Last week Amazon lowered the price of the basic Kindle to $79, and introduced a new touch-screen Kindle, for $199. Of course, plenty of people are reading eBooks on Nooks, iPads, smart phones and other devices too.

What does this mean for you as an author?

The low prices and new features of eBook reading devices are exploding, and they will be hot gift items this holiday season! Increasing the percentage of the population who will own an eBook reading device or tablet computers, the demand for eBooks will continue to rapidly rise!

If you’re not publishing in eBook format, you are being left behind! Self publishing eBooks has never been easier and you still have time to finish publish your eBook before the holidays.

Don’t put this off . . . take action now!

Email me TODAY at meg@bookwisepublishing.com for a free 15 min consultation regarding your eBook opportunity.

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, who took the stage to conduct the event, started by annoucing three new Kindle products: the Kindle Touch wifi for $99, Kindle Touch 3G for $149, and a basic (non-touch) Kindle for $79. The touch models can be pre-ordered today and ship on November 21. The basic model ships today.

The Kindle fire is a 7″ tablet that brings together Amazon’s various digital media offerings–Kindle books, streaming video, Amazon MP3–in a dual-core device. The biggest surprise in the device may be the Web browser, called Amazon Silk, which splits the work of browsing the Web between the device itself and Amazon’s cloud computers for faster mobile browsing.

Kindle Fire costs $199 and ships on November 15.

By Craig Morgan Teicher

Source: Publisher’s Weekly

On September 22, 2011, Facebook held f8, its 4th annual developer conference. There were two clear themes throughout the keynote address and demos – user engagement and content discovery. Facebook is making richer experiences possible by expanding the capabilities of their platform.

The biggest changes announced are 1) the new Timeline which will automatically replace personal Profiles starting on October 1st, and 2) the new Open Graph apps that seamlessly update the Ticker with a huge array of “lifestreaming” activity.

There’s also the new Ticker and News Feed layout, Subscribe button, Smart Lists, Share button, and many, many more changes that are outlined below. Some of these changes impact your privacy, some impact how you use Facebook personally, and some impact your business and marketing approach to Facebook.

Apart from liking a page, your users can share that they read a news article, cooked a recipe, listened to a song, or recommended a restaurant.

Improved discovery

The new Facebook profile page now contains three distinct elements.

1. The Timeline that allows a user to customize and share life stages and milestones with their friends and family
2. The Ticker that displays all lightweight activities from friends such as “Lisa just became friends with Gina.” in real-time
3. The News Feed itself that contains status updates and posts from a user’s social graph.

So, rather than display every action taken by a user’s friends, family and colleagues in a single timeline, these activity updates are neatly segmented into three areas of the profile page for easier discovery and consumption.

Automated Sharing

Users can opt-in to share activities to their Timeline one initial time which allows subsequent actions to be automatically shared to their Timeline. Facebook is encouraging creation of branded Facebook apps to make this automatic sharing possible though similar sharing can also be done from a brand site by requesting the publish_actions user permission which Janrain will make available shortly. Customers will be notified when the permission becomes available.

Regardless of your industry vertical, the new Facebook will provide new ways for customers to talk about your brands and products with their social graph.

Retailers

Instead of just “Liking” a product page, you can create any verb association. You will probably want users to “Want,” “Own,” and “Give” products, but think about other things customers would like to do with your products, like “Use,” “Upgrade to,” and “Rock.”

Media and Entertainment

Entertainment apps become much more important, as users will have new ways of engaging with video and music content.

Publishers

Publishers have the greatest ability to stay relevant, as the content stream from your website gets more social distribution through automatic sharing, and drives more users back to your site. You now have the option to introduce labels such as “Read”, “Commented”, “Strongly Agreed With”, “Disapproved” to your content.

 If you want to know how these changes can improve your Facebook page, book and business,

join the Facebook Workshop!

