| Three weeks ago Ben, Eben, Liz, Matt, Pete, Rachel and I headed to San Mateo, California for Maker Faire Bay Area 2015. We thought it might get a bit busy, so we roped in Paul from Pimoroni to give us a hand, and we also had lots of help from fantastic local volunteer Dean over the weekend. Maker Faire events are a showcase of making, where people who make eveything from elaborate marble runs to drawing robots to needle-felted T-Rexes to backyard rollercoasters get to show their projects, and visitors get to experience the tremendous potential of making and to try things out for themselves. They call Maker Faire Bay Area The Greatest Show & Tell On Earth, and it’s easy to see why as soon as you arrive. It’s full of this kind of stuff: MegaBot is a bit terrifying even when it’s unpowered This giant metal-plated fire-breathing rhino has headlamps and a registration plate We peeled ourselves away from the giant fire-breathing animals and got our stand set up. This year the event opened earlier than usual, with a special preview day on Friday to give educators, school groups and others a chance to meet and talk with makers for an afternoon before the big crowds arrived on Saturday and Sunday. About half an hour before the doors opened, Pete and I tested out the DOT board activity that we’d be doing with children.
The DOT board, which Rachel created, made its debut at SXSW Create, and it’s great: you use electrically conductive paint to complete a connect-the-dots picture on a printed circuit board, and then connect the board to a Raspberry Pi and run a Python program to see the Pi respond to the connections you’ve painted – in this case, you see an image of an aeroplane in your choice of colour. It went down very well with the school groups whom we loved meeting on Friday: My absolute favourite part of this activity is watching children add a dab of conductive paint to the DOT board to select an extra colour while it’s connected to a Pi with the Python program running. A lot of the time we did this in response to kids asking, “But what happens if I…?” It was a jaw-dropping moment for many of them when we suggested they try it and see, and they watched the image on the screen change colour. It was great to see how the DOT board showed children part of the relationship between hardware and software, inputs and outputs in a very direct way that made a real impression. On Saturday morning we regrouped ready for the big crowds.
We soon learned that having just eight or nine students around the DOT boards counted as a lull. We went through 1200 DOT boards over the weekend, and as well as helping children with the activity, there were usually at least two of us talking to visitors who were interested in other aspects of Raspberry Pi, answering questions and handing out resource cards to whet people’s appetite for our growing collection of free, high-quality online resources. We gave out around 7000 stickers to visitors, and Eben, Matt, Ben and Paul gave talks at several of the event’s 12 stages. You can see how busy the Faire got in an interview that Eben gave in front of our stand – you’ll spot a number of us in the background if you look closely! We knew that children were getting excited about hardware with our DOT activity, and we felt very proud that Maker Faire rated it too; here’s a Maker Faire Editor’s Choice blue ribbon hanging beside one of our banners.
I was lucky enough to be able to spend some time away from our stand and visit other makers. Plenty were using Raspberry Pi in their own projects, and I enjoyed saying hello to Acrobotic and Weaved, finally meeting Mugbot in person, and eyeing up cute wheeled gardening robots that do your weeding for you:
It was a truly outstanding weekend, and, while bigger than most, this year’s Maker Faire is just one of many events we attend to talk to people and introduce them to learning and teaching with Raspberry Pi. Within a week of packing up, our team headed off to introduce the DOT boards to a Raspberry Jam in Utah and to prepare for a Picademy in York and an exhibition in Liverpool. And, of course, there’s always a Jam coming up somewhere in the world, and although we can’t get to all of them, we think of them all often! Why not see if there’s one near you? The post Maker Faire Bay Area 2015 appeared first on Raspberry Pi. |
Wednesday, June 3, 2015
Maker Faire Bay Area 2015
OverDrive updates: Dyslexic font options and improved waiting list displays
| This week OverDrive released new updates to our library websites that continue to provide users with a more fulfilling digital reading experience. A few months back we added a dyslexic font option to the OverDrive app. Due to the popularity of this feature it has now been added as an option on your OverDrive-powered digital library website as well. This means users can more easily navigate your site to find titles to enjoy in the same font they have selected to read them in.
