The question was recently asked on a NaNoWriMo Facebook page, “Those of you with children, when do you squeeze in time to write?”
The correct answer? Two words: Duct Tape. Your children will appreciate it later when you’ve earned enough in royalties to pay for their therapy.
I had wondered about this for awhile; having an interest in photography, I’ve got a copy of Master Your DSLR Camera. When I went to the BetterBook site, I noticed that the ebook was available as an app. It’s an ebook. It’s for sale on iTunes. It’s #1 in the iBookstore, but way lower on the app store. I saw this as probably a failure of Apple; they must have categorized the ebook incorrectly, or the ebook creator had made a mistake with the upload.
Turns out that the publisher – Open Air – is selling 10 to 30 times as many ebooks through the app store as they are through iBookstore. Being #1 in the iBookstore is 10 sales a day. Ranking around 7th in the App Store translates to 150 sales a day.
Laura Hazard Owen wrote a piece about this particular book over on PaidContent, titled “Want to publish an ebook for iOS? Surprising tips from iPad publisher Open Air.”
From the article: Continue reading
ALLi is the Alliance of Independent Authors, the professional association for self-publishing writers. They host an EXCELLENT self-publishing advice blog HERE.
Award-winning Jamaican indie author Ezekel Alan pens an article for ALLi’s ‘Top Tips from Top Indie Authors’ series. From the article:
“My novel Disposable People became the first self-published book to win a major prize.” Jamaican indie author Ezekel Alan shares the story of his groundbreaking achievement.
What’s the secret of your success?
I wouldn’t as yet consider myself successful, but I hope I am getting there. Winning the Commonwealth Book Prize Regional Award gave my novel a major boost and drew a lot of attention not only from readers but also publishers and agents. I hope this will not only propel the existing novel to greater success, but also future novels.
In terms of what I think worked well for me it is the voice in my writing. Readers say they enjoy the uniqueness of the voice, it is compelling and refreshingly different. It is also very blunt and real. I try to push boundaries a bit, and I combine different forms of story-telling into a novel. I think this helps to set my work apart and creates interest. Some writers write with the reader in mind and it works for them; I come at it from the point of view of what I would like to read. I read a lot, and much of what I read, while good, is generally conventional. I aim to do something innovative. Continue reading
ALLi is the Alliance of Independent Authors, the professional association for self-publishing writers. They host an EXCELLENT self-publishing advice blog HERE.
Roz Morris has posted an article about how she got her book into brick-and-mortar bookstores. From the article:
Indie author Roz Morris explains how she got her novel stocked by bricks-and-mortar bookstores – and how self-published books meet independent booksellers’ needs.
Like many indie authors, I wasn’t sure I’d ever get my books into shops. I made print editions because it was unthinkable not to, and I did what I could to get widespread distribution. So I was all ready to be stocked… if bookshops knew to look for me. Always the hardest part.
Self-publishing can be an uphill battle. If you’re an author – not a publisher – you’ve had to either develop a whole new set of skills, or settle for only selling your work to relatives. That is, until now.
Dystel & Goderich Literary Management has announced that they’re now working with self-published authors to get their work digitally published. According to D&GLM, “we have been following developments in e-publishing with great interest. As an agency that has prided itself on being a bit of a maverick among the stodgy old guard, we have always been more intrigued than scared about this new world of e-books. The consensus among us, even after listening to the doomsayers, has been that e-publishing will re-energize our business and create more readers.”
