Self-Publishing: The Carnival of the Indies Issue #90

POSTED ON Mar 25, 2018

Joel Friedlander

Written by Joel Friedlander

Home > Blog > Self-Publishing, Social Media > Self-Publishing: The Carnival of the Indies Issue #90

By Joel Friedlander

Welcome to this issue of the Carnival of the Indies blog carnival. This issue is for March, 2018. 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

bloggingBelinda Griffin presents How to Analyze Your Competition and Create Your Own Author Success posted at kindlepreneur, saying, “This is my guest post for Dave Chesson’s Kindlepreneur on learning from other successful authors.”
 
 
bloggingC. S. Lakin presents Telling the Truth, But Not Quite – the Autobiographical Novel by Barry Fox posted at Live Write Thrive, saying, “It’s a common problem. You’re eagerly writing the story of your life from beginning to end when suddenly you get to that jerk you’d love to omit—you know, the ex-spouse from hell, maybe the sibling you haven’t spoken to in decades, or some other diabolical character. All this raises an important question: Is fibbing allowed in autobiographies? The quick and firm answer is no. However, deviating from the truth is expected in the autobiographical novel.”

bloggingLaurence O’Bryan presents Opinion: Sell Your Books, Not Your Soul – with Collaborative Digital Marketing by Laurence O’Bryan posted at Self-publishing Advice from the Alliance of Independent Authors, saying, “Why the new way forward with book marketing is to focus on other authors rather than on selling your own books – a fresh approach from Laurence O’Bryan, founder of the successful BooksGoSocial service”

Indie Author

Alexander Zoltai presents Being Enspelled . . . posted at Notes from An Alien.

Chris Kridler presents Do you need a copy editor – and are you ready for one? posted at Sky Diary: The Blog, saying, “Everyone needs an editor. The question for indie authors is: What kind of editor, and am I ready for one? While professional copy editing is essential for a quality book, the truth is that you have work to do before enlisting an editor’s help. You are your first editor, and even after a copy edit, your work on your book isn’t done.”

John Doppler presents Indie Author Self-Defense: Piracy, Plagiarism, and Impersonation (Part 1 of 3) posted at Self-publishing Advice from the Alliance of Independent Authors, saying, “Piracy: every indie author’s nightmare. Here is practice advice on how to identify and combat it, and reassurance that it’s not the end of the world as we know it. First in a three-part series by ALLi’s Watchdog, John Doppler”

Deborah Jay presents 4 steps to writing your Amazon book blurb – notes from #20BooksLondon posted at Deborah Jay Author, saying, “It’s always worth re-visiting our Amazon sales copy to tweak or change it to be more effective, and this was one of the topics covered at the recent 20BooksLondon conference, so I thought it worth sharing my notes.”

Lois Hoffman presents Crowdfunding Your Book posted at The Happy Self-Publisher, saying, “Publishing a book is comparable to launching a business – you need start-up funds! You invested great amounts of time writing, and the finished product should represent the depth of your effort. Whether you choose to partner with a self-publishing company or go at it alone, consider an alternate, ever-popular money-raising option: Crowdfunding your book project.”

Louise Harnby presents Macros for fiction editors and authors posted at The Proofreader’s Parlour, saying, “There are tools to help the busy self-publisher identify sentence-level inconsistencies in a book. And while macros will never replace the human eye, it makes sense to bring them into the self-editing mix.”

Louise Harnby presents Self-publishing? Why the last thing you need is a proofreader posted at The Proofreader’s Parlour, saying, “If you’ve finished the drafting process and are preparing your book for market, the last thing you need is a proofreader. Literally. Because while the terminology can become tangled, no one in the industry disagrees about the order of play.”

Marketing and Selling Your Books

Jay Artale presents How Writers & Authors Use Reddit to build their network by Diane Kollman posted at Birds of a Feather Press, saying, “Reddit is known as “the front page of the internet” because it is a forum where people discuss current events and every topic imaginable. Here is a great, short video introduction to Reddit. For writers, Reddit can be an incredible tool for connecting with other writers, receiving critiques, asking for advice, and promoting one’s work.”

Andromeda Huff presents Stacking free promotions to replicate BookBub results posted at Writer Mom Life, saying, “In this guest post on Writer Mom Life, Kayla Tirrell outlines her strategy for stacking free promotions in order to replicate the results of the ever elusive BookBub. With this creative apprach, she got some impressive numbers for a similar price.”

Dave Chesson presents Amazon Book Promotion: How to Make It Work for You posted at BookWorks Blog, saying, “Guest contributor Dave Chesson of Kindlepreneur shares his top tactics for running a successful Amazon book promotion including pros & cons of Kindle Unlimited.”

David McGowan presents Tips for Building Keyword Lists for Amazon Advertising posted at David MCGowan Author, saying, “Here’s a piece on getting the maximum amount of keywords and other products to target on Amazon. I hope this is helpful to everyone trying to get their books noticed on the world’s most popular e-book selling site!”

Orna Ross presents Opinion: Why Running a Creative Business Is Not A Contradiction in Terms posted at Self-publishing Advice from the Alliance of Independent Authors, saying, “This is an inspirational piece from Orna Ross, founder of the Alliance of Independent Authors, aimed at coaxing indie authors who are reluctant to market their books into doing so more effectively by taking the same creative approach to marketing that they do to their writing.”

Frances Caballo presents Book Marketing and Facebook Advertising with Ricardo Fayet posted at Social Media Just for Writers, saying, “In this video, Ricardo Fayet discusses book marketing and spends a great deal of time explaining how to use Facebook advertising.”

