Contributor, Author at The Digital Reader

(Updated) Thirteen Great Tools That Will Make Your Writing Shine

25 June, 201925 June, 2019content creation, Tips and Tricks, Writing5 Comments

Writing is hard, even at the best of times. Putting down your thoughts in an orderly and compelling manner can be excruciating, so much so that...

How to Add Books to Your iPad and iPhone Without Connecting to iTunes

3 March, 20194 March, 2019iBooks, iDevice, iTunes, Kindle (platform), Tips and Tricks5 Comments

Adding third-party ebooks to Apple Books or one of the other ebook apps on your iDevice used to be quite painful. You had to use one...

Where to Go for Author Services without CreateSpace

7 August, 20187 August, 2018Self-Pub2 Comments

by Esther Park of Kirkus Reviews In late November of 2016, the world of independent publishing was surprised by the news that Amazon had announced plans...

Guest Post: What Tech Startups Can Teach Authors About Marketing

28 April, 201827 May, 2018Self-Pub2 Comments

by Evan Gow In the world of Startups, Dave McClure is a boss. He’s invested in 5 unicorns (a moniker for startups worth over a billion...

Guest Post: The Importance of Actually Unplugging on National Day of Unplugging

8 March, 20188 March, 2018e-Reading Hardware, Editorials4 Comments

by Jamie Gruman Instead of a smartphone, I have an old school cellphone. I can’t use it to check social media sites to see what my friends...

Top Trends in Book Cover Design Forecast for 2018

6 December, 20178 December, 2017content creation11 Comments

By Lindsey Vontz, 99designs Grabbing a reader’s attention isn’t easy when there are hundreds of books on the shelf. But one way to make a book...

The Book of My Enemy Has Been Remaindered

4 December, 20174 December, 2017Book Culture, humorLeave a comment

Editor’s Note: The following poem was written by Clive James. I haven’t been able to reach the author and secure permission for posting it here, so...

Guest Post: B&N Needs to Get Over Its Fear

21 August, 201728 August, 2017Barnes & Noble, Editorials3 Comments

by Randy Lea I live in Vancouver, WA, with Powell’s Bookstore in Portland about 40 miles away. I was thrilled when the B&N stores opened in...

How To Easily Proofread And Edit Your Own eBook

7 July, 201729 November, 2017Writing7 Comments

You’ve finally written the last word of your manuscript, and it’s all done and dusted. You’re now a fully fledged writer! However, after the writing comes...

Amazon Offers Prime Discount for Some US Customers Receiving Government Aid

6 June, 20176 June, 2017Amazon3 Comments

Amazon is now discounting Prime for customers receiving certain types of government aid. (Corporations, farm subsidy recipients, and mortgage holders will not benefit.) On Tuesday Amazon...

Apple Launches HomePod Speaker to Bring Siri Into the Living Room

5 June, 20175 June, 2017Apple6 Comments

Apple is finally taking Alexa, which is available on a wide variety of hardware, seriously. On Monday Apple introduced the HomePod speaker to compete with Amazon.com...

Apple Set to Expand Siri, Taking Different Route from Amazon’s Alexa

5 June, 20175 June, 2017Amazon, AppleLeave a comment

With its broad device support and constantly expanding skill set, Alexa its beating is competitors Cortana, Siri, and Google Home in the virtual assistant market. But it...

Amazon B&M in New York City

28 May, 201712 June, 2017Amazon, Bookstore6 Comments

by Rickard Hollick Amazon’s new bricks and mortar store in Manhattan is on the third floor of the Time Warner Center. A few years ago we...

Amazon Trounces Rivals in Battle of the Shopping Bots

12 May, 201712 May, 2017Amazon2 Comments

Knowledge is power. This truism is why everyone in publishing reads the Author Earnings Report, and it is also why online retailers use bots to track...

Amazon Cuts Free Shipping Minimum to $25

9 May, 20179 May, 2017Amazon5 Comments

Amazon.com said on Tuesday it cut the threshold for free shipping to $25 from $35, upping the ante against Wal-Mart in a hotly contested battle for...