Self-Publishing: The Carnival of the Indies Issue #97

POSTED ON Oct 28, 2018

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By Joel Friedlander

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

Glenna Collett presents Your book promotion materials posted at Book Design Made Simple, saying, “Social media is supposed to be the way to go for promoting books. But sometimes authors simply need a handout. This is a guide to what to produce, what to include in each kind of handout, and where to get it all printed. And a reminder to think about branding throughout.”

Belinda Griffin presents Your Target Reader: Identifying and Making the Connection posted at BookWorks Blog, saying, “BookWorks.com’s Readership expert, Belinda Griffin, explains how to identify and connect with your target reader as the foundation of your book marketing in her ongoing series.”

Louise Harnby presents Dialogue tags and how to use them in fiction writing posted at The Parlour, saying, “Dialogue tags – or speech tags – are what writers use to indicate which character is speaking. Their function is, for the most part, mechanical. This article is about how to use them effectively.”

Book Design and Production

Cathi Stevenson presents PageLayout and Design Elements posted at Indie Publishing Blog.

Frances Caballo presents 25 Tips for Posting on Social Media posted at Social Media Just for Writers, saying, “Posting on social media can be a quandary for some authors. Regardless of all the tips posted online, when it comes to a personal decision, many writers don’t know what they should say, especially once they learn that always talking about their books and blog posts is verboten (forbidden). I get it.”

Nate Hoffelder presents How to Upload a PDF to the Kindle Store, and Sell It posted at The Digital Reader, saying, “There are some PDF-hating “experts” out there who will try to convince you that you can’t see PDFs in today’s ebook market. That simply isn’t true. You can sell a PDF in the Kindle Store, and I can explain how.”

Ebooks and Ebook Readers

Alexander Zoltai presents Still More Conversation about Reading Print Books or Ebooks . . . posted at Notes from An Alien.

Sophie Anderson presents How to Self-Publish Your Book, Stage 5 – Preparing EPUB Files and Proofreading posted at Carmine Proofreading, saying, “Following on from the previous stages, this blog looks at preparing an ebook and doing some final checks.”

Indie Author

Lisa Poisso presents Beating perfectionism and procrastination as a new author posted at Clarity, saying, “If you’re a debut author, at some point you inevitably must make your debut. You can’t keep running around and around the hamster wheel forever. All that pressure? Come on—you’re a debut author. Everyone knows you’re new at this.”

Marketing and Selling Your Books

Cate Baum presents Five Reasons You Shouldn’t Rush Publishing Your Book posted at Self-Publishing Review.

Chris Well presents Podcast Interview: Chris Well on Author Publicity and Media Outreach — The Writing Coach 079 posted at The Writing Coach Podcast, saying, “In this episode of The Writing Coach podcast, writing coach Kevin T. Johns and I discuss what I’ve learned over 30 years working in the media, the main advantage digital media has over broadcast and print media, why an author should never “lead with the book,” and more!”

Dave Chesson presents Podcast Your Way to Greater Author Brand Recognition posted at BookWorks Blog, saying, “BookWorks.com’s Author Branding expert, Dave Chesson, explains why and how indie authors can and should pursue podcast appearances to boost their brand.”

Eric Z presents How To Do Amazon Ads RIGHT with Brian Meeks: Hardcore Lessons! [Podcast] posted at Zbooks.co.

Frances Caballo presents Email Marketing or Social Media? Authors Need Both posted at Frances Caballo, saying, “Email marketing is an important component of any indie author’s marketing strategy. In some ways, it’s more important than using social media. Email marketing is a vehicle for book launches and a way to recruit street teams and mail advance review copies.”

Joseph C. Kunz, Jr. presents 5 Surefire Ways To Optimize Your Book’s Sell Sheet posted at Joseph C. Kunz, Jr., saying, “In order to become, or remain, financially successful as a self-publisher, you must be able to quickly and effectively get your marketing message to your book-buying audience. Your book’s sell sheet is an excellent tool to do this. The sell sheet is a perfect marketing tool for offline AND online marketing – because it’s simple to understand, and gets directly to the point. So, here is a short discussion of five certain ways to make your sell sheet a very powerful marketing tool.”

Lois Hoffman presents 19 Awesome Places to Find Readers for Your Book (even if you’re an introvert) posted at The Happy Self-Publisher, saying, “Even though the act of writing is often fraught with anguish and adversity, most writers struggle more selling their books. Writing is a solitary pursuit – marketing is not. How do you find more readers for your book without “selling” it? Get out of the house and get involved. Even if you haven’t published a book yet, now is the time to build your tribe of readers. Here are 19 awesome places to meet readers for your book, even if you’re an introvert.”

Nate Hoffelder presents Five Secrets to a Fiendishly Effective Landing Page posted at Valiant Chicken Digital, saying, “If you are struggling to get readers to sign up for your mailing list, here’s a list of five secrets to an effective landing page.”

Penny Sansevieri presents Pitching Book Bloggers & Other Relevant Blogs for Reviews posted at BookWorks Blog, saying, “BookWorks.com’s Book Marketing pro, Penny Sansevieri shares how to pitch book bloggers for reviews that are crucial to holiday book sales.”

Sarah Bolme presents Awareness is Not Enough posted at Marketing Christian Books, saying, “Publicity alone does not sell books. Most book sales are determined by three factors.”

Terry Whalin presents Use the Power of One Word posted at The Writing Life, saying, “Whether you are getting rejected or looking for new opportunities, prolific writer and editor Terry Whalin tells you how to tap into the power of one word.”

Self-Publishing Success

Tamara Dever Dever presents Book Awards for the Small Publisher posted at Book Smarts, saying, “Authors and small publishers often have a desire to enter their books into publishing competitions. It’s a great idea, but where do you start? We’ve researched the most popular national and international book awards and compiled a list of those to consider.”

Writing Tools and Tips

Carla King presents Practical Editing Software for Authors and Editors posted at BookWorks Blog, saying, “BookWorks.com’s Tech Wiz, Carla King, with her latest update/review of the best editing software & apps for authors and editors.”

Daphne Gray-Grant presents Why you should spend LESS time writing posted at Publication Coach, saying, “Many people assume that the only way to write a book is in four-hour increments (minimum!) But who has four hours?! Also, I find that earmarking such big chunks of time can be wasteful. As a result I often give the seemingly counterintuitive advice that people spend LESS time writing.”

Lisa Poisso presents Are you overusing character names in your novel? posted at Clarity, saying, “The more you unnecessarily repeat a character’s name, the more you remind readers that they’re on the outside of the story looking in, reading about a character in a book.”

Louise Harnby presents What is flash fiction and what can it teach us? posted at The Parlour, saying, “What is flash fiction and can its creation make us better writers and better editors?”

Phyllis Zimbler Miller presents Call to Action: Depicting Safer Sex in Fiction to Influence Public Health Behavior posted at Critica, saying, “I think it is very important that fiction writers portray safer sex whenever possible.”

Stefanie Newell presents Best Apps For Writing A Book posted at The Life of a Writer.

Stefanie Newell presents How Long It REALLY Takes To Write A Book posted at The Life Of A Writer.

Zara Altair presents The Detective’s Opponent in Your Mystery posted at Write Time, saying, “Create an opponent in your mystery to reveal more about your sleuth and increase reader engagement.”

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 November 25, 2018 and the deadline for submissions will be November 15, 2018. Don’t miss it!

Here are all the links you’ll need