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Bookcraft 2.0: 7 Reasons eBooks Are Losing Readers

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eCards, eBooks, NOT eNough eTime!

Do you read eCards?
Most of us don’t. We have our exceptions. We read them — IF they come from our children or a dear friend. We read those because we love the people who sent them, and we know they spent time to choose the right one.

We also read eCards WHEN we know someone is going to TEST US. . . . Did you like the dancing bear I sent you? . . . We read them THEN, but we don’t like it. No, uh-uh, not one bit.

Do you download eBooks?
Most of us do. We download them; print them; and read them — or we set them aside and forget them. eBooks used to seem a bargain. After the third, fifth, seventh download, we’re finding they’ve got their drawbacks. The investment seems to grow with each one.

Some of us read them on our computers. But most eBooks are darn long for that.

Are you less interested in eBooks now than you were a year ago?
Another isn’t as appealing to me. Even the free eBook doesn’t do anything — because free is far from free.

7 Reasons eBooks Peaked in Their Life Cycle

Are you less interested in eBooks now than you were a year ago? Do you think it could be because an eBook isn’t really made to serve you the way quality products are?

In the world of publishing, an eBook at its core is unfinished. It’s basically what would be sent to a printer. The eBook format makes sense for the most time-sensitive, changing information, such as Aaron Wall’s SEO Book — accurate, well-designed content, which includes free lifetime updates (no longer available in ebook form).

The speed at which I can get an eBook no longer means much when I consider what I invest to take it off my computer. I am the printer, binder, shipper, warehouse. When I download and print an eBook

  1. I pay for the paper, the ink, and the wear on my printer.

  2. It’s my time. It’s my computer. It’s my schedule that makes room for the download.

  3. I get inconsistency and often more work than I bargained for. Would that every eBook was held to Aaron Wall’s standard of content, editing, design, and production. His book looks, reads, and prints like a dream. No I don’t know him. I appreciate quality.

  4. They are not books. Books rarely fall apart when we turn the page.

  5. An eBook takes up far more space than a bound book.

  6. No matter how compelling the content, an eBook is an unlikely gift.

  7. No eBook could hold a place of honor on an elegant bookshelf or coffee table.

As a delivery system, an eBook is unconstructed, low design packaging that benefits the author/publisher, more than the customer/reader. It’s not Web 2.0. It’s less choice than fast-food, usually with less quality control.

With what time I have to read, I read things I want to keep. An eBook is a pile of paper from my printer. It is not made to deliver reading ease or pleasure.

A traditional book is less expensive. It’s designed to be read, easy to navigate, and it fits elegantly on my shelf. If you can only do it one way, a real book serves more readers in presenting information in a printed paper format.

Time, money, paper, ink, space, aggravation . . . what have you spent on eBooks?

Yeah, I could leave an eBook on my computer and read it there. There’s a list to go with that too. It starts with using resources and keeping me on my computer even longer than I am now.

To put it plainly, I’ll pump my own gas, because it’s faster. I’ll print my own boarding pass, because I don’t have to stand in line and wait. They both save me time and don’t tie me up or tie me to my computer.

Most eBooks deliver too little and cost too much for me. For a product to win on speed and low-cost design/production value, we have to get something real in return that we want.

I’m not. Are you?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
If you’d like Liz to help you make a plan to meet your goals, click on the Work with Liz!! page in the sidebar.

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Bookcraft 2.0: 12 Cold Truths about Publishing and The 2 Proofs Every Publisher Wants
Bookcraft 2.0: How Many Words Does It Take to Make a Book?
Bookcraft 2.0: Find a Book in Your Archives the Way a Publisher Would
Bookcraft 2.0: Why No Bound Book Has 666 Pages and Get Your Free Blank Bookmap

I Can’t Wait Until . . . Now!

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Can we talk about . . .

how we think about our lives?

I watch people. I watch myself. I hear what we say. We say, “I can’t wait until . . .

until I grow up.

until I move away.

until I get a job.

until we get married.

the baby is born.

until he walks.

until she talks.

until he can . . .

until she can . . .

until I can . . .

until we can . . .

until morning, until 5 o’clock, until my birthday, until you come home, until we leave, until, until, until . . .

In a few thousand thoughts, we can wish our lives away.

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The Mic Is On: Meet Mitch! We’re Talking About Toys!

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It’s Like Open Mic Only Different

The Mic Is On

Here’s how it works.

It’s like any rambling conversation. Don’t try to read it all. Jump in whenever you get here. Just go to the end and start talking. EVERYONE is WELCOME.
The rules are simple — be nice.

There are always first timers and new things to talk about. It’s sort of half “Cheers” part “Friends” and part video game. You don’t know how much fun it is until you try it.

Mitch Matthews is Guest Hosting
Tuesday Open Comments Tonight!
It’s Gonna Be a Kick!

What’s your favorite toy? Here’s a few ideas to get us started:

  • Toys we played with as kids
  • Toys kids play with today
  • Different kinds of toys: puzzles, board games, soft toys, electronic toys, etc.
Toy Collage

And, whatever else comes up, including THE EVER POPULAR, Basil the code-writing donkey.

