Top 10 Sites for Indie Authors

Updated 5/31/21

Indie authors need all the help they can get. Self-publishing is taxing, time-consuming, and there is a steep learning curve. Fortunately, there are lots of people who are willing to help.

If you are considering self-publishing, you will need an arsenal of tools, tips, and strategies, all of which you can find in the following sites.

Need a free guide on how to find traditional publishers that don't require an agent? Authors Publish has one. Need daily updates on the publishing industry? Look no further than Publishers Weekly. Between these 10 sites you will be well-equipped to take the Indie world by storm.


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1. ThePassiveVoice.com. Passive Guy (aka David P. Vandagriff) is a lawyer who began blogging anonymously "so his snarky remarks would not show up when opposing counsel performed a Google search." Personally, I find his remarks to be anything but snarky. Although his disclaimer warns readers not to take his comments as legal advice ("get a lawyer") he has some truly valuable insights into contracts as well as self-publishing. (Look in Categories on the right side bar for a full list of topics,) Passive Guy's expertise makes this a popular site. It gets 2.5 million pageviews per year.


2. Publishers Weekly is an institution in the publishing industry. Founded in 1872, it is read by nearly every librarian, publisher, agent, and bookseller in the country. Publishers Weekly articles cover publishing, bookselling, marketing, merchandising, trade news, along with author interviews, people in publishing, and bestsellers.

Keeping up with the times, Publishers Weekly offers several free newsletters, one of which, the Book Life Report, is aimed specifically at self-publishers. In addition to providing the latest news about the ebook publishing industry, self-published authors can apply to have their book reviewed. Advertising space is also available.

3. TheBookDesigner.com  was founded by Joel Friedlander, the reigning "guru" of self-publishing. As a book designer and author, his site provides insights, tips and practical information for the self-published author, as well as offering breaking news about the industry at large. For resources, you cannot do better than this site. From free guides, to book templates, to media kits for your launch and print-on-demand book sizes, this site has everything.

In addition to providing extensive resources, Friedlander compiles a monthly blog carnival, The Carnival of the Indies, in which he gathers posts from all over the web. If you write about self-publishing, you can submit your blog posts to the blog carnival.

4. Jane Friedman.com. Jane Friedman has more than 20 years of experience in the book and magazine publishing industry. She has been a featured speaker in such notable venues at BookExpo America, Frankfurt Book Fair, and Digital Book World. Her site attracts over 150,000 unique visitors per month.

In addition to offering author services such as critiques of proposals, synopses, and query letters, Friedman publishes a free newsletter, Electric Speed, in which she recommends the best digital media tools and resources for authors. (About 2 messages per month.) Her Writing Advice archive provides invaluable tools for every type of writing and publication format imaginable.

5. Build Book Buzz Sandra Beckwith is an author who started her career in public relations after getting a journalism/public relations degree. On her website she provides a helpful series of articles that can be downloaded as PDF files, including: Author book signing tips, How to set up Google and Twitter alerts, How to write a tip sheet, 6 surefire ways to promote your novel, 5 tips for writing a book announcement news release that will get used by the press, and more.

6.  Blog.Smashwords.com. Mark Coker founded Smashwords in 2008 to change the way authors self-publish. By 2014 Smashwords had become the leading publisher of Indie books with a catalog of 336,000 books by over 100,000 authors.

The Smashwords blog was one of the first blogs dedicated exclusively to news and best practices of self-published digital authors. On this blog you will find the latest developments on ebook publication, digital requirements, breaking news, as well as the highly informative surveys Smashwords conducts each year.

7. DIYAuthor.com is a site that “educates and empowers writers — from the curious to the committed — with tools and resources to successfully develop, publish, and market their work with confidence.”

DIYAuthor boasts numerous resources: writing tips, editing, how to design your book (cover and layout), self-publishing platforms, how to promote and market your book, and managing your life as an author. This site is very user friendly and beautifully laid out. You won't have any problems finding the articles you need.

8. IndiesUnlimited.com was named as one of the top six blogs for authors by Publishers Weekly, and that's quite an endorsement. The link will take you directly to the blog, which like all blogs is arranged from most to least recent. But if you click on the Resources tab in the upper left corner, you'll find a long list of useful articles. This site also provides great links for finding reviewers for your book.

9. Author Marketing Experts, Inc. Penny Sansevieri started Author Marketing Experts because, like so many of us, she had written a book and had no idea how to promote it. However, unlike most of us, Penny had a background in marketing, which she put to good use. Her articles are practical, concise, and highly informative. Once you are in the site, look for Categories on the right side bar. These are nicely arranged into marketing, publishing, self-publishing, social media, and writing. You can also sign up for their free newsletter, which I suggest you do.

10. TheCreativePenn.com. Joanna Penn's blog is a wonderful resource for both aspiring and experienced writers. She delivers numerous marketing and self-publishing tools and updates via videos, tutorials, podcasts and, of course, blog posts. The site has over 1000 articles and over 100 hours of audio information, as well as downloads. Overwhelming? Yes, indeed. That's why there is a "Start Here" tab. Start there.

And one more...

Authors Publish Magazine provides legitimate publishing opportunities, plus tips on how gain readers, win over editors, and build a long-term writing career. Completely free in their email magazine.

The Power of Preorders

Mark Coker is the founder and CEO of Smashwords, and he knows his business. Last November he wrote an article for Publisher's Weekly explaining in detail how pre-orders can help increase sales for self-published authors.

