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Signing Off

Unfortunately our time at Uni is drawing to a close, so I'm afraid it's time to thank everyone that followed or enjoyed our blog and say good bye as we sign off for some heavy exams and then a well earned summer!

Happy blogging everyone ! 

Alice, Megan & Hannah x

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Lesson Summary #6

Digital Divides

This will be our final lesson summary, so we hope you all enjoy reading it!

This week's lesson summary is all about Digital Divides, and how digitalisation is not the same in all corners of the world.  Many people assume that digital models that work in the US and Europe can easily be applied to China, Latin America, and in other places in the developing world. This however, is not true, as many countries do not have the same digital capacity as others, which we will be looking at in a moment.

Digital Native Generation refers to people who were born in an era where they have access to digital technology, and it is widely used. These are people who were born in the mid 1990's and after, when the internet and other digital phenomenon's were just beginning to become an essential part of life. There are age barriers with technology as, people over a certain age are likely to find it difficult to use these technologies, as they were not born in this era.

Hemisphere Divides refers to a global divide which is often represented as Northern Hemisphere vs Southern Hemisphere. Industrialised Nations have access to extremely efficient internet services and plentiful human resources.  This means that companies like Amazon, Apple, Google, or Sony are assumed as reference-points in the media and at professional events all over the world.

Countries are faced with two different options:

      a) Financing the instillation of platforms designed in the North

      b) Investing according to their concrete needs, expectations and             potentialities. 

An example of a developing country which has faced the digital revolution is India. In 1998 0.1% of people had access to the internet in India, whereas now there are approximately 4.2% of internet users in India.

There are other divides in the digital world, including racial divides and generation divides, however there are ways that all of these divides may be closed. Closing the divide may include funding community digital inclusions, and encouraging understanding and training in terms of applications and technology. The outcomes of this may be digital literacy, digital advocacy in terms of embracing the age, and computer access for many different people.

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Word of the Week - Digital Natives

Digital Natives are the generation of individuals born into the current digital age. Anyone born between 1996 to the present day would fall into this category.

Digital Natives have innate digital literacy (understanding of digital technology) which in many cases leads to cultural acceptance. 

Are you a Digital Native?

Keep a look out for our latest lesson summary which will relate to our word of the week. Happy reading!

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Let Books Be Books Campaign

A quick and interesting news story today relating to gender in books, namely children's books.  A national campaign has been launched called 'Let Books Be Books', in an attempt to stop children's books being labelled as just for boys or just for girls.   There has been a petition aimed at publishers to "stop labelling books, in the title or on the packaging, as for girls or for boys" because "telling children which stories and activities are 'for them' based on their gender closes down whole worlds of interest," and it has now got over 3,000 signatures.

The main issues concerned with gender specific books, are the gender limitations that they evoke.  Many believe that children should not read books based on their gender, rather, they should read books based on what interests them.  

This campaign is the latest from the 'Let Toys Be Toys' campaign, which aims to stop gender specific toys being sold by retailers. (To find out mroe information on this campaign, visit their website: http://www.lettoysbetoys.org.uk/).  

So what do you think? Should there be less emphasis put on gender in books, or is this perfectly innocent?

Taken from: http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/mar/16/campaign-gender-children-publishing-waterstones-malorie-blackman

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Lesson Summary #5

  Alternative Publishing

This week's summary is going to be on Alternative Publishing and the wider aspects of this term. 

In contrast to Legacy Publishing (the traditional format of publishing) Alternative Publishing can take the form of many different types of publication:

Self Publishing

Here, the author ultimately takes on the publication of their title themselves. The growth of digitization (digital technology) has encouraged the expansion of self publishing, although the cost of self publishing is never as low as you think. Authors choosing to self publish will incur costs for:

- ISBN number

- Copyright registration

- Cover design

- Copy editing (DO NOT be your own editor!)

- Cover photography

- Cost for a proof

It is estimated that to produce a half-decent publication as a self-publisher, it would cost you around $500. 

Businesses such as Smashwords and Lulu are often used by self publishers to help format manuscripts and word documents into eReader formats.  

Print-on-Demand

Print-on-demand publishing enables authors to produce physical books to sell in bookshops rather than through large warehouses that stock titles that sell through Amazon etc.

Digitization has lead authors to produce titles quickly and easily as many of the traditional processes are cut out (eg. collation process). Inventions such as the Espresso Machine are a good example of this as authors are able to produce their own title in a physical format quickly and easily. Many self-made publishers have also started up this way.

Vanity Publishing

Vanity publishing is essentially the opposite of traditional publishing.

As usual the author creates the title in manuscript form and sends this to the chosen publisher. The publisher then creates a formatted version of the manuscript and then sends it back to the author. It is then up to the author to distribute and sell the title.

This can be to the author’s advantage as well as their disadvantage depending on how fair the agreement is between author and publisher.

Why is Alternative Publishing a problem for publishers?

-       Lack of oversight

-       Changes the market predictably

-       Bad productions weaken the demand for books as a whole

-       Ultimately, publishers don’t like change

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Easter Break

Hey guys, although we have been a little slow on the posting front as we were on our Easter holidays, we are now back at university, so be prepared to be bombarded with lots of new content, lesson summaries and words of the week! We hope you all had a lovely Easter, and make sure to keep an eye out for new posts!

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Phrase of the Day - 'Content is King'

Alongside our Word of the Week, we have also picked a Phrase of the Day for this moment in time. 

Following the common discussion of the death of the paperback it should be highlighted that wherever there is content, there will always be a means of publication. 

So fear not budding authors and possible publishers, content is King! 

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This is a great article on ebooks, and highlights how not everyone is a big fan of digital publishing!

Check out the article through the link above! 

