Self-Publishing: Carnival of the Indies Issue #8

Welcome to this issue of the Carnival of the Indies blog carnival. This issue is for May, 2011. 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

Cathi Stevenson presents Image Desperation: The Kiss of Death for Independent Publishers posted at Book Cover Design, saying, “One of the biggest mistakes an independent publisher can make is ‘image desperation.’ That’s when a publisher is so desperate to have an image, any image, that he or she will ‘make do’ with completely unsuitable photos or amateur illustrations that virtually shout, ‘self-published.'”

Jane Friedman presents 5 Key Research Sites You May Have Missed (Plus Cool Tricks) posted at There Are No Rules. “Google’s search engine can rank poor-quality content very highly just because the site has good SEO (search engine optimization). Recently, Google adjusted their search algorithm to help control for this, but the problem’s still there. So I wanted to share a few resources to increase your awareness that stuff besides Google exists. ”

Tony Eldridge presents Can Twitter Really Help You Sell Books? | Book Marketing Strategies and Tips For Authors posted at Book Marketing Strategies and Tips For Authors, saying, “This post comes from a reader via a comment on my post explaining how RSS feeds work. He asks, “Could you do something similar for Twitter because I just don’t get it? How can somebody follow 5,000 people? What use is that? How can Twitter help you sell books?”

Ebooks and ebook readers

Lindsay Buroker presents Pricing Your Ebook at 99 Cents: Pros and Cons posted at E-book Endeavors, saying, “A look at some of the advantages and disadvantages of pricing your ebook “as low as you can go.”

Eldon Sarte presents Practical eBook Copy Protection Ideas posted at Wordpreneur.

Indie Author

Fiona Leonard presents The Top 10 Reasons Why I Took Six Years to Write My Book posted at A Fork in the Road.

Lindsay Edmunds presents What indie publishing is like: I’m a Fool posted at Writer’s Rest, saying, “This post is fanciful, not profound. It features a metaphor for indie publishing inspired by “I’m a Fool,” an episode of PBS’s American Short Story Collection.”

Allan Douglas presents What Value, the Editor! posted at The Write Stuff, saying, “Even as indie authors we still have a responsibility to produce the best work we can for our readers.”

Alexander M Zoltai presents When A Manuscript Turns Into A Book ~ Very Strange posted at Notes from An Alien.

S.D. Livingston presents The Flow (and Ebb) of New Indie Books posted at S.D. Livingston.

Marketing and Selling Your Books

Thomas Burchfield presents Unfinished Business #8: Other Mistakes That Weren’t Made posted at A Curious Man, saying, “Last Sunday, I delivered what I hope will be the first in a series of readings and speeches to promote my novel Dragon’s Ark at the monthly meeting of the California Writers Club-Berkeley Branch. It all went all right.”

Mike Sprouse presents Book Marketing – What Strategy Authors Ignore posted at Open Mike, saying, “Author’s know that writing your book is very difficult. But marketing your book can be just as tough! Find out what the one strategy is, which most author’s ignore, that can kick-start your marketing without breaking the bank!”

Dana Lynn Smith presents Why Your Facebook Friends May Not See Your Updates and What To Do About It posted at The Savvy Book Marketer.

Helen Gallagher presents Book Country: Penguin’s author site and print-on-demand posted at Release Your Writing.

Sue Collier presents 7 social media marketing mistakes made by authors (and others) posted at Self-Publishing Resources.

Adam Charles presents Our Beta eBook Competition – Upload to Win! posted at iWriteReadRate.com Blog, saying, “Our new ebook site for indie authors and avid readers this month. We’re in Beta now, and this relates to our competition to win a c£500 (c$800) professional MSS report by being one of the first 75 indie authors to upload. Look forward to seeing you!”

Writing Tools and Tips

O.C. Heaton presents Do you have a Memory Palace? posted at A Rush of Green, saying, “Here’s a question for all authors out there. Do you ever struggle to remember the characters in your books? What about those incidental characters, created on the hoof?”

Nick Daws presents The Best Writing Forum in the World? posted at Nick’s Writing Blog, saying, “This is an unashamed plug for my forum at myWritersCircle.com, but it also sets out the benefits for any author of joining an online forum.”

Bryan Keithley presents Don’t Be a Punctuation Punk posted at Ascentive, saying, “Good writers are committed to improving their craft. You really never stop learning how to write better, more clearly, and more concisely. And that’s why it’s sometimes nice to go back to the basics. You know, do a little soul searching, ask yourself the big questions. How about this one: What the heck is punctuation good for, anyway? In this week’s post we discuss punctuation and how to use it?”

Isabel Anders presents The Idea Factory | BlogHer posted at BlogHer.

How to Take Part in the Carnival of the Indies

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 below to Tweet it, Share it on Facebook, Link to it! The next issue is June 26, 2011 and the deadline for submissions will be June 20, 2011. 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