Good for you Matt! The end results of my promotion were priceless. My five day free run shoved me into the #8 best seller in historical romance. I had over 6,200 copies downloaded. Since the five-day promotion, it has increased my sales on all levels. I’ve had increased hits on my website, increased positive reviews, [...]

I use a website called Grammarly.com. It’s great for not only grammar, but it highlights text that matches anything on the Internet or elsewhere. It also gives you the reference to add, if you need to give credit where credit is due. It’s somewhat helpful.

Well, I for one was very skeptic over the KDP select. However, out of a moment of madness I pulled one book off Smashwords distribution out of my three fiction novels and opted into the game. Today started my free five-day promotion on my historical romance novel. This morning alone my book has been download [...]

“Most independent authors will sell less than 100 copies of their ebooks.” I hate to say it, but I’m somewhat sick of this figure. It gets carried over from article to article off of someone’s quote over average self-published author sales totaled up and divided by how many use some vanity publishing house. Is that [...]

You can email them through Author Central too. They are pretty responsive about fixing any problem.

The whole argument that traditionally published books are better than self-published is bogus. The gatekeepers in the romance genre let so much trash through their doors to make a buck selling sex, six-pack abs, exposed boobs and thighs, it’s nauseating. Some of the very popular romance writers churn out so many books each year it [...]

You are quite right about traditional publishers doing the same thing. I’ve downloaded free historical romance books on Kindle by big name publishers that were free. Everyone is “experimenting” if you will. I honestly don’t find anything inherently wrong with the practice. We all have our personal goals and ways of getting what we want [...]

It’s been interesting to read this string of opinions. In the end, I think it boils down to our individual goals as writers. I will admit right now I have an overwhelming need to be read. Giving my books away free on Smashwords this month has kept me continually in the top 10 best sellers [...]

Right now I’m enjoying the free offering on Smashwords. It’s tossed me into the #5 for best sellers on my first book of three in a series. Right now I’m heavily involved in marketing the series and working on book. I can only hope that it will generate sales for the next two releases from [...]

Thankfully, my books through LS are still in stock. Though frankly 90% of my sales are from eBooks on the same title. Not sure the rationale behind their decision here, unless they’re choking off other options to make more money with CreatSpace. Any thoughts?

I went through Xlibris before I became totally independent. Cover design with these companies is not hard. You can have a professional cover done by any graphic artist. You just send them the file. You’re not stuck with any cover services by these companies. I did so with two of my books. They are just [...]

I make my own in Photoshop. Purchase the photos from iStock or Dreamstime. Use the high quality output, and upload to my websites, Facebook, Youtube, Amazon, Smashwords, and other video websites. I purchase my own background music clips from iStockAudio. Costs me at $35 to make them. They’re not Oscar worthy, probably, but I get [...]

I originally published my first three works with Xlibris, but got fed-up with their horrible ability to track eBook sales. It was pitiful. So, I got off my duff and learned how to become my own publisher, opened an account with Lightning Source, and just migrated all of my three books over on my own. [...]

Thanks. I think if I get one more moderator email from the Kindle forum board on what I did wrong, I’ll scream. I’m off to register.

True, ratings and reviews are two different animals, but my thought is when a reader looks at the number of cumulative stars right off the bat, an idea of how the book rates among the public is already established in their mind whether or not they take the time to read a written review. I [...]

:waves hand: Human here! I enjoy success stories and marketing tips. I just started my own imprint and opened an account with LSI, so I could use some hand holding. Also, I enjoy reading industry new and other informative blogs.

Great discussion. For me it boils down to coming to peace with the whole self-published life. I chose this route for a purpose, and since I’ve released my first book in May of 2009, I’ve never had a month I sold zero. However, I’m still working 40 hours a week, and most of what I [...]

Interesting comments, but I totally agree that you MUST be an informed purchaser before you buy anything and understand how the process works. A lot of people want to write books, but they are ignorant of the business aspect of the process. You need to do your homework, folks. I signed with Xlibris, and if [...]

Thanks for the information.