Lead Story | Self-Publishing Review

This is Why Self-Publishing isn’t Taken Seriously

Via Pod Peep comes news of Lulu buying out Poetry.com and replacing it with their own brand and self-publishing service. Here’s a screenshot.

Let me count the ways this is problematic. I can understand if Lulu.com central is more of a generic, corporate brand, as they want to attract more business-minded people who are interested in creating brochures and other promotional materials, or non-fiction manuals. But this is Poetry.com – something that is only an expression of a person’s artistic vision, so having such a cold and sterile environment just seems antithetical to a place where people are going to […]

Henry Baum2011-10-08T19:59:07+02:00April 15th, 2009|Categories: Features, Lead Story|

Chionophobia and Other Sticky Problems: The Darryl Sloan Interview

Guest interview by Michael Reed. Originally commissioned by Strange Horizons, but it was not posted on that site. Strange Horizons replied, “Although some sections, notably on the author’s local inspirations and self-publishing, stand out as offering a fresh perspective, it’s a problem for our purposes that the interviewee doesn’t seem to be particularly active in new fiction projects right now.”

Read Self-Publishing Review’s review of Darryl Sloan’s Chion.

Chionophobia n. A fear of snow

Chion is Northern Ireland based Darryl Sloan’s second self-published novel. As he did with his first novel, the 2002 release Ulterior, Darryl has […]

Guest Post2011-10-08T19:59:58+02:00April 10th, 2009|Categories: Interviews, Lead Story|

Poddy Mouth Speaks! An Interview with the Original POD Reviewer

Poddy Mouth was an anonymous author who began reviewing print on demand books in 2005, back when self-publishing was more frowned upon than it is today. She still remains the most prominent and successful POD reviewer – in part because she came from the world of traditional publishing. As she says on her blog:

I am an author and instructor, in that order (for now.) My debut novel (which debuted in the midlist) was released by Penguin Putnam in 2004 and my second novel was released early 2006. As for this blog, it has been profiled in many online magazines,

[…]

Henry Baum2011-10-08T20:29:00+02:00April 3rd, 2009|Categories: Interviews, Lead Story|

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|

Introducing: Page One Review – A Review of a Book's First Page

If you submit your book for review at SPR, you should understand that means the possibility of having the first page of your book critiqued in this column.

Don’t misunderstand: “critique” does not (only) mean “to criticize.” I make no promises that some work won’t be criticized, but for the purposes of this column, “critique” means exactly what Webster says it means: “A critical review or commentary.”

As the first post in this column, before I get started on the page you see copied below, allow me to explain what this is:

This column’s purpose is to offer critiques of […]

Kristen Tsetsi2011-10-08T19:22:25+02:00March 27th, 2009|Categories: Book Reviews, Lead Story|

But They Do Judge a Book by its Cover: An Interview with Book Designer Cathi Stevenson

Having been told more than once by reviewers that the cover for Homefront leaves much to be desired (one of them even said she passed over reading my book several times just because of the cover), it’s becoming increasingly clear that a book cover can have an enormous impact on potential readers.

It’s certainly possible to make your own cover using photo-imaging software, but according to cover designer Cathi Stevensen, owner of Book Cover Express, that’s not always – rather, is very rarely – a good idea.

Cathi discusses what every cover should have and why you really shouldn’t […]

Kristen Tsetsi2011-10-08T19:24:51+02:00March 24th, 2009|Categories: Interviews, Lead Story|

One of the Many Author Sins I'm Most Enjoying

I seem to have put myself in a sticky spot: I want to be represented by an agent and sold by a publisher, but I’ve committed the cardinal sin of self-publishing. All I can say to defend myself is that if I were to have waited for an agent to say “yes” to my book, it would still be sitting un-read as a stack of paper rather than being read and enjoyed by readers. Still, I continue to query agents for this very novel. Foolishly? Naively? Just plain stupidly? Maybe. But I have to believe the meager sales I’ve been […]

Kristen Tsetsi2011-10-08T19:25:05+02:00March 21st, 2009|Categories: Features, Lead Story|

Interview: MCM, author of The Pig and the Box

This interview welcomes the first children’s book writer/illustrator to Self-Publishing Review. I found the author via a post by Wil Wheaton and MCM has all the right ideas about DIY publishing. Read SPR’s review of The Pig and the Box.

Self-Publishing Review: Your book The Pig and the Box has been downloaded over 1.5 million times, and translated into 15 languages. How did that happen? That’s pretty intense distribution.

MCM: I think it all boils down to the subject matter. At the time I wrote it, there was a controversy about a project called “Captain Copyright,” which was […]

Henry Baum2011-10-08T20:02:18+02:00March 12th, 2009|Categories: Interviews, Lead Story|