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Self-Publishing News: 2.15.2016

This week in the world of self-publishing:

5 Ways Self-Publishing a Book Can Transform Your Career

“Maybe you’re already got the #girlboss title of your dreams,” writes Ashley Mason in this February 12th article for Brit + Co, an online media index that “enables creativity through inspirational content, online classes and do-it-yourself kits.” A major hit since its debut in 2011, Brit + Co turns out to be the perfect platform for Mason’s advocacy efforts on behalf of self-publishing: “Publishing a book can instantly make you an authority in your industry,” she writes, “but getting picked up by a publisher is out of reach for most people because they don’t have a large enough following or the established reputation that attracts book giants.” The solution? Taking advantage of the multiplying resources out there for first-time self-publishing authors. “It’s tough, but the payoff is big,” says Mason, and closes out her article with her list of 5 benefits to going indie (HINT: the list includes personal branding, better royalties, and improving your communications skills). For the rest of Mason’s stellar article, follow the link!

Is Self-Publishing Coming of Age in the Digital World?

It’s not every day that self-publishing makes it into the BBC news digest, but Dougal Shaw has taken the conversation to the biggest international media playing field in this BBC Business piece, published on February 9th (and indexed at Digital Book World). As has become common, Shaw segweys into his piece with an almost obligatory shout-out to Fifty Shades of Grey, followed shortly thereafter by a description of Andy Weir’s journey to fame with The Martian. Interestingly, Shaw then takes a look at what he calls a “cautionary tale”–the story of Douglas Wight, a “former News of the World tabloid journalist [who] set up his own company to self-publish a biography of pop diva Rita Ora, in the run up to Christmas.” According to Shaw, “Self-publishing wasn’t as straight-forward as [Wight] had hoped,” with the author shouldering “the different formatting requirements of the various e-book outlets, organising cover illustrations and marketing, all while bearing the financial risk of the whole enterprise.” Wight’s book made good on his investment, however, and is earning its keep. As such, an expression like “cautionary tale” might seem like overkill when the very same person is on the record as saying “he feels his gamble paid off.” The moral of the story? When jumping into a new endeavor like self-publishing, it’s best to be prepared for a steep learning curve, and to lean on the assistance that is out there. For more of Shaw’s article and the accompanying news video, visit the BBC Business article here.

Self-Published Book Bumps ‘The Girl On the Train’ Out of the Top Spot

“The day my book got to the number one spot on the psychological thriller best seller list, I knew it finally bumped The Girl On The Train off the perch it had practically owned for the last year,” writes Eva Lesko Natiello for HuffPost Books in a February 10th article. Natiello, author of the indie book The Memory Box, writes: “That was a big deal for me. Mostly because my book is self-published. Any self-published author knows how difficult it is to compete with other indie books, not to mention, traditionally published ones.” And what does Natiello credit her success to? In part: an engaged reader base, and a great deal of “buzz.” Says Natiello: “The challenge is, how to get buzz. What is the marketing plan? We can’t do it in the same way traditionally published books do.” Indie authors lack the paid professional marketing team that traditionally published authors have in their corner by default. She advocates for self-publishing authors to steer clear of trying to beat the traditional books at their own game, but rather to focus on taking advantage of self-publishing’s unique benefits. What are those, pray? Immediate price flexibility is one, writes Natiello, and speed to market in addition to accessibility to readers. Indie authors have nothing to apologize for, she says. Traditional publishing has rigged the game against midlist authors since it became an institution, and now indie authors are taking back the field–with elbow grease and ingenuity. For the rest of Natiello’s reflection on her time on the bestseller list, check out her essay here.

A Ferret Named Phil: Adelaide author William Reimer’s anti-bullying children’s book a surprise hit

Fresh from across the Big Pond, here comes another instant international indie bestseller! In his February 9th article for Australia’s ABC News, Brett Williamson introduces his readers to the winsome little anti-bullying picture book, A Ferret Named Phil. The brainchild of 21-year-old Adelaide author William Reimer, the book follows the (mis)adventures of its titular character as he encounters a series of rough situations. Reimer, writes Williamson, “said he and the majority of his friends had experienced some form of bullying while growing up and that he wanted the book to help children who may be subjected to bullying.” He originally drafted the book as part of a high school project before rediscovering it at the the bottom of a drawer and rewriting it–up to seventeen times–as he journeyed toward publication. Reimer quit his job at a café before polling local banks and his social circle for funding. Eventually, he met with success as he crowd-sourced his funding efforts and self-published, and now that the book is in distribution he’s beginning to see positive responses flood in. “Recently I got a message from a mother who wanted to thank me for the book,” Williamson quotes Reimer as saying: “Her little girl shied away from things and then she started to read my book and took it to kindergarten in her bag every day. When her mother asked her about it, she said that she wanted to be brave like Phil.” That’s about as sweet a testimonial as one could hope for. Watch out for this book as it crosses the seven seas in the coming year!

