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Self-publishing is not a new thing! [Guest Post]

The following is a guest post from William Joel and an entry in February’s Self-Publishing Writing Contest. Click here to vote for the winner of this month’s contest. Want to help out your fellow indie authors? Consider entering March’s contest!

Recently, with the emergence of one Publish-on-Demand service (POD) after another, there seems to have been an explosion of self-published works. Some might even view this as the being a new way to be published, but they’d be misinformed. Self-publshing has been around for as long as there have been books. In fact, in the field of book creation, professional publshing houses are Johnny-come-latelies.

Instead of traveling all the way back to the birth of books, or even the days of rows and rows of monks, hand-copying texts, we only need to begin with the advent of moveable type. Think Gutenberg and the 15th century.

Once it was possible to mass produce books, which meant dozens or hundreds of copies, books could exist in the hands of the average person. Of course, the average person did not know how to read, or if he did read poorly. Details, details.

Still, it was a beginning. At that time, the printer was the publisher, and the marketer, etc. Or, more likely, the author was everything but the printer. Over time, small publishing houses did emerge, but there was still lots and lots of notable books that were “self-published.” (more…)

Self-Publishing: Perils, Pitfalls, and Promise [Guest Post]

The following is a guest post from Lisa Cohen and an entry in February’s Self-Publishing Writing Contest. Click here to vote for the winner of this month’s contest. Want to help out your fellow indie authors? Consider entering March’s contest!

If you’d have asked me a year ago about self publishing, I would have given you all sort of persuasive reasons why it wasn’t right for me. A year ago, it wouldn’t have been right, not because of any intrinsic problem with going ‘indi’, but primarily because I hadn’t educated myself about the process.

Technology has driven the incredible rise of the ebook. Author tools, some free, others low cost, have made the barrier to self publishing very low, indeed. That is both a blessing and a curse. It means that the biggest obstacle to publishing isn’t price, knowledge, or equipment; it’s discoverability. When any ordinary Joe or Jane Writer can upload a file and in moments have an ebook for sale in multiple venues, what’s to stop that writer from doing so?

The promise of the author-as-publisher is very alluring, especially with the royalty rates as generous as they are on the self publishing platforms. It’s hard to justify holding out for the brass ring of a book contract when the typical hardcover will earn the author far less than each ebook independently released. (more…)

Short but Sweet [Guest Post]

The following is a guest post from Barry Skelhorn and an entry in February’s Self-Publishing Writing Contest. Click here to vote for the winner of this month’s contest. Want to help out your fellow indie authors? Consider entering March’s contest!

Self-publishing has its up and downs — just ask any aspiring writer.  Like those authors I also been through the process for three books now and I am happy with the results. The middle parts can and will test your nerve and patience. I spent months writing, editing, and polishing my work. Only when I thought I had finished – I realised you never are when you self-publish.

Marketing should always have been on your list of to-dos even while you’re writing the first draft. It sounds strange but once you build up momentum with readers through blogging, forums or general face to face conversation from the beginning you are on the right track. With that in mind, I would like to share my experiences of a marketing tool that could help measure if people are taking an interest in your work.

The tool I am talking about is the website www.bitly.com. Its primary purpose is to shrink down web links. This in turn, makes ‘bit.ly’ links easier and cleaner to put into whatever media you want. I fell I should also mention that this site is free to sign up and use – maybe I should have mentioned that earlier. (more…)

Who Are Your Readers? [Discussion]

If there’s one thing every author can use, it’s more readers! If you’ve followed our advice and found your target market, you’re well on your way to figuring out how to attract those readers to your work.

We know that it’s always helpful, however, to hear the experience and advice of other indie authors who have already been through the process and have begun to establish their readership.

To those authors: help out your brethren! We want to know:

  • Who is your primary target market? What process did you use to decide on this group?
  • Do you have any secondary or tertiary target markets?
  • What genre do you write?
  • What marketing/promotion methods work best with your market? Which are least effective?
  • What advice do you have for other authors attempting to narrow down a target market?

To join the discussion, please leave a comment below addressing any (or all) of the above questions. Also, mention the discussion to your indie author friends — we’d love to get varied input!

What do you think?

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Print On Demand/Self-Publishing Service Reviews [Self-Publishing Linkup]

Have an awesome idea for a post that’s not related to self-publishing service reviews? Consider entering it in our Self-Publishing Writing Contest for a chance to win Amazon.com gift cards and much more!

Thanks to everyone who participated in our previous Self-Publishing Linkups on New Year’s Resolutions/Goal-Setting and Social Media Resources (note: you can still add your link at any time).

For those who missed it, here’s the what, why and how of the Self-Publishing Linkup:

Indie authors share a ton of knowledge and experience through their blogs, and sometimes we feel like we can’t keep up.

Shannon and I were discussing how great it would be to have all of the posts centered around a given topic gathered in one place — voila! The Self-Publishing Linkup was born!

This week’s topic is “Print On Demand/Self-Publishing Service Reviews.” This can be any post that you’ve read or written reviewing an experience with any Print on Demand/Self-Publishing Service (such as Smashwords, iUniverse, Lulu, Lightning Source, CreateSpace, etc). Here’s how to participate:

1. Leave a comment on this post with the following information:

The post can be on any blog – yours or someone else’s. If you find (or write) a great post, share it!

2. Let others know you particpated in the linkup! Share a link to this post (or your post) with the hashtag #selfpublinkup on Twitter. Here’s an example:

  • Just shared my review of CreateSpace on the #SelfPubLinkup: http://ow.ly/8K9Ev

The more authors who participate, the more information and resources that will be shared! Get started by leaving your link in the comments below!