Member Blog | Self-Publishing Review

How Does Shipping and Distribution Work for a Self-Published Book?

Independent publishing takes focused work. The author — and any team members they hire — is responsible for writing, editing, proofreading, formatting, and designing the book. When all of that work is finalized, you must determine how to get the finished product into the hands of readers.

What Are the Steps to Shipping and Distributing an Indie Title?

According to Publisher’s Weekly, the number of ISBNs assigned to self-published titles grows yearly. Writers released 2.6 million independent titles in 2023 — a 7.2% increase over 2022. Not all authors release print copies of their books, but following a few steps […]

SPR2025-02-19T11:27:26+02:00February 19th, 2025|Categories: Member Blog|Tags: Book Distribution Tips|

Self-Publishing Platforms Compared: Which One Is Right for You?

You’ve written your first book and can’t wait to make it available to the world. Which self-publishing platform can provide the services and features that fit your needs? There are several excellent options, each with some overlap. Compare their pros and cons to determine which is right for you.

1. IngramSpark Publishing

IngramSpark offers hardcover, paperback, and e-book publishing. With its global distribution channels, you can get your book in online stores, libraries, and wholesalers worldwide.

Pricing and Royalties

Each sale gets you 85% of the net revenue, regardless of which retailer makes the sale — a much higher figure […]

SPR2025-05-12T17:52:19+02:00January 23rd, 2025|Categories: Member Blog|Tags: Publishing Tips and Advice, Subsidy Publishing Articles|

Safeguard Your Creative Ideas: How to Legally Protect Your Unpublished Work

You work hard as a self-published author, developing your creative ideas and eventually sharing them with the world. You might want to protect your work as you go. Here’s everything you need to know about safeguarding your unpublished literary works.

How Does Intellectual Property and Copyright Work for Self-Published Authors?

Technically, a self-published work is copyrighted by law when it exists in a physical form. For instance, when you write or type your story on paper, you don’t need to do anything else to protect it.

Copyright protection of intellectual property applies to books, essays, blogs, poetry and articles — […]

SPR2024-09-26T17:52:55+02:00September 25th, 2024|Categories: Member Blog|

6 Disability-Inclusive Book Design Tips to Better Accommodate Your Readers

As an author, you want your books to be accessible to a wide range of readers, including those with various disabilities. Making a few small changes can help those with dyslexia, visual impairments and neurodivergence. Here are some tips to make sure your book designs are disability-inclusive.

1. Start With Contrast

All people see things a bit differently, but some have visual impairments that can make reading your book or viewing your cover more challenging. Using high contrast between the background and your text is a good practice regardless of who is reading your work. Follow the Web Content Accessibility […]

SPR2024-08-05T15:30:40+02:00August 5th, 2024|Categories: Member Blog|

Lessons Learned from Creating a Fantasy Box Set

Your first book is probably the most important story of the collection, but if you are a new author, it will not be as well-written as the later books. Like most new writers, I stumbled along and changed my mind about story arcs, improving my writing skills as I went. After publishing the first two stories of my series, it occurred to me it might have been wise to withhold publication and release the series all at once so I could change characters’ backstories or names if it made sense for later stories.

I waited to release the last three […]

SPR2022-01-11T04:05:03+02:00January 11th, 2022|Categories: Member Blog|Tags: Book Formatting Tips|

Becoming a Writer

I am new to this writing thing. I have always liked to write, but I was always too self-conscious and critical to share it with anyone. I wrote poems and songs when I was younger and only a select few people were allowed to view them. I don’t have a background in journalism, English, or writing. I have been working in the human service field for over 25 years with experience and an education in psychology and human behavior.

Last year motivated me to finally tell a story that was in my head for years. Being stuck in my house […]

SPR2021-06-15T02:40:49+02:00June 15th, 2021|Categories: Member Blog|

Five Things I Learned from Writing Faithless

In 2013, I published the first novel in a new horror thriller series. The book is Tell Me When I’m Dead, and as I wrote it, I hadn’t thought about a sequel. By the time I got to the end, though, I began picturing scenes for the next book. When I finished Book Two, I was well down the path of writing a trilogy.

Overall, the reviews have been positive. By Book Three, I’d had enough of zombies and wrote a supernatural horror series. But I never stopped thinking about the universe I’d created the first time around. After […]

SPR2021-05-05T08:33:40+02:00May 5th, 2021|Categories: Member Blog|Tags: Writing Tips|

How I Approached Writing My First Novel Like a TV Script

Many of you may not know who I am, but I am one of those character actors that generally has a few scenes here and there and often appear on YouTube, in independent films, and recently on UpTV or PureFlix. With the pandemic, 2020 was a rough year for most actors and I was not the exception. I decided to just double down on my own creative projects first by producing my own kids animated series called Kindly Kenney and then by writing my first novel, Jon Bragg Blue Essence, a Norse myth. I had always wanted to attempt […]