Oh, Nook, how we have loved you. We had such hopes that you and your parent, Barnes & Noble, would successfully challenge Amazon’s dominance of the e-reader market – thereby giving indie authors a home if (or when, as some muttered darkly) the Zon turned on us at last. You didn’t come through for us, but still we’ve had a soft spot in our hearts for you. After all, yours was the first e-reader platform, after KDP, to give indies a direct route into a store, first with PubIt and then with Nook Press (which turned out to be PubIt with a new skin, but never mind that). Sure, you didn’t offer us the kinds of promotional options KDP did – or any promotional options, actually – and it’s true that your venerable parent didn’t give us shelf space in its brick-and-mortar stores, nor did it play fair with sales rankings in its online store. But you gave us a home that wasn’t Amazon. You liked us! You really liked us! Continue reading “Whither the Nook?”
Category: Staff Articles
Writing advice and insights from the staff of Indies Unlimited.
Facebook Page Updates: Spring 2016
According to Facebook, over a billion people visit Pages each month. A while back, Facebook announced a new communication feature attached to Pages. In the past, the only way to respond to comments on your Facebook Page was to “Reply” back in the comments. Now, Page admins will be able to respond to comments privately.
Facebook announced this feature way back in August of last year, but apparently, it took a while to launch. In February, they finally made the feature available to the masses. So what’s the hoopla all about? Continue reading “Facebook Page Updates: Spring 2016”
EBooks: 95% Done — But Are You Really?
The digital revolution has changed many things, not only the way we do things but the way we measure things as well. Remember when digital clocks began to outnumber analog clocks? You could always tell what kind of watches people had on their wrists. If they looked at their watch and said, “It’s almost 1:30,” they had analog. If they said, “It’s 1:24,” they had a digital. Another of these insidious changes is how we measure the amount of a book we’re reading. No longer do we say, “I’m on page 101,” or “I’m almost half way;” nowadays, most of us will say, “I’m at 44 percent,” because that’s the way our eReaders show our progress.
No big deal, right? It’s just a matter of getting used to something new and letting go of the old way that is no longer applicable.
Except for one thing. Continue reading “EBooks: 95% Done — But Are You Really?”
A Self-Publishing Book Worth Reading…
There are so many books out there about publishing and marketing and writing and…well, it can get a little overwhelming. Whose advice do you follow? Which author is right? I’ve read a fair few since publishing my first novel in 2011 and one I recently came across was a total revelation. I found it really helpful and inspiring, so I wanted to share it with you.
For Love or Money by Susan Kaye Quinn is well worth a read. In this book she unpacks the difference between writing books you love and writing books to earn money. I didn’t even realize there was a difference, but there really is. Continue reading “A Self-Publishing Book Worth Reading…”