Self-Publishing: The Carnival of the Indies Issue #86

POSTED ON Nov 26, 2017

Joel Friedlander

Written by Joel Friedlander

Home > Blog > Self-Publishing, Social Media > Self-Publishing: The Carnival of the Indies Issue #86

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

publishingHelen Sedwick presents Sales Tax Basics for Indie Authors posted at BookWorks Blog, saying, “BookWorks Legal Expert Helen Sedwick helps authors navigate the complicated and confusing rules about collecting sales tax with these basic guidelines.”

Frances CaballoFrances Caballo presents Sometimes You Have to Break the Rules on Social Media posted at Social Media Just for Writers, saying, “In the past, I’ve recommended strict rules about social media use. Don’t argue politics. Stick to neutral topics. Be aware of your readers’ differing opinions. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I’ve not only broken my own rules, I’ve shattered them. Yes, you heard me correctly.”

Kate SullivanKate Sullivan presents Finding Your Ideal Audience: A Step-by-Step Guide [Book Marketing Series Part 1] posted at Your Writer Platform, saying, “Once you’ve written the book, you need to find readers for it. And as tough as the writing process may have been, figuring out how to attract, connect with, and convert potential readers into adoring fans can seem intimidating. In part 1 of this book marketing series, we’ll explore how you can build your audience step-by-step, starting with figuring out who that ideal audience is in the first place!”

Book Design and Production

David Bergsland presents InDEsign CC adds some good stuff for book designers posted at The Skilled Workman, saying, “Finally, InDesign has added some more useful features for those of us using it for all our book production. A new option for ePUB sidebar conversions. You can also strip the HTML clean for Web developer use. There’s some good stuff.”

Nate Hoffelder presents How to Design a Fantasy or SF Book Cover With Canva in Five Minutes or Less posted at The Digital Reader, saying, “With a little bit of work, authors can make their own book cover using Canva.”

Indie Author

Alexander Zoltai presents Why Traditional Publishing Is Not for Serious Writers . . . posted at Notes from An Alien.

Deborah Jay presents Authors, do you use beta readers? Editors? I have a guilty secret… posted at Deborah Jay Author, saying, “Some rules are made to be broken.”

Lars Emmerich presents Even Snowflakes Follow The Rules posted at Kobo Writing Life.

Mark Coker presents Smart Author Podcast Launches with First Four Episodes posted at Smashwords blog, saying, “A free masterclass in ebook publishing presented by Mark Coker.”

Robin Storey presents Finding Your Tribe posted at Storey-Lines, saying, “Indie author Robin Storey discusses the meaning of tribes and why she loves to hang out with her tribe at writer’s conferences.”

Terry Whalin presents When You Can’t Locate an Individual’s Phone Number… posted at The Writing Life, saying, “Are you struggling to find someone’s phone number or mailing address? Terry Whalin reveals a resource with this information.”

Marketing and Selling Your Books

Barbara Studham presents Self-publishing posted at Author, Barbara Studham, saying, “Self-publishing go hand-in-hand with self-promotion. For most self-publishers promotion involves more effort and energy than expected, and it carries its own pitfalls, as you will read in my blog post. No matter, the mistakes, keep writing and promoting. Your book is worth the effort. Barbara”

Belinda Griffin presents 640+ killer ways to promote your book posted at SmartAuthorsLab, saying, “This is the ultimate list of book marketing ideas. There are some truly valuable book marketing ideas out there when you know where to look and I’ve done the searching so busy authors don’t have to. These are all fantastic book promotion tips from experts who really know their stuff.”

Erica Verrillo presents Book Fairs: Are They Worth It for Indie Authors? posted at Publishing … and Other Forms of Insanity, saying, “Are book fairs worth it for self-published authors?”

Frances Caballo presents Social Media Content Tips for Authors – What to Post posted at BookWorks Blog, saying, “BookWorks Social Media Expert Frances Caballo shares social media content ideas for authors who wonder what to post besides “buy my book”.”

