Self-Publishing Resources and Websites

[Gymjunkie]

Thought I'd share some useful sites for self-pubbing folks!

Kristine Kathryn Rusch - hands down, BEST blog for writers about writing and writing business from bestselling author, read The Business Rush section. Amazing insight because she writes, has run a Publishing company, Distribution company and has most understanding about these thing as a writer. No one comes close probably..

A Blog Pertaining to Health | My Health Blog - great site for marketing advice, podcast and video interviews too.

KBoards - Index - very good forum for writers. Ton of pretty successful authors hang out there.

Rocking Self Publishing | Weekly interviews with self-published authors - audio interviews with successful indie authors with tips and advice (all authors make over $1k a month from books alone). Disclaimer: I'm working on it behind the scenes and am interviewed there.

Bestseller Labs - very good resource for book marketing

Jane Friedman: Writing, Reading, and Publishing in the Digital Age - probably 2nd best site here. Jane Friedman is a big name in publishing industry and has a lot of insight.

Hope this is helpful, share your favorites!

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

Some good stuff from BrainPickings.org

Henry Miller’s 11 Commandments of Writing and Daily Creative Routine
http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/02/22/henry-miller-on-writing/

Kurt Vonnegut’s 8 Tips on How to Write a Great Story
http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/04/03/kurt-vonnegut-on-writing-stories/

10 Tips on Writing from David Ogilvy (Advertising Legend)
http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/02/07/david-ogilvy-on-writing/

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Gigantic list of book promotion websites.

http://www.indiesunlimited.com/book-promo-sites/

 

[britnidanielle]

Where does everyone get the legal disclaimers that they post at the beginning of their book....I have had a search but can't find anything useful.

I got mine from here: www.thebookdesigner.com/2010/01/copyright-page-samples-you-can-copy-and-paste-into-your-book/

 

[nuwav]

Here are some self-publishing resources I have found helpful:

Book design and cover design:
http://www.creativindie.com/
http://www.thebookdesigner.com/

Free Book Formatting Templates:
https://www.createspace.com/Products/Book/InteriorPDF.jsp
http://www.diybookformats.com/

Free Book cover templates:
http://www.creativindie.com/how-to-...ord-for-createspace-lulu-or-lightning-source/

Free book cover generator:
http://bookow.com/resources.php

Free 3d Book covers:
http://www.psdcovers.com/
http://3d-pack.com/

Print on Demand: (free books)
http://www.newselfpublishing.com/books/AimingAmazon.html
http://www.newselfpublishing.com/books/PODProfit.html

Book Marketing:
http://www.bookbaby.com/free-publishing-guides
http://www.sarkemedia.com/free-kindle-book-promotion/
http://bestsellerlabs.com/
http://www.thecreativepenn.com/
http://rockingselfpublishing.com/

 

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[mws87]

Here's a website @Supa posted elsewhere a while back: https://www.similarweb.com/
It's not a self-publishing resource, per se, but it's a good, quick reference for analyzing traffic to websites. I use it for all the "book promo" websites to weed out which ones even get traffic in the first place. Not to my surprise, I discovered nearly HALF of the pages on an author's resource website got very little traffic, and most of the traffic they did get were from other Author Resource pages, leading me to believe you're paying to have your book sent out to a bunch of people trying to send their books out to a bunch of people. . . There was one site I came across that wanted $100 for a 1-day promo. Now, I know marketing costs money, however, their site was mostly composed of other authors looking for promotion and not reading.

 

[Gymjunkie]

How to NOT sell the books:

http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,164628.0.html

Awesome post by someone very successful. Good kick in the pants. Avoid if you just want writing to be hobbie.

 

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[britnidanielle]

This piece of writing advice from Chuck Palahniuk made me feel COMPLETELY inadequate as a writer. lol. But I feel like it will also be amazingly helpful as well.

http://mamaliciousnoire.tumblr.com/post/56924563660/writing-advice-by-chuck-palahniuk-in-six

 

[Thriftypreneur]

Look, Millionaire Fastlane is full of this type of attitude. It has two chapters that can be seen as insults to people because they are not 'Fastlaners'.. so it's OK for MJ to write that book, but it's not OK for R. Blake to write a forum post? It's the same thing essentially, take responsibility, take your business seriously and invest while working hard. MJ lays out criteria for successful business, Blake lays out those for successful writing business. And Blake is not the first guy to advocate this advice of spending money on books. 2k on a book is pretty normal.

Both guys have a No-BS attitude. You accept one, but not the other. So is it R.Blake who's arrogant, or he just poked your hot-button and you're being defensive?

I have no problem with the advice he gives, in fact, I think it's very good advice for people who are trying to turn writing into a fastlane type business. I even prefaced my original reply by stating there was solid advice being given.

