We are happy to report that a pile of our books are now available for the visually impaired on BookShare.org as of today. The following works are available:

A World Too Much With Us - Larry Low
Can't Complain - Larry Low
Chelsea's Chariot - Carol Mayer
Crossing Rubicon - Larry Low
Grandmother Goodness - Larry Low
Mrs. Whip - Larry Low
North to LA - Larry Low
Philmore, Xebob and the Impossibility Theory - Lucas Spata
Saying No to Video - Larry Low
Small Paul - Larry Low
Songs Said to Have Been Sung by Sam - Larry Low
Sunka and the Great Camel Race - Larry Low
The Case of the Macabre Maccaw - Larry Low

Labels: Bookshare.org, content, news

So Coldplay are doing their part to thank their fans for paying to go to gigs by giving away an album, which will also be free for online download from May 15th onwards. So why is this important news here at Sharing Books, a children's book publisher?

Because it shows the growing trend. Authors, musicians, creators in general are increasingly giving their work away for free as marketing tools. In this case Coldplay are giving away their music because they like playing live, and can make money doing that. And selling merchandise. Children's publishing is no different, and Sharing Books offers an avenue for authors and book creators to take part in the growing free-content make money on residuals movement.

Book creators can easily use Sharing Books as a distribution platform, driving people to their work and brand. We are happy to be used that way, and fully hope that happens. So book creators, take advantage of the service we offer, and get in on the growing free content movement.

Labels: business philosophy, content

Here is a sneak peek at the back page that is going to start showing up as the last page on the books published through Sharing Books. This back page is going to enable readers to click on links in the PDF that will take them back to the donation page for that book. ISBN's, as they become available and registered for books on the site, will also appear on this back page. ( Currently not shown ). We will start adding these pages to our books over the next couple weeks.

Labels: children books, content

Pierre passed a fascinating article from the CBC to me this morning on Sita Sings The Blues by Nina Paley. The reason I am doing a blog post on Sharing Books about this article is that it shows how absolutely powerful giving away your content can be. There is a fantastic quote in the article from Nina Paley:

'The more I let go, the more money seems to be heading back toward me. There's enormous untapped power in the audience. ' — Nina Paley, filmmaker.

This notion that giving your content away, that allowing your creative works to freely move and distribute rather then clamping down, is critical to the Sharing Books business model. It is also critical to the success of our book creators. By giving the work away you open yourself to tens of thousands of potential readers, far more then you would ever hope to get with traditional print and distribution. You have the ability to link to your own personal websites, where you can sell merchandise and grow your brand. Sharing Books offers a platform for authors and illustrators to publish their work, develop their work, and grow their brand.

As the world gets increasingly digital, and media content gets further separated from the media container the ability to let your work flow freely is going to become increasingly critical. Some of our creators get this already, developing Poster Poems ( one page books ) and mini-books ( six to 8 page teaser books ). These are works that a traditional publisher would never consider as viable, but in the world of container-less content these are the exact sort of user generated ideas that have so very much potential.

Labels: business philosophy, content, ebooks

Sharing-Books is an e-publisher so you know how we answered the question. However I think it will be of value to current and future authors pondering whether to e-publish or not, to share some of the reflections that led us to spending quite a bit of time and money building an e-publishing engine for children books.

First let me confess that I am a paper book fanatic. Our home (and our garage) is full of paper books. I love the smell of ink and glue that tickles your nose when you open a new book. It is just like when you smell that your favorite dish is in the oven. So if I love paper books so much, why am I an e-book publisher?

Simply e-books are inevitable. Paper books will remain with us for a long time but their importance will diminish. Fortunately for us we can look to the music industry to see our future. (Along with the cases of books in our garage you will find boxes of vinyl LP's.) Although many have resisted, no musician today would think of not releasing new music as digital files.

So as a writer and an illustrator you have to adapt to this new medium. First you must start by separating the content from the container. Your book, your story is the content and it is the part that matters whether the container is made out of paper or electronic bits and pieces. However this new container offers new and different possibilities even if we lose some of the features we are romantically attached to.

Some of these changes will be challenging, like how to promote your book. The music industry used to have quite a packaging surface with the LP to create eye catching covers. Then the packaging shrank by three fourths to the size of the CD cover, and now in digital format all you see is a thumbnail picture. There are numerous similar unexpected changes that will come as the book industry goes digital.

