Tag Archives: publishing

September 18, 2016 · 11:51 am

5 Legal Terms Every Author Should Know…

We never hear this enough! Thanks, Chris!

Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog

Extract from an article by Writer and Lawyer Helen Sedgwick:

What is the worst mistake an indie author can make?

A bad book cover? A poorly edited manuscript? A hokey website?

No. It’s losing control over your work.legal terms

Pause and Read the Fine Print

Your work is valuable property, just like your car or home. You wouldn’t hand over your car keys to a stranger you met on the internet. You wouldn’t let someone with a slick website move into your guest room. Yet, every day, writers click ACCEPT to contracts with self-publishing companies that take too much control over the author’s work.

Why? Because they can’t bring themselves to read the fine print.

If you are like most people, online contracts with all those legal terms look like 5000 words run through a blender. My goal is to show you where and what to look for, so you can…

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Filed under business of writing, Copyright for writers, ebooks publishing and selling, indie publishing, Money issues for writers, Myths and Truths for writers, Print on Demand for fiction writers, Publishing, publishing contracts, Self-publishing, small presses, Smashwords, Writing, writing novels

Tagged as creative writng, ebooks publishing and selling, Exclusives, Indemnify, Infringement, legal terms for writers, publishing, Royalties, Self-publishing, writing, writing novels

August 18, 2016 · 11:00 am

Amazon Categories and Rankings? This Helps!

Learning to market my books: deer in headlights!

Here’s what I sometimes feel like as a marketer: Deer in the headlights!

Well, I bought the book. I’ll report back on how much it helped me in my goal to begin taking marketing seriously. In the meantime, this article on how Amazon rankings and keywords differ in helping me sell my books provided some really useful distinctions.Can you add to this advice?

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Filed under business of writing, ebooks publishing and selling, indie publishing, Marketing books, Money issues for writers, Print on Demand for fiction writers, Publishing, Self-publishing, Tech tips for writers, Writing, writing novels

Tagged as Amazon Kindle, Amazon rankings, creative writng, ebooks publishing and selling, Marketing books, publishing, Self-publishing, writing, writing novels

August 6, 2016 · 1:59 pm

Closed for business: Two big things that could penalize your Amazon author account (and how to prevent them)

Here’s help negotiating Amazon’s review process! So much mystery!

Make no mistake. If you have heard me speak before almost anywhere or read anything I have to say about writing, I emphasize one thing above all else:

“You can be as artsy as you want to be while you are writing your book, but once it is finished, it is a product. A product you must distribute and market in order for it to sell.”

There’s another part to this reality of writing as a business: the number one distributor of ebooks remains Amazon, and for most authors about 80% of their sales would disappear, should the online giant refuse to sell their work. Discoverability on Amazon is the number one trick authors, publishers, and book marketers are trying to crack. Of course, if it works on Amazon, the same method will likely increase sales on iBooks and Nook as well, provided an author even offers their books for…

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New Writers’ Comprehensive Reality Check!

Whimsical road Depositphotos_17645691_s-2015 Joel Friedlander at The Book Designer shares this comprehensive discussion of myths and truths for first-time novelists from Florence Osmund. I would argue that you CAN format your books yourself if they’re not graphically complicated (i.e., just text). Check out my InDesign Beginner’s Cheat Sheet series. But this advice is worth taking to heart!

Barnes & Noble to Start a Print Book Self-Pub Option?

Check out this article from Digital Book World about a new venture at Barnes and Noble to allow self-published writers to offer print versions in B&N venues, hopefully a step that will help keep them afloat. Chime in with your views on whether this new option is worth a look.

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Filed under business of writing, ebooks publishing and selling, indie publishing, Marketing books, Print on Demand for fiction writers, Publishing, Self-publishing, Writing, writing novels

Tagged as Barnes & Noble, creative writng, ebooks publishing and selling, Marketing books, Nook, publishing, Self-publishing, writing

June 22, 2016 · 11:21 am

Terrific Post on Reading Your Contract!

Typewriter publish Thanks to PubCrawl and Kelly Van Sant for this clear and comprehensive piece about red flags in publishing contracts.

It should be required reading!

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Filed under business of writing, Money issues for writers, Publishing, publishing contracts, reversion of rights clauses, small presses, Writing, writing novels

Tagged as creative writng, Kelly Van Sant, lessons learned, publishing, Royalties, writing, writing novels

June 14, 2016 · 10:39 am

Are You a Romance Writer? Here’s Help!

Magic book

You might want to check out this list of 31 romance publishers who accept unagented work from Authors Publish!

5 Hard Truths About Being a Published Writer

Some truly HARD truths, and worth reading. I can also add that when you’ve published in the past, a fair number of agents want proof that your prior books were bestsellers before they’ll even consider your current one. “Did well for a first novel” doesn’t seem like enough.

Have you ever had experiences like these in your writing career? Share!

Carrie Cuinn

You’ve dreamed of being a writer, getting published, and finally – you’ve succeeded. Someone has paid money for your words, and they’re out in the world for people to read! Or, maybe you haven’t yet sold a story or novel, or you’re still writing for free on blogs and hoping that’s going to get you noticed. Either way, you aspire to greatness with your ability to turn a phrase. Here’s five things you definitely need to know, but probably no one has told you:

You’re still going to be rejected. No matter how many sales or awards or accolades you have, you will still not have them all. You’ll submit work that won’t be purchased. You’ll write beautiful prose that doesn’t get nominated for an award, or doesn’t win even if you make it onto the ballot. You’ll be left out of articles talking about the books to read this summer…

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Filed under business of writing, indie publishing, Myths and Truths for writers, Publishing, Self-publishing, Writing, writing novels

Tagged as creative writng, lessons learned, publishing, readers, writing, writing novels

May 23, 2016 · 10:16 am

Opinion: To Tweet or Not to Tweet? Does Twitter Worthwhile for Self-published Authors?

I’ve heard varied reports on using Twitter to promote books. Is Anna’s process the best to follow? How do you use Twitter?

Swedish indie author Anna Belfrage reports on her trial to see whether Twitter can sell self-published books and queries whether the return justifies the

Source: Opinion: To Tweet or Not to Tweet? Does Twitter Worthwhile for Self-published Authors?