http://www.pubassist.com News concerning Publishers' Assistant software--a family of products designed to help independent book publishers manage and promote their businesses. en-us http://www.pubassist.com/images/pubassist-logo-mini.jpg http://www.pubassist.com 90 27 http://www.spannet.org/forum/topics/power-in-numbers-for?xg_source=activity http://www.spannet.org/forum/topics/power-in-numbers-for?xg_source=activity You may have heard about some of the communication tools we have included in Publishers' Assistant, like ONIX and EDI; but perhaps you've not understood their significance. Take a look at this article posted on the SPANNet.org Forum. Here, Ron discusses common barriers for independent publishers and suggests new ways that independents can work together to overcome them. This is not a technical article, but it may give you some insight into why Ron thinks that these technical tools are so important. It may also spark some fresh thinking about the meaning of your association membership. http://www.pubassist.com http://www.pubassist.com Check out our new web site! We've rearranged things to help you find what you are looking for faster. There are lots of new articles. Check out the "Did You Know" option to see helpful ideas that you may not have considered before. http://wiki.pubassist.com/pages/HelpArticles/BackUpYourData http://wiki.pubassist.com/pages/HelpArticles/BackUpYourData Your Publishers' Assistant data is an extremely valuable asset. It would be really painful if you lost it. You know you should be backing it up. Yet, some users are just not comfortable enough with their computer to know what to do. Others may think they are backing up their data; but are you sure? Here's a step-by-step article that can help you to be sure. http://www.pubassist.com/Free.asp http://www.pubassist.com/Free.asp Publishers' Assistant has been producing software for publishers since 1990. In June of 2009 we began making the Lyric edition (previously $1495) available as a free download. The Epic Edition (previously $2245) is also free, but only available with the support contract of $35/month. Hundreds of publishers' have taken up our offer. Check it out at www.pubassist.com. http://wiki.pubassist.com/pages/HelpArticles/WhatAreMySales%3F http://wiki.pubassist.com/pages/HelpArticles/WhatAreMySales%3F Perhaps the most significant change in PubAssist Version 5.1 has to do with a new definition in "sales". That may sound trivial, but a good definition that works for most publishers has been elusive. Another key development is the ability to use one report definition within another. So, the results of our new and rather complex "Sales" report can easily be incorporated into other sales reports. Thus, any tweak to our sales definition will perpetuate automatically to other dependent sales reports. http://www.pubassist.com/processxml.asp?tid=COUPLET&StyleSheet=title.xsl http://www.pubassist.com/processxml.asp?tid=COUPLET&StyleSheet=title.xsl A second area of development since the release of Version 5 has been the inclusion of ANSII X12 standard EDI transactions into the Invoice Import and Export Wizards. These wizards are the same that have been used by PubAssist Web Services clients to import web orders into PubAssist. They are now part of Couplet, which comes bundled with the Epic Edition of PubAssist. Couplet is also available as a stand-alone product for $99. http://www.spannet.org/forum/topics/why-cant-my-book-reach-its? http://www.spannet.org/forum/topics/why-cant-my-book-reach-its? How independent publishers can maximize their market potential is a huge subject. There are many experts, lots of perspectives, and a dizzying amount of education available. In a recent article on SPANNet.org, I tried to highlight major opportunities for publishers through collaboration with each other. As a constructive step toward that end, I offer up an online interactive analysis. The value of this analysis is perhaps not so much in the answers that are derived. It's in the participation. Please help by adding your perspectives to this analysis. I'm anticipating that this exercise will help make clear where the greatest potential lies in working together to advance independent publishing.