Features | Self-Publishing Review

Why Our Opening Lines Shouldn’t Have To Kill (Our Careers)

I’m writing this to save my own life. If my opening line doesn’t seize you by the wallet and pry the credit card from your increasingly skeptical hand, I could die. Or worse, not sell you my book.

According to accepted wisdom (syndicated through the usual links, Likes and sponsored emails) your career will literally immolate itself in a sparking bonfire of molton e-readers and declining Amazon sales ranks unless the first bunch of words mashed together in your novel’s opening creates an immediate emotional investment through foreshadowing, suspense, pathos and wit. And it shouldn’t be as long as that […]

Kian Kaul2011-12-23T14:00:13+02:00December 23rd, 2011|Categories: Features|

Did that Bad Review Come with a Side of Ulterior Motives?

I recently discovered that my book was victim to an act of sabotage through bad reviews and wrote a blog post for the Huffington Post. Here it is:

How much can you trust book reviews on the web? Turns out, very little.

My journey in self-publishing started at the end of this past October. I had a young adult book, no prospective agents and a life-long dream to fulfill, so I decided to go it my own. In the first three weeks, I sold a meager 35 copies. But, by mid-December, I’d sold nearly 800 copies and had racked

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Kaitlyn Davis2011-12-21T16:48:31+02:00December 21st, 2011|Categories: Features|Tags: Amazon News and Tips, Goodreads Articles|

The 99 Cent Debate

A good post at the Huffington Post about the 99 cent price point.

Let’s look at the dollars and cents of the 99-cent price point for independent authors. If an author is self-published through Amazon KDP, he or she earns 34 cents per 99-cent book sold. Not only do authors put time and energy into their writing, there are other associated costs to publishing a quality book, including cover artists ($125-3000), editors ($800-5000), marketing, etc. If you add up the average cover cost of $350, average editing job of $1400, then divide by 34 cents, the author would have

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Henry Baum2011-12-20T22:14:53+02:00December 20th, 2011|Categories: Features|

Louis CK: Self-Publisher

Louis CK is my favorite writer – in any medium. Yeah, he’s a comic, but he’s got what I look for in a writer: total honesty. He’s willing to explore the darker parts of himself and lay it all bare. In my experience, there aren’t enough writers who do that. Check out his moving ode to George Carlin about his process. Really, there’s not much difference between stand-up comedy and fiction. It’s just writing performed.

So it was very interesting to see Louis CK go the self-publishing route with his latest special. It’s pretty much exactly the same as […]

Henry Baum2011-12-20T12:36:25+02:00December 20th, 2011|Categories: Features|

Amazon is (Not) the Devil

You may be aware by now of the brewing battle between Amazon and both publishers and bookstores. A new Tumblr – Against Amazon – lays it all out. On the one hand, it doesn’t fill one with great sympathy to see one profit-driven corporate giant being driven out of business by another, but in the digital age it’s indie bookstores that suffer the most. A recent Slate piece with a title that’s designed to get under people’s skin – Don’t Support Your Local Bookseller – defends Amazon:

Compared with online retailers, bookstores present a frustrating consumer experience. A physical store—whether

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Henry Baum2011-12-27T13:46:58+02:00December 19th, 2011|Categories: Features, Lead Story|

Self-Publishers and eBook Authors Need a CHAMPION to Assist Them in Gaining Access to the Library Lending Process

Amazon’s entry into public libraries and their own lending process through the Prime program has just quadrupled the activity in ebook lending. With this rapid growth of the ebook lending process comes some inherent problems as everyone rushes to get a piece of the action.

At the top of the ladder are the traditional publishers, Amazon and Overdrive. They are the people that have the most control. Their motive is profit. At the bottom rung are the libraries and the authors.

I have discussed this issue with several authors recently and the sentiment is the same. “How do I make […]

James Moushon2020-02-21T03:31:36+02:00November 30th, 2011|Categories: Features|Tags: Author Branding, Book Marketing Advice and Tips, Book Promotion Articles|

Author vs. Publisher: It’s a Revolution

A couple of weeks ago, I was cornered by a publisher after an appearance. The point of her rant was how much she could do for me as a publisher. She made her point while poking me in the chest saying, “You should be writing. You shouldn’t be publishing. You should be writing.”

Well, that was what I started out wanting to do. I’ve always wanted to be a writer. From the beginning, I dreamed of making it to the point in my career where I could stay home all day in my writer’s studio and do nothing but think […]

Lauren Carr2020-02-21T03:55:49+02:00November 28th, 2011|Categories: Features|Tags: Author Branding|

Ebook Opportunities Redux

On October 12, 2010, I posted Ebook Opportunities to discuss my take on the major established and upcoming ebook sales venues. This is an update. It will repeat last year’s data on a venue-by-venue basis, then update each in boldface.

I’ve wanted for some time to report my experiences with pretty much every serious player in the ebook sales arena, but I’ve held off to see if B&N’s PubIt program ever went live. It has, I’ve uploaded 42 titles, and I’m ready to go.

KINDLE: This is the daddy of the ebook opportunities. I don’t think I need to say […]

Eric Hammel2011-11-23T13:39:02+02:00November 23rd, 2011|Categories: Features|