#SelfPublishing Year in Review -- Running the Numbers

In The Sane Person's Guide to Self-Publishing, I provided honest figures for how many books I've sold, how many free downloads I've had, and my earnings. Here's a quick update with the latest figures. A few things before we got to the numbers: I don't claim my results are typical. Many self-publishers sell more than this, and many sell less. That said, I think my results give a pretty good sense...

#IndieAuthors #NetGalley -- Is it worth the cost?

In this post, reflections on my experience with NetGalley, a service that helps publishers to get books into the hands of reviewers. By far the greatest challenge for any author is finding readers. Thanks to the jungle of Amazon, reader reviewers have been essential to the success of most books, but getting people to actually post reviews is even more challenging than finding readers. Among the...

#AmWriting #SelfPub #Workshop at the Westborough, MA Public Library!

Back by popular demand! I'll be offering my Introduction to Self-Publishing Workshop at the Westborough Public Library on October 21 from 6:30-8:30. This event is free and open to the public, but please preregister at this link. About the Workshop:  If you’ve contemplated self-publishing, you’ve probably experienced information overload when searching online for advice. You’ve probably also...

Teen Writing Workshop Oct 3 #AmWriting

Teen writers! Join me at the Shrewsbury Public Library from 10:00 - 12:00 on Saturday October 3! "Make a Scene" Writing Workshop Description: Whether you're writing flash fiction in which an entire story unfolds over just a page or two or you're writing a novel, the building blocks of all stories are scenes. In this workshop, we will identify the essential elements of scenes and what makes...

Mark your calendars!

require(["mojo/signup-forms/Loader"], function(L) { L.start({"baseUrl":"mc.us11.list-manage.com","uuid":"0092c99bc57032b819a8393bf","lid":"22068739fe"}) }) Upcoming Events Saturday, October 3, 2015 Teen Writing Workshop Shrewsbury, MA Public Library. Click for more event info and sign up.10:00 - 12:00 NOTE: The main library is under construction, so this event will be in the library's temporary...

#ICYMI #SelfPub -- Ebook Formatting

**This post originally appeared on dvmulligan.com on 4/11/15** Yesterday, I made The Sane Person's Guide to Self-Publishing available for download. Unlike my novels, this book was not the result of years of sweat and tears, or at least writing it wasn't. The reflections in it are based on years of sweat and tears, but it only took about a month to write, edit, and format it. (It's 30,000...

#ICYMI #SelfPub #Amazon -- Change the "You Know this Author" Policy

**This post originally appeared on dvmulligan.com on 7/13/15**

Regular readers of my blog will recall a couple of posts from back in the spring about Amazon's review policy, which I believe is unfair to indie authors. Well, I'm not alone. Recently a change.org petition was started by Jas Ward to ask Amazon to change it's policy.

If you've ever had a review removed because Amazon decided you knew the author personally or if you are an indie author struggling to get and keep reviews, consider signing the petition.

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#ICYMI #SelfPub #Amazon -- The Flaw in Amazon's "You Know This Author" Policy

**This post originally appeared on dvmulligan.com on 4/28/15**

In this post, a follow up on my last post regarding Amazon's review policy and how that policy is enforced. Whether you are an author puzzled by disappearing reviews or just a casual Amazon shopper, you should be troubled by Amazon's practices.

Longtime readers of this blog know that sometimes I get a little hung up on a topic, and when I do I have to write successive blog posts in order to sort the whole thing out and move on with my life. Thus, another post on my recent experience of learning that Amazon rejected a reader review of one of my books because its computers concluded the reviewer knew me personally.

Let's start with Amazon's goal in policing reader reviews. According to the Email my colleague received from Amazon about why his review had been rejected, "Customer Reviews are meant to give customers unbiased product feedback from fellow shoppers. Because our goal is to provide Customer Reviews that help customers make informed purchase decisions, any reviews that could be viewed as advertising, promotional, or misleading will not be posted."

This is a slightly different way of stating the sentiment on Amazon's review FAQ page: "Customer Reviews are meant to give customers genuine product feedback from fellow shoppers. Our goal is to capture all the energy and enthusiasm (both favorable and critical) that customers have about a product while avoiding use of reviews to outright advertise, promote and especially mislead."

As someone who hopes that prospective readers will be enticed by my product page to buy my books and to then enjoy and favorably review them,I definitely want my product page to be populated with genuine, energetic, and enthusiastic feedback. I absolutely do not want the reviews there to mislead prospective readers,  because, if they buy my book with wrong ideas it, they will be disappointed and will review it negatively.  So it seems that I, as an author, believe that Amazon's policy suits my interests.

Unfortunately, when enforcing the policy, the objective apparently shifts from ensuring genuine feedback to giving unbiased feedback. Let's parse some definitions, shall we?

