Library eBooks

Maggie Smith / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

For more than a year, libraries have begun offering eBook checkout options. Through library websites (for libraries that offer eBook checkouts), patrons can use their library cards to check out eBooks for their eReaders, computers, or other portable electronic devices (except Kindle, but we’ll get there). And, these books can be checked out without having to set foot in the library.

Here is where a lot of library advocates are troubled. If people no longer need to go to a library to check out books, because they can check out eBooks from home, won’t that be harmful to the library system overall?

Not really. If a library offers a title to check out via eBook, the library can only check out as many as they purchase, it’s not a free for all. If a library has only one eBook copy of The Help and one person checks it out, the next person has to wait until it is “returned” before they can check it out. It’s the same system that has been in place for printed books all along. You can’t check it out if someone else has it. The plus side to checking out eBooks is that they are returned automatically at the end of the checkout period.

However, the eBook checkout still has people concerned and some publishers won’t allow their books to be available in this system. Others have stipulations in place that say an eBook can only be checked out so many times and then the library has to renew the eBook license if they want to continue to make that eBook available to patrons.

Intrigued by the eBook from the library concept, I decided to give it a shot. I have a card for my county libraries, so I figured it would be a fun thing to try.

Well, fun was probably the wrong adjective in this case. Frustrating is more appropriate. I started by doing the “advanced search” as instructed on my library system’s website, and search after search I got “There were no results for your search.” I searched by title, by author, by subject and all I would get were random books I’d never heard of and wasn’t interested in, or nothing at all.

Then, somehow, I managed to get from my county library system’s website to the Peninsula library website. It turns out that when I can actually find a book I want to check out, the county site takes me to the Peninsula site. And there, along the left-side column, was a handy little list of browsing options with drop down lists. I picked specifically from eBook Fiction and finally made some progress.

Problem number two: nearly everything I wanted was already checked out. Crud. Eventually, I found The Tiger’s Wife and it was available for checkout. Success!

Problem number three: download bonanza. Updates, programs (which required login access, which I had to sign up for…) and endless nonsense, just to open my book.

I eventually got it to work and was able to open my checked-out eBook. I can only hope that I am not inundated by such hassles with the next book I decide to check out. And, this was all to open the book on my computer. I haven’t yet attempted to set up my nook so that it has access to my eBook library. Honestly, I’m not looking forward to it.

Then, because I hadn’t thought I put myself through enough technological torment, I decided to check out an audio book as well. The hassle wasn’t nearly so bad as the eBook, but there was almost nothing available. Everything I wanted had been checked out. I finally settled on one and got it started, only to remember that narrator’s voices are often why I don’t typically bother with audio books in the first place. But that’s another story.

So, yes, the ability to check out eBooks from my library is pretty cool. However, it’s definitely not my preference and I doubt the eLibrary will ever replace a real library. Also, library eBooks are not yet available for Kindle. Amazon anticipates changing this later this year, though there’s no definitive date set. If you’re interested in how the process itself is made possible, OverDrive seems to be the main provider of eBooks for libraries and more information can be found on the OverDrive website.

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Writing as a second job

photo by graur codrin

I was given some important advice as a journalism student that has since been locked away in the back of my brain, waiting to be rediscovered. That advice was to work an interesting job – whatever that means to you – and use it as inspiration for writing, because strong, compelling, colorful stories come from what happens every day.

I also stumbled across an article titled “Why I don’t want to quit my day job” by Jacob M. Appel on The Writer Magazine website. This article describes the benefits of working a regular job or pursuing a career unrelated to writing, and then writing as more of a part-time job. Appel discusses how so many people are turned away from writing by peers and advisers because it’s not deemed as terribly “realistic” to be a full-time writer, and yet, so few are encouraged to do both – work a day job and write. After all, why not?

This concept is very near and dear to my heart. I studied magazine journalism because I wanted to write – about everything and anything. As I was wrapping up my studies, I decided that even though I still love to write, I didn’t want to make a career out of just that. I feared that it would take the fun out of something that I loved if I was depending on it for an income. So, for a variety of reasons, I reevaluated my career goals and decided that once I was settled in my career, I would start writing again.

I went a long time without writing. I still don’t write the way I thought I would while I was in college. I don’t submit query or cover letters or solicit my work – yet. However, this blog has been great to clear my cobwebs and explore different topics to write about. Also, my new pet project, Stories Discovered, allows me to engage in different types and styles of writing – it’s been many a year since I’ve written fiction and I’m a bit rusty, but it’s been wonderful and refreshing for me.

In his article, Appel talks about some of his students in his writing workshop, and asking them about what they do when they’re not writing. He describes how one of his students said, proudly, that all she did was write. He then goes on to make an important point: if the only thing you do is write, eventually “the creative well must run dry.”

