Go Publish Yourself?

A very good friend of mine, a writer by trade, recently completed a new novel, but found traditional publishing channels not quickly amenable to the work, which he characterizes as a "part travelogue, part historical mystery." Looking to self-publish, he found Lulu.com after an internet search and, within a short time, had his new book online, proofed, and available for sale. Lulu.com is a print-on-demand (POD) service. They do books, CDs, DVDs, and more. For writers looking to publish their work, the service is free, at least for now, and comes complete with ISBN number (although, I think that if you get an ISBN number for free through Lulu, they end up owning the ISBN - see Caveat # 3 below). You select your paper size/binding, upload your document, and upload or create front and back cover artwork. They offer technical help documentation along the way and even have support via live chat.

More than just giving you the chance to make and print your own paperback book for your own private pleasure, Lulu.com lets you sell your finished product on their marketplace and on other various online retailers' sites. While the base cost of printing varies depending on the type of paper/binding you select and the number of pages in your book, authors can set their own markup in addition to this base cost (plus a  commission cost for Lulu.com) and receive this surplus after each sale. My friend has only made a few bucks so far, but he wasn't really in it for the money.

POD Caveat #1: Be sure to thoroughly examine and understand the pay structure and remission timing/procedures of the POD service you use. My friend is computer saavy, so he had very few issues in getting his book onto Lulu, but things can get pretty complicated if you're not familiar with word processing, document layout, and graphic design.

POD Caveat #2: Be willing to invest significant personal effort, or find a friend who can help, in the technical side of preparing your work for print. Free POD services often offer paid technical support, but doesn't that defeat the purpose of free?

My friend told me, "Print-on-demand has become the wild west of personal capitalism" for artists. And, I think that he's right to use the phrase "wild west." You have to protect yourself and your art.

POD Caveat #3: Know the terms and agreements of the POD service you use in terms of your rights and control of your art.

POD Caveat #4: You are putting your art out there on the free marketplace. Generally, POD services are not liable for what might happen to you artwork. Read this interesting set of articles written by someone whose artwork was stolen.

All in all, with the right amount of technical muscle and persistence, cautiousness and research about which POD service to use, and vigilance after your work has been published, it just might be possible to have a successful, fulfilling foray into the world of print-on-demand.

Other POD Sites and Articles BookSurge CafePress CreateSpace iUniverse Zazzle

POD Article on Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, Inc.

Lessons Learned Self-Publishing with Lulu

Monday Morning Freebies...

Call me cliché, but Mondays stink. So I'm offering a couple useful sites to brighten your week. Zamzar: Free Online File Conversion

Zamzar.com is one of my favorite online discoveries in quite some time. The tool allows you to upload a file and convert it to another format of the same type. For instance, you can upload and convert a WAV audio file to MP3, a DOC file to PDF, a WMV file to MP4, etc. You can also upload a file and compress it to a ZIP file.

Once you've uploaded your file(s), you just select your desired conversion format and click "Convert." Within an hour (usually no more than a few minutes, depending on the number/size of your files), you'll receive an email with links to download your new files. The site even lets you convert multiple files at once.

Zamzar's free account lets you convert files up to 100 MB, but you can pay for premium plans.

Umbrella Today?

Sometimes the simplest things are the most useful. Such is the case with UmbrellaToday.com, a weather site that makes things easy.

It's always frustrating to visit a weather site, enter a zip code and get vague information and percentages. I didn't major in meteorology, and I don't want to read radar maps. Sometimes I just want to know if I'm going to get wet.

With UmbrellaToday.com, you simply enter your zip code to ask the question, "Do I need an umbrella today?" and the site gives you a big fat "YES" or "NO." You can also enter your mobile number and select a time to receive a daily text alert from the site.

Never again will my perfect quaff be ruined by Mother Nature.

Just in case you didn't believe us...

When we say the Technology in the Arts Podcast is a great resource for a wide span of people - artists, tech geeks, technophobes - we mean it. Yea, we know what you're thinking... we're biased. But the completely impartial Colin Marshall, author of The Sound of Young America's Podthoughts blog, recently wrote a great review for the show. An excerpt:

"One of my favorite aspects of podcasting is that it allows the listener to 'meet' a wide range of new people doing neato projects who they wouldn't normally run into. Technology in the Arts serves up quite a few of those, from the founders of Artlog.com [MP3] to the president of the Association of Arts Administration Educators [MP3] to the co-director of the art-space Future Tenant [MP3]."

