The New Author: Writing, E-Publishing & Social Media eBook: Ruby Barnes: Amazon.co.uk: Kindle Store

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The New Author is a 200 page book in three sections: writing basics, developing a 'social media platform' and e-publishing as an independent author. Take your manuscript from ready to go with this informative and easy to read guide.

With foreword by Jim Williams, author of ten internationally published novels including the Booker Prize nominated Scherzo.

Product details

Format: Kindle Edition
File Size: 385 KB
Print Length: 200 pages
Publisher: Marble City Publishing (20 Mar 2012)
Sold by: Amazon Media EU S.� r.l.
Language: English
ASIN: B007MW2GJM
Text-to-Speech: Enabled

X-Ray: Not Enabled

Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)

Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #231,680 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Read this book 13 May 2012

By jim williams

Format:Paperback

The New Author is a very good book and highly recommended to anyone thinking of independently e-publishing their work. It's full of detailed practical advice, including warnings about the pitfalls, and the style is very engaging. In fact it's an excellent piece of writing, combining deceptive simplicity, lucidity and charm: a trick which in practice is very difficult to pull off. The book is also informed by considerable intelligence and analysis founded on firsthand experience. Ruby Barnes has succeeded in e-publishing and he (yes, it's a bloke) knows what he's talking about.

The book is simply and logically structured in three parts, but in this review I'll reserve the second until last because it deserves fuller treatment. The first part deals with what can loosely be called the Rules of Writing. This is not specific to the e-format and, as the author acknowledges, the subject is dealt with more fully in many other works, and he seems to have included this section (rightly in my view) for the limited purpose of writing a primer covering all the basics as well as his own special contribution. As for the content of the section, he repeats the commonly accepted points of writing technique in a clear commonsense manner and with an appropriate level of scepticism as to the possibility of writing by rule. This section is a useful summary and most writers probably need nothing more. The truth is that the trick is in the practice not the theory, and what most aspiring writers need is informed critique of concrete pieces of work.

The third part is a detailed exposition of how to convert a manuscript into an e-publishable form compatible with commercial e-readers.... It goes on to explain how to place the book with a free e-publisher such as Amazon, and various post-publishing matters such as reviews, pricing and tracking of sales. One would have to try it out in order to verify how correct and user-friendly this account is, but Ruby Barnes has been through the mill and writes well and intelligently, so I take this section on trust for the present.

The heart of the book is in the second part, which is explains how to parlay your e-book into a bestseller by leveraging the opportunities provided by Twitter and social networking sites to create a product brand and an aware and active readership. At this point I'll digress in order to give my take on where we are and why Ruby Barnes's book is necessary.

For six hundred years the printed codex has been the technical format of books. The cost of production has influenced the proportions and outlets for books purchased and books loaned, and to a large degree countries have maintained national literatures rather than succumbed to international authorial brands; and this has been the model of mass readership for a century or so. It's this model, with its accompanying train of agents, publishers and bookshops, that has been largely destroyed in the last twenty years without its becoming wholly clear what the new model will look like.

I've never seen it clearly stated, but it seems to me true that the worldwide demand for commercial fiction can be satisfied with an annual production of a couple of hundred books. The success of translated Scandinavian crime fiction sold through superstore outlets along with a mere handful of other books seems to me to prove this point. The fact that historically many more books have been produced has been the result of a segmented, decentralised market and distribution system founded on technical limitations and cultural differences. The globalisation of economies and the creation of a homogenised international culture, driven by free market capitalism, lead with books as with any other product to attempts to simplify and control demand and achieve economies of scale. Although pundits talk of the loss of cultural diversity and reader choice, I don't think this loss is in reality experienced by leisure readers of commercial fiction. The few hundred books that I refer to as one possible outcome of the current process still offer a broad enough range to feel like sufficient choice for a significant portion of the market. But this, of course, means death to the hopes of most aspiring authors.
The e-book looks set to displace the codex as the preferred reading format. In predicting the future the following seem to me to be relevant considerations. There are many readers who are casual consumers of only a handful of books in a year - holiday readers, if you like. They may not consider an e-reader as a worthwhile investment, and therefore they may survive as a base market for the traditional hard format. That said, there may be a tipping point at which this residual market cannot be serviced economically from the standpoint of producers and distributors. The price of e-readers, and the cost of producing and distributing hard format books are in flux, and I don't think one can be confident as to how this will all play out.

