Non-blooper version here.

I’ve been away from Self-Publishing Review for several months, but now that I’ve fulfilled some of the obligations that kept me away, it’s good to be back. The biggest task was judging one of the Spur categories. Two other judges and I read about 30 Western novels, most of which were self-published.
Between a few of [...]

The American Psychological Association estimates that each year thousands of writers suffer from delusions of inflated worth, knowledge, and identity. In our latest episode of “Inside The Writers’ Studio,” we visit one such author, R.J. Keller, as she is interviewed by a hair-obsessed reporter.

“Inside the Writers Studio” is a video blog series created by R.J. Keller and me. You can find “Inside the Writers Studio” (a PaperRats production) on its YouTube page, be a friend on Facebook, and/or follow on Twitter. Watch the first episode, “Raving Reviews” (or, “How Writers REALLY React to Negative [...]

MediaBistro.com analyzed what many of us call “meaningless chatter” on Twitter and found, among all the celebrity nonsense, there are plenty of us out there too:
Using highly unscientific methods (a simple TweepSearch to find all the people who included the word “poet,” “novelist,” or “writer” in their Twitter profile), GalleyCat has compiled a year-end census [...]

I love cutting through the muck of life.  Please get me from A to B in the most efficient manner possible.  I don’t want a long song and dance.  Don’t want to be distracted on the way.  And when I get to where I am going I really, really want to know that I am [...]

It takes a different kind of person to make their own dreams come alive.  Not everyone is prepared to put in the long hours and hard work it takes to bring a novel to the store shelves in non-traditional ways.  I’m one of those crazy, annal retentive, ego centric fools who just has to do [...]

This is all over the web, but the best analysis I’ve seen is over at arstechnica. Starting in June, Amazon will offer a new royalty program for Kindle e-books: 70% of the retail price goes to the publisher, instead of the 35% in the current standard contract. From the article:
Amazon dropped a bomb on the [...]

Fragmentation of the book business has made it nearly impossible for writers to find publishers, unless, of course, they already have publishers who are willing to take chances on their new books. Publishers need to make money, and times are hard. As a result, conventional publication by major publishers has become nearly impossible for great [...]

The most downloaded books today, Jan. 8, at Smashwords.com are by (self-published) Backword Books authors.
Women’s fiction
#1 – Homefront by Kristen J. Tsetsi

#2 – Waiting for Spring by R.J. Keller (reviewed by me here)
Literary fiction
#1 – Homefront by Kristen J. Tsetsi

#4 – American Book of the Dead by Henry Baum
#6 – Waiting for Spring by R.J. [...]