J.K. Rowling has decided to loosen up on her own restrictions:

Subscribers of Amazon Prime, a service providing free shipping and discounts for $79 a year, will be able to borrow these bestsellers for free from the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library, reported Xinhua.

Author J.K.Rowling has been refusing to sell Harry Potter in electronic form through book retailers like Amazon or Barnes & Noble in the US.

You can purchase the collection of ebooks directly from the author’s site.

Note the yellow-highlighted word here:

Lose is a verb; loose is an adjective

Do you ever mix up “loose” and “lose”?

Loose is an adjective meaning the opposite of tight or contained. Examples:

• My shoelaces are loose.
• I have a loose button on my sweater.
• The neighbor’s dog was allowed to run loose all the time.

Lose is a verb meaning to suffer loss or defeat. Examples:

• If the hockey team loses their next game, they won’t make the playoffs.
• Sometimes I think I’m losing my mind.
• I think I’ve really lost my keys this time.

In the example in the above graphic, somebody posted the news story too quickly without proofreading their title. It should read:

Victoria police lose track of riot gear, including tear gas and shotgun

As for the story itself, hmmm…

I’m sorry to say my posting has been very infrequent, but we’re busy, busy, busy here! I’m devoting a great deal of time and effort to researching and writing my book (details later), which I intend to self-publish later this year. I’ll give you a heads-up when it’s about to be released, and as this is an eBook/ePublishing site, the book will, of course be in electronic form only. Save those trees!

In my capacity as a technical writer and freelance editor, I’ve helped others either directly or indirectly in preparing their own creations for publication. Besides providing the editing for a number of others’ self-published works; I’ve also edited and provided layout and content for an entire series of books on the topic of luck and lotteries — the Lottery Luck Club Trilogy, as the author likes to call them.

Now I think it’s my turn to leap into the world of self-publishing. I’d like to see my own name listed as the author instead of just the editor. Why self-publishing you ask? Why not go the traditional route and try to publish through a legacy publisher? Loads of reasons, with the number one being the length of time it takes before your book goes to market. For a traditional publisher, from the time a manuscript is accepted to the time it’s actually available for sale, this process can be several months. And since my book will be in electronic format only — not print — why should I wait?

There are many authors taking advantage of the ePublishing revolution and having great success. And contrary to certain publishing world myths, there is no longer any stigma to self-publishing.

The National Post in Canada is introducing an eBook publishing program to offer readers the opportunity to purchase the news site’s various collections:

Through National Post ebooks, readers around the world will be able to purchase collections of our best work from Apple’s iTunes, Amazon, Kobo Books, the Google ebookstore and the Sony ReaderStore.

Our inaugural ebook is The Long Road: National Post in Afghanistan, Brian Hutchinson and Richard Johnson’s groundbreaking series on the meaning, impact and cost of Canada’s decade at war.

And that particular eBook’s introductory price is a bargain at only 99 cents.

I’d posted about this here and wondered how it could be considered price fixing.

The following makes it clearer that it most certainly sounds like price fixing:

An agreement between six major publishers has seen prices rocket for many books worldwide – some of which are more expensive than the paper version.

The agreement includes major publishing houses such as HarperCollins and Penguin.

The agreement reportedly forbids retailers from discounting eBooks without a publisher’s permission. [...]

Steve Jobs reportedly did not want Apple’s iBook store to compete with Amazon’s cheap prices, and helped brokered the deal between publishers.

The European Commission is investigating claims that Apple and the five publishing houses worked together to keep eBook prices artificially high.

It is also suggested that the arrangement killed competition by ensuring that Apple’s rivals, such as Amazon and Kobo, could not undercut its prices.

Not only does it sound like price fixing, it’s just plain stupid. And publishers who banded together to make this deal have shot themselves in the collective foot. Publishers hate eBooks, but they’d better get used to the fact that eBooks are here to stay. The key to remaining viable in an industry that is rapidly changing is to adapt along with the times.

I started my career in photography back in the 80s when it was still the days of film and processing. When digital came along, professional photographers either had to adapt or find a new profession. Traditional publishing houses are going to find they’ll have to do the same. Fixing the price of eBooks is not adapting to the market; it’s trying to control it.

From ITProPortal:

The US Department of Justice has announced that it has started an anti-trust probe against Apple and its partners for allegedly fixing the prices of ebooks. [...]

The regulators have reason to believe that Apple conspired with book publishers on its iBooks ebook platform.

If you read on in the article, it says that Apple “allowed publishers to set their own prices for the ebooks they offered.” Perhaps there’s a lot more to this story, because I can’t see how allowing publishers to set prices for their own books is considered price fixing. If publishers selling through Apple have conspired to set the same price, then that’s another story.

Since my legal knowledge is very limited, I guess I’ll have to wait and see the outcome of this investigation. Hopefully there will be a more detailed explanation when the investigation concludes.

Ray Bradbury, who’s always rejected ebooks, is finally giving in and allowing the digital release of his classic Fahrenheit 451 :

At age 91, Ray Bradbury is making peace with the future he helped predict.

The science fiction/fantasy author and long-time enemy of the e-book has finally allowed his dystopian classic ‘Fahrenheit 451′ to be published in digital format.

First published in 1953, ‘Fahrenheit 451′ has sold more than 10 million copies and has been translated into 33 languages.

It imagined a world in which the appetite for new and faster media leads to a decline in reading, and books are banned and burned.

Author J. K. Rowling was also against releasing her Harry Potter series as ebooks, but has since relented, though the release date has been delayed.

As a big ebook fan, I’m glad to see more authors jump on the bandwagon, albeit a bit reluctantly. I don’t believe ebooks mean the death of reading at all. For me, it’s made life easier, in that I can now carry with me a large selection of books on my ereader. The portability aspect, as well as the space savings — I was getting crowded out of my house — make ebooks my format of choice for reading.

It’s almost that time again: National Novel Writing Month!

That’s 50,000 words in just 30 days, starting November 1st and finishing on the 30th. Are you up for the challenge? The point is to simply sit and write. Don’t worry about editing, just keep busy writing. If you can set a goal of about 1700 words per day, you’ll have achieved your goal and then some!

For more information, check out the NaNoWriMo 2011 press release. Or to simply sign up or sign in to participate in this writing marathon, visit NaNoWriMo.