This Week in the Blogs, December 29, 2012 – January 4, 2014

This is an interesting time of the year, because writers are looking forward toward the new year while looking back over the year just past, both at the same time. And why not? Transitions are when energy starts to move in new directions, and that can be very good for entrepreneurial authors. Drink deeply from the well of awesome blogging, and enjoy!

Mark Coker on Smashwords
2014 Book Publishing Industry Predictions – Price Drops to Impact Competitive Dynamics
“In a world where readers face an unlimited quantity of high-quality low-cost works, the writers who achieve the most success will be those who take their readers to the most emotionally satisfying extremes. Books are pleasure-delivery devices. It doesn’t matter if you’re publishing a cookbook, romance novel, gardening how-to, memoir or political treatise. Your job as the indie author is to write that super-fabulous book. That involves great writing and professional-quality editing. It also means avoiding all the mistakes that create unnecessary friction that prevent readers from discovering, desiring and enjoying the book.”

Amy and Dara on Wise, Ink
50 Websites Every Author Should Bookmark in 2014
“Throughout this year, we’ve done the hard work … of bookmarking every site that we used or came across that you need to check out in 2014. The ones with stars are editor’s choice–the sites that we use all the time and have found superb for authors.”

Orna Ross on ALLi
Self-Publishing and The Power of Creative Intention
“One wide ranging study found that almost 90% of people break New Year’s resolutions. What’s more significant is that research consistently shows that those who do make resolutions are more successful in creating what they want than those who don’t. Taken together, these statistics add up to a picture of poor creative skills, with the vast majority of people failing to create what they want through resolution. If you’re looking for a better way, you’ll find it in creative intention“.

Joe Konrath on A Newbie’s Guide to Publishing
Konrath’s Resolutions For Writers
“Every December I do a post about resolutions for writers, and every year I add more of them.”

Chris Robley on The BookBaby Blog
How printing your book can help you get a book deal
“There’s another reason why you might want to consider printing copies of your book before its official launch: getting a book deal! … BookBaby’s very own Scott McCormick and RH Lazzell created a picture book about a cat named Mr. Pants, printed a few copies, took it to a writers conference, showed it to some literary agents, and got a deal with Dial Books (an imprint of Penguin). Well, it wasn’t quite as simple as that, but I’ll let Scott tell the story.”

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