Three Ways To Get EVASION For FREE

My novella thriller EVASION has been continuing to receive positive feedback since it was featured on Wattpad in late May for a day.  It now has almost 82,000 reads, almost 1200 votes from readers and a demand to read the next book in the series.

I suppose this means that, for NaNoWriMo 2014, I'll have to write the sequel.....

If you're interested in reading it, there are currently 3 different ways you can read it for free.

FIRST WAY TO GET IT FREE (eBook)

•  Wattpad - you can read 100% of the book, 100% of the time, for free on Wattpad.  You can read it online or download the mobile Wattpad app.  All free.

SECOND WAY TO GET IT FREE (eBook)

• DIGITAL BOOK DAY - Monday July 14th will be Digital Book Day - produced by the wonderful "thrillers with heart" author CJ Lyons, it includes a giveaway of digital books in multiple genres from authors from around the world.  Please note that the links on this site will only be live for Monday July 14, 2014, so this is a limited time offer.

Digital Book Day

 THIRD WAY TO GET IT FREE (Print Book)

• Goodreads Giveaway - 10 copies of the print book (which retails for $14.95 US) will be available through this Goodreads promotion. It's a random draw from all entrants, but 10 chances to win! (The chance to enter, closes July 30, 2014) :)

So there - you now have 3 different ways of getting access to read EVASION for free. A couple of digital ways and one way to get it free in print. 

The book is currently available for sale on Amazon in print and eBook (regular price $4.99, but reduced to 99 cents at Amazon for Monday July 14th) and Kobo (where it's FREE on Monday July 14th) and Smashwords (other retailers coming soon)

If you do read it, I would greatly appreciate you reviewing the book on your favourite online review spot (most commonly, folks post reviews to Goodreads and Amazon)

You Spin Me Right Round Baby Right Round

In May 2012 I was invited to co-deliver a plenary session talk at The Ontario Writers' Conference (with Cynthia Good, Director of the Creative Book Publishing Program at Humber College) called Storytelling 360°: Storytelling in a Digital Age.

We had decided to split it up and have Cynthia focus on specific examples of trans-media storytelling, while I focused on looking at the history of storytelling and how the art of storytelling has evolved with technology.  I also used the concept of 360° to make meta reflections on my own mulch-faceted role as a storyteller, a bookseller and Director of Author Relations and Self-Publishing at Kobo. I outlined my own journey from using a typewriter to various electronic and digital options as a writer while quickly outlining the journey from oral storytelling, the scroll, the printing press and digital books.

It was challenging to do this talk, particularly when I wasn't yet able to talk about the forthcoming Kobo Writing Life DIY platform built to help authors get their work into Kobo's catalog.  We had scheduled the official announcement for the platform to take place in early June at Book Expo America - so while I had been extremely excited about KWL, and dying to share it with a room full of writers, I couldn't yet mention it.  Talk about a challenging test of my self-control . . .

Cynthia opened up the session with a fascinating talk.

I then did my bit . . .



And afterward the two of us participated in a quick Q & A.

It was great collaborating with Cynthia on this talk -- always a pleasure to work with her.  (In a past life, I used to pop in to talk with one of her classes about POD and the Espresso Book Machine - that was always a good time) Ontario Writers Conference was a fantastic day spent with writers, participating in workshops, listening to talks and, of course, networking with other writers. 

All of the talks and workshops were entertaining and informative. One of my favourite bits was when Douglas Gibson did a wonderful job of entertaining the crowd with his "Stories About Storytellers" segment, asking the audience to mention a Canadian writer from his latest book and then telling an interesting story about that author from his personal experience.

As recently as last weekend I had people approach me and state how much they enjoyed my talk that afternoon. That is pleasing to hear, particularly since I have agreed to teach a workshop for the 2013 Ontario Writers Conference, which will be taking place May 4, 2013 entitled BEYOND THE SLUSH PILE: The Ins and Outs of Digital Self-Publishing.  And yes, this time, I will certainly be talking about Kobo Writing Life as I outline possible strategies, step by step details and various elements of tackling the world of digital self-publishing.

Digital Storytelling 360°

Tomorrow (Saturday May 5th) I will be talking at the 2012 Ontario Writer's Conference which is taking place at the Deer Creek Golf and Banquet Facility.

I will be doing a plenary session with Cynthia Good, Director of the Creative Book Publishing Program at Humber College.

Our overall topic is called Storytelling 360°: Storytelling in a Digital Age and the description is here:

Publishers have already begun to embrace the notion of multiple platforms by casting off those expectations we’ve grown up with – that a story is… text on a page, actors on the stage, special effects on the screen or a narrator reading. In our digital and connected world it’s now a natural step to dictate how we want our stories delivered – whether we want to read, listen, watch or ‘do’.

This is an era of abundance. Choices for readers, for publishers – and for writers. The traditional physical book still retains its primacy, but electronic publishing offers opportunities that we had never dreamed possible.

Our session runs between 11:30 and 12:30. We be speaking for about 20 minutes each and then offering some time for questions and comments from the audience.  Cynthia and I discussed how we would split this up to ensure that we didn't cover the same ground and I'm looking forward to the experience.

I will be talking a little bit about the overall evolution of storytelling, offering a few examples of trans-media storytelling, multi-platform storytelling experiences, how apps, and various social media tools are allowing authors and publishers to both promote their work but also offer readers exciting new ways to discover and experience the worlds they are creating.  I will also draw from a few of my own experiences as a writer that fully draw on the concept of 360°.

And I will, of course, also be talking about how digital reading allows for a fully immersive reading experience, the interesting ways that ebooks companies are engaging readers, as well as some new opportunities that Kobo offers which allow authors to connect with readers in bold and dynamic new ways.

