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/Articles/BackUpYourData.asp http://www.pubassist.com/Articles/BackUpYourData.asp 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://www.pubassist.com/Articles/WhatAreMySales.asp http://www.pubassist.com/Articles/WhatAreMySales.asp 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. http://www.pubassist.com http://www.pubassist.com Publishers' Assistant Version 5.1 is now available. New orders will receive the link for the new version. Existing users should have received an email notification with new registration information by now. http://www.pubassist.com/webinars.asp http://www.pubassist.com/webinars.asp Publishers' Assistant has been available since 1990! Many of our users have been with us since that time. Yet, I am amazed at how often even long-time users are not aware of key time-saving features. How about you? Are you getting the most out of Publishers' Assistant? Now you can get first-hand training at a reasonable price from the comfort of your own office. Check out our new webinar series... http://www.pubassist.com/Articles/UnderstandingEDI.asp http://www.pubassist.com/Articles/UnderstandingEDI.asp Most of us have heard the abreviation, "EDI" before. Some may know that it is a fairly generic term that stands for "Electronic Data Interchange". It's a term that has been around for a long time. It's the kind of term makes our eyes glaze over and our heads to spin. But generally, when people are talking about "EDI" they are talking about the exchange of order information between buyer and seller. Take a look at this article to learn some EDI basics and how it works with PubAssist. http://www.pubassist.com/Articles/ConvertFromQuickbooks.asp http://www.pubassist.com/Articles/ConvertFromQuickbooks.asp Converting to any new business system can be a daunting task. Here's a step-by-step article that will take the mystery out of moving from Quickbooks to Publishers' Assistant. http://www.spannet.org/forum/topics/when-is-it-time-to-ask-for http://www.spannet.org/forum/topics/when-is-it-time-to-ask-for The publishing industry has plenty of its own unique information challenges, and Publishers' Assistant has become pretty sophisticated in order to meet those challenges. This posting may come under the category of shameless promotion of our services. Yet, even some of our long-time customers are hesitant to ask for help when they need it. Here are a few guidelines for knowing when its time to call for help. http://www.spannet.org/forum/topics/mixed-messages-from-the-ipne http://www.spannet.org/forum/topics/mixed-messages-from-the-ipne Change is hard and publishers are feeling it. Yet out of the gloom are some hopeful messages. Take a look at some of these observations from the IPNE Conference and see them in a new light. http://www.pubassist.com/articles/TransferReturns.asp http://www.pubassist.com/articles/TransferReturns.asp It has recently come to our attention that negative royalties are being inappropriately logged for returns that have terms set to "Transfer". Transfer returns should not result in any financial transactions being logged. The overall impact of the problem is to reduce your royalty liability. Version 5.1d addresses this problem. If you find that this is a problem you have encountered, the remedy is to install the latest version of PubAssist, and run the Recalculate Liabilities function. http://www.facebook.com/pages/Publishers-Assistant/161910933903505 http://www.facebook.com/pages/Publishers-Assistant/161910933903505 We know that you are busy, but we'll bet one of the things you are doing is promoting your books on Facebook. Why not get to know other PubAssist users on Facebook while you're at it? http://www.pubassist.com/articles/incometaxes.asp http://www.pubassist.com/articles/incometaxes.asp Here's an article where Ron Lawrence outlines how he uses Publishers' Assistant to complete the the business portion of his income tax return.