This Week in the Blogs, March 3 – 9, 2013

POSTED ON Mar 10, 2013

Joel Friedlander

Written by Joel Friedlander

Home > Blog > Self-Publishing, Social Media > This Week in the Blogs, March 3 – 9, 2013

Earlier this week, in discussing the competencies you find in successful self-publishers, I mentioned the two presentations we had today at our monthly meeting of the Bay Area Independent Publishers Association (@BAIPA). And indeed, they were excellent, with a packed house there for Stephanie Chandler‘s “Own Your Niche on the Internet and Beyond” followed by Nina Amir‘s intensive Book Evaluation workshop.

What I didn’t tell you is that this was my first meeting as the new president of BAIPA. Along with a great and supportive group of directors and volunteers we hope to bring the best in publishing education, support, and community to the authors in the greater San Francisco area.

Pretty exciting stuff, but you’ve got some great reading ahead of you in these world-class blog posts from the past week. Enjoy!

Catherine Ryan Howard on Catherine, Caffeinated
How To Find Out Everything You Need To Know About Self-Publishing
“With the ever-growing number of services and options, it can be more difficult now to decide on what’s right for you. And I know that for someone who’s new to this, the sheer amount of information, opinions, etc. out there can be overwhelming. But you can still find out everything you need to know about self-publishing without sending e-mails. Here’s how.”

Mark Coker on Smashwords
Six Tips to Bring Your Book Back from the Doldrums – Reading the Reader Tea Leaves
“I’m going to share six tips on how to take a fresh, honest look at your book and evaluate what you might do to improve your results. Most of my tips help you discern what it is about your book that’s preventing readers from connecting with it. I should note that many of these tips below apply to authors with free books too, because there are many books that get very few downloads.”

Lindsay Buroker on Lindsay Buroker
Book Promotion—What’s Working at Amazon in 2013?
“Amazon has made some changes in the last year that have had an impact insofar as what works and what doesn’t for getting noticed over there. Let’s go over those first, because I still see people telling authors to do these things.”

Paul Salvette on BiblioCrunch
Best Practices for Putting Together Your Digital Book
“eBooks on the market continue to have formatting errors that create reader outrage, even from major publishers. Compared to the technology in web browsers, eReading systems from Apple, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Adobe, and Kobo are a bit behind the times. However, if you keep things simple in your layout and formatting, you will create a pleasant reading experience across all devices.”

Anne Hill on Creative Content Coaching
Metadata Insights for Authors and Small Publishers with Thad McIlroy
“Too often, authors learn about metadata the hard way: preparing to upload your newly-finished book, you find that Amazon requires things like BISAC subject headings and book descriptions of different lengths. Filling in these fields as an afterthought may doom your book to obscurity, because the key to making any book easily discoverable on the web is to give it the best metadata possible.”

You Don’t Want My $100??

I offered a $100 Amazon gift certificate along with my appreciation and a link back to your site for a new badge design for the monthly ebook cover design awards. (Details are here.)

One very nice entry has come in, but that’s it. Aren’t there any designers out there who want to take a shot at the $100? I’ll publish and link back all entries, and I’ve extended the entry date to this coming Friday, March 15.

There are so many talented designers who participate in the contest, I just know a couple of you will rise to the challenge so we have a good selection to choose from.

Photo: bigstockphoto.com

Joel Friedlander

Written by
Joel Friedlander

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