Booktype: open source self-publishing platform
"Booktype is a free, open source platform that produces beautiful, engaging books formatted for print, Amazon, iBooks and almost any ereader within minutes. Create books on your own or with others via an easy-to-use web interface. Build a community around your content with social tools and use the reach of mobile, tablet and ebook technology to engage new audiences."
(Adam Hyde, 2012)
CONTRIBUTOR
Simon PerkinsSHARE
Website and wiki self-publishing through Google Sites
"Google Sites makes it easy for anyone to create and manage simple, secure group websites. Getting started is easy, and there are a number of helpful templates. More than just a visual theme, site templates can include site structure and navigation, custom page templates, embedded gadgets, and more. Google Sites is powerful enough for a company intranet, yet simple enough for a family website."
(Google)
CONTRIBUTOR
Simon PerkinsSHARE
Issuu self-publishing: Breakthrough
"Breakthrough is my first experimental book of "typoetry": A hybrid product of typography, photography, and poetry. The ultimate goal of this product is to finance the completion of my PhD studies in Media, Arts and Text at VCU and to start a career in media production using self-publishing technology to achieve it."
(Guido Alvarez)
CONTRIBUTOR
Simon PerkinsSHARE
Authonomy: how to outsource the slush pile
"Officially, Authonomy is a 'social network for writers and book-lovers alike'. Just as MySpace allowed bands to succeed without the prior approval and investment of record companies, so Authonomy will theoretically help separate the unpublished wheat from the chaff. The idea is that aspirant scribes can upload up to 10,000 words to the site and then have their masterworks judged by what HarperCollins refers to as 'keen, talent-spotting readers' - other people, that is, who have registered on the network.
Thus, the democracy. No longer will the disgruntled writing masses be able to complain that their work has not been published because it has been vetoed by elite, snobbish publishing industry professionals. Now they will be kyboshing each other. (Or launching each other's careers.) Of course, this isn't remotely the first time a social network for writers has been launched - there are numerous sites on which thousands of people upload their work and have it critiqued by others. YouWriteOn.com (funded by the [UK] Arts Council) and thefrontlist.com have both been used as sources for new material by agents and publishers, although only to a limited extent.
But I remain unsure whether this really provides a great service for writers or whether it will level the playing field. I imagine that the hearts of those behind Authonomy are in the right place, but it's hard to ignore the suspicion that what they are really doing is outsourcing the unlovely task of sluicing through the slush pile. Of course, outsourcing is totally within publishers' (and agents') rights. Reading and responding to the slush pile doesn't generally make them any money, with the cost of the time spent most likely outweighing any profit made from finding a very, very occasional diamond amongst all the rough."
(Jean Hannah Edelstein 13 May 2008 , guardian.co.uk)
CONTRIBUTOR
Simon PerkinsSHARE
