[Motown Writers Network] Join 3 Writers at "Freelance Marketplace Writers' Group

tomorrow Freelance Marketplace Writers' Group Motown Writers Meetup Group Tuesday, June 19, 2012 7:30 PM Barnes & Noble 2800 S. Rochester Road Rochester Hills, MI 48307 Will you attend? Yes No 3 Writers attending, including: Michael Dwyer Friend "I want to network with other creative people. I am a freelance writer and travel..." R. C. Beckom Friend "R.C. Beckom is the author of the novel: "IT'S Comin'/Trilogy an intriguing novel..." LaCharmine (L.A.) Jefferson "I'm exited about the world of writing. Finally, I published my 1st book, Unfinished..." Food writer, Lisa Howard, joins us this month to talk about the many avenues of food writing, from reviews to recipe development and more. This Rochester based group is open to all new, working, and published writers, photographers, and illustrat... Learn more More Meetups from this group Jul 17 Freelance Marketplace Writers' Group Tuesday, July 17, 2012 7:30 PM · 1 attending RSVP Sponsored by Author Media and Miller Design Studio Follow us!

All 7 Harry Potter eBooks Now Available in Kindle Owners Lending Library via @amazon

Amazon.com has added a news release to its Media Room website. Title: All 7 Harry Potter eBooks Now Available in Kindle Owners Lending Library Date(s): 19-Jun-2012 2:52 AM All 7 Harry Potter eBooks Now Available in Kindle Owners' Lending Library Starting today, read all of J.K. Rowling's iconic Harry Potter series for free on your Kindle SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jun. 19, 2012-- (NASDAQ:AMZN) – Starting today, Amazon.com customers can now borrow all seven Harry Potter books in English, French, Italian, German and Spanish from the Kindle Owners' Lending Library (KOLL). The Kindle Owners' Lending Library is a benefit of Amazon Prime membership where Kindle owners can choose from over 145,000 books to borrow for free as frequently as a book a month, with no due dates. Prime members also enjoy free two-day shipping on millions of items and unlimited streaming of more than 18,000 movies and TV episodes. "Nowhere else can customers borrow any of the seven Harry Potter books for free, with an unlimited supply of each title and no waiting list," said Russ Grandinetti, Vice President, Kindle Content. "A $79 Prime membership was already the best deal in retail, and now it's become even more valuable." Harry Potter is the all-time best-selling book series in history, and Amazon has purchased an exclusive license from J.K. Rowling's Pottermore to make the addition of these titles possible. The Kindle Owners' Lending Library now features over 145,000 books for US customers to borrow for free, including over 100 current and former New York Times Best Sellers. With the Kindle Owners' Lending Library, there are no due dates and books can be borrowed as frequently as once a month. Unlike traditional library lending, there are no limits on the number of copies available, and how many people can simultaneously borrow the same title. Readers never have to wait in line for the book they want. Just as with any other Kindle book, customer notes, highlights and bookmarks in borrowed books will be saved, so they'll have them later if customers purchase or re-borrow the book. Books are borrowed from a Kindle device, and customers can have one book out at a time. When customers want to borrow a new book, any borrowed book can easily be returned right from their device. To learn more about the Kindle Owners' Lending Library, visit www.amazon.com/kindleownerslendinglibrary. To learn about all the additional benefits included with Amazon Prime, or to start an Amazon Prime free trial, visit www.amazon.com/kindleprime. About Amazon.com Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN), a Fortune 500 company based in Seattle, opened on the World Wide Web in July 1995 and today offers Earth's Biggest Selection. Amazon.com, Inc. seeks to be Earth's most customer-centric company, where customers can find and discover anything they might want to buy online, and endeavors to offer its customers the lowest possible prices. Amazon.com and other sellers offer millions of unique new, refurbished and used items in categories such as Books; Movies, Music & Games; Digital Downloads; Electronics & Computers; Home & Garden; Toys, Kids & Baby; Grocery; Apparel, Shoes & Jewelry; Health & Beauty; Sports & Outdoors; and Tools, Auto & Industrial. Amazon Web Services provides Amazon's developer customers with access to in-the-cloud infrastructure services based on Amazon's own back-end technology platform, which developers can use to enable virtually any type of business. The new latest generation Kindle is the lightest, most compact Kindle ever and features the same 6-inch, most advanced electronic ink display that reads like real paper even in bright sunlight. Kindle Touch is a new addition to the Kindle family with an easy-to-use touch screen that makes it easier than ever to turn pages, search, shop, and take notes – still with all the benefits of the most advanced electronic ink display. Kindle Touch 3G is the top of the line e-reader and offers the same new design and features of Kindle Touch, with the unparalleled added convenience of free 3G. Kindle Fire is the Kindle for movies, TV shows, music, books, magazines, apps, games and web browsing with all the content, free storage in the Amazon Cloud, Whispersync, Amazon Silk (Amazon's new revolutionary cloud-accelerated web browser), vibrant color touch screen, and powerful dual-core processor. Amazon and its affiliates operate websites, including www.amazon.com, www.amazon.co.uk, www.amazon.de, www.amazon.co.jp, www.amazon.fr, www.amazon.ca, www.amazon.cn, www.amazon.it, and www.amazon.es. As used herein, "Amazon.com," "we," "our" and similar terms include Amazon.com, Inc., and its subsidiaries, unless the context indicates otherwise. Forward-Looking Statements This announcement contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Actual results may differ significantly from management's expectations. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that include, among others, risks related to competition, management of growth, new products, services and technologies, potential fluctuations in operating results, international expansion, outcomes of legal proceedings and claims, fulfillment center optimization, seasonality, commercial agreements, acquisitions and strategic transactions, foreign exchange rates, system interruption, inventory, government regulation and taxation, payments and fraud. More information about factors that potentially could affect Amazon.com's financial results is included in Amazon.com's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and subsequent filings. Source: Amazon.com Amazon.com, Inc. Media Hotline, 206-266-7180 www.amazon.com/pr Join Us on Facebook Follow Us on Twitter

