AuthorHouse Blog

Join me at theNextBigWriter.com’s Brown Bag Lunch where I’m hosting a question and answer forum on the topics of self publishing and internet marketing. They do charge a fee to join, but for all you writers, they have a lot of online support and contests to help you in your writing journey. I spent two hours answering questions this morning, most of which were around self publishing.

I was reading an interesting article today in Time Magazine entitled “One Day in America.” A few interesting stats are quoted in the article:

At some point today you will say a prayer, not floss, take a shower for 10 minutes but not sing in it, drive an eight-year-old car to work, spend 95% of the day indoors and 2 1⁄2 hours online, consume 20 teaspoons of added sugar and not save any money. On weekends, people over 75 spend 1 1⁄2 hours reading, while those from 15 to 19 spend seven minutes.

True, kids are spending less time reading newspapers and books, but 1-1/2 hours vs. 15-19 minutes? I would have to imagine that these stats don’t include the time kids spend reading profiles and posts on myspace.com or facebook.com.

Another interesting parallel, people are spending on average 2-1/2 hours per day online, almost double the time that 75 year-olds spend reading on weekends.

AuthorHouse announced today it is offering Book Buyers Preview to help self-published authors gain more visibility in the media and market.

Book Buyers Preview can help increase visibility of self-published authors and their books. The “sneak-peak” characteristic of the service allows book buyers, librarians and researchers across the globe to read a selection from the first chapter of the book. Essentially, when book buyers access their ordering database, the preview appears with the book’s ordering information to enhance the purchasing experience.

The preview is available in trade databases including the Ingram Book Group and Baker and Taylor, the largest book distributor in the world. The Book Buyers Preview will also post the preview on the Barnes and Noble Web site www.bn.com as well as www.buy.com.

Once libraries choose to catalog a particular book, the preview will be available to library patrons who are searching for reviews. The book preview will also be on EBSCO, the leading service provider of archived print materials and related services for libraries and research organizations.

“Development of this service demonstrates our on-going commitment to help authors publish, promote and sell their books and reach their publishing goals,” said Terry Dwyer, vice president of sales for AuthorHouse. “The Book Buyers Preview is a service that will enhance visibility and help our authors gain consumer recognition.”