Welcome to this issue of the Carnival of the Indies blog carnival. This issue is for April, 2012. We welcome your submissions on topics related to writing, self-publishing, book design or marketing books.
This is a collection of articles recently posted to blogs, and which were submitted for the Carnival this month.
See the end of this post for links to submit your blog posts for the next carnival, and for participating Bloggers and Featured Bloggers to grab your sidebar badges—wear them with pride.
And thanks to everyone who participated.
Featured Posts
India Drummond presents Cover Art: Tips for the Do-It-Yourselfer posted at The Writer’s Guide To E-Publishing, saying, “This was a guest post I was asked to write for WG2E because I’d written a series of articles on my own blog about hiring a cover designer.”
Sylvia Liu presents Book Creator for iPad: The Easiest E-book Publishing App You’ll Find posted at Sylvia Liu Land, saying, “If you’re interested in self-publishing a children’s picture book for the iPad, Book Creator is the app to get. It’s easy enough for kids to use, but has great features for professionals too. This is my review of the app along with an interview with Dan Amos, the creator.”
Lindsay Buroker presents Facebook or Twitter, Which Is Better for Book Promotion? posted at Lindsay Buroker — Fantasy Author, saying, “A full-time indie authors shares her experiences using Twitter and Facebook and talks about whether the social media sites can truly help sell books.”
Ebooks and Ebook Readers
Nick Daws presents ClickBank or Kindle – Which Is Best for E-book Writers? posted at Nick Daws’ Writing Blog
Indie Author
L.J. Sellers presents Amazon Rewards the Content Creators posted at Crime Fiction Collective, saying, “This blog is a summary of Amazon’s new opportunities for authors to profit, particularly the new Amazon Studios.”
Stuart Ayris presents An Indie Author States His Case posted at Tollesbury Time Forever, saying, “A blog post on my thoughts about what it is to be an Indie Author – including a definition!”
Andy Conway presents How to be a Paperback Writer posted at Andy Conway, saying, “Indie author Andy Conway talks about why he chose to publish five paperbacks through Createspace in as many months.”
Charles M. Pulsipher presents How to Self Publish Part 2: Revision posted at Notice Your World
Jan Morgan presents Literary agent firms for self published authors posted at SelPublishIt
Pavarti K Tyler presents THERE ARE ONLY TWO STORIES THAT HAVE EVER BEEN TOLD posted at Fighting Monkey Press, saying, “Thank you! Pav”
Jeff Bennington presents What’s Next For Indie Authors… After KDP Select? posted at The Writing Bomb, saying, “Hope you like this one, too.”
Liz Long presents Why I’m Choosing Indie Publishing posted at Liz Long, saying, “Thanks for the opportunity! After my book cover post, this article had the highest hits!”
Jeff Bennington presents Why No One Is Buying Your Book and What You Can Do About It posted at The Writing Bomb, saying, “Hope you like it!”
Marketing and Selling Your Books
Daniel Arnzen presents E-book Pricing: How Much Should I Sell My Book For? posted at WritelyDone, saying, “This article discusses e-book pricing for the self-published.”
Dana Lynn Smith presents Get a Vanity URL for your Amazon Author Page posted at The Savvy Book Marketer
Ninette Swann presents How to Come Up with a Tagline for Yourself posted at Patch of Sky, saying, “This is a new blog, but it will be updated regularly to help new authors and writers through their journey as I go through my own.”
Mary W. Walters presents How to Sell Your Published Book posted at The Militant Writer
Robert T. Jeschonek presents Royalytics: Tracking the Indie Publishing Revolution posted at Business Book: Shoestring Venture – How to Start a Business
Thomas Burchfield presents The Asocial Networks #1: 15 Years of Online Writing posted at Thomas Burchfield: A Curious Man, saying, “Some thoughts on my experience with Twitter and its relation to my experiences in independent publishing.”
Sarah Bolme presents The Key to Selling Books posted at Marketing Christian Books
Russell Phillips presents UK Authors: Don’t Pay US Tax! posted at Russell Phillips’ Blog
R. E. Hunter presents What Happens If Your Publisher Hits the Wall? posted at Writing & Random Thoughts, saying, “An article about the risks authors face in a traditional publishing contract if their publisher goes into bankruptcy.”
M. Louisa Locke presents Why being in the KDP Select is not a bad business decision–For Me posted at M. Louisa Locke’s Front Parlor
Self-Publishing Success
Bridget McKenna presents Do-it-Yourself Publishing, Part 5: Pricing Your Ebook posted at Occupy Publishing, saying, “You had better price your book not for the blog commenters who are clinging to bargain-basement pricing as a badge if indie honor, and not as high as the print publishers looking to preserve paper books against the digital onslaught, but somewhere in between. Be proud enough of what you’ve done, and cognizant enough of your own investment, to ask people to pay more for it than the cost of a tall latte.”
Alexander M Zoltai presents The Best Book On How To Be Successful As A Writer? posted at Notes from An Alien, saying, “Konrath goes from his successes in Traditional publishing all the way through to his great success on Amazon :-)”
Nick Thacker presents Why You Should NOT Self-Publish Your Book posted at Nick Thacker.com, saying, “I’m a proponent of self-publishing, but this is a “manifesto” of sorts that I feel every self-published or “indie” author should read!”
Writing Tools and Tips
Christina Li presents 3 Ingredients to Crafting Unforgettable Characters posted at ChristinaLiBooks, saying, “Although a pair of beautiful eyes and a great smile might make a person ‘fall’ in love, without more depth, your readers won’t ‘stay’ in love with your characters. When it comes to crafting great characters, there are several ‘must haves’.”
Christina Li presents 5 Ingredients for a Great Scene posted at ChristinaLiBooks, saying, “This is an article using a scene from author Sonya Noble’s Clones Saga series to illustrate what goes into crafting a scene which sucks readers into the story and makes them want to keep reading.”
Bryan Thomas Schmidt presents How Screenplay Structure Can Help Plotting & Pacing IN Your Novels posted at Bryan Thomas Schmidt dot Net, saying, “Thanks for including last month for the first time.”
Cynthia Morris presents Target the Heart of Your Book to Write it More Easily posted at Original Impulse Blog, saying, “Thanks for all you do for authors!”
Patty Jansen presents The green-eyed beast: how do you deal with writer envy? posted at Must Use Bigger Elephants, saying, “This subject applies to writers trying both traditional and self-published routes.”
Christina Li presents Writers: 3 Ways to Make Your Characters Come to Life posted at ChristinaLiBooks, saying, “These are 3 ways to flesh out your characters and have a little fun at the same time.”
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 on the left to Tweet it, Share it on Facebook, Plus-1 it on Google+.
The next issue is May 27, 2012 and the deadline for submissions will be May 20, 2012. 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