Kid’s mind during vacation – idle? Should they read? If yes, How?

While we all talk about kids to relax during vacation (especially in today’s cut throat competition), they also need to have fun.

Would you agree books are one such medium? With scorching heat outside during the day, would it be great to have a book in hand (printed or eBook) and something to sip on the side. As parents you would like to wish those mobile games should stop working for a while and let them pick up the books and enjoy the characters within. If your kids have less attention span short stories would be ideal. 

On one hand we know children who read for pleasure are likely to do significantly better at school than their peers. They become better writers with larger vocabularies, and most significantly, tend to develop stronger critical thinking skills. On the other hand, how do we ensure kids who shy away from reading (even if they can read) should enjoy the time reading books.

Of course an easy way, for most parents, is to keep nagging (read pushing), incentivising (read bribing), criticising his/her choice and many such methods, are going to deter the child from reading.

Now, the key question, how to turn their resistance into eagerness. Some of the following should work. Feel free to share your methods / tactics which worked for you. It might work for someone else too.

1. Look out for topics which are related to their interests and hobbies
2. Activity based reading (for e.g. make different parts of an aeroplane or windmill and then assemble them, also find information like, Are the wings of a plane smaller or larger than the body of the plane and Why)
3. Let older children read to them, they enjoy showing off their skills to an admiring younger one
4. Children should see you reading in your spare time
5. Let them read aloud an interesting passage in a book or newspaper (don’t force them to read every word right)

Explore eBooks on ReadMyStori App, if you think our eBooks are good reads, do refer us to your friends and family. Look forward to hear from you on best practices which have worked for you to get your kid to read.

ReadMyStori Blog

2015 is projected as good year for Authors and Publishers

At the beginning of 2015, we at ReadMyStori appreciate:

• Feedback and inputs from Readers
• More than 10,000 likes on Facebook
• Follow on Twitter and Pinterest
• 130% increase in book downloads and even more reads

We have enhanced User Experience for Readers on Android platform, will soon be releasing ver 2.0 on iOS (Apple iStore). 2015 is projected to be a good year for Authors and Publishers  (including self publishing).  Sharing few selected insights below.

A) 11 key topics in the new Digital Book World:

1. The book publishing industry’s digital transformation and how it’s still in its infancy, with numerous opportunities for innovators, change agents and book business entrepreneurs
2. How ebooks will continue to open up new, greater audiences for publishers
3. The aftermath of the Amazon and Hachette dispute, an opportunity for publishers to reflect and reevaluate the book distribution ecosystem
4. Why publishers should embrace and maximize IT, data and analytics
5. The importance of learning new skills to master mobile – the world’s fastest growing media platform
6. How self-publishing will continue to grow as more options arise from technological trendsetters
7. The educational publishing market’s transformation and the EdTech opportunity
8. Why navigating the intricacies of international markets is essential for digital book publishers
9. The role of content marketing in the publishing industry
10. How dynamic communities, built around content, are supercharging the discoverability of books
11. The value of partnerships and supply chain collaboration in the book publishing industry

Source: http://www.digitalbookworld.com/2014/eleven-trends-and-opportunities-for-digital-publishers-in-2015/

B) Global E-book market accounted for approximately 12.6 percent of the Global Book Publishing market in 2014 and is expected to increase to 27.8 percent by 2019.  Source: http://www.technavio.com/report/global-e-book-market-2015-2019

C) e-Publishing, lit fests likely to rule the literary world. Last year saw more than 60 book fests, that is an average of more than one a week. Source: http://ibnlive.in.com/news/epublishing-lit-fests-likely-to-rule-the-literary-world-in-2015/521476-3.html

Steps to self-publish an eBook

Have you decided to publish an eBook? Are you skeptical? The good news is, it’s easy to publish than you think. Usually, for quick references, authors go through blogs and videos on YouTube to understand the process. If you ask Authors who may have gone through that path – they would say its not by just pushing a button.

