Best Resources on Self Publishing
Information for small publishers, self-publishers and writers.
Every publication has to think of their digital strategy.
Find the best resources and information for small publishers, self-publishers and writers who want to learn how to make a PDF file and audio book found on the Educational CyberPlayGround.
2015 See Writers Rights - U.S. Appeals Court Says Google's Book-Scanning Project Is Legal
Self Publish:
THE New ISBN Conversion Tool
ABOUT copyright and the the ISBN
Self Publish the NEW - ISBN AND WHAT TO DO NOW
ISBN Checksum Validator & Conversion Tool
Use this utility to check if an ISBN number is valid as determined by
the built-in checksum digit. ISBN 10 and ISBN 13 (EAN 13) numbers are
supported.
Entering a valid ISBN 10 code will also perform the conversion to the
equivalent ISBN 13 (EAN 13) code, and vice-versa for EAN 13 codes
beginning “978”.
This utility does not check if the ISBN number is registered to an
actual publication, or whether its component Group or Publisher parts
belong to known groups or publishers, nor does it place hyphens
between the component parts.
How To Publish Using a PDF
Create Free PDF using Open Office - open source tool that is free.
Create Free PDF documents online at Adobe then pay later
*Create Really Free PDF's and other tools available :-) but no security :-(
ISRC CODES are needed for every CD that you publish.
ISRC CODES
- find out what ISRC codes are, also where and how you get one. The
ISRC (International Standard Recording Code) is the international
identification system for sound recordings and music
videorecordings.
Each ISRC is a unique and permanent identifier for a specific
recording, to help identify recordings for royalty payments.
It's assigned PER TRACK, not per CD.
It stays with a recording, so that if that same recording is
re-released on a different CD (like a soundtrack). it has nothing to
do with the song underneath. If you (or anyone) records different
versions or remixes of the same song, each track should have its own
ISRC code. ISRC CODES ARE FREE. No service charge. (Unlike the UPC
Barcode.)
HOW TO GET ONE
International Standard Recording Code
RIAA's informational page about ISRCs : (read FAQ at the bottom
WHERE TO GET A UPC BAR CODE
-
Universal Product Code - Bar coding
Getting a bar code involves registering with the Universal Code Council , or relying on a commercial service to do it for you.
Bar coding allows sales tracking and many retailers, like Amazon and Tower Records, they won't carry your CD without it. READ MORE ABOUT THIS
-
If you already have your UPC Barcode, the site link below will
allow you to create the actual barcode image.
Then just do a print screen and crop out the image. That way
you've got a barcode image to use.
Just make sure you select UPCA for the type under barcode symbology.
http://www.idautomation.com/java/linearservlet.html
Here's another that may be a little simpler:
http://www.barcoding.com/upc/
Once you get the image there (and you should generate it as a PNG format so there is no lossy compression), you do a right click on the image then Save As... to save it to a file. Don't just do a print screen, though, as the version that shows up on the screen is not the full size, so it loses information.
- Soundscan http://home.soundscan.com/ tracks sales and reports to MTV, VH1, Billboard Magazine. They all rely on bar codes. You need a UPC bar coded onto your CD to get on the professional map and enable national distribution. A UPC assigned and affixed to your CD also aids in distribution and helps prevent scams.
ORGANIZTIONS FOR WRITERS
-
ASJA
American Society of Journalists and Authors
1501 Broadway, Suite 302
New York, NY 10036
Telephone: 212-997-0947
Fax contracts to: 415-532-1324
Email: http://www.asja.org/cw/cw.php
Contracts Watch
ASJA Freelance Writer Search , a service of the American Society of Journalists and Authors, connects those who need writers with more than 1,200 writers who have met exacting standards of professional achievement. Use Freelance Writer Search to locate writers for a wide range of editorial projects including books, articles, newsletters, corporate communications, ghostwriting, web copy, scriptwriting, speechwriting, and much more. Listings are free. -
The Authors Guild
Over the last several years, the Authors Guild's Legal Department has successfully intervened and resolved hundreds of business and legal issues without the use of litigation. -
National Writers Union
offers a Health Plan and http://www.nwu.org/join-nwu -
HTML Writers Guild
"The Guild is the first and largest international association of web site design and web master developers. - Publishers Liability Insurance
- FIND LITERARY AGENTS
The reporter is not a person, but a computer algorithm
, honed to translate raw data such as corporate earnings reports and
previews or sports statistics into readable prose. Algorithms are
producing a growing number of articles for newspapers and websites,
such as this one produced by Narrative Science: "Wall Street is high
on Wells Fargo, expecting it to report earnings that are up 15.7
percent from a year ago when it reports its second quarter earnings
on Friday, July 13, 2012," said the article on Forbes.com.