The only thing I spoke up about was the fact that, as a writer, he could have worded his original post and replies in a hundred different ways, but he chose the one where he basically insults a large portion of aspiring self-published authors. And, he didn't differentiate between any of them. From the DIY'er who is looking to build up capital to reinvest in professional services, to the DIY'ers who think they can do a better job than the professionals, he equally verbally dumped on all them (and outright insulted a couple of them) when he didn't have to. MJ's work is equally "in your face," but I really don't recall him outright insulting aspiring entrepreneurs. I don't see him posting in bootstrapping threads, implying that the posters are failures because they lack start-up capital.

I contribute and share with the writing community here because that type of elitism and looking-down-their-nose behavior isn't prevalent. In my experience, it's just the opposite - "get it done however you can and keep busting your a$$" is the fastlane mantra I get from this forum.

By RB's own words, pretty much all the writers who are sharing their progress here are complete and utter failures who don't deserve the publishing button they've been pushing. So forgive me if I decide to speak up when that stuff is posted on this forum, on behalf of those people who I support and who have supported me during our journeys.

 

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[britnidanielle]

Hey guys. BookBub started a blog. Going to be sharing TONS of data-based stuff.

Here's one on covers that sell: http://unbound.bookbub.com/post/65540128819/8-cover-trends-that-sell-books

 

[Gymjunkie]

Very important!! BookBub.com has been responsible for big success for TONS of Indie authors, now they are posting the process of how they select books for promotions, must read!

http://unbound.bookbub.com/post/89056785680/how-bookbubs-selection-process-works

 

[Gymjunkie]

Newest big Smashwords Author survey came out recently and it has some interesting results. From pricing to what book length should be:

http://blog.smashwords.com/2014/07/2014-smashwords-survey-reveals-new.html

Enjoy

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

What Makes a Great Cover?

http://www.wired.com/2014/09/makes-brilliant-book-cover-master-explains/

On one level, dust jackets are billboards. They’re meant to lure in potential readers. For a certain contingent of the publishing industry, this means playing it safe. “The path of least resistance when you’re designing a jacket is to give that particular demographic exactly what they want,” Mendelsund explains. “It’s a mystery novel, so you just splatter it in blood, and put the shadowy trench coat guy on it, and use the right typography.” Familiarity, the thinking goes, will always sell something.

Mendelsund does not subscribe to this view. He’s said that he prefers an ugly cover to a cliche one, and looking at his body of work, the thing that holds it together is that nearly all of his jackets have something weird going on, in one way or another.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Top 10 tips for being a best-selling author
http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-29458847

 

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[Gymjunkie]

http://annerallen.blogspot.ie/2014/11/is-talent-overrated-8-things-that-are.html

Is Talent Overrated? 8 Things that are More Important than Talent for Writing Success

 

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[ChickenHawk]

Good read. I am leaning towards optimism here, and I think, and perhaps @ChickenHawk can chime in, that the odds of a new "pretty good" writers are maybe 85% as good as a year ago? Would you guys put that number higher or lower?

Hmmm...I think I'd put it lower, maybe not a lot lower, but still, maybe somewhere in the 70% range. Here are some things that happened within the last year.

• More Price Competition from Traditional Publishers: In the early stages, indies had a huge advantage because traditionally published ebooks were still priced quite high, often $9.99 per book or higher. Today, I'm seeing more traditionally published books priced in the $2.99 to $4.29 range. That means that Indies can no longer compete primarily on price.
• More Competiton from Other Indies: With the "goldrush" mentality, more and more authors are jumping into the self-pubbing game. Even look here on this forum. A lot of people who don't have a natural love or interest in fiction are jumping in, some with lots of success, and some with less success. Either way, that means more titles competing for all those dollars and eyeballs.
• KDP Select: IMO, KDP Select has made it harder to earn lots and lots of money. Basically, what seems to have happened is those fanatical readers who reads TONS of books have migrated to the subscription model.In the past, maybe they would've spent $30 a month on books. Now, they're spending $9.99. The money they're saving represents a loss of author earnings.

A final thought...Even with my opinion that it's harder than a year ago (and probably a whole lot harder than it was THREE years ago), it will likely be even harder a year from now, which means there's no better time to start than today. But be prepared to work really hard and dig in to produce lots of quality titles at a speed higher than you're probably comfortable with. If you're a good, strong writer, and have a great cover and blurb, you can still make good money. But you'll probably have to work harder for it.

