As the year draws to a close, numerous publications, blogs, and authors are beginning to take stock, heave a sigh, and wonder if next year will be the same rollercoaster ride as this year has been. One of the best posts I’ve come across so far is here, where Anne R. Allen gives a neat overview, delivered in an accessible and enjoyable tone, of the many recent and rapid changes. While I’m no fan of the word “dynamic”, it is difficult to think of a more appropriate word to describe events in the two main parts of the same publishing industry: Mainstream and Indie. Continue reading “Indie News Beat:
Is the Glass Half Empty or Half Full?”
Tag: amazon.com
Indie News Beat:
I’m still writing, how about you?
I intended to get back to my “how to” posts this week. However, with the constant bickering and conspiracy theory arguments that are flying around, I couldn’t help myself.
You’ve heard it all, Amazon is bowing to the Big Six, Barnes and Noble and Amazon are destroying self-publishing and the traditional publishers are taking over the industry while charging $25,000 dollars to get your book out.
Enough!
Tutorial: Author Central Book Merge & More
There’s been a lot of talk lately about reviews on Amazon and Amazon being the big, evil corporate entity. No matter what your feelings are about that, if you have books listed for sale on Amazon.com and you’re not taking advantage of their Author Central platform, you’re shooting yourself in the feet. No, not the foot: both feet. Repeatedly. Yes, authors really are not using this service. I see it EVERY day. (Yes, Author Central is a FREE service. If you missed our very first tutorial on setting it up, see that HERE.)
A new feature was announced by Amazon for the Kindle Paperwhite and Kindle Fire HD readers – About the Author. Here is what they have to say: About the Author gives readers access to your biography and lists all your books in a single place on Kindle. Readers can tap on any of your books and be directed to the Kindle store where they can download the book in under 60 seconds. Also, any time you update your biography or claim a new book through Author Central, About the Author will update on Kindle giving your readers access to the most recent information.
Still think you don’t need to be on Author Central? Step closer to the screen so I can slap you.
My original tutorial on setting up your Author Central page can be found here. If you haven’t already, read it. Do it. Then come right back here and I’ll show you how to merge your books. I heard that grumble. Yes, you need to merge your books. Here’s why. Continue reading “Tutorial: Author Central Book Merge & More”
Indie News Beat: Amazon is Redefining Ownership
With a ubiquitous presence, sky-high brand recognition, and customer-first ethos, it’s been a while since “Amazon” only referred to a geographical feature, and the adjective “Amazonian” used to mean a certain type of woman.
If you’re an Independent Author, you’ve either got your stuff on Amazon or you’ve got it nowhere. So when Amazon changes the way it does business, we all need to sit up and take notice. After the hullabaloo with sock-puppet reviews this summer, over the last few weeks a number of authors suddenly noticed reviews going missing from their book pages on Amazon. This led to emails and calls and questions, but one of the first hard-and-fast pieces of evidence to turn up in the media was here, where Amazon sent an email to an author confirming deletion of his reviews of another author’s book because, in Amazon’s opinion, there is “competition” between the two authors, which thus breaches Amazon’s rules. Continue reading “Indie News Beat: Amazon is Redefining Ownership”