Spring is the season of renewal and rebirth, part of the primordial urge to create, and to procreate. Our own protean authors, pundits, commentators, bloggers, and other industry observers have plenty to say about creation, too. Start this week with a stirring call to indie authors—your tribe awaits you.
Mark Coker on Smashwords
Indie Author Manifesto
“Where once self publishing was viewed as the option of last resort – the option for failed writers and an option marked by stigma and shame – self publishing is increasingly viewed as the option of first choice for many writers. Over the next couple years I think we’ll reach a point where more first-time writers aspire to indie-publish than traditionally publish. Indie authors are the cool kids club.”
Sabrina Ricci on Digital Pubbing
Indie Authors: Pricing Your Ebooks
“Pricing an ebook may be one of the hardest pieces of marketing when self-publishing. After writing, editing, proofing, designing, packaging, promoting, and uploading to distribute, the next step is to decide how much to charge. Most people say it’s best to experiment with pricing, either by price pulsing or even just changing things up every few months to see what works best.”
Shari Stauch on Where Writers Win
How to Host a Virtual Book Party
“On Tuesday April 1, I held a virtual book party to celebrate the release of my second novel, Ye Gods! A Tale of Dogs and Demons. Virtual, meaning the party took place online, on a Facebook Event page.”
Ruth Harris on Anne R. Allen’s Blog …WITH RUTH HARRIS
How to Make the Bestseller Lists: Why Categories and Keywords Matter
“Readers know what they like and what they want. Categories help them find what they’re looking for whether it’s the latest in steamy romance, a classic, time-tested bestseller or a gardener’s guide to growing petunias in Petaluma.”
Leona DeRosa Bodie on Molly Greene: Writer
PubSmart 2014: One Author’s Perspective
“I could go on about the many returns on my PubSmart investment, but I’ll focus on this: what did the conference creators accomplish? They leveled the playing field. They dared to introduce a new authorpreneurship conference model, one never done before, that shouted to the rooftops self-publishing is just as legitimate a route to success as is traditional.”
Learn Scrivener Fast Training Special Offer
Joseph Michael, The Scrivener Coach, has reduced the price on his fantastic, video-based Scrivener training course for a few more days for my readers, and you should definitely check out the free training videos he’s posted to see just how simple he can make this powerful but challenging software tool.
I’m about halfway through the full course, and working on a special section of lessons Joseph put together specifically for bloggers.
One of the things I learned was a great way to use Scrivener to organize both published and draft posts, something I’ve struggled with for years. It’s going to save me a ton of time.
Now I’m starting to use the markdown language in drafting my blog posts, too. I never paid much attention to markdown until I saw that Joseph had included a whole series of lessons, making it very simple to pick up.
I’ll be writing more about markdown in future posts, but believe me, as someone who produces a lot of content for online publication, it’s an incredible tool that’s cutting my “drudgery” time considerably.
Check out the page where Joseph has all these videos, and remember: if you want to take advantage of the special pricing and my offer of a $37 coupon you can use on Book Design Templates, you have to act by Monday.
Here’s the link: Webinar replay, free training videos, and big discounts on Scrivener training
Photo: bigstockphoto.com. This post contains affiliate links.
