8 Steps to Self-Publish Your Book Like a Bestseller

Guest post contributed by Chloe Harris

If you have an idea under your belt that you genuinely believe should reach a wider audience, consider publishing your own book. Historically, authors need an agent who can convince a publisher to take a look at their manuscript. In fact, many publishing companies work only through established agents, which makes it difficult, especially for first-time authors.

Self-publishing may sound outlandish, considering all the work needed to be even noticed by readers. But with meticulous planning, creativity, resourcefulness, and proper implementation, your book can be the next bestseller.

1. Edit Thoroughly

Even you’re self-publishing, the book will go through the hands of people who will judge it. Minor errors can hinder its success. If you’ve never edited a book before, here’s a guide on how to edit a book.

Do the following to get you started.

• Wait at least a week before editing so that you can look at the book with fresh eyes.

• Review the plot and characters. Take note of significant structures. For example, do the characters have dynamic personalities? Is the conflict sensible? How is the audience going to feel about the ending?

• If you’re not ready to edit the significant elements, start with line edits. Are you using the right voice?

2. Ask for Feedback

Feedback is invaluable. The book may sound perfect to you, but are you sure that’s how readers would feel? Share your manuscript with trusted individuals and ask for feedback.

To help them make more candid feedback, create an online form to share opinions on specific elements. Also, ask them how you can improve.

Feedback may be obtained from friends, family, book critics, and writing communities.

3. Format Your Book Properly

“A professionally-formatted book sends a good impression. This part can be a bit more complicated for self-publishing authors because your book must be 100% ready for publication after this. Many authors are anxious about formatting; after all, it’s an entirely different skill from writing.”, explains Direct Appliance Rentals CEO Karina Wolfin.

Here are some formatting options.

Free formatting software: Apple Pages and Kindle Create provide free templates. However, they also cater to their own platform, which means all or some formatting options will be discard when you upload to other retailers.

Paid formatting software: Vellum ($200) and Scrivener ($45) creates beautifully formatted print versions and E-books. Plus, you can format as many files as you want with a licensed account.

Professional typesetters: For print on demand, authors usually hire a typesetter to ensure immaculate formatting. This is the most viable option, especially for printed editions, because you don’t want unevenly spaced text and images.

4. Choose a cover that converts

The cover creates the first impression to the readers. A strong cover is attractive and lets those who see it know that the book was made for them.

Consider these tips for the book design.

Striking yet sophisticated. Whether it’s a photo, an illustration, or typography, the cover should look professional.

Indicative of the genre. Some design elements are associated with specific genres. Your book cover must conform to these principles to reach the right audience.

Spine and back cover. This is only for printed versions.

Unlike formatting, the cover should be made by a professional. This is your most crucial marketing tool, and you shouldn’t take risks.

5. Maximize Your Book Description

The book description is another element that can attract readers. Here are the basics of writing a good description.

Hook the readers. Use a dramatic headline, such as a quote from a book or a strong review from a known critique. The point is to intrigue the readers.

Introduce the storyline. Don’t give away everything, though! Instead, give readers a sneak peek of what they’re going to find inside.

Create a cliff-hanger. End the description with a hint of a shocking twist or an intriguing question.

Read the descriptions of some bestsellers of the same genre, and you’ll definitely see a pattern.

6. Prepare the launching

The launch will raise awareness and jumpstart the hype about your book—just like a movie trailer.

Consider including the following in your launch plan.

Build a website. A large fraction of modern-day consumers rely on the internet for information; therefore, your book should be there. Hire a web designer to build a dedicated website for your book and follow the pointers we gave for the cover design.

Ask for the support of family and friends. People will be looking for social proof, so it would be beneficial if your family and friends promote your book on their social media accounts.

Ask for book reviews. Contact known book reviewers and politely ask them if they can review your book.

Organise a virtual launch party. Partner with influencers and send them party packages. Give a speech and ask attendees to share their thoughts about your book.

7. Publish

You’ll be glad to know that self-publishing can be fast on Amazon and other platforms.

For printed editions, the process is a bit longer. But you should have no trouble if all the materials are ready.

