By Josh Wardini In an era heavily dominated by technology, it is not so surprising to find the publishing world gradually moving into online selling, whether it is print, ebook, or audio books. As an integral part of independent publishing, marketing is even more imperative in the digital era. Readers tend to do their research online, from new releases to the authors they … [Read more...] about Guest Post: How Indie Authors Can Establish a Strong Digital Presence
Publishing
Resources For Finding An Agent
Following up on my post about going the traditional or self published route, here are some resources if you want to go the traditional route and find an agent: Agent Query: A searchable database of literary agents. Jericho Agent Match: A service that lists all agents in the U.S. and U.K. Curtis Agency: Located in New York. MacKenzie Wolf: Full service literary … [Read more...] about Resources For Finding An Agent
Writers: Traditional or Self Publish
When it comes to books, authors have many options for how they want to connect with readers. The first question to ask is, do you want to be traditionally published or do you want to self publish? Jane Friedman has a great breakdown of the publishing paths, the value of each route, and things to watch out for. The Porch Swing Chronicles also has a post about being a hybrid … [Read more...] about Writers: Traditional or Self Publish
Getting Into the Audio Market
Audio is becoming a bigger and bigger part of digital publishing. According to GoodeReader, the "format saw a 22.7% increase in sales and generated over $2.5 billion dollars in the United States alone." But audio doesn't mean just audiobooks. It can also mean voice apps, podcasts, and more. Audiobooks Indie authors can sell audiobooks, via ACX, Smashwords, iTunes, and Libro. … [Read more...] about Getting Into the Audio Market
Focusing on Wins, Big and Small
There are many ways to define success. Lately, I've been focusing on emphasizing my wins, big and small. It's a good way to stay motivated, and to not also succumb to the endless to-dos and feeling like nothing gets accomplished. With that in mind, here are some recent wins related to digital publishing: More than 1 million books were self-published in 2017, according … [Read more...] about Focusing on Wins, Big and Small
Cool People, Cool Projects
People make amazing things. That's probably why I spend so much time online—I often go down the rabbit hole of reading about people's cool projects. Speaking of, here are some I've heard about recently: "This Book Is A Planetarium" on Hyperallergic: "Defying every expectation of what a book can be, this pop-up extravaganza transforms into six fully functional tools: a real … [Read more...] about Cool People, Cool Projects
20 Stories Related To Writing and Publishing
Sometimes I read stories, and just have to share them. Here's a list of recent interesting stuff (in no particular order): "13 Writers Who Grew To Hate Their Own Books" on Literary Hub: List includes Ian Fleming (The Spy Who Loved Me), Anthony Burgess (A Clockwork Orange), and Leo Tolstoy (War and Peace). "8 Notable Attempts to Hack the New York Times Bestseller List" … [Read more...] about 20 Stories Related To Writing and Publishing
Technology and Publishing
Tech, including tools and developments in machine learning, have become more prevalent, leading to a lot of interesting experiments and projects. One that caught my eye recently is a neural network that wrote a novel about its own cross-country road trip. Ross Goodwin took a road trip from Brooklyn to New Orleans, and hooked up a GPS, microphone, laptop, and printer to the … [Read more...] about Technology and Publishing
An Update on Amazon
It seems Amazon is always in the news, and that makes sense. It's a giant company with a huge reach. For this post, I'm going to focus on the non-book items of Amazon. Some of it is related to indie publishing, and some of it is just plain interesting. First up, a writer on Gizmodo tried to block Amazon from here life, and found it was impossible. This is because in addition … [Read more...] about An Update on Amazon
Pitching a Book
For writers who want to go the traditionally published route, there's a process. It usually involves pitching to agents, then having your agent pitch your book to publishers. A lot of people are working on their novels, so you want to make sure that yours stands out. With that in mind, Electric Lit shares 10 novels that agents have already seen. They include having a … [Read more...] about Pitching a Book
10 Audiobooks to Read This Holiday Season (A Good Audiobook Speaks Volumes Blog Tour)
Happy November, fellow readers! We’re in the middle of holiday season, which probably means lots of traveling, and also getting ready for traveling. One great way to help you prepare, and to help you relax while you’re traveling, is to listen to audiobooks. And that’s why I’m participating in the “A Good Audiobook Speaks Volumes” blog tour. Audiobooks make it easy to … [Read more...] about 10 Audiobooks to Read This Holiday Season (A Good Audiobook Speaks Volumes Blog Tour)
209 Examples and Trends Impacting the Future of Storytelling
Storytelling comes in a variety of formats: as books, articles, podcasts, films, and more. It seems every week there's something new and cool coming out of the works, so I thought I'd highlight some of them here (in no particular order). Also, there's a lot that can be learned from other people's stories! New Tech / Tools / Platforms Book Marketing Book Title Generator … [Read more...] about 209 Examples and Trends Impacting the Future of Storytelling
Amazon News and Tools
It's been a while since I've posted about Amazon, so thought I'd share some links I've been collecting. It covers a wide range of topics, but hey, that's Amazon! Amazon Tools and Tutorials ACX University Kindle Create Amazon Sales Estimator Tool on Jungle Scout Amazon Sales Rank Calculator on Kindlepreneur "Tutorial: Enabling X-Ray for Your eBooks on Amazon" … [Read more...] about Amazon News and Tools
Guest Post: A Brief History of ASR, Automatic Speech Recognition
By Jason Kincaid This moment has been a long time coming. The technology behind speech recognition has been in development for over half a century, going through several periods of intense promise — and disappointment. So what changed to make ASR viable in commercial applications? And what exactly could these systems accomplish, long before any of us had heard of … [Read more...] about Guest Post: A Brief History of ASR, Automatic Speech Recognition
Guest Post: Why Instagram Stories Is A Big Plus For Businesses
By Alex Slichnyi Social media is one of the biggest trend-setters in the society today. Every day, millions of people all around the world log onto platforms such as Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook to keep themselves updated about various subjects. Instagram is perhaps the hottest social media platform right now. A staggering 300 million users visit it every day. Its … [Read more...] about Guest Post: Why Instagram Stories Is A Big Plus For Businesses
