Who knows, that first Publishing deal may not be that far off, after all. The recently launched Macmillan New Writer Scheme may be your best opportunity yet to make it big in the publishing world.

Since the project was launched in February, Macmillan has been receiving 200 manuscripts a month. And in April next year, six novels will be published and one or two will be released each month.

The Macmillan New Writing scheme, though, is not without its critics. A number of online content providers have blasted the scheme as a “scam”. The Guardian newspaper’s Arts Correspondent, Charlotte Higgans (www.guardian.co.uk) branded the scheme “the Ryanair of publishing; it’s like having to pay for your own uniforms”. Natasha Fairweather, an agent, calls it “an exercise in futility”. In contrast, Michael Bernard, Macmillan executive director, describes the scheme as “a way of giving a voice to talented new authors”. 

There’s no doubt, though, Macmillan’s New Writer Scheme is a departure from mainstream publishing. For example, if Macmillan decides to accept a novel for its list, the terms are nonnegotiable; no advance will be paid, however, writers will receive 20% royalties from sales.

Here’s the deal: if accepted, MacMillan will copy edit books, but if manuscripts need more detailed work, they will suggest that writers employ freelance editors. Even then, this does not guarantee publication.

Barnard says, “This is about Macmillan finding new authors. Like a lot of mainstream publishers we haven’t in recent years been accepting unsolicited manuscripts, but only ones sent through agents. And we are not discovering as many authors as we need.”

“There are literally tens of thousands of writers out there – and we have a responsibility to help them. We can’t do that by paying a half million advance to every author.” 

According to Barnard, the books will appear in the main Pan Macmillan catalogue and would be “very posh books” with ribbon markers, sold at £15. He expected them to become “collectors’ items”. 

Scott Pack, of Waterstones, welcomes the initiative. “I think it’s a fantastic idea,” he said. “When books are presented to me by publishers they prioritise the ones to which they have given large advances. But the bestsellers are not necessarily the ones that have had big advances. This creates a level playing field.” 

Pack believes the scheme could be great for spotting new talent, and points to examples of self-published books that found success not going the route of conventional publishing.

We think if you’ve spent years working on your novel with no success in finding an agent, then Macmillan’s New Writing Scheme may well bring you the success you’ve been waiting for.

Pros: Once in a lifetime opportunity 20% of Royalties from Sales Creates level playing field for new talent

Cons: MacMillan will acquire all rights to new manuscripts No Advance Paid Possibility sharing of editing costs Less control

More detail about MacMillan New Writing can be found here

The Internet is now a thriving industry. With the knowledge advancing at a quick pace, more and more people are exposed to computers and internet. Increasingly they are learning to utilize the Internet for their day to day needs. Here Ecommerce websites take a front seat, moving out to the millions of people looking for your kind of product or services online.

Ecommerce or Electronic Commerce is actually trading of, either goods or services on the internet.

Before making any decision in business, it is worth taking into consideration the benefits, the company would reap on implementation of the new strategy of Ecommerce. Therefore, the most important thing that you must consider here is whether your business actually needs ecommerce?

Ecommerce-is it for you?

The advent of ecommerce websites has brought vast change in the process of purchasing and selling goods. In this regard, it is important to consider websites like ebay, amazon etc. They have broadly used the ecommerce procedure to generate sales revenue.

So, whether you already have a business or initiating a new one, whether the volume of your business is large or small, you can always generate profit by displaying your products or services online, thereby gaining a huge amount of viewer exposure. In a nutshell, just any selling/buying business can benefit by the ecommerce method.

How can an ecommerce website help you earn higher sales revenue?

There are several advantages of having an ecommerce website.

Revealation – Your products showcased on your website, provides a huge exposure to the millions of visitors on the web. For example, if you have a computer showroom in a city, the visitors would include people from in and around the city. Once in a while there will be visitors from places outside your city. Thus limiting your product visibility. On the other hand, if your products are demonstrated on a website, it attaches you to the abundant people who access the internet and looking for similar product as that of yours.

Time and Convenience – Time is one of the critical factor in our lives now-a-days. A customer may find it difficult to visit your store physically everytime. Instead, if you have your store presented on the Internet, anyone can pay a visit to your online store at their expedient time.

Your store closes at some point of time. But your e-store works 24X7 for you to bring in customers.

Moreover, with all your product images and descriptions provided on your estore, the customer gets a meticulous idea about your product and you do not have to spend time briefing the same thing to each and every visitor to your store. Moreover, it greatly saves time consumed per tranaction. Any sales executive will definitely take some time to illustrate your product to each customer. Your ecommerce website carries out similar job to hundreds and thousands of your potential customers at the same time. As all the information about your product are provided earlier to your customer’s visit, much less time is required to convey the benefits of your product to them, thereby making it easier to close the deal. Thus, many number of transactions can occur within a day.

Presenting your Product through Demonstrations and illustrations, depicts a clear and thorough idea about your product without the effort of hiring and training personnel to do so.