If you are self-publishing, pre-orders are a must. Not only do they help generate buzz about your book, they serve as a vital promotional tool. There is little point lining up advance reviews if readers who are fired up about your book can't place an order. With pre-orders, readers can respond to an immediate call to action, and you don't have to wait to see if your marketing campaign is working.

All of the major self-publishing platforms currently offer pre-orders as part of their packages. But before you schedule pre-orders, you need to have all your ducks lined up in a row. Have you assembled a list of reviewers? Is your book cover finished? Do you have promotional materials (back cover copy) ready? Are your friends, colleagues, family members alerted? (Don't be afraid to get on the phone.)

There is no substitute for careful planning.
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How Indie Authors Can Use Preorders to Crack the Bestseller Lists

BY MARK COKER

Imagine you could press a magic button that would make your next book launch more successful. The magic button is the e-book preorder, which gives indie authors a sales and marketing advantage.

Over the last 12 months, nearly two-thirds of the top 200 bestsellers distributed by Smashwords originated as pre-orders. This statistic is all the more impressive when you consider that only one in eight books published at Smashwords during this period was listed as a preorder.

A preorder is an advance listing of your e-book at major retailers that allows your reader to reserve a copy of your book up to 12 months before the release date. When the book is officially released, the customer’s credit card is charged and the book appears in her device’s library.

Although preorders are standard practice for traditional publishers, most self-published authors don’t yet know how to take advantage of them. Let’s fix that problem right now.

Five Big Benefits of E-book Preorders

1. More effective advance marketing of your book: Most authors use Facebook and other social media to communicate with readers about works in progress. By providing a preorder link every time you share news about your upcoming releases, you can capture readers’ orders when you have their greatest interest and attention.

2. Preorders signal commitment: When you establish a pre-order, you’re making a commitment to deliver a book to your readers. This signal of commitment is especially valuable if you write series. A preorder on a series makes the entire series more desirable to readers because it shows that you’re continuing to support the series.

3. Simultaneous release at multiple retailers: A preorder gives all retailers time to process your book in advance of the sale date so that they’re ready to release your book on the same day. Readers appreciate simultaneous releases.

4. Preorders help your superfans review first: Your biggest fans are more likely to reserve a preorder. This means that when your book goes on sale, readers who already love your work will be the first to receive the book and the first to leave reviews. These positive reviews will drive the next wave of purchases after release.

5. Fast track to bestseller lists: At iBooks and Kobo, all orders you accumulate leading up to your release date are credited toward your first day’s sales rank. This can cause your book to spike higher in the bestseller lists on release day, which increases the visibility and desirability of your title, leading to more sales. Amazon does not credit your accumulated orders toward your first day’s sale rank, which means that preorders will actually cannibalize your first day’s sales rank. For this reason, some indie authors forgo the preorder at Amazon and simply upload on release day so they can concentrate more sales on day one. However, an Amazon preorder may still make sense for you given the other benefits stated above.

As with all tools, those who know how to wield the tool will do the best with it.

Five Preorder Best Practices

1. List the preorder as early as possible: Look at your publishing calendar for the next 12 months, and get everything up on preorder now. At Smashwords, you can upload your preorder up to 12 months in advance, and you can adjust the date later if needed.

2. You can list the preorder before the book is finished: In June, Smashwords announced assetless preorders, also known as “metadata-only” preorders. With an assetless preorder, we can establish your preorder at iBooks, Barnes & Noble, and Kobo before the book is finished. All you need is the basic metadata: the title, the description, the price, and the categorization. Some authors even choose to establish preorders without cover designs so they can turn the cover reveal into a separate preorder marketing event days or weeks later.

3. Promote direct hyperlinks: Once your book is up for preorder, share direct hyperlinks to your preorder listing at each retailer. This puts your readers one click away from reserving your book at their favorite retailers.

4. Leverage your other books to promote your preorder:

After your preorder is listed at the retailers, update the back matter of your other e-books to promote the preorder. Consider running price promotions on your other e-books, including free promotions, so you can use the increased readership to drive more readers to the preorder.

5. Plan an aggressive multiweek marketing campaign:

When you do a preorder, spread your book launch activities throughout the duration of the preorder period so that you’re building buzz in support of your book release every week.

YA Debut Gets Six-Figure Deal: How did Scott Bergstrom Do It?

Scott Bergstrom made publishing news last November when his debut novel, The Cruelty, got a six-figure advance with attached movie rights.

Scott originally self-published his book, but not in the usual fashion. As an advertising executive, Scott knew that marketing was everything. He formed a LLC, NuCodex Publishing, which allowed him to display his book at the Frankfurt Book Fair. It generated a huge amount of interest, grabbing the attention of an agent - and Hollywood.

What is interesting about Scott's self-publishing story is that he planned on making a bestseller from the start. He did not spend time querying agents (which may have taken years). Instead he built success with careful planning.

First he chose to write a thriller (great for film adaptations), with a teenage main character (YA is very popular), using tried-and-true tropes from previously successful books/movies.

Then he drew on his own experience as a marketer to catapult his book into the limelight. And he began his plan when he had only written a few pages.

The moral to this story - think ahead.

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YA Debut Gets Six-Figure Deal, Sold to 16 Territories and Jerry Bruckheimer

By Sue Corbett, Nov 24, 2015 Publishers Weekly


A six-figure deal for North American rights to The Cruelty is the latest in a string of good things that have happened to Scott Bergstrom’s debut novel in just the past month. The manuscript, self-published a year ago, caught fire in October at the Frankfurt Book Fair with sales, so far, into 16 territories. “Every morning I wake up to more exciting e-mails,” said his agent, Tracey Adams of Adams Literary.

