Robin Good's Latest News http://www.masternewmedia.org/index.html http://feeds.feedburner.com/Robin-Good-Latest-Newshttp://www.masternewmedia.org/images/Robin-Good_logo-130.jpgRobin Good's Latest News What Communication Experts Need To Know - Breaking News About Ideas, Digital Tools, Methods And Skills To Communicate And Learn More Effectively With New Media Technologies (daily) en-us Sat, 4 Jul 2009 09:28:00 GMT http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/Robin-Good-Latest-Newshttp://feedburner.google.comThis is an XML content feed. It is intended to be viewed in a newsreader or syndicated to another site. <![CDATA[Media Literacy: Making Sense Of New Technologies And Media by George Siemens - July 4 09]]> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Robin-Good-Latest-News/~3/jsi6lhjHBHM/ Media literacy is about asking pertinent questions about what's there, and noticing what's not there. And it's the instinct to question what lies behind media productions - the motives, the money, the values and the ownership - and to be aware of how these factors influence content (Source: TeacherInfo) Media_literacy_digest_georgesiemens_3655369013_28b7f527ee_size485.jpg Photo credit: Alan Levine Inside this Media Literacy digest:
  • The Edgeless University - ...while university enrollment continues to increase, universities are in an increasingly “fragile state”.
  • Evaluation of Evidence-Based Practices in Online Learning - ...is focused on the K-12 market and states that some online learning (blended) is actually superior to only face-to-face learning.
  • Beyond Management: Personal Learning Environments - Stephen Downes’ presentation at ED-MEDIA 2009 is available: Beyond Management: Personal Learning Environments.
  • Learning Institutions In a Digital Age - This “reframing” of research builds on the intellectual work of others but fails to provide appropriate recognition as the message is shaped for a traditional audience.
  • Learning Leaders Fieldbook - ...offers a diverse-perspective overview of leading learning in an organization
  • Why Free Web Services Aren’t Really Free - The idealism of early 2000 around open source and free software has given way (within education) to “wow, cool tool” syndrome of today.
  • A Global Reset For Advertising - ...within 10 years all traditional content will be digital and yet, Google aside, publishers are failing to generate serious digital revenues.”
George Siemens' Media Literacy digest helps you uncover interesting trends, new technologies and approaches as well as guiding you to ask the difficult questions needed to make better sense of the fast changing times we live in. Here all the details:


eLearning Resources and News

learning, networks, knowledge, technology, trends by George Siemens


The Edgeless University

Media_literacy_digest_georgesiemens_edgeless_university_id36947901.jpg The Edgeless University (.pdf) argues, that while university enrollment continues to increase, universities are in an increasingly “fragile state”. Growing competition, heavy reliance on public funding (which is made even more insecure in today’s economy), technology growth, open content, and social media / networks are forcing universities to adapt. The author states that technology is the core of the change (p. 8). This isn’t entirely accurate. Technology is one of many change pressures. The real change pressure is found on points along the longer time lime of change: how we interact with information and with each other. Today’s technology is only one point on the timeline. Language, Gutenberg, and the scientific method all occupy a role in increasing the ability for individuals and society to create / access / validate information. This report, while focused on UK, provides a good overview of technological and policy concerns universities face. To increase relevance, universities need to become “edgeless”, extending current roles to include informal, collaborative, and participatory learning.






Evaluation of Evidence-Based Practices in Online Learning

Media_literacy_digest_georgesiemens_evaluation_learning_id12186161.jpg This report will get a fair bit of attention: Evaluation of Evidence-Based Practices in Online Learning (.pdf). It joins a long list of meta-analysis by researchers like Abrami, Bernard et al. (.pdf), Tallent-Runnells et al., Zhao et al., and of course the original “no significant difference” site. The current report - by US Department of Education - is focused on the K-12 market and states that some online learning (blended) is actually superior to only face-to-face learning. Conclusions of this type likely won’t convince anyone who is antagonistic to technology use in classrooms. At minimum, the report provides a sweeping overview of how various researchers have tackled the effectiveness of technology in schools over the last decade. The questions we ask in research are sometimes more interesting than the findings…






Beyond Management: Personal Learning Environments

Media_literacy_digest_georgesiemens_personal_learning_environment_stephen_downes_id378792.jpg Stephen Downes’ presentation at ED-MEDIA 2009 is available: Beyond Management: Personal Learning Environments. The talk is an advancement (integration) of Stephen’s ideas over the last several years and looks like a precursor to his large PLE research project at NRC. During the talk, he makes a distinction between complicated and complex that resonates with my own work around learning theory (and Dave Snowden’s Cynefin framework, Ronald Barnett’s work on super complexity). In this distinction we find the driving motivation for reform of education. Web 2.0 is an instantiation of change. It is not the core change. The shift from settled and stable information (complicated - like a jigsaw puzzle where every piece has a place in our curriculum) to adaptive and emerging (complex - like a weather system where numerous combinations of factors will produce outcomes that cannot be fully predicted) is the core change. New education models must be built on this change. Any system that is out of synch with the market it intends to serve risks irrelevance.






Learning Institutions In a Digital Age

Media_literacy_digest_georgesiemens_learning_institutions_digital_age.jpg I encourage you to read this report from the MacArthur foundation, published by MIT Press The Future of Learning Institutions in a Digital Age (.pdf). If you’ve followed elearnspace blog - and many others with a similar educational technology focus over the last seven years - you won’t find much new in it. And that’s the problem. I like the report. It offers many insightful statements that I hope will be considered by leaders who don’t follow edublogs. Statements such as:
“We contend that the future of learning institutions demands a deep, epistemological appreciation of the profundity of what the Internet offers humanity as a model of a learning institution”... and
“participatory learning is about a process and not always a final product”... and
“We advocate institutional change because we believe our current formal educational institutions are not taking enough advantage of the modes of digital and participatory learning available to students today”... and
“Networked learning, however, goes beyond these conversational rules to include correcting others, being open to being corrected oneself, and working together to fashion workarounds when straightforward solutions to problems or learning challenges are not forthcoming”
I could offer many other similar statements. All of which have been discussed at great length on many sites and by many authors that I frequently reference. One of the first steps in publishing on a subject is to do a literature review. Type in “networked learning” into Google or Google scholar and you’ll see many individuals that have written at length on the subject: Chris Jones, Stephen Downes, Leigh Blackall, Martin de Laat... as well as entire conferences devoted to the theme. Or, when considering educational change and OERs, where is David Wiley? The list goes on. The report irritates me because I’ve seen this happen several times: an existing field, and major thinkers within the field, is completely ignored as open, online conversations are squeezed into existing publication processes. This “reframing” of research builds on the intellectual work of others but fails to provide appropriate recognition as the message is shaped for a traditional audience.






Learning Leaders Fieldbook

Media_literacy_digest_georgesiemens_learning_leaders_fieldbook_id1368161.jpg Masie Center’s Learning Leaders Fieldbook offers a diverse-perspective overview of leading learning in an organization. Topics include talent management, role of CLO (including lifecycle, basics of success, team structure), and role of technology. In all, it’s a good handbook. But, its strength is also a weakness: each chapter is only a few pages. After a few chapters you get the impression that you’re reading a series of blog posts. This reflects a trend I’ve noticed over the last several years: when did leading thinkers in corporate learning conclude that their audience can not handle complex subjects? Why this push for shallowness? I presented at a large corporate learning event about five months ago. After the presentation, a VP (in charge of training and development) approached me and stated that simple messages are preferable. I assumed this to mean that I had delivered a presentation that was too complex (I was talking about restructuring training departments to take advantage of existing organizational connections between people and using decentralized methods to achieve adaptive corporate strategies - yes, the topic was a bit complex, but because it was complex, it required a complex treatment). I responded that a good presentation, in my eyes, should do two things: clarify simple issues and present a complex constellation of important issues. The organization then faces the challenge of working through complex issues in a manner that reflects organizational and external contexts. If it were simple, we could just write a blog post about it or deliver a one-slide powerpoint presentation. Corporate learners aren’t dumb. We don’t need to reduce significant training to pablum-like consistency.






Why Free Web Services Aren't Really Free

Media_literacy_digest_georgesiemens_free_id2755041.jpg There are many reasons to love emerging technologies - ease of use, features, ability to connect with family / friends. But for most people “free” is a prominent reason. Unfortunately, it’s not the right kind of free. The idealism of early 2000 around open source and free software has given way (within education) to “wow, cool tool” syndrome of today. Mark Pilgrim posted on this in 2005 in Freedom 0 where he discusses the dangers of “free enough”. I don’t mind paying for software, even content, when I actually own it, rather than rent it under the terms provided by a software user’s license. This short article raises the important concerns about control again: Why free web services aren’t really free: “Trading one closed-source app for another gets us nowhere, even if the new app happens to come from Google”.






A Global Reset For Advertising

Media_literacy_digest_georgesiemens_reset_advertising_id9575932.jpg Advertising revenue for newspapers, TV, magazines, and other mainstream media will rebound once the current economic situation improves, right? Not according to Ballmer: “I don’t think we are in a recession, I think we have reset,” he said.
“A recession implies recovery [to pre-recession levels] and for planning purposes I don’t think we will. We have reset and won’t rebound and re-grow... within 10 years all traditional content will be digital and yet, Google aside, publishers are failing to generate serious digital revenues.”
The very simple (and obvious) lesson here is this: when a system no longer reflects the external context it serves, it is doomed. Examples are numerous - car manufacturers, mainframe computers, and subscription internet models of the early 90’s (AOL). The question for educational leaders is how well does our system match the activities of our learners and society as a whole - are the approaches to research, learning, and teaching within education synchronized to the dominant long term trends around information creation, sharing, and personal interactions?.

Originally written by George Siemens for elearnspace and first published on July 3rd, 2009 in his newsletter eLearning Resources and News.

About the author George-Siemens.jpg To learn more about George Siemens and to access extensive information and resources on elearning check out www.elearnspace.org. Explore also George Siemens connectivism site for resources on the changing nature of learning and check out his new book "Knowing Knowledge".