LICENSE AGREEMENT
Apple's mind-bogglingly greedy and evil license agreement
How Apple is sabotaging an open standard for digital books
I read EULAs so you don't have to. I've spent years reading end user license agreements, EULAs, looking for little gotchas or just trying to figure out what the agreement allows and doesn't allow.
I have never seen a EULA as mind-bogglingly greedy and evil as Apple's EULA for its new ebook authoring program.
Dan Wineman calls it “unprecedented audacity” on Apple's part. For people like me, who write and sell books, access to multiple markets is essential. But that's prohibited:
Apple, in this EULA, is claiming a right not just to its software, but to its software's output. It's akin to Microsoft trying to restrict what people can do with Word documents, or Adobe declaring that if you use Photoshop to export a JPEG, you can't freely sell it to Getty. As far as I know, in the consumer software industry, this practice is unprecedented.
Exactly: Imagine if Microsoft said you had to pay them 30% of your speaking fees if you used a PowerPoint deck in a speech.
Online Disputes Expose Publishers' Copyright Vulnerability
When book publishers rallied against Google's library book scanning
project last year, they accused the tech giant of stealing. In a
lawsuit filed in New York federal court, the publishers claimed that
if Google Inc. made digital copies of library books available online
for search purposes, the tech company would be committing massive
copyright infringement. But then one book publisher, HarperCollins,
tried to steal a page from its antagonist's playbook, announcing
that it would make its entire backlist, about 20,000 titles,
including such classics as"Charlotte's Web," available online.
Publishers didn't have a problem --but book authors and their
lawyers did a double take.
Google settlement: Changing Defaults
Back in 2004, Google felt quite strongly that its “Book Search”
project was a fair use of copyrighted material. It kept pointing out
that it wasn't displaying complete copies of books covered by
copyright. Instead, it scanned the material and then displayed
snippets from these books in response to queries. The bottom line:
In 2004, Google thought it was shaping its conduct according to the
law. But Google's lawyers also have to shape the working situation
in which
Google operates
. That working situation,
from 2004 until 10/8/08
has involved great bitterness coming from publishers who could
otherwise be Google's allies. The pure legal principle of the
fair use
argument, weighed against that bitterness and the possibility of a
win-win deal,
had to defer.
SELF PUBLISH - HOW TO MAKE YOUR OWN AUDIO BOOK:
86% Kindle Wins
7% Paperback
4% Hardcover
2% Audible Audio Edition
1% Mass Market Paperback
2015 Self Published ebooks: the surprising data from Amazon
!
Hugh Howey, author of the bestselling, indie-original science
fiction series Wool. In 2014 he published an important
data-rich report on independent author earnings from ebooks sold
on Amazon.
Howey makes a good case that the "average" author earns more from a
self published book than she would through one of the Big Five
publishers, and, what's more, that this holds true for all sorts of
outliers (the richest indie authors outperform the richest Big Five
authors; less-prolific indies do better than less-prolific
traditionals, etc). The most important point is that all the authors
Howey studied lived and died by the largesse of one company: Amazon.
"You may have heard from other reports that e-books account for roughly 25% of overall book sales. But this figure is based only on sales reported by major publishers. E-book distributors like Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, the iBookstore, and Google Play don't reveal their sales data. That means that self-published e-books are not counted in that 25%.
Neither are small presses, e-only presses, or Amazon's publishing imprints. This would be like the Cookie Council seeking a report on global cookie sales and polling a handful of Girl Scout troops for the answer—then announcing that 25% of worldwide cookie sales are Thin Mints. But this is wrong. They're just looking at Girl Scout cookies, and even then only a handful of troops. Every pronouncement about e-book adoption is flawed for the same reason. It's looking at only a small corner of a much bigger picture. (It's worth noting that our own report is also limited in that it's looking only at Amazon—chosen for being the largest book retailer in the world—but we acknowledge and state this limitation, and we plan on releasing broader reports in the future.)
