Welcome to this issue of the Carnival of the Indies blog carnival. This issue is for December, 2012. We welcome your submissions on topics related to writing, self-publishing, book design or marketing books.
A collection of outstanding articles recently posted to blogs, your reading here will be richly rewarded.
See the end of this post for links to submit your blog posts for the next carnival, or for participating Bloggers and Featured Bloggers to grab your sidebar badges. Thanks to everyone who participated.
Featured Posts
Anne Hill presents An author-centric map of publishing posted at oreilly.com, saying, ?What would the publishing ecosystem look like if we placed authors at its center? A discussion of content, distribution, and why ?author platform? is a misleading term.?
Sarah Bolme presents Trends in Book Discovery posted at Marketing Christian Books. ?Physical bookstores are shrinking. e-Reading is on the rise. These changes are affecting how people learn about books and how they buy and read them.?
Toni @ Duolit presents Authors Who Say ?I Don?t Have Enough Time for Promotion? Are Doomed to Fail posted at Duolit, saying, ?Setting aside time for promotion is essential to your success as an indie author, but you don?t have to slave over your computer for hours at a time to see positive results. In this post, I introduce the ?Bowflex? Method: marketing for 30 minutes a day, 4 times a week!?
Book Design and Production
Loretta Boyer McClellan presents Book Cover Design and Typography 101 posted at Misthaven of Maine
J.M. Ney-Grimm presents Cover Design Primer posted at J.M. Ney-Grimm, saying, ?Basic design principles for indies seeking something simpler than a PhD in typography. Grin!?
India Drummond presents Formatting for CreateSpace posted at India Drummond ? Author, saying, ?An article and video tutorial on how to take your manuscript and produce a CreateSpace-ready PDF file without using templates. These are the steps covered in the tutorial: ?Step 1: Setting the proper page layout/margins for print books ?Step 2: Adding images ?Step 3: Formatting text using Word?s Styles options ?Step 4: Adding attractive page numbering ?Step 5: Saving your file ?Step 6: Inspecting your work for errors?
Sally Harris presents How to Hire an Illustrator posted at Frankly Books, saying, ?Hiring an illustrator as anIndie Author doesn?t have to be difficult! Here are 10 steps that help to make the process straightforward and enjoyable.?
Dave Bricker presents Proposed Standards for Book Typography posted at The World?s Greatest Book, saying, ?With type being butchered by big and small publishers alike, how do we establish criteria for professional standards in book typography? Though economic costs and benefits are easy to assess, writers and publishers should be able to evaluate aesthetic compromises based on a set of typographic best practices.?
Marcy Kennedy presents What Type of Edit Does Your Book Need? posted at Marcy Kennedy?s Blog, saying, ?I?ve noticed a lot of confusion lately about the types of edits a manuscript might need to go through before it goes out into the world, so I wrote this post to help clarify.?
Jennifer Lynn Alvarez presents Why Your Word Count Matters posted at The Jennifer (Author) Diaries, saying, ?Out of whack word counts can alienate your readers?.find out how!?
Ebooks and Ebook Readers
Mike Reeves-McMillan presents 60 (or more) Indie Books Worth Reading posted at The Gryphon Clerks, saying, ?From anIndie Author (and harsh reviewer), a list of indie books worth reading.?
Jane Ayres presents E-books and writing for children posted at The Beautiful Room, saying, ?This post charts my experiences and problems marketing e-books for pre-teens and asks questions about how to tackle the issues specific to e-books for this age group.?
Indie Author
Ben Z presents How to write about King Arthur, Camelot, Excalibur and Merlin. Feel chivalrous. posted at ben zackheim, blogben zackheim, blog, saying, ?Here, I reflect on the experience of writing a story based in the Camelot lore. It was a hard six-year slog through age-old misconceptions of the original stories, stodgy feedback from scholars, and, ultimately, self-discovery. In the end I got a book that I love, and a sense of what chivalry and kindness is.?
