Cate Baum | Self-Publishing Review

Self-Publishing Review is Ten Years Old! An Interview with Founder Henry Baum

Today, SPR is ten years old! Founder Henry Baum is a Manhattan-born Los Angeles musician and writer who currently lives near London, UK. He has been traditionally published in three countries, and has written several indie books, of which one has been made into a short film by Ruben Fleischer (director of “Zombieland” and “Venom”) starring Kevin Corrigan. He founded SPR in 2008 as a blog for authors to connect and share tips. Since then, the company has become a major startup in the the self-publishing industry, and employs several staff in the UK and USA.

What made you think […]

Cate Baum2018-12-19T13:54:42+02:00December 19th, 2018|Categories: Features, Interviews|

Best Christmas Gifts for Authors 2018

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Cate Baum2018-12-18T17:42:16+02:00December 18th, 2018|Categories: Features|

Why Do So Many Publishing Services Fail?

Traditional publishing professionals think they can jump on the indie bandwagon and make a mint from applying the same techniques they learned in that industry to self-published authors. This is the big error. The world of publishing and assisted publishing are two different beasts entirely.

And here’s why:

1. In assisted publishing, the author is the client.

This is confounding to many new services because in trad (traditional) publishing, the publisher holds the puppet strings. New services who don’t take the time to spell out deals and what the author will get on their service descriptions and websites feel like […]

Cate Baum2018-11-18T10:02:25+02:00November 18th, 2018|Categories: Features|

Five Tips to Write Your Book in Hard Times

How Am I Supposed To Write With All This Going On?

This isn’t just October Surprise, this is something so depressing that I feel unable to write. How do we get to writing with all this sadness and violence going on? Here’s what I’m doing.

1. Turn off the TV. And the internet.

It’s the constant stream of gloomy, negative news into a household that will be getting in your head, even if you aren’t really listening to it. If you’re going to write, get away from the TV and listen to music instead. Here’s an app that stops […]

Cate Baum2018-10-27T16:36:58+02:00October 27th, 2018|Categories: Features|

Six Reasons Why Amazon is Not Banning Indie Authors

There has been a lot of panic recently with horror stories about Amazon banning indie authors en masse for promoting their books. Here’s why that’s fake news.

1. Amazon is a business that wants to make money.

There are millions of books on Kindle, something like 7 million. Around 10% of Amazon’s total book stock. There’s no way Amazon wants to ban indie authors from Amazon, who must account for at least a quarter of those books, just by pure common sense.

2. Getting reviews and promotion for your book is not going to get you banned.

If you do […]

Cate Baum2020-02-20T13:31:33+02:00October 18th, 2018|Categories: Features|Tags: Amazon News and Tips, Book Promotion Articles, Book Reviews|

How To Switch From CreateSpace to KDP Paperback

CreateSpace will be closed down in about two weeks, so now is the time to switch to KDP Paperback. Here’s a rundown of each scenario to publish your paperback.

1. If you already have a CreateSpace Paperback and a Kindle eBook

All you have to do is go to this page and move your books over:

https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/createspace-transfer

2. If you have only a CreateSpace Paperback

You may feel wary of going over to KDP, but it’s exactly the same, and may help you sell more books. Here’s what to do:

Log in to your CreateSpace account at https://www.createspace.com/Login.do and read

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Cate Baum2020-02-21T05:43:20+02:00October 14th, 2018|Categories: Features|Tags: Amazon News and Tips|

Five Reasons You Shouldn’t Rush Publishing Your Book

Many authors think they should make a plan to publish and promote their book ahead of time. Here are five reasons to avoid a rushed book promotion campaign.

ONE You may find errors in your book and have to rush the corrections

Classic dilemma. You’ve got your book file all ready to go, you have the reviews and promos locked in. Two days before they run, you realize you have whopping errors in your text. This is so common that we advise all authors never to book a review or promo until the book has been completely finalized and read […]

Cate Baum2020-02-21T03:53:03+02:00October 11th, 2018|Categories: Features|Tags: Book Marketing Advice and Tips|