Changes are slowly starting to happen here at Brad’s Reader. Nothing big, just small tweaks to reflect a growing blog. I have unveiled a new direct advertising program, where you can advertise on Brad’s Reader for less than $1 a day. I’m also looking for great blog posts about ebooks, writing, publishing and books to link to on my weekly Friday Link Love feature.

Other small changes are still in the pipeline, but I have no definite date for those right now. I’m thrilled that Brad’s Reader has kept growing like it has, considering I started this blog as a way to keep writing about literature after I graduated from college.

At the time, it was just a little side-project, something I tinkered with in my free time. Nowadays, blogging takes up a good chunk of my day.

Enough of my rambling. Have a happy and safe weekend!

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Garrison Keillor is the latest author to slam self-publishing in a recent NYT Op-Ed. His rant is typical of those who hate indie authors who go it alone into the world of self-publishing. And in the same Op-Ed, Keillor manages to take a swipe at modern technology.

I don’t know what it is about self-publishing that drives some people nuts. After all, musicians who skip the large record labels and become “indie” are widely respected and have successfully thrown themselves into the mainstream – with little to no criticism. So why are indie authors seen differently?

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First they said that big-box book retailers like Borders, Barnes & Noble and even Amazon will be the death of the independent bookstore. And to some extent, the prediction has come true. A lot of the indie booksellers have closed shop over the last decade or so.

Now they’re saying that ebooks will be the death of bookstores altogether. After all, who needs to actually go to a physical store when you can just buy an ebook with the click of your mouse?

If Jason Rovito has his way, the indie bookstore could make a comeback not just as a bookstore, but as a collective of booksellers, writers, publishers and writing and reading groups. When indie bookstores were closing down all around, Jason did the unthinkable, he opened up his own store, called Of Swallows, Their Deeds and The Winter Below.

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I’ve always maintained that ebooks and digital publishing will bring the short story back to the mainstream. For over half a century now, short fiction has taken a back seat to novels.

There used to be a time when writers could make a living writing short stories that they sold to magazines (who paid a healthy sum for quality work). F. Scott Fitzgerald financed his novels by writing short fiction, as have other writers.

Today, I think it’d be nearly impossible for a writer to make a living solely on short fiction. But with ebooks now in the mainstream, it’s a lot easier for writers to publish their short stories and for readers to consume them. And publishers are taking notice.

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Friday Link Love has become a regular feature here at Brad’s Reader since

Yesterday I had the great pleasure of appearing as a guest on Cyrus Webb’s Conversations LIVE! radio show. It was a panel discussion of the business of books. You can still listen to the podcast The Business of Books. The panel also included 2 authors and 2 book publishers. A great hour-long discussion and worth your time to listen to, especially if you’re a writer looking to get published.

I’m going to leave it at that so you can enjoy the links for this week. As always, have a happy and safe weekend!

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Author Matt Bell is taking writing to a whole new level by making it a performance art. He is writing a story live online, so viewers can see every keystroke he makes, every correction and eventually watch a rough draft turn into the final draft. I stumbled upon this fascinating story on Mediabistro’s eBookNewser blog.

Writing is a lonely endeavor. Writers don’t sell out Madison Square Garden or have young women throwing their bras at them while on stage. The closest thing writers get to being in front of a crowd is on the book tour and panel discussions. As cool as those things are, readers only see the finished, polished product after a writer has done all the dirty work.

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I just wanted to post a quick announcement that I will be a guest on the show Conversations LIVE! with Cyrus Webb tonight at 8pm EST. The topic will be ‘The Business of Books.”

Other guests on tonight’s program include authors Zetta Elliot and Christopher Hertz, Todd Rutherford of Yorkshire Publishing and book reviewer Joe Pinkney. This is a great lineup of guests from across the publishing world and I’m thrilled to be a part of it.

You can also join the conversation through chat by following this link The Business of Books, or by calling in at 347.426.3645.

And don’t forget to follow me on Twitter for updates, interesting links and more.

Amazon has announced a new publishing imprint called AmazonCrossing. The goal of this imprint is to publish foreign titles that will be translated into English. Readers in the US have a history of being weary of translated titles, which make up only a small percentage of overall book sales in this country.

The online retailer began its first imprint, AmazonEncore, as a way to give exposure to great writers who are more-than-worthy of being published. AmazonCrossing has the same goal, only at the international level. Jeff Belle, VP of Books, says in an Amazon press release:

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Look closely at the cover of this book that is listed on Amazon.com. Does anything strike you as odd? Yes, the “iStockPhoto” watermark is still on the cover image. This is a good example of why authors and publishers need to pay attention to detail, especially on the front cover! I’d say leaving the watermark on the cover image is a pretty big detail.

Having the watermark still on the cover image means that either A) They didn’t pay for the image, or B) They paid for the image but didn’t swap out the sample image for the paid one – the image without the watermark. Either way, it’s still a book cover fail!

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