In my last blog I listed a number of truths and untruths about self-publishing vs traditional publishing, so I thought I would continue in this vein to tackle some other subjects on which I believe that authors require greater clarity.  Read more »

The self-publishing industry has boomed over the last year—or maybe more accurately has been accepted. And no-one on Twitter and with an interest in the book industry can have missed the deluge of articles hailing the sector—with an added kick at the apparently dead dog of traditional publishing for good measure. Read more »

For the first time this year, our Digital Census survey asked specific questions of authors. Yes, authors, like they’re important. Huh? Read more »

Inspired by a tweet from Waterstones University of Birmingham asking about authors on Twitter, I decided to tweet a few of my favourites. In my opinion, authors are some of the best Twitter users. Giving, what can be a fairly solitary pursuit, an instant connection with fans, bookshops, librarians and publishing folk and a great way of conducting research for their books. Read more »

It is easy to predict that 2012 will see us celebrating the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, see the US presidential elections and enjoy the London Olympics, but it is not so easy to predict the winners and the losers of each and every Olympic event. Read more »

Self-published author Catherine Ryan Howard ponders her e-book pricing strategy: In the midst of the Polly Courtney hullabaloo over the term “chick-lit”, I happened upon a  somewhat snide blog comment that suggested Courtney would do better if she were to return to her self-pu Read more »

All right, just a couple of declarations up front...

This is what you might call a placed piece. I'm writing about something I'm involved in because I was asked to, and with the knowledge and consent of FutureBook.

Also: I have a fat face all of a sudden and I'm really annoyed about it. I'm actually in reasonable shape. I need to do some Pilates for my lower back but, thanks to pain and grunting at the gym, for a guy who sits at a desk all day I'm surprisingly fit. Why, then, do I have cheeks like an engorged halibut?

Well, hmph. Anyway, moving on... Read more »

I spent some time with Penguin’s stunning On The Road app this week, it’s a treasure trove of engaging content, illuminating back-story and to top it all off it's a book I love.  However what really caught my eye was the pre-publication letter from Patricia McManus, the Publicity Director of Viking, to Jack Kerouac. Read more »

John Mitchinson, co-founder of Unbound writes for FutureBook: I spent yesterday talking to authors about new book projects, learning some tricks about the dark art of search engine optimisation, and writing copy for an exciting new project we’re putting up on the Unbound site (www.unbound.co.uk) on Friday. Read more »

Victoria Barnsley is a very wise person.

That's hardly news to me. Back in the dim and distant past of ebooks - around 2007 or so, when I was first arriving in the world of publishing with a long novel under one arm and a weird sense of homecoming - she was one of the first people whose position on ebooks seemed to chime with the reality I was seeing and my expectations from technology.

So it's not really a surprise that she's making excellent sense again. Read more »