This Week in the Blogs: March 28 – April 3, 2010

This week was slowly overtaken by the run-up to the launch of the Apple iPad. I was there, to get at least a few minutes on the wonder machine, and will report tomorrow on the results. In the meantime, it’s Sunday, a time to sit back, work the big crossword in the paper, and have a look back at the week in the blogs. Lots of good reading, take your pick and enjoy.

Graham Storrs on The Creative Penn
Marketing Your First Book: 9 Tips For Authors
“These days, most of the work of publicising your book is down to you. Yes, you. So what are you going to do?”

Henry Baum on Self-Publishing Review
Smashwords Distributes to the iPad
“Big news: Smashwords will now distribute to the iPad iBookstore, which is set to release on April 3rd . . . With the iPad, this is now the best way to have your book listed.”

Mick Rooney on POD, Self-Publishing and Independent Publishing
Self-Publishing Reasons To Be Cheerful – Part 1
“Careful planning for the self-publishing journey is what’s needed. No point in pitching your tent at the side of the road impromptu, swigging a mouthful from a bottle of whiskey and pitching your ‘old coot wants to earn a crust from his book’ sign into the dirt.”

Henry Hutton on Publish and Sell
Four Self-Publishing Rules for New Authors
“I’ve had the fortunate privilege of working with hundreds of successful self-published authors over the last nine years, and I have seen some consistencies in their attitudes and approaches that contributed to their success.”

Liz Bury on Publishing Perspectives
“E-book ISBN Mess Needs Sorting Out,” Say UK Publishers
“The unpredictability of the e-book market means that publishers could be left watching others set precedents for them, if they dither. Green says: ‘We need to act fast to agree on standards.'”

And for Something Completely Different . . .

Have you got a half hour you were going to spend on the treadmill? Taking a walk with your iPod and the dog? Give a listen to an interview I did with Joanna Penn of The Creative Penn blog, a self-published author and the creator of the Author 2.0 program to help people get published. Here’s a link to Joanna’s site, where you can listen or download the mp3 audio file. Enjoy!

Podcast: Book Design With Joel Friedlander