This week in Indie Publishing

Literary Agent Breaks Down How to Win in Self-Publishing

The facts don’t lie. Everyone who publishes a successful book doesn’t have a deal with a major publisher.  Over the last two decades self-publishing has flourished and the books sold by independent authors have done amazing things in the industry, including winning awards, becoming national bestsellers and even landing television or movie option deals.  Whether you are working on a children’s picture book, a romance novel, a photography or business book, or writing your memoir, if you are choosing to self-publish the following tips will help guide your endeavors.

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4 Steps to Create a Blog or Podcast That You and Your Readers Will Love

If you’re a self-published author, in addition to writing and producing your books, you must take on the responsibility of marketing them. The most successful author-marketers foster strong relationships with their audiences. Blogging, whether through written weblogs or verbal audio blogs (podcasts) is one of the best ways to build and maintain a fan base of interested readers.

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Amazon heads deeper into brick and mortar with books

For a company that long eschewed the brick-and-mortar world, Amazon is opening a lot of bookstores these days. It’s got three up and running, in Seattle, San Diego and Portland, and says five more are coming.

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Amazon and Apple end exclusive deal on audio books

Apple and Amazon have ended a deal that tied them into an exclusive contract for the supply and sale of audio books. The deal was signed before 2008 when Amazon bought audio book supplier Audible, which had the Apple iBooks contract.

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Americans still prefer printed books vs. e-books and audio books

“There’s nothing like the comfort of curling up with a good book, and turning paper pages at your own pace so that you can truly appreciate the content. It’s particularly important for young learners because it allows them to ‘experience’ the moment, so when they read about the people, places and events that shaped our nation they can achieve an understanding of history that they can’t get by merely memorizing names and dates. It’s the reason Dr. Bruce Cole, the former Chair of the National Foundation for the Humanities, and I decided to make the investment in creating the Prize,” says Smith who is an author and publisher.

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