Let me examine the key changes that we have identified. Hopefully it will help you embrace this new way to publish knowing what to expect from your efforts as an author. As you will notice, many of these changes have to do with what we call removing the friction is the business model - making things happen much faster and at an insignificant cost. These changes will disrupt the publishing industry as we know it the same way that the music industry has been.

• Paper books have limited distribution due to geographical constraints like transportation costs or duties and taxes. E-Books are instantly available world wide at no cost. This means that if your paper book failed in a region it is unlikely that it will be offered elsewhere. On the other hand, your e-book can fail in one region and be immensely popular in another region at the same time.
• Paper books are made from dead trees and chemicals. Now that there is a more eco-efficient alternative, it is just a matter of time before paper books become an issue with environmentalists . While the electronic devices we use to read e-books do have a certain environment cost in their manufacturing processes and recycling, each device can hold thousands of books and therefore they are far more eco-efficient.
• Another environment element is that there is no wastage with e-books. Paper books require long print runs and often the unsold books are either liquidated as remainders with losses to the publisher, and hopefully they eventually get recycled.
• A paper book is passed from reader to reader one person at a time. An e-book can be passed from one person to hundreds or thousands of people at a time. Going from one to one to one to many means that the popularity of an e-book is achieved much more rapidly.
• While a strong person can probably carry 50 paper books, a weak person can carry thousands of e-books. We use to go to the library with our kids and come home with a pile of books. With e-books the entire library comes to you or your child.
• A paper book can be easily damaged and can't be repaired. Electronic devices become more rugged with each generation and if you damage one you can easily replace your e-books in a few minutes.

By now you should see the irresistible efficiencies offered by e-books. Paper books will not disappear but their relevance will decline. Like any transition to a new technology this change has some challenges that must be pondered and planned for.

• Your first challenge as an author publishing an e-book will be the resistance of the industry. You will not be recognized as a "real" writer by older paper published authors or publisher. Many will cling to their status and put down this new technology that threatens the status quo. Accept it. You won't change them. On the other hand with e-books you might have the joy of Andrea Azevedo, our first author, whose two young sons exclaimed "Mom! You are famous! Your books are on the Internet!"
• The most difficult change to adapt to and to understand is how this affects copyrights and piracy. Physical media like vinyl or paper offered much greater protection for your intellectual property. The music industry has tried everything it could to protect digital files with software referred to as Digital Rights Management (DRM). DRM has failed. There has not been one version that was not been rapidly broken by hackers who took pride in their feat.

At Sharing-Books we decided to offer the books without DRM and to accept that this is now a fact of life. We simply need to create new business models that take advantage of the speed of distribution of e-books. We plan to have the books sponsored and if a book is copied and emailed a thousand times, it simply means more value for the sponsor. Some of you will be scandalized at the idea of sponsoring a children book. However, we are talking about sponsoring not advertising, something that is done for every play you attend. You will also find it interesting if you shop for antique children books to find many that were sponsored in the same fashion a hundred years ago.

• E-books present different challenges for illustrators. They will likely be read on a screen that does not offer the same resolution as paper. Colors will be displayed differently depending on how a reader has set up his/her screen. The screen sizes will vary greatly. From PCs with great screens to black and white e-readers to cells phones and to gaming devices. You will find e-books everywhere. Our job at Sharing-Books is to make our authors e-books available on as many device types as possible. The illustrator's challenge will be to draw in a way that is flexible and adaptative.
• E-books present different opportunities. Paper children books sometimes have pop-up features or pull features that work for some time and then are usually damaged by the children. E-books will offer more flexibility for the creative mind. Click on the cow in the picture and see information about cows or hear the cow moo. We are excited to see what our creators will come up with.
• E-books can become paper books. On demand printing will be the norm and the reader will be able to customize the printed copy. No waste and a great marketing opportunity.
• E-books offer great opportunities for teachers. E-Books are free or at least they save money. The majority of teachers end up spending their own funds to supplement school materials. As we advance Sharing-Books will be able to offer teachers tools to integrate books, questionnaires and lessons in coherent programs that will use the capabilities of the devices the children use to read.
• E-books offer great opportunities for students. E-books are free. Voracious readers will never run out of material to read.
• E-books are much easier to convert into formats friendly to the visually impaired or the learning challenged.
• E-books' world wide and free accessibility will help bridge the knowledge gap between developed and developing nations. This means that we will also have better access to literature form authors from developing nations and that they will be able to benefit from their exposure to developed nations markets. This will be the literature version of free-trade coffee.

