Welcome to this issue of the Carnival of the Indies blog carnival. This issue is for January, 2017. 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
Mark Coker presents 2017 Book Industry Predictions: Intrigue and Angst amid Boundless Opportunity posted at Smashwords blog, saying, “Mark Coker’s annual publishing predictions post for the year ahead. 10 publishing industry predictions for 2017. 2017 will be a challenging year for most indies, yet the multi-billion dollar book market is still brimming with opportunity for authors who focus on building their career for the long term.”
Dave Chesson presents List of Top Book Promotion Sites: Free and Paid posted at Kindlepreneur, saying, “There are hundreds of sites that claim that they will promote your book for free or for a price. Find out which ones are legitimate, why sites like this do such a service for free and how to schedule a book promotion to increase your downloads.”
Frances Caballo presents Using Pew Research Stats to Find Your Readers Online posted at BookWorks Blog, saying, “BookWorks Social Media Expert Frances Caballo shows indie authors how to target the right social media sites to connect with their readers online, using demographics from the Pew Research Center.”
Book Design and Production
Adrienne Morris presents COVER DESIGN:Interview With Samantha Hennessy posted at Nothing Gilded, Nothing Gained, saying, “An interview with the talented, young designer Samantha Hennessy.”
Tamara Dever presents How to Find the Right Book Designer posted at TLC Graphics: The Designer Writes, saying, “While most graphic designers could help you with at least some aspects of creating a book, one who specializes in books can guide you through the whole process and provide the experience and knowledge that can help you avoid hassles and save both time and money.”
Ebooks and Ebook Readers
Xavier Davis presents DRM (Digital Rights Management): What You Need to Know posted at BookWorks Blog, saying, “What is DRM (digital rights management) and do you need it for your eBooks? BookWorks Guest Writer Xavier Davis explains the when, what, where and how’s of DRM, so you can decide.”
Indie Author
Jordan Smith presents Why You Should Track Your Book Sales posted at Fix My Story, saying, “It surprises me how many indie authors I know who don’t track their book sales over the long term. Here’s why you should be tracking sales, plus a free sales tracker template.”
Kyoko M presents Year In Review: 2016 posted at She Who Writes Monsters, saying, “A summary of my experiences, good and bad, from 2016 as an indie author.”
Lois Hoffman presents How to Create a Speaker One-Sheet posted at The Happy Self-Publisher, saying, “The beauty of being a writer is the diversity of opportunities it presents. Many writers and authors teach workshops, offer editing services, mentor or coach other writers, meet readers at book signings and book fairs, and speak. If your first reaction to speaking isn’t “YIKES,” you need a speaker one-sheet to attract and convince event organizers to hire you.”
Randy Stapilus presents Is Academic Publishing the Next to Go Indie? posted at BookWorks Blog, saying, “Add academic publishing, at colleges and universities, to the growth areas in self-publishing.”
Sarah Bolme presents 5 New Year’s Resolutions for Every Author posted at Marketing Christian Books, saying, “New Year’s Resolutions are becoming passe. That’s because most people rarely keep their resolutions. By mid-January, most people have fallen off the proverbial wagon when it comes to their New Year’s declarations. However, when it comes to successfully writing and marketing books, you can’t afford to not keep your resolutions. Here are five resolutions I think every author should make and keep this year.”
Marketing and Selling Your Books
Amy Collins presents Book Promotion for Indie Authors: Working with Bookstores posted at BookWorks Blog, saying, “BookWorks Retail Expert Amy Collins shares her favorite book promotion ideas that authors can use to partner with bookstores to sell their books.”
C.K. MacLeod presents Unlocking the Secrets of the Bestseller posted at Tech Tools for Writers, saying, “What are the ingredients of a bestselling novel? Do you have a bestseller in the making?”
Chris Well presents 3 Essential Parts of Your Author Press Kit posted at Build Your Brand Academy, saying, “Imagine that you got the attention of influencers in your field. When they come to your author website, will they find the right publicity materials? An author press kit establishes your credibility. It explains who you are as an author, what you write, and why you write it. It convinces influencers in the media that you are worth sharing with their audience–and gives them the tools to cover you correctly. In this article, learn the most important elements of an author press kit. That way, you can make the most of attention from influencers in the media.”
Dave Chesson presents How to Write a Book Press Release posted at Kindlepreneur, saying, “Creating a book press release the right way can immediately increase your reach, notoriety, and book sales. However, knowing how to do this the right way is the hard part. Find out how you can get your book to be mentioned on New York Time, CSNBC, Fox, and more in this article.”
Deanna Cabinian presents Five Keys to Successful Author Events posted at Deanna Cabinian, saying, “Make sure you maximize your chances of selling your book at your next author event.”
Frances Caballo presents Indie Authors: Follow These 40 on Twitter in 2017 posted at Social Media Just for Writers, saying, “To help you start the year right, I decided to create this list of my top contacts and purveyors of information in 140 characters or fewer. I hope these individuals, experts, and entities soon become your favorites too.”
