Amateur and professional astronomers team up to create a cosmological masterpiece

Amateur and professional astronomers team up to create a cosmological masterpiece

Thursday, February 7, 2013

Working with astronomical image processors at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Md., renowned astro-photographer Robert Gendler has taken science data from the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) archive and combined it with his own ground-based observations to assemble a photo illustration of the magnificent spiral galaxy M106.

Gendler retrieved archival Hubble images of M106 to assemble a mosaic of the center of the galaxy. He then used his own and fellow astro-photographer Jay GaBany's observations of M106 to combine with the Hubble data in areas where there was less coverage, and finally, to fill in the holes and gaps where no Hubble data existed.

The center of the galaxy is composed almost entirely of HST data taken by the Advanced Camera for Surveys, Wide Field Camera 3, and Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 detectors. The outer spiral arms are predominantly HST data colorized with ground-based data taken by Gendler's and GaBany's 12.5-inch and 20-inch telescopes, located at very dark remote sites in New Mexico. The image also reveals the optical component of the "anomalous arms" of M106, seen here as red, glowing hydrogen emission.

Robert Gendler is a physician by profession but has been active in astrophotography for two decades. Robert started taking astro-images from his driveway in suburban Connecticut. He then spent several years imaging remotely from places like New Mexico and Western Australia. More recently, Robert has been spending his time assembling hybrid images from multiple data sources including the Hubble Legacy Archive. Many of these images have been featured on "Astronomy Picture of the Day" and in various books and magazines.

This portrait of M106 contains only the inner structure around the halo and nucleus of this Seyfert II active galaxy. Large amounts of gas from the galaxy are thought to be falling into and fueling a supermassive black hole contained in the nucleus. Also known as NGC 4258, M106 lies 23.5 million light-years away, in the constellation Canes Venatici.

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NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center: http://www.nasa.gov/goddard

Thanks to NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center for this article.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/126664/Amateur_and_professional_astronomers_team_up_to_create_a_cosmological_masterpiece

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Video: Dog with human face looks for home, melts hearts

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Details emerge about man at center of Ala standoff

In this undated photo released by the Dale County Board of Education, bus driver Charles Albert Poland, Jr., is shown. A standoff in rural Alabama went into a second full day Thursday as police surrounded an underground bunker where a retired truck driver was holding a 5-year-old hostage he grabbed off a school bus after shooting Poland, the driver dead. Poland Jr., 66, was hailed by locals as a hero who gave his life to protect the 21 students aboard the bus. (AP Photo/ Dale County Board of Education)

In this undated photo released by the Dale County Board of Education, bus driver Charles Albert Poland, Jr., is shown. A standoff in rural Alabama went into a second full day Thursday as police surrounded an underground bunker where a retired truck driver was holding a 5-year-old hostage he grabbed off a school bus after shooting Poland, the driver dead. Poland Jr., 66, was hailed by locals as a hero who gave his life to protect the 21 students aboard the bus. (AP Photo/ Dale County Board of Education)

People pay their respects to Charles Albert "Chuck" Poland, the 66 year old bus driver who gave his life to save the children on his bus, Saturday, Feb. 2, 2013 in Slocumb, Ala. As the police standoff with an Alabama man accused of holding a 5-year-old boy hostage continued Saturday, a nearby community prepared to bury, Poland, the beloved bus driver who was shot to death trying to protect children on his bus when the episode began days earlier (AP Photo/AL.com, Joe Songer) MAGS OUT

People pay their respects to Charles Albert "Chuck" Poland, the 66 year old bus driver who gave his life to save the children on his bus, Saturday, Feb. 2, 2013 in Slocumb, Ala. As the police standoff with an Alabama man accused of holding a 5-year-old boy hostage continued Saturday, a nearby community prepared to bury, Poland, the beloved bus driver who was shot to death trying to protect children on his bus when the episode began days earlier (AP Photo/AL.com, Joe Songer) MAGS OUT