#ICYMI #SelfPub #Amazon -- Getting Reviews

**This post originally appeared on dvmulligan.com on 4/25/15** In The Sane Person's Guide to Self-Publishing, I offered a few bits of advice about getting reviews, which can be summarized including the following: 1. It's okay to pay for reviews as long as the reviewer is honest, 2. Encourage friends to post reviews. When I offered that advice, I knew that Amazon had cracked down on bogus reviews,...

#ICYMI #SelfPub #AmWriting -- Author Discoverability Tools

**This post originally appeared on dvmulligan.com on 7/10/15** In this post, news about 2 tools I've just learned about to help you maximize discoverability of your book within the Amazon ecosystem. If you've read The Sane Person's Guide to Self-Publishing, you know that my advice to sell more books is to maximize discoverability of your book work in the Kindle store, a task that sounds...

#ICYMI #SelfPub #AmWriting -- Why Indie Authors should opt out of Kindle Select

The following post was originally published on 7/24/15 on dvmulligan.com. In this post, further thoughts on the recent changes to the Kindle Unlimited pay structure and how indie authors can be part of the solution instead of adding to the problem.  Recently, I shared some information about why Kindle Unlimited is bad for authors. All authors should be upset by the pay structure rule changes....

#ICYMI #AmWriting #SelfPub #Amazon -- Kindle Select is Bad for Authors

require(["mojo/signup-forms/Loader"], function(L) { L.start({"baseUrl":"mc.us11.list-manage.com","uuid":"0092c99bc57032b819a8393bf","lid":"22068739fe"}) })**This post orginially appeared on dvmulligan.com on 7/23/15** On June 15, Amazon announced changes to the Amazon Kindle Unlimited book borrowing program. If you're read The Sane Person's Guide to Self-Publishing, I am not a fan of Kindle Select,...

#SelfPubHelp:The Sane Person's Guide Now in Paperback!

That's right--it's no longer just an ebook! If you prefer your instruction manuals in print where you can mark them up and dog-ear the pages, The Sane Person's Guide to Self-Publishing is now for sale as a paperback. Click here to snag yours tod...

#SelfPubHelp: Contests -- Are they worth the entry fee?

Recently a newbie to self-publishing emailed me to ask my take on contests. I figured others might have the same questions, so here's my response: My friend wrote: Now that my book has been unleashed on the world, I’ve been getting lots of emails about various indie publishing awards. I know you’ve been honored with several awards, and would love to hear your thoughts about them, if you don’t...

#Self-Publishing Workshop at the Shrewsbury MA Public Library!

Thinking of self-publishing but not sure where to start? Check out this workshop. Where? Shrewsbury, MA Public Library When? Saturday, August 15, 10:00 to 12:00 Cost? FREE, but registration is required. Click this link to sign up. What to expect? I'll be giving an overview of the basics and answering your questions. Topics we'll touch on: considerations to make before...

#SelfPubHelp: Top 3 Pieces of Self-Publishing Wisdom

Recently a friend put me in touch with a friend of hers who just self-published his first novel (Hi, Adam!), and in the course of our email exchange, he asked me what my top 2 or 3 bits of self-publishing advice are. Tough question, but fun to ponder, and as I wrote back to him, I thought, I should really share these on the blog, so here goes! 1. Don't join Kindle Select and thereby cave in to...

#SelfPubAdvice #BookMarketing: Getting Reviews

In this post, an excerpt from The Sane Person's Guide to Self-Publishing. Links to sites referenced in this post can be found under the resources tab above. There’s not much you can do to get readers to review your book aside from politely asking them, which you should do. There are, however, lots of ways to pay for reviews. Thanks to the culture of online reviews, high profile reviews no longer...

#SelfPubAdvice: Planning your book launch

In this post, an excerpt from The Sane Person's Guide to Self-Publishing. Your book launch is your first step towards establishing your book’s discoverability, so it is worth doing some careful planning. While we indie authors don’t have the resources of a publishing house to place ads in the New York Times book review, get reviews in glossy magazines, and throw parties with jumbo shrimp and champagne,...

#BookMarketing for Indie Authors: Preparing for Author/Book Fairs

In this post, some general tips about setting up an eye-catching table at book and author fairs. Let me tell you about the first time I had a table at a book fair. I was representing The Worcester Review at the book fair of the Mass Poetry Festival. I had never done any events like that before, and I was completely unprepared. I showed up with a box of back issues, an envelope of one dollar bills...

#SelfPubAdvice: Turn your book into an audiobook!

In this post, an excerpt from The Sane Person's Guide to Self-Publishing on creating audiobooks. Audiobooks are a fast-growing segment of the book market thanks to the ease of listening to books via smartphones and tablets. Did you know that you, little old you, you the indie author, can turn your book into an audiobook for a total cost of ZERO DOLLARS? For real. You can turn your book into...

Welcome!

Welcome to my new blog for self-publishing resources.  A little bit about me: I am the author of two novels (see sidebar) and one guidebook for self-publishing. My life as an indie-author had its roots in blogging back in 2011. Once I began publishing my fiction in 2012, I kept blogging as a way to stay in touch with readers. A lot of my entries had to do with self-publishing, as that...