Category: self publishing news

And now for the news!

This week in the world of self-publishing:

• Vietnam veteran encourages all storytellers to publish: CNY books and authors

“When I wrote novels about Vietnam and tried to get them published back in the 70s, I was told numerous times that Americans didn’t want to read stories about Vietnam,” says Harvey Baker, Vietnam vet who has since self-published four novels. With these kinds of discouraging responses, Baker’s novel sat gathering dust for years before the rise of Amazon and self-publishing. This was when he decided to resurface his work and get it the attention it deserved.

Baker has since developed a “fictional series about a Blackfeet Indian, Two Feathers and his dog who shares the same name as Baker’s scout dog,” which has grown largely popular with historians and veterans alike. By reading the article above, you can gethear Baker’s two cents on self-publishing, which happens to be priceless. Don’t let your precious work sit gathering dust because publishing companies told you no one wants to read it–go out and create your audience through hard work and perseverance in the face of uncertainty!

• Read My Book features How to Self Publish Inexpensive Books and Ebooks

How to Self Publish Inexpensive Books and Ebooks, by William Allen, is a guide for first-time authors, authors who were unsatisfied with their first experiences with publishing, or those who are contemplating writing a book but have no idea where to begin when it comes to marketing and publishing it.

This book has it all–from things to be weary of in the publishing industry to “costs and details on 27 U.S. and 13 Canadian book publishers, so you can decide which company to trust with your manuscript.” If you want an in depth analysis of your options for publishing or self-publishing and marketing your own book, this guide is definitely worth checking out! By clicking the link above, you can access Allen’s summary of the book and a link to purchase it, if you’re feel compelled to do so after reading the article.

• Four Questions to Help You Stop Drifting and Start Focusing

While this article is not explicitly about self-publishing, it offers some poignant advice for artists and creators who struggle with their identity, focus and drive in general. I thus find it beyond worthy of this week’s self-publishing news update!

Most self-publishing authors don’t make a living self-publishing, which makes focusing on writing and marketing difficult when life ‘gets in the way,’ so to speak. Kent Sanders poses four questions that help get us back on track when we fall off of the creativity wagon, and the first is simple: Who Am I? When we ask ourselves what our skills are, what our personality type is and what our passions are, we can figure out how to work with those traits, rather than against them.

Maybe time management isn’t your skill, and procrastination is part of your personality, but writing is a passion of yours. Knowing those things about yourself will help you channel your passion and override what seem like character flaws, until you take a second look. If you’re not skilled at time management, but you are skilled in working efficiently, make short windows for yourself that aren’t long enough to drive you into the cliche procrastination activities of checking your Facebook or cleaning the entire living room.

I won’t address all of the questions Sanders asks in this summary, but I implore you to read his words for yourself and ask the other important questions he presents, which are: ‘Why am I here?’, ‘Who am I serving?’ and ‘What should I be doing?’ These are questions we should ask ourselves every day as writers, as creators and as human beings.

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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 Monday to find out the hottest news. If you have other big news to share, please comment below.

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ABOUT KELLY SCHUKNECHT: Kelly Schuknecht is the Executive 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, kellyschuknecht.com.

And now for the news!

This week in the world of self-publishing:

• Want to Succeed at Self-Publishing? Write in Your Own Voice: Tips from an Indie Author

Timothy Oliver Stoen is a 78-year old prosecutor in California who’s newly self-published memoir has the aim of ensuring that those who’ve made big life mistakes know that their life isn’t over. See, Stoen was once part of a utopian movement called the People’s Temple of the Disciples of Christ, acting as an attorney for the cult’s leader, Jim Jones. He eventually left the group, the majority of which had migrated to Jonestown in Guyana. However, in 1978, tragedy struck and over 900 of the inhabitants of the town died of a mass poisoning, including Stoen’s six-year-old son. This death plagued Stoen for a decade, and writing the memoir took nearly ten years, as reliving the grief was something that he needed to walk away from when it became overwhelming. After bringing his memoir to several publishing companies who hadn’t heard of Jonestown, Stoen’s agent suggested he self-publish. Read the article above to hear some powerful advice from the author himself who insists that writers be honest and write in their own voices.

