For Readers (and Authors, too)
This blog is for anyone that reads my books, as well as for anyone else who is self-publishing, thinking about self-publishing, or just curious about what it’s like to be an author during rapidly changing times. Whenever you visit here, I hope you’ll share your own comments and thoughts. If you’d like to know whenever I post a new entry, please type your email address into the box in the right-hand column and check the appropriate box (and the newsletter one, too, while you’re at it).
The Standard Amazon and Apple Don’t Want You to Know About
Anyone who reads eBooks is aware that a number of content vendors are using proprietary platforms in an effort to lock you into their content libraries: most obviously, Amazon, with its Kindle line, Barnes & Noble with its Nook devices, and Apple with its iPads and iPhones. But there are many non-content vendors that would love to sell you an eReader as well, such as Kobo, and Pocketbook, not to mention the smartphone vendors that would be happy to have you use their devices as eReaders, too. read more…
eBooks Sales Surpass Print Sales for Adult Fiction
From time to time I Google my way around a few search terms looking for useful information on one or another self-publishing topic. One of those topics, of course, is promotion.
Some time back, I ran across Smith Publicity, a book promotional firm that has been around for awhile. Smith puts out a monthly newsletter they call “Power Book Publicity Tips” which I’ve now been receiving for about six months. It’s short, relevant, and I usually find what I read there to be useful. read more…
Is Paying for Book Promotion Worth it?
One of the more difficult issues the author of a self-published book faces is whether to pay others to help promote their book. Broadly speaking, such services fall into three categories: creating sales materials (postcards, posters, press releases), reaching out to influencers (reviewers, bloggers and interviewers) and direct selling (via mailings, social media and advertising). Most print on demand (POD) publishers offer at least the first, some provide the second, and a few may provide some of the third. read more…
Third Anniversary
I was surprised this morning when I opened my other blog to see something unexpected: the first chapter of my book. It didn’t take too long, though, to figure out what caused it to magically materialize.
Three years ago today I posted the first draft of the first chapter, adding a new chapter every Monday until I had finished the original version of the book ( I think I posted one chapter late, and did miss one week, but over all, I didn’t do too badly). read more…
New Reviews (thanks!)
One of the more gnarly issues I’ve tried to deal with in trying to promote my book is how hard to try to get reviews, and if so, of what types, and from whom. I decided in the beginning that trying to get highly ranked Amazon reviewers to read my book was likely to be a lot of work with little result (I wonder how much luck others have had with this?) I also haven’t spent any time trying to get print reviewers to read it, for the same reason. Instead, I looked for professionals in the subject area of my book (cybersecurity) that were frequent, well-followed bloggers, and offered to send them a free review copy. read more…
SmashWords’ Big Year
If you haven’t checked in on eBook publisher Smashwords (SW) lately, you’re in for a surprise. The little business that Mark Coker started five years ago is now the biggest publisher of eBooks around. And you don’t have to take his word for it – a Bowker press release in October reached the same conclusion. read more…
Excellent Book Design Site
When I first started to prepare my book for publishing I spent a few hours cruising around looking for resources of various types, and bookmarking those that seemed worth revisiting. But I rarely did.
Today I spent a little time checking out a few of those sites, discarding some and highlighting others. One that I think is particularly worth sharing is a book design site called TheWorldsGreatestBook.com, hosted by Dave Bricker. Not everyone is going to look at book design as an enjoyable part of the self-publishing process, but if you’re someone that does care about design, this site is a gold mine. read more…
Time to Get Down to Business
Time, time, time. Needless to say, there’s never enough of it. As a result, though I registered this blog months ago, I never got past picking an image and a name for it. That’s also because I have my doubts about this “An author must have a Web site for his book!” orthodoxy.
To be fair, I do have another blog, Web site and eJournal, which you can find here, and I do promote The Alexandria Project there. But as part of my self-appointed task of exploring how self-publishing works (and my determination to see if I can figure out how to make it work for me), I’ve decided it’s time I spend the time to develop a Web site solely as a promotional tool for my current and future writing.
And so it begins.
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