06.08.07
Posted in Book Related at 4:04 am by admin
Hey, remember that time I was on TV talking about the book and blogging? Months later, I figured out how to get the audio up (click here)!
Of course, anything to be done should be done half-assed so I only have the audio and not the video/audio synced together.
If you want to, as you’re listening to the soothing sounds of my verbal stumbling around a television set (I inserted some beats so you can jam or work out to “my track”), you can imagine me using lots of hand gestures and doing weird things with my hands. That’s apparently what I do when I’m speaking in public; I gesticulate.
I have no idea why my voice dropped two octaves. Television adds ten pounds and makes girly men sound like they have deeper voices apparently. Enjoy.
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05.09.07
Posted in Book Related, News at 12:44 am by admin
I’m going to Michigan next week (May 17 - 20) to participate in the Ann Arbor Book Festival.
I’ll be sitting on one panel (as Lilly’s sidekick) and moderating another. Should be fun. Visit the alma mater, eat some Pizza House, Rendezvous at the bar around two, go buy some Steve & Barry’s to dust off that school spirit. Um, Go Blue?
Reading in Mixed Media - Saturday, May 19th
Moderator: Jonathan Yang, Rough Guide to Blogging
Matt Bell, writer/blogger
Doreen Lichtman, Survival From Malice
Claudia Mair Burney, Murder, Mayhem and a Fine Man
Meghan O’Rourke, www.salon.com, Slate.com
The world of writing and reading is changing quickly. Join this panel as they discuss how they have addressed this changing world as writers. From blogging, to making books or excerpts of books available online or as ebook downloads, this group is facing the challenges of a changing literary world head on.
The Writer-Agent Relationship - Friday, May 18th
Lilly Ghahramani, Full Circle Literary Agency with author Jon Yang, The Rough Guide to Blogging; Amy Williams, McCormick-Williams Literary Agency and Travis Holland, The Archivist’s Story.
The author-agent relationship is crucial to publishing success. An agent will work for you in getting the best publication deal, and will support you through the publishing process. But how do you find the right agent? And how do you get that agent to notice your work in all the piles of manuscripts they receive each day?
Two pairs of authors and agents will discuss how they came to know each other, how they work together to be effective, and what expectations they should have of each other.
Come on out, Michigan is only a hop and a skip away!
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05.02.07
Posted in Blogs / Sites, Book Related at 8:04 pm by admin
A few weeks ago, reader Dave Hall took a look at the Rough Guide to Blogging and noticed that it said this:
“You can use an image from elsewhere on the Web without copying it to your server. Simply find the address of the individual image (not the page it’s displayed on) and use the IMG tag in the usual way.
Before posting an image on your blog, however, it’s best to ask for permission from the copyright holder. In reality, nothing is likely to happen to you for using an image without permission - especially in the case of celebrity photos and other commonly circulated stock photos - but at the very least it’s polite to ask before using, say, a drawing from an artist’s website.”
As Dave pointed out, that’s “hotlinking” and definitely not kosher for bloggers. I wrote him back and explained that he was definitely right; you should definitely ask permission to re-post images from another blogger and then host the image yourself.
Thanks for pointing that out Dave!
And here’s an important article from Aviva Directory that you should probably read: “12 Important U.S. Laws Every Blogger Needs to Know.” Included in the twelve? Whether to Disclose Paid Posts, The Legal Use of Images and Thumbnails, Domain Name Trademark Issues, Laws that Protect You From Stolen Content, and of course, Is Deep Linking Legal?
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04.02.07
Posted in Book Related at 11:18 pm by admin
Here we go, off to the library for a “Blogging 101 Workshop!” We had a fabulous experience last time I did this so won’t you come join me?
