Self-Publishing: Carnival of the Indies Issue #80

POSTED ON May 28, 2017

Joel Friedlander

Written by Joel Friedlander

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Welcome to this issue of the Carnival of the Indies blog carnival. This issue is for May, 2017. 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

bloggingMichael Bungay Stanier presents Exactly how I self-published my book, sold 180,000 copies, and nearly doubled my revenue posted at GrowthLab saying, “Writing a book is a long, lonely, and oftentimes unsuccessful endeavor. My “instant success” was anything but. The Coaching Habit was the result of four years of floundering, rejection, and toil. So you don’t make my mistakes, allow me to share everything I used to vault my book from idea to bestseller.”

bloggingSarah Bolme presents Start with Why, Not What posted at Marketing Christian Books, saying, “A professional artist recently shared the following statement on Facebook: “People who are good at selling stuff tell me I need a story. That people buy the story, not the art. Well, here’s my story: I’m a guy who likes to paint. The end.” He’s right. Marketing experts are pushing “the story” when it comes to selling things.”

self-publishingJordan Smith presents How I Went From One Sale in February to 100+ Sales in March posted at Fix My Story, saying, “In this post, I walk through start to finish what I did to go from one sale in February to 143 sales in March.”

Book Design and Production

Nate Hoffelder presents 14 Sites for Making a Spectacular Book Cover posted at The Digital Reader, saying, “A book’s cover is often the first thing a reader sees when they find your book for the first time. You never have a second chance to make a first impression, so here are fourteen sites you can use to make a spectacular cover.”

Tyler Doornbos presents The Insider’s Guide to Author Websites: Set Your Foundation posted at BookWorks Blog, saying, “BookWorks web lead Tyler Doornbos shares insider intel on what makes for successful indie author websites with “Set Your Foundation”, Part 1 of a 3-part series.”

Indie Author

Lois Hoffman presents Intuition and how we view each other posted at The Happy Self-Publisher, saying, “Do you ever have that nagging feeling about something? You go down a path you’re not sure you should go in search of love or money, recognition or acceptance. Whether the ultimate goal is realistic, desired, or even justified, you have a sense you’re on the wrong path. That’s your intuition talking to you. Intuition is with us all the time. You’ll make decisions because of it and despite it. You’ll get a feeling about someone the minute you meet them and decide whether you trust them or not. And people are looking at us, too.”

Terry Whalin presents Take Action in the Midst of Your Writing Fears posted at The Writing Life, saying, ““Do one thing every day that scares you.” ― Eleanor Roosevelt . Terry gives three steps for every writer to take. And remember, it will not fly, if you don’t try.”

Marketing and Selling Your Books

Chris Well presents Author Bios | Ultimate Guide to Creating an Author Media Kit (2 of 10) posted at Build Your Brand Academy, saying, “Your digital press kit needs to include author biographies–yes, plural. In this article, you’ll learn what they are, what the media expects from them, and how to write your own. There will also be some examples, a couple of key points, and a few things to avoid. I’ll also share why Superman was on hand when my girlfriend and I got engaged–and why that story doesn’t appear in my author bio.”

Dave Chesson presents Ebook Piracy and How to Fight Back! posted at Kindlepreneur, saying, “If you Google your book title, you’ll probably find a site or two that claims to be giving your book away for free. Check out how to figure out if it is worth going after, and how to take them down big time if need be. Plus, find out how to Google slap them and hurt their business legitimately with this article.”

Frances Caballo presents BuzzTrace: New Social Media Software Review posted at BookWorks Blog, saying, “BookWorks Social Media Expert Frances Caballo reviews BuzzTrace, a new social media management app that helps authors track and optimize their SM efforts and grow their platform.”

Frances Caballo presents The Way We Think About Social Media Is Broken posted at Social Media Just for Writers, saying, “When you first write a book and brave the waters of social media, what are you thinking about? Be honest. I know what I was thinking. Sales. Readers. Clients. It’s a mistake that we all make. We’re enthusiastic. We believe we just wrote the best book ever and we’re eager to turn all those hours we labored over every sentence into something tangible: green dollars. Or euros. Or maybe we’re more altruistic. What we want is for people to enjoy our book, appreciate our craft. Regardless of our goals, what we don’t want to see is our books fail to reach people, right?”

Joseph C. Kunz, Jr. presents Understanding The 3-Stages Of The Buying Cycle Can Improve Your Book Sales posted at Kunz On Publishing, saying, “Helping book shoppers, and your current followers, though the 3 stages of the buying cycle can dramatically improve your chances of making more book sales. If you understand what these 3 stages are about, and where the book shoppers are in that cycle, you will be able to fine-tune your marketing efforts and make them more effective and improve your book sales. Here is a quick explanation about the 3 stages of the buying cycle.”

Penny Sansevieri presents Sell More Books on Amazon’s International Author Central Pages posted at BookWorks Blog, saying, “BookWorks Marketing Expert, Penny Sansevieri, tells authors how they can sell more books by taking advantage of Amazon’s International Author Central pages.”

steven erlick presents Twitter Facebook Linkedin Google+ How and why ebook authors should be using these to promote themselves posted at Ebook Publishing Consultancy.

Self-Publishing Success

Gary Smailes presents Self-Publishing vs Traditional Publishing: Which Is Better? posted at BubbleCow Blog, saying, “A long article looking at the book publishing landscape.”

Helen Sedwick presents 5 Legal Myths That Writers Still Fall For, Debunked posted at BookWorks Blog, saying, “BookWorks Legal Expert, Helen Sedwick, debunks the 5 most persistent legal myths that authors still fall prey to about copyright and more.”

Sandra Hutchison presents Can You Think Like a Publisher? posted at Women Writers, Women’s Books, saying, “Still deciding about self-publishing? Sandra Hutchison reviews some pros and cons you may not have considered.”

Writing Tools and Tips

Alexander Zoltai presents For All Those Folks Who Thought They Could Never Finish a Novel… posted at Notes from An Alien.

Katie McCoach presents What To Do After Writing The First Draft of Your Novel posted at KM Editorial, saying, “You’ve finished the first draft of your novel, now what? Here are tips for revising and publishing the best version of your story!”

Martin Cavannagh presents Creating a Dynamic Character for your Novel or Short Story posted at Reedsy, saying, “A resource to help authors create compelling protagonists and write stories that focus on character. To make it a bit more fun, there’s also a lovely infographic that illustrates some of the more common dynamic character types, using well-known examples.”

Mikhaeyla Kopievsky presents Rinse & Repeat – the Four Act novel structure posted at Mikhaeyla Kopievsky, saying, “A new approach to story structure that breaks a novel into four acts, each comprising variants of the same five core elements”

Victoria Noe presents Self-Care for Writers: Put Yourself First posted at Victoria Noe.

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 June 25, 2017 and the deadline for submissions will be June 15, 2017. Don’t miss it!

Here are all the links you’ll need

Joel Friedlander

Written by
Joel Friedlander

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