Lead Story | Self-Publishing Review

Review: The Hopeless Pastures by Keith Soares

A sequel to the uncommon zombie apocalypse short story The Oasis of Filth, The Hopeless Pastures by Keith Soares is a second part of a trilogy set in a United States no longer “united”.

As the mysterious plague RL2013 pushes humanity to the brink of extinction, where governments ensconce and bury the remaining citizens in distant walled cities. No phone lines, no internet, no questions, no disobedience, the world is painted as a fearful and empty place outside of the clinically-white walls of each city, as modern-day lepers nicknamed “zombies” emerge from places decried as “dirty”, and people are shut […]

James Grimsby2019-01-22T10:40:53+02:00January 9th, 2014|Categories: Book Reviews, Lead Story|Tags: Apocalyptic Fiction Book Reviews, Horror Book Reviews, Zombie Fiction Book Reviews|

The Dawn Of The Self-Published Critic

Cate Baum muses over the state of the self-publishing industry as sales figures show that consumers have indeed taken over the asylum.

In the days of traditional publishing, pre-internet – and even some time past the internet really kicking in around the end of the 20th century, the days of hovering in bookshops on word of mouth hunts for gems still existed. Pre-dating sites, potential lovers would sift through Proust and Kundera to up their game, whilst pre-Facebook, glossy hardback photo books remained the only true way to connect with subcultures and style.

Newspapers such as The Guardian in the […]

Cate Baum2014-01-08T13:46:04+02:00December 26th, 2013|Categories: Lead Story, Member Blog|

Get Reviewed At SPR from Only $109!

Do you need your book reviewed to improve sales and publicity? Or maybe you’d like an honest opinion before you self-publish? Then why not submit your book for review by a professional reviewer from only $109?

Go here to learn more about our services![…]

Cate Baum2014-01-08T13:43:29+02:00August 19th, 2013|Categories: Lead Story, Resources|Tags: Book Reviews|

The Dilemma of Dumbing It Down for e-Book Sales

Self-publishing a book can be a labor of love and for some of us, it’s what we live for. But why is it so many people now fancy themselves an author? And why is it that so many simple and frankly unreadable works are hitting the Amazon e-book charts? Should we all join in and get stupid?

Many books are intelligently written and beautifully constructed, but it is the pulp romance thriller that used to be a throwaway holiday read that catches the “public”‘s attention. Young Adult fiction, mostly about reckless sixteen year-olds fancying each other are leaving the digital […]

Cate Baum2014-01-07T22:54:25+02:00August 1st, 2013|Categories: Features, Lead Story|

Book Marketing Using Paid Advertising – A Study

The current buzz in book marketing is paid on-line advertising. Some authors report excellent results, other complete disappointment. This study is divided into two parts: the Good News and the Bad News, as reported by authors who have paid to promote their books.

The study started with a conversation with a fellow author whose blog helps support fellow authors for a nominal fee to cover the costs. Her newsletter has a modest membership and provides a good service to authors.

While discussing paid on-line book advertising, one of her first question to me was “Is there a payback to the

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James Moushon2020-02-21T04:35:31+02:00July 24th, 2013|Categories: Features, Lead Story|Tags: Book Marketing Advice and Tips|

Excerpt: The American Book of the Dead

Here’s what I hope to be a new feature on SPR: book excerpts. If you’re interested, follow these instructions to post an excerpt. The novel can be purchased here.

This is the introduction to the novel. People either love this book, or they’re mystified – which is to be expected, as I was going for some level of mystification. Some have criticized that I should get to the action sooner. Some haven’t. The point for me is to get inside the narrator’s head and to set up the scope of the story.

Eugene Myers is working on a novel

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Henry Baum2013-06-18T16:54:51+02:00June 15th, 2013|Categories: Book Excerpt, Lead Story|

Free eBook Promotions Can Be Pure Gold for Authors

Well it’s time for another Free Book Promotion. The last one pushed by mystery novel, Black Mountain Secrets, up the Amazon ranking ladder to number ten. But it was definitely a learning experience.

One lesson I learned was you needed more than a general goal of being a successful writer. Giving your work away for nothing had to have a purpose for me. I know some authors refuse to give their books away. Being a relatively new author, I needed to get my work out in the reader’s hands.

As I always do in this type of situation, I […]

James Moushon2020-02-21T05:52:27+02:00June 3rd, 2013|Categories: Features, Lead Story|Tags: Book Marketing Advice and Tips|

What Amazon’s Acquistion Of Goodreads Means For Self-Publishers

So what does the news that Amazon is to acquire Goodreads actually mean for us self-publishers? Most of us relish Goodreads, and actively star each other’s work, as Goodreads proves to be a more successful platform for honest consumer review than Amazon in some ways – less glitchy than the strange process used by Amazon’s over-zealous non-bookish reviewers in that it tends to attract real bookworms with literary brains.

With 16 million members, it’s no wonder Amazon was grappling for control. So will Amazon complete its domination of everything book?

My worry would be that Goodreads up to now, has […]

Cate Baum2013-11-04T18:21:52+02:00March 30th, 2013|Categories: Lead Story|Tags: Amazon News and Tips, Goodreads Articles|