Writers for the Red Cross Auction 2011

I came across the Writers for the Red Cross 2011 Auction a little late—it goes on for five weeks and I discovered it in the middle of of week 2 thanks to a tweet by Steve Tiano that he’s auctioning off the layout of a book in week 3—but for anyone with an interest/connection to books, there are plenty of great items/services to bid on.

And, with everything that’s going on currently in Japan, it’s more timely than ever to donate to organizations that respond to disasters/calamities around the world.

Compliance: It’s the Name of the Game

Publishing a book has many stages—from manuscript to layout to printing to distribution to sales—that have the end result (hopefully) of a book in a reader’s hands (or ereader). And, like most involved processes, it’s not one that’s particularly forgiving; that is, you can do a lot of things right—find a manuscript, produce a well-designed book, line up good pre-publication blurbs and reviews—but there are some elements completely divorced from the acquisitions/editorial/production processes that, if not done (correctly), will doom all of your other hard work: ISBNs, Bookland EAN barcodes, P-CIPs, and the SAN.

The 3 Books You Need To Start Your Publishing Business

As I always say, there is much that is fun and cool about book publishing. In the big picture, whether it’s authors or booksellers or editors or book designers or whoever else, you’ll usually find yourself talking about books with people who love books. But, when it comes down to the day-to-day operations, there are a lot of specific ongoing tasks—both large and small in a variety of areas—that have to be taken care of on an ongoing basis. From business financials to marketing plans to author contracts and freelancer agreements to compliance requirements, you have to cross a lot of t’s and dot a lot of i’s to produce a good looking book that has a chance to sell.