Updates to the waiting list display We have also updated the way users will see what place they are in line for a hold. Instead of displaying the total number of patrons waiting, users will only see the number of holds per copy. This gives users a better idea of when to expect the title thus allowing them to borrow other titles accordingly. These updates are live at your library website so be sure to explore the site to discover how they look.
Adam Sockel is a Social Media Specialist with OverDrive  |
The dyslexic font option can be found in the Settings tab under the account button along with a number of other options to help customize the search experience including lending period preferences, maturity level settings and more. This option is now available on all public and school library websites. The Podcast – Nook Press, New e-Readers, e-Book News and Marketing Advice for Indie Authors
| Welcome to another utterly compelling edition of the Good e-Reader Radio show, the only show in the world that documents e-readers and how the traditional publishing market is being disrupted by digital. Today on the show I talk about two new e-readers that just hit the market and both are sporting e-Ink Carta technology. You can get a sense on what Carta is, and how it benefits reading. Additionally, these two devices also run Android, which means you can install your own apps. Is Barnes and Noble Nook Press bad for authors? This is an editorial on how their platform has slowly adopted a slew of paid services with non-stop marketing tactics to get indie authors to pay more for their books. I also give advice on how indie authors can form their own squads. This is a great show! Let us know what you thought by dropping a comment below. Podcast – Nook Press, New e-Readers, e-Book News and Marketing Advice for Indie Authors is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Tuesday, June 2, 2015
The Energy Sistem PRO+ E-Reader is Now Available
|
E Ink Carta displays utilizes a new electronic ink formulation and technology to provide a dramatic 50% improvement in contrast ratio and over 20% improvement in reflectance over previous generations of E Ink Pearl. It basically results in faster page turns, support for higher resolution displays and less ghosting. I think the Energy Reader PRO+ is a viable investment for those looking for a solid alternative to Kindle or Kobo, because its platform agnostic. The device itself has a resolution of 1024×758 pixels. It has a touchscreen, which makes it easy to click and navigate around the UI or just simply flip the pages in your favorite e-Book. It also incorporates a front-lit screen that allows users to read in the dark. Underneath the hood is a ARM Cortex A9 1.0Ghz dual core processor and 8 GB of internal memory. It also has the option to expand the memory up to 64GB with a SD/SDHC card. The PRO+ is available to order from the main Energy Sistem website and costs 129 €. The Energy Sistem PRO+ E-Reader is Now Available is a post from: Good e-Reader |
E Ink Announces New Signage Tech, but No E-Paper
| E Ink has a storied track record of announcing new e-paper at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas or SID Display Week. It looks like the company doesn’t have any new plans to develop anything new for e-readers this year, instead they are focusing on digital signage. When it comes to digital signage, E Ink primarily focuses on grocery stores and big box retailers with their Spectra technology. This segment has accounted for 100% percent year over year growth for the past two years, and E Ink expects similar growth in 2015 as well. This year, instead of developing something entirely new, e Ink has expanded on their Spectra product line to include yellow. Spectra yellow gives retailers further choices in how they use Electronic Shelf Labels (ESLs) to promote their merchandise and support their branding strategies, giving retailers the choice of either red or yellow, in addition to black and white. "The Spectra product was engineered to deliver multiple color options from the beginning," said Dr. FY Gan, vice president and general manager of the ESI Business Unit at E Ink. "The delivery of the yellow product option shows the flexibility of E Ink's three pigment system. More importantly, it provides retailers with color options for their pricing systems that can better engage the customer. Spectra red or yellow provide retailers with the same visual clarity and power saving attributes of E Ink's products." I am somewhat disappointed that there is no e-paper coming out this year, since e Ink basically controls the market. They have bought out all of their competition or have sued them into oblivion. E Ink Announces New Signage Tech, but No E-Paper is a post from: Good e-Reader |
How to Get Ready for Anime Conventions
