Well… kind of. Back in January, I wrote a pre-emptive review of what was going to happen in 2014. Like most psychics, I was unassailably confident about my foresight. Now, the naysayers amongst you – the doom-mongerers and pedants – might say that I got absolutely everything wrong. But that is simply not true. The fact…
Tag: self-publishing
Book Sales: What Happens When Blockbusters Flood The Market?
Back to business, ladies and gentlesirs. Today I want to look at who in the blockbusting big leagues was publishing in 2014, and what the market looked like when they did. I’ve been wading around in the book data again, my hand on my chin, occasionally contorting myself into an awkward (and poor) imitation of…
What Time Of The Year Should You Publish Your Novel?
I’ve been getting quite a few hits lately from search terms such as “when do I self-publish my novel?” and “when does a book need to be published for the Christmas market?” I already pontificated on the issue of self-publishing for Christmas in this post, but that only dealt with one time of year. Now I’d like to talk…
Lights… Camera…. READ! How Writing Goes Live
One thing which made the transition from my business brain to my bookish brain lately was a certain trend in the music industry, which now seems to be making inroads into the book industry. It’s all becoming more and more about live performance. Part of what I do for a living (my actual living, which pays…
Self-Publishing: It’s Not For Christmas
There’s a reason that the ‘airport novel’ or ‘airport paperback’ was defined as category of books all by itself. It’s the same reason that there are large bookshops in airports, and why newspapers publish pathetically useless holiday reading lists. It’s because on holidays, everyone reads more than usual: regular, occasional and infrequent readers alike. And…
Authors! Your Cover Font Is Killing Your Book
Whilst most of us will judge a book by its cover, I very often judge a book cover by its font. This might sound odd to some people: perhaps it is – you can let me know if that’s the case. But more often than not, it’s the typography on a book’s cover which tells me whether…
What Makes People Buy Self-Published Books?
In this post, I discussed the findings of a scientifically incontrovertible study (of myself) on the factors which influenced me when buying a self-published book. The findings surprised me (which surprised me, because I was surveying myself). I found that I knew what made me buy a self-published book when it was in front of…
What Makes Me Buy A Self-Published Book?
It’s summer holiday season. Therefore it’s self-published e-book time. I’m currently loading up to my Kindle. But what makes me choose one non-traditionally published book over someone else’s? It’s tough to know which marketing works, and which doesn’t; as a reader, I have to say that I find a lot of book marketing intensely annoying, and at best…
C’mon, Writers! 5 Reasons To Ditch The Rivalry
I’ve been hearing a lot lately about rivalry in the writing and publishing industries. And it’s a sad state of affairs. Because it’s complete and utter nonsense. Rivalry is an alluring demon for authors (and, indeed, reviewers). For one thing, the very nature of writing – a solitary activity, which rarely if ever allows for human interaction in the physical act itself –…
5 Book Review Rules Which Could Make Writers Hate You Less
Book reviews are the cod liver oil of the writing world. Writers need them, and they can do an awful lot of good, but they can also leave an incredibly nasty taste in the mouth. You can’t switch on the Internet these days without seeing an author giving out about book reviews and how unfair/mean/reprehensible/soul-destroying they are. There…
Tara Sparling writes 