8. Market Your Book

The work doesn’t end after publication. The marketing campaign has started during the launch, but you still have more legwork to do.

• Reach out to relevant blogs and ask if you could write a guest post to promote your book.

• Organise events at bookstores. This can a signing, reading or Q&A.

• Work with a third-party advertising agency. Self-marketing can be exhausting, especially if your fan base is still in its early stages stage. Instead, consider hiring the services of an ad agency that specialises in reading materials.

 With so many titles being released each year in Australia, it can be hard for your manuscript to find its way to the publisher’s desk. If you think self-publishing is the best method for you, contact WorkingType for design and print solutions.

Thoughts on a Year as a Self-Published Author

Independent author Gail Meath writes well-researched historical romances. She has summarised her first year as a self-published author in some detail, with plenty of practical tips and advice, and has kindly allowed us to post her thoughts below.

My First Year Self-Publishing:

 All or most of these sites are probably familiar to authors, but my purpose is to share my experiences and, in part, to give great credit to some sites that have either been good promotional sites or simply because their customer service was so outstanding, I wanted to pay tribute to them for helping me in my self-publishing endeavor this past year.  

 (I compiled the following list from my own experiences during my first year of self-publishing.  Everything listed should not in any way be misconstrued as advice, suggestions or any type of guidance to other authors.  I am a new author, not a best-seller or veteran, and these are my opinions only.) 

 Goodreads: 

A great place for both readers and authors.  Actually, it is an excellent place for authors!!!  My definition of this site, “The best place ever where Indy authors come together to help one another.”...through endless groups and discussions.  There are also some great author blogs that help you promote your books even more.  And, of course, a lot of fantastic readers!!

 Thank goodness I found Goodreads even before I started publishing.  I won’t go on as most/all authors know about the site, but I can’t believe how everyone has been so wonderfully helpful and I’m so grateful to all!

 A couple things to remember:

Groups have Rules!  Yes, I shamefully admit that I’m guilty of posting a link where I wasn’t supposed to (oops).     

Don’t contact readers directly to promote your book.

 Try not to change your book covers too much....you cannot get rid of the old ones!!

 Sometimes, scammers infiltrate Goodreads, so beware.  There is a ‘flag’ option for inappropriate posts (needed that once the past year).

 I’m sure their giveaway promotions are great.  The cost has been out of my reach.

 AllAuthor.com:  Free to upload books

I cannot say enough nice things about AllAuthor.com.  First, it is an extremely professional promotional website for authors that includes creating your own marketing mockups of your books: even GIFs, if you’re premium, which is about $40, I think, for four months.  Uploading and updating a book is a breeze, the author page is great with tabs for awards, reviews, etc.  And free.  They have several different promotional packages that are very reasonably priced and worth the cost.

 While the site is run by a ‘Team AllAuthor’, I have only had contact with Mady Joshi, Business Development Head.  He is fantastic to work with, answers all your questions, sends unique book mockups every week for premium and they have instagram and Facebook accounts that you can join for additional promotion opportunities.  He is exceptional.  If I were rating these sites, AllAuthor would by far surpass all others.

 VoraciousReadersOnly.com:  Free Intro/$20 Evergreen Program

This is a great site if you’re looking for an inexpensive way to reach new readers and gather some reviews...if you’re willing to give away books.  For me, I limited my book giveaways and received more reviews from their FREE intro offer rather than their $20/month Evergreen program.  They send review reminders to readers who receive your book, but during the six-week program, I received very few.  Much more during their intro.

 But Larry is wonderful to work with.  He’s the man behind-the-scenes and he will answer all your questions quickly and personally.  I was involved in this when I first started publishing and I was able to compile a nice start-up mailing list.  I grew tired of giving books away, but it was a nice place to start   

 ReaderFavorite.com:  Free to upload books and request reviews

I do love this site, too, although I believe that their ‘free’ reviews come few and far between.  For $59 you can receive a professional editorial review, which is what I believe they hold out for.  They do offer paid promos and contests...one of my books won their 2020 western, so that may explain why I’m partial to them. 

