This popped up at the Passive Voice the other day: https://booklife.com/create/art-design/06/28/2015/top-five-diy-book-layout-mistakes.html Do your books look like books? No, not as in they have cover, pages, copyright info, table of contents, but if you borrowed someone else's e-reader and compared your book to a Big 5 or small press book, does yours scream "Hi, I'm a... Continue Reading →
On formatting for print and digital
I want to thank everyone who took the time to tell us what topics you'd like to see us cover over the next six months or so. It really does help us to have that sort of input. While we don't guarantee that we'll get to ever topic, or in the exact way it was... Continue Reading →
Indie does not mean Alone
I was talking with my mother the other day about writing and publishing. Mom is a good writer, and has nonfiction articles published, but not yet her fiction. I'm looking forward to her fiction being complete, and it's not just that I'm biased toward my mom. But the conversation, and another comment I'd seen on... Continue Reading →
How fast is slow?
...And other indie myths. When talking to indies, one of the first pieces of advice you'll hear is to have a lot of volume, putting out X stories per year. (I've heard anywhere from 4 to 12 on this one.) While this is good advice, it's neither mandatory nor the only way to succeed, and... Continue Reading →
Think like a pro
This is a quasi-follow up to last week's post. In this case, I'm not necessarily saying to think like a "pro" writer but think like a business pro. This means sitting back and considering how what you just wrote as a blog post or FB status post or Tweet or whatever the social media platform... Continue Reading →
A Cautionary Tale
Update at the bottom of the post. Update 2 added at 9:50 pm CST -- see below. Yesterday probably had to be the worst day in my life as an indie author. Release days are always nerve-wracking. Will people buy your book? Will they like your book? Or will they say your baby is ugly and laugh... Continue Reading →
Indie or Traditional?
Wow, there is so much I could blog about this week. After a month or more of trying to figure out what to blog about, there has been a flood of topics. There is the news that the Supreme Court has refused to hear Apple's appeal of the price fixing judgment. (Has Apple ever failed... Continue Reading →
The Fading Stigmata of Self-Publishing
Gerry Martin pointed this article by Liz Long out to me, thanks, Gerry. The publishing system isn’t broken by any means, but the stigma behind “traditional” and “indie” publishing has really gotten my goat lately. I’m independently published, or self-published. What does that mean? It means I do not have an agent or traditional publisher... Continue Reading →
From Writing, to Publication, and Beyond
We've been talking for a while about getting all the how-to links in one place, and this is the first step to doing that. I'm going to attempt to list, step-by-step, every little thing you must do between writing 'the end' on your manuscript, and the long tail of a backlist. What I'm asking our... Continue Reading →
Indie Authors Represent
It's that time of year again: the Author Earnings Report is out. I urge you, if you are an Indie author, or if like me, you fall into the "Uncategorized Single-Author Publisher" category, that you go take a look at this report. It's the fifth quarterly report of its kind, and well, it's a huge... Continue Reading →