| With the summer now upon us, a slew of conventions will be heading our way. Whether it's the small anime con held at your local university or the day-long journey to Comic Con, everyone tries to make it out to at least one. But while cons may be the highlight of the summer to some, there are always those who find it an unpleasant experience. I've certainly heard my fair share of people complaining about cons. As someone who has always had a good time at cons, I've started thinking about ways you can make it better. So for everyone who's had a bad experience – and for those who might be attending their first con this summer – here are five steps you can take to ensure your next convention is a great one. 1: Be Prepared Yes, I'm throwing the Girl Guide motto at you first off. It's gotten me far in life. There are lots of practical things you may forget in the hectic preparation. Not all cons will let you bring water or snacks, but look it up beforehand. If you are allowed to bring in a water bottle, definitely do that, and if not, buy one immediately. Cons can get hot, and it's easy to get dehydrated. You'll also want to make sure your money is in a safe place, along with any ID or important documents. A bag may not go with your outfit, but no one's going to complain about it. If your bag has a cool print, if anything you'll be complimented. Although this first tidbit may see like a buzzkill, it will prevent you from that stressful realisation of "Gah! I forgot something!" later in the day. 2: Cosplay Some people may balk at the idea, but it is much less complicated than you think. If you're already an avid cosplayer, and have a beautiful, well-crafted outfit, that's great. But if you don't have the time, resources, or courage, it isn't hard to throw on a football jersey and cosplay Eyeshield 21. In the words of a cosplaying friend of mine, "it doesn't matter how you look, if it's big or small, if you look like the character or not. What matters is how you feel." Cosplays are great icebreakers, conversational topics, and give you a guaranteed compliment that will boost your morale for the day. 3: Study Beforehand It may seem a little boring and tedious, but knowing what you're up against can take away half the stress for you. Beforehand knowledge of who's going to be there, when, and what kind of events are going can help avoid awkward conversations such as, "So…what do you want to do?" If you meet a cool person, instead of standing around trying to keep a conversation going, ask if they'll join you for such-and-such. And having a semi-solid plan of how you'll spend your day is a great method to make sure you don't waste your time. Much like planning a vacation! Another helpful tip: when you first receive the official brochure, take a moment to sit and study it. Put a star beside the things you want to do. If you want, you can even track your estimated path around the con, the way you would the rides at an amusement park! 4: Social Events While a lot of us, myself included, are more introverted and don't enjoy social functions, there's never any harm in simply scoping them out. There's more than one kind of event at cons. Dances, speed dating, walk-offs, and glomp-games name a few memorable things you can do. Even if all you do is awkwardly stand off to the side, after a time you'll gather up the courage to join in. And even if you don't, no one will give you two looks about it. After all, half the people there are just as awkward as you. 5: Have Fun! This may seem like the cheesiest possible thing to say, but in all honesty, a con is what you make of it. If you go in with a negative attitude, complain about every little thing that goes wrong, and pay attention to the worst things only, you will leave feeling dissatisfied. This is a really simple fix – just be happy and see the bright side of everything! Going alone? Make new friends, always easy when surrounded by people who like the same things you do. Stuck in a long line? Chat with those around you and take pictures of all the cool costumes passing by. The special guest you really wanted to see couldn't make it? Look at what else is going on. You may end up finding something new that interests you, something you may not have known about before. A con should be a fun experience you look back on fondly. Follow these steps and see if your next con is more fun than you thought it would be. How to Get Ready for Anime Conventions is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Glose Expands to Android