People pay their respects to Charles Albert "Chuck" Poland, the 66 year old bus driver who gave his life to save the children on his bus, Saturday, Feb. 2, 2013 in Slocumb, Ala. As the police standoff with an Alabama man accused of holding a 5-year-old boy hostage continued Saturday, a nearby community prepared to bury, Poland, the beloved bus driver who was shot to death trying to protect children on his bus when the episode began days earlier (AP Photo/AL.com, Joe Songer) MAGS OUT

Law enforcement personnel wait outside the funeral home as people pay their respects to Charles Albert "Chuck" Poland, the 66 year old bus driver who gave his life to save the children on his bus, Saturday, Feb. 2, 2013 in Slocumb, Ala. As the police standoff with an Alabama man accused of holding a 5-year-old boy hostage continued Saturday, a nearby community prepared to bury, Poland, the beloved bus driver who was shot to death trying to protect children on his bus when the episode began days earlier (AP Photo/AL.com, Joe Songer) MAGS OUT

MIDLAND CITY, Ala. (AP) ? As an Alabama standoff and hostage drama marked a sixth day Sunday, more details emerged about the suspect at the center, with neighbors and officials painting a picture of an isolated man estranged from his family.

Authorities say Jim Lee Dykes, 65 ? a decorated veteran of the Vietnam War known as Jimmy to neighbors ? gunned down a school bus driver and then abducted a 5-year-old boy from the bus, taking him to an underground bunker on his rural property. The driver, 66-year-old Charles Albert Poland Jr., was to be buried Sunday.

Dykes, described as a loner who railed against the government, lives up a dirt road outside this tiny hamlet north of Dothan in the southeast corner of the state. His home is just off the main road north to the state capital of Montgomery, about 80 miles away.

The FBI said in a statement Sunday that authorities continue to have an open line of communication with Dykes and that they planned to deliver to the bunker additional comfort items such as food, toys and medicine. They also said Dykes was making the child as comfortable as possible.

Dykes grew up in the Dothan area. Mel Adams, a Midland City Council member who owns the lot where reporters are gathered, said he has known Dykes since they were ages 3 and 4.

He said Dykes has a sister and a brother, but that he is estranged from his family.

Adams said he didn't know what caused the falling-out, but that "he had told part of his family to go to hell."

Midland City Mayor Virgil Skipper said Dykes' sister is in a nursing home. Adams said law enforcement officers have talked to Dykes' family members and advised them not to speak with reporters, and that officers told her there was nothing she could do to help the child in the bunker.

Government records and interviews with neighbors indicate that Dykes joined the Navy in Midland City, serving on active duty from 1964 to 1969. His record shows several awards, including the Vietnam Service Medal and the Good Conduct Medal. During his service, Dykes was trained in aviation maintenance.

Adams said that like Dykes, he is a Vietnam veteran but never was close with him. He said he recalls last seeing Dykes was in the 1980s, when he drove a truck for a company that laundered uniforms.

At some point after his time in the Navy, Dykes lived in Florida, where he worked as a surveyor and a long-haul truck driver. It's unclear how long he stayed there.

He had some scrapes with the law in Florida, including a 1995 arrest for improper exhibition of a weapon. The misdemeanor was dismissed. He also was arrested for marijuana possession in 2000.

He returned to Alabama about two years ago, moving onto the rural tract about 100 yards from his nearest neighbors, Michael Creel and his father, Greg.

Neighbors described Dykes as a man who once beat a dog to death with a lead pipe, threatened to shoot children for setting foot on his property, and patrolled his yard at night with a flashlight and a firearm. Michael Creel said Dykes had an adult daughter, but the two lost touch years ago.

His property has a white trailer that, according to Creel, Dykes said he bought from FEMA after it was used to house evacuees from Hurricane Katrina. The property also has a steel shipping container ? like those on container ships ? in which Dykes stores tools and supplies.

Next to the container is the underground bunker where authorities say Dykes is holed up with the 5-year-old. Neighbors say the bunker has a pipe so Dykes could hear people coming near his driveway. Authorities have been using the ventilation pipe to communicate with him.

The younger Creel, who said he helped Dykes with supplies to build the bunker and has been in it twice, said Dykes wanted protection from hurricanes.

