Highspot Inc.

We editors are a picky lot, it’s true. But in our defence, we’re paid to be picky. An anal-retentive editor is a good editor. OK, OK, I’ll admit many of us are picky about writing when we’re off the clock, too...

Your readers are smart people. That doesn’t mean you should strive to use big words and complex constructions in your writing. Smart writing is clear writing, and that means simple writing. Most newspapers and magazines are written for a 9th or 10th grade reading level. Why...

Amazon today unveiled a new addition to its Kindle line of e-reading devices, the Kindle DX. The most notable feature of the DX is its larger screen size — nearly 10″ on the diagonal versus the Kindle’s 6″ screen...

I just can’t stay silent about this any longer. Sometimes I shake my head in disbelief. Sometimes I’m frustrated. Always I wonder, what the heck? My astonishment has to do with Twitter and the people who don’t identify themselves there...

Following this week’s announcement tha

Amazon has extended the reaches of its empire once again. Late yesterday afternoon, news broke that Amazon had acquired Lexcycle, makers of Stanza, a popular e-reader application for the iPhone...

E-books are gaining in popularity, but there are still some issues that hold them back from widespread pick-up. File format wars are one of them. If you want to read an e-book, you first have to decide which reading device you’ll commit to: your PC, a Kindle, your iPhone, a Sony Reader...

Robert Kiyosaki is the latest business author to take the collaborative approach to writing a book. His newest effort, Conspiracy of the Rich, is being released chapter by chapter on the book’s website...

Designer: Tania Fitzpatrick, Red Dot Design The Brief Fit to Succeed is a book that demonstrates how companies can reduce health care claims and insurance costs by encouraging health and wellness in their employees...

March 8 -14 is Read an E-Book Week. In keeping with the spirit of the event, I thought I’d try to summarize what an author should know about Kindle, the e-reader from Amazon. I’m going to assume that you’ve heard about the Kindle but you don’t really know too much about it...

At least one major publisher is on board with a strategy that Seth Godin, Jeff Jarvis and other industry observers have been advocating for a while: shaking up the single serving model of book sales...

E-books are going mainstream. I know, I know, you’ve heard this before. About 10 years ago, e-books tried to fight their way into the marketplace. Some e-readers, like the Rocket eBook, came to market…and then quietly disappeared...

Yen Cheong over at the Book Publicity Blog recently posted a helpful list of firms and freelancers that do book publicity. Each listing indicates the type of books that firm or person deals in, so you can quickly find the ones who handle non-fiction...

I have started compiling a directory of book authors on Twitter. To make the list manageable and useful for everyone, I have set some simple guidelines. To be included on the list: An author must be a book author...

This is a directory of book authors who are on Twitter. If you are looking for the directory of book trade people on Twitter, including publishers, you will find it here. This list is naturally a work in progress. I know there are many more authors out there...

The third annual Tools of Change for Publishing conference from O’Reilly took place in New York City last week...

Literary agent Nathan Bradford recently shared some intriguing ideas about the state of publishing. In his words: In essence, it’s the best of times and the worst of times. If you’re an enterprising author there is a world of opportunity out there...

HarperCollins just announced the release of a “video book” — a 23-minute video that encapsulates the information found in What Would Google Do?, a business book by Jeff Jarvis. The video sells on Amazon for $9.99. But is the video really a book? What makes a book a book anyway...

Following my post last week on podcasting for authors, TIME magazine ran an article on the very same topic. Many authors having a hard time finding a publishing deal are turning to podcasts as a way to build a fanbase for their books. Then, like sci-fi novelist J.C...

Phenix & Phenix Literary Publicists blogged about a great idea today: book posters. Really groovy, beautifully designed book posters like the ones bands use to promote their gigs. Yah! Imagine teenagers pinning up glossy posters of their favourite books in bedrooms across the land...

According to figures released in 2008, 9% of Americans downloaded an MP3 in the previous 12 months, a figure that had doubled over the previous year. It’s a habit that’s been shaking up the music industry and will certainly affect authors too...

I’ll admit it. I’m something of a contradiction. In my work for clients, I am constantly exploring the newest ideas in publishing, looking for ways to innovate and adapt. I find that exciting. At the same time, I thrill to everything old. I love old books, old paper, the old models...

With all the excitement and novelty and momentum surrounding social media tools such as Twitter, people sometimes forget the “social” part of the equation. Twitter is like any other community or network where abiding by a few friendly rules helps everyone get along...

Part of being a self-published author is figuring out ways to get as much mileage as you can out of everything you create. Producing your book is a time-consuming effort...

This is a directory of book publishers and others in the book trade who are using Twitter. Please add to it, or make corrections, by adding a comment. Feel free to suggest new categories as well. I will update the directory regularly. Please tweet it, or link to it from your blog...

If you’re an author, you should be on Twitter. If you don’t know what Twitter is, it’s time to learn. You’ve probably at least heard of it by now — the service has about 6 million users and is growing every day — but maybe you haven’t taken the plunge...

This Confident Writing Challenge asks everyone to define their best posts of 2008. Most useful, most fun, and most original are easy. The best, though? Always the latest one.

With December upon us, we are now deeply into the holiday buying season. If you’ve got an author on your list this year, here are some suggestions — some fun, some practical — for great gifts. 1...