[Time Sensitive] Social Media Day Laptop Workshop &Video Lab in Farmington Hills June 30th via @pamperry

Meet us there! Missed the preview call? ==>  Listen now, click this link to hear   http://pamperry.posterous.com/audio-why-your-social-media-aint-working-what Ministry Marketing Solutions, Inc. Marketing the Message Farmington, Michigan (248) 426-2300

Everything you need to know about self-publishing &how the Amazon algorithm update affects you via @thecreativepenn

Dear Sylvia Welcome to the new look newsletter from The Creative Penn. I will be making some changes and bringing you more original content that you haven't already read on the blog. It will also become more regular. As always, I love to hear your feedback and any questions. You can email: joanna@TheCreativePenn.com or leave a question on the Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/TheCreativePenn Writing: What is your why? I have just returned from 9 days holiday in the Languedoc area of the South of France with my husband. It's an area famous for its Cathar castles, as well as its wine, of which I may have drunk a fair bit! The Cathars were a religious sect, Christians who were persecuted by the Catholic church and wiped out for their different beliefs. I studied them as part of my theology degree so it was fascinating to be there. It was also a good time for reflection.   My big 'aha' moment was this: My job is create a body of work that I am proud of and that resonates with people. That's it. Anything that stops me moving towards this goal needs to be evaluated. This is going to be guiding what I do going forward. Do you have a driving 'why' behind what you are doing with your writing career? Everything you need to know about self-publishing There is one site I recommend over and over again and that is TheBookDesigner.com. Joel Friedlander is the most knowledgable person I know about everything to do with self-publishing and he shares so much of it freely on his blog. Joel has just launched The Self-Publishing Roadmap which includes everything you need to know about self-publishing in one super course. It is only for those people who are taking this seriously as a business because there is an investment of time and money. If you want to be proud of your finished products, then this will give you the tools to make it happen. It will help you create that quality body of work. It's a multi-media course with video, audio and PDF resources as well as a stack of valuable bonuses. The course is open now for a short time and then closes to new participants. (yes, I'm an affiliate because this is an amazing product!) Click here to find out more on the Self-Publishing Roadmap Amazon algorithm update I was fascinated to read this article about how Amazon has changed its recommendation algorithms in the last few months. We can never know exactly how things work but author Edward W Robertson has done a lot of the hard work. Click here to read the whole article The conclusions: Free books AND books under $2.99 are not getting the same weighting in terms of ranking as they used to do. So what worked in January with KDP Select no longer brings the sales after the promo period. Presumably the aim is to stop the free and cheap books dominating the charts. This article may shape your decision to use KDP Select or even change your pricing. Well worth a read. If you prefer audio, check out the Self-Publishing Podcast team who interview Edward here http://selfpublishingpodcast.com/5/ (Fantastic podcast but language warning - adult listening only) Tips for your website design MenWithPens.ca is one of the most influential copywriting sites on the web and my interview with James Chartrand has been one of the most popular podcasts. We went through website design for authors and how the psychology of color can help with branding which you might find useful for your own site. You can listen/read here =>   http://bit.ly/ME5gPH We also talked about gender in publishing. I now use the gender neutral initials J.F.Penn for my action-adventure fiction and James is actually a woman. Our experiences were also picked up by a reporter and showcased on Forbes - check out the article here OK, that's it for now. I hope you found this information useful. If you want to keep up with the latest information on the site, you can subscribe by email here. You can also subscribe to The Creative Penn podcast on iTunes here (129 episodes and counting!) As ever, Happy Writing! Joanna Joanna Penn joanna@thecreativepenn.com (w) http://www.TheCreativePenn.com - Helping you write, publish and sell your book  (t) http://www.twitter.com/thecreativepenn http://www.facebook.com/TheCreativePenn

