Self-Publishing: Carnival of the Indies Issue #13

POSTED ON Oct 30, 2011

Joel Friedlander

Written by Joel Friedlander

Home > Blog > Self-Publishing, Social Media > Self-Publishing: Carnival of the Indies Issue #13

Welcome to this issue of the Carnival of the Indies blog carnival. This issue is for October, 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

Dan-BlankDan Blank presents The Power of Words (and why a writer’s success cannot be measured solely on book sales) posted at We Grow Media. “When I work with writers, I never assume their goals. I never assume it’s to be a “best seller.” Because being a writer is a lifelong journey. Every writer has different goals, a different purpose, a different audience. And their effect cannot solely be measured by book sales.”

Julie-IsaacJulie Isaac presents The new low priced Kindles, including the Kindle Fire color tablet, are going to mean higher ebook sales, so start writing your ebooks NOW! posted at WritingSpirit, saying, “This is an exciting time for writers, and it just keeps getting better and better. The new Kindles are going to help ebook sales grow by leaps and bounds. Even if you haven’t already, it’s time to start publishing some ebooks!.”

Suzanna-StinnettSuzanna Stinnett presents A Royalty of One’s Own posted at ePub Clubs. “It’s the giant neon sign of modern living: What has been unsustainable is now ceasing to exist. That’s just math. What innovative collaboration rises in its wake, however, is up to us.”

Ebooks and ebook readers

O.C. Heaton presents The Human Race – now on Kindle! posted at A Rush of Green, saying, “There has been a lot of excitement in the Heaton household this weekend: my publisher has just launched the Kindle edition of The Human Race! It’s fitting for an eco-thriller to be published online….”

Book Design and Production

Dave Bricker presents Advice About Book Covers – Sewing Your Own Parachute posted at The One Hour Guide to Self Publishing, saying, “It is technically easy to create your own book cover; therein lies the problem. It’s also easy to sew your own parachute.”

Matt Harrison presents E-books: It’s Just Text posted at Hairy Sun, saying, “Some experiences and thoughts I have had since teaching 3rd graders how to create e-books and going down the self publishing route myself.”

Indie Author

Belinda Kroll presents Why this Author Loves Her C Grade posted at Belinda Kroll, Quirky Victorian Romance, saying, “Authors need to take a step back and realize that when they get less than an A, that’s not a bad thing. Just like in school, it gives you room to grow. That is an exciting prospect.”

Christopher Wills presents Scene Design – the first sentence posted at Soldier, sailor, teacher, writer, saying, “The post is about how to write that very important first sentence in a novel, not forgetting the second sentence, or the third…”

John Sundman presents Further Thoughts on Being the Future of Printed Fiction posted at Wetmachine.com, saying, “This is a long and rambling essay that may not be appropriate, and it won’t hurt my feelings if you don’t use it. But original The Traveling Self-Publisher Blues has been very popular — one of my top posts ever. This new one is a meditation on my most recent road trip promoting my books. Whether it was a success or not, whether the whole idea of promoting my books the way I do is wise or futile, depends on how you look at it.”

Keri Knutson presents The Amazon Slushpile? posted at Publishing Yourself, saying, “Thoughts on what the signing of first time indie author Tracy Hohenstein might mean for the future of indie writers and Amazon.”

Russell Phillips presents Why I Don’t Use DRM posted at Russell Phillips’ Blog, saying, “All of my books and articles are available without DRM, and this won’t change in the foreseeable future. I’m wary of saying that I will never use DRM, because something may change in the future to change my mind, but right now, I can’t imagine ever using DRM. I’ve decided to write about why.”

Marketing and selling your books

Steven Lewis presents Why you should think of self-promotion as a value-added tax posted at Taleist, saying, “If you’re confident that you’re providing value in an online conversation, a little self-promotion is fine. Jumping into an online forum for no reason other than to promote yourself is all tax and no value.”

James Moushon presents eBook Authors: Is the New Kindle Library Lending Program a New Opportunity for Self-publishers? posted at The eBook Author’s Corner, saying, ” Kindle Library Lending could be a great opportunity for ebook authors to gain exposure to a new and growing audience.”

Thomas Burchfield presents Other Things That Did Not Go Wrong | Thomas Burchfield | Blog Post | Red Room posted at The Red Room, saying, “All the things that did not go wrong at my first public reading of my novel “Dragon’s Ark.”

Phyllis Zimbler Miller presents ASK PZM – Sept 2011: blurbs posted at Joylene Nowell Butler, author, saying, “I do a monthly Ask PZM for Joylene’s blog.”

Phyllis Zimbler Miller presents Book Authors Need Mobile Friendly Websites posted at BookBuzzr, saying, “I often write guest posts for BookBuzzr — I have another post scheduled to go live Oct. 3rd..”

Liz Shaw presents 100 Prompts in 100 Days Equals a Contest! » The Writing Reader posted at The Writing Reader, saying, “Promote your book by sponsoring or competing in this contest.”

Sarah Bolme presents How Do Your Book Sales Stack Up? posted at Marketing Christian Books, saying, “none.”

Alexander M Zoltai presents Promotion ~ All Authors Must Deal With It « Notes from An Alien posted at Notes from An Alien, saying, “Learn all you can…”

Gordon Burgett presents It’s time to actually test your niche book! (Blog Bundle #12) posted at Gordon Burgett’s Blog.

Self-Publishing Success

James Moushon presents eBook Authors: Errors and the Dreaded Stigma of Self-Publishing posted at The eBook Author’s Corner, saying, “hope i am not to late.”

Tamela Rich presents Self Publishing: Mission, Goals and Cover Guidance posted at Tamela Rich, saying, “This is the second installment in a series of posts following my experience self-publishing a non-fiction book. This one lays out the mission and goals for the book and the artistic direction I have the book designer..”

Writing Tools & Tips

O.C. Heaton presents My writing progress: I’m a summer writer! posted at A Rush of Green, saying, “Having just finished the second book in The Human Race “Thrilogy”, I am taking a short break before starting the third and final instalment of the series. This week, contemplating the best time to put pen to paper, I decided to compile statistics for my writing progress for the last four years. As you can see, they make for some interesting viewing…”

Mike Holman presents How to display internet urls in a print book posted at Blogthority, saying, “Non-fiction writers often need to show internet addresses for resources or citations. Here are two methods to avoid having a long address which the user will have to type in.”

anthony rando presents A Lesson in Twitter Hashtags posted at Anthony F Rando.

Thomas Burchfield presents Unfinished Business #10: Dragon’s Ark: The DIY “Book Tour” Part II posted at Thomas Burchfield: A Curious Man, saying, ” I did no readings. Most everyone to whom I hoped to present copies was somewhere else. But to me, my shoestring “book tour” was a success anyway. I had returned to the beloved mountains of Alpine County.” An account of a low-budget book tour.”

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 November 27, 2011 and the deadline for submissions will be November 20, 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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