Photo credits: The Edgeless University - tonob Evaluation of Evidence-Based Practices in Online Learning - M.G. Mooij Beyond Management: Personal Learning Environments - Ana Blazic Learning Leaders Fieldbook - Ilin Sergey Why Free Web Services Aren’t Really Free - kmitu A Global Reset For Advertising - Sebastian Kaulitzki]]> Media literacy is about asking pertinent questions about what\'s there, and noticing what\'s not there. And it\'s the instinct to question what lies behind media productions - the motives, the money, the values and the ownership - and to be aware of how these factors influence content (Source: TeacherInfo) Media_literacy_digest_georgesiemens_3655369013_28b7f527ee_size485.jpg Photo credit: Alan Levine Inside this Media Literacy digest:
  • The Edgeless University - ...while university enrollment continues to increase, universities are in an increasingly “fragile state”.
  • Evaluation of Evidence-Based Practices in Online Learning - ...is focused on the K-12 market and states that some online learning (blended) is actually superior to only face-to-face learning.
  • Beyond Management: Personal Learning Environments - Stephen Downes’ presentation at ED-MEDIA 2009 is available: Beyond Management: Personal Learning Environments.
  • Learning Institutions In a Digital Age - This “reframing” of research builds on the intellectual work of others but fails to provide appropriate recognition as the message is shaped for a traditional audience.
  • Learning Leaders Fieldbook - ...offers a diverse-perspective overview of leading learning in an organization
  • Why Free Web Services Aren’t Really Free - The idealism of early 2000 around open source and free software has given way (within education) to “wow, cool tool” syndrome of today.
  • A Global Reset For Advertising - ...within 10 years all traditional content will be digital and yet, Google aside, publishers are failing to generate serious digital revenues.”
George Siemens\' Media Literacy digest helps you uncover interesting trends, new technologies and approaches as well as guiding you to ask the difficult questions needed to make better sense of the fast changing times we live in. Here all the details:


eLearning Resources and News

learning, networks, knowledge, technology, trends by George Siemens


The Edgeless University

Media_literacy_digest_georgesiemens_edgeless_university_id36947901.jpg The Edgeless University (.pdf) argues, that while university enrollment continues to increase, universities are in an increasingly “fragile state”. Growing competition, heavy reliance on public funding (which is made even more insecure in today’s economy), technology growth, open content, and social media / networks are forcing universities to adapt. The author states that technology is the core of the change (p. 8). This isn’t entirely accurate. Technology is one of many change pressures. The real change pressure is found on points along the longer time lime of change: how we interact with information and with each other. Today’s technology is only one point on the timeline. Language, Gutenberg, and the scientific method all occupy a role in increasing the ability for individuals and society to create / access / validate information. This report, while focused on UK, provides a good overview of technological and policy concerns universities face. To increase relevance, universities need to become “edgeless”, extending current roles to include informal, collaborative, and participatory learning.






Evaluation of Evidence-Based Practices in Online Learning

Media_literacy_digest_georgesiemens_evaluation_learning_id12186161.jpg This report will get a fair bit of attention: Evaluation of Evidence-Based Practices in Online Learning (.pdf). It joins a long list of meta-analysis by researchers like Abrami, Bernard et al. (.pdf), Tallent-Runnells et al., Zhao et al., and of course the original “no significant difference” site. The current report - by US Department of Education - is focused on the K-12 market and states that some online learning (blended) is actually superior to only face-to-face learning. Conclusions of this type likely won’t convince anyone who is antagonistic to technology use in classrooms. At minimum, the report provides a sweeping overview of how various researchers have tackled the effectiveness of technology in schools over the last decade. The questions we ask in research are sometimes more interesting than the findings…






Beyond Management: Personal Learning Environments

Media_literacy_digest_georgesiemens_personal_learning_environment_stephen_downes_id378792.jpg Stephen Downes’ presentation at ED-MEDIA 2009 is available: Beyond Management: Personal Learning Environments. The talk is an advancement (integration) of Stephen’s ideas over the last several years and looks like a precursor to his large PLE research project at NRC. During the talk, he makes a distinction between complicated and complex that resonates with my own work around learning theory (and Dave Snowden’s Cynefin framework, Ronald Barnett’s work on super complexity). In this distinction we find the driving motivation for reform of education. Web 2.0 is an instantiation of change. It is not the core change. The shift from settled and stable information (complicated - like a jigsaw puzzle where every piece has a place in our curriculum) to adaptive and emerging (complex - like a weather system where numerous combinations of factors will produce outcomes that cannot be fully predicted) is the core change. New education models must be built on this change. Any system that is out of synch with the market it intends to serve risks irrelevance.






Learning Institutions In a Digital Age

Media_literacy_digest_georgesiemens_learning_institutions_digital_age.jpg I encourage you to read this report from the MacArthur foundation, published by MIT Press The Future of Learning Institutions in a Digital Age (.pdf). If you’ve followed elearnspace blog - and many others with a similar educational technology focus over the last seven years - you won’t find much new in it. And that’s the problem. I like the report. It offers many insightful statements that I hope will be considered by leaders who don’t follow edublogs. Statements such as:
“We contend that the future of learning institutions demands a deep, epistemological appreciation of the profundity of what the Internet offers humanity as a model of a learning institution”... and
“participatory learning is about a process and not always a final product”... and
“We advocate institutional change because we believe our current formal educational institutions are not taking enough advantage of the modes of digital and participatory learning available to students today”... and
“Networked learning, however, goes beyond these conversational rules to include correcting others, being open to being corrected oneself, and working together to fashion workarounds when straightforward solutions to problems or learning challenges are not forthcoming”
I could offer many other similar statements. All of which have been discussed at great length on many sites and by many authors that I frequently reference. One of the first steps in publishing on a subject is to do a literature review. Type in “networked learning” into Google or Google scholar and you’ll see many individuals that have written at length on the subject: Chris Jones, Stephen Downes, Leigh Blackall, Martin de Laat... as well as entire conferences devoted to the theme. Or, when considering educational change and OERs, where is David Wiley? The list goes on. The report irritates me because I’ve seen this happen several times: an existing field, and major thinkers within the field, is completely ignored as open, online conversations are squeezed into existing publication processes. This “reframing” of research builds on the intellectual work of others but fails to provide appropriate recognition as the message is shaped for a traditional audience.






Learning Leaders Fieldbook

Media_literacy_digest_georgesiemens_learning_leaders_fieldbook_id1368161.jpg Masie Center’s Learning Leaders Fieldbook offers a diverse-perspective overview of leading learning in an organization. Topics include talent management, role of CLO (including lifecycle, basics of success, team structure), and role of technology. In all, it’s a good handbook. But, its strength is also a weakness: each chapter is only a few pages. After a few chapters you get the impression that you’re reading a series of blog posts. This reflects a trend I’ve noticed over the last several years: when did leading thinkers in corporate learning conclude that their audience can not handle complex subjects? Why this push for shallowness? I presented at a large corporate learning event about five months ago. After the presentation, a VP (in charge of training and development) approached me and stated that simple messages are preferable. I assumed this to mean that I had delivered a presentation that was too complex (I was talking about restructuring training departments to take advantage of existing organizational connections between people and using decentralized methods to achieve adaptive corporate strategies - yes, the topic was a bit complex, but because it was complex, it required a complex treatment). I responded that a good presentation, in my eyes, should do two things: clarify simple issues and present a complex constellation of important issues. The organization then faces the challenge of working through complex issues in a manner that reflects organizational and external contexts. If it were simple, we could just write a blog post about it or deliver a one-slide powerpoint presentation. Corporate learners aren’t dumb. We don’t need to reduce significant training to pablum-like consistency.






Why Free Web Services Aren\'t Really Free

Media_literacy_digest_georgesiemens_free_id2755041.jpg There are many reasons to love emerging technologies - ease of use, features, ability to connect with family / friends. But for most people “free” is a prominent reason. Unfortunately, it’s not the right kind of free. The idealism of early 2000 around open source and free software has given way (within education) to “wow, cool tool” syndrome of today. Mark Pilgrim posted on this in 2005 in Freedom 0 where he discusses the dangers of “free enough”. I don’t mind paying for software, even content, when I actually own it, rather than rent it under the terms provided by a software user’s license. This short article raises the important concerns about control again: Why free web services aren’t really free: “Trading one closed-source app for another gets us nowhere, even if the new app happens to come from Google”.






A Global Reset For Advertising

Media_literacy_digest_georgesiemens_reset_advertising_id9575932.jpg Advertising revenue for newspapers, TV, magazines, and other mainstream media will rebound once the current economic situation improves, right? Not according to Ballmer: “I don’t think we are in a recession, I think we have reset,” he said.
“A recession implies recovery [to pre-recession levels] and for planning purposes I don’t think we will. We have reset and won’t rebound and re-grow... within 10 years all traditional content will be digital and yet, Google aside, publishers are failing to generate serious digital revenues.”
The very simple (and obvious) lesson here is this: when a system no longer reflects the external context it serves, it is doomed. Examples are numerous - car manufacturers, mainframe computers, and subscription internet models of the early 90’s (AOL). The question for educational leaders is how well does our system match the activities of our learners and society as a whole - are the approaches to research, learning, and teaching within education synchronized to the dominant long term trends around information creation, sharing, and personal interactions?.

Originally written by George Siemens for elearnspace and first published on July 3rd, 2009 in his newsletter eLearning Resources and News.

About the author George-Siemens.jpg To learn more about George Siemens and to access extensive information and resources on elearning check out www.elearnspace.org. Explore also George Siemens connectivism site for resources on the changing nature of learning and check out his new book "Knowing Knowledge".