Learn more about writing or submitting reviews. Click here

1. All book reviews should be from a family values perspective. That is to mention anything like vulgar language, violence, sex or sexual innuendo, age-appropriate relationships, alcohol and drug use, etc. Think of it as pointing out anything that would be in a movie review as a reason for its rating. So, please include at least a paragraph about this. If it’s clean, then say so. If it’s mild, then say so. If it’s graphic and makes it difficult to get through the book, then say so.

2. As many of you have noticed, book reviews typically receive a low score for “sourcing.” And it’s the nature of book, movie, CD, DVD and other reviews to not have outside sources as they are based on the opinion of the writer. So book reviews will get a lower score every time. Deseret Connect folks are aware and do understand the concern. But the rating system isn’t changing.

3. It’s OK to not give a book a positive review. However, you must back it up as to why, as you would back up a positive review.

4. Avoid using first person and second person. Please use third person as much as possible.

5. Avoid using quotes or questions in the first paragraph. That’s a pretty standard journalism practice. Please use single quotes in a headline around the book title and double quotes (not italics) around a book title in the story. Use both first and last names of the author in the body of the article.

6. Please check on where the author is from and always mention if an author has any Utah ties or if there is a Utah mention in the book. Also, mention if there are any mentions or ties to the LDS Church, even if it’s a book in the General Book Review group.

7. The Deseret News policy is that the reviewer can keep the product they review. Please hang on to it until the review runs just in case an editor has questions. If you are unable to complete a review for any variety of reasons, please let me know and we’ll work out returning the book. (I don’t expect anyone to read a book they aren’t comfortable with.) Advance review copies aren’t to be sold and usually say so on the cover.

8. Please follow the instructions included in the assignment. When you claim a book review, please email me the book’s title, your name and mailing address so I can send a copy of the book to you. Also, watch the word count. Most book reviews are 350 to 400 words. If you feel that it needs more space, then let me know.

9. If you would like to pitch a book review, please do so. I cannot reimburse for these books. I’ll let you know if the book has already been reviewed and what the possibility of publication is. I am more inclined to approve proposals for recently-published books.

10. Pay attention to deadlines. Some books are associated with book signings and only have a narrow window when they can run. Others run on a space-available basis as space and news varies from week to week. If you have a question about a deadline or are unable to meet a deadline, please let me know ASAP.

11. Many times, authors or publicists will see a review on a particular book and contact that reviewer directly about reviewing their product. It’s up to you how this is handled. If you would like to pitch their book for review, I’ll consider it like I do other pitches. If you would prefer to not have to deal with them, feel free to refer them to me.

12. On the “age range,” this is especially important for books for children and young adults. Please select the range you feel is appropriate for the book.

Congratulations! You’ve made it to the end of the list. If you have any questions or need clarification about any of these or need, please let me know. My email address is rappleye@desnews.com.

Thanks!

Christine Rappleye
Book review editor
Deseret News and Mormon Times
rappleye@desnews.com

So many authors ask me how to easily offer a commission to anyone who sells their book. Until now, I usually say your best bet is to use the Amazon Affiliate program. The problem with this was you were at the mercy of Amazon resellers……UNTIL NOW!

Affiliate Royale launched today. A dear friend of mine developed this amazing plugin for WordPress. He’s an incredible WordPress developer. This plugin is already a selling like crazy in the first 24 hours. It’s because online marketers recognize the power of a strong affiliate program.

I have found 3rd party Affiliate programs are usually a pain to set up and run, until Affiliate Royale. This plugin makes is simple and straight forward for your affiliates.

Why is this system better than ANYTHING I’ve seen?

• Affiliate program owners need is a place for affiliates to manage their account, for you to manage your affiliates and a way to connect your affiliate program to your shopping cart.
• You don’t have to pay monthly for it or a percentage for each affiliate transaction like other 3rd party hosted affiliate program services.
• It’s so easy to setup, uses the look and feel of your website and seamlessly integrates with your WordPress admin.