And we didn't even pay Colin. In fact, we've never even met him. So check out the Technology in the Arts Podcast to judge for yourself.

Also, we'd love to hear from you at podcast@technologyinthearts.org.

Google's New Browser

Google, the great and powerful Oz of the Internet, announced Monday that its been working on a new open-source Web browser called Chrome. A beta version of the browser is expected to be released today for Windows with Mac and Linux versions to follow in the coming months.

So with Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, Opera and other browsers already available to users for free, what is the point?

According to this comic, Google feels browsers have grown to accommodate Web pages but not Web applications. Since most people use the Web to view videos, chat, play games and interact on a deeper level than ever before, Google decided to completely rethink the Web browser. Their plan, the comic states, is to build a tool that better serves the needs of the modern Web user.

If the beta releases today as expected, we'll see if early reviews project success. Since I, like everyone else, have consumed the Google Kool-Aid, I fully expect Chrome to be a winner. But I'll try to maintain a modicum of skepticism until I've at least played with the beta release.

Building a Web Site for Zero, Zilch, Nada, Nothing...

The Center for Arts Management and Technology receives calls and emails all the time from artists interested in creating a Web site for free. My first piece of advice is, "Check out WordPress.com." WordPress.com is the hosted version of the popular WordPress blog software, and they offer free accounts. The only caveat is that your site has to use the WordPress.com domain. (Hey, what's a domain?) For instance, my site would have to be something like bradstephenson.wordpress.com. However, you could throw a little cash at your site and use WordPress.com's custom domain. You can read more about that here. But that's not why you're here... you're here because you want it free. You're cheap, and I love you.

So I decided to set up a 100% free Web site for myself to demonstrate that it can be done. One thing that should be mentioned up front... If you have no interest in learning anything new with regard to technology, you should stop here and pay someone to set up your Web site. The virtual world is like the real world in that you cannot do something new without investing at least a modicum of effort.

1 - Domain Registration

If you can live without a .com or .org Web address, there are a handful of services that offer free domain registrations. I chose www.co.cc for this exercise.

2 - Web Hosting

There are countless free Web hosting services out there (including CAMT, but we offer the bare essentials for arts organizations), and you can get some pretty decent packages. For this activity, I selected X10Hosting.com, because they offer 300 MB of ad-free space. (Some free hosts force you to include their banner ads on your site, which will get you more space and perks but can be obtrusive to your visitors.) There is a searchable directory of free hosting providers at http://www.free-webhosts.com, and X10Hosting ranked very high on their list. Keep in mind that I had to wait 120 minutes after signing up to get confirmation of my account creation. Hoops to jump through? Yes. Can beggars be choosers? Up for debate.

3 - HTML Template

Assuming you don't know HTML and don't want to pay someone (free, remember?), you'll want to take advantage of one of the numerous sites that offer free Web templates. Themebot.com has some pretty nice templates of varying styles and languages (i.e., HTML, PHP, etc.) available as free downloads. I snagged an HTML template called Blue Cloud, as it was fairly clean in its structure. I clicked "Dowload" to receive a .zip package containing all the files I needed. This is what the design looked like before I modified it:

I then compared this to the index.html file from the .zip package, which looked like this:

If you don't know HTML, the simplest thing to do is open the .html file in a browser and in a text editor, then compare the two.

W3Schools.com offers a nice HTML tutorial for those who need some extra help.

4 - Making it All Work

When you create an account with a domain registrar, you should be asked for nameserver information. This is a series of letters and numbers that tell your domain (bradtheartist.co.cc, for example) where to find your Web files. In my case, the Web files will be hosted with X10Hosting.com, so I would simply log into my X10Hosting account, retrieve the nameserver information and enter it into my domain management interface.

When I set up my free Web hosting account with X10Hosting.com, I received FTP ("file transfer protocol") information, which I need to access my Web space. There are many free tools available for accessing an FTP account, but I recommend "FileZilla" for both PC and Mac. To access your FTP account, you'll need a hostname (i.e., ftp.mywebsite.com), username and password. Enter this information correctly into FileZilla, and you'll see a list of files and folders stored in your new Web space. You can then use FileZilla to transfer the HTML files from your computer to your Web site. Keep in mind that your Web space will look for an index.html or a default.html file to serve as your homepage.

My Recommendations

Yes, you can set up a Web site for free, but should you? It depends on your level of commitment to learning some basic HTML and your concern over having a non-standard URL (i.e., co.cc).

