Getting it out there....

The numbers game, playing the numbers game, statistics, data analysis, all numbers to be juggled in the process of getting the book out there, and in the middle of it all a fixed number, as immutable as if carved in stone. Our book's identity in a 13 digit code.

A humble stock control number, the SBN, developed for WH Smith Limited and others in the mid-1960s by Gordon Foster, Emeritus Professor of Statistics at Trinity College, Dublin. The system was adopted by the International Standard for Organisation (ISO) in 1970 as a 10 digit number (the original 9 digit number was used  in the UK until 1974 and could be converted to 10 by adding '0'), the 10 digit iSBN was replaced on the 1st January 2007 by the 13 digit sequence to make it compatible with the European Article Number (EAN).

Unique to each edition or variation of a publication; paperback, hardback and ebook all possess a separate individual code, later editions may share an ISBN.

The ISBN is the key to distribution, it allows an edition to be located, ordered and shipped, ISBNs are issued through specific agencies; in the UK ISBNs are provided by Neilsen Book and Bowker carries the same responsibility for the US.

Books sold through Kindle and Amazon display an ASIN, (Amazon Standard Identification Number) having an ISBN is not a requirement;  where a book has an ISBN the 13 digits will be the same,the ISBN becomes the ASIN, other companies may supply an ISBN as part of the agreement. Smashwords offers this to all authors who distribte through the company, and it is a prerequisite for inclusion on some of the channels that Smashwords distributes to. Generally, for any book to be fed into the distribution system then an ISBN is a must.

A note about the ISBN at Smashwords; Smashwords is a ebook distributor, not a publisher, however because the ISBN is obtained  through them and they have purchased it from Bowker, Smashwords is listed as the publisher with Bowker in the US. A technical point which is explained in their agreement with you. Smashwords recognise you, the author of the work as the publisher.

What are the options for digital formatting and distribution?

The ebook can be formatted and uploaded to individual ebook suppliers following their own instructions and requirements, or an aggregator can be used.

Amazon, with the Kindle can reach wherever Amazon goes and the book ordered from the Kindle bookstore, there are occasions when a book ordered through Kindle cannot be downloaded because of territorial restrictions. Certain books may be available in the US and Canada, but not the UK and Ireland, depending on where the Kindle was registered.

Instructions on to get the book on Amazon can be found at Kindle Direct publishing and the instructions to help you are in How to publish on Amazon Kindle with Kindle Direct Publishing and the software for device compatible Kindle can be downloaded, so you can check out the end result.

Smashwords works through its own site and by feeding books selected for the premium catalogue to a list of ebook retailers; Apple, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Overdive, Flipkart, Oyster and Scribd are on the list. Smashwords has its own criteria explained in the Smashwords Style guide. Both available as free downloads.

Fomatting KDP and Smashwords takes a couple of hours, and you must follow the instructions, don't be tempted to skip forward or miss anything out and the end result will be a file ready to upload; Kindle requires a filtered HTML and Smashwords asks for a cleaned up MS word Doc.file (Not a Docx.).

Once uploaded Smashwords feed the doc file into their Meatgrinder and formatted files for most common e-readers come out the other end and the book can be ready to purchase on the site within half an hour of upload. Kindle takes longer, but you can expect the book to be on Amazon within twenty fours hours.

So the book is out there, jostling for position with its own ISBN, waiting for the reader, hungry for entertainment...and the downloads begin...

Easter bonus

Time to chill during the Easter holidays? Slide across to smashwords and grab a copy of Control Escape and input the code QS72V at the checkout (use it before the 1st of May). Download a copy of the seond Grange novel with a hearty 100% discount. The first novel in the series, Iceline, is free at smashwords and through distribution channels (Apple iTunes, Kobo, Flipkart, Nook).
Two good reads for the price of none!

Who or what is Cheekyseagull?

Maybe the question should be where does the name come from? A comment from a fellow Commonwealther to this blog said the name piqued her curiosity and she re tweeted the post of the 9th February - Just to let you know, so there's a small piece on the home page at cheekyseagull  a touch less of the book plugging, but not entirely free - unlike Iceline which is now free on all the distribution channels on the left hand column. There will be more to come, the piece on the home page is just a part of it...

Sony reader store to close

A post at the Smashwords blog unfolds the details of Sony's announcement to close the Sony Reader store in the US and Canada. Purchasers of Smashwords distributed books should follow the links http://www.kobo.com/sony and  http://blog.sony.com/2014/02/the-future-of-reader-store/ for information on how to migrate their Sony Purchasers to Kobo.

