School media specialists, tech integrationists, or anyone that works with teen writers – listen up! There is an exciting new publishing company started by a high school sophomore in Wayzata, MN called Sigma’s Bookshelf that is focusing on publishing books by writers ages 12 – 19. The company will work with the teen writer regarding editing, proofreading, and more!
Read on for the full explanation from the company:
Continue reading Do you know a teen writer that wants to get published?
Did you know that Minneapolis was recently ranked the nation’s most literate city? Up from number two last year, the city beat out Washington DC for number one!
What sets us apart? Did you know that MN has some of the largest book publishers outside of New York, Boston, and Chicago? Local publishers include but aren’t limited to: Lerners, Capstone, Graywolf, Coffee House, Milkweed, MnHS, and UMN press. Did you also know, there are at least 130,000 MN published titles in WorldCat?
So, a great big cheer for Minneapolis and the state of MN for supporting literature and publishing!
Image credit: http://tinyurl.com/qanyu9n, licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0
E-Content
The following snippets are shared with permission from the 02/26/14 electronic issue of American Libraries Direct, American Libraries Association
Sharing ebooks on the Razor’s edge
James LaRue writes: “The Greater Western Library Alliance of 33 academic libraries may have hit on something by wielding the library equivalent of Occam’s Razor to shave its members’ collective ILL woes. Its product, the work of program developers at Texas Tech University and the University of Hawaii–Manoa, is called Occam’s Reader. It pilots an approach, in as straightforward a manner as possible, that allows universities to share their ebooks without giving away the store.”…
AL: E-Content, Feb. 25
Publishing has entered a new era
Brian O’Leary writes: “We are moving inexorably toward what I have called a ‘pre-book world’: a living manifestation of the development, refinement, and extension of a particular work. At various points, an object—a book or ebook—may be rendered, but it will be a subset of a conversation that includes content, comments, annotations, and sources. The internet has shifted traditional publishing from a gatekeeping role (deciding what will be published) to a truer form of curation (managing the communities and conversations that will inform a rendered component).”…
The Bookseller: FutureBook, Feb. 20
Epic! app offers children’s books
A new startup called Epic! brings a totally kid-friendly bookshelf and book reading experience to the iPad. Cofounded by online gaming veteran Suren Markosian and former YouTube exec Kevin Donahue, Epic is an all-you-can-read app aimed at kids aged 12 and under that provides access to some 2,000 titles for online and offline reading. The subscription service costs $9.99 per month….
TechCrunch, Feb. 24
GPO expands ebook program
The US Government Printing Office is expanding the agency’s ebook program through its Federal Depository Library Program to increase public access to information. The public now has free access to ebook titles using GPO’s Catalog of US Government Publications. The first release includes approximately 100 titles, and GPO will continue work with federal agencies to make new titles available each month….
US Government Printing Office, Feb. 25
Are you thinking you might want to self-publish a high quality book that everyone wants to read? And, have you heard that by self-publishing, your royalties can run as high as 70 percent? Before you get too excited, it might serve you well to understand cwhat truly goes into self-publishing.
Huff Post Books wrote a great piece on this subject and a group who self-published an anthology, go into detail about marketing, publicity, cover design, copy editors, and even the role of their editorial board. This piece also includes options for self-publishing and even includes a list of established authors who are now self-publishing. Pay very close attention to the numerous links within the article, as they will lead you to a true treasure trove of additional information. Read the full post at http://tinyurl.com/owj3weo
Brian Mathews is an Associate Dean at Virginia Tech, and I always enjoy hearing what he has to say about the future of libraries. I find his writing style refreshing, clear, and always full of great examples. This paper talks about how academic libraries are being barraged by advancements in publishing, pedagogy, and user preferences. The intent of this paper is much broader than academics however and is simply: What do people need to do and how might libraries help them?
If I haven’t convinced you yet, and you are a football fan, Brian’s epilogue discusses when the “forward pass” was introduced into the game, and how it was a game changer. This change made the players faster and more nimble. It reinvented the role of the quarterback too, much like the role of librarian can be reinvented. We all struggle at times with fast and nimble, but the times we are in dictate it! Although seventeen pages, this paper is definitely worth a read!