Build Your Author Email List
Mailing lists are possibly the most overlooked social media marketing tool for authors ever. When someone finds your website — using a google search, a business card, a web link — they’re visiting because they’re interested in you, your book, or your product. They click and they think, “Hmmmm. Interesting.” But there’s no mailing list […]
Kindle launches new fan fiction site: Kindle Worlds
Kindle Worlds is a new a place to publish fan fiction inspired by popular books, shows, movies, comics, music, and games. Now you can write in licensed worlds and earn up to a 35% royalty. Some of the current licensed Worlds include: Gossip Girl and Pretty Little Liars; Valiant comics including Bloodshot and Shadowman; The […]
The future of books in stores
The future for books in retail stores is not unified; it’s dispersed. To the extent that there continue to be bookstores (and although shelf space in them will continue to decline inexorably, they’ll also be around for years to come), the bookstores will increasingly be more about books for reading and less about books for […]
Top 5 Apps for Authors
Authors these days are more than authors. Our days are fragmented with tasks that more resemble those of publishers and marketers, journalists and speakers. We must not only write, but edit, organize, blog, friend, tweet, connect, converse, advise, recripocate, share and share again. These five apps (and I mean “apps” beyond the mobile-only kind) help […]
Self-Publishing Predictions for 2013
Self-publishing predictions for 2013 seem so much less exciting this year. Why? Because the services, technologies, and tools have matured, and authors can choose from a variety of excellent solutions without spending much money at all. In my last post for PBS MediaShift I discuss six tools that matured in 2012, and how they are […]
How 6 New Tools Change the Equation for Writing and Self-Publishing Your Book
When writers first exchanged pen and paper for word processing systems we didn’t realize how firmly it put us on the path toward self-production and self-publishing. The jury’s still out on whether the creative process was altered for better or worse. Marshall McLuhan, an early media pundit, recognized back in 1962 how “the divorce of […]
Self-Publishing Boot Camp Guide to Smashwords
Smashwords in 4 minutes – learn how easy it is to create and distribute your text-heavy ebook to online ebook retailers and iOS and Android app stores. This audio – video slideshow is the kind of thing I present in the Self-Publishing Boot Camp workshops.
Use Scrivener to organize your book and export to ebook formats
Scrivener is an old word for writer and the name of a desktop writing tool that also happens to output your book to EPUB and Kindle formats with a click of the “compile” button. But that’s just a minor feature. A screenwriter friend of mine swears by it to organize his thoughts and make notes […]
A Self-Publisher's Guide to Registering Author Copyright
With the perceived risk among writers of copyright infringement so extremely high it’s no wonder self-publishers are increasingly concerned about making sure their work is copyrighted. Many self-publishing service companies now offer copyright services, but you don’t need to use them. While they charge up to $150 for the service, it costs only $35 to […]
New Smartphones Give More Power to the Publishers
The licensing deals that allow movies, books and music to stream into the latest mobile devices, while long at the heart of their appeal, are becoming even more critical as several of the biggest technology companies fight for an edge in the lucrative market for smartphones and tablets.