Photo credits: The Edgeless University - tonob Evaluation of Evidence-Based Practices in Online Learning - M.G. Mooij Beyond Management: Personal Learning Environments - Ana Blazic Learning Leaders Fieldbook - Ilin Sergey Why Free Web Services Aren’t Really Free - kmitu A Global Reset For Advertising - Sebastian Kaulitzki ...]]>

]]> Sat, 4 Jul 2009 09:28:00 GMT http://www.masternewmedia.org/media-literacy-making-sense-of-new-technologies-and-media_2009_07_04/ <![CDATA[The New Communication And Collaboration Revolution Is Coming And Is Called Google Wave]]> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Robin-Good-Latest-News/~3/8MDIdxOU8RI/ Google Wave, a new technology that promises to deliver a new standard for common messaging and collaboration infrastructure for both the web and enterprises. The original email idea is completely out of sync with today's communications approaches, which are based on deep content sharing via the cloud rather than being still reliant on local data storage and replicating document instances for others to work on. communication_collaboration_google_wave_revolution_id793675_size485.jpg Photo credit: cookelma edited by Daniele Bazzano In one short sentence: Email is a completely inadequate messaging infrastructure for communication, data sharing and information publishing to really satisfy today's typical consumer and enterprise needs. This is why Google Wave and its revolutionary approach hold so much promise and potential for the ways in which we are going to communicate and share information in the near future. Google Wave is important first and foremost because it is a revolutionary, disruptive rule-changing technology that goes right into denting the very habits and standard approaches we use in our daily work life.
"Wave is an open-source set of protocols, platforms and products that enable anyone to put together services that allow people to create and share content and display applications with one another using non-proprietary web programming standards."
Google Wave has the potential to sweep aside some of the many obstacles limiting corporate work productivity, enterprise data sharing and effective collaboration, and, if successful, it could impact organizational work in a way that may deeply change the way people inside companies operate and create value. If your suspicion too, is that sooner than expected you'll see Wave inside your own Gmail inbox, the analysis that follows is going to help you better understand the value and opportunities that may likely emerge with the arrival of this new technology. While other companies are still trying to leverage their ownership of technology intellectual property, Google learned long ago that it's far more important to own the moments that people create when interacting with technology itself. Here is content media expert John Blossom, analysis on what Google Wave is and may soon become:


One Space To Rule The Cloud: Google Wave Creates a Backbone For The Real-Time Web

by John Blossom
It's been a busy week for attention-getting events in content technologies, with the Google I/O developer's conference in San Francisco vying for mindshare with the All Things D conference in San Diego. Both were important events in their own right, with Steve Ballmer's announcement of a preview launch for Microsoft's new Bing search engine facing off against Google's announcement of Google Wave, a new technology that promises to deliver a new standard for common messaging and collaboration infrastructure for both the web and enterprises. Hmm, yet another stab at launching a Live.com successor versus a reworking of email, wikis, real-time messaging and file sharing in one swoop. Which event should Walt and Kara have been covering in more detail? I think that I'll take door two, though Bing is worth taking a gander at in its own right. Mind you, Google giving away free Android phones with a month's free call and data time to developers at I/O certainly upped the attention-getting factor a little bit, as well.






The Google Wave Revolution

communication_collaboration_google_wave_revolution_id28141041.jpg Google Wave is important for any number of reasons, but it's important first and foremost because many major technology companies could have done this, and probably should have, but chose to stick with incremental improvements to older software technologies. Back in the 1970s, for example, when it was a big deal to get messages from one person to another person on a remote computer, the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) was an important tool to facilitate widely different computing platforms to pass messages to one another. Good stuff in its time, to be sure, but today the fundamental concept of email is entirely out of step with today's communications methods, where message content tends to be shared and stored in web cloud infrastructure rather than being scooted around to storage devices at the edge of the web. Add in mashups, instant messaging and the real-time broadcast capabilities of services such as Twitter and it's clear that email is a completely inadequate messaging infrastructure for building content services that really satisfy today's sophisticated consumer and enterprise audiences. Yet for decades interoperable standards for a successor to email sponsored by major technology companies have been no-starters. Enter Google Wave, a new communications technology that made its debut at Google's recent I/O conference for developers. Built to leverage the emerging HTML 5 standards for content and software services delivered via web browsers, Wave is an open-source set of protocols, platforms and products that enable anyone to put together services that allow people to create and share content and display applications with one another using non-proprietary web programming standards. Given that the web has been overshadowed recently by proprietary products such as Apple's iPhone and Amazon's Kindle and applications environments such as Adobe Air, Google Wave is a very strong statement from Google that the common and open standards of the web are the key to unlocking the full potential of the most valuable communications medium ever invented. Wave is also an extremely strong challenge to Microsoft and just about every major software and services provider hoping to take some piece of the emerging world of real-time collaborative communications that spans consumers, enterprises and an expanding multitude of mobile and desktop computing platforms. While other companies are still trying to leverage their ownership of technology intellectual property, Google learned long ago that it's far more important to own the moments that people interact with technology. Some people try to call those moments "media", but Google was one of the first companies to realize that these transitory moments were far more valuable and complex than both traditional media companies and technology companies had imagined.






Google Wave Main Features

communication_collaboration_google_wave_revolution_features.jpg If you can find the time it's really worth it to go through the full video of the demo that shows all of the potential of Wave as a messaging medium. For those that don't have the time, here's a brief tick list of things that will leave you oohing, aahing and - hopefully - thinking:
  • A "wave" can be any number of digital objects - messages, documents, images, embedded applications - that can be exposed to people just by dragging and dropping a profile icon into the Wave object.

  • Wave enables concurrent real-time information transfer to and from collaborators. So although you can view completed messages in Wave as you would an email, instant message or other completed communication, you can also experience it as a real-time conversation or collaboration. As you type, the characters of your message appear in the other person's browser as they are being typed. People can type together in multiple languages (with real-time translation as needed). The real-time semantic spell-checker is pretty amazing in the demo. The open-source Wave protocol makes this all happen.

  • Wave objects can start out as a simple message, have replies and participants added, enables people to share private messages from within the wave, can allow people to edit an object concurrently and to view those edits as they are happening concurrently, can use rich text with drag and drop hyperlinks, allows the dragging and dropping of videos, images, texts, hyperlinks, enables rich tagging - and can do this all in real-time on any platform that uses the Wave protocols, including enterprise platforms.

  • Anyone can develop Wave-compatible applications, including those who want them "inside the firewall" of an enterprise. Demos were given on Wave working in Google's own Chrome browser but also Firefox and on iPhones as well as Google's own Android mobile smart phones. Examples in the I/O demo of an "Acme" third party implementation of Wave and an embedded "Twave" application for including Twitter messages in Wave underscored that any developer can use Wave protocols and standards to develop compatible applications that leverage Wave capabilities.

In other words, this is a complete rethink of how we use Internet-based messaging to communicate and to collaborate, enabling content to be assembled in web cloud infrastructure as real-time conversations. It's young technology also, to be sure, but it rides on the back of the enormous cloud infrastructure resources that Google and others have assembled over the past several years. Whatever scalability and reliability issues need to be worked out for Wave are small compared to the decades of effort it has taken to get infrastructure in place already to keep up with Wave's potential. If you think of how the relatively simple Twitter infrastructure has been tweaked and kept alive with fairly few "fail whale" outages during its exponential growth of the past year, then it's probably safe to say that the potential for Wave to grow rapidly as a market force in real-time and collaborative messaging is not likely to be gated by basic issues such as networking and servers. Given the slow adoption rate amongst software developers for Google's Open Social programming interface, though, it was far from certain that developers were going to get jazzed up about Wave as something that deserved their attention - hence the high-energy introduction for Wave at the I/O event.






Google Wave and Android

communication_collaboration_google_wave_revolution_android.jpg The giveaway of Android phones to I/O attendees was no accident, of course, in this regard. What other real-time messaging medium has the potential to be changed by I/O's potential? Why telephony, of course. With millions of phone calls being made already on services such as Skype and even Second Life, the telephone networks' days as the universal real-time messaging medium are numbered. Google's open-source Android software is about to empower dozens of new and more affordable smart phone models around the world, making Wave a perfect tool to help accelerate the demise of telephony as we have known it. It's likely that Wave will be a key component in accelerating the acceptance of Android, and vice versa. As traditional content and software publishers continue to try to wrestle the web into one proprietary box after another to suit their established business models, it's important to remember that the world is aching to have cost-effective productivity improvements that will help to boost the global economy. Wave is a good example of a content technology that has the potential to sweep aside many drags on web and enterprise productivity in ways that can help to create and to contextualize content in more valuable ways than ever before. In the long run, that can only be good for publishing. My suspicion is that you'll see Wave in a Gmail inbox near you pretty soon. For those who were hoping that there would be a breather from the pace of change being fomented by the web with the introduction of platforms like iPhone and Amazon's Kindle, I am sorry to say that you had best get down to the gym and start getting used to more fast breathing ahead in the emerging web cloud economy.


Originally written by John Blossom for Shore and first published on June 1st 2009 as "One Space to Rule The Cloud: Google Wave Creates a Backbone for the Real-Time Web.".

About the author John_Blossom_85.gif John Blossom's career spans more than twenty years of marketing, research, product management and development in advanced information and media venues, including major financial publishers and financial services companies, as well as earlier experience in broadcast media. Mr. Blossom founded Shore Communications Inc. in 1997, specializing in research and advisory services and strategic marketing consulting for publishers and consumers of content services.

Photo credits: The Google Wave Revolution - Katrina Brown edited by Daniele Bazzano]]> Google Wave, a new technology that promises to deliver a new standard for common messaging and collaboration infrastructure for both the web and enterprises. The original email idea is completely out of sync with today\'s communications approaches, which are based on deep content sharing via the cloud rather than being still reliant on local data storage and replicating document instances for others to work on. communication_collaboration_google_wave_revolution_id793675_size485.jpg Photo credit: cookelma edited by Daniele Bazzano In one short sentence: Email is a completely inadequate messaging infrastructure for communication, data sharing and information publishing to really satisfy today\'s typical consumer and enterprise needs. This is why Google Wave and its revolutionary approach hold so much promise and potential for the ways in which we are going to communicate and share information in the near future. Google Wave is important first and foremost because it is a revolutionary, disruptive rule-changing technology that goes right into denting the very habits and standard approaches we use in our daily work life.
"Wave is an open-source set of protocols, platforms and products that enable anyone to put together services that allow people to create and share content and display applications with one another using non-proprietary web programming standards."
Google Wave has the potential to sweep aside some of the many obstacles limiting corporate work productivity, enterprise data sharing and effective collaboration, and, if successful, it could impact organizational work in a way that may deeply change the way people inside companies operate and create value. If your suspicion too, is that sooner than expected you\'ll see Wave inside your own Gmail inbox, the analysis that follows is going to help you better understand the value and opportunities that may likely emerge with the arrival of this new technology. While other companies are still trying to leverage their ownership of technology intellectual property, Google learned long ago that it\'s far more important to own the moments that people create when interacting with technology itself. Here is content media expert John Blossom, analysis on what Google Wave is and may soon become:


One Space To Rule The Cloud: Google Wave Creates a Backbone For The Real-Time Web

by John Blossom
It\'s been a busy week for attention-getting events in content technologies, with the Google I/O developer\'s conference in San Francisco vying for mindshare with the All Things D conference in San Diego. Both were important events in their own right, with Steve Ballmer\'s announcement of a preview launch for Microsoft\'s new Bing search engine facing off against Google\'s announcement of Google Wave, a new technology that promises to deliver a new standard for common messaging and collaboration infrastructure for both the web and enterprises. Hmm, yet another stab at launching a Live.com successor versus a reworking of email, wikis, real-time messaging and file sharing in one swoop. Which event should Walt and Kara have been covering in more detail? I think that I\'ll take door two, though Bing is worth taking a gander at in its own right. Mind you, Google giving away free Android phones with a month\'s free call and data time to developers at I/O certainly upped the attention-getting factor a little bit, as well.