We do not have complete answers to all the changes described above but we prefer to see them as opportunities for imaginative solutions and innovations.

Already after only a few months in business, we have seen one of our authors Jennifer Poulter come up with the idea of the one page book. Jennifer collaborates with illustrators to create poster-poems that can be downloaded and printed by teachers who get an instant vocabulary lesson for their class. Jennifer received a number of testimonials from enthusiastic teachers.

We have a number of our own innovations in development but we are anticipating that our authors, illustrators and users will continue to come up with great ideas - many better than our own.

Indeed the answer to the question to E or not to E, is to E.

Labels: children books, content, e-books, marketing, publishing, reading

A thank you to all the authors, illustrators, editors, creators, PDF makers, and go-getters who got their books uploaded to the site by the 31st of January, 2009. You guys did some great work, and though they all may not have shown up on the site quite yet, we have a bunch of books under review and getting ready to roll out.

Thank you all for your work!

To everyone who found and had any problems getting their work on the site, thank you for your patience. Hopefully our emails to you were clear enough to follow! We're taking all the feedback and planning some changes down the road to streamline things, and make the whole process easier and smoother for everyone involved.

Over the next month or so I am hoping to put together some blog posts that are basic tutorials on how to get your work up on the site, and how to deal with the standard questions that creators were sending me as they uploaded work for the contest.

The next phase for everyone who's uploaded their work as of the 31st is to get out there and get people reading your work, spreading your brand, and voting on your books! We've provided the place for your work, a showcase online, and the next phase is all about getting your brand to spread. Thanks again for all your work everyone!

Labels: content, contest, thanks

For anyone needing a Sharing Books logo, you can find them on our Media Kit Page. I will add more logos and web chicklets over time, but for now you should have everything you need to make your page saucy with Sharing Books logo madness.

Labels: content, support, tools

Jennifer Poulter and I have been emailing back and forth about this and that for the last couple days, New Years calibrations clearly being events that barely slow either of us down from working. Jennifer is one of the people we've met over at JacketFlap who has turned into one of our biggest evangelists and go-getters. She is an absolute powerhouse, and we love her to bits! During our email discussions the question of how many books can Sharing Books handle on its site came up. Jennifer ( an just about everyone we talk to ) has also had much to say about quality control, but I will save that discussion for another time!

In terms of content we don't mind having a lot of stuff on the site. In fact, that is exactly what we do want. Space is not an issue, bandwidth and storage space are cheap. Without having to go to a new server package we can easily support 50-100 submissions a day on the site, up to a total of about 10,000 books, before we start to have a serious problem and ask for more server from our host. They can scale up to full enterprise size, and we would be delighted to have that problem to deal with.

The risk to us is so minimal, we can basically host 100,000 books on our site for dirt cheap, distributing them digitally and with print on demand features, and that cost is dropping in half every 18 months. The opposite is happening to traditional publishers. Every 18 months the costs of maintaining a highly vertical corporate structure, distribution network, and sales channel network, and cost of printing goes UP every 18 months ( by about 10% ). So, basically, if we get inundated, we would be absolutely ecstatic. Content is king online, and that is the exact wave of interest and activity that we want. That lets us get more advertising, charge more for sponsorships, and in turn give more back to our authors. If we were getting 100 books a week submitted, knowing that of those 100 only 5 are going to be moderately successful for a short period, and 1 is going to be very successful for a long time, we would be happy. That level of traffic and interest in our site would mean those six successful books would be getting a -LOT- of money. The more content, the more traffic, the more money we have to share.

Once we get to a critical mass of content, we'll add in more tools to let people discover and share books. Letting people build and share their library of favorite books with all their friends. Letting authors set up channels that people can subscribe to, so they can send out notices to all their fans when a new book is uploaded, or when a book gets changed. At that point we would also look into more collaboration and communication tools, letting authors connect with each other so they can edit books, and help improve each other's work. It is our sincere hope that we get absolutely SWAMPED with books. Our business success depends on it.

Happy New Year to everyone, here's hoping for a blast of a year in 2009, and here is hoping to us getting absolutely SWAMPED with book submissions! Also if anyone is interested in finding out more about WHERE Sharing Books is hosted, post a comment here and I will contact you directly and hook you up with some info and a sales rep at our host.

Labels: business philosophy, content