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
self-publishing
Issue #40 of Self Publishing Carnival of the Indies!
Every month, Joel Friedlander posts a collection of informative blog posts about self publishing on his site, The Book Designer. This month, my blog post by guest author Ron Glick about using Kindle Countdown deals was included! You can check it out, along with all the other awesome posts, in this month's issue of Self Publishing Carnival of the Indies. Enjoy! … [Read more...] about Issue #40 of Self Publishing Carnival of the Indies!
Indie Authors: Finding an Editor
J E Henderson, author of the Credara series, has kindly agreed to let me publish an email exchange we had, which provides some insight into why it's important for indie authors to work with editors and how to find the right one. Henderson's editor is Lynette M. Smith of All My Best Copyediting. "I found my editor by a referral," he said. "If you notice, her website says … [Read more...] about Indie Authors: Finding an Editor
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
Freebie Strategies for Indie Authors
UPDATE: Author David Gaughran has also kindly answered a few additional questions. Using free as a tool can be very beneficial to authors. When Amazon first started their KDP Select program, many authors were able to take advantage of the five freebie days offered during every 90-day exclusivity period, and shoot to best-selling status. However, Amazon has since changed its … [Read more...] about Freebie Strategies for Indie Authors
Infographic: The Self-Publishing Landscape
Happy Friday! Here's an infographic that shows the self-publishing landscape, for both print and e-books. Data compiled from Bowker, The Book Seller, and The Guardian. To learn more about self-publishing and making e-books, check out my Udemy course, "How to Create Beautiful E-Books," and my latest book, "How to Create Your First E-Book." … [Read more...] about Infographic: The Self-Publishing Landscape
Slideshare: Write or Read #MyStartupStory
My Write or Read #MyStartupStory presentation is the SlideShare of the day! If you like it, please share and/or embed. More shares mean WoR has a better shot at winning the #MyStartupStory contest! … [Read more...] about Slideshare: Write or Read #MyStartupStory
Self Publishing Platform Updates
In the last few months, a lot has changed with some of the major self-publishing channels, specifically Kindle, Nook, Kobo, and Smashwords. Kindle Aside from Amazon launching Kindle Worlds, which changes the way fan fiction is written and published, it also recently started publishing Kindle Single Interviews. The second interview will be with Obama. Additionally, when you … [Read more...] about Self Publishing Platform Updates
Learn How to Make Beautiful E-Books
I recently finished my first Udemy course, where I teach how to make e-books using free tools! For a limited time, you can access the course at a discount price of $17. Click here to register now! Here's a little more about what the course entails: Create professional, high-quality e-books, at no cost to you! Using Sigil and other free tools, create and … [Read more...] about Learn How to Make Beautiful E-Books
Interview on Scribd: Getting the Word Out
Yesterday Scribd posted an interview with me on self-publishing tools and getting book reviews. It was a great experience and I want to thank Taylor for the interview. Below is an excerpt. You can read the full article here. It used to be that the success of a book was dictated by the reviews of newspaper columnists and the attention garnered by placement on … [Read more...] about Interview on Scribd: Getting the Word Out
Self-publishing, the Slush Pile, and Print Books
Self-publishing may be the new slush pile. In the past, the slush pile has been the pile of unsolicited manuscripts sent by aspiring authors in hopes of being picked up by a publisher. Now, some publishers are looking to pick up books that have already proven to be successful. They offer authors bigger advances and they take on less risk in doing so. One example is … [Read more...] about Self-publishing, the Slush Pile, and Print Books
Marketing Indie Books
Marketing can be a tricky aspect of self-publishing. On the one hand, there's really no limit to the amount of money you can spend doing it, but there are a lot of ways to be ineffective. Below are a few guidelines I've learned from experience and heard about from other writers on creating effective marketing campaigns. Create Videos. Videos give people excuses to send … [Read more...] about Marketing Indie Books
6 Tips to Successfully Crowdfund a Project
Crowdfunding is hard. To do it successfully, and to be like the high profile projects on Kickstarter, Indie Go Go and other platforms and raise thousands, hundreds of thousands, and even millions of dollars means treating the crowdfunding process like a full-time job. Here are some tips I've learned the last couple years, both from experimenting with crowdfunding myself and … [Read more...] about 6 Tips to Successfully Crowdfund a Project
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?