By Joel Friedlander
Welcome to this issue of the Carnival of the Indies blog carnival. This issue is for January, 2019. We welcome your submissions on topics related to writing, self-publishing, book design or marketing books.
Editor’s Note: This is the 100th edition of The Carnival of the Indies, and we will be taking note of the long history of this blog feature in an article on February 4th. Watch for it.
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
Jay Artale presents Which Amazon KDP ebook royalty rate should I choose? posted at Birds of a Feather Press, saying, “This article looks at the financial implications of including images in your ebook, and shows you how to calculate the breakeven point between using the 70% and 35% royalty rates to compensate for KDP file size charges. It also helps you to decide whether you should include images in your book, and if so, how many.”
C. S. Lakin presents A Time to Write and a Time to Not Write posted at Live Write Thrive, saying, “The seasons of writing and refraining from writing. Just as there is “a time to plant and a time to reap, a time to laugh and a time to weep,” there is a time to write and a time to not write. Understanding the reasons for the seasons will help you to not feel guilty when you aren’t writing.”
Doris-Maria Heilmann presents 10 Reasons Why Authors Should Stay INDEPENDENT posted at SavvyBookWriters, saying, “Authors would be wise to sell their books not only through Amazon but as well on other online book retailer websites, to have their “eggs in more than one basket”. Either directly or with the help of one or more international distributors – who also can issue it to libraries and countless independent bookstores.”
Book Design and Production
Glenna Collett presents Text variables in InDesign: why and how posted at Book Design Made Simple, saying, “Though the text variables feature has been a part of InDesign just about forever, we only discovered it recently. It has so much potential for automating a book designer’s work that we just needed to explore it more—and then share the power with everyone else.”
Lisa Poisso presents File names that show your manuscript revision status posted at Clarity: Tools and Skills for Authors, saying, “When you first started writing, you may not have counted on generating the two dozen variations of your book now enthusiastically mating inside the directory folder for your novel. What you need is a file naming system that consistently identifies the most recent version of your manuscript and tells you what stage of editing or revision it’s in.”
Sarah Bolme presents Are You Using Publishing Industry Standards? posted at Marketing Christian Books, saying, “Standards. Every industry is governed by standards. These are a set of criteria within an industry that defines the standard functioning and carrying out of operations. The publishing industry has standards. Anyone involved in publishing and selling books should be aware of these standards.”
Indie Author
Cate Baum presents Self-Publishing Review is Ten Years Old! An Interview with Founder Henry Baum posted at SPR.
Geoff Hughes presents The Short Story About Publishing Success posted at The Write Stuff | Madhouse Media Publishing, saying, “New writers sometimes try too hard too soon. Going for the great big novel straight out of the gate is a bit like learning 3 major chords on guitar and trying your hand at a Miles Davis jazz improvisation. You’ll start with a burst of enthusiasm but ultimately run out of puff. Short stories are a more achievable goal for new fiction writers. Mastering the short story form is a way to practice your writing craft.”
Lisa Lawmaster Hess presents Elegy (of Sorts) for a Laptop posted at The Porch Swing Chronicles.
Nicky Bond presents I’m Not a Fan of Admin… posted at Nicky Bond and Writer’s Ramblings, saying, “Writing my books is the easy bit. Completing all the admin that follows, is the hard (also boring) part. As I’m now at the post-creation/pre-publication stage of my second novel, I felt the need to collate some of the non-creative tasks with which I’ve been filling my time. I’m a UK author, so the information tends to be location specific. However, I’m sure the feelings of frustration in the face of the technical parts of the book-making process, know no geographical borders.”
Marketing and Selling Your Books
Amy Collins presents Your 2019 Book Marketing Plan, Month by Month posted at BookWorks Blog, saying, “BookWorks.com presents a month-by-month book marketing plan by Amy Collins of New Shelves Books that will boost sales and build your author platform.”
Brianna Barcena presents he Key to an Effective Social Media Strategy for Writers posted at The Digital Reader, saying, “Whether you’re a writer of nonfiction — blogs, articles, technical and nonfiction writing — or an author of books and fiction, you know how important it is to be active and engaged on social media. It might seem like a headache or a chore to keep up with so much when you’d rather be spending your time working on your writing, but there are some easy ways to make your social media efforts both efficient and even fun. Here are some tips for a successful social media strategy.”