The presentation will be fun -- but the real joy will be getting to spend the day with so many writers.

Read An e-Book Week 2012

It's "Read an E-Book Week" (March 4 to 10, 2012)

To celebrate, I've kept a "chapbook" sized collection of two of my short stories (snowman themed) free via as many places as possible.

Snowman Shivers - Scary Snowmen Tales contains two "Twilight Zone" style stories involving snowmen.

If you have ever cast an uncomfortable glance over your shoulder when passing the silent snowy sentinels that stand looking at you as you pass on the icy sidewalk, if you've ever questioned what might really happen if the old silk hat placed on Frosty the Snowman's head was truly magic, then these two dark humor snowman tales by Mark Leslie are for you.

THAT OLD SILK HAT THEY FOUND
Why does that classic song always portray a jolly, happy snowman dancing around and celebrating life? What if, once the kids placed that old silk hat on Frosty's head, it wasn't quite the magical experience?

IDES OF MARCH
In the middle of March a middle-aged man frustrated with the benign activity of filling out his annual tax forms is confronted with a bizarre event - two hulking creatures appear in a pick up truck and are intent on kidnapping the snowman from the front yard. 

Here are the places you can download the ebook of Snowman Shivers for free.

Kobo
Smashwords
Barnes & Noble (Nook)
Apple (iBooks)

Unfortunately, I can't lower the price on Amazon, so it's still listed there for 99 cents. However, if you want to read it on a Kindle, you can download the Mobi file from Smashwords.

Check out other ebooks either for free or at reduced prices as part of the Read an E-Book Week Specials at Smashwords.

Please note that many great ebook reading platforms (oh, like Kobo, for example) allow you to download free applications so you can read an ebook on your computer, on your iPhone, your iPad or your android device.

So, if you've never read an ebook before, why not give it a try? Download and install one of the free apps and check it out.  There is usually something available for virtually everyone's tastes.

Navigating the Digital Tipping Point of the Book World

I collected a group of essays I wrote which were originally published on The Mark News website. I've been writing a series of articles there which are mostly reflections on the publishing industry from a bookseller's perspective.

I recently made the book (Living at the Tip) available via Amazon - it's actually exclusive to Amazon. I know, I know - how ironic considering that many of the articles criticize the behemoth and that I mostly work in rivalry to them. But such is this grey world we live in.

In any case, the ebook, which normally retails for $1.99, is free for the next couple of days.

Living at the Tip: Navigating the Digital Tipping Point of the Book World

We’ve been at the tipping point between traditionally printed and digital books for well over 10 years. Looking around the industry, at one end you’ll find naysayers who continue to stick their heads in the sand, believing that digitization couldn’t possibly change a centuries-old industry, and at the other those who believe "The End is Nigh!" and all traditional players should just pack it in.

These articles, published on The Mark News between Nov 2009 and Oct 2011 outline one bookseller's perspective on the changes facing the industry and the possibilities that exist when exploring bold new collaboration between legacy traditions and new technology.

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.

Doin' It Right

I was delighted to see Random House Canada announce yesterday a special digital release of a hot new Linwood Barclay novella, Clouded Vision.

Upon seeing the tweet from RHC, I immediately clicked the link to check it out.

Barclay has long been on my list of writers whose works I will buy on sight.  Clouded Vision is available in paperback in the UK, but in Canada and the US as a digital ebook release.

I'm impressed with RHC's venture into this territory, always delighted when a publisher does something new and exciting, particularly with a Canadian author.

But I was also impressed with the manner by which Random House Canada is selling the book.

Check this out:

When you hit the "BUY BUTTON" you get a pop-up window directing you to check for a list of eBook retailers.

As a bookseller  I'm always delighted to see a publisher directing customers to choose their own favourite retail place to make their purchase. (Note - for physical books, Random House Canada's BUY BUTTON allows you to select from a list of online retailers and local physical bricks and mortar stores - a great feature of their site) I love the fact there's a choice offered to the consumer, and one that doesn't compromise the partnership between the publisher and the bookseller. 

I also love the fact that I can get my Linwood Barclay fix before his next hardcover release later this summer.

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.

One EBook Screaming "Look At Me! Look At Me!"

Today, being the last day of Read An E-Book Week (don't worry, there'll likely be another one next year at the same time, and there's nothing stopping you, really, from continuing to read ebooks after today), many of the special promotions are expiring.

I thought I'd take a self-promotional pause (you know, for a change, because I rarely talk about my writing or suggest people check it out or anything like that here on this blog) and remind folks they can use coupon code RE100 at Smashwords.com to get my book ONE HAND SCREAMING (among a huge selection of other titles), for free up until midnight tonight (Saturday March 12, 2011) - after that, OHS goes right back up to the ridiculously over-priced $0.99)

The $0.99 price point is meant to make the book attractive for folks with very little risk. I mean, if you spend $1.00 to get it and you don't like it, it's not like you dropped $30 or anything.

And if you really liked it, you'd consider that $1.00 to be a really good investment. (In fact, you can download 50% of the book entirely for free, which gives you a really great way to check it out and see if it's worth your hard-earned money)

The reason I set a really low price rather than making it 100% free is that I wanted to be able to see some cash exchange hands in order to support the supply chain that supports publishers and authors. (When money is exchanged, each of author/publisher/retailer/service provider typically gets a small cut - I like that equation, particularly since it spreads the cash to as many elements of the supply chain as possible)


When I first released One Hand Screaming back in 2004, I never dreamed about becoming rich off of it. The idea of collecting my previously published stories together was simply to create a way for people to find my stuff. When most of your fiction has appeared in small press magazines or anthologies that are no longer in print, it's really hard for people who want to read your stuff to find you -- that's the reason I put the effort into this collection. And the good news is that I've heard from a lot of folks over the years who have quite enjoyed this little volume that samples the various types of fiction I have written. So it seems to have done its job.