"He said he lived in Florida and had hurricanes hit. He wanted someplace he could go down in and be safe," Creel said. Authorities say the bunker is about 6 feet by 8 feet, and the only entrance is a trap door at the top.

Such bunkers are not uncommon in rural Alabama because of the threat of tornadoes.

Greg Creel was a friend of Dykes', but he said he would not comment for The Associated Press. "I will only talk to the police and the FBI," he said.

Michael Creel said Dykes kept to himself and listened to a lot of conservative talk radio.

"He was very into what's going on with the nation and the politics and all the laws being made. The things he didn't agree with, he would ventilate," he said.

James Arrington, police chief of the neighboring town of Pinckard, put it differently.

"He's against the government, starting with Obama on down," he said.

Morris Dees of Southern Poverty Law Center in Montgomery, a group that tracks hate crimes, said Dykes was not on the group's radar.

Although the fatal shootings in December at a school in Newtown, Conn., are still on everyone's mind, Dees said he doesn't think Dykes was trying to be a copycat.

"Probably not. He had a whole bus load full of kids, and he could have walked up there and shot the whole crowd of them," he said.

"I think he's just a really angry and bitter guy with some anger management issues," Dees said. "He is just against everything - the government and his neighbors."

_

Associated Press writers Tamara Lush, Jay Reeves and Philip Rawls contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-02-03-School%20Bus%20Driver%20Shot/id-e6cb74ee8e6c45e89f84049237c35cfb

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Kobe Bryant Passing Instead Of Scoring: 'You're Just Trying To Do Whatever It Takes To Win'

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) ? For 17 years, Kobe Bryant has been a supremely confident, ultra-aggressive offensive force who believed that the more he scores, the better the odds the Los Angeles Lakers win.

Even by his standards, Bryant was on a blistering run to start this season. He averaged just over 22 field goal attempts, right up there with the highest averages of his career. He took 31 shots in a loss to Houston, 41 in a win over Golden State and 32 in a loss at Toronto.

Off to a 17-25 start, and with the playoffs slipping away, Kobe has revamped his game. He's channeling more Magic than Michael now, becoming the Lakers' chief playmaker to jumpstart the struggling team. After posting double-digit assists just once in his first 42 games, Bryant is averaging 11.2 assists over the last five, a stretch that has produced four victories to offer some hope that all is not lost.

"It feels good," Bryant said Friday, when the Lakers beat the Timberwolves. "You're just trying to do whatever it takes to win. Trying to figure things out, even if you're adjusting your game as dramatically as I have, it's just doing whatever it takes to get your team to win."

Passing hasn't exactly been absent from Bryant's game over the years. It just hasn't been at the forefront of his approach to breaking a team down. He's always thought of himself as the best one-on-one player in the world, and that mentality has fueled a get-out-of-my-way approach that has helped him fly up the career scoring chart.

He's averaged a healthy 4.7 assists for his career and was right at that number through the first 42 games this season. Bryant has more career assists than any of the five players who have scored at least 30,000 points. But he has completely changed his role in the last two weeks.

In the four-game losing streak that preceded the Lakers' mini-surge, Bryant attempted 25, 32, 22 and 23 shots and dished out a total of 14 assists.

In the last five games, he's taken 10, 12, 12, 17 (the only loss) and 13 shots and picked up 56 assists.

"I just try to dominate the game through passing and getting to the rim and scoring when the opportunity presents itself," Bryant said. "There's many ways to dominate a game."

For someone as notoriously stubborn as Bryant, it's quite an eye-opening transformation.

"It's not the easiest thing in the world to change a mentality," Lakers coach Mike D'Antoni said. "But he's definitely trying."

In the twilight of his career, and with Steve Nash and Dwight Howard not close to the All-NBA players they have been, it's also been absolutely necessary for the Lakers' survival. They are 21-26, good for 10th place in the competitive Western Conference.

"It's different now playing against him than watching him on TV," Wolves forward Derrick Williams said. "He's just a deadly weapon. If you leave a little space he's going to knock down a shot. If you get too close to him, he's going to hit people with backdoor passes."