[message type="info"]*BONUS OFFER* Any BookWise author who has a WordPress website, once purchased, I’ll install this plugin and get it set up for you for FREE through Sept 15, 2011.[/message]


[button style="gradient" color="red" size="big" stroke="true" href="http://www.affiliateroyale.com/index.php?plugin=wafp&controller=links&action=redirect&l=18&a=4"]Buy now[/button]

If you would like to have your book featured, you’ll need to fill out the form in it’s entirety.

http://bookwisepublishing.com/salttv-featured-book-of-the-week/

We can not accept uncompleted forms. It is first come first serve. Which means, we are kicking this off with SaltTV in September. The first completed forms I receive will be the first featured books on SaltTV. As soon as I receive your form, I’ll let you know the week you’ll be featured within the next 72 hours or so.

There are some requirements to be accepted. Even if you can’t meet these requirements right now, don’t worry – as soon as you can, submit your form and we’ll get you on the schedule. This is an ongoing partnership with SaltTV.

To be featured on SaltTV:

• Become a Fan of SaltTV on Facebook   https://www.facebook.com/SaltTVNetwork
• Your book has to be published in either printed or eBook form. Either or both is fine. {No pre-orders or unfinished books}
• Your book has to be sold online at either or Amazon, BN, Google or Apple  {if you need help with this, let Meagen know}
• You have to have a cover for your book.
• Fill out the form with your information

http://bookwisepublishing.com/salttv-featured-book-of-the-week/

The week you are featured you need to do the following things to promote your link:

• Post the link from SaltTV featuring your book on your Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn {all your social networks}. When your feature goes up, Meagen will send you the link.
• You can put on your website “As Featured On SaltTV” in your press area or where you are putting media appearances once your link is posted.
• {Optional} Post a blog about being featured on SaltTV and post the link on your blog
• {Optional} If you have web banners promoting your book, SaltTV will run them the week of your feature on their website. {If you want web banners created, let me know}
• {Optional} Send an email to your list sharing your feature on SaltTV

Contact Meagen if you have any questions. meg@bookwisepublishing.com

1.) Promote Your Book – The 140 character Tweet is at the heart of Twitter. People tweet about everything from what they had to breakfast to jokes to a problem with a company. Savvy authors can use the 140 character Tweet to build buzz around their book. Suggestions for Tweets include: sharing information about your book, offering special promotions to Twitter followers, or hosting contests such as allowing Twitter followers to name a character in your book, offer a tip that will be in your book or offering a prize to whoever comes up with the most creative Tweet about why they love your book, or sharing book tour locations.

2.) Answering Questions – Answering questions on Twitter is where can authors stand out. Use the http://search.twitter.com website to set up various searches with your book, industry, or competitors as the keywords. When someone asks a question about your book, industry or genre, jump in to answer it. You will be perceived as helpful and probably gain a new followers and thus a target new folks interested in your book.

3.) In the Press – When bad press strikes, it can go viral in seconds thanks to social media such as Twitter and Facebook. Fortunately, Twitter can be use to fight fire with fire, pointing your followers (which always tend to increase during a time of crisis) to your response to the situation and quickly answering questions and diffusing rumors. Capitalize on ANY PRESS, if your book solves a problem in the press, user Twitter to direct people to your book or website for answers.

4.) Monitoring Reputation – Twitter search (http://search.twitter.com) can also be used to monitor what people are saying about you. If someone consistently raves about your book, you might want to offer them a freebie or special treat. On the other hand, if you notice a segment of Twitter speaking unkindly of your book, you are on top of it and can form a plan of action to nip it in the bud.

5.) Meeting Agents, Reports and other Bloggers – Reporters and bloggers have taken to social media like ducks to water. They often search for sources on social media or Tweet about the types of stories they are working on. This can be a goldmine for authors. Bloggers prefer to be pitched via Twitter because it forces you to get to the point in 140 characters or less.

6.) Connect Social Media – Connect your Facebook Fan page with your Twitter account. Send automatic updates to Twitter with every Facebook status update.