 But, despite that, I had a book that I worried wasn’t as good as my others and contacted them to see if I could pay for a review and write a message to the reviewer beforehand asking them for a brutally honest review so I could determine whether to publish the book or not.  One of their reps instantly contacted me.  He understood my dilemma and was willing to ask their top reviewer to look at it, knowing the person would be, well, brutally honest. 

 To me, he went above and beyond my expectations, so I highly recommend this site to anyone interested in what they have to offer.  I don’t believe there is anything better than having internal people/reps who are willing to help authors in any way they can.

 Bookbub.com:  Free to upload books

Another very professional site and very easy to upload books with a nice author page.  They also offer different promotion opportunities, from reasonable to costly.  I have two complaints. 

 To change a book cover, description, etc., you need to send them a note then wait until the change takes place.  At least a few days – AllAuthor, it is instant.

 Also, I set up a five-day-promotion for one of my books and used their ad template, rather than uploading my own.  My promotion began and within less than 6 hours, I received an email from them saying that I should halt my ad and change it as there hadn’t been any ‘clicks’ to it.  Huh.  I tried uploading my own ad template, but it kept getting rejected.  I gave up.

 I do know that Bookbub is supposedly a great place to market books.  Unfortunately, I am one of the few where it was not.

 Amazon KDP/AuthorCentral:

Like Goodreads and Facebook, all/most authors are already using these sites so there isn’t a whole lot more for me to add.  I use Kindle Create to upload books to Amazon Kindle and it’s a breeze, including paperback.  I had changed some book covers and a month later, I ordered author paperback copies so I could have a copy of the new cover and I received the old cover copy.  I contacted them and their rep was so very helpful.  They tossed the leftover old cover paperbacks and assured me that only the new ones would be sent in the future.  They were great.

 I do like Author Central’s new ‘author page’ setup.  They’ve been very helpful to me a couple of times.  Lately, I keep trying to bold the first line of my book descriptions and once that’s done, their fine for a while, then bold disappears again.  I need to contact them about that, but otherwise, I have enjoyed working with them.

 Draft2Digital.com/Books2Read.com:  Free marketplace for books

Only recently I discovered these sites.  They go hand-in-hand...Draft2Digital to upload books, Books2Read to connect to different retailers.  It was extremely easy to upload my books and kind of fun to watch all the retailers accumulating. 

 I did have a little trouble (surprise!) after customizing my UBL (universal link that gives buyers a snapshot of all retailers/costs for your books), I ended up with 2 UBLs each.  Their rep was super helpful, corrected the problem, walked me through each step and sent me a cool easy reference page of instructions.  I love great customer service people. 

 I haven’t been on this long enough to say much else, but I was so very impressed by them.

 Smashwords.com:  Free marketplace for books

I have a few books on this site.  Uploading books is easy, until it comes to being approved for the premium version.  This was pretty time-consuming and confusing, at least for me.  I struggled a ton with the Table of Contents.  You can download a huge file of instructions, but I finally contacted them.  One of their reps responded and was very helpful...apparently, there were hidden bookmarks in the Table of Contents and I finally, after a great deal of time, was able to fix that.

 They have a nice reporting system.  And promotional opportunities at a reasonable cost.

 Facebook:

Well, this one is universally known, so I cannot add much about it.  They do offer reasonable promotions where you determine the cost and choose targe audience.  I also belong to several other FB groups that focus on my genre of books and those are great to meet other authors and promote your books to readers.

 Pinterest.com:  Free to join and post

I use Pinterest for book specials/promos only.  You can set the amount you’re willing to spend and choose your target audience.  I usually do a $10-20 ad for a few days.  I don’t have a huge following there, but I know I have sold several books every time I advertise there.

 Alignable.com:  Free to join - Local business contacts

I believe this is available nationally, I’m not sure.  It is a sort of local business yellow-pages, although you have your own ‘page’ and can earn other business’ recommendations.  I’ve been using to connect with people in my area.  I’ve made a lot of friends there and I post my book promotions for free under ‘events’.  They also offer a paid promo through their weekly newsletter.  It’s an additional site that doesn’t consume a lot of time.

