indieBRAG Blog

Congratulations- Sue Fortin!

Congratulations Sue! I hope your new publishing deal with Harper Collins is a wonderful and fruitful experience- Thank you, it's very exciting. Since Harper Impulse is digital publishing, will you continue to have a print copy of your book available and, if so, how will that work? Harper Impulse are working on a digital first basis, so although there are no guarantees every title will be published in paperback, there is the scope for it at some point. Many self-published authors are seeking deals with traditional publishers while many are not. What is it that you find appealing about such a deal? Oh gosh, that's a loaded question  It really is a matter of personal choice and for me, there were several reasons. To self-publish proficiently and to a high standard can be quite expensive and I really wouldn't like to add up how much I spent on having my book edited, edited and edited again, together with having the cover professional designed and then the costs of promotion. To do this again for a second novel, I wasn't sure if I could invest so heavily. Another factor, was how wide reaching I could be as an indie author.…

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5 Facebook Marketing Tips for Authors

 Some advice from Blogger and Author Lindsay Buroker on using Facebook-Month after month, Facebook and Twitter are the top sources of traffic for my site (after the Big G and its search engine, of course). If we consider that I spend much less time on Facebook than Twitter (I usually post to my FB author page 3 or 4 times a week, versus using Twitter incessantly throughout the day, because I'm become a tweet-happy addict), then Facebook is the clear winner when it comes to time spent versus results delivered. I should also point out that I don't post links to my site on Facebook very often, so all of this traffic (1,000+ visitors in January out of about 23,000 total) comes via two or three updates a month.And is getting traffic to my site a win insofar as book sales goes? It's hard to say if the folks who come in via social media outlets are buyers (I suspect many have already bought), but it's a rare day that I don't have at least a couple of sales at Amazon (monitored via the affiliate links I provide to my own books) that originate on my blog. Sales aside, I…

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HAPPY HALLOWEEN ALL!

  Though the origin of the word Halloween is Christian, the holiday is commonly thought to have pagan roots. October 31 – Nov 1 was seen as the end of harvest and the beginning of the dark days of winter. This was a time when the 'door' to the Otherworld opened enough for the souls of the dead, and other beings such as fairies, to come into our world. Feasts were had, at which the souls of dead kin were beckoned to attend and a place set at the table for them. However, harmful spirits and fairies were also thought to be active. People took steps to allay or ward-off these harmful spirits/fairies. Wearing costumes may have originated as a means of disguising oneself from these harmful spirits/fairies. In the Christian tradition, it was believed that the souls of the departed wandered the earth until All Saints' Day, and All Hallows' Eve provided one last chance for the dead to gain vengeance on their enemies before moving to the next world. In order to avoid being recognized by any soul that might be seeking such vengeance, people would don masks or costumes to disguise their identities. In Halloween: From Pagan…

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Teens Are Not Reading!

    "There's been an enormous investment in teaching kids to read in elementary school-Kids are doing better at 9, and at 11. At 13, they're doing no worse, but then there is a catastrophic fall-off. ... If kids are put into this electronic culture without any counterbalancing efforts, they will stop reading."NEA chairman Dana Gioia Let's face it, parents have to take a lot of the blame. No one wants to hear this but far too few parents turn off the TV or computer and pick up a book themselves. It is our job to set the example. Take some time to talk to your kids about a great book and not the latest Lindsey Lohan gossip! Here's a plan- next time your kids say they are bored, and who doesn't here that a hundred times a week?, hand them a book. Next time you are working around the house, give them 2 choices, help or read. Want to bet they will read! I bought my 9 year old granddaughter a Kindle with a pretty pink cover. A lot of our relationship revolves around books- picking books, sitting together on the porch reading, reading interesting or funny passages to…

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Top Ten Things A Self-Published Author Hears At A Cocktail Party

    10. "You're an author? ... Really!?" 9. "What have you written? ...Never heard of it!" 8. "Who's your publisher? ... Oh. I see." 7. "So what's your book about? ... I never read that stuff." 6. "What else have you written? ...I don't like that either." 5. "How come I haven't seen your books in Barnes and Noble? ... What's an eBook?" 4. "Is there any money in this? ... That much? Wait...that's what you've spent!" 3. "Then how much have you made? ... "You're kidding, right?" 2. "Why're you still doing this? ... Have you ever tried root canals?" 1. "Well, good luck. ... Even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while."

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Shocked By Rejection?

    As you might imagine, some of the self-published authors whose books were rejected by indieBRAG readers are not happy. Fortunately, I am pleased to report that only a few of them have taken the time to berate us! The brutal fact is that many indie books have no chance at all of getting through our initial screening process, let alone being read by our reading team - they have poorly conceived stories and/or are badly written. These books are invariably rejected by most, if not all, of the readers who review them. However, occasionally we must reject a book with regret. These are books with really good stories but are in desperate need of professional editing- either content or copy editing or both. To have a book that is worth a reader's time and money, an indie author needs to do everything they can to fine tune and perfect their work. A great story poorly edited is a real shame. We recently rejected a book that the author said was going to be made into a film. This is wonderful news for the author but having a book made into a screenplay doesn't change the basic facts about…

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A Theft of Opportunity!

  This is a very interesting article on an unknown author making it big but, the real story is the damage to publishing being done by this mega merger between Penguin and Random House. As the New York Times Editorial Board states, the more opportunities to get your book before a publisher and the more diverse the publishing, the better chance an unknown author has of getting his book before the public. They are limiting the competition, lessening the opportunities for authors and robbing the reading public of some really good books! 47 Rejections, Then the Booker Long ListBy THE EDITORIAL BOARDPublished: July 31, 2013 Donal Ryan, a civil servant from Limerick, Ireland, wrote two novels. He sent them to agents and publishers and got back 47 rejections over three years. Finally an intern at Lilliput Press in Dublin fished "The Thing About December" out of the slush pile. Around the same time, an editor at Doubleday Ireland took interest in "The Spinning Heart." Suddenly Mr. Ryan had a two-book deal, and from there his fortunes only improved. The Booker Foundation announced last week that "The Spinning Heart" had made the cut for the Man Booker Prize long list.Such things…

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Agent Assisted Self Publishing

    How exciting, you got an agent- just one step from getting a publisher! Whoa, not so fast. Although few self-published authors use agents they can provide some valuable assistance. With the advent of digital and self-publishing, agents, like everyone in the publishing world, have had to reinvent themselves. Many agents are now moving into Agent Assisted Self-Publishing. Like any business owner, and as a SP author that is what you are, do not sign until you know exactly what you are getting for your money and how much control you may be losing. With permission from The Alliance of Independent Authors' (ALLi), we are sharing information they provided. We would love to have you join the conversation and share your experiences- Agent-assisted SP takes many different forms. At one end of the scale, it mean an agency encouraging one of their authors to upload their backlist, and showing them how, without taking any payment, content with the revenue boost this will give to the trade-published titles they represent.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         At the other are the many agents now uploading files to Amazon or other retailers in an account in their own name, and collecting 15% of the sales revenue ad…

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Getting into Brick & Mortar Book Stores~

Richard Due, author of the B.R.A.G.Medallion Honoree, The Moon Coin, recently had his books accepted into Barnes and Noble brick and mortar bookstore! We asked him to share how he was able to manage this since this is often something most self-published authors are unable to do. I wish I had a more exciting story to tell, but getting a self-published book into Barnes and Noble is all about time, diligence, and whether or not they want your book. In a nutshell, here's how I got the Moon Realm series into Barnes and Noble. Last fall I submitted to their Small Press Dept., at their Headquarters on 5th Ave, in New York. On their website, they said that if I didn't hear back from them I should resend, as they get 2,000 submissions a week, which means, every once and a while, they have chuck everything and start over. I got a letter back from them maybe two weeks later requesting paperback copies of The Moon Coin (the only Moon Realm book in paper at that time). That was back in November. My next task was to get a distributor or wholesaler. B&N had sent me a list of them.…

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The Edinburgh International Book Festival

  The Edinburgh International Book Festival began in 1983 and is now a key event in the August Festival season, celebrated annually in Scotland's capital city. Biennial at first, the Book Festival became a yearly celebration in 1997.Throughout its history, the Book Festival has grown rapidly in size and scope to become the largest and most dynamic festival of its kind in the world. In its first year the Book Festival played host to just 30 'Meet the Author' events. Today, the Festival programmes over 700 events, which are enjoyed by people of all ages.An important feature of the Book Festival's programme is a high profile debates and discussions series. Each year writers from all over the world gather to become part of this unique forum in which audience and author meet to exchange thoughts and opinions on some of the world's most pressing issues.Running alongside the general programme is the highly regarded Children's Programme, which has grown to become a leading showcase for children's writers and illustrators. Incorporating workshops, storytelling, panel discussions, author events and book signings, the Children's Programme is popular with both the public and schools alike and now ranks as the world's premier books and reading…

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