Self-Publishing: The Carnival of the Indies Issue #87

POSTED ON Dec 31, 2017

Joel Friedlander

Written by Joel Friedlander

Home > Blog > Self-Publishing, Social Media > Self-Publishing: The Carnival of the Indies Issue #87

By Joel Friedlander

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

publishingGlenn Miller presents Your Novel’s Future: How AI Will Bring Your Book to the World posted at Career Authors, saying, “Advances in AI are changing the rules for every industry – including ebook publishing. Before you finish your next book, its audience may increase by billions, thanks to sudden improvements in machine translation and narration. Here’s how to prepare.”

bloggingAmy Collins presents Millennials’ Reading Habits and Why They Matter posted at BookWorks Blog, saying, “BookWorks Book Retail & Libraries Expert, Amy Collins, reviews the latest data about millennials’ reading preferences and how they impact indie publishers.”

ebooksRicardo Fayet presents The Complete Guide to Ebook Distribution posted at The Reedsy Blog, saying, “Since Pronoun shut down, I’ve been receiving a ton of questions about ebook distributors. So I decided to spend a couple of weeks investigating aggregators and retailers and devising a distribution setup that would reach the most stores. The main value can be found in the spreadsheet listing the 65+ retailers you can reach through the main aggregators, and in the infographic detailing my recommended distribution setup.”

Indie Author

Alexander Zoltai presents Which Is Really Best ~ #TraditionalPublishing or #SelfPublishing ? posted at Notes from An Alien.

Alma Alexander presents A back door into magic posted at Alma Alexander: Duchess of Fantasy, saying, “I am both an indie and conventionally published author of more than a score of books, most of them fantasy. I blog weekly about writing/publishing matters.”

Brad Graber presents If You Enjoy Crossword Puzzles…You Should Write a Novel posted at There, I Said It!, saying, “The ten things that I’ve learned after the debut of my award-winning novel, The Intersect. It just might make you smile.”

Carla King presents As the Sun Sets on Pronoun, Evaluate Alternatives posted at BookWorks Blog, saying, “BookWorks Tech Expert Carla King examines the demise of Macmillan’s Pronoun self-publishing platform, reviews the alternatives, and shows authors how to retrieve their data before the Jan 15th deadline.”

Deanna Cabinian presents What I Learned From Being Rejected By Amazon’s Kindle Scout posted at Deanna Cabinian, saying, “Does taking part in Kindle Scout help sales? I’m undecided.”

Jay Artale presents Why Indie Authors Are Entrepreneurs posted at Self Publishing Advice Center, saying, “What is an entrepreneur, a creative entrepreneur, an author-entrepreneur? Do all indie authors fall into this category? And what does it take to combine art and entrepreneurship, craft and commerce, into a successful author enterprise?”

Karen Conlin presents Hiring and Working With Editors: Do’s & Don’ts posted at BookWorks Blog, saying, “Indie book editor Karen Conlin shares her top do’s and don’ts that authors should consider when hiring and working with editors.”

Lois Hoffman presents Be Thankful for Writing posted at The Happy Self-Publisher, saying, “The upcoming holiday season brings gratitude, joy and an opportunity to celebrate life with those you love. It is the time of year to express our thankfulness for family, friends, opportunities, progress, and yes, writing. As a blogger, writer, or author, you love to write! So, you should always be thankful for writing, right?”

Terry Whalin presents Five Ways to Organize Your Writing posted at The Writing Life, saying, “Prolific author, Terry Whalin writes, “If I take time to get organized, I’ve discovered my writing is more focused and less distracted and I become more productive.””

Marketing and Selling Your Books

Doris Heilmann presents How to Make MORE Money as a Writer posted at SavvyBookWriters, saying, “Publishing might raise two questions: How can you wring the most royalties out of your book, and how can you make even more money from other ways of writing to quit your full-time job?”