The Google Wave Revolution

communication_collaboration_google_wave_revolution_id28141041.jpg Google Wave is important for any number of reasons, but it\'s important first and foremost because many major technology companies could have done this, and probably should have, but chose to stick with incremental improvements to older software technologies. Back in the 1970s, for example, when it was a big deal to get messages from one person to another person on a remote computer, the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) was an important tool to facilitate widely different computing platforms to pass messages to one another. Good stuff in its time, to be sure, but today the fundamental concept of email is entirely out of step with today\'s communications methods, where message content tends to be shared and stored in web cloud infrastructure rather than being scooted around to storage devices at the edge of the web. Add in mashups, instant messaging and the real-time broadcast capabilities of services such as Twitter and it\'s clear that email is a completely inadequate messaging infrastructure for building content services that really satisfy today\'s sophisticated consumer and enterprise audiences. Yet for decades interoperable standards for a successor to email sponsored by major technology companies have been no-starters. Enter Google Wave, a new communications technology that made its debut at Google\'s recent I/O conference for developers. Built to leverage the emerging HTML 5 standards for content and software services delivered via web browsers, Wave is an open-source set of protocols, platforms and products that enable anyone to put together services that allow people to create and share content and display applications with one another using non-proprietary web programming standards. Given that the web has been overshadowed recently by proprietary products such as Apple\'s iPhone and Amazon\'s Kindle and applications environments such as Adobe Air, Google Wave is a very strong statement from Google that the common and open standards of the web are the key to unlocking the full potential of the most valuable communications medium ever invented. Wave is also an extremely strong challenge to Microsoft and just about every major software and services provider hoping to take some piece of the emerging world of real-time collaborative communications that spans consumers, enterprises and an expanding multitude of mobile and desktop computing platforms. While other companies are still trying to leverage their ownership of technology intellectual property, Google learned long ago that it\'s far more important to own the moments that people interact with technology. Some people try to call those moments "media", but Google was one of the first companies to realize that these transitory moments were far more valuable and complex than both traditional media companies and technology companies had imagined.






Google Wave Main Features

communication_collaboration_google_wave_revolution_features.jpg If you can find the time it\'s really worth it to go through the full video of the demo that shows all of the potential of Wave as a messaging medium. For those that don\'t have the time, here\'s a brief tick list of things that will leave you oohing, aahing and - hopefully - thinking:
  • A "wave" can be any number of digital objects - messages, documents, images, embedded applications - that can be exposed to people just by dragging and dropping a profile icon into the Wave object.

  • Wave enables concurrent real-time information transfer to and from collaborators. So although you can view completed messages in Wave as you would an email, instant message or other completed communication, you can also experience it as a real-time conversation or collaboration. As you type, the characters of your message appear in the other person\'s browser as they are being typed. People can type together in multiple languages (with real-time translation as needed). The real-time semantic spell-checker is pretty amazing in the demo. The open-source Wave protocol makes this all happen.

  • Wave objects can start out as a simple message, have replies and participants added, enables people to share private messages from within the wave, can allow people to edit an object concurrently and to view those edits as they are happening concurrently, can use rich text with drag and drop hyperlinks, allows the dragging and dropping of videos, images, texts, hyperlinks, enables rich tagging - and can do this all in real-time on any platform that uses the Wave protocols, including enterprise platforms.

  • Anyone can develop Wave-compatible applications, including those who want them "inside the firewall" of an enterprise. Demos were given on Wave working in Google\'s own Chrome browser but also Firefox and on iPhones as well as Google\'s own Android mobile smart phones. Examples in the I/O demo of an "Acme" third party implementation of Wave and an embedded "Twave" application for including Twitter messages in Wave underscored that any developer can use Wave protocols and standards to develop compatible applications that leverage Wave capabilities.

In other words, this is a complete rethink of how we use Internet-based messaging to communicate and to collaborate, enabling content to be assembled in web cloud infrastructure as real-time conversations. It\'s young technology also, to be sure, but it rides on the back of the enormous cloud infrastructure resources that Google and others have assembled over the past several years. Whatever scalability and reliability issues need to be worked out for Wave are small compared to the decades of effort it has taken to get infrastructure in place already to keep up with Wave\'s potential. If you think of how the relatively simple Twitter infrastructure has been tweaked and kept alive with fairly few "fail whale" outages during its exponential growth of the past year, then it\'s probably safe to say that the potential for Wave to grow rapidly as a market force in real-time and collaborative messaging is not likely to be gated by basic issues such as networking and servers. Given the slow adoption rate amongst software developers for Google\'s Open Social programming interface, though, it was far from certain that developers were going to get jazzed up about Wave as something that deserved their attention - hence the high-energy introduction for Wave at the I/O event.






Google Wave and Android

communication_collaboration_google_wave_revolution_android.jpg The giveaway of Android phones to I/O attendees was no accident, of course, in this regard. What other real-time messaging medium has the potential to be changed by I/O\'s potential? Why telephony, of course. With millions of phone calls being made already on services such as Skype and even Second Life, the telephone networks\' days as the universal real-time messaging medium are numbered. Google\'s open-source Android software is about to empower dozens of new and more affordable smart phone models around the world, making Wave a perfect tool to help accelerate the demise of telephony as we have known it. It\'s likely that Wave will be a key component in accelerating the acceptance of Android, and vice versa. As traditional content and software publishers continue to try to wrestle the web into one proprietary box after another to suit their established business models, it\'s important to remember that the world is aching to have cost-effective productivity improvements that will help to boost the global economy. Wave is a good example of a content technology that has the potential to sweep aside many drags on web and enterprise productivity in ways that can help to create and to contextualize content in more valuable ways than ever before. In the long run, that can only be good for publishing. My suspicion is that you\'ll see Wave in a Gmail inbox near you pretty soon. For those who were hoping that there would be a breather from the pace of change being fomented by the web with the introduction of platforms like iPhone and Amazon\'s Kindle, I am sorry to say that you had best get down to the gym and start getting used to more fast breathing ahead in the emerging web cloud economy.


Originally written by John Blossom for Shore and first published on June 1st 2009 as "One Space to Rule The Cloud: Google Wave Creates a Backbone for the Real-Time Web.".

About the author John_Blossom_85.gif John Blossom\'s career spans more than twenty years of marketing, research, product management and development in advanced information and media venues, including major financial publishers and financial services companies, as well as earlier experience in broadcast media. Mr. Blossom founded Shore Communications Inc. in 1997, specializing in research and advisory services and strategic marketing consulting for publishers and consumers of content services.

Photo credits: The Google Wave Revolution - Katrina Brown edited by Daniele Bazzano ...]]>

]]> Fri, 3 Jul 2009 09:30:00 GMT http://www.masternewmedia.org/the-new-communication-and-collaboration-revolution-google-wave/ <![CDATA[The Value Of Trust In The Attention Economy: Influence Is The New ROI ]]> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Robin-Good-Latest-News/~3/jwyxkSeHbYw/ Do you know why trust has gained so much value in the attention economy? Bombarded by an increasingly complex life, by more news and information, by marketing and sales calls of all kinds, people are increasingly "on-the-move" and with less and less time to devote to anyone specific thing. They are rushing from a website to another, from a conversation to another. And this is why their attention has become more valuable than gold these days. value_trust_attention_economy_infuence_real_roi_george_benckenstein_size485.jpg Photo credit: Iurii Davydov In the era of social media, traditional marketing channels are tricky venues to promote your product. Consumers are suspicious of marketing, they don’t trust the buzz, and relationships created ad hoc to sell a product do not work anymore. Today, the relationship must come before the sale, not the other way around. By creating and nurturing your community and by making customers your good friends it is possible to develop new relationships and loyal supporters which can be an invaluable asset for any company in the market today. Once you have a community of passionate fans and followers, it becomes easier to share your commercial recommendations and advice in ways that are more spontaneous, natural and credible. George Benckenstein explains why building trust and relationships with your customers is so important. Inside communities people influence one another. Personal interests become social objects and spread across your network. Are you part of it? Do you help your community and customers learn and relate with each other in ways that augment their attention investment in you? That's what the new Return On Investment is all about. The new ROI is the useful, tangible influence you create rather than the investment you make. Here, in more detail, George Benckenstein's vision:


Return On Influence - The Real ROI

value_trust_attention_economy_infuence_real_roi_george_benckenstein_id21760751.jpg by George Benckenstein
Next time you hear people talking about history repeating itself, I’m hoping you will think about this. None of us remember the era when all commerce was localized - meaning, anyone you did business with lived in your immediate community. There was no such thing as advertising, marketing channels and brands. You did business with people you knew. It was not an “information economy” and nothing was mass produced. It was a Trust Economy. So what am I talking about when I say that history repeats itself? …welcome back to the Trust Economy. When it comes to using social platforms to create awareness for your service, product or brand - you have to remember that this is not your typical marketing channel. As consumers, we are weary of “marketing speak,”suspicious of “buzz” (it can be bought) and we don’t trust strangers. We are back to square one. In a Trust Economy, your market is your community or network, trust is mandatory and influence is king.




Return On Influence - The Basics

value_trust_attention_economy_infuence_real_roi_george_benckenstein_basics_id562359.jpg If you want to understand how to create trust and affect individuals authentically, imagine yourself moving into a new neighborhood. You’ve just entered a new community. So how do you meet people? This is the exact construct social media platforms emulate. Would you immediately start going door-to-door peddling your product or service to your neighbors? I would hope the answer to that question is NO. But over time, as your community gets to know you, the trust and reputation you have built will no doubt lead to talk about what you do. So keep these things in mind:
  • You can’t fake a relationship
  • Relationships come before sales
  • Business is not the first order of business
  • Your personal brand comes first
Leveraging your relationships is a great way to increase awareness of your product, service or brand - but you actually have to become a respected and trusted member of your community and nurture your own network before you can tap into it’s potential.




Work Life Integration

value_trust_attention_economy_infuence_real_roi_george_benckenstein_work_life_integration_id100310.jpg So I just mentioned that your personal brand comes first. For organizations, this logic will seem counter-intuitive and will require understanding of the social construct. However, no matter how you look at it, the lines between our work and our social life are blurring. For example - childhood friends are now being reconnected thru facebook and becoming business associates. Business are invading Facebook like a pack of 4 yr. olds will invade a Chuck-E-Cheese. Corporate recruiters are sourcing talent from LinkedIn, Twitter and even MySpace. In the end, interactions are interpersonal - people do business with people (not brands) and the economic environment we once knew is systematically being turned on it’s head (Judy Martin got me thinking about this).