The buzz that those foreign sales generated ignited interest from Hollywood. In late October, Paramount secured the film rights, with Jerry Bruckheimer attached. (Yes, that Jerry Bruckheimer – Pirates of the Caribbean, Top Gun, Beverly Hills Cop.)

And, now, Bergstrom has a U.S. publisher for his thriller, which Adams describes as a “YA Girl with the Dragon Tattoo meets The Bourne Identity, with a dash of Homeland.” (Adams said she got one offer for the book based on nothing more than that description.) Jean Feiwel of Macmillan’s Feiwel and Friends won the book, plus a sequel, in a six-house auction. Publication is scheduled for winter 2017.

Read the rest of this fascinating article at Publishers Weekly. 

Romance Novel Finally Breaks The Post’s ‘No Self-Published Books’ Rule

The Washington Post, like many other highly influential book platforms, has always adopted a hands-off policy regarding self-published books. That has now changed with Serving Pleasure, an erotic romance which won a place on The Post's "best of" list for romance.

Does this mean self-published books have finally earned respectability? Probably not. The Washington Post is owned by Amazon, which - it won't shock you to know - published Serving Pleasure.

It would not be at all unreasonable to assume that perhaps a little suggestion was whispered in the reviewer's ear.

(The lady doth protest too much, methinks. Read on.)

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Romance finally breaks The Post’s ‘No Self-Published Books’ rule

By Ron Charles, Washington Post, November 24

It was bound to happen sooner or later: For the first time ever, a self-published book appears on one of The Washington Post’s best-of-the-year lists.

The distinction — bestowed on Alisha Rai’s erotic novel “Serving Pleasure” — marks a small but telling milestone. Long scorned as the “vanity press,” self-publishing now draws hundreds-of-thousands of hopeful authors. The vast majority of the books sell very few copies, but each year produces another rockstar — a EL James or a Hugh Howey — whose stratospheric success fuels more dreams and brings more legitimacy to the platform.

“Serving Pleasure” appears on The Post’s list of the year’s best romance fiction, one of several genre lists in Book World’s Best Books of 2015 package. Rai, who works as a lawyer by day, released “Serving Pleasure” through CreateSpace, Amazon’s independent publishing platform. (Amazon founder and chief executive Jeffrey P. Bezos owns The Washington Post.)

Our romance reviewer, Sarah MacLean, didn’t think she was doing anything particularly radical by including a self-published book.

Read the rest of this article HERE.

Self-Publishing Success: The Little Rabbit That Could

Carl-Johan Forssen Ehrlin, the most famous author you have never heard of, has been making the news recently. His children's book, The Rabbit Who Wants To Fall Asleep, has been touted as an overnight success after it hit #1 on Amazon's bestseller list with seemingly no promotion.

How did Ehrlin's self-published Rabbit manage to garner the top position on Amazon? There was some speculation that he may have gamed the system by having everyone he knew purchase copies simultaneously (this has been done before) - but 20,000 copies? 

The mystery of how Ehrlin won such spectacular success - including a 7-figure advance from Random House - is finally revealed. Publisher's Weekly has conducted an interview with Ehrlin in which the author revealed how his book became a bestseller - step by step.

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A Self-Published Sleeper: Author of 'The Rabbit Who Wants to Fall Asleep' Speaks

By Claire Kirch | Oct 07, 2015, Publisher's Weekly

"Initially, Ehrlin focused on selling Rabbit at seminars he conducted before various groups and the classes he taught at Jonkoping University. The word-of-mouth praise that effort drove, he said, resulted in people talking about the book to the press. This, he said, propelled sales of the book in Sweden. After Rabbit became a bestseller in Sweden, Ehrlin decided to solicit “friends and their friends” to assist him in translating the book into approximately half a dozen languages so that it could reach a wider audience.

After the various translated editions were self-published in 2014, through Amazon’s CreateSpace imprint, the U.K. edition, Ehrlin said, received “the most attention.” This, he assumes, is attributed to the the fact that he gave away e-book editions of the title via Facebook.

"I did some ads there saying the book existed and [people] could try it for free and see if they liked it or not."

Ehrlin thinks that the people who downloaded the free e-books must have recommended the title to their friends, and those friends then sought out the print edition. “There was a correlation there” between the growing number of free downloads and sales of the print book," he noted. “Then the snowball started rolling, I think. There was a lot of word of mouth.”

Read the rest of this article HERE.

11 Awards for Self-Published Books

Updated 2/3/22

Among the dozens of awards for self-published books, there aren't many that are worth winning. The majority of self-published book awards don't confer any benefit to the author, other than a seal that winners often must pay for. And many of these contests are run by media groups that use them as a way to drum up business.

That being said, there are a few contests that are not only prestigious, but offer considerable prizes to the winners, either in terms of cash or publicity. I have listed 11 of the most worthwhile below.

With two exceptions all of these contests charge a fee, although in most cases the fees are reasonable (under $100).

While cash awards are always appreciated, as is the publicity generated by awards ceremonies, these benefits are fleeting. Before you enter any contest, make sure you have a long-term plan in place - just in case you win. How will you make good use of your award? Will you order gold seals to affix to your book cover (if it is in print)? Do you have a press release in place to announce your prize to local media? How about researching opportunities for talks given by an "award-winning author"? Even if you don't think you stand a chance of getting an award, when it comes to marketing and promotion, it is always a good idea to plan ahead.