There was an exercise I did in a magazine writing course where my classmates and I each started with one topic that was of interest to us and then come up with five different types of articles that we could write based on this one topic, and then spin that topic so that we had even more story ideas. I’m a bowler, and I’ve been on leagues for many years, until recently. This one hobby gave me half a dozen story ideas. My “day job” involves working on an editorial team for Precalculus textbooks (thank goodness, I don’t write them). I’ve volunteered at a center for adolescent girls and currently volunteer at the county history museum. I like to go for long walks and hikes and climb trees, and see what crazy things I can find. I’ve cut up plastic bags and crocheted them into a handbag and bracelets. All of these things that I’ve done and continue to do outside of writing inspire me to write personal essays and make up fun stories.

Writers write because they love it. The volunteer work, the hobbies, the personal interests – all of those things are what feed creativity and spark new and exciting ideas. And the “day job”? Well, that just allows writers to do what they love and still have a regular paycheck.

http://www.wordle.net

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Self-publishing perspectives and tools

Most aspiring authors trying to break into publishing are painfully aware of the dreaded “slush pile” – the stack of unsolicited manuscripts that poor editorial assistants get to sift through to try to find the manuscripts that are worthy of the editor’s time and attention. If a new writer is fortunate enough to have an agent, that helps, but still doesn’t guarantee publication. It’s a frustrating process, though, until somewhat recently, a necessary one.

And thus, another topic to add to my list of publishing issues I’m conflicted about: self-publishing. Jim Sturdivant wrote an article for Book Business that explores this growing trend, including perspectives worth considering.

There are two perspectives I found most noteworthy: the response from some book publishers to integrate self-publishing imprints in their businesses, and the community self publishing is building between readers and writers.

Traditional publishing offers writers the support and guidance of an experienced team of people to help make a book a success, using tools that might not be available to writers choosing to self publish. But, what if a writer can have a little bit of both worlds?

Penguin‘s Book Country and Hay House‘s Balboa Press have taken the plunge by offering self-publishing tools. Though these tools still don’t offer the same support that a traditional publishing contract would promise, they do offer support in the forms such as reader feedback, advice, and signing events.

Balboa Press offers a broad range of editorial, marketing, and printing services. One of the things that I found interesting was that Balboa offers marketing services, including setting up and hosting author websites. However, this service comes at a pretty hefty price: $399 for setup and another $129 per year if you want Balboa Press to host your site. For all I know, this could be reasonable. However, there’s no way I would drop that much money for something that I could do myself. I use webs.com for my portfolio website – which is a free service – and pay about $20 a year for my domain name. If you don’t want to pay for a domain name, webs allows you to use a free name that includes “webs” (or “freewebs,” as the case used to be) in the domain name. It’s not as professional, but it’s free. Granted, the limitation is that the templates are not as easily customizable, but I’ve been quite satisfied with mine. WordPress.org, I believe, is always a good option as well.

So, Balboa Press certainly could be a good resource for writers choosing to self-publish, but I am hesitant about the cost (though I imagine that self publishing is not a cheap endeavor). That said, Hay House does offer some signing events that could really help bolster a self-published writer’s reputation. Might be worth checking out.

Book Country, though not yet offering self-publishing, states on its website that later this year it will offer affordable options for ebook and print self-publishing options. In the meantime, the website allows writers and readers to review, discuss, and interact. It also has a small section where writers can learn a little bit more about the publishing industry, which I think is also a useful resource for those who are serious about being authors and just need some help getting their foot in the door.

One of the things that I love about sites like Book Country is the sense of community it creates for writers and readers. This is where I’m an advocate for self-publishing. It’s kind of like the ultimate book club. And, people have surprisingly good ideas and feedback sometimes. I could do without the people who are more critical than helpful, but that’s the inevitable reality of the industry it seems.

Technology has given us the ability (for better or for worse) to interact with media in some interesting new ways, such as Esquire‘s augmented reality. Book publishing (and book enthusiasts) are now embracing this idea of interactivity. I am all for communities that productively help writers refine their craft and help readers get more enjoyment out of what they’re reading. And, let’s be honest, there are some really terrible books being published. Or, maybe not even terrible, but cookie-cutter books that can’t be distinguished from other titles on the shelves. Maybe this interaction between writers and readers will help prevent some of that. And, maybe that’s wishful thinking, but I’ll embrace that hope just the same.

Another strong reader-writer community is WEbook. It’s another site where readers offer writers feedback on their work, rate the samples, and the writer is moved through progressing stages and could potentially get agents and publishing deals. It’s a different approach to feedback, and not really self-publishing, but I can see this as being very useful to authors.

