This Week in Indie Publishing

Independent writers are choosing their own paths to success

Until recently, if you were a writer who had a novel or other work, there was essentially a single path to follow: you tried to find an agent who liked your writing, and who would be able to sell it to a publisher. The process could take months or years — assuming you were able to get on that merry-go-round at all.

David Gaughran, author of Let’s Get Digital and other books about self-publishing, tried that route when he wrote his first novel about 11 years ago. It was an exasperating experience.

“I spent about 18 months querying every agent that I could find in the English-language world and didn’t really get anywhere,” Gaughran says. He was frustrated enough that he thought about giving up. “But then I started looking at self-publishing.”

Read the rest of this story HERE.

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Indie publishers hold hidden literary gems

Independent and self-publishing is all the rage these days. As someone interested in creative writing myself, I think it’s important to give time to other aspiring authors who’ve chosen to take their creative destinies into their own hands and publish their work themselves.

One particularly fascinating work that falls under this category is Treyvon Meursault’s “L’Appel Du Vide.” From the opening scenes of “L’Appel Du Vide,” readers might think this is a book that’s one of many in a series by Meursault. In fact, one would probably never imagine that this 250+ page epic ripe with expertly-set scenes, a distinguished cast of characters and a plot that challenges readers’ thinking much more so than your typical fantasy fic is actually Meursault’s debut novel.
The novel is immersive, and is based on the premise that following humanity’s emergence, those who’ve claimed themselves as gods after slaughtering their world’s former inhabitants find their authority threatened. Without relinquishing their dominion to the growing population of “pygmies” who now inhabit their land, life will cease to exist, unless these “gods” are able to find another life form to bear their burden. As a book that puts the reader in the center of the action, this is where you come in.

Read the rest of this story HERE.

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How to promote your self-published novel

When self-publishing a novel, promotion is everything!

On the traditional publishing path, literary agents will provide numerous opportunities to raise awareness and your publisher will likely have well-traveled paths for advertising in place.

When you’re on your own, it’s up to you! Everything about promotion, the factor that will partly determine the success of your novel, is in your hands. That should sound both scary and exciting!

To make sure you can rest easier and enjoy the process as much as possible, we’re glad to provide help, insight, tips, and tricks on the topic of…

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Big Changes at BookBaby

n the world of self-publishing companies, there are more than a few scam outlets that steal not just authors’ hard-earned money, but also their hopes, aspirations, and even their reputations. Many of these companies have thankfully been thrown on the trash heap due to shady business practices, while some have even spent a good deal of time in court desperately trying to defend themselves (and failing) from fraud allegations.

So when a solid company with a good reputation and excellent customer service comes along, people tend to sit up and take notice. BookBaby is one such company, built from a 74-year-old business that has met the needs of independent creators all that time. But as first reported by The Digital Reader, big changes have been taking place at the outlet’s parent company, with new mergers, deals, splits, and more.

BookBaby is just one company within a much broader range of platforms. Several of the branches of this artistic family tree have been bought, namely, those that handle the music side of things.

Read the rest of this story HERE.

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The Hefty Price of Predatory Publishing

The US Federal Trade Commission has won a $50.1 million court judgment against an India-based scientific publishing group and associated conference organizer for “unfair and deceptive practices.”

The judgment was filed late last week in the US District Court for the District of Nevada against OMICS Group, iMedPub, and Srinubabu Gedela, who runs the companies. The FTC brought its case against Omics Group and its affiliate in 2016, alleging violations of the FTC Act, which covers deceptive and unfair business practices. The judgment includes not only the hefty fine, but permanent injunctions against activities carried out by the firms from which they profited.

The 40-page ruling from the court lays out the many violations cited by the FTC in its filing, including OMICS Group making “numerous misrepresentations regarding the nature and reputation of their journals.” According to the FTC, its evidence suggests OMICS’s peer-review practices are a sham; the publisher used the names of scientists and researchers on its website as editorial board members, even though many of those people never agreed to be affiliated with OMICS Group; and the publisher self-calculated impact factors for its journals, among other deceptive practices.

Read the rest of this story HERE.