Scribd.com has recently risen in my esteem. After discovering one of my eBooks on their website some weeks ago–copied and placed thereon by a book pirate–the folks at Scribd had the offending PDF taken down before 10 hours had elapsed. Soon after that, my husband and I began posting “sample” chapter PDFs of our various [...]
9.2.10: Scribd Pros & Cons for Scribes and Buyers Alike 8.27.10: The Waning Summer 8.19.10: Podio Books on the Rise 8.13.10: Antitrust Threat for eBooks? 7.30.10: Smartphone > eReader? 7.26.10: Amazon VS Apple 7.15.10: A Medley of eBook News 7.8.10: Summery Sideyards 7.2.10: iHelp for eWriters 6.24.10: April Sales Bring May Statistics 6.17.10: Book Pirates [...]
By Ian Macdonald-Smith Rizzoli, $55.00, 240 pages Books about historical architecture have always fascinated me. Just opening the pages allows for a figurative walk around someone’s home or office, even if the owners are long deceased. These rooms were actually lived in; work was accomplished here; steps sounded up and down the staircases; and calls, [...]
In Northern California, the weather proved unusually mild this summer. Normally, we experience over 100-degree heat wave upon heat wave, inducing in me an almost hermit-like existence indoors. Instead, the cooler temperatures allowed for several trips outside, staying longer typing away on the trusty laptop. As the kids scampered about the landscaping with vacation-borne glee, [...]
By Chris Grover Pogue Press, $39.99, 756 Pages Professional programmers and developers use Flash to make nifty political cartoons and multimedia websites , tutorials, presentations, visual effects for film and TV shows, video games. I liked how author and producer Chris Grover didn’t extol the program’s uses too much–nor waxed poetic on its history–but got [...]
My husband and I recently embarked on a journey fraught with elocution: turning our various ebooks into Podiobooks, or serialized audiobooks broken down into 30-40 minute ‘episodes.’ Apparently a growing number of daily commuters like their audiobooks in these shorter segments, rather than having to fast-forward through entire books files. Audio books have been slowly [...]
As Amazon’s slashed eBook pricing period drew to a close, Kindle/Kindle app consumers saw a decided increase in prices; the pricier titles included newly re-introduced Penguin books as well as a handful of other publishers’ titles, and immediately some folks cried “Foul!” Over a dozen articles were re-tweeted to me this past week, featuring mild [...]
One of my earliest columns quoted a review that Walt Mossberg of the Wall Street Journal wrote about eReading devices, like the Kindle, especially pointing out that while he liked reading on his Kindle at home, he most often resorted to using his iPhone to read eBooks; he simply did not wish to carry two [...]
Just before Apple’s big announcement (record quarterly earnings), Amazon pulled a rabbit out if its eHat with a press release, apparently to remind the general public that it has survived the iPad onslaught by cutting their eBook prices and that of their Kindle. “The growth rate of Kindle device unit sales has tripled…”, and “… [...]
By J. C. McKeown Oxford University Press, $17.95, 243 pages Of all the history lessons read and recited in school, none excited my imagination as much as those of the Roman civilization. A Cabinet of Roman Curiosities by classics professor J. C. McKeown earns its title in providing a smattering of odd-yet-intriguing facts about the [...]
By John D. Barrow W. W. Norton & Company, $15.95, 284 pages A large segment of the public associates the working out of math problems with schoolwork or tedious employment. In sharp contrast to this general view, Professor John D. Barrow presents a wryly humorous narrative illustrating how fully ingrained math is in our lives. [...]
Sacramento Book Review has a staff of more than 100 book reviewers from around the country. Contact us if you’re interested in becoming a book reviewer. Axie Barclay Ax is a Michigan writer with a cow-habit. When she’s not milking cows, making disgruntled noises at what disgusting thing the heeler dogs dredge up, riding horses, [...]
Extra, extra! Publishers Weekly released information yesterday regarding the May 2010 U. S. eBook sales statistics: “After sales growth slowed slightly in April, to 127%, e-book sales rose 162.8% in May, to $29.3 million, at the 13 publishers that report results to AAP’s monthly sales report. Sales for the first five months of the year [...]
The warm weather of June inspired me to select a number of cooking volumes to review, as well as a title geared towards helping homeowners give their outdoor living spaces a more ‘Mediterranean’ feel, thus setting the mood for summer gatherings about the grill. Already our barbeque has seen considerable use, both before and after [...]
From the impressive iPad-related eBook sales on its debut weekend (250,000 eBooks sold) to the more recent figures, it behooves eBook writers to jump a few hurdles in order to get their titles into the iMarket. As independent eBooks writers, my husband and I have spent many days sending emails and calling complete strangers endeavoring [...]
By Gordon Grice The Dial Press, $27.00, 324 pages In an age of 24/7 animal-themed channels on television, often regurgitating a mantra of “Protection!”, one tends to forget that animals are in fact wild, and many of them extremely dangerous. In Deadly Kingdom author Gordon Grice carefully illustrates just how dangerous, with facts, statistics, and [...]
