Welcome to this issue of the Carnival of the Indies blog carnival. This issue is for January, 2014. 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
Joanna Penn presents It’s Not Just One Book. Your Rights And How To Exploit Them. posted at The Creative Penn: Writing and Creative Entrepreneurship, saying, “Whether you want a traditional deal or you’re going indie, you need to know how your manuscript can turn into multiple streams of income through rights exploitation.”
Mark Coker presents 2014 Book Publishing Industry Predictions – Price Drops to Impact Competitive Dynamics posted at Smashwords Blog, saying, “Hi Joel and team! Happy New Year. These are my 14 predictions for 2014. mark”
Steven Saus presents How To Make Life Easy For Librarians So Your Book Gets In Libraries posted at ideatrash, saying, “The following guest post is written by Laura Carruba, certified Librarian. (Seriously, she comes from a family of librarians.) We got to talking about getting books into libraries, and she pointed out that a lot of indie authors make things hard on librarians… and that’s a bad idea. So I asked her to explain how we can make things easier for librarians, and she was kind enough to share. (And I swear that when I said she could use my stuff as an example, I thought she was going to use it as a bad example.)”
Book Design and Production
Carla Douglas presents Getting an ISBN for Your Ebook (for Canadian Authors) posted at Beyond Paper Editing, saying, “One of the last things you need to do before publishing your ebook is to get an International Standard Book Number, or ISBN. It’s an identification number, and it carries important information about your book: where and when it was published, format, edition number, and more. In Canada, it costs you nothing to get an ISBN. Here’s how.”
Cathi Stevenson presents Tips for Formatting Your Book Cover for Lightning Source (or Any Printer) posted at Book Cover Design Articles, saying, “I see posts about print quality quite often in various forums. I think it’s important that people understand that the files they’re sending to the printer have a huge impact on the quality of the job.”
Corina Koch MacLeod presents Editor’s Tip: Cleaning Up Your Manuscript Can Save You Money posted at Beyond Paper Editing, saying, “Did you know there are ways to save money on editing costs? This article will tell you how.”
Ian Martyn presents 30 things I learnt in 2013 posted at Ian Martyn Science Fiction Writer, saying, “2013 was a big year for me as a writer. I started blogging, discovered the delights of twitter and finally e-published my first two science fiction novels. This is 30 (some serious, some not so serious) things I learnt along the way.”
Laura Pepper Wu presents Want to turn your book into an app? Here’s how to do it in simple steps. posted at 30 Day Books Blog, saying, “When I heard about Authorly, the nerd in me got very excited. I see books moving in the direction of interactive apps in the near future, but in the meantime they can be very expensive and time-consuming to produce. So what is an author without the backing of a big publisher or the right tech/ coding skills to do? Enter Authorly, a tool that does just the trick. I asked David Hooper from Authorly my burning questions in this Q&A.”
Sarah Bolme presents The rule you should know for good book cover design. posted at Marketing Christian Books
Y. K. Greene presents Book Interior Formatting: Getting Fancy posted at Blargle Splect, saying, “One in a series of posts that I recently made to help Indie Authors format their novels for paperback publication. This particular article deals with the extra fancy flourish of dropped letters at the start of a chapter.”
Indie Author
Connie Dowell presents Author Interview: Dax Varley on SEVERED posted at Book Echoes Media, saying, “In this interview, indie author Dax Varley discusses writing horror, retellings, and her new YA novel, SEVERED”
Frances Caballo presents 10 Great Resources Writers [You] Need to Know About posted at Social Media Just for Writers, saying, “In this post, I share with Indie Authors essential tools that can help them with their social media, editing, and the formatting of their books. Resources I list include DIY Book Covers and Book Design Templates; applications include Canva, Picmonkey and Pinstamatic; and editing services include editors such as Susanne Lakin, Nina Amir and others. So the post is about a variety of different resources that Indie Authors need to know about.”
Geraldine Somerset presents Make the Best Use of Blog Tours With Good Etiquette by Gregory Delaurentis posted at Self Publishing Advice Blog, saying, “Last autumn I completed a four week blog tour and it was an experience, one that I will not forget. I have to say that there were things that I learned on the tour that were helpful and things that I was exposed to that helped me to have an enjoyable, exciting and fun tour, which I believe it must be to succeed. You can look at it as a job, which I did at first, or look at it like a party of sorts so as to meet new and interesting people. But there were several things that I did, things that I was told, and things that I realized that made it what it was for me. I hope these tips can do the same for you.”