Oh, and bring a link about toys, if you have one to share.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Related article
What is Tuesday Open Comment Night?

Open Mic 7pm Chgo Time: Meet Mitch and Talk About Toys!

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Yes the Mic Will Be on Tonight

Join Us Tonight

Mitch Matthews is Guest Hosting Open Comments Tonight!

And, the topic this week is TOYS!

It’ll be a kick!

We can talk about toys we played with as a kid, toys kids play with today, different kinds of toys: puzzles, board games, soft toys, electronic toys, etc., and anything else that comes up. What’s your favorite toy?

Oh, and bring a link about toys to share, if you have one.

The rules are simple — be nice.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Related article
What is Tuesday Open Comment Night?

8 Brick and Mortar Ideas that Make Great Blogs

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Brick and Mortar As a Model

Business Rules Logo

Ever think of your blog as a brick and mortar business? Blogs and 3-D stores have more in common than you might think. Fine bloggers have figured that out and use it to their advantage.

Think of your favorite bloggers. Great bloggers run a place where readers come to visit. They come because a blog meets a need to — be informed, be entertained, make friends, find work, learn, or interact with like-minded people.

8 Brick and Mortar Ideas that Make Great Blogs

  1. Have a vision. Know what your blog will do and who will want to be part of it. If you’re not clear why folks come to your blog, why guess when you can ask them? Write a post, a poll, or a few select emails to regular readers. If you know your readers’ needs and desires, you can find ways that you can serve them in a unique and personal way.

  2. Put out the Welcome Mat. Look around your blog. Imagine that you’ve arrived for the first time. Is it welcoming? How’s the curb appeal? Has the paint in your sidebar started chipping? Are your popular posts where folks can explore and share them with their readers?

  3. Open the doors as wide as you can. Talk in a human voice that takes folks as they are. Allow for their choices — screen resolution, browsers, and connection speed. Make their lives easier. Listen to them. Let them know you’re there.

  4. Hold your steady customers dear. Pay attention to readers who love what you do — the kind that you want more of — the intelligent, loyal, enthusiastic influencers. who will tell the world about you. Never forget the folks who gave you what you’ve got.

  5. Be a generous host with everyone. Be happy to see them. Do what you do in service. Take care that no one misbehaves in a way that hurts someone else. Be gracious and help the way you might in your a guest in your home.

  6. Don’t stay in the backroom Answer comments with thoughtful responses that reflect that you know a visitor has invested time to say something. Enjoy their responses to your ideas. Tell stories, but mostly listen to theirs. Be there in case someone takes the conversation astray and folks look to you to deal with it.

  7. Be personally invested, but don’t take things perssonally. Have a strong sense of empathy. Know that quality beats quantity. Keep your head and heart together in every part of your interaction from the blog post to the last comment. Understand that ideas and words are not who are as a person. Separate your self-respect from things that don’t require defending.

  8. Value everyone who visits. Make every visit remarkable by letting the reader feel as if he or she is a unique individual, the only one on the planet. Call people by name. Put a smile in between the words you write.

We don’t need old house bricks. Mortar is unnecessary and bad SEO. What we need is the spirit of a time and space. We can build a blog is as content strong as a brick, with the mortar of a blogger who gives every reader a can’t-wait-to-get-back experience.

Think about that fabulous store you went to once. You know it. It was the one where you felt like you belonged, things were just what you needed, and the people who worked there smiled when they saw you walk in the door.

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Check out the Work with Liz!! page in the sidebar.

Wishes, Dreams, and Vision

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I've been thinking . . .

about wishes.

I’ve never been good at wishes. They always seemed so big.

When I was a child, I heard of wishing on birthday candles, and wishing on stars, and three wishes that are in fairy tales. My cousins would on twisting the stem of an apple — a person had to twist it just the right way, just the right amount, and said just the right words.

A thought of a wish opened a universe that stunned me with wonder. . . . IMy mind wouldn’t interrupt. . . . I’d lose myself in infinite possibility and thoughts in color.

I never knew what to wish for. It wasn’t a lack of imagination. It was incomprehension.

When I went to college, no one wished anymore, they had dreams. Dreams seemed to come to me more easily.

Dreams were more grounded, but without strong wishing experience. I was a dreaming novice. I imagined a dream house — it ended up being three. I dreamed a life. When I was done, I had 23 unique and complicated scenarios, each complete with scenery and plot lines.

I’ve never been good at dreams. Well, I’m only good at them in the way that dreamers dream, which is having lots and lots of them — not one big one.

In my career I uncovered a vision. I had one without trying. It was a dream on the horizon of my life. Yeah, right there where I can see it.

I put a dream on the horizon. I see it in perfect vision. Each day I look out at it and think about the steps to how I’ll get there. Everything, everyday gets me closer.

Like a pilot flying from NYC to LA, I am off course most of the way, but I’m adjusting every minute. I get there eventually, and that vision shows me what the next vision is.

I wish I knew that from the beginning.

All of those wishes on stars could have been the start of a vision.

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