However, my recommendation would be to invest a few bucks into an easy-to-remember .com or .org domain. And if you don't want to learn HTML, set up a WordPress.com account and tie it to your new domain.

Try not to get frustrated, and feel free to contact us if you need some extra help.

Please note: This entry is just a demonstration of setting up a free Web site. I do not endorse any of the services listed above with the exception of FileZilla and WordPress, as these are trusted open source solutions with strong reputations.

Like a Moth to a Podcast

I've just discovered and started listening to The Moth podcast. The Moth, for those of you who don't know, is a non-profit storytelling organization that brings in people - actors, playwrights, comedians, poets, personalities, and the average Joe - to tell a story from their own lives. No notes. Just a performer, a story, a microphone, and an audience. The Moth has several different live performance series and programs around the country. Now, The Moth has been around since 1997, but I'd never heard of them until a few days ago. Why? Because 1) I live in Pittsburgh, instead of New York or LA, 2) I'm not hip, and 3) I often struggle to get my recommended daily allowance of culture.

Point is: I found them eventually. I found The Moth through iTunes. I found them through their podcast.

And now? I know for a fact that I will continue to listen to the podcast. I've enjoyed their podcast so much, I'm considering buying CDs and other schwag through their site. I’m writing a blog about them. I’ve told two friends about them. And so on...

It is so very important to have as many points of entry into your organization and its services as possible, and a quality podcast can be one. We’ve got a podcast tutorial here on Technology in the Arts. There are tons of resources and guides out there. It is worth the effort, the equipment, the navigation of the waters of rights and copyright, and the time to create a new point of entry to your organization to gather fans you never knew you had, like moths to a flame.

Desktop Wallpaper As Art

I got bored with my standard, gray desktop today, so I went out in search of something new.  I found some great computer wallpapers that can only be described as art. The beauty I ultimately ended up plunking down on my desktop was at Smashing Magazine.  Every month, they have a new set of wallpapers, available for free download, that have been submitted by artists and designers from around the world; artists such as Vlad Gerasimov, who has created an online studio teeming with his digital artwork.

Along the way, I also found a blog called Kitsune Noir, run by Bobby Solomon, which recently concluded the Desktop Wallpaper Project where artists submitted their works (some great stuff there).  And, I found out that deviantART has a section devoted to artist submitted desktop images.

This got me thinking.  I found all of these great places where individual artists were translating their work (or developing work exclusively) for computer desktops as a way of getting their art out there.  Were any arts organizations doing the same?

I did some searching and almost drew a complete blank.  The only case I could find was the Tasmanian Theatre Company.  Are any arts organizations out there providing desktop wallpapers on their sites? I would have to think that it's a way to keep your organization and its brand in front of computer-bound patrons.

Of course they chose Hendrix...

It seems the New York Philharmonic is taking a cue from American Idol. During a recent concert in Central Park, the Philharmonic asked the audience to text their votes to select the orchestra's encore piece. Naturally, the audience chose "Purple Haze." After all, what audience would prefer "Flight of the Bumblebee" over the Hendrix classic? Photo courtesy of froMJersey's Flickr photostream.

According to MobileActive.org, an online resource that examines the use of mobile technologies for social change, the Philharmonic has been using Kodime, a company based in the UK, as its mobile vendor for the past two seasons.

A couple of arts consultants...

I attended an arts consultant round table at the National Performing Arts Convention last month, and I wanted to provide contact information for a couple of my fellow attendees:

• Lisa Mount - Lisa led the session, and her firm's Web site is www.ArtisticLogistics.org. Lisa offers a broad array of strategic management services.
• Jane Hill (artSMART) - Jane brings more than thirty years experience as a professional arts manager to provide practical and successful approaches to the challenges faced by small and mid-sized arts organizations today. Contact Jane at hill.jane1913@sbcglobal.net.

A reminder... the Center for Arts Management and Technology provides technology consulting for nonprofit arts organizations. Read more about our services.

Note: CAMT does not endorse either of these consultants. All consultants in the session were given the opportunity to be listed here.

Building a Web App in Four Days for $10,000

TechCrunch has a really interesting piece by Ryan Carson about building a Web application in just four days. Naturally, arts organizations don't have the human resources and $10,000 to throw around, but the read really drives home how quickly new apps can be deployed given current technologies.

The result of Carson's team's efforts is Matt (Multi account twitter tweeting). Useful? Maybe. Beside the point? Absolutely.