And yes, each year, I draw some small royalties and income from the sales of the print and ebook versions of OHS. But I know I'll never get rich off it.  The real reward to me has been hearing from people who've read and enjoyed it. 

I'll also pause to say if you like this collection of dark humour, macabre stories and twisted poetry, you might also enjoy listening to my podcast Prelude To A Scream, where I've taken samples of some of my previously published stories and pushed them out into free audio.

I really like listening to fiction via podcast feeds (it allows me to "read" more while doing other things, such as going for a run, or even on my daily commute in to work), so I thought I'd try to share some of my own writing that way.  Prelude To A Scream includes many of the stories and poems that appear in ONE HAND SCREAMING (and will eventually include all the stories from it) as well as some other tales I thought would be fun to share.

How To Spell Ebook?

In continued celebration of "Read An E-Book Week" I kept coming back to a dilemna I've long had when writing about ebooks.

How the hell should you be spelling them? Yes, I know "e" - "b" - "o" - "o" - "k"  - there, problem solved.

I suppose what I really mean is: How should you format the word when spelling it?

Which of the following is it?

ebook
e-book
Ebook
E-book
eBook
e-Book
EBook
E-Book
EBOOK
(have I covered all of the possible combinations?)

Of course, one part of me asks if it really matters. After all, when you consult dictionaries and online references, you get a plethora of different spellings.  Wikipedia, for example, while referencing more than one spelling, uses E-book (Of course my 1996 Oxford English Reference Dictionary, a trusted book within handy reach of my home writing space, doesn't even have any version of the word - strange, since eBooks are 40 years old this year)

It matters, I suppose, because we like things to be consistent. And I'm one of those folks, who, though flexible and accepting of new and varied use of words and phrases (though I long stumbled with accepting "my bad" as an acceptible use of English), I still cringe every time I see people very regularly messing up the difference between "your" and "you're" (one of them meaning taking a possessive for the person you are addressing while the other being a contraction for "you are" - if you don't know the difference, for the love of all that's holy spend half a minute and look it up - here's one of hundreds of places to figure it out)

Of course, while "your" and "you're" sound alike, they mean different things (or are supposed to).

Ebook, e-book, ebook, etc all mean the same thing; so perhaps that's why one hasn't emerged as the more dominant.

So, the next question is, however you spell eBook, do you think ebooks spell the end of print books?

My short simple answer is that e-books will kill print books the same way that television killed major motion pictures, the same way that the transistor radio killed live performances on stage by actors and musicians, or the same way that the internet itself has already killed all of these things.

Not death, I say, but evolution.

Ebooks will have a huge effect on the publishing industry - changing the manner by which it performs and engages with the end consumer and all the various parties involved in delivering the "book" to the consumer (which can be varied and involve multiple layers or be direct - often a complex combination).

The changes, so far, have been slow and there have been many struggles and a lot of experimentation. I suggest that the experimentation (and the more the better), with how to adapt ebooks into the existing supply chain models will be what allows the publishing industry to continue on. And by experimenting, I don't mean trying to keep doing things they way they have always been done, but continually looking at new ways of delivering content to readers in effective and efficient manners.

Books and ebooks will co-exist, play off of one another's benefits and serve different consumer desires, behaviours and needs.

I have a novel coming out in hardcover in November 2012. Seems a long way off given the rise of ebooks and the greatly exaggerated rumours of the death of print books. I know the publisher is planning a launch of the eBook along with the hardcover release. (It'll be launched in time for World Fantasy Con 2012 in Toronto) I know that some customers will prefer a hard copy of the book and some will prefer the ebook version. (I also know that some will simply just steal an illegally optained copy of it - whether it's a copy of the original ebook or a scanned copy of the hardcover) - but the key, in my mind is that whatever version, or whatever spelling, "book" is still the main part of it.

I love the way Terry Fallis put it in his guest blog post on Kobo's blog yesterday.

"Whether you’re reading in paper form, listening to the podcast, or turning the virtual pages of an ebook, the story is paramount. The vessel is secondary. I can’t imagine I’ll ever stop buying traditional books, but I’m certainly going to keep buying lots of ebooks as well." - Terry Fallis in "My eBook story" on the Kobobooks.com blog

Beautifully said, Terry.

An Interesting Twist On No Drinks Allowed

Photo © 2010 Melissa Koehler Photograph

I've been a bookseller for long enough to remember a time when it was common to see "no drinks allowed" signs posted near the entrance to most bookstores.

Of course, that mentality changed a bit when the big box stores that included a Starbucks inside started to pop up in the mid 90's.  Given that, when these stores first sprung up, they were filled with tables, chairs and even armchairs and couches, the whole idea seemed to be: "C'mon into the bookstore, and hey, don't worry about bringing food or beverages inside - all of that is welcome. In fact, if you didn't bring any, there's a convenient place for you to buy some."

