Member Blog | Self-Publishing Review

Help Shaina quit her day job. Please. Please?

So, why do free eBooks exist? Why would any person go to the trouble of typing so many words on a page, then spend money to create a cover for that electronic book, only to give it away to people with no expectation of a monetary reward?

It’s because we need reviews.

Reviews of our free books help to perpetuate sales of our books that are not free. In addition, free eBooks generate interest and publicity by getting our work into the e-reading devices of a lot of people. And a LOT of people love free stuff. Hopefully if they […]

Shaina Richmond2011-03-03T15:26:09+02:00March 3rd, 2011|Categories: Features, Member Blog|Tags: Smashwords|

The Dark Side of Reviews

In the past, I’ve blogged my thoughts about the review process, and I’m at it again. It’s the wonderful experience when publishing a book. Every author, whether self-published or traditional, has a star-filled future from one to five.

After being in the public eye since 2008, I’ve come to one conclusion. The entire review process is so – what’s the word I want to use here – LAME! Why lame? Because frankly, folks, it’s a broken process limping along that has little value, if any, these days.

Why do I say that? Recently, I’ve discovered a very disturbing trend […]

Vicki Hopkins2011-10-08T14:00:16+02:00March 2nd, 2011|Categories: Features, Member Blog|Tags: Amazon, Book Reviews, Goodreads|

e-Textbooks: How do they stack up against traditional textbooks?

I will start by stating that I believe e-textbooks are a great opportunity to improve the quality of education. But the players have to start thinking outside the box and stop resisting the new concept. E-textbooks should be a wake-up call to professors and students, publishers, authors and content providers.

I have been championing ebooks and ebook authors for a while how and listening to the educational community’s reasons for not adopting the new technology. Oh I know about the current pilot programs and the studies being conducted. Some schools are even being forced into using them because of their […]

James Moushon2017-05-26T05:27:19+02:00February 28th, 2011|Categories: Features, Member Blog|Tags: Amazon|

The Other 90% of us

In a recent talk, the great novelist Margaret Atwood (link courtesy of teleread) said that approximately 10% of authors make their living by their writing. This seemed like a high number to me. It makes me wonder a) what is the definition of an author and b) what is the history of this percentage?

I assume that an “author” is a writer who has been published by one of the six subsidiaries of international conglomerates which constitute “literature” today, in which case, the fact that a mere 10% of their stable make money is not a bright reflection […]

tom lichtenberg2011-02-22T18:23:14+02:00February 22nd, 2011|Categories: Features, Member Blog|

eBook Publishers: Are eBook Copyright Pages Missing Information?

Well the ebook community is buzzing. Amazon has provided REAL page numbering. The critics have been answered. Now the fun begins. What is the source of my ebook? Is my ebook the same edition as my paper version? Where am I at here?

Of course, there is one thing that we must have in place if we are going to coordinate a paper version with an ebook. We must know the source of the ebook and that information appears to be missing in action.

It sounds like an easy problem to solve. I just purchased an ebook on-line and the […]

James Moushon2019-02-18T12:22:54+02:00February 15th, 2011|Categories: Member Blog|

Greetings from Charles D. Blanchard

My name is Charles D. Blanchard. My debut novel, Mourning Doves After The Fire, was published last fall by Xlibris: www.mourningdovesafterthefire.com.

Here are my interview responses.

1. How did you come to self-publish? Did you try to get published traditionally? I did not seek traditional publishing as this is my first published work and the idea of attempting to seek an agent who would genuinely represent a first time novelist and attempt to convince a publishing house to “take a chance” on me, was too daunting a task to even contemplate.

2. What self-publishing service did you use? […]

Charles D. Blanchard2011-02-09T16:18:53+02:00February 9th, 2011|Categories: Interviews, Member Blog|

Is Google the future of eBooks?

As I’ve mentioned, I love my Kindle (I really do), but I’m not crazy in love with the Kindle store. I went to download a book the other day, and and it seriously took me like fifteen minutes to pull the trigger. The problem wasn’t the $9.99 I was paying — I would have gladly paid more for a physical copy. The problem was that if I pay ten bucks for something I want it to me be mine. I don’t want it to be locked in some device that I may or may not still have […]

mattyoungmark2011-02-03T10:45:57+02:00February 3rd, 2011|Categories: Features, Member Blog|

Every ‘No’ Not A Roadblock

The R-word just won’t go away. I’m talking about rejection. Writers know it well.

As an independent author, rejection is just a painful part of the game. I didn’t mail my manuscript to a hundreds of publishers like other authors, but I did mail it to several over the years. And, well, you know the rest.

However, my story is a little different because I finally got a “nice” rejection from a major publisher. And when I say nice I just mean the editor liked my book, but those with the decision-making power did not. The one who liked my […]

Vanessa W. Snyder2011-01-28T23:10:28+02:00January 28th, 2011|Categories: Features, Member Blog|