• Brisbane author John Birmingham takes leap from trade publishing to go indie

After releasing multiple titles with big name publishers, John Birmingham found to his dismay that having an “in” with certain companies does not guarantee you anything. While his publishing contracts contained clauses that prevented him from releasing works that would compete with his publisher, Birmingham vacillated about what to do when his series was tanking due to a mistake made by his publishing company. “I waited until the Hooper series tanked and then they spent eight months twiddling their thumbs saying, ‘we’ll offer you a deal but it won’t be very good’.”

Birmingham decided to go out on a limb and step into the world of self-publishing in 2016. He has since successfully published three novellas and his first self-published novel, A Girl In Time. “The book debuted at five on Apple, which is very gratifying when I see my former publishers further down the list. That was fun,” he said in an interview with ABC news.

This is a fantastic article that gives an author’s in-depth account of a falling out with traditional publishing company.

• Meet the BookLife Prize in Fiction Finalists

This year alone, over 750 people entered the BookLife Prize in Fiction, “an annual writing contest for unpublished or self-published novels launched earlier this year,” but only five finalists were chosen. The judges are currently working to determine who will win overall, but this piece puts the spotlight on the finalists so you can pick your favorite before the judges do!

There’s Kipp Wessel, whose book, You Swallow the Moon “is about a young man who loses a brother and experiences the unraveling of his first real love.” He says, “In response to these compounded losses, he becomes obsessed with wild bears when he believes their ability to regulate their winter hearts may offer him a safe passage through the intense grief immobilizing him.” Kipp calls it “a modern novel about the wilderness of heartbreak.”

Next up is Jane Alvey Harris who wrote the novel, Riven, which she describes as “a hard-hitting, issue-driven, contemporary account of a 17-year-old girl whose reality and mental health fracture when her childhood abuser re-enters her life after 10 years.” She says, “It’s a documentation of a survivor’s journey to make peace with her wounded ego and achieve self-acceptance.”

Krys Batts’ book, Not Flowers But Love focuses on “the main character’s internal struggle to overcome past relationship disappointments that hamper her from opening up her heart again.”

T.J. Slee’s mystery/thrilled novel, Cloister, is “laced with dark humor,” and features “a very unorthodox heroine. Sister Charlie Jones is not your typical Mercy Sister nun, but she’s doing her best.”

Lastly, Jennifer Kaplan’s novel, Crushing the Red Flowers is a children’s book that covers pre-WWII Germany. For Kaplan, 1938 “was the turning point” and one that she finds has been “overlooked by educators. However, her book “starts in summer and stops in December 1938. We all know what happens after that, but the characters don’t.”

To hear more from the contestants, click the link above and pick who you think the winner should be!

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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 Monday to find out the hottest news. If you have other big news to share, please comment below.

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ABOUT KELLY SCHUKNECHT: Kelly Schuknecht is the Executive 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, kellyschuknecht.com.

And now for the news!

This week in the world of self-publishing:

• Agent Hasn’t Sold the Story Yet? Consider Self-Publishing

Did you know Mark Twain, E.E. Cummings and Emily Dickinson were self-published authors? In this compelling article by William Kowalski, we are given ample reasons to reject any notion that self-publishing is for those without talent, for those with things that aren’t worth publishing or for “hacks.” If the commercial publishing world has rejected your book, Kowalski wants to assure you that’s not because your book is bad or that you are lacking the skills needed to be a successful writer–it’s just that they don’t see a market for it. We live in a society that follows the whims of the invisible hand of the market, and that means, like most businesses, most publishing companies’ bottom line will inevitably be the almighty dollar. In Kowalski’s view, this bottom line is part of the reason they’re dying out; because it has driven amazing authors to find other means, such as self-publishing. According to him, genre writers are now better off self-publishing, as they do substantially better than genre writers who seek commercial publication. This article is a giant affirmation of the fact that we live in the 21st century and no longer have to hold ourselves prey to the commercial publishing industry, but can instead take matters into our own hands and connect ourselves to the global market via resources like the internet.

