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.

Tyranny of the Muse: An Interview with Eddie Wright

An interview with Eddie Wright, author of the novel Broken Bulbs, now being turned into a graphic novel called “Tyranny of the Muse,” backed by a Kickstarter campaign.

About:

Tyranny of the Muse by writer Eddie Wright and artist Jesse Balmer is a comic book series about a sad-sack, inspiration-addict, who is obsessed with the idea of nothingness.

When a mysterious, chain-smoking muse named Bonnie offers her unique assistance to Frank Fisher (our sad-sack hero), by injecting literal seeds of inspiration directly into his brain, the couple find themselves on a twisted, frantic, chaotic, fast-paced and surreal path

[…]

Henry Baum2014-07-20T05:50:47+02:00September 8th, 2011|Categories: Interviews|

John Locke Goes Traditional

That headline might seem relatively commonplace, but this is a pretty amazing development – maybe even more amazing than Amanda Hocking’s success. The news (emphasis added):

Self-published author John Locke has signed a deal with a traditional publisher. The print editions of John Locke Books will be sold and distributed by Simon & Schuster, the company announced Monday.

Locke was the first — and so far, only — self-published author to sell a million Kindle ebooks. He writes thrillers starring the character Donovan Creed, and has published a popular how-to book, “How I Sold 1 Million eBooks in 5 Months!”

[…]

Henry Baum2011-08-22T10:44:43+02:00August 22nd, 2011|Categories: News|

A Spotify for Books

I’ve been using Spotify pretty religiously recently, and it’s amazing. So amazing that it sort of seems like it should be illegal. What is Spotify? If you’ve ever used iTunes, it’s like that, but with access to everyone else’s iTunes library at once – including your own. Yep, it’s like having access to all of the world’s music for free. Yes, it doesn’t have everything, but it has plenty. Unless you’re the type of person who needs to physically own an album, you can have access to it immediately, whenever you want. I used to be that person – […]

Henry Baum2011-08-15T14:13:31+02:00August 15th, 2011|Categories: Features, Resources|

IndieReader Announces the Discovery Awards

IndieReader’s new Discovery Award is open to entries:

What do you get when you cross a bunch of great self-published books with extraordinary publishing industry professionals? IndieReader’s first annual “Discovery Awards” (IRDAs), where undiscovered talent meets people with the power to make a difference.

With the rush by traditional publishers to sign them and their noteworthy bestselling status, there’s no longer much doubt that indie authors can be both commercially and creatively successful. All that was left to do was create a credible vehicle by which to find them.

What makes the IRDA’s so unique is their extraordinary panel of

[…]

Henry Baum2011-07-19T15:06:18+02:00July 19th, 2011|Categories: News|

Smith Publicity: Marketing for Self-Publishers

I don’t have any direct experience with Smith Publicity, but it’s nice to see this as part of their manifesto:

Over the last ten years, self-publishing has evolved from what was stigmatized as amateurish endeavor to an increasingly accepted and exciting form of publishing. The industry has enjoyed a revolution of popularity and gained credibility via front-page articles about self published books in publications such as the New York Times and mentions in TIME magazine.

Today, self-publishing is all about providing opportunities to authors whose self published books who otherwise might never have their book see the light of

[…]

Henry Baum2019-02-03T09:03:45+02:00July 14th, 2011|Categories: Resources|Tags: Book Marketing Advice and Tips, Book Promotion Articles|

How to Format a Kindle Ebook

If you’ve got a blog, you’re probably familiar with what it takes to format for the Kindle. If a tag like <em> is totally unfamiliar to you, it’ll be a bit harder to get up to speed, but HTML code is actually not as complicated as it looks – especially as it pertains to a Kindle book, which doesn’t need a huge list of formatting commands.

It should be noted that it may not be entirely necessary to do this at all, but if you’re interested in a pro-quality Kindle book, adjusting the code is the best bet. Otherwise, you […]

Henry Baum2020-02-21T03:45:56+02:00July 13th, 2011|Categories: Resources|Tags: Book Formatting Tips|

Everyone Should Make Their Books Free

I’m in the middle of an experiment with Amazon pricing. Around 6 weeks ago I set my novel to free on Smashwords (instead of pay what you like), sort of hitting myself for not doing this sooner. My plan was for the book to be distributed free to Barnes and Noble. Amazon would then price match B&N and also make the book free. This is what happened. Last Thursday afternoon my book was made free and this is what my downloads look like since then:

For a couple days I was listed on the first page of Kindle bestsellers[…]

Henry Baum2011-07-11T12:26:47+02:00July 11th, 2011|Categories: Features|

Author Carole Maso on Digital Publishing

I’ve never actually read Carole Maso, but I love this answer from an interview in the Barcelona Review (2000) – referenced in a fairly scathing review of the new phenom A Visit from the Goon Squad.

You take on the literary mainstream in your book of essays, Break Every Rule, making a plea to the literary establishment “not to discard the canon, but enlarge it . . . . to acknowledge, for starters, the thousand refracted, disparate beauties out there.” But—and this is the fault of big-house publishers as much as Harold Bloom et fils,

[…]

Henry Baum2011-07-07T21:29:16+02:00July 7th, 2011|Categories: Features|