Yeah, I know. I’m the same guy who told you in 2007 that the Kindle was a loser and that e-books were a lousy first date. But the Kindle has gotten much better, and I had a transformative experience after buying one. I’m now going to start publishing e-books of my own, and I’m planning to do this in a major way.
You see, the reason I’ve been prickly about this whole e-book thing all along is that I’ve always wanted to publish in electronic formats, and I’m thrilled that the technology is finally good enough to make the dream a reality. The business plan I’m about to begin executing is an aggressive one (I never do things halfway). I’m going to publish one book a month for the next twelve months.
Some of these books are going to be completely new and original works, while others will be based on ideas originally aired on the Litkicks blog. The first title, Why Ayn Rand Is Wrong (and Why It Matters) is a completely new and rewritten version of a series of essays I’ve posted here during the past two months. The great comments and feedback these articles received helped me to spot the weak points in my own writings, and I’ve reconceived the whole set of essays as a unified work with a new structure and many rewritten sections.
This book is written for a specific audience: readers interested in philosophy and morality who either agree or disagree with Ayn Rand’s forceful ideas about ethics and want to understand the issues better. This is a topic that’s timely in more ways than almost anything I’ve covered before. I hope my book adds something unique to this important dialogue.
Books published by Literary Kicks will soon be available in all electronic formats (as well as print). I’m starting with the Kindle because it presents a good design target, and I want to make sure every e-book I present is carefully built for its target platform (I won’t be delivering any badly formatted shovelware under the Litkicks imprint). Each book I create will have a custom-designed black-and-white cover by a notable artist. Why Ayn Rand is Wrong features cover artwork by Wall Street Journal cartoonist Eli Stein, who happens to be my father (I’m on a tight budget and I knew he’d be willing to work cheap).
You will, of course, be reading much more about the new line of Litkicks e-books on this blog in the weeks and months to come!
17 Responses
There’s a great, big,
There’s a great, big, beautiful tomorrow
Shining at the end of every day
There’s a great, big, beautiful tomorrow
And tomorrow is just a dream away
Man has a dream and that’s the start
He follows his dream with mind and heart
And when it becomes a reality
It’s a dream come true for you and me
So there’s a great, big, beautiful tomorrow
Shining at the end of every day
There’s a great, big, beautiful tomorrow
Just a dream away
— Sherman Brothers
This could be the start of
This could be the start of something big! That’s a great pic, too . . . the Kindle as still-life. Arty. Did Caryn help you with that?
Thanks Bill — well, I asked
Thanks Bill — well, I asked Caryn to pull out her fancy camera but she was busy at the moment, so that photo is all my own work! I call it “Still Life With Kindle”.
Hey it’s great to see readers
Hey it’s great to see readers can now get their Literary Kindle kicks.
I guess I’m old school though, because I still love the feel of holding a book in my hands and turning each page, which is kind of surprising because when it comes to technology I am known as a ‘gadget girl’.
Good luck with your undertaking Levi, I think it’s great to challenge our literary skills in a variety of different ways. I have done so myself recently in writing a children’s book with an environmental theme. Though the transition worked out well after three years of journalism, it was still a bit of a challenge.
But who knows, if the electronic bug bites me I may become a kindler after all.
Congratulations on your new
Congratulations on your new endeavor! As a yet-to-be-published author, I’m seriously considering self-publishing electronically. Even though I consider myself a traditionalist and prefer the physical hard copy of a book, I know that I’m in the minority. On the other hand, if I want to read something badly enough I’m willing to download it. (To read off my computer, ’cause I’m still resisting the call of the Kindle. I must resist!) Good luck with everything, and I can’t wait to read about your successes.
Man this is awesome. It’s
Man this is awesome. It’s good to see quality bloggers showing ambition. You might just have inspire me to think about new project of my own. I’ll be checking out your ebooks.
Levi, Good job! I’m glad
Levi, Good job! I’m glad you’ve taken this step. You’ve always been a forward-thinker.
Amy, I recently found out
Amy, I recently found out Kindle offers a free app for pc. It’s not portable like an actual Kindle, because it’s on your pc, but it’s pretty cool because because it’s free and you can download Kindle books (some of which are also free, or really inexpensive, depending on what they are).
Wonderful idea. I look
Wonderful idea. I look forward to reading them.
Excellent, levi! You’re
Excellent, levi! You’re kick-starting me into getting myself an e-reader.
best of luck on this new direction.
movement into the
movement into the future…congrats Levi………
Hi Levi,
When you’re ready to
Hi Levi,
When you’re ready to go, might I also suggest you set up your books at Smashwords.com. The service is free and their formatting guide is easy to follow. Once formatted according to their guidelines, your books go into premium distribution for sale at Diesel, Sony, B&N (Nook), Apple and Kobo in Canada. Royalties are 60% of retail through the aforementioned distributors and over 75% for sales directly at Smashwords.
I actually used my “Smashwords guideline” formatted Word documents as my upload documents to Kindle for each of my five novels.
Best of luck with your projects! 🙂
smashwords, e? That sounds
smashwords, e? That sounds like something I’d be interested in as well! Thanks, Claude. Levi, this sounds promising.
Like the juxtaposition of the
Like the juxtaposition of the space-age kindle with the flintlock pistol! The e-book idea sounds interesting
It took me a couple of years
It took me a couple of years to fall for the Kindle, but while I still enjoy the feel of paper through my fingers, there’s something immensely gratifying about the lightness and simplicity of using a Kindle.
I look forward to reading about why Rand was wrong on my Kindle, just as soon as I get through my last handful of paper books.
wow, wow, wow. impressive!
wow, wow, wow. impressive! –& inspiring!!
OMG! We were just emailing
OMG! We were just emailing about this!!!
Why do we write (sing, dance, paint,etc.)? It is because it needs to be.
You already know I’m a huge uber-fan of yours so I can’t wait to read your Kindle works. Your accomplishments and ambition are definitely something that is magical to me. I admire your courage to discover new ways in which to communicate your ideas.
You ever watch that Apple commercial? “Here’s to the dreamers…”
Seems fitting.
And…GOOD LUCK!!!