Sunday, January 27, 2013

Les Dunham Rebuts Angela Hoy's Book Market Analysis


Les Dunham offers his rebuttal to my previous post , based on Angela Hoy's statement that 75% of book readers do not use electronic devices.

Les responded, "I'm sure Angela has some points, but as someone else pointed out the 75% who don't own an e-reader includes a lot who don't read at all.

"Here in the U.S., the National Assessment of Adult Literacy indicates that over 20% of adults are functionally illiterate, and another 20% are barely literate, according to Wikipedia .

"This suggests that only about 60% of the population is likely to do any significant amount of reading, and if all of those with e-readers are in that 60%, about 40% of readers have access to e-books.

"Angela's anecdote about her Dad, who reads, but not e-books, is just one person. I can supply a counter to that: my own reading habits.

"I'm several years older than Angela's Dad, but not retired and with no significant health issues. Since June I have been keeping a log of the books I've read. In that time I have read 21 books, all except three of them novels, mostly from the 19th century, though including three first published within the last five years. This has been a total of over 6,000 pages of reading.

"Only four of these books were actual paper books. All the others I read on my Nook. I am currently reading three books, two paper and one electronic.

"On the other hand, I have also read nearly two hundred newspapers and perhaps twenty  or thirty magazines in this time period, none of them electronically, and hundreds of websites, all of them electronically.

"So for books, about 80% of my reading is electronic. For other reading, perhaps 50%."

Weigh in on this topic by leaving a comment, and read more interesting articles by Les at, Les Denham.

Electronic Publishing

ELECTRONIC PUBLISHING
(copyright 2013)  Mona Leeson Vanek

Electronic submission requirements differ with each e-zine, but a few general rules (and some experience) will help you master writing for them. Get e-zine guides, or query the editor of an e-zine, electronically. (*see sidebar)

If the magazine's website doesn't offer writers guidelines, find the editor's e-mail address (on the e-zine site) and send an e-mail asking for guidelines. By following them to the letter you'll learn how the editor wants your story submitted.

It often takes perseverance to locate an editor's email address, and by continuing to search you'll locate other publishing opportunities. Be sure to always check the links at the top of the home webpage first.

KidWorld is a good example. In the first column, you'll see What's New? Click 'Read the Rules'. You may find their contest is closed, but see links to e-zines that publish children's writing.For example, I found Amazing Kids.   Be sure you're on Amazing Kids magazine site, not the Main page.

Click the tab at the top of the page to find out about contests. At Amazing Kids Main page you can find the submission email address by scrolling to the bottom, on the left side. "Submit them to us at: submissions@amazing-kids.org." However, be sure to read
At the very bottom of the Main page, you'll also find the editor's e-mail address: Amazing Kids! Magazine inquiries – editor@amazing-kids.org.

Some editors will say what goes in bold, never to use italics, etc. Some want the story sent in the body of a regular e-mail, no italics or bold of any kind. Straight text all the way. Other magazines want the story sent as an RTF attachment to an e-mail.

Write your e-query letters and e-articles in your word processor where it's easy to edit and polish them until they're impressive. Single space your story, double space between paragraphs.

Remember that nothing on the web is underscored except a web link (URL). So those are the only things in your manuscript that should ever be underscored.

Example:  Let the editor know you envision certain words emphasized; you can use an asterick (*) before a word. The editor will decide whether to print it bold or italic. Generally, if it's a title, or something you want underlined, here's how I do it: _Kids Master E-Zine Writing Quickly_.

You can make sure the editor knows you're using italics by writing it like the following example: my laughline . Another way to indicate that is by using the HTML marks for Italics. Example: "I am thrilled to share with you what I know about writing for e-zines." (*see sidebar for more about html.)
 
If you are uncertain about how the editor wants it, send an e-mail asking how to do it; editors never mind answering those kinds of questions.

When writing your e-query, don't think like a writer; think like an editor. Make your idea fully complete. As you write your e-query, have a strong visual image in mind of the article already published.
  • What is its title?
  • Does it have a blurb?
  • On the e-zine cover, will there be cover lines announcing its appearance inside?
  • Is a sidebar included at the end?
In general, readers of online e-zines tend to scan while reading so keep to your point, use short sentences, and be brief.

Follow these simple steps to get query letters and articles from the wordprocessor to the e-mail program, and not have them arrive the way you sent them,Rich T and not all scrambled.
  • Open the file. Go File\SaveAs. In the drop down box that lets you choose how to save your file, select Rich Text Format (plain text or ASCII text).
  • Next, highlight the entire file contents. Right mouse click and copy.
  • *Before closing your wordprocessor file, use SaveAs again and select your usual file style. When it says 'this file exists shall I overwrite it?' Answer Yes. Then close your word processor.
Open  a new message in your e-mail program and paste the copy from your clipboard. (Use your mouse or press ctrl+v.)

Address it to the editor who asked to see it. Before you click Send, read it through carefully. Correct anything that needs correction.

WYSIWEG! (whatyousee is whateditorgets.)
 
Have at least a good outline of your article handy. Faster than you can zip up your backpack, the editor might reply, asking for more information, or maybe even for the whole article if he\she thinks your proposed story or article is already written.
 
Editors are too busy to fiddle around with half baked cookies. All you'll get is a bad reputation by offering something you can't produce in a timely manner. If your idea is only an idea, say so in your query. Say, "I propose to write [your story idea]."

If the editor is interested he may ask you to write it, and may even give you tips on what he wants in it.

Your published story will get wide exposure. Other editors may see it and contact you to write for them, too. Sometimes your online story can still be submit elsewhere. Be aware though, publishers that buy your story generally want exclusive 'rights'. Some editors won't let you send it to anyone else for 90 days, others ask for a year.

Each e-publication differs according to their editorial policy. Writing for e-zines is fun and can be profitable, but *never, ever send off a story that you've had published to another magazine without first asking the original publisher for permission!
END

Sidebar: Go to the magazine's website online and read the magazine. Read the archived (back) issues, too. Save a few into your word processor to dissect and study. Run your grammar check and word count on them. Use Find function to search out repeated words and buzz words -- those colorful ones editors love.

To learn more about HTML marks, buy "HTML For Dummies" at any bookstore. Be sure to get the first one, not the one that says "More HTML .... "

Here are interesting sites for children's writers:
Inkspots. You'll need to set up a free account.)

Cobblestones and Guidelines, and other good links. (Contact: editorialguidelines@cobblestonepub.com.)
 
Mona Leeson Vanek's skills in the broad field of publishing include freelance writer, profiler,news correspondent, photojournalist, writing consultant, script writer, videographer, photographer and author. A member of Internet Writing Workshop since 1996, Mona critiques a wide spectrum of non-fiction, and mentors beginning writers and colleagues. Her current work in progress is editing, revising and epublishing her out-of-print trilogy, "Behind These Mountains." In 2010, to preserve the stories of Montana's homesteader's lives, she made the three-volume series available online. 

To make free online writing resources available, she also published her 10th edition of Access The World and Write Your Way To $$$. . Mona, a mother, grandmother and great-grandmother, lives with her husband, Art, and their cat, Mimi. She publishes, The North Palouse Washington e-Newscast, to promote the rural Washington region where they've made their home since leaving Montana, in 2005.

Friday, January 11, 2013


Free advanced education has beome a reality, via the Interet and foreward thinking professors at Harvard. Gigaom  published, "MIT and Harvard say open-source edX can educate a billion people." by By Barb Darrow,in May, 2012.January 3, 2013, Gigaom published, Free Harvard class teaches non-lawyers about copyright , by John Roberts.Opinions about this new movement abound. Visit the site to add your comment.