Welcome to this issue of the Carnival of the Indies blog carnival. This issue is for May, 2015. We welcome your submissions on topics related to writing, self-publishing, book design or marketing books.
A collection of outstanding articles recently posted to blogs, your reading here will be richly rewarded.
See the end of this post for links to submit your blog posts for the next carnival, or for participating Bloggers and Featured Bloggers to grab your sidebar badges. Thanks to everyone who participated.
Featured Posts
Jay Artale presents Pinterest for Authors posted at Jay Artale, saying, “Pinterest is currently the fastest growing Social Network. According to Pinterest, over the past year male Pinterest users grew at a much faster rate than female (62% vs. 42% respectively), and now more than 40% of Pinterest users are outside the United States. If you still think Pinterest is only used by American females to create wedding wish-boards and share recipes – think again. Is it time to incorporate Pinterest into your book marketing strategy?”
Kristene Perron presents Radio 101 for Authors – How to get on the air and shine once you’re there posted at The Coconut Chronicles, saying, “Indie authors often pour most of their focus into online marketing and promotion but radio interviews can be a powerful medium to reach new readers! How do you get an interview? And what do you do once you have one? Indie author Kristene Perron talks with talk radio producer and host Anthony Sanna about how authors can find an audience on the air.”
Nate Hoffelder presents Google Play Books is a Safe Haven for Commercial eBook Piracy posted at Ink, Bits, & Pixels, saying, “Authors, beware! Most ebook retailers have a problem with piracy but few can compare to Google. Pirates can upload and sell a hundred or more pirated ebooks, and Google won’t lift a finger to stop them. While Google will take down an ebook in response to a DMCA notice, the pirate can always just upload another copy of the same book.”
Book Design and Production
Christian Baloga presents Instant-Print Your Favorite Books With Espresso Book Machine posted at Christian Baloga
Colin Dunbar presents Self-Publishing Your Book to CreateSpace posted at Format Book In Word, saying, “We come to the conclusion of formatting a book in Word, and cover the steps for uploading to CreateSpace. Self-publishing your hard copy book at CreateSpace is not difficult at all. It takes a few minutes to fill in your details and upload your files. You then have the option to order a proof copy, and after approving it, your book will be available at Amazon.”
David Leonhardt presents Glossary of writing terms and definitions posted at Always Write, saying, “Befudddled by the terms that writers and publishers use? Here is a glossary to help you navigate the lingo.”
Kate Tilton presents Cover Art Makeover: A Real-Life Tale by Suzanna Linton posted at Kate Tilton, Connecting Authors & Readers, saying, “Author Suzanna Linton shares her cover design story as a new indie author. Suzanna started out with a self-designed cover but after a kind prod to consider a cover redesign hired a professional designer. The difference is amazing.”
Orna Ross presents Should Self-Published Authors Create Their Own Publishing Imprints? posted at ALLi Author Advice Centre, saying, “When you begin to self-publish your own books, one of the many questions that you will be asked by whichever distribution platform you use (e.g. CreateSpace, KDP, Ingram Spark, Lightning Source) is the name of your publisher. Considering the following points will help you decide how to answer that question, to which there are no absolute right or wrong answers. However, you need to find an answer that is right for you.”
Randy Stapilus presents Color Inside Indie Books posted at BookWorks
Randy Stapilus presents Self-Publishing Someone Else’s Materials posted at BookWorks
Richard Sutton presents An Open Letter to Book Cover Illustrators, from an Old-School Designer posted at Saille Tales Books, saying, “A few real-world tips for the new crop of digital illustrators seeking a career in Book Cover Design”
Sabrina Ricci presents Publishing Children’s Ebooks posted at Digital Pubbing, saying, “The children’s book market is expanding. According to IBISWorld, “e-readers and other popular devices, like tablets and smartphones, make books easier to buy, read and store. Animation and other extra features made possible by these and other devices are making e-books particularly attractive to children.””
Indie Author
Allen Taylor presents Case Study: Carol Tice Finishes Strong With ‘Start Here’ posted at Taylored Content Blog, saying, “This case study highlights how Carol Tice uses e-books to drive traffic to her membership site and increases her Freelance Writers Den memberships. The bonus is she has a product that is itself profitable and will continue to earn her passive income over time.”
Deborah Jay presents #Authors, why use #hashtags in your blog post titles? posted at Deborah Jay, saying, “We all know it’s important to share interesting blog posts to support each other, but how effective are your shares? This tip has gained me many new readers and followers for my blog via the twitter share button, and I’d encourage authors to consider using it too.”
