(ili elektronsko izdavaštvo – izazovi i granice; ovaj put Sonja u tandemu sa autorkom ovog bloga)

Bez obzira na pozitivna iskustva onih koji koriste elektronske čitače, izdavači tvrde da njih u Srbiji ipak nema dovoljno i zbog toga se izdavačke kuće u našoj zemlji ne odlučuju na masovno e-izdavaštvo jer to za sada ne bi bilo isplativo. Nedovoljna potražnja na tržištu ne bi pokrila ni osnovna ulaganja, regulisanje autorskih prava, prevod, lekturu i dizajn, a tu su i problemi sa piraterijom i nelegalnim distribuiranjem koje većina izdavača u Srbiji navodi kao glavnu prepreku za razvoj elektronskog izdavaštva. Pojedini autori, pak, smatraju da je taj strah neutemeljen, jer knjiga preuzeta sa Amazona zaštićena je takozvanim DRM (Digital Rights Management) sistemom i ne može se kopirati tek tako sa uređaja na uređaj. Kao još jedna bitna prepreka za razvoj elektronskog izdavaštva u Srbiji navodi se činjenica da su u našoj zemlji računari još uvek nedovoljno rasprostranjeni i da je broj korisnika Interneta nizak.

Već sam pričala o tome kako objaviti knjigu (u Srbiji) i kako objaviti elektronsku knjigu, a sada je vreme za grand finale: kako objaviti knjigu bez izdavača! Ovaj vid izdavanja podrazumeva da budete sami svoj izdavač što nije teško, a verovali ili ne, čak nije ni skupo. Naravno, neophodno je da uradite par stvari pre nego što krenete da plivate u svom prvom miliončetu.*

*samoobjavljivanjem milioni nisu zagarantovani i samo od vas zavisi da li će se ovaj vid izdavanja isplatiti ili ne 😉

Već sam jednom govorila o korisnim spisateljskim linkovima, a zašto sam se odlučila da napišem tekst o obaveznoj literaturi za blogovanje, ne znam, mada je najverovatnije razlog taj što me mrzi da ljudima objašnjavam uvek sve iznova i šaljem linkove. Na ovaj način ću sebi olakšati život i slati samo jedan link koji u sebi sadrži sve neophodne stvari koje se tiču toga kako napraviti blog a pored toga, ovde stoji i gomila stvari koja govori kako svoj blog poboljšati pa je ovo idealna literatura i za one koji su malo iskusniji.

(ili elektronsko izdavaštvo – izazovi i granice; guest post Sonje Ocić)

Tradicionalni modeli biblioteka, zasnovani na principima prikupljanja i čuvanja štampanih publikacija, postali su krajem dvadesetog veka relikti prošlosti, koji nisu mogli istom brzinom da odgovore tehnološkim promenama. Javila se potreba da se biblioteke sa izgradnje i bogaćenja svojih fondova više okrenu ka obezbeđivanju pristupa informacijama, koje više ne moraju biti locirane unutar fizičkih biblioteka, niti su obavezno deo njihovog fonda. Tu spadaju knjige koje se čuvaju u svetskim bibliotekama, svi tekući i raniji brojevi časopisa, dnevne novine, izvori s globalne mreže, izveštaji, leci, patenti, fotografije ili video zapisi, audio zapisi… Jedan od zadataka biblioteke je da osmisli taj univerzum za svoje korisnike, tako što će ga mapirati i šifrirati, i izabrati delove za koje će verovatno postojati interesovanje.

(ili 7 smrtnih grehova postovanja na društvenim mrežama i kako ih okajati)

Dobro, ne baš smrtnih, preživećete. Ali vaša strana možda i neće.

Nego, da vas pitam ja nešto.

KOJA JE POENTA VAŠE FEJZBUK STRANE? 

Šta pokušavate da postignete? Šta vi tačno radite na društvenim mrežama?

Ukoliko ste zamucnuli (ili čak i oklevali) pri odgovoru, logično je da je vaš pejdž u nevolji.

A da li ćete imati odgovore na ovo pitanje do kraja teksta – zavisi isključivo od vas.

(or why you’re not writing, and what are the biggest challenges in writing)

As discussed previously, for any writer the biggest challenge is – writing; to complete the text, create compelling characters, to balance styles and ideas, and to create credibility. We all have our reasons why we (don’t) write,  so today I’ll talk about enemies – and allies – that may affect your writing.

