Self-Publishing: Carnival of the Indies Issue #113

POSTED ON Feb 23, 2020

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By Joel Friedlander

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

Iola Goulton presents How Do I Get my Book on a Blog Tour? posted at Christian Editing Services, saying, “Why would an author undertake a blog tour, and how can they organise a tour?”

Deborah Jay presents How to add categories to your book on Amazon posted at Deborah Jay Author, saying, “I’d always heard it was possible to add your books to more Amazon categories, but each time I took a look, I couldn’t seem to find any extra categories to fit my titles beyond the regular 2 that Amazon allows when you publish. And then I took a marketing course that showed me where to find them, and how, exactly to go about the process. It was a shock to discover that every Amazon store uses different categories, and you need to deal with each one separately.”

Frances Caballo presents 8 Social Media Scheduling Apps for Writers posted at Social Media Just for Writers, saying, “If you don’t want to be online all day posting your tweets and images, you need to check out this list of eight social media scheduling apps. The beauty of scheduling apps is that you can spend a few minutes each day or a week uploading your images, messages, captions, hashtags, and status updates.”

Book Design and Production

Dave Chesson presents A Detailed Review of Vellum’s Book Formatting Software posted at Kindlepreneur, saying, “Some authors swear by Vellum’s book formatting software. Others think it’s overpriced. In this detailed review, you’ll learn exactly what Vellum is capable of, so you can decide if it’s a smart investment for you.”

Michele DeFilippo presents The Best Fonts for Books posted at IngramSpark Blog.

Indie Author

Penny Sansevieri presents FACING COMMON AUTHOR CHALLENGES WITH A POSITIVE OUTLOOK posted at IndieReader.

Deborah Jay presents How to add categories to your book on Amazon posted at Deborah Jay Author, saying, “I’d always heard it was possible to add your books to more Amazon categories, but each time I took a look, I couldn’t seem to find any extra categories to fit my titles beyond the regular 2 that Amazon allows when you publish. And then I took a marketing course that showed me where to find them, and how, exactly to go about the process. It was a shock to discover that every Amazon store uses different categories, and you need to deal with each one separately.”

Joy E. Rancatore presents Indie Authors and the Case of Wisdom posted at Logos & Mythos, saying, “Just how important is wisdom for the Indie Author? More important than we may even think. Read three ways its importance has stood out to me since claiming WISDOM as my Word of the Year for 2020.”

Lois Hoffman presents Stop the Monkey Mindset (for writers) posted at The Happy Self-Publisher, saying, “If you’re like me, you already have big plans and big goals for writing this year. But, if you’re like me, you’ve also got a few obstacles that may get in the way of reaching those goals. On good days, I’m on top of it — filled with confidence and determination. On other days, the monkeys in my brain start dancing and making noise. Some days, they are quietly in the background, and other days, they are in full Mardi Gras mode. Sound familiar? I know when the monkeys put on their party hats, I need to slow down and explore.”

Sarah Bolme presents Does Your Book Need an Update? posted at Marketing Christian Books, saying, “Are you struggling to sell your book(s)? Are you taking out Amazon or social media ads, but not having much success with sales? Maybe it is time to refresh and update your presentation.”

Terry Whalin presents Simple Truths For Writers posted at The Writing Life, saying, “Years ago as a frustrated acquisitions editor Terry Whalin wrote Book Proposals That Sell and in the back he included 12 Maxims or Truths. He revisits these wise truths for every writer.”

Marketing and Selling Your Books

Frances Caballo presents 11 Must-Have Instagram Apps for Writers posted at Social Media Just for Writers, saying, “With all the apps that exist do you know the 11 must-have Instagram apps for writers? I’ve made it easy for you by including the list right here. Being a content creator or an author on Instagram is a very intricate job. Apart from putting out content regularly, it would help if you also focused on the insights of your publicity. More often than not, authors on Instagram are sole creators and do not have publicity teams to look over their work. You need to make sure your work is being noticed by people online. So, you will need to make extra efforts to provide good publicity for your work. Here are eleven apps that can help you promote your work on Instagram.”

Katherine Pickett presents More on Standing Up to the Competition: The Complete Package posted at The POP Newsletter, saying, “You as a writer can draw in your readers by demonstrating that you have given your book the thought, time, and care it deserves. When readers see that you respect your own work, they are more likely to return the feeling.”