Blogging 101
Thursday, April 5, 2007 7 pm
Saratoga Library (a Santa Clara County Library)
13650 Saratoga Avenue
Saratoga, CA 95070
408.867.6126
(click here for additional info)
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03.28.07
Posted in Articles, Book Related at 12:42 am by admin
Here’s a fun little article from Publisher’s Weekly about authors that blog. Actually, I barely know any authors who don’t blog. Most authors are trying to find a place to show their works to the public, and a blog is an easy and cost-effective way to do it. I guess, hypothetically, if you were too big for your britches, you wouldn’t need a blog; but for everyone else, I’d recommend it.
Blogs can provide insight to an author’s work or process. They can be used as mini-sites to complement a book (like this blog). The downside of having a blog? Losing thirty minutes a day posting an entry or two? It’s not a huge investment for something that allows you to build and maintain your fan base.
Heck, without blogging, I wouldn’t even be an author! So of course I encourage blogging for authors — and everyone — alike.
“But the big question, of course, is, do blogs sell books? On that, everyone agrees that the answer is yes, though no one can point to any numbers, at least not yet. ‘Saleswise, I’m not necessarily expecting to see a post-for-post, purchase-for-purchase correlation,’ said Julie Strauss-Gabel, who edits Green at Dutton. ‘Blogging is a long-term endeavor, one that builds and sustains a loyal fan base over a career.’
[Meg] Cabot says that after she started blogging, visits to her Web site soared. Dessen used her blog to count down the days to her pub date for Just Listen, and readers stormed bookstores looking for their copy. ‘I had a lot of girls go to stores on the first day and when the book wasn’t on display, they had someone go into the back and made them open a box,’ she recalled. ‘I really liked hearing that.’
Building excitement online about upcoming appearances definitely makes a difference, says Elizabeth Eulberg, publicity director at Little, Brown. Meyer cultivated fans of her vampire-themed novels with Web updates and with regular participation on fan-generated sites devoted to her books. Those readers turned out in droves for her appearances for New Moon. ‘A lot of them will greet her with their screen names’Hi, I’m edwardlover!’and what amazes me is that Stephenie remembers most of them!’ Eulberg said.”
-To Blog or Not to Blog?-
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03.14.07
Posted in Book Related at 1:54 am by admin
As an author with a book on Amazon you suddenly start to check your book’s page as often as a child checks MySpace. The number you’re addicted to? The “Amazon.com Sales Rank.” As an avid Amazon shopper, this number used to never concern me; I just looked at a book’s price to see of it would help me qualify for free shipping. But now the only number I look at is the Sales Ranking. I study it like I would a stock I invested all my savings into.
What does the Amazon Sales Rank mean anyway? Amazingly, nobody really knows. Sure, if you’ve got a book in the top ten (the lower the number the better), that means you’re making bank, but what if your book is say, ranked #47,743? Well, first things first.
The ranks are correlated to how many books you’ve sold through Amazon, but not directly. It’s a relative rank that is recalculated periodically — typically every day. So, if you’re selling five copies a day for a week straight, your rank could still fluctuate up and down based upon how other books are selling that day. Here’s the short explanation of how Amazon Sales Rank works; and here’s a long explanation.
Suffice to say, when you’re wondering how your book is doing, Amazon can provide only a partial answer.
I’ve been using this cool online tracking tool called Title-Z to track my book’s Amazon Ranking. I’m usually in the #50,000 range and once in awhile I’ll get really close to breaking the #10,000 barrier (I’ve been as high as #3,000 on Amazon UK). A ranking of #10,000 or better roughly translates to 2 copies of the book sold every five days. We can do better than that right? I live for the day the book breaks the five digits barrier. To 9,999 and beyond!
Additonally, if you are an avid reader, feel free to join goodreads, which was discovered by Lilly and is a sort of Friendster for book lovers. Hit me up, we can be book buddies!