Deadlines for these awards vary from year to year, so make sure to check the website, and plan in advance.
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Axiom Awards. Authors and publishers throughout North America and overseas publishers who publish English-language business books and that are intended for the American market may enter. Print-On-Demand and other independent authors are welcome to enter their books themselves. Genre: Business books. Entry fee: $95 per title, per category. (Early bird fee is $85.)

The Benjamin Franklin Awards are administered by the Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA) with help from over 150 book publishing professionals including librarians, bookstore owners, reviewers, designers, publicity managers, and editors. The Benjamin Franklin Awards are unique in that all entrants receive direct feedback on their entries. The actual judging forms are returned to all participating publishers. Indie publishers and self-published authors are invited to enter the next competition for books with a copyright date of the competition year. Genre: Any. Prize: Announcement to major trade journals (including Publishers Weekly and Book Business), to select public libraries, through all IBPA social media channels, including Facebook, Twitter, the IBPA Blog. Entry fee: IBPA member – $95 per title, per category. Non-IBPA member – $225 for first title, which includes one year’s membership in IBPA; $95 per title, per category for second and subsequent entries.

The Book Designer: Monthly e-Book Cover Design Awards. Aside from the fact that there is no fee for this contest, an additional reason to enter is that Joel Friedlander's site gets a substantial amount of traffic. Genre: Any Indie book cover. Entry fee: None. Deadline: Revolving.

Eric Hoffer Award. The Eric Hoffer Book Award is one of the largest international book awards for small, academic, and independent presses. Anyone (including the author) can submit one or more books for the Eric Hoffer Award. Printed, e-books, and chapbooks are accepted. Genre: Any. Prize: $2,000 grand prize and various category honors and press type distinctions, as well as the winners of the Montaigne Medal, da Vinci Eye, and First Horizon Award. The book awards are covered independently by the US Review of Books. Entry fee: $55 (chapbooks $40).

IACP Cookbook Awards The IACP Cookbook Awards honor the authors, publishers, and other contributors behind the best cookbooks published each year. Awards are given in 16 categories, including the with one cookbook selected as the Cookbook of the Year. Three optional awards, the Jane Grigson, Design, and Judge’s Choice Awards, may be presented should qualified entrants emerge. Entry fees vary.

Independent Publisher Book Awards. All independent publishers are eligible, ranging from self-published authors to major university presses. About 2,400 publishers participate in the Awards each year, from every U.S. state, Canada, and English-speaking countries overseas around the world. The 2015 IPPY Awards attracted 5,700 total entries; winners came from 45 U.S. states plus the District of Columbia, six Canadian provinces, and ten countries overseas. Genre: Any. Prize: IPPY Award entrants have four ways to win: the National, Regional, E-Book and Outstanding Books of the Year (which all entrants are considered for with no extra fee). Award winners are headlined on Independent Publisher, and are featured prominently in articles in their monthly newsletter, which goes out to over 15,000 subscribers worldwide, many of whom are agents, buyers, and librarians. Entry fee: $75.00 per category. 

The Next Generation Indie Book Awards. Not-for-Profit book awards program for indie authors and independent publishers. In its ninth year of operation, the Next Generation Indie Book Awards was established to recognize and honor the most exceptional independently published books in over 70 different categories, for the year, and is presented by Independent Book Publishing Professionals Group (www.IBPPG.com) in cooperation with Marilyn Allen of Allen O'Shea Literary Agency. Open to all indie publishers including independent publishers (small, medium or otherwise), university presses, self-published authors, e-book authors, seasoned authors and even first time authors based in the U.S., Canada or internationally who have a book written in English. Genre: Any. Prizes:

• $1,500 Cash Prize and trophy awarded to the best Fiction Book
• $1,500 Cash Prize and trophy awarded to the best Non-Fiction Book
• $750 Cash Prize and trophy awarded to the second best Fiction Book
• $750 Cash Prize and trophy awarded to the second best Non-Fiction Book
• $500 Cash Prize and trophy awarded to the third best Fiction Book
• $500 Cash Prize and trophy awarded to the third best Non-Fiction Book
• $100 Cash Prize and a Gold Medal awarded to the winner of each of the 70 categories
• Finalist Medals will be awarded to up to five finalists in each of the 70 categories

Entry fee:  Early Bird Special Entry Fee is $75 and includes the entry of one title in two categories. Price to enter two categories increases by $50 after early bird deadline. 

Shelf Unbound. Shelf Unbound book review magazine reaches more than 125,000 readers in the U.S. and in 65 other countries around the globe. Genre: Any. Prize: The author of the book named as the Best Independently Published book will receive $500, a year's worth of full-page ads in Shelf Unbound, and editorial coverage in Shelf Unbound. Five finalists will receive editorial coverage in Shelf Unbound. More than 100 books deemed by the editors as "notable" entries in the competition will also be featured. Entry fee: $50 per title.

Spark Award. Sponsored by the Society for Children's Book Writers and Illustrators. Genre: Children's book. Prize: The winner and honor recipients will receive: a Spark seal to display on their book;  commemorative plaque; the opportunity to have their book featured and autographed at an SCBWI conference of their choosing during the year the award is won, featured in the SCBWI online bookstore and publicized through SCBWI social networking sites. The winners will also get the opportunity to attend any conference of their choice tuition free (other than for extras such as critiques and intensives). Entry fee: No fee.

