Indie author Michael N Marcus explains why he’s not impressed by his own bestseller status, or anyone else’s. If you’re a new author, you probably dream of becoming a bestselling author. I’m a bestselling author and, believe me, it’s no big deal. I’ve stopped counting, but at least eight of my books have been on […]
I recently wrote an article for The Guardian’s blog about how the rise of the Creative Writing course had killed creativity in writing and led to the death of the experimental novel. The Guardian posted it next to the announcement of the Man Booker short list and it caused quite a response. I said, among […]
ALLi blog editor Debbie Young pitches into the online review debate and introduces a self-published author who has spent five years exploring the Amazon review subculture from within. Like any indie author, a great review makes my day and a duff one deflates me in a flash. Knowing how good a review can make me […]
Indie author Eliza Green shares her personal experience of improving her self-published book’s discoverability on Amazon by strategic choice of categories and keywords. Selling books on Amazon isn’t easy but improving your book’s discoverability will be a great help. On Amazon, discoverability begins and ends with categories and keywords. These two things can help readers […]
Indie author Christopher Shevlin gives an inspiring account of how he reversed falling sales of his self-published novel and turned it into an Amazon bestseller. At midnight on Wednesday, March 13th, I solemnly pronounced my book dead. No vital signs had been detected in ten days. That’s a long time to go without selling a […]
One of the frustrations for authors when it comes to Amazon is that if your readers are taken to a link in one store, for example Amazon.com, but they live in another country, they’ll find a green button saying: “Kindle titles are available for (your territory’s) customers on Amazon.yourterritory. Continue shopping on the Kindle Store […]
Let’s talk Audiobooks! Since the audiobook of Glimpsecame out in August, 2012, I’ve been on a mission to share how easy and cheap it is for indies to create their own using ACX. Before we get to the step-by-step, let me explain why you should be doing this. First off, you’ve already written the book […]
Is the new business model for publishers to be selling over-priced and under-performing services to writers? That’s the question that needs to be asked as Simon & Schuster (S&S) links with Author Solutions (AS) to run their new self-publishing service, Archway. And same question to Penguin-Pearson, who kicked off this trend with their purchase of AS […]
Amazon, the biggest book retailer in the world, was the first company to see the potential in retailing self-published work. Indie authors have reason to be very grateful to Amazon for their then radical move of presenting every book to readers in precisely the same way, whether it was an already-known author published by a corporate publisher […]
Join us on Shindig.com in a few hours time (Thursday 24th, 8pm London; 3pm NYC; noon San Francisco, LA & Seattle) for the ONLINE LAUNCH of the Alliance of Independent Authors. Indie author, and curator of The League of Extraordinary Authors, Joni Rodgers will introduce fun, frolics, free book giveaways, and a competition for a lifelong membership […]