As an indie publisher, I rely on the POD (Print on Demand) printers. Many indies make most of their money from ebook sales. But for children’s books, the market has consistently been print-driven with only 10-25% of income from ebooks. That can vary widely, as some authors do very well on the Kindle Unlimited platform. ...
Dear Librarians who serve on one of the ALA Youth Media Awards committees (Newbery, Caldecott, Coretta Scott King, Michael L. Printz, Schneider Family, Alex, Mildred L. Batchelder, Odyssey, Pura Belpré, Robert F. Siebert, Excellence in Early Learning Digital Media, Stonewall, Theodor Seuss Geisel, William C. Morris, YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults, ...
Smashwords’ Mark Coker is sounding the alarm about indie publishers (those who write and publish their own works—let’s get the terminology right--it’s INDIE publishers, not the deprecating “self-published”) relying too much on Amazon. I agree with Coker. Two and half years ago, I started advertising on Amazon’s AMS platform. It doubled my sales. But then, everyone else ...
Who's in control of the publishing process? Once the contract is signed, does the author have any say in what happens to the story? Traditional contracts specify that the publishing company will publish as they see fit. In other words, control is given to the publisher by the contract. Director Marielle Heller talks about creativity ...
READ A FREE HEARTLAND TALES SHORT STORY: CLICK HERE The Wayfinder was my first published novel, 2000 Greenwillow/Harpercollins. I remember where I was when I heard the news that someone wanted to publish this manuscript. I was with my oldest daughter, Sara, at a local mall. I had to use a pay phone to call the ...
Audiobook sales are on the rise, which means indie or self-published authors need to pay attention. Goodereader reports that audiobooks are the fastest growing digital segment of book publishing in 2017. 26% of the US population has listened to an audiobook in the last year, creating a $2.5 billion market. PW reports that audiobook sales ...
Book reviews and a software review. Are you books ready for the Christmas shopping season? Do you need information on self-publishing options? Or do you need to improve your self-editing skills? Today, I'll review a couple books and a software program. BOOK REVIEW: 50 Ways to Sell a Sleigh-Load of Books: Proven Marketing Strategies to Sell More ...
Author newsletters are crucial, whether you're an indie author or not. But for Indies, your newsletter could make or break your business. This blog, Fiction Notes, has been going since 2008 (Yes! 10 years of archives! So search for topics!) My approach to author newsletters has been to sign up folks to get new blog posts ...
Word Choices: Getting Granular With Read-Aloud Books Guest post by Lisa Lowe Stauffer Twice I’ve had the opportunity to participate in Darcy Pattison’s Novel Metamorphosis retreat. Although I gained a lot of great tips and information, and have revised several novels via the NOVEL METAMORPHOSIS workbook, one thing in particular that Darcy talked about blew me away. At ...
Book Distribution 2018 Book distribution, where your books are connecting with people, is a crucial decision for selling books. If a reader hears about your book and they try to buy it in their favorite format from their favorite store/vendor, it must be available. That means you should know where your customer shops. Children's librarians use ...
Big ideas: Why a children's BOOK? In this post, I'm emphasizing the question of why create a BOOK? When you have an idea about something you want to tell children, you have many options for communicating that information or story. You could create a video, have a conversation with your grandchild, write a magazine piece, write an ...
A professional attitude is crucial to successful self-publishing. What if I wanted to sell you a dress and I said something like this? "I grew the cotton myself, spun the yarn and wove it. So, it's going to have a rough feel to the cloth. Sorry about that but I don't really know what I'm doing. ...
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