Self-Publishing Resources

Posted By Sue Collier on January 24, 2011

Here’s some of what’s happening in publishing right now:

Write Away: Building author platform while tearing down writing (time)

“Members of both my critique groups have asked how I can be spending so much time on building my author platform? “Aren’t you losing writing time?”

Yes, indeed, I am. I try to keep up with two blogs, two Twitter accounts, a website, and two Facebook pages. Social Media Networking, indeed! I hardly ever see real people. Mostly my day is spent with virtual “friends” and “followers”. I am losing big writing time as I prepare blogs, tweet, and FB postings.”

 Marketing Tips for Authors: How I went about self-publishing

“Hello Everyone, firstly, it is nice to meet you all. Secondly, I would like to thank Tony for asking me to share my experiences of self publishing with you on his blog.

Before I begin, I think it is only fair to say that I am still learning the how to do just about everything, and people like Tony have taught me a lot about what to expect when publishing and marketing your work. We are all learning and I think we always will be. This is why I was so keen to share my thoughts with you, because I learn from you just as much as you may learn from me.”

Publishers Weekly: Weightless books: An e-bookstore for indie presses

 ”How do publishers survive if Barnes & Noble cuts half its stores, Borders closes, and more independent bookstores close?,” asks Gavin Grant, publisher of Small Beer Press in Easthampton, Mass. “It worries me.” And that was before Borders revealed the depth of its financial woes. In order to insure that there would still be a home for small press books and literary journals, Grant and Michael J. DeLuca started Weightless Books (www.weightlessbooks.com), an e-store devoted to e-books and e-subscriptions for independent presses.”

The Creative Penn: Mystery and thriller lovers, check out MysteryThriller.tv.

 “The Creative Penn is for writers, authors, publishers and marketing people i.e. those involved in the creation and distribution of books in physical or digital format. It’s not primarily aimed at readers and I don’t usually do book reviews unless they serve a purpose in demonstrating a particular aspect I wanted to outline. It’s not a genre blog either and I hope you find useful information whether you write non-fiction business, romance, sci-fi or cookbooks.

But I’m now a thriller author and I’m also a voracious reader, primarily of mysteries and thrillers in the fiction area so I needed somewhere new to talk about the genre…”

Wall Street Journal: How authors move their own merchandise

“To gin up sales for her 2009 essay collection “Bad Mother,” Ayelet Waldman rewarded those who preordered the book with such lagniappes as a donation to a scholarship fund or a copy of a novel by her husband, Michael Chabon. “I think all of that got ‘Bad Mother’ on the New York Times best-seller list,” Ms. Waldman said.” 

 The Book Designer: 6 things I love—and hate—about self-publishing

“Did you ever feel like you lived on both sides of a border, an issue, a trend?

1.  I love self-publishing because of the absolute finality of the process. At the end, you are left with a book in your hand, one that will probably outlast you and most of the people you know. There aren’t many occupations where you get to leave such a tangible mark, where you can hold the results of your hard work and your investment of time, money and attention.”

Categories: This week in publishing
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