Cate Baum | Self-Publishing Review

How To Get An Agent For My Book – Part One: The Submission Letter

Thousands of writers submit their books to literary agents every year, but only very few are chosen. Why is this, and how can you give yourself the best chance?

Part One: The Submission Letter

Literary Agents are jumpy as all hell. Slip up on one aspect of your submission and you’re written off forever. Sounds dramatic, but it’s true. Agents are like this because they get literally hundreds of crappy submissions every week. They can only sign one or two people a year. That is why you must follow their submission guidelines to the letter because they will probably only […]

Cate Baum2020-08-25T05:19:05+02:00August 18th, 2020|Categories: Features|Tags: Book Editing, Book Promotion|

How To Rank Higher on Amazon Without Selling Books

Seems like a dream, doesn’t it? Rank highly on Amazon, but sell no copies of your book? This very simple method of moving your book into a much more prominent position with minimal effort is the perfect way to get seen and sold.

Drowning in your Category

So why is it your book has sold a few copies, and yet you are still in the weeds on Amazon in your category? Simply, there are too many books in your category to ever be seen. The most full categories in Amazon are typically Science Fiction and Fantasy and Romance, and all […]

Cate Baum2020-06-25T08:10:33+02:00June 25th, 2020|Categories: Features|Tags: Amazon, Book Promotion|

Five Most Common Mistakes Authors Make When Entering a Book Contest

After the SPR Book Awards each year we get together and analyze the judges’ comments. Here are 2019’s most common author mistakes that you might be able to learn from next time you take the plunge and enter a book contest.

1. Info Dumping

By far the most common issue this competition.

Too much dialogue

The biggest problem this year was the amount of dialogue used to tell a story. Pages of it, like a movie screenplay. You cannot tell a story without character development. This means we need to experience situations and know how characters feel about what […]

Cate Baum2020-05-20T09:24:04+02:00May 20th, 2020|Categories: Features|Tags: Writing|

Announcing the Winners of the SPR Book Awards 2019!

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Cate Baum2021-06-02T06:22:33+02:00April 10th, 2020|Categories: Features, News|Tags: SPR Book Awards|

How To Win A Book Contest – 7 Pitfalls To Avoid

This year’s SPR Awards has thrown up some points that we’d like to share with you to help you avoid the pitfalls when entering your book for a contest. You can take a look at the entrants here.

1. Book Covers

Time and time again we’ve said it, and time and time again, authors don’t listen. If you are selling a book, it needs to have a professional finish. If we are staking a reputation on a book by choosing it as a winner, it must have a well-designed book cover. That probably means not using a beloved drawing or […]

Cate Baum2020-04-09T08:39:07+02:00April 9th, 2020|Categories: Features|Tags: book competitions, Book Promotion, Writing|

Why eBooks Are The Future

As we lock down this year, more and more of us are turning to books in their most hygienic form.

When Amazon (rightly) decided to prioritize deliveries of food and medical goods, the book industry was rather peeved. Authors who have released paperbacks this month worried that their readers wouldn’t be getting their books in a timely fashion, and that it would affect their sales.

But there’s more to worry about than just timing. Given that we now know that the Coronavirus can live on paper for up to five days, and that the molecule is so tiny[…]

Cate Baum2020-03-30T07:25:21+02:00March 30th, 2020|Categories: Features|Tags: Amazon, eBooks|

Happy Things For Authors

Let’s not talk about the c-word. Here’s a list of happy literary stuff online to help you get writing indoors again. If you do all of these now, you’re going to be writing tonight, guaranteed.

SPR – Success Stories

Read how famous self-publishers hit the big time in our blog series. Be inspired!

Free Online Writing Courses

Open Culture has curated a massive list of brilliant, properly taught courses for writers including videos and audio tracks on subjects such as Shakespeare, writing about the Civil War, fairies, Japanese culture, and Lord Of The Rings.

Zadie Smith on Writers Dancing

What […]

Cate Baum2020-03-31T09:18:11+02:00March 26th, 2020|Categories: Features|Tags: Writing|

What Amazon’s Slowing of Book Deliveries Means For Authors

Amazon has announced via Seller Central that they will be slowing book delivery to prioritize medical and food delivery in the US and EU markets. Amazon says, “We are temporarily prioritizing household staples, medical supplies and other high-demand products coming into our fulfillment centers so that we can more quickly receive, restock, and ship these products to customers.”