By Joel Friedlander
Welcome to this issue of the Carnival of the Indies blog carnival. This issue is for April, 2018. 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
Louise Harnby presents Crime fiction subgenres: Where does your novel fit? posted at The Proofreader’s Parlour, saying, “Crime fiction’s always on the move but understanding some of the conventions that readers expect within subgenres can help writers enrich their crime novels and shelve them appropriately (digitally and in print).”
Tyler Doornbos presents Website Analytics for Indie Authors – Understanding Your Traffic posted at BookWorks Blog, saying, “BookWorks.com’s Web Expert, Tyler Doornbos, reviews the fundamental website analytics that indie authors need to track traffic on their website.”
Sarah Bolme presents I Don’t Know Anything About Publishing posted at Marketing Christian Books, saying, ” “I don’t know anything about publishing.” The gentleman standing before me started with this sentence. Then he went on to state, “…but I published a book on CreateSpace.” He reached into his brief bag and brought out a book.”
Book Design and Production
Cathi Stevenson presents Is the Nonfiction Book Cover Important? posted at Indie Publishing Blog.
Indie Author
Alexander Zoltai presents Our Blog Conversation Continues ~ Comparing Traditional Publishing & Self-Publishing … posted at Notes from An Alien.
Deanna Cabinian presents How Writers Can Avoid Burnout posted at Deanna Cabinian, saying, “Reasons why you shouldn’t write every day and what you can do to help with burnout.”
Glenn Miller presents Is Your Definition of Author Success All Wrong? posted at Career Authors, saying, “What’s your definition of success as an author? It may be upside down if you haven’t defined success in your own words and in things under your control. Define success on your own terms and there’s no way you can lose.”
Kay Castaneda presents What Does a Writer Do? posted at BookPlaces.
Philip Raby presents A Niche Market Book Can Be a Plus: Why It Pays to Be ‘Narrow-minded’ posted at BookWorks Blog, saying, “BookWorks.com indie author, Philip Raby, explains how he discovered that a niche market book is easier to sell than a book with a broader audience, especially for nonfiction.”
Robin Storey presents Writing About What Hurts posted at Storey-Lines, saying, “Indie author Robin Storey discusses Hemingway’s advice to writers to ‘write hard and clear about hurts,’ and how this has affected her own writing.”
Terry Whalin presents Escape the Catch-22 of Publishing posted at The Writing Life, saying, “Most editors and agents are searching for writers with publishing experience to do more publishing with them. How does a new writer get started and escape this Catch 22 of publishing? Terry Whalin explains the means of escape in this article.”
Marketing and Selling Your Books
Belinda Griffin presents Have You Found The Powerful Motivation Of Your Why? posted at SmartAuthorsLab.
Cathi Stevenson presents Top 5 Reasons Indie Authors Need Goodreads posted at Indie Publishing Blog.
Chris Well presents Author PR: Do’s and Don’ts in Pursuit of Media – Part One posted at BookWorks Blog, saying, “BookWorks.com’s Media & PR Expert, Chris Well, shares the Do’s and Don’ts of Author PR in Part One of his 3-part series on the mistakes to avoid when pursuing media publicity.”
Frances Caballo presents 5 Things I Wish I’d Known When I Published My First Book posted at Social Media Just for Writers, saying, “We all make mistakes with our published books, right? And we learn from them – well most of the time. Joel Friedlander of TheBookDesigner.com frequently tells me that when he talks to new authors about what they should do once they publish a book, he usually tells them something to the effect of, “You should have prepared for your first book two years ago.””
Iola Goulton presents How To Conduct An Online Giveaway posted at Christian Editing Services, saying, “There are several ways to conduct an online giveaway, but first you need to consider your giveaway objectives, and know how to keep your giveaway legal. No, not all online giveaways are legal.”
James Moushon presents The Importance of Networking with Other Authors Using Social Media posted at Indie Authors Corner, saying, “Using Social Media to form relationships with other authors and exchanging information with them is one of the keys to indie author’s success. Here is what some of our Spotlight Authors have to say about networking.”
Lois Hoffman presents Build Your Author Platform with Facebook Groups posted at The Happy Self-Publisher, saying, “Facebook and Google occupy 85% of the online advertising sphere. In other words, eighty-five cents of every dollar spent on online marketing is paid to one of these two companies! That is a thought-provoking statistic for content creators and providers. The necessity of marketing through these companies is undeniable. If you have something to sell, you must contend with Google or Facebook to attract your audience.”
Penny Sansevieri presents Book Publicity and Marketing: It Isn’t Just About the Sales posted at BookWorks Blog, saying, “BookWorks Book Marketing Expert Penny Sansevieri explains why authors who focus only on sales in evaluating their book publicity efforts will miss valuable opportunities.”
Sophie Anderson presents How To Market Your Self-Published Book Online posted at Carmine Proofreading.
Steve Vernon presents Are Audiobooks REAL Books? posted at Yours in Storytelling, saying, “As usual, I try and bring a mixture of belly laughs, honesty and a smattering of practical know-how.”
Self-Publishing Success
Darcy Pattison presents Accounting for Writers posted at Fiction Notes.
Glenna Collett presents Your copyright page: Everything you need to know posted at Book Design Made Simple, saying, “The copyright page seems to be a big stumbling block for many authors. We’ve created an easy-to-use copyright page template in Word that you can download. We also explain all the elements that go on the copyright page, and provide links to everything you’ll need.”
Writing Tools and Tips
Daphne Gray-Grant presents How to let go of the sorry cycle and begin again posted at The Publication Coach, saying, “Have you restarted your book so many times you feel like a complete failure? This blog post addresses why and how you should begin again, and have no embarrassment about it.”
Sonora Taylor presents A Rundown on Dialogue posted at Sonora Writes, saying, “I love dialogue, and I love writing about it. Here are some tips for what I’ve found to be most effective in crafting good dialogue.”
Zara Altair presents Use Character Depth to Build Reversals posted at Write Time, saying, “Thank you!”
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 May 27, 2018 and the deadline for submissions will be May 15, 2018. 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
- Bloggers, grab your official Carnival of the Indies Badges here
- Follow Carnival of the Indies on Twitter to get deadline reminders
- Subscribe to The Book Designer Blog
