Wednesday, December 09, 2009

Pimping my pals

One of the happy side-effects of participating in NaNoWriMo over the years has been getting to know lots of interesting people who love words. A couple of those people have new stuff going.

Holly Jahangiri has written almost everything, from poetry to tech manuals. Holly has just published her second book for children, A Puppy, Not a Guppy. It's the story of Irma, who really wants a dog, but ends up with not just a guppy, but three of them. Irma is visiting a number of blogs this week, so you can get to know her and hear a bit more about her story. The tour starts here, with a visit to the book's publisher. (And if you have a kid who is freaked out by the monster under the bed, check out Holly's previous book, Trockle, about a monster who is freaked out by the kid above the bed.)

Jon Renaut has been writing in his blog, Ebooks Yearn to Be Free, about finding a new model for for digital distribution of content . Last month, he launched Manfred Macx, a new kind of publishing company. The idea is to let authors make money by selling any number of things (not just print books), while still allowing free distribution of e-books. An author could sell a personal letter, or a batch of fudge, or a phone call on your birthday, as well as print copies of a book. Once her monetary goal has been met, the e-book is released for free.

Check them out!

3 comments:

Holly Jahangiri said...

Thank you, Cheryl! What a great boost for my books. I appreciate it!

And I see Jon's fertile imagination is hard at work - I'm going to have to check this out.

So, let me get this straight: To give my books away for free, I now have to bake cookies for my readers? Um, I've considered letting them PAY me in cookies, but that's an interesting twist. LOL! (I think Jon's just gathering material for next year's NaNoWriMo novel.)

Jon Renaut said...

Cheryl - I clearly need to do a better job of keeping up with your blog. Thanks for the plug.

And Holly - don't think of it as giving away books for free, though that is what you're doing. Think of it as using your free books to make your cookies more valuable. Assuming the cookies are equal, would you pay more for cookies from a stranger on the internet, or from an author you know and love?

Holly Jahangiri said...

But Jon, I'm not in the business of making cookies, and now I have to bake cookies and be chief cook and bottle-washer just to sell a book?? Oy. What if someone gets food poisoning from my cookies? Are you liable, or am I?

There have to be easier ways to make a living.