By Joel Friedlander
Welcome to this issue of the Carnival of the Indies blog carnival. This issue is for March, 2020. 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
Fiona Raven presents Design a children’s picture book posted at Book Design Made Simple, saying, “Children’s picture books may appear simple, but there are lots of special considerations to take into account when designing them. We wrote this to help self-publishers make their books look thoroughly professional by giving advice on page size, printing, colors, layout, illustrations, type, and more.”
Nate Hoffelder presents eBook Piracy – How to Respond If Someone Steals Your eBook Online posted at The Digital Reader, saying, “Piracy is an ever-present problem online. Here’s a comprehensive guide to responding to it.”
Mark Coker presents The Bakers and the Pot of Gold posted at Smashwords Blog, saying, “Bestselling paranormal romance author Nicky Charles pens this amazing allegory about the state of indie nation, inspired by Mark Coker’s 2020 publishing predictions. The allegory tells the story of how the decisions of artisan bakers (attracted by pots of gold) and their customers (attracted by unlimited cookies) unleash a series of events. A must-read for any indie author, and the readers who love them.”
Book Design and Production
Joseph C. Kunz, Jr. presents Strippable Books Vs. Non-Strippable Books: A Guide For Self-Publishers posted at The Business Of Self-Publishing, saying, “Almost none of us that are involved with self-publishing will ever need to deal with books that are strippable or not. But, despite that fact, we still need to understand the book industry in its entirety. Understanding the terminology, jargon, terms-of-art, lingo, and slang, of the book publishing industry as a whole, can only help us become better and more successful at self-publishing. Here is a discussion of the terms “strippable” and “non-strippable” as they relate to printed books, and their covers.”
Lisa Poisso presents How many drafts are enough for your novel? posted at Clarity: Tools & Skills for Authors, saying, “New novelists often come to me after three drafts: one to cover initial changes of heart involving the story, another after feedback from early readers, and a third to fiddle with grammar and spelling. That’s less than half the number of drafts I recommend before getting a professional edit.”
Indie Author
Lisa Lawmaster Hess presents 4 Reasons to Love Arguments in Fiction posted at The Porch Swing Chronicles.
Terry Whalin presents How to Handle Editorial Trauma posted at The Writing Life, saying, “Hit with huge questions from your editor? Terry Whalin gives insights about How to Handle Editorial Trauma”
Marketing and Selling Your Books
Lois Hoffman presents How to Write a Stand-Out Author Bio posted at The Happy Self-Publisher, saying, “Your author bio is a calling card and targeted marketing tool to promote you and your work wherever it appears. It establishes a relationship with the reader because they get to peek behind the curtain to see who you are, where you are, and what motivates you. A well-crafted bio showcases your talents and expertise and lines the path to the next opportunity on your author journey.”
Nina Amir presents Sell More Books by Utilizing Super Fans and a Street Team posted at Write Nonfiction NOW!, saying, “Have you been wondering how to promote your new book upon release? There’s a strategy you might not have considered that puts to use that hard-earned author platform you’ve been building. Enlist a Street Team along with Super Fans to get the world out about your book. Today, Penny Sansevieri (@Bookgal) explains this strategy and how you can use it to sell more books.”
Nina Amir Lacey presents How to Create a Virtual Buzz around your book posted at How to Blog a Book, saying, “If you need to promote your ebook or book on a tight budget, don’t fret. You can still find lots of ways to garner book sales without spending a fortune on online advertising, which seems to be most authors’ go-to method these days. In this post, Jay Artale (@BirdsOAFpress), a digital nomad and full-time writer and blogger, provides you with a number of free virtual book promotion strategies you will find useful.”
Pauline Wiles presents Why Authors Should Stop Blogging Now posted at Self Publishing Review, saying, “If you absolutely love blogging on your own website, and/or you’re getting steady, measurable engagement from readers, by all means, keep going. Everyone else should read on for where to spend your precious time and energy instead.”
Sarah Bolme presents Are You Giving Up Too Soon? posted at Marketing Christian Books, saying, “Often it takes exposure over time with multiple reminders before people act. The same is true for buying your books. Many may hear about your book for months or even years before they finally decide to buy and read it.”
Self-Publishing Success
Laura Cross presents How to Submit Your Self-Published Book Directly for Sale to the Top Online Retailers posted at Ink & Cinema.
Lisa Poisso presents Productivity for Fiction Writers: March 2020 posted at Clarity, saying, “What have you done to support your creative side lately?”
Sarah Bolme presents Double Your Book Marketing with This Little Trick posted at Marketing Christian Books, saying, “What would you think if I told you that you could double your marketing efforts with just one little move? It is possible—and indie author David Winters has done it.”
Writing Tools and Tips
Anne Meick presents Opportunity in Chaos: Writing During a Crippling Global Health Pandemic posted at Writers’ Connection, saying, “Ideas on how to make more time to write during these unprecedented times.”
C. S. Lakin presents 3 Reasons for Authors to Start Blogging and 3 Ways to Do it Right posted at Live Write Thrive, saying, “Almost any writer of fiction or nonfiction can benefit from publishing a blog. It allows you to promote your work and grow your audience by doing something you love—writing. With that in mind, this post shares three more reasons to start blogging.”
David Leonhardt presents How to describe characters in a children’s book posted at Always Write, saying, “Thank you.”
Deanna Cabinian presents How to Get Out of a Writing Slump posted at Deanna Cabinian, saying, “We’ve all been in creative slumps. Here are some tested ideas for getting out of them and back to writing.”
Ellie Betts presents How to Get Started with Scrivener for Windows posted at The Writer’s Cookbook.
Holly Ostara presents ProWritingAid Review: All the problems I’ve had with ProWritingAid & why I still love it posted at Books & Alchemy.
Kristina Adams presents Plot Factory Review posted at The Writer’s Cookbook, saying, “Plot Factory is a great tool for plotting stories and getting to know your characters. It also has a cool AI feature that reads your work back to you: perfect for proofreading.”
Lisa Poisso presents Are your editing expectations sabotaging your writing? posted at Clarity, saying, “If your level of preparation consists of whisking through your draft while repeating “let the editor fix it,” that’s exactly what you’ll get: an editor who spends their time fixing basics that a wordsmith like you should’ve already mastered. Are you sure that’s how you want to spend your editorial budget?”
Louise Harnby presents ‘Before’ and ‘after’ in fiction writing, and why they might telling what the reader already understands posted at The Editing Blog, saying, “When the order of characters’ movements is told with the words ‘before’ and ‘after’, there’s a risk that readers will focus on timeline rather than story. That distraction can reduce engagement and dumb down the writing. Here’s what to look out for and how to fix the problem.”
Louise Harnby presents What is head-hopping, and is it spoiling your fiction writing? posted at The Editing Blog, saying, “Are your readers bouncing from one character’s head to another in the same scene? You might be head-hopping. This article shows you how to spot it in your fiction writing, understand its impact, and fix it.”
Phyllis Zimbler Miller presents The Public Service Responsibility of Fiction Writers posted at Joylene Nowell Butler.
Zara Altair presents How to Keep Your Mystery Villain a Secret To Surprise Your Reader at The End posted at Write Time, saying, “A big challenge for beginning mystery writers is how to plant clues about the villain without giving away the secret.”
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, Link to it!
The next issue is April 26, 2020 and the deadline for submissions will be April 15, 2020. 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
- Bloggers, grab your official Carnival of the Indies Badges here
- Follow Carnival of the Indies on Twitter to get deadline reminders
- Subscribe to The Book Designer Blog
