Welcome to this issue of the Carnival of the Indies blog carnival. This issue is for May, 2016. 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
Dave Chesson presents How to Title a Book posted at Kindlepreneur, saying, “There’s a lot of things that should go into your title construction. Check out this complete post on all steps including testing, validation and even free tools to help create bestselling ideas and grade your final choice.”
Carla King presents Comparing Reedsy & Pressbooks’ Online Book Creation Tools posted at BookWorks Blog, saying, “When Reedsy released their online book creation tool earlier this year I was naturally eager to geek out and give it a try. I’ve been creating books with the Pressbooks online book creation and publishing tool for years, which is based on WordPress and offers a lot of features. How does Reedsy compare, I wondered?”
Austin Hackney presents What Are the Differences Between Juvenile, Middle Grade and Young Adult Fiction? posted at Austin Hackney, saying, “For independents who are considering writing for any of these markets it’s crucial to have a definition in mind before you even begin to write, and certainly to clearly define what you’ve written before you begin to market it.”
Book Design and Production
Anne Hawkins presents A Quick Self-Publishing Checklist posted at Anne Hawkins Author Blog, saying, “There is a lot to think about as your self-publishing date approaches. Do you have a checklist to help you get it all done?”
Deanna Cabinian presents Five Ways to Ensure a Beautiful Book Cover posted at Deanna Cabinian, saying, “How you do get a great cover design? Here’s five steps to make sure your cover looks great.”
Indie Author
Claire Luana presents Host Your Book Giveaway in Five Easy Steps posted at Claire Luana, saying, “Thanks for considering my submission!”
Hanne Arts presents Why (Not) To Go for a Small Press When Publishing Your Book posted at Hanne Arts
Jenn Crowell presents Why I’m Relishing the Opportunity to Republish My Backlist posted at Fiction With Conscience and Heart, saying, “A twenty-year veteran of traditional publishing gets excited about going indie!”
Jennifer Rahrig presents Why bloggers aren’t reviewing your book posted at Knockin Books, saying, “Ever wonder why book bloggers have been turning down your review requests? It’s possible they’re just moody and mean and picking on you. It’s possible they’re grumpy and in a rejecting mood because of the price of the new Justin Cronin release. Or…and this might hurt to hear…it’s possible that you’re doing something (or multiple somethings) that’s causing reviewers to reject your book baby.”
Marketing and Selling Your Books
Austin Hackney presents What Are the Differences Between Juvenile, Middle Grade and Young Adult Fiction? posted at Austin Hackney, saying, “For independents who are considering writing for any of these markets it’s crucial to have a definition in mind before you even begin to write, and certainly to clearly define what you’ve written before you begin to market it.”
Clare Whitmell presents 10 Quick Marketing Fixes For Authors posted at PublishingSpark, saying, “You don’t always need a huge chunk of time to devote to marketing. Here are ten activities you can do (most taking only a few minutes) which can have a big effect on your sales.”
Erica Verrillo presents 8 Ways to Use Goodreads to Promote Your Book posted at Publishing … and Other Forms of Insanity, saying, “If you aren’t using Goodreads to promote your book, you are missing out on a valuable resource. Goodreads is perhaps the most powerful social network for authors looking to connect with readers. At 30 million members, it is the world’s largest site for book recommendations, with readers adding 30,000 reviews to the site every day. Learn how to use the Goodreads platform, and you won’t regret it.”
Frances Caballo presents How to Find Great Content Your Readers Will Love posted at SocialMediaJustforWriters, saying, “On social media, your reputation rests on the information you post. If you want to attract a following that looks forward to every word you write, every image your post, and every video you find or create, curate with care and with your readers in mind. As Lee Odden, of TopRank Marketing said, “Content isn’t King, it’s the Kingdom.””
Iola Goulton presents #TwitterTips: Nine Tips for Using Twitter posted at Australasian Christian Writers, saying, “Twitter is one of the most popular social networks, but is often filled with offputting and spammy buy-my-book posts. Here are 9 simple #twittertips to help new Twitter users get off to a good start.”
Michele Orwin presents Do Blog Tours Work? Three Worth Trying posted at Bacon and Books, saying, “Blog tours offer authors exposure for their books and the opportunity to reach readers they might not reach on their own. Here’s our experience using three different blog tour operators who were worth the cost.”
Miles Anthony Smith presents 11 Vital Video Camera Shoot Preparation Steps posted at Miles Anthony Smith’s Book Marketing Case Studies, saying, “Being in front of a camera tends to elicit trepidation, nervousness, and fear in the average person, much like speaking in front of a group of people. Despite the fact that there many online sources indicating that people are more afraid of speaking onstage than dying, most people would probably choose to speak in front of of a large group if they had a gun held to their head. But for many, being on camera isn’t much better than public speaking. Watch a few of Miles videos, then scroll down to uncover the 11 vital preparation steps to a successful video shoot and overcome your fear.”
