Member Blog | Self-Publishing Review

Is Google the future of eBooks?

As I’ve mentioned, I love my Kindle (I really do), but I’m not crazy in love with the Kindle store. I went to download a book the other day, and and it seriously took me like fifteen minutes to pull the trigger. The problem wasn’t the $9.99 I was paying — I would have gladly paid more for a physical copy. The problem was that if I pay ten bucks for something I want it to me be mine. I don’t want it to be locked in some device that I may or may not still have […]

mattyoungmark2011-02-03T10:45:57+02:00February 3rd, 2011|Categories: Features, Member Blog|

Every ‘No’ Not A Roadblock

The R-word just won’t go away. I’m talking about rejection. Writers know it well.

As an independent author, rejection is just a painful part of the game. I didn’t mail my manuscript to a hundreds of publishers like other authors, but I did mail it to several over the years. And, well, you know the rest.

However, my story is a little different because I finally got a “nice” rejection from a major publisher. And when I say nice I just mean the editor liked my book, but those with the decision-making power did not. The one who liked my […]

Vanessa W. Snyder2011-01-28T23:10:28+02:00January 28th, 2011|Categories: Features, Member Blog|

Book Publishing: A Tale of Two Authors

In the last month or so I started researching the controversy over the sale of the eBook A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens and Amazon pulling a copy with a price from its store and substituting their own free copy. I was curious about the rendering of the replaced book and whether the author had actually added value to the eBook.

I was struck by the parallel of the Dickens novel and the struggle between the French peasants and the aristocrats and the current book industry. Dickens’s initial paragraph reads like he is writing a blog on the […]

James Moushon2019-02-18T12:24:05+02:00January 19th, 2011|Categories: Member Blog|Tags: Writing Tips|

To Self-publish or Not? That’s the question!

Recently a writer asked, “Should I self-publish or should I seek a deal with an established publisher?”

That depends. You might want to go with a traditional publisher if your topic is too hot for you to handle alone. For example, if I were Valerie Plame Wilson and had just been outed by the White House as a CIA agent, I would go for lucrative book and movie deals.

Do you have a strong marketing platform? Publishers would love you, but as John Shore wrote in The Huffington Post,

Anyone who is so famous that they can sell 40,000

[…]

Donna Marie Williams2011-10-08T16:34:33+02:00January 7th, 2011|Categories: Member Blog|

Get the Write Focus

Every day I’m reminding someone in my life to focus. If it’s not my children or my students, then it’s my husband.

When it comes to writing, we have to find a way to focus on the writing we want to produce. But in reality, “focus” can be challenging, especially when your days and nights are full. The distractions are real and unavoidable, but so is your desire and passion for writing.

As I reflect on my journey in completing “The Second First Lady,” I somehow found my focus. So here are some tips that I hope will […]

Vanessa W. Snyder2011-10-08T16:37:16+02:00January 7th, 2011|Categories: Member Blog|Tags: Writing Tips|

Smashwords as Dirty Book Store

Do you ever go to the Smashwords.com website, and find the first page makes you want to puke? I mean, with great regularity, Smashwords is making itself, not the Grove Press of the 50’s and 60’s, but the Adult XXX Open All Nite of the 21st century. Freedom of the press is a dead issue. Selling porn is a business. I’m seriously considering joining many other writers, and telling Smashwords to go away. Not over Kobo or discounts or any other issue. Over aesthetics.

I don’t want to send readers there, to be confronted with “Knocked Up And Ready For […]

Neil Crabtree2011-10-08T16:39:44+02:00December 16th, 2010|Categories: Features, Member Blog|

One Book – One Gazillion Reactions…

It’s only a little over three months before I publish my first novel. I’ve known from my other writings that people can vary widely in their response to any given set of words. Even calling my next book a novel has varying reactions. It will top-out at about 45,000 words. Many people will tell you that a “novel” has to be at least 50,000 words.

Well, as it seems to be with all things written, there are exceptions to the “rules”. One famous author, Samuel Beckett, wrote a “novel” called Mercier and Camier that’s 128 pages long. That’s […]

Alexander M Zoltai2020-02-21T06:51:49+02:00November 30th, 2010|Categories: Member Blog|

My Free Book – Fryupdale

Hi, I’m Mark Staniforth, a writer from North Yorkshire, England. I’ve recently self-published my FREE collection of short stories, ‘Fryupdale’ on Smashwords.

Here’s my intoductory Q and A:

1. How did you come to self-publish? Did you try to get published traditionally?

I’m still trying. I assume most self-published authors wouldn’t especially mind an offer from Hachette dropping on their door mat. That said, I think the traditional publishing model needs to evolve. I’m excited by the emergence of e-books, and sites like Smashwords that facilitate their growth.

2. What self-publishing service did you use? Happy with the service?[…]

Mark Staniforth2011-10-08T17:13:51+02:00November 11th, 2010|Categories: Interviews, Member Blog|