Henry Baum | Self-Publishing Review

About Henry Baum

Author of three self-published novels and one traditionally published (Soft Skull Press, Canongate, and Hachette Littératures). Recipient of Best Fiction at the DIY Book Festival, the Gold IPPY Award for Visionary Fiction, and the Hollywood Book Festival Grand Prize. He lives with his wife Cate Baum in Spain. He's the founder of SPR.

How to Choose Kindle Keywords

One of the more confusing aspects of publishing to KDP is selecting keywords. For many writers, finding that sweet spot for the right keywords has been the difference between sales and obscurity. Like Google SEO, there’s a bit of an art to it and it’s important to experiment if your sales are currently flat.

First, Amazon makes it somewhat easy. They list the keywords that you have to have in order to list in certain categories. For example, take a look at the Young Adult category. Some of the keywords are obvious but the “Angels & Demons” category needs the […]

Henry Baum2019-02-03T09:36:35+02:00February 12th, 2015|Categories: Features, Resources|Tags: Amazon News and Tips, Book Promotion Articles|

The Fox and the Firefly by Riley Maylon

Having been injured by an IED, distorting half his body and face, Mason Harris is resigned to living the rest of his life alone. Rejected by his girlfriend after she sees his disfigurement, Harris instead decides to pour himself into his job as an undercover FBI agent. When he’s sent undercover to investigate a Russian crime family in New Orleans called the Nolikovs, he meets a fiery redhead named Ruby, a bartender at the Red Fox Bar, an establishment the Russian mafia is using as a front for their illegal activity.

Harris never thought he’d meet someone else, and this […]

Henry Baum2015-02-11T09:14:53+02:00February 11th, 2015|Categories: New Releases|

Review: Swim a Crooked Line by Al X. Griz ★★★★

Swim a Crooked Line by Al X. Griz follows several people’s lives in Nebraska: a farmer and his family including Chad who’s enlisted in the army in Afghanistan, and Rico, a linebacker for the Cornhuskers. Each character is richly imagined and contends with major societal issues. Swim a Crooked Line is a quiet novel about big ideas.

Griz is making a valiant attempt at writing the Great American Novel, in the sense that the novel is an epic that is very, very American. The book has Midwestern farming, corporate chain stores destroying Middle America, college football, and other uniquely American […]

Henry Baum2015-02-10T03:41:18+02:00February 9th, 2015|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Literary Fiction Book Reviews, Men's Fiction Book Reviews|

Review: Energy Dependence Day by Christian F. Burton ★ ★ ★ ★

Energy Dependence Day by Christian Burton is a political thriller about a terrorist attack in the U.S. generated in Saudi Arabia. It follows the lives of many characters, including a detective and the terrorist himself, with a step by step analysis of how an attack is put together. It manages to be both page turning and informative. Most of all, it’s believable.

The premise could sound like a fairly black and white story: good vs. evil where the terrorists are bad and the Americans are good. Fortunately, Burton doesn’t go down this road. This is a sympathetic portrayal of each […]

Henry Baum2019-01-22T05:56:31+02:00February 8th, 2015|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: International Fiction Book Reviews, Thriller Book Reviews|

SFWA Opens Doors to Self-Published Authors

SFWA Big news from the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America that’s a long time coming. Self and indie-published writers are now eligible to join the organization:

In a referendum with a third of voting members participating and over 6 to 1 in favor, the membership of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America has approved bylaw changes that enable SFWA to accept self-publication and small-press credits for Active and Associate memberships in the organization. We are using existing levels of income but are now allowing a combination of advances and income earned in a 12 month period

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Henry Baum2018-10-29T12:13:57+02:00February 4th, 2015|Categories: News|

BookBaby Launches Print on Demand Option

Today, BookBaby sent out a press release about its new POD option to go toe to toe with Createspace and Ingram Spark. Previously, BookBaby only offered print run publishing, which in this day and age doesn’t make sense for most self-publishers who are unaware of a book’s demand before it’s published, especially since the cost per book for a print run is twice that of print on demand. See BookBaby’s pricing tool for print run books here. The cost for POD set-up is $199.

Here’s the royalty breakdown for a standard 6×9 book. See ALLi’s Watchdog post for how […]

Henry Baum2020-02-21T05:44:48+02:00January 29th, 2015|Categories: News|

Amazon Adds Advertising for KDP Select Authors

KDP Select Advertising Amazon has sweetened the KDP Select pot by allowing for pay-per-click advertising on titles. From KDP:

Advertising for KDP Select

With advertising for KDP Select, you can use Amazon Marketing Services (AMS) to purchase advertising to promote your KDP-Select-enrolled books on Amazon.com. To get started, you can create an Amazon Marketing Services account directly on the KDP website. You set the budget you want to spend and the maximum amount you are willing to pay when a customer clicks your ad. Customers who click your ad will go to your book’s product detail page. You’ll only be charged when your

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Henry Baum2020-02-21T03:44:27+02:00January 29th, 2015|Categories: News|Tags: Amazon News and Tips|

Review: Workman’s Complication by Rich Leder ★★★★★

Workman's Complication Workman’s Complication by Rich Leder is the immensely entertaining first book in his series McCall & Company, following the exploits of down-on-her-luck private investigator/struggling actress Kate McCall. In the first installment, McCall tries to balance starring in an Off-Broadway vampire musical, investigating her father’s death at the Monument Insurance building, inheriting his PI business, and trying to solve her first case: a workman’s comp case where a construction worker broke his back and might be taking a benevolent old businessman for all his money.