Erica Verrillo presents Why You Need an Author Profile – And Where to Post It posted at Publishing … and Other Forms of Insanity, saying, “Author profiles are useful for several reasons. First, anyone who has enjoyed your novel will want to find out more about you. And second, your fans will want to read other books by you. Third, profiles provide an avenue for engagement with readers.Your profile isn’t just who you are, it’s who your readers think you should be. Here are some tips for how to write a profile, and where to put it.”

Frances Caballo presents Use GIFS to Ignite Your Book Marketing posted at Social Media Just for Writers, saying, “GIFS are all the rage. You see them on Twitter, Facebook, email newsletters, and virtually wherever you turn your attention to on the internet. Experts will tell you that the only way to stop your followers from scanning a Twitter newsfeed is with a GIF. Actually, GIFs are so eye-catching that wherever you use them, people will stop, smile, and replay the GIF a second or third time – at least. You can also use GIFs for book marketing. You just need a sense of humor and a dash of ingenuity.”

Iola Goulton presents Blogging for Authors | 11 Tips for Writing a Great Post posted at Christian Editing Services, saying, “Marketing. It’s the part of writing and publishing that authors enjoy least (well, most authors). Blogging is one low-key way of marketing, and in this post I share 11 tips for writing a readable (and shareable) blog post.”

Nate Hoffelder presents 8 Ways For Authors to Waste Their Money posted at The Digital Reader, saying, “If there’s one thing in shorter supply than time, it’s money. While there are many ways for authors to invest their limited capital,here are eight things authors should not waste money on.”

Penny Sansevieri presents Grow Your Author Success Story in 10 Action Steps posted at BookWorks Blog, saying, “BookWorks Marketing Expert Penny Sansevieri outlines the 10 steps to put into action now if you’re serious about growing your author success story.”

Sarah Bolme presents Five Trends Authors Should Know for 2018 posted at Marketing Christian Books, saying, “A new year is right around the corner. Each year, it gets harder to attract attention for any given book. The number of books produced each year is growing faster than the population rate is growing—while the average time spent reading daily is decreasing. Marketing is essential to engage readers’ attention for your books. To keep your book marketing activities effective and relevant, you should be aware of these five important trends as we move into 2018.”

Self-Publishing Success

Frances Caballo presents Twitter Lists & Other Social Media Tips for Authors posted at BookWorks Blog, saying, “BookWorks Social Media Expert Frances Caballo shares her top social media tips for authors including how to create Twitter Lists.”

Louise Harnby presents Should a writer hire a freelance editor before submitting to an agent? And should editors accept the work? posted at The Proofreader’s Parlour, saying, “The Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi) has partnered with an agency because it believes that indie authors can benefit from representation too. If you’re unsure where to invest your editing budget prior to agent submission, here’s some guidance to set you on the right path.”

Writing Tools and Tips

Karen Conlin presents How Well Do You Understand Register in Writing? posted at BookWorks Blog, saying, “Guest contributor, Indie Author Editor Karen Conlin, explains how using the correct/consistent register in your writing, reveals your characters & intent to your readers.”

Louise Harnby presents Mixed signals: Why you shouldn’t mix British and American English in your novel posted at Lisa Poisso, saying, “Amazon has been known to warn authors and even remove books from sale because of ‘errors’ concerning mixed American vs British English. It’s an important detail for professionally published books. Here’s how to keep things on track.”

Michele DeFilippo presents How a Developmental Edit Can Save Your Book posted at 1106 Design, saying, “A developmental editor is a great option for busy professionals who want to write a book to support their career or business growth. Not to be confused with a ghost writer, a developmental editor can rescue a manuscript or work along side the author as the book is written. Either way, a developmental edit is a fruitful collaboration between author and editor to produce a fabulous book that meets the author’s goals.”

Nick Daws presents Some Thoughts on Turning Work Down… posted at Entrepreneur Writer, saying, “In this post I share my thoughts about those times when as a freelance writer you have to consider turning work down, and set out my own strategies for handling these situations.”

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 January 28, 2018 and the deadline for submissions will be January 15, 2018. Don’t miss it!

Here are all the links you’ll need

Joel Friedlander

Written by
Joel Friedlander

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