This Week in the Blogs, February 25 – March 3, 2017

by Shelley Sturgeon | Mar 5, 2017

Do you sometimes feel a bit intimidated at the prospect of self-publishing your book? This week’s (and every Sunday’s) selection of articles can help with that, and don’t forget that you can always access the past articles published here on The Book Designer, sorted by topic, on the Articles page.

Jennie Nash on Jennie Nash Book Coach
9 Ways To Ruin A Writing Conference
“Here are 9 common ways writers squander writing conference opportunities – and what you can do to make sure you don’t follow suit.”

Michael Jason Brandt on Self-Publishing Advice Centre
Opinion: Why Indie Authors Shouldn’t Give Away Free Books
“Giving books away free has always been something of a controversial subject in self-publishing circles, and when Amazon’s algorithms changed some time ago to give less weight in ratings terms to giveaways as opposed to paid-for copies, many authors became less enthusiastic.”

Frances Caballo on Social Media Just For Writers
What Are the Trends in Publishing? Here Are 10 Mark Coker Identified
“While attending the San Francisco Writers Conference, I decided to drop in on Mark Coker’s session on the ten trends driving publishing now and in the future. Here’s what he had to say…”

Lisa Tener on Lisa Tener
Book Launch Tips: How to Get a Bestselling Author to Write a Foreword, Blurbs and Amazon Reviews
“A foreword by a bestselling author can help catapult your book to success on Amazon because Amazon views that foreword writer as another author. When people search for the bestselling author who wrote your foreword, your book will come up in the search! Wow, right?”

Natalia Sylvester on Writer Unboxed
What a Sensitivity Reader Is (and Isn’t) and How to Hire One
“Because I am a Latina and an immigrant, and the authors who’ve requested I read their work are writing outside of their own experience, I’ve been asked to evaluate their work for authenticity.”

Too Good To Miss

Karen Myers on Hollowlands – A Writer’s Blog
The world of deep metadata for your books: LCCN, PCIP, MARC, ISNI, ISTC, OCLC, and more-2

Self-Publishing News You Can Use

By Amy Collins

Publishers Weekly is looking for freelance reviewers

They are currently looking for reviewers for all types of fiction (including graphic novels) and non-fiction, in both digital and physical formats, and for both traditionally published and self-published books. If you are interested in reviewing for PW, please send a resume, clips, and a sample review (approximately 200 words) of a recently published book to reviewers@publishersweekly.com.