October is a big month for festivities—Halloween, we’re looking at you—but there’s one party you absolutely don’t want to miss: Indie Author Day, which this year will take place nationwide on Saturday, October 8th. Why is this a big day? First of all, it’s the day where we celebrate you and all that you do as a self-publishing author. And if you needed a second reason, here’s another: Indie Author Day provides a fantastic opportunity for networking with other authors and partner organizations, as well as a great centerpoint for launching your next promotion or giveaway at your local public library!
Want to know how to get involved? Your first stop should be the official Indie Author Day website (www.indieauthorday.com). There, you can find out if your local library is participating (under the “WHERE” tab) and even get involved in signing yourself and your library up for next year (under the “AUTHOR INQUIRY” and “LIBRARY REGISTRATION” tabs, respectively). The website is chock-full of useful information and tips to get you started.
Perhaps the most important feature of the Indie Author Day website is, however, the “NEWS” tab, where you can find the most up-to-date information on events happening both near and far from you as well as ways for you to watch live streams or take direct part. And don’t dally, if you can help it—some of the opportunities out there have fast-closing deadlines, so it’s worth diving in with both feet right away; there are plenty of how-to resources available through the website as well as elsewhere online (don’t forget about your advocates and your Personal Marketing Assistant at Outskirts Press, for example!) to help you find a foothold.
To top it all off, there will be an online “Digital Gathering” for indie authors, advocates, and fans on October 8th at 2:00 PM Eastern Time (ET). The gathering will feature a Question and Answer session with writers, agents, and other industry leaders that you absolutely won’t want to miss. Libraries hosting Indie Author Day related events will be streaming this gathering, but if you can’t make it in (or if there is no library near you playing host), you can also watch the event on YouTube—live or after the fact, depending on what works for your schedule. As is fitting for an event seeking to advocate for indie and self-publishing authors, the wonderful people behind Indie Author Day do their best to make theirs a flexible, adaptable, and responsive event.
We here at Self Publishing Advisor and our friends over at Outskirts Press will be following the events of Indie Author Day closely. You can follow along as we post more information here and by accessing that all-important Indie Author Day website.
See you at the library!
Thanks for reading! Keep up with the latest in the world of indie and self-published books by watching this space every Saturday!
Ever heard of self-publishing sensation Samantha Bond? If you haven’t already, Maya Fleischmann of the Huffington Post blog fame is here to save the day with this September 14th article on Bond, an author she introduces first as fleeing the corporate sector to find solace in writing–prolifically–for traditional publishers until launching her own self-publishing company in 2011. “And she hasn’t looked back,” writes Fleischmann before launching into a lengthy interview with Bond, featuring questions like “What was the inspiration for your Coma Girl Daily Serial?” (Bond’s latest series), and “You have numerous books in the works. What makes you want to share your writing progress with your followers? How do you focus on so many books and decide which book to work on each day?” Fleischmann’s skill at stacking questions is equaled only by Bond’s ability to answer them; if you’re curious to find out her answers and learn more about her latest round of work, you can read Fleischmann’s full interview with Bond here. (We here on the SPA blog find it utterly relatable.)
“There are plenty of perks to self-publishing,” writes Kylee McIntyre for Tech In Asia in this September 14th article: “You get a lot more control over the way your work is presented. You can also can end up making more money in the long run – e-publishers can take just around 40 percent of sales, much smaller than the 75 percent cut that traditional publishers receive.” But there are downsides, too, she warns–including the assumption “that you’re responsible for plenty of the publishing process yourself, including marketing and design. You also probably charge much less for people to buy and download your work.” Which brings us to the nebulous “they” of the article’s title. As it turns out, writes McIntyre, there are some parties out there who are interested in “trying to level the playing field” for authors who choose to publish digitally. This company, Notion Press is based out of Chennai and was founded by three men, only one of whom has a background in publishing. The other two, McIntyre writes, have backgrounds in engineering–“appropriate,” she writes, for a company which “describes itself as an accelerator for books.” With roughly 1,500 books under its belt and 120 members on staff, Notion Press is doing quite well. Its authors are doing even better. It has turned what it calls “productivity trash into treasure,” meaning that its founders have a pretty good handle on transforming authors’ experiences in self-publishing by way of social and personal management tools. To learn more about their fascinating approach, read the full article at the link.
