Features | Self-Publishing Review

Amazon Remains Mum on Authors Fears of Book Sales Skimming

A canned reply is all that Amazon brass is handing the literary community on why thousands of high-performing authors book-sales dashboards have frozen. In the past month over 22,000 Amazon.com eBook authors have scrambled to the giant online retailer’s kdp Amazon Community Board to complain to the global Goliath about the appearance of lost book sales.

Visit Are Your Sales Figures Updating Normally Now? for details. https://kdp.amazon.com/community/forum.jspa?forumID=7 for more.

“My sales figures screen has frozen,” has become a common complaint among thousands of independent authors who have flocked to Amazon’s book distribution platform in search of an explanation of sudden, […]

Emily Hill2020-02-21T05:52:35+02:00October 19th, 2012|Categories: Features|Tags: Amazon News and Tips|

eBook Marketing: How Do You Target Your Reading Audience?

One of the first questions a new indie author must ask is what audience will buy my book? The second question is how will I market to this audience? Both questions should be asked way before you get to the publishing stage of your book.

In the old days, there was a very standard set of rules and procedures. If you were fortunate enough to get picked up by a publisher, you got the finished product to the editors and off your book went into the market place.

On the other side, if you had to do the publishing yourself […]

James Moushon2019-02-18T12:13:45+02:00September 28th, 2012|Categories: Features|Tags: Book Marketing Advice and Tips, Book Promotion Articles|

eBook Marketing: Is Buying a Great Book Review Your Cup of Tea?

With the huge controversy brewing in the Book Publishing Industry over book reviews and how they’re obtained and used, I thought I would jump in on this.

We have exposed a problem in the trust of one of the decision points buyers have. Is the ebook as good as the review says it is? How much do readers/buyers rely on reviews? Could this start the end of a time-old tradition? Are there professional reviewers still out there that have strong ethics and do the job honestly?

Reviews are Part of the Game

Indie authors are easy to point the finger […]

James Moushon2020-02-21T06:34:47+02:00September 18th, 2012|Categories: Features|Tags: Book Marketing Advice and Tips|

I Like Self-Publishing Again

It’s odd that the recent firestorm about paid reviews and unscrupulous self-publishers has actually rekindled my love of self-publishing. Ever since Amanda Hocking, the vibe around self-publishing has been money, money, money. On the one hand, I was grateful for this because it put self-publishing on the map: money talks. On the other hand: this is the worst determination of value and pretty much what’s wrong with the world, and publishing in general. The reason that I fled traditional publishing (after having a series of agents and traditional contracts) was because of the overemphasis on marketing and past sales. Publishing […]

Henry Baum2012-09-13T13:46:18+02:00September 13th, 2012|Categories: Features|

Epitaph: Paying for Reviews

Full disclosure: SPR charges for reviews. People hate this, and don’t necessarily differentiate between paid good reviews and paid reviews in general, especially with the current controversy of paying for 5-star reviews. Since SPR started charging, we’ve been able to review many more books than before, and pay reviewers for their time. So I do think there’s a difference between what Kirkus, or SPR, does, and guaranteeing a block of 5-star reviews without even reading the book. Even so, people are now decrying the entire paid review model. This may seem like self-protection, but I don’t think the paid […]

Henry Baum2012-08-27T13:29:00+02:00August 27th, 2012|Categories: Features|

Lendink: The Age of Knee-Jerk Vigilance

“With great power comes great responsibility.”

If you are new to the Lendink story, here’s the lowdown. A website that lends out ebooks was shut down by a gaggle of indie writers who thought this was an example of piracy no different than Napster. Really, it’s totally legitimate, as lending ebooks is part of publishing on the Kindle. Books aren’t downloaded, they’re lent for a set period and the writer gets paid. In short, it has nothing in common with Napster.

It’s understandable if writers are a little twitchy about piracy. It also makes sense that people like being […]

Henry Baum2012-08-10T19:22:13+02:00August 10th, 2012|Categories: Features|

Invaluable Reddit AMA from Author Hugh Howey

There’s a huge amount of self-publishing wisdom in this Reddit AMA from Hugh Howey, author of the Wool series (here’s the lowdown on a Reddit AMA). The main takeaway is that writers need to be patient. With all the overnight successes in self-publishing (Amanda Hocking), one might be led to think that’s the way you become successful as a self-publisher. But that’s not really the case. It’s not even the case for the heavyweight JA Konrath, who’s been writing and publishing for years.

Really, self-publishing isn’t much different than traditional publishing. Some people get lucky with a 6-figure book […]

Henry Baum2014-02-12T13:31:40+02:00March 17th, 2012|Categories: Features|Tags: Articles about Hugh Howey|

Should Authors Comment on Reviews?

Taleist has a nice posting asking the question: Should You Comment on Amazon Reviews?

My books’ pages on Amazon aren’t my pages, and readers don’t go there to find me. In my opinion readers should be able to browse a bookshop without bumping into authors fussing and preening next to their books; thanking kind reviewers and gently pointing out errors in less good reviews.

But sometimes, just sometimes, I wonder about my decision in the case of the factual errors. I’d hate to think someone wasn’t reading my book because they read something untrue.

Personally, I’ve come pretty close. […]

Henry Baum2017-03-24T07:40:13+02:00March 16th, 2012|Categories: Features|