There was, perhaps, a bit of a backlash after the explosion of "coffee is welcome" into bookstores.  I mean, I've seen more than my fair share of customers putting their drink down the wrong way ON TOP of an expensive ART or PHOTOGRAPHY section of books. (Murphy's Law dictates they'd spill their latte down the most expensive books in the store rather than on a section of mass market paperbacks)

But now, it's just as likely you'll see a "no drinks allowed" sign as you'll see a bookstore with a coffee shop enclosed. (In Hamilton, you might see a "Yes, that includes Tim Hortons too" note added to the "no drinks allowed" since it's almost a requirement that you walk around with a cup of Tim's when you live in this fine city - I hope nobody catches me, because right now I'm walking around with a cup of coffee made inside my home . . . . I might get ousted if too many people find out)

But I still find it interesting to see a complete flip on the whole "coffee allowed in bookstores" issue.  On The New York Times blog, Nick Bilton writes about how books aren't allowed in a particular coffee shop in Manhattan.  (Okay, he's talking about e-books, they being a type of computer)  His article is entitled "No E-Books Allowed in This Establishment" and it certainly raises an interesting question -- if it's okay to sit in a coffee shop and read a book, why isn't a person allowed to sit and read an e-book?

A Fine Balance

I like balance. I like weighing pros and cons.

Thus, I like the fact that ReadWriteWeb posted two almost back to back articles, both written by Richard MacManus.


5 Ways That eBooks Are Better Than Paper Books

Sure, I can sum up this article, but you're best to click the above and check it out. MacManus lists things such as social highlighting, notes, immediately look-up of words (ie, built-in dictionary), as well as search.

This article was retweeted 505 times and liked by 135 people on Facebook and had 29 comments from both sides of the paper/ebook fence) at the time I'm writing this post.

Photo Credit: "1984...meet DRM" (edited by Mike Vroegop & Joshua Bonnain)

5 Ways That Paper Books Are Better Than eBooks

In this article, MacManus sums up things such as the feel of a book in your hands, the actual packaging (harking to the loss of the feel of the "art" put into a book's full cover), and the ability to share, resell or actually KEEP the physical object.

This article was retweeted 85 times, wasn't liked by anybody on Facebook (until I clicked the Like button that is), and the first comment mentions that books don't run out of batteries. (To be fair, this post is only 4 hours old so likely hasn't been seen by many people in their RSS readers, etc)

I'm a believer that new technologies have a definite and welcome place in our culture, but that they ADD TO the existing technologies and cultural artifacts rather than completely replace them.  So I'm very pleased to see MacManus, though he heads up a technology blog, recognizing the fact that there are benefits to both, depending on what's important to the consumer.

In my ideal book world, eBooks and printed books will both prosper and live in harmony together, each offering customers the things that are most important to THEM in their reading experience.

The Book Is Not Dead: It Just Had Babies

A couple of days ago, I wrote a post about the popular #dearpublisher Twitter tag. I, of course, joked how it was going to give publishers a whack of new unsolicited material to read, but failed to point out some of the really cool statements.

And there have been a number of wonderful comments and questions to come from this tag, but I wanted to pause to mention my favourite, particularly since it talks about the manner in which a new technology adds to the existing ones, perhaps changes the dynamic, but doesn't altogether kill it.

@katrinalantznov: #dearpublisher Combine ebooks with hardcovers, but please don't stop printing books ever. The book is not dead. It just had babies.

This has been among the top tweets that has been re-tweeted, re-posted and celebrated.  (Proof of the type of creative genius you can squeeze into 140 characters or less.)

The Twitter handle belongs to Katrina Lanz who is a writer from Southern California. Her blog and tweets are interesting, well written and thought-provoking. Definitely worth checking out.

Top 10 Takeaways From Book Summit 2010

I attended Book Summit 2010 yesterday.  This year's theme was "HOT NEW MODELS: The Amazing Transformation of Business and Culture in the World of Books."  Presented by Humber College and the Book and Periodical Council in association with Authors at Harbourfront Centre, the full day conference is a great gathering of people from across the book and publishing industry.

The day started off with a keynote address from The New York Times technology columnist David Pogue whose talk "Reading: The Next Chapter" was interesting, quirky, entertaining and enlightening.  He ended off a great summation of the intersection of technology and culture with a couple of spoof piano songs.  One of which you can watch here (this video is from the TED conference and has a much better sound quality than the recording I made yesterday - oops, I didn't get anyone's permission to record it yesterday, let's hope the Feds aren't going to storm into my house now)

The day split into parallel workshops and information sessions, of which I attended Switched-On Learning presented by David Jolliffe from Pearson Education and Elements of the Bookstore of the Future presented by Chris Morrow of Northshire Bookstore.  Then it was time for lunch and the afternoon session where I took in Robert J. Sawyer's talk on The 21st Century Author.

It all ended with a phenomenal panel discussion summarizing the day led by Mark Medley of the National Post and featuring Anne McDermid (Literary Agent), Sandra Kasturi (ChiZine Publications), Dominique Raccah (Sourcebooks) and Kate Pullinger (Author).  It was one of those panel discussions that could have gone on for several more hours and was the perfect day to wrap up a solid day.

The biggest frustration (which is a fantastic problem for an event like this to have) is that the breakout sessions were so good that you really wanted to attend more than one -- I need to further develop a strategy where I go in with some colleagues where we plan on attending different parallel sessions so we can compare notes afterwards and still get some of the benefit of the sessions we missed.

I thought it might be fun to list, from the notes I took yesterday, 10 of the quotes or points I got a lot out of.  And yes, I titled this the Top 10 Takeaways, but will openly admit that was just a gimmick because it sounds better than "Mark's Goofy Thoughts About A Great Day With Book Nerds."


1) "Things Just Add On" - David Pogue
The concept Pogue is talking about here are the constant predictions made by people that something is going to be the killer of something else, which are usually always wrong. Example, "the iPad is going to be the Kindle Killer" or "the television is going to kill the radio" or "the X is going to be the Y killer" (I'm still predicting that books are doomed due to the advent of vinyl records) - But seriously, Pogue says that things in culture tend not to fully replace things, but rather add on to them. Things splinter. Sure, we lose the common culture effect where everyone gathers around the water cooler and discussions last night's episode of "I Love Lucy" but everyone is better served and we can dip in and out at will.

