Self-Publishing: Carnival of the Indies Issue #28

POSTED ON Jan 27, 2013

Joel Friedlander

Written by Joel Friedlander

Home > Blog > Self-Publishing, Social Media > Self-Publishing: Carnival of the Indies Issue #28

Welcome to this issue of the Carnival of the Indies blog carnival. This issue is for January, 2013.

We welcome your submissions on topics related to writing, self-publishing, book design or marketing books.

This is a collection of outstanding articles recently posted to blogs, and I’m sure your reading here will be richly rewarded.

There are links at the end of this post to submit your blog posts for the next carnival, or for participating Bloggers and Featured Bloggers to grab their sidebar badges.

And thanks to everyone who participated.

Featured Posts

self-publishingRussell Blake presents New Year, New Hurdles & Opportunities posted at Russell Blake, saying, “A blog detailing 10 indie publishing predictions for 2013, including trends at Amazon and three unexpected 2012 success stories”

self-publishingJoanna Penn presents How to Publish a Book 101 posted at The Creative Penn, saying, “Roundup post on how to self-publish your book in print and ebook format”

self-publishingM. Louisa Locke presents 7 Things KDP Select Can and Can Not Do For You posted at M. Louisa Locke’s Front Parlor

Book Design and Production

Cathy Stucker presents Find the Right Graphic for Your Ebook Cover posted at Selling Books, saying, “Your cover can make or break your ebook. Here are some tips on how you can find the right graphic for your cover.”

Andy Black presents Front and Center: The Importance of a Well Designed Cover posted at Andy’s Words and Pictures, saying, “Don’t scrimp on your cover design. It can be the difference between “a good buy” and a “good bye.””

Aishah Macgill presents Gina Rinehart Releases Book posted at Aishah Macgill, saying, “The world’s richest woman releases a book with a less than perfect book cover!”

Ebooks and Ebook Readers

Phyllis Zimbler Miller presents Ensuring Your Kindle Ebook Looks Good on Kindle Readers posted at Phyllis Zimbler Miller, Author (blog), saying, “This blog post is the result of my own experiences.”

Gordon Burgett presents How to find your 2012 earnings from CreateSpace, Kindle, Nook, Smashwords, and Bookbaby… posted at Empire Building, saying, “An all-year guide to use weekly, monthly, or whenever to see how much your articles have been sold and how much you’ve been paid by CreateSpace, Kindle, Nook, Smashwords, and Bookbaby.”

Sylvia Liu presents Infographic: Books I Read in 2012 posted at Sylvia Liu Land, saying, “As writers we often wonder how readers find books. Here’s an infographic of the reading & book buying habits of a nonrandom sample of one (me). I surprised myself when the numbers came back on the % of ebooks I read and where I found my books.”

Indie author

Matthew Hall presents Wow! Falita Kain! posted at M.L. Hall, saying, “Short sample of my next book to be self published sometime in February.”

Dana Lynn Smith presents Book Awards and Writing Contests for Authors posted at The Savvy Book Marketer, saying, “Now is the time to enter book award contests.”

J.M. Ney-Grimm presents Cover Copy Primer posted at J.M. Ney-Grimm, saying, “How does the cover copy do its job? What is its underlying structure?”

Steven Saus presents Dealing with the “Professional” Problem posted at ideatrash, saying, “What does it mean to be “professional” anymore? Why do you care?”

Scott Marlowe presents ePublishing Predictions for 2013 posted at Scott Marlowe, saying, “Hopefully the content is still somewhat relevant! Thanks.”

Vicki Hudson presents Independent Creator – Publish an Online Newspaper posted at Vicki Hudson, saying, “Not often do I land on a site and experience a jaw dropping, “I wanna have one too” moment. Discovering how to create my own online newspaper did just that.”

James Moushon presents Indie Author: You Need a Helping Hand to Succeed posted at eBook Author’s Corner, saying, “Indie Authors shouldn’t do it alone. In fact, they should get all the help they can find. There are many fine support groups out there. In this post I interview 17 outstanding authors and get their opinions and insighta into why they use support groups.”

Jennifer Lynn Alvarez presents It Takes A Village to Create a Book posted at The Jennifer (Author) Diaries, saying, “Does a writer, like an athlete, need a team?”

Mark Coker presents Mark Coker’s 2013 Book Publishing Industry Predictions – Indie Ebook Authors Take Charge posted at Smashwords Blog, saying, “2013 promises to be an exciting year for indie ebook authors. In this epic post, Smashwords founder Mark Coker makes 21 predictions about the year ahead. What trends will shape marketing, pricing and retailing? Which retailer is poised to become the #1 sales generator for indie authors in the years ahead? Will Barnes & Noble survive? How will traditional publishers’ entry into Vanity publishing impact their future? What about ebooks in libraries? Click to learn the answers to these questions and more.”

Steven Saus presents The Old Boy’s Club in Writing and Publishing posted at ideatrash, saying, “I got a lot of flak for this article, largely from people who misunderstood it. This is about making your own connections, making your own success, making your own way instead of waiting for someone else – *anyone* else – to bring you into their “inner circle”. Rather than beg to be in the inner circle, you’ll have much more success making awesome things that have them begging *you*.”

Patty Jansen presents The tyranny of Amazon posted at Must Use Bigger Elephants, saying, “An illustration why going exclusive with any distributor is a very bad idea”

Richard Sutton presents Why Hisotrical Fiction? Isn’t It Boring? posted at Saille Tales, saying, “I make an attempt to answer why I have always enjoyed writing historical fiction.”

