self-publishing

RTFM

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I recently read a blog post about an author who screwed up 17, 500 free downloads of her debut novel by publishing to KDP using a .pdf version of her manuscript.

In short, the conversion to a Kindle-friendly version didn’t quite take and she had to scramble big time to salvage the situation, soothing the angry readers who had already downloaded the book and working overtime to make amends by posting an error-free version.

I admire her courage in coming clean about this calamity and admitting that, in restrospect, she should’ve been willing to spend the money to hire an e-book formatter. She was quite clear that she’d paid a price by going cheap, i.e., doing it herself. The post was followed by a (admittedly, small) chorus of support, with one commenter vehemently blaming Amazon for the mixup, while others cited their own troubles uploading their manuscript .pdfs.

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A 90-minute crash course on self-publishing

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This past weekend, I was lucky enough to both organize and participate on an amazing self-publishing panel (though it’s over, see my original announcement for more details). For those of you who couldn’t make it, you  missed a 90-minute, crash course on self-publishing success, failure, resilience, and prediction.

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KDP Newsletter – In other news, water is wet

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As a writer published through Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing program, I receive a digital newsletter from Amazon with the scintillating title Kindle Direct Publishing Newsletter.

The content of the newsletter is fairly bland, including such items as what your payment for borrowed titles will be and the maddening section “Featured KDP Books,” where all I really want to know is how these writers were picked to be featured in the first place. I don’t begrudge these sections too much, since newly published KDP’ers could probably use this information.

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Amazing Self-publishing panel – Scott Nicholson, Michael J. Sullivan, Karent Cantwell, Matthew Iden

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Please mark your calendars to attend an event featuring some of the brightest lights of  the self-publishing industry.

Join Karen Cantwell, author of the comedy-mystery Take the Monkeys and Run, Matt Iden, author of the crime fiction novel A Reason to Live, Scott Nicholson, author of Troubled, Michael J. Sullivan, author of the Riyria Series, and Robin Sullivan, founder and editor of Ridan Publishing, as they share their personal experiences in self-publishing and discuss the how-to of becoming a successful self-published author at George Mason University’s Fall for the Book festival near Washington DC.

Includes a one hour panel followed by a one hour informal meet-and-greet with the authors. No fee, registration, or RSVP required to attend!

Information

When: Saturday September 29 from 10 a.m. – 12 p.m.
Where: Stacy C. Sherwood Community Center, 3740 Old Lee Highway Fairfax, VA 22030 [map]
What: 1 hour panel discussion (includes short Q&A) followed by a 1 hour meet-and-greet. Books will be available for purchase and signing.
Info: For more information, please see the full Fall for the Book calendar.

Panelists

Karen Cantwell writes the humorous Barbara Marr Murder Mystery Series which includes Take the Monkeys and Run, Citizen Insane, and Silenced by the Yams, all of which have been Kindle bestsellers. She is currently working on the fourth Barbara Marr novel, Saturday Night Cleaver, while also strategically planning how to grow as both an author and publisher. http://www.karencantwell.com/
Matthew Iden writes fantasy, science fiction, horror, thrillers, crime fiction, and contemporary literary fiction with a psychological twist. Matthew’s crime fiction series featuring retired DC homicide investigator Marty Singer debuted in A Reason to Live and continues with Blueblood. http://matthew-iden.com
Scott Nicholson has hit the Kindle Top 100 ten different times in three countries and more than a million of his ebooks have been downloaded. He’s published more than 80 books and is currently self-publishing foreign editions of his work. http://www.hauntedcomputer.com
Michael J. Sullivan: Named to the io9 most successful science-fiction and fantasy authors list as well as EMG’s Top 25 self-published authors to watch list. Michael made over a quarter of a million dollars in self-publishing then sold that same series to big-six publisher Hachette Book Group for six-figures and more than twice that for 14 foreign language contracts. http://riyria.blogspot.com/
Robin Sullivan is a lecturer, blogger, small press publisher, and business manager/publicist for her husband, author Michael J. Sullivan. For over six years she has been actively following he changes in the publishing industry and has helped hundreds of authors determine what option will best meet their needs.http://www.ridanpublishing.com/

The magic of Amazon sub-lists

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This is less of a deeply informative post than a quick observation, really. I’m off for Southern France–I’ve always wanted to say that!–for two weeks and things are hectic here.

Thanks to a KDP Select “free” bump, I’ve sold almost 600 copies of A Reason to Live since August 6. Besides making me giddy and a little delirious, it’s also demonstrated some interesting things about that little-known self-pubbed writer’s friend, the Amazon sub-list.

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