A while back, Laurie Boris gave us a very helpful and comprehensive overview of what you should consider when choosing and working with an editor. While I see no need to amend her concise guide, we here at IU did think it was time to take this a bit further. What can you do to make the overall experience of working with an editor better? What can you do to make sure you are getting your money’s worth — but not paying for things you don’t need — and creating a productive and enjoyable relationship with your editor? Here are a few things to consider. Continue reading “Working with Editors”
Category: Staff Articles
Writing advice and insights from the staff of Indies Unlimited.
April Is NaPoWriMo (for the poets who didn’t know it and those who did)
Let’s be real: poetry is often treated like the wayward stepchild of the writing world. It doesn’t sell as well as other genres, so it’s not produced in the same quantities. But sales don’t equal love, and in April, poetry takes center stage in NaPoWriMo (aka National Poetry Writing Month).
Much like its better-known cousin, NaNoWriMo, NaPoWriMo is a month devoted to poetry. While the goal of National Novel Writing Month is to have a completed 50,000-word novel at the end of 30 days, NaPoWriMo wants authors to have 30 poems by month’s end. Continue reading “April Is NaPoWriMo (for the poets who didn’t know it and those who did)”
Must You Publish a Print Book?
Sometimes when you’re cruising the intertubes, something jumps out at you that makes you want to spit out your coffee. For me, it was a gem of advice in a Q&A on Quora.
The query, edited for length, was: “What do traditional publishers provide that self-publishing doesn’t?” The question drew the typical answers: a cover from a professional cover designer (which indies can also buy), great editing (ditto), marketing assistance (a little harder, but doable – and midlist authors at traditional houses often have to find help, too), and placement of your book at brick-and-mortar stores (okay, I’ll give them that one – although it’s not impossible for indies).
But it was this throwaway line at the end of one comment that caused my spit-take: “Don’t forget to do a POD print edition, even if its layout is pure template-driven and it’s not up to pro standards in production values. Ebooks with print editions sell better than ebooks without.”
There’s so much here to unpack. Continue reading “Must You Publish a Print Book?”
My Experience with KDP Print
A few months ago, like a lot of you, I received the email stating Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) was going to be “merging” and taking over the print business from CreateSpace (CS). I’ve long been a customer of CS, and 99% of my interactions with them have been positive. So when I heard they were being pushed to the side, I was rather bummed.
I ignored KDP for a while since I didn’t have any books to publish. When it came time, I logged into my KDP account and followed their directions to merge my books. At least it wasn’t difficult. Then I decided to poke around in one of my files since I was going to upgrade the covers on a series of eBooks. Nothing had really changed on the eBook side (and I did not expect it to), but when I logged in to the print side, oh, that was interesting! Continue reading “My Experience with KDP Print”