James Moushon presents Book Author: An interview with Rayne Hall posted at eBook Author?s Corner, saying, ?An interview with short story author Rayne Hall.?
David Bergsland presents Formatting your books & ebooks: DIY or Paid? posted at The Skilled Workman, saying, ?This is 1500 words examining the questions all indie writers face as they publish their books. What do you want to do and what do you want to pay others to do for you??
Patty Jansen presents How much does self-publishing cost? posted at Must Use Bigger Elephants, saying, ?This post was sparked by my annoyance at ?partnership? aka ?vanity? presses who peddle promotional packages to unsuspecting n00b authors.?
Alexander M Zoltai presents I Need Your Help ~ Let?s Decide Which Is Better: Traditional or Self-Publishing . . . posted at Notes from An Alien, saying, ?Weigh-in with your comments _ Which Is Better?Traditional or Self-Publishing??
Laura Pepper Wu presents Q&A with Guy Kawasaki, author of APE: Author, Publisher, Entrepreneur? How to Publish a Book. posted at 30 Day Books, saying, ?Guy Kawasaki is a New York Times Bestseller, co-founder of Alltop.com and former chief evangelist for Apple. He?s published both traditionally and independently and is now pushing ?artisinal self-publishing? in his new book APE: Author, Publisher, Entrepreneur. In this short Q&A, I got to pick his brains about his thoughts on successful independent publishing and garnered his tips on how to create buzz for a book.?
iWriteReadRate.com presents Reaching Readers & Breaking Through The Indie Noise posted at The iWriteReadRate Blog, saying, ?It?s a crowded, busy and noisy place out there in the new world of digital publishing. Here?s some thoughts from iWriteReadRate Founder, Adam Charles, on what?s happening and what you should think about as an Indie Author??
Chris Kridler presents What genre is your book? Your readers may decide posted at Sky Diary ? ChrisKridler.com, saying, ?Even if you think you know your genre, readers have their own ideas of what adventures, romances and other novels should be, and their perceptions and reviews will affect how others see your work.?
Aishah Macgill presents Where Is Your Special Writing Place posted at Aishah Macgill, saying, ?Where do you mostly sit and write? Is it the right place for you? Maybe think outside the square and try a few funky places. You might be pleasantly surprised at how your creativitiy and volume of writing goes sky high!?
Kaz Augustin presents Why some self-publishers aren?t posted at Sandal Press blog, saying, ?I don?t think the line connecting self-publishing and small business has been drawn heavily enough. This is my post in reply to April Hamilton?s (Publetariat.com) on ?Indie Entrepreneurs?.?
Diana Jackson presents Writing a Memoirs ~ The Joys and Pitfalls posted at Diana Jackson?s Muse, Views and Reviews, saying, ?Useful and at times poignant advice for anyone attempting to write a memoirs. Questions to ask before you start: Is it only for family members and friends? Is it commercially viable? Will you self publish or find a publisher? What equipment will you need? Above all, enjoy every moment and be ready for a unique experience!?
Gary Gauthier presents Composition 101 posted at Literary Snippets, saying, ?Like the composer of music, the goal of the writer is to create a final piece that develops its theme harmoniously and can stand on its own merit.?
Marketing and Selling Your Books
M. Louisa Locke presents Authors Need to Get a Clue: How to devise the best marketing strategy for the Holidays posted at M. Louisa Locke?s Front Parlor
Randy Ross presents Book Marketing: Tired of Banging Your Head Against the Web Wall? posted at The Loneliest Planet, saying, ?Does book marketing feel like you?re banging your head against a wall? New evidence that you are ? and some options ? that don?t involve social media.?
James Moushon presents Book Trailers: Do Authors Get Enough Bang for Their Buck? posted at eBook Author?s Corner, saying, ?highlighted on your weekly blog.?
Laura Pepper Wu presents Creating blog posts & promo materials with Piktochart posted at 30 Day Books, saying, ?I came across this great tool to help you create infographs quickly, easily and super inexpensively. You can use it to help promote your book on sites like Facebook or Pinterest. You can also use it to create quick blogposts! It?s called Piktochart, and here are some example infographs I?ve made with it.?
