Self-Publishing Resources and Websites

[Supercar Ace]

A very recent, success story about how indie author made about $500k in her first 3 years of self publishing.

http://thisblogisaploy.blogspot.ie/2015/08/lets-talk-someone-elses-numbers-is.html?

Nice read. Thanks for sharing!

 

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[Gymjunkie]

How adding images to author's updates on social media increased the sales - good case study:

http://buildbookbuzz.com/social-media-images/

Don't sleep on them!

 

[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..

 

[Gymjunkie]

Nice review of Freeboksy ebook promo service for authors:

http://www.paidauthor.com/how-good-is-freebooksy/

Some good results there it seems!

 

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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]

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.

No outside website, nor Alexa nor Similarweb can know real traffic to the website. So I don't trust them.. simply because you can't judge traffic without it being tracked.

Also, if book promo site makes most impact through FB groups or email lists, then their traffic doesn't have to be big at all so that's not a thing to do only. It can be small part of research..

 

[mws87]

No outside website, nor Alexa nor Similarweb can know real traffic to the website. So I don't trust them.. simply because you can't judge traffic without it being tracked.

Also, if book promo site makes most impact through FB groups or email lists, then their traffic doesn't have to be big at all so that's not a thing to do only. It can be small part of research..

Good to know. I feel quite foolish now, lol. Well, guess I'll stick to stalking their social platforms to see how many likes, retweets, etc. their posts get.

 

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[Gymjunkie]

Good to know. I feel quite foolish now, lol. Well, guess I'll stick to stalking their social platforms to see how many likes, retweets, etc. their posts get.

Don't be. It's good that you question things and look for tools and use them. Keep doing that. Just don't make these kind of sites the main thing in judging if it works. It's a piece of it.

 

[Nily]

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!

Thanks for sharing the list Gymjunkie.

Kristine's blog is incredible. Within 30 minutes I've plowed through six blog posts.

Her INSIDERS view of the publishing industry alone is unparallel to anything I have read so far.

Keep rocking bro.

 

[Supa]

A great source of knowledge and insights on fiction writing is the blog on terribleminds.com by Chuck Wendig.

It's more about the writing part of it, though there are still articles on publishing.

 

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[Gymjunkie]

Haven't posted in a while but here is another good resource - an article about Kindle Unlimited and it's impact. Talks about KU subscribers, do they buy books, how much they read etc. Good article for general understanding of how things work. Good website in general too read, plenty of otehr good articles:

https://www.writtenwordmedia.com/2017/04/13/kindle-unlimited-subscribers/

 

[Gymjunkie]

Good read about streamlining your writing, publishing and marketing processes to make more money as an author. Short read by Lindsay Buroker who's a successful indie herself:

Streamlining Your Writing, Publishing, and Marketing Process to Become a More Profitable Author | Lindsay Buroker

 

[fresh]

Gymjunkie, I've recommended your covers to people in the past. Small world...just noticed your signature line. You've got a great look for the gritty/thriller vibe, etc.

 

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[ExaltedLife]

How to NOT sell the books:

How to not sell books

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

Awesome.

 

[Olie Sins]

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!

Wow man, thanks for putting this together.

 

[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]

9 Ways to Use Reviews in Your Marketing

9 ways to use reader reviews in book marketing - Build Book Buzz

You worked hard to get your reader reviews. Get the most from them with these 9 easy ways to use reader reviews in your book marketing.

buildbookbuzz.com

No.7 is quote uncommon and possibly, very powerful - using reviews as inspiration for rewriting and improving your blurb. Maybe a reader review captures something better and you can use that in blurb. As we know, it's best to talk like a customer anyway in marketing. And this is a great strategy for getting insights into that.