First Major Publisher Finally Gets It!

Last week in what I fully believe will become known as an historic turning point for the publishing industry, HarperCollins Publishers announced a partnership with On Demand Books (makers of the Espresso Book Machine) and something called “Comprehensive Backlist.”

The program will allow any physical bookstore with an Espresso Book Machine the ability to offer thousands of backlist trade paperback titles from HarperCollins to their customers. This means that the vision of walking into your local bookstore only to find the title out of stock and a wait of one to three weeks for that special order to arrive, a thing of the past.

Me and some of the first EBM titles at McMaster in 2009 in front of the EBM 1.5

Now, all the bookseller will need to do is look up the title in their Espresso Book Machine (EBM) catalogue, hit a few buttons, and the perfect bound trade paperback, complete with a full colour cover will be produced right there in the store in a matter of minutes.

This represents the very dream I had envisioned when I set about to purchase the Espresso Book Machine for the bookstore at McMaster back in 2008. Titles Bookstore at McMaster University was the 2nd location in Canada to acquire an EBM and, even though the catalogue of well over a million titles was immediately available, content from the major publishers was still part of the “coming soon” rather than the “feature attraction.” Instead of waiting for the inevitable content, McMaster took a “buy it and they will come” approach and haven’t looked back.

The EBM at McMaster has allowed us to partner with academic publishers to ensure the availability of custom versions of textbooks that helped us save students hundreds of thousands of dollars over the past three years, while increasing bookstore and publisher sell-thru. The EBM has also attracted an entirely new revenue stream due to our ability to offer services for self-publish authors. With an ideal print-run of 1 copy, anybody who ever wanted to follow the dream of publishing their own book saw some previous high barriers fall.

“Bookstores continue to be an important place for customers to shop for physical books,” Brian Murray, Chief Executive Officer at HarperCollins said in a September 22^nd press release. “The goal of this initiative is to give the local bookseller the capability to provide customers with a greater selection of HarperCollins titles in a physical environment.”

Visionary Dane Neller, CEO of On Demand Books applauds HarperCollins on this move. “By committing thousands of titles to the program,” Neller says, “HarperCollins is showing its clear support for bookstores and authors, and reaching more readers.” Neller goes on to state that “Digital-to-Print at Retail” (DPR) will become a powerful new sales channel helping to eliminate lost sales due to out of stock inventory.

This is a day that I dreamed of when I first watched the EBM roll into the bookstore at McMaster University one fine day in November of 2008.

I knew that digital books and ebooks would continue to grow and eventually become a dominant force within the publishing market; but I have also long held the belief that there was a need for digital distribution with a “print local” element – allowing customers who still prefer the printed artefact purchased from their friendly neighbourhood local bookshop an easy way to get access to more titles than can be physically held in a small and often high rent retail space.

We have all seen evidence that bookstores attempting to stock upwards of 100,000 titles on their shelves is not always a fully sustainable business model. The McMaster bookstore, for example, which used to stock 40,000 titles in the store, eventually recognized that the cost of attempting to physically carry “everything” was simply not sustainable. It was the Espresso Book Machine and the continually growing digital catalogue of print on demand titles that allowed us to finally make the change and stop carrying so much backlist and overstock. We knew that the day would come when that backlist (or Chris Anderson’s “long tail” of titles would soon be available in a more convenient fashion for customers, booksellers and publishers thanks to our Espresso Book Machine.

Now that HarperCollins has stepped up to the plate, I’m sure that the other major publishing stakeholders will follow suit.

I’m rather enthusiastic to watch a fresh new opportunity that represents a win situation for publishers, bookstores and authors, particularly at this time of unease and unprecedented change in our industry.

A Smudge of Eink

I have long been a fan of the artefact known as a book.

However, I've also been rather excited by advancing technologies that would allow me to, for example, carry hundreds, perhaps thousands of books with me relatively easily, so that when I travel I not only have a book to read, but I might also have a back-up book, or two, or three, or a hundred.

Right now, for example, I've got 5 books on "the go" - ie, books that I'm in the middle of reading. Two of them are physical books, two of them are digital books and one of them is an audio book. Two rooms of my house have physical books that await me. (The bedside table and the reading chair), I've got a book to listen to while commuting or going for a run, and a couple of others I can read in short snippets while on the go.

Life has been good for this life-long reading nerd.

Until a few days ago, that is.

Having been without a vehicle lately, I've been taking the bus in to work each morning. Using the HSR has been a pleasant experience. Walking to the bus-stop I've been able to listen to an audio book. But when I'm sitting on the bus, I enjoy the experience of reading. And since the physical books I'm reading right now are weildly thick books and more difficult to stuff into my laptop bag, I've been taking my Sony PRS-505 with me.

I've owned my Sony reader for a couple of years now - it's an earlier version of the reader, but the design of it is, in my opinion, better than the more recent models. (One of the things I like more about the 505 version is that the "page turn" option is duplicated, appearing on the right-hand side of the device as well as the bottom left -- it meant that, nomatter which hand I was holding the ereader with, I was able to easily turn the page relatively easily (ie, without having to use my other hand) - this was useful whether I was lying in bed with one arm behind my head or standing on a bus or train and holding on to something to keep from flying forward at sudden stops.

Life was good with my Sony ereader and it's e-ink screen. It was a nice, lightweight device, measuring roughly 5 X 7, or about the size of a mass market paperback, yet about a quarter of an inch thick, and perhaps a pound in weight.

The eink experience of reading is pleasant on the eyes. The joy of being able to carry more than one book on the device, listen to music from the device or even store pictures on it were neat novelties - I didn't often take advantage of most of those options, but they were nice to have, particularly when showing off the reader to others.

This version of the ereader didn't have WiFi. No, it wasn't as convenient as being able to download new reading material on the fly - to get new content onto it, I needed to hook it up with a USB to my computer and download or move content over to it. Not a big hassle, and having a handheld device that did NOT connect to the internet was a benefit, in my mind. Enough distractions abound without having to deal with my own temptation to be reading email or checking my RSS feed, or checking in on a social network.

As I said, life was good. I was taking my Sony ereader to work with me in my laptop bag, enjoying the commute and the extra reading time I was able to get in.

Until the other day when I pulled out my Sony reader to continue reading the book I'd been enjoying and noticed a small mark on the eink screen. I rubbed at it, but it didn't go away. It was an "eink smudge." That day's transit to and from work had had no particular issues. IE, I hadn't dropped my bag, hadn'y thrust anything into it in any sort of violet fashion. I'd merely carried it to and from work like I do thousands of times a year.

But there, a little more than half-way up the screen, was the tell-tale smudge of eink, suggesting to me some sort of damage had occured to the screen. It reminded me of a crack I remember getting on a laptop screen about ten years ago when I'd accidentally stepped on the closed laptop that some moron (me) had left on the floor.

My heart skipped a beat.

I turned the device on and waited the half second for the screen to come alive.

The top right quadrant of the eink screen was blocked/blurred. About 45% of the real estate of the screen was now "dead" - nothing showed on it.