Some self-publishing stories are not standout successes. Some of them, sadly but truthfully, are horror stories. As Melissa Nightingale reports in this September 16th piece for the New Zealand National Herald, author Sean Colenso’s story is one such nightmare. After choosing to self-publish his photo book of material gathered around his home town of Twizel, NZ, through Xlibris, he found himself “$11,000 out of pocket.” (These are NZ dollars.) “Now,” writes Nightingale, “he is using his experience to warn other new authors to be careful choosing a self-publishing business.” His experience stacked miscommunication upon miscommunication, and he faced repeated demands from Xlibris for more money to cover services they didn’t seem to make good on. (For instance, he was promised that his book would be published in both print and digital editions, but to date the only version available to buy on Amazon is the e-book. There’s also the issue of marketing–which as yet Colenso has seen none of, despite paying $3,000 NZ to cover those costs.) The price of his e-book soared. His books appeared at none of the promised outlets and book fairs. His royalty payments haven’t come through and he hasn’t been told why. “It’s just left me absolutely screwed,” Nightingale quotes him as saying.
Luckily, New Zealand-based authors have at least one advocate: The New Zealand Society of Authors. “There are honest, reputable self-publishing services that can help a writer who wants to self-publish but who doesn’t feel confident about doing it alone,” NZSA president Kyle Mewburn said, as quoted by Nightingale. “Unfortunately there are some rogue offshore organisations charging large fees to do very little. They misrepresent their services in order to profit from writers.” Xlibris may be offshore for New Zealanders, but it’s very much onshore for those of us who happen to be based in the USA. The moral of this story? Read the fine print. Be careful. Trust no one until you have seen evidence, through previously published authors, of reliability and accessibility. If this sounds like a mobster initiation rite, that may tell you something about the current state of affairs in self-publishing. We must continue to advocate for truly ethical practices. For more of Nightingale’s report, follow the link.
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.
“When I self-published my book, admittedly, it was the last resort,” writes Eva Lesko Natiello in her September 8th article for The Huffington Post‘s Entertainment section. Natiello, who self-published her book The Memory Box after a series of rejections from traditional publishers, goes on to describe the dejection and intense discouragement that followed. “Quickly,” she writes, “the consolation prize felt very much like a booby prize.” This discouragement was only amplified by the positive responses she received. Says Natiello, “I’m probably the only author on the planet that cringes when a reader says, ‘I read your book in one night! I couldn’t put it down!’ Knowing the myriad all-nighters I pulled writing and editing it. And all the sleepless nights that are ahead of me to finish the next book.”
Natiello’s experience is hardly unique, however. Many authors turn to self-publishing as a last resort after rejection, and there’s a tendency to think that this somehow automatically equates to failure–that self-publishing is the hallmark of failed writers, even as sales soar and readers respond the way that Natiello’s do. But there’s a silver lining to the struggle, she reminds us: “It was unglamorous and worth every minute. I didn’t know it back then, but self-publishing is just a different way to do the thing I always wanted: to entertain readers. You can’t do that unless you produce something for them to read.” And Natiello has. To read her full story and catch up on the success of her book, you can access the full HuffPost piece here.
Some self-publishing companies are, shall we say, unique. And Erika Bester’s Fire Quill Publishing, the first fully female-owned publisher, is one of several experienced self-publishing authors who has taken steps towards activating the potential of other authors by launching a startup that defies the world of traditional publishing according to Neo Koza in this September 9th article for Eyewitness News. Bester saw a need–“Our publishing companies focus more on non-fiction and memoirs, they are not very supportive of fantasy genres and non-adult science fiction”–and decided to set about satisfying that need. But it’s not easy going, as Koza reports: when small publishers like Fire Quill do occasionally get their books into stores, they are often tucked away out of sight. “It’s always somewhere in the corner where nobody sees it,” says Bester. But her struggle is an important one, as Koza records, since the field of traditional publishing leaves little room for diverse voices like Simamkele Dial’s, whose book was published through Fire Quill earlier this year. As many self-publishing authors have discovered, self-publishing is more than just a home to discouraged authors seeking shelter after rejection by the institution; the platform provides a wholly new launchpad for diversity in thought and representation. (And content.) But enough of the summary; check out Koza’s coverage of Bester’s work at the link.