 RWA.com:  Contests & Membership - For Romance Authors Only

I was first introduced to RWA through entering one of my books into their 2020 contest.  I was not a member and the cost for me was $35 to enter.  After I won for the historical genre, I joined the group.  The cost was $124/year (I hated to spend the money, but...I was so thrilled to have won!  I received a really cool plaque and supposedly, I will be invited to an awards ceremony in FL next spring.) 

 This is a huge group and for a more social romance author, it’s probably worth the cost.  They do send out a booklet with a lot of great writing information, but it does seem to me as though they spend way more time deciding upon/voting for new admin people, than anything else.  And all their conferences, contests, etc., cost additional money rather than being included in the membership fee.  Which I kind of resent.

 BookSirens.com:

In this site, you request approval of your book before any cost passes to them.  All I can say is, they have quickly rejected all my books without any reason or explanation or even an email informing of the rejection.  I needed to go back onto the sight to find out, so I gave up on them.  Honestly, I would have thought at least one of my books deserved inclusion.  But that’s me and obviously not.  I would not rule them out until you try! 

 There are sites like Netgalley ($$ over my budget) and Bookviral (over $200), and several others, that are too expensive for me to even consider their promotions.  They are probably super sites for authors, but I cannot afford the cost.

 Several ‘smaller’ sites that offer Twitter-only to promote: 

I have not had any luck with these, but perhaps other authors have.  I didn’t want to post specific sites here, but I have been, shall I say, suckered into paying $20-50 for a few of these in the past with zero return.  Again, other authors may have had better luck.

How to Promote Your Book—5 Strategies for Authors

Guest article from Chloe Harris

Books with compelling content are often passed over due to ineffective promotion. Convincing people to read a book is quite different from convincing them to buy clothes, cars, and houses.

We’ve gathered a few useful strategies to promote your book:

Choose a Professional Book Cover

The old saw runs “Don’t judge a book by its cover.” But people do judge a book by its cover. A 2017 study revealed that a whopping 52% base their decision on the jacket artwork.

Work with professional book cover designer in conveying the right message, attracting the right audience. Your ideas will be the basis of the design, while the artist manipulates the elements to arrive at a professional, attention-getting result.

Author-designed covers run the risk of potential readers identifying the work as self-published, and therefore passing over it.

Use Social Media Effectively

“As of January 2020, over 3.8 billion people are using social media. This means that by simply introducing your book through Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, you could stir the interest of many. However, you will have to optimise social media use for this happen.”, said Alistaire Clare, Credit Capital’s business consultant.

Social proof is vital in earning recognition. With an official page, it will be easier for potential readers to find your book. Make sure to include the following:

• A high-resolution photo of the book

• A photo of yourself with a short biography

• A snippet about the book

• Some testimonials from those who’ve read your book already

Facebook ads are also useful in reaching specific targets in terms of location, gender, age, and preferences.

Organise an Event in Local Bookstores

Avid book buyers visit local bookstores to hunt for old and new masterpieces. So, make sure not to miss this fanbase. Here are 21 charming bookshops in Australia.

Many local bookstores regularly feature new authors. Often, they also have a relationship with local book clubs that could review your book. 

• Prepare a good pitch, explaining how the bookstore can benefit from your book.

• Ask if you could display promotional banners and posters.

• Plan an entertaining presentation

• Hold a live Q&A

• Sign books for free or hold small contests

If things go well with local bookstores, you might contemplate further events in larger venues.

Reach out to Book Reviewers

It’s essential to gather as many reviews possible, mainly if you’re selling online. Books with more reviews get more visibility. They also create an impression that the content is promising.

Search for book reviewers who are interested in your genre. Ask them to leave an honest review. You might have to send a free copy, but that’s totally worth it, especially if the reviewer has a large following. Here are some great choices:

• Aussie Reviews

• Booktopia

• Ragamuffin Books

• Readability Australia

• Lost in a Good Book

• Goodreads

Also. try sending a letter to Australian Book Review. ABR is an independent, non-profit magazine that publishes book reviews.

Are you an independent author who wants to have a professionally-designed book? Working Type offers design, layout, and print solutions that can transform your manuscript into a best-seller. We also assist in e-book publishing and digital and print promotions. Contact us now for more information!

