Ravenhawk Books

05/15/2024

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Professional Creative Artists Unlimited

05/15/2024

"BOOKS" WILL NEVER DIE, BUT THEY WILL EVOLVE

If you were around 40 years ago and someone told you that soon, you would be using a palm-sized wireless computer device to make video telephone calls, receive mail, write and receive messages, utilize roadmaps, access libraries-books world-wide, pay for groceries--buy just about anything, gas, pay bills, do all your banking, find and apply for jobs, watch TV and movies; you may have laughed and told that person they were crazy or they read too many science fiction books or seen too many low budget science fiction movies.

"Books are dead, nobody reads books any more..." I can't count how many times I have heard a comment similar to this, every day.

So, in celebration of other crazies, here is my prediction for the evolution of books:

Soon, when you buy a "book" you will have the choice of reading that book as you would the traditional paper-bound or you will be able to listen to it as you would an audio book or you can choose to read that book on your phone or other device; you will be able to choose how you read that "book." It will be an all-in-one product that you will purchase for about the same price as the traditional hardcover.

--Write well, market smart, and prosper; because future readers will still want to read. What they will use to read might be anyone's guess, but "books" whatever that format may be, will be with us as long as there are humans around that aspire to write.

05/13/2024

The Kryptos sculpture continues to intrigue amateur and professional cryptologists. The art and science of cryptology has been around for thousands of years. Although cryptologists have "solved" some of the messages, all they have accomplished is decrypting the words, not the meaning of the passages. You may unscramble the words, but you will not solve the actual message. It is cryptology within cryptology, many layers, as if peeling an onion down to a core you may never arrive at. Entities that rely on secrecy use layers upon layers, and then when you believe you have peeled away all the layers and exposed the core, what are you confronted with? Layers of misdirection, distraction and illusion.

Below, is the ultimate answer. Decipher this, and the truth will be revealed to you. Your clue, Edgar Allan Poe, was once asked, How do you create a true mystery? (SIC) "...Hide it in plain sight, where everyone can see it..."

"HET TERCES ESEN ONKT REVEN WJEFIU VQOCJHI XRYWTRP
ANBROWPT SI ONWY GUNA DEFLWO SAH ECVIO"

04/26/2024

Discover the Magic of books!

04/23/2024

04/22/2024

Industry News...

THE NEXT GENERATION OF BOOKSELLERS, CHANGING THE BOOKSELLING WORLD

The new generation of booksellers is putting inclusivity first, building communities, and opening up shop in unexpected places.
For some young entrepreneurs, bookselling is a business and a way of life, according to their beliefs. “When people visit my store, they often think I got into bookselling because I read all the time,” says Halley Vincent, 15, owner of "Seven Stories," in Shawnee, Kansas. “I do enjoy reading, but the real reason was my love for my community, interaction, and sales.” She likes hand-selling because people “come back to talk about the title. I love that our store creates an environment that welcomes conversation.”

04/22/2024

Industry News...

INTERNET ARCHIVE FILES FINAL APPEAL BRIEF

The Internet Archive has filed its final reply brief in Hachette v. Internet Archive, the closely watched copyright case involving the scanning and digital lending of library books.
In their brief, IA attorneys reiterate their belief that federal judge John G. Koeltl misunderstood the facts and misapplied the law in , in finding that the Judge's ruling should be reversed. Specifically, the brief maintains that the "IA's scanning and lending of library books is transformative because it expands the ability of libraries to lend books to its patrons," expanding the utility of libraries.

04/22/2024

Industry News...

PEN AMERICA HAS CANCELLED ITS 2024 LITERARY AWARDS CEREMONY

The event was scheduled to be held at the Town Hall in New York City on April 29, although some of the awards will still be given. The move follows months of criticism of the organization over its response to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, last week 28 authors withdrew their books for consideration, including nine of the 10 authors nominated for the organization's top prize, the PEN/Jean Stein Book Award.