Award opportunities for self-publishing authors can be few and far between, but there are opportunities out there as this September 9th press release for Outskirts Press reveals. The full-service self-publishing company will by the time you read this have both sponsored and sent representatives to the first-ever Colorado Book Festival, held at the Denver Public Library. “As a Colorado-based company that assists authors worldwide,” says the release, “Outskirts Press is thrilled to provide resources to aspiring authors attending this free event.” The event is drawing some attention not just because of its novelty but because of the names attached; Colorado’s Governor, John Hickenlooper, attended the event as well as Outskirts Press’s founder and President, Brent Sampson, who took part in a panel discussion while the company’s CEO, Jeanine Sampson, met writers one-on-one in order to field questions about both the company and the process of self-publishing. The event, which drew more than 75 local authors (!!), ran the gamut from crime to sports, poetry to photography, and fiction to history as authors mingled and shared their experiences with other attendees. With book signings, giveaways, and children’s story times scheduled throughout the event, this first-ever Colorado Book Festival holds a lot of promise in terms of giving authors an idea of what they might come to expect in the future for their industry: Hope, optimism, and a great deal of public attention. For the full press release, follow the link!
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
“Professional photographer Alice Mabin is a woman not afraid to have a go in life,” writes Jennette Lees in her September 2nd article for the Cootamundra Herald, a paper which covers the Cootamundra District in New South Wales, Australia. Says Lees, New Zealand born Mabin, 29, “always knew she wanted a career on the land,” and indeed spent “her early working life traipsing around high country stations in New Zealand mustering sheep, cattle, and deer, before packing up her life, including her dogs, in 2007 and moving to the vast, flat, drought-stricken planes of Hay, to experience farming the Australian way.” She even took part in the 2013 Brinkworth cattle drive, the longest cattle drive in over 100 years of Australian history, walking roughly eighteen thousand head of cattle “from central Queensland to Hay,” a journey of 2000 kilometers (1240+ miles).
[ a map of the Brinkworth drive ]2000 kilometers, for comparison, is roughly the distance from Dusseldorf to Skopje, and from New York to Miami. You can imagine that walking that far might lend itself to some interesting photography, and Mabin made good on that opportunity. Writes Lees, Mabin “went along for a day to take photographs and ended up joining the crew for the entire five-month trip. She finished with beautiful, scenic images capturing a side of Australian life few have the opportunity to experience.” After putting her images together as a book, and struggling to find a publisher, Mabin self-published The Drover and printed just a thousand copies. To date, reports Lees, “21,000 copies of the book have been sold with another reprint on the horizon.” To learn more about Mabin’s fascinating work and the story of her self-publishing experience, follow the link!
Some weeks ago–back in May, in fact–we reported on Rana Ayyub’s rough journey to self-publication, and this week we are happy to offer a wonderful follow up. As Priya Ramani writes for Live Mint in this September 2nd article, “All the angst fades when you’re the country’s latest self-publishing sensation who has, pretty much single-handedly, managed to sell 32,000 copies of a book nobody would touch. It also feels nice to be on the verge of paying back the Rs.5 lakh bank loan you took to do this.” Says Ramani, “It’s great when the country’s biggest English language book distributor takes you on board because they know it makes commercial sense, political affiliations be damned.” Ayyub, who published the highly controversial Gujarat Files: Anatomy Of A Cover Up earlier this year, has faced everything from being ignored to accusations of being a jihadi Muslim radical. It doesn’t hurt that Ramani herself is clearly impressed with Ayyub’s work; as Ramani puts it, “the then 26-year-old reporter who went undercover as film-maker Maithili Tyagi for eight months in 2011 to investigate the riots, custody killings and 2003 murder of Gujarat home minister Haren Pandya. The investigation, originally commissioned by news magazine Tehelka, was never published. Several years later, Ayyub has self-published it as The Gujarat Files. It takes a single-minded madness to do what she did.” Single-minded madness aside, Ayyub has become something of a self-publishing sensation in addition to a political force for transparency, advocacy, and the ethical treatment of others. For the full report, click here.