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.

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.

Kelly Speaks, news from the self publishing world, self publishing news, Uncategorized

Self-Publishing News: 2.8.2016

This week in the world of self-publishing:

Want to Succeed in Self-Publishing? Be Professional: Tips from an Indie Author

In recent days, it seems as though we’ve crossed a rubicon in regards to where the topic of self-publishing arises as a mainstay news item. It might once have been unusual to see multiple references in a single issue of Publisher’s Weekly, but these days it seems as though they’re beginning to––can it be?––specialize in matters of an indie nature. This week, in a February 5th article by PW contributor Drucilla Shultz, we are privileged with the chance to see both what an industry titan defines as “success” in self-publishing, and how that titan advocates for achieving said definition. Shultz consults with Jessica Lourey, an author who began her career in the traditional publishing industry and transitioned to indie publication because she couldn’t let her latest project, The Catalain Book of Secrets, “wither on the vine” due to its genre-defying niche appeal. Together, Lourey and Shultz recommend three steps to the aspiring self-publishing author:

Submit First
Be Professional, and
Don’t Expect Immediate Success

Of course, these points mean a great deal more when considered in the context of Lourey and Shultz’s explanations, which you can access by reading the original article here.

Author’s Advocate: Author expectations and rewards

“Every author I’ve ever met gets almost starry-eyed at the completion of their written work,” writes David Smith in his February 5th article for the Southern Utah Independent. “The problem with most authors is that while they may have indeed written the next “Twilight” series, they need to make people who might be interested in reading their book aware that it is out there.” How to solve this dilemma? Writes Smith, the key is to go digital:

There are websites that have blogs, podcasts, topical material, and point-of-sale opportunities to help authors promote, market, and sell their books. There are social media sites, (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.), that you can use to connect with individuals and groups that may have an interest in your book. Email blasts to friends and family with the ability for each to forward notes to their circle of friends is another way to gain a following or make your information go viral.

And, of course, there are marketing programs that range in cost but provide more specific means to reach potential readers.

We couldn’t agree more, which is why it might be worthwhile to check out Smith’s complete article at the link.

Don’t Copy Tips and Tricks. Be Valuable and Remarkable.

Jurgen Appelo knows a little about being remarkable. In this February 4th piece for Entrepreneur, the self-made businessman and CEO of Happy Melly writes that “Entrepreneurs always have it backwards. They want to be more successful at what they do, so they watch and copy what others do who are very successful.” But this modus operandi doesn’t often work, he goes on to say: “Copying the tips and tricks of the experts rarely results in replication of their successes.” Why? And what can an aspiring author looking for inspiration––a true entrepreneur if ever we saw one––do without falling into that exact trap? Says Appelo, failure is as much a taught principle as it is an avoidable reality. “I believe 80 percent of your success is determined by your unique approach to solving a problem,” he says. “Before anything else, understand what problem you’re solving and what makes your solution remarkable. After you’ve figured that out, it’s OK to read books and articles that may help you to polish and tweak your production and marketing. But if what you offer has little value and is not remarkable for anyone, no amount of other people’s scripts, routines and checklists will make it so.” For Appelo’s full thoughts on the subject, access the latest edition of Entrepreneur here.

How do I become … an ebook writer?