Glenn Miller presents Every Career Author Needs a Domain Name posted at Career Authors, saying, “All authors – even unpublished fiction writers – need a domain name. It’s quick, cheap, and easy. Here’s all you need to know.”

Glenn Miller presents The Only 3 Times You Should Ever Tweet “Buy my book!” posted at Career Authors, saying, “Twitter is good for plenty of things: building community, listening to the marketplace, keeping your readers informed. What it’s not good for is tweeting “Buy my book!” Except for these three times.”

Heather Day Gilbert presents Five Ways to Touch Your Favorite Author’s Heart posted at Heather Day Gilbert, Author Blog.

Iola Goulton presents 5 Lessons Learned from Getting My Twitter Account Suspended posted at Christian Editing Services, saying, “I recently had my Twitter account suspended – as did other current and pre-published indie authors. Here’s what happened, what I learned”

Louise Harnby presents How to market your book and build your author platform using a chatbot: Part 1 – Facebook comments posted at The Proofreader’s Parlour, saying, “This article walks you through how to build a Facebook chatbot campaign to promote your book, engage with readers, expand your fan base and put a smile on people’s faces!”

Sarah Bolme presents How Visuals Affect Purchasing Decisions posted at Marketing Christian Books, saying, “Advertising photographs are airbrushed. Oranges are dyed “orange” and farm-raised salmon are dyed pink to make them more appealing to shoppers. Visual appeal affects what we buy. Check out these interesting statistics.”

Yesenia Vargas presents What Social Media is Actually For (Most Authors Get This Wrong!) posted at WriterMom, saying, “A lot of authors spend way too much time on social media, trying to find new readers and increase book sales. Here’s why that’s a mistake and what social media is actually effective for.”

Self-Publishing Success

Joseph C. Kunz, Jr. presents Do We Write Books For “Financial Success” Or “Critical-Acclaim”? posted at Kunz On Publishing, saying, “Do we write books for profit alone, or to gain favorable approval from others? Or is it a combination of both? Is money more important than fame? Does fame guarantee a stream of income? These questions are a good place to start to understand why we do what we do, and how we can, or should, be defining our own success as self-publishers.”

Penny Sansevieri presents Know Your Genre, Know Your Reader, Be a Fan posted at BookWorks Blog, saying, “BookWorks Marketing Expert Penny Sansevieri advises authors to fully immerse themselves in their genre as fans and become experts if they want to achieve success.”

Writing Tools and Tips

Beth Camp presents Excerise Yourself: Digging Into Deep Revision posted at Beth Camp: Historical Fiction and More, saying, “This article takes a hands-on approach to ‘deep revision’ — with strategies to use at any stage in writing. Thank you for considering my article. Beth”

Lisa Poisso presents How to be a better writer: Using a growth mindset to hone your craft posted at The Proofreader’s Parlor, saying, “The gestation period of a nascent novelist is ridiculously lengthy. Turning out enough practice novels to effectively grasp the form demands more time and patience than many aspiring authors are willing to give. What if you could accelerate the learning curve with one-on-one feedback from an editor or writing coach? You can—if you come into your edit with a growth mindset.”

Lisa Poisso presents Picking Editors: Can We Combine Steps (and Save Money)? posted at Jami Gold, saying, “If only it were practical to hire an editor to “give everything a quick once-over—and let me know if you spot any plot holes along the way.” The problem is that different types of editing zero in on entirely different areas of your book. There are only certain ways you can fit these very different services together into a single compatible process.”

Yesenia Vargas presents My Absolute Best Tips for Outlining Your Novel & Creating a Story That Works posted at WriterMom, saying, “This is what I wish I knew when I was writing my first novel (or two). Don’t leave your readers feeling like something is wrong or missing with your book. Find out how to make sure it leaves your readers wanting more before you even start drafting.”

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 31, 2017 and the deadline for submissions will be December 15, 2017. Don’t miss it!

Here are all the links you’ll need

Joel Friedlander

Written by
Joel Friedlander

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