Customer Reviews

The Indie Author Guide: Self-Publishing Strategies Anyone Can Use

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. It is informative, well outlined, well written, and covers a topic close to my heart - self publishing. This book is divided into the following 12 chapters:

1. Indie authorship: An introduction
2. Publishing options
3. Getting organized
4. Creating your brand
5. DIY formatting for POD
6. Editing and revising
7. Designing your own book cover
8. Publishing through CreateSpace
9. Publishing for Kindle
10. Publishing for other eBook formats
11. Promotion
12. An HTML primer

At one point the author says that subsidy and vanity publishing don't offer any advantages over POD publishing these days. I'm not sure this is true. After reading Aaron Shepard's book entitled "Aiming at Amazon" (ISBN: 093849743X) last year I learned that small text does not print as well with POD. Nor do pictures in the book using POD technology. And if the book is going to be over 200 pages or so, then POD might get a little expensive as compared to traditional printing methods. But if you understand the ins and outs of POD publishing, then it is definitely the route to go in order to sell your writing on Amazon. A good, but slightly dated, book on POD is "Print-on-Demand Book Publishing" (ISBN: 0972380132).

Although I haven't read "The Frugal Book Promoter" (ISBN: 193299310X), it is my understanding that it goes into some depth about the importance of branding when promoting one's book. Chapter 4 in the instant book did a nice job explaining the importance of branding.

Although I haven't read "Perfect Pages" (ISBN: 0938497332), it is my understanding that it goes into some depth about how to create formatted Word documents for Print on Demand (POD). Chapter 5 in the instant book did a wonderful job explaining how to use Word to format your self published book copy for POD.

This afternoon at Barnes & Noble I read "The Frugal Editor" (ISBN: 0978515870) and found it to be a good book. But I liked the coverage of how to edit and revise (or get help in editing and revising) in Chapter 6 of the instant book. Well done!

Mr. Shepard in "Aiming at Amazon" explained how to go about designing your book's cover if you were going to use Lightning Source, Inc. as your POD printing service. In Chapter 7 of the instant book we are told how to design a cover if we are going to use Amazon's CreateSpace printing service. I think this coverage could have gone into a little more detail on how to use and customize graphic files. But it was certainly good coverage on the topic.

The material covered in chapters 8 and 9 I have not seen in print in other books yet. They were well done. And Chapter 10 was informative.

Chapter 11 covered promotion well. I liked it. Other books on the subject I like are: "Sell Your Book on Amazon" (ISBN: 1432701967), "Plug Your Book!" (ISBN: 0977240614), and "The Author's Guide to Building an Online Platform" (ISBN: 1884956823). But consider getting another book ["The Web Savvy Writer" (ISBN: 0977830403)] sold as an ebook by its author, and an audio book entitled "Secrets of Successful Blogging System" (ISBN: 0978806018) which is kind of pricey, but really good. If you get all these resources, read them, and study them, then you should have an excellent idea about how to go about marketing your tome or tomes.

Chapter 12 was OK. But I think I would have liked the book better if it had been left out. It kind of felt as though it was not within the scope of the book's subject matter. All in all, this book is a gem. I think it is good as a stand-alone guide, but it will really shine if used in conjunction with other books I have referenced in this review. 5 stars!

It is probably true to say that writing a book has never been easier than it is today. The sheer facility of composition with a computer word processing programme has removed one of the great barriers to producing a large volume of text. At the same time, it is also probably true to say that it has never been more difficult to place a book with a publishing company, the reasons for which are persuasively presented at the beginning of April Hamilton's wonderfully comprehensive guide to independent publishing, The IndieAuthor Guide.

As a man, as a previously published author, it might seem that I would have no need of such a self-help volume. Men, supposedly, hesitate to ask for advice or assistance, particularly from women; published authors are - erm - published. Why would one of them want to think about independent publishing? Well, the fact is that I, along with many other published writers, am published no longer. I am still writing, however, and so independent publishing is an increasingly beckoning way out of the impasse I find myself in. But how on earth does one go about it? Enter Ms Hamilton.

The IndieAuthor Guide leads even the chronically inept (I'm thinking of myself) along the road from desire to achievement. It seems to me that there is nothing the would-be independent author needs to know that is not covered, in detail and with examples, in this splendid guide. Even when Ms Hamilton tells her readers that she cannot offer advice on something (the legal aspects of Kindle publication, for example), she promptly offers a link to a site where such advice will be forthcoming.

Some readers might possibly be disappointed that this guide is particularly centred on independent publication through Amazon and its subsidiaries, but the truth is that Amazon is very much the big boy in this particular world now. That minor quibble aside, the vast majority of the advice in the book is as relevant to other independent publishing venues as it is to Amazon.

All in all, The IndieAuthor Guide seems to me to be an excellent and timely helpmate to writers pondering new ways of setting their work before the public. "Come on, you can do it," this guide seems to say, and it does not deceive in this. A five