looking all over the web for someone who has already pointed this out. I also don’t think it will kill anyone if I offer up my own experience. Text-to-speech has been around for quite…

Pseudonym – yes or no?

Originally posted on How I Became A Writer:
In the past, female writers considered it necessary to have a pseudonym that gave the impression they were male or at the very least made their gender unknown, for fear that their…

Selling on Google Play Books – A Good Idea?

Ever considered selling your novel on Google Play? If so you might do well to delay.  For a company meant to be on the cutting edge of internet technology, Google’s experiment with selling eBooks is turning out to be problematic, … Continue reading →

Book Review – The Crisis of Islam

    Author: Bernard Lewis Title: The Crisis of Islam Available at: Amazon My Rating: Excellent ***** Synopsis by publisher: “In his first book since What Went Wrong? Bernard Lewis examines the historical roots of the resentments that dominate the Islamic world today and that are increasingly being expressed in acts of terrorism. He looks at the theological origins […]