New at the #Smashwords Blog: New Ebook Cover Image Requirements Coming to Satisfy Higher Resolution E-Reading Devices via @markcoker

New at the Smashwords Blog: New Ebook Cover Image Requirements Coming to Satisfy Higher Resolution E-Reading Devices New Ebook Cover Image Requirements Coming to Satisfy Higher Resolution E-Reading Devices Posted: 14 Jun 2012 05:28 PM PDT Heads up.  Effective on or about July 15, Smashwords will begin requiring higher pixel counts on ebook cover images. Why the change?  Starting in August, Apple will require that all new ebook cover images be at least 1,400 pixels wide.  Their previous minimum was 600 pixels.  Since Smashwords requires vertical rectangle (height greater than width) images, a new recommended ebook cover might be around 1,600 pixels wide by 2,400 pixels tall.  Why 2,400?  2,400 is 1.5 times 1,600. Pull out a ruler and measure just about any print book and you'll get a ratio close to that.  Most good-looking covers have heights that range from approximately 1.3 to 1.6 times your width.  Amazon recommends a 1.6 width/height ratio, and their recommended height is 2,500 pixels. As you can see, there's flexibility here for personal preference whether you prefer wide or long.  The image above left shows what a 1.5 ratio looks like.  The height is 50% greater than the width. Why is Apple requiring higher pixel counts?  Most likely, it's because they want to provide ebook customers better covers for their current and future higher resolution iPads, iPhones and MacBooks.  Since we think the Apple and Amazon guidelines are reasonable (they help readers with next-generation screens enjoy your covers in all their glory), we'll adopt Apple's requirements as our new minimum standards for cover images. What happens next? Apple's new requirement applies to new ebooks, and new cover updates.  If your book is already in the Apple iBookstore with a smaller cover image, you're grandfathered in, UNLESS you try to update your cover image in the future, in which case they'll reject it.  To help you get ahead of this change, Smashwords will make the 1,400 pixel minimum a Premium Catalog requirement starting on or around July 15.  Like Apple, we'll apply the standard to new titles and cover image updates.   If we previously shipped your smaller cover to retailers, we won't require the new cover image size unless you update your cover image or republish a previously unpublished book. The minimum dimensions do not apply to the images or cover image inside your .epub file.  The Smashwords FAQ is now updated to reflect the new recommendations and requirements.  I'll update the Smashwords Style Guide in the next day or two so one month from now this won't come as a surprise to people. How NOT to create a new cover image Don't use a photo or image editing program to enlarge your current image.  That will cause pixelation (blur).   How to create your cover image You'll find some tips in the Smashwords FAQ, though my best recommendation is to hire a professional.  Unless you're a professional graphic artist, it's best to hire a cover image designer. Send an email to list@smashwords.com to obtain my list of low cost cover designers and ebook formatters (they're all freelancers, we don't receive a commission or referral fee). Their rates range from about $40 to $100, a range I consider very reasonable.  Most have online portfolios so you can see if their style matches what  you're looking for.  If they don't match what you want, post a note at the Smashwords Facebook page to ask your fellow authors for references.  There are many great cover designers out there, and most are very affordable.  See my free ebook, The Secrets to Ebook Publishing Success, for comments on why a professional ebook cover image is so critical to a book's success. Please share this post with your fellow authors and publishers so everyone has ample advance notice. You are subscribed to email updates from Smashwords New at the Smashwords Blog: New Ebook Cover Image Requirements Coming to Satisfy Higher Resolution E-Reading Devices New Ebook Cover Image Requirements Coming to Satisfy Higher Resolution E-Reading Devices Posted: 14 Jun 2012 05:28 PM PDT Heads up.  Effective on or about July 15, Smashwords will begin requiring higher pixel counts on ebook cover images. Why the change?  Starting in August, Apple will require that all new ebook cover images be at least 1,400 pixels wide.  