I heart GalleyCat. Yes, I do and I’m not ashamed to say it. It’s one of MediaBistro’s many blogs and in my opinion, it’s one of the best. Between the insider info on the publishing world and the great interviews, I feel that it’s a must read for writers and authors. No, I don’t get a check from them for saying this. When I find something I like, I feel the need to share it.

One of yesterday’s articles, entitled “Writers: Making a Living Off of Kindle?” caught my eye for a variety of reasons. Anything that has “writer” and “making a living” and “Kindle” is probably going to stop me in my tracks. I clicked on the link and lo and behold it’s an interview with J.A. Konrath, author of the Jack Daniels detective series. The interview was inspiring. Here’s an excerpt:

Is it really possible to make a living from selling eBooks on Kindle? Could someone actually give up their day job? And if so, how long would it take to do so?

I’m currently selling 180 ebooks a day on Kindle…

180 books a day, without a publisher backing him. Wahoo!

You can read the rest of the interview here.

Something interesting for Friday…  Have kids? Live far away from the grandparents? They can still participate in the time honored tradition of the bedtime story. As somebody who does frequent webcam visits with loved ones far away, I thought this was pretty cool.

Click here for the Galleycat article and video.

Also…don’t forget! Next Tuesday kicks off our Featured Writer/Author Series! It’s shaping up to be very exciting!

Yesterday, Galleycat published an article about sf/fantasy imprint, Pyr, accepting unagented manuscripts. You can see the article here.

First of all, YAY!!!!!!!  Yay, obviously, because I don’t have an agent, yet. I’m not alone in that boat. Lots of us don’t have agents, for various reasons, so this is a unique opportunity to strike out there and get published without the help of an agent.

Secondly, this brings up an interesting thought. Why would a publisher do that? At conventions, don’t we get pounded into our heads that we need an agent? Don’t publishers always say they’d RATHER work with an agent?

I’m wondering if part of this is a reaction to the current state of the publishing industry. We’re seeing a huge upsurge in e-books. More and more people are going the self-publishing route and having legitimate success. In my mind, we’re seeing what the music industry saw with iPods and mp3s. Suddenly musicians realized, hey, I can do this on my own. I don’t need a major record label to release my stuff. And some of these musicians are wildly successful.

So, is this direction publishing is going too? As a reader, do you see a stigma against self-published or independent writers or is it just becoming more mainstream to do it that way?

As a writer, have you considered going independent or are you holding out for an agent and publisher? What are your thoughts?

And I feel fine? Hmmm…not sure.

Michael Hyatt, CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishers recently posted a blog article entitled “The End of Book Publishing As We Know It” in which he discusses how the publishing industry is going to have to completely rethink how it does business. He was prompted to write the article after seeing a demo for the “SI Tablet.” (The demo is posted in his article.)

He brings up some fascinating points including that standard “books” as we know them will go away, just like 8 tracks and the like. I believe at some point, that’s probably true. They may not go away completely, but just like iPods replaced Walkman’s and CD players, so will the E-Reader replace standard books. That’s just the way of things, and in a lot of ways, it’s very exciting.

There was one point that bothered me though. Mr. Hyatt states that, “These new technologies promise to create reading experiences (if we can call them that) that are more sensual, more imaginative, and more compelling than simple text alone can provide.”

Ok, I have to admit, I like a lot of the new technology. I love my Netbook, my iPod, and I enter every Kindle contest I can find, but the above statement disturbed me because what are books, if not a way to expand our OWN imaginations and sensory images?

I have a hard time getting through a book where an author tries to think for me, example: “He turned his eyes to the floor, because he was ashamed.”  What’s the fun in a device that will spoon serve the book to me, sensory images and all? The E-Readers that are out now, you still have to READ them, so I don’t feel like the traditional ‘book’ is as threatened by them as they are by something that promises to turn a reading experience into something more.

Granted, his statement is a little vague. He doesn’t state specifically that these new devices will eventually have crazy things like sound effects and smell effects that will trigger at certain points and “enhance” the reading experience, but it does make me wonder what DOES he mean? At what point is this technology too much?

What are your thoughts?

If I’ve ever spoken to you in person, you probably know I want a Kindle. I have a very good friend who also wants one and so we send each other links to different contests to win them.

There’s one particular contest from the Bibliofreakblog, that is doing their contest a little differently. You can do different things to get more entries. These ‘things’ range from following the Bibliofreak on Twitter to making a YouTube video.

I have no talent for film making, but it turns out that my friend, Nancy, does. (This is addition to her MULTITUDES of other talents.)

Here is a link to her YouTube video.

And a link to her Icelandic sheep website.

It’s great, and it gives a little glimpse into her life as a shepherd of Icelandic Sheep…as told by her stunning ram, Nicholai.

Please check out her video. It’s a nice fun way to slide in to this post-holiday work week. Except for Nancy, because on the farm, the work never ends!

Yesterday Barnes and Noble announced their new E-Book reader, Nook. Kindle has been around for a while and there are a myriad of others, plus you can download apps for your iPhones (if you like reading on tiny little screens). Because for many, these E-Book readers are still cost prohibitive, they’re not at all widespread. However, with new devices being released, the price will come down and more people will have them.

And as with any technology, there are debates over whether or not it’s a good thing. I personally think it’s great. I’m not even the kind of person who wants every little gadget that comes out, but for some reason, these E-Book Readers have struck my fancy. Maybe it’s the ability to have several hundred books on one device. Maybe it’s the instant gratification factor of downloading a book. I don’t know. But I want one.

Aside from all that, one of my favorite blogs, GalleyCat, released an article talking about Digital Freeloaders. These are basically people who piggyback off of their friend’s Kindle Account. It’s like lending a friend a book, but in a digital format. Yes, book was paid for by the person with the Kindle account, but not by the friend.

My question is…is this piracy? People share books and go to used bookstores all the time, (in neither instance does the author get paid), but there doesn’t seem to be the outcry from the publishing industry that there is from the music industry in regards to free downloading. What’s the difference, or is there one?