| Glose is a digital reading service where eBooks become a collective experience where you can read other peoples notes on any given passage or see popular phrases that were highlighted. The company has just announced a brand new Android app that can downloaded today from Google Play and the Good e-Reader App Store. Just like an online book club, Glose creates communities of like-minded readers to share opinions, ideas, knowledge, and stories through the books they read. Books become more engaging, fun and interesting – TechCrunch has called it, "reading on steroids. Glose's premium catalog of ebooks range from literary classics and influential nonfiction works to new releases, bestsellers, and books featured on The New York Times and Time Magazine best-books-of-all-time lists. The entire collection features elegant, custom-designed covers with re-formatted text. Many feature beautiful animated covers, which honor these timeless, culturally significant literary masterpieces. "Our mission is to allow people to discover new books, find the ones they have been wanting to read, and engage in great discussions about these books with other like-minded readers," says Glose CEO Nicolas Princen. "People can now begin reading any book of their choice with no payment upfront—and that changes the whole user experience." "We are really excited to build communities of readers and spread the written word on the hundreds of millions of Android smartphones and tablets. Glose Expands to Android is a post from: Good e-Reader |
The Best Websites to Discover New Books
| Casual readers often face challenges when new books come out by authors they love. Sure you can visit the local bookstore every few weeks and check out what is new and notable. Today we look at the best websites that focus on e-book discovery, finding a great new read or simply getting notified when a new book comes out. Some of these companies have been around for a decade, others have just come out in a the last few years. All of these sites are heavily endorsed by millions of readers who depend on them for their day to day reading needs. Fictfact – Designed to track books in series – existing back lists, new additions, & your personal reading stats within each series. FictionDB – Complete book lists for over 250,000 authors and the service comprises of over 750,000 unique titles. They allow you to establish reading lists and search plots, synopses, time periods, dates, subgenres and much more. Author Alerts – This service allows you to establish authors you want to be notified about and then sends you a ping whenever a new title is released. Library Thing – Users add books to their catalog by entering titles, authors, or ISBN numbers. LibraryThing then searches the Library of Congress, all five national Amazon sites, and over 700 world libraries, and returns with precise book data. Users can then edit the books in their catalog, tag their books with their own subjects, and use the Library of Congress and Dewey Decimal systems to organize their collections. Fantastic Fiction – This service keeps track of all new book releases. It also has proper bibliographies for over 30,000 authors and information on over 350,000 books. Shelfari – This site launched in 2006 and was acquired by Amazon in 2008. It is one of the oldest and most respected book communities. Shelfari makes it incredibly simple to recommend books because the most valuable book recommendations come from your friends and people you trust. Great recommendations can also come from people with similar book collections, so Shelfari highlights these users and directs you to their shelves where you can discover what you have in common and books you might enjoy. GoodReads – Likely one of the largest social book communities where people follow authors they like and get notified when new books come out. The site staff also have excellent curated reading lists, so you can discover new authors. You can think of GoodReads as a large bookclub. Leafmarks – Leafmarks is a place where you can keep track of what you’ve read, review books, organize your books in shelves, express yourself openly and creatively, and engage in group discussions with other readers. Through challenges and “Leaves” that you can unlock by reading and reviewing books, the site hopes to foster an even greater love of reading and inspire a new generation of readers to see it as something fun and rewarding. This is a new site, so its populated with tons of data yet. Which Book: This website has a delightful new way of generating book suggestions. The site gives you a number of scales to use to determine what type of a book you are looking for. You can choose a set point between unpredictable and expected, beautiful or disgusting, conventional or unusual, optimistic or bleak and many more. Then, the site generates book suggestions that fit your request. Loads of fun to play with the different options and you're guaranteed a book that fits your mood perfectly. Your Next Read: What attracted me most about Your Next Read was the visual layout. Enter a book you've enjoyed, and a graphic is created that connects it