Earlier this month my boss, Tim, informed me of his plans to visit the folks at Readmill in mid December. Being in the eBook/Self Publishing industry, I knew who they were, but now I had a special interest and wanted to know more. So I did what anyone in my shoes would’ve done. I went online and snooped! After plugging in their site address, my eyes were pleasantly met with a clean, sleek design layout. Well played, Readmill. Their tagline “Books have a big future” struck a chord with me since BookRix embraces the same mentality.

Don’t let my comments surrounding their site aesthetics fool you. The team at Readmill offer much more than an polished website. This past year, they’ve built a solid e-reader platform that allows their users to connect with one another regardless of the e-reader device they’re utilizing (Kindle, iPad, Nook, Smartphone, etc). Brilliant, right? According to them, their goal is to “integrate books with the web making them linkable, embeddable, shareable and hackable.” Who wouldn’t want this level of freedom?

Sadly, my Kindle was laid to rest this past November after a nasty fall down my apartment stairs. Until Santa brings me my new iPad for Christmas, I’m stuck bugging everyone with an e-reader to test various apps and programs for me. When I asked Tim about Readmill for iPad, he sang its praises and was quick to recant how “easy and comfortable” the app was to use. That’s what I like to hear!

With the Readmill Reader for iPad, you can read books, track your progress and share your highlights. On Readmill.com you can follow people you like, explore books, and see what your friends are reading. It’s also a great companion for the books you discover with us on BookRix. Rather than listen to me talk about it, why not take a look and see for yourself? Check it out: http://readmill.com/invite/bookrix

Comment your thoughts below. I’d love to hear what you have to say!

Are you a new, unpublished author looking to distribute your work? Are you motivated and eager to sell it? If so, BookRix is looking for you!

Do you consider yourself a book lover? Are you constantly looking for new material to feast your eyes on? If you answered ‘yes’, we need your help!

Very soon, all of our members will have the ability to publish and distribute their work via BookRix, Amazon, Apple iBooks, etc. Before we open these services up to all of our members, we’re conducting a private beta test to prepare for our launch.

Writers will have full creative control over the content they’d like to publish (no offensive or copyrighted material please). To sweeten the deal, BookRix is waiving the setup costs! The selling and distribution of your book is just $1 (this Includes ISBN, BookRix and third party distribution).  Once the beta testing is complete, authors can keep their books for $1. To show our appreciation, authors will receive a $50 gift card and readers will be given a $20 gift card for participating in our test.

Important requirements:

• Must live in the US
• Be 18+ years old
• Have a Paypal and/or Click&Buy account (this will be needed when testing begins)
• Books must be new and unpublished. If your book is currently for sale elsewhere or has an ISBN, we won’t be able to publish your book

Interested? Here’s what we’ll need from you

• Social Security Number (SSN) OR a  Employer Identification Number  (EIN) OR a Taxpayer Identification Number  (TIN) (You can choose)
• Real Name
• Username
• E-mail address
• Age
• Gender
• User Rank (Scribbler, Penman, Wordslinger, etc)
• Date of registration at BookRix.com

If you’d like to participate in our beta-test, please send your request with your data to BookRix at: support-en@bookrix.com In the subject line, please tell us if you’re an interested ‘Reader’ or ‘Author’.

Thank you!

- The BookRix team

In the past, BookRix has given contest prizes of e-Readers, such as the Kindle for the Worst Nightmares mini-contest (of which Gooduklady was the lucky and talented winner) and soon an iPad in the Dear Diary contest! But did you know you can download e-books from BookRix to your e-Reader? It’s fairly easy to do so regardless of if you have a Kindle, Nook, iPad or other e-Reader!

It’s as simple as going to the book on BookRix that you want to read and hit the Download/E-Reader button on the right below the book cover (see image below). Follow the prompts to download the book to your computer or your e-Reader device.

For most e-Readers, you’re set to go because your e-Reader accepts the ePub file format. For the Kindle however, you will need to convert the ePub files to Kindle-friendly formats like .mobi. To do so, you will need the help of third party conversion software programs like Calibre and Mobipocket. There may be some formatting that does not convert well, but that mostly occurs with complicated layouts or formatting. Once you have converted the e-book into a Kindle-friendly format, you’re on your way to enjoy your free e-books. With thousands of books and e-books in our online library to choose from on BookRix.com, you’re sure to find several e-books that e-xcite you!

Have a favorite book or author online on BookRix? Share it in a comment here on this blog post!

This seems to be the year that the digital revolution is posed to take over the publishing world, here and overseas.

In a recent press release, the Association of American Publishers reported that in January 2011, U.S. net sales of e-books surged by 115.8% over the same month last year, more than doubling from $32.4 to $69.9 million. Total book sales were slightly lower, with both hardcover and paperback book sales declining significantly.

