richardmurray

This week on the podcast we are joined by Lateefah Zawistowski to discuss all things OverDrive. As an account manager for OverDrive, Lateefah gives us the inside look at how OverDrive works, how authors can add and market their books on OverDrive, and how libraries utilize the service. She also shares some advice on pricing your books for libraries, what trends she’s currently seeing in library sales, and she discusses the impact of the pandemic on libraries.

• Lateefah tells us about her role as account manager at OverDrive and why she believes publishers and indie authors alike should consider opting their books into OverDrive
• She discusses the borrowing habits of readers and how they change based on the genre, and she tells us why the library is such a great tool for discovery, especially for backlist and midlist titles
• Lateefah explains how libraries purchase books from OverDrive, the multiple purchasing models available to authors and libraries, what time of year libraries are most likely to be purchasing books, and she gives some advice on how to price your eBook for libraries
• She gives us her predictictions for library trends in 2021 and beyond, and explains why the surge of new library users at the beginning of the pandemic, while great, isn’t necessarily enough to support local libraries
• Lateefah discusses OverDrive promotions and she explains how merchandising is essential to discoverability on OverDrive
• She explains the global reach of OverDrive and how many different markets they’re available to, from public libraries to education to corporations, and she discusses the different language markets outside of English Language books
• Lateefah talks to us about current trends in library sales, what books have sold the best during the pandemic, and she explains why genre fiction is having a big moment right now

LISTEN TO THE INTERVIEW OR READ THE TRANSCRIPT USING THE ARTICLE BELOW

KWL - 245 - Optimizing OverDrive with Lateefah Zawistowski - Kobo Writing Life

Happy Audiobook Month! What better way to celebrate than by uploading your audiobooks directly to Kobo! Especially because it’s incredibly easy to do.

How easy, you ask? You can upload your audiobook in only ten steps (and one of those steps is signing into your account)! Here’s how:

Log into your Kobo Writing Life account here: https://www.kobo.com/writinglife

Select the Audiobooks tab on your dashboard. Don’t see the audiobook tab? Send us an email at writinglife@kobo.com and we can activate it for you!
Click “Create new Audiobook”. Once on the audiobook uploading page, you can start inputting your audiobook information. You will first be asked to describe your audiobook. This includes: the title and subtitle (remember to only include text that appears on your book’s cover!), the series name and number if your book is part of a series, the contributors including your narrator, your synopsis, publisher name and imprint, your publication date and release date, your ISBN (this must be a unique ISBN and cannot be the same as your eBook or print book!), and finally the language of your audiobook and whether it’s abridged or unabridged.
You will then be required to enter the categories for your title. These categories will determine how your audiobook is labelled and categorized in the Kobo Store. We recommend selecting three categories for each book to ensure that customers who are browsing through our store have a better chance of finding your titles.
Next, you will need to upload your cover image. We accept cover images in .png, .jpg and .jpeg file formats. We recommend the minimum size of audiobook cover images be at least 600px by 600px. Covers for audiobooks should be square; if they are not, they will be automatically adjusted. Please note: cover images cannot exceed 5 MB in size.
Now you are ready to upload your audio files! You can drop files directly from your computer into the Upload Audio Files section or select the folder on your desktop that contains your audiobook files. We only accept audio files in .mp3 and m4a formats. An individual file cannot exceed 200 MB in size and all files combined cannot exceed 2 GB in size. Please wait for your audio files to be completely uploaded before moving to the next step. You will know when files have been successfully uploaded when the “Listen to confirm content” prompt appears .
Once your files have been completely uploaded, you can then start to make your Table of Contents. The Table of Contents organizes your audiobook to make sure it is in reading order. You can move the files up and down to ensure they are in the correct order and provide the chapter title for the file under the “Name of Content” section. Please note: What you list in the “Name of content” section will appear in the Table of Contents customers use to navigate your audiobook on our apps.
You will then be asked to provide the geographic rights for the title. Please select the countries you own the rights to sell your title in. 
The final step is to set the price for your title. Please input the price of your title in all the available currencies. Audiobooks pricing is slightly more complicated than eBooks. The royalty percentage thresholds are as follows:

35% royalties for audiobooks priced $2.99 or lower
45% royalties for audiobooks priced over $2.99

