I’m continuing this theme of healthy ways to better writing (a theme I did not plan ahead of time, it just kinda happened) by talking about exercise and how it can have a positive impact on your creativity and writing. Exercise is obviously one of the most healthy activities one can pursue as it helps keep you in shape and reduces the risk of a lot of diseases.

Exercise and the brain

Most people think of exercise as only helping the body (as I talked about above). But staying active also has a positive impact on the brain. In fact, exercise can do everything from reduce depression to helping you feel more alert. I found an article from the website Medicine.net called Train you Brain with Exercise:

“I like to say that exercise is like taking a little Prozac or a little Ritalin at just the right moment,” says John J. Ratey, MD, an associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and author of A User’s Guide to the Brain. “Exercise is really for the brain, not the body. It affects mood, vitality, alertness, and feelings of well-being.”

Christin Anderson, wellness and fitness coordinator at the University of San Francisco goes on to say:

“When one exercises,” Anderson says, “you can think more clearly, perform better, and your morale is better. This is pure science — stimulate your nervous system and function at a higher level.”

Thinking clearly. Improved performance. Increased morale. All of these can have a positive impact on your writing. Just being able to think clearly will help you in terms of organizing your writing, structure, ideas, editing and so forth. For example, if you’re writing a novel, being able to think clearly could help you organize your plot and create more rounded characters.

The good part about exercise is that it really doesn’t take all that much to reap its benefits. The article states that working out (whether it’s running, walking, swimming, etc. for 30 minutes 3 times per week is enough to keep your brain in top shape. Of course, the more you exercise the more benefits.

Exercise as a creative boost

People who exercise regularly often report a ‘meditative’ aspect to their fitness routines. As I wrote in a previous post, meditation and meditative-like states can really increase your creativity and improve writing. Furthermore, when one feels that sense of well-being and euphoria, stress and other worries seem to fade away, giving your brain a chance to focus on other things.

From my own experience with exercise, after I’m finished with a workout, I really do have more energy and feel ready to tackle any writing project – often with a fresh perspective. The only problem I have is keeping a regular exercise schedule.

No drugs needed!

There is a general stereotype about creative people that they often use drugs to enhance their art. While this might apply in the short-term, in the long run, people who use drugs to increase their creativity are only hurting themselves. How many famous artists, musicians and writers have died from complications of drug use? Quite a few. This goes without saying, but it’s hard to be creative when you’re dead.

The cool part about meditation and exercise is that the benefits increase over time by improving your health. A side-effect of drugs is that you need more and more of the drug to get the same results. With meditation and exercise, that doesn’t happen. And if it does, it’s only benefiting you.

Do you exercise on a regular basis? Has it improved your writing or other creative endeavors? Leave a comment below and share your experience.

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When I first began Brad’s Reader, my main focus was on literature and writing. Since the world of literature is so big, I needed a way to see all the important bits of news and related blog posts at-a-glance. What did I use? I created a Google Alert using the search term “literary news”.

Every day (usually in the morning) I get an email in my inbox entitled “literary news” that has a comprehensive list of links related to literature. These include links to news stories, blogs and even current literary events like book fairs. In fact, I have received a lot of blog post ideas from that one Google Alert.

Now that Brad’s Reader has expanded into the world of ebooks and self-publishing, I created a Google Alert for those respective search terms as well. Bang! All relevant news and information in my inbox each day. It doesn’t get any easier than that.

A few easy tips

Setting up a Google Alert is easy. Just enter in a search term, decide if you want a comprehensive, news, blog, web, video or clips alert. I use comprehensive, as it includes everything in the email. Then select how often you want your alerts to be sent to you. I always choose daily. But you have a choice between daily, weekly, and as-it-happens (this one can fill up your inbox fast). After that, select the length of your alert email. You can choose between 20 and 50 results (I keep mine limited to 20 to make scanning the email much easier).