I flipped pages. I turned it on and off. I went through the library, opening new material, different documents like images, etc. Nothing worked.

I went online to various forums, followed the steps to reset the entire device, even wiping out my memory and restoring to factory settings. None of that worked either.

So right now, I have a device that, originally, cost a few hundred dollars, can store books, music and photos but is virtually useless as anything other than an mp3 player. I have ebooks I have purchased through Sony which I can't read on my portable device any longer (yes, I can read them on my computer through an Adobe product - but I don't really read ebooks on my computer - that's so 1999)

I keep looking at that silly smudge of eink on the screen of my digital book reader.

Then I look over at the 8 sets of bookshelves in my home library.

And I think -- I could have easily transported any one of these books back and forth from work. None of them (not even the limited edition slipcase collector items I purchased new) cost nearly as much as the eink reader on its own. And none of them would have been rendered unreadable after a typical day of going to and from work.

And then I sigh and mutter something to the effect of: "Electronic devices come and go, but books abide."

No I haven't given up on digital books and e-ink devices.

But I have renewed some of my belief, some of my passion about the durability and longevity of that long-running artefact known as the printed book.

Don't Forget Me (When I'm Gone)

Two recent book-world headlines are kicking around in my head lately, but ultimately the same theme emerges. I'll get to that in a moment.

One is in regards to a Seattle bookseller who refuses to sell the new Amazon publishing imprints, such as the Thomas & Mercer mystery imprint - despite the fact they recently signed a major deal to publish books by the late Ed McBain and one of the authors signed to this imprint wanted to do an event in that bookseller's store.

The other is in regard to bookseller reaction to Pottermore and the selling of ebooks direct to consumers, rather than through bookstores. (Late last week, J.K. Rowling announced the new web experience of Pottermore which will finally include the release of the Harry Potter novels via ebook.)

I absorb such news bits with two hats, which sometimes cause conflict in my own mind:  As someone curious, fascinated and excited by advances in the book industry; and as a bricks and mortar bookseller who is struggling to stay relevant in the digital age.

In the Pottermore discussion, there's mention of the Harry Potter launch day events at bookstores having become the stuff of legend. And in the Amazon imprint hype, there's a debate between an author who wants to do an event at a store that refuses to sell those books.

The thing I see in common with both is the richness of the physical.

Part of the excitement and hype with Harry Potter involved the first (at least to my knowledge) midnight book launches at bookstores around the world, with so much anticipation for the next book in the series that fans simply couldn't wait until 8:30 or 9:00 AM Saturday morning, but instead, lined up, in costume, with specially planned events and a definite party atmosphere, to pick up the next Harry Potter novel at 12:01 AM on the official release day. For a bookseller, such an event is truly magical. And I'm not just talking about the excitement, buzz and adrelanine - I'm talking images of customers lined up as if to get on a gigantic new theme park ride, but instead, they're lined up to BUY A BOOK.

Wow, think about how many copies of that book sold - how many customers dressed up and lined up to hang out at a bookstore in the wee hours of the night. It was a bookseller's wet dream, in many ways, and a tremendous boost to the book industry.

Booksellers might decry how Rowling owes them for being there when she needed them. And sure, that's true -- but just the same, booksellers needed Rowling, not just for the hype and the launch day events, but for reinvigorating the thrill of reading for a whole new generation, for crossing the boundary between young adult and adult fiction (since you didn't need to be a young person to be captured under the spell of Rowling's universe)

Yes, I'm disappointed that customers won't have the chance to choose to support their favourite local bookstore (chain or indie) when buying a Harry Potter ebook -- and that's too bad. But, at least we'll always have Paris.  Er, I mean, at least we'll have those great stories to tell about the magical launch day events.

It seems as if the once struggling author who no longer needs the booksellers is moving along to different waters, leaving the booksellers to sing the old Glass Tiger song: "Don't Forget Me (When I'm Gone)"

But the reality is, the bricks and mortar booksellers have not been forgotten, nor completely left behind. In some ways, there are folks out there trying to sing the song Bette Midler made popular "Wind Beneath My Wings" -- of course, for others the music has stopped and the song is over.

Because, though it seems a little shifty, Amazon sneaking in and snatching publishing itself from publishers (the way they snuck in and snatched bookselling from booksellers) let's look at the situation as presented on mhpbooks site in a recent article.

When contacted by an author who is being published under Amazon's new imprint, the bookseller refuses to carry the books, refuses to host the author, refuses to support Amazon. And I'm not disputing the bookseller's reasoning - he has solid reasoning, does not want to muddy the waters, does not want to buy from the competition that is hammering nails into the coffin of bricks and mortar booksellers everywhere, and simply does not trust the behemoth online company based upon some of their less than stellar actions as good corporate citizens.

So, again, I'm not poo-pooing this bookseller's POV. He is sticking to his guns and one has to admire his integrity.

But I can't say I'd be as steadfast in my own conviction if an author who signed a deal with Amazon turns around and wants to sell books in my store.

This is acknowledgement, of the highest order, that despite the hype, despite the media frenzy, the author recognizes that without a bricks and mortar presence, without acknowledgement from his local neighbourhood bookseller, he's still not an author. Definitely not in the "my book is on bookstore shelves" manner by which an author is often judged.

This is acknowledgement of the type of resonant connection that can be made between an author and a reader when given the opportunity to connect, in person, via a local venue such as, oh, I don't know, perhaps a bookstore.


Those are powerful sentiments, and something booksellers, particularly with all of us singing that Glass Tiger song so frequently, should consider.

If players like Amazon continue to utilize their non-physical presence to their advantage, why aren't booksellers playing up their physical presence more often? Yes, virtual online selling is exciting and new, but there are definite benefits to a real physical presence in a community that no online experience can ever match. Otherwise, authors wouldn't be knocking on the doors of booksellers asking them to carry their book or to host a book event.

After all, the very thing that presents a challenge (being tied to a particular unique physical location) can be the same thing that presents an opportunity.

So, while looking toward the future, while looking at ways in which bricks and mortar bookstores can embrace change, get involved in some of the digital/virtual action, it's also okay to take the time to play up and take advantage of those strengths that already exist.

Those Little Things

Sometimes it's those little things that make such a big difference.

The other day I had printed off a Google Map for some books that I needed to deliver to a customer. Normally, I'd print the map, which has a pointer showing the location I'm going to, then, on the printed sheet, jot down the address and phone number of my destination.

However, this time I noticed something I hadn't seen before . . .

When you hit the Print button at the top of the Google Maps screen, the pop-up window allows you to enter a free text note that will print along with the map.

Simple, yet ultimately useful. Perhaps it was there all along and I only just noticed it now.

But what a wonderfully simple thing that makes it that much easier for the user to customize their experience and ensure the printed map has the detail and info that they want.

It makes me think back to what simple yet effective things I can do to make my own customer experiences that much richer.

A Virtual Success

On Friday I decided to perform a little experiment and do a "launch" for the release of a new story direct to digital.

