Resources

Free tools, tips and links from SPR on writing and selling your book

WordPress Bookstore Plugin: MyBookTable

If you’re using WordPress (.org), this plugin is somewhat useful, but could be a lot more useful. It streamlines something that doesn’t necessarily need to be streamlined, but it is a useful organizational tool if you’ve got a lot of books to manage.

If you’re already using WordPress and made a blog page for a book, the system for adding a book’s details and bookstore links is pretty straight forward. Here’s how I’ve done it. Those buy links could perhaps be better organized. But the process of putting together that post is straight forward: add details and images. MyBookTable […]

2013-08-23T13:20:44+02:00August 23rd, 2013|Categories: Resources|

New Ebook Store: Libiro

A nice-looking ebook store open to self-publishers, still in beta. Put together by a self-publisher.

About:

Why do you only sell indie books?

The main reason is that indie authors are exciting. The good thing about publishing yourself is that you’re not tied down to market trends or a publisher’s business plan. Indie authors can write what they want, when they want. The result? A different breed of writing. A pedigree we’re proud to represent.

Here’s another reason for you: Indie authors can sometimes have trouble standing out on huge stores like Amazon, and constantly work hard to make

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2013-08-23T12:48:43+02:00August 23rd, 2013|Categories: Resources|

Smashwords Unveils Smashwords Interviews

Smashwords unveiled a cool new promotional tool where authors can interview themselves. Interviews can be ranked according to popularity.

Here’s how it works:

How to create, edit and publish your Interview:

  1. Your Smashwords Interview can have as many or as few questions as you like. Next to each “Q:” Write out your question, or select from one of our suggested questions.
  2. We have about a dozen suggested questions to get your creative juices flowing.  These questions are all optional.  Feel free to modify our questions or create your own!
  3. Each Answer can be up to 5,000 characters long (around 600
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2013-08-21T12:19:52+02:00August 21st, 2013|Categories: Resources|

What Sells a Book?

Book covers

I’ve often seen independent authors posting a series of cover images online and asking people to choose their favourite; or they might ask a handful of friends what cover they’d buy. Choosing a book cover with either method doesn’t make a lot of sense. I have been telling my family I’m going to paint my bedroom for the last 15 years, but there it is, the same ugly shade of pink it was in the late 1990s.

My point is that people don’t always do what they’ll say they’ll do. A better question to ask friends or people […]

2020-02-21T05:52:23+02:00June 16th, 2013|Categories: Resources|Tags: , |

Easy Kindle eBook Cover Design in Two Steps

One of the more challenging steps in the self-publishing process for me was creating Kindle eBook cover designs. Second most challenging I’d have to say was the formatting, but I did end up finding a solution to that. We’ll save that story for another day.

Being a writer and not a graphic designer, I had no clue how to approach book cover designs and was next to useless in Photoshop.

However, I had literally no publishing budget so I was prepared to spend some time learning new things in order to take on the entire project with little or no […]

2017-03-24T06:18:22+02:00June 11th, 2013|Categories: Member Blog, Resources|

ADAP Offers Ebook Advertisement Money for Authors

BookIM is announcing the launch of ADAP, eBook Advertising for Authors and Independent Publishers. ADAP is a new ebook advertisement program that is sensitive to the needs of authors and readers while creating new revenue opportunities for authors. Being an author, I know that the thought of adding ebook advertisements to a novel is anathema to most authors. Mention ebook advertisements to any author and you’ll receive in return an out pouring of emotional vitriol about the subject. However; convergence continues to hammer book publishers and authors are facing some serious diminishing returns when they inspect their royalty checks. And […]

2013-03-17T09:25:04+02:00March 17th, 2013|Categories: Member Blog, Resources|

Indie Author: You Need a Helping Hand to Succeed

No matter what anyone tells says, you need help to succeed in book publishing today, especially if you’re an Indie author. There is just too much to do to even have modest success.

The good old days. You know, the days when the book industry was controlled by a small group of publishers and an even smaller group of successful authors. To get into the group, you had to write what the publishers wanted you to write in the correct genre; a book that the publisher could forecast a profit and stay within budget.

At least at the start, they […]

2019-02-18T12:09:38+02:00January 15th, 2013|Categories: Resources|
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