Every day people are developing new ways to use Twitter. Authors should follow people, including industry leaders, competitors, influential Twitterers, and the general public, and learn from them when it comes to taming this technology for your marketing efforts.

As expected in the wake of Apple’s new restrictions on buying content outside the Apple in-app purchasing system, Amazon.com has launched the Kindle Cloud Reader, an HTML5 reader that will allow consumers to buy and read Amazon titles through the web browsers found on almost any PC or mobile device.

Starting today Amazon is releasing The Kindle Cloud Reader software, initially only for the Safari browser for the iPad, Mac desktop and the Chrome browser. In the coming months, an Amazon release says, the Kindle Cloud Reader will be released for Internet Explorer, Firefox, the Blackberry Playbook browser and other web browers.

Apple’s app development guidelines now prohibit the use of links that bypass its in-app purchasing system—and Apple’s 30% commission—and e-tailers like Amazon, B&N, Kobo, Blio and others must find a new way to sell e-books outside of their native Apple device Apps, which are now essentially strictly e-book readers. HTML5 technology allows web browsers to provide an online and offline experience that is comparable to a native app and e-tailers and publishers, as well as others looking to sell and attract readers outside of the Apple system, will likely turn to the technology. Most importantly, now e-book retailers like Amazon can offer and market their titles for sale and readers can read their Amazon e-books—online and offline—much as they had previously through the native Apple apps. By setting up a iPad Kindle Store available through the Kindle Cloud Readers/Safari browser with 900,000 titiles for sale, Amazon is bypassing Apple’s cut of the sale. The Kindle Cloud Reader gives the reader access to all of their previously purchased Kindle e-books, provides automatic software updates, synchs all titles to the last page read and allows consumers to see all annotations and notes—and e-books can be read offline as well.

Dorothy Nicholls, director, Amazon Kindle, said, “We are excited to take this leap forward in our ‘Buy Once, Read Everywhere’ mission and help customers access their library instantly from anywhere. The flexibility of HTML5 allows us to build one application that automatically adapts to the platform you’re using–from Chrome to iOS. We’ve added an integrated, touch optimized store directly into Cloud Reader, allowing customers one click access to a vast selection of books.”

At BookWise Publishing, we are interested in you and your book at whatever stage you might be in—from an idea to a completed manuscript and beyond.

From the Idea

So let’s begin at the idea stage. If you feel confident that you can write the book, great! But if not, we have ghostwriters available to you who are published authors. And their rates are very reasonable.

To the Manuscript

We have an excellent editing staff. All of the editors are published authors and excellent at their craft. They will perform content and line editing at very competitive rates and they are very fast.

Traditional Publishing versus Self-Publishing

If you’re interested in finding an agent to represent you and your book and ultimately finding a traditional publisher, BookWise Publishing can help you with your query letter or a book proposal. Our writers and editors are very experienced in crafting these documents, and they are critical.

However, if you want to self-publish, when your manuscript is completed and fully edited, you are ready for design.

Design

In order to get an idea of what you are looking for to visually represent your book, our designers like you to provide some examples of books who “look” grabs you, from the cover to the inside of the book. Go online
to Amazon.com and just copy and paste images of books you like. Or go to the bookstore and take your digital camera and send us the images. This gives us a direction to take.

Also, if there is a specific image or photograph you are looking for for a cover, you can go online to web sites such as iStockPhoto.com and copy and paste images that appeal to you. You can buy those images, have them recreated and photographed by our photographers, or you can hire an illustrator and have a custom image created. Our goal is to find the right image for the price you can afford.

Marketing

Marketing starts with your idea. We’ll help you outline a marketing plan that you’ll start from the day you have your idea until the launch of your book. We can assist with the outline

Education & Workshops

Throughout the process, we offer education, book camps, workshops and learning to help you become a better writer, author and marketer.

For a complete list of our services, click here.

To get started email us TODAY!