Resources | Self-Publishing Review

Author Directory Sites: The Complete List

There are a lot of different types of directories: author listings, book listings, and libraries. This post will cover them all, some for free, some for a fee. I’m defining “directory” as any site where an author can add a book page, author page, or both. It certainly can’t hurt to put your book wherever you can. It doesn’t even matter if no one buys it when they view the book on a particular page. A reader sees a book enough times and it might have the illusion of popularity. It’s also good for SEO: the more times your book […]

Lysa Grant2019-02-06T14:49:12+02:00July 13th, 2014|Categories: Resources|Tags: Book Promotion Articles|

Crowdsourcing Sites for Authors: The Complete List

Crowdsourcing may be how most books are published in the future. Forget advances from publishers – it’s another avenue that makes going it alone much easier, because you’re not really going it alone at all. The process is simple: create a project, add some incentives (signed copy, marriage, etc.) and you can get a book fully funded – pay for cover, editing, marketing and more. Here are 10 good tips for creating a crowdsourcing campaign. The main trick is to find the sweet spot: enough money so you can pay for what you need, not so much so it’s […]

Lysa Grant2020-02-21T07:53:32+02:00July 2nd, 2014|Categories: Resources|Tags: Social Media|

Are You Looking For Free E-books?

free download stff

The e-book industry has become much larger than we could have ever anticipated, which is probably why there are so many people trying to get into it. If this is you, then this search engine is the perfect solution, as buying e-books could break the bank every single time you find yourself in the situation of wanting to read something! You can either read the books directly from a smart device, or take the time to print out the e-books. I found Oxford Dictionary of Idioms by simply poking around on the internet!

Some of the more […]

freedownloadsff2014-05-15T17:40:53+02:00May 15th, 2014|Categories: Resources|

Getting Listed in the Edelweiss Database

One of the biggest challenges for self-published authors is getting a book into bookstores, libraries, and in the hands of top reviewers. Traditional publishers certainly have the leg up in this area, and they’re using a service called Edelweiss. Here’s a good overview at Book Riot about what Edelweiss does. Basically, it sorts books out via buzz (reviews, professional interest), which makes it easier for booksellers and/or librarians to know which books to stock. Reviewers can request a galley. Edelweiss has a partnership with LibraryReads to get books into libraries.

Sounds great for self-publishers, doesn’t it? Alas, it’s not […]

Henry Baum2014-07-13T10:39:20+02:00April 16th, 2014|Categories: Resources|

Best WordPress Themes for Writers & Publishers

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Setting up an author website is pretty much a given for all self-publishers. Given that blogging is also an important facet of author promotion, it can be easier to use a blogging platform for the overall website. It’s very possible to make a blogging template function as a commercial website.

The two biggest blogging platforms nowadays are WordPress and Blogger. Though there are very credible sites using the free WordPress.com service (see davidgaughran.wordpress.com), it can be slicker to have your own author.com (or book.com) URL using WordPress.org. With WordPress.org, you’ll have access to hundreds of different plugins, […]

Henry Baum2019-06-13T07:46:49+02:00February 10th, 2014|Categories: Lead Story, Resources|Tags: Author Blogging|

Free eBook Submission Tool

Though giving away your books has come with mixed success (see our post on free eBook promotions), it is still common practice for many self-publishers. This handy tool from Author Marketing Club puts all of the free submission services in one place.

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Henry Baum2019-02-03T08:56:31+02:00January 16th, 2014|Categories: Resources|Tags: Book Promotion Articles|

Designing a Book Cover with 99Designs

Though 99Designs has had mixed reviews of their logo design service, the book cover wing has a good track record. JC Leland was the e-Book Cover Design Award Winner for June 2012 in Fiction at the Book Designer blog using a 99Designs cover.

The author captions: ““I ran a design contest at 99designs.com to develop the cover art for my book. Highly recommend this process for authors!”

Here’s how it works: you submit info about your book to the pool of designers and pay money up front ($299 and up). This acts as the cash prize, and then designers […]

Henry Baum2014-01-20T14:56:09+02:00January 15th, 2014|Categories: Resources|Tags: Book Cover Design Tips|

Ingram Spark Challenges Createspace

Ingram has launched a new self-publishing option in addition to Lightning Source – handling both ebooks and print on demand. One of the complaints about Lightning Source is that it is not entirely user-friendly, so Ingram Spark can be considered a kind of Amazon-like version of Lightning Source. Ingram Spark still uses LSI as its print on demand service, so it’s not a wholly separate entity. From the site:

After 50 years in the industry, Ingram recognized the need to reduce the amount of time and effort publishers spend trying to manage the complexities of distributing a book around

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Henry Baum2018-10-22T12:34:18+02:00January 8th, 2014|Categories: Resources|