with other, related books. A lot of the recommendations I got were similar from what I saw elsewhere, but were for the most part books I was very interested in reading. My only caveat: the blurb about the book is just from Amazon, so it doesn't give much real information about the quality of the book. The Staff Recommends: You know those little cards at bookstores and libraries that share staff picks? This site captures that idea by carefully choosing a handful of books to highlight at a time. Each book has an awesome explanation on why it made the list. The site is simple and enticing, making it a pleasure to use unlike so many of the other recommendation sites which barrage you with book choices. What Should I Read Next?: This site aims to answer that very question without bells and whistles. The search site is ultra-simple and produces suggestions based upon the books you’ve already read and rated. No login is required, but users can save favorite books once registered. Novelry: Novelry allows users to search not just by genres, but also by more specified subjects and themes. For example, a search term of “steampunk zombies that battle werewolves” can bring back results specific to the theme, the titles, and character components. The Best Websites to Discover New Books is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Ant-Man: Micro-Tech Challenge
|
Were you born to build with tiny tech; do you rave about robotics; are your parts and processors pocket-sized, and your artwork actuated? Have you ever wanted to inspire other young girls to share your passion? Then Marvel’s Ant-Man: Micro-Tech Challenge is for you! Along with Marvel, we’re looking throughout the United States for girls ages 14-18 in grades 9-12 to create and share micro-technology-based DIY projects they have built using readily accessible and found materials. Upon completion of the contest, build instructions for the winning projects will be provided to a STEM-based girls program in the winners' home community. Each winner will have the opportunity to lead a workshop in building her project for the selected program in her community. Each Marvel’s Ant-Man: Micro-Tech Challenge applicant will design and build a DIY project using at least one inexpensive and readily available micro-technology component of her choosing. Projects can be utilitarian, artistic, or just plain fun. After completing their projects, applicants will be asked to submit a short video demonstrating them and explaining how the projects will inspire other girls to pursue interests in science, technology, engineering, or math. Micro-technology, such as a Raspberry Pi, can enable tinkerers, makers, builders, and future Imagineers to execute big ideas with an inexpensive base component that fits in a girl's pocket. Each winner will:
Winners of Marvel's Ant-Man: Micro-Tech Challenge will be notified by Tuesday, June 16, 2015. Winners and one legal guardian will travel to Los Angeles, California on Sunday, June 28, 2015. Please visit http://www.ant-manchallenge.com/ to see the official rules for full eligibility and entry requirements, prize description, conditions, and limitations. The post Ant-Man: Micro-Tech Challenge appeared first on Raspberry Pi. |
Monday, June 1, 2015
June is Audiobook Month
| Every June the Audiobook Publisher Association coordinates an massive event called audiobook month. This year a number of major retailers are organizing curated lists and deals to get people aware of the medium. Good e-Reader has been covering audiobooks for the last few years. We have analyzed how libraries have been embracing digital audio editions and have written very detailed reports on the state of the industry, challenges and what the future may hold. The audiobook industry overall has really grown in the last few years. In 2007 a paltry 3,073 audiobook titles were produced and this figure rose exponentially to over 12,000 published in 2011. In 2013 many industry experts proclaimed that over 20,000 audiobooks were now available and in 2014 over 35,000 were released by major publishers and companies like Audible. In terms of promotion in the month of June, not many deals have been announced yet. Audiobooks.com is giving a free audiobook away every single day. They have ironed out promotions with over a dozen publishers to offer titles from Maya Banks, Jane Green, Rick Riordan, Jonathan Maberry, T.C. Boyle, Gary Chapman, Maggie Stiefvater and more. The selection will feature romance, horror, thriller, non-fiction, and classic titles for adults, teens, and children. You need to download their official app for Android or iOS to listen. I will be updating this post when I hear about new deals, if any of you dear readers are aware of any, drop a comment below. June is Audiobook Month is a post from: Good e-Reader |
