Publishing News -- 1/13/2009

The Cost of e-Books
Last weekend, I interviewed Lori Perkins of Ravenous Romance on FWA Radio. Ravenous Romance publishes erotica e-books for low prices, considering that the costs of raw materials and logistics don't figure into the price of the book.

Unfortunately, must of the rest of the industry isn't following that model. There's been early disappointment in the prices of e-books and other materials. For instance, to download the New York Times to your e-reader, you'd spend 75 cents. To buy Stephanie Meyer's latest on Amazon, you'd shell out $12.64. The e-book costs $11.38, a savings of $1.26. At that savings rate, your Kindle will pay for itself after you read about 270 books.

Granted, the Stephanie Meyer book is heavily discounted in Amazon, but still, unless it's a loss leader, someone's paying the cost of materials and logistics. You might tend to agree with me, but this blog article (Why e-books are so expensive) provides a different viewpoint.

Other News
Freelancing and Article Writing
Your Article Resource Box Must Promise a Strong Benefit -- If you're writing an online article and you include a resource box, fill it with as much useful content as your article.

Ten Tips for Moving from Part-Time to Full-Time Freelancing -- It would be so nice to ditch the j-o-b for a writing life. Here's a list of things you have to do first.

How I Make Money Blogging -- Blogging can be like freelancing online. And you can make good money at it, if you monetize your work. Here are some good tips.

Marketing Your Work
Gimme a "Mama" to Go -- An author set part of her novel in a diner. Now the diner sells her book.

Online Promotional Tools for Writers -- -- Blog post that highlights a website with free promotional tools.

Publishing and the Economy
Major Investor Drops B&N Stock -- Persching Squary Capital sells its 11.8 percent stake because of dropping sales numbers.

The Craft
Every non-fiction book needs an index: here's why -- An index created by a professional--not by a program--is your best bet if you want a high-quality non-fiction book.

Characters, Sex, and the Characters They Have Sex with -- It's bound to come up in something you write, so here's some Q&A about this potentially uncomfortable subject.

Self-Publishing
The First Self-Publishing Success Story of 2009? -- Notes Left Behind details notes hidden around the house by a six-year-old cancer victim that were found after she died.

Social Media
If you are laid off, here's how to socially network yourself to a new job -- 19 very solid tips for using social networking to get a new job.

New Publishing Directory for Twitter -- If you ever wanted to Tweet someone in the world of publishing, now you can!

New Media Venture Turns Bloggers into Print Journalists -- The Printed Blog will publish twice a day with local blog content. It will be available in Chicago, San Fransisco, and New York.