2) "The only people being inconvenienced by copy protection measures are the honest people." - David Pogue
So true. Those who are going to hack and steal and going to hack and steal regardless of any sort of DRM measures put into place. The main people who suffer when you lock down digital content so tight are the honest people who are willing to pay for content. I could argue on for days about this (hey wait, I HAVE and will continue to do so)  Pogue's hilarous music medly covers the music industry's RIAA suing downloaders here -- funny spoof song but interesting and though-provoking.


3) "Speed + Ego - Privacy = Twitter" - David Pogue
Okay, a short, cute and funny statement. But I loved it.


4) "The ebooks we buy and read today are not likely to be available to our descendants" - David Pogue
Interesting thought. And yes I might sound like a luddite for saying something like this or look like that dinosaur bookseller who fails to accept ebooks and wants to cling to the traditional printed book, but it's a simple matter I have already seen.  Books and comics I bought when I was 10 are still available to be placed into my son's hands 30 years later. But games and software and stories I wrote and save to a 5.25 inch floppy disk on my VIC-20 and Commodore 64 are no longer something I can pass on. So what is to say that the digital files I create or purchase today, which haven't really been around for more than a decade in many cases, will still be here in another 10 or 20 years. At least the books on the shelves across from the desk where I type this will still be accessible in that same time frame.


5) We are seeing just the beginning of interactive assessments/mobile for learning technologies - David Jollifee (Pearson)
Right now my campus bookstore sells a lot of the i (classroom response system) units that are being used at McMaster University. Unlike many other required course materials, these are of a relatively low cost and have a high return on investment. A student can buy one in first year and use it for all their classes for the next four years. Great investment, and a great interactive way to aid the academic environment.  But we're just seeing the tip of that, and this whole area intrigues me greatly.


6) "Right now we're losing a lot of sales because we can't give the customer what they want when they want it." - Chris Morrow (Northshire Bookstore)
Morrow was talking about having an Espresso Book Machine in his store in Vermont. Therein lies merely one key to the bookstore of the future. It's one of the reasons why my campus bookstore invested in an Espresso Book Machine and one of the things that is kept close to my heart every single day as a bookseller. The key, in my mind, to the survival of any bookseller is how to position your offering in such a way that you CAN get the customer what they want when they want it, whether it's a physical book or one of various different digitally available book or book-like products. I have said tons about this and will continue to say a lot about this going forward, so I'll just stop here with that thought.

7) "It's time for real partnerships." - Chris Morrow (Northshire Bookstore)
Morrow was talking about the partnerships between publishers and booksellers and I couldn't agree more. Too often in the past 20 years of my experience as a bookseller there have been too many times in which disagreements or differing points of view have gotten in the way of creating a supply chain that actually does more for the customer/consumer. It will only get better once we're able to determine the common grounds by which (as suggested in point 6 above) we're able to work together to get the customer that critically important thing. One thing clear in my mind is that finding those common grounds are going to be hard and going to involve painful discussions and frustrating changes as we evolve, but, hey, it's all part of Darwin's grand theory. I was delighted to hear the same underlying sentiment from the afternoon panelists and think it was Anne McDermid who suggested there be "more merging between the author, agent and publisher" who, historically might have seen one another as adversaries in the past.

8) "Right now you have all these books sitting in warehouses that should be in front of customer's eyes in bookstores." - Chris Morrow (Northshire Books)
How. True.  Nuff said? Okay, I'll say a tiny bit about that. I was delighted to enter into a discussion with a smaller Canadian publisher at the end of the day regarding trying out the "Consignment Model" that Morrow was talking about in which, just at the beginning of the experience, he and the publisher partner have seen a 22% increase in sales on that particular publisher's titles by testing a consignment model rather than books continuing to be used as cash flow management systems. I'm rather intrigued by this concept and am always looking for solutions in which the customer, bookstore, publisher and author can win.

9) "If we had crowdsourced BAMBI, Bambi's mother would never had died." - Robert J. Sawyer
Sawyer talked about the concept of crowdsourcing for various things such as Bain allowing a particular group of core fans to help them vet their slush pile. He recognized the huge value in that, but also was cautious about the effect on the creative work, that the original novel writer as well as the adapting movie producer both had to make a difficult decision that likely wouldn't have passed a commitee but made for a VERY memorable moment in animated movie history. He also addressed a question from the audience about "product placement" which is commonplace in movies and television but hasn't made it's way into literary works. Sawyer talked about using brand names in his novels for one of two reasons -- either because it was a brand he personally respected or loved, or it was a brand he knew would be recognized. He talked about the limitations to creative freedom when you allow advertising to control the story. (One example he used was for FlashForward, the TV show based on his novel -- he speculative that if one of the sponsors was a car company, would that mean that the "bad guys" in the story couldn't ever turn out to be players from the "big oil" companies?) Sawyer raised a really good point regarding creative freedoms that I hadn't ever really thought much of before.


10) "Some of the greatest joy in my life comes from interfacing with readers from all over the world." Robert J. Sawyer
Sawyer was talking about pleasures and joys from being involved in social media, hosting a web site with fantastic content, participating in Twitter, Facebook and other social media as an author.  (Even during the conference, he dipped in and out of various social media to interact with fans and friends and comment on things, showing the agility required to multi-task in such a dynamic manner) He did caution about how overwhelming spending time in these social media areas could be which take away from what the author originally signed up to do, which was to write. But he talked about all these efforts (including author tours and talks and all the various in person activities he engages in) and said that if you get even a 1% response to all these activities you might just get somewhere -- which is a clear recognition that there is a tremendous amount of effort required to get a very tiny amount of payoff.