Black Caucus of the American Library Association Self-Published E-Book Literary Award. Each year, BCALA honors the best self-published eBooks by an African-American author in the United States in the genres of Fiction and Poetry. These awards acknowledge outstanding achievement in the presentation of the cultural, historical, and sociopolitical aspects of the Black Diaspora. Restrictions: Open to African-Americans." Prize: $2,500. Deadline: February 28, 2022. Entry fee: No fee.

Writer’s Digest holds annual Self-Published e-Book Awards–a competition that spotlights today’s self-published works and honors self-published authors. Prizes: One Grand Prize winner will receive:

• $5,000 in cash
• A feature article about you and your book for the May/June 2016 issue of Writer’s Digest
• Winner’s name on the cover of Writer’s Digest magazine (subscriber issues)
• A paid trip to the ever-popular Writer’s Digest Conference!
• 30-minute platform & marketing consultation with Chuck Sambuchino, author of Create Your Writer Platform
• $200 worth of Writer’s Digest books
• One year Subscription (new or renewal) to Writer’s Digest magazine

One First Prize winner in each category will receive:

• $1,000 in cash
• Promotion in the May/June 2016 issue of Writer’s Digest
• $100 worth of Writer’s Digest books
• One year Subscription (new or renewal) to Writer’s Digest magazine

Entry fee: First entry—$110. Each additional entry—$85.

What Is the Best Price for Your Novel?

Updated 2/2/22

If you are self-publishing, setting a price for your novel can be daunting.

Do you set the price as low as possible in order to garner the most readers, or do you set a higher price in hopes that you will make some money for your labors? And if you do set a higher price in hopes of gaining an income, what price is reasonable?

In this highly informative Huffington Post article, "Setting the Price for Your Novel -- What You Need to Know," Kristen Houghton lays out exactly how to price your novel.

She also talks about discounts, how retail prices are calculated and a lot of other factors that can affect the price of a book. As an all-round introduction to the topic, this article can't be beat.

If you want to know which price gets the best performance in terms of maximizing readers and sales (ebooks only), Written Word Media has done a great analysis.

According to Written Word, if your only goal is to maximize the number of readers you acquire:

• $0.99 is the most effective price point.
• $1.99 is not far behind.

If your only goal is to maximize revenue on the day of a promotion:

• Price your book at $3.99.

You will acquire far fewer readers, but generate the most revenue. And if you want to achieve both goals

• but want to acquire new readers more than maximize revenue, go for $1.99.
• but want to maximize revenue more than you want to acquire new readers, price your book at $2.99 - $4.99.

There is no simple formula for how to price your book in both print and electronic form, but according to Fred Johnson, $1.99 is the ideal starting price for novellas, and $2.99 is the ideal starting point for novels.

See Fred Johnson's : Your Five-Minute Guide to Pricing Your Self-Published Book
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Setting the Price for Your Novel -- What You Need to Know

By Kristen Houghton

Think you know all about publishing your book? The writing, the edits, etc., sure. But there's more. Do you know how to price your novel so it will sell well? This isn't about publicity, this is about the actual book price seen by your readers. There's a whole new world out there for authors and we need to be on top of all the "my book" related parts of publishing. Careful pricing is one of the keys to success.

One of the most important aspects with which an author must deal is the aspect of dollars and cents; in other words the selling price of your book and the profit you will make. If you are traditionally published, no worries; your publisher will determine the retail price of your print novel as well as your ebook version. Publishers will tell you the price point of your book and you're pretty much set.

However if you're going the route of a boutique publishing house of which you are a partner, or you are self-publishing, you need to know the publishing basics. The number one basic is how to do retail pricing. It isn't complicated; it is simple math. The retail price is achieved through an appraisal of your book's target audience and factors in the competitive price at which books in the same genre are selling. A simple example is if you're a romance writer and a competitor's print book of a similar length and size is priced at $9.95. You can feel secure in pricing your own at the same price.

The second basic is knowing how to actually arrive at the retail price. That figure should be at least 2.5 times the single-copy printing cost. This allows for a reasonable margin that will cover book-related costs and your profits after trade discounts are factored in. The retail price also helps establish the net sales payment amount. That's the amount you, the author, make from each sale. To make a nice profit per sale, and staying competitive, you price your book at $12.95.

But, there are some other things to consider when you set the price for your book. Remember the word discounts? Here's how it relates to the retail price.

Find out more about how to price your book HERE.

Authors Guild Raises Doubts About Amazon's New Pay-Per-Page Policy

With the recent announcement that it will begin paying Kindle Unlimited authors by pages read, rather than borrows, Amazon has set off a spate of commentary, from Fortune to a satirical jab by the Telegraph.

According to the Guardian, self-published authors may see a drop in KU revenue to as little as $.006 per page read, prompting some speculation as to whether Amazon intended to cut back on short works by this maneuver.

Nobody has ever paid authors by the number of pages read. Authors have been paid by pages written, especially when their works are serialized, and they have been paid by the word. But the idea of paying an author for the number of pages a reader actually reads is unprecedented.

There is no comparison to be made in the history of authorship. (Not even pricing books by how much they weigh, or by how large they are.)

The confusion Amazon has generated is apparent in the Authors Guild statement below. In it, the Guild raises a number of questions, largely having to do with logistics (What counts as a page read?), and implications for authors (Will they have to generate cliff hangers? and the eternal, Will quality suffer?)

None of these critiques of a system in which reader attention span determines the economic success of an author addresses the underlying problem with this scheme.

It monitors readers in ways that are highly intrusive.

