Features | Self-Publishing Review

SPR BOOK AWARDS 2017 NOW OPEN FOR SUBMISSIONS!

Enter your self-published or indie book now, to get the best promotion deals for your book, including reviews, Amazon promotion, and a quarter of a million readers seeing your book, worth over $1800! Every year, Self-Publishing Review runs a competition to give one lucky indie author a chance to win promotion and prizes to help them on the way to a successful career in indie authorship. This year, we have two massive packs of goodies to be won that will get you seen on Amazon, with a heavy emphasis on review success.

To find out more, or to enter your

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Cate Baum2017-11-13T16:37:39+02:00November 13th, 2017|Categories: Features|Tags: SPR Book Awards|

Mythbusting The Amazon Algorithm Part IV – Is Amazon Ranking Broken?

Cate Baum examines the latest author outrage that Amazon is Broken.

Many blogs have been shouting about how Amazon has a loophole that means authors are scamming the system and stealing mountains of cash from the KDP Global Fund. Some authors are being strung up and called out. These shady goings-on must be examined! Welcome to the notorious Mythbusting, Part IV.

MYTH: Amazon’s Ranking is Broken.

Truth: Amazon Ranking is not ‘broken’, but there’s a front-facing issue with how ranking is displayed when switching from Free to Paid that is confusing people.

After reading about several authors that seem to […]

Cate Baum2019-12-16T08:36:28+02:00October 16th, 2017|Categories: Features|Tags: Amazon Algorithm Tips for Authors, Amazon News and Tips, Book Promotion Articles, Mythbusting Amazon For Authors|

What Book Promotions Are OK and Not OK on Amazon Now

This is the first in a series on author internet outrage and Amazon adventure by Cate Baum.

There’s been a fair amount of internet hysteria lately regarding Amazon’s court cases against authors, and confusion about getting book reviews through promotional services. Here’s how to tell what’s acceptable, and what’s not, and the truth about those court cases.

First, let’s start with what book promotion techniques are acceptable to Amazon.

What’s OK

1. Using promotional services that promote to reader lists

Examples: BookBub, SPR’s Kindle Promotion Packages, BookGorilla.

Why is this OK?

A UK or US-based service that has built […]

Cate Baum2018-05-10T06:44:47+02:00October 6th, 2017|Categories: Features|Tags: Book Promotion Articles|

Self-Editing Your Book And Why It’s A Bad Idea

It’s tempting to convince yourself, as a native speaker of the language you just wrote a book in, proffering your English degree perhaps, that you are in fact exactly the right person to edit your own book. What does it mean to have your book edited, and why is it that nobody can edit their own words? Editor Cate Baum discusses.

Your brain literally cannot do it

You’ve heard the phrase “wood for the trees.” This is precisely what happens to you when you try to re-read words you have written and read many times over. Instead of actually making […]

Cate Baum2017-08-21T08:07:10+02:00August 21st, 2017|Categories: Features|Tags: Book Editing Tips|

5 Summer Writing Contests With Decent Prizes

5 Summer Writing Contests 2017

Summertime for a lot of us means time to write! So here are five decently-prized contests to enter this season.

Micro Story Contest – Museo de la Palabra

The Museo de la Palabra (Museum of Word) is a heritage site of the Fundación César Egido Serrano, it is located in Quero, Toledo (Spain), on the first route of Don Quixote. The César Egido Serrano Foundation is a non-profit Foundation, whose objective is to use words and dialogue as a tool for understanding between different cultures and religions. The competition first prize is $20,000 for the best short story. All entries […]

Cate Baum2018-06-05T12:12:52+02:00July 27th, 2017|Categories: Features|

Best Free Book Marketing Sites

Most know that BookBub is very expensive, as well as very difficult to get into. SPR’s own BookBub alternative (starting at $199) has no barrier to entry, but it’s also expensive if your budget is…zero. There are a number of BookBub-style newsletter services that allow for free submissions. These submissions aren’t guaranteed, and many offer a paid option to guarantee inclusion, but it’s still helpful if you really have no budget for book marketing, or you want to pad out your paid efforts with some other services.

As with pay sites, it’s best to spread out these listings over 3 […]

Lysa Grant2022-09-11T15:55:06+02:00July 19th, 2017|Categories: Features, Resources|Tags: Book Marketing Advice and Tips, Book Promotion Articles, Newsletter Campaign|

15 Places for Authors to Write a Guest Post

Places to Blog

Blogging is an essential part of book marketing. It’s always a bit mystifying to hear authors say, “I don’t know what to blog.” You’re a writer! It’s part of the job. If readers like the way you put together a post, they’ll be more likely to check out your book.

However, blogging can also feel like writing into the wilderness, especially if your site gets scant traffic, which is usually the case for new writer’s sites. If your blog (or book) is hurting for viewers, a good practice is to post on a blog with a built-in audience.

CreativIndie has […]

Lysa Grant2018-05-10T06:45:25+02:00June 30th, 2017|Categories: Features, Resources|Tags: Author Blogging, Book Marketing Advice and Tips, Book Promotion Articles|

How To Get The Best Paperback Cover You Can With CreateSpace

Many authors have bemoaned their CreateSpace paperback quality, i.e. print cover results in forums. But there are certain tricks of the trade that are right in front of your nose that would have given you a perfect result. Here’s a quick rundown of some easy to grasp techniques when choosing your print options with CreateSpace.

Do your interior first

Remember that you need your page count before you do your cover, because you need to know how wide your spine is! When you download your template, you will need to input the exact number of pages. Remember the interior is […]

Cate Baum2020-02-21T05:43:40+02:00June 22nd, 2017|Categories: Features, Resources|Tags: Amazon News and Tips, Book Cover Design Tips|