Self-Publishing: Carnival of the Indies Issue #50

POSTED ON Nov 30, 2014

Joel Friedlander

Written by Joel Friedlander

Home > Blog > Self-Publishing, Social Media > Self-Publishing: Carnival of the Indies Issue #50

Welcome to this issue of the Carnival of the Indies blog carnival. This issue is for November, 2014. 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

Belinda-PollardBelinda Pollard presents The brutal truth about beta readers posted at Writing and Self Publishing Tips, saying, “I get so many requests for fast and easy ways to find good beta readers to critique our manuscripts. For me, the truth is that we need to spend time building relationships–in person or via social media platforms and blogs. In this article, I go through the steps I took to put together my own beta reader team.”

Sarah BolmeSarah Bolme presents Being Socially Responsible posted at Marketing Christian Books, saying, “What you need to know in marketing to the Millennial generation. If you are trying to market your books to (them), I encourage you to take notice of the fact that corporate social responsibility is extremely important for this generation.”

Benjamin SobieckBen Sobieck presents Is Kindle Scout Worth the Risk? For Me, Yes posted at The Digital Reader, saying, “No one knows yet whether Amazon’s new crowd-sourcing platform is good or bad for authors, but I think it’s worth a shot.”

Book Design and Production

Andrè Klein presents What’s The Best Software For Writing Ebooks? posted at LearnOutLive, saying, “Instead of looking for the perfect all-in-one solution for creating ebooks, this article suggests to look at the ebook production process in distinct stages, where you pick your favorite tool for each individual stage.”

Ron Callari presents Venerable Frankfurt Book Fair Now Includes Indie Authors posted at Ron Callari’s BookWorks’ Blogs, saying, “As an indie author, if you weren’t convinced up till now self-publishing was a legitimate path of endeavor, perhaps the acknowledgement of an internationally recognized book event will change your mind. On the heels of the New York Comic Con welcoming self-publishers for the first time this year, the prestigious Frankfurt Book Fair 2014 has also opened its gates.”

Ebooks and Ebook Readers

Angela Quarles presents Epub Coding: Making that first line small-capped with some CSS-fu posted at Angela Quarles – geek girl romance writer, saying, “Come CSS code that will not only style your opening line, but do it without attaching a class to it, saving time and repetition.”

Indie Author

Meg Stivison presents Virtual Book Tour: Syncing Forward posted at Simpson’s Paradox

Nate Hoffelder presents How Soon Will the Majority of Books Be Self-Published? – That’s the Wrong Question posted at The Digital Reader, saying, “Publishing Perspective recently asked their readers to speculate on how long it will be until self-published books were the majority, but I think that is the wrong question. The more important question is what will happen after they are the majority.”

Sabrina Ricci presents Indie Authors: Working with Beta Readers posted at Digital Pubbing, saying, “Beta readers are amazing. They can help find plot holes, grammar mistakes, and other issues with manuscripts. They help save you time and money with editing. And they are part of your fan base, and a great first marketing step for a book.”

Steven Saus presents I Wish It Was “Or What?!”: Vanity Publishing Has Found Kickstarter posted at ideatrash, saying, “Unfortunately, authors of all kinds can still succumb to these kinds of pay-to-play practices, whether they’re indie or traditional (or a hybrid of the two). While Kickstarter has provided a nice platform for us all to work together with our readers, the vanity publishers have started to move in. Always remember: Value flows toward the author.”

Marketing and Selling Your Books

Cathi Stevenson presents Buzz Around The Web (part 3) posted at Publishing Blog

Debby Gies presents Shout outs and Sharing posted at DGKayewriter.com, saying, “I wrote this article to educate those who aren’t well-versed in the importance of using social share buttons.”

Frances Caballo presents Indie Authors’ FAQ on Publishing & Marketing posted at Social Media Just for Writers, saying, “In this post, I tackle questions that authors often ask me about pricing an eBook, blogging and how to boost sales.”

Kate Tilton presents Us vs. Them: Authors vs. Readers posted at Kate Tilton, Connecting Authors & Readers, saying, “This article focuses on the us vs. them mentality that has popped up between authors and readers/reviewers after the Hale incident. This article encourages authors to support reading and avoid this devastating mentality.”