Spirits is the tale of two young lovers who caught up in the legend of The Phoenix Baby, the ghostly crying that haunts a repertory theatre in the city of Ottawa.  As they unravel the mystery, they find themselves becoming inextricably entangled to the old abandoned building.

If you're at all intrigued, you can listen to the entire story online (or download an mp3 of it) for free.

So at lunch time on Friday, as part of the joy of experimenting, I did a virtual launch via UStream, which is a streaming live video. I did what one normally does at a book launch (I read from the tale, spoke a bit about it and answered questions) - except, of course, I wasn't in a book store.

I can imagine that as the physical and digital begin to work more closely together, one might very well be able to do a virtual book launch right into a bookstore, or more than one bookstore simultaneously. I know my colleagues at Collected Works Bookstore & Coffeebar in Ottawa have done this very thing several years ago; they projected an author from the UK into their store, and filled the place beyond capacity.

I've also experimented in the same realm with my colleagues from University of Alberta Bookstore - they had an author appear there and we had an audience without our own store watching the event and communicating with the author and folks in Edmonton via a two-way video chat. And, for the launch of Robert J. Sawyer's WATCH, we broadcast the event from our store to a UStream feed, with twice as many people attending the virtual event than were in the store.

I can imagine more experiments like this, particularly as booksellers work out various ways to allow customers to purchase ebooks through their businesses.

The live broadcast was about 45 minutes, and I recorded about 30 minutes of it. This is raw and unedited video, so do be warned.



















Eighteen people attended this virtual launch via UStream. I'm not sure how many watched via the direct-to-Facebook feed that I built into my Mark Leslie page there. But in any case, having 18 people "attend" a book launch is a huge success for an author such as myself.  

And, BTW I know that my Mom (who doesn't own a computer) wasn't one of the attendees. Neither was my wife - she was upstairs cleaning the house at the time. I do know a few friends who attended and greatly appreciate their enthusiasm and support. It's always nice to look out into the audience and see a few familiar friendly faces.

Of course, that's one thing that was a bit strange for this launch - I couldn't see any friendly, smiling faces. All I could see was the green light on my web cam letting me know that I was broadcasting. Also, normally when I speak in front of a group, I can judge how things are going by the looks on their faces and can adjust my presentation accordingly. You can't get any of that feedback during a virtual launch.

There is, however, the ability for folks to pipe in during a chat stream and ask questions - and at least one person in the audience did -- one of my friends. Thanks, William!

So, ultimately, WAS the launch a success?

Well, on Smashwords, Spirits hit the Top 5 Bestsellers list within Horror and on Amazon it climbed as high as 13,693 on the Paid in Kindle Store list (up from where it started at 102,755) and it was also listed at #93 in the Top 100 Hot New Releases in Horror for the Amazon Kindle.

I'd call that a decent showing.

Launch of SPIRITS (Digital Short)

People who haven't died can still leave their spirit in a place.

That's the premise for "Spirits" the tale of two young lovers who are caught up in the legend of The Phoenix Baby, the ghostly crying that haunts a repertory theatre in the city of Ottawa.  As they unravel the mystery behind the legend, they find themselves becoming inextricably entangled to the old abandoned building.

Today I'm launching a short story direct to digital. After all, you've got to keep trying new things just to see what sticks.

The story is available on Amazon Kindle for 99 cents.

I also loaded it to Smashwords which distributes to all the major ebook retailers (Kobo, Sony, Diesel, Apple iBooks, etc) - at this point it's available at Smashwords directly but hasn't yet cascaded to all the other channels.

At noon today (EST) I'll be doing a live streaming video launch via my uStream channel - it'll be the usual thing one would normally do in a bookstore for a launch: a brief talk about the story, short reading, answering questions; or, as sometimes happens, sitting quietly or talking to myself because nobody shows up - (hey, I have to joke about it because we've all been there at "no show" author events, haven't we?)


There's also an audio version of the story which is available completely for free on my "Prelude To A Scream" podcast.

Yes, you can sample the first part of the story direct from Amazon or Smashwords, or listen to the entire story for free online or download it and listen to it on your iPod or mp3 player.

If you like that free audio experience or the free samples, or even the live streaming "event" perhaps you'll consider either buying it or perhaps posting a positive review so that others might find it.

But at the very least, you can say: "Hey, I attended a virtual book launch for an ebook." And that's got to be worth something . . .

A Prize In Multiple Formats

I recently finished reading Neil Peart's new book from ECW Press called Far and Away: A Prize Every Time.

Like every single other one of Peart's travel-biographies, it goes straight up the "must recommend" list, but unlike his previous works, this one is the most interesting in that most of the content has already been accessible via Peart's blog.

You see, Far and Away is a collection of blog posts gathered from Peart's blog, something he started tentatively, back in 2005 (the same year this blog started). Using the title "News, Weather and Sports" he made some updates about his professional life, talking about completion of the book Roadshow as well as an instructional DVD called Anatomy of a Drum Solo and then ended up with a joke about weather and sports.

His next tentative post came in April 2006, the form of a "story" actually taking place. Shortly after, the next story came more easily, this time with pictures. By 2007, Peart had evolved his blog posts into a template he was comfortable with, and the words started to flow "with passion and precision." (Sorry, couldn't resist making reference to one of his lyrics)

And once he was in the swing of things, satisfied with the process of publishing online, the stories, the pictures, the wonder continued to flow. And, they eventually found their way into this gorgeous book by ECW Press, who also published Traveling Music and Ghost Rider.

I originally received a pre-production galley of the book via NetGalley, a great service for publishers and professional readers. Instead of costly, printed ARCs and galleys, often sent to bookstore buyers and reviewers, NetGalley offers digital secure gallies to be sent out.

I had the choice to read the digital galley of the book in multiple different ways, but opted to move it to my Sony Reader with the e-ink black and white screen. While reading in that format took away from the experience meant to be produced by the accompanying photos and original layout of the book, I was quite pleased with the experience, it being extremely portable and convenient. (It has also been over a year since I'd read any book on that electronic ink screen - most of the ebooks I'd read had been via the KoboBooks app on my iPhone)

One thing I knew for sure, however, was that I was going to want to own the hardcover when it came out. (And I did - the day it was available on bookstore shelves, there I stood at the cash register, proudly holding the hardcover, eager to bring it home, despite the fact I had already read most of it) And as I continued to read through the sequence of articles, adventures (which are, as Peart continually states in an ongoing ode to Hemmingway "no fun when you're having them") and retrospective commentary, I was blown away with the fact that there is, indeed, a prize in each and every tale collected in this book.

Peart seems most at home when he is not spotlit on a stage, but rather, blending into the crowd and absorbing the abundance of what each day's adventure has to offer.  He's not one for the fuss and bother of being fawned over by fans, and amazingly humble in the overwhelming "cheers" for his multiple creative outlets. His stories reveal that attitude as well as his thirst for perfection in his personal accomplishments and the sheer joy in the act of sharing these tales.

