Resources

Free tools, tips and links from SPR on writing and selling your book

For Foreign Authors Wishing to Publish on Amazon: Read This

This post is for foreign authors wishing to publish on Amazon; the complete lowdown on how to get a US TIN (Tax Identification Number) and file a W8-BEN.

Below is what it says on DTP Amazon:

I am a foreign resident in a country with a U.S. tax treaty and have provided a Form W8-BEN, but the W8-BEN does not provide a valid U.S. TIN. Will taxes be withheld at the applicable treaty rate?

NO. Taxes will be withheld at the 30% standard rate because a valid U.S. TIN on your form W8-BEN is a prerequisite to obtaining a reduced

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2011-10-08T17:17:39+02:00September 3rd, 2010|Categories: Resources|Tags: |

Back to Basics on Book Promotion – A Review of Book Candy Studios

BACK TO BASICS – BOOK PROMOTION

How many of you have been tempted to or already paid for “Blog Tours”?  Did it increase your book sales? Expensive book trailer? Fun but more book sales?  When it comes to book sales, the old adage is still true: the best form of advertising is “word of mouth”. The only question is, how do you generate word of mouth without spending a lot of money?  Approximately 5,000 new books are released every month and the average author sells only 250 (mostly to family and friends).

I have probably made the same mistakes many […]

2011-10-08T17:10:44+02:00September 3rd, 2010|Categories: Resources|Tags: |

Getting Your Book Self-Published—Clear the Confusion and Focus on the Basics

As a writer, it is so easy to get confused and lose focus with all the talk about getting a book self-published these days. There are so many self-publishing, options and formats and e-book readers,  from Kindles to i-Phones. For a moment, take a step back—and focus. Forget about how you are going to self-publish or where people will read your book. Concentrate on WHAT people will read—and make sure, as a writer, you provide a good quality book. At AuthorAssist, we coach our writers to adhere to the basic principles required for a quality book—and we have narrowed it […]

2011-10-08T17:11:49+02:00August 31st, 2010|Categories: Member Blog, Resources|

Smashwords Books Reviewed

I started a blog to review books published at Smashwords.com. There is a real need to help Smashwords authors get the word out on what they offer and how to reach them. The site is: http://smashwordsreviewed.blogspot.com.

Any Smashwords author can contact me at neilcrab@hotmail.com and we’ll make arrangements. The first review is Mike Jastrzebski’s The Storm Killer, online right now.

Guest reviewers will appear from time to time, and all genres will be discussed. If I am unfamiliar with a book target market, I will ask in someone with real street cred in the field.

There is no […]

2011-10-08T17:12:11+02:00August 31st, 2010|Categories: Resources|Tags: |

Publish With Lightning Source

Chances are you’ve at least heard of Lightning Source Inc., also known as LSI. If so, you must have been told that they’re the best deal around (indeed), but also that acceptance is selective (not quite), while the submission process is complicated and unforgiving (very true!). If you’ve searched the Web for them, you’ve most certainly noticed that the information about them is scarce and contradictory (often outdated and inaccurate as well). You’ve seen many of their self-publishing customers, some of them quite experienced, curse at them out of frustration—while paradoxically lauding their service!

You indeed consider doing business […]

2011-10-13T09:53:36+02:00August 16th, 2010|Categories: Resources|

Thoughts on Validation and Success

Some editors are failed writers, but so are most writers. — T.S. Eliot

Meh! What’s failed? That’s what I want to know. If you are writing and you love what you write and you love the process, then you are not a failed writer. A failed writer to me is the writer who gives up their dream. Self-published writers, if anything, can be said to have zealously embraced the dream.

My idea of success is exactly MY IDEA, and it’s not how many books I sell in a week or a day or a year or in a lifetime or […]

2011-10-08T18:02:30+02:00July 29th, 2010|Categories: Resources|Tags: |

Resource: UpHype – Get Your Message Out

A recent comment on the Web Presence Checklist post said this:

All good points, but not necessarily formulas for success. I have a web presence everywhere. I’ve done 95% of what you’ve listed above. Google me and you’ll find me listed from page 1-15, Right now my book The Price of Innocence in paperback languishes at the 1,588,000 rank mark on Amazon in the US. What do you do when you’ve done it all and then some? I’m beginning to think some of it is just plain dumb luck. I suppose if I made my 19th century Parisian prostitute

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2011-10-08T18:03:08+02:00July 28th, 2010|Categories: Resources|

IndieProse.com: Gatekeeping Self-Published Books

At LJ Sellers’ site, there’s word of a new gatekeeping operation called IndieProse.  From their site:

Over 1 million books were published last year, many a result of the explosion of print-on-demand (POD) and electronic books (ebooks). This is great news for readers who can find the gems buried in the mountain of self-published books. Unfortunately, most self-published books are expensive and many are supremely disappointing.

The bestseller lists are packed with the same old cadre of hyped (and over-hyped) celebrity authors churning out formulaic stories that all sound the same. These books are safe bets, but wouldn’t

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2011-10-08T18:03:43+02:00July 26th, 2010|Categories: Resources|
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