• Local author talks self publishing, kids book

In this article, discover how Mary T. Wagner of Wisconsin became a children’s author after a stint of cat sitting for her son’s cat, Finnigan. Her story is set in Wisconsin and is centered around two circus mice who come into cahoots with an unlikely friend, the cat Finnigan, with whom they adventure at a circus museum. Wagner says she had trouble going through traditional publishing companies with her idea–especially because it tested her patience too much!–so she decided to self-publish. She even went so far as to take out “how to draw” books from the library so she could be her own illustrator. The positive response Wagner received after winning a few awards were compelling enough for her to develop her book into a series. Read the article to get some great advice from Wagner on becoming a better author in any genre.

• Fairfield business woman debuts book

Lisa Marie Latino’s experience as a business woman has helped her immensely in her first pursuit in self-publishing. After Latino approached “about fifty literary agents, and got rejected by all of them,” she decided that she would just add another business skill to her resume: self-publishing. Latino’s enthusiasm for writing is apparent when reading more about her. “For four or five days at a time, all I would literally do was write,” says Latino. “I did this five times over the course of a year and a half until the manuscript was done. Being away from everyone was like going on vacation. It was a lot of fun.” Find out more about Latino’s approach to self-publishing, and some enticing details about her newly published book “Ten Years Later,” which features a woman trying to squeeze out some serious life experience the year before returning to her ten-year high school reunion.

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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 Monday to find out the hottest news. If you have other big news to share, please comment below.

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ABOUT KELLY SCHUKNECHT: Kelly Schuknecht is the Executive 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, kellyschuknecht.com.

And now for the news!

This week in the world of self-publishing:

• Brooklyn Park author helps foster vibrant indie publishing scene

This fantastic article from the Star Tribune puts the spotlight on Laura Vosika, mother of nine, author and musician who still somehow finds time to run an independent publishing company out of her home. Voskia inhabits a world where self-publishing has highly inflated the number of books being published per year. The rise of self-publishing has turned authors into simultaneous entrepreneurs who must be tuned in to the world of marketing and design. With this rise in quantity, however, there has not necessarily been a rise in quality, which is why Voskia adds a weekly writing group to her already jam packed routine.

Find out how this inspiring woman balances all of these aspects of her life and still was able to sell over 60,000 copies of her book as a self-published author by reading the article above.

• Want to Succeed at Self-Publishing? Don’t Be Discouraged: Tips from an Indie Author

When Ben Batchelder took to the backroads of Brazil with his black labrador retriever, he claims that his new book essentially ‘wrote him.’ Of course, after the book was written, self-publishing did not come nearly as easily. Batchelder says that self-publishing should be see as a grand opportunity for learning how to market, how to proof, how to design a book, etc. etc.

While Batchelder learned these important new skills focused on publishing, he also learned how to be patient and persistent, and the importance of reaching out to friends, old and new. He says,  “[Publicity] events have flushed out old friends, made new ones, built contacts lists, and provided fodder for blogs and various social media platforms.”

• How Publishers Can Build on Self-Publishing’s Victories  

In this poingant article, Tom Chalmers addresses some harsh realities of the publishing world in general balanced with the corresponding silver linings of those realities. For example, he points to the fact that prints sales are finally not falling, ebook sales have stabilized and authors have accepted digitization as a core aspect of the publishing world who have learned to work with online conglomerates such as Amazon, rather than against them. He goes on to say that authors have acknowledged and accepted that bookshops will not be on the rise, and that “the all-powerful customer will continue to demand more for less, or preferably for free. We are long past any return to the past.”