Please note: If a customer redeems a free trial token for your audiobook, the royalty amount will be 0. If they redeem using a paid token, the royalty amount will be 32%. Otherwise, the royalty amount will be the values displayed above.
Once all steps have been completed you can then select publish! If you have missed any steps, you will receive an error message. Otherwise, your audiobook is in good hands and has been sent for processing. It will soon be available on the Kobo store in 24-72 hours. 
Be sure to let us know when you’re publishing new audiobooks so we can add them to our audio new release calendar! < https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdy1Hzav1WCotnQqd9zOmrUYj5OMcQcqQ-YJl_erliV6apuYQ/viewform > 

Happy Audiobook Month! - Kobo Writing Life

Not so fast: Prolific Black Authors left out of a soon-to-be-published book of writers covering the past 2500 years.  The Guardian reports with too Black voices missing from the nearly 750 page book, a major US publisher cancels publication. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/may/16/whos-missing-top-author-stirs-anger-with-too-white-history

as an ebook writer, I Can say a lot about this, but the reality is authors of ebooks need to ban am*zon ourselves. Stop publishing through them. am*zon comprehends one key point, most artists whether they want to admit it or not, are so desperate to make a dollar, that they are unwilling to risk any financial penalty, thus they gamble the safest financially, and that means publishing through am*zon in the ebook world.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/03/10/am*zon-library-ebook-monopoly/

Well... it is another Friday, another day to love, to Oxum, Oshun, Freya, or Venus, another day to Kizomba!
SOmetimes, you just dance to have fun and we see that in Irina dancing side José N'dongala, I love how the camera moved when he tried a trick.

enjoy a free read

https://www.kobo.com/ebook/the-nyotenda

as an ebook writer, I Can say a lot about this, but the reality is authors of ebooks need to ban am*zon ourselves. Stop publishing through them. am*zon comprehends one key point, most artists whether they want to admit it or not, are so desperate to make a dollar, that they are unwilling to risk any financial penalty, thus they gamble the safest financially, and that means publishing through am*zon in the ebook world.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/03/10/am*zon-library-ebook-monopoly/

as an ebook writer, I Can say a lot about this, but the reality is authors of ebooks need to ban am*zon ourselves. Stop publishing through them. am*zon comprehends one key point, most artists whether they want to admit it or not, are so desperate to make a dollar, that they are unwilling to risk any financial penalty, thus they gamble the safest financially, and that means publishing through am*zon in the ebook world.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/03/10/am*zon-library-ebook-monopoly/

Huzzah!  So happy to announce this! ### “The Path of Pen and Sword” A workshop in creative writing and martial arts with   Steven Barnes WORKSHOP ON SATURDAY, JUNE 5TH, 12-3PM (Pacific Time) IN PERSON OR ON ZOOM The “Twofold Path of Pen and Sword” is also known as   Bun Bu Ryo Do —   “The samurai were successful for so long because they studied both cultural and martial arts. They mastered both the pen and the sword, making them formidable intellectual and military opponents.” The Chinese concept of the “Master of the Five Excellences” is looking at the same phenomenon, as is the yogic concept of the “Householder Yogi” who lives in the world of spirit while functioning superbly in the world of flesh. The truth is that there is much in common between the disciplines of creative writing and martial arts: both ask questions about personal identity and the nature of reality. Both demand energy, access to the unconscious mind (Stephen King’s “Boys in the basement” or Bruce Lee’s “It” as in the quote “I do not strike. IT strikes”), and in studying the one we can deepen our understanding of the other. This workshop, an expansion of the original Lifewriting specifically for writers and martial artists, will use two major tools: Joseph Campbell’s structure of the Hero’s Journey, and the yogic “chakra” map of human energy, as a launching point for a discussion and workshop delving into the nexus of breath, flow, focus, fear, commitment, and dynamic living. Come play with us!  No previous experience in either writing or martial arts necessary, but all levels welcome. Bring notebooks, loose clothes, and a flexible mind! STEVEN BARNES has published over three million words of fiction, including over thirty novels, episodes of ANDROMEDA, STARGATE SG-1, TWILIGHT ZONE, and THE OUTER LIMITS, including the Emmy-winning episode “A Stitch in Time.”  The creator of the Lifewriting system of writing and personal development, he has taught at UCLA and Seattle University, and lectured at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington DC In the martial arts, he was the Kung-Fu columnist for Black Belt Magazine, holds three black belts, has studied and taught Wu style Tai Chi for forty years, was voted into the Black Karate Federation (BKF) Hall of Fame,  was a senior Kali student under Danny Inosanto, and studied Pentjak Silat Serak under Stevan Plinck for almost ten years. When: Saturday, June 5th, 12 noon-3pm, Pacific Time   On ZOOM: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/2461580494 / ID #:  246 158 0494                                                                     Or In Person: Taoist Institute, 10630 Burbank Blvd., North Hollywood, CA 91601                   FEE:  DONATION BASED, with all proceeds going to the Taoist Institute               RSVP: Email: taocore@taoistinstitute.com / Phone: (818) 760-4219

