Self-Publishing: Carnival of the Indies Issue #1

Welcome to the Inaugural issue of the Carnival of the Indies blog carnival. This issue is for October, 2010. We welcome your submissions on topics related to writing, self-publishing, book design or marketing books.

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. 34 submissions were received, and 20 are included in this edition. We’ve picked out three that really stood out to be our first Featured Bloggers. Here they are, and thanks to everyone who participated.

Featured Posts

John Sundman presents Travelling Geek Self-Publisher Blues: The Defcon Variations posted at Wetmachine, saying, “Story of how I sold 350 books over three days at the largest hacker convention on earth, with other observations on selling books on the road.”

Michael N. Marcus presents a long and detailed post accompanied by several original photographs Impressions of Self-Publishing Book Expo. But first, read about the same venue 40 years earlier posted at Book Making.”

Debbie Mack presents Debbi Mack—Stumbling into Indie Publishing posted at Scott Nicholson.

Book Design & Production

Andy Skinner presents Astrojammies posted at Demibooks, saying, “Astrojammies is an interactive children’s book for iPad, written and illustrated by Stacey Williams-Ng, and developed by Demibooks Inc. We’re keeping a detailed blog of the creative process and technologies used in bringing it to life..”

Belinda Kroll presents Media Mail and CreateSpace posted at Worderella Writes, saying, “The trials of self-publishing through CreateSpace and the realities of media mail.”

Carol Vertz presents 10 Things to Consider Before Self-Publishing posted at Liberal Arts Colleges.

Nick Vandermolen presents Nick Vandermolen Website, Vandermolen on the Digital Publishing Revolution posted at Nick Vandermolen Website, saying, “Follow the future of publishing at @NanBuNanBooks.”

Ebooks & Ebook Readers

Mary Tod presents So Many Options – What’s a Writer to do? posted at One Writer’s Voice, saying, “A perspective on ebook technology with questions for writers and others to consider..”

Marketing and Selling Your Books

Joanna Penn presents How Authors And Writers Can Build An Email List For Marketing posted at The Creative Penn, saying, “Hi Joel, thanks for organising this! Joanna.”

Dana Lynn Smith presents Gain Visibility with Reviews on Amazon.com posted at The Savvy Book Marketer.

Mayowa presents Self Published Authors: What Can Social Media Really do For You? posted at Pens With Cojones.

Sarah Bolme presents Creative Funding for Publishing a Book posted at Marketing Christian Books.

Jamie DeBree presents Passive Marketing posted at Beyond the Words, saying, “Ideas for getting a book into the public eye using subtle methods..”

Jason Letts presents Why Some Indie Authors Are Successful (And Many Aren’t) posted at Powerless Book Blog, saying, “Enjoy! Just a few of my observations on self-published fiction authors and internet forums and blogs..”

John Kremer presents The Long Tail in Writing and Marketing of Your Books posted at Book Marketing Bestsellers: Promoting books to a worldwide audience. Book Promotion Blog!, saying, “The Long Tail in Writing and Marketing of Your Books.”

Self-Publishing Success

John Sundman presents Self-publisher sells out! How and why I sold my novel to Underland Press posted at Wetmachine, saying, “11 years after self-publishing my first novel Acts of the Apostles, I sold the rights to it to hot new indie Underland Press.”

Julia M Lindsey presents The #1Thing You Must do Before You Write a Book! posted at Our Little Books.

Writing Tools & Tips

Cheryl Anne Gardner presents POD People: Forgot to Take My Meds Part Deux — c.anne.gardner posted at POD People.

Donna Marie Williams presents Jumpstart Monday // writer’s procrastination posted at The Celebrity Editor, saying, “Procrastination is more stress-inducing than doing the actual work!.”

Lindsay Samuels presents 10 Emerging Book Genres You’ve Probably Never Heard Of posted at Library Science Degree, saying, “Literature, as with other creative pursuits, exists as one of the most diverse outlets for human expression available. The following emergent genres or subgenres have garnered a fair amount of attention over the past few years. Some have been around for a while. Some have recently sprouted from preexisting movements, lately postmodernism..”

How to Take Part in the Carnival of the Indies

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. The next issue is November 27, 2010 and the deadline for submissions will be November 20, 2010. Don’t miss it! Here are all the links you’ll need:

The original announcement post
Carnival of the Indies web page
Submit your article here
Bloggers, grab your official Carnival of the Indies Badges here
Follow Carnival of the Indies on Twitter
Subscribe to The Book Designer Blog