Overall, I’m still not sure how I feel about self-publishing. I worry about the people who will inevitably abuse self-publishing resources for the sake of simply publishing a book. But, more and more, I find myself in favor of it. There are just too many manuscripts floating around for editors to be able to publish everything that’s publication-worthy. And, there are many, many more self-publishing websites that would be worth checking out that I haven’t listed above. I plan to investigate this more and will post my findings. It’ll be interesting how these emerging self-publishing tools help writers find a place in the market.

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Kindle textbook rentals

Every month I get an email newsletter from Writing World with articles, advice, ads, writing contests and the like. Most of the time I skim through the newsletter but I don’t read it very thoroughly. Today, I’ve had a little extra time and I feel compelled to share what I saw.

It was an ad/link about Amazon offering textbook rentals to students with Kindle e-readers.

Screen shot from Amazon.com

In short, Amazon is renting out textbooks for Kindle as little as 20% of the cost of your typical textbook and students can rent them for 30 days to a year. Not only that, students will have access to notes and highlights even after the rental period has expired.

I’m completely torn about this. On the one hand, if I were still a student, this would be fantastic news and I’d probably buy a Kindle (for now, I’m quite happy with my nook). Ereaders seem to be cheaper by the day, so the expense of a Kindle would be worth it if it meant saving 80% on my textbooks. Don’t want to buy a Kindle? Like all other Amazon ebooks, students can access the textbooks by downloading the free Kindle reading app on a variety of devices. Pretty good deal.

On the other hand, I work in textbook publishing. This could potentially be horrifying for textbook publishers. So much of the cost of textbooks relates to the behind-the-scenes work required, not just the cost of printing a book. So even though it seems like ebooks should be cheaper for publishers, producing ebooks isn’t much cheaper than producing bound books. With this in mind, if the “textbook rental” plan takes off, what will happen to textbook publishing?

This is, of course, assuming all textbook publishers jump on board. The news blurb mentions that a couple of publishers are already on board with this scheme, but what about those who aren’t? I’m assuming this means that students will have to buy their textbooks the good-ol’-fashioned way for the sometimes crazy high prices and then go donate plasma so that they have enough money to live on Top-Ramen for another week.

If I were still a student, I don’t think I’d care for etextbooks – I did too much flipping back-and-forth across sections and pages and I think doing that and taking notes with an ereader would have slowed me down significantly. However, it might have been worth it if it would’ve saved me a lot of money.

It’ll be interesting to see how the future of electronically renting textbooks unfolds. In the meantime, here are some other articles to check out regarding Amazon’s latest scheme:
TIME: How Much Will Students Really Save Using Amazon’s E-Textbooks?
MSNBC:Amazon offering e-textbook rentals
Macworld: Amazon unveils Kindle Textbook Rental
The Washington Post: Amazon to rent Kindle textbooks

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Last summer in New York

I was washing walls at the School of Journalism and Communication at the University of Oregon, my alma mater, when I got the phone call. It was nine in the morning on Thursday of spring break. Not that it mattered much to me that it was spring break, as I had just graduated at the end of winter term.

The phone call was an early notice that I had been accepted to the New York University Summer Publishing Institute. Relief swept over me and after hanging up the phone I scurried down the hall to the office to share the good news with my supervisors, who were aware of my plans and hoping for the best for me. Not even a week before the call I had turned down a well-reputed internship through the Journalism School in hopes that my chances for the NYU program were strong. I had called the program ahead after learning about my internship offer, though they couldn’t say anything yet as it was too early in the process and applications hadn’t been reviewed.

So, I took a chance. My credentials and my letters of reference were strong. And the news of my acceptance changed my life.

Now, a year later, I work in textbook publishing and every day I know that I am where I am because of that program. Why reminisce now? I received an email this morning from the program’s executive director, Andrea Chambers, about an article written about the program that is being picked up by many news outlets.

Not much has changed. The program consisted mostly of women, nearly all students wanted to get involved in editorial – which, by the end of the course, had shifted to include more interest in marketing, advertising, and publicity – jobs are still competitive, and the pay still isn’t great. And, there’s still optimism.

What I find really interesting about this article is that it makes no mention of the magazine publishing sequence of the program, which is the first three weeks and is very intense with many speakers and activities. Not only that, but there was a project for this sequence as well, which seemed to consume more time and energy than the book sequence. Yet, the article doesn’t mention it at all. I can’t help but wonder if it’s because magazine staffs are shrinking and individuals working for magazines need to have more dynamic work skills. So much of the writing is freelance, also. I earned my degree in magazine journalism, so neglecting this portion of the program bothers me. I may be in book publishing now, but I’m still passionate about magazines and media in general and would like to hear that good things are still coming from this area of the publishing industry. Assuming that good things are still coming from this industry, of course…

This program, and the year since, has taught me a lot about what I want, and what I don’t want, from my career. I could write for days about my experience in New York and the program and the path my life has taken since then, but for now I just wanted to recognize and appreciate that this program still receives notice for the good things it does for aspiring publishing professionals.