So many other great things were said, two of which I'm going to break off and blog about separately (because this blog post has likely gone on way too long already.

But two things I'm going to address in future posts are the statement Robert J. Sawyer made in which he wasn't sure if the profession of being a full-time writer has another decade in it -- that definitely warrants a longer explanation and detailed look (from my own POV as a no-name author as well as a bookseller)  I also want to list out the various great discussion points made in the final afternoon panel featuring Mark Medley, Anne McDermid, Sandra Kasturi, Dominique Raccah and Kate Pullinger.  An "action-packed" discussion, that definitely warrants it's own post.

Avoiding E-Books Because They Just Don't Smell Right?

Have you been avoiding e-books because they just don't smell right? Smell is an often overlooked yet critically important sense when it comes to fully appreciating an experience.

As exciting as digital books are, there's something lacking still preventing the majority from jumping on the e-book bandwagon -- perhaps it's that special "smell" of a book.

C'mon, admit it. When you crack open a new book you can't help but to sniff it in. It's just part of the experience.

Well, now you can have your e-book experience and smell it too, thanks to Smell-of-Books, an aerosol e-book enhancer.

Not since spray bacon has such a revolutionary idea come to such a small container.


Coming in scents such a Classic Musty Smell, Scent of Sensibility and Eau You Have Cats, there's a scent for almost every taste. And Smell of Books is compatible with virtually any digital reading device. (And as a special bonus, it comes with absolutely no DRM)

Reading e-books has never felt so natural and comfortable. Your e-book reader might be new, made out of plastic, and frustrate you because the battery is again dead. But while it's charging yet again, you can relax, secure in the comfort your room can still smell like it contains vintage classic paperback volumes.

Bookstore Of The Future

This evening at the Arts & Letters Club (14 Elm Street) in Toronto, I'll be sitting on a panel with four other people to talk about The Bookstore of the Future.

What will bookstores look like in the future? In a recent article, writer Sarah Sheard imagines small neighbourhood shops that offer coffee, cake, and print-on-demand books accessed electronically and printed while-you-wait. How will the advent of the e-book and quickly changing technology affect bookstores and the bookselling industry in the future?

Come and join in the discussion along with:

Steven Beattie (moderator) – Writer/Critic, Quill and Quire
Dan Aronchick – Market Research Specialist, President, Out -Think Inc.
Mark Lefebvre – Book Operations Manager, Titles Bookstore
Sarah Sheard – Writer and Therapist
Becky Toyne – Freelance Editor and Publicist

This event, as part of the Idea Exchange put on by the Book & Periodical Council and the Book Publishers' Professional Association and sponsored by Quill & Quire should prove to be a very engaging and interesting evening.

I suspect I might be talking a little bit about the Espresso Book Machine at Titles Bookstore at McMaster University. Well, I'll see if I have an opportunity to bring it up, anyways . . .

Top 10 Quotes From BookCamp Toronto

On Saturday May 15, I had an absolute blast at the 2nd BookCamp Toronto.

The theme for this "unconference" where everyone is welcome (ie, writers, technologists, publishers, readers, editors, designers, book sellers, book buyers, printers, librarians ... anyone who cares about books) was "Book Publishing Is Going Digital, Now What?"

This day long conference, or rather unconference was completely free, but did have a limited number of spaces, requiring pre-registration, and the pre-registration filled up in something like 24 hours if I remember correctly.

The basic premise for an unconference is that all attendees are participants at the event. All points of view, backgrounds, and levels of experience are welcome. Of course it also means all participants are responsible for themselves. While there is a certain amount of mob rule at a BookCamp, attendees are encouraged to vote with their feet, clean up after themselves, and speak-up when they encounter something they don't like -- in other words attendees are generally encouraged to act like adults.

BookCamp Toronto was organized by Alexa Clark, Hugh McGuire, Erin Balser, Mark Bertils and BookNetCanada. Of course, it was also supported by dozens of other friends and volunteers who helped make the day fantastic.

One of the ways I could tell the day was a success was that of the 4 concurrent sessions taking place, I knew I'd want to be in AT LEAST 2 of them at the same time. Now that's a GREAT sign of a phenomenal schedule, and a wonderful problem for a programming line-up to have. I was able to attend the following sessions:

- eBooks in Education & Academic
- Where are you at? Geolocation
- Leaping off the Page: Transmedia Storytelling*
- A Bucket of Cold Water: The Future Is Now
- Building and sustaining a community of readers online

* I had to attend Leaping off the Page, since I was co-leading the session with Jill Golick.


Here's a link to the full schedule, so you can see these were just a small portion of what the day offered. Again, it was one of those fantastic schedules where I truly wanted to be able to be in two or three places at once.

Rather than try to capture the pure essense of the wonderful day, I thought I'd share the top 10 quotes I jotted down during BookCamp Toronto (or #bcto10) as a sort of quick "snapshot" into some of the great discussions that took place that day - I did my very best to properly attribute the people speaking, but must admit I wasn't adept enough to always identify the person speaking.


1) "People will pay for content but not if they feel you're shafting them." Evan Leibovitch from York University, discussing open access content in the eBooks in Education & Academia session.

2) "There's not a single ebook reader that supports tabbed reading . . . having multiple books open at the same time." Evan Leibovitch discussing how academics often use books for research and study.

3) "Please, please, please, no DRM." John Dupuis, York University Library, stated after explaining in great detail how as a librarian he will ALWAYS be willing to pay for content, will never stop paying for content to support his academic institution.