Personal Interactions = Network ROI

Click to enlarge image So here we are back in a Trust Economy except our localized market is now global. Thru the ubiquity of technology, we are able to have rich, personal interactions and find meaningful connections with others. As always, when it comes to relationships, you get back more than you give. First and foremost, we are creatures here to serve one another. It’s a tried and true principle that is undeniable. We just have more tools to serve each other more effectively and more efficiently.




Attention = Currency

value_trust_attention_economy_infuence_real_roi_george_benckenstein_attention_currency_id442858.jpg One of the most rare things on earth is a person’s attention. Between email, 30,000 ad messages a day and life in general, our time is our most precious commodity. We have become masters at filtering out anything that is not meaningful to us NOW. So go out and join the conversation. Listen to people. Answer their questions. Be of service without regard and be meaningful to people NOW.




Authentic Influence

value_trust_attention_economy_infuence_real_roi_george_benckenstein_authentic_id455010.jpg Let people get to know you, trust you and befriend you. You will create meaningful relationships that get integrated socially and professionally. The more you give, the more you get. Relationships are back. We are built to affect and influence one another. Your interests will become social objects and awareness of them will radiate thru your network. These authentic alliances are what all relationships are built on. This is not something you can fake. It’s something you must embrace.

Originally written by George Benckenstein for his blog, and first published on May 4th 2009 as "Return On Influence - The Real ROI"

About the author georgebenckenstein_thumbnail.jpg George Benckenstein is a web strategist with lots of experiences as a marketing director and consultant. He's currently manager at Hrtools.com and Administaff Inc. George Benckenstein blogs at www.benckenstein.com.

Photo credits: Return On Influence - The Real ROI - Mark Beckwith Return On Influence - The Basics - Kareem Saady Work Life Integration - Antonio Nunes Personal Interactions = Network ROI - George Benckenstein Attention = Currency - Vista Authentic Influence - Sebastian Kaulitzki]]> Do you know why trust has gained so much value in the attention economy? Bombarded by an increasingly complex life, by more news and information, by marketing and sales calls of all kinds, people are increasingly "on-the-move" and with less and less time to devote to anyone specific thing. They are rushing from a website to another, from a conversation to another. And this is why their attention has become more valuable than gold these days. value_trust_attention_economy_infuence_real_roi_george_benckenstein_size485.jpg Photo credit: Iurii Davydov In the era of social media, traditional marketing channels are tricky venues to promote your product. Consumers are suspicious of marketing, they don’t trust the buzz, and relationships created ad hoc to sell a product do not work anymore. Today, the relationship must come before the sale, not the other way around. By creating and nurturing your community and by making customers your good friends it is possible to develop new relationships and loyal supporters which can be an invaluable asset for any company in the market today. Once you have a community of passionate fans and followers, it becomes easier to share your commercial recommendations and advice in ways that are more spontaneous, natural and credible. George Benckenstein explains why building trust and relationships with your customers is so important. Inside communities people influence one another. Personal interests become social objects and spread across your network. Are you part of it? Do you help your community and customers learn and relate with each other in ways that augment their attention investment in you? That\'s what the new Return On Investment is all about. The new ROI is the useful, tangible influence you create rather than the investment you make. Here, in more detail, George Benckenstein\'s vision:


Return On Influence - The Real ROI

value_trust_attention_economy_infuence_real_roi_george_benckenstein_id21760751.jpg by George Benckenstein
Next time you hear people talking about history repeating itself, I’m hoping you will think about this. None of us remember the era when all commerce was localized - meaning, anyone you did business with lived in your immediate community. There was no such thing as advertising, marketing channels and brands. You did business with people you knew. It was not an “information economy” and nothing was mass produced. It was a Trust Economy. So what am I talking about when I say that history repeats itself? …welcome back to the Trust Economy. When it comes to using social platforms to create awareness for your service, product or brand - you have to remember that this is not your typical marketing channel. As consumers, we are weary of “marketing speak,”suspicious of “buzz” (it can be bought) and we don’t trust strangers. We are back to square one. In a Trust Economy, your market is your community or network, trust is mandatory and influence is king.




Return On Influence - The Basics

value_trust_attention_economy_infuence_real_roi_george_benckenstein_basics_id562359.jpg If you want to understand how to create trust and affect individuals authentically, imagine yourself moving into a new neighborhood. You’ve just entered a new community. So how do you meet people? This is the exact construct social media platforms emulate. Would you immediately start going door-to-door peddling your product or service to your neighbors? I would hope the answer to that question is NO. But over time, as your community gets to know you, the trust and reputation you have built will no doubt lead to talk about what you do. So keep these things in mind:
  • You can’t fake a relationship
  • Relationships come before sales
  • Business is not the first order of business
  • Your personal brand comes first
Leveraging your relationships is a great way to increase awareness of your product, service or brand - but you actually have to become a respected and trusted member of your community and nurture your own network before you can tap into it’s potential.




Work Life Integration

value_trust_attention_economy_infuence_real_roi_george_benckenstein_work_life_integration_id100310.jpg So I just mentioned that your personal brand comes first. For organizations, this logic will seem counter-intuitive and will require understanding of the social construct. However, no matter how you look at it, the lines between our work and our social life are blurring. For example - childhood friends are now being reconnected thru facebook and becoming business associates. Business are invading Facebook like a pack of 4 yr. olds will invade a Chuck-E-Cheese. Corporate recruiters are sourcing talent from LinkedIn, Twitter and even MySpace. In the end, interactions are interpersonal - people do business with people (not brands) and the economic environment we once knew is systematically being turned on it’s head (Judy Martin got me thinking about this).




Personal Interactions = Network ROI

Click to enlarge image So here we are back in a Trust Economy except our localized market is now global. Thru the ubiquity of technology, we are able to have rich, personal interactions and find meaningful connections with others. As always, when it comes to relationships, you get back more than you give. First and foremost, we are creatures here to serve one another. It’s a tried and true principle that is undeniable. We just have more tools to serve each other more effectively and more efficiently.




Attention = Currency

value_trust_attention_economy_infuence_real_roi_george_benckenstein_attention_currency_id442858.jpg One of the most rare things on earth is a person’s attention. Between email, 30,000 ad messages a day and life in general, our time is our most precious commodity. We have become masters at filtering out anything that is not meaningful to us NOW. So go out and join the conversation. Listen to people. Answer their questions. Be of service without regard and be meaningful to people NOW.




Authentic Influence

value_trust_attention_economy_infuence_real_roi_george_benckenstein_authentic_id455010.jpg Let people get to know you, trust you and befriend you. You will create meaningful relationships that get integrated socially and professionally. The more you give, the more you get. Relationships are back. We are built to affect and influence one another. Your interests will become social objects and awareness of them will radiate thru your network. These authentic alliances are what all relationships are built on. This is not something you can fake. It’s something you must embrace.

Originally written by George Benckenstein for his blog, and first published on May 4th 2009 as "Return On Influence - The Real ROI"

About the author georgebenckenstein_thumbnail.jpg George Benckenstein is a web strategist with lots of experiences as a marketing director and consultant. He\'s currently manager at Hrtools.com and Administaff Inc. George Benckenstein blogs at www.benckenstein.com.

Photo credits: Return On Influence - The Real ROI - Mark Beckwith Return On Influence - The Basics - Kareem Saady Work Life Integration - Antonio Nunes Personal Interactions = Network ROI - George Benckenstein Attention = Currency - Vista Authentic Influence - Sebastian Kaulitzki ...]]>

]]> Wed, 1 Jul 2009 09:29:00 GMT http://www.masternewmedia.org/the-value-of-trust-in-the-attention-economy-influence/ <![CDATA[Self-Publish Your Book: Guide To The Best Self-Publishing Services]]> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Robin-Good-Latest-News/~3/mjDkyxLdudw/ When working with a traditional book publisher, you, the book author, give up a large degree of editorial control, and many times you have little to no input into the design and layout of your book, its distribution, and its marketing approach. Self-publishing allows you, the writer and author of a new book, to publish, print and distribute at a very low cost physical books on your own, bypassing at once the traditional, established publishing houses. book-self-publishing-best-tools-services-sell-promote-size485.jpg Photo credit: Tom Perkins As a matter of fact, the key distinguishing characteristic of self-publishing is the absence of a traditional publisher. Instead, it is you, the book author who fulfill this role, taking editorial control of the content, and leveraging one of the many self-publishing solutions available online to produce, print, ship, distribute and make a profit out of your writing / publishing skills. Self-publishers are not anymore those individuals who would go down to their trusted typographic shop and actually paid for the printing of their own writings. Successful self-publishers today leverage the benefits provided by print-on-demand services, where they need not to waste money on printing costs or on inventory and stocking fees. When customers order their books, self-publishing outlets like Cafepress, Lulu, Createspace and others will print on-demand as many book as needed and they will also ship them and get payments for them from those ordering. You, the book author, do not have to worry about anything but collecting your profits which are simply based on your chosen extra margin on top of the printing and shipping cost. As you, the book author, make the final price, you can decide how much to charge for each of your publications. These self-publishing services are a mix of print-on-demand (POD) companies and marketing and distribution venues, providing key opportunities for distributing your book on major book selling platforms, like Amazon and others. Typically these self-publishing services accept uploaded digital content as Microsoft Word documents, PDFs, text files or RTF files and book authors choose the type of format, size and design of their own publication. There is no money to be spent upfront, as the self-publishing company prints your book only when an order comes in. At that point, the self-publishing service charges you a base price for printing on demand your book but you decide what is the final price charged to a buyer, before shipping. That extra margin, on top of the self-publisher charges to you, is your book profit. This is how, without any upfront investment you can use one of these companies to bootstrap yourself into the independent book publishing universe. For an additional cost, a self-publishing service may offer additional services such as doing your cover design, review and proofread content, do indexing, proofreading and even promotion and marketing. Some, provide also the option to output your book optionally to an ebook format in addition to your hardcover and paperback editions, as some others will offer you the opportunity to get an ISBN (International Standard Book Number), which allows for your book title to acquire official "book" status and to become more easily found online. Key advantages of self publishing are:
  1. Retain the rights to your book.
  2. Take home a bigger royalty than you would normally get from a traditional publisher.
  3. Have complete control over your book. You decide format, paper quality, cover image and, most importantly, you set the price.
In this guide to the best self-publishing companies you can find a selection of the most interesting services as well as a comparative table facilitating your task of reviewing these key players and their offerings. Here all the details:




