Amazon to Launch Kindle Worlds, a Marketplace for Fan Fiction |  |
- Amazon to Launch Kindle Worlds, a Marketplace for Fan Fiction
- What is a SERP?
- Love Grumpy Cat Images? Artists Create Awesome Art of Feline Sensation
- 8 Top “Guilty Pleasure” Books for Summer Reading
| Amazon to Launch Kindle Worlds, a Marketplace for Fan Fiction Posted: 26 May 2013 05:22 PM PDT
Do you like to write or read “fan fiction”? Fan fiction, if you’re not familiar with the term, is where fans of an original work write their own stories based on characters in the original work. For example, the Fifty Shades of Gray trilogy that has topped bestseller lists, was based on fan fiction deriving from the Twilight series of vampire books. Well, if you write fanfiction you now have a new outlet for it: Amazon.com. Amazon announced this week that it is launching Kindle Worlds. This is a place where short-story authors can write and get paid for stories they write based on their favorite TV shows, movies, music, or games. The company will roll out the Kindle Worlds for Authors platform soon. Fan fiction writers will be able to submit their work for digital publication. Amazon Publishing will retain the copyright to any submitted work and sell it across platforms on its free Kindle Reader apps. This is a way to get short stories published without going through traditional means and avoiding rejection letters. However, you have to be willing to abide by Amazon’s rules. Stories that are accepted will be based on Worlds that are created based on licensing agreements Amazon reaches. At the beginning, only a few Worlds will be available for authors. Amazon has worked out a deal with Warner Bros. Television Group’s Alloy Entertainment that allows fans of shows like Pretty Little Liars, The Vampire Diaries, and Gossip Girl to write stories based on these shows. Writers can use settings and characters and write their own short stories. Because the fiction is done under licensing agreements, it also avoids potential copyright issues for the fan-fiction writers. That’s always been a gray area for fan fiction. Some authors of original works have taken action against fan fiction. Others have given their blessing. Through this new service, the author writes a story that sticks to this “World” and submits it to Amazon, where it is available as an eBook for Kindle readers. Amazon sets the price — between $0.99 and $3.99. Longer stories (more than 10,000 words) that carry a larger price tag will receive a 35 percent royalty of net sales. Authors of works with a lower price tag and shorter in length (between 5,000 and 10,000 words) will get 20 percent. The publisher and the “world” owner (so far, this would just be Warner Bros.) would split the rest. Amazon sends a payment monthly. Image: Vampire Diaries The post Amazon to Launch Kindle Worlds, a Marketplace for Fan Fiction appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
| Posted: 26 May 2013 12:00 PM PDT
So, just what is a SERP?Imagine someone doing a search in Google for a word or phrase. Google will return results for that particular search on a Google search results page. You’ve seen SERPs many times. Above is an example of SERP in the Bing.com search engine. The acronym SERP, or sometimes the plural form SERPs, tends to be used in discussions about search engines or search engine optimization. It might be used in a sentence such as: ”You appeared number 3 in the SERPs.” Translation: When we did a search in Google for the type of product your company sells, your website appeared as the third result down on the search page in Google. The person making that statement usually means the website appeared number 3 after all the paid ads (outlined in yellow in the image above). But not always — it’s also possible to buy a number 1 position in the SERPs, simply by buying pay-per-click ads from a search engine like Google or Bing. That’s because there are two types of results returned on most search engine pages in Google, Bing or other engines:
Either type of result can result in your website appearing high in the search engines for a specific word or phrase. But of course, paid ads can be expensive unless you really know your way around the bidding system for buying paid search ads. So why are SERPs important?Studies show the higher up you appear in the search results, the more likely someone searching will click over to YOUR site. Most SERPs consist of multiple pages. A search for a popular term will return dozens, hundreds or thousands of search result pages. In the example pictured above, over 700 million results were returned. Imagine being a searcher faced with all of those SERP pages. Who has the patience and time to click through them all? No one. Therefore, the pages that appear highest in the search engine results pages are more likely to get clicked and get the traffic. That usually means that if you want to get meaningful traffic, your business needs to appear on the first page of the SERPs or possibly the second or third page. Who uses the acronym SERP?SERP is a technical acronym. Most of the