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.

SPR Listed One of the Top Ten Blogs for Indie Authors

April Hamilton who runs the excellent Publetariat site and the Indie Author blog – and is generally one of the best advocates of independent publishing – has put together a list of the ten best blogs for indie authors on Blogs.com. Included on the list are SPR’s own Mick Rooney, as well as Populist Publisher, Publishing Renaissance, and the Creative Penn.

Funnily enough, this runs counter to a bad review yesterday of the self-publishing book review blogosphere, which indirectly critiqued Self-Publishing Review – without mentioning the site by name. Can’t please everybody, and if you run a website you’re up […]

Henry Baum2011-10-08T20:29:29+02:00April 1st, 2009|Categories: News|

A Review of Self-Publishing Review Sites

Via the Podler, there’s a fairly contentious post on Mrs. Giggles on the state of self-published book reviewing, stating that self-publishing reviewers are too complementary – unrealistically so – without enough of a critical eye. She singles out Pod Peep and Podbram for being the best self-publishing review sites out there.

I agree with her to some degree, but I feel that self-publishing is a different animal than traditional publishing. Given the fact that self-publishers are facing an uphill battle to find readers and distribution, it doesn’t entirely make sense to write negative reviews. So, like the old Poddy […]

Henry Baum2011-10-08T20:29:48+02:00April 1st, 2009|Categories: Features|

Afghan Journal: A Soldier's Year in Afghanistan by Jeff Courter

Guest reviewed by Nandini Pandya, who is currently working on “Abroad at Home,” a self-published anthology of works that appeared on Desijournal, an online magazine that she founded in 2002. Besides Desijournal, her writing has been published on Mostly Fiction.com, MothersMovement.org, India New England News and Alternet.org.

It is in books like Afghan Journal by Jeff Courter that self-publishing achieves its full potential. Without the ease of use and low entry cost of CreateSpace, a gem of a person would have remained hidden, and readers would have been deprived of a thoughtful and thought-provoking perspective on the war in […]

Henry Baum2011-10-08T20:30:08+02:00April 1st, 2009|Categories: Book Reviews|

Hewlett Packard Enters the POD Business with Magcloud

Yesterday, the New York Times reported the new magazine publishing venture by Hewlett Packard, Magcloud. The service uses the traditional “free” print on demand model – it costs nothing until you print it up. From Magcloud’s site:

It costs you nothing to publish a magazine on Magcloud. To buy a magazine costs 20¢ per page, plus shipping. For example, a 20-page magazine would be four bucks plus shipping. And you can make money! You set your issue price and all proceeds above the base price go to you.

In contrast, a 20-page saddle stitch publication on Lulu runs as high […]

Henry Baum2011-10-08T19:19:31+02:00March 30th, 2009|Categories: News|

They Had Me at Meow by Rosie Sorenson

This is a really beautiful book – both in appearance and content. It’s the nicest looking self-published book I’ve seen: with glossy pages, professional layout for the pictures of stray cats throughout, and a great use of color, fonts, and titles in the graphics. In short, it would make a great and unique gift for anyone who loves cats.

They Had Me at Meow is the tale of Rosie Sorenson – a writer for the L.A. Times and the San Francisco Chronicle – who cared for a veritable herd of stray cats in Northern California. Her deep love for these […]

Henry Baum2011-10-08T19:19:50+02:00March 30th, 2009|Categories: Book Reviews|

Interview with Penny Sansevieri and Paula Krapf from Author Marketing Experts

At Self-Publishing Review we receive a lot of books for review. By far the greatest number of books that come directly from a publicist come from Author Marketing Experts. Here CEO Penny Sansevieri and COO Paula Krapf talk about what self-published writers can expect from hiring a publicist.

Self-Publishing Review: How long has Author Marketing Experts been at work?

Penny Sansevieri: We’ve been doing this for over ten years.

SPR: How many books do you normally promote a year?

Penny: That’s a tough question to answer but suffice it to say: a lot. Since we also offer one-on-one coaching […]

Henry Baum2011-10-08T19:20:04+02:00March 30th, 2009|Categories: Interviews, Lead Story|

Writer's Digest Self-Published Competition Open for Entries

An alert that the Writer’s Digest Self-Published Book Competition is open for entries until May 1, 2009. I entered a novel in 2006. I lost. But it’s got a much better prize package than other self-publishing competitions. For instance, the Hollywood Book Festival (also open for entries) has a grand prize of $1500 for one writer. The Writer’s Digest competition offers $1000 to 10 first place winners and $3000 to the grand prize winner. Of course, there are also a lot more entries as well. In general, the Writer’s Digest competition is more commercial than a contest like the […]

Henry Baum2011-10-08T19:22:43+02:00March 26th, 2009|Categories: News|

Self-Publishing During the Recession

There’s an interesting comment by Nathan Bransford at the end of the epic On Agents and Editors thread. He says,

I think what you mean is that authors and publishers should take a chance on writers they believe in and hope the public gradually catches on over the course of many books. I agree with that, and sometimes this works out. But you can blame (in part) bookstore chains for this disappearance. With few exceptions they base their orders strictly on what the last book sold. It’s incredibly hard to get them to stock and promote an author whose first

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Henry Baum2011-10-08T19:23:04+02:00March 26th, 2009|Categories: Features|