as an ebook writer, I Can say a lot about this, but the reality is authors of ebooks need to ban am*zon ourselves. Stop publishing through them. am*zon comprehends one key point, most artists whether they want to admit it or not, are so desperate to make a dollar, that they are unwilling to risk any financial penalty, thus they gamble the safest financially, and that means publishing through am*zon in the ebook world.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/03/10/am*zon-library-ebook-monopoly/

Book Wish List 

• Sympathy for the Devil: An Angela Bivens Thriller by Christoper Chambers - A metaphysical police procedural romance thriller with a Black female lead? How could it not be good? I must read this book! 
  
• Trumbull Park by Frank London Brown - I found out about this book from my daughter. Her partner's grandfather wrote this novel about hostile integration at Chicago's Trumbull Park public housing in the late 50s. Ain't that some ish? Public Housing was reserved for whites only but, everyone's taxes fund the project. Good News, though, in 2020, the Chicago Literary Hall of Fame selection committee nominated Mr. Brown's novel for inclusion. It appears from this post from Richard Guzman he was inducted.  BRAVO!!
  
  https://richardrguzman.com/frank-london-brown-inducted-into-the-chicago-literary-hall-of-fame/
• 
   
• TBD

How are you readers? On Earth day what do you think on the idea on all life on earth being children of Earth? 

Here are some dates you may have missed and can reflect on and some dates you can consider

April 4th - Linus YAle jr was born in 1821, he invented the cylinder lock, and you actually have used that lock a lot
April 6th - 1896 the first modern Olympic games occurred in Athens, Greece
April 8th- the birthday of Baseball Pitcher , JAmes Catifsh Hunter, 1946, he was the first pitcher since 1915 to win 200 games by 31 years of age. He told his wife when he became a free agent by court order: "We don't belong to anybody", two weeks later he became the highest paid pitcher or baseball player. 
April 9th - in 1981 the Nature magazine published the longest scientific name ever, a circa 207,000 letters long name of DeOxyriboNucleic Acid, or what some know as DNA
April 16th- Konwatsi'tsiaienni died in 1796, she was a Mohawk leader who sided against the Colonies in the war of independence but gained land from the british in what is not Canada
April 19th - Roger Sherman was born in 1721, the only person to sign the Continental Association, the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, and the Constitution
April 20th- Christopher Robin Milne , friend of Winnie the Pooh, died in 1996
April 21st- Rome was founded by Romulus, friends of countrymen, lend me your ears
April 23rd- William Shakespeare was born 1514... William Shakespeare died 1616... All's well that end well
APril 24th- Rovert B Thomas the founder of the Farmers Almanac was born 1768
April 26th - the first weather report was broadcast in the usa  in 1921
April 28th - The first space tourist , carried on a SOyuz TM32 to the International Space Station occured in 2001, his name was Dennis Tito

Photo Story 
https://aalbc.com/tc/blogs/entry/261-good-news-blog-stories-through-a-year/?tab=comments#comment-894
Photo Story
https://aalbc.com/tc/blogs/entry/261-good-news-blog-stories-through-a-year/?tab=comments#comment-895
 

HOLD ONTO LOVE. 

Shit happens — no need to immortalize it.
If you survive it, internalize what's left.

LOVE.

Happy Valentine's Day.

I blogged about him in 2014. In 2016 Casey Gerald gave a tedtalk "the gospel of doubt" that npr says went viral then today I noticed Penguin Random House published his memoir in 2018... He was on my radar because of a new post I was writing -what I didn't know is he's on the world's radar too.  I wonder what they have planned for him.

I blogged about him in 2014. In 2016 Casey Gerald gave a tedtalk "the gospel of doubt" that npr says went viral then today I noticed Penguin Random House published his memoir in 2018... He was on my radar because of a new post I was writing -what I didn't know is he's on the world's radar too.  I wonder what they have planned for him.