There's a second and equally important reason to doubt a 25% e-book penetration number: The other 75% of those titles includes textbooks, academic books, cookbooks, children's books, and all the many categories that are relatively safe from digitization (for now). Print remains healthy in these categories, but these aren't the books most people think of when they hear that percentage quoted. E-book market share is generally spoken of in the context of the New York Timesbestsellers, the novels and non-fiction works that are referred to as “trade” publications. If we look specifically at this trade market, it's quite likely that e-books already account for more than 50% of current sales (some publishers have intimated as much [ link ]). Factoring in self-publishing and further limiting the scope to fiction, I've seen guesses as high as 70%. But that can't be possible, right?"
Lulu.com for Musicians - On Demand Music Publishing - Publishing digital audio content is not limited to music. You can also publish and sell audio books and other multimedia using the same process. Publish files in any format. Set your own royalties on your work. Lulu adds a commission of 25% of the royalty you set (or 19¢, whichever is greater). The Lulu commission therefore equals 20% of the total profit of each item sold. Everything you can put up there.
How to Register a Work with the Library of Congress
Literary Works
Visual Arts
Performing Arts
Sound Recordings
LIBRARY MARKET
School library and the Children's section of the public library
Market.
* approximately
* 120 000 schools in the country,
* 70,000 elementary schools in the country,
* 7,000 public libraries.
* 0 training of both groups of librarians -
* Summary: Technical Stuff
- Public librarians are usually degree-holders, highly trained people,
- School librarians may not be degree holders
- Cataloging means books will or will not get processed and into the library, and now it is all done electronically.
- Companies will supply all the electronic backend data and do all the cataloging for the libraries. This is a major service.
- Mackin (aka jobber) buys books from publishers , and they then provide services that make the books immediately useful to schools and provides the electronic data.
What do Librarians Look For?
-
well-reviewed material
-
award-winning materia
-
well-illustrated books. Big Awards -- Newbery Caldicott, others are appreciated.
-
what's best for cultural and developmental needs of their
clients. -
non-fiction & Early Literacy Program, bi-lingual outreach (Somali Hmong)
- help with kids' homework assignments.
Librarians Read Reviews Then Order
- Library Journal, School Library Journal, Publishers Weekly, Hornbook, Kirkus Reviews, VOYA (Voice of Young America), and that a starred or boxed review really gets the librarian's attention.
- Online Reviews - Amazon.com, BIP, Baker & Taylor, Ingram, and Brodart
- Locally-reviewed materials & visiting local bookstores
- Books on television or talk shows or movie related
- Patron recommendations
- Comments from people inside the library system.
- Publishers' catalogs picked up at trade shows.
- They order online from the major vendors Amazon.com, BIP, Baker & Taylor, Ingram, and Brodart
- Many large publishers automatically send a copy of their newest books to evaluate through a public gifts program. They give over-the-transom gifts.
- Library acquisition departments hate to buy directly from individual publishers. To minimize paperwork, they preferred the ease of purchasingfrom wholesalers or various library jobbers, who also automatically help libraries keep their collections current.
The library of Congress provides two types of classification to
books it catalogs for its collection.
Subject classification applies verbal subject terms to a book which
describe the books overall content. Frequently the Library of
Congress subject headings applied to a book may be found in the book
itself on the reverse side of the title page. These subject headings
are provided in a subject heading thesaurus, similar in structure to
the thesauruses used for databases like ERIC, MEDLINE and other
bibliographic databases. The thesuaurus for the Library of Congress
is a multi-volume publication.
Subject Cataloging Division, Processing Dept.
Library of Congress, 1997
Like the
subject heading words
assigned to a book and provided on the s
ubject catalog records
(they were once printed cards filed alphabetically in drawers), the
call numbers assigned to a book
in both
Dewey Decimal and Library of Congress classification
are an assignment of to the book of a numerical statement of its
most specific subject, the topic the book is most about, no easy
task in today's times of complex interdisciplinary topics. The Dewey
Decimal system is a rigid and limited system that permits little
subdivision because the numbering system is so tightly utilized. The
classification scheme is laid out in two volumes, a classification
volume and an index volume. Dewey is most suitable for small
topically diverse collections such as small rural public libraries.