time the people using a term like SERP are search engine optimization professionals or marketing professionals. If you hire a professional to help you with your search engine placement — or even just read up on the topic yourself — sooner or later you will encounter this term. Either way, as a small business owner or manager who realizes the importance of your business being found online you will want to know what a SERP is. The more you know, the better informed the business decisions you make. And you’ll be better able to hold your own with the people or firms you hire. For more on this topic and related topics, see: SEOBook: Search Engine Marketing Glossary SearchEngineLand: What is SEO? Google: Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide (PDF) 3 Ways to Perform SEO on a Shoestring Budget Small Business SEO Trends to Keep an Eye On The post What is a SERP? appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
| Love Grumpy Cat Images? Artists Create Awesome Art of Feline Sensation Posted: 26 May 2013 09:00 AM PDT If you have been online over the past 6 months, you probably know about Grumpy Cat. The feline sensation (aka, Tardar Sauce) has been all over the Web. Grumpy Cat’s owners have even applied for a trademark on Grumpy Cat because her image is so iconic. That recognition factor is what Media Director Dustin Timbrook (pictured below) was counting on when he organized an art project revolving around the online sensation at Lowe Mill Arts & Entertainment in Huntsville, Alabama.
Dustin Timbrook The Grumpy Cat Art Project features original works of art — starring Grumpy Cat. There’s a business purpose behind it all. The purpose is to gain nationwide exposure for the local artists at Lowe Mill. "The hope is that by using a universally recognized character like Grumpy Cat, more people will pay attention and look at the artwork," said Timbrook. "But then if they like the style of one of the pieces, maybe they'll go look at the artist's other work." The project has worked so far. Participating artists have had their pieces shared on sites like The Huffington Post and The Today Show. And the owners of Grumpy Cat have even shared the project links on their own site and Facebook account. At first, the project was just meant to draw attention to the artistic talent at Lowe Mill. But after receiving many suggestions to sell the pieces, Timbrook, who is also participating in the project as an artist (pictured above), decided to organize an online auction. All proceeds of the auction will go to the individual artists and to build a playground at Lowe’s Mill, which is an arts center and has a historic mill. The online auction is scheduled for May 27 through 31, 2013. Below is a sampling of the artists creations.
Jennifer Stottle
Nolan Cash
Judson Portzer
Jim Seaquist
Joe Williams
Holly Morningstar
Calvin Hubbard
Gina Percifull
Denise Williams To see all of the artists creations, visit the Lowe Mill Grumpy Cat Art Project. The post Love Grumpy Cat Images? Artists Create Awesome Art of Feline Sensation appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
| 8 Top “Guilty Pleasure” Books for Summer Reading Posted: 26 May 2013 06:00 AM PDT Just to be clear, my business book addiction also takes a vacation. There’s only so much marketing strategy any small business owner can read about, right? Sometimes, you have to change it up and this is my summer reading list that has a small business spin, but is certainly not all business. Summer Reading ListA Brief History of Swearing by Melissa Mohr
Melissa Mohr takes us on a historic journey of swearing that will transform the way you react to swearing. For example, she covers the difference between obscenities and oaths and goes into details about how swearing or not swearing in the Middle Ages could be a matter of life and death. The book also covers censorship and the rise of racial slurs. Overall, this book will make you a more refined consumer of language and add to some colorful cocktail talk over the summer. The Entrepreneur Diet : The On-the-Go Plan for Fitness, Weight Loss and Healthy Living by Tom Weede
Entrepreneurs lead busy and stressful lives and The Entrepreneur Diet looks like a great book to point small business owners in a healthier direction. This book is published by Entrepreneur Magazine, so you know they understand how we live. Inside you'll find habits for shedding fat, habits that work with busy schedules, stealth exercises that can be done on an airplane and many more healthy strategies for busy business people on the go. A Curious Man: The Strange and Brilliant Life of Robert "Believe It or Not!" Ripley by Neal Thompson
You'll enjoy getting to know this cartoonist turned millionaire adventurer through the eyes of Neal Thompson (@NealThompson). Ripley embodied the entrepreneurial spirit with his penchant for making outrageous statements that often turned out to be true such as that Charles Lindbergh was only the sixty-seventh man to fly across the Atlantic or that "The Star Spangled Banner" was not the national anthem. (Really? I didn't know this!) This is why I loved Ripley and you will find his story inspirational. Salt Sugar Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us by Michael Moss