Those of you who follow me on social media may have already read Uros Petrovic’s words I heard at BookTalk. On one of the panels, while everybody infinitely debated on literature, The Fifth Butterfly author said: “We can all sit here and talk the best we can, like modern Ciceros, but it’ll be forgotten in less than a week. Simply, the brain only wakes up when something’s unusual. For instance, if I now rise up and sing the Pakistani national anthem backwards, that would be retold for years. But what we talk now wouldn’t be. Same goes for literature. There are just a few writers who know how to wake up someone else’s brain.”

I have to admit this title is a bit flashy, because I don’t believe in mistakes while writing in any given way; whatever you write – it’s great, and everything’s just fine. Also, while preparing for this article I consulted a number of videos (on this topic), read at least 10 other articles and 2 books, and I can tell you that it’s all nonsense. Each and every of these advices are quite limited and in my opinion could make any begginer-writer go crazy, plus some of the biggest names would easily deny each and every single one of these mistakes. Therefore this article is completely different, and won’t to dare say much more relevant, but definitely written with good intention, approaching this topic with much caution, so it doesn’t hurt the fragile souls of usualy hypersensitive writers.

I was always fascinated by the fact that the doctor who completes university studies, is not really a doctor, but an accomplished physician who spent 5 (or more) years studying various diseases, and after years of learning has to go through decades of learning through practice, to become good at what he does. From this perspective, I ask why (on earth) people who wrote 4 lines think that they are writers?! Don’t agree with me, that goes for all of you who have published 2-3 stories or even the whole book.

(ili elektronsko izdavaštvo – izazovi i granice; guest post Sonje Ocić)

Danas ćemo se baviti pojedinim vrstama elektronskih publikacija kao što su elektronski časopisi i novine jer se pokazalo  da je prelaz sa štampanih izdanja na elektronska bio najbrži u izdavaštvu stručnih časopisa i da sva štampana izdanja novina, bilo dnevnih bilo nedeljnih, danas imaju svoj pandan u elektronskom obliku. U drugom delu teksta tema je blog kao forma elektronskog izdavaštva. Za nas su naročito interesantni književni blog i blogerska književnost – pod književnim blogom smatra se blog na kojem autor objavljuje originalnu poeziju i prozu, ali i eseje, recenzije pročitanih knjiga, odlomke omiljenih dela i tome slično, dok je blogerska književnost sve prisutnija originalna književnost. Šta su prednosti ove nove forme i da li predstavljaju gubitak ili dobitak za izdavačku industriju?

Not sure when exactly did I get the idea (although I do know that I started writing a diary when I was 9), but I’ve always wanted to be a writer. When I realised that I need to teach myself what I want to become, first thing I did is that I found a single book translated into Serbian language from Dorothea Brande called exactly: Creative writing. I haven’t put the link to this book as Dorothea, good bless her soul, destroyed me from the start because of her belief that if you don’t write every day, you might as well quit writing straight away, which in my case doesn’t work as I have the bad habit of not writing for months. Unsatisfied with what I just read, I decided to try my luck elsewhere, so I got myself a bunch of textbooks in English that all have the words creative writing in its title.

(ili elektronsko izdavaštvo – izazovi i granice; guest post Sonje Ocić)

Iako su izdavači i urednici duboko uključeni u prenos znanja i imaju veoma važnu funkciju, izdavaštvo jeste i verovatno će i ostati biznis, mada biznis koji snabdeva čitaoce štampanim ili elektronskim knjigama koje obrazuju, informišu i zabavljaju. Pri tom, izdavaštvo je i prilično veliki biznis. Na primer, godine 1999. u Americi je objavljeno 119.357 novih naslova; 2001. objavljeno je 141.000 novih izdanja, a 2002. godine 150.000. To znači da je 17.12 novih knjiga ugledalo svetlost dana svakog sata u danu, uključujući i vikende i praznike.

(or how to smile when you hear bad words about you and your writing)

Do you have a person in your life that you simply adore but s/he has a small flaw that leads you into madness (even daily)? That person, whether it’s your mother, friend, spouse or colleague, is all fabulous and shiny, but is let’s say, regularly late, knows everything best or leaves her things in the wrong place. If you even look at 3 loved ones you hang out with, I’m sure you would easily find something that doesn’t suit you in each of them, even if this flaw is something that someone should really change (eg. your colleague is always late and she may lose her job because of this).

Piece of cake, right? Ok, let’s do go right to the hard part – think about yourself. Can you find your flaws? Try it, tell me at least two of your habits that are not exactly the brightest.