The blog posts are reminiscent of the personal hand-written letters that appear in Ghost Rider, in that they are the result of Peart's desire to put into words the things he sees in the world around him, capturing interesting moments and singular activities that become timeless and enduring.

After all, who would have thought that reading somebody's blog posts from 2009 about the strange personal quest for two neighbours to find the base of a "phantom tower" that suddenly appeared on the horizon in the Laurentian Mountains of Quebec or the tranquil reflections of watching a hummingbird family in the backyard bougainvillea vines could be fascinating for strangers to read.

But they are. And amazingly so.

Peart deftly brings the reader right along for each one of his adventures and observations. The experience is less like reading a book and more akin to sitting across from a dear friend on a warm summer night and listening to them recount the fascinating day they just had.

Photo of interior spread from Andrew Wolson's The AndyO Experience

It find it interesting that I could have read most of the content of the book for free via Peart's blog, or could have just left it at reading the free digital NetGalley copy I received. But if I had done that, I would be missing out on a truly glorious experience of holding the 10 1/2 " X 8 1/2 " hardcover in my hands, of flipping through the pages, seeing photos and then being drawn back into the tales that accompany them. Simply, the hardcover is gorgeous. It beautifully crossed the boundary between text prose and coffee-table picture book, offering much of the best of both worlds in a single bound edition.

The physical manifestation of the book itself is evidence of how a tried and true format of the print book simply can't be replaced. But even putting that "collectible" and "displayable" artefact aside, the compilation of these posts into a single package with a defined beginning and end give it something special, and I applaud Peart, his travel companions (who are also photographers), his editors and ECW Press for putting the proper time and effort into producing this fine book.

Figuring Out The Figures

I'm always suspicious when announcements are made without any actual concrete statistics being revealed, particularly ones used for comparison. I'm sure you remember the statement often attributed to Mark Twain that "figures never lie, but liars figure."

Amazon recently stated that they are now selling more ebooks than printed books.

I don't at all doubt that ebook sales are on the rise. They're still relatively new, and their popularity is growing.  After all, being still such a "young" part of the industry, they really have no other place to go but up.

However, whenever claims are made without being backed up by actual numbers, real statistics that aren't shadowed in hyperbole, I take it with a grain of salt -- because somewhere between the claim and the doubt lies the reality.

I chuckle when I think about listening to Neil Pasricha, the author of The Book of Awesome and The Book of Even More Awesome talk at an author luncheon this past Sunday at Canadian Booksellers Association National Conference. Neil's New York Times Bestselling book was born out of a blog he started one day in an attempt to just focus on one awesome thing each day.

When describing his first blog post and the response, he joked that when he checked his stats after releasing his observation to the world, that he got a single hit; his mother. The next day, his mother forwarded the link to his blog to his father, resulting in his hits doubling overnight.

Interesting how Neil used that as a joke, but could have hidden the actual numbers from us if he wanted to impress. But he wasn't there to impress. He was there to entertain and uplift - something he is a nature at doing.

Neil's self-deprecating joke drives it home, though.

I could use similar statistics hiding the real numbers to let you know that visits to my blog in the past two days are three times that of what they were the same day last month. (Hiding of course, that there were no fresh posts in the "like" period, which typically has an effect on hits, or other outside factors which might have led to a temporary increase in traffic.)

I can also look at ebook sales within the bricks and mortar bookstore I work at (yes, we offer an option to a limited number of digital titles - have done so, in various ways for well over a decade, BTW) and state that our revenues for ebook sales are easily ten times higher this year than the previous similar period - and, without revealing the numbers, I'm honestly quite impressed by the revenues appearing there - but at the same time, while a positive number to add to our bottom line, and one I whole-heartedly welcome, those revenues wouldn't keep the store open on their own; we still rely on physical sales of products through our physical location, that textbook unit and dollar sales are still the core of our business.

But back to Amazon's claim. Ebook sales surpass physical book sales by a certain value. And this time we're not talking about "free items" counting as books. Okay, cool. We're talking units, right? We're not talking actual dollars or revenues - given the lower average price point of ebooks, there's a lower profit for everyone involved. Surpassing won't replace in a solid business model unless the supporting revenues are there. I won't try to iron it all out because not all the statistics are being revealed - there's no way to proper analyse the data when you don't have access to all of it. Just sayin'.

Again, I'm not doubting it's working for Amazon - they're brilliant business people, after all - they wouldn't have gotten where they are today otherwise; and it's only natural for a "virtual" retailer with a huge market share and virtual presense to do really well selling a virtual/digital product. I'm just a bit leery of extrapolating beyond their own closed-numbers results.

Canadian author Jeff Buick's ONE CHILD - availabile in print, ebook & transmedia formats

And I'm not saying I don't believe that ebook sales are on the rise. Why do you think CBA announced partnerships with two Canadian ebook options - Enthrill and Transcontinental? It's to allow more bookstores across Canada access to a growing market.

I'm just curious at the actual numbers, the actual stats that will likely never be revealed, and, while impressed with what we're being told, take this recent press release with the proverbial grain of salt.

There's Nothing Virtual About Death

I found out a few days ago that a friend of mine died last month.

Here's where it gets interesting, but isn't all that unique any more - not in today's online and connected society.

I've known this friend for about 5 years, knew her under various names/nicknames as well as her real name. But we never met in person. We were blogger friends. We'd connected via a weekly blogging ritual called HNT (Half Nekkid Thursday) in which people would post photos of themselves, typically taken by themselves, and then visit the other folks who would post the same. The photos would run the spectrum from "nekkid" meaning simple self-exposure shots of a person in their daily lives, or perhaps a simple shot of the paper cut on their finger they got at work that day, a picture of themselves with a dear friend, all the way to racy and less interpretive shots of "nekkid." But, often, the "exposure" wasn't the removal of clothing, but a peek into a person's inner self, an exposure of them. That, in my mind, has been where phenomenal connections and friends have been made.

I made a lot of friends through HNT and blogging (I started blogging in March 2005), some of whom I've established personal connections with "off-blog" and some of whom I've even had the pleasure of eventually meeting in person.

I never met Melanie Elizabeth Phillpott VanWinkle (also known in the blogging community as Stealth Bombshell and Texas Spitfire - perhaps other nicknames) in person. But we connected via blogging, via photos, via comments and silly humorous exchanges, and connected with our real names, later, via Facebook.

So I never knew her in person, but I knew her just the same. She touched my life, she made me smile, made me laugh, made me cry, made me think. I am a richer person for having known Melanie, even in this limited virtual way. And I am mourning her loss, but at the same time, wanting to celebrate her life and the fact that I have gained simply by knowing her.

The joys of the virtual online world exist. You can connect and share and communicate with great people you'd otherwise not have the pleasure of meeting in person. And that experience can enrich your life - because that's what other people do; they enrich your life.

But here's the rub: when that person dies, particularly when there's no "physical world" interaction in which people close to them know you know one another, what is the result? What is the healing ritual?

