News

Current news stories from the independent book industry

Blurb to Distribute to Amazon

blurb-logoBGood news for photographers. Before, Blurb was more of a boutique press – you’d have to send customers to Blurb to purchase a book. Less like publishing, and more like gift-making. Now Blurb is opening it up to self-publish photo books on Amazon, no matter how many copies are sold. Photo books are so expensive to print with a big print run – not to mention distribute – that this will open up self-publishing’s possibilities to a new crop of creators.

Via the Telegraph:

Although Amazon has sold self-published books before, this is the first time that the retailer

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2014-04-22T18:56:08+02:00April 22nd, 2014|Categories: News|Tags: |

SPR Launches New Service, The Bookshelf


SPR Bookshelf

 The Bookshelf ($25) * FREE* when you purchase a SPR Lead Story Book Review

The Bookshelf is a new service that lists your book on a permanent webpage so you don’t have to build one, with as many online retailer links as you want including Nook, Barnes and Noble, Kindle, Amazon, Alibris, Joe’s Books etc. as well as feeding your reviews from GoodReads into the page.

SPR Bookshelf
You will get a permalink (URL) based at Self-Publishing Review and will be listed by author and genre. You can use your webpage as your author hub across the internet so no need to […]

2014-04-15T12:18:03+02:00April 15th, 2014|Categories: News|

Announcing the Winners of the SPR Awards 2014!

We are happy to announce the winners of the SPR Awards 2014. Winners will receive the SPR red rosette in both digital and sticker format to use on their books, as well as a Lead Story Review package and an interview with the author. Commended winners will receive the Commended blue rosette in both digital and sticker format. All entrants’ books are available in the SPR Book Store, our collection of self-published works.

Here are the top finalists:

FICTION

Bloom Bloom: Or, the unwritten memoir of Tennyson Middlebrook
by Martin Kee – Winner

Tennyson Middlebrook never considered himself a storyteller.
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2019-04-12T14:12:35+02:00April 14th, 2014|Categories: News|Tags: |

The Guardian Announces Self-Publishing Award

The Guardian is set to become the first national newspaper to champion self-publishing on a regular basis with the launch of a new monthly prize that aims to find the best DIY novels.

The paper is teaming up with publisher Legend Times to support and showcase what it said was “the fantastic quality of writing that can be found from independent authors”, as the sector continues to boom. New figures from Nielsen’s Books & Consumers survey show that self-published books accounted for one in five of the 80m ebooks purchased in 2013. “No longer can the mainstream industry ignore

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2014-04-08T10:05:02+02:00April 8th, 2014|Categories: News|

AuthorEarnings.com: Self-Publishing Has Its Advocate

FireShot Screen Capture #571 - 'The Report – Author Earnings' - authorearnings_com_the-reportI can’t really do justice to the massive posts by JA Konrath and Porter Anderson, but this is a pretty momentous development. AuthorEarnings.com is a brand new site, which culls sales info from self-publishers. Authors can contribute to the project via a simple but useful survey. This is the site’s mission statement.

Our purpose is to gather and share information so that writers can make informed decisions. Our secondary mission is to call for change within the publishing community for better pay and fairer terms in all contracts. This is a website by authors and for authors.

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2014-02-12T13:27:31+02:00February 12th, 2014|Categories: News|Tags: , |

Scribd now compatible with Kindle Fire

scribd
Kindle Fire readers, rejoice! Scribd is now compatible. Download the brand new app to start reading unlimited books.

The Scribd apps for Apple and Android devices have also been updated according to feedback from their community of readers. Scribd just released an update in the iTunes and Google Play stores, with the following new features:

  • More fonts and font sizes to choose from
  • Bringing the five-star book rating system from the website to the mobile app
  • New “night reading” mode with a softer black background
  • Track your reading progress by page number
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2014-02-11T14:05:29+02:00February 11th, 2014|Categories: News|

Sony Shuts Down the Reader Store (Updated)

SonyIt was fun while it lasted (the Sony Reader was my first ebook reader) – Sony is shutting down its reader store and migrating titles to Kobo. Via Publisher’s Weekly:

Sony, one of the first companies to enter the e-book market but which has fallen far behind Amazon, Apple, and Barnes & Noble, will close its e-bookstore, the Reader Store, in March and allow its American and Canadian customers to migrate their accounts to Kobo. “Our customers can be assured that they will have a seamless transition to the Kobo ecosystem and will be able to continue to access

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2014-02-06T18:22:49+02:00February 6th, 2014|Categories: News|

A Master’s Degree in Self-Publishing

MA_Self-Publishing_Banner750Via Goodereader: The University of Central Lancashire now has an MFA in self-publishing. The course is described as:

Having produced commercial success stories, such as 50 Shades of Grey, self-publishing is now a highly successful and respected business model for both new and established authors. This dynamic course, the first of its kind in the world, reveals how to make self-publishing work for you.

Perhaps you are an independent author who wants to retain full editorial control and/ or a higher percentage of royalties? Or you have a completed draft of a book and you’d like to understand

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2014-02-06T11:45:37+02:00February 6th, 2014|Categories: News|
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