Features | Self-Publishing Review

How to Write a Book Blurb

By far, the weakest part of many self-published books is the synopsis found on Amazon and elsewhere. Worse than the cover, worse than the writing in the book itself, there are a lot of blurbs on Amazon that are pretty near atrocious. I include my own books in this category. Writing a decent blurb is an artform totally separate from writing a book.

Authors are also on record saying this is their least favorite part of the process. It can make you feel icky writing superlatives about your own book. At the same time, too many superlatives can literally be […]

Henry Baum2015-04-13T13:05:43+02:00April 13th, 2015|Categories: Features, Resources|

Why Clean Reader Doesn’t Matter

Unpopular, minority opinion: Clean Reader doesn’t matter. In brief: an app called Clean Reader aimed to remove swear words from books, replacing then with freaking and crap, etc. Cue the outrage of authors who claimed this as censorship. Smashwords and others then removed titles from the app.

To begin, I write books with profanity. I’ve had a number of reviews calling out the profanity, some saying I use it “every other word” (I don’t). My writing never struck me as all that profane, but the profanity had a purpose. Bad words are just words, an arrangement of letters. There’s […]

Henry Baum2015-03-30T08:44:05+02:00March 30th, 2015|Categories: Features|

Being an Indie Author [AUDIO]

I’m an indie author and shortly after I self-published my first novel, Inside the Outside, I wrote my first article for Self-Publishing Review, which was called “A Self-Publisher’s Manifesto” (I published an extended version of that article on my website, which I re-titled “An Indie Author’s Manifesto”). As I prepared to self-publish my second novel, The Vampire, the Hunter, and the Girl, I found myself thinking a lot about what it means to be an indie author and how I feel about it. So, I decided to talk about it on my podcast in “Episode 60: […]

Martin Lastrapes2015-03-30T03:43:19+02:00March 30th, 2015|Categories: Features|

What Should You Charge for an Indie eBook?

The short answer to the question in the title is there’s no set answer. Indie book pricing is a tough matter because each book and each genre will sell differently at different price points. A 10,000-word erotica short can actually get away with charging $3.99. A first (non-erotica) novel by a new author generally can’t.

On Reddit, this was a comment on a post by a new author who was struggling how to set price. I argued that he should lower his book to $.99 from $1.99, as he wasn’t selling any books. This was a response:

99c essentially

[…]

Henry Baum2019-02-03T09:35:00+02:00March 25th, 2015|Categories: Features, Resources|Tags: Book Promotion Articles|

Amazon Adds New Review Options Via Drop Down Menus

If you’ve tried to review a book on Amazon recently, Amazon has added a few options for users when reviewing a book via drop-down menus.

Here are the choices:

At the bottom of the page it says: “Write your reviews using the traditional review authoring page” so this is a beta system. Time will tell if this will be helpful and/or abused. It could potentially lead to a more reviews, as it caters to people who might have trouble articulating themselves. Perhaps it will lessen the number of reviews saying “Loved it” or “Hated it” as the total review. […]

Henry Baum2015-03-22T10:46:51+02:00March 22nd, 2015|Categories: Features, News|Tags: Amazon News and Tips|

Ten Issues When Self-Publishing A Children’s eBook

Are you planning to self-publish a children’s ebook? Although it may seem like an easy prospect, there are many pitfalls that have actually seen a glut of unsuitable reading material coming onto the children’s market on Amazon and other book platforms.

1. The content is not the right level of readability for the age group you thought your story was for

You may have had kids, or have been a teacher, but unless you are a pedagogical expert on the age group you are trying to write for, you may end up alienating your audience by not acknowledging reading levels […]

Cate Baum2015-03-15T09:23:43+02:00March 15th, 2015|Categories: Features, Member Blog|Tags: Children's Book Reviews|

How To Stop Worrying About Google and SEO And Still Sell Your Book

The Internet is throbbing with “SEO Social Media Marketing Specialists” bursting to tell you how you messed up your author website by adding a link! Google penalties are coming to get you! You’ll be excommunicated from the INTERNET if you DO NOT ADHERE TO SEO GUIDELINES! Oh my god, the FTC are coming for you too? Six-figures fines? And don’t get me started on Amazon. If you don’t do the ten thousand things here listed, you will be PENALIZED by Amazon, and your book will become nothing, NOTHING I tell you! You may also find that you are hounded via […]

Cate Baum2019-02-03T09:35:08+02:00March 9th, 2015|Categories: Features|Tags: Amazon News and Tips, Book Promotion Articles|

Henry Baum’s “Oscar Caliber Gun” Gets New Release in 2015

First written when SPR founder Henry Baum was only 19 years old, living in LA as a child of Hollywood movie professionals, this novel is now re-released, in time for The Oscars, with a new cover and in Kindle format, and captures the male angst of living in the City of Dreams, faced with oblivion and little hope of “making it.”

“Hollywood celebrity stalker Ray Tompkins prowls the underbelly of Los Angeles, his new target is A-List Actor Tim Griffith, and Ray’s going to see this one through to the star-studded end. This Noir thriller set in pre-Internet 90s LA […]

Cate Baum2015-03-13T04:33:15+02:00February 20th, 2015|Categories: Features|Tags: Thriller Book Reviews|