This message contains images. If you don't see images, click here to view. Click here to advertise in this news brief.   Mobile version    RSS    Subscribe    Unsubscribe    Archive    Media Kit Nov. 8, 2012 Home   About ASJA   How to Join   Our Members   Find a Writer   For Writers           Which publishers do best at e-book sales? Forbes    Share    Everyone knows that Fifty Shades of Grey was a runaway hit this year, but who knows which publisher it propelled to record sales in the first-half of 2012? Everyone has heard of Penguin — its Penguin Classics brand is thought to be among the strongest in publishing — but who knows just how successful the publisher has been this year in selling e-books? And we all know that self-publishing is growing by leaps and bounds, but just how well do you think those scrappy upstart authors are doing against the big publishers in sales? More 8 mistakes to avoid when starting a business from home Entrepreneur    Share    Launching a business from home can provide tremendous flexibility and the kind of work-life balance that we all crave. But the reality is that home businesses bring their own set of challenges, says Caroline Daniels, lecturer for entrepreneurship and technology at Babson College in Wellesley, Mass. For example, "doing your business on your own from home can get stale. It's hard to keep feeding the imagination all on your own." More AP rolls out video service; eyes revenue sharing News & Tech    Share    The Associated Press is rolling out a new HD video service that permits newspapers to upgrade their online video offerings. AP CEO Gary Pruitt said the service, which the cooperative has been marketing in Europe, is now available to North American newspapers. More Tips for self-publishing in the iBookstore GalleyCat via Mediabistro    Share    Smashwords' founder Mark Coker has published a set of tips for self-published authors on how to be successful in the iBookstore. Here is one of his tips: "Link to Apple in your promotions - I'm always surprised how often I see authors complaining that all their sales are coming from Amazon, and then I look at their website or blog and see they're only linking to a single retailer, Amazon. Support all your retailers. Not just Apple, but Barnes & Noble, Sony, Kobo, Diesel, every one. More Content marketing: Superheroes teach the art of storytelling ClickZ    Share    Great content marketing planning follows the structure of a powerful story; using an inciting incident that compels you into the narrative arc, strong characters including a hero (protagonist) and an enemy (antagonist), and a sense of conflict and resolution. The main characters include your brand and your customers. More How to optimize your site for search without actually doing SEO Entrepreneur    Share    Businesses, and even consultants, often do more damage than good when it comes to search engine optimization (SEO). Google's search algorithm is constantly evolving and getting better at what some call "SEO detection" — the ability to detect artificial backlinks and attempts to manipulate your website to rank better. More Is Riffle a new kind of Pinterest and will it save books? Forbes    Share    Riffle is a smart idea. As big publishers (and small) feel the weight of Amazon, and the threat of self-publishing, they need to find a social channel for sales. They need a Pinterest for books. So a few Pinterest-a-like features of Riffle. More Man or machine — can robots really write novels? BBC    Share    Machines can already drive trains, beat humans at chess and conduct countless other tasks. But what happens if technology starts getting more creative — can a machine ever win the Booker Prize for fiction? In George Orwell's fiction, by 1984 the "proles" were entertained by books produced by a machine. In real life, robots have been capable of writing a version of love letters for over 60 years. More Digital self-publishing platform blurb expands to offer magazines and brochures Wired    Share    As publishing transitions into the digital space, that doesn’t mean we'll have to abandon print entirely. In fact, Blurb has built a successful business by offering "accidental authors" an easy way to write and self-publish custom print books on demand, all through a digital platform. In May, the company added e-books, giving people a tool to publish their work as iPad and iPhone versions. And now they can do the same for magazines and brochures – in both print and e-book formats. More Solopreneurs, freelancers hoping for more help from the election winner The Washington Post    Share    Pedro Pereira worked as a news editor at CRN, a technology publication, for seven years before he found himself collecting severance in the wake of the dot-com bubble burst. To support himself while job hunting, he began taking on temporary gigs writing white papers and blog articles. More Enhance your content marketing with SlideShare American Express OPEN Forum    Share    Search engines such as Google are taking notice of SlideShare, which can be a valuable platform for content marketing, Naomi Ruth Ganhinhin writes at TopTenWholesale.com. There aren’t any strict dos and don’ts when it comes to developing content for SlideShare, and you might choose to share presentations that you have developed for clients, she writes. More   The ASJA Weekly Colby Horton, Vice President of Publishing, 469.420.2601 Download media kit Yvette Craig, Senior Content Editor, 469.420.2641    Contribute news This edition of The ASJA Weekly was sent to ##Email##. To unsubscribe, click here. Did someone forward this edition to you? Subscribe here -- it's free! Recent issues Nov. 8, 2012 Nov. 1, 2012 Oct. 25, 2012 Oct. 10, 2012 7701 Las Colinas Ridge, Ste. 800, Irving, TX 75063