Best Online Services To Sell And Promote Your Book Comparison Table






Best Online Services To Sell And Promote Your Book


  1. Lulu

    Lulu allows you to create, publish, sell and promote your books, completely on your own. The service also helps you digitalize your existing books and take care of publication and sale only. Other than books, you can also create digital products like photos, music tracks, calendars, and ringtones. Lulu provides collaboration features like group blogs and forums where you can meet other people and receive feedback about your work. All books published with Lulu are labeled with an ISBN, a unique number that identifies your book inside bibliographic databases. Books submitted are automatically converted to PDF file, so you may want to check that formatting is perfectly preserved after uploading your book or, better off, directly upload a PDF file. When your book is ready for publication, you can set the price and sell it in ebook or print version. Purchasing one of the premium plan (starting at $369) you can also customize: binding type, paper quality, templates and book cover and have other extra features like the inclusion inside Amazon listings and advanced formatting capabilities. You can promote your books with a personal storefront, using Google Book Search (which also makes your book content indexed inside Google search results), or distributing your creations via Amazon (requires a premium plan). For each book sold using Lulu, you retain the 80% of the retail price.
    www.lulu.com





  2. CreateSpace

    CreateSpace is an on-demand commerce company owned by Amazon. You can take advantage of Amazon distribution service to sell your books and also convert your books into Kindle format. Other products you can sell via CreateSpace include CDs, DVDs, videos and ebooks. If you prefer to set a customized store to sell your books, you can create an eShop on your own website. CreateSpace assigns automatically to every book a unique identification number (ISBN). Customization options for your book include: binding type, cover images, internal images, and paper quality. Books must be submitted in PDF format. You can also join a community of other publishers to receive feedback on your book and perfect your creation. Your earnings depend on the solution you choose to sell your books: you can opt for a Standard (free) plan or a Pro plan, which costs you $39 per book plus $5 of annual renewal fee. The Pro plan lets you retain more for each sale while allowing customers to pay less when ordering copies of your books. The basic rule is you set a list price and Amazon charges a fee once the item is sold. The fee is 20% of list price for eShops and 40% of list price for books sold via Amazon. For a comprehensive overview of all pricing combinations, also depending on the type of book you choose (hardcover, softcover, black / white, colour, etc.) check the "Pricing and Royalties" page on CreateSpace website.
    www.createspace.com





  3. CafePress

    CafePress is a service specialized in user-generated commerce. You can choose an item inside CafePress catalogue, brand it with your company logo or your own images, and then buy your customized item to sell it. To sell your books, the e-commerce service creates a "shop", which is a personal storefront owned by you. When an item is sold on your shop, CafePress retains the base price (the price you paid to buy that item from CafePress) and you earn the markup you set above the base price. Books must be submitted using PDF format. Options to customize your books include binding type, cover image and internal images. To make sure your product is also indexed by search engines, CafePress provides a set of guidelines to obtain the best visibility for your customized items. You can open a Basic Shop for free, but only sell one of each of the products with your image(s) at a time. Premium shops starts from $6 for one month and allow you to sell unlimited items and access further customization possibilities regarding the layout of your shop. No free distribution via Amazon or writers feedback.
    www.cafepress.com





  4. Blurb

    Blurb helps you self-publish your own book for free, either in printed or digital format. You can submit your book using the free BookSmart software (Mac + PC) or just upload a PDF file. Once your book is uploaded you can customize a set of options to personalize your creation, these include: binding type, cover image, internal images, paper quality and Blurb logo removal from your book pages. You can also add an ISBN number to your book just by creating a JPG image (with or without barcode) and place it on your book. You can offer customers a 15-page preview of your book to help them evaluate a potential purchase. To ensure the right visibility off your books on search engines, you can add tags and set a category which your book fits in. You can also promote your book using a Blurb badge on your own website. Blurb forums are available to share ideas with other publishers and receive feedback and suggestions on your work. All pricing options are available on Blurb website, but a quick way to estimate how much your book will cost to you (and then the sell price) is to use the free Shipping Calculator. Whatever your earnings are, Blurb retains a $5 fee from your monthly profit. No free Amazon distribution.
    www.blurb.com





  5. Xlibris

    Xlibris is a "back office" that allows you to self-publish and sell your own books without head-scratching. After submitting your book (either in MS Word or RTF formats), a cover image, internal images, a customer representative helps you choose the best packaging that suits your needs and takes care of publishing and selling your book. First premium price level osts $299 and offers: custom cover, internal book design, ISBN assignment, and more. Besides hardcover and softcover options, Xlibris offers also leather-bound editions of your books. Ebooks are not available for the time being. Each book published with Xlibris has a unique ISBN, so that customers and bookstores can easily search your book inside bibliographic databases. The retail price of your book is determined by the options you choose when customizing the print options of your book: if you want to maintain control of your retail price (and the earnings you get out of that price) you can purchase the "Set Your Own Price" option for $249. To receive help setting the best retail price for your needs, use the free Xlibris Book Calculator. For each sale made on Xlibris you get royalties corresponding to 25% of the retail price. If your book is sold via Amazon (only available for premium plans and Black & White books) you earn 10% of the retail price. Each plan you choose has a fixed number of copies to print your books. No writers feedback.
    www2.xlibris.com





  6. Lightning Source

    Lightning Source offers a print and distribution model that takes care of all the hassle of publishing. You can have your books printed, distributed, sold and shipped using just one service. Ebook selling is also allowed. While Lightning Source can also drop-ship directly to customers, the company is partnered with all major book publishing distributors, including Amazon. Books can be submitted either in PDF or printed format. If you submit your work in print format, the service takes care to scan and digitalize your book for you. ISBN identification number is supported. Publishers can customize binding type, cover type (hard / soft), cover image and internal images of books using a dedicated free tool. The cost to access Lightning Source service is $12/year per book. When a book is sold, the service pays the publisher the wholesale price of the book, less the cost of printing the book. The cost of printing is based on a unit cost for each book plus a cost per page. No writers feedback.
    www.lightningsource.com





  7. CreateBooks

    CreateBooks is a book publishing service that assists you when self-publishing your work. CreateBooks has a particular focus on the physical crafting of your book. Books must be uploaded in MS Word format. The service also takes care of providing you with a valid ISBN and bar code, if you want to distribute your book inside bookstores (see pricing options for more details on the cost of these options). Also, depending on the pricing package you choose, you are allowed to choose between different print options for your books: cover (hard / soft), binding type, cover image and internal images. Profits from sales operated by CreateBooks are all retained by original authors. The service shares also a set of guidelines that may give you helpful suggestions and tips to obtain good rankings for your books inside search engines. Books published withCreateBooks are also published inside Google Book Search listings. Marketing supports to promote your book sales like business cards, posters, promotional book cover and other material are also available for purchase. Distrubition via Amazon is accepted. No writers feedback.
    www.createbooks.com





  8. UniBook

    UniBook is a virtual bookstore where writers and publishers can print, publish and sell their books. Books submitted must be in PDF or DOC format. UniBook allows you to customize: binding type, cover type, cover image and internal images. Ebooks are not available for the time being. For each book you submit you need to insert tags and choose a category, so that your book can rank inside search engines. UniBook has a free service to calculate the price your books is sold to customers: just choose a format, input the number of pages of your book and the percentage of royalties you want to earn from the sell. The service returns all the options you have and even the available discounts if you order large quantities of book copies. Whatever solution you choose, UniBook will retain the 50% of the retail price. Starting price to utilize UniBook services is $79, which includes 5 book copies and worldwide distribution. No free Amazon distribution nor writers feedback.
    www.unibook.com





  9. BookSurge

    BookSurge is a company that allows publishers and authors to self-publish a book and also take care of the sell process. Since BookSurge is a subsidiary of the Amazon group, you can distribute the book through Amazon bookstore and also convert your works into Kindle format (or into a traditional PDF ebook). You have to submit your work in PDF, DOC, RTF or TXT formats or send a print copy to BookSurge which takes care of digitalizing your manuscript. You can either purchase a Total Design Freedom Package to have complete control over the customization of your book (($799) or the Author's Advantage Publishing Program which offers a set of ready-made templates and limited customization options ($499). Options you can always customize inside your book (whatever pricing plan you choose) are: cover format, cover image, internal image, chapter titles, external / internal fonts and fleurons. BookSurge retains the 35% of the retail price of your book. There are several marketing options you can optionally purchase to increase the visibility of your book like posters, sell sheets, press releases, custom reviews and more (prices available on site). No writers feedback.
    www.booksurge.com





  10. Trafford Publishing

    Trafford Publishing offers a set of commercial solutions to print, self-publish and sell your book. Publishers can sell books either in print copies or digital format. No info is released on the format to subscribe your manuscript, tough guidelines are available inside the FAQ section of the website. First pricing plan starts at $799 and offers the following options: paperback format, custom cover design, author support, ISBN assignment, custom interior layout, Amazon distribution, and more. To have further customization options you need to upgrade to another pricing plan (starting from $1299). Your earnings are calculated as the 20% of the book sale. The retail price of your books is determined by the option you choose and the number of pages your book is made up. No writers feedback.
    www.trafford.com





  11. Spire Publishing

    Spire Publishing allows you to print and sell a manuscript of your book completely on your own. The service is available only for US and UK markets. Books must be submitted in PDF, DOC or RTF format. Ebook selling is not permitted. The first pricing plan you can purchase is the Print Ready Publishing plan, which allows you to get five paperback copies of your book: for $299 you get a custom cover image, ready-made design templates ISBN assignment, and more. If you prefer a hardcover instead of a paperback binding, the price raises to $549 (for three copies). These two pricing plans do not include distribution and sale of your book. To have your book sold via third-party bookstores (Amazon included) you have to purchase the Print Ready Plus Publishing plan (same options of the basic plan) at $399 for five paperback copies and $749 for three hardcover copies of your book. Your earnings consist of the retail price less the print cost of the book (which is the price you pay to Spire Publishing to buy your book). The print cost depends on the options you choose. On Spire Publishing website you can also find marketing tips and strategies to promote your book. No writers feedback.
    www.spirepublishing.com





  12. AutorHouse

    AuthorHouse is a self-publishing company that helps publishers and authors print and sell their works outside the traditional book publishing channels. Manuscript must be submitted in MS Word or Adobe InDesign 2, CS, or CS2 file formats. Ebook publishing is available. The first pricing level costs $549 and has the following features: custom cover, custom, interior layout design, ISBN assignment, Amazon distribution, and more. The price of your book depends on: book size, cover type (softcover or dust jacket), final page count, where the book is purchased, and the royalty percentage you choose. The royalties you can earn from AutorHouse depend on the retail price of the book and the amount of money you want to get from your book sale (10%, 20%, 30% or 50%). AutorHouse provides also a range of services to market and promote your book (prices available on the site). No writers feedback.
    www.autorhouse.com