Scripted Response — Three Posters

Noted editor and author Euan Mitchell commissioned three posters for screenplays he entered into American scriptwriting competitions. The above posters are the final drafts. Happily, he has received several awards for his scripts.

Amazon advertising and BookBub

Practical suggestions from a very active and savvy independent author:

Four years ago, I fluked winning a FREE Featured Deal. I had five other books at the time, and the sell-through, and KUs were great (250,000/month). On top of this I received an additional 70 reviews for the Featured book, most of them 5-star. At the time I knew next to nothing about BookBub and expected to keep on winning Featured Deals. Was I in for a sad awakening!

Fast forward to July 2019 when I sold a mere 100 books and had a miserable 14,809 KUs. To make matters worse, I had more than doubled my number of books. There are many reasons why the preceding occurred, but the main one was that I did no promoting either via social media or paid advertising. I should say that writing is not my prime source of income, which is just as well, because if it were, I’d be starving. That said, I have a certain amount of pride and set out to remedy the foregoing.

I decided I’d actively advertise my books in promoters’ newsletters but would not spend more than $150 per month. The results to date, while not great, are promising. I’ll sell more than 200 books in October, and my KUs will nudge 30,000. The increase in revenue more than covered my advertising costs, and my numbers are up 100%. The idea now is to compound them at the same rate for the next four months.

I have not applied for a BookBub Deal this calendar year but soon will. If I’m successful, BB will be the exception to my $150 rule. I will not accept an international Deal and am of the belief that without the U.S., BB’s Deals, even with sell-through and KUs are still likely to be losers. The U.S. is critical.

The struggle that I have had is finding six suitable promoters for the seven-day Amazon countdown period. Outside of BookBub, ENT is the absolute standout. I don’t advertise the day after ENT ($45), as I’m still getting good sales and KUs from the day prior. The next-best promoter is BookRaid because it’s cheap (about 18 cents a click and usually less than $3) and is good for approximately 10 sales. Let’s say I’m promoting a book with a rank of #300,000 … it won’t be attractive to ENT’s subscribers, but by using BookRaid on the first day and another small promoter (say Authors XP at $20) on the second day, I can lower the ranking to sub #40,000 by the time ENT’s promo kicks in on the third and fourth days. Now it gets hard as I have three days to go and a remaining budget of about $82. The promoters available are eReaderIQ, FKBT, ManyBooks, The Fussy Librarian, Robin Reads, Just Kindle Books, Book Rebel, Book Gorilla, and Book Cave. I have had reasonable success with eReaderIQ ($20), FKBT ($30), and ManyBooks ($29). I might be tempted to replace FKBT with Book Gorilla ($50), but it would blow my budget by $17, and I’d need another 25 sales to justify it, and that’s unlikely.

Finally, I tried Amazon ads when they were first introduced in the U.S. with moderate success, but the competition was too hot (Mark Dawson spent $50,000 on Amazon Ads last month). However, Amazon has just introduced ads in the U.K., and I have 10 running, and they’re doing okay. I’m running them for two reasons … first-mover advantage and currently I hardly make any sales in the U.K.

Authors, Don't Forget Libraries

Independent authors sometimes forget the library market. Libraries have made a largely successful transition to the era of the Internet, becoming multi-use spaces, offering ebooks and audio books and maintaining their print collections. Many libraries are quite supportive of independent authors. Joanne Penn has posted about getting books into American libraries, but similar principles also apply in Australia. Apart from contacting individual library corporations, try reading this kindle book on the Australian market. URLs for Australian library distributors below. And don’t forget to register for Public Lending Rights!

ALS
https://www.alslib.com.au/

James Bennet
https://www.bennett.com.au/

Peter Pal
www.peterpal.com.au

Bookbub Speaks, Advises

An author client recently got in touch with ebook promotional giant Bookbub to discuss the disappointing performance of a paid ad posted on that platform. He received the following interesting response, worth reading in full for anyone considering using the service or applying for the oly grail of a featured deal (as with so many areas of the Internet, Bookbub is overwhelmingly dominant in its space):

Thanks for reaching out! I'm sorry to hear your recent ad campaign didn't produce the results you were hoping for. I'll note that it does require quite a bit of testing and tweaking to develop ad campaigns that get the results you're looking for. When getting started with ads, we recommend that partners spend some time committed to testing ads with small budgets of $5-$10. Generally, you're unlikely to see a positive return immediately out of the gate with no testing.

