Celebrating Independent Authors
Guest Post
by Terry Schott
You might not realize this, but you love iBooks.
In early 2010, Amazon was the only place to sell eBooks, and they paid authors a 35% commission. Then iBooks announced they would be inviting authors to sell in their store. Amazon responded by increasing their payout to 70%.
So, if you sell a book online and make 70% commission from it, then say it with me: I love iBooks. Continue reading “Why I Love iBooks”
Guest Post
by Claire Patel-Campbell
You’ve decided to crowdfund your novel and you’ve snagged yourself a campaign page on a site like Unbound or Inkshares. It’s all looking great, you’re satisfied that your pitch video isn’t too embarrassing, and you’re already starting to see pledges come in. You’ve written the novel, so the hard part is over. It’s going to be a cinch, right? For the lucky few, maybe. I’m sure there are campaigns that can happily sit there, letting the pledges roll in, with very little effort.
Here’s what no one really tells you, though: for most people, it is going to be tough. It is going to be stressful. You are going to be doing a lot of this on your own. Getting your campaign off the ground is going to take up a lot of your time, at the expense of perhaps more pleasurable pursuits, including writing. It’s going to take a toll on your mental health, even if it was pretty good to begin with, and especially if, like me, you already struggle with issues like anxiety and depression. Continue reading “Seven Tips to Stay (Mentally) Healthy While You Crowdfund Your Novel”
Guest Post
by Sylvia Engdahl
The Author Update area at Amazon Author Central makes provision only for blog feeds and events. This is unfortunate for authors who don’t have blogs, or who blog at their personal websites. I don’t often have news, but when I do I would like to post it at Author Central, and I’d like to announce when a book is going to be free or discounted.
Recently it occurred to me to investigate what a blog feed consists of. It doesn’t have to come from an established blogging site — its address can point to a file located anywhere on the Web. It turns out to be easy to create such a file and upload it to your own Web host. Then you merely have to update it whenever you have a brief message for your readers. You could, in fact, put articles of any length in it by continuing what wouldn’t fit on the Author Central page on a page at your website. Or, if you have an email newsletter that’s also posted online, you could use this method to get headlines from it and a subscribe link onto your Author Central page. Continue reading “How to Post Author Updates at Amazon Author Central if You Don’t Have a Blog”
Guest post
by Jason B. Ladd
“How am I supposed to know which book promotion services are effective?”
That was the question I asked while planning my second book promotion, and it was the genesis of IndieListers.com.
IndieListers has become the web’s largest free database of book promotion results to help authors find and pick effective promos. I’ll explain more below. But first, some backstory. Continue reading “IndieListers: The Promotion Results Database You’ve Been Looking For”