Originally posted on www.jonyang.org
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01.12.07
Posted in Book Related at 9:14 am by admin
I’m going to be giving an Introduction to Blogging Workshop next week in the Bay Area. Bring your laptops, bring your cookies (for me, I’m like Santa but hungrier, yet leaner), and get ready to set up a blog or to enhance your current one. C’mon down! Feel free to email me if you have any questions; or need a ride.
Introduction to Blogging, Interactive Workshop
Wednesday, January 17, 2007 — 7 pm
Los Altos Library (a Santa Clara County Library)
13 S. San Antonio Rd.
Los Altos, CA 94022
Directions
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12.19.06
Posted in Blogs / Sites, Book Related at 3:35 pm by admin
This is what blogs are for! A whole blog dedicated to reviewing and showcasing book covers. Nifty covers will definitely catch a browser’s attention so it’s important to have something that sets your book apart from the crowd. As they say, “Don’t judge a book by its cover!” But really, who doesn’t? A great cover can really make your time spent with a book feel more impressive, or cool, or embarassing.
I mean, try carrying this thing around and maintaining the “No, this is not chick-lit” image up. During our book club reading of this particular book, someone mentioned that they had this exact problem and would have to flash the title just to make sure people knew she was reading a “real book.” These are the kinds of stories that book covers should generate. We all know that little details like knowing when to flash, or not flash, a book cover as you ride the subway or sit in a Starbucks can make or break a stranger’s first impression of you. Right?
Plus, an awesome cover can generate added excitement on your book shelf. Just as if you were to line up your best DVDs, stuffed animals, or porcelain figurines impressive-side out, you would do the same to your books right? I mean, doesn’t everyone do that?
You only have one chance for an acquaintance to check out your stuff, make it count. Make sure you get them to ask “So, what is that book with the Eskimo with a laptop on the cover?! Intriguing… Oooh, pink, I love it!”
The most exciting thing about this list of Best Book Covers 2006 is that I’ve actually read (and own) the first cover on the list. I’m so now-tro.
There’s also quite a bit to be said for the tactile qualities of a book cover, but I’ll get into that some other time.
While we’re at it, a few more interesting things to look at:
(1) Amazon Sales Rankings explained (2) .
(2) Guardian Unlimited Book’s Top Ten Literary Blogs
(3) Plug Your Book: a really great book selling and online book marketing blog.
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09.30.06
Posted in Articles, Book Related, Topical at 3:11 pm by admin
Saturday, September 30, 2006. Story appeared in BUSINESS section, Page D2
“Nationally, though, blogs are increasingly being tapped by businesses seeking to build their brands with customers and clients by going beyond mere Web sites.
They’re still only a blip on the blogging scene, however. Of the estimated 25 million to 35 million blogs in the United States, only 5 percent are business-related, according to the Pew Internet & American Life Project.
Among the few notable business executives who are blogging are Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, Silicon Valley venture capitalist Tim Draper of Draper Fisher Jurvetson and Sun Microsystems CEO Jonathan Schwartz. There’s also a number of business blogging consultants who preach the benefits of blogs as marketing tools.
But for the most part, it’s not mainstream, at least yet. ‘Business and blogging don’t naturally mix,’ said Jonathan Yang, a Bay Area blogger who wrote ‘The Rough Guide To Blogging.’ ‘It’s not really working yet, but businesses are trying to figure out how to make it work.’
…
Another reason some business blogs don’t catch on is they try too hard to hawk their products.
‘Concentrate on explaining what it is that you do,’ said Yang. ‘If what you are doing is interesting, and if people can find you, a (blogging) community will build around it.’”
-Mehul Srivastava, Going to the Blogs-
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09.13.06
Posted in Book Related at 11:47 pm by admin
Tomorrow morning I’ll be on NBC 11’s “Bay Area News” program at 10am. They do a series every Monday highlighting recommendations from independent book sellers in the area, Quills. I’ll be on the regular news show to discuss the book. Wish me luck.
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Hey, remember that time I was on TV talking about the book and blogging? Months later, I figured out how to get the audio up (click here)!