04/04/2024

PLA 2024 CONFERENCE

Given the challenges public librarians have endured over the last few years, it should not be a surprise that the 2024 Public Library Association Conference, which opened on Wednesday in Columbus, Ohio, would kick off with a few challenges of its own. On Tuesday evening, a Tornado warning forced the last-minute cancelation of the much-anticipated welcome reception at the Columbus Public Library. This after opening keynoter Joy Buolamwini was forced to cancel late last week due to unforeseen circumstances. But at Wednesday’s well-attended opening session, Buolamwini's last-minute replacement, author and workplace civility expert Shola Richards, stepped up and delivered the talk that so many public librarians have needed to hear for so long—a message of empathy, unity.

--Write well, market smart, and prosper.

03/31/2024

...What am I doing? "Stuff." Can't say much more about it right now, but yes, I am buried in it, and being a linear thinker, I am tackling each issue one at a time. HAPPY EASTER! It snowed earlier today still cloudy, about 39-40 degrees and some drizzly rain, good day to work inside.

03/14/2024

BOOKS ARE DEAD! NOBODY READS BOOKS ANYMORE!

I get this comment many times from those who are in their early 20's. Then there are other young readers that say they read at least one book per week.

Books, may not ever die, but the book form is evolving. Will the day come when the physical form of books are all virtually gone? Yes, that is a possibility, but there will be those that download e-books to their 3-D printer and manufacture a "hard/softcopy of that book because they prefer the "feel" of a real book.

It could take another 50-75 years for physical books to wain away, and be relegated to the historical libraries; only time will tell. Until then, the heated debate rages-- "Books are Dead!"

--Write well, market smart, and prosper.

03/13/2024

AGENTS, EDITORS, PUBLISHERS: THEY WILL REJECT YOU IF YOUR MANUSCRIPT ISN'T GRAMMATICALLY PERFECT WITH PERFECT PUNCTUATION--

Wrong. But that's the urban/industry myth surrounding the dreaded slush pile and impersonal ubiquitous rejection letter.
Sure, it can be used as an excuse and sometimes is, but that isn't necessarily the real reason. The industry insiders that do acquisitions look for a compelling story, a unique author's voice, and of course writing talent; sometimes that talent is raw.

--Write well, market smart, and prosper.

02/24/2024

Freedom to Read Advocates Blast Alabama Library's Ban on LGBTQ Book Purchases

Despite a number of high-profile legal victories for freedom to read advocates, book bans continue to surge; this week, a host of anti-censorship and library groups are blasting a move by the board of the Autauga-Prattville Public Library in Alabama to bar the library from purchasing books for minors that contain LGBTQ content.

In a February 20th joint statement, PEN America, the National Coalition Against Censorship, Read Freely Alabama, and most public libraries called on the Autauga-Prattville Library Board to reverse its controversial policy. “The Autauga-Prattville Public Library’s board is making a mockery of freedom of expression,” said Kasey Meehan, Freedom to Read program director at PEN America. “We are alarmed to see the suppression of LGBTQ+ books within the library system, especially for young people who rely on the library’s free access to books to understand themselves and the world around them.”

--This is a tough road to traverse, much emotion and many belief systems are involved and hold sway, on both sides of this issue.

02/24/2024

London Book Fair 2024: Setting the Agenda;

The London Book Fair embraces its new status as the first major publishing event of the year.

12/17/2023

Survived the wind and rain, the boat, she was rockin' and reelin' for most of 2 days and nights. It was good to find out that I had done a B- job of sealing the leaks, just two small drippy places, not a big deal, at least I know exactly where the water is coming from now.

10/01/2023

Remember when Banned Books Week used to be billed as a “celebration” of the freedom to read? This year, Banned Books Week (running October 1–7) will once again be more like a call to arms, as new surveys and reports show that a well-organized political and corporate movement is continuing to drive record numbers of book bans across the nation.
A September 19th release, the ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) reported 695 attempts to censor library materials between January 1 and August 31—and while that’s up only slightly from the 681 documented attempts at this point last year, the number of unique titles challenged jumped an eye-opening 20%, with 1,915 targeted compared to 1,651 in 2022. The rise in unique titles challenged is consistent with the rise of organized attempts using shared lists for bulk book challenges, ALA explained. Prior to 2021, more than 90% of challenges tracked by ALA came from alleged individuals objecting to single titles. In 2023, that has now flipped: 90% of the books challenged were “part of an attempt to censor multiple titles.” Books published by and small have always been targeted by the Book Mafia.