"ARES" stars 26-year-old Dutch actress Jade Olieberg who plays a multi-ethnic character that advances the original series plot in ways that are not obvious in the beginning.  My initial reaction was the .5 % wealthiest of society will not be happy.  But then this portrayal of secret societies targets any of us who "belong" to one.  Cutting to the chase without spoilers;  this series asks "What do you want" and what are you prepared to do to get it.  I'm still thinking  about this show today. It revealed a lot to me about myself ...and has me giving the side eye to friends, family and folks I see on the street.  I couldn't binge watch the series - it was a little too intense for me.  What did you think about ARES?

"ARES" stars 26-year-old Dutch actress Jade Olieberg who plays a multi-ethnic character that advances the original series plot in ways that are not obvious in the beginning.  My initial reaction was the .5 % wealthiest of society will not be happy.  But then this portrayal of secret societies targets any of us who "belong" to one.  Cutting to the chase without spoilers;  this series asks "What do you want" and what are you prepared to do to get it.  I'm still thinking  about this show today. It revealed a lot to me about myself ...and has me giving the side eye to friends, family and folks I see on the street.  I couldn't binge watch the series - it was a little too intense for me.  What did you think about ARES?

"ARES" stars 26-year-old Dutch actress Jade Olieberg who plays a multi-ethnic character that advances the original series plot in ways that are not obvious in the beginning.  My initial reaction was the .5 % wealthiest of society will not be happy.  But then this portrayal of secret societies targets any of us who "belong" to one.  Cutting to the chase without spoilers;  this series asks "What do you want" and what are you prepared to do to get it.  I'm still thinking  about this show today. It revealed a lot to me about myself ...and has me giving the side eye to friends, family and folks I see on the street.  I couldn't binge watch the series - it was a little too intense for me.  What did you think about ARES?

I recently updated a short story for digital readers called "Classified" - The political thriller is the first in the series of the small-town reporter Nicole Jettison aka Nicky Jett.  Nicky developed her supernatural gift during the first year in college.  Nicky's prophetic dreams transported her to the netherworld.  Once there, she gained abilities to see and battle shape-shifting drug dealers and a sorcery-wielding obeah priestess. She also recognizes nothing is as it seems.  When Nicky recovers, she hides in a journalism career.  She breaks news stories thanks to her all-seeing third-eye.  Nicky's gift is well-suited for news reporting but awful for her personal life.  Nicky morphs into a full-blown space-cadet once those preternatural abilities gain control. Check out Nicky Jett's riveting back story in the page-turner "Sleeping with a D-Man" available at theleadstorydotorg.

I recently updated a short story for digital readers called "Classified" - The political thriller is the first in the series of the small-town reporter Nicole Jettison aka Nicky Jett.  Nicky developed her supernatural gift during the first year in college.  Nicky's prophetic dreams transported her to the netherworld.  Once there, she gained abilities to see and battle shape-shifting drug dealers and a sorcery-wielding obeah priestess. She also recognizes nothing is as it seems.  When Nicky recovers, she hides in a journalism career.  She breaks news stories thanks to her all-seeing third-eye.  Nicky's gift is well-suited for news reporting but awful for her personal life.  Nicky morphs into a full-blown space-cadet once those preternatural abilities gain control. Check out Nicky Jett's riveting back story in the page-turner "Sleeping with a D-Man" available at theleadstorydotorg.

Happy Hardcore Easter

The art of lying:) from #Omarosa enjoy what is the lesson concerning the fury from black folk that lick white people's balls or the lies we tell, for she is trying to bring down the, i quote her, the most powerful man in the universe, and she has the audiotapes to try  https://photos.app.goo.gl/G9RxaEaqCzGNepML9

The Cooking Gene by Culinary Historian Michael W. Twitty  is The 2018 James Beard Award (non-cookbook) winner and as much as I can't stand awards I have to give them a second look now because without hearing that Twitty won the award I would not have heard of this book - which I now absolutely must have on my bookshelf.   

I love to cook but I especially love to cook the foods that are indigenous to my family.   Anyway, I found this interview from Mr. Twitty  and African Ancestry's co-founder Dr. Gina Paige and it too is delightful!!!
 

If you had 3 wishes, what would you wish for?  Of course, one of the wishes would be to get more wishes. In absence of wishes, then 10-year-old Marley Dias made a goal.  She decided to get more books with Black girls as the protagonists into elementary schools. To make this happen she launched  #1000blackgirlsbooks campaign. Once she accomplished goal, she then authored a book, "Marley Dias Gets it Done and so can you"  to create more activists.   "Marley Dias Gets it Done and So Can You" is available from Scholastic Books