During the “Twitter 2.0: Twitter Master Class For Publishing Professionals” presentation at BookExpo America, Brand New Brand You Inc. president Cindy Ratzlaff encouraged authors to try the “flock to unlock” technique on Twitter.

According to Ratzlaff, “your tweets are only alive for seven minutes” in your followers’ Twitter streams. The “flock to unlock” technique will help you keep a tweet alive for longer and find new readers.

She used Alternative Apparel’s Twitter feed as an example (tweet embedded below). The company promised to unlock a special sale code if more than 30 people retweeted a post about the sale.

Read more

Soon you can teach the kids in your life how to print a book the old fashioned way.

At BookExpo America this year, we discovered “The Creative Picture Printer” set from the Creative Company. Based on a kid’s printing set from the 1930s, you can help children print a simple story using  stamps and ink. The set will be available later this year. Check it out:

Create a story, write a letter, or adorn any number of projects with a classic farm theme using this collection of vintage rubber stamps. As the original Creative Pictured Printer inspired children of the 1930s to “print” illustrated stories, this Farm Set will entice a new generation to printmaking.

Scholastic unveiled the new cover for Harry Potter & the Chamber of Secrets at BookExpo America.

This jacket depicts Harry Potter and three Weasley brothers riding in the infamous flying car–what do you think?

Both Kazu Kibuishi, the artist behind the new designs, and Arthur A. Levine, the editor of the American edition of the Harry Potter series, appeared at the unveiling.

Read more

Here are some handpicked titles from our Coming Attractions page. Want to include your book? Just read our Share Your New Book with GalleyCat Readers post for all the details.

Valentine by Kate Thane: “Mourning the loss of her mother, Anna Fitzgerald, a highly successful young business woman who enjoys all the trappings of material success but who is still looking to fill the void in her life – an emptiness that can only be filled by the consolation of real love.” (January 2013)

Read more

Actor Colin Firth and Audible Studios won the Audiobook of the Year prize at the Audie Awards last night for an audiobook edition of Graham Greene’s The End of the Affair.

We’ve linked to all the winners below. In addition, Dracula by Bram Stoker won the distinguished achievement in production award for an audiobook with work by Alan Cumming, Tim Curry, Katherine Kellgren and more. The audio drama award went to Swordspoint by Ellen Kushner. Firth had this statement in the release:

I’m grateful for this honor, and grateful for the opportunity to narrate one of my favorite stories—a great novel told in the first person makes for the best script an actor could imagine. None better than The End of the Affair … Theater and film each offer their own challenges and rewards, but narration is a new practice for me and the audiobook performance provides exhilarating possibilities for both actors and listeners.

Read more

Smart Pop Books will publish Dragonwriter: A Tribute to Anne McCaffrey and Pern this August, a collection edited by the late science fiction author’s son, Todd McCaffrey.

McCaffrey died in 2011, earning tributes from around the publishing world. The new collection will feature both an essay and cover art (pictured) by Michael Whelan. Here’s more about the book, from the release:

Michael Whelan shares stories and 18 concept sketches—in a special color insert—from his longtime work on Pern cover art. Lois McMaster Bujold describes using McCaffrey as a model of the writer’s life. Mercedes Lackey discusses the Brainship universe, and what she learned about McCaffrey’s storytelling from working within it. Elizabeth Moon relates the lessons she learned from Pern’s Lessa (and from Lessa’s creator). David Brin pinpoints the primary characteristic of McCaffrey’s work: her steadfast belief that what is to come is better than what has past.

A week after making news about avoiding an eBook edition of Joyland, novelist Stephen King has created a supernatural digital book called Ghost Brothers of Darkland County.

King worked with the great musicians John Mellencamp and T Bone Burnett for the book. AppNewser has all the details:

The multimedia gothic story, which comes out on June 3rd from Hear Music/Concord Music Group, will take the form of an illustrated digital book that was created specifically for Apple’s iBooks. The work includes a story by King, original songs and lyrics by Mellencamp, along with interactive video, sound effects and a full soundtrack with recordings by many other artists.

We spend a lot of time covering independent authors on GalleyCat, bringing news from the self-publishing world every week.

In an effort to consolidate our reporting, we will release a monthly Self-Publishing Intelligence Report that links to all of our resources for indie authors. Below, we’ve linked to our bestseller lists and the top news stories about this booming corner of the publishing industry.

If you are an author, find some support in our directory of writers looking for writing groups.

Read more

Get ready to sing with Oompa Loompas, fight for golden tickets, and eat a lot of chocolate! A musical adaptation of Charlie & the Chocolate Factory is currently playing preview shows in London.

Award-winning actor Douglas Hodge stars as the genius, eccentric, confectioner Willy Wonka. The play officially opens on June 25, 2013. We’ve embedded the show’s trailer above–what do you think? Here’s more from the UK production’s official site:

Roald Dahl‘s deliciously dark tale of young Charlie Bucket and the mysterious confectioner Willy Wonka comes to life in a brand new West End musical directed by Academy Award® winner Sam Mendes…the wonder of the original story that has captivated the world for almost 50 years is brought to life with music by Marc Shaiman, and lyrics by Scott Wittman and Marc Shaiman (Grammy® winners for Hairspray; Smash), a book by award-winning playwright and adaptor David Greig (The Bacchae; Tintin In Tibet)

(via A Fuse #8 Production)

How can you stand out in a publishing market crowded with flashy digital offerings? Get out your erasers and paperclips.

Cassidy Books publisher Scott Cassidy invited readers to make an Erasable (a paperclip, thumbtack and eraser toy) and mail postcards in a giant mailbox sitting in his BookExpo America booth. Below, you can watch a Twitter Vine video of his eraser creation–part of an upcoming series of books encouraging kids to create with things around the house.

BookExpo America was filled with digital books, apps, eReaders and other digital doodads this year, but we appreciated this indie publisher’s decidedly lo-fi approach to selling books.

Read more