Hazel Longuet presents Would you abandon your own language to make it as an author? One writer’s dilemma posted at Novel Experience, saying, “What would you do if your language was too limiting for the genre of writing you wanted to write. If you had to write Shakespearean English to write a modern thriller? Or your native brogue was spoken by so few that your audience would be tiny? That’s the dilemma facing one aspiring author.”
Jordan Smith presents How to Choose the Right Price for Your Book posted at Fix My Story, saying, “This post is for all the indie authors who want help pricing their books. It’s the first part in a three-post series that details a number of strategies and research techniques to find the best price for a book.”
L.G. O’Connor presents 10 Lessons I Learned my First Year as a Hybrid Author posted at REALITY CHECK, saying, “A high-level primer for any indie author looking to publish or who has already published…A reality check on what to expect in today’s market.”
Monique McDonell presents What I’ve learned Writng a Series posted at Monique McDonell – author
Richard Levesque presents Yet Another Success–Being a Giver posted at Richard Levesque, saying, “There’s a lot of advice out there on how to make splash as an indie writer, most of it just a re-hash of the same ideas and strategies: write a great book, invest in a cover artist and editor, build your platform, manipulate SEO, manipulate Amazon’s search fields, etc. I’ve written before on some of the less quantifiable things like random chance and word of mouth, things that help tremendously but which you can’t do much to initiate. Here’s something different, though; it’s not something you can just punch up on a website, but it is a path to success that you can have a hand in creating.”
Sandra Hutchison presents The writing life: Should we risk offending people, or not? posted at Sandra Hutchison, saying, “Explores the tension between being authentic vs. hiding one’s potentially controversial opinions, with an overview of the Fusco RWA newsletter article debate.”
Marketing and Selling Your Books
Ben Zackheim presents How to promote a tweet, according to Twitter posted at Ben Zackheim, saying, “In a classic case of “I did it, so you didn’t have to!” I present this post, titled “How to promote a tweet, according to Twitter”. The Twitter team did a great job laying out the basics before they dove into some juicy little-known tips. If you want Twitter to work harder for you, you’ll have to pay them. But with CTRs that rival Facebook’s ads, it’s probably worth a test spend.”
Erica Verrillo presents 10 Ways to Find Your Ideal Audience on Twitter (For Writers) posted at Publishing … and Other Forms of Insanity, saying, “Twitter can be a great tool, provided you know how to use it effectively. For authors, that means connecting with your audience. Here are 10 ways you can find your audience – people who will read your tweets, your blog posts, and your books.”
Frances Caballlo presents How to Take Charge of Your Author Blog posted at Social Media Just for Writers, saying, “Your website and your self-hosted blog are integral parts of your book marketing strategy. This post reviews strategies to improve your blogging and headline writing and shares information about the Writers’ Blog Finder, a tool authors can use to find guest post opportunities.”
Gail Gauthier presents The Annotated “Saving the Planet & Stuff” After Party posted at Original Content, saying, “I spent the month of April, “Earth Day Month,” content marketing my book “Saving the Planet & Stuff” with extensive blogging. In this “After Party” post, I describe what I did and what I learned from the experience.”
Gordon Burgett presents Why was your article query rejected again? posted at Empire building by writing and speaking,for writers, speakers, and publishers, saying, “If you want info about your new (or old) book in print in magazines and newspapers, which is a great idea, you have to get through the iron gate called “editor.” There are fairly predictable reasons they will keep the gate closed–you outside. Here are most of them, from a long-time gatekeeper. With these points you can outwit them!”
Hope Clark presents Which Promotions Work and Which Don’t posted at FFW Tips, saying, “I’m of the mind, these days, that ninety percent of promotional efforts are wasted. The world is choked with books, writers, people fighting to make a living with their words. Anyone can write a book, and anyone can post one for sale. After years of promoting novels, even from a platform such as FundsforWriters, I’ve learned a hard lesson: Most promotional efforts do not work. NOTE: I’ve received tons of positive feedback from this piece this weekend and thought it might work for your readers as well.”
ian Martyn presents A new writer – Planning (or not) for a book launch posted at Ian Martyn – science fiction author, saying, “I guess like many self-publishing writers I put all my efforts into writing the book and little thought into how I was going to sell it. Part 2) of this blog looks at learning from those past mistakes.”
Lana Pecherczyk presents Marketing Is Not A Dirty Word posted at Author Zoo, saying, “Easy golden rules of marketing for the author to follow. There’s been a lot of hooha on the internet lately about the real value in marketing online for authors. Some people believe that from the amount of time you spend, the rewards are almost non-existent. I believe this all stems from over complicating such a simple concept and hence, not understanding.”