Glenn Miller presents What Book Marketing Is – and Isn’t posted at Career Authors, saying, “Everyone knows that marketing is begging – which is why we hate it. Why it drains our soul. But marketing is something else entirely.”

Nate Hoffelder presents How to Delete Your Twitter Timeline (and Why You Should) posted at The Digital Reader, saying, “Twitter can be a great way to connect with fans, but there’s no way to tell how what you said yesterday or last year might be misinterpreted and used against you. This fate has befallen many, and you can keep it from happening to you by automatically deleting your oldest Twitter with one of several online tools.”

Penny Sansevieri presents Authors: Don’t Put All Your Eggs in the Facebook Basket posted at BookWorks Blog, saying, “BookWorks Marketing Expert Penny Sansevieri confronts the recent Facebook algorithm changes, advising authors to diversify and build their own marketing platform rather than rely just on Facebook or other social media.”

Sarah Bolme presents Overcoming Roadblocks to Marketing posted at Marketing Christian Books, saying, “The numbers vary, but they are usually small. The average nonfiction book sells around 250 copies per year and around 2,000 copies over its lifetime. The vast majority of indie published books sell far fewer than 200 copies over their lifetime with one large self-publishing house sales averaging 41 copies per title published.”

Sophie Anderson presents Effective Ways to Market Your Self-Published Book Online posted at Carmine Proofreading, saying, “Here I share some useful tips to help sell your novel after you’ve self-published it, using the internet as a marketing springboard!”

Terry Whalin presents Tap Into the Power of Asking posted at The Writing Life, saying, “Are you tapping into the power of Asking with your Marketing? Prolific author and editor Terry Whalin gives insights about this important & priceless resource.”

Self-Publishing Success

Amy Collins presents Figuring It Out: POD Book Cost & Net Profit Comparisons posted at BookWorks Blog, saying, “BookWorks Book Retail Expert, Amy Collins, compares POD book cost and net profit for both IngramSpark & CreateSpace to help indie authors figure out what they might make on each book they sell.”

Chris Well presents Media-Friendly Author Website Content – Part Three posted at BookWorks Blog, saying, “BookWorks Media & Publicity Expert Chris Well completes his 3-part series on media-friendly author website content by outlining the specific media materials and authority content you must have.”

Joseph C. Kunz, Jr. presents Is A Large Platform Critical For An Author’s Success? posted at Kunz On Publishing, saying, “Creating a huge platform with many thousands of followers might seem like the most obvious way to achieve success. But, there’s more to it than that. A huge email list, and huge Twitter and Facebook following, are all great, and are always an accomplishment to strive for. But, the quality of those followers is what’s really important.”

Kate Haigh presents Process flow for a manuscript posted at A Proofreader’s Blog | Kateproof.

Kristina Adams presents 6 Self-Publishing Myths That Need to Die posted at The Writer’s Cookbook, saying, “There are so many myths that still surround self-publishing. It’s time to set the record straight.”

Writing Tools and Tips

Amanda Linehan presents Writing Is Courageous posted at Amanda Linehan.

C. S. Lakin presents Keys to Moving Your Plot Forward posted at Live Write Thrive, saying, “If your scenes aren’t “advancing the plot,” you have a serious problem. Each scene should reveal some new information, but not just anything—the information needs to help move the plot forward. The bottom line? Every scene must have a point to it or it shouldn’t be in your novel. Here are 5 essential components your scenes need to have in order to “advance” your plot.”

Carla King presents Tech Tools for Writers Roundup from BW Tech Expert Carla King posted at BookWorks Blog, saying, “BookWorks Tech Expert Carla King shares her top tech tools, apps & sites that are indispensable for authors, writers, indie publishers, and consultants.”

Erica Verrillo presents Costs for Editing a Self-Published Book posted at Publishing … and Other Forms of Insanity, saying, “If you are thinking of self-publishing your book, you will need to get your manuscript edited before you put it on the market. Every writer needs a second pair of eyes (and frequently a third), because there are always mistakes. These can range from simple grammar and spelling errors, to internal logic (your character is drinking coffee, and two lines later is sipping tea), to structural problems. Editing can catch all these errors. But unless you know an editor who is willing to work for free, you will have to pay for this essential service. Learn what kind of editor you need, and how much editing costs.”

Erica Verrillo presents How to Edit Your Own Manuscript posted at Publishing … and Other Forms of Insanity, saying, “You’ve written the last line of your book, and you have that expansive euphoria that comes with a job well done. An almost uncontrollable urge to share your accomplishment with the world washes over you. You want to show your new book to your friends, family, the universe – or, God forbid, immediately self-publish. Don’t do it. Before you can show your manuscript to anybody, much less publish, it needs a good going over. Here are some tips that will help you save time and money before you send your manuscript to a professional editor.”

Karen Conlin presents Spellcheck Cannot Save You! Know English Grammar Rules posted at BookWorks Blog, saying, “BookWorks.com’s Indie Editor at Large weighs in on the necessity for writers to learn and use English grammar rules (and yes, there are rules) in her new monthly column.”

Lisa Lawmaster Hess presents Not Writing is Not an Option posted at The Porch Swing Chronicles.

Lisa Poisso presents Be a More Effective Reader: Learn to read like a novelist posted at Lisa Poisso, saying, “I’m not quite sure why people who don’t read imagine that they’d like to write a book. If I succeed at nothing else as an editor and writing coach, I hope that I inspire non-reading clients to pick up a book and see what they’ve been missing.”

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 April 29, 2018 and the deadline for submissions will be April 15, 2018. Don’t miss it!

Here are all the links you’ll need

Joel Friedlander

Written by
Joel Friedlander

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