Typically, death involves ritual, involves a chance for people to say goodbye, for some ritualized sense of closure (even if the pain of that loss never fades away). But in virtual death, what is the ritual, what is the manner by which we can share our appreciation for having known a person, our sense of loss, our grief?

There was a fascinating discussion of this on a recent episode of CBC Radio's Spark between host Nora Young and guest Adele McAlear. And discussions like this help when dealing with this virtual loss. But it's true that we need to figure out a way to handle this all to common situation. A good conversation to continue.

But back to Melanie.

I found out Melanie died through another online friend who has enriched my life but I've not met in person. Osbasso recently posted a tribute to Melanie on his blog - the blog, whose weekly ritual connected Melanie and I, and thousands of other people together.

How do I properly grieve, other than post one of my favourite pictures of her and say something about her?

Thank you, Melanie - thanks for connecting, and thanks for enriching my life. May you rest in peace. May your dear friends and family find peace and comfort in all of the memories you gave them. And thank you for touching my life - there was nothing virtual about the way you enriched my life.

Melanie Elizabeth Phillpott VanWinkle

March 20, 1978 - April 12, 2011

Turn Off Your Monitor For An Authentic Experience

When I first started writing, many many years ago my first draft was often scrawled out in longhand. It usually wasn't until the 2nd or 3rd draft that I would type it up.

Yes, I said "type."

I still fondly remember my Mom's Underwood typewriter. That beautiful heavy and glorious machine that, when you struck the right keys, small pieces of metal with a thick black inky residue on them flew towards a sheet of paper and left a permanent mark there.

In my early teen years I used to spend hours at that keyboard doing nothing more than stringing words together or composing the next draft of a story. I remember that time as being somewhat magical.

I also still remember my first experience using an electronic typewriter, one in which you could compose an entire line on a tiny screen before hitting "ENTER" and having that text transposed onto the page.  From there, I had tried out a friend's word processor. Same sort of deal, but you could compose whole pages on a screen before committing them to paper. And all this "computer" did was word processing. Around the same time I used such word processing programs on my Commodore 64 and Amiga computers as Pocket Writer to do the same thing.

Then WordPerfect was the go-to place for word processing, and more recently Word.

But sometimes, particularly on days when I'm so damn distracted by the online connections, pop-up emails, the luring tweet from twitter, the buzz of a Facebook chat, my writing output can really suffer.

And yes, there are multiple applications out there allowing a writer to systematically disconnect from all the internet distractions for either a set time period or until a particular word count is reached.

But this USB Typewriter, which I discovered on Melvillehouse Publishing's Mobylives blog, is the perfect thing that might allow me to remember the "glory days" of what it was like to actually be "alone" in a room with my muse, the clack clacking of my typewriter as audible evidence that I was producing new material.

Yes, it's a USB Typerwriter that allows you to type on an old fashioned typewriter and have the text display on a computer screen or iPad. And I love the part where the demo video states "Turn off your monitor for an authentic experience."



Seeing this makes me wonder if there is a part of my muse that sits patiently at such a devise and awaits me. Just hearing the clackety clack from this video brings back some amazing audio memories of hours spend pounding hard on that old Underwood's keys, at the frustration, when I was consumed with desperately trying to type so fast that the keys themselves collided and jammed together; at making a type at the very end of a page (before owning the correction tape that allowed you to type over that mistake), at being so absorbed in the writing itself that you were not paying attention to the fact that you were at the end of the page and needed to load a fresh sheet into the typewriter.

Yes, there were frustrations involved in typing manuscripts that way, but they were a different sort than the distractions that abound in being connected while composing.

I love the concept of being able to type to a sheet, stirring up physical and audio memories of my earliest writing sessions, but then also having those words captured in a word processing document. The best of both words. 

I've GOT to get me one of these . . .

Netflix Responds To Bandwidth Caps

I've enjoyed access to Netflix since it came to Canada, regularly supplementing my video intake with a combination of rented and purchased DVD's/BluRay and content available on NetFlix.

I can easily watch Netflix movies on my iPhone, computer or on my television via a wireless connection through my Wii. And I've done all three.  (That being said, I likely read 3 times more books in a year than watch movies - but it doesn't mean I don't enjoy watching movies, nor having the convenience of being able to stream it at a time and place that's convenient to me)


Of course, the titles available on Netflix in Canada have initially been limited. As evidenced in some recent press releases, that is about to change. Iron Man 2, for example, is one of a line-up of Paramount titles that now show up as available to Canadian Netflix subscribers. (Again, given my limited movie viewing, there are a lot of older movies that I haven't seen and was able to watch via Netflix - I've also enjoyed going back and watching some of the old television programs available - like the original Battlestar Galactica from the 1970's)


And in response to bandwidth concerns (ie caps imposed by providers in Canada), I received the following message in my inbox yesterday from Netflix.

You can now control the settings with which you watch anything on Netflix. You now have the choice between Good Quality (up to 0.3 GB per hour), Better Quality (up to 0.7 GB per hour) and Best Quality (up to 1 GB per hour or up to 2.3 GB per hour for HD)

So, using the big screen TV, you might want a higher resolution and larger bandwidth. Using a smaller screen like the one on my iPhone, you might be fine with the lowest quality setting. Nice choice to have and it's something you can change on the fly.

Nice.

This Man Is An Author

So yesterday I was surprised to discover a picture of me in a Globe & Mail article by John Barber called Getting a read on the future of publishing. It's part of what has been an interesting series of TIME TO LEAD articles they've been running.

The article looks at various innovations taking place within Canada and around the world in the publishing industry.

One of the things they mention is the Espresso Book Machine.

And it looks like they used an old file photo of the EBM at McMaster from back in 2008 when we first got our machine and the G&M came to visit Titles Bookstore.

There I am in a picture accompanying the article, gazing lovingly at the book From the Earth to the Moon by Jules Verne seconds after it has been bound and just as it has been passed off to the robot arm that is about to move it into position for the bottom to be trimmed.

Photo by Glenn Lowson for Globe & Mail

That's why, when I saw this video posted on a recent MOBYLIVES blog post this morning, I giggled, thinking about the differences between this process from 1947 and what the process can be now. (Again, I'm just talking about the process of making a physical copy of the book, not the writing process, nor anything related to digital distribution - you know, for simplicity's sake.)

I love the way the narration in this video begins:

"This man is an author. He writes stories. He has just finished writing a story. He thinks many people will like to read it. So, he must have the story made into a book."

Oh yes, he thinks many people will like to read it.  It would be fun to spoof the narration of the video and change it and incorporate the self-publish process available on the Espresso Book Machine now. You know, have the narrator say something along the lines of: 

"But the author knows that no agent, publisher or editor is likely to select it from a warehouse full of manuscripts they have to wade through. That pile of manuscripts is called a slush pile. So, the author decides he'd rather just print the book himself at his local bookstore."

