Tag: Self-Publishing

Book Promotion, Book Reviews, Self-Publishing, Viral Marketing

On Self-published Book Reviews

Every Saturday I post self-published book reviews on this blog. What you won’t find in those is critical review in the vein of James Wood or the New York Times book review. (I am a fan of both.)

The reviews posted here are not intended to be on par, mimic, or compliment a James Wood. The reality is book marketing is changing as fast as book publishing – exponentially. As Stephen Marche noted in a recent Esquire, “…written criticism — literary, music, and movie reviews by trained professionals — has never been less relevant. There is no Lester Bangs to announce to the cool kids that the Doors actually suck.”

Learning to view this as neither good nor bad, but instead different, is the key. It’s not a fight anyone is going to win, after all. For those literary buffs out there, I encourage you to read some James Wood. And I hope you find our book reviews here at the very least a good resource for learning about new titles and relevant niche reads.


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Self-Publishing Book Review of the Week

Self Publishing Book Review of the Week: The Peruke Maker

The Peruke Maker

by Ruby Dominguez

This self-published book was recently reviewed by Able Greenspan of Midwest Book Review:

Dozens of innocents were killed for no reason during the Salem Witch Trials. Someone will pay. “The Peruke Maker: The Salem Witch Hunter Curse” is a story of a curse of the innocents that ravages Salem hundreds of years later. Sarah, a twenty first century girl, is faced with the curse, and now she must end it or be just another victim. “The Peruke Maker” is an intriguing mystery and a highly recommended read.

For more information or to order the book, visit the author’s webpage: www.outskirtspress.com/ThePerukeMaker


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Self-Publishing, Viral Marketing

The Future of Publishing

In her end of the year address, Simon & Schuster CEO, Carolyn Reidy had this to say of the book market, “The US bookselling market has been truly lackluster, and year-on-year sales at most of our major customers have declined significantly … the lower sales volume attributed to the soft marketplace was impossible for us to overcome.”

But is the marketplace soft? Have book sales truly declined? Or, as Seth Godin would suggest, has the marketplace, instead of going soft, changed radically?

Self-published author, Keith Knapp, has nearly dominated the Kindle store sales rankings for months. As Knapp points out, it’s not easy to get readers to pick up titles from authors they’ve never heard of. But here is an example of an author adapting to the changing market to find success, in spite of disliking the practice of marketing itself.

As Seth identifies, “Competition and the market are like water. They go where they want.”

I encourage you to take two minutes and enjoy this video, The Future of Publishing.



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Cheers.

Book Promotion

Back to Writing on the Road to Self-Publishing

Ezines – they are a fast and free opportunity to self publish. Moreover, publishing in ezines can help you get motivated to write your book, and even promote your book after publication.

We’ve discussed the idea of publishing excerpts of your book as individual articles or stories. You can simply locate a website and query that site’s webmaster about publishing your article. Make sure you include your biographical byline, which mentions your book as well.

This is more of the same, but concentrating on ezine publication.

There really are countless ezines in existence now, each with a specific niche or category. And all of them are voraciously hungry for content.

Rather than seeking them out individually, you can place your articles into databases that ezine editors frequent for content. They use your article free of charge, and in exchange, include your biographical byline, which, again, includes information about you and your book.

Here are some to check out:

http://www.ezinearticles.com

http://www.ebooksnbytes.com

http://www.connectionteam.com

http://www.netterweb.com

http://www.ideamarketers.com

http://www.goarticles.com

http://www.knowledge-finder.com

http://www.articlecity.com

Don’t send an article you’ve already published last week. Instead, write another chapter of your book first (since finishing your book the main goal, after all.)

Have fun. Keep writing.



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Self-Publishing Book Review of the Week

Self Publishing Book Review of the Week: The College Survival Guide

The College Survival Guide

by Karven, Mobeir & Howe

This self-published book was recently reviewed by Susan Bethany of Midwest Book Review:

College is a time of survival, just not from one traditionally needs to survive. “The College Survival Guide: Beer Games, Hangover Remedies, and Much More!” is a guide for the future alcoholics of America just getting their start in College and the joys of drinking. Filled with fun ideas for activities involving America’s favorite beverage, “The College Survival Guide” is a read that anyone college drinker should consider.

For more information or to order the book, visit the author’s webpage: www.outskirtspress.com/collegesurvivalguide


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