Publishing Evolution: Print on Demand

The Science Fiction Writers of America page on Writer Beware covers what you need to know before you get into print-0n-demand publishing. They also have a number of pages on small presses, fees and a list of thumbs down publishers.

Looking through Lulu, Xlibris, Author House, iUniverse, and Createspace (Amazon.com) I don't see any huge differences. They all offer publishing packages that seem about the same. I've looked at prices and mostly they seem compatible with regular publishing, the paperbacks seem to run a little higher. Most seem to offer artwork as an extra. Other specials cost more, but you would expect that even from a regular publisher.

Looking through some of the titles, I don't really see anything that I would want. Nothing really grabs my attention. I do tend to read certain authors and not buy stuff just from reading a blurb. If someone recommended a book that seemed like something I would enjoy, I might try it.

Something nice about Amazon's site, you have the option of publishing straight to Kindle. I've looked around and can't find where there is even a charge to do this. You can also publish music and movies online as well.

Online publishing seems to be doing well, going by the number of titles listed. I don't know that people are making that much money, it's a small part of the market. As more people do things online, there may be an increase in selling online.

The Future of Media: Get Out Your Crystal Ball

Newspapers have been dying a slow death for years. Very few cities have more than one major daily paper. And even the papers that are left are struggling to make ends meet. Houston lost it's second daily paper in 1995 and the size of the Houston Chronicle has been shrinking. The internet is much faster with current news and you can read the news from around the world. Some newspapers are thinking about charging to access their content. With so much news that is available for free, I'm not sure how well that will work.

TV may also join the slow death. Several of the articles quoted seem to think it is headed that way. I know I have been to friends houses with cable tv and with all the channels still not been able to find anything to watch. While I don't think I could do without a tv, this article has a few points to make: Ten Reasons Why You Should Not Buy a Television Set.

I have seen several 3-D movies and when they don't try to surprise you by having something jump out at you, it's easy to forget you are watching a movie. Journey to the Center of the Earth had a couple of those moments, but it was fun anyway. Avatar was great and I don't remember any of those surprises, and I got completely caught up in the movie.

I think some version of 3-D is in our future, maybe even at some time, holography where you don't even need a screen. Right now it is a special effect in tv and movies, hopefully some time it will become real.

I hope theaters don't go away. Going to the movies may change, but hopefully not as much as this. You don't get the same experience watching a movie on a small screen (especially if you haven't sprung for a HDTV of any size) in your home with lights on and interruptions, that you get by watching a movie on a large screen in the dark with hopefully minor surrounding noise. True popcorn and sodas could be a lot cheaper, but then you don't have to buy them.

I have never been inclined to run out and buy the newest, greatest whatever. Usually, it's too expensive and the price will come down if I just wait a while. It may not last. It will be improved before I learn how to use it, or it's more than I will ever need.

Sadly, I miss Beta. The tapes were smaller than VHS and I liked the quality better, but like many things, I chose wrong and it went away. The tapes also let you record, which DVD does not. And, if you don't have cable or something that gives you a digital recorder you are kind of out of luck. I haven't tried to fight my digital converter to try to hook up my VHS, so I haven't done any recording of programs.

The Future of Media: Movies

I kind of like Hulu. It seems to have a lot of movies on it. If I could be somewhere with a fast connection, I might watch some of them. I don't have a fast connection at home. I like watching DVDs at home, but not every movie I would like to see is available throught the library and I don't want to buy a movie just to watch it once or twice. I have bought movies, but they are usually ones I will watch several times.

The Apple Movie Trailers site is also fun. I don't generally pay attention to what is coming out until I see it on TV or at the movies, but this might be fun to check occassionally. One thing that is nice, you can watch them multiple times to catch what you miss the first time. The Alice in Wonderland is an example. There is a lot going on in that preview. I've used The Internet Movie Database for years to find the names of movies, or who was in a movie. I have occassionally watched a preview through them. They have really expanded their features and information.

I might watch online if there was something I really wanted and could find a place with a fast connection and not have to worry about other people, either bothering me or me bothering them. Since I also don't have cable or satellite tv, no, I wouldn't pay to get movies at home. It is just too much trouble to have to remember to mail back with Netflix or Redbox.

The Future of Media: Television

I haven't watched a full program online. The one or two times I tried, the download was slow and I gave up. There are some older programs on Casttv that I might try to watch. The main thing I might be willing to watch online are TV programs that I missed. I have some programs that are on a night I can't watch them on. I would like to catch up with some of them. This would be a way to do that. TV.com looks like a good one also. I watch a lot of shows on CBS. Hulu also looks good. Looking at Joost, I don't really see much that I would be interested in watching.

My phone doesn't have the ability to watch TV. I have a really cheap one. Don't think I would anyway. Small screen, charged to watch, just not my thing.

I don't really watch streaming video, unless there is some breaking news that I want to watch. I also do not post to websites, again, not my thing.

Games & Gaming: Console Gaming

I didn't remember most of the console games mentioned in the game console history site. It's amazing how many different types came out. Those games were not anything that ever really interested me.
Now, I think it would be fun to try some of the console games. The biggest drawback to them is the price for the basic console and then you have all the extras to buy. The Nintendo Wii seems like it might be the most fun since you can actually "play" the games. Some libraries actually check out games, but I would like to know what their loss/damage rate is.
Other library systems have started game nights or had groups come in with their pcs to have group gaming. In many cases the teens are surprised to find this at the library and will come back to see what else is there, including reading books. They might also read or work on homework while waiting their turn. Gaming could be a draw for some teens and children that might not come to the library at all. If nothing else, it gets them it the library and they might come back.
I still like to play Pacman and some of the older games on ArcadeRetro, though I still have to practice to get any good at them. Some of these games I never heard of, but they are still fun to try out.

Week 8 - Web-based Apps

This is my first time to use Zoho. So far it has dumped me twice and made me start over. I have no idea what I did for it to do this.  I also haven't found where to name docs after they have been saved.

I'm going to try to do several things with it including importing it to my blog. We'll see.

I was on vacation at the Quilt Festival for a week taking classes and shopping. One class I took was a basket weaving class. Here are a couple of pix.

 

                                                              

       

 

I don't like the fact that you don't seem to be able to adjust the size of a pix once you have imported to the document.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was not obvious how to post to the blog, but someone here figured it out. I have also looked at Google docs and might use it instead, though Zoho seems to have more apps. I'm still looking at them.