Or maybe:

"But the author is impatient. He knows it'll take forever, and he wants to see his book printed today. After all, it took him 4 hours to write the book. Why should it take longer to publish it? And besides, who needs an editor? He is a talented genius after all. So . . ."

Or, the spoof could head down the dark-humour path:

"But he is wrong. Nobody wants to read his book. Back in 1947 he might have drank too much and then reached into his drawer for his Smith & Wesson handgun to end it all. But not today. Today, he can get his book printed; quickly, easily and without having to remortgage his home."

So many ways to spoof the original video. But in any case, I think it's cute to watch both processes side by side.

Video of how books are made circa 1947 - "Making Books is Fun (To Watch)"

Video of the Espresso Book Machine circa 2009 (there are newer, slicker models available now - too bad there aren't that many slicker and really short videos showing the machine)

Stuff On Demand Machines

First it was music, then it was books, soon it will be stuff.

Years ago, when it became easy for someone to replicate music from digital files in their own homes, music stores faced major issues. Now, when ebooks are finally reaching a similar status, bookstores are facing similar issues.

Soon, could it be virtually any retailer out there cringing because consumers will have the ability to just print whatever stuff they need right in their homes?

Entirely possible I suppose.

In the most recent episode of Spark (a CBC radio program that is also a podcast and blog), there was a great discussion and interview about 3D printers. (3D printers basically create a three dimension object by outputting successive layers of material, the same way a printer (AKA 2D printer) outputs ink onto paper.

At first, the technology sounds like magic (ie, like the replicators on Star Trek that can produce virtually anything seemingly out of thin air), but as it is explained so wonderfully on Spark, the materials needed to produce the object are often stored in a paste/liquid format the same way that ink is stored and accessible by the printers we are familiar with. So it doesn't produce items out of thin air - but still, the ability to replicate items using a 3D printer and a digital blueprint is amazing.

The discussion on Spark involved material printers (and walked through the creation of a metal gear that takes about 20 minutes to produce) as well as food printers (discussing the incredibly complex and wonderful designs one might be able to do with a food printer which would be impossible to do using convention cooking methods), but it gave me two interesting ideas.

For the first one, I should pop back to my own experiences using an Espresso Book Machine.  An EBM is a machine that uses print-on-demand (POD) technology to print, bind and trim a book in about 5 minutes. The bookstore at McMaster University where I work has such a machine. (I like to call it "Mippy" - short for McMaster Innovation Press) We're able to receive digital files from publishers or pulled down from a secure network of close to 2 million titles, and produce perfect bound paperbacks virtually indistinguishable from paperbacks produced by real printers.

Me posing in front of the EBM 1.5 at McMaster with books printed on our machine

We bought the machine because we foresee a trend within the book industry that'll further optimize current physical distribution models (particularly as ebooks become more popular) and allow a small local bookstore to print titles upon customer requests. Currently, with a store that has an Espresso Book Machine (and there are almost in North American bookstores - click here for a list of EBM locations worldwide), you can walk in, request a title they don't have, and the bookstore can either order the book through convention methods (which may take anywhere between 3 days to 6 weeks depending on where the publisher's warehouse is located), or, if it is available as POD through the EspressNet catalog, the store might be able to print the book for you within a matter of minutes and you can get it, still warm from the printer.

So now back to the concept of a 3D printer.

I was thinking of a local neighbourhood hardware store, particularly one in a more remote community, where quick and easy access to special ordered products for their customers are problematic. Imagine them owning a 3D printer pre-loaded with various metatic pastes. They could use the machine to produce rare nails, screws and other widgets that they wouldn't normally stock, all built from a catalog of virtually millions of possible items.

Sounds like a possible realistic use for a 3D printer.  But why would anyone go to the hardware store when they could get a 3D printer for their home and just produce it there? Perhaps for the same reasons you go to your local hardware store now rather than a generic super-store that might carry the small parts you need. Expertise, advice, discussion. There's still a wonderful hardware stock on my block that can sell you a bag of nails just like in the old days, rather than a pre-packaged plastic box of them. Less packaging, greater expertise when you're doing work around your home and need to consult with a hardware expert.

With this new technology, soon it will no longer be just booksellers who will be looking at what it is that makes their physical presence desireable in their communities.  Virtually any other retailer that carries stuff will be facing this.

One of Nora's guests talked about shoe stores, for example, particularly when shoes are mass produced yet don't perfectly fit anyone - imagine being able to produce shoes custom fit to you from a machine in your home? Cool idea. But, affording a machine like that doesn't come easy. So what about a local shoe store that can do the same thing? Keep a data file of foot sizes for their customers, link to a digital catalog of the latest shoe designs and be able to produce the exact size, fit and style their customers need right on the spot? Sounds practical to me.

The second idea that struck me regarding 3D printers involved what Nora and her guests discussed in interesting detail. 3D food printing.

Yes, I know, the idea of eating food produced by a machine isn't all that appetizing. But realistically, unless you're on a special rare diet or live on a farm and are eating mostly food you grow and prepare yourself, most of what you're eating is processed well beyond the food's original format.

I'm imagining the use of a 3D food printer in a way that might help people on special restrictive diets, or those who want to move away from consuming animal proteins to do so without the current difficulties involved. I have some friends who are vegans who work really hard and invest a great deal of time and effort into their diets, particularly because a lot of the foods easily available to them. And eating out can become somewhat of a comedy of errors for them.

But imagine a food printer filled with vegan-approved food source pastes and the ability to inject artificial flavours. You could produce from a virtually endless catalog of recipes, different textures, products, etc, all with different flavours and tastes, but guaranteed not to violate the dietary restrictions. Great for use at home, great for restaurants that want to mimic their regular menu with identical "vegan-safe" items.

Imagine the benefit to someone with a peanut or other food allergy?

Interesting possibilities.

And that's what I love about listening to Spark. I never leave without being given something really interesting to think about.

Can We Rrreduce, Rrreuse And Rrrecycle While Rrrolling Up The Rim?

I've long been a fan of Tim Hortons as well as their Rrroll Up The Rim To Win contest, which allows a coffee purchase to be turned into a chance to win some fun prizes.

But, as pointed out interestingly in a blog post I found from 2007 called Rrrollup the Rim - Making Litterers Out of Losers? is that simply adding to litter?  There was also an interesting article on Sympatico's website this morning by Daniela Syrovy and Greg Bolton that caught my eye that talks about the litter cups. As evidenced in the picture accompanying the article (of a cup with the winning piece torn out from it left abandoned in a snow covered street) it's the winners as much as the losers who are littering.

I don't think we should be blaming Tim Hortons for littering. People, as they are often not want to do, need to take responsibility for their own behaviour. Frankly, I'm sick and tired of the complete lack of respect, of the complete lack of responsibility the average person takes for their own behaviour. It's always People need to stop just throwing their crap everywhere and expecting someone else to pick it up, or someone else to take responsibility for it.


However, that being said, given how greedy and selfish our society has become, Tim Hortons could appeal to this narcissistic nature of people rather than try to appeal to whatever it is that causes the folks who do not litter to do the right thing.

