… poetry & jazz from the Grizfork Studio,
in the shadow of the Absarokas, in the relfection of the Yellowstone River,
in the range of the redtail and raven …
This week’s Report features poetry by Turkish poet, translator, photographer & musician Yusuf Eradam, and music by the Sonny Clark Trio. Click here to read more and listen to the episode.
These are cool… and I think a fun way to wrap up the week. Maybe I’ll keep doing it on Fridays…
You can make your own word clouds at wordle.net.
I had a really great meeting with my friend David Drager last night. I’m really excited about what he had to show me, though I can’t really talk much about it.
Suffice it to say, he has a brilliant idea that he has been working on for many months – letting me into the lab from time to time to see his progress and graciously accepting (or, pretending to accept anyway, heh) my thoughts.
David is a programmer and a buisinessman who has already built and sold one startup, so my hopes for this current venture are high. He’s also one of my favorite people to sit down and talk to with over a good dinner – his knowledge seems to compliment my own very well, and he always has a lot of great thoughts about AuthorsBookshop.com. He’s also up on the local lit/poetry scene so there is never a shortage of topics to discuss.
Well, if i’ve piqued your interest just a little on what he is working on… I guess I can give you a little peak. Take a look at Lit4.us to see what he is working on. But SHHHHHHHH! Don’t go blabbing it to everyone! I probably shouldn’t have even mentioned it here…
Note that it’s not a live site yet, but you can sign up there to get posts as things develop.
And don’t worry, I have the inside scoop on this and will definitely keep you posted as he gives me the green-light to talk about each step along the way. So… stay tuned on this one.
Movie night continues! Next up, a horror flick! Finally, a historical novel done right.
There have been rumors flying around for many years that ol’ Abe might have been gay… but this is even more exciting!
I think it’s movie night! I have a couple videos I have been meaning to post, and I think im gonna drop a them tonight for a li’l double feature action. So, get out your bucket o’ popcorn!
This first one is indie publishing giant Richard Nash waxing wise on the future of publishing. I like his “tribal” angle, and thoughts on returning to a pre-industrial revolution approach to publishing. He has some great thoghts on “tagging” content too, and replacing the bookshelf with tags.
Richard, when still at Soft Skull Press, was one of the first large indie publishers to give AuthorsBookshop.com a shot, and a small handful of their titles are available on the site.
For sure, his last sentence in this video is worth watching through the whole thing for…
Thanks for tuning in tonight at http://umbrellaradio.org!
Tonight we are talking to a panel of musicians… picking their brains to see what we can learn from the indie music world and apply it to selling books.
With is tonight:
sahffi is a Peabody trained musician who, several months ago left her day-job to pursue music full-time. She has built a reputation for herself among the Baltimore music community for tirelessly promoting herself through her monthly email newsletter, facebook, blog, twitter and myspace. She also serves as our house band here on the IndieBookMan, and her music can be heard on pretty much every episode of our show. http://sahffi.com
Marc Evans is a local musician who’s sound is truly receiving international attention. Though his shows are very popular here in Mobtown, it’s the crowds in Asia and Europe that are packing venues with teens that sing his lyrics. In fact, we are really glad he made it back to Baltimore from a show in Italy in time to make to The IndieBookMan! Were going to talk to him about moving from a local to international audience. http://www.myspace.com/marcaevans
Rhonda Robinson is a full-time Baltimore based jazz vocalist/flutist. The Rhonda Robinson Quartet has distinguished itself performing at clubs, festivals, and events throughout the area. She brings to the table a slightly different angle, as she is not only working to promote her own music and band… but to keep the flame of Jazz and its history alive in the area. She has served as Artist-In-Residence in the Baltimore City Schools, and has trained with Grammy®-nominated jazz vocalist, Janet Lawson. http://www.myspace.com/rhondarobinson
OUR BOOK OF THE WEEK:
Marketing for Writers
A Practical Workbook
By Angela Render
Published by Thunderpaw
THE CALENDAR
Moaning Pipes Cabaret
Thu, March 4, 6:30pm – 8:30pm
Ukazoo Books, 730 Dulaney Valley Rd, Towson,
The Moaning Pipe Cabaret wishes to invite you to participate in an all out creative showcase. All outlets welcome! Bring your music, your dance, your words, your rants, comedy, drama, voices, bodies, hearts and souls. MoaningPipeCabaret@gmail.com or myspace.com/moaningpipecabaret
CityLit Festival
Sat, April 17, 10am – 5pm
Central Ench Pratt Library
Plan to spend the day at the 7th annual CityLit Festival, with writers, poets, exhibitors. Sponsored by the Pratt Library and CityLit Project. Featured authors: Alafair Burke, Quinn Cotter, Andrew Gross, Ellen Lupton, Paul Nelson, Patrick O’Brien, Maryland Poet Laureate Shelley Puhak, Plus: New Fiction from the 510 Reading Series Poets’ Ink Workshop Poets by Place, free exhibit space for authors, poets, self-published writers, literary magazines, small presses, and literary arts organizations.