I once shouted that e-readers were humanity’s ruin, then later wrote a love letter to my Kindle. I’m back aboard the paper-and-binding express these days, but I totally see the merit of ebooks: You’ve got unlimited books for a long trip! You can hide your utter...

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World Book Day's Storycraft for Kids

This is a brilliant news story that we have for you today, encouraging kids to write stories and allowing them to have help from real authors to do this!

Storycraft is an interactive tool launched by World Book Day, to allow children to write stories and get help on several different aspects of storytelling from 60 different authors.  This tool was launched back in 2013, however teachers reported back to WBD, stating that the children needed more step-by-step guides to make it easier for them to use this tool.

After its recent relaunch, there have been changes including themes for the children to choose from, and the fact that the children do not have to start writing at the beginning of the story.  Kirsten Grant, WBD director, stated that an author had told them that often they do not start writing stories at the beginning, and so this gave them the idea of creating this feature; stating that "children can begin wherever they like in the story then work around it".

We think that this is a great new tool worth talking about, as it creates a pathway for a new generation of authors, and encourages them to start writing from a young age.

Taken from: http://www.thebookseller.com/news/world-book-days-storycraft-success.html

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Words of the Week - Self-Publishing and Hybrid Author

We haven't done a word of the week in a while due to the Easter break from University, so we have decided to do two words of the week this week...

Self-Publishing and Hybrid Author!

After our latest news article about Hugh Howey and his self-published status, we thought that these words would be fitting for our words of the week this week.  Hybrid Author describes an author who explores different ways of publishing their works rather than using a traditional publishing house, such as self-publishing.  Self-publishing is as it sounds: publishing your own work without using a traditional publishing house, and is becoming increasingly popular among new authors.

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Self-Publishing and the Hybrid Author

After rummaging through Publishers Weekly, we came across an interesting article about self-publishing!  Take a look at what we found!

Author Hugh Howey is being described as a 'hybrid author' due to his self-published status, and discussed this at the 2014 London Book Fair. Although Howey is now being published by traditional houses, he did make money from self-publishing before this, and still advocates it now.  He said to a panel that he believes that self-publishing is important to authors as it is a way of connecting to their readers whilst perfect their writing skills.  

Howey also discussed the importance of giving away free copies of authors' works, and defends the stigma behind this by stating that "what devalues literature is having good books go unread".  Howey goes on to explain that the way an author would go about making money from their work whilst giving it away for free, is by creating a backlist.  

Although Howey does not fully agree with the term 'hybrid' to describe himself as an author (as he sees himself as just an author no matter how he chooses to publish his work), he says that he hopes that the self-publishing market will allow many different authors to find their own audience, and eventually help them to make some money from their work.

Taken from: http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/international/london-book-fair/article/61798-london-book-fair-2014-howey-champions-diy-publishing.html

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Blogger Profile- Alice Heathcote

Hi everyone! I'm Alice and just like Hannah and Megan I'm a second year Publishing and English student at Loughborough University. Outside of the workspace I enjoy sports, photography and reading, alongside working with others in a team environment. When it comes to the Publishing industry my passion lies with good old paperback magazines! My ambition is to become part of the team behind one of the many amazing magazines on our shop shelves today. So, enjoy our blog and watch this space... 

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10 Things You May Not Know about eBooks and UK Public Libraries

26.03.2014 While reading FutureBook, we found these interesting facts about eBooks and Libraries! Check it out! 1. Libraries don’t have the right to lend e-books. 2. Authors get paid (via Public Lending Right) when their physical book is borrowed from a public library, but not if it’s an e-book. The legislation hasn’t kept up. 3. You can’t borrow library books on a Kindle. 4. Library e-books and e-audiobooks are almost impossible for people with serious sight impairments to use. The combination of registration issues and the Digital Rights Management (DRM) software makes them almost unusable. 5. You can’t borrow an e-book in a library (unless you bring your own device, and the library offers wi-fi. DRM means you can’t use library computers. 6. Libraries can’t host and loan e-books themselves. They don’t have the technology. Third-party companies do it for them. 7. Libraries can’t buy and own e-books, which are licensed. If a library service changes supplier, it loses the stock it has paid for. 8. Roughly 85% of popular e-books are not available to public libraries. Publishers are anxious about how e-loans will affect their sales, and there’s no legal requirement for them to sell to libraries. 9. Many library services help people to get started with e-books. They run public workshops, offer training and advice, and take e-readers and tablets to housebound users. 10. Public libraries in the UK spend around £78m per year on books, and around £2m on e-books.

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It says something about the phenomenal rise of social media that Facebook is now competing with Google in terms of site traffic. Publishers have long had Google-orientated strategies; now, says Carolyn Morgan, they need to devise social media strategies too.

Publishers now use social media in a variety of ways, find out how sites such as Facebook and Twitter can be integrated into publishing activity by reading this insightful article!

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Blogger Profile - Hannah Royer

Hey, my name is Hannah, and I'm also a second year Publishing and English student at Loughborough University. Alongside my interest in sport, I am also passionate about books and reading, and the process of creating and developing new titles. I hope you find our blog interesting and useful in developing your knowledge of production. Enjoy!

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Blogger Profile - Megan Hardy

Hey guys, my name’s Megan and I’m a second year publishing student at Loughborough University. Although I enjoy the English side of my course, the production element of books really interests me, most likely because I love reading! Our blog is a great paltform for students who are interested in working in the publishing industry, and I look forward to sharing any knowledge we gain with our followers! Happy reading!

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The Team

The faces behind Pretty People Publishing are: Megan Hardy (blogger and statistics communicator) Hannah Royer (blogger and statistics communicator) Alice Heathcote (communications and media manager) Find us on: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/prettypeoplepublishing Twitter: https://twitter.com/prettypeoplepub Or email us at: prettypeoplepublishing@gmail.com