Features | Self-Publishing Review

Self-Publishing Review Names Favorite Indie Books of 2015

A list of our team’s favorites books published and reviewed in 2015

Workman’s Complication by Rich Leder

Off-off-off-off Broadway actress Kate McCall inherits her father’s New York private investigation business after he’s a whole lot of murdered in a life insurance company elevator. Henry Baum, owner of SPR wrote of this book, “In the seven years I’ve been reading and reviewing books for SPR, I’d put Workman’s Complication in the top five.”

What’s it like: Fletch meets Sympathy For The Devil

Blackcloak: A Man of his Sword by W. James Chan

A poetic exploration of the hero myth with strange

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Cate Baum2015-12-31T14:04:28+02:00December 31st, 2015|Categories: Features|

New Survey Proves Editorial “Paid” Book Reviews Sell Books

A survey of over 300 indie authors worldwide from Kindlebookreviews.net proves unequivocally that while many self-published authors thrash out the “morals” of paying for a book review, the presence of paid editorial reviews on your Amazon book page will help sell your book – and only a quarter of authors are strongly against the idea of paying for a review.

The vast majority of authors greatly appreciate the value of honest book reviews, and believe they help improve the credibility of their book, and helps generate sales.
The majority of authors approve of paid review services as long as they

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Cate Baum2020-02-21T06:34:11+02:00December 30th, 2015|Categories: Features|Tags: Book Promotion, Book Reviews|

How To Sell Your Book In Person – A Step-by-Step System For Book Fairs and Signings

“Handselling books”, as it is known, is aggressive. Don’t tell yourself tales like “I just want to get ten signups to my mailing list today.” No, you don’t. You want to sell your book. You just can’t be bothered. You’d rather send an email and see if someone buys your book after they left.

So here’s how to handle the front line, the trenches, the living marketplace of book ownership. Author Elizabeth Sims says at Writer’s Digest, “Building a readership one person at a time, face to face, is incredibly valuable. And because unlike a juicy rack of […]

Cate Baum2020-02-21T05:52:03+02:00December 22nd, 2015|Categories: Features|Tags: Book Marketing|

How Paid Reviews Sell Books – Facts and Figures

As one of the most trusted professional review services, and one of the first self-publishing sites around, it’s SPR’s job to make sure we are bringing books to readers with our paid review service, and we’d like to put the “don’t pay for reviews” myth being spread around by certain self-publishing pundits to bed with some hard, analytical, independent facts. The plain truth is, paid reviews do sell more books in the majority of cases.

Distinguishing Experts From Pundits

There are many independent studies available from trustworthy sources that have nothing to gain from approving of paid review services, and […]

Cate Baum2019-02-03T09:30:03+02:00December 15th, 2015|Categories: Features|Tags: Book Promotion|

Ten Easy Steps To Get your E-Book Ready For Editing

As an independent author, there’s no getting away from the fact you will need to get your e-book edited professionally by the sort of editor who knows the differences between e-book and print book. However, these quick ten steps will help you prepare your book for the edit and final publication early on in the process. This is a ragbag of formatting and grammar tips, but trust me, your e-book editor will love you forever if you prep your book this way!

1. Strip out styles and fancy formatting

E-books don’t need styles manually applied in Word. The first thing […]

Cate Baum2015-12-08T06:28:48+02:00December 8th, 2015|Categories: Features|Tags: Book Editing|

Best WordPress Portfolio Themes for Authors & Creatives

Earlier, we posted the complete list of free and premium WordPress themes for books. Another option, and perhaps less commercial-looking, is a portfolio template. Normally, portfolios are used for designers and photographers, but they can double just as easily for writers. These themes look very sleek and modern, and are generally easy to configure.

I’ve selected only portfolio templates that easily allow users to upload a tall rectangular (i.e. book cover-shaped) image for the homepage. There are a lot of portfolio sites with other image sizes (example here), and these can potentially be hacked to change the […]

Henry Baum2015-11-13T11:17:52+02:00November 13th, 2015|Categories: Features, Resources|

New SPR Publishing House Kwill Opens Its Doors To Indie Authors

SPR has launched a publishing house, Kwill Books, to meet the demand for indie authors who want the perks of self-publishing without the hassle of doing everything for themselves. Here, Cate Baum, founder, explains to SPR reviewer Lysa Grant why she and co-founder, husband Henry Baum, embarked on this exciting venture.

How did you come up for the idea of starting your own press?

When we came up with the idea for Kwill, we were finding that our clients at SPR were asking for more and more services for their books that were not being met at a reasonable, […]

Cate Baum2015-09-09T07:48:47+02:00September 9th, 2015|Categories: Features, News|

How To Hate Friends and Alienate (Virtual) People – 12 Tips To Stay Happy Online

You may well be reading this online, on a group forum. Your forum may be wonderful and friendly. (Almost certainly if I posted it there.) But how about other groups you’re thinking of joining for advice, questions, and for promoting your book or book services? How will you fare? I share here a cautionary tale along with 12 tips for happy surfing as a group member.

When I joined a professional group on Facebook, which shall remain nameless for my genuine concern for my safety, I thought I was joining a group for book professionals from all over the world. […]

Cate Baum2015-08-05T07:41:09+02:00August 5th, 2015|Categories: Features|