However large or small the market share of the Sony reader store it was valuable, it gave a choice, a dash of variety to a world that seems bent on channelling everyone down the same route and crowding everyone inside the same store, be it bricks and mortar or digital. It was an essential part of the ebook publishing revolution, an early player in the field for ereaders and ebooks and had its part in bringing authors like myself to a wider audience in the partnership with Smashwords. Sony was there before Amazon and the Kindle but couldn't keep up with the competition. In the relentless struggle of Store Wars there will be those who fall, and others who build on the foundation that they set in place. The ebook revolution is changing the way we read and the way we access that reading, and Sony's contribution to that shift should be noted.

There have always been independent authors and publishers, what was massively underestimated was the number looking for a way to be heard. Sony, and Smashwords played a part in that. The closure of the store will mean the end of a partnership, but the story goes on. The indie author is here to stay, working alongside the traditional author and publisher, but doing things their way and long may that be so.

A few months ago I posted a question; who`s the hero? In the rapidly changing environment of publishing the heroes and villains of the ebook revolution have yet to be determined, though we all have our own. Whatever your choice may be a new country needs its pioneers and that will be Sony's contribution to the ebook and the ereader: pioneers. Thank you.

Kobo - back on its feet

The lost links between my website at cheekyseagull.co.uk and Kobo appear to have been reinstated, the books are once more available for your Kobo device. Iceline is here and here is Control: Escape.

Pop along and have a look, grab yourself a slice of the action!

Where are we going now?

Recent posts from the Office of Letters and Light - the people behind Nanowrimo - Self-Publishing vs Publishing: How To Choose Your Path by Lynn Viehl, and Mark Coker at Smashwords have discussed the ongoing debate between traditional and self-publishing.

Lynn Viehl considers the options as either or and perhaps both depending on the circumstances and the writer making the choices. Mark Coker's posting after the San Francisco Writer's Conference, where eBook publishing held the centre stage referred to a constantly and rapidly changing landscape in the publishing world. His presentation, How The Ebook Revolution Will Transform Your Career, explores ten trends in publishing and how they impact on the traditional and eBook sides of the story. In an earlier post at Smashwords blog and an interview on NPR Mark Coker remarks on the shift in perspective where self-publishing was considered the option of last resort. The refuge of the vain and the desperate, and now the goal posts have been uprooted and appear to be wandering around the pitch. Writers are deliberately opting for self-publishing as a first choice not the last chance saloon, and traditional publishers are trawling through e-published works for the next best seller - the Fifty Shades spectacular last year - eyeing up the also viewed and most download Stats at sites across the net.

Whatever lies in the future and considering the changes that have taken place in the last five years that is a movable feast of the most magnificent proportions; the old way is gone forever. Books will continue to be created and enjoyed, cherished and loved, published and read with every emotion that reaches out from the written word. We will argue over which is best, discourse and discuss the words on the printed page, the iPad, Kobo and Kindle screen, in whatever format we have or favour, and is the truth of it not that we love books -  though undeniably true - rather that in any shape or form we adore stories, and the people who create them; the Writers, of million sellers or for a select readership. The story is what counts and today, writers, along with publishers (self or trad), agents and book sellers are the characters in a story as profound as the impact of the movable type.

Plan A, B, C?

Best laid plans of mice and men, Robert Burns threw that old cliché together, and then muttered about it all gang awry.
What You Ask For is not as complete at as I hoped it would be by now, let's put it down to technical difficulties, and project a completion date for late Spring. I'm aiming for the checked, proofed and edited text to be available at Smashwords, and then through their distribution channels to Apple, Sony, Kobo, et al
Whoever you are out there, reading your way through What You Ask For, stay with it, the story is continuing, and thanks for reading.

I mentioned this one earlier - new book out

Last November amid all the excitement of Nanowrimo 2012 I talked about a work in progress by an Indie Author I know - a writing buddy as they're known at Nanorwrimo, the book is now finished and published at Smashwords.com - Not Without my Cat (when fish is not enough) in the author's own words

Sam is a detective, who along with his smart but troublesome cat Camille, uncovers an impossible crime. With the scene of the unusual event too close to home for a man already harassed with a Mad Ex and difficult new clients, this proves to be the challenge that he needs to overcome his deepest fears, find out what electric tin openers are really used for; and save a Lady from mortal peril.

A Science Fiction Adventure with Alternate Realities, Well Made Cocktails, a missing scientist or two, and Cheese and tomato sandwiches. And Let us not forget the Glow in the dark, dimension jumping Cat....

Nip across to Anne's Blog for a discount code valid at Smashwords and enjoy the book, tell your friends; the book is currently passing through the review system at Smashwords and will soon be on its way through the distribution channels to major ebook distributors, Apple itunes, Sony, Kobo, et al!

Feedback - say that again - please!

Putting a novel out has its moments of sublime delight and mild frustration, working out how to get the word out, wandering through the labyrinth of the Internet, a whole host of things and then suddenly when you least expect it - music to your ears!