Across the pond, digital, print-on-demand and self-publishing have boosted the production of new book titles in the UK, up 14% from 2009 to 2010 (133,000 to 151,969), according to Bookseller.com. The article states, “The figure is derived from the number of ISBNs Nielsen issues over the year. However, the 2009 figure has since been increased to 157,039 because of the late addition of digital titles in that year, a factor that may also further increase the 2010 figure.” Last year also saw 3,151 new UK publishers registering for an ISBN, a 10-year high, compared to 3,007 in 2009—an increase attributed primarily to self-publishing authors.

Meanwhile, everyone wants a piece of the e-book pie. For instance, Barnes & Noble is expanding its PubIt! digital publishing platform for the NOOK format, Amazon’s new AmazonEncore distribution program helps self-published authors get more exposure across various channels, and even the perennial page layout software application QuarkXPress has been overhauled to let publishers catch the next wave of digital content production.

Also riding the crest of the digital self-publishing juggernaut is our own BookRix.com online author/reader community that has grown from zero to more than 15,500 digital uploads since launching just 2.5 years ago. As a BookRix member, aren’t you proud to be on the cutting edge of the future of book publishing? We are!

What are your thoughts and concerns as the world of publishing keeps changing?

As many of our community members already know, BookRix recently launched it’s beta phase for our newly introduced social media application, SocialBook©, an online feature that allows writers anywhere in the world to collaboratively participate in building an e-book from either their Facebook, Twitter or BookRix profiles, simply with connecting their accounts. The free-to-use SocialBook© application sets a new standard in collaborative writing and offers limitless opportunities and uses for online content, in a format that can be saved, stored, shared and even embedded like a YouTube video, with real-time updates and no limit on the number of co-authors.

The BookRix SocialBook© app now gives social media users an easy way to collect posts, tweets, stories, conversations and ideas that previously would have disappeared into digital dust. Writing on the internet has never been this social before!

Plus, with the ViewRix software features on BookRix, readers can comfortably read SocialBooks© like any other book on BookRix, with the same fun built-in sharing and usability tools to comment, forward or rate the title.

Social writing and content archiving is now truly an option with the SocialBook© application. By using any specified topic #hashtag, all participating #hashtag posts, tweets or comments by invited online users will be fed directly into a specific SocialBook©, with automatic updates of content every 15 minutes. Love the idea of saving every post? Go unfiltered and set-up the SocialBook© app as a collection tool for all posts or tweets by simply choosing not to set a specified hashtag – either way works!

A great feature that users should know about is that SocialBook© authors can control who can participate, how their SocialBook© is seen, whether it’s only readable online or as an e-book download, and whether it can be embedded or not. BookRix users owning an iPad, smartphone or a similar mobile eReading device also have the ability to download SocialBooks© from the BookRix mobile site as well.

There are endless topics where the SocialBook© might be the perfect way to save and share collaborative writing efforts including Group Writing, News and Events, Weekly #hashtag Chats, Daily Tips, Favorite Quotes, Haiku Poems and much more. Check out the SocialBooks© the BookRix community has already come up with. What are some ideas you might have for a SocialBook©? Join us and Socialize Your Voice by writing in a SocialBook© today!

Ready to get started? Check out our overview SocialBook© video tutorial here, or our tutorial snippets on the BookRix YouTube Channel to learn more about this fun new feature from BookRix.

The top ten finalists have been announced in the BookRix Get Published free writing contest!

And they are…

1. Gooduklady: You’ve Come a Long Way, Baby! with 118 votes

2. Marsha84: Awakening Summer with 117 votes

3. Michaelmpacheco: Summer Terror in Texas with 101 votes

4. Joeparente: Failing Well with 89 votes

5. Tatejackson: The Undead Heart with 80 votes

6. Writer723: To Where You Are with 65 votes

7. Lazarus67: The secret of the house on dead end lane with 63 votes

8. Selishxiii: Innocence of a Demon with 60 votes

9. Ruthus7: Moonlit Night Shadows with 59 votes

10. Constantine.eternal: The Eternals with 58 votes

Community Wildcard Pick: The Redemption of Marvin Fuster by Felixthecat

The judges are reviewing the finalists and will choose the top three winners of the contest. Good luck to all! Top three Winners announced February 23, 2011. Here’s a look again at what the three winners will receive:

The grand prize, generously provided by CreateSpace, is a Total Design Freedom Advanced Publishing Solution, which will include all of the following services valued at $2,567:

• Total Design Freedom Custom Book Interior
• Unique Book Cover
• One Round of Comprehensive Copyediting
• Promotional Text Creation
• Press Release Creation with Distribution
• Plus a Complimentary Upgrade to Pro Plan

CreateSpace also will provide the book a free CreateSpace ISBN if the winner of the Contest does not already have an ISBN of his or her own. The winner of the “Get Published” BookRix Contest will be able to choose any of the following sales channels through which he or she would like to enable the book for sale: the Amazon.com website, a CreateSpace eStore, and the CreateSpace expanded distribution channel.

The second place winner will receive a prize of $500 cash, with third place winning $300.