The Library of Congress Classification system
is published in over twenty volumes and each volume covers a Library
of Congress Class or part of a
class
. The class would be one of the basic letters in the system such as
class A which would be for general publications or class H which
would be for social sciences or class Q which is devoted to the pure
sciences. In class H the second letter
subdivisions
would include divisions like H itself for publications that are
broadly social science, HA for statistics publications and
publications of statistical data not specific to some subject field
like education or banking. Class HB is for economics while class HC
is for economic history. Numbers within each class further subdivide
the
subject field
to specific
subtopics within the discipline
. The Library of Congress
subject classification (call number) system
is so precise that there is actually a Library of Congress
classification designation for historical books about Walnut Street
in Philadelphia. It is also a porous system that has a great deal of
unused classification destinations throughout the system at all
levels of the classification hierarchy.
Here is the catalog record
for one of the volumes in the Library of Congress classification
multi-volume set:
Corp author Library of Congress. Subject Cataloging Division.
Title Classification. Class P, subclasses PL-PM : languages of
Eastern Asia, Africa, Oceania, hyperborean, Indian, and artificial
languages / Subject Cataloging Division, Processing Services,
Library of Congress.
Imprint Washington : The Library : For sale by the Cataloging
Distribution Service, Library of Congress, 1988.
Self Publish Copyright Law, Contracts Works for Hire
Previously, a sound recording could not legally be a work for hire because it wasn't in any of the statutory categories. Sound recordings have now been added to the list of categories of works that are capable of being work for hire. RIAA-sponsored "technical amendment" to a Congressional bill makes recorded music "works for hire" under the 1978 US Copyright Act. Now Under Section 101 of the Copyright Act, a work that is specially commissioned (read, not created by a full-time employee in the scope of his employement) can be a work made for hire and if there is an agreement signed by both parties which says it is a work made for hire.
THE SLIPPERY SLOPE
Copyright is not a divine right: Delhi HC
Observing that " copyright is not a divine right", the Delhi high
court on Friday allowed Delhi University to issue photocopies of
major textbooks published by leading publishers. The Justice held
that the act of students getting books copied from DU's library or
its authorised photocopy shop enjoys protection under Section 52 of
the Copyright Act, which exempts education from copyright
infringement. In a 94-page order, the court essentially concluded
that if DU can photocopy content within its library to impart
education to students, then similar protection is enjoyed by the
contractor, Rameshwari Photocopy Service. The modest shop in North
Campus was thrust at the heart of the case by international
publishers who sued it for copyright infringement in 2012, resulting
in Friday's landmark verdict on intellectual property rights.
"Copyright, specially in literary works, is thus not an inevitable,
divine, or natural right that confers on authors the absolute
ownership of their creations. It is designed rather to stimulate
activity and progress in the arts for the intellectual enrichment of
the public," the Justice observed.
EU Announces That All Scientific Articles Should Be Freely
Accessible by 2020
In what has been called a "life changing decision," the European
Union's ministers of Science, Innovation, Trade, and Industry have
decided to give individuals free access to science papers by 2020.
FREE KNOWLEDGE FOR ALL
it would totally transform the (long questioned) paid-for
subscription model that is used by many scientific journals. It
would also undermine the common practice of releasing reports under
embargo (a method that allows scientific journals to favor certain
science communicators and members of the media to the great
detriment of others).
France: Open Access law adopted
In France, the final text of a new law on Open Access has been
adopted on June 29, 2016. On July 20, the Assemblée Nationale has
approved the bill, and it still needs to be voted on by the Sénat on
September 27. In the law text, article 17 is relevant for Open
Access:
- Copyright Law - Works for Hire
- Contracts and Agreements A hint from a publishing lawyer a wonderful legal term called "notwithstanding" . Verbal Agreements vs. Written Contracts - What's Legal.
- What does a Teacher own? Educational CyberPlayGround: K12 CopyRight Law - Primer for Educators
-
Trademark Electronic Application System (TEAS)
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is pleased to present TEAS. ... TEAS allows you to fill out a form, check it for completeness, and then submit the form directly to the USPTO over the internet, making an official filing on-line." The site includes a trademark FAQ, introductory material about the procedure for registering a trademark, filing tips, forms, and related documents. - Music Law
FREELANCE WRITER RESOURCES
LITERACY | #literary agents #self publish #small publisher #school libraries #public library #market book #sales publishing #writers rights #publishing law
Midwest Book Review
Jim Cox Midwest Book Review
278 Orchard Drive, Oregon, WI 53575
Reviewed Domino
NewPages Guide to Review Sources
CCH
site puts out a free tax booklet for writers.
