Self-Publishing: The Carnival of the Indies Issue #95

POSTED ON Aug 26, 2018

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By Joel Friedlander

Welcome to this issue of the Carnival of the Indies blog carnival. This issue is for August, 2018. 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

Daphne Gray-Grant presents How to find more time to write posted at The Publication Coach, saying, “As we get closer to school starting again, many people become preoccupied with productivity at precisely the same time they have more demands (making lunches, sports teams, music lessons etc) placed on their time. The blog post linked here suggests new ways of looking at time.”

Chris Well presents Media Publicity for Novelists Using Nonfiction Topics posted at BookWorks Blog, saying, “BookWorks.com Media & PR Expert, Chris Well, shares examples of how fiction writers can also get media publicity by offering their expertise on nonfiction topics since you can’t just talk about your book.”

Ricardo Fayet presents Advertising Your Books on Facebook & Instagram: 5 Actionable Tips for Authors posted at Your Writer Platform, saying, “While Facebook ads for authors are becoming increasingly competitive as more and more independent authors make use of them (and target the same audiences), they are still one of the best avenues to market a book. Since Facebook has data about pretty much anyone out there, their advertising platform makes it easy for any author — no matter how niche their books are — to find their audience and serve ads to their readers directly in their Facebook or Instagram feeds. More importantly, ads are relatively cheap to test: you can get started with $5 a day and see results.”

Book Design and Production

Bronwyn Green presents The care and feeding of your cover artist posted at Writer’s Resources.

Chris Kridler presents 5 ways authors can save money when working with an editor, formatter, designer or assistant posted at Sky Diary: The Blog, saying, “Time equals money, especially for authors who become indie publishers. That equation becomes all too real when you hire an editor, designer, formatter or author assistant. Sometimes you pay a flat fee for a service, but when you go beyond the scope of that fee, your hired expert may charge you by the hour. Efficiency and planning are the best ways to meet your budget. Here are five ways to keep costs from spiraling out of control.”

Lisa Poisso presents Develop your writing muscle with imitation posted at Clarity, saying, “Modeling and imitation are time-tested techniques used by athletes, artists, and skill-builders of all stripes. One of the best ways to stretch your writing skills is to draw inspiration from those who are writing the kind of novels you want to write.”

Indie Author

Alexander Zoltai presents More Conversation about What Age Brings to Writing posted at Notes from An Alien.

Amanda Linehan presents Being Appreciative And Grateful For Negative Reviews posted at Amanda Linehan, saying, “Receiving negative reviews can sometimes be a positive sign that you’ve written something distinct that really appeals to a certain group of readers, which is something to be appreciative and grateful for.”

Phyllis Zimbler Miller presents Why Writers Should Consider Including Safer Sex in Fiction posted at Writer’s Digest, saying, “The portrayal of #SaferSexinFiction is important for all authors — and we indie authors can lead the way in this public health area.”

Sharon Connell presents Blogging As An Indie Author posted at Sharon K Connell, saying, “This blog was just added to my website. It was based on an article I entered into my newsletter this past May.”

Marketing and Selling Your Books

Belinda Griffin presents Connecting to Readers is Book Marketing 101 posted at BookWorks Blog, saying, “BookWorks.com’s new Reader Relationships expert, Belinda Griffin, explains that connecting to readers should be the basis for your book marketing in this first of a series.”

Darcy Pattison presents Book Distribution 2018 posted at Fiction Notes.

Dave Chesson presents An Author Logo Can Make Your Brand Memorable posted at BookWorks Blog, saying, “BookWorks.com’s Author Branding Expert Dave Chesson explains how creating a distinctive, memorable author logo can help build brand recognition, along with suggestions of how to do it.”

Frances Caballo presents Get New Readers and Reviews with Free Book Promotions posted at Social Media Just for Writers, saying, “While I am an advocate of going wide, meaning publishing on iBooks, Kobo, Smashwords and other online book retailers, exclusivity to Amazon tends to be a wise choice for new authors. It’s also a good choice when launching a new book to choose KDP Select for three months only, introduce your book to new readers when you mark it down to free, and once the three months are up, go as wide as possible.”