  13. Infinity Publishing

    Self-publish company Infinity Publishing takes care of all the book publishing process following a print-on-demand-philosophy. Ebook publishing is not allowed. No information is provided on the file format to subscribe your manuscript. First pricing plan starts at $499 and covers all aspects of self-publishing your book: custom cover, distribution to third-party bookstores like Amazon, custom barcode, ISBN assignment, and more. You can also include a CD to ship with your book for $200 more. Other optional services include: Spanish translation, extended book distribution, marketing packages, advance reading copies (for reviewers and columnists) and book editing services (price details on the company website). Monthly royalties are paid on the selling price: 30% of retail, 15% of wholesale, and 10% on purchases by the author. Authors are also free to increase / decrease the price of their book within a 25%-75% range. Infinity published books are priced according to page count - the greater the number of pages, the higher the retail price. No writers feedback.
    www.infinitypublishing.com





  14. SelfPublishing

    SelfPublishing allows publishers and authors to print their works either in print or digital format. SelfPublishing does not take care of distributing or selling your work to book retailers. No information is provided on the file format to subscribe your manuscript. Book customization options include: binding type, custom cover design, custom book layout, and more. You can purchase a single ISBN license directly from SelfPublishing for $99. The self-publishing company has one pricing plan which costs $249 for three years. No writers feedback or Amazon distribution available.
    www.selfpublishing.com





  15. WEbook

    WEbook is a free book publishing service based entirely on social collaboration. You cannot import your existing book, but only start your writing inside WEbook. The service community will assist you along the way with feedback and suggestions to help you perfect your work. To get in touch with other users you can access the forum, start a group, or comment inside the official blog. Once your book is ready, your work is reviewed and rated by the WEbook community which is the only subject that decides whether a book can be published or not. Only the highest-rated books are sold via WEbook. Ebooks selling or ISBN identification are not available for the time being. If you are allowed to sell your book, you can also share the revenues with the people that helped you improve your work with their feedback. Authors and major contributors receive 50% of all profits generated from the sale of WEbook titles. If you are allowed to sell your book, you can also share your revenue with those people that gave you helpful feedback. Inside WEbook website there are no info about binding types, paper quality or cover type options to personalize your book once published. The only choice you have seems to be to upload a cover image. Book published with WEbook are distributed via Amazon.
    www.webook.com

Other Self-Publishing Guides and Resources Worth Checking

  • Self-Publishing a Book: 25 Things You Need to Know ... The basic premise is anyone can become a small publisher. You call the shots. You retain the rights to your book. And you take home a bigger royalty than you'd normally get from a traditional publisher--if you sell any books. Against the advice of my agent, I began perusing the big self-publishing companies' Web sites and evaluating what they had to offer. Then I started poking around blogs and message boards to get customer testimonials. What I found was a veritable minefield with roads that forked in every direction and very few clear answers.

  • 6 Ways to Publish Your Own Book Online self-publishing services have given users the tools they need to create, publish and promote their work. These sites allow authors to bypass the process of finding an agent and pitching to publishing houses, a venture that can take months, if not years. Here are six great sites that will help you publish your work, guaranteeing you a published book that can be sold via different outlets, such as Amazon.

  • Lulu vs. CreateSpace: Which Is More Economical For The DIY Author? At the risk of coming off as some kind of Amazon shill, I'm afraid I've just got to blog about one of their services again: CreateSpace. I feel this is necessary because I keep seeing tweets, posts and Facebook notes from indie authors--especially authors outside the US---who intend to go through Lulu based in part on a belief that Lulu is the most economical choice for the services offered, and in many, many cases, this is simply not true.


Originally prepared by Robin Good and Daniele Bazzano for MasterNewMedia, and first published on June 29th, 2009 as "Self-Publish Your Book: Guide To The Best Self-Publishing Services".]]> When working with a traditional book publisher, you, the book author, give up a large degree of editorial control, and many times you have little to no input into the design and layout of your book, its distribution, and its marketing approach. Self-publishing allows you, the writer and author of a new book, to publish, print and distribute at a very low cost physical books on your own, bypassing at once the traditional, established publishing houses. book-self-publishing-best-tools-services-sell-promote-size485.jpg Photo credit: Tom Perkins As a matter of fact, the key distinguishing characteristic of self-publishing is the absence of a traditional publisher. Instead, it is you, the book author who fulfill this role, taking editorial control of the content, and leveraging one of the many self-publishing solutions available online to produce, print, ship, distribute and make a profit out of your writing / publishing skills. Self-publishers are not anymore those individuals who would go down to their trusted typographic shop and actually paid for the printing of their own writings. Successful self-publishers today leverage the benefits provided by print-on-demand services, where they need not to waste money on printing costs or on inventory and stocking fees. When customers order their books, self-publishing outlets like Cafepress, Lulu, Createspace and others will print on-demand as many book as needed and they will also ship them and get payments for them from those ordering. You, the book author, do not have to worry about anything but collecting your profits which are simply based on your chosen extra margin on top of the printing and shipping cost. As you, the book author, make the final price, you can decide how much to charge for each of your publications. These self-publishing services are a mix of print-on-demand (POD) companies and marketing and distribution venues, providing key opportunities for distributing your book on major book selling platforms, like Amazon and others. Typically these self-publishing services accept uploaded digital content as Microsoft Word documents, PDFs, text files or RTF files and book authors choose the type of format, size and design of their own publication. There is no money to be spent upfront, as the self-publishing company prints your book only when an order comes in. At that point, the self-publishing service charges you a base price for printing on demand your book but you decide what is the final price charged to a buyer, before shipping. That extra margin, on top of the self-publisher charges to you, is your book profit. This is how, without any upfront investment you can use one of these companies to bootstrap yourself into the independent book publishing universe. For an additional cost, a self-publishing service may offer additional services such as doing your cover design, review and proofread content, do indexing, proofreading and even promotion and marketing. Some, provide also the option to output your book optionally to an ebook format in addition to your hardcover and paperback editions, as some others will offer you the opportunity to get an ISBN (International Standard Book Number), which allows for your book title to acquire official "book" status and to become more easily found online. Key advantages of self publishing are:
  1. Retain the rights to your book.
  2. Take home a bigger royalty than you would normally get from a traditional publisher.
  3. Have complete control over your book. You decide format, paper quality, cover image and, most importantly, you set the price.
In this guide to the best self-publishing companies you can find a selection of the most interesting services as well as a comparative table facilitating your task of reviewing these key players and their offerings. Here all the details:




Best Online Services To Sell And Promote Your Book Comparison Table






Best Online Services To Sell And Promote Your Book


  1. Lulu

    Lulu allows you to create, publish, sell and promote your books, completely on your own. The service also helps you digitalize your existing books and take care of publication and sale only. Other than books, you can also create digital products like photos, music tracks, calendars, and ringtones. Lulu provides collaboration features like group blogs and forums where you can meet other people and receive feedback about your work. All books published with Lulu are labeled with an ISBN, a unique number that identifies your book inside bibliographic databases. Books submitted are automatically converted to PDF file, so you may want to check that formatting is perfectly preserved after uploading your book or, better off, directly upload a PDF file. When your book is ready for publication, you can set the price and sell it in ebook or print version. Purchasing one of the premium plan (starting at $369) you can also customize: binding type, paper quality, templates and book cover and have other extra features like the inclusion inside Amazon listings and advanced formatting capabilities. You can promote your books with a personal storefront, using Google Book Search (which also makes your book content indexed inside Google search results), or distributing your creations via Amazon (requires a premium plan). For each book sold using Lulu, you retain the 80% of the retail price.
    www.lulu.com





  2. CreateSpace

    CreateSpace is an on-demand commerce company owned by Amazon. You can take advantage of Amazon distribution service to sell your books and also convert your books into Kindle format. Other products you can sell via CreateSpace include CDs, DVDs, videos and ebooks. If you prefer to set a customized store to sell your books, you can create an eShop on your own website. CreateSpace assigns automatically to every book a unique identification number (ISBN). Customization options for your book include: binding type, cover images, internal images, and paper quality. Books must be submitted in PDF format. You can also join a community of other publishers to receive feedback on your book and perfect your creation. Your earnings depend on the solution you choose to sell your books: you can opt for a Standard (free) plan or a Pro plan, which costs you $39 per book plus $5 of annual renewal fee. The Pro plan lets you retain more for each sale while allowing customers to pay less when ordering copies of your books. The basic rule is you set a list price and Amazon charges a fee once the item is sold. The fee is 20% of list price for eShops and 40% of list price for books sold via Amazon. For a comprehensive overview of all pricing combinations, also depending on the type of book you choose (hardcover, softcover, black / white, colour, etc.) check the "Pricing and Royalties" page on CreateSpace website.
    www.createspace.com





  3. CafePress

    CafePress is a service specialized in user-generated commerce. You can choose an item inside CafePress catalogue, brand it with your company logo or your own images, and then buy your customized item to sell it. To sell your books, the e-commerce service creates a "shop", which is a personal storefront owned by you. When an item is sold on your shop, CafePress retains the base price (the price you paid to buy that item from CafePress) and you earn the markup you set above the base price. Books must be submitted using PDF format. Options to customize your books include binding type, cover image and internal images. To make sure your product is also indexed by search engines, CafePress provides a set of guidelines to obtain the best visibility for your customized items. You can open a Basic Shop for free, but only sell one of each of the products with your image(s) at a time. Premium shops starts from $6 for one month and allow you to sell unlimited items and access further customization possibilities regarding the layout of your shop. No free distribution via Amazon or writers feedback.
    www.cafepress.com





  4. Blurb

    Blurb helps you self-publish your own book for free, either in printed or digital format. You can submit your book using the free BookSmart software (Mac + PC) or just upload a PDF file. Once your book is uploaded you can customize a set of options to personalize your creation, these include: binding type, cover image, internal images, paper quality and Blurb logo removal from your book pages. You can also add an ISBN number to your book just by creating a JPG image (with or without barcode) and place it on your book. You can offer customers a 15-page preview of your book to help them evaluate a potential purchase. To ensure the right visibility off your books on search engines, you can add tags and set a category which your book fits in. You can also promote your book using a Blurb badge on your own website. Blurb forums are available to share ideas with other publishers and receive feedback and suggestions on your work. All pricing options are available on Blurb website, but a quick way to estimate how much your book will cost to you (and then the sell price) is to use the free Shipping Calculator. Whatever your earnings are, Blurb retains a $5 fee from your monthly profit. No free Amazon distribution.
    www.blurb.com





