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.

Indies Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Badges. Or Do We?

As the indie movement continues to rattle the Goliaths of the publishing world (have you heard that Houghton Mifflin filed for bankruptcy protection?), many authors can find themselves on shaky ground.

Just a quick trip around the Kindle forums—if you dare—will tell most of the story. Readers are ticked off. They don’t want to pay twenty bucks for an e-book. (Heck, I don’t either, and it will be interesting to see how many people snag J.K. Rowling’s new novel at $19.99.) But spend less than four bucks on an unknown? They’ve been burned before. They’ve been bombarded with cheap books, some rampant with typos, grammatical errors, formatting problems, plot problems, and writing that reads like a first draft. Some readers gleefully tell their forum peers that they will NEVER purchase another indie book. On the other side of cyberstreet, at B&N.com, self-published books are locked into the “PubIt!” section, neatly severed from Big Guy Books. Forum haunters write that they are glad for this line of demarcation because, as one reader wrote, “I know to stay away from it.”

Sigh. Continue reading “Indies Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Badges. Or Do We?”

The Pitfalls of Book Review Swapping

After a stressful day of pushing papers, herding nerfs, or defenestrating your political enemies, it can lift your little literary heart to read that someone owned up in public to liking, even loving your book. It’s more challenging for indie authors to get that review sugar, since most of the standard review-type publications—unless we are willing to part with some buckage—give us Ye Olde Royal Snubbing. So I understand the temptation to swap book reviews with other authors. Indie Land is a mostly supportive and lovely community, and we want to support and love each other, well, in that platonic, pat-on-the-shoulder bromantic sort of way. So what’s wrong with a little mutual backscratching to get a little bling of your very own? Well…in some cases, this might not be your best move. Here’s why: Continue reading “The Pitfalls of Book Review Swapping”

How to Work with a Cover Artist

Cover illustration by Paul Blumstein

The cover art your neighbor’s nine-year-old created for your first book was adorable, but didn’t do much for sales. And you can’t draw worth a lick. Now you want to hire, well, not an expensive big-time pro, but an artist with a bit more experience. Never worked with a cover artist before? Or are you having trouble getting what you want when you hire an artist for your book? Good thing veteran commercial illustrator Paul Blumstein escaped from his studio long enough eat a few Pop-Tarts and talk about how to choose, negotiate, and generally work more effectively with your cover artist. In the interest of full disclosure—and because he’s threatened to hide the coffee if I don’t—I need to tell you that Paul is my husband. He has created cover art for Scholastic Publications, The Weekly Reader, and Simon & Schuster, among other clients.
Continue reading “How to Work with a Cover Artist”

Goodreads Giveaway Tutorial

Author Laurie Boris
Author Laurie Boris

Last year, I attended a workshop given by a local published author on how to promote your book on social media. “Goodreads?” she sneered, in response to an audience member’s question about the site. “I don’t know anyone who’s on Goodreads.”

Uh…well, there are LOTS of people on Goodreads. And they love books. I mean, seriously love books. Some members of this community read hundreds of books a year. They talk about them. Review and rate them. Many blog about them.

Yeah, Goodreads can be buggy, like so many other social media sites, and isn’t the most intuitive place out there. But its many features outweigh the occasional glitch. For one, you can maintain a “bookshelf” of books you’re reading, have read, and plan to read, so you can make friends based on common interests and favorite books or authors. You can join a multitude of groups and grow into the community. Participate in a book club, and read and comment on the selection of the month. You can become “fans” of your favorite authors and follow their reviews and blogs. Continue reading “Goodreads Giveaway Tutorial”