![AudiobookMonth-BlogPromos-no-button[5]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_vCjw8b4IanY_bnqfasohuVE1kUeYxP3rtiesJ0ZRFsIzIB1CPGeYhl4-ButY2Re7Vvnoiun9rKZn0QrHNV4IJXjHcuZ7SMegyxNSiW-vnu0Vwgct0Y5JoYouImYiFuL_UmxLwnMn0EniL5Sh48MuJiUUzCwmJb9PoRb3hgKALyHbi-=s0-d)
EL James To Release 50 Shades Book from Christian Grey’s Prospective
| The first book in the Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy was released in March 2012 and by the end of 2014 it had sold over 140 million copies. Bookstores all over North America and the United Kingdom all reported dramatic profits with each new installment of the book. Even University and College bookstores jumped into the fray, pushing textbooks out of the way and setting up kinky display sections. Things have tapered down and the publishing industry is always looking for the “next” 50 Shades of Grey book. They have got their wish, as EL James a new book, titled Grey, will be published on June 18, Christian’s birthday. Greywill be published in paperback and as an eBook by Vintage Books, an imprint of the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House. Major bookstores such as Chapters/Indigo are already taking pre-orders. Author EL James said “Christian is a complex character, and readers have always been fascinated by his desires and motivations and his troubled past. Also, as anyone who has ever been in a relationship knows, there are two sides to every story. It’s been a great pleasure to return to my happy place — writing, being with Christian and Ana in their universe, and working with the fantastic team at Vintage.” The entire book selling industry will me clambering to promote this book and to secure as many pre-orders as possible. The new Grey title was only announced today and you can expect in the next week Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo and others will be hyping this book to no end. EL James To Release 50 Shades Book from Christian Grey’s Prospective is a post from: Good e-Reader |
The Best Audiobooks of 2014 – The Audie Awards
| The Audie Awards recognizes distinction in audiobooks and spoken word entertainment and is sponsored by the Audio Publishers Association. This event has been ongoing for over 20 years and is a very good indication on what is selling. There are few resources that track audiobook sales and what constitutes the best of the bunch. The big winners this year was MANDELA: AN AUDIO HISTORY that won Audiobook of the Year and Best Original Work. Neil Gaimon also won three awards, cementing himself as one of the most successful audiobook adopters. If you want to get a sense of the most popular audiobooks of 2014, the comprehensive winners list below should satiate you. Audio Drama THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES Audiobook of the Year/Original Work MANDELA: AN AUDIO HISTORY Autobiography/Memoir/Narration by the Author or Authors NOT MY FATHER’S SON Business/Educational A MORE BEAUTIFUL QUESTION Children’s Titles – Ages 8-12/DISTINGUISHED ACHIEVEMENT IN PRODUCTION/Multi-Voiced Performance THE GRAVEYARD BOOK Children’s Titles – Ages Up to 8 H.O.R.S.E. Classic THE NEW YORK STORIES Erotica ALPHA Fantasy WORDS OF RADIANCE Fiction ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE History/Biography THE BULLY PULPIT Humor YES PLEASE Literary Fiction EUPHORIAMystery THE SILKWORM Non-Fiction FURIOUS COOL Paranormal THE GIRL WITH ALL THE GIFTS Inspirational/Faith-Based Fiction THE AUSCHWITZ ESCAPE Inspirational/Faith-Based Non-Fiction BEFORE AMEN Judges Award: Science & Technology THE SECOND MACHINE AGE Package Design THE LIGHT AT THE END Personal Development WHAT I KNOW FOR SURE Romance THE BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY Science Fiction THE MARTIAN Short Stories/Collections THE ASSASSINATION OF MARGARET THATCHER Solo Narration – Female YELLOW CROCUS Solo Narration – Male THE HERO’S GUIDE TO BEING AN OUTLAW Teens EGG & SPOON Thriller/Suspense THOSE WHO WISH ME DEAD The Best Audiobooks of 2014 – The Audie Awards is a post from: Good e-Reader |
This Book Grows Into a Tree When you Bury It
| A new children’s picture book by a Buenos Aires publisher grows into a tree when planted in the ground. This brings a new meaning to being environmentally conscious. Each page of the book is printed with nontoxic inks is laced with seeds from the jacaranda tree. Once the book has been read, kids water the cover to help the seeds germinate, and leave it in a sunny spot indoors. Once the seeds have sprouted, the book can be planted in the garden. “It’s a tree that provides excellent shade and offers a lot of oxygen to the environment,” says Raquel Franco, editorial director of Pequeno Editor. This is the first book of its kind that actually gives back to the environment after being read, instead of sitting forever on a dusty bookshelf.
