Today Leonard Lopate interviewed authors Kathi Kamen Goldmark and Sam Barry discussing their new book, Write That Book Already! The Tough Love You Need to Get Published, and offering some excellent advice on how to get through the writing process and what steps you can take to get it in print.

Listen Here:

Source: The Leonard Lopate Show (http://beta.wnyc.org/shows/lopate/2010/jul/23/write-book-already/)
Related: Kathi and Sam (http://www.kathiandsam.net/)

Dinner for Busy Moms: Easy Strategies for Getting Food on the Table--Quick

It's not too late to buy mom a Kindle for mother's day. I got one last year and still love it. With more than 2 weeks battery life and instant access to Amazon's catalog, I couldn't live without it. Several Plain White Press titles are now available and more are coming soon. I wasn't sure that the graphically-intense Dinner for Busy Moms would work on the Kindle, but it looks and reads very true to the print version - sidebars and all.

Creating a e-book doesn't cost any less in the publishing process than creating on paper, but, according to the New York Times, in publishing this way, we do cut out the middleman (well, not in the case of the Kindle), making it possible to sell a $26 hardcover for only $13 and make a slightly higher profit. Profit? Well, maybe not more profit, just more revenue that can help offset the costs of publishing a book.

See the math here.

The truth is that the costs of printing are are only a small portion of the total publishing costs, and the market for e-book is still really slim. To price books so inexpensively, we publishers would have to be able to sell many thousands of copies of any title to make the math work.

Happy birthday to us! Plain White Press turns four with 2010 marking the anniversary of our first two products: Stone Pond and Sane Fitness. From the beginning, Plain White Press (of White Plains, NY) was created as a laboratory to figure out what's next in publishing. With the industry so quickly, we're not sure that we know what's next, but we're continuing to grow, learn, and evolve at each step.

We started with these values in mind:

• In a world of information overload, the role of the publisher is to become a filter for information, offering useful, effective, and entertaining media that is worth (at least) a small price.
• Authors offer both expertise and enthusiasm for their subject, and they are also the best ambassadors for their books.
• Editors and designers enhance the craft of the writer, and help present the work as is best suited for today's visual culture.
• Nice design makes us happy.
• Books have the power to change lives.

Over the course of few years, we've moved from publishing boxed kits in the gift market to publishing books specifically for busy moms, a market we over-committed moms feel is underserved. (But, then again, maybe we're just too busy to read.) We're building our titles to thrive in a multi-media, multi-e-book format. We want them to be both practical and inspiring and available where-ever and when-ever they can support our readers. We're tuned into new media, social networking, apps, and anything webby. We plan to be riding the wave as books turn to bytes.

Plain White publishing services helps Sandi and Peggy build their book and launch their publishing company! You can now buy their book anywhere online (and if you're interested in growing your small company into a multi-million dollar empire, you should!) Check out how Glue's multi-links created an instant shopping cart by clicking on the links below:

Buy on Amazon

Buy at Barnes & Noble

Buy at Your Local Independent Bookstore

Source: How Glue Works (http://getglue.com/faq)

Need a quick shopping cart solution? It's hard to beat the free (or very cheap - just $8/month for the premium) Mal's E-Commerce (www.mals-e.com). Mal's offers plenty of features: an affiliate program, coupons, it works with major payment gateways like PayPal or Authorize.net, and it even does live shipping calculations.

I'm still searching for the ultimate affordable e-commerce solution. And by now I've tried dozens of them including a custom-made cart. The ability to create instant buy buttons to put on any site is a dream, and there is no limit to what I can sell.

Like This:

One hour of publishing expertise. Buy now!

or just

Samara opened her talk with the Lite'n Up: Laugh Yourself Skinny "11th Commandment: Thou shall not weigh more than your refrigerator." and she followed up with some humorous anecdotes about her own dieting bio and some info from studies which demonstrated the one commonality all successful dieters have is a comfortable and humorous attitude towards dieting and body image. 

Guilt, judgment, and negativity have no place in a successful weight-loss plan. Those are self defeating and a waste of time when it comes to eating healthfully.

Samara and AngelA special offer to all Be Fit attendees (and blog readers :) is the BeFit coupon code for the next 100 buyers Lite'n Up: Laugh Yourself Skinny may be purchased two for $22.20, the book is regularly $14.95 per copy.  Purchase one for yourself and one for a special somebody.

This little video explains it beautifully. (If you don't see the video below, go to RSS in Plain English)

Source: RSS in Plain English Video (http://www.commoncraft.com/store-item/rss_plain_english)