Kate Tilton presents Us vs. Them: Taking Sides in the Publishing War posted at Kate Tilton, Connecting Authors & Readers, saying, “Publishing is going through a major transition. And with change come great new innovations, ideas, and creativity – but also bad blood: the us vs. them mentality. This article covers the downsides of this mentality and encourages authors to avoid it.”

Livia Blackburne presents Marketing My Traditionally Pubbed Novel With a Self Pubbed Novella: Lessons and Observations posted at A Brain Scientist’s Take on Writing

Martin Crosbie presents Five Free Methods Of Exposing Your Book to Readers posted at Martin Crosbie, saying, “Hi Joel, I thought this might interest your followers. thanks, Martin”

R.J. Adams presents An Actionable Plan For Finding New Readers posted at Book Marketing Tools Blog, saying, “No theory here… just a step-by-step guide to help authors have an actionable plan for reaching out and finding new readers.”

Self-Publishing Success

Carla Douglas presents Where Are the Self-Pubs in Educational Publishing? posted at Beyond Paper Editing, saying, “In education, digital—from ebooks to tablets to online and blended learning—is making its presence known. But the self-publishing revolution that accompanied the digital disruption of the wider publishing industry doesn’t appear to have hit education yet.”

Ron Callari presents Self-Publishing Book Expo Enters Sixth Year posted at BookWorks Blog by Ron Callari, saying, “This post is the third in a series of book publishing events that should have indie writers excited about finally getting their just due. From New York Comic Con, to the Frankfurt Book Fair, these established fairs and expos have finally expanded their programs to include topics on self-publishing. However, neither carries the ‘exclusive’ focus as the Self-Publishing Book Expo, now in its sixth year.”

Writing Tools and Tips

Alexander Zoltai presents Helping Youth Write Stories Through A Game :-) posted at Notes from An Alien, saying, “Ever used a game to help you write a story?”

C. S. Lakin presents Creating a Strong Voice in Your Novel posted at Live Write Thrive, saying, “I’ve heard various definitions of what “voice” is in a novel, and it is often referring to a writer’s writing style. I do not embrace that definition, and I’ll explain why. First, writing style is writing style. It is not tone or voice. It’s the way you put words together to create sentences. It is the choice of words you use and how you convey your ideas and characters and dialog. Voice is something entirely different. Voice is all about characters—not about you. Read this post to learn just what voice is, and thus end your confusion!”

C.K. MacLeod presents A Tool for Distraction-Free Writing posted at Tech Tools for Writers, saying, “Are you in need of distraction-free writing sessions? How old-school tech can help.”

Ian Martyn presents Writers and all that advice. posted at Ian Martyn – Science Fiction Author, saying, “As indie writers we are bombarded with advice and writing ‘rules’. In this blog I look at those I have been given / found that I live by as a writer.”

Kyoko M presents Things The Dresden Files Taught Me About Writing posted at She Who Writes Monsters, saying, “I started reading this series last summer and I have learned so much from it in just one year. It’s an amazing teaching tool for urban fantasy authors as well as fiction authors in general, and it also helps that it’s an absolute joy to read.”

Lidy Wilks presents Give Me Desire, Show Me Fear posted at iheartsyories

Michael Coorlim presents Coorlim’s Guide to NaNoWriMo 6: Pomodoro posted at Michael Coorlim’s Blog, saying, “It’s a productivity tip. Part of a series targeted towards NaNoWriMo participants, but useful to any writer.”

Russell Phillips presents Using Regular Expressions To Find Common Errors – a guest post by Russell Phillips posted at Andrew Knighton Writes, saying, “Regular expressions are like search and replace on steroids. Instead of finding simple strings of text, regular expressions provide a way to find patterns within the text. This post shows how to use regular expressions to find common grammatical mistakes, and includes several examples.”

Stefanie Newell presents Write A Book For Kids That Sells! A Formula That Works! posted at The Write One Blog

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+, Link to it!

The next issue is December 28, 2014 and the deadline for submissions will be December 15, 2014. Don’t miss it!

Here are all the links you’ll need

Joel Friedlander

Written by
Joel Friedlander

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