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This is a book entirely about love: love between spouses, love between siblings, love for nature and the land. When the author’s wife lost her brother to suicide, he had no way of bringing her out of her pain other than through the thing he loved, hiking. Having just completed the 2000-mile Appalachian Trail himself, he turned around and lured his wife on a more than 200-mile journey along the entire John Muir Trail with the purpose of helping her work through her grief while raising awareness about the depression that cost her brother his life. The book details every aspect of this kind of adventure. Everything from mundane descriptions of how they ate, bathed, slept, and survived, to descriptions of the more harrowing encounters with wild animals, grueling conditions, and uncertainty were outlined in the book. Avid fans of adventure titles and non-fiction travelogues may find themselves disappointed in this book because it’s not meant to be a title about hiking or about the geography. While those factors play an important role in the story, that’s not the focus of Alt’s title. This is a book about healing through pushing oneself farther than anyone ever thought possible, and refusing to stand by helplessly while a loved one is in pain. Four Boots One Journey is available now.
eBook Review: Four Boots One Journey by Jeff Alt is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Sunday, July 20, 2014
eBook Review: Four Boots One Journey by Jeff Alt
Traditional Publishing Dismisses Author Earnings Report
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According to the most recent report, self-published titles make up more than one-fourth of the books published on Kindle, yet indie authors make 40% of the royalties, which is more than the Big Five publishers receive combined. Despite having fewer books published, these authors earn more. But Jones dismissed the AE report on the grounds that (wait for it), we don’t really know who this “Data Guy” is who claims to work with author Hugh Howey on compiling the numbers. Yes, Jones is willing to overlook the multitude of pie charts and bar graphs that are included in every single AE report, and instead would prefer to shed a disparaging light on the source of the mathematical equations. Jones actually implied that “Data Guy” may be just an Amazon employee whose mission is to spread bad information about traditional publishing. “The fact that we don’t know who this ‘Data Guy’ is or where he’s come from suggest that we should take the Author Earnings report with a large pinch of salt,” Jones said. “I think of it more as part of Amazon’s PR effort, rather than an objective overview of the digital marketplace.” Of course, never missing an opportunity to bad-mouth Amazon, Jones continued by saying that Amazon holds all of the sales data and refuses to share it, so how can anyone possibly make a sound decision? As though the traditional publishers don’t know how many books they’ve sold and also aren’t sharing that information? Solomon was slightly more forgiving as she applauded Howey’s efforts to arm authors with solid data and knowledge, but even she went on to state that publishers earn a significant portion of their revenue from print sales, and Author Earnings only takes into account ebook sales. This is true because most indie authors will earn more from their ebook sales than print. What Jones and Solomon didn’t grasp is that this isn’t about publisher revenue, it’s about how much of that revenue trickles down to the authors. While Big Five print titles, for example, may sell more than the average indie author’s work, a self-published author has to sell far fewer copies than a traditionally published author to earn the same amount of income. Solomon did graciously point out that publishers’ royalty terms barely produce a living wage for authors, and that change needs to happen before traditional publishing becomes obsolete. What the industry hopefully will recognize is that change doesn’t have to happen as long as authors are kept ignorant of the possibilities for better royalties and equal sales, a fact that AE reports are trying to remedy. Traditional Publishing Dismisses Author Earnings Report is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Kyocera Sapphire Shield to Rival Corning Gorilla Glass
| If rumours can be believed, Apple is set to release a new iPhone this fall –equipped with a durable and resilient synthetic sapphire glass screen. If this fancy new screen performs as expected, Apple may just deliver a scratch- and shatter-resistant phone (leaked videos indicate that torsion force isn’t even a problem). Fortunately for Android OEMs, Kyocera has an innovation of their own: Sapphire Shield. Sapphire is a desirable material because it is incredibly strong, second only to diamonds. Natural sapphires have a blue hue, but lab-created sapphires can be created without the offending chemicals and result in a fully clear material. Aside from being an incredibly durable panel, Sapphire Shield is also affordable to mass produce (something that has always prevented the use of these materials in the past). Until these new screens are actually in place so they can be tested and tried by users, we won’t be certain which is better –but the idea of having a smartphone (or wearable) that is more difficult to break will appeal to every person that owns one (but may be less appealing for the manufacturers of heavy-duty cases).
Kyocera Sapphire Shield to Rival Corning Gorilla Glass is a post from: Good e-Reader |
