Member Blog | Self-Publishing Review

The Other 90% of us

In a recent talk, the great novelist Margaret Atwood (link courtesy of teleread) said that approximately 10% of authors make their living by their writing. This seemed like a high number to me. It makes me wonder a) what is the definition of an author and b) what is the history of this percentage?

I assume that an “author” is a writer who has been published by one of the six subsidiaries of international conglomerates which constitute “literature” today, in which case, the fact that a mere 10% of their stable make money is not a bright reflection […]

tom lichtenberg2011-02-22T18:23:14+02:00February 22nd, 2011|Categories: Features, Member Blog|

eBook Publishers: Are eBook Copyright Pages Missing Information?

Well the ebook community is buzzing. Amazon has provided REAL page numbering. The critics have been answered. Now the fun begins. What is the source of my ebook? Is my ebook the same edition as my paper version? Where am I at here?

Of course, there is one thing that we must have in place if we are going to coordinate a paper version with an ebook. We must know the source of the ebook and that information appears to be missing in action.

It sounds like an easy problem to solve. I just purchased an ebook on-line and the […]

James Moushon2019-02-18T12:22:54+02:00February 15th, 2011|Categories: Member Blog|

Greetings from Charles D. Blanchard

My name is Charles D. Blanchard. My debut novel, Mourning Doves After The Fire, was published last fall by Xlibris: www.mourningdovesafterthefire.com.

Here are my interview responses.

1. How did you come to self-publish? Did you try to get published traditionally? I did not seek traditional publishing as this is my first published work and the idea of attempting to seek an agent who would genuinely represent a first time novelist and attempt to convince a publishing house to “take a chance” on me, was too daunting a task to even contemplate.

2. What self-publishing service did you use? […]

Charles D. Blanchard2011-02-09T16:18:53+02:00February 9th, 2011|Categories: Interviews, Member Blog|

Is Google the future of eBooks?

As I’ve mentioned, I love my Kindle (I really do), but I’m not crazy in love with the Kindle store. I went to download a book the other day, and and it seriously took me like fifteen minutes to pull the trigger. The problem wasn’t the $9.99 I was paying — I would have gladly paid more for a physical copy. The problem was that if I pay ten bucks for something I want it to me be mine. I don’t want it to be locked in some device that I may or may not still have […]

mattyoungmark2011-02-03T10:45:57+02:00February 3rd, 2011|Categories: Features, Member Blog|

Every ‘No’ Not A Roadblock

The R-word just won’t go away. I’m talking about rejection. Writers know it well.

As an independent author, rejection is just a painful part of the game. I didn’t mail my manuscript to a hundreds of publishers like other authors, but I did mail it to several over the years. And, well, you know the rest.

However, my story is a little different because I finally got a “nice” rejection from a major publisher. And when I say nice I just mean the editor liked my book, but those with the decision-making power did not. The one who liked my […]

Vanessa W. Snyder2011-01-28T23:10:28+02:00January 28th, 2011|Categories: Features, Member Blog|

Book Publishing: A Tale of Two Authors

In the last month or so I started researching the controversy over the sale of the eBook A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens and Amazon pulling a copy with a price from its store and substituting their own free copy. I was curious about the rendering of the replaced book and whether the author had actually added value to the eBook.

I was struck by the parallel of the Dickens novel and the struggle between the French peasants and the aristocrats and the current book industry. Dickens’s initial paragraph reads like he is writing a blog on the […]

James Moushon2019-02-18T12:24:05+02:00January 19th, 2011|Categories: Member Blog|Tags: Writing Tips|

To Self-publish or Not? That’s the question!

Recently a writer asked, “Should I self-publish or should I seek a deal with an established publisher?”

That depends. You might want to go with a traditional publisher if your topic is too hot for you to handle alone. For example, if I were Valerie Plame Wilson and had just been outed by the White House as a CIA agent, I would go for lucrative book and movie deals.

Do you have a strong marketing platform? Publishers would love you, but as John Shore wrote in The Huffington Post,

Anyone who is so famous that they can sell 40,000

[…]

Donna Marie Williams2011-10-08T16:34:33+02:00January 7th, 2011|Categories: Member Blog|

Get the Write Focus

Every day I’m reminding someone in my life to focus. If it’s not my children or my students, then it’s my husband.

When it comes to writing, we have to find a way to focus on the writing we want to produce. But in reality, “focus” can be challenging, especially when your days and nights are full. The distractions are real and unavoidable, but so is your desire and passion for writing.

As I reflect on my journey in completing “The Second First Lady,” I somehow found my focus. So here are some tips that I hope will […]

Vanessa W. Snyder2011-10-08T16:37:16+02:00January 7th, 2011|Categories: Member Blog|Tags: Writing Tips|