What Is DRM And Why I Don’t Like It

What Is DRM And Why I Don’t Like It

DRM benefits retailers and not authors DRM is an acronym for ‘Digital Rights Management’, and is something that all readers and authors of ebooks should understand. Sometimes called ‘Digital Restrictions Management’ by those who know how it works, it is a method used by retailers of digital products, including ebooks, to restrict the use of the file. Originally applied to music, many vendors of ebooks now use DRM to control what a buyer can do with an ebook. It also allows control over what a vendor can do with a file even after purchase. The well-publicised story of the Norwegian woman who had her Kindle ‘wiped’ by Amazon, is a

Can You Spot Bad Spelling?

Can You Spot Bad Spelling?

When is spelling, bad spelling? I read an Amazon Kindle review recently, which made a point of criticising a book for its bad spelling mistakes. The review was less than complimentary, and I immediately classified it as one written by one of the infamous one-star troll reviewers, who unfortunately still inhabit Kindle reviews. However, when I checked the preview read, I couldn’t find any spelling errors at all. But then the penny dropped. The book was written in British English and therefore used British spelling. It took me a little while, but I found a few more troll reviews that mentioned ‘awful or bad spelling’ or ‘riddled with bad spelling mistakes’,

Is This Really Self Publishing Success?

Is This Really Self Publishing Success?

What exactly is self-publishing success? I just read this article announcing that self-published titles are enjoying a lot of success on the best seller lists. Here is the headline of the article on Digital Book World announcing this monumental success for self-published authors. Self-Published Ebooks Keep Ahead on Best-Seller List Um, but when I read it, something seemed awfully wrong. Here is an image grab from the article. The top two self-published titles are a miserable $0.99 each! So the authors get to collect only 35% of this, due to Amazon’s penalty on ebooks below $2.99. For ebooks above $2.99, Amazon pays 70% royalty. So who’s winning and who’s losing out here? So much

What Are The Most Popular Plots?

What Are The Most Popular Plots?

What are the most popular plots in books? The Booker Prize list of nominees is probably a very good place to start investigating popular plots for a book. The infographic below tracks the themes of this years longlisters and it is immediately obvious that Death and Love occupy the top two positions. If you look carefully, though, you will find the one surprising little theme that gave me a chuckle. Yes, I think I will definitely include and Escaped Tiger in my next book. Mind you, I’m rather disappointed by the absence of evil aliens and time warping spaceships. Maybe next year!   Booker Prize Infographic from Delayed Gratification, the