Having done some research you may have put some thoughts into your strategy to self-publish. It will be fair to ask a question, how would a Publisher execute this effort i.e. what are the different tasks e.g. editing, marketing, publicising, and of course writing the book. You are headed in the right direction.

We recommend following steps (listed below) based on our research. Remember, ReadMyStori is not a Publishing platform, we enable you to reach out with your eBook to a wider audience and learn from analytics. Analytics enables you to take a more informed decision.

1. Write a “Value to Reader” book: Gather your thoughts and start detailing them to ensure a reader connects emotionally or practically (depending upon the theme of your book).
2. Get your book edited: Most successful authors get their books professionally edited (including Amish and Chetan). Get your book edited from “Book Editor”. Having said that, there are very few successful Authors who have edited their won books.
3. Convert into an eBook: While converting into an eBook format (e.g. from MS Word to PDF or ePUB) the first thing you will notice is to create a book cover. Book cover should be attractive, as it has to stand out between a lot of eBooks. Formatting comes second (different types of layouts), followed by conversion (i.e. PDF / ePUB).
4. Find ways of reaching out to the World: Approach distribution channels which can take your book in front of a reader base distributed across the world. Amongst others, Amazon has created an interesting program for self-publishing authors.
5. Promote your eBook: While the first step is to write the book, you should also be thinking about promoting the book from day one.

If you have started to weigh your options to self-publish, hope this blog post gives you enough pointers to act on. Feel free to share your comments below or write in to us at readmystori@gmail.com.

Authors: Wouldn’t it be great to know about your readers?

About 5 years ago, an author would rely on methods like book retailer’s on the ground intelligence or a booking agent or a marketing agent. Now, with the increased use of internet over smart devices the market is driving in more means of gathering market intelligence. Such is the effect, that it is closing down good-old book shops. Readers started buying online, they started creating a list of books they plan to read (wish list), they get to compare books based on comments others have shared.

How would a writer / publisher find its reader base? A small sample of readers would follow you on Social Media (Facebook, Twitter, PInterest, etc). However, a larger set of readers would be available with either the physical book stores or online book stores (Amazon and Flipkart’s of the world). Now, online bookstores do not share demographics of the reader base (even with the Publishers). Not many people, in these online book store, know why to share readership info with the Publishers or Authors.

 Feel free to share your inputs.

Inspiring talks for Authors by Authors

An ardent book reader (Shashank Venkat) shared a link, which has videos of ten talks by Authors. Recommend Authors and wanna be Authors to learn / inspire through these videos. These Authors subtly share lot of tips and nuances, which may bring that Aha moment. For Authors who think, visualize, and write Fiction may like Elif Shafak’s video.

For those who are answering questions such as “Where they come from”, may relate with Pico Iyer’s video.

All ten video’s can be found at : http://www.ted.com/playlists/194/10_talks_from_authors. Should you come across such inspiring videos, please do share (in the comments below).

Know your Author: Gauri Dange

To begin with Gauri Dange does not require any introduction. She has been a successful Author and published by different Publishers. Readmystori is happy to introduce her latest book “Three-dog Night, a Viva Voce Novel”. This is Gouri Dange’s third novel and fifth book. HarperCollins India released this book in February 2014. A sequel will be out later this year, tentatively titled, Viva Reloaded. Those of you who follow her blogs, one of them being http://thefridaynovel.blogspot.in/, would know about “Every Friday Novel” effort. Three-dog Night and other two books are available on Readmystori app for you to read and share your inputs with her.

Following is a brief on her book: 

As Vibhavari Pradhan turns sixty-one, she decides to speed up the process of ‘going junglee’, as her husband put it. But just as she has begun to back-pedal, de-clutter, disengage, go monochrome and all the other things people her age are supposed to do, life comes romping in again, with all its insistent, multi-coloured demands – from the Mumbai underworld to the hills of Nepal and dales of Scotland!

Viva deftly bats the googlys and doosras that life throws at her, playing her second innings with an inventive grace. Three-Dog Night is imbued with all the drama of a life passionately lived, with nerve and verve.