Ukoliko bi se ovaj ceo post mogao svesti na tri reči, one bi bile sledeće:

• Počnite.
• Nastavite.
• Završite.

(…jer korice tome i služe!)

Vaš brat ima novu devojku i zove vas kod sebe kako biste se upoznali. Dok lagano ispijate svoje piće, prilazi vam osoba koja teži oko 150 kilograma u florscentnom roze korsetu i leopard helankama, i pruža vam ruku: Ćao zaovice! Drago mi je što smo se upoznali!

(ili elektronsko izdavaštvo – izazovi i granice; guest post Sonje Ocić)

Šta se promenilo u izdavačkoj industriji sa razvojem elektronskog izdavaštva?

U principu, izdavačima je bitno da oni prodaju knjige. U kom mediju su te knjige, za njih je manje važno. Da li je knjiga štampana ili audio ili elektronska, njima je svejedno dokle god se prodaje. To ne znači da izdavače ne muče drugi problemi. Jedan od većih problema je kako zaštititi autorska prava i odbraniti se od piraterije.

(or Click & Learn – Useful (Writing) Links)

Often I wish to share some useful links on my social networks, but I just simply feel bad to put them out there because I don’t want them to be lost in an endless sea of other information – mostly due to the fact that I’m not sure how to quickly explain how useful those links are. On the other hand, when I want to find a link on FB, it usually turns into a mission impossible with banging my head against the wall wondering “oh God why didn’t I save that link?!” That’s why today I’ll put 3 truly great links that will stand here till the end of time and that will surely be interesting for writers, but also to all of those who are not merely interested in reading and writing.

(Or Influencers &-Millennials on two digital conferences – Spark.me + Digital Day)

Can you attend digital conference if you aren’t a tech-geek? Yes, you can. Can you have fun? Sure. Learn something? Well, yes indeed. Can you apply the things you have learned? Hum. And once again – hum.

(or electronic publishing –  challenges and limits; guest post by Sonja Ocic)

If you answered the question at the end of the last article, you chose to become a digital optimist, skeptic or agnostic. And whatever group you belong to, in the electronic publishing debate, many believe that if it is accepted that the book is only one medium, whether electronic or printed, the main issue is the difference between reading printed or electronic books. In any case, most agree that electronic publishing has several advantages over printed. If it would be necessary to allocate most of them, reasons would be economic, hyper-textual, interactive and, as a result of all this, democratic.

(ili napisali ste knjigu – šta sad?)

Tajna piramida. Bermudski trougao. Čudovište iz Loh Nesa. Stounhendž. Grad Atlantida. Objavljivanje knjige u Srbiji. Sve su ovo dobro čuvane tajne na koje niko nema pravi odgovor.

Čak ni sveznajući Gugl.

(or electronic publishing –  challenges and limits; guest post by Sonja Ocic)

(Second article in a series of posts written by my dear Sonja Ocic – if you have missed the introduction, click here for the first part of the text.)

One of the features that have been created by the rise of the Internet was electronic book, a digital reproduction of traditional printed book, which could be delivered directly to the user through a publisher’s or author’s site, or sites for sale. Electronic books are digitized, virtualized versions of books that can be read on a PC or special equipment – electronic book reader. Some of the advantages of electronic books are: 24 hour availability (no need to wait for bookstore or library to open or require a reservation if the book is already taken), e-books can be accessed from anywhere on the planet and they can’t be lost or stolen. Many programs that are used to display the contents of electronic books allow the reader functionality on which he is used to when reading books printed on paper: marking and underlining text, writing comments and marking pages.

(or 9 tips that are not very helpful when creating a blog)

If I followed all the rules, I’d still be following all the rules. That’s what I read recently. Good quote (I love quotes). Enlightening one. To be honest, I’m not a big fan of “general rules”. Nothing on earth is a must. And each rule is equally applicable or inapplicable. It all depends on your personality. That’s why I decided to make a list of advices which rules you shouldn’t take too seriously at the beginning of creating a blog.

(or proved evidences that creative block is really made up)

I’ll have to disappoint you straight away. The world is not as they show it in the movies. Chuck Norris didn’t kill the blindman with his eyes. Carrie and Big didn’t live happily ever after. Amnesia doesn’t affect everyone who hit their head on the table. Cars do not explode. Bullets kill. Hearts break. And creativity is not a fluffy thing that suddenly appears in the final scene when an artist, at a sudden sight of a child playing finds the part he missed and finishes his work within 5 days and 3 sleepless nights.

