This week we are talking about ebooks, and I got to interview Mario Armstrong (one of the nicest people I have ever interviewed!) and Brian Felson of BookBaby – who was also really nice, and is the CEO of BookBaby, which is a spinoff of CDBaby, which was founded by a personal hero of mine, Derek Sivers, and which also greatly inspired my AuthorsBookshop.com website (which, it must be said is doomed in part because of BookBaby, but that is a different post and I hold no grudge!)

So really, you should give it a listen.  You can find it here: http://indiebookman.com/2011/05/ebooks.html

So, I’ve spent a lot of time over the past month producing the show – developing it, scripting it, scheduling and doing the interviews, editing, and now getting it up and promoting it… and all of it has revolved around ebooks.  I got a lot of my own thoughts out, and got to dig deep into the thoughts of some pretty smart people.

All about ebooks.

Now, let it be said that a year ago, I was anti-ebook.   I new they were the future, but I also knew they were going to force me to shift my relationship with books and reading.  I also knew it meant learning a whole bunch of new stuff and either the end – or requiring some sort of rebirth of – AuthorsBookshop.com (turned out to be the end, but again, thats another post and again, I bear no grudge!)

But things have changed and I have become really excited about ebooks.  I wasn’t able to really come right out and say this in the show, but I think ebooks ARE the future, and I think they are good for writers and publishers.

Why?  Wehehell, let me explain;

1. They make reading sexy again.  Suddenly, it’s hip to be reading on the train.  I always thought it was, but I am weird.  Now hipsters, buisnessmen and gramma’s are ALL getting in on the transpo-lit action (that means they are reading on the subway.  I just made that word up so don’t feel bad if you had no idea what I was talking about) and they all look and feel up-to-date and with it.  By reading.  Can I let that sink in for a moment?  They are looking cool because they are reading.  Yay for the world.
2. They make reading fun again.  Reading has become gadgetized.  We are a Gadget Nation, and if it’s not gadgetized we don’t want it.  If it is we do because gadgets are fun.  We love dicking around with them, we love syncing them, we love charging them, we love plugging them into our cars, we love updating them… we even love replacing them.  Reading has suddenly been initiated into the gadgetized world, just as music and movies have been.
3. They make reading easier.  You can take your whole damn library with you.  No matter what mood you are in when you are waiting for the train, you will have something to read.  One book or another to peck away at.  Reading really does become much more like music… listen to what you are in the mood for, read what you are in the mood for.  Imagine if you could only carry around one album at a time?  We wouldn’t stand for that.  In a few years, neither will we with what we read.
4. They will get us to buy more books.  We are not only a Gadget Nation, we are an Impulse Buy Nation.  If we hear or see or read a bit of something we like, if we can buy it NOW and have it downloaded directly to our device, we will do it.  More books will be purchased in the next 5 years than have been purchased in the past 15.  But they will be digital.

So, how is this a bad time for books?  Or reading?  Or writers?  Or publishers?  Suddenly, reading is a Thing We Do.  All over the place.  We are reading more, buying more.

All good for authors.

So, that’s all well and good.  But… I have a little problem.  For all my new-found love of the ebook, I still don’t have an ebook reader.

Wuh-huh?

It’s true.  The $150 bucks (really, that’s all?  And they are getting cheaper!) i’d need to nab me a kindle has been frustratingly elusive.  I would by my kid the new bike before I would buy myself another widget, for example.

So, I will sit, enthusiastically, on the sidelines cheering you all on as you read away on your kindles, your nooks, your iPads… at least for a few months.  But see, I AM the IndieBookMan.  It is, I believe, incumbent upon me to Get With It. Sooo hang on, ill be right there with you soon.  You know, I’m savin’ up!

Show #16

The newest IndieBookMan Show is here, and it’s the probably the most informative show we have done to date. This week we are talking about eBooks – and who isn’t talking about eBooks these days?

But how is the eBook revolution effecting readers, writers and publishers? In other words… how is this new technology going to effect you?

We delve into that very question and more this week as we look at the quickly developing world of eBooks.