Last year on this blog, I suggested a manner by which Tim Hortons could possibly work with someone on developing an app for smart phones that would allow people to use their reusable coffee container and not only get a discount on their coffee, but allow them to play the exciting contest.

Remember that right now, if you take your travel mug to Tim Hortons and order a coffee, you get the discount on your purchase, but then they also give you an empty cup so you don't miss your chance to win. Nice "customer benefit" gesture for Tim Hortons. But not so nice for the extra trash created, which undoes the "good" of the person bringing a reusable cup in the first place.

My suggestion was called Roll Up On Your RIM To Win and I still think it's possible, either for a company like RIM or someone else. (Ideally, the tie-in between the makers of Blackberry and Tim Hortons could be pretty huge -- even if Research in Motion were to create an app for iPhones and Adroids, the "name" of the app/promotion could still be Roll Up on Your RIM, giving Blackberry and other RIM offerings more exposure.....at least the way I look at it. I challenge you to try to find a Canadian out there who is NOT familiar with "RRROLL UP THE RIM."  Talk about a broad marketing campaign that is as Canadian as "apple pie" is American.

The basic premise is, Tim Hortons continues with their cups, but adds in a manner by which a person with a smartphone app and a reusable cup gets TWO entries into the contest instead of one, simply by opting for the "greener" non-litter choice.

I still think it's a good idea, and am hoping that someone who is a lot smarter than me takes the idea and makes it happen.  Seriously, go ahead, please just steal the idea, I'm never going to be able to do anything with it. Just make something like this happen. Please. I wonèt come after you claiming it was my idea in the first place (although attribution is always the right thing to do) -- I might, however, ask you to at least buy me a double-double at Timmies.

Google eBooks Offer A New Opportunity

Yesterday's announcement about Google eBooks was rather interesting. As suggested about half a year ago, Google wasn't just going it alone, but have partnered with bricks and mortar bookstores to sell their product.

As mentioned on the ABA IndieBound website, "Indie bookstore customers no longer have to choose between reading digital and supporting their local bookstore" -- this is a significant shift in the previously existing world of digital books where customers didn't really have that choice.  For the most part, the larger players in the ebook movement have all been tied mostly to a single retailer and many of them are tied to a single device. Customers who wished to purchase ebooks pretty much had to abandon their friendly neighbourhood bookseller.


Google takes something Kobobooks.com has been doing beautifully (applying an open standard that allows users to read digitally on virtually any device they choose) and takes it to the next level: allowing customers to also decide where to purchase the books -- ie, implementing the local bookstore option.

This is a smart move on Google's part -- the recognition that there's a gigantic sales force out there willing to help customers find and purchase ebooks -- but, until now, without any way to really do it. This could be the first bold move towards the coming together of traditional bricks and mortar bookselling and bookselling in the cloud.

I think the most interesting thing about this movement, at least in my mind, is the open nature of this move.  Google Books are announced, and there's more than one way to get the books. Let's look at the Apple alternative. If you want to purchase an iBook, you need to do it through your iTunes account. Yes, you can read it on your iPad or your iPhone. But that's about it.

If you want to purchase a Google eBook, you can buy it directly from Google or you can buy it through the bookstore of your choice (assuming that bookstore is signed up to sell the eBooks) - no, I'm not familiar with the actual numbers the US booksellers are making off of each transaction, but I'm a believer that what they are getting now (actually being part of the transaction -- actually having the ability to merchandise and sell ebooks) is much better than they were getting before which is zero, zip, nadda, absolutely nothing.

After all, 0 times 40% is still 0.

Since I live in Canada, I can check out the basics of this new offering from Google, but I can't purchase anything. Nor can I download the app for my iPhone.  But I know, through direct contact with a project manager at Google that they are coming to Canada, want to work with Canadian Booksellers Association and that they are definitely interested in a similar partnership north of the 49th parallel. 

And I'm excited about the opportunity for booksellers to partner.  Here's an example of one of the booksellers, Green Apple Books and their website connection to Google eBooks. The search is nicely embedded within their website, so there's a seamless way to integrate the content. I think the next step is to punch it up and make it more dynamic and exciting.

Google eBooks are now almost just like physical books in that the options are open for customers to purchase them where they wish.  Ann Kingman has an interesting list of things booksellers can do to set their store apart from the plethora of other places people can buy ebooks. It's worth reading, then re-reading, then reading one more time.  I love her suggestions regarding loyalty programs and the merchandising opportunities that exist -- booksellers need to take full advantage of those opportunities.

And that drives home something important -- the focus needs to be on the customer experience. What is it that the customer is getting out of interacting with your bookstore?  What is it that keeps them coming back despite the endless options they have for buying physical books? Whatever that answer is, booksellers will need to offer the very same things, or as close to those very same things on the experience offered through their web portal for ebooks.

One of the things that comes to mind is this -- every single bricks and mortar bookseller who is partnered into this program should have an in-store terminal pointing to their Google eBook page -- allow customers who are physically in your store the option to make their purchase an eBook purchase.  Yes, they're coming in looking for expertise, looking for help in deciding what to read next.  Why not also offer them the opportunity to purchase the book format of their choice? Why not use the in store kiosk to help walk them through the experience?

Why let your dearest customers stumble through discovering eBooks on their own? The same way a bookseller nurtures the customer experience and curates the selection and cultivates a relationship, the same thing can be done in this new realm of ebooks.

A world of opportunity has been opened -- and I look forward to seeing how it all works out.

The Latest In Mobile Reading

I had to laugh. I think it was last week when I was scanning through my daily dose of RSS feeds that I caught the term "the latest in mobile reading" -- of course I got all excited and was ready to dig into the details to learn all that I could about some new mobile reading device.

Then I paused and thought about it.  And yes, that's when I laughed at myself.

Here I was getting all excited about some hot new technology that would allow me to do something as exciting as carry a book around with me virtually anywhere.  I mean, I already have that technology resting on my hip in my iPhone -- I'm completely content to read books on the iPhone screen -- and yet, every time a new mobile reading device is announced I check it out, like some young child hungrily consuming the increase of toy advertisements on television during the approach of the Christmas season.

Photo: "Reading on the Beach" by cmcgough (flickr)

And yet, despite my fascination with the new technology, there's nothing all that new about being able to go mobile when reading.

Books have, for over 100 years, been mobile.  Of course, the invention of the mass market paperback in the 1930's revolutionized publishing and made books even more portable and mobile. (And yeah, I can't resist the already tired old joke about their "battery life" being incredibly beyond anything we've ever seen). 

After all, once of the most important things I pack on every single trip I take (or have taken for as long as I can remember) is a book (or two) to read.  The new mobility enabled in ebook reading devices, of course, means that without compromising packing space, I can now carry a lot more books.  Except I find that though I'm always packing a half dozen ebooks on me, I usually also bring at least one physical book.  Sometimes it's because it's not available in ebook format, for the convenience of it "always being on" or perhaps just because it's a life-long habit of mine.