His teammates are feeding off the newfound unselfishness, too. Pau Gasol had struggled for most of the season, but he had 22 points and 12 rebounds against the Timberwolves on Friday night. Antawn Jamison has scored in double figures in four straight games, and Nash is adapting quite well to playing off the ball and knocking down all the open shots that come when Bryant draws so much attention from the defense.

The Timberwolves certainly didn't have an answer for his new game Friday. In the first quarter, he relentlessly backed down the overmatched Luke Ridnour in the post, drawing double teams from a scrambling Wolves defense. Bryant easily surveyed the scene, kicking to wide open shooters on the perimeter for easy shots. The Lakers hit eight of their first 10 3-point attempts to build a 29-point lead in the second quarter.

Bryant said he studied Magic Johnson, Oscar Robertson and John Stockton as much as he did Jordan while he was growing up. And whenever he's asked about Magic ? widely considered Bryant's biggest competition for title of the greatest Laker ? he smiles broadly.

"That's the thing that gets lost as the years go on," he said. "People forget how good he was and some of the passes he makes. You go back and look at some of that (stuff) he was throwing around out there, it's outrageous. Some of the things he sees. And me growing up a huge Magic fan, I'm very familiar with that."

If Bryant can somehow dig these Lakers out of the rubble and take them to another title, it will be the sixth of his career ? tying Jordan and moving him past Magic on the ring count.

"We're trying to find that balance a little bit," he said. "We're obviously not reaching our full potential if I go through a full half without really shooting the ball. But at the same time, I think the most important part is to get everybody in rhythm. I can always find my offensive rhythm throughout the game."

That's an ongoing conversation with D'Antoni.

"You need to be aggressive and make the right play," the coach said. "When you take off and they collapse on you, make the pass. If they don't, then score. I think you need to do it for four quarters. You can't come into a game and be a facilitator for a quarter, (then say) 'OK, now I'm going to be a scorer.'"

Bryant is getting more and more comfortable with each passing game, and all of a sudden these Lakers have new life. Once buried under a pile of injuries and dysfunction, they're 3? games behind Houston for the eighth seed and charging. They're close enough that Bryant is starting to peek at the standings again.

"A little bit now because you kind of want to have in your mind's eye what's going on," he said. "But we'll catch up."

___

Follow Jon Krawczynski on Twitter: http://twitter.com/APKrawczynski

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/02/kobe-bryant-passing-instead-scoring_n_2606737.html

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New Secretary of State Kerry speaks to Netanyahu, Abbas about peace

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Secretary of State John Kerry stressed his commitment to promoting Israeli-Palestinian peace on Sunday in telephone calls to the leaders of both sides, the State Department said.

In separate conversations, Kerry, who took over as the top U.S. diplomat from Hillary Clinton on Friday, spoke to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

"Turning to Middle East peace, the secretary underscored his personal commitment and that of President (Barack) Obama to support Israel's security and to pursue a lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians." State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said of Kerry's conversation with Netanyahu.

A spokesman for the Israeli prime minister confirmed that the call took place but provided no details.

Netanyahu assumed the responsibility on Saturday of forming a new Israeli government following the January 22 election in which his rightist Likud-Beitenu lost ground but still emerged as the biggest party, with 31 seats in the 120-seat Israeli parliament.

His new government is expected to include a new centrist party headed by former TV personality Yair Lapid, which with 19 seats is the second-largest party in parliament, and the 12-seat far-right pro-settler Bayit Yehudi.

The success of the centrists in the election is expected to improve the outlook for Israeli-Palestinian peace. Formal talks broke down in 2010 over Israel's continued building of Jewish settlements on land the Palestinians want for a state.

Since then each side has taken steps that have antagonized the other.

The U.N. General assembly on November 29 overwhelmingly upgraded the Palestinians status to that of "non-member state," prompting Israel to retaliate by withholding tax revenues owed to them as well as by announcing fresh plans for settlement construction.

However, Israeli officials said last week that they would release about $100 million in withheld tax revenues, a move that Kerry "commended ... as an important step" in his conversation with Netanyahu, the State Department said, adding that their discussion also covered Iran and Syria.

In his call to Abbas, Kerry, former chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, reiterated his commitment to peace and promised to keep working with Congress to release budget support funds for the Palestinian Authority.