Few excerpts from her book:

If I remember right, men who fancied seeing a woman in lingerie got her that lingerie – they didn’t point her to the lingerie store, for god’s sake. Really, what a passive stingy stinker this guy sounds like. And here was Moni burbling on like she had just got advance inside information about being bestowed a Padmashri on Republic Day.

****

How had I found myself in this utterly ridiculous spot where you jump off the trapeze and the person who has to reach out to hold you, simply folds his arms and watches? And all this in the senior-citizen’s circus?

My tears evaporated suddenly, like someone had wrenched shut a tap, and I said, ‘Your shrink is a copper-plated bastard if he’s putting these thoughts in your head…’ Don’t ask me the etymology of ‘copper-plated bastard’, but it was one of Ashwin and his batchmates’ favourite gaalis for ruthless-manipulative people.

*****

Little black dots tumbled downwards at the periphery of my vision. Always a sign that the merry-go-round of exasperation, sadness and helplessness was going to start up in my head. A lurching centrifuge of intentions, dreams, plans, schemes, hopes, fears, lies, let downs, betrayals, promises and paperwork.

*****

GG breaks the silence only to randomly tell us a horrible story in his chirruping voice: ‘This solid steel ladle? When I was new at my guru’s house…I must have been fourteen…I was serving boiling hot kadhi to my guru and some of his heavy-duty friends, all bosses of different areas, all sitting on the floor in a row and eating. One of his friends went on staring at me. Then when I was leaving the room after serving them, that fellow asked my guru loudly “which whore’s knicker has he been conceived in”. So I hurled the ladle at him. His forehead broke open with the steel and his skin got burnt with the kadhi.’

****

My mind forms the question, but there is no way that it can be asked out loud: had my daughter had a love-child and not told us? Did I have a grandchild that my daughter had simply omitted to tell me about for eight years? The words ricochet around in my head, but refuse to descend to my throat and mouth.

*****

Sharing video links of her book “The Counsel of Strangers”, which incidentally is also available on Readmystori app (available on PlayStore and iTunes App Store).

How important is Book Review for Authors?

As an Author s/he pens down (or now a days types it out) based on their own style (unless they are heavily influenced by someone / some people). One question comes to mind, as a fore or hind thought, will it be liked by people at large?

So, how important is Book Review for Authors? Answer is most likely going to be a resounding – A LOT!

Now, whom should you approach? People within your circle of influence and outside your circle of influence. In the former case, close friends and family. Will they give unbiased opinion, in most cases NO. Some will sugar quote it, very few will share their honest feedback / inputs. In the later case, outside your circle of influence, how do you find out ardent readers?

How does one reach out to a wider audience? There are many ways, sharing a few below:

1. Look for reviewers via their blogs and reach out to them (most of them have their contacts listed). While those can be professional reviews, the reach is limited.
2. Leverage digital platform, like Readmystori, here you get readers who are unknown to you (similar to readers who are likely to buy your book)
3. Join twitter groups (e.g. @TSBookClub), identify people who are not professional reviewers, however, are ardent readers and about to be successful Authors.

Important Note: Ensure your book is EDITED by a professional before you share it for review. Few errors and it will drive a reviewer into his/her shell. You wouldn’t want that.

Journey to launch your first book

Most authors who have pen down their thoughts / creativity to Publish their book have realised – it is a lot of effort.

Authors need to treat the book as their product or a service and they are the creator. While creating a piece of art an artist expects (most of them do) it to be appreciated, either in cash / kinds or clicks (digital world) or success of some kinds. If we compare it to running a business, a businessman is looking for profits and customer satisfaction. To run a business, one needs a vision and people who would drive his vision to success. Every business, similar to Publishing a book, takes time to build and make it successful. Now, not every business is successful. Infact, most of them fail.

So, what’s the key element to track once you have written a book – Readers? Readers who are out of your immediate circle. How does one reach out? Ask people in your immediate circle to spread the word. Typical concerns – is that scalable and repeatable? Most likely the answer is NO. The answer is explore, learn, and leverage Digital medium i.e. Social Media.