 

[Gymjunkie]

Good post and predictions for 2015 for Publishing from Russell Blake..

http://russellblake.com/2015-predictions/

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

Free online course via Stanford

ADVENTURES IN WRITING

http://online.stanford.edu/course/adventures-writing?utm_source=iContact&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Stanford%20Online&utm_content=Feb Final

Date:
Monday, January 12, 2015
Go to Course
Platform:
Stanford OpenEdX
Course topic:
Humanities
ADVENTURES IN WRITING
Video of "Adventures in Writing"
Welcome to Adventures in Writing, a series of graphic-novel style learning modules designed to help you learn more about and practice a range of effective written communication skills. You’ll immerse yourself in the adventures of Maya and Chris, using each module’s interactive exercises to apply what you’ve learned. Writing instructors in Stanford’s Program in Writing and Rhetoric (PWR) designed the modules to reflect PWR’s philosophy that the best academic and real world communication practices require us to think about more than “correctness” or just getting things right—we must actively consider what we’re trying to achieve with a specific audience for a specific purpose. Through joining Maya and Chris on their adventures, you’ll develop your abilities to communicate in writing—from punctuation and style to argument—increasing the power of your language in the classroom and beyond.

 

[Gymjunkie]

Best book about building up Email Lists for Authors currently:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00PCKIJ4C/?tag=tff-amazonparser-20

Still free on Amazon. Download and apply!

Also a great resource list and ''How To'' advice on how to collect emails on your website (explains where and how, what tools to use etc):
http://jascha.io/listbuilding/

 

[Gymjunkie]

Haven't added any resources for a while so it's time to add some:

Book Cover Design Checklist (18 Things to Know Before Ordering a Book Cover Design):
http://www.rockingbookcovers.com/book-cover-design/book-cover-design-checklist/

Copyright and Trademarks Part 2 - How to Copyright Your Book:
http://thebookninja.com/copyright-and-trademarks-whats-legal-part-2-how-to-copyright-your-book/

More coming soon..

 

[Lex DeVille]

How to Advertise & Sell More Books - September, 2018

Haven't finished the article yet. It's a guide. Several useful takeaways for anyone self-publishing. It's not just about paid advertising, but does talk quite a bit about metrics, and calculating ROI on ads for your books.

 

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[Gymjunkie]

How JA Konrath sold 1.6 million worth of books:

http://jakonrath.blogspot.ie/2013/10/guest-post-by-tom-keller-and-konrath.html

Numbers are at the end. Pretty cool to see.

 

[Gymjunkie]

I saw that thread. Sure, there's some good advice scattered around in there. But the most of it just seemed to be holier-than-thou drivel to piss on up-and-coming self-publishers who don't have a large budget. Typical, "you're not a real writer unless..." type stuff. No thanks.

Judging by your use of 'piss on...' this really hit you, and you're just being defensive.. it's constructive criticism in sarcastic form in that post, not trying to belittle others. Your attitude towards this isn't really Fastlane..

No one is talking about huge budget too, not 10's of thousands, more like $750-2000.. When he posts advice to pay $2000+ per book cover design alone for example (like publishers do), then you'd be right..

No offense, but don't wish other services were cheaper.. wish you were making more.. you can find ways to earn money from writing skills to pay for those skills.

 

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[Gymjunkie]

Awesome post for serious writing career - building funnels:

http://www.copyblogger.com/self-publishing-conversion

 

[Gymjunkie]

A great article about improving your visibility on Amazon and it's categories:

http://www.lindsayburoker.com/amazo...bility-on-amazon-less-competitive-categories/

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

There is a lot of ''Us vs Them'' mentality in the book.

Because it IS an us vs them. If you don't understand that, you just end up like "them."

Nonetheless, I gave you 100 rep for the thread and all of the resources posted.

 

[Gymjunkie]

One author goes on a challenge to write 52 Stories in 52 Weeks:

http://eelkat.tumblr.com/52Stories52Weeks

Post is full of advice on how to pull it off and resources.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Anyone try

http://pubslush.com/

Crowdfunding for publishing.

Thread stickied and marked GOLD. Some great reading/learning/resources in here.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Great story on Yahoo for all you aspiring Romance novelists.

Please take note that she was writing for YEARS, good enough to have publishing contracts and experience.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/indep...augh-—-all-the-way-to-the-bank-213437913.html

Her first ebook, “Love Me”, went live in the spring of 2010 for $3.99. Within a month, she had earned $20,000 — four times as much as any book contract she had ever signed. Just a few months later, her second original ebook became the first self-published title to hit Amazon’s top-25 best sellers list. She was hooked.
Today, like many independent romance authors, Andre has become a one-woman publishing house. She’s churned out more than 30 titles and sold 3.5 million books around the world, the majority in ebook format. Revenue for Oak Press LLC, the indie publishing house she created in 2011, has been in the “eight figures,” she says. In 2014, Publisher’s Weekly named it the fastest growing independent publisher in the U.S.

 

[carozy]

Free webinar on how to learn/use Scrivener quickly:

https://learnscrivenerfast.leadpages.net/k-m-weiland-webinar/

It's Thursday, August 28th at 4pm EST, for one hour.

All info at the link above.

This is put on in part by Kim Weiland, who wrote a book about outlining that I've found helpful. She also has a book about story structure.