This Book Grows Into a Tree When you Bury It is a post from: Good e-Reader |
“Shonen Jump” Features Chapters from “Jump+” Spin-offs
| Weekly Shonen Jump’s June 1st 2015 edition, issue 27 Japanese edition, has a great gift for readers that will feature familiar Jump series’ spin offs from the digital Jump+ platform to start running in the main print magazine. A few of these series’ include Magical Pâtissier Kosaki-chan, a magical girl take on Nisekoi by Taishi Tsuitsui, Ishirou Takahashi Kuroko’s Basketball- Replace Plus, Retsu’s gag Let’s! Haikyu!? And Michiko Itou and Taiki Astoki’s Food Wars Shokugeki no Soma L’etoile, which follows Kojirō Shinomiya’s return to France. Magical Pâtissier Kosaki-chan and the first volume of Replace Plus are being collected on June 4th. On top of all that, this issue is also celebrating the 2nd anniversary of World Trigger with a colour and lead colour page. Shonen Jump+ started just last year and is a digital publication that overs 30 manga every month for free. Some times previously ran in the Shuiesha’s Jump Live app or in the Weekly Shonen Jump magazine itself. You can view the site via web, on your Apple device or in the Google Playstore for Android! “Shonen Jump” Features Chapters from “Jump+” Spin-offs is a post from: Good e-Reader |
IndieReader, Melissa Foster Announce 2015 IRDA Winners at BEA
|
Sponsored in part by the Association of Independent Authors, CreateSpace, and Kirkus, this year’s IRDAs were presented at BookExpo America by IndieReader president Amy Edelman and bestselling author Melissa Foster. Foster, whose thirty-plus indie books have sold over one million copies and have landed on both the New York Times and USA Today bestsellers’ lists, is also the founder of two sites for indie authors, World Literary Cafe and Fostering Success. “While writing a great book is the first step, getting it in front of the right people—be they readers or agents or traditional publishers—is also a critical part of making an indie book a success,” Edelman explained in a release on this year’s presentation. “To that end, judges on the IRDA panel included publishers, PR professionals, top industry bloggers and more. Top winners will have their titles submitted to top New York literary agents Dystal & Goderich for representation consideration. Judging was based on the quality of writing and the originality of the story.” One of the increasingly frustrating aspects of the current publishing revolution is also the very thing that provides authors with a satisfying writing and publishing experience, and that’s the need for the once-rigid rules of genre and categories to be thrown out. To that end, the IRDA awards offer a wide range of categorical subsets in the judging and presentations. “There is a first, second and third place winner in each of the fiction and non-fiction categories, in addition to 27 titles in 24 sub-categories. Each book has received at least a 4-5 star rating (out of 5 stars) to earn the IRDA win.” The first place title for fiction went to Finding Flipper Frank by Patrick M. Garry, while the first place non-fiction title was Secrets of a Hiring Manager Turned Career Coach by Lisa Quast. Melt: There’s No Place Like Home by Selene Castrovilla and Deadly Lies by Chris Patchell earned second and third place for fiction, respectively, while Saving Mona Lisa by Gerri Channel and The Angkor Guidebook by Andrew Booth earned second and third place for non-fiction, respectively. For a complete list of this year’s winning titles, check out the IndieReader announcement of this year’s honorees.
IndieReader, Melissa Foster Announce 2015 IRDA Winners at BEA is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Using OverDrive Samples to promote engagement and discovery
| Awareness has always been crucial to the success of a library. The materials and resources available could be the best in the community but if no one is aware of them, they won't get used. To that end, OverDrive strives to provide the best marketing materials and training resources available to help ensure the success of the library's digital collections.
