Features | Self-Publishing Review

Why Kids Don’t Like to Read

This post was originally published on my blog, 10/31/2011:

Of course, this is a gross generalization but it’s meant as such. There are always kids that love to read but why are we seeing a decline in reading levels nationwide? Why are kids turning away from books?

A huge part of this argument really revolves around culture. Think back to the days of the Dime Novels. Admittedly pulp fiction (with little cultural value), they still entranced readers of all ages. Reading was truly a way to “escape” from the harshness of reality. Unfortunately, in today’s culture, movies, video games, […]

Jason Thibeault2011-11-01T12:16:15+02:00November 1st, 2011|Categories: Features|

Kindle Me!

I am a book nut. Really! I love books; the smell of a fresh off the press book, printer’s ink, the smell of a leather binding, crisp pages and glossy covers with artwork that is fresh and presents the theme of the book to entice the reader even further than the “back of the book” blurb.

I also hate books; old yellow brittle pages on a book barely 10 years old, peeling laminate on paperback covers or dust jackets that can’t handle use and rip easily. Dust on library shelves that, once disturbed, can send you into a coughing seizure. […]

Boudica Foster2011-11-01T11:59:20+02:00November 1st, 2011|Categories: Features, Member Blog|

Library eBooks: Is the eBook Ecosystem Affected by the Amazon Library Lending Process?

My usual blogging direction is toward the ebook author and the self-publishing world. With this blog I take a left turn and explore the Amazon Library Lending Process and how it affects the ebook ecosystem.

The Jungle

The Inhabitants
In the ebook jungle, the traditional publishers are indeed the king of beasts. They control the prices and the access to the ebooks. Even the authors who create the content have little say. If publishers don’t want you to borrow one of their titles, you can’t. If they want you to wait for a title, you wait.

The next level of […]

James Moushon2019-02-18T12:17:54+02:00October 28th, 2011|Categories: Features, Member Blog|Tags: Amazon News and Tips, Smashwords Tips and Articles|

A New Way to Promote: Pay With A Tweet

There are good arguments for both sides of the issue on eBook pricing. A lower price may devalue your work, but it may also drive sales. There’s also the option of giving it away for free.

Henry’s recent experiment with giving his novel away for free got me thinking about doing the same with mine. I have a sequel due out later next year, and giving the first book away for free might be a good way to drive sales of the next one. Still, there’s that sticking point of giving it away without anything in return. I’ve been gun-shy […]

Todd Keisling2020-02-21T07:44:39+02:00October 26th, 2011|Categories: Features, Resources|Tags: Social Media|

An Experiment in Serial Fiction and Self-Publication

At the start of the year, I had an idea for a project. I wanted to write a serialized fiction story in pieces small enough to fit inside a single Tweet. One tiny chunk of narrative prose every day, slowly building an ongoing, real-time story for the audience to piece together.

Then every so often, I’d do something a bit more, something to enrich the story and experience — a full short story perhaps, or an in-character piece of music, or an audio play.

I had several goals in creating a project like this. One was to have a story […]

Lucas J.W. Johnson2014-05-06T10:00:57+02:00October 26th, 2011|Categories: Features|Tags: Book Promotion Articles|

Indie Publishing’s Impact on Independent Publishing

First off, let me just say that I was a holdout for a long time for not calling self-publishing “indie publishing.” But that was back when self-publishing was desperate to be taken seriously. Now it is. And it’s become as vital a force in the publishing as “true” independent publishing. So indie publishing works now because all of independent publishing is changing.

JA Konrath talks about the “Publishing Death Spiral” in which traditional publishing is going to be assaulted by writers who can get much better terms on their own if they publish themselves. I’ll gladly dance on the grave […]

Henry Baum2011-10-26T18:40:18+02:00October 26th, 2011|Categories: Features|

The eBook Revolution: Readers Changing Habits

Thanks to Teleread, here’s an interesting infographic about changing reading habits (via Live Science).

It’s encouraging news for the e-revolution, as people with an ereader read more books – and more people are getting an ereader, so do the math – but what the infographic doesn’t cover is how people’s reading habits might change once the majority of reading is being done via ebooks. Even intellectuals like Sam Harris say that his personal reading habits are changing:

I love physical books as much as anyone. And when I really want to get a book into my brain,

[…]

Henry Baum2011-10-25T11:09:45+02:00October 25th, 2011|Categories: Features, Lead Story|

Because You’re Not Worth It (Or, Why Friends Don’t Ask Friends To Work For Free)

I used to find this quote inspirational, but now it just seems puzzling…

“One man writes a novel. One man writes a symphony. It is essential that one man make a film.”

– Stanley Kubrick

Not to pick an undebatable point with one of the greatest creative minds in recent history, but having produced a novel (yes, produced – more on that later) it’s fairly clear that all the author traditionally does is put the words together pretty. Write the manuscript. What usually follows in the process is turning it over to proofers and editors, lawyers who vet the prose […]

Kian Kaul2020-02-21T07:18:07+02:00October 19th, 2011|Categories: Features, Member Blog|