4) "I have a feeling every single panel today is going to devolve into this type of discussion." John Dupuis after listening to yet another merry-go-round discussion of "print books vs ebooks."

5) "The agility of paper and pen." - okay, in all honesty, I missed the first part of this statement, but quite liked the way that Bob Logan of sBook perfectly described the reasoning behind the habit of writers and editors, though heavily using digital media to create their works, often still default to printing and hand-writing notes. Because I'll admit that though I do more work on the screen, I DO still have to print for a better final edit (at least for fiction and not for things I write on this blog - though I regularly do catch nasty typos and errors on this blog).

6) "Did you have an onion on your belt - was it the style at the time?" Ryan Bigge, content strategist and cultural journalist in response to a comment during the "print vs ebook" discussion that suggested new technology would never be as good as the way it has always been done.

7) "We talk about computers and ebook resources as unlimited, but they're not. There is a cost." Unattributed female participant in eBook in Education & Academia session wanting to ensure the discussion considered unseen costs, such as electricity and the huge volumes of "throw-away" trash waste involved in the rapid updates to hand-held devices and other hardware.

8) "Because they're not in Canada." A statement from one of the enthused and engaged Pearson Education editors at the eBooks in Academic session in response to the question John Dupuis posed as to why their bosses, the "big decision" makers weren't there. [Of note, there were about half a dozen folks from Pearson at the discussion, but, as interested as they were in digital strategies they are, and as involved in developing content for the products being discussed, they, are, unfortunately, not the people making the high level decisions that drive the company -- Too often, I see the sad result of the really smart and eager to progress people being held back from bringing a company to success by high level mandates that prevent them moving forward -- okay, Mark's editorial aside is over now]

9) "The only problem with using these great apps on mobile devices where traveling to other countries are the roaming charges, where a Rogers rep pops out and punches you in the face." Ron Nurwisah, The Afterword co-editor, National Post as part of a great discussion on some really cool geolocating apps and projects.

10) "If we can figure out how to get everyone paid properly, we can finally get somewhere." Deanna McFadden, Harper Collins Canada. [Ah, Deanna has a way of saying things that go right after my own heart. I think I'll go watch her BookNet Canada Tech Forum presentation again - I found it truly inspirational]


Okay, this is a tough one as I just realized something. These aren't the Top 10 quotes I jotted down at BookCamp Toronto, these are the first ten quotes I found from the 6 pages of notes I made, and are mostly from the first couple of morning sessions. Once I started typing out this list I realized I was in way over my head. I made more notes than could easily be summed up here in a single post.

So think of these like a "teaser" to the rest of the day, and, if you see an unconference, particularly a BookCamp styled event coming in your area, plan on registering EARLY and getting yourself there quickly.

When Technology Hinders Humans Work Around

Recently on his blog, Seth Godin suggested in a blog post called "Empty your library" that people give or lend their copy of LINCHPIN, his latest fantastic book, to someone else.

"Go find someone you care about, hand them the book and insist they read it. I'd consider that a gift of the first order, and I hope they will too."

I recently finished reading LINCHPIN and thought it was awesome.

It was exactly the kind of book that I'd love to give to as many people as possible and tell them to read it.

The problem is, I can't.

You see, I bought the ebook version of LINCHPIN on my enTourage eDGe -- I had a great experience reading it because the eDGe allows me to take notes, both in the margin of the book and in a quickly accessible enotebook I can toggle back and forth between.

And I took a ton of notes while reading Godin's latest. Because it's the kind of book that doesn't just give you information. It makes you think. Really think.

But I'm not about to just hand over my eDGE. Sorry, just can't afford that one. (Though, admittedly, it would be interesting to share the highlights, notes and comments I made in the margin of this book)

Sigh. Technology usually makes things easier, not more difficult.

I suppose I'll have to go buy a copy of the hardcover to give to someone.

That, or I'll just give away my copy of PERMISSION MARKETING - a book from well over 10 years ago by Godin, but fantastic and worth reading, particularly since he predicts many things that have come true today and much of what he addresses is still pertinent and valuable.

So, in the nature of the giving without strings that Godin suggests throughout the book LINCHPIN, who out there has always wanted to read Seth Godin but hasn't? I'll send you my copy of PERMISSION MARKETING. Free. No strings attached.

And if you're thinking this is a pure "Mark being generous" effort, here's the clincher -- there is something in this for me besides feeling good about giving. For a long time my wife has been asking me to clean up and deal with the piles and piles of books in my den that won't fit on the 8 book cases that fill two walls. This "giving away" is a step in the right direction and will please my wife, which brings me happiness. But instead of getting rid of things I don't want to keep, I'll start by giving away a book I really enjoyed and would normally want to hold on to forever -- Godin's PERMISSION MARKETING -- still in hardcover after all these years.

Who wants it? Post a comment on this blog post at http://markleslie.blogspot.com along with a note indicating the latest favourite book that you recently read and would highly recommend that others read (just because that's a cool thing for me to learn and for you to share with others) and my copy of PERMISSION MARKETING can be yours.

Sorry, but I only have one copy to give so will have to figure out who among the requesting folks actually gets it. I'm thinking I'll do this randomly, but I'm also open to take suggestions on how to selection someone, or suggestions on which of the people requesting it should be selected.

