Poet Ponders the Digital

Visalia Direct: Virtual Valley February 6, 2012 Deadline March 2012 Issue The Publishing Revolution: Create Your Own E-Book Publish your book this year! Only a few years ago, “vanity presses” used such pitches to appeal to aspiring writers. For a fee, the vanity publishers would convert your manuscript into a reasonably nice book. Vanity publishers are nothing more than print brokers. Using a vanity publisher was expensive, but for some aspiring writers it was their last option. Many writers ended up with boxes of books in their garages and attics. Yet, I am writing this column to tell you that it is time to publish your book. Forget the vanity publishers and the small publishers that pass along many of the costs to writers. Publish your book as an e-book. It will cost you little (or nothing) and if you discover the book is popular, then you can consider an old-fashioned paper and ink book. Even writers with proven track records are leaving the traditional New York publ...

Visalia Direct: Virtual Valley June 2007 Issue May 10, 2007 Libraries without Hours I love books. Our apartment has bookcases standing in our living room because the walls were already lined with bookcases. There are books in our dining room, too. You would think with so many books I’d have no need for libraries or bookstores, but you’d be wrong. I’m always coming across facts I want to check, ideas I want to research, and authors I know I should read. Libraries let me browse, finding books I didn’t know existed. The joy of wandering “the stacks” in a university library is that I end up checking out two books for every one I knew I wanted to read. But, to be honest, library hours are not what they used to be. Worse, university collections aren’t being updated because hardcover books are not cheap. When I was looking for books on Chaucer, it seemed Fresno State’s selection was limited to a single shelf. Tulare County’s libraries do the best they can with limited resources, too...