An Abbas aide told Reuters that Kerry told Abbas he was determined to facilitate the restart of stalled peace between the parties and that he hoped to be able to meet him soon, although no time or venue was set.

Nuland said Kerry spoke on Saturday to Israeli President Shimon Peres, who holds a largely ceremonial position. She declined all comment on when Kerry might travel to the region.

"The two men held a lengthy conversation on Saturday night and Peres said that the results of the recent general election could open a window for renewed peace talks," a Peres spokeswoman said in a statement.

Netanyahu, who has been asked by Peres to form a new coalition, said on Saturday that renewing talks with Abbas would be a top priority for his new government.

"The next government that I will form will be committed to peace. I call on Abut Mazen (Abbas) to return to the negotiating table. Every day that passes without us talking to jointly find a way to create peace for our peoples is a day wasted," he said.

Separately, the State Department spokeswoman said Kerry spoke on Sunday to Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida and South Korean Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan. Kerry spoke on Saturday to the foreign ministers of Turkey, Canada and Mexico.

(Additional reporting by Ali Sawafta in Ramallah and by Ori Lewis in Jerusalem; Reporting by Arshad Mohammed; editing by Christopher Wilson)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/secretary-state-kerry-speaks-netanyahu-abbas-peace-222213106.html

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Community remembers Raymond Ayoub | Voices of Central Pa

by Arthur Goldschmidt

Centre region lost an esteemed friend of working people and of the peace movement early last month. Raymond G. Ayoub, whose ninetieth birthday was celebrated by friends and family three days before his death, was a world-renowned mathematician, one of Penn State?s master teachers, a devoted student of Quaker history and a founder of Foxdale Village Retirement Community in State College.
Ayoub was always interested in opening doors for people who were disadvantaged. Even in his last days he expressed concern about whether the nursing and wait staff in Foxdale were adequately paid for their services.
He never forgot the poverty of his family when he was young. His parents, both immigrants to Montreal from Syria, had twelve children, of whom only four lived to maturity. His father opened a succession of marginal shops in various locations, with little success. Raymond wrote a touching article for the spring 2011 issue of ?Miscellany,? Foxdale?s literary magazine, about his mother?s peddling sewing supplies to women in Quebec Province when the only language she could speak was Arabic.
Even though Raymond Ayoub graduated from high school as the number one student in all Quebec, McGill University refused to award him a scholarship because he was the son of foreign parents. His older sister paid his first semester tuition, and he became an honors student in mathematics and editor of the McGill?s daily newspaper. He later earned his mathematics Ph.D. from Illinois.
His concern for young people held back by poverty or prejudice was also evident in his service on the Diversity Committee of the American Mathematical Society and in his own department, where he secured assistantships and some teaching positions for talented African Americans and other minorities.
Ayoub became a convinced Quaker because of an influential McGill professor, the father of his future wife, Christine. The Ayoubs became active in the State College Friends Meeting when they moved to State College after both were invited to join Penn State?s Mathematics Department in 1952. Although never a participant in protest demonstrations, he spoke quietly and firmly for peace between nations and objected to belligerent attitudes and policies, in accordance with Quaker principles.
As a part of his effort to promote international understanding, he spent his sabbatical leaves from Penn State teaching abroad: the University of Frankfurt, Germany; the Institut des Hautes Etudes in Bures-sur-Yvette, France; and the University of Warwick. After taking early retirement in 1984, he taught in King Saud University in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; Bethlehem University in the Israel-administered West Bank; Aleppo, Syria; and Jordan. Without becoming political, he often spoke out in support of Arab culture.
Ayoub was the man who gave the name to Foxdale, honoring George Fox, who founded the Quaker movement, and the Dale family who had once owned and farmed the land on which the retirement community came to be built. Working with Barton and Jane Jenks, Elton and Alice Atwater, and Ralph and Kamilla Way (who provided the land), Raymond and Christine Ayoub overcame all obstacles and brought Foxdale Village Retirement Community to completion in 1991.
According to Christine, Raymond visited the Quadrangle, a retirement community in Haverford, and persuaded its management to let him read its Certificate of Need as he drafted the comparable document for Foxdale. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania requires any group founding a retirement home to certify that there is a need in the community for additional beds.
Jane Jenks Small described Ayoub as ?exceedingly kind and generous.? She recalled an incident many years ago, in the days before credit cards, when she was shopping in downtown State College and saw a dress that she wanted to buy but discovered she hadn?t brought enough money in her purse to pay for it. Upon stepping outside the store, she encountered Raymond Ayoub, who sensed her chagrin and, upon hearing her predicament, immediately offered to lend her the extra cash needed to buy the dress.
He was unfailingly polite, ?a true gentleman? in the words of another friend, Howard Palmer. Ayoub?s sense of humor, his fondness for quoting poetry and his quiet dignity were qualities that made him liked and respected by all Foxdale residents.
Ayoub wrote a book on the philosophy of mathematics called ?Musings of the Masters,? drawing on the writings of mathematicians from many countries. He also wrote commentaries on the quoted passages, many of which he translated from French, German or Italian.
Ayoub proposed to give a lecture about the history of mathematical thought to be sponsored by the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute. The lecture had been scheduled in mid-January, after the date of his death.
The memorial service for Raymond Ayoub will be held in the auditorium of Foxdale Village, 500 East Marylyn Ave., State College, on Saturday, Feb. 9, at 2 p.m.