How much I read of a book, or which pages I read of a book, is none of Amazon's business. Not only should Amazon keep its nose out of my reading habits, it should not draw any conclusions from them. I often read nonfiction books piecemeal. Sometimes, I read works of fiction in snippets. (Short stories, poetry collections.) Should a writer get paid less if he or she wrote only one short story or poem that touched my heart? What if that poem were "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening"? If I didn't read any other poem in that collection, would it mean Robert Frost was less beloved in my eyes? Would it make him less well known to the reading public than someone who had written a book of dirty limericks (of which I guarantee every single page would be turned)?

You betcha. And, as a consequence of paying authors via this bizarre system (especially if it catches on) careers will be hampered, talent will go unrewarded, and readers will be served continual crowd-sourced pap - all under the banner of "books readers want to read."

Once again, publishers (in this case Amazon) not only determine what authors get paid, but what readers should like. But unlike industry manipulation of bestseller lists, fixed reviews, and well-placed hype, this is an invasion of privacy with no benefit to either readers or authors.
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From the Authors Guild:

Starting July 1, Amazon will pay royalties to its indie authors based on the number of pages users actually read, rather than the number of times the book is “borrowed.” In its announcement, Amazon touted its unilateral amendment to its terms for self-published e-books enrolled in its Kindle Unlimited (KU) and Kindle Owners’ Lending Library (KOLL) e-lending services. The change, Amazon said, is a response to authors’ complaints about the unfairness of its current single rate for all books, regardless of length. Writers of longer works will stand to benefit, provided those books are read in full, but it could slash the earnings of entire classes of authors, such as poets and children’s book writers, whose works tend to have fewer pages. The new regime leaves intact Amazon’s unfortunate practice of paying indie authors out of an opaque royalty pool, which pits self-published authors against one another in a zero-sum scramble for readers. With a finite amount of money to go around each month, one author’s gain is another’s loss.

The royalty adjustment comes almost a year after Amazon launched Kindle Unlimited, an e-book subscription service where readers pay $9.99 a month for access to hundreds of thousands of titles, most of which are self-published by members of Amazon’s KDP Select program. KDP Select authors, who are automatically enrolled in both KU and KOLL, agree to make their e-books available exclusively through Kindle platforms, preventing these indie authors from exploring other revenue streams as long as they are enrolled in Select. Authors may, however, drop out of KDP Select by contacting Amazon with the ASIN of the book they would like to remove, according to the announcement.

Under its outgoing royalty structure, Amazon pays a fee for each book “borrowed,” provided at least 10% of the book is read. The fee is the same for short story–length books as it is for a 500-page novel. Some writers quickly learned how to game the system and flooded Kindle Unlimited with excerpts and shorter works, even publishing books in chapters, since once a reader crosses the 10% “borrow” threshold the author earns the same no matter how long or complex the book is. While there are any number of other possible solutions to the problem, Amazon’s solution is to pay per page read. This represents an entirely new way of thinking about compensation for authors.

Exactly how this will impact books in the long run is hard to know, but it undoubtedly will affect KDP Select authors’ writing and the ability of some of these authors to make a living. For now, many questions remain to be answered. Will authors enrolled in the program feel compelled to write longer books? Will they feel the need to make sure every page has a compelling detail or cliffhanger? Will there be more padding (to make a book longer) or less (so every page is read)? If books do get padded, will readers start reading differently and skipping more? What happens to the long works of nonfiction that might take years to write and add greatly to our society’s knowledge base, but are rarely read in full by the lay reader? Will skimmed pages count? How long does a reader have to spend on a page for it to count as “read”? What data will Amazon share with authors and publishers? Will the data it gathers (most likely kept close) give it even greater dominance in indie publishing? Will it share any of its reading statistics with writers to help them have more pages read? Will they eventually foist this payment method on publishers, starting with the smaller ones who have little to no negotiating power?

At first glance, it appear that tying royalties to pages read will only incentivize authors to produce books that compel readers to keep reading. It’s not so clear whether that will result in better books. What is clear is that Amazon’s contracts with its indie authors are non-negotiable terms of use that Amazon can change at any time and which become binding on its authors within 30 days of their posting. Since its Kindle Select terms require exclusivity, this unilateral change in the royalty structure has the potential to disrupt the livelihoods of KDP Select authors with little to no warning. Even with Amazon’s monthly tinkering with the royalty pool, under its per-borrow scheme authors in recent months could at least count on a rate of somewhere between $1.33 and $1.40 per borrow. Writers of children’s books, particularly books for young children, will necessarily see that rate go down significantly.

Announced just weeks before it takes effect, the change is a reminder of Amazon’s power not only vis-à-vis traditional publishers and authors, but also among those self-published authors who have often been the e-tailer’s most vocal apologists. It’s never been more clear that indie authors who publish with KDP Select are dependent on Amazon’s business decisions, including how much money to distribute via the monthly royalty pool.

This is also a sad reminder that traditional publishers—whose unsavory contract terms we’re focusing on as part of our Fair Contract Initiative—aren’t the only ones who offer writers take-it-or-leave-it publishing contracts.

In additional Amazon news, the retailer has come to terms with Penguin Random House, the last of the Big Five publishers to negotiate e-book terms with Amazon after the expiration of the consent decree resulting from the U.S. v. Apple e-book pricing litigation. Neither side disclosed the nature of those terms or what pricing model (wholesale or agency) will govern under the terms of the new agreement.

Vook Becomes Self-Publishing Platform

Update: Vook, re-launched as Pronoun,  was purchased by MacMillan in 2016. 18 months later, it shuttered the platform.

