Digital Pubbing

Exploring the ins and outs of the publishing industry

indie authors

Guest Post: Tips for Indie Authors to Create a Winning Sales Strategy

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By Heather Redding The internet has proven itself to be a thriving environment for creative indie authors around the globe. However, indie authors need more than raw talent; they need a winning sales strategy. That’s why in this post, we’ll be giving our top tips indies should follow to create a winning sales strategy. Time Your Promotion Every battle-tested marketer … [Read more...] about Guest Post: Tips for Indie Authors to Create a Winning Sales Strategy

Indie Authors: An Overview of Book Reviews

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Sure, we all know that getting authentic reviews, and ideally that are 4- and 5-stars, is a key component to a book's success. In fact, you need a certain number of 4-star reviews just to be considered for a BookBub promotion. Because of this, there are tons of resources online that give indie authors advice on how to find reviewers and contact them. Funds for Writers and … [Read more...] about Indie Authors: An Overview of Book Reviews

Indie Authors: What’s in a Book Cover?

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It's well known that a good book cover is a key component of selling a book (aside from having a great story, of course). But with so many books out there for readers to choose from (especially now that indie authors as well as traditional publishers are now making high quality book covers of similar caliber, according to Publishing Perspectives) what can make your cover stand … [Read more...] about Indie Authors: What’s in a Book Cover?

Indie Authors and Book Reviews

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Book reviews are an important part of an indie author's strategy. Reviews can let potential readers know if they want to purchase your book, and they can also help you improve your work. The Creative Penn offers advice for getting reviews if you're an unknown author. The idea is to get a team of people who are your advance readers and hope they review your book when you … [Read more...] about Indie Authors and Book Reviews

Indie Authors: Editing Tips to Attract Readers and Save Money

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No first draft is perfect. That's why editing is such an important step in the writing and publishing process. There are a few types of editing: Developmental editing Line editing Proofreading In a nutshell, developmental editing looks at the big picture of a story, and makes sure the tone is consistent and things make sense. Line editing is more granular, and … [Read more...] about Indie Authors: Editing Tips to Attract Readers and Save Money

Indie Authors: Getting Your Book Discovered

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With hundreds of thousands of new books being published each year, it's hard for indie authors to stand out. One strategy I've written about before is going permafree, meaning you set one book in a series to permanently free, as a way to entice readers to buy the rest of the books in the series. To add fodder to that idea, M. Louisa Locke writes about how using the … [Read more...] about Indie Authors: Getting Your Book Discovered

Launching Books Forward and Books Fluent, Two Sites for Authors

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JKS Communications, a book publicity firm that has been working with books for 20 years, has recently launched two new companies under its brand: Books Forward and Books Fluent. Read on for an interview with Marissa DeCuir, president and partner. Q: After 20 years of doing book publicity, what inspired the launch of Books Forward and Books Fluent? A: We made this move so … [Read more...] about Launching Books Forward and Books Fluent, Two Sites for Authors

What Indie Authors Can Learn From Other Industries

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As an indie author, it can be fun (and helpful) to learn about what's going on in other industries. Joe Wikert outlined on DBW what publishers can learn from the podcast model, by offering easy subscriptions (which could arguably be similar to subscribing to blogs or newsletters), delivering content on a regular schedule, and delivering related content to your audience. To me, … [Read more...] about What Indie Authors Can Learn From Other Industries

Indie Authors: Where Do You Get Your Industry News?

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As an indie authorpreneur, it's important to stay on top of the latest trends, not only in self-publishing, but in the publishing industry as a whole. Here are some sites and blogs that I read regularly. Some of them cover the publishing industry, including news, book deals, and job moves. Others give updates on the indie world, such as Amazon algorithm changes or hot book … [Read more...] about Indie Authors: Where Do You Get Your Industry News?

Tips for Recording and Publishing Your Own Audiobooks

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It's no secret that audiobooks are growing in popularity, and are becoming part of the self-publishing process. An op-ed in the New York Times wrote about the benefits of listening to stories: I listen the way I read books as a child, as if I were there watching. The author becomes more transparent, the characters more real. According to Copyblogger, having an audiobook gives … [Read more...] about Tips for Recording and Publishing Your Own Audiobooks

The Growth of Audiobooks

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A while back, I wrote an essay for LARB about reading in the multimedia age. A big part of the essay focused on audiobooks, which are growing in popularity each year. According to QZ, audiobooks are growing more than ebooks. MarketWatch wrote that some audiobooks are selling more copies than their print counterparts, and according to The Digital Reader, "audio can outsell … [Read more...] about The Growth of Audiobooks

Indie Author Marketing Guide: Pinterest

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Pinterest is all about sharing (or pinning) images, and there are many ways indie authors can use this social media platform to their advantage. You can pin images to different boards, and tailor your boards to different interests. For example, as an indie author you could create boards that recommend books to read share quotes about reading display interesting book … [Read more...] about Indie Author Marketing Guide: Pinterest

Indie Author Marketing Guide: LinkedIn

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LinkedIn is known for being a professional network, and a great place to share your resume online. As an indie author, here are a few ideas of how to use LinkedIn to your advantage: Add your books with links to sale pages on your profile page. LinkedIn allows you to upload cover images, either under specific job titles or listed under "Publications." Get to know … [Read more...] about Indie Author Marketing Guide: LinkedIn

Indie Author Marketing Guide: Goodreads

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Next up in the Indie Author Marketing Guide series is Goodreads. Goodreads is a social network for book lovers, now owned by Amazon. Users can join groups, follow authors, rate and review books, compile lists of read books, and promote books with giveaways. According to The Creative Penn, "Goodreads’ recommendation engine is an algorithm similar to Netflix" and "A book does … [Read more...] about Indie Author Marketing Guide: Goodreads