BACK AT THE DESK

Back at my desk full time at last -- I'm afraid my recent surgery slowed me down more than I'd expected. And, of course, I'm now fighting a backlog.

But while I was pretty well zonked, a lot's been going on at BB, thanks to Tireless Tony and my admirable and hard-working editorial partners Hugh and Sam, with new releases, other books waiting in the wings and others in edit.

It's great to see that, even with a man down on such a small team, we never miss a beat. Whenever I panic, Skovia reminds me, with a nurse's cutting common sense, that Menton cemetery is full of 'indispensable' folks like me.

Submissions have been flooding in lately, so those are at the top of the list for me to handle over the next few days. Sadly, few will make the cut. There's nothing quite so soul-destroying as wading through synopsis after synopsis, sample chapter after sample chapter ... and then having to send out so many thanks-but-no-thanks letters to hopeful authors.

Much has been happening during April on the ebook front at BeWrite books, too. You may have noticed on the new www.bewrite.net site that we're now offering an ePub version of several titles. Tony's working hard to convert the entire BB catalogue so that all books will soon be offered with the popular ePub option as well as PDF. It's a big job. Other formats of titles will continue to be available from our list at Smashwords.com. We've set ebook price everywhere and in all formats at $5.99 per title -- four bucks below the $9.99 price-per-ebook that Amazon set and which has recently caused near warfare with publishers who want to charge more.

Also, for those who've asked, there will be a PayPal buying option on site within the next few days.

We're well ahead on partnering up, too, with all the new main players in the ebook retail field. Watch this space for news on that front.

All BeWrite Books titles will soon be with Kobo, by the way. If you're interested in ebooks, I highly recommend this fascinating forty-minute video talk by Kobo VP Michael Tamblyn for the very latest -- and quite surprising -- research and statistics:

Anyway ... now to dive into that slush pile.

Back soon. Neil 

TAKE-OFF OR RIP-OFF?

Over recent years, while full scale war has raged in courtrooms around the world, BeWrite Books authors have often asked us why we don't take a stand against Google's Book Search system as the rest of the publishing industry seems to have done.

They've sometimes been surprised to find that -- far from resisting Google -- we were among the very first to recognise the their initiative for what it was ... and to enthusiastically jump in with both feet years ago to volunteer our books as part of the Google global collection when it had an opt-in rather than an opt-out policy. The Google system is something so mind-bogglingly huge it makes the Great Library at Alexandria look like a poorly stocked wee bookshelf in your local 7-11.

BB authors see the wood for trees. And, it seems, some other smaller publishers are also catching on at last to the huge benefits on offer.

The clincher is simply this vital but strangely overlooked fact, something we appreciated from the very start: GOOGLE OFFERS ONLY TWENTY PERCENT OF A BOOK FOR FREE DOWNLOAD! Want the full monty? OK, go to www.bewrite.net and stump up, dear reader!

BB writers recognise the difference between massive free advertising and piracy. Authors with other publishers should be smart enough to say: "Hey -- I want in, not out!" Hopefully there may actually be someone at mission control taking some notice of what authors want.

Google is simply doing on a much grander scale what we do ourselves when we offer browsers extracts from books on our own site and others and allow free download of thirty percent of a BB ebook at third-party retail sites like Smashwords and Silver Publishing.

Anyway, here's the low down from a wise publisher who discovered the plain truth for himself straight from the horse's mouth, and now, like BB, knows a good thing for his authors when he spots it: http://michaelhyatt.com/2010/03/why-authors-agents-and-publishers-should-embrace-google-book-search.html

And it's worth checking out the author comments at the foot of the piece. I've always believed authors can be much smarter than their publishers. That's another opinion with which BB authors often concur.

Cheers. Neil

PS: And, talking about straight from the horse's mouth ... I love it when authors produce their own book trailers on video. BB has some crackers (a favourite of mine is Bosley Gravel's for *The Movie* linked in the right margin of this blog page -- it's just so darned whacky! Typically Boz!!) Here's one from an author with another publisher. Simple, fun, effective ... anyone with a book, imagination and a vidcam can try their hand and we'll help all we can:

A FEW STITCHES IN THE NICK OF TIME

Hya folks:

Just arrived home an hour ago after rush surgery and a ten-day stay in a clinic in Monaco and, although sitting at the desk will sting a bit for a few more days and my new computer system isn't yet installed, I wanted to drop a quick line through the blog to thank you all for your good wishes.Your support makes for a speedy and optimistic recovery. Laughter may be good medicine -- but good ol' friends are even better.

And I'm told by the surgeons that their timely intervention might well have headed off a whole buncha trouble that was just waiting to happen; so, much as I missed being operational at a vital time for Bewrite Books, it turned out to be, quite literally, a few stiches in time.

And when Tony and his wife Calina (don't know if she and Tony realise that her lovely name translates as 'warm and affectionate' here in the south of France) phoned from Canada when I came-to after my operation, they didn't even mention what was going on in my absence. One quick glance at the new website a few minutes ago was enough to show that Tony has been employing all his artistic, creative and technical skill -- not to mention burning the midnight oil -- to be sure we don't fall behind schedule in our plans for the near and longer term future to take BB and its authors where they belong in the world of literature.

The new site is now all but complete. But it's a living thing and will constantly be updated, improved and modified. We plan to time the next full  reconstruction of www.bewrite.net, though, to coincide with the first successful manned NASA mission to Neptune ... there's just about as much work involved.

Meantime, we are now open to new submissions and talent scouting the cream of new authors and works to nurture, produce and rigorously promote along with our excellent band of existing writers and their books. Everyone involved can look forward to a brighter than ever future with wider and ever-widening exposure and sales potential. No writers could deserve it more than they do.

Top of the food chain, of course, are our readers. We will not let them down. And -- in return for their interest, encouragement, and loyalty -- they can expect regular special deals, fascinating contests and book prizes if they keep tabs on www.bewrite.net and the hundreds of online stores (great and small) we're partnering with to offer our paperbacks and ebooks to lovers of literature in almost every country in the world.

It's good to be back, pals ... but now my in-house nurse, Skovia, reckons I'd better snatch an hour's bed time. Back in the saddle soon. Promise.

Love and luck to you all. Neil et al

PS: In my rush to get this note of thanks out  to you yesterday, I overlooked my promise of a book-related video at the foot of each blog post. Here you go ... this condenses the six hours one pro cover artist spent on a single job to just a couple of minutes' high speed film. This is one of Tony's  several  painstaking  tasks at BeWrite Books. What this video fails to mention, though, is that the first design seldom makes the cut. at a  democratic publishing house like BB. Tony often puts in all this work to several different versions  of a mutually agreed concept (itself sometimes weeks in discussion) before everyone involved -- author, editor, technical and promotional sides -- unanimously agree on what design sticks and will be used :