If you’ve been kicking at this indie thing for a while, you might be familiar with Kirkus Indie, an arm of Kirkus Reviews that offers a paid review service for indie authors. The prices can be steep, which has been a point of contention in the indie community. I had the opportunity to meet Karen Schechner, senior indie editor at Kirkus Reviews, at a self-publishing conference in New York. After an interesting and rather aerobic discussion with Karen and another author in an elevator after lunch break, I invited her to come by IU and give her side of the issue.
Author: Laurie Boris
Laurie Boris is a freelance writer, editor, proofreader, and former graphic designer. She has been writing fiction for over twenty-five years and is the award-winning author of four novels. She lives in New York’s lovely Hudson Valley. Learn more about Laurie at her website and her Amazon author page.
My Year of Reading Indie
At the end of 2012, I mentally perused the books I’d read in the previous twelve months and realized that except for revisiting Anna Karenina and enjoying The Maltese Falcon as part of my community’s Big Reads program, not a single traditionally published title sat among them. That was quite a revelation for this bookworm who once got herself kicked out of a library at closing time and feels a magnetic attraction toward bookstores. Continue reading “My Year of Reading Indie”
Show Up
Over our gruel bowls in the Death Star’s break room (Kat threw some pumpkin spice flavoring into the pot for the holidays, thanks for asking, but oddly enough, it still takes like chicken), several IU minions recommended taking advantage of opportunities to promote ourselves and our work—and doing so in a nice, professional way, of course. Because you never know where these chances may lead. Recently I took advantage of one of those opportunities, but it almost took advantage of me. Let me back up a little and I’ll explain. Continue reading “Show Up”
Book Exposure: Digital Book Today
Book industry veteran Anthony Wessel founded Digital Book Today in 2010. While some of the people behind the promotion sites we’ve been featuring on IU over the past few weeks are authors, Wessel’s perspective on the book world comes from seven years as a sales manager for Borders/Waldenbooks. He’s been immersed in the e-book world full time for the past four years. Continue reading “Book Exposure: Digital Book Today”