The internet, writes Anna Tims in this February 4th piece for British heavyweight paper The Guardian, is making room for more authors to innovate and in so doing, to make a living from what they do. She writes that such global digital access “enables anyone to be an author with access to an audience and increasing numbers of people are discovering that they can earn an income from their own ebooks.” This is good news for self-publishing authors, she goes on to say, because there’s a direct connection between the rise of ebooks and the rise of self-publishing. She takes as her guiding star the story of Tracy Bloom, a self-publishing author whose first ebook, No-One Ever Has Sex on a Tuesday, reached the top rank in Amazon’s romance category. “I realised that my best chance lay in ebooks and spent three months analysing the mechanics of how to make a book successful on Amazon,” Tims quotes Bloom as saying. Hers was a long road, riddled with necessary research and with the intricacies to be ironed out before she considered her book “published,” but her journey may prove both interesting and insightful for the aspiring self-publishing author. For more of Bloom’s story and Tims’ reflections thereon, take a peek at the original piece over at The Guardian.

Kelly Speaks, news from the self publishing world, self publishing news, Uncategorized

Self-Publishing News: 2.1.2016

This week in the world of self-publishing:

Self-Publishing Popularity Skyrockets: Authors Find Success

In a coup for indie authors everywhere, self-publishing won a favorable mention in a January 28th Newswire article by Doug Crowe. “Self-publishing helps authors find success on their own terms,” Crowe writes by way of introduction (emphasis mine). “Authors are able to be at ease when navigating the world of publishing, building their own brands and writing the books they want.” He goes on to describe the veritable Renaissance in self-publishing abroad, particularly India, and the success of the Espresso Book Machine in diversifying the offerings of important indie-friendly stores, like Powell’s Books in Portland. “Writing a book is one of the most fulfilling things anyone can do. It’s as important a milestone as getting married and having a child,” Crowe quotes author Radu Balas as saying. Balas continues:

“In fact, it’s just like having a child. You’ll think about it, wait for it to develop over many months, watch it grow, nurture it, give it everything you’ve got, and then send it on its way – out to the public to live a life of its own, and it will be part of your legacy, something you’ll leave to the world. But just like a child, after you have created it you need to help it grow before setting it in the world.”

And that, according to Crowe, is where self-publishing comes into its own. One only hopes that Newswire‘s discerning readers take Crowe’s words to heart.

The Martian: how the audiobook hit rocketed to film glory

Ever wondered how Andy Weir did it––how this plain-spoken self-published author became a blockbuster success seemingly overnight? Well, according to Michelle Dean of The Guardian in this January 27th article, “one of the strangest items in the Martian origin story is who first approached Weir for a proper deal. It wasn’t print publishers or film producers. It was a small Canadian audiobook company called Podium Publishing. Run by a pair of friends, James Tonn and Greg Lawrence, the company produces what it calls ‘award-winning quality’ audiobooks ‘for indie-minded’ authors.” In a market sector that Lawrence describes as an “auxiliary business” in that audiobooks were “tacked on to the end of a publishing deal” without much fanfare, Podium set out to “change that, by working with the sort of writer who was interested in publishing their audiobook independently.” They’d been witness to the insatiable corporate need for maximum profits, and that just didn’t seem the way to go, especially when authors and their audiobook partners got the raw end of the bargain. Well, long story short, they contracted with popular audiobook reader RC Bray and purchased rights to The Martian, their first fiction selection. And the rest is history. I think it’s worth noting, however, that The Martian‘s success in large part comes down to people being willing to take risks: Weir, by pursuing self-publishing in the first place, and then Tonn and Lawrence by diversifying their company’s selection. For more information on Tonn and Lawrence’s involvement in The Martian’s road to success, check out the original Guardian article here.

The 6-Part Process to Successfully Self-Publishing Your Book

Now that we’ve basked a little in the glory of everyone’s current favorite as far as indie success stories go, how can you go about launching your own book with the greatest possible chance of success? Well, according to K.M. Weiland of Cultured Vultures in this January 27th piece, the process begins with setting aside fear of failure and the public perception that self-publishing is “so not legit.” (Note: that line may only make sense when read in American teenage vernacular.) Once you’ve expunged doubt from your mind, the next steps come easier. They are, according to Weiland:

WRITE A BUNCH OF STUFF YOU CAN’T PUBLISH

WRITE A BOOK YOU CAN PUBLISH

GET THE BEST HELP YOU CAN AFFORD

GET A WEBSITE

BUILDING A FOLLOWING

LAUNCH BIG OR GO HOME

Weiland follows up each point with a lengthy description of what she means, and they all very much fall in line with what we here at Self Publishing Advisor think of as foundational practices. For all of those lovely details, visit Weiland’s full article at the link.