Terry Whalin presents Social Proof Is Required for Experts and Teachers posted at The Writing Life, saying, “To be successful with selling your books, you must have the social proof behind it as an expert. How do you build such proof is explained in this post.”
Self-Publishing Success
Iola Goulton presents What Is Christian Fiction? posted at Iola Goulton, saying, “What is Christian fiction? It’s a simple question but doesn’t have a simple answer. Here are some tips to help you decide if your novel is Christian fiction … or not.”
Hanne Arts presents Why (Not) To Go for a Small Press When Publishing Your Book posted at Hanne Arts
Joseph C. Kunz, Jr. presents The 10 Commandments To Becoming A Financially Successful Self-Publisher posted at Kunz On Publishing, saying, “There are now so many companies on the internet devoted to helping you publish your first book. Most will cost you a substantial amount of time and money. But by doing your own research about how to self-publish your own book, you should not have any trouble making a quality book that sells on the major book-retailer websites. So, with that said, here is my list of the ten fundamental truths of self-publishing to help alleviate your first-timer fears about self-publishing. These commandments should help you avoid wasting time and money on your way to publishing your first book.”
Penny Sansevieri presents Tips to Make a Goodreads Impression posted at BookWorks Blog
Robin Cutler presents Indie Authors: Think Like a Publisher! posted at BookWorks Blog
Sabrina Ricci presents What Makes a Book Successful? A Case Study of 4 Bestselling Books posted at Digital Pubbing, saying, “At first glance these four books, The Rabbit Who Wants to Fall Asleep, The SheepOver, The Girl on the Train, and Henna House, may not seem to have much in common. What’s interesting about them though is how they became best seller books.”
Writing Tools and Tips
Jenn Crowell presents An Open Letter to Writing Bloggers posted at Fiction With Conscience and Heart, saying, “In my open letter to writing advice bloggers, I tackle the important subject of writing about mental illness with tact and sensitivity.”
Joseph C. Kunz, Jr. presents 37 Tips For Writing A Book’s Foreword posted at Kunz On Publishing, saying, “Here is a list of 37 tips to help the person that is going to be writing the foreword for a book. This list is written simply as a way to help the author of the foreword, and the author of the book, to understand the basic elements of a helpful and insightful foreword. It does not matter if the foreword’s author is a celebrity, or big-shot, or whatever. They have an obligation to their own readers and followers, also to the readers of this new book that they are writing for foreword for, and also to the book’s author, to write a helpful and honest foreword.”
K.M. Weiland presents One Major Pitfall of Writing Strong Characters posted at Helping Writers Become Authors, saying, “Writing strong characters will bring your book to life–but it can also lead to the mistake of leaving out one of your character’s most interesting traits.”
Kate Tilton presents What Level of Editing Do You Need? posted at Kate Tilton, Connecting Authors & Readers, saying, “After that first draft is finally written, an author experiences an incomparable elation, followed almost immediately by blind panic. The cause of the panic? Editing. At a glance, you might think cost and timing are the most important factors when approaching this phase of the publishing process. And you’re right, but there is another factor involved that affects both of those factors: the level of editing needed. This is a question most often asked and generally hardest to answer. Because of the nature of the work, editing is done in “passes.” So to answer the big question, I need you to understand the purpose of each “pass.” Use this article to learn about each “pass” and which you might need for your book.”
Kate Tilton presents When (and How) to Tell Your Editor No posted at Kate Tilton, Connecting Authors & Readers, saying, “What do you do if you have no intention of taking your editor’s advice? Editor Jessica West has the answer.”
Michele Ceres presents Source of Inspiration: Dani Shapiro posted at The Possibility Box, saying, “If you worry you lack the discipline to write and self-publish your book, this insight I found recently in “Still Writing” from Dani Shapiro might help.”
Peter Rey presents The art of descriptions, or pink flowers and stories posted at Peter Rey – my musings on the craft of writing, saying, “Sometimes the way our mind works can be tricky. And this is definitively the case for descriptions. I mean, if I said: “Don’t think of pink flowers,” the first thing you would think of would be, quite reasonably, pink flowers.”
Just for Fun
Brendan Brown presents The Surprising Day Jobs of 20 Famous Writers posted at The Expert Editor, saying, “You have to start somewhere, even if you’re a future best selling author.”
Lucy Jonkers presents The Author Behind the Pseudonym posted at Jonkers Blog, saying, “The infographic does what it says on the tin, looking at the pen names of famous authors as well as the reasons behind the names. While some might be familiar, such as J.K Rowling writing as Robert Galbraith, others are bound to be less so. For example, did you know that Oliver Twist’s author was originally cited as Boz, while the authorship of The Price of Salt (the novel on which the film Carol is based) remained a mystery for almost 40 years?”
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 June 26, 2016 and the deadline for submissions will be June 15, 2016. 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
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