Geraldine Somerset presents Self-Publishing and The Power of Creative Intention by Orna Ross posted at Self Publishing Advice Blog, saying, “Planning to write 1000 words a day through 2014? Resolving to definitely get that title that’s been hanging around forever up and out there? Oh yes, it’s that time of year when indie authors make our resolutions about the books we are going to write (and sell and publish) over the coming months”
Heather Day Gilbert presents So You’ve Decided to Self-Publish…the First Steps posted at Author Heather Day Gilbert, saying, “This is the first post in a series, bringing thoughtful info to those gearing up to self-publish. Targeted primarily to debut self-publishers.”
Ian Martyn presents 8 Writers ‘Resolutions’ posted at Ian Martyn, Science Fiction Author, saying, “I’m not nornally fond of New Year resolutions. It smacks of joining a gym, paying for a year and then giving up after a couple of visits. However, there are things that as a writer and self publisher I know I need to improve on this year. So here goes…”
Kate Tilton presents Creating Your Book Writing Team posted at SlushHeap, saying, “This SlushHeap video features guests Katherine Sears of Booktrope and Kate Tilton, author assistant in an hour long discussion on forming your own book writing team.”
Nate Hoffelder presents Here’s Why Amazon Won’t be Cutting KDP Payment Rates to 35% posted at The Digital Reader, saying, “Have you heard about that rumor that Amazon might drop the 70% royalty from KDP? I read about it in December but I wouldn’t worry too much; lowering the payments would hurt Amazon as well.”
Randy Ross presents Don’t Give Up! Inspirational Books, Blogs for Writers posted at The Loneliest Planet, saying, “Four books and four links to inspire you and your writing in the coming year.”
Marketing and Selling Your Books
Ben Zackheim presents Amazon KDP Select has a bridge to sell you! No, really. posted at Ben Zackheim, saying, “If someone tells you, “I have a bridge to sell ya!”, would you believe them? Of course not! But what if the mayor of New York City was the one talking? That makes it a tougher question. It’s conceivable that he could sell it to you. He’s the mayor! But wouldn’t he have to massage the bureaucratic engine of the city to make the sale happen? Isn’t he just one powerful person in a city of powerful people? That’s the conundrum we find ourselves in with Amazon. They actually do have a bridge (to success) to sell us, and they could indeed sell it to us. But will they do any of the hard work required to make the sale happen?”
Ben Zackheim presents The $1.1 Million question: Is KDP Select worth it? posted at Ben Zackheim, saying, “If you’re an indy writer, there’s a number you see floating around the mondo web. It’s a distracting number. It’s the kind of number that forces you to pay attention. Amazon loves to tout it. Lucky authors swear by it. And the rest of us are mostly confused by it. $1 million.”
Denise Wakeman presents How to Dominate your Niche with a Book Blog posted at The Future of Ink, saying, “It goes without saying your book must be found online or it doesn’t exist. In order to break through the noise and attract the right audience for your book, you need to be incredibly visible on the Web since there’s so much competition for your readers’ time and attention. So, how do you dominate your niche and create that visibility without working 24-7 online?A book blog is an excellent marketing tool for authors because it gives readers a chance to “try before they buy.””
Jason Kong presents 5 Surprising Reasons Why Email Trumps Social Media posted at Your Writer Platform, saying, “It’s a given that you should be keeping in touch with people that value your writing. When you have a direct correspondence with interested readers, it’s much easier to spread the word, launch your next book, and strengthen your platform. Each day, the attention you earn means your future marketing will be that much easier. Most people use social media to manage those communications, but there are significant reasons to consider email.”
Melissa Leddy presents After You Publish Your E-book: 11 Low-Cost Marketing Tips posted at Maternity Ward, saying, “I just wrote and published this blog post in December 2013, and I am very hopeful that my timely, real-life, and from-the-heart tips will be good resources for your readers! Thank you so much for your consideration.”
