This Week’s Self-Publishing News

Hmm. I am temporarily out of extraneous metaphors this week, in large part because I'm still recovering from running my first marathon of the season, a particularly exhausting affair that took me through baking sun and blowing rain, urban sprawl and deserted woods, often feeling utterly lost, mostly feeling utterly shattered, having to trust in the fact that if I kept putting one foot in front of the other and followed all the arrows, I'd wind up on the finish straight eventually. It may have been a few hours after the swift whippersnappers when I finally emerged into the stadium, but emerge I did, and look, wouldn't you know, there's your metaphor.

ALLi must have all the best hats because it's got the fringe covered

ALLi will, as you know, be bringing you another round of fabulousness from its Indie Author Fringe, this time at Book Expo America on May 14th. The list of speakers is now out on the event's page (here), and just like LBF there's a fabulous comp, only this time it's not for opening lines but for classic covers. Full details here.

Goodreads giveaways

And on the subject of ebooks, Goodreads has just launched (in the US, and in beta) Kindle giveaways, which work more simply than Amazon giveaways and most interestingly work for advance copies (Goodreads blog on the subject here – thanks Nancy Freund for the tip).

Overshare

Nothing says branding like Andy Warhol, whose exhibition at the Ashmolean in Oxford closes next week

It's funny how most weeks there'll be something everyone's talking about, and how most weeks it'll be something different. This week it's been Facebook's new branded content policy. As indie authors, we tend to have pages on Facebook, and we also tend to be big into sharing the love for other authors, so this is something we really need to get our heads round even if only to know how it doesn't affect us. This is the most comprehensive account so far of what you can share from where, but keep watching.

Copyright consultation

Australia's Productivity Commission has just launched a draft report on copyright, which you can download here. Most important, they are taking submissions on this crucial subject until June 3rd.

Wafer thin

the structure of graphene by Alexander Aius, creative commons 3.0

Tech-wise, I could have talked about the new Kindle Oasis, but I've already told you it's out, and to be honest it's really not as exciting as the nerdtastic news that a commercially viable e-paper made of graphene has been developed in China (full story here). If you're interested in the future of e-reading this is the stuff to get the juices going.

How does Amazon's algorithm really work?

It's the subject of so many blogs and seminars. In many ways it's the philosopher's stone of indie authordom, and this week Self-publishing Review's Cate Baum steps up as literature's Nicholas Flamel. Her incredibly detailed mythbusting post (here) has provoked a lot of discussion, but is essential reading. And while we're talking marketing, Bookbub has a very cool download (here) full of examples of what they see as authors getting it right. You may just recognise the odd face or two!

Wattpad at the movies

It seems only yesterday I was talking about Wattpad teaming up with Sourcebooks, and now they're looking to hook their top writers up with Hollywood studios. The full story here.

And finally…the Goldilocks book

Are novellas the perfect literary form?

Not too long, not too short. Indies already know how fabulous the novella is. This is a very interesting piece in the Guardian on the rise of the perfect form for the digital age. And talking of perfect for digital writing, thank you to Karen Inglis for pointing me to this piece on the use of Reddit for storytelling.









Upcoming conferences and events

MAY 2016

Teheran International Book Fair: May 5 – 15 [Teheran, Iran] The Self-publishing Conference: May 7 [Leicester, UK] Creative Ink Festival: May 6-8 [Burnaby, B.C. Canada] Auckland Writers Festival: May 10 – 15 [New Zealand] Book Expo America: May 11 – 13 [Chicago, Illinois, USA] Franschhoek Literary Festival: May 13 – 15 [South Africa] Varena-Sydney Writers Festival: May 14 – 22 [New South Wales, Australia] Sydney Writers Festival: May 16 – 22 [New South Wales, Australia] Indie Author Fringe: May 14 [Online, Global] – brought to you by ALLi
Warsaw Book Fair: May 19 – 22 [Warsaw, Poland] Writecon: May 21 [Zurich, Switzerland] Kingsmead College Book Fair: May 21 [Johannesburg, SA] International Literature Festival: May 21 – 29 [Dublin, Ireland] Australian Booksellers Association Conference & Trade Exhibition: May 29 – 30 [Melbourne, Australia]

JUNE 2016

Dublin Writers Conference: June 24 – 26 [Dublin, Ireland] Seoul International Book Fair: June 15 – 19 [Seoul, Korea]

JULY 2016

Hong Kong Book Fair: July 20 – 26 [Hong Kong, China] South African Book Fair: July 29 – 31 [Johannesburg, South Africa]

(The above list may not include all the major events; please feel free to email us with any important ones we’ve missed out, or include in comments below.)