I'd encourage you to read through some of our blog posts to get more familiar with BookBub Ads. I've gone ahead and listed a few that I think you'll find helpful below:

- First, you can find a blog post on increasing your click-through rate here: https://insights.bookbub.com/increase-click-through-rate-bookbub-ads-campaign/
- Next, you can read about how marketing goals affect BookBub ad campaigns here: https://insights.bookbub.com/how-marketing-goals-affect-bookbub-ad-campaigns-infographic/
- Finally, you can view our ultimate guide to BookBub Ads here: https://insights.bookbub.com/ultimate-guide-bookbub-ads/#getting-started

If you want to learn more about BookBub Ads, I'd suggest that you read through some other posts in the BookBub Ads section of our blog here for more tutorials, campaign ideas, and best practices.

I'm happy to answer any questions your have around Featured Deals:
1.) Currently, we rarely feature new releases in our daily emails. We’ve found that books that have had a chance to build up their platform perform best and, therefore, make for the most successful promotions for our partners.
2.) Your promotion's length is completely up to you and your marketing goals. You're welcome to discount your book for just a day, or a whole week or more if you'd like. We happen to have a blog post that discusses what promotion lengths work best for different marketing goals here. I hope you find that post helpful!
3.) Critical reviews play a role in our editor's selection process, so it would certainly be helpful for your title to have some reviews associated with it. You're absolutely welcome to submit this book for consideration, but please note that, as mentioned above, we tend to feature books that have built up their platform. If you're interested, you can learn more about the editorial team's selection process here.

Writing Blog with Solid Tips

Inkitt, the “The World’s #1 Reader-Powered Book Publisher” has quite decent blog on the writer’s life and craft. Well worth a visit. And perhaps you could upload one of your pieces and generate some constructive reader feedback…

Independent Publishing Tips and Very Useful Resources

An interesting view from 30,000 feet of the challlenges confronting and opportunities available to independent authors, as posted at The Verge. They have spoken to a few successful authors and author advocates and provide several useful links. One of the best is here with a real trove of resources and advice, especially regarding predatory vanity publisher outfits.

“You are accountable for the success of the publishing process. By taking on the kind of freedom and flexibility of self-publishing, you’re also taking on the accountability.”

The Tip of the Tip of the Tip of the Iceberg

An excellent explanation from the consistently great Veritasium channel examining the way algorithms shape content and vice versa. The sheer volume of posted YouTube videos requires algorithm settings that encourage sensational/clickbait content, and make it difficult for serious content providers to maintain their audience. Some of the principles at play here also show up in surfacing material on other algorithm driven services such as Amazon, Audible, Google and Facebook. A balanced and fascinating examination of a key online issue, presented by Canadian Australian Derek Muller.

Concepts for a Cover — Parenting in the Digital Era

A few versions on the theme of ‘digital parenting’ — a thoughtful attempt to promote a rational balance between time on and off screen in a family context, and summarise the latest research on the topic. Published by Hybrid Publishers.

Bookbub's Effectiveness — A Report from an Author

In the latest news from the independent author front , Kathryn Gauci reports back on her recent Bookbub promotion:

“Bookbub was OK but didn't set the world on fire. I think some of that had to do with it being for the UK, AUS, NZ, Canada and India and NOT the US. The US is generally the biggest market. It also adds more to the deal in the first place. The real difference has come with it lifting my profile and follow on orders plus the page reads have more than doubled per day. So hopefully the momentum keeps up. I also put it up on a few other sites for a couple of days at the same time — Fussy Librarian etc, which I think helped. My friend, Barbara had one the week before and spent more on extra promo. Same Bookbub deal as me. She just recovered her cost but the follow-on has improved. Another friend had the US market as well and doubled her money.
It was worth it though. And the extra reviews and ratings are starting to come through also.”