So it's funny that we're using a term like "mobile reading" to refer not to a technology that has been around for multiple generations, but to something that is only recently emerging; and that when you see the term, you think only of the new technology.

Funny how times have changed and a new term can be born despite the fact that the activity of being able to "go mobile" and read has been with us a long long time. 

(Blog Flashback - speaking of mobile devices, check out my musings back in May 2006 about mobile audio from a few years back called "Kewl Dude Portable Listening Device." which I wrote shortly after purchasing my first mp3 player)

A Reader's Dilemna

I've had a serious problem for years.

The problem is that I constantly buy too many books every year - way more than I can possible read in that same year. You see, I love reading, and I love books, but I'm a slow reader and I've found in the past 5 years that I have much smaller chunks of time for reading and yet my tastes in what I WANT to read has expanded. What is a book nerd to do?

Two things are helping me with this: eBooks and audio books.

eBooks, particularly ones I can carry around on my iPhone, which is always on me, are helping me get more read. If I'm ever stuck somewhere for more than a couple of minutes, I can make the best use of my time by pulling out my iPhone and filling in the "waiting" with reading.

I don't yet own a KoboReader (affilate link), but Kobobooks.com tends to be the where I've done most of my ereading. (though I have half a dozen installed eBook applications on my iPhone and have bought eBooks on pretty much every platform -- part of my book-buying sickness seems to have transcended into the digital landscape -- I've gravitated to Kobo's platforms/applications)




The second thing that is helping me read more would be audiobooks. There are a ton of great places to get audio books, such as Podiobooks.com (free serialized books delivered in podcast format) the hot new iambik (a collection of literary fiction from wonderful independent presses) and the classic Librivox.org (an acoustical liberation of books in the public domain -- man I wish I had that when I was attempting to read 4 Victorian novels a week when getting my English Language & Literature degree). BTW, both iambik and LivriVox were projects brought into the world by Hugh McGuire, one of my literary/techy heros (he brings both those worlds together quite beautifully, satisfying book nerds and tech fans alike)

Similar to my ebook dipping into various pools, I consume my audio books through various sources. One of the ones with the widest content for new books would be Audible.com (affilate link)




Audible.com is a bit different in that you don't pay per book, but it's more of a combination between single ebook purchases and a subscription fee. The subscription fee starts at $7.49 per month for 1 book credit per month, then, after the first 3, moves to $14.95/month for the basic service. So, without purchasing anything else, you can get 12 audio books for $180.00 (that's assuming the full price - first year using the first 3 month promotion would be closer to $160) -- given the purchase price for books on CD (and the limited availability of them compared to an instant download, that's a pretty decent deal, because the cost would likely be well over $300.

I used to think that listening to an audio book was "cheating" and less work than reading a book. However, taking advantage of various audio book options that exist now, I've been able to "read" while doing other mundane tasks -- such as driving and walking to work, waiting for the train or bus, washing the dishes, going for a jog, etc.  I had tried listening to books many years ago and wasn't impressed with the production of them -- however, I've found that, if the narrator is a good one, and the production quality is sound (sorry, couldn't resist the pun), listening to a book can be a very rewarding experience.

In any case, just considering these two options of eBooks and audio, I've been able to slip in more reading than before.

So, I still have the problem of buying more books (now in various formats) than I can read - but at least I can consume these books in various forms and at different times.  For example, currently, I'm actively reading an ebook, listening to an audiobook and reading a hardcover book. I can have 3 or more books on the go, depending on where I am and what format is most convenient for me to consume in different situations.

Got to love that.

Oh, and in case anyone is wondering, yes I buy more books in a year than I can consume, but that also gives me the incredibly wonderful pleasure of finding a book that's been in my "to read" pile for half a decade and re-discovering it (ie, reliving the historic joy of wanting to read it in the first place, then the joy of actually digging into it -- it's like a self-gift that keeps on giving)

HNT - Audio Wonderland

On a recent episode of CBC's Spark (a program I rarely listen to "live" on radio, but more typically via a podcast subscription), host Nora Young put out a call for people to send in pictures of where they were when they listened to Spark.

So I submitted the following picture, which will be this's week's HNT submission. (I was actually listening to an episode of the Spark Plus podcast - the regular weekly feed with bonus additional audio, such as full interviews - while taking this picture)

I tend to listen to Spark, and a slew of other podcasts and audio books in one of two places -- my twice daily drive/walk in to work and when I run (although I don't run, either outside or on the treadmill, as often as I should be). Since it takes about 20 minutes each way, that allows me 40 minutes of time to either "read" or listen to programming that is of particular interest to me, rather than losing those 40 minutes of down-time.

For my podcast subscriptions (which are automatically downloaded for free via iTunes and synced up to my iPhone without having to do anything more once I set the subscriptions up), I listen to a variety of different writing, book and technology & culture podcasts, such as Spark, The Next Chapter (both from CBC radio, and both of which I rarely catch "live"), and podcasts such as CBC Book Club, The Writing Show, Bookrageous, Dragon Page Cover to Cover and Six Pixels of Separation.

But I have also started listening to more audio books over the years, taking full advantage of various sources for audio books, like the traditional CDs (converted to mp3 of course), and places like Podiobooks.com. It has certainly been a great way to get more reading in. I'm a really slow reader, so ANY way that I can squeeze reading a few more books in each year helps me with the ever-growing "to read" pile that, like compound interest on a bad debt, keeps growing bigger and bigger with each passing day.

That's why I was delighted to see yesterday's official announcement about Iambik audiobooks -- although, I must admit, I already got a bit of a "heads up" about it by listening to the Six Pixels podcast mentioned above (or, specifically the "Media Hacks" episodes that come through the Six Pixels feed, in which Mitch Joel sits around with folks like Hugh McGuire, Chris Brogan, C.C. Chapman, Julien Smith and Christopher S. Penn and discuss things going on in digital media and culture).

Iambik's "catch phrase" is "At Iambik we make audio out of books we love."

Unlike traditional audiobooks, Iambik partners with print publishers and authors, working with a collection of skilled independent audiobook producers around the world (something tapped into beautifully by LibriVox, a collective of people around the world bringing free audio content for their favourite public domain works and headed by Hugh McGuire, who also heads up Iambik)

Iambik is a wonderful natural progression, or next step in the a hugely success world of audio wonders that LibriVox provides.  Why? Because Iambik records both new books and old ones -- essentially, it goes after great books that might have been overlooked by traditional audio publishers.

You've got to love that.

So, again, despite the fact that I already have an incredibly rich and wonderful selection of great audio to listen to and enjoy, another great new option pops up, bringing me even MORE content.

I'll consider it both a blessing and a curse.

I wonder if, one day, just like listening to books in audio format helped me "read" more of them, a new technology will emerge where a chip can get implanted in my head and allow me to "read" books while I'm sleeping instead of just the random dreams that scroll through my head.  That would be another great way to make use of "down time" and get more reading in, wouldn't it?