August Wainwright did all of us indie writers a big favor by putting together this list, so I am sharing it with you. Some I recognize, some are new to me, which I like. I also like that he’s distinguished them by category. Nice! Thanks August!
The Indie 50 – The 50 Best Sites for Indie and Self-Published Authors | August Wainwright.
Some editing/publishing words of wisdom from Lorraine Duffy Merkly – read on…
from thegeeksclub.com
Hiring a Ghost Editor – The Experience That Haunts Me | Lorraine Duffy Merkl | Blog Post | Red Room.
Here is a little piece that you don’t hear much about in writing – your voice.
What is “your voice?” you may ask.
from foxnews
Well, those words are used to describe the style of your writing, the little quirks, sayings, grammar style that you have that is different (or maybe similar) to other writers.
Some “voices” are very distinctive: Ray Bradbury, Kurt Vonnegut are two authors that come to my mind.
Now, just because you use a particular voice in one story, you can’t use a different voice in a new story, but there is probably one style that you are most comfortable writing in – your style.
Check out what Joe Bunting and Ted Dekker say about finding your voice.
p.s. I small but important thing to remember – if you have a book you want someone to edit. If you have a particular thing (short sentences, capital letters where there might not normally be…), let you editor know ahead of time. It will save you the aggravation of changing back all those things they thought was grammatically incorrect but was really just your style/voice. It will also save the editor time. A win-win!
Have you always wanted to know what the going rate was for services related to self-publishing? Below are two resources I have come across recently that might help you out. The Bibliocrunch info is what most people need to know, The Writer’s Market piece by Lynn Wasnak is written for people in the publishing/writing business so it has more information than most authors need, but it will give you a good idea of the high and low costs for various services. I don’t know how old Lynn’s information is. There is no date on the piece.
http://bibliocrunch.com/pricing-guidelines/
http://www.writersmarket.com/assets/pdf/How_Much_Should_I_Charge.pdf
Kathleen Page says Endorsements, Guest blogging and email marketing are the three best strategies. I’m not sure this is a very helpful list for indie authors.
Endorsements – How easy is it to get other – well known – book endorsements? Not very. First, you have to be able to contact a well known author or publication, then you have to have them read your work, or at least part of it. Not an easy, if impossible, task if you don’t work with a agent or publishing house that has a reputation. I was actually able to contact a fairly famous author once because she lived by my in-laws. She gave up doing endorsements, so I was out of luck.
Guest Blogging – I have done guest blogs on quite a few sites and it might have given me a sale or two but that’s about it. I haven’t been impressed by this mode of marketing. I will continue to do them because I think they are an OK way to get your name out there, but not a great way to get sales, in my opinion.
Email marketing – I’ve read this numerous times, that this is the best way to market, but I really don’t like sending out “Buy my new Book!” email to people. I have and I will continue to do this because it might help my sales a bit, and I only do it every years or so when I come out with a new book, but I don’t like doing it because I personally don’t like getting these types of emails. People say that newsletters are the best way to market via email which is better than just a Buy my Book email, but takes A LOT more time, time that I don’t have. With a newsletter, you have to come up with content not related to selling you stuff 97% of the time and 3% of the time you can actually tell your subscribers about what you’re selling. (the percentages are made up, by the way). This, to me, is not a good investment in my time.
Anyway, those are just my opinions. Read what Kathleen has to say and decide for yourself.
Did you know that editors use style guides when editing a piece of work. What they are editing and who they are editing for can both determine what style guide they will use. I use the Chicago Manual of Style – commonly used for fiction – and the AP (Associated Press) Style Guide – commonly used for news print and web news. Companies often create their own style guides so that all the copy that leaves a particular company looks the same and so the staff don’t throw things at each other over punctuation and grammar arguments. (Really, it could happen!) 
Andrew Doty and Amy Lorenti will give you some inside poop on style guides, if really want to know.
One person’s marketing success story. Do you have one, too?
Most authors would agree that after writing a book, the biggest challenge is how to market the book. Competing for publicity and media attention is difficult and time consuming, often with little to show for your efforts.
That’s NOT true in Sabrina Penn’s case! Her efforts have yielded video reviews at two large metro TV stations.
Sabrina Penn’s children’s book, “A Cowgirl Named Pammy” was just printed, and within a two week period, she landed two TV interviews. Morning anchors at TV stations in Chicago and Denver promoted the book during their AM programs and provided information on where to purchase the book.
Illustrated by Michael Sein-Colon, “A Cowgirl Named Pammy” tells the story of Pam Grier, the first African-American woman super hero in Hollywood action movies. Sabrina said, “The key to my success with the media was simple: I created a brief summary of my book and emailed it to select media outlets. Since Pam Grier had lived in Colorado, I knew there would…
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From Clarie McKinney on Publishers Weekly website and my contact, Jennifer, on linkedin: Do You Know What a Book Publicist Does?.
Not that I’ll ever be able to afford a publicist, it’s still good information to know (just in case). Maybe you and I will need or meet one one day!
Serendipity and Samples Can Save Barnes & Noble – Bloomberg.
I don’t think Virginia’s idea of a Barnes and Noble book warehouse/membership house would work. Sounds like a library to me. But it is a good question whether B & N can survive. Smaller stores might be a better idea. If they go under, my guess is the indie bookstores that have managed to stay afloat will still be around and can fill in the gap.
I am no fan of B & N since they make it very difficult (if not impossible) for indie authors to put their books in their stores (unlike the sadly defunct Borders), but I do buy from them on occasion.
As with most things, time, and the pocket book, will tell.
Some good advice from Richard Ridley and CreateSpace: CreateSpace Community: Resources: Participate in Online Book Clubs.
Notice Richard doesn’t suggest you join these groups just to market your work. Being a part of a group that actually fits you is helpful to make connections and share information. You might, at some time, share your book(s), but if you go into groups like these with the sole purpose of marketing, then you will probably be disappointed. Participation is a good marketing strategy, but it takes time and effort – ugh!
CKBooks Publishing 