Finally, select the email you want your alert to be delivered to. This is a lot easier if you have a Gmail account – then you can manage everything all in one place without logging in and out of multiple accounts. I use one account for my Gmail, Google Reader, News, Google Alerts and Notebooks. Keep it simple.

The sky is the limit to what your alert can be. Here are a few suggestions for you regular readers of this blog:

• Literary news
• Self publishing
• ebooks
• Your favorite author
• A specific publisher/e-retailer (great to keep track of the current Amazon v. Macmillan feud)
• publishing news
• fill-in-your-own-preference-here

Google Alerts are a great way to stay informed about your topic of choice without spending countless hours scouring the web for important information. For me, this has been an invaluable tool and has really helped me grow Brad’s Reader. I hope Google Alerts can help you too.

Update 2/7: In a bit of irony, when I got my Google Alert for ‘literary news’ this morning, I was pleasantly surprised to see this very post listed under the blog section:

Keeping up with the world of publishing & ebooks | Brad’s Reader
By Brad Vertrees
Since the world of literature is so big, I needed a way to see all the
important bits of news and related blog posts at-a-glance. What did I use?
I created a Google Alert using the search term “literary news”. …
<http://www.bradsreader.com/2010/02/keeping-up-with-the-world-of-publishing-ebooks/>
Brad’s Reader
<http://www.bradsreader.com/>

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There are a two bits I wanted to share with you regarding my trip, both dealing with ebooks.

First, I noticed on this trip, more than any other, the growing number of people with ebook readers. On one flight, I sat next to a woman reading a Kindle. She told me she loves it and reads more now than before she got the device. I saw a Sony Reader on another flight and a few more people with Kindles in the waiting areas at the different airports I stopped at.

I found it very pleasing to see so many people reading ebooks. Even a year or so ago I never saw anyone with any type of ebook reading device (not counting an iPhone/iPod Touch). Ebooks have come a long way in the last year and I know they will go even further in 2010.

Finally, I did not take my Sony Reader Pocket Edition with me. It’s a long story, but it basically boils down to Sony’s crappy Reader software they force you to download onto your computer. At the last minute, before jumping into the cab to go to the airport, I grabbed a paperback (aff link) from the stack on my bookshelf.

On a side note, I did bring my iPhone which worked great to keep up with email, moderate blog comments, read the news, Twitter, Facebook and so forth. I didn’t read any ebooks, but it was certainly an option. For over two years my iPhone has been a trusty traveling companion. And yes, I still use my first generation iPhone, old school!

Now that I have returned home I will be back to my regular posting schedule. Stay tuned…

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Fast forward to 2009 and ebooks are becoming much more mainstream (still a small segment of the publishing industry, but growing) and publishers are now scrambling to figure out how to deal with this new form of consuming our favorite literary works. Add to that the family of ebook readers from Sony, Amazon and now Barnes & Noble, I think it’s safe to say that ebooks aren’t going anywhere.

What will the next decade bring? While I can’t predict the future with 100% accuracy (if I could, I’d be living the high life by playing the stock market). I am going to roll the dice and list what I think we’ll see over the next 10 years. Only time will tell if any of my predictions will pan out.

1. The publishing industry: I think the worse is yet to come for large publishing houses. They’ll continue to resist ebooks and struggle to realize that digital content is not going to spell doom for them. Publishers will impose strict DRM, try to keep ebook prices high despite market pressure for low pressure and this will result in a spike of piracy. In other words, I believe the large publishers will repeat the same mistakes the music industry has made (and is still making) with disasterous consequences.

2. Indie authors: These authors who strike out on their own will become the new face of publishing over the next 10 years. They realize that ebooks provide an opportunity to distribute their books/short fiction to a wider audience than ever before – with very low investment.

3. eReaders: I find this the most exciting topic to ponder for the new decade ahead. I think that as technology improves and as ebooks gain in popularity, the devices we read ebooks on will become more sophisticated and improve the reading experience in innumerable ways.

