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Getting Started

Writing is an art. Publishing is a business. And it's a business in transition.

How do you navigate pitfalls? Is everything going digital? What are the top 10 things you need to do to publish your book successfully?

Bowker is the ISBN agency for the US. We're the front door in the book supply chain. And we're here to help.

In Case You Missed It

by Laura Dawson
Bowker | Mon Sep 16, 2013

Here are some pieces published early on in SelfPublishedAuthor.com's history that we want to highlight in case you missed them: 

How Do I Get My Book In Bookstores?

Self Publishing Your Book: Where's the Money?

Assuming the Risk For Your Own Book

What Happens To Your Book After It's Published?

Eating Our Own Dog Food

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Tasha Harrison: "I Was Sick of Rejection"

by Laura Dawson
Bowker | Fri Aug 30, 2013

The Guardian profiles self-published author Tasha Harrison in their Self-Publishing Showcase series:

I'm in control – well, more than I was, at any rate. My books are selling and people are contacting me to say how much they've enjoyed reading them. I've waited a long time to have that satisfaction! I have instant access to my sales figures, can change my cover image, price and content whenever I want and work to my own deadlines. I'm not worrying too much about what genre I fall under, either. Overall, self-publishing has been liberating.

She offers thoughts on pricing, marketing, building an audience, as well as a brief excerpt of her book Pearls. 

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10 Keys to Successful Publishing

by Penny Sansevier...
Bowker | Wed Jul 24, 2013

I’ve written a lot of pieces on publishing success. I’ve talked about picking the right publisher, finding an editor, etc. All helpful, for sure, but this time I wanted to dig a bit deeper.

I’ve been coaching authors for years on publishing, marketing, and idea creation. You name it, I’ve probably addressed it in a coaching session. The topics I’m addressing in this piece are issues that seem to come up again and again when I’m working with authors and while this might sound more like a goal-setting or Ra-Ra Tony Robbins piece, believe me when I say that often the difference between a successful author and someone who just dawdles on the fringes of success lies in these tips - so here we go:

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Barriers to Entry Continue to Drop

by Laura Dawson
Bowker | Tue Jun 11, 2013

 

Suw Charman-Anderson writes in Forbes about how tools and processes in self-publishing are becoming cheaper and easier:

[T]here is a growing repository of advice about the fine detail of self-publishing, from guides to how to format your Word document for Smashwords to how to pick a print-on-demand supplier to marketing and promotional strategies. True, there’s a lot of hot air written about self-publishing, especially the marketing and promotion end, but there’s also a lot of incredibly useful advice out there too.

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Zen of Technology: Relearn

by Nick Ruffilo
Bowker | Mon Jun 10, 2013

We all have a few tools that we use on a daily basis - such as our cellphones, a specific document (or code) editor, or even our e-mail client that we have used long enough to consider ourselves masters.

The truth is, there is probably 25-50% of that tool that you have never explored. Today, take the time to stop and explore the advanced settings tab, or a menu button you rarely press. You may just find something that can make your life much easier.

As a reminder that things aren't always what they seem, enjoy this short video.

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The Zen of Technology

by Nick Ruffilo
Bowker | Tue Jun 4, 2013

Nick Ruffilo is CTO of Aerbook, a cloud-publishing venture that specializes in creation, conversion, marketing and sales of digital books. At his personal website, he offers what he calls "The Zen of Technology", a portion of which we're occasionally running at SelfPublishedAuthor.com.

Today's Zen of Technology is... Focus.

Focus is they key to getting things done. Like the rays of sun lighting up a piece of paper on a beach in the middle of the summer - focus helps to define purpose. Left for the entire day, the paper will simply have been illuminated and will remain warm. But, with the right focus, the sun can turn that piece of paper into a blazing fire in a matter of seconds.  Sometimes you can achieve the type of focus you need on your own, and sometimes - like in the case of the sun - you need the help of the right tool.

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Guy Kawasaki: It's Not Self-Publishing, It's Artisanal Publishing

by Laura Dawson
Bowker | Mon Jun 3, 2013

At BEA's uPublishU mini-conference this year, Guy Kawasaki gave the keynote presentation. He has just brought out APE, which is a guide to self-publishing; APE stands for Author, Publisher, Entrepreneur. 

He gave some really great, practical advice - such as making sure the reason you're publishing is to enrich the lives of other people. He emphasized that artisanal publishing is about control - control of the content, the process of publishing, and the results. Writing, on the other hand, is more akin to (in his words) "vomiting" until there's nothing left. (YMMV.)

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Fanfic Authors, Rejoice!

by Laura Dawson
Bowker | Wed May 22, 2013

Amazon announced this morning that they have licensed fanfic rights from the Gossip Girl, Pretty Little Liars, and Vampire Diaries franchises.

From the press release: 

Through these licenses, Kindle Worlds will allow any writer to publish authorized stories inspired by these popular Worlds and make them available for readers to purchase in the Kindle Store.

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Self-Publishing Stigma: Because revolutions take time

Penny C. Sansevieri's picture
by Penny C. Sansevieri
Bowker | Tue May 21, 2013

Sometimes great ideas and trends start with a wave so big, they are hard to ignore. For others they begin almost unnoticed and go by for years, virtually undetected until suddenly they are not only part of our lives, but part of our culture. Back in 1999 I saw an article, a tiny piece in the New York Times about a company called FatBrain out of Campbell, California. The article talked about their digital publishing, at the time referred to as Print-on-Demand, printing books as they are needed. I was just noodling with the idea of starting my own company back then, an idea which didn’t fully come into being until 2000. But the article intrigued me. If books could be printed one at a time, instead of in lots of several thousand, what could this do for publishing?

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Even Well-Known Authors Choose to Self-Publish

by Laura Dawson
Bowker | Wed Apr 17, 2013

The New York Times has a piece on David Mamet's decision to self-publish.

“Basically I am doing this because I am a curmudgeon,” Mr. Mamet said in a telephone interview, “and because publishing is like Hollywood — nobody ever does the marketing they promise.”

Mamet is publishing through his literary agency, ICM. But other literary agencies are launching (or have launched) similar services for their authors — many of whom publish their backlist titles this way.  These "hybrid" authors assume more of the risk of publishing, but consequently also reap higher royalties.

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