This Week in the Blogs, July 6 – 12, 2019

By Shelley Sturgeon

How’s your weekend going? Hope you can find time to read this week’s selection of articles from some of the best self-publishing and writing blogs on the web. And, don’t forget that submission’s for this month’s Carnival of the Indies blog carnival need to be received by July 15th.

Victoria Strauss on Writer Beware
From Writer Beware’s Files: The Seven Most Prolific Vanity Publishers (Plus Two Honorable Mentions)
“Vanity publishers, unfortunately, are not in short supply. Writer Beware’s files include hundreds of them, large and small. But there’s a select few about which we hear over and over, via writers’ questions and complaints. These companies reel in not dozens, not scores, but hundreds and even thousands of writers, doing business on an industrial scale.”

Nathan Bransford on Nathan Bransford
How to write good jacket copy
“One of the most important tasks you’ll tackle when you’re self-publishing is coming up with a good description that will make someone want to buy your book. Here’s how to write good jacket copy.”

Steven Spatz on Bookbaby Blog
How Three Self-Published Authors Found Mainstream Success
“Although it seems like a pipe dream to many self-published authors, over the last few decades, a variety of independent writers have gone on to experience mainstream success on a big scale.”

Nate Hoffelder on The Digital Reader
Ten Free Online Image, Graphic, and Photo Manipulation Tools
“Image editing used to be something that required a dark room, expensive chemicals, and scissors. Later all that was replaced by expensive apps, but it is now 2019 and a lot of image editing can be done with free online tools (or free offline tools like GIMP).”

Dan Holloway on Self-Publishing Advice Center
Self-publishing News: Who Owns Your Books?
“People who bought ebooks through Microsoft’s online library (apparently there were some!) lost access to them this week.”
 
Photo: pixabay.com