Chris Well presents Media Networking via Social Platforms for Author Publicity posted at BookWorks Blog, saying, “BookWorks.com’s Media & PR expert, Chris Well, shares advice on how authors can use social platforms for media networking to target their pitches.”
Frances Caballo presents 20 Pinterest Accounts to Follow if You’re an Author posted at Social Media Just for Writers, saying, “Which Pinterest accounts do you follow? I tend to follow accounts that fall within my interests. For example, I love to collect images of bookstores, bookshelves, and libraries, so I follow people who have similar boards. But I also like to follow other authors. I’ve also been thinking about Pinterest a lot lately because it’s been so long since I’ve written a post devoted to this search engine.”
Lisa Poisso presents Will your novel sell? posted at Clarity: Tools and Skills for Authors, saying, “How do you know if you’ve written a salable novel? You’ll find no handhold on that question until you can effectively describe what you’ve written.”
Sarah Bolme presents Your Second Most Important Marketing Tool posted at Marketing Christian Books, saying, “As an author or publisher, this is important information. Don’t underestimate the power of book reviews. If you want to sell books, you need reviews.”
Terry Whalin presents Quitting Your Day Job posted at The Writing Life, saying, “A first-time author asked Acquisitions Editor Terry Whalin when they could quit their day job. After thinking about it, Terry wrote four insights.”
Will Entrekin presents Seven Tips for Building Better Book Descriptions posted at Exciting Press Updates.
Self-Publishing Success
Carole P. Roman presents Notes from the Field: The Advantages to Having an Imprint posted at BookWorks Blog, saying, “BookWorks.com indie authorpreneur Carole P. Roman shares her experience with, and the advantages of, creating an imprint for her self-published titles.”
Dave Chesson presents Book Cover Design for Your Author Brand: Name Placement posted at BookWorks Blog, saying, “BookWorks.com’s Author Branding expert, Dave Chesson, lists 4 rules of thumb for author name placement on book cover design to avoid amateur pitfalls.”
Nate Hoffelder presents 4 Tips For Authors in Public. How to Overcome Your Fear of Being Seen posted at The Creative Penn, saying, “Whether you are an introvert or extrovert, putting yourself out there can be scary, but at the same time, it is also crucially important. You need to step out of your comfort zone and go meet people where they are because waiting for them to come to you will stifle your career. here are four steps you can take to overcome your fears.”
Writing Tools and Tips
Amanda Linehan presents How To Never Get Writer’s Block posted at Amanda Linehan, saying, “Avoid writer’s block by allowing your inspiration to come through you, rather than resisting it.”
Daphne Gray-Grant presents 13 ways to prevent overwork from affecting your writing posted at The Publication Coach, saying, “Given the time of year, many people are probably swimming in one or other end of the pool: the shallow one, in which they experience guilt or regret about NOT having new year’s resolutions, OR the deep end in which they’re fighting the I-can’t-do-this-anymore monster who wants to drown them. To both groups of people I say: Be sure NOT to consign too much work to yourself. The “formula” for writing (if I can call it that) does not operate on a strict volume in = volume out ratio. In order to write, you need to be relaxed and restored. This is not the same as being lazy! Instead, it’s about recognizing that creative work requires, well, creativity. If you work too hard, you’re likely to make it more difficult for yourself to write. This blogpost contains 13 practical suggestions for how to keep overwork from spoiling your writing.”
Deanna Cabinian presents Finding Time to Write posted at Deanna Cabinian, saying, “Balancing writing with a day job and other obligations can be challenging but there are strategies that can help.”
Iola Goulton presents 9 Keys to Writing Your First Novel posted at Christian Editing Services, saying, “I regularly see social media posts from aspiring fiction authors looking for tips on writing their first novel. Here are my tips.”
Zara Altair presents Suspects: The Spice of Life in Your Mystery posted at Write Time, saying, “Vivid suspects enrich your mystery.”
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, Link to it!
The next issue is February 25, 2019 and the deadline for submissions will be February 15, 2019. Don’t miss it!
Here are all the links you’ll need
- Have something to share with our community? Submit your article here
- The original announcement post
- Carnival of the Indies web page
- Bloggers, grab your official Carnival of the Indies Badges here
- Follow Carnival of the Indies on Twitter to get deadline reminders
- Subscribe to The Book Designer Blog