Call 847-267-2038 or write mediahelp@cch.com to request one. Click
on Press Center, and scroll down to the bottom of the Press page.
You'll see a link to click in order to add your name to the
distribution list for future CCH resources.
" International Directory of E-Mail Addresses of Publishers, Vendors and Related Professional Associations, Organizations and Services " There is no fee for the listing. AcqWeb is a non-commercial home page maintained by acquisitions librarians for the benefit of the international library community. AcqWeb provides open access to the information collected on its files. AcqWeb is an all volunteer effort. You can view AcqWeb at http://www.library.vanderbilt.edu/law/acqs/acqs.html and the E-Mail Directory http://www.library.vanderbilt.edu/law/acqs/email-ad.html
Convert and get a Free ISBN-10 to ISBN-13 source code conversion tool download
Find the Best Resources on Self Publishing
Free ISBN-10 to ISBN-13 conversion tool downloads
- ISBN perl module ISBN conversion tool download
- QUICK CONVERSION of any ISBN10 to ISBN13
- ISBN (Bookland EAN) Online Bar Code Symbol Generator
- Free ISBN Bar Code Generator
See Wikipedia:
As each ISBN Agency exhausts its supply of 10-digit ISBNs the
International ISBN Agency will issue 13-digit ISBNs carrying the new
EAN prefix "979". The U.S. ISBN Agency will issue 13-digit ISBNs
with the "979" prefix only when the International Agency makes them
available."
Planning statements on transitioning to the 13-digit ISBN:
-
Library of Congress
http://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/13digit.html -
Library and Archives Canada
http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s17/f2/09-e.pdf
isbn.nu offers a quick way to compare the prices of any in-print and many out-of-print books at 14 online bookstores. You can view the results with or without the shipping costs of a single book, and also find the fastest source for a book from ordering to delivery.
About ISRC Codes - BACKGROUND:
ISRC CODES ARE FREE. No service charge. (Unlike the UPC Barcode.)
Most digital-download stores require them. I hear European radio
requires them, too.
The PPL Repertoire Database
is the all-important system for record companies to register the
details of their sound recordings.
UPC Barcodes
http://www.cdbaby.org/stories/01/03/21/5356284.html
CDbaby
The ISRC (International Standard Recording Code) is the
international identification system for sound recordings and music
videorecordings.
Each ISRC is a unique and permanent identifier for a specific
recording, to help identify recordings for royalty payments. It's
assigned PER TRACK, not per CD.
It stays with a recording, so that if that same recording is
re-released on a different CD (like a soundtrack). Notice I'm saying
"recording" not "song", because it has nothing to do with the song
underneath. If you (or anyone) records different versions or remixes
of the same song, each track should have its own ISRC code.
ISBN BOOKS:
ISBN: Get Ready for the New ISBN! NISO Has New ISBN Standard
"The new 13-digit ISBN has been approved and plans are underway to
transition to the new number industry-wide, world-wide by
January 1, 2007
.
ISBN is an acronym standing for International Standard Book Number.
Here is a definition from the ODLIS dictionary that specializes in
library and library science terminology.
International Standard Book Number (ISBN)
http://lu.com/odlis/odlis_i.cfm#isbn
"A unique 10-digit standard number assigned to identify a specific
edition of a book or other monographic publication issued by a given
publisher, under a system recommended for international use by the
International Organization for Standardization (ISO) in 1969. In the
ISBN system, media such as audiorecordings, videorecordings,
microfiche, and computer software are considered monographic
publications, but serials, music sound recordings, and printed music
are excluded because other identification systems have been
developed to cover them. The ISBN is usually printed on the verso of
the title page and on the back of the dust jacket of a book
published in hardcover, or at the foot of the back cover in
paperback editions. In AACR2, the ISBN is entered in the standard
number and terms of availability area of the bibliographic
description."
From the
National Information Standards Organization
ISBN Press Release:
"As of January 1, 2007, all book and book-related products must
carry 13-digit ISBNs.All 10-digit ISBNs in circulation will have the
3-digit EAN prefix "978" added (which currently represents the book
industry). This 13-digit ISBN is already represented, and will be
identical, to current EAN bar codes carrying ISBN with the "978"
prefix. All 10-digit ISBNs must be converted to the 13-digit format
and all systems will need to accommodate its use in this format.