I can envisage a future in which books develop almost as two separate art forms, like theatre and film. A small stratum of bestsellers (my two hundred books a year) may survive as hard format books, sold through limited outlets suited to casual readers, and behind this will be the cloud of e-books. Where does "choice" stand in this scenario? In the world of the hard format, it will be very reduced, but, I suggest, not necessarily experienced as such by consumers. In the realm of the e-book, however, the range of choice will be vast as new entrants, who in the past would have been excluded from being published through bad luck or incompetence, pile into e-books. Here the question is whether the enhanced choice will be meaningful, or perceived as white noise, a mere cacophony.

Ruby Barnes's book faces up to this changed scenario and says - rightly, I think - that predictable success can only happen through deliberate manipulation of social networking in all its forms. In the second part of The New Author he takes the reader in detail through various techniques for doing this and identifies key forums of opinion. However this course is not for the faint hearted. Barnes explicitly warns against the trap that engagement at the required level can become obsessive and time consuming, and in a couple of nice vignettes he makes his point with wit and style.

The New Author belongs to the class of self help books, a subject I studied when writing How To Be A Charlatan And Make Millions. It differs from those written by charlatans in that Ruby Barnes offers authentic, proven techniques and makes limited personal demands ("Buy my book," not "Sell me your soul,").

The New Author is a terrific book and I recommend it. Read more ›

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Stuffed full of useful info yet easy to digest 30 Mar 2012

By Bibi

Format:Kindle Edition

This reminded me of a Delia Smith cookery book; clear step by step instructions coupled with fire-fighting which ensures you get it right.

A `must read' for any writer intending to go the indie route as it explains in great detail how to produce a high quality ebook, and establish both a brand and sales platform.

multi-story.co.uk

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Probably the best one-stop shop for the indie author 30 Jun 2012

By Tim Stevens

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

There are swathes of books offering advice to the aspiring author about to launch his/her book onto the e-market, ranging from the excellent (David Gaughran's 'Let's Get Digital') to the rather glib and opportunistic (John Locke's one). Few have provided such a broad yet sufficiently deep introduction as this one. Ruby Barnes, a successful ebook author in his own right (and therefore someone who knows what he's talking about) takes the reader through every step of the process of producing, publishing and marketing an ebook, offering his personal experiences with regard to what seems to work and what doesn't. It's all done with a good deal of wry and at times earthy humour, something that's often lacking in this kind of book.

This won't of itself make a bestselling author out of you. It might not even make you a success. But it's the sort of book I wish I'd taken the trouble to seek out and read before I embarked on my own epublishing journey. It guides you between the pitfalls so that you at least stand a chance.

Highly recommended.

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A vital piece of equipment for the wannabee author 8 Jun 2012

By Alexx

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I found this book an invaluable help whilst ploughing through the process of self publishing. Ruby held my hand all the way through. His humorous, self-deprecating style lightened the load - which was considerable for a timid techie like me. I particularly loved the anecdote (for which I have many T-shirts) about the wannabee author taking her jiffy bag to the Post Office, full of hope, aspiraton and hubris; then opening the bubbly that night, in confident expectation of the phone ringing off the hook the next day, with offers from agents. It was so lovely to have someone else confess to that. Writing can be a lonely, obsessive occupation and having Ruby alongside made all the difference as I morphed from fledgling writer to self published author with my own stuff 'out there'.
On the technical side, Ruby writes very clearly, concisely and straightforwardedly. Which is just what you want when picking your way through all the hurdles and technicalities of editing and publishing. There is never a spare word, lots of funny ones and all of them useful and wise. Highly recommended. 5 well earned *'s.

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The New Author: Writing, E-Publishing & Social Media [Kindle Edition]

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