Holiday Blogfest

Indies Unlimited LogoHappy Holidays! How about we dust off our blogs and post a link to them below during our Indies Unlimited blog-fest!

This is how it works: If you are an author, publisher, publicist, literary agent, librarian, book reviewer, (or especially a book-lover), etc., in the comments below, paste in the link for your blog, with a one sentence description of what you feature.

Show some love on the blogs in the comments above yours, by clicking over and adding them to your blogroll, liking some posts, or leaving a comment, even if that comment is nothing more than “Indies Unlimited sent me.” Be sure to check back throughout the day to catch up. (Remember: If you right-click the link, you can open it in a new tab so you don’t have to constantly page back and forth.) PLEASE only ONE link per person. Additional links WILL be DELETED.

This should be fun and should generate a lot of followers for everyone who plays. We’ll kick things off with ours – don’t forget to subscribe to us here at Indies Unlimited! Let’s get the party started!

IMPORTANT: Please do not reply to every comment in this thread. Instead, leave a comment on the person’s blog you like saying, “Indies Unlimited sent me. Nice blog! (or whatever)” Then after you’ve done a bunch, come back here and leave a marker at the bottom saying, “got everyone up to here.” If people reply to each comment with “liked you!,” we will have to turn off comment notifications because we generate more emails than the SPAM guidelines allow. Thank you.

PLEASE be sure to reciprocate by liking those who like you. This is give and take. If everyone plays by the golden rule, we all benefit.

Et tu, Catfish? Writing with Integrity

catfish books are rampant on amazon.com fish-216132_640Recently I’ve learned about a new (to me) term: catfishing. It means someone pretending to be what they are not. In terms of selling books on the Internet, this basically boils down to someone posing as an expert in a given field, then writing short, pithy eBooks using information easily and freely accessible on the Internet (think Wikipedia) and then passing it off as a definitive guide on Amazon.

The Washington Post recently ran a very thorough article on the phenomenon. The upshot is that (1) this is nothing new; there have always been people gaming every system ever devised and (2) most of these catfishers operate at least nominally within Amazon’s guidelines with the exception of paid reviews, the thing that Amazon is really cracking down on lately. Continue reading “Et tu, Catfish? Writing with Integrity”

Indie Reads – November 2015

Indies Unlimited does not review books, but we do have a couple of renowned reviewers on staff. We thought a great way to celebrate indie writing would be to ask those reviewers for their top indie picks of the month. Here are this month’s top picks from our experts:


pilgrim wheels by Neil HansonPilgrim Wheels by Neil Hanson

“As a reader, we can hitchhike with him and share in those insights without a single turn of the pedal.”

Read the rest of the review by BigAl.

Pilgrim Wheels is available through Amazon.com.


Larry the Horrible Time TravelerLarry the Horrible Time Traveler by Andrew Coltirn

“…The plot moves fast, I had trouble putting the book down to sleep.”

Read the rest of the review by Sam Waite.

Larry the Horrible Time Traveler is available through Amazon.com.


The Sun SingerThe Sun Singer by Malcolm R. Campbell

“All ages of readers who enjoy mystical adventures, alternate universes, or epic tales will love this story.”

Read the rest of the review by ?wazithinkin.

The Sun Singer is available through Amazon.com.


Behind the Eight Ball by Craig Furchtenicht

” If you enjoy hard hitting, no nonsense crime, this would be right up your street.”

Read the rest of the review by Keith Nixon.

Behind the Eight Ball is available on Amazon.com..


What Do Authors Want from a Review/Reviewer?

why do authors behave badlyI’ve had to ask myself a question recently:  why on earth do I bother reviewing books?  Actually, I know why I started to … it coincided with the purchase of my Kindle. I fancied an anthology of my opinions and what I thought of all the books I read on it because I thought the advent of digital books was quite a Big Thing. So, wait … let me rephrase that: the behaviour of authors has made me ask myself the question. Continue reading “What Do Authors Want from a Review/Reviewer?”