Source: http://voicesweb.org/community-remembers-raymond-ayoub-8938

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Self-Publishing Scams - Old and New - Passive Income Online

I?ve been around Internet Marketing for a number of years ? so I am?very?familiar with scams. ?What I?ve seen in the last 12-18 months is that some of those same spammier Internet marketers have moved on to self-publishing scams. That?s not a surprise, given the huge growth in self-publishing, ?it was indeed as predictable as a beer on a hot day.?

?

What does surprise ?me though, is that publishing has had self-publishing scams for longer than Internet Marketing has even existed. Vanity Presses who charge would-be authors thousands of dollars for the chance to see their book in print with the vague promise of the chance of future sales are not new.

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It?s not really that surprising though when you think about. The psychology and the business opportunity, for the ethically-challenged, are very similar.?

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Internet Marketing Scams?

?The details vary but this usually involves ranking a website(s) in the search engine results and making a money from a combination of affiliate sales, pay-per-click and pay-per-impression advertisers. It is a legitimate, even after last year?s changes with Google?s ranking algorithm, way to make money. The problem is the hype and over-promising of the marketers involved.?

?The Dream:?

• people who can?t get a job or have lost a job and a have no idea how to start a business
• low start up costs to online?bushinesses;?
• the idea of working from home is a huge draw from many;
• the idea of not having to deal with customers/bosses/colleagues on a regular basis is also very appealing;?
• being able ?to run a business from a beach in Mexico or Thailand has it?s appeal?

The Reality:?

• the technology can be easily made to look harder than it is;
• the art of ranking in the search engines can be made to seem very magical, only the inner circle know the secretes?
• people want to believe and they want to be have people telling them they will do alright;?
• it?s so cheap to build websites online (about $10/year for a domain name plus the under $10/month hosting ) ? paying ?only? $300 or more a month for the same is crazy;?

The Scam:?

• consistent income ? membership courses provide a much more stable income to theA-list bloggers ?than doing what is actually being taught;?
• over the last 4-5 years many of the loop-holes exploited by these approaches have been closed by Google, you are up against one of hte world?s largest employers of bright PhD?s.?
• if you look at the track record of the ?guru? ? you will see very little believable disclosure of their own income, and little evidence of a track record in selling anything except Internet Marketing programs.?
• there is often a high-pressure, closing-soon, rah-rah-rah, approach, which minimizes the chance for prospects to ask sensible questions or consider the implications of what is on offer before they sign up.?
• much of the information come from other beginners in the same forum ? rather than the ?expert?. This results in a lot of mis-information and myths.?
• almost none of these memberships sites actually run experiments to see what does work in a changing environment

Thai Beaches Have a Lot toAnswer For

Publishing Scam ? Traditional Version?

?The Dream?

