Category Archives: Dead Tree Books

Dead Tree Books, eBook, Success Stories

Over 150 KDP Authors Sold More than 100,000 Thousand Books in 2013 EACH!

Posted on by Shawn E. Bell

Amazon has announced a record-setting holiday season for Amazon Prime.  From the Amazon Media Room:

Amazon today announced a record-setting holiday season for Amazon Prime, the annual membership program offering unlimited Free Two-Day Shipping on millions of items. More than one million customers around the world became new Prime members in the third week of December. On Amazon’s peak shipping day, more Prime items were shipped worldwide than ever before. The entire 2013 holiday season was the best ever for Amazon, with more than 36.8 million items ordered worldwide on Cyber Monday, which is a record-breaking 426 items per second, and millions of customers unwrapped Kindle e-readers and Kindle Fire tablets this holiday season. Continue reading →

Dead Tree Books, eBook, Writer Reference

How to get reviews for your book

Posted on by Shawn E. Bell

A discussion topic between writers will almost always turn to book reviews.  It’s not easy to count on people who buy your book (or get it for free on a promotion day) to go back to the outlet that they bought it from and write about it when they’ve finished it.

This might be because they didn’t like it – an inevitability that every author has to face; not everyone thinks you’re as bright, witty, charming, creative, or as imaginative as you think you are – or it might be because it’s not terribly easy to post a review on many sites.  It’s getting better, but it can still be daunting for readers; it takes time, involves writing something (and for readers who read on eReaders or tablets with clunky keyboard interfaces it’s a pain in the butt to write anything beyond “LOL” or “:-)”), and it’s inconvenient.  When a reader finishes off a book just as they’re getting off the subway, there’s a good chance they’ll just not review it – even if they loved it and couldn’t put it down.  They might mean to, but it’ll never happen; out of sight, out of mind.

Continue reading →

Dead Tree Books, eBook

Ricoh, a company specializing in print commissions a study that finds people like print books

Posted on by Shawn E. Bell

SHOCKER! Ricoh Americas Corporation – a company that specializes in production print equipment – commissioned a ‘study’ that discovered that people like print books.  It would have been news, probably, if the study discovered that consumers preferred anything else.

The study was interesting in it’s scope.  It says that 60% of ebooks downloaded are never read (no mention of how many dead-tree books purchased are never read), that consumers “have an emotional and visceral/sensory attachment to printed books, potentially elevating them to a luxury item,” and that “college students prefer printed textbooks to eBooks as they help students to concentrate on the subject matter at hand” because, y’know, you can’t study using a tablet that has an internet connection that could allow them instant access to more – and focused – information about what they’re studying.

Continue reading →

Dead Tree Books, eBook, Writer Reference

How To Design The Best Book Cover for Online Sales

Posted on by Shawn E. Bell

ALLi Partner member Simon Avery, book designer at idobookcovers.com, explains the most important principles of cover design for books to be sold online.

From ALLi Self Publishing Advice:

The rise of online book retailers such as Amazon have changed the rules of book cover design. And authors who realise this stand to do much better in their sales.

I’m always surprised to see how many books’ covers are not optimised for online sales – which means authors who do so can grab a huge advantage. A cover designed with Amazon in mind can put you firmly above the competition, including books by trade publishers.

Continue reading →

Dead Tree Books, eBook, Success Stories

NaNoWriMo: National Novel Writing Month

Posted on by Shawn E. Bell

2013-Winner-Facebook-ProfileAs a multi-year winner (including this year, he wrote, tooting his own horn), I always look forward to NaNoWriMo.  And Camp NaNoWriMo.  And I have fond memories of Scriptfrenzy, and hope they bring it back.

An article from the Examiner puts NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) in perspective:

A day to remember for a lot of writers. NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) has officially come to an end. While a lot of authors have triumphed, writing 50,000 words in just one month, others gave it their best but didn’t quite make it. But that should hardly be the point.

A lot of people think the NaNoWriMo goal of 50,000 words in a single month is about completing that. It’s just a goal; a difficult goal. But the point of this goal is to learn how to squeeze every ounce of free time into your creativity: For writers to give it their best, grasp the concept of pumping out a rough draft without worrying about revisions, editing, or how a chapter flows.

Talk to any writer and most of them will tell you they have an abundance of ideas, and the hardest part is writing it out. This is the sole purpose of NaNoWriMo: get that idea out on paper and worry about refining when it’s finished! This could very well be a revolutionary idea in the realm of books.

You can read the whole article HERE.

If you’re a writer, you can find out more about NaNoWriMo HERE.