Amazon may be in for some competition from Vook.

Vook (founded in 2009) publishes digital books that combine text, video, links to the internet and social media. Vook’s publishing platform is used by the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Fast Company, and Thought Catalog. It has partnered with NBC Universal and Perseus Books, Charles River Editors and ABC News to produce ebooks that are distributed through Amazon, iBooks, Barnes & Noble, Google, Kobo, and Blio.

With its contacts in major media, and its expansion into worldwide distribution, Vook may offer a serious challenge to Amazon, Smashwords, and Book Baby. It is hoping to attract Indie authors by offering 100% royalties, and a free self-publishing platform.
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Vook Pivots, Becomes Self-Pub Platform Pronoun

By Calvin Reid, May 19, 2015: Publisher's Weekly


After a year of acquisitions that included the online literary boutique Byliner and the e-book data analysis engine Booklr, e-book creator Vook has relaunched itself as Pronoun. The new company is a soup-to-nuts self-publishing platform comprising the combined technological tools of Byliner, Booklr and Vook. Declaring itself “a new model for authors,” Pronoun offers its services free of charge and gives authors a 100% royalty rate.

“Pronoun is committed to changing the publishing model by making it open, and by making it free,” said Josh Brody, Pronoun CEO. Brody said the new platform is the culmination of “a year of acquisitions and building a new team,” that will offer “a new kind of platform that empowers authors.”

Vook launched in 2009 as an e-book and interactive content production company. Vook has distributed over 6,000 titles via all the major e-book retailers. Booklr, a data analysis company, tracks millions of e-book sales around the world for individual authprs and major houses. And Byliner, an online literary imprint and e-book store, published original and backlist titles by bestselling authors such as Nick Horney and Jodi Poult.

Pronoun chief product officer Ben Zhuk said: “Our mission at Pronoun is to put authors first by building free digital tools that help them find and reach their audience for the lifetime of their books, not just at launch.”

Read More ...

Indie Authors Get 7-Figure Deal for Self-Published Series

I am always interested in self-publishing success stories, because "How did they do it?" is the first question every Indie author asks.

I'd love to be able to answer that question, but each case is different. Sometimes, authors "get lucky" and their first book takes off. In most cases, however, it's a long hard climb.

Jasinda Wilder is a case in point. Before signing up with Berkley Books, Wilder had self-published 28 ebooks. If you look back at her history, you'll notice that she did two things: 1) She identified her market and followed the trends, and 2) She wrote like blazes, churning out one book after another, until she built a following. (It also helped that she was writing in a genre that has 30 million dedicated readers.)

Meredith Wild essentially employed the same strategy: She chose a popular genre, and produced a series. That's what publishers like, because that's what readers like. (It's called "brand loyalty" in the marketing biz.)

So, here is the (very qualified) answer to "How did they do it?" If you are a genre writer, whether you self-publish or go the traditional route (or both), producing a series is the main ingredient in the recipe for success. (Also, in case you haven't noticed, sex sells.)

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Two self-published successes sign with major publishers

LA Times

Like E.L. James before her, Meredith Wild has successfully sold her sexy romance novels on her own; the Hacker Series, about a savvy young businesswoman and the billionaire she falls for, has already made bestseller lists. And like James, Wild has left self-publishing behind to sign with a major publisher.

Forever, the romance imprint of Grand Central, will republish Wild's "Hardwired," "Hardpressed," "Hardline" and "Hard Limit" as e-books April 7, followed by trade paperback editions May 12. Until now, the books, which have sold 1.2 million copies digitally, have only been available in print via print-on-demand.

The upcoming fifth book in the series, "Hard Love," will be published by Forever simultaneously as an e-book and in paperback Sept. 15.

"The past two years have been an incredible whirlwind experience for me, and I'm thrilled that this partnership will allow me to devote more of my time to writing," Wild said in a release.

Meanwhile, self-published romance star Jasinda Wilder, whose sales of 28 e-books and novellas have topped 2 million, has signed with Berkley Books. Wilder will get a reported seven-figure sum for her new trilogy, which will launch with "Madame X" in November.

Read more HERE.

First Bookstore Dedicated to Self-Published Authors Opens in Florida

This is an idea whose time has come: A brick-and-mortar bookstore for self-published authors.

Essentially, it's a coop. Each writer pitches in enough per month to pay for rent and overhead. How cool is that? I'd like to see this model in other parts of the country where tourists gather. (Or where people are still accustomed to reading print.)

Take a look at the Gulf Coast Bookstore's website. It's inspiring.

(And you know what else a few dedicated self-published authors could do? Form a cooperative publishing company. We really need to stop going it alone.)

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First Bookstore Dedicated to Self-Published Authors Opens in Florida

By Judith Rosen, Publishers Weekly

Frustrated by a lack of opportunity to display and sell their work, self-published children’s author and illustrator Patti Brassard Jefferson and history author Timothy Jacobs decided to create a bookstore of their own, Gulf Coast Bookstore, and to only sell books by indie authors.

“It’s just hard to compete with Stephen King or Dan Brown in a mega-bookstore that has tens of thousands of books for sale,” says Jacobs.

Although Jacobs came up with the idea for a bookstore that would showcase indie authors a few years ago, he and Jefferson didn’t act on it until recently. When a space became available in downtown Fort Myers, Fla., last month, the store came together quickly. On April 1, the pair held a soft opening for Gulf Coast; the grand opening followed on April 10.

