Blogging is one of the best ways to build a platform, both as a book author and as a freelance writer. I plan on posting more about the specifics of being a freelancer, now having done it for a while, but blogging seems a good place to start, since it applies to both types of writers. There are a lot of benefits to blogging, especially if you do it regularly. In the past few … [Read more...] about The Ins and Outs of Blogging as a Professional Writer
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Turning Your Ebook Into an App
Sometimes it makes sense for a book to be transformed into an app. Forbes wrote a piece back in 2012 about whether the future of books will be as apps. Two years later, and it doesn't seem to be true, but in some cases it could work. New tools have made it easier for authors to create their own apps. Karen Robertson, creator of the book app Treasure Kai, said in a Good … [Read more...] about Turning Your Ebook Into an App
Indie Authors: Offline Marketing Strategies
Although online marketing (emails, social media, etc.) are important and can be an effective way to encourage sales of books, offline marketing can be just as powerful. And passing out tangible goods and interacting face to face can help create more loyal fans and stronger networks. Tangible Goods Journey of a Storyteller writes about creating promo cards. Basically, you can … [Read more...] about Indie Authors: Offline Marketing Strategies
7 Strategies and 110+ Tools to Help Indie Authors Find Readers and Reviewers
Self-publishing is growing, and with it come new resources. One of the biggest hurdles of being an indie author is finding readers and getting reviews (which helps find more readers). Some people may still consider self-publishing a stigma, and some writers may think that promotion takes away too much time from writing. But many sites, including Outramp, Your Writer Platform, … [Read more...] about 7 Strategies and 110+ Tools to Help Indie Authors Find Readers and Reviewers
Kindle, Kindle, Kindle: Amazon’s Latest Publishing Tools
In the last week, Amazon has made three big announcements, all of which I think have the potential to greatly help indie authors. Kindle Countdown Deals The first, and most exciting in my opinion, is the Kindle Countdown Deals. What this means is that authors who publish e-books on Amazon have an easy way of price pulsing/discounting their books, and then advertising it. The … [Read more...] about Kindle, Kindle, Kindle: Amazon’s Latest Publishing Tools
BookExpo America 2013
I attended my last BEA as a resident of the east coast (though I'm sure I'll find a way to get back there next year). Although I was pressed for time and unable to make any of the panels this year, I met some really amazing people, publishers, and startups. One of my favorite booths was Indie Bestsellers, where six indie best-selling authors talked to fans and signed … [Read more...] about BookExpo America 2013
What Self-Publishing and Internet Marketing Have in Common
For those of you who don't know, ClickBank is an affiliate marketing website. People can sign up to either sell their information products, or to promote products and receive a cut of the sale. Recently I was looking through ClickBank's site, and I stumbled across their tips for Internet marketers. Many of their tips can also be directly applied to self-published authors, or … [Read more...] about What Self-Publishing and Internet Marketing Have in Common
What Do Authors Want?
Digital Book World hosted a webinar a while back, called "What Authors Want." The webinar was meant to promote DBW's survey of 5,000 authors. The survey was submitted to the Writer's Digest community (whose writers tend to be female and over 35, and write fiction), as well as SFWA (mostly male fiction writers), Romance Writers of America (mostly female writers), and perhaps a … [Read more...] about What Do Authors Want?
Penguin Becomes First Big-6 Publisher to Disrupt the Book Business Model
Pearson, the parent company of Penguin Group, acquired Author Solutions, a self-publishing platform, for $116 million. This makes Penguin the first of the big-6 publishing companies to provide full services, including editorial, marketing, and design, to self-published authors. Penguin will also be the first big publisher to start learning about customer acquisition and data … [Read more...] about Penguin Becomes First Big-6 Publisher to Disrupt the Book Business Model
The Reader Revolution: Recap of How the “Publishing Game” is Changing
BEA offered an education series, where many experts participated in panels about a wide range of topics relating to publishing. One of the most interesting panels was called "The Reader Revolution: Changing the Game for Readers, Writers, and Everyone in Between." … [Read more...] about The Reader Revolution: Recap of How the “Publishing Game” is Changing
BEA Day 1
First day of my first BEA, BookExpo America. Fortunately, because of this publishing blog, I was able to attend for free! I spent about five hours today at the Expo, and I still wasn't able to cover everything. It can be a little overwhelming, as some attendees may agree, but totally worth it. This year, BEA was held at the Jacob Javits Center in Manhattan. BEA took up … [Read more...] about BEA Day 1
This Week in Publishing
Penguin Group is embracing new technologies. They've started a TV and Radio Satellite Media Tours department, so that they can "produce TV and radio satellite tours for Penguin authors," according to Publisher's Weekly. Penguin Brings TV, Radio Satellite Tours In-House Amazon has been working to make it easier and more profitable for authors to self-publish. New features, … [Read more...] about This Week in Publishing
12/13/10: This Week in Publishing
Have hope, all of you who have declared print books as dead. According to David L. Ulin, the Los Angeles Times book critic, "print books aren't going anywhere." E-books complement print books, and the real issue "is that we read, that we continue to interact with long-form writing; by altering the conditions of the conversation, e-books and e-readers have already served an … [Read more...] about 12/13/10: This Week in Publishing
Book Launch 2.0
Here's a good example of how some (usually older) authors are reacting to the changes in the writing world, mostly to how they're now expected to market themselves. It's a pretty entertaining video. … [Read more...] about Book Launch 2.0
What’s Happening in the Publishing World
Every week for my Interactive Media class, I post links to current articles about what's going on in the publishing world. So here's a list of what's happening this week: First, here is an argument against the agency model for e-books. Annette Green writes about how, through the agency model, publishers are basically screwing themselves. Print versions of books are … [Read more...] about What’s Happening in the Publishing World