Emma Bryson has some strong words for the publishing community. In her latest (September 1st) article for New Zealand’s premier Booksellers magazine, Bryson bemoans the fact that romance authors and publishers “inspire a bare minimum of mainstream media attention, aside from the odd condescending ‘human interest’ story. But the slight of romance rides further than this still, with traditionally little to no coverage in national or even local bookish circles.” Says Bryson, “I’m beginning to think that the somewhat toxic relationship between the wider publishing world and romance needs to be re-negotiated. Not for our sake, but for yours.” How ‘yours’? The genre “transcends most of those traditional mainstream publishing concerns,” she writes, and this is good for everyone: “Multinational vs indie? No problem, you can make a career out of either, or both. Traditional vs self-publishing? Both can be lucrative options for romance writers. Print vs digital? Hey, same there.” The complicated relationship between Romance and Feminism bears further study, too, according to Bryson. But when push comes to shove, it’s Romance’s very transgressiveness–its ability to cross lines because no one is looking–that makes it home for innovation and success. Its authors are “freed to explore those cutting-edge avenues that traditional publishers still scoff at,” write Bryson–and this is ultimately good news for everyone. For the rest of Bryson’s article, follow the link..
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
“When former Farrar, Straus and Giroux editor Jesse Coleman was looking to get back into publishing after spending years building a freelance editorial business,” writes Rachel Deahl in this August 26th article for Publishers Weekly, “he found himself weighing opportunities at Big Five houses against a job at a software company.” Ultimately, it seems, he was able to create his own third way between the two and launched a publishing branch to the Los Angeles-based software company, NationBuilder. “That a software company would be interested in a book division seems, as Coleman acknowledged, a bit odd,” writes Deahl. But neither Coleman nor NationBuilder were new to the notion of publishing–or self-publishing. NationBuilder’s cofounder and CEO, Jim Gilliam, gave a viral speech to the Personal Democracy Forum in 2011, a speech he and his fellow cofounder Lea Endres later transformed into a manuscript that Coleman edited and they together self-published. The book’s success, according to Deahl, whetted their appetite and they noticed a distinct synergy between nontraditional publishing models and their own company’s mission. It seemed natural, then, to develop a publishing arm to their own company with the goal of creating “the kind of nonfiction books that have consumer appeal, and extend the company’s brand.” NationBuilder Books, says Deahl, launch this fall when The Internet Is My Religion is officially rereleased on September 13. Says Deahl, “NationBuilder’s titles will be available in both print and online, and Gilliam said he’s currently in negotiations with a major distributor. Veering from the traditional royalty model, Coleman is instead commissioning books as works for hire. In lieu of royalties, authors will be offered flat advances of $20,000 each.” This places NationBuilder somewhere in the grey zone just off center of the traditional publishing houses–albeit a grey zone that has its roots deep in the self-publishing movement. For the full story, follow the link!
A quick update on a story we first brought you news on back at the beginning of the month: FlipHTML5 is officially live and seeing its first users according to this press release published to Digital Journal on August 26th. The Hong-Kong based developer, FlipHTML5 Software Co. Ltd, promotes this software as “significantly useful for self publishers as it allows them to distribute their magazines everywhere in order to reach more people,” but the proof will remain in the pudding until more users have reported back their experiences with the software over time. The demos provided on the FlipHTML5 website, including one for “Dumb Starbucks,” demonstrate the interactivity and potential for the medium–albeit, for very corporate ends. (There are also demos for H&M, WeddingWire, Miss Dior, Apple, Hard Graft, Outside Magazine, Top Gear, GoToMeeting, and a number of others under the website’s “Case Studies” tab.) One could foresee this becoming a new and beautiful way to publish zines, for one. To read the rest of the press release, click here.
Here’s some good news to start your week off on a happy note: the Independent Publishing Resource Center, given notice of its upcoming ousting earlier this summer, is close to finding its next home according to Portland Business Journal staff reporter Ron Bell in this August 24th article. “The nonprofit, which has offered publishing tools, workshops and other resources to writers and self-publishers for nearly 20 years, got word of the increase in July and needs to find a new home to replace its Southeast Division Street location by April 2017,” says Bell, making it one of “handful of recent real estate transactions that have triggered the ousting of Portland artists — including the Towne Storage Building, the Troy Laundry Building and the impending sale of Imago Theatre’s home.” The rent hike of 300 percent may not be feasible for the Independent Publishing Resource Center, but its recent successes in providing support to the self-publishing industry … is. Writes Bell, the organization turned to its friends to help out with the costs associated with leaving its 20-year home and “launched a Kickstarter campaign with a goal of $20,000. As of this past Friday, the nonprofit had cleared that and then some. This morning, the total had hit $20,754, and the campaign still had another 10 days to go.” This is good news for everyone that the IPRC has helped over the years and will help in the years to come! For the rest of Bell’s coverage of the situation, read the original article here.
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
Self Publishing Advisor 