While acknowledging those realities, Chalmers makes clear that self-publishing authors have been paving the way in this revolutionizing world of book publishing in general. Self-published authors have shown the importance of being close to the customer, of tireless marketing and promotion online and elsewhere, and of business savvy practices. So if self-published authors are leading the way, does traditional publishing have anything to offer authors anymore? Chalmers makes it clear that traditional publishing companies cannot simply try and rehash the innovations of the self-publishing market, but need to find new ways to prove that they are still contributing unique and relevant things to the field. The question is, will traditional publishing companies make this a priority, and if not, what does the future look like for them?

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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 Monday to find out the hottest news. If you have other big news to share, please comment below.

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ABOUT KELLY SCHUKNECHT: Kelly Schuknecht is the Executive 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, kellyschuknecht.com.

And now for the news!

This week in the world of self-publishing:

• My Experience With Self-Publishing

Ben Arzate provides a unique perspective as a self-publishing poet. Arzate felt that rejection from publishing companies was inevitable after his first, “Sorry, but no,” afterwhich he made the conscious decision that he would prefer to pour his time directly into crafting his book, rather than soliciting companies who (he thought) had no interest.

What I most enjoyed about reading Arzate’s first-person account of his experience with self-publishing what that it reminded me of the naivete a lot of us are forced to come to terms with when it comes to actually putting a book together. I found myself laughing at the idea of Arzate formatting his book according to Microsoft Word, which is based on an 8 ½ x 11 inch page, not because it was ridiculous, but because most of us are so enormously and entertainingly ignorant about the intricacies of formatting a book before we’ve had a hand at it ourselves. Arzate’s piece provides an informative, amusing and honest look at a first go in the self-publishing world.

• Emerson author’s guide aims to right self-publishing wrongs

Hank Quense has been an author for over 20 years, and a successful self-publishing author at that. The simple errors that can be made on someone’s first go at self-publishing (see previously reviewed article) are the subject of Quense’s ebook, “The Complete Self-Publishing Guide.” Quense says, “My books are dedicated to providing clear, concise information and procedures on the publishing process,” which is great for those of you new to self-publishing who are feeling overwhelmed by all of the pieces to the publishing puzzle.

It is easy to be overwhelmed by the prospect of self-publishing, Quense admits that it’s hard work that people often want to find some easier way around, but he insists that there is no easy way out and that good results come from hard work. Quense bemoans the authors who simply upload their manuscripts to Kindle or Amazon without proofing or providing cover art, and he insists that your sales will suffer from that sort of indolence. Putting in the time and money to publish something that you can be proud of will result in better sales, according to Quense. While an editor and an artist cost a fair amount of money, they are a necessary investments, according to Quense. In this vein, Quense compares books to companies; with that comparison in mind, the talk of investments, marketing strategies and customer base become more relevant.

• Self Publishing Notebook: Editor’s Block

Jonathan Kile taps into the unspoken issue of what he calls “editor’s block.” As far as he’s concerned, there is no writer’s block, this is merely an excuse people use to procrastinate writing. Writing, as far as Kile is concerned, is the easy part–just get words on the page, or more likely, on the computer screen.

Kile makes a candid political reference to pre-edited writing saying, “while the initial draft can be a Trumpian stream of consciousness making little to no sense, editing requires the quality of the prose and the ideas contained within to be compelling and tell a great story.” Providing some great advice for getting over “editor’s block,” Kile says that we should look at our work as if it isn’t our own. Obviously this is a pretty difficult mindset to enter; you wrote the damn manuscript and assuming you haven’t suffered from amnesia, then you presumably know it all too well. However, Kile wants to implore that you try to get into the shoes of your readers. Will they wish you had developed a certain character more? Will they have longed for a different ending? These questions, among others posed by Kile, are the types of questions you need to ask yourself when editing.

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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 Monday to find out the hottest news. If you have other big news to share, please comment below.

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ABOUT KELLY SCHUKNECHT: Kelly Schuknecht is the Executive 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, kellyschuknecht.com.