For a complete schedule of events or info on exhibiting: prattlibrary.org or citylitproject.org.
Making Change/Steering from the Inside
Write Here Write Now Series
8 Thursdays, March 11 – April 29, March 11th
7-9 pm
In the midst of a personal transformation? Reframing your life? Why not use POETRY (reading & writing) to examine your journey, as well as help you understand the transition you are going through? Whether your passage is physical, emotional, or spiritual, Baltimore poet Shirley J. Brewer – no stranger to transformation – will inspire and guide your introspections, both on and off the page. Travel with her from confusion to insight.
www.creativealliance.org
The IndieBookMan was:
written by Brad Grochowski
Produced by Brad Grochowski and UmbrellaRadio
Engineered by Eric Willison
Theme song by n’Dinga Gabba and Sahffi
Music break by Sahffi
The IndieBookMan radio show is Sponsored by AuthorsBookshop: Buy Inde. Sell Indie. Be Indie.
Thank you – have a great night and remember… the indie publishing revolution… starts now.
Ive recently stumbled across Mick Rooney’s blog, the handily named “POD, Self Publishing and Independent Publishing” and I highly recommend it. He covers a lot of ground, and there is a lot of good info over there.
One piece in particular caught my eye… an article titled “Lulu Launch Open Publishing Platform For Developers.” Mick explains how Lulu is basically opening up an API (Application Programming Interface) that will let third party interests – publishers, web programmers, etc – tap into the publishing power of Lulu, and offer Lulu’s publishing services under their own branding.
Now, I know indie publishers have been publishing under their own imprints via Lulu for some time now – but this makes it not only official, but apparently encouraged by the company. This could be a bit of a big deal.
In addition to being a writer, publisher and bookseller, I am also a web programmer – so the news of a new API is always exciting. But when I here about an API that may very well allow me to publish your book straight from, oh, say, AuthorsBookshop.com without you ever having to leave the site? Well, talk about the computer geek world and book geek world crashing together like… like… well, like two awesome worlds crashing together to make one bigger, awesomer world I guess.
I haven’t delved into the API yet, so I can’t say for certain how open our powerful it is, but if Micks report, and the press release (below) are accurate – this could be pretty exciting for third party developers and indie authors, indeed. And, it could open a whole new vista of services for sites such as AuthorsBookshop.com
Lulu Opens Doors to Developers New Lulu Publication API provides direct
access to industry’s most robust open publishing platform
February 24, 2010 (Raleigh, N.C.) — Lulu, the open publishing pioneer, today announced that it has opened its platform to developers, giving them direct access to its publishing engine and creating new opportunity for publishing innovation.The Lulu Publication API lets individuals, publishers, businesses and other organizations create a new breed of Web application enabling on-demand publishing through Lulu, marketed under their own brand names. Using the API, a software company, for example, could instantly publish hundreds of manuals and gain worldwide distribution. Or a publisher could build and host a branded application letting independent authors publish and distribute under a new imprint.
“Two words define Lulu: open innovation,” said Harish Abbott, Chief Product Officer of Lulu. “We have built an open publishing platform agnostic to both the type of content creator and the type of content created. We can’t wait to see the kinds of applications our ecosystem of innovators develop using the Lulu publishing engine.”
The announcement today coincided with the O’Reilly Tools of Change for Publishing conference in New York, where Lulu is a sponsor.
The combination of Lulu’s Publication API and powerful market and distribution platforms ensures a range of development opportunities and wide selection of offerings in hardcover, paperback and eBook formats.