Cost Effective – Setting up and maintaining a store in a prime location and its overhead expenses, hiring personnel etc costs you a lot of money. Alternatively using the ecommerce is a more efficient way of demonstrating and giving information about your products.

In addition promotion of your store and its products needs to be carried out from time-to-time. Using web as a media of advertising your website, is much cheaper compared to that of other audio-visual medias, like radio or TV.

In an ecommerce website all you need to have is a top-notch website design, that looks equally capable as your competitor, Search Engine Optimization to rank your website with your other competitors, and the annual hosting fees.

Generally speaking, there are no major barrier of Ecommerce websites.

Gradually, many people are beginning to comprehend the fact that, ecommerce is an extremely feasible means of purchase as compared to the age old traditional process of buying. Thus, with this ever emerging technology, ecommerce will continue to mature globally and in due course become a key business strategy that has to be adopted, to thrive in the fast-growing market and keep abreast with your competitors.

Subsidy Publishing

There is a lot of confusion lately regarding the definition of “self-publishing.” Many authors think they have self-published, when in fact they have not.

Subsidy Publishers often refer to themselves and “self-publishing” companies, and offer “self-publishing” services for authors. They intentionally obfuscate the definition of the word, because they are running from the term “vanity press.”

Subsidy Publishers take money to publish your book for you. They act in many ways as a traditional publisher might, however, they do not put their own money on the line and their primary customer is the author, not the book buyer.

When you publish via a Subsidy Press, they are technically the Publisher of Record because they own the ISBN number. They cannot (and will not) sell you the number, give you the number, or assign ownership of the number to you. As long as they own the ISBN, they are the publisher. You did not self-publish. You paid someone to publish you. The only way for you to own the ISBN is for you to buy it from the only ISBN broker in the US; Bowkers.

One major disadvantage of Subsidy publishing is the Price Per Unit of the final product. Subsidy Publishing is not efficient, and the cost per individual book printed that you will pay will be so high so as to price it out of your market. You must have the flexibility to price your book based on a competitive market, not based on production cost.

Another disadvantage is the negative effect a Subsidy Publisher owned ISBN will have on your chances of getting reviewed by the major pre-publication reviewers. It is very difficult to get a book reviewed by the major reviews. If your book is subsidy published, your chances become zero. They will not consider it.

This is not to say that there are not situations where subsidy publishing would not be a suitable choice. If you have a book of local, or family interest and you know you will be able to sell a certain number to a group of people regardless of the cost, then it may be the way to go. Also, if you are just looking to see your book in print and aren’t worried about selling them to large numbers of people, then you might also select a subsidy publishing (this is, by definition, vanity publishing. If that is your interest, it’s probably best to accept it and publish accordingly).

However, if your intentions are in any way to market your book and make money as a publisher, I urge you to consider “true self-publishing.”

Some subsidy presses include: PublishAmerica, AuthorHouse, Lulu, Xlibris, and many others.

Self-Publishing

A self-published book is one that has truly been published by its author. There is a long tradition of very successful authors who have gotten their start by forming their own imprint and publishing their own books.

Self-publishing entails more work, but in the end the results will be much more satisfactory. You will have had control over the creative process, as well as all budgetary concerns.

You will have purchased your own ISBN, and will thus be the Publisher of Record. You will have sought out a cover and layout designer whose work you like and respect. You will have hired a printer that is able to offer a Per Unit Cost that will allow you to set a cover price that matches your market. You will make an actual, reasonable profit on the sale of your book. You will own your own imprint, and will be considered a “small press,” or and “independent publisher,” and so will have a chance of getting reviewed in by the major publications.

Self-publishing is not to be taken on lightly. It is, in essence, starting a new business. This can seem like a daunting task, when done concurrently with the release of a new book. However, as compared to subsidy publishing, it is the only way to publish your book in a way that will give it a chance of success in the extremely volatile publishing world.

There are many really great books on self-publishing. You should select a few and study them before making any decision as to how you are planning on publishing.

POD, or, Print On Demand

There is also some confusion as to the term POD, or Print On Demand. Many authors refer to subsidy publishers as “PODs.” This is entirely inaccurate, and will cause you some embarrassment when talking to the indie publishing community.

Print on Demand is a printing technology used by many publishers of all stripes. Indy presses, small publishers, subsidy presses, church cookbooks, even some of the traditional publisher’s backlogs, all utilize Print On Demand technology.

Digital photography is helping to revolutionize the way we view our pictures and the way we are able to capture the most breathtaking images.

Digital photography is becoming more affordable every year, and the technology to make fabulous photos is well within the reach of the average consumer.

Digital Photography is more than just using a digital camera; it also entails some post processing in an image editing software to the image you captured with your digital camera. Digital Photography is a process where pictures are taken to a computer disk or memory card rather than film.

Digital photography is one of the late 20th century s most innovative technologies. Digital photography is a radically different kind of photography, because the photographer can finally see what the film sees.

You waste nothing; there’s no film required, and because you only print the pictures you need, digital photography is cost effective and environmentally friendly.

