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I’m in the middle of an experiment with Amazon pricing.  Around 6 weeks ago I set my novel to free on Smashwords (instead of pay what you like), sort of hitting myself for not doing this sooner.  My plan was for the book to be distributed free to Barnes and Noble.  Amazon would then price match B&N and also make the book free.  This is what happened.  Last Thursday afternoon my book was made free and this is what my downloads look like since then:

For a couple days I was listed on the first page of Kindle bestsellers[…]

I’ve never actually read Carole Maso, but I love this answer from an interview in the Barcelona Review (2000) – referenced in a fairly scathing review of the new phenom A Visit from the Goon Squad.

You take on the literary mainstream in your book of essays, Break Every Rule, making a plea to the literary establishment “not to discard the canon, but enlarge it . . . . to acknowledge, for starters, the thousand refracted, disparate beauties out there.” But—and this is the fault of big-house publishers as much as Harold Bloom et fils,

When I e-published my first ebook last December, I, like many, harbored secret hopes for overnight success. I think I sold about 25 copies that first month, and half of those were pity buys from friends and relatives. I know some of you can relate!

After realizing I wouldn’t be a NYT bestseller by the end of my first month, I gave myself a more modest goal: get to the point where I’m selling 1,000 ebooks a month by this time next year.

As it happens, that point came in May, my fifth full month as an indie author. I […]

The prospects for an explosion in the ebook market are growing every day. Once traditional publishers realize the ebook-only market is a huge opportunity, they will embrace it and they will realize that they had a pot of gold right in front of them all the time.

Current Publishing – Are things panning out with ebooks?
Traditional book publishing is built on speculation and profit predictions. They control the system and the popular authors. They have been sitting at the end of the rainbow for a very long time.

Then along comes this ebook thing with a slick delivery system […]

A pretty huge self-publishing story was revealed  yesterday regarding the blog “A Gay Girl from Damascus” – a blog about the Arab uprising from the perspective of a gay woman in Damascus, Syria.  Last week she went missing – reportedly kidnapped.  A picture was reported along with the story who turned out to be a non-Syrian woman in London, who was understandably troubled.

And finally it was revealed that the gay girl in Damascus is actually a married guy in Scotland.  And it also turns out to be a significant self-publishing story with implications for how blogs are read […]