Lorna Sixsmith presents How Writers Can Get More From Facebook posted at Write on Track, saying, “I’ve noticed some authors saying they are disappointed with their Facebook reach and results, on the brink of deleting their pages. This post shows the relevance and advantages that a Facebook page holds for authors along with some tips for doing it well.”
Sabrina Ricci presents Indie Author Marketing Guide: Google Plus posted at Digital Pubbing, saying, “Google Plus is a social media platform that is not as talked about as Facebook or Twitter, but can be very important, depending on your niche.”
Sandra Hutchison presents The five stages of grief of being rejected by BookBub posted at Sandra Hutchison, saying, “How does one cope with being rejected by one of the most sought-after book promotion services available?”
Shelley Sturgeon presents 5 LinkedIn Groups for Writers posted at Bound and Determined
Shelley Sturgeon presents Twitter: Jazz It Up With Special Characters posted at Bound and Determined
Steven Saus presents Sharing Instead Of Promoting: It’s Sometimes Okay For Authors To Put Their Books On The Table posted at ideatrash, saying, “There’s a difference between sharing what you’ve done and promoting what you’ve done. Know the difference.”
Self-Publishing Success
Geoff Hughes presents How to build your writers platform posted at madhouseMEDIA, saying, “Kevin Costner was onto something. In the movie ‘Field of Dreams’ his character was compelled by ghosts to build a baseball stadium. So, what’s this got to do with writing? Well, writer’s who choose to go the indie publishing route are compelled to publish. It’s one step writing an eBook and publishing it on KDP or Smashwords, but without a writer’s platform, you will struggle to attract an audience.”
Kate Tilton presents 4 Expert Tips for Self-Publishing Comic Books posted at Kate Tilton, Connecting Authors & Readers, saying, “Trevor A. Mueller (Albert the Alien) and Krazy Krow (Spinnerette) offer great insights for budding writers and illustrators interested in self-publishing their comic books.”
Laura Shabott presents Public Speaking Tips posted at Laura’s Self-Publishing Blog
Randy Stapilus presents How Your Indie Book Makes You an Expert posted at BookWorks
Writing Tools and Tips
Alexander Zoltai presents Writing Advice — Beware! posted at Notes from An Alien, saying, “Who are you willing to take advice from?”
Belinda Williams presents One word at a time posted at Belinda Williams Books, saying, “Belinda talks about the challenge of finding time to write and how taking a ‘one word at at time’ approach can make a difference to making progress with her writing.”
C.K. MacLeod presents How to Proofread on a Kindle: 5 Easy Steps posted at Tech Tools for Writers, saying, “Learn to proofread a book on a Kindle in 5 easy steps.”
Ellis Shuman presents Are Writers Certifiably Crazy? posted at Ellis Shuman Writes, saying, “From the response this article is getting on the Huffington Post, I think I already know the answer! Writers are most definitely crazy. Read the article and tell me if the symptoms sound familiar.”
Mike Reeves-McMillan presents The Well-Presented Manuscript: Introduction posted at The Well-Presented Manuscript, saying, “The start of a blog series on how to create a clean, professional manuscript for submission to short story venues or trad-pub editors, or as a strong starting point for a self-published book. The series covers punctuation (in depth), sentence structure, easily confused words, typo hunting, and the basics of research. Written by a former copy editor and technical writer and current indie author and book reviewer, in an accessible style with numerous examples.”
Robin Storey presents Writers’ Rituals and Why They Work posted at Storey Lines, saying, “Indie author Robin Storey looks at writers’ rituals and why they work – the weirder the better!”
Ron Callari presents Is Self-Publishing Audiobooks A Sound Investment? posted at Bookworks’ Ron Callari Blogs, saying, “Sales of audiobooks have doubled in the last few years due to the popularity of digital downloads and a host of celebrity voices, which have entertained us over the years. Famed actress Reece Witherspoon recently added credibility to this field, when she signed to read for as-yet-unpublished Harper Lee novel, “Go Set a Watchman” (the follow-up ’To Kill a Mockingbird.’)”
Steven Ramirez presents Want to Write Well? Learn to Research posted at Glass Highway
Will Van Stone Jr presents Who Needs Friends? The Importance of the Protagonist’s Best Friend posted at https://katetilton.com/
Well, that wraps up this issue. I hope you enjoy some of the great articles here, and let other people interested in self-publishing know about the Carnival—Use the share buttons to Tweet it, Share it on Facebook, Plus-1 it on Google+, Link to it!
The next issue is June 28, 2015 and the deadline for submissions will be June 15, 2015. Don’t miss it!
Here are all the links you’ll need
- Have something to share with our community? Submit your article here
- The original announcement post
- Carnival of the Indies web page
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