Self-Publishing: Carnival of the Indies Issue #6

POSTED ON Mar 27, 2011

Joel Friedlander

Written by Joel Friedlander

Home > Blog > Self-Publishing, Social Media > Self-Publishing: Carnival of the Indies Issue #6

Welcome to this issue of the Carnival of the Indies blog carnival. This issue is for March, 2011. We welcome your submissions on topics related to writing, self-publishing, book design or marketing books.

A collection of outstanding articles recently posted to blogs, your reading here will be richly rewarded.

See the end of this post for links to submit your blog posts for the next carnival, or for participating Bloggers and Featured Bloggers to grab your sidebar badges. Thanks to everyone who participated.

Featured Posts

blogs for self-publishersTony Eldridge presents The Most Crucial Step To Effective Book Marketing posted at Marketing Tips For Authors, saying, “Many authors get information overload when it comes to marketing their book. Others are intimidated at the thought of launching a book marketing plan. Whatever the reason, authors often find themselves paralyzed into marketing inaction. This post will help you start your marketing plan.”

blogs for self-publishersDave Bricker presents Thoughts on the E-Book Users Bill of Rights posted at The One Hour Guide to Self Publishing by Dave Bricker, saying, ” The idea that all people should have access to content in standard, functional formats is fundamentally good. But we need look no farther than the last two decades of the internet’s evolution to see a brilliant and functional world where content is sold, licensed and given away by individuals and publishers of all sizes and means. Open source projects mingle with commercial offerings in the great infostream. Each producer is free to define their own terms, formats, desired levels of security and technology strategy. The idea that writers and creators must choose a publisher, a distributor and a retailer is as much a lie as the notion that an eBook is a book.”

blogs for self-publishersKathleen Gage presents 12 Simple Yet Effective Ways to Sell More Books posted at Street Smarts Marketing & Promotions, saying, “12 Simple Yet Effective Ways to Sell More Books – Most authors want to sell books, but many never will. At least not more than a handful.”

Book Design and Production

Walt Shiel presents 7 Reasons NOT to Use Word to Typeset Your Book posted at View From the Publishing Trenches, saying, “Although it is possible to typeset a book using Microsoft Word, it is very difficult to do it well. And Word is almost always the wrong tool for the job. Here are 7 reasons why.”

Sue Collier presents Cutting through the confusion about printing options available to self-publishers posted at Self-Publishing Resources.

Cathi Stevenson presents Visual Vibration: Lose It posted at BOOK COVER DESIGN

Marketing and Selling Your Books

Betty Ming Liu presents How to start building your brand on Twitter posted at bettymingliu.com, saying, “I noticed that past Carnivals have included social media articles. Even though I don’t specifically mention the word “self-publishing” in my post, the information here is universal for anyone looking to build their brand on Twitter. It would be a thrill to be included!”

Joanna Penn presents Write Lots Of Books Or Build An Author Platform. Which Is More Effective? posted at The Creative Penn, saying, “Check out the comments – this post sparked a great conversation about the balance between writing and marketing from authors and literary agents.”

Dana Lynn Smith presents How to Feature Your Book on Your LinkedIn Profile posted at The Savvy Book Marketer, saying.

Penny Sansevieri presents 50 Things to Tweet About | Author Marketing Experts, Inc. posted at Author Marketing Experts, Inc., saying.

Shelley Hitz presents Increase Blog Traffic – Blogging Advice and Checklist of 50 Ideas posted at Self Publishing Coach Blog, saying, “Thanks!.”

Vikram Narayan presents Why Fun is Important for Book Marketing | The Official BookBuzzr Blog posted at BookBuzzr.

Adam Charles presents The Social Experience of Reading posted at The iwritereadrate.com Blog.

Alexander M Zoltai presents Do Pre-Publication Promotion And Sanity Go Together ? posted at Notes from An Alien, saying, “The adventures of a newbie indie in the wilds of pre-publication promotion :-)”

Kimberly Kinrade presents How NOT to Self-Publish posted at Kimberly Kinrade, saying, “When you dive into the waters of self-publishing, it’s great to know what to do. It’s even more important to know what NOT to do. (From someone who made all the mistakes and is still selling books!)”

Self-Publishing Success

M. Louisa Locke presents Getting Past the Sally Field Moment: Personal Reflections on selling more than 10,000 copies of Maids of Misfortune posted at M. Louisa Locke’s Front Parlor.

Lindsay Buroker presents Novellas and Short Stories — Ebooks Not Just for Novels posted at E-book Endeavors, saying, “You don’t have to write novels to make money selling ebooks; some authors are e-publishing their short stories and novellas.”

Writing tools and tips

Christine Frost presents Suffering for Your Art and the Question of the MFA Degree posted at Her Raven Domain: Blog of Author Christine Frost, saying, “My blog focuses on writing and self-publishing, and I’d love to share my articles! :).”

Nick Daws presents Ten Top Twitter Follows for Writers posted at Nick’s Writing Blog, saying, “More and more writers are joining Twitter, and a question I hear repeatedly from newcomers is, ‘What other Twitter users should I follow?’ So in this post I share ten of my top Twitter recommendations for writers.”

Nick Daws presents Using Dashes and Ellipses in Dialogue posted at Nick’s Writing Blog, saying, “Many writers are unsure when to use ellipses in dialogue and when dashes. So in this post I set out a few pointers.”

Alan Murray Jones presents Point of View Workshop posted at Alan Murray Jones.

O.C. Heaton presents What would you rather have: a penny or £1 million? posted at A Rush of Green, saying, ” If you have a goal, you may not reach it after thirty days, three months or even three years, but if you keep chipping away at it, eventually the power of compound interest will kick in and all that foundation effort will deliver tangible results. In my case this is a completed novel, which, during the writing process can seem distant. My first novel is proof of this: it took me ten years to write The Human Race, but I kept going. Word by word, sentence by sentence, paragraph by paragraph, page by page it was eventually finished – and published.”

O.C. Heaton presents Are writers all “liars and thieves”? posted at A Rush of Green, saying, “Are we? Well, according to Nicholas Hardiment, the serial philanderer and highly successful author in the film Tamara Drewe, we are. After watching the film on Saturday night, I immediately dismissed the incendiary statement. What self-respecting writer wouldn’t? But alas, the words seem to have stuck with me and after five days I have made a U-turn.”

Patricia Benesh presents Self-publish or Publish Traditionally? The Crucial Factor posted at AuthorAssist Blog.

How to Take Part in the Carnival of the Indies

Well, that wraps up this issue. I hope you enjoy some of the great articles here, and let other people interested in self-publishing know about the Carnival—Use the share buttons below to Tweet it, Share it on Facebook, Link to it! The next issue is April 30, 2011 and the deadline for submissions will be April 24, 2011. Don’t miss it! Here are all the links you’ll need:

The original announcement post
Carnival of the Indies web page
Submit your article here
Bloggers, grab your official Carnival of the Indies Badges here
Follow Carnival of the Indies on Twitter
Subscribe to The Book Designer Blog

Joel Friedlander

Written by
Joel Friedlander

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