  5. Xlibris

    Xlibris is a "back office" that allows you to self-publish and sell your own books without head-scratching. After submitting your book (either in MS Word or RTF formats), a cover image, internal images, a customer representative helps you choose the best packaging that suits your needs and takes care of publishing and selling your book. First premium price level osts $299 and offers: custom cover, internal book design, ISBN assignment, and more. Besides hardcover and softcover options, Xlibris offers also leather-bound editions of your books. Ebooks are not available for the time being. Each book published with Xlibris has a unique ISBN, so that customers and bookstores can easily search your book inside bibliographic databases. The retail price of your book is determined by the options you choose when customizing the print options of your book: if you want to maintain control of your retail price (and the earnings you get out of that price) you can purchase the "Set Your Own Price" option for $249. To receive help setting the best retail price for your needs, use the free Xlibris Book Calculator. For each sale made on Xlibris you get royalties corresponding to 25% of the retail price. If your book is sold via Amazon (only available for premium plans and Black & White books) you earn 10% of the retail price. Each plan you choose has a fixed number of copies to print your books. No writers feedback.
    www2.xlibris.com





  6. Lightning Source

    Lightning Source offers a print and distribution model that takes care of all the hassle of publishing. You can have your books printed, distributed, sold and shipped using just one service. Ebook selling is also allowed. While Lightning Source can also drop-ship directly to customers, the company is partnered with all major book publishing distributors, including Amazon. Books can be submitted either in PDF or printed format. If you submit your work in print format, the service takes care to scan and digitalize your book for you. ISBN identification number is supported. Publishers can customize binding type, cover type (hard / soft), cover image and internal images of books using a dedicated free tool. The cost to access Lightning Source service is $12/year per book. When a book is sold, the service pays the publisher the wholesale price of the book, less the cost of printing the book. The cost of printing is based on a unit cost for each book plus a cost per page. No writers feedback.
    www.lightningsource.com





  7. CreateBooks

    CreateBooks is a book publishing service that assists you when self-publishing your work. CreateBooks has a particular focus on the physical crafting of your book. Books must be uploaded in MS Word format. The service also takes care of providing you with a valid ISBN and bar code, if you want to distribute your book inside bookstores (see pricing options for more details on the cost of these options). Also, depending on the pricing package you choose, you are allowed to choose between different print options for your books: cover (hard / soft), binding type, cover image and internal images. Profits from sales operated by CreateBooks are all retained by original authors. The service shares also a set of guidelines that may give you helpful suggestions and tips to obtain good rankings for your books inside search engines. Books published withCreateBooks are also published inside Google Book Search listings. Marketing supports to promote your book sales like business cards, posters, promotional book cover and other material are also available for purchase. Distrubition via Amazon is accepted. No writers feedback.
    www.createbooks.com





  8. UniBook

    UniBook is a virtual bookstore where writers and publishers can print, publish and sell their books. Books submitted must be in PDF or DOC format. UniBook allows you to customize: binding type, cover type, cover image and internal images. Ebooks are not available for the time being. For each book you submit you need to insert tags and choose a category, so that your book can rank inside search engines. UniBook has a free service to calculate the price your books is sold to customers: just choose a format, input the number of pages of your book and the percentage of royalties you want to earn from the sell. The service returns all the options you have and even the available discounts if you order large quantities of book copies. Whatever solution you choose, UniBook will retain the 50% of the retail price. Starting price to utilize UniBook services is $79, which includes 5 book copies and worldwide distribution. No free Amazon distribution nor writers feedback.
    www.unibook.com





  9. BookSurge

    BookSurge is a company that allows publishers and authors to self-publish a book and also take care of the sell process. Since BookSurge is a subsidiary of the Amazon group, you can distribute the book through Amazon bookstore and also convert your works into Kindle format (or into a traditional PDF ebook). You have to submit your work in PDF, DOC, RTF or TXT formats or send a print copy to BookSurge which takes care of digitalizing your manuscript. You can either purchase a Total Design Freedom Package to have complete control over the customization of your book (($799) or the Author\'s Advantage Publishing Program which offers a set of ready-made templates and limited customization options ($499). Options you can always customize inside your book (whatever pricing plan you choose) are: cover format, cover image, internal image, chapter titles, external / internal fonts and fleurons. BookSurge retains the 35% of the retail price of your book. There are several marketing options you can optionally purchase to increase the visibility of your book like posters, sell sheets, press releases, custom reviews and more (prices available on site). No writers feedback.
    www.booksurge.com





  10. Trafford Publishing

    Trafford Publishing offers a set of commercial solutions to print, self-publish and sell your book. Publishers can sell books either in print copies or digital format. No info is released on the format to subscribe your manuscript, tough guidelines are available inside the FAQ section of the website. First pricing plan starts at $799 and offers the following options: paperback format, custom cover design, author support, ISBN assignment, custom interior layout, Amazon distribution, and more. To have further customization options you need to upgrade to another pricing plan (starting from $1299). Your earnings are calculated as the 20% of the book sale. The retail price of your books is determined by the option you choose and the number of pages your book is made up. No writers feedback.
    www.trafford.com





  11. Spire Publishing

    Spire Publishing allows you to print and sell a manuscript of your book completely on your own. The service is available only for US and UK markets. Books must be submitted in PDF, DOC or RTF format. Ebook selling is not permitted. The first pricing plan you can purchase is the Print Ready Publishing plan, which allows you to get five paperback copies of your book: for $299 you get a custom cover image, ready-made design templates ISBN assignment, and more. If you prefer a hardcover instead of a paperback binding, the price raises to $549 (for three copies). These two pricing plans do not include distribution and sale of your book. To have your book sold via third-party bookstores (Amazon included) you have to purchase the Print Ready Plus Publishing plan (same options of the basic plan) at $399 for five paperback copies and $749 for three hardcover copies of your book. Your earnings consist of the retail price less the print cost of the book (which is the price you pay to Spire Publishing to buy your book). The print cost depends on the options you choose. On Spire Publishing website you can also find marketing tips and strategies to promote your book. No writers feedback.
    www.spirepublishing.com





  12. AutorHouse

    AuthorHouse is a self-publishing company that helps publishers and authors print and sell their works outside the traditional book publishing channels. Manuscript must be submitted in MS Word or Adobe InDesign 2, CS, or CS2 file formats. Ebook publishing is available. The first pricing level costs $549 and has the following features: custom cover, custom, interior layout design, ISBN assignment, Amazon distribution, and more. The price of your book depends on: book size, cover type (softcover or dust jacket), final page count, where the book is purchased, and the royalty percentage you choose. The royalties you can earn from AutorHouse depend on the retail price of the book and the amount of money you want to get from your book sale (10%, 20%, 30% or 50%). AutorHouse provides also a range of services to market and promote your book (prices available on the site). No writers feedback.
    www.autorhouse.com





  13. Infinity Publishing

    Self-publish company Infinity Publishing takes care of all the book publishing process following a print-on-demand-philosophy. Ebook publishing is not allowed. No information is provided on the file format to subscribe your manuscript. First pricing plan starts at $499 and covers all aspects of self-publishing your book: custom cover, distribution to third-party bookstores like Amazon, custom barcode, ISBN assignment, and more. You can also include a CD to ship with your book for $200 more. Other optional services include: Spanish translation, extended book distribution, marketing packages, advance reading copies (for reviewers and columnists) and book editing services (price details on the company website). Monthly royalties are paid on the selling price: 30% of retail, 15% of wholesale, and 10% on purchases by the author. Authors are also free to increase / decrease the price of their book within a 25%-75% range. Infinity published books are priced according to page count - the greater the number of pages, the higher the retail price. No writers feedback.
    www.infinitypublishing.com





  14. SelfPublishing

    SelfPublishing allows publishers and authors to print their works either in print or digital format. SelfPublishing does not take care of distributing or selling your work to book retailers. No information is provided on the file format to subscribe your manuscript. Book customization options include: binding type, custom cover design, custom book layout, and more. You can purchase a single ISBN license directly from SelfPublishing for $99. The self-publishing company has one pricing plan which costs $249 for three years. No writers feedback or Amazon distribution available.
    www.selfpublishing.com





  15. WEbook

    WEbook is a free book publishing service based entirely on social collaboration. You cannot import your existing book, but only start your writing inside WEbook. The service community will assist you along the way with feedback and suggestions to help you perfect your work. To get in touch with other users you can access the forum, start a group, or comment inside the official blog. Once your book is ready, your work is reviewed and rated by the WEbook community which is the only subject that decides whether a book can be published or not. Only the highest-rated books are sold via WEbook. Ebooks selling or ISBN identification are not available for the time being. If you are allowed to sell your book, you can also share the revenues with the people that helped you improve your work with their feedback. Authors and major contributors receive 50% of all profits generated from the sale of WEbook titles. If you are allowed to sell your book, you can also share your revenue with those people that gave you helpful feedback. Inside WEbook website there are no info about binding types, paper quality or cover type options to personalize your book once published. The only choice you have seems to be to upload a cover image. Book published with WEbook are distributed via Amazon.
    www.webook.com

Other Self-Publishing Guides and Resources Worth Checking

  • Self-Publishing a Book: 25 Things You Need to Know ... The basic premise is anyone can become a small publisher. You call the shots. You retain the rights to your book. And you take home a bigger royalty than you\'d normally get from a traditional publisher--if you sell any books. Against the advice of my agent, I began perusing the big self-publishing companies\' Web sites and evaluating what they had to offer. Then I started poking around blogs and message boards to get customer testimonials. What I found was a veritable minefield with roads that forked in every direction and very few clear answers.

  • 6 Ways to Publish Your Own Book Online self-publishing services have given users the tools they need to create, publish and promote their work. These sites allow authors to bypass the process of finding an agent and pitching to publishing houses, a venture that can take months, if not years. Here are six great sites that will help you publish your work, guaranteeing you a published book that can be sold via different outlets, such as Amazon.

  • Lulu vs. CreateSpace: Which Is More Economical For The DIY Author? At the risk of coming off as some kind of Amazon shill, I\'m afraid I\'ve just got to blog about one of their services again: CreateSpace. I feel this is necessary because I keep seeing tweets, posts and Facebook notes from indie authors--especially authors outside the US---who intend to go through Lulu based in part on a belief that Lulu is the most economical choice for the services offered, and in many, many cases, this is simply not true.


Originally prepared by Robin Good and Daniele Bazzano for MasterNewMedia, and first published on June 29th, 2009 as "Self-Publish Your Book: Guide To The Best Self-Publishing Services". ...]]>

]]> Mon, 29 Jun 2009 12:13:00 GMT http://www.masternewmedia.org/self-publish-your-book-guide-to-the-best-self-publishing-services/