The publication API is just one element of the open publishing market that Lulu is building. Lulu is committed to helping anyone publish and sell anywhere and reach targeted audiences through its social discovery platform.
For more information about the Lulu Publication API, visit: http://api.lulu.com.
Sorry for such late notice this time around! Due to a series of unfortunate events, it was almost the last minute before I was able to get this weeks show together!
We are going in an unusual direction this week. None of my three guests have written or published a book. They don’t have any special knowledge about printing, editing or book marketing. In fact, they aren’t really book people at all! So, why are they stopping by the IndieBookMan for an interview?
I am not the first, or even the only, person to have noticed that the indie book market is following in the footsteps of the indie music scene. The tools that are becoming available to us now, the acceptance of the book-buying public as well as the community that is coalescing around indie books can be seen, perhaps, as an echo of the indie music scene 7 to 10 years ago. This is good news if the comparison follows through, as the indie music scene is exciting, vibrant and still growing rapidly.
So I am bringing in three indie musicians who have been flexing their marketing muscles to spread the word about their music – and succeeding – to see what their experience may have to offer those of us trying to sell books. What are they doing in the music world that can inform our efforts in the indie publishing community?
sahffi is a Peabody trained musician who, several months ago left her day-job to pursue music full-time. She has built a reputation for herself among the Baltimore music community for tirelessly promoting herself through her monthly email newsletter, facebook, blog, twitter and myspace. She also serves as our house band here on the IndieBookMan, and her music can be heard on pretty much every episode of our show. http://sahffi.com
Marc Evans is a local musician who’s sound is truly receiving international attention. Though his shows are very popular here in Mobtown, it’s the crowds in Asia and Europe that are packing venues with teens that sing his lyrics. In fact, we are hoping he makes it back to Baltimore from a show in Italy in time to make to The IndieBookMan! Were going to talk to him about moving from a local to international audience. http://www.myspace.com/marcaevans
Rhonda Robinson is a full-time Baltimore based jazz vocalist/flutist. The Rhonda Robinson Quartet has distinguished itself performing at clubs, festivals, and events throughout the area. She brings to the table a slightly different angle, as she is not only working to promote her own music and band… but to keep the flame of Jazz and its history alive in the area. She has served as Artist-In-Residence in the Baltimore City Schools, and has trained with Grammy®-nominated jazz vocalist, Janet Lawson. http://www.myspace.com/rhondarobinson
So what are musicians doing to support themselves and each other? Join us on The IndieBookMan Radio Show as we spend an hour exploring exactly that.
Join all of us this Wednesday, March 3rd at 8:00PM at http://umbrellaradio.org for The IndieBookMan Radio Show: Follow The Music!
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The IndieBookMan Radio Show covers all aspects of literature, writing, books and indie publishing in the Baltimore region and far beyond.
If you are interested in literature, books, writing or publishing, if you know you have a book inside of you and want to find out how to get it out into the world and into the hands of readers, then The IndieBookMan Radio Show is just what you need.
Hosted by AuthorsBookshop.com founder Brad Grochowski (a.k.a. the IndieBookMan) each show features an author, publisher or mover-and-shaker in the indie book world. We explore their history, walk through the steps they took to success, and find out a bit about their project.
Join us March 3rd at 8:00 PM est at http://umbrellaradio.org for the live broadcast, listen to the archive at http://indiebookman.com or subscribe to the podcast at http://bit.ly/ibm_podcast
… poetry & jazz from the Grizfork Studio, in the shadow of the Absarokas, in the reflection of the Yellowstone River, in the range of the redtail and raven …
Episode #51 is a special memorial tribute to fallen Saginistas Bruce Crawley, Al Hellus and Buddy “Shabazz” Harris, featuring some unpublished poems by Al and music by Al Hellus and the Plastic Haiku Band.
Episode #52 features the poem “Loon Point (Gavia Immer)” from my book The Moon Cracks Open: A Field Guide to the Birds and music by the legendary Teddy Edwards.
(POETS: To have your poems considered for a feature read on Report from the Mountains, contact me through the rftm blog for the address to send your book or manuscript. Thanks. ~Marc)
Perhaps you can relate?
Don’t miss episode II, coming soon. Subscribe to Paper Rats’ YouTube page, follow on twitter, or become a facebook fan.