Gulf Coast operates very differently from a traditional bookstore chain or independent. Self-published authors rent shelf space for three months for $60, plus a $15 set-up fee, close to what they might spend to exhibit a single title at a day-long book fair. They also handle stocking and restocking. In return, the authors receive 100% of every sale rather than 40% from a bookstore that sells their books on consignment.

The reason Jefferson and Jacobs can afford to give authors such a high percentage of sales is that they are operating what Jacobs describes as “pretty much a self-sufficiently run bookstore.” Butterfly Estates handles sales and credit-card processing and runs a weekly sales report. “If we had to do this as a standalone on our own,” adds Jefferson, “we’d have to have staff and pay for utilities.”

Jefferson and Jacobs rearrange inventory every two weeks to keep the space fresh. There is no curation of authors. According to Jefferson, the only criteria is “they have to be local.” She and Jacobs also cap the number of titles in any particular genre the store carries at six. Children’s books filled up first for the initial inventory. Other areas represented include education, fantasy, local history, and memoir.

Each writer—currently there are 37 with another 16 authors to be added on May 1—can display 10 copies of a single title or up to 10 titles with one copy each. Authors can also place bookmarks, business cards, or brochures about their work on shelves.

Read more HERE.

Shattering the Glass Ceiling: Women Authors Predominate in Self-Publishing

A recent survey conducted by FicShelf found that while men still dominate the traditional book industry, among self-published writers women are publishing and selling more.

FicShelf found that 67% of top-ranking titles were written by women on platforms such as Blurb, Wattpad, CreateSpace and Smashwords. Compare that figure to the top 100 traditionally published titles on Amazon, 61% of which are written by men.

When FicShelf focused on novels, the results were even more skewed: of 134 fiction titles, 109, or 81%, were by women, 11 were by men, and 14 were unknown.

“The scale of the discrepancy shows that women writers aren’t being treated equally in traditional publishing,” said the author Roz Morris. “We’re usually pigeonholed into obviously feminine genres such as chick-lit and romance, but not generally allowed to be complex artistes, to write the unusual books that break new ground. These figures show a huge vote of confidence for the writer in charge of their artistic destiny – and indicate that the literary world should take more notice of what women writers are publishing.”

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Self-publishing lets women break book industry's glass ceiling, survey finds

The Guardian, March 6, 2015

If a woman writing fiction needs “money and a room of her own”, as Virginia Woolf suggested, writers at the beginning of the 21st century should perhaps insist the room comes with an internet connection, after a new study has found that the proportion of self-published bestsellers written by women is almost twice as large as in traditional publishing.

The DIY sector of the books market is currently booming, both in terms of numbers of books created, and numbers bought. In 2013, Nielsen Book found that 18m self-published books were purchased by UK readers, up 79% on 2012, while according to Bowker, there were over 458,000 titles self-published in the US in 2013, up 17% on 2012 and 437% on 2008.

Read the rest of this enlightening article HERE.

Top Self-Published Genres in 2014

As usual, Romance dominated Smashword's bestseller list for 2014.

Of the top 25 bestselling novels, 16 were Romance. Four were historical fiction, which appears to be making a comeback, and six were YA, which did well everywhere last year.

The mean price was $2.99.

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From Publishers Weekly: 

Also dominating the annual list were series. According to Smashwords Founder Mark Coker, 21 of 25 books on the list are by series writers, and all the authors have at least one series starter priced at "perma-free."

"We've been advocating this strategy for six years," Coker says. "It works. We introduced enhanced series metadata capabilities in late 2013, and this set the stage for some strong series performance in 2014."

List from Publishers Weekly.

Rank	Title	Author	Genre	Price
1	Broken Silence	Natasha Preston	Romance	$2.99
2	Mud and Gold (Promises to Keep: Book 2)	Shayne Parkinson	Fiction	$2.99
3	Settling the Account (Promises to Keep: Book 3)	Shayne Parkinson	Fiction	$2.99
4	Betrayed: Book Two - The Road to Redemption	Nicky Charles	Paranormal Romance	$2.99
5	A Second Chance	Shayne Parkinson	Fiction	$2.99
6	Enjoying the Chase	Kirsty Moseley	Romance	$2.99
7	Drawn 2 - Redemption (Damien)	Lilliana Anderson	Romance	$3.99
8	Heller's Regret	JD Nixon	Mystery	$2.99
9	Fable	Chanda Hahn	YA Fiction	$3.99
10	Reign	Chanda Hahn	YA Fiction	$3.99
11	A Sweet Life Boxed Set	Various Authors	Romance	$2.99
12	Tall, Silent and Lethal	R.L. Mathewson	Paranormal Romance	$2.99
13	Saving Angel	Brenda Kennedy	Romance	$2.99
14	Pride Over Pity	Kailyn Lowry	Memoir	$9.99
15	Storm Shells	GJ Walker-Smith	YA Romance	$3.99
16	Second Hearts	GJ Walker-Smith	YA Romance	$3.99
17	The Will	Kristen Ashley	Romance	$3.99
18	The Silver Siren	Chanda Hahn	YA Fiction	$3.99
19	All For This	Lexi Ryan	Romance	$3.99
20	Daisy's War	Shayne Parkinson	Fiction	$2.99
21	Poles Apart	Kirsty Moseley	Romance	$2.99
22	Secret North	GJ Walker-Smith	YA Fiction	$3.99
23	Deacon	Kristen Ashley	Romance	$3.99
24	Four Score (Gypsy Brothers, #4)	Lili Saint Germain	Romance	$2.99
25	Unconditional	Melody Grace	Romance	$4.99