InfoTech: Amazon's great news for publishers - until you read the contract

Amazon.Com's CreateSpace is an excellent service for small and self publishers. It capitalises on the dominance that Amazon has in several markets, allowing books to be sold to their visitors without anyone holding stock. It's a print-on-demand service that obviates the need for publishers to print books that will, often, end up in boxes under the bed or pulped.

Let's be frank: most self-published material is self-published because publishers won't talk to authors who don't have agents and agents won't talk to authors unless someone they know asks them to. Many agents say openly that they will not even consider unsolicited manuscripts; many publishers say they will not accept manuscripts other than from agents.

So much good work - and infinitely more rubbish - ends up either vanity published or self-published.

I self-published How Not To Be A Money Launderer for the simple reason that I did the sums: I wanted the book on the shelves for GBP20 - a remarkably low price for a law book. My target audience was not law firms but non-lawyers caught up in the labyrinthine legal and regulatory mess that I could see was on the horizon as more countries passed ever more intrusive and complex laws to detect and deter money laundering. But the best deal I was going to get from a publisher was a royalty of 10% on product sold, and I would be charged for promotional copies.

How To add Books from your Amazon Wish List onto your PaperBackSwap.com WishList

How to Import Books from your Amazon Wish List (or really any List of Books with ISBNs) into your PaperBackSwap.com book lists including your ...

California Dreaming (An A-List Novel #10)

Poppy

List Price: $9.99
Price: $9.99

Product Description

The ninth novel, Beautiful Stranger, in the New York Times bestselling series takes readers behind the scenes of the intoxicating world of Hollywood glitterati. Anna decides to take an end-of-summer getaway-to get away from her drama-filled LA life. So she packs her Louis Vuitton, grabs her close friend Sam, and heads to the Big Apple. Between trips to the Met and shopping at Bendel's, the girls are living the A-List life on Anna's home turf. But their trip isn't exactly a vacation. Sam is here to spy on Eduardo and decode his recent strange ­behavior. Will what she discovers send her hopping on the next private jet back to Beverly Hills? And who is the ­beautiful stranger who appears on Anna's Upper East Side doorstep? Anna begins to wonder whether she wants to head back west again-especially since Ben seems to have moved on . . . with someone who isn't a stranger at all. When it comes to the A-List, there's drama coast to coast.

The A-List #10: Title to Come plot description to come.

The Reading Teacher's Book Of Lists: Grades K-12, Fifth Edition

Jossey-Bass

List Price: $29.95
Price: $16.50
You Save: $13.45 (45%)

Product Description

The definitive reference for reading and literacy from kindergarten through college

This comprehensive fifth edition of a bestselling classic offers an unparalleled source of timely, practical information on all aspects of reading instruction. Ready for immediate use, it offers over 190 up-to-date lists for developing instructional materials and lesson planning. The book is organized into 15 convenient sections full of practical examples, key words, teaching ideas, and activities that can be used as is or adapted to meet students’ diverse needs. New topical areas include: ideas for non-narrative reading; word walls; graphic organizer and concept development software; new literacies, such as ’zines, Internet terms, emoticons, e-mail, and chat; as well as weekly writing prompts.

Edward Bernard Fry, PhD (Laguna Beach, CA), is Professor Emeritus of Education at Rutgers University and internationally renowned inventor of his eponymous Readability Graph. Jacqueline E. Kress, EdD (Elizabeth, NJ), is Dean of Education at New York Institute of Technology.


The Art Teacher's Book of Lists (J-B Ed: Book of Lists)

Jossey-Bass

List Price: $32.95
Price: $21.75
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Product Description

This remarkable resource offers over 270 illustrated lists to help you quickly find information about specific artists, art materials, art history, museums or disciplines. For easy use, the lists are organized into ten sections, given here with a sample from each: All About Art ("Elements of Art") ... Art History ("Timelines of Art History") ... For the Art Teacher ("The National Visual Arts Standards") ... Art Materials ("Things to Do with Collage") ... Painting, Drawing & Printmaking ("All About Color Pigment") ... Sculpture ("Master Sculptors & Their Work")... Architecture ("Great Architects of the World")... Fine Arts & Folk Art ("African American Crafts") ... Technology & Art ("The Evolution of Photography") ... Museums ("Museums Devoted to the Work of One Artist").

The Ultimate Book of Top Ten Lists: A Mind-Boggling Collection of Fun, Fascinating and Bizarre Facts on Movies, Music, Sports, Crime, Celebrities, History, Trivia and More

Ulysses Press

List Price: $14.95
Price: $10.17
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Product Description

BIZARRE STUFF, AMAZING FACTS, ASTONISHING MYSTERIES, NATURAL WONDERS, LITTLE-KNOWN PEOPLE, USEFUL TIPS AND MUCH, MUCH MORE

From crime, movies and music to science, history and literature, this book offers an incredible array of intriguing top-10 lists, including:

  • Urban Legends--Debunked
  • Influential People Who Never Lived
  • Ancient Methods of Execution
  • Poisonous Foods We Love to Eat
  • Inventions of the Middle Ages
  • Gruesome Fairytale Origins
  • Secret Societies
  • Amazing Film Swordfights
  • Bizarre Animal Mating Rituals
  • Misconceptions About Evolution
  • Tips for Frugal Living
  • Fascinating Graveyards You Must See

About the Author

Jamie Frater is the creator of the popular website listverse.com.


The Fountas & Pinnell Leveled Book List, K-8+: 2010-2012 Edition, Print Version

Heinemann

List Price: $62.50
Price: $34.38
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Product Description

 
If you're looking for a printed list of books suitable for guided reading, consult the only OFFICIAL print source, The Fountas &Pinnell Leveled Book List, K - 8+.
 
The Fountas &Pinnell Leveled Book List, K - 8+ is completely up to date for the 2010 - 2012 school years. Fountas and Pinnell have added more than 19,000 titles to bring the list's total to more than 35,000 books. Each book has been leveled by Fountas, Pinnell, and their nationwide team of teachers. Formatted like their previously published leveled books lists, The Fountas & Pinnell Leveled Book List, K - 8+ includes key information such as:
  • title
  • level
  • genre
  • author/series
  • publisher.
 
Organized alphabetically by title, it contains a variety of classic and contemporary texts, offers a wide range of choices within each genre, and spans kindergarten through middle school.
 
The Fountas &Pinnell Leveled Book List, K - 8+ is just one part of a suite of resources from Fountas and Pinnell that includes Leveled Books, K - 8: Matching Texts to Readers for Effective Teaching - a complete guide to the theory, research, and practice behind using leveled books for guided reading instruction - and www.FountasandPinnellLeveledBooks.com, a frequently updated, online version of the list that is searchable by numerous criteria and that also includes a wealth of professional-development resources for guided reading.
 
When you need to match the right book to your readers, turn to The Fountas &Pinnell Leveled Book List, K - 8+, the only OFFICIAL print source for the best, most accurate list of leveled books anywhere.