--Write well, market smart and prosper

09/24/2023

THE STATE OF BOOK PRINTING

Questions surrounding the future of book printing drew a capacity crowd of 155 publishing professionals to the BMI (Book Manufacturers Institute) Book Manufacturing Mastered conference, held September 14th at Penguin Random House’s New York City headquarters. And though the book manufacturing sector was booming during the pandemic, economic conditions have softened and costs for most materials are continuing to go up, they always have. Yes the traditional ubiquitous hand-wringing resumes. Still, speakers at the conference said book printers are generally in a good place, although with a list of challenges ahead of the industry.

In addition to rising costs, topics discussed included the renewed post-pandemic threat of work moving off-shore, the shift from offset to digital printing (time to wake up from the 20th Century, that shift occurred twenty years ago) and labor shortages.

Some believe the industry has stepped back into 2014. Have we lost all those gains since then? Are e-books the evil empire? No, people are continuing to purchase and read real books.

--Write well, market smart and prosper.

09/24/2023

HUGE GAINS IN GENRE FICTION SALES

Genre fiction remains extremely popular, and many publishers have been increasing their output to meet the demand in recent years for romance, horror, mystery, science fiction, and fantasy titles. This has created industry sales increases from 23%-64% in 2022 and the first half of 2023.
BrocheAroe Fabian, who owns the online bookstore River Dog Book Company, is also a marketing consultant and manager at Sourcebooks. She pays close attention to literary trends, Fabian notes that genre fiction has always had its readers, particularly since such stories “have been inclusive for a long time.” She added, “If you wanted to read diverse books, you read genre fiction.” We agree.

--Write well, market smart and prosper.

09/16/2023

09/11/2023

PUBLISHING NEWS...

Print Book Sales Fell Again Last Week

Unit sales of print books fell 7.9% last week from the comparable week in 2022 at outlets that report to Circana BookScan. Sales were down in all categories. What should you read into this? Nothing, book sales most always drop around Labor Day Weekend.

--Write well, market smart and prosper.

09/04/2023

Industry News Shorts....

"Costs Cut into Profits at Big Publishers."

--Maybe if you stopped buying your hack author books onto the "Best Selling" lists, you might be able to cut your expenses.

"Texas 'Book Ban Law' Struck Down."

--It wasn't really a book ban law, TX wanted to require publishers to rate books content similar to the rating system of the film and television industry. However, the law was poorly written and ambiguous, and could have been used by extreme zealots to possibly ban books or authors. Never a good thing, let the book buyer decide which books are not read.

07/24/2023

We become better writers when we; talk less, listen carefully, hear much, and then reflect on all this in solitude, be dubious of our own opinions, interpretations, and value those of others.

--Write well, market smart and prosper.

07/23/2023

This ritual can sometimes do the same for my ability to get through some manuscripts! :-)

--Write well, market smart and prosper.

07/16/2023

"YOU ALWAYS NEED A PROFESSIONAL EDITOR, EXCEPT WHEN YOU DON'T."

Quality professional book editors are not "cheap" nor are they ubiquitous as you may see on social media. You'll find many people who claim to be book editors but they don't have a verifiable CV to back up their claim. As a publisher, and editor, I can tell you anything less than $850.00 for a 250-300 page book is amateur time.
There is more to editing a book than knowing basic grammar and punctuation, much more. Professional editors are genre specialists market savvy, understanding the always changing trends in the industry.
This inside the industry knowledge is vitally important to you the and the potential success of your book. Your editor understands your genre, linguistics, the state of the market at the time that your book will be released, font trends, interior and exterior book design and much more.
The market smart editor knows the publishing industry inside-out, upside down and sideways, who's doing what, where, and when. A high school or college English teacher can make sure you construct your sentences and paragraphs satisfactorily, but they can't help you craft, polish and sharpen your writing to a razor's gleaming edge for marketability without interfering or even destroying your author's voice and style. Only a seasoned pro can do this for you.

--Write well, edit well, market smart and prosper.