Outskirts Press Reveals Top 10 Best Selling Books in Self-Publishing from December 2015

We tend to follow the progress of indie, hybrid, and self-publishing companies like Outskirts Press fairly closely, in part because the indie community is small and everyone seems to know someone who works with or has published through their services, and in part because we’ve discovered some rare and excellent gems among their publications. In a January 26th press release to PRWire, Outskirts announced its latest “Top 10” list, and some of them sound genuinely exciting! The list, arranged alphabetically, is as follows:

Cool Breeze by Ganelle Gaddy Sutton
The Day I Thought That I Made a Terrible, Terrible Grade by Rosie Wiggins
Elusive Loves; Amores Esquivos by Mirtha Michelle Castro Marmol
Hang In There At Christmas by Brad Myers
How Toxic Are You? by Dr. James Martin
The Legend of the Icelandic Yule Lads by Heidi Herman
The Magic Pouch by Hank Angus
Through Their Eyes by Harshal Mehdi and Aminder Mehdi
The Ultimate Guide for Bank Directors by Catherine A. Ghiglieri and Jewell D. Hoover
What She Feels by Chidozie Osuwa

Ganelle Gaddy Sutton’s Cool Breeze, for example, is a genre-defying look into poverty and life on the streets for America’s most marginalized communities, while Elusive Loves; Amores Equivos is the second book of poetry by actress and author Mirtha Michelle Castro Marmol and may prove, with its bilingual appeal and its lyric intent, to be just as big of a success as her first (Letters, To The Men I Have Loved). Dr. James Martin’s How Toxic Are You? takes a long hard look at environmental pollution and its effects on the human body, and physicians Harshal and Aminder Mehdi’s Through Their Eyes tackles the complicated intersection of philosophical, religious, and mental concerns in the course of dealing with chronic illness. And if you are looking to defy cliché but still process loves won and lost (as we all do), then What She Feels by Chidozie Osuwa with its beautiful cover art and unexpected and powerful imagery may prove to be exactly what you need. To access the original press release, click here.

Kelly Speaks, news from the self publishing world, self publishing news, Uncategorized

Self-Publishing News: 1.25.2016

This week in the world of self-publishing:

Interview With Linda Stirling on the Self-Publishing Advantage

This week’s featured interview was posted to HuffPost Books on January 23rd, courtesy of contributor Rajesh Setty. In it, Setty speaks with Linda Stirling, author and CEO of The Publishing Authority website. “There are two ways for authors to keep books in print long-term,” says Stirling:

1. Sell a lot of books without ceasing so a traditional publisher will keep the book in print

2. Self-publish your books

[But] What a lot of writers are unaware of with book sales by traditional publishers is there are many variables to how these books can make enough sales for publishers to keep them in print.

As a result, Setty transcribes, well-known authors profit and midlisters suffer from a lack of creative control in addition to limited rights and revenue. The solution? According to Stirling, the answer is simple and easy and one that you already know: self-publishing. “Bookstores and publishing houses are in business to make money, not to nurture authors,” says Stirling. “They need to see a return on investment, so if an author doesn’t earn out their advance, it’s unlikely they’ll see another one.” With self-publishing, however, “none of these concerns need call the presses to a halt. Competition is seen as a plus; promotion is in the author’s hands and can continue indefinitely; and there is no selling window, so writers can go on to make income from their books indefinitely.”

Stirling makes for an excellent self-publishing ambassador and advocate. For the rest of her interview with Rajesh Setty, drop on by the complete HuffPost Books article.

Extended shelf life: Downtown library’s high-tech, equipment-rich DIY center

Good news for Cincinnati residents, writes Sara Gadzala in this January 22nd article for Cincinnati.com: the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County has unveiled new additions to its nine-thousand-square-foot MakerSpace, including an Espresso Book Machine! The machine, which is only the third in the nation to be made available to the public in a library setting, prints and binds high-quality books so quickly you barely have time to sip your coffee while you wait. (See what I did there?) Says Gadzala, library patrons can “Consider it a birthday present for MakerSpace, and a gift to anyone who wants to self-publish or print content from OnDemand Books, which has a database of more than seven million titles.” According to the team leader of the Cincinnati MakerSpace, their offerings are “much more than a thrifty business tool. Anybody with a library card can make a reservation on the larger machines” even though a reservation is recommended due to high demand. We’ve written about the Espresso Book Machine before––several years ago, here and here––here on Self-Publishing Advisor, so it’s nice to see this technology being made available to more people.

