Lead Story | Self-Publishing Review

Best WordPress Themes for Writers & Publishers

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Setting up an author website is pretty much a given for all self-publishers. Given that blogging is also an important facet of author promotion, it can be easier to use a blogging platform for the overall website. It’s very possible to make a blogging template function as a commercial website.

The two biggest blogging platforms nowadays are WordPress and Blogger. Though there are very credible sites using the free WordPress.com service (see davidgaughran.wordpress.com), it can be slicker to have your own author.com (or book.com) URL using WordPress.org. With WordPress.org, you’ll have access to hundreds of different plugins, […]

Henry Baum2019-06-13T07:46:49+02:00February 10th, 2014|Categories: Lead Story, Resources|Tags: Author Blogging|

Self-Publishing with Integrity: An Interview with Dan Holloway

Dan Holloway is the author of the self-publishing manual, Self-Publish with Integrity, as well as the self-published novels, The Man Who Painted Agnieszka’s Shoes, Songs from the Other Side of the Wall, and many others.

SPR: What is “Self-Publish with Integrity”? Is it more of a manifesto about self-publishing, as opposed to nuts and bolts info on how to self-publish?

Dan Holloway: I’ve written plenty of manifestos in my time, such as the retro-sensualist manifesto, but this isn’t one of them. It’s intended as a guidebook to help people steer a course through the […]

Henry Baum2014-02-22T12:56:48+02:00February 6th, 2014|Categories: Interviews, Lead Story|

Review: Women’s Work by Kari Aguila

Women's Work by Kari Aguila Set in the future after the Last War, a bloody battle that wipes out most of the men, women decide enough is enough. Taking advantage of the situation and the fact that the majority of the male population were killed in the war, women rebuild their lives and neighborhoods. Not only that, they strip men of their power. Men aren’t allowed to take part in the government, they aren’t the heads of the households, and now they stay inside their homes and out of sight. Women’s Work by Kari Aguila is a well-written novel that will make you think long […]

T B Markinson2019-01-23T12:52:15+02:00January 29th, 2014|Categories: Book Reviews, Lead Story|Tags: Dystopian Fiction Book Reviews, Science Fiction Book Reviews|

Review: The Hopeless Pastures by Keith Soares

A sequel to the uncommon zombie apocalypse short story The Oasis of Filth, The Hopeless Pastures by Keith Soares is a second part of a trilogy set in a United States no longer “united”.

As the mysterious plague RL2013 pushes humanity to the brink of extinction, where governments ensconce and bury the remaining citizens in distant walled cities. No phone lines, no internet, no questions, no disobedience, the world is painted as a fearful and empty place outside of the clinically-white walls of each city, as modern-day lepers nicknamed “zombies” emerge from places decried as “dirty”, and people are shut […]

James Grimsby2019-01-22T10:40:53+02:00January 9th, 2014|Categories: Book Reviews, Lead Story|Tags: Apocalyptic Fiction Book Reviews, Horror Book Reviews, Zombie Fiction Book Reviews|

The Dawn Of The Self-Published Critic

Cate Baum muses over the state of the self-publishing industry as sales figures show that consumers have indeed taken over the asylum.

In the days of traditional publishing, pre-internet – and even some time past the internet really kicking in around the end of the 20th century, the days of hovering in bookshops on word of mouth hunts for gems still existed. Pre-dating sites, potential lovers would sift through Proust and Kundera to up their game, whilst pre-Facebook, glossy hardback photo books remained the only true way to connect with subcultures and style.

Newspapers such as The Guardian in the […]

Cate Baum2014-01-08T13:46:04+02:00December 26th, 2013|Categories: Lead Story, Member Blog|

Get Reviewed At SPR from Only $109!

Do you need your book reviewed to improve sales and publicity? Or maybe you’d like an honest opinion before you self-publish? Then why not submit your book for review by a professional reviewer from only $109?

Go here to learn more about our services![…]

Cate Baum2014-01-08T13:43:29+02:00August 19th, 2013|Categories: Lead Story, Resources|Tags: Book Reviews|

The Dilemma of Dumbing It Down for e-Book Sales

Self-publishing a book can be a labor of love and for some of us, it’s what we live for. But why is it so many people now fancy themselves an author? And why is it that so many simple and frankly unreadable works are hitting the Amazon e-book charts? Should we all join in and get stupid?

Many books are intelligently written and beautifully constructed, but it is the pulp romance thriller that used to be a throwaway holiday read that catches the “public”‘s attention. Young Adult fiction, mostly about reckless sixteen year-olds fancying each other are leaving the digital […]

Cate Baum2014-01-07T22:54:25+02:00August 1st, 2013|Categories: Features, Lead Story|

Book Marketing Using Paid Advertising – A Study

The current buzz in book marketing is paid on-line advertising. Some authors report excellent results, other complete disappointment. This study is divided into two parts: the Good News and the Bad News, as reported by authors who have paid to promote their books.

The study started with a conversation with a fellow author whose blog helps support fellow authors for a nominal fee to cover the costs. Her newsletter has a modest membership and provides a good service to authors.

While discussing paid on-line book advertising, one of her first question to me was “Is there a payback to the

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James Moushon2020-02-21T04:35:31+02:00July 24th, 2013|Categories: Features, Lead Story|Tags: Book Marketing Advice and Tips|