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Goodbye, Church

It’s strange and heartbreaking how things happen sometimes. This morning, I had just gotten to work and was making my way from my car to my office building when I slipped the Borders Rewards key chain from my key ring. The card was dirty, coming apart at the edges, and the closest stores to me had closed. I didn’t see the need for it anymore.

Later this morning, my older sister writes me on g-chat and says, “All of Borders are closing down 😦 they expect to be fully shut down by the end of September. 399 stores.”

I thought back to my rewards key chain and cringed. In my family, actions like this – intuitive actions, instinctual actions – are called “shining” because of the Stephen King book and the result of my mom, an avid reader.

In fact, it is because of my mother that Borders became known as “Church” to us. During the most difficult time in our lives as a family, when my parents were going through a long divorce, my mom and my two sisters and I would pile in the car and go to Borders. Barnes & Noble was closer, but that wasn’t the point. The atmosphere at Borders was warmer, friendlier, in a way. At that time, we were all soul-searching, trying to find a way to find peace and comfort in our lives. My mom, drawn to the “New Age” aisle, and my sisters and I, drawn to our mom, settled on the floor in the aisle with books about Wicca and Paganism. We bonded in this section.

As a result, Borders became “Church”: a safe place where we could go to find peace and take a break from harsh realities. On several occasions, my younger sister would send me a text message asking if I would like to go to Church with her. It became an inside joke, and one that I will greatly miss.

In my first year of college, I lived in the dorm and didn’t see much of my family, even though I was still close by. By my second year, my mom and I decided that on Monday nights we would meet at borders in the cafe, I would bring my homework and she would bring (or buy) a book. These little get-togethers with my mom gave me something to look forward to, though it wasn’t long before life’s craziness took over and we were unable to meet there on a regular basis.

Compared to the 10,700 employees who are now out of work, these little sad stories of loss might seem trivial. But the way I see it, this is my connection to this loss. Stores go out of business all the time and there are always casualties in the wake of these heartbreaks. For those casualties, I wish the best to all of those who lost their jobs as a result of this closure, and I hope that everyone recovers from this painful blow without experiencing more loss.

As the sad ending to Borders unfolds, many will place blame on the growth of eBooks and technology and the like – a small battle in the ongoing war of technological advancement and the race for “bigger and better” in the world. Maybe eBooks are to blame, but maybe not. I will leave that soapbox to others and stand down this time and take comfort in my fond memories. Surely tomorrow there will be a new battle.

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A new goal

You want to know how a writer knows when it’s time to re-evaluate her craft and go back to the good ol’ blog? When she realizes that she hasn’t blogged in nearly a year and the most interesting thing she writes is an email. At work.

Surprise, surprise, the writer I’m talking about is me!

No excuses. Nope. Not this time. Only a new goal or two.

Having said that, here’s my new, personal aspiration: In the coming month or so, I am going to create a new blog for my explorations and discoveries. In the past year I’ve made a lot of big changes in my life and those changes have been so overwhelming that I have forgotten to look at the little things along the way.

When you don’t look at the little things, when you’re blinded by the big picture, you miss so many good stories. Now, I can’t take all the credit for this idea that unfolded in front of me. I recently picked up a book I bought a couple of years ago that is full of writing prompts, and this was one of them. The way it works is that you go out in the world – or at least down the street – and you look around. Along the way to wherever you’re going, you pick up (or in my case, photograph) the things you find that could potentially inspire a story – a receipt, a letter, a broken toy – and you tell the story behind it. Speculation, of course. Or fiction, if you want to split hairs.

So, here’s the deal. As I said, I’m going to start a new blog for my explorations and discoveries. On that blog I am going to post photos of the treasures that I find along with an anecdote. A tale, of sorts. I’ve always been passionate about stories – fiction and nonfiction. And, I like to share stories. This seems like a no-brainer to me.

That’s what my future holds for the restless writer in me. I’m hoping that additional opportunities to write and share information will open up, but this is as good of a start as any.

To help inspire me, I’m posting this photo of my favorite discovery so far. This is a tree in Half Moon Bay, California (unconventional and not really a discovery, I know). However, this tree spoke to me in a way. It’s braced on the edge of the world, flexible, but still strong and protecting. This is a foundation for me. Something to build up from. The picture doesn’t really do it justice, but it’s still beautiful.

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