I always like New Year’s Day because I feel it represents a new beginning, a fresh start. I can put the past year behind me, at least all the negatives, and push forward with a renewed spirit. But New Year’s Day 2010 will be different because it’ll mark a new decade with an entirely new cultural shift taking place.

What do you predict for the new decade for your self and society as a whole? Leave a comment below and share your ideas.

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I also plan on getting a lot of writing done. I have two fiction projects I desperately want to finish so I can make them available on Smashwords (aff link) as soon as possible. These two works will be available for free so everyone can sample my fiction without forking over your hard earned cash

Have a great holiday over the next few days and please stay safe. I’ll back to my usual posting schedule either this weekend or early next week.

- Brad

P.S. There will be no Friday Link Love this week.

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If you don’t win today’s contest, don’t worry, there will be at least one more this month. I’m not saying what the prize will be or even how you will enter – you’ll just have to stand by.

Thanks again for all your comments. I enjoyed seeing what everyone is reading and will be adding a few of these titles to my growing reading list. I hope you visit Brad’s Reader again and write more comments, it always makes my day!

Good luck!

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I’ve been scouring the web for the best deals around and here is what I found.

Amazon.com (aff link) dominates the online discounts with deals in just about every category.

Books: You can get up to 50% off on many bestsellers and 60% off on many other titles. If you’re looking for low book prices, now is the time to buy. Barnes & Noble is also offering huge discounts on select titles.

Electronics: If you’re looking for a portable ebook reader, you can get an Apple iPod touch 8 GB (3rd Generation) for only $181.99, 7% off the original price. You can also get the Sony Digital Reader Pocket Edition for only $194.87!

Ebooks: Fictionwise is offering a 45% discount on multi-format titles. Smashwords (aff link), an independent ebook retailer for indie authors isn’t having any special Cyber Monday deals, but you can always find free ebooks and ebooks from some really great unknown authors. Best of all, ebooks from Smashwords are available in about every format possible.

There are many more Cyber Monday deals out there than I have time to link to on this post. Even if you’re not into the holidays, you can at least take advantage of cheap prices on some cool products.

Don’t forget, December is the 3rd Anniversary of Brad’s Reader! On Wednesday December 2, 2009 I’ll be having a cool giveaway in appreciation for everyone who has made this blog a success. You might also see other giveaways throughout the December so be sure to visit often.

That’s all I have for now. Happy shopping!

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According to this article Top 2 Booksellers report losses Riggio made gave a statement to analysts regarding the price wars:

“Book-selling has been for a long time a ‘long tail’ business,” Riggio said during a conference call with investors. “Best sellers represent less than 5 percent of our sales and among these very top best sellers less than 1 percent of our sales.”

The long tail means retailers sell large numbers of unique items in small quantities and less popular items in much larger quantities (source). Based on that, Riggio’s comments make sense. If best sellers only represent less than 5% of sales for B&N, then it’s likely that Amazon, Wal-Mart and Target won’t make a noticeable dent in overall sales for B&N.

The other retailers might eat up some sales of best sellers, but consumers are still going to go to B&N for their wide selection of books. Not everyone is interested in reading only best sellers (I rarely buy them). Furthermore, selling best sellers at such a deep discount is unsustainable.

Will Nook save Barnes & Noble?

Even though sales are down at B&N (heck, sales are down across the board in retail), I think Nook, their new ebook reader, could be their lifeline for long-term profitability. According to the same article, demand for Nook has greatly exceeded expectations:

Barnes & Noble is pinning its hopes for future profit on the Nook, a competitor with Amazon.com’s Kindle for which it began accepting pre-orders last month. Last week, it said orders had exceeded expectations and those placed beginning Nov. 20 would be filled Jan. 4 or later.

Getting on the ebook bandwagon now, while ebooks are still relatively new, is a smart move for B&N. Other book stores who don’t embrace ebooks (i.e. Borders) will be left in the dust. And B&N plans to keep expanding its digital offerings:

The company plans to bulk up its e-content digital business, selling digital subscriptions to newspapers, blogs, magazines and other periodicals as well as digital books.