(Also, please note, I auto-syndicate this blog into Facebook, Goodreads and a few other places that I can't remember -- so if you're reading this note anywhere but directly on my blog, please click back to my blog to comment -- I have a setting on my blog that notifies me of comments there and that way I won't miss it)

A Gathering Of Beautiful Nerds

To quote the charismatic and energetic Michael Tamblyn, "Long form reading is alive and well on mobile devices." That's a bit of the reasoning behind the change of the name Shortcovers to Kobo several months back, and part of his BookNet Canada Tech Forum 2010 presentation entitled "12 Months of Lessons on eBooks at #Kobo in 40 minutes (a love story)"

During the BNC Tech Forum in 2009, Michael Serbinis from Indigo presented the newly released Shortcovers. To test how easy and simple it was to use, I actually logged in, uploaded a short story and released it for free on their services by the time Michael's talk was done. Simple proof at how easy it was for content creators. About an hour later, my tech guru buddy from Waterloo Bookstore, Randy Dauphin, used his iPhone to download the story. Simple proof at how easy it was for consumers. It was great to see how quickly this process turned around in a mobile environment.

At the 2010 BNC Tech Forum, Michael Tamblyn (formerly of BookNet Canada, now the VP Content, Sales & Merchandising for Kobo, dug into what the company learned in that year.

Though Tamblyn could be given a grocery list to read and manage to make it exciting, interesting and humorous (speaking of course to the dynamic and engaging manner in which he speaks and presents), the content behind his presentation is already quite intriguing on its own. This, of course, made for a phenomenal presentation that I'm delighted to be able to see again.

A few key points to highlight in Michael's presentation would be:

• Long form reading is alive and well on mobile devices (including stats showing people reading mobile devices around "bed time")
• This is a new release market (highlighting the fact that delaying the ebook release, also known as windowing, results in 48% of the lifetime sales of an ebook being lost)
• Ebooks are a razor thin margin item (yes, even more razor thin than books already are)
  
• Cheaper is not the only value - the less a customer can do with an ebook the lesser the value (highlighting the critical importance of multiple platforms) - this, of course, leads to Michael's great statement that "A book that you can't take with you is worthless."
• Some hilarious ongoing comparisons between the "contract-heavy" challenges associated with the purchase of an ebook compared to the rather simple exchange that takes place when buying a physical book.
  

Of course, given Michael's great presentation style (and what he likes to call the BNC Tech Forum, which is #gatheringofbeautifulnerds), it's natural that all the rest of the presentations from that day which followed Michael are now available to be viewed online.

Here's a link to an archive of the videos from #bnc10.

What I love about this (besides being able to revisit presentations I already saw that day) is that, despite the fact I was in track 2, I can now enjoy the presentations from track 1 I missed that day - THANK you BookNet Canada, for this wonderful gift to the book industry you have made available.

Here are links directly to each of the presentations.

• Can This Business Be Saved? (Bob Miller, Workman Publishing)
• Publishing 3.0 (Richard Nash, Cursor Books)
• Breaking Ground (Dominique Raccah, Sourcebooks)
• Lessons Learned (Michael Tamblyn. Kobo)
• Open Source ePub (Liza Daly, Threepress Consulting)
• One Book from Many (Ian Barker, Symtext, Mark Scott, BookRiff)
• Using RFID (Marshal K, RFID Sherpas)
• Trailblazing (Hugh McGuire, BookOven, Mark Lefebvre, Titles Bookstore)
• Understanding BookServer (Peter Brantley, Internet Archive)
• Bookselling on the Web (Mark Coker, Smashwords, Len Vlahos, IndieBound)
• Has Content Outgrown Its Covers (Deanna McFadden, HarperCollins Canada)

But, in summary, what a great day, as evidenced by the incredible and informative presentations that took place thanks to BookNet Canada and a whole great group of presenters. (And yes, I'm still delighted with the fact that I was honored to be included in part of that day by having a chance to present on Trailblazing with Hugh McGuire)

Can't wait until next year.

No wait, I think I can wait, because I still haven't watched all the sessions I missed. I imagine that by the time BNC 2011 rolls around, I'll have enjoyed each of the presentations several times over.

The Promise Of Digital Is More Than Text Transfer

Yet another great presentation from the BookNet Canada Tech Forum has been posted online.

This time, Dominique Raccah, the Publisher of Sourcebooks, Inc. a company she founded in 1987. I love how it's defined so beautifully on their website as Sourcebooks: Community, Books and Solutions. Do you see how books are nicely embedded between community and solutions?

Dominique did a presentation on the topic area Breaking Ground: Transforming Innovative Ideas to Action.

I love some of the concepts she outlined in her presentation such as the "book unleashed" -- I love that idea. She talked about the promise of digital being more than text transfer, that ebooks are just part of the story.

She outlined the 2002 mixed media project We Interrupt This Broadcast that was a combination book and CD set so you could not only read about the events that shaped the world, but also listen to the original recording and the incredible success it saw. This was back in 2002. Imagine the mixed media projects that could be during using today's technology, using tomorrow's technology.

During this overview of the mixed media book success she mentioned something I thought was critical called the CONTENT CONTINUUM and how books create theatre of the mind. On that point, she stated that "you don't want to interrupt the theatre of the mind, that engagement." (Of course, given that she's from the US, she probably actually said "theater of the mind" but I inscribed it the British/Canadian way . . . my bad)

But again, Dominique didn't just talk about publishing in the traditional sense, she asked the question about communities, she pushed the idea of creating new ways of delivering content, she talked about the importance of integration of the content into a liquid/seamless media experience.

I, of course, also had the distinct pleasure of having met Dominique the evening before at a dinner with the presenters, so she had already impressed the hell out of me and held me in rapt attention. Thus, it was a huge benefit to be able to not only learn from her the evening before the event, but to get to watch her presentation.

And yes, despite a full page of notes, I'm delighted to be able to watch this again online.