Excellent, couldn't put it down - simple words that writers dream of hearing. I heard them this week; Control Escape - the second Grange novel - was holiday reading for a friend of mine and the text after touchdown was "Control Escape Excellent" an honest unsolicited opinion. So here's the rub, don't take my word for it or his; check it out for yourself - a page turner you can't put down for the price of a decent cup of coffee, in fact try both of them Iceline and Control Escape for two cups of coffee.

If you're in the mood for something raw and closer to the typeface, where the words are being mined, try What You Ask For... - it started with Nanowrimo last November and the work progresses - it's a freebie download - while the construction work continues.

Bring your own coffee, or slide them from the Internet onto your favourite reader via the WiFi at your favourite coffee shop. Traditional British Thrillers with the flavours of John Buchan and Jack Higgins, a touch of crime and mystery stirred into a brew you will enjoy as much as your coffee, available from Smashwords, Apple iTunes, Diesel, B&N, Kobo, Sony.

Tweaking the edges

A little bit of tweaking going on in the corners, two new links have just been added, making the connections between here and other places where I can be found hanging around on the internet. Links to, at the right hand side, click on the relevant link and it will transport you to my web site at www.cheekyseagull.co.uk and my Smashwords profile, the author page at Smashwords where you can check out my current published works. 

The website has pages for each of the books, including What You Ask For  is a work in progress, and is free, available through Smashwords. Iceline and Control Escape continue to be available at the major eBook distributors, Apple, Barnes and Noble, Sony, Kobo, Diesel.

Control: Escape - take a look inside

Control: Escape is the follow up to Iceline, with more about life at the Grange, Bill Jardine, Don Steel, Josie Burke and introducing a few more characters.

Steve Arkwright is the guy who fooled around nipping over firewalls to see what was on the other side, until the men in suits made him and offer. A well paid job with security is just another form of prison, with ever shifting bars, until a way out becomes available.  Try this for starters, and read on...

Chapter One


Malcolm Baker touched a finger to his lips and slid it across his throat as he sat down and lobbed his cap on the desk. Bill Jardine reached under the desk and flicked a switch. “Sound is off.”
“Thanks.” He unclipped his tie and unbuttoned the collar of his shirt.
Jardine leaned forward and pressed call on the intercom. “Josie, coffee for two, large Thermos, and if anyone asks I'm not”
“OK Boss.” The speaker crackled and he released the button.
“I’m imagining all this?”
“Very lucid dream,” Baker grinned and sat in the buttoned leather chair. Jardine closed the file on his desk and creased the spine with his thumb before he put it away in a drawer. “Out with it then, what’s the problem?
“Not certain you can help. That’s why I'm doing this quietly.”
“Seven thirty and in uniform, wouldn't call that quietly.”
“Uniform makes me invisible, so who cares about the time.”
Josie came in with the coffee on a tray. Two heavy mugs and a two litre pump action Thermos flask; milk and sugar. Jardine pumped the coffee into the mugs, spooned two heavy teaspoons of sugar into one and handed it to Baker who stirred it well.
“Go on,” Jardine waited until Josie had left the room, “what’s happening.”
“I have a problem with your old firm, Hoplite; I’m working with special branch on their latest project because we think it may have policing possibilities.”
“Why not take it up with Michael Spear?”
Baker scratched the side of his head. “That is the problem; he may be implicated. There’s a security breach somewhere in the company and I can’t find it yet, I have my suspicions but nothing more at the moment.”
“And you want me to spy on my best mate?” For a moment Jardine’s voice carried the accent of his childhood in the north east. “That’s asking a lot.”
Baker drank a mouthful of coffee and gave himself time to think. “No, I don’t want you to spy on him, look, I want to help. I can’t really believe that he is tangled up in whatever is going off, but I have to be sure, and for that I need to know more than I do at the present.”
“Alright, but how can I help?”
“It may not amount to anything, but if Michael Spear drops in can you talk to him, see what you can prise out of him and persuade him to talk to me at least?”

Find out more on my author page at Smashwords.com and www.cheekyseagull.co.uk for links to major ebook suppliers, available through Apple, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, Sony Readerstore and Diesel ebookstore. Discount coupns are available at Smashwords, via cheeky seagull until the 6th of January.

Update and links

Yesterday's post about the distribution through Smashwords of Iceline and Control: Escape reported Iceline and Control: Escape have arrived on their shelves.
Diesel eBookstore for Iceline here and Control: Escape here;
Barnes and Noble for Iceline here and Control: Escape here
Kobobooks for Iceline here and Control: Escape here
Sony readerstore for Iceline here and Control: Escape here.
Apple iTunes for Iceline here and Control: Escape here
Formatted for Kindle at Smashwords, and in other formats for Iceline here and Control: Escape here.
Check out www.cheekyseagull.co.uk for special offers and details of Smashwords discount coupons, and follow the links for free ebooks for Christmas and the New Year.