Patty Jansen presents How much promotion? posted at Must Use Bigger Elephants, saying, “Be sensible with promotion, but you have to do at least some of it.”
Sabrina Ricci presents Using Kindle Countdown Deals as a Marketing Tool posted at Digital Pubbing
Stefanie presents 5 Tips for Budding Writers Planning to Self Publish posted at The Write One Blog
Steven Saus presents Grokking Twitter: The Why of Social Media posted at ideatrash, saying, “It may seem a little strange to promote this post on social media… but we all know those people who don’t “get” social media. They don’t understand why. I take a stab at explaining the why here… and how to avoid some of the most common pitfalls.”
Self-Publishing Success
Gordon Burgett presents Why would you change a book’s title once it’s out for sale? posted at Empire Building by Writing and Speaking, saying, “Don’t do as I do here. Get the title right the first time. But if you goof (I know, I never did either!), here’s how you patch it up, erase the sin, and get on with it…”
Michelle Weidenbenner presents Should You Self-Publish Your Novel, 6 Key Questions to Ask Yourself posted at Random Writing Rants, Teaching Teens and Adults How to Get Published, saying, “Six questions authors can ask themselves to determine if they’re ready to self-publish their book. Michelle is an Amazon bestselling author and blogger who focuses on inspiring and empowering writers.”
Shelley Hitz presents How to Translate Your Book and Get Published into Other Languages posted at Training Authors, saying, “Have you thought about translating your book and getting it published in other languages? Since I published my first book in 2008, I have thought about this possibility. But, it did not become a reality until now. As of Christmas Eve, I now have one of my books published in Spanish! What a great Christmas present for me this year. And now that I know the process, I plan to have some of our other books translated as well. But, first I wanted to share my experience with you and wanted to share how to translate your book in this tutorial.”
Writing Tools and Tips
A. J. Abbiati presents How to Construct Professional Quality Prose–An Introduction to The NORTAV Method: Part 1 posted at The Secret to Constructing Prose Like the Pros, saying, “The NORTAV Method is a breakthrough approach for learning to recognize and construct clear, accurate, professional quality prose. If you’re a new writer and would like to shave years off your learning curve, or if you’re an experienced writer and would like to sharpen your writing skills through a more complete understanding of prose construction, give The NORTAV Method a try today. With The NORTAV Method you’ll learn to: – Construct the three types of prose used in all writing – Design unlimited, unique writing styles – Create patterns for using one or more writing styles in your work – Perform a NORTAV Analysis—a powerful new tool for deconstructing, examining, and revising prose”
Alexander Zoltai presents “What Is Art For?” posted at Notes from An Alien, saying, “Exploring the purpose of “Art” (i.e. Painting) can lead an author to exploring the purpose of Writing…”
andre clayton presents 5 Things A Writer Should Kill For posted at The Word
Belinda Pollard presents How to Get That Book Written This Year posted at Small Blue Dog Publishing, saying, “If your book is the one thing in your life that never gets finished (or started), what is the answer? The solution is to treat it like a project that actually MATTERS! This blog post and podcast contains tips from Aussie management consultant Monique Beedles about organising the writing process to get results.”
Ellis Shuman presents Why I Prefer Editing a Novel to Writing One posted at Ellis Shuman Writes, saying, “Are you a “pantser” or a “planner”? Why is it that I am creating a detailed outline of my novel after completing the first draft? Here’s why I prefer editing a novel to writing one.”
Graham Storrs presents 7 Things I Know About Women posted at Graham Storrs, saying, “The title could maybe uses sub-title, something like: “Writing female characters for male writers, and vice versa”. It’s quite long.”
Greg Strandberg presents Write Your Novels Faster: Sacrificing Formatting Early posted at Big Sky Words, saying, “There’s a lot of buzz right now about authors who can pump out a novel a month, continuously, all year long. So what’s the secret? In this fist of a 5-part series we’ll explore how how you can write your novels faster by sacrificing formatting so you can get a large pile of words quickly.”
Richard Sutton presents The Rules are there for Writers to Use posted at Saille Tales, saying, “Hope this can provide some relief to your overburdened and over directed readers!”
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 23, 2014 and the deadline for submissions will be February 15, 2014. 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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