By expanding their digital content offerings, B&N is positioning itself to go head-to-head with Amazon in the ebook wars. B&N might already have an advantage because interested customers can play around with Nook before buying. I know I feel more comfortable buying something I can see and hold in my hands. Demo units of Nook will be available in most stores around December 1.

Overall, I don’t think B&N has to worry about chains like Wal-Mart sucking their business away by discounting best sellers. Like I said, chain book stores have such a vast selection of books (most are more profitable than best sellers anyway) that customers will usually chose a B&N over Wal-Mart if they’re looking for more than just best sellers.

What about Borders, you ask? I don’t think they pose much of a threat either:

In an effort to improve its finances, Borders, based in Ann Arbor, Mich., has cut jobs, closed stores and chosen new leaders. It also has shifted its focus from less profitable categories like music and toward children’s books, toys, stationery and its cafe.

I’m just wondering how much longer Borders will stay in business.

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To be honest, I was struggling about how I should approach this topic. My first instinct was to incorporate climate change and ebooks somehow. But after doing a little research, the ball is still in the air about ebooks being more environmentally friendly. I also thought about writing about the impact of print publishing and all the resources it eats up. That would require digging through a lot of numbers, studies and stats, which I’m not good at.

In the end I decided to keep it simple. The great folks that organize Blog Action Day set up a page of resources to help bloggers focus their posts on climate change. I’m going to list 5 negative side effects of climate change (there are a lot more than 5, however) and then list 5 simple ways you can make a difference.

The consequences of global warming

- Say hello to more mosquitoes (source)

- Say goodbye to fly fishing (source)

- Say goodbye to meadows and wildflowers (source)

- Say goodbye to 40% of the world’s species (source – not available)

- Say hello to more stray little kitties (source)

- Say hello to more hurricanes (source)

- Say hello to more wildfires (source – not available)

Easy solutions to prevent climate change

- Consume less: This goes without saying. The more we consume, the more waste we produce.

- Eat smart, go vegetarian: I turned vegetarian back in May 2009 and was amazed to learn how much natural resources the US beef industry eats up.

- Bicycle, use public transportation, or carpool: I’m always stunned at the huge numbers of cars on the freeway during rush hour with only 1 person in them. It wastes gas and it pollutes! Find alternate, earth friendly ways to get to your destination.

- Be more efficient: Turn off lights when you leave the room. Group your errands together so you are driving less. There are tons of ways to make your life efficient and environmentally friendly.

- Stop cutting down trees (plant trees instead): Trees our called the ‘lungs of the earth’ and are very important to stopping climate change.

- Have only 1 child: The amount of natural resources every person consumes is amazing. And with earth’s population rabidly growing, we will reach a point when our planet can no longer support such a large number of people. Consider adoption instead.

(source for this list)

Each list can be a lot longer, as there are more effects of climate change and more solutions than what I posted here. I didn’t even scratch the surface of the information that’s out there.

I think it’s important that the environment stays on our minds 24/7 and 365 days a year, not just during Blog Action Day. Even little stuff like recycling adds up. There’s an old saying “Think globally, act locally.” That saying really applies to climate change!

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On a side note, I was worried about what I’d do last night to fill my time. Surprisingly, I got a lot done without the internet there to distract me. I was able to clean up and organize my desk (which it desperately needed). And I got a lot of writing done. In other words, my productivity level skyrocketed.

If you’re not writing as much as you should be, or just not being as productive, try turning off your internet for a while. Of course, when the internet is available it’s difficult to ‘turn it off’ so you might just have to resist opening your browser. I know that can be really hard, especially with email, RSS feeds, news sites, internet porn, checking blog stats and such beckoning you at every turn. Stay strong!

P.S. I’ll still be moderating and approving comments via the Wordpress app on my iPhone, so keep those comments coming!

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