Welcome to this issue of the Carnival of the Indies blog carnival. This issue is for June, 2014. 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
M. Louisa Locke presents The three reasons I have fallen in love with writing short stories posted at M. Louisa Locke: The Victorian San Francisco Mystery Series, saying, “For authors trying to follow the advice that the best marketing tool is writing your next book, I want to add that for authors of series, the best marketing tool could very well be–writing the next short story while working on that next book!”
Krizia MissK presents Sell More Books Via Online Book Clubs posted at Book Promotion Hub
Belinda Williams presents The writing life: lonely, but not alone posted at Belinda Williams Books, saying, “It’s never been a better time to be a writer. Belinda explains how the task of writing may be a solitary task, but why it doesn’t have to be a lonely one.”
Indie Author
Karl Bunker presents Do you need to hire a professional editor? posted at The Indie Author, saying, “A questioning of the standard wisdom that self-publishing authors must hire a professional editor, along with practical advice for working with, and without, one of these professionals.”
Marketing and Selling Your Books
Connie Dowell presents A Day in the Sun… On the Sidewalk posted at Book Echoes Media, saying, “For my first book signing, I chose a different spot than the traditional bookstore setting. These are some lessons I learned for nontraditional signings and author events where you’re not necessarily the main attraction.”
Daryl Rothman presents Are 5-Star Book Reviews Bad for Sales? posted at Helping Writers Become Authors, saying, “thanks for your consideration–this piece is on the bane of 5-star reviews and how it hurts our credibility and impedes sales, so I put it in the mktg & selling your books cat. If you feel should be diff category switch it as you see fit. Thanks! Daryl R”
Denise Wakeman presents How To Get Endorsements That Increase The Credibility Of Your Book posted at The Future of Ink, saying, “When you publish a book, it is necessary to consider how to get reviews. However, have you also thought about getting endorsements for your book? There is a difference between a review and an endorsement. Shelley Hitz reveals 7 steps to successfully get endorsements for your books.”
Kate Tilton presents How to Run a Successful Book Signing by Mike Hartner posted at Kate Tilton’s Blog, saying, “Looking to ace that book signing? Here are 7 tips from book signing pro Mike Hartner.”
Meg Cowley presents Is “New Adult” the new “Young Adult” reader age category? posted at Writer Avoiding Writing, saying, “Marketing your book using an age-range for your audience is difficult enough when you consider the shifting definitions of say, Young Adult work, but now New Adult is on the scene, what does this mean for indie authors and readers? Here’s an introduction to both that also aims to evaluate NA as it currently stands.”
Nate Hoffelder presents Self-Published eBooks are Coming Soon to a Library Near You posted at The Digital Reader, saying, “Leading indie ebook distributor Smashwords expanded their network in May to include OverDrive. Smashwords now distributes ebooks to libraries served by 3M Cloud Library, Axis 360, and OverDrive.”
Patrick Samphire presents The Ultimate Guide to What Every Author Website Needs posted at Letters from Mars, saying, “Your author website is your home, your shop window, and your little corner of your favourite café where you can hang out. It’s where you can meet your readers and really give them what they want and need from you. More than anything, it’s the one place where you have full control over how you portray yourself, how you interact with readers and potential readers, and how you can get people to actually be interested in your books and stories. I’ve been a professional web designer for ten years, and I’ve been designing author websites for about five years. This blog entry is my accumulated wisdom for what every author website needs to contain.”
Patty Jansen presents Selling books at conventions posted at Must Use Bigger Elephants, saying, “A practical guide to organising your presence at an event.”
Sarah Bolme presents A Marketing Lesson posted at Marketing Christian Books, saying, “Lesson learned from a credit card company. Learn how you can apply it to selling more books.”
Steven Saus presents Likes and Shares Matter Even More Than We Thought: A Real Life Example of Facebook’s Algorhythms posted at ideatrash, saying, “There’s been a lot of news and rumors about how Facebook’s newsfeed changes impact authors and small businesses. Here’s a real-life example with the number of views and how they were impacted by shares and likes.”
Self-Publishing Success
Kate Tilton presents Tips to Approach Your Arts and Humanities Council by C. Hope Clark posted at Kate Tilton’s Blog, saying, “In order to get your art out there you are going to need funds. One way to get from draft to published is to reach out to the resources around you. Editor of FundsforWriters.com and author C. Hope Clark explains how authors can reach out to their art and humanities council and why you should!”
Randy Stapilus presents Join a bookstore’s unlimited stock posted at BookWorks
Writing Tools and Tips
Amy McElroy presents Not “I,” “Me,” or “My:” Streamline Your First-Person Narrative posted at Honest Editing, Authentic Writing, saying, “Creative tips to remove those excess pronouns, “I,” “me,” and “my” from your first-person stories: simultaneously pump up the prose with sensory imagery and de-clutter sentence structure.”
Belinda Williams presents The editing holiday: why every writer needs one posted at Belinda Williams Books, saying, “It’s hard to let go. Belinda explains why every writer needs an editing holiday and how it can give you the ability to view your work as a reader, rather than a writer.”
Brad Herzog presents 10 Paths to a Good Idea posted at The Why Not 100, saying, “For writers or anyone looking to learn how to be more creative and “find the story”, here are 10 Paths to a Good Idea, including a link to a Brad Herzog’s recent TEDx Talk on the topic.”
Ellis Shuman presents That Awesome Moment When You Finish Your Manuscript posted at Ellis Shuman Writes, saying, “The other day I let out a big sigh. I realized that I had actually and most definitely completed the manuscript of my next novel. But then reality set in. What if what I had written was no good? What if the plot didn’t make sense? What if the characters were unbelievable?”
Katherine Pickett presents Save Your Reputation: Edit Your Writing and Hire Pros When Needed posted at The POP Newsletter, saying, “It might not be clear to all aspiring authors that their reputation is at stake with everything they put out into the world. A typo in a cover letter, a small factual error in a novel, a few misspelled words in a short story — who will notice? Who will care?”
Mike Hanski presents Want to write better? Start reading, a lot posted at Bid4papers blog, saying, “Reading is a new fashion. Again. And it’s cool. Read everything you like, everything that’s relevant to your feelings now, everything you believe in. Let a book open your mind and help you feel love toward the world around you. As Ernest Hemingway said, “There is no friend as loyal as a book.” So, maybe it’s high time to find your best friend among a fabulous kaleidoscope of writing masterpieces?”
Steve Vernon presents Writing Blindly – When You Don’t Know Where a Story is Going posted at Yours in Storytelling, saying, “So there you are – stuck halfway through a manuscript, paralyzed by fear and doubt, not knowing what to write next…”
Zoe Brooks presents Write What You Know posted at Zoe Brooks Books and More
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 July 27, 2014 and the deadline for submissions will be July 15, 2014. 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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- Subscribe to The Book Designer Blog