Kimberley Grabas presents Book Marketing 101: The Crucial Basics of Promoting Your Book posted at Your Writer Platform, saying, “As a keynote speaker at Karen Ferreira’s annual conference, Children’s Book Mastery, Karen interviewed me about the crucial basics of promoting your book. We explored the following: What mindset should authors adopt when promoting their book? What are the most crucial elements of promoting your book? What are some creative and unusual ways to promote your book? How can authors come up with their own marketing ideas? How can an author create a promo kit for themselves?”

Shawn Inmon presents You Don’t Need To Suck At Marketing posted at Indies Unlimited, saying, “Outstanding summary of CPC Advertising.”

Pauline Wiles presents How to Set up Your Author Website Quickly and Easily posted at The Independent Publishing Magazine, saying, “Thank you for this carnival!”

Sarah Bolme presents Do You Want to Sell More Books? posted at Marketing Christian Books, saying, “Amazon is not the only book seller in town (or state, or country, or world). If you are an independent author who has published through KDP, you are probably missing out on sales. In fact, you may only be selling half as many books as you could be selling.”

Self-Publishing Success

Dmitri Barvinok presents For Publishers: Investigating and Understanding eBook Piracy posted at Front Edge Publishing Blog, saying, “PROTECTING US FROM PIRATES—Does that sound like a fanciful introduction to a children’s adventure story? Hardly. Our entire publishing house team—including all of our authors—need to be wary of the dark forces lurking online, including real-life pirates. In our Front Edge Publishing column this week, Production Manager Dmitri Barvinok reports on the dangerous waters publishers encounter when pirates strike.”

Michele DeFilippo presents How to Choose Your Publishing Team posted at 1106 Design Blog, saying, “A team of publishing professionals means people with whom the indie author can noodle on ideas, talk about cover design, discuss content, and strategize for distribution. In short, the author need never feel alone with a publishing team on their side, populated by professionals as invested in the success of the book as the author.”

Writing Tools and Tips

Belinda Pollard presents How I Overcame Writer’s Block: 5 Techniques posted at Write, Edit and Publish Like A Pro, saying, “Have you ever lost traction on a writing project, or wondered if you can actually finish writing a whole book? I’ve been there! This is the story of how I finally beat writer’s block on a book that had been “on hold” for more than two years.”

Joseph C. Kunz, Jr. presents The Importance of Sincerity When Writing Non-Fiction posted at The Business of Self-Publishing, saying, “Sincerity is extremely important to all of us because it helps to build trust with each other. And trust is one the fundamental building blocks to developing a lasting and rewarding relationship. It’s especially important for non-fiction writers to display sincerity with their words. Readers can sense this, and will reward writers that they trust by following them, reading their articles, and buying their books. Here is short discussion on the importance of writing with sincerity.”

Katherine Pickett presents Chapter Summaries, Who Needs ’em? posted at The POP Newsletter, saying, “Even a solo writer needs to know where they want their story to go. And if you are like many writers, you might have to take a few days or even weeks away from your writing. How do you remember where you wanted to go if you didn’t record it somewhere?”

Laura Cross presents How to Quickly and Easily Write Your Self-Help, How-To or Business Manuscript by Speaking-Your-Book posted at Ink & Cinema.

Louise Harnby presents How to write immersive fiction: Action versus the intention to act posted at The Parlour, saying, “If your characters’ intention to act is trumping their action, a small recast could be in order. This article shows you how ‘to’ can affect immediacy and plausibility in certain circumstances.”

Louise Harnby presents Identifying showing and telling: Thinking in layers to understand reader experience posted at The Parlour, saying, “Are you storytelling-telling? Too much told narrative can force the reader to experience a story through extraneous layers that add clutter rather than clarity. Here’s how to identify one type of told prose and write with more immediacy.”

Sabrina Ricci presents 5 Story Tools To Help You Plot posted at Digital Pubbing.

Sabrina Ricci presents The Guide to Creating Better Content in Less Time posted at Digital Pubbing.

Stefanie Newell presents Google Docs vs Microsoft Word: Which software is best for writers? posted at The Life Of A Writer.

Stefanie Newell presents Writing Apps For Writers posted at The Life Of A Writer.

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 March 29, 2020 and the deadline for submissions will be March 15, 2020. Don’t miss it!

Here are all the links you’ll need