First of all, the general claim about digital photography is that it makes photography easier; and that’s wrong already. And this is where it is getting interesting because, basically, the argument is that digital photography is better because you don’t have to wait. Although the resolution of digital photos is not nearly as high as photos produced from film, digital photography is ideal when you need instant, low-resolution pictures.

For many people, the biggest advantage of digital photography is that it eliminates the need for picture processing. Almost all of the cost of digital photography is capital cost, meaning that the cost is for the equipment needed to store and copy the images, and once purchased requires virtually no further expense outlay. Lastly, digital photography is the future, there’s no getting around that, and the sooner you start shooting digitally, the better equipped you’ll be to evaluate and handle new technology as it comes out. After all, digital photography is just another tool of modernization showing the advancement of photography in an ever-changing world.

The age of digital photography is here and here to stay. With more than 64 million digital cameras sold last year alone, digital photography is more popular than ever. Once of the best of the long list of advantages of digital photography is the immediate ability to view the scene through the digital cameras LCD screen.

For me, digital photography is also the greatest gift ever and the best thing since sliced bread.

For more on digital photography visit

www.jacksworldshop.com/TheCameraAuction

Steve Harris

Recherche Photography

Rare, Refined, Romantic. Not your everyday Wedding Photography.

Open the door…to a lifetime’s worth of memory and meaning. As rare, refined and romantic as its discriminating clientele, Recherche Photography is no ordinary photography studio. Born from ideals of beauty and balance, it is a business that revolves around the unique beauty of its treasured clients. It is a Bohemian boutique that invites you to relax, dream, and escape from the daily grind. And it is a one-of-a-kind experience that will transform your landmark celebration into lasting, heirloom-quality memories fit for generations to come.

The staff of Recherche Photography have come together to create a personalized, intimate environment that is truly a feast for the senses. From your initial consultation to the arrival of your impeccably-packaged photographs, you will be treated with care and consummate professionalism every step of the way. It’s a standard that shows in every frame.

From one-of-a-kind keepsakes in its boutique to unforgettable mementos of life’s passages, Recherche Photography is your uniquely sophisticated urban retreat. Your life contains moments of exquisite beauty and extraordinary meaning and your engagement and wedding are just the beginning of a life-long love affair.

Fall in love with Recherche Photography…why entrust your precious memories to just any photographer?

A Wedding vendor should realize that your wedding is not a cookie-cutter process. They should custom tailor all packages to each client. However Recherche Photography notices that most brides fit fairly well into one of four categories. No matter if you get married in Denver Colorado, to Europe or Nationally as a Destination wedding, Recherche Photography has a wedding package for you. Which one are you?

1) The Minimalist

You’re The Minimalist. Simplicity is your middle name – from the sleek lines of an iPod to the pleasures of a perfectly cut white shirt, your personal style is easy and unadorned. Detail-oriented and down-to-earth, you bring order to all around you. The sounding board for friends and the go-to-girl at work, you’re capable, rational, and precise. But don’t sell yourself short – you radiate true beauty through straightforward communication and a soothing demeanor. There’s nothing pared-down about your passion for detail or your love of real honest living.

Crave: A class in Zen flower arrangement, a stack of plain silver bracelets, an iPhone

Avoid: Oversized baubles, multi-course meals, vanity plates

2)The Sensualist

You’re The Sensualist! Sexy and seductive, you’re governed by the five senses, which you shamelessly indulge with extravagant sights, luscious textures, and romantic meals. You’re at your peak when indulging in a decadent meal, sharing a passionate embrace, or blessing out in a tub spiked with exotic oils. More champagne and truffles than tea and scones, you bring a sense of luxury and passion to everything you do. From your fabulously overdone signature to your penchant for drama, you don’t believe in half measures.

Crave: A Mediterranean wine cruise, a full-body massage, a seductive flacon of hand-mixed perfume

Avoid: Stainless steel, low-fat anything, torturous Spin classes

3)The Organic

You’re The Organic! Your home is the true center of your life, and you decorate it with a flea-market sensibility and sustainable style. Obsessed with comfort and ease, you’re more likely to opt for a midnight hike than a crowded bar. You’re the person who brings incredible homemade cookies to a friend in distress and serves the perfect cup of tea in a fabulous vintage mug. From your eclectic personal style to your open, giving nature, you’re the personification of honest ease.

Crave: Fair-trade dark chocolate, a weekend in the mountains, a treasure-finding trip to your favorite vintage boutique

Avoid: Stinky subways, traffic, uncomfortable high heels

4)The Sophisticate

You’re The Sophisticate! Fashion is your middle name, and urbane luxury is your game. A world traveler, you can hold your own in a boardroom or a boutique. Your fresh, fun approach to life means that you infuse some oomph in everything you pursue. From updating a classic cashmere sweater with a hyper-modern piece of jewelry to surprising a friend with a perfectly-arranged bouquet of her favorite flower, you’re classy and sassy.

Crave: Plane tickets to New York or Berlin, season passes to your city’s most cutting-edge museum, a box of over-the-top cupcakes

Avoid: Boring take-out dinners, sports bars, people who don’t write thank-you notes

Try the quiz online to see what you are: