Features

Articles, how-to’s, opinion and tips and tricks in the self-publishing arena

Ten Ways To Use A Professional Book Review

Often at Self-Publishing Review, we are asked, “What can I do with my book review once I purchase it?” So here is a list of ten uses for your review to garner sales and exposure.

1. Editorial Review section on Amazon

The Editorial Reviews Section on your Amazon Author Central profile is an all-important showcase for professional reviews. Your review quote should be 600 characters or less, and your book must be sold on Amazon. To find out how to add a review, click here.

2. Goodreads

You can quote your editorial reviews in your Goodreads profile. To do […]

2021-10-28T05:12:57+02:00October 17th, 2014|Categories: Features|

Six Tips – How To Become A Writer

imagineWith all this talk of making millions from self-publishing, have we lost our writerly way?

1. Not all books have to be instantly mass marketable
Often advice is given to choose a subject to please the audience before we’ve even decided on a topic. If you want to be a self-published author, fine, go ahead, write genre fiction that follows the zeitgeist and make some money. But if you’re a writer, how about writing whatever you like? Maybe you’ll hit on something that is so damn original you’ll sell better than if you wrote for the masses. […]

2014-10-08T04:41:23+02:00October 8th, 2014|Categories: Features|

Self-Publishing Success Story: Hugh Howey

Hugh HoweyHugh Howey, an American writer, started out his career writing as a side-project to his day-job as a computer technician, as well as a yacht captain.

What books has he written?
His smash-hit series follows a range of characters in an uncertain future, living underground in silos because the outside world is toxic. The original series is broken up into nine books, but a deal was signed with Simon & Schuster to distribute the books in 2 omnibus editions plus Dust, the stand-alone conclusion to the series. Despite having made several publishing deals and agreeing to both film and […]

2018-05-31T11:36:50+02:00October 7th, 2014|Categories: Features, Success Story|Tags: |

Self-Publishing Success Story: E.L. James

E.L. JamesArguably the most well-known self-publishing successes, E.L. James50 Shade of Grey trilogy started out as an erotic fan-fiction of the Twilight series. She posted it on fan-fiction sites while under the name “Snowqueen’s Icedragon” and her own website, and later developed it into an original trilogy. She then self-published the first book as an e-book and print-on-demand paperback through The Writers’ Coffee Shop, a virtual publisher based in Australia. The book spread quickly, emphasizing the growing popularity of erotica in women’s fiction. The trilogy was dubbed “Mommy P_rn” and became a worldwide sensation with a movie adaptation […]

2017-02-20T09:14:06+02:00October 5th, 2014|Categories: Features, Success Story|

Ten Reasons Why The Gatekeepers Of Self-Publishing Have Become… You

The Gatekeepers Have Become YOU
One of the biggest driving forces behind authors who self-publish has been the declaration that writing has become stifled by “the gatekeepers of the publishing world.” Many writers now go straight to self-publishing. Be self-published? Sounds great! Let’s do it! We can all help each other, right? Right? Guys?

The online self-publishing clique has become incredibly judgemental of its own kind.  These didacts are scaring the heck out of those wanting a nice gentle, creative, inclusive experience. Simply, self-published authors have become dictators of their own industry. Here’s why.

1. Online Herdism
Thou shalt not pay for any kind […]

2014-09-30T11:39:05+02:00September 30th, 2014|Categories: Features|

Authors United May Have a Point

Amazon vs HachetteI’m a bit sick to death of the Amazon-Hachette dispute. Mainly because it’s a case of one corporate giant against another. Another thing that is troubling is the absolute cheerleading for Amazon that comes from the self-publishing side. While Authors United has made some egregiously overboard claims, Amazon isn’t entirely above reproach.

Today, literary heavyweights have joined the Authors United cause, including Philip Roth, Orhan Pamuk, Salman Rushdie, V. S. Naipaul and Milan Kundera.

Ursula K. Le Guin sounds a bit unhinged when she says,

“We’re talking about censorship: deliberately making a book hard or impossible to get, ‘disappearing’

[…]
2014-09-29T08:10:07+02:00September 29th, 2014|Categories: Features|Tags: |

5 Reasons Why It Matters What Your Website Is Called

5 reasons naming a website
When you pick a domain name for your author or book website, does it matter what you call it?
 The simple answer is: Yes, it does. Here are five reasons why.

 

1. Google gives more props to .com branded sites for businesses and exact match brand names

You can’t just go with any . suffix because suffixes, while some may be cheaper than others, do have a meaning in search terms on Google etc. with .com being the overriding brand site taken into consideration by Google.

.com, .net, .org and other website suffixes such as .co.uk are known as […]

2014-09-27T02:32:35+02:00September 26th, 2014|Categories: Features|

Authors Must Be Marketers

authors marketingAuthors don’t like to promote their own works. Here are actual quotes from some of the authors we published:

“I’m a writer, not a marketer.”

“I’m uncomfortable asking people to buy my book.”

“I don’t really understand social media.”

“I’ve put a ton of effort into writing my book. Why do I have to sell it?”

On the one hand, I sympathize with these comments. It makes sense. You’ve written a book and it’s somebody else’s job to sell the books. Isn’t that the way the book business works? Plus, won’t your beautiful writing sell itself on its own merits?[…]

2020-02-21T03:54:10+02:00September 16th, 2014|Categories: Features|Tags: |
Go to Top