Member Blog

It’s free to join SPR and blog about your writing experiences. Read the latest blog entries from our community

Three Self-Published Photographers Talk About Their Experiences

Iko Iko, from The Afronauts, 2012, by Cristina de Middel

“It was like a journey into the unknown”: Photographers with self-published books talk about their experiences, from The Observer’s Sean O’Hagan

Cristina de Middel worked as a photojournalist in her native Spain for eight years before deciding she wanted to create “fictions” with her camera and created The Afronauts, which was self-published in May 2012 in an edition of 1,000 and has since become a self-publishing phenomenon, winning her a place on the Deutsche Börse shortlist and now changing hands for over £1,000 a copy. “I had no clue what would happen when I made the book,” she says,

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2013-04-17T22:04:03+02:00April 17th, 2013|Categories: Member Blog|

English Pensioner Won Royal Seal Of Approval With Self-Published Book

CHILDHOOD MEMORIES:  Fox Brothers had been in business on the Pantiles since Josephine Butcher's childhood when she took this photograph in 1990

“This Is Kent”, an English local newspaper, reports on a sweet story of one pensioner whose self-published book was read by Princess Diana. There’s hope for us all.

Thanks to modern technology, writing and printing your own work has never been easier. And if you’re looking for more professional results, there are plenty of publishers willing to take on the job.

But back in 1990, when Josephine Butcher decided to design and print her childhood memoir, I Was Born on the Pantiles, self-publishing was often seen as a bit of a joke, at least in professional circles.

Not that the

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2013-04-08T03:41:39+02:00April 8th, 2013|Categories: Member Blog|

Your Book Is A Start Up: Tim Ferriss, The 4-Hour Chef, And The BitTorrent Publishing Model

As a former iterative project manager in publishing, I love this marketing model from Tim Ferriss. Social echo mechanism is something we should explore in another post soon – it’s how we all should market in my opinion. But for now, this from Bit Torrent.

If you’re a writer, here’s what you’re up against. No other industry has as many new product introductions as the publishing sector. No. Other. Industry. And your industry is in decline. Adult nonfiction books peaked in 2007, and have fallen each year since then. Bookstores are selling less books. In fact, average book

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2020-02-21T03:54:45+02:00April 7th, 2013|Categories: Member Blog|Tags: |

Jim Carrey To Become A Self-Published Author

Jim Carrey is preparing to join the ranks of self-published authors with what he described as a “metaphysical” children’s book about a wave.

The actor told HitFix that the book would be called How Roland Rolls. And although a major Hollywood name like Carrey would find it easy to land a mainstream publisher, he said: “I’m going to self-publish, because that’s just the world right now and I think it’s cool”.

Carrey, who has one daughter and recently became a grandfather, said the book would be “beautifully illustrated”. He revealed that it would tell the story of “a wave named

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2013-04-04T09:25:18+02:00April 4th, 2013|Categories: Member Blog|

In Good Company

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What do Walt Whitman and the authors of Chicken Soup For The Soul have in common? Not much, you say? Well, okay, maybe not all that much. But there’s this: They were both self-published.

Plenty of authors have brought out their own work, sometimes because they couldn’t find a traditional publisher, sometimes for one reason or another they just wanted to go it on their own. Here are just a few examples of authors you might be surprised to know published their own work at least once in their careers:

E. […]

2013-04-03T08:45:17+02:00April 3rd, 2013|Categories: Member Blog|

Author Iain Banks Announces He Is Dying

Author Iain Banks has announced on his website that he has just months to live after being diagnosed with bladder cancer.

The 59-year-old announced the book he is currently working on, entitled The Quarry, is likely to be his last after cancer spread to his liver, pancreas and lymph nodes.

In a personal statement on his official website, the Wasp Factory writer said he asked his partner Adele to marry him and is now on a short honeymoon.

He said: ‘The bottom line now, I’m afraid, is that as a late-stage gall bladder cancer patient, I’m expected to live for

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2014-01-30T18:14:46+02:00April 3rd, 2013|Categories: Member Blog|

John Winters – I’m A Self-Publishing Failure

writes about becoming a published author in Salon today. It’s a bitter perspective, but one that piques and gives some insights into publicizing your book.

I am contorting myself in front of the bathroom mirror, iPhone in hand, a porkpie hat on my head and a pair of black-framed Jonathan Franzen glasses perched on my nose. I am trying to capture an image of myself that does not look like me. Sans these accouterments, I am balding and thin faced with perpetual bags under my eyes – sort of like the father on “That ’70s Show” in need

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2013-04-02T13:33:57+02:00April 2nd, 2013|Categories: Member Blog|

With Goodreads, Amazon Fills Out an Advice Portfolio

Further comment on the Amazon – Goodreads marriage is emerging. This interesting take from Harvard Business Review by Paul Nunes and Josh Bellin discusses the holy grail for book marketing:  Unique consumer comment.

Amazon.com announced last week that it would purchase Goodreads, a social network for bookworms. As the “world’s largest site for readers and book recommendations,” Goodreads can help make Amazon the definitive place to go for book-related information. But does Amazon really need that help? The company is already the biggest provider of book advice, with its top-secret personalized recommendation algorithms, trusted user reviews, and inside-the-cover previews.

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2014-01-30T18:07:38+02:00April 2nd, 2013|Categories: Member Blog|Tags: , |
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