I'm not one for conspiracies, but if you love documentaries like Food Nation, then you'll want to grab this book for yourself. Michael Moss (@saltsugfat), Pulitzer Prize winning writer for the New York Times unearths the "secret sauce" behind our cravings for all things salty, sweet and fattening. (Whew! I'm glad it's not just my lack of willpower!) As it turns out, food companies spend a lot of research dollars and time figuring out exactly what trips our taste buds into wanting more and more of their products. They call it the "bliss point" and you'll call this book riveting. Hacking Your Education by Dale J. Stephens
If you're part of either of these conversations, then this will be a book for your summer reading list. Dale Stephens (@DaleJStephens) claims that you can hack your education and that college degrees are antiquated. The new generation of "Hackademics" (as he calls them) are building successful careers and futures with nothing more than curiosity, confidence and grit. Hmm, sounds like the attributes of budding entrepreneurs, doesn't it? Top Dog: The Science of Winning and Losing by Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman
Top Dog is all about identifying your own competitive style and learning how to tip the odds in your favor. For example, home field advantage matters in sports as well as in diplomacy and business, women are better at judging risk while men are better at ignoring it. There are tons of other interesting strategic game plans you can learn from the world of sports that you can incorporate to build a winning business. Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation by Michael Pollan
When we stop cooking, we hand off a critical component of nutrition as well as relationships to corporations. Michael Pollan's (@michaelpollan) position is that taking back control of cooking may be the single most important step anyone can take to help make the American food system healthier and more sustainable. Start: Punch Fear in the Face, Escape Average and Do Work that Matters by Jon Acuff
Jon Acuff (@JonAcuff), Wall Street Journal best selling author explains how much the idea of success has changed over the last 100 years. Baby Boomers are starting second and third careers and technology has given rise to a whole new tribe of entrepreneurs. Acuff explores the idea that there are only two ways to get through in life; average and awesome. Average is the easier path and doesn't require much effort, while the awesome path is extremely challenging. So where is the middle? You'll have to read the book to find out. As I pulled this summer reading list together, I noticed that I didn’t have any totally off the business path books. Do you have any on your list? What are you reading this summer to get your mind off of business? The post 8 Top “Guilty Pleasure” Books for Summer Reading appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
The word “SERP” stands for “search engine results page.” It’s pronounced ”serp,” just like in the first syllable of the word serpent.
After spending about 25 years in manufacturing, I'm ashamed to say that I've acquired a sort of potty mouth. So when I saw this book on the NPR website, I thought I'd add it to my reading list.
For those of us in colder climates, Summer is an ideal opportunity to lighten our eating and a great time to get healthy.
What's a Summer reading list without a good biography? When I saw this title about Robert Ripley (from Ripley's Believe it or Not) it took me back to my childhood and one of my favorite books to grab when it was reading time and my favorite cartoon in the newspaper.
So if the healthy entrepreneur book didn't get your attention, maybe Salt Sugar Fat will. I heard about this book from some friends and then I heard an interview on NPR and this is how it ended up on my list.
This is the season where young people are either heading into college and about to spend more money than you can earn in a decade or getting out of college with relatively poor job prospects.
Many of you are going to be spending the summer at a variety of sporting events. If you're there with your kids or grandchildren, you might see everyone get a trophy and you'll either applaud it or go on a rant. Whichever camp you fall into, here's a book that will keep you company in the shade.
Since I'm a foodie, Cooked grabbed my attention. This is a really interesting book, not just about food and mastering the art of elemental cooking, but about impact of NOT cooking.
The idea of "success first and significance later" is dead. This is the phrase that stopped me cold in my tracks. It explained why Gen X, Gen Y and the Millennials put such a high priority on the quality of how they spend their time and who they spend it with.| You are subscribed to email updates from Small Business Trends To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
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