BEA Announces Conference Programming for 2016

“Save the Date!” declares the website banner over this January 20th press release published to the Digital Book World website. If you’re free March 7th – 9th to travel to New York City, you couldn’t pick a better way to spend your time than by dropping by the annual conference put on by BookExpo America (BEA), which self-advertises as “North America’s premiere event for the publishing industry today” and which aims “to engage and educate booksellers, librarians, agents, authors, and industry insiders by delivering insights on the latest trends and unparalleled networking opportunities.”

Conference organizers have just released the program’s schedule and themes, and as it turns out it’s a good year for self-publishing conferencegoers, as one of the conference’s eight “tracks” or themes is dedicated to studying self-publishing concerns: “Within the self-publishing track authors and service providers will explore the opportunities to reach readers, build sales, and establish a social presence with readers.” That’s some handy information. (Other tracks include: Children’s Publishing, Marketing & Engagement, as well as Analytics, Tech & Mobile.) For more information, visit the original press release here, and the conference website here.

Kelly Speaks, news from the self publishing world, self publishing news

Self-Publishing News: 1.18.2016

This week in the world of self-publishing:

Write on: How you can publish a best-seller – The ebook revolution allows new authors to find fame

“They say everyone has at least one good book in them,” writes Toby Walne for ThisIsMoney.co.uk in his January 16th article, “and thanks to the internet there is no longer an excuse not to get it published.” He is speaking, of course, about the ebook revolution, which has long been entangled with both the digital revolution, the millennial generation, and self-publishing. Walne interviews author and expert Damien Fahy, “who runs money saving website MoneytotheMasses and is author of an ebook entitled 30 Day Money Plan” to get an idea for what indie authors should be looking to do in 2016. Says Fahy, “just getting published is not enough – you must also think how you are going to get people to buy your book.” Fahy and Walne walk readers through a series of recommendations––how to go about giving away free copies of your book for review, how to offer your book in multiple formats through a variety of online platforms, and when not to close the door on a publishing company (to name a few)––before closing with a commentary on crowdfunding possibilities. For more information, see the original article here.

Self-Publishing Preview: 2016

Jennifer McCartney of Publisher’s Weekly pulls no punches in this January 15th article, which lays the groundwork for what many industry experts believe we can expect of the coming year. McCartney begins her preview with a brief retrospective, touching upon the self-publishing “successes” and general market trends of 2015 with particular mention given over to Andy Weir’s The Martian, Jamie McGuire’s Beautiful Redemption, Paul Kingsnorth’s The Wake, and the popularization of crowdfunding for self-publishing authors. But McCartney doesn’t dwell on the past for long; most of her piece is dedicated to emerging possibilities. She names McGuire as just one of a long list of authors who are either switching from traditional publishing to self-publishing or who are supplementing their traditionally-published books with side projects which are published through indie platforms––and in McCartney’s eyes, this is just the tip of the iceberg. What else does she expect to see in 2016? Preorders and “microtargeted subgenres” will continue to be important in driving sales for self-publishing authors; short stories and box subscription deals are growing in popularity as readers switch over to reading on their mobile devices; and the ever-present struggle to balance print and digital sales in a market where brick-and-mortar stores and public libraries remain mostly hostile to keeping self-published books on the shelf will remain at the forefront of indie challenges. For the rest of McCartney’s article, click here.

Five Marketing Models for Self-Publishing Success

In our second of two articles released in this week’s Publisher’s Weekly, Jane Friedman presents PW‘s readers with a series of models for indie publication in order to address the fundamental problem of newcomers to the market: “it’s hard to know whom to hire, how much to invest, and what type of marketing and publicity will make a difference.” Her five “strategic” models are:

“Reach Out Directly to an Established Audience”
“Always Be Producing”
“Produce Across Multiple Mediums or Channels”
“Know the Right People or Start Meeting Authors with Pull,” and to create the
“Right Concept at the Right Time for a Specific Market”

Friedman, who “teaches digital media and publishing at the University of Virginia and is the former publisher of Writer’s Digest,” is something of an expert on the matter––and luckily for everyone, she doesn’t just list bullet points but rather spends a fair bit of time deconstructing each point for the interested reader. For all of that wonderfully useful information, don’t forget to follow the link!

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