Deep in the summer, but the media coverage isn’t the only thing heating up. From big media to small, indie publishing is a hot topic. We start off with an indie’s take on Independence Day, some formatting help, the growth of e-books, advice from a pro, and a novelist who used self-publishing to leap to his goal.
But then, take in the bonus round of big media coverage in recent days. It’s a long summer weekend, relax and enjoy.
Judith Briles on The Book Shepherd
What is Independence in the Author and Book Publishing Worlds?
“The independent author is one that has stepped away from the traditional publishing format that has been shaped by New York. The Publishing Siren has beckoned and the writer has decided to pursue the path doing it solo.”
Jen Blood on Blood Writes
Interior Book Design for the Dirt Poor and Graphically Challenged
“This week, I take on interior book design for those who don’t have the budget for a professional formatting program like Adobe InDesign, providing links, instruction, and free resources for indie publishers formatting their books in MS Word.”
Mark Coker on Huffington Post
E-Reading Device Ownership Doubles in Six Months, Says Pew Internet Project
“I predict it’s only a matter of time before one of the major e-reading device makers offers consumers a free e-reading device tied to a low-cost monthly subscription plan. Such a service would further accelerate the growth of dedicated e-reading devices.”
Bob Mayer on Write It Forward
If I Were a Newly Self-Published Author, What Steps Would I Take To Succeed?
“Understand that there is no secret handshake. No miracle answer that will break you out next week. If there were, everyone would be doing it. The key is to what everyone isn’t going to do. Which is stick around for the long haul.”
Jim Jewell on Seattlest
Seattle Author Boyd Morrison Makes Leap From Self-publishing to Bix 6
“In early 2009, Morrison was building a website with the intention of making his novels available for free download (a strategy that has paid dividends in the music industry) when he learned that Amazon.com was allowing authors to post unpublished work to their Kindle store. Morrison made the leap.”
Bonus Round: Posts You Shouldn’t Miss
GalleyCat: Best Book Publicists on Twitter
Salon.com: A new self-publishing success story emerges
BBC News: The rise of the indie author
New York Times Magazine: Amanda Hocking, Storyseller
Guardian.co.uk: How self-publishing came of age
David Goughran: JK Rowling Really Is Self-Publishing: A Closer Look
Blog Notes
Attentive readers may remember that two of the books from Marin Bookworks were finalists in the Ben Franklin Awards. Well, they both won Silver Medals, and I want to offer congratulations to both Tom Millea (Photography) and Suzanne Saxe-Roux and Jean P. Roux (Self-Help).
More Blog Notes
This week my blog was added to the best aggregation site on the internet, Alltop.com. The brainchild of Guy Kawasaki Alltop curates the blog feeds of the most informative sites on the internet, making recent articles available in a customizable page of your own devising. It’s far and away the best curated feed on the most topics I know of, and I’m really pleased to be included there.
If you need to keep track of lots of news streams, Alltop is your secret weapon. Using the hover feature, that shows the first 100 or so words, you can cruise an amazing number of sources in a short period of time.
Photo by Sam Howzit
