Authors Electric

After taking the step of self publishing there will come a time when you need to consider ISBNs and whether you need one, and if you do where to get one and what it will cost, and whether you should avail yourself of the free ones that certain companies offer. WHAT IS AN ISBN? First of all let’s look at what an ISBN is. It means International Standard Book Number, and is what booksellers and distributors refer to when they want to order books. Each number is linked to a specific book and no other. Not only that, but different editions and different formats have a separate number. So when the bookseller or distributor orders the book identified by a specific number they know exactly what they will get. This is the reason why paperback versions of the book have a different ISBN to the hardback, and the electronic versions. Not only that but each electronic format requires a different number as well, so the epub version of your book will have a different number to the kindle...

     (The illustration features the author depicted in the act of recording at what has become a mixing deck, and listeners who are either inspired to dance or deafened by his music. It is by Isla Kirton whose rates are very reasonable.)      A recent suggestion was that we use some of these blogs to offer tips on perhaps more 'technical' aspects of writing. For me that narrows the topic range significantly but I have done plenty of voice-over work, so my own suggestions are about audio recording.       Using audio opens up different possibilities through trailers, extracts or even whole chapters. The more courageous might try entire books but that's fraught with lots of difficulties too numerous to explore here. This advice is for anyone who wants to  record a sound track for a trailer or  try making a short reading to post on SoundCloud and/or their website.      First, if y...

     This is the first of a new (hopefully regular) series which is loosely called 'A How-To Day' or 'Training Day' - the aim being that AE'ers share skills, tips and knowledge related to ebooks. With apologies to all the grannies I'm teaching to suck eggs. But someone out there will doubtless find this useful. [Cally.]      Cally - I think it's a myth that 'everyone' knows how to do these things. When I was working in a university, I was astonished how many students never thought to take a quick look on Google for information - something which has become second nature to me. Many of them - and not just the older students - would say, 'Oh, I'm not really into computers.' And my young hairdresser, the other day, when I said, jokingly, that I would blog something, said, 'What's a blog?' I thought she was joking, but no, she really had no idea what a blog was.  So, thank you for going back to basics! - Sue Price. ______...