Category: Kelly Speaks

Kelly Speaks

IBPA Benjamin Franklin Awards for Self-Published Authors

Contests are a great way for self-publishing authors to improve their credibility and get their books recognized. A contest worth checking out is the IBPA Benjamin Franklin Awards. It is one of the highest national honors for independent publishers.

The IBPA Benjamin Franklin Awards include fifty-five categories recognizing excellence in book editorial and design. The Awards are administered by the Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA), with help from over 160 book publishing professionals including librarians, bookstore owners, reviewers, designers, publicity managers, and editors. The Benjamin Franklin Awards are unique in that the entrants receive direct feedback on their titles. The actual judging forms are returned to all participating publishers.

The first deadline is September 30, 2013, for titles published January 1 – August 31, 2013. The next deadline is December 31, 2013, for titles published September 1 – December 31, 2013. However, all titles carrying a 2013 copyright date will be accepted in the December 2013 Call for Entry.

To learn more about the IBPA Benjamin Franklin Awards, visit http://ibpabenjaminfranklinawards.com/.

ABOUT KELLY SCHUKNECHT: Kelly Schuknecht is the Vice President of Outskirts Press. In addition to her contributions to the Outskirts Press blog at blog.outskirtspress.com, Kelly and a group of talented marketing experts offer book marketing services, support, and products to not only published Outskirts Press authors, but to all authors and professionals who are interested in marketing their books and/or careers. Learn more about Kelly on her blog at http://kellyschuknecht.com.
Kelly Speaks, Self-Publishing Week in Review

Self-Publishing Week in Review: 9/24/13

As a self-publishing author, you may find it helpful to stay up-to-date on the trends and news related to the self-publishing industry. This will help you make informed decisions before, during and after the self-publishing process, which will lead to a greater self-publishing experience. To help you stay current on self-publishing topics, simply visit our blog every Tuesday to find out the hottest news.

Self-Publishing A Legal Casebook: An Ebook Success Story

This author shares his experience as a co-author of a self-published ebook, and he discusses the pros and cons of self-publishing. He makes a great point by explaining how convenient ebooks are for readers.

Four Self-Published Books Among Top Paid Books at Apple

Four self-published books landed among all the top paid books in the Apple’s iBookstore. The titles include Unbroken by Melody Grace at No. 6, Seduced, by Melody Anne at No. 8, The Road To Forgiveness by Justine Elvira at No. 16, and Submit by Melody Anne at No. 20.

Jeff Smith on Comic Books & Self Publishing

In 1991, artist Jeff Smith founded Cartoon Books to self-publish his comic book work. Anyone interested in self-publishing comic books should check out this article.

How a Self Published YA Author Found His Ideal Illustrator

Author Hillel Cooperman decided to serialize a beta-version of his self-published young adult book on Facebook this month. He will reveal new chapters and new illustrations every day. In this article, he provides advice on finding an illustrator and talks about his Facebook experiment.

If you have other big news to share, please comment below.

ABOUT KELLY SCHUKNECHT: Kelly Schuknecht is the Vice President of Outskirts Press. In addition to her contributions to the Outskirts Press blog at blog.outskirtspress.com, Kelly and a group of talented marketing experts offer book marketing services, support, and products to not only published Outskirts Press authors, but to all authors and professionals who are interested in marketing their books and/or careers. Learn more about Kelly on her blog at http://kellyschuknecht.com.
Kelly Speaks, Uncategorized

Online Retailers Gained, While Brick-and-Mortar Lost In Wake of Borders Exit

Bowker recently released a study detailing the sales of online and brick-and-mortar retailers after Borders’ exit from the market. Here is a summary of the results:

  • Online retailers — led by Amazon —  earned 44 percent of America’s book dollars. This is up from 39 percent in 2011.
  • Barnes & Noble, including BN.com, remains the second largest bookselling outlet.
  • Women increased their lead over men in book buying, accounting for 58 percent of overall book spending in 2012, up from 55 percent in 2011.
  • Men are bigger hardcover buyers.
  • Ebooks continue their steady upward trend, with an 11 percent share of spending in 2012, compared to seven percent in 2011.
  • Despite the growth of ebooks, traditional print book output grew three percent in 2012.

This information is important for authors who have already self-published or who are considering self-publishing. It is essential that authors are aware of industry trends, so they can use the information to make the best publishing and marketing decisions for their books.