James Moushon presents Free Books: Give it away. Just give it away. posted at eBook Author?s Corner, saying, ?Comments from 19 authors about their experiences with ?Free Book Promotions? plus a little planning and guidance.?
Gordon Burgett presents Getting our bond book out first, fast, and often as ebooks posted at Gordon Burgett?s Blog, saying, ?While we await the arrival of our bound book from the printer, we convert and send it off to four ebook publishers so it can get posted and earn money and positioning! Details here.?
Jan Bear presents How to Write a Book Marketing Plan: Begin with the End in Mind posted at Market Your Book, saying, ?When asking how to write a book marketing plan, it?s important to start with fundamental questions that will put your book promotion into perspective.?
Jan Bear presents Too Many Books? ? Market Your Book posted at Market Your Book, saying, ?Publishing professionals tend to panic about the numbers of books being published. But that?s not the only way to look at it.?
Self-Publishing Success
C. S. Lakin presents Essential Strategic Planning for Writers?Looking Ahead to 2013 posted at Live Write Thrive, saying, ?This is part one of a five-part intensive (practical and humorous!) guide forIndie Authors to help them strategically plan their career goals for 2013 and beyond. Think True Grit??
Writing tools and tips
Matthew Hall presents How to Outline with yWriter: An Introduction to Outlineing posted at M.L. Hall, saying, ?Introduction to outlining using yWriter.?
Matt Schoenherr presents Target Marketing: Speak Directly to Your Target Audience posted at Marketing Ideas 101, saying, ?What can you do to communicate with your target market on such a core level that you?re able to speak their native language to the exclusion of the rest of the world??
David Leonhardt presents What is a ghostwriter? posted at A Ghost Writers Blog, saying, ?This question (What is a ghostwriter?) pretty much tops the questions people have about ghostwriting. In this blog post I give a very complete explanation, which I break down into three parts.?
Gordon Burgett presents Never type out the title of your blog. Here?s why? posted at Gordon Burgett?s Blog, saying, ?Woe is you if your book title and sub-title are endless and you?re writing press releases, a landing page, and more and more. Instead, put the title in code and let your computer do the typing!?
Gibson Goff presents The Perfect Way to Get Over Writer?s Block posted at Gibson Goff ? The Enlightened Traveler
Joanna Penn presents What happens after the first draft? posted at The Creative Penn, saying, ?Maybe you ?won? NaNoWriMo or maybe you have the first draft of another book in your drawer, but we all need to take the next step in the process in order to end up with a finished product ? rewriting, editing and beta readers.?
Joseph C. Kunz, Jr. presents Questions To Ask Yourself Before Writing Your Book?s Introduction posted at Kunz On Publishing, saying, ?Thank you.?
Bob Baker presents The 3 Elements of Becoming an Irresistible Writer posted at Bob Baker?s Book Promotion Blog, saying, ?There are many factors that go into the development of truly compelling writers and authors. Here I cover three elements that will make the difference between you being a mediocre writer who struggles with obscurity and a gifted wordsmith who attracts a raving fan base??
Joseph C. Kunz, Jr. presents The Preface: Share Your Inner Passion And Inspiration For Better Book Sales posted at Kunz On Publishing
Well, that wraps up this issue. I hope you enjoy some of the great articles here, and let other people interested in self-publishing know about the Carnival?Use the share buttons below to Tweet it, Share it on Facebook, Plus-1 it on Google+, Link to it! The next issue is January 27, 2013 and the deadline for submissions will be January 20, 2013. Don?t miss it! Here are all the links you?ll need:
The original announcement post
Carnival of the Indies web page
Submit your article here
Bloggers, grab your official Carnival of the Indies Badges here
Follow Carnival of the Indies on Twitter
Subscribe to The Book Designer Blog
Source: http://www.thebookdesigner.com/2012/12/self-publishing-carnival-of-the-indies-issue-27/
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