(or electronic publishing –  challenges and limits; guest post by Sonja Ocic)

(this is the first in a series of posts written by my dear colleague Sonja Ocic, who works at Clio publishing company as a rights manager.)

The disappearance of the paper book and its transfer to electronic book took place in the last few decades as a very present theme in the developed world; first as a prediction, then as a topic of many books, magazines, websites and blogs, and also as a subject of scientific conferences, round tables and other gatherings. If we believe the latest data, pessimistic predictions were more or less true. Classic book has not yet disappeared, but has lost its primacy since 2011. Amazon, the largest bookstore in the world, sells 10 electronic books every second which is over 310 million copies annually. Also, the American National Institute of Standards and Technology predicts that by 2018, nearly 90% of books sold will be in an electronic form. On the other hand, electronic publishing in Serbia, by itself and as a theme, is much less prevalent.

No, I’m still not sleeping alone. Elina… She’s still lying in my bed. We talk at night, I softly whisper that it’s over, but she doesn’t listen and stubbornly turns her head:
– Let me sleep…
And I let her go, telling myself – just one more night. So I lie down and watch her breathing and I’m not sure whether I should cover her, or put a pillow over her head. I don’t want her to leave. But I don’t want her to stay here forever too. Other characters are waiting for their turn. Then I caress her hair for a long time, and call her sweet names, while she sighs sleepily with open mouth, until I fall asleep myself, again and again fascinated by a sight of my own creation.

(or 5 myths and 6 truths on how to earn money being a poet)

(i to potpuno besplatno!)

VEOMA VAŽNO: NE RADIM POSTAVLJANJE VAŠE KNJIGE NA AMAZON NITI POZNAJEM IKOGA KO TO RADI. 

Da, naravno da znam da sam već napisala tekst na blogu o tome kako objaviti elektronsku knjigu na srpskom jeziku (i crnogorskom, bosanskom, hrvatskom). Ali ovde ću se fokusirati samo na Amazon i kako objaviti knjigu za Amazon – i u elektronskom i u papirnom obliku! Usput ću dati par informacija o prevođenju i reklamiranju knjige i otkriti kako da objavite e-knjigu na srpskom (i ostalim ex-yu jezicima). Naravno, uz ograničenja.

(and how to feed him)

How fortunate I was that Bar Rafaeli agreed to pose for (my favorite magazine) Esquire. Because I googled and googled and googled. Here, try it yourself. Sexy writer. Cute writer. Hot writer. Nothing. Number of satisfactory images = 0. And in print – is equal to zero. Therefore I do thank Bar for providing a cover image for this post. Because being a writer is simply not sexy.

(or who are beta readers and critique partners and how to get them talkin’)

One of the challenges of content quality today is product digitalization. You take a photo, add a filter or two and all of a sudden you’re a Helmut frickin’ Newton. Drone camera shoots a movie scene that is later put in a slow motion and you get The Matrix. Or you just enter a reality show and become a new Marlon Brando. It all looks so, so fabulous. It’s similar when it comes to writing texts. People that type on the computer often think their text is perfect. Letters are all the same and it’s all even on a shiny paper (and you typed with your own hands). But although it may seem nice on the screen, it doesn’t mean it’s actually any good.

(or can writing be taught)

Believe it or not, cursive letters are not being tought in schools in USA for years now. Showing that not only Americans are crazy, in Finland parents choose if they would like their children to learn how to write or not. Yes, would they take the pencil and learn how to write. And before you wonder how the heck is this possible, ask yourself when was the last time you wrote something with your hand (and no, your signature does not count).

(or more about e-book readers and why are they better than normal books)

When it comes to reading books on electronic device (e-reader), paperback editions usually have poor defense:

– Nothing can replace paper and the “real” book!
– Nothing can compare to the feeling of holding a book in your hand!
– It is very difficult to read on a computer!
And then the strangest, and usually the biggest argument is:
– How can I enjoy reading when I cannot smell the book?!
And because all of these reasons are completely well, ridiculous when you think about them, today I want to explain why I think e-readers are so much better than normal books.

Or how to publish an e-book in Serbian language (also Croatian, Bosnian, Montenegrin language etc.) – completely free!

Today’s blog post is about publishing your e-book in any language on iBooks (iTunes, iStore, iConnect – however you call it; it’s all Apple baby).