Book Reviews and Amazon — a battle royale

Reviews are a key signal used in the ranking of online books. The more reviews, the higher the book ranks and the more books are sold. Of course, given this logic, reviews have been widely gamed by authors and publishers, to the point when they are sometimes not reliable guides as to a book’s quality and popularity. Authors round up their friends to review their books, or pay other services to generate reviews, or review other authors’ books in the hope of reciprocal reviews. Amazon has been fighting back against this degradation of the reviewing signal — the outlines of said epic struggle are described here, along with the latest strategies for independent authors.

For Whom the River Runs — Book Cover

Wayne Pappin has written a heartfelt tale about a small Australian town, focusing on two young men and their travails. He wanted an image of the bridge that features at the heart of the story, which we combined with the two swimmers. The title typeface is Northwell and the subtitle Charcuterie Flared.

Great Little Bookstores in Victoria — No. 1 in a series

While the big bookselling chains may have gone the way of the dinosaurs (though department store book sections are expanding somewhat), the indie stores live on. However efficient an algorithm, it can never compete with the experience and warmth of a hand-curated bookstore. Victoria has quite a number of excellent little bookstores scattered across the state. As there is a particular kind of joy in finding a lovely bookstore, we thought we would run a series of posts, each highlighting an exceptional indie.

The first of these is our local. The Eltham Bookshop. Located at 970 Main Road, Eltham, it is a genuine book-cave, fitting an amazing amount of literary content into a relatively small space. Meera and Navin Govil run a active program of book launches, promotions and book-related events throughout the year, meaning the bookstore is very integrated into the local community. Meera has been trading for twenty years and has a loyal customer base. She supports local authors and small publishing houses. Definitely worth a trip — Eltham would be much diminished without it.

Next: Bookwolf in Maldon.

Amazon/KDP Not Posting Discounted Print Copies to Australia....

An interesting thread about Amazon’s refusal to send discounted author copies to Australia. Naturally this policy is driving local authors into the arms of IngramSpark, Blurb or Lulu. As we have posted before, there is still a strong argument to be made for uploading to both services.

What Every Author Seems to Hate — Writing Blurbs

Authors will happily spend months or even years writing their book, carrying out immense amounts of research, rewriting, proofreading and structuring. But when it comes to thinking about one or two hundred words on the back of their book, their collective minds go blank. A feeling of panic descends. The author knows instinctively that there is something different about a blurb. How can they possibly encapsulate their work in such a tiny container? The typical response is to write a synopsis, giving away practically every plot point in the book. The best blurbs are an artful compromise between disclosure and withholding, suggestion and explanation. The blurb is a key marketing tool, both in actual bookstores and online, and it merits quite a bit of time and thought. Here are three perspectives on writing a great blurb, packed with plenty of useful advice and practical suggestions.

Amazon and the Big Publishers

An interesting piece explaining how some of the world’s biggest publishers have learned to live with and profit from their Amazon presence. The ongoing decline in real world bookstores (especially in the US) has made that more of an existential necessity than an optional extra. Remember when the Internet was going to bring diversity and choice? It certainly hasn’t worked out that way in browsers, search, social, ecommerce or just about any other field. Without some kind of regulatory restriction, it seems the natural evolution of any online business sector is towards aggregation and domination by one player.

Rosa in Ldjahkion Book Launch

Janet Doyle’s fascinating book was launched at The Book Wolf, a charming bookshop in Maldon which also hosts discussion groups and music events. Guests enjoyed readings from the book, performed by John Curtis, Mike Smythe, and Janet herself. Musician John Curtis performed two pieces of music written especially to evoke the mystical town of Ldjakhion in which the novel is set.  The audience asked many questions of Janet, and were particularly interested in aspects of the background research and the choice of names for the various characters. Signed copies of the book were sold on the night. We will post a sales link to the book shortly.

Editing and Proofreading Services

Dianne Wadsworth runs a proofreading service for a variety of clients. We have referred authors onto her, and received very good feedback. Visit her recently revamped site to obtain a quote for your writing project. Needless to say, proofreading is a crucial stage in preparing your book for print.