End of days. Sounds like the world crashing down on our heads, doesn’t it? But in this case, all it signifies is that Microsoft is discontinuing support of its XP operating system. To hear tech people tell about it, it is the end of days. So many people are using this supposedly outdated system, that running a computer using Windows XP is a PUBLIC HEALTH RISK! Those outdated systems CAN BE USED TO INFECT OTHER SYSTEMS! They are a danger by becoming a part of a system of bots that ATTACK OTHERS online!

Yep, the end of days is here. And yet, how often have we heard the same old story? At the beginning, computers were called the devil’s work. The spread of computer technology was hailed as the end of civilization as we know it. The millennium bug was supposed to usher in an age of chaos. The current Heartbleed Vulnerability…

It’s Sunday afternoon, and it’s raining cats and dogs. Which makes this afternoon even more melancholic than Sunday ones traditionally are. So, I decided to get some work done, hoping to forget the sad weather outside (on the upside, the garden badly needed some watering. This is me seeing the silver lining in everything).

I ran into this post on the London Book Fair on the Creative Penn, which really sums up some book marketing tips that most of us already know and/or are trying to do. I will go through the most important ones, along with my thoughts:

• Write for an audience and stick with it. In other words, build a brand (name, cover design, fonts, genre etc) and promote it as your unique selling point. This means I am already in the wrong, because apart from fantasy and sci-fi, I have written also children’s books – which I am having illustrated…

When I entered the social media world, I was pretty much clueless, just like everybody else, I guess.  Anyone who knows the difference between a Facebook page and profile and all those tiny but oh-so-perceptible differences between hashtags, @ signs and .@ signs on Twitter can now leave this post to get your afternoon tea or coffee, frolic in your garden, call your friends or do whatever it is you people do.

When to post to Social Media – Infographic by fannit.com

As for the rest of us, I had no idea how much work, effort and expertise were required to get your message across.  The amazing – and more than a little irritating – fact is that things change so fast that I constantly have to learn new marketing tips.  For example, did you know the best times to post? Apparently, 1pm to 4 pm for Facebook, 1 pm to 3 pm for Twitter, 7 am to…

In publishing – new tech needs content to flourish!

Not only traditional publishers – but digital publishers as well – are struggling with the new publishing industry virus ‘CD’.

Now, just what is ‘CD’? It is the ‘Constant Disruption’ caused by rapid-fire changes in publishing and media technology and their impact on content strategy in old and new publishing circles.

Content in a printed, fixed-form format dictates much of the story — the font used, the subtleties of the fixed page design, etc. What some have called the ‘story container’.

But, as media channels and formats have mixed, merged, morphed and multiplied at warp speed – the necessity of format-free content is rising forth!

But, despite the format, the content still holds more weight than the ever-evolving technology. After all, “Great storytelling is great storytelling, whether it’s on a tablet or a cave wall.” – Say Media’s CTO David Lerman.

Just as…