Joseph C. Kunz, Jr. presents Sell Sheets: An Intro Guide For New Self-Publishers posted at Kunz On Publishing, saying, “A sell sheet is a one-sheet flyer that gives some detailed information about a book and its author. Here is a short discussion of what a sell sheet is and is not, how to use it, and what information it should include.”
Joseph C. Kunz, Jr. presents The 5 Basic Ingredients Of Successful Book Marketing posted at Kunz On Publishing, saying, “In order to become a successful self-publisher, you will need do devote a large part of your life to marketing. This will encompass marketing yourself, as well as your book. Understanding these five ingredients will insure that your book marketing efforts will be a success, and lead to more book sales, more fans, more followers, and more clients.”
Penny Sansevieri presents The Art of the Media Pitch for Indie Authors posted at BookWorks Blog, saying, “BookWorks Marketing Expert Penny Sansevieri schools indie authors on the art of the media pitch as part of their overall platform-building toolkit.”
Shawn Manaher presents The Author Hangout Ep 125: “Book Marketing Tips from Experts (Part 6)” posted at Book Marketing Tools Blog, saying, “In this special episode of The Author Hangout, we have collected the answers from several of our past guests to our question, “If you had to start all over today as a self-published author, what 3 things would you tell yourself?” The guests that we have had on the show have shared so many great insights, tips, action plans, awesome advice, and more. Now, you can get all of that marketing and publishing gold all in one spot.”
Self-Publishing Success
Brad Graber presents 5 Suggestions to Brighten a Writer’s Attitude posted at Brad Graber’s Blog, saying, “Start off 2017 with a positive attitude about your career in self-publishing. Check out these tips for a quick attitude adjustment.”
Carla King presents 6 Basic Tech Skills Every Author Must Learn posted at BookWorks Blog, saying, “Learn key author tech skills now, before you rush to publish, from BookWorks Tech Expert, Carla King. You’ll thank her later!”
Robin Cutler presents Libraries and Bookstores Are Getting Into Indie Publishing posted at BookWorks Blog, saying, “BookWorks Distribution Expert, Robin Cutler of IngramSpark, reports on a growing trend of libraries and bookstores that are becoming independent publishers.”
Shawn Manaher presents How to Set Clear Goals and Objectives for Your Book Launch posted at Book Marketing Tools Blog, saying, “Your book launch strategy isn’t the overall plan for your entire writing career, but it can propel you towards achieving your long-term personal and professional goals. In light of that, you should plot what a successful launch looks like in the greater scheme of things.”
Terry Whalin presents Develop Habits for Writing Success posted at The Writing Life, saying, “The Writing Life is more of a marathon than a sprint. In this article, prolific author Terry Whalin gives a series of resources and tips to develop success habits.”
Writing Tools and Tips
Belinda Kroll presents Editing Bullet Journal Tracking for Fiction Writers posted at Belinda Kroll | Fiction for Kids and Teens, saying, “Belinda shares her editing habit tracker for her writing bullet journal so other writers can take advantage of their bullet journals.”
Dave Bricker presents The Elements of Storytelling posted at The World’s Greatest Book, saying, “This article explores the four elements of a good story: conflict, transformation, authenticity, and magic—and how you can use them to motivate and inspire.”
K.M. Weiland presents Deepen Your Story With Character Misdirection posted at Helping Writers Become Authors, saying, “Character misdirection is a delightful game authors get to play in their stories. Who’s good? Who’s bad? We don’t know! Here are five ways to entrance readers.”
Kate Tilton presents All the Small Things… posted at Kate Tilton, Connecting Authors & Readers, saying, “Author Will Van Stone, Jr. explores the small things in writing that can lead to big differences in how we connect as an audience to a story.”
Lisa Tener presents 7 Quick Writing Tips (and Editing Advice) to Bring Your Words to Life posted at Lisa Tener.
Lori Robinett presents How to Edit a Draft (Novel) posted at Lori L. Robinett: Secrets. Strong Women. Second Chances., saying, “This article as designed as an overview of the editing process that takes place after a manuscript has been drafted.”
March McCarron presents My Pre-Writing Exercise: Blocking out the Scene posted at March McCarron’s Blog.
Mark Coker presents Making the Most of Beta Readers posted at Publishers Weekly, saying, “You’re getting ready to publish your book. Will readers like it? Are there holes in your plot or storyline you’re missing? Beta readers can help. Learn how you can use beta readers to gain insight that guides your final book revision. This article provides a step by step checklist for how to set up and manage a beta reader round.”
Michael Farlow presents Influence of The Grapes of Wrath on The Martian Chronicles posted at Michael J. Farlow.
Rachael Lui presents 100 Editing and Proofreading Tips for Writers posted at The Expert Editor blog, saying, “This comprehensive list is a valuable resource for writers, helping them self-edit their books and manuscripts into professional shape”
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 February 26, 2017 and the deadline for submissions will be February 15, 2017. 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