Brian LeTendre presents Writing Contests–Always Read the Fine Print posted at See Brian write., saying, “A post I made this week after almost submitting to a writing contest that would have me giving away rights to my work.”

Marketing and selling your books

Eric James presents 5 Great Reasons Writers Should Use a Pen Name (AKA Pseudonym) posted at SelfPubSuperstar, saying, “This could also be filed under ‘book design and production’ but I felt the category I chose was a little more appropriate.”

Simpsonsparadox presents Author, Publisher, Entrepeneur posted at Simpson’s Paradox

Joseph C. Kunz, Jr. presents 10 Amazing Low-Cost Ways To Market Your Book posted at Kunz On Publishing, saying, “Thank you very much.”

Joseph C. Kunz, Jr. presents 10 Basic Steps To Setting-Up Your Blog posted at Kunz On Publishing, saying, “Thank you very much.”

Joseph C. Kunz, Jr. presents 10 Reasons Self-Publishers Should Avoid Selling To Bookstores posted at Kunz On Publishing, saying, “Thank you very much.”

Dina Santorelli presents 5 Book Club Tips posted at Making ‘Baby Grand’, saying, “Thank you for the opportunity! :)”

C. S. Lakin presents 5 Things I Learned in My First Year of Self-Publishing posted at Live Write Thrive, saying, “This is the first of twelve posts all different indie authors sharing what they learned about marketing and publishing their books.”

Sarah Bolme presents It’s Not Just Price posted at Marketing Christian Books, saying, “How do Americans shop for books? What you need to know to be more effective in selling your books.”

Randy Ross presents Quick, Dirty Book Marketing: Stuff that Works posted at The Loneliest Planet, saying, “Here’s a quick overview of book marketing strategy based on things that have worked for me during the last six months. This article also suggests easy-to-use Web-based tools and a warning for users of Google’s Feedburner blog subscription tool.”

Nick Thacker presents Why Marketing to the Masses is Stupid posted at LiveHacked.com, saying, “How do you create something that has “mass appeal?” In a word (or two), you don’t. You can’t predict the trends, choices, beliefs, and preferences of a generation, much less a broad demographic. You can try to analyze past or current (arguably, still “past”) trends and create your art for that niche, but you’re still fighting an uphill battle.”

Self-publishing success

Shannon presents 3 Ways to Conquer Fear in 2013 posted at Duolit, saying, “Fear and doubt hold us back from achieving the self-publishing success we each know we deserve. Make 2013 the year you conquer those fears and meet your goals!”

Lindsay Buroker presents Kobo Becoming a Player for Self-Published Ebook Authors posted at Lindsay Buroker — Fantasy Author, saying, “A look at some of the improvements Kobo is making to increase their bottom line (and ours).”

Steven Saus presents Necessary, Sufficient, and Causality (or Adventures in Publishing) posted at ideatrash, saying, “We take (and give) a lot of advice on how to succeed. But really, there are so many variables to success that it’s important to remember the difference between necessary and sufficient… and what to focus on.”

Writing tools and tips

Sydney Bell presents 35 Blogs for Those that Aspire to Become Writers posted at Longhorn Leads, LLC, saying, “So, you want to become a writer, but you don’t know where to start. First and foremost, you need to write something, even if it’s just a journal or a blog, that way you can get the creative juices flowing.”

Dana Sitar presents 5 Ways to Keep Your Writing Fresh and Kickstart Your Creativity posted at DIY Writing, saying, “Guest blogger Erica Moss shares some awesome tips to help kickstart your creativity and freshen up your writing.”

Dana Sitar presents 5 Weird Ways to Find Inspiration for Your Writing [Infographic] posted at DIY Writing, saying, “This infographic is a brainstorming boost for your next writing project.”

Dana Sitar presents Are You Writing, or Are You Dreaming of Writing? posted at DIY Writing, saying, “Promise me you’ll try something new, today and every day! Put your words on paper, write your stories down. Don’t be a bartender with a dream. Don’t be trapped behind a counter with a movie playing in your head every idle minute and never share it with the world! Do not waste your life reading how-to books if you’re never going to do any of it.”

Alexander M Zoltai presents Is Counting Words An Important Part of Being A Writer? posted at Notes from an Alien, saying, “Is Word Counting Important for Writers?”

Bess Gilmartin presents Making Progress On Your Work-In-Progress: 8 Easy Ways to Finish Your Manuscript posted at GroggSpot

Bess Gilmartin presents Restaurant: Impossible, but Writing? Not So Much: 3 Lessons My New Favorite TV Show* Can Teach You About Writing posted at GroggSpot

Clark G. Vanderpool presents The Novelist and the Screenplay posted at SmudgedButLegible, saying, “I just finished a draft screenplay of my first novel (on spec). I worked on it as I completed my second book and now am writing a third. I found that the experience of learning about and writing a screenplay had some very positive affects, I believe, on my novel writing. Screenwriting isn’t easy, but it helps develop an understanding of what makes good writing.”

Bryan Thomas Schmidt presents Write Tip: Keeping Out The Intruders (Words) posted at Bryan Thomas Schmidt.net

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 to Tweet it, Share it on Facebook, Plus-1 it on Google+, and Link to it.

The next issue is February 24, 2013 and the deadline for submissions will be February 20, 2013.

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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