Features | Self-Publishing Review

There Is No Such Thing As a Good Book, Only A Good Brand

Originally published on The Nerd Connection, my home site.

Over Memorial Day Weekend, I was privileged to attend the Balticon Convention with its many wonderful panels and panelists. I went to a panel that included Tan Nguyen and GK Parish Philp, the founders of BackMyBook.com [formerly of DivX]. ARealGirl, and Scott Sigler filled up the rest of the panel as they all have a lot of book branding expertise.

Unlike the first panel I have blogged about, this panel was all about books and branding yourself in relation to the book you are selling. The first panel [[…]

Allison D. Duncan2020-02-21T03:32:25+02:00June 8th, 2011|Categories: Features|Tags: Author Branding|

To be an authoritative reference on publishing requires allowing all voices to be heard

There once was a time when Absolute Write stood as a beacon to protect authors from unscrupulous business people and practices. But they have become so entrenched with how publishing has operated in the past, that they are disallowing individuals from sharing their experiences with new models and opportunities. I’m referring to a recent incident where I and author Kevin O. McLaughlin were banned from that site. A post in the Self-Publishing and POD section posed the following question: Can I try and traditionally publish after making a kindle/e-pubbing? Several people pointed out that since the first publication rights had […]

Robin Sullivan2011-06-08T15:24:53+02:00June 8th, 2011|Categories: Features, Member Blog|

eBook Authors: Render Thy eBook or Miss The Boat

I am a non-fiction and technical book reader at heart. Lately I have become addicted to ebooks. I like the ability to get the ebook anytime and anywhere and read it anytime I want. Recently a historical fiction hardcover book was passed to me. A book about Elizabeth 1 of England and the period in history called the Tudor dynasty.

Sometimes I like to read a good historical fiction novel and this turned out to be a good one. After I was about half way through the novel, the analytical part of me took over. This hardcover book was the […]

James Moushon2020-02-21T03:37:44+02:00June 2nd, 2011|Categories: Features|Tags: Book Formatting Tips|

Books and their Legs – A SelfPub Experience

Publishers like books that have legs, books that sell themselves through that good witch WordOfMouth, but it was always the same old story – how could they know if a book had legs if they wouldn’t take it for a walk? Publishing, like any career move, had its own version of “must have experience to get hired but can’t get experience unless you get hired.” This is one manhole cover that the ebook revolution has pried open just a crack. Now you can find out for yourself if your book has any legs, but it isn’t a straight shot. There […]

tom lichtenberg2011-05-26T10:48:50+02:00May 26th, 2011|Categories: Features|

Who Are You? Writing an Author Bio

What’s in your author bio? Do you even have a bio? Believe it or not, your bio is an important tool in selling your book.

A few weeks ago, I was the featured author at a meet-and-greet book event. As is my custom, I made a point of making the rounds to greet the other authors, ask about their books, and collect book markers, post cards, and other souvenirs to check out their websites and purchase books later after I got home, since I didn’t have enough money to buy all of the books, even though I wanted to.

As […]

Lauren Carr2020-02-20T13:24:23+02:00May 26th, 2011|Categories: Features|Tags: Biography Book Reviews, Book Promotion Articles|

Ebook Authors: Travel Guides are the Ultimate eBooks

Do you want to create a travel guide that is the centerpiece of your reader’s travel experience? You know an ebook that is the foundation of their travel decisions. A travel package that they have at their fingertips. One that will help them with every part of their journey.

You can do this but you need to look at your ebook differently. You cannot create just a copy of your bound version.

Last week I got involved in a discussion on Linkedin which was started by Nola Lee Kelsey of ‘The Voluntary Traveler’ about creating travel guides as eBooks.

This […]

James Moushon2019-02-18T12:20:47+02:00May 26th, 2011|Categories: Features, Member Blog|

Image Desperation: The Kiss of Death for Independent Publishers

The book cover is the first thing people see when they are browsing in bricks and mortar bookstores or online. It’s often the first impression people have of the book. While those books released by large publishing houses might have been pre-sold via reviews or the fact they have a celebrity author, few independently published books enjoy such benefits. For this reason, self-publishers have to be extra cautious when deciding on a cover design.

One thing to avoid “image desperation.” That’s when a novice publisher is so desperate to have an image, any image, that he or she will “make […]

Cathi Stevenson2020-02-21T03:38:54+02:00May 26th, 2011|Categories: Features|Tags: Book Cover Design Tips|

What’s the Story?

When, a few years ago, I started writing a book, friends would ask me what it was about. I’d say it was about a lot of things – a world where no one believes in anything, conspiracy theory, drugs, the lost dreams of the Sixties and Seventies – but that wasn’t what they wanted to hear. They wanted to know what the story was. In truth, there wasn’t much of one. I thought I could write a novel based on ideas rather than character and story.

I may have been extraordinarily naïve, but it took me a while to come […]

Roland Denning2011-05-24T12:51:40+02:00May 24th, 2011|Categories: Features|Tags: Writing Tips|