A question come to mind – How many people know the true value or Social Media to invest time and money in leveraging Social Media? More than 90% of Authors we have met are unaware of true elements of Social Media. It’s beyond Blogs, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and similar. Can you learn and master these services? Probably Yes! Is that something  you as an Author would like to do? No.

While you may want to leverage services of Readmystori, you should continue to spend time to:

• understand the publishing domain
• read blogs, create blog rolls, consider recommendations, best practices followed by others
• connect with local and online book reading clubs. For e.g. @TSBC on Twitter (The Sunday Book Club) operating out of Mumbai.
• attend events (e.g. Literary Festivals)

It’s not a sure shot route to success, that said, makes you aware of the eco-system around you as an Author who want to be successful.

Social media tips for authors

Five years ago, social media networks were a novelty, however, today their importance is no longer debated. In a 2013 report by Social Media Examiner, marketers place very high value on social media marketing:

• 86% of marketers stated that social media is important for their business
• 89% of marketers stated that increased exposure was the number one benefit of social media

Authors are no different as books need to be properly targeted and positioned. They can leverage social media to interact with their reviewers and readers. They now have the ability to reach out and communicate on a personal level with their target readers on a daily basis.

The figure below provides a clear view of how a reader uses digital media to choose or select a book thus confirming importance of social media presence.

Social media is all about connecting with right audiences (readers). It is important to provide value to readers by sharing useful information. Following are some tips to do so:

• Don’t be one of those annoying social media spammers, wait at least 4 hours between posts and give your followers a chance to catch their breath. Like and respond to comments. Frequent interaction shows that you’re providing value to your followers.
• Once you’ve made a real connection, your followers will be more receptive towards buying your book (Soft sell!)
• There is a huge crowd out there and you need to find your target audience. You can find them by connecting to some online book review groups. Take reviews from avid bloggers, reviewers. Their opinion matters and will fetch you more readers.
• You have to be more compact and interesting. Quality is important than quantity. Social media has space constraints. So think about the 3 or 4 things you most want to convey; and start!
• Also authenticity is the key. Your followers have good B.S.-detectors; they know when you’re putting something on, and they also know when you’re being your best social media self (that’s why they followed you, after all).
• Try using videos and photos. They usually perform better than mere text.
• As quality is important you can start with just 2 platforms and build your audiences in a step up manner.

Many authors are confused about time to spend on social media? Usually the equation that seems to work for most authors is to allocate 70% of available time into writing, and 30% into book promotion such as social media and blogging. Apart from this please do remember, don’t get overwhelmed. If you focus on social media more, your all-important focus on writing may be derailed.

You need regularity and the right skills to build an online following. Authors who are not very techno-savvy might want to leverage Readmystori’s services to publicise and get an unbiased inputs from readers.

 

Message from Founders

As readers move towards reading more digital content especially via mobile devices such as iPads or Smartphones, it opens up channels for Authors to connect with readers and seek their contribution in creating engaging books (in digital world eBooks).

Readmystori addresses needs of Readers, Authors, and Publishers. A digital platform for readers which engages, enables contribution, and brings joy while reading. Authors is able to reach out to readers via this digital platform. Publishers and Authors get collective feedback from a wider set of readers (and not a typical set of readers) enabling them to churn more engaging content in their books.

Up until now, Readmystori was in a stealth mode and now reaching out to all three sets of groups (Readers, Authors, and Publishers).

With the world (including India) moving to digital platforms and our rooms getting filled with other stuff along with books, its becoming imperative that we start engaging with eBooks. For most ardent readers it is still difficult to move away from “tactile” factors of reading printed books, that said, multi-fold sales of mobile devices every year is indicating movement towards a different medium of reading.

If you are frequent traveler, take a look around at the Airport or Station. Majority of them are reading on digital devices (more often than not the device would be either an Apple or Android). Another example would be kids of this generation, they have figured out a device in no time and probably are teaching elders how to use it. To engage with readers of next generation, we need to connect with them via a different medium i.e. digital books.

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