These results show the importance of offering an ebook version of your self-published book. Despite the popularity of ebooks, there is still a demand for print books. For many authors, the best option is to offer both a print and ebook version in an attempt to reach the largest market. However, this varies greatly from author to author and depends on the target market as well as the author’s personal goals.

To learn more about the Bowker report, visit http://www.bowker.com/en-US/aboutus/press_room/2013/pr_08062013.shtml.

I’d love to know, how do the results in this report impact your self-publishing decisions?

ABOUT KELLY SCHUKNECHT: Kelly Schuknecht is the Vice President of Outskirts Press. In addition to her contributions to the Outskirts Press blog at blog.outskirtspress.com, Kelly and a group of talented marketing experts offer book marketing services, support, and products to not only published Outskirts Press authors, but to all authors and professionals who are interested in marketing their books and/or careers. Learn more about Kelly on her blog at http://kellyschuknecht.com.
Kelly Speaks, Self-Publishing Week in Review

Self-Publishing Week in Review: 9/17/13

As a self-publishing author, you may find it helpful to stay up-to-date on the trends and news related to the self-publishing industry. This will help you make informed decisions before, during and after the self-publishing process, which will lead to a greater self-publishing experience. To help you stay current on self-publishing topics, simply visit our blog every Tuesday to find out the hottest news.

Why You Should Self-Publish

This successful self-published author talks about how his latest self-publish book recently debuted #7 on the New York Times Bestseller List and how he has sold over a million books in the last two years. My favorite part of the article is when the author says, “My happiest days were spent writing, not being a bestselling author.” I also like when he states, “Implicit in the message that only some people should publish is the stance that all publishing is commercial, it’s all about making money, about being a bestseller, a pro. But that’s not the reason I do it.”

Self-Publishing on a Shoestring: Amazon’s Matchbook Program

There has been a lot of buzz about Amazon’s Matchbook Program. The program gives customers who buy a print copy of a book in the program a deeply discounted or free Kindle version of the same book. It’s similar to what Amazon has been doing with their audiobooks, where anyone who buys an e-book, can order a deeply discounted audiobook version, as well.

Self-Publishing Is Growing Up

Publishers Weekly is significantly beefing up its coverage of self-publishing authors. PW Select, a guide to self-publishing, will go monthly in October.

If you have other big news to share, please comment below.

ABOUT KELLY SCHUKNECHT: Kelly Schuknecht is the Vice President of Outskirts Press. In addition to her contributions to the Outskirts Press blog at blog.outskirtspress.com, Kelly and a group of talented marketing experts offer book marketing services, support, and products to not only published Outskirts Press authors, but to all authors and professionals who are interested in marketing their books and/or careers. Learn more about Kelly on her blog at http://kellyschuknecht.com.
Kelly Speaks, Uncategorized

BlueInk Review Now Offering Services for Spanish Language Books

Book reviews are a great way for self-publishing authors to increase their credibility and promote their books. One of the most popular review sources for self-published authors is BlueInk Review, and they are now expanding their services to include Spanish language books.

BlueInk Review was founded by  internationally known publishing professionals, literary agent Patty Moosbrugger and award-winning former book review editor of the Rocky Mountain News Patti Thorn. While fee-based, all BlueInk reviews are honest appraisals, written by professionals drawn largely from mainstream media outlets or editors who have worked at well-respected publishing houses. Worthy titles are not only featured on the company’s website but are also vigorously promoted to publishers, librarians, literary agents and booksellers. BlueInk acts as means for readers and industry professionals to find the “next generation” books worth selling, stocking, purchasing and reading.

BlueInk offers a host of other services as well, including articles with self publishing tips, places for authors to tout their sales successes, lists of important writing resources, classified ads, and much more.

To learn more about BlueInk Review, visit http://www.blueinkreview.com.

ABOUT KELLY SCHUKNECHT: Kelly Schuknecht is the Vice President of Outskirts Press. In addition to her contributions to the Outskirts Press blog at blog.outskirtspress.com, Kelly and a group of talented marketing experts offer book marketing services, support, and products to not only published Outskirts Press authors, but to all authors and professionals who are interested in marketing their books and/or careers. Learn more about Kelly on her blog at http://kellyschuknecht.com.