One of the most successful tools we provide is the OverDrive Readbox samples. OverDrive samples allow users to discover and begin reading embedded eBook samples from your digital collection and provides a direct link to borrow the title. Libraries use OverDrive Readbox samples to help their communities learn about their digital collections, something Vancouver Public Library understands very well. VPL created a marketing campaign around Canadian Library Month last year that heavily focused on using OverDrive samples. What follows is their story of how Readboxes helped increase engagement and even library card sign-ups:
How did you use Readbox samples with your #GetBooked campaign in your marketing for Canadian Library Month? Our #GetBooked campaign used transit advertising to drive awareness of VPL's digital collections. During the month of October we ran ads on Skytrain station platforms, at bus shelters and on trains. These ads encouraged users to explore our eBook and eAudio collection with a link to the #GetBooked website. On the website they were offered a choice of five personas linked to genres, as well as a Staff Picks option. Personas included Super Sleuth, Escape Artist, Bad#ss, Don Juan(ita) and Soul Searcher. Clicking on a persona took them to a Readbox sample from the genre in question, with an invitation to explore the rest of the collection or sign up for a library card at the end of the sample. We thought transit advertising was perfect for a campaign like this because we could reach people waiting for a bus or for their stop on a train, likely with phone in hand, and capture their interest with the promise of a free read to help pass the time.
What was the reaction from your users? Extremely positive. We received many comments about how much people liked the series of genre personas, and from patrons who hadn't realized the extent of our digital collections before they visited the website. The campaign as a whole generated a lot of very positive attention on social media, which was a great tool for spreading awareness.
Did you see an increase in eBook usage? We saw an increase in holds on the titles that were used as samples in Readbox. We managed this by switching up the titles each morning so that holds lists on individual books didn't get out of hand. Interestingly, the other big increase we saw was in online library card signup that was driven by the link at the end of the Readbox sample. This jumped by 195% year-on-year!
How did you come up with the genres you used? The personas came from our fabulous and creative Marketing & Communications team, who developed them to represent genres that we knew would have popular appeal. We then worked with Reader's Advisory experts from our Information Services staff to create the lists of titles for each genre.
Are you planning to use our Readbox samples again in the future? We've been discussing how we might revisit #GetBooked in a new way when National Library Month comes around this year, which would include using Readbox samples again. They provide an ideal opportunity to try out the eReading experience without barriers to access like a login or download process.
Anything else you would like to share about your program in general? We were really pleased that Staff Picks proved to be by far the most popular of the collections. It speaks to the value patrons place on recommendations by reading experts at the library.
 |
10 Free Kindle eBooks for Monday, June 1st
| It’s time for another weekly roundup of 10 free Kindle ebooks. All these books are highly-rated and are very popular with readers. Owning a Kindle is not required to read them; you can use a Kindle reading app for iPad, iPhone, and Android devices, or use a computer or web browser. The free ebooks listed […] |
When is the Kobo Touch 2.0 Getting Released?
| One month ago today on the 1st of May, Kobo officially released the Kobo Glo HD. But that’s not the only new ebook reader that Kobo has up their sleeve. Kobo is expected to release a new updated version of the Kobo Touch as well. There’s been no official word of its potential existence yet, […] |
The MagPi Issue 24 – out now!
| Welcome to another edition of the official Raspberry Pi magazine! As always, The MagPi is free to download, and comes brimming with project ideas, tutorials, news, and much, much more. My favourites this month? The clock hack, the 0.25 scale, Pi-powered racing car (that gets up to 150kmph despite its adorable teenyness), and best of all, Mike’s Safari Park Challenge, in which Mike Cook has you building a mathematical puzzle that makes zebra noises. With lots of material for everybody from raw beginners to Pi veterans, what are you waiting for? Head over to the MagPi page to download this month’s issue.
The post The MagPi Issue 24 – out now! appeared first on Raspberry Pi. |