The purpose of this interview with Barbara N. Bell is to show by example how the Suite Anthology eBooks can be an integral part of strategic planning for thematic presentation of the affiliations taking place here at the Suite. I for one am a keen advocator of the Suite Market Place, and would like to see Suite Writers, Service Providers and Artists take advantage of this wonderful opportunity to create topic clusters as store fronts. To do this, it will be advantageous to integrate eBooks into storefront themes.
Barbara, before I ask you too many questions--Would you like to tell us about the book/s you have written/compiled?
One of my e-books was the first to be published by the Best of Suite project. It was sort of a "guinea pig" - and could have been much better, I think, if I knew then what I know now! That was Antiques and Collectibles: The Design Periods. I picked a "theme" from my articles, and put them into a manuscript. It still hasn't sold any copies.Much later, I assembled a two-volume e-book which is like an encyclopedia for collectors.
Again, I had a "theme" in mind, which was to define and explain the different kinds of items that one might collect. I wrote two new articles for the e-book, and had to wait until they actually appeared in my monthly articles before I put them into the manuscript. It hasn't sold any copies either! I am learning that you really need to figure out your market, and determine if your readers have shown a particular interest in certain things that you have written about. Maybe you can select your most popular articles, or go through your most active discussions, to see what people are asking about. This kind of "theme" might sell better than simply putting together every article you ever wrote, I think.
I guess you have tips and tricks that you think would make the process easier for us? Perhaps there are pitfalls we should avoid?
It is important to remember that anything you put into an e-book is there forever. The material should be timeless, not date-specific, and not likely to change significantly.
Is it OK for these eBooks to be recommended as core texts for courses?
Currently, the e-books cannot be uploaded into the Recommended Texts section of the course development format. You can list them with a link to its Marketplace page in your Resources, however.
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