Self-Publishing Resources

Posted By Sue Collier on September 25, 2011

Here’s some of the latest in industry news and views:

From The Passive Voice: When Self-Publishing A Book Is A Great Marketing Move
You’re an expert in your industry. You’ve got a blogroll of content displaying your business and showcasing your knowledge about your industry. And you’ve got a pretty decent following of people eager to glean information and advice from you. So it might feel like the right time to take that next step and write a book.

From Savvy Self-Publishing: Social Media Basics for Authors (AKA How Not to Suck at Twitter and Facebook)
Even if you’re brand new to book promotion, you’ve probably heard that you need to start a blog, get on Facebook, “tweet” on Twitter, and basically put yourself out there wherever you can. But you might not be sure where to start. Here’s a basic overview of Twitter and Facebook, two of the biggies when it comes to social media: Create a Facebook Fan Page

From Publishers Weekly: Kindle Library Lending Goes Live
Amazon and library e-book vendor OverDrive announced this morning its recently announced plan to allow library lending via the Kindle and Kindle app is now live. The service, which will be available at some 11,000 libraries across the U.S. at launch, enables libraries to expand their e-book lending to the nation’s most popular e-reading platform. Until today, Kindle had been noticeably absent from library lending, as OverDrive’s service worked only with ePub-enabled devices, such as the Sony Reader, the Nook, iPads, and smartphones. The launch, meanwhile, comes as leaders from the American Library Association and the Association of American Publishers met this week in New York to discuss e-book issues.

The Savvy Book Marketer: Pricing Strategies for Ebooks
Mark Coker, CEO of Smashwords, shares some terrific insight into pricing strategies for ebooks. There’s not a single secret magic price point that’s most effective for ebooks.  Some authors fixate on price alone, but it’s important to consider price as only one of several factors that influence a reader’s purchase decision.  We have many free ebooks that earn few downloads, and many priced books that get more paid downloads than some of the freebies.  In the end, if a book doesn’t honor the reader with a great read, you can’t pay a reader to read it.

From Writer Beware Blogs: PUBSLUSH Press: Update
On Tuesday I posted about PUBSLUSH Press, a new crowdfunding venture for books. I found it an interesting idea (rather than just donating cash to worthy projects, PUBSLUSH supporters actually pledge to buy books; if the number of supporters reaches 2,000, PUBSLUSH publishes), but had a number of concerns, especially regarding PUBSLUSH’s publishing contract.

From Marketing Tips: Adding Customer Images to Your Amazon Page To Increase Your Sales By Laura Pepper Wu
Not all book marketing efforts come equal. Some are large endeavors (book tours, ad campaigns, guest posts), others are small tweaks that bring surprising results.

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