Their previous minimum was 600 pixels.  Since Smashwords requires vertical rectangle (height greater than width) images, a new recommended ebook cover might be around 1,600 pixels wide by 2,400 pixels tall.  Why 2,400?  2,400 is 1.5 times 1,600. Pull out a ruler and measure just about any print book and you'll get a ratio close to that.  Most good-looking covers have heights that range from approximately 1.3 to 1.6 times your width.  Amazon recommends a 1.6 width/height ratio, and their recommended height is 2,500 pixels. As you can see, there's flexibility here for personal preference whether you prefer wide or long.  The image above left shows what a 1.5 ratio looks like.  The height is 50% greater than the width. Why is Apple requiring higher pixel counts?  Most likely, it's because they want to provide ebook customers better covers for their current and future higher resolution iPads, iPhones and MacBooks.  Since we think the Apple and Amazon guidelines are reasonable (they help readers with next-generation screens enjoy your covers in all their glory), we'll adopt Apple's requirements as our new minimum standards for cover images. What happens next? Apple's new requirement applies to new ebooks, and new cover updates.  If your book is already in the Apple iBookstore with a smaller cover image, you're grandfathered in, UNLESS you try to update your cover image in the future, in which case they'll reject it.  To help you get ahead of this change, Smashwords will make the 1,400 pixel minimum a Premium Catalog requirement starting on or around July 15.  Like Apple, we'll apply the standard to new titles and cover image updates.   If we previously shipped your smaller cover to retailers, we won't require the new cover image size unless you update your cover image or republish a previously unpublished book. The minimum dimensions do not apply to the images or cover image inside your .epub file.  The Smashwords FAQ is now updated to reflect the new recommendations and requirements.  I'll update the Smashwords Style Guide in the next day or two so one month from now this won't come as a surprise to people. How NOT to create a new cover image Don't use a photo or image editing program to enlarge your current image.  That will cause pixelation (blur).   How to create your cover image You'll find some tips in the Smashwords FAQ, though my best recommendation is to hire a professional.  Unless you're a professional graphic artist, it's best to hire a cover image designer. Send an email to list@smashwords.com to obtain my list of low cost cover designers and ebook formatters (they're all freelancers, we don't receive a commission or referral fee). Their rates range from about $40 to $100, a range I consider very reasonable.  Most have online portfolios so you can see if their style matches what  you're looking for.  If they don't match what you want, post a note at the Smashwords Facebook page to ask your fellow authors for references.  There are many great cover designers out there, and most are very affordable.  See my free ebook, The Secrets to Ebook Publishing Success, for comments on why a professional ebook cover image is so critical to a book's success. Please share this post with your fellow authors and publishers so everyone has ample advance notice. You are subscribed to email updates from Smashwords

[Motown Writers Network] "Let's Publish Your Book Workshop" Tomorrow June 14th 6

tomorrow Let's Publish Your Book Workshop Motown Writers Meetup Group Thursday, June 14, 2012 6:30 PM Detroit Impact Center 9930 Greenfield Detroit, MI 48227 Price: $25.00 per person Pay online LIMITED SEATING AVAILABLE AT THE DOOR REGISTER 3 Writers attending, including: Tracy IamMsjones Jones Friend Patrick Neal Russell Julius "I am a young aspiring author; I write primarily in popular science and science fiction,..." REGISTER Paperback or Ebook, Participants will learn how to format, publish and produce their literary work. Participants are asked to have: 100 word synopsis of book 250 word bio of author Participants will receive downloadable resources and be able to g... Learn more REGISTER LIMITED SEATING AVAILABLE AT THE DOOR More Meetups from this group Jun 19 Freelance Marketplace Writers' Group Tuesday, June 19, 2012 7:30 PM · 1 attending RSVP Jul 17 Freelance Marketplace Writers' Group Tuesday, July 17, 2012 7:30 PM · 1 attending RSVP Sponsored by Author Media and Miller Design Studio Follow us!