Category: Staff Articles

Writing advice and insights from the staff of Indies Unlimited.

Breaking News: Draft2Digital Acquires Smashwords

From the Draft2Digital website:

We’re betting that’s a headline you never expected to see, and we’re already anticipating the chatter this will cause in the indie author community!

We know this is going to feel a bit unexpected and out of the blue, but we’re very excited to make this announcement, and even more excited about what this means for you and the rest of the author community.

Since Draft2Digital was founded, in 2012, we have always believed that Smashwords was a vital and integral part of the self-publishing community. In many ways, Smashwords ultimately built the very industry in which we all work and thrive. Their work laid the foundation, and we’ve all been building on that foundation ever since.

And though Draft2Digital and Smashwords have always been cast as rivals in this little drama, the truth is it was, at worst, a friendly rivalry. In the end, we share the same goal: Empower self-published, indie authors and publishers to build and grow their publishing careers.

At the core of each company there has always been a love and appreciation of the author community. Many of us are authors ourselves, and each company was founded to provide the sort of services and support that we need. We understood your needs because we share them.

To read more, go to the Draft2Digital website here.

Publishing Wide

I Know What I’m Doing, But I Don’t Know What I’m Doing

woman with blurry face anonymous authorGuest Post
by Anonymous Author

I was one of the early passengers on the KDP Select train back in 2012. I promoted my book for free, got a pile of sales when it went back to paid, and touted KDP Select (KDPS) to everyone who’d listen. This brief moment in the sun took me to all corners of the intersphere and even got me into print and on the wireless in a few content-deprived areas. I was all about Amazon and KDPS, and with subsequent releases, I stayed exclusive to Amazon. But as S.E. Hinton wrote – that was then, and this is now.

Recently, I decided to release a box set of my trilogy and I wanted to go wide. There are so many different outlets today, and I wanted to make my book available to readers who may not frequent Amazon. Continue reading “Publishing Wide”

Kindle Vella: Return of the Serial

Yesterday, we had an introductory article about Kindle Vella. Today, Melissa Bowersock delves a little more deeply into Amazon’s newest offering.

KIndleVella1

Amazon, never content to rest on its laurels, has announced a new avenue for storytelling: Kindle Vella. Many writers have already discovered the lure of publishing a serial, a short episode or a chapter at a time. Hugh Howey’s Wool, if you remember, started as a short story, then he expanded on the series little by little. It was already wildly popular before he accepted a six-figure deal with Simon & Schuster.

We’ve all seen how some series, either books or movies or both, can garner a large following. If we’ve got a captivating story line with complex characters interacting in interesting and surprising ways, our readers want to know what happens next. Continue reading “Kindle Vella: Return of the Serial”

Coming Soon from Amazon: Kindle Vella

Kindle Vella logoYou may be hearing some buzz about a new publishing platform that KDP is rolling out soon. It’s called Kindle Vella and it’s set to launch in mid to late July.

This is a slightly different beast than an eBook. For one thing, Kindle Vella stories are not going to show up on anyone’s Kindle device. Vella is aimed at folks who read on their smartphones and other small electronic devices. You may think that’s nobody, but I can tell you that neither of my kids has ever had an actual Kindle, but they’ve been reading fanfiction on their tablets and phones for years. Even I tend to read news stories on my phone anymore. So this is a way to capture the kind of audience that always has a phone in their hands.

I should mention a couple of things before we get any further. Continue reading “Coming Soon from Amazon: Kindle Vella”