In this show we talk to:

• Mario Armstrong, Digital Lifestyle Expert and radio show host. Mario weighs in with his astute thoughts on the technical impact of ebooks.
• Brian Felson is the President of BookBaby. This new service will get your book on all the various ebook platforms, and Brian shares his thoughts on how ebooks are going to change the publishing and sales of books.
• Deborah Emin runs Sullivan Street Press – a successful indie that has decided to publish eBooks and only eBooks. How has this decision impacted their business, and the authors that they publish?
• We call Kindle owner and lover Rob Carlson to find out why he is so excited about this ubiquitous eBook reading device.

Special thanks to Monopoli and Persona for the use of their music this week.
Also, a huge thank you to our friends at The Inverse Delirium podcast for producing the opening segment for this weeks show.

The IndieBookMan Show is a member of the Baltimore Podcasting Network.

Thanks, and please enjoy show #16, eBooks:

We wanted to try something a little different this week. As you know, we interview a lot of people for the show – from self published authors to international heroes of indie publishing.

We run a pretty tight editing ship, and an interview that may appear to be under 5 minutes is usually the result of a much longer conversation. A lot gets left on the cutting room floor, as they say.

But a lot of what gets cut out is good, interesting and really informative stuff so… we want, from time to time, to bring you extended versions of these interviews so that you get the benefit of the entire conversation.

We start this week with my call to Pablo D’Stair who we featured in our most recent show “Give It Away.”

Pablo is an author and publisher and, really, a philosopher of book marketing. I think you will hear what I mean.

He has some really great, deep thoughts about book marketing… and we couldn’t fit them all into the show but I think you are going to like hearing the rest of what he had to say.

So here we are, with my extended, unedited interview with Pablo D’stair.

Show #13

Join the IndieBookMan this week as we take a journey along the Paths to Publishing.

It’s an exciting time in the world of publishing! Never have there been so many options for getting a book into print. From the giant traditional publishing houses, to indie publishers, to self-publishing and ebooks and more, there are now so many ways to publish a book that it can be really confusing! How do you decide which is right for you? Which is right for your book? And how do you get started once you have picked the path you want to walk?

Well, we are going to help you sort all that out with this week’s show, “Paths to Publishing”.

• Sean and Brad get lost on the way to conduct an interview with Steve Jobs.
• Indie publishing marketing guru John Kremer lays out all of the options for us, with a little advice on each of the various paths.
• Kerry Dunnington, author of This Book Cooks shares her experience with subsidy publishing via ExLibris.
• Angelo Solera, owner of Solera Press, talks to us about “true” self-publishing, and how it has worked for him.
• And Victor Volkman, owner of Loving Healing Press – a thriving indie press based in Ann Arbor Michigan – talks to us about that path.
• Finally, in our weekly call to Karl Brown, Karl tells us which path he would choose, and why.

It’s a chock-full show, and I hope you find it informative and helpful as you choose your own Path to Publishing.

Special thanks this week to Sudara of RamenMusic.com for the use of his music.
Also to Geoffrey Welchman of The Inverse Delirium for the use of his song “Freddie’s Lament” in the opening sketch.

We will be back on April 20th with our 14th episode, “Give it Away.” We will be talking about giving your book away – why in the heck would you want to do that?!?! We’ll find out.

And now, please enjoy Paths to Publishing:

Show #12

This week on the IndieBookMan Show, we are talking about Your Website.

Well, maybe not your website specifically, but what your website should be… could be. What should your bookselling website include? What shouldn’t it? What will make it dynamic, exciting and easy to manage? What is a “Joomla?”

Hear answers to these questions and more as:

• Our friends at Inverse Delirium teach us about the “birds and the bees” of websites
• We speak with Ryan Ozimek, president of Open Source Matters – the folks who bring us Joomla! How can you use it to create an inexpensive website that looks amazing and is easy to maintain? And… what is a Joomla!, anyway?
• We pick the brains of 3 web professionals, folks who make a living creating websites that sing:
  • Ben Freda of Ben Freda Consulting
  • Liz Kuehl of Free Range Studios and
  • Julie Tinker of TinkerCo
• And Karl Brown shares his Top 5 Most Annoying Things On Your Website.