Penny Sansevieri presents Good Reasons to Rerelease a Revised Version of Your Book posted at BookWorks Blog, saying, “BookWorks.com’s Marketing Expert, Penny Sansevieri, reveals good reasons to revise and rerelease your book if it’s not performing well, and how to go about it.”

Russell Phillips presents Introduction to Book Marketing posted at Author Help, saying, “If you want to get your book into the hands of readers, you need to do some marketing. Here’s an introduction for those new to book marketing.”

Sarah Bolme presents Do You Need Marketing Confidence? posted at Marketing Christian Books, saying, “Similar to dressing for success, there are steps that you can take to build your confidence for success in marketing your books. If you find yourself lacking marketing confidence, implement these three suggestions that will boost your confidence the way dressing does.”

Terry Whalin presents Why Every Author Needs Amazon Reviews (Including Me) posted at The Writing Life, saying, “Terry’s latest book has 85 Amazon reviews. Plenty right? Not with what he discovers in this article.”

Tyler Doornbos presents A Good Landing Page Is Essential to Your Author Website posted at BookWorks Blog, saying, “BookWorks.com’s Web Lead on the importance of, and how to create, effective landing pages for an author website that engages the visitor and compels them to take action in this ongoing series.”

Self-Publishing Success

Darcy Pattison presents Professional Attitude: Self-Publishing Quality Without Apology posted at Fiction Notes.

Sophie Anderson presents How to Self-Publish Your Book, Stage 3 – Resolving Issues and Interior posted at Carmine Proofreading, saying, “This installment focuses on reviewing your copy-edit and cover design, as well as starting the interior design and final touches.”

Writing Tools and Tips

Deborah Jay presents How to write attention grabbing sentences: active vs passive construction posted at Deborah Jay Author, saying, “I wrote this piece after starting a book with an interesting blurb, but found I didn’t want to read past the first two pages because of passive sentence construction.”

Karen Conlin presents Spellcheck Cannot Save You! Essential Self-Editing Tools posted at BookWorks Blog, saying, “BookWorks.com’s Indie Editor-at-Large, Karen Conlin, shares her top reference tools for indie authors to use for self-editing their manuscripts prior to handing them over to their editor.”

Kristina Adams presents 5 Self-Editing Tips to make You a Stronger Writer posted at The Writer’s Cookbook, saying, “Viewing your work objectively enough to edit it isn’t easy. This post gives readers some tips on how to get started.”

Lisa Poisso presents Affordable ways to learn to be a better writer posted at Clarity, saying, “Professional editing is overkill when you’re still getting basic writing skills under your belt—grammar, spelling, punctuation, usage, and fiction-specific narrative techniques such as dialogue and point of view. If you’re still learning to write, don’t invest in editing. Invest in writing.”

Louise Harnby presents Playing with the rhythm of fiction: commas and conjunctions posted at The Parlour, saying, “This post shows you how you can use commas and conjunctions to alter the rhythm of a sentence. Changing the rhythm can help your readers immerse themselves deeper in the mood of your narrative and the emotions of your characters.”

Louise Harnby presents Writing a crime novel – should you plan or go with the flow? posted at The Parlour, saying, “Some crime writers are planners. Some are pantsers (so called because they fly by the seat of their pants). Neither is better than the other. What matters is that the method you choose to write your story works for you and results in a tale well told.”

Mikhaeyla Kopievsky presents Forget the Goal – Your character just needs conflict posted at Mikhaeyla Kopievsky, saying, “An article that changes up the traditional advice of ‘every scene needs a goal’ and frames it instead around ‘every scene needs conflict’. The article looks at the two key categories of conflict and how they can be applied at the drafting or editing stage – with an example.”

Nate Hoffelder presents Five Ways Authors Can Use Alexa posted at The Digital Reader, saying, “Amazon’s virtual assistant Alexa is more than just a home aide – it can also help you write your next book.”

Zara Altair presents Avoid A Sagging Middle: The Detective Finds the Killer’s World posted at Write Time, saying, “Tips to keep your mystery and crime novel from sagging in the middle. As the detective goes deeper into the victim’s world he glimpses the killer’s world. Build tension for your detective and your reader.”

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 September 30, 2018 and the deadline for submissions will be September 15, 2018. Don’t miss it!

Here are all the links you’ll need