• to see your book on the shelves of your local bookshop?
• to be recognised as An Author?
• rack in millions, quit day job, write more, possibly from a beach in Mexico or Thailand

The Reality:?

• it?s always been hard to get?published?- there have always been more authors wanting toe publishing than books publishers can afford to publish.?
• there is often a mis-match between what an author wants to write and what a publisher can sell?in sufficient quantity?to make a profit?
• as Amazon re-creates the publishing industry more and more physical bookshops are closing and fewer books are being published by traditional publishers.?

The Scam:

• you will pay many thousands of dollars for an often all inclusive package with will include book design,editing, formatting, printing and publicity. In reality what you get will be cheap out-sourced services from second rate service providers, and a few print-on-demand books with a couple of press releases thrown in to?sweeten?the deal. You could do it all yourself for maybe 10% of the cost.?
• In the worst case you may also have difficultly removing your book from the company, un-authorized?charges to your credit cards and non-payment of any royalties due to you.?
• You are highly unlikely to see the?subsidiary?press sell any copies for you.?

Self-Publishing Scams ? 2013 Version?

?Self-publishing is definitely a gold rush industry at the moment, plus?traditional?publishing is going through very hard times. ?Even before the Kindle eReader, Amazon was a disruptive force in the industry, with Kindle, and eBook sales in general booming, the landscape is being re-written.?

?

It?s not a surprise then to find some of the?biggest names in publishing?are getting onto this particular scam ? possibly as a?desperate?act to save their under-threat business model. Simon Schuster launching a new self-publishing arm called Archways Publishing. The unwary may be tempted to hand over the up to $22,000 they are charging in the belief they will be in S&S?s catalogue and bookshops will stock them. No and no.?

?

Here?s The Reality ? For the Wannabe-Authors

?If you want to ?just write? and not bother with the whole marketing thing ? then make sure you have a well-paying career, or a generous partner. Even trad published authors need to be involved in publicity and marketing campaigns. They do book signings, media interviews. Increasingly they are expected to be active in social media.?

?

If you self-publish ? then it?s all up to you: you have total control. ?Don?t therefore sign an incomprehensible contract and hire a ?self-publishing company? ? because ? let?s face it ? that?s kinda a contradiction. YOU are?self-publishing. You can?t delegate that over-all control to someone else. You get to take?responsibility.?

?

Which doesn?t mean that you have to do it all yourself. In particular I think most would agree that we don?t have the skills to:?

• design covers;
• edit our own work (even if you can edit others).?

Many others will choose to outsource book formatting, and may hire a virtual assistant to help with the admin and the social media. Most of us who are in business don?t do it without a book-keeper or an account and many have access to a lawyer.?

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Here?s The Reality ? For the Internet Marketers?

?Your product is key. All the promotional skills in the world won?t get you very far if your book is rubbish. For all it?s flaws, the Amazon review system still works. You can pay for or get your mates to provide all the 5-star reviews for the launch, but once the real punters leave their 1-star reviews it will go awfully wrong.?

?

?Which is not to say you have to be an awesome writer, or even prepared to become one. Ghostwriting has long been a legitimate profession and htere is nothing wrong with paying someone for their words and then putting your name on it. But if you are paying 0.01c/word for an English-as-a-second-language writer ? then see my comment above about quality.?

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Gaming Amazon in terms of getting fake reviews, or even genuine reviews, from mates, is a short-term game, which Amazon has already started closng down. It?s now against the Kindle Publishing Terms of Service for authors to review other writer?s books. Joining a paid forum or other online group and then reviewing each other?s books just makes it even easier for Amazon to find and remove the reviews in question. And yes they have bannned people before for abusing their platform ? look to see that increasing in the future.?

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?Last Words?

?Basically self-publishing a book and making money from it is entirely possible the success stories are true. They are also the minority. It?s not?easy?to do this successfully. I?m certainly not selling enough to retire that Thai beach quite yet. It is however, in my not-so-humble opinion, one of the most exciting times in all of history to be either a writer or an online entrepreneur.?

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Source: http://lissowerbutts.com/self-publishing-scams-old-and-new/

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