Special thanks this week to Crane Under Water for the use of their music.

We will be back on April 6th with our lucky 13th episode, “Paths to Publishing.” How are you going to publish your book? Let us count the ways!

And now, please enjoy Your Website:

Truthfully, you would probably fill your card up pretty fast hanging around The IndieBookMan Show and blog… because many of these arguments can be made about indie publishing as well.

And I know it’s meant to be snarky – but many of the points made on the card actually are valid. No matter how “tired” they may be.

The Epublishing Bingo card was created by John Scalzi

Show #11

This week on the IndieBookMan Show, we are talking about publishing poetry.

Who reads poetry? Who buys books of poetry? Who is crazy enough to write and sell books of poetry? Actually, you may be surprised. Hang out with us this week as we look at poetry, and different ways of publishing it. We also ask – what is the state of publishing poetry today? You will also get some great advice if you are a poet, and looking to publish.

Listen in as:

• Sean tries to sneak a haiku into the show.
• We have a talk with Marc Beaudin, who has been self-publishing and successfully selling his poetry in chapbooks, as well as full-length book of of poetry called, “The Moon Cracks Open.”
• Christophe Casamassima of Furniture Press is back, and tells about about a crazy scheme where he leaves published poetry laying around in public, for anyone to pick up and enjoy.
• We then speak with former Maryland Poet Laureate Michael Collier. He shares some really insightful thoughts on poetry, and gives some of the best advice you could ask for if you are looking to publish.
• And then we close things out with our weekly call to Karl Brown. I’m not going to tell you what we get from him this week, but let me just say this: He bares his soul. Karl Brown bares his very soul.

Special thanks this week to Sudara of RamenMusic.com for the use of his music.

We will be back on March 23rd with our 12th episode, “Your Website” We will look at what you could – and maybe even should – be doing with your website to maximize your books sales.

And now, please enjoy Publishing Poetry:

Join us as we look at setting aside the traditional marketing strategies of ad buys and focus groups, and instead harness the blood, sweat and tears of good old-fashioned, do-it-yourself guerrilla marketing. Get attention for you book, and get it for free with the techniques we explore this week.

Listen in as:

• Brad and Sean head to the Congo to observe first hand how a band of guerrillas… er… gorillas do their marketing.
• We speak with Ron Tanner, author of Kiss Me Stranger, about his Presidential Toffee Sweet Sneak Attack.
• Then we speak to a few authors about their experiences with non-traditional marketing:
  • Christophe Casamassima of Furniture Press
  • Deanna Proach, author of the novel Day of Revenge
  • Toby Tate, author of the novel Diablero.

  Each weighs in on how guerrilla marketing has worked for them

• We then speak with Indie publishing marketing guru John Kremer, to get his take on guerrilla vs. traditional marketing. We also discuss crashing airplanes in red square, going to jail and lying to Oprah.
• And finally, we Call Karl Brown… and things get a little shocking when he brings up something about Paula Abdul naked in a video.

On top of all that, Sean pulls out all the stops on the production of the show – bringing in more music and audio effects than ever before. All of this makes our Guerrilla Marketing episode one you do not want to miss.

Special thanks this week to Kenobi for the use of their music.

We will be off again next week, but back on March 16th with our 11th episode, “Paths to Publishing.” We will explore the different routes you can follow to get your book published. Also, Sean and Brad get a little lost on a road trip to Steve Job’s house. Make sure you catch us on March 16th for that.

And now, please enjoy Guerrilla Marketing:

I don’t know. I just thought this was cool. And the music is good. And maybe it will inspire you to organize your bookshelves — though, it didn’t me. And whatever, it’s books.

Take a look at the cover of "Coconut Pie"...

After our Kids episode aired earlier this moth, we got a bunch of emails asking us, “Why did you talk over Neema reading Coconut Pie!? We wanted to hear that!”

We got the message. So, I’m posting Neema’s reading of my first-ever book, Coconut Pie. It was written by me when I was in 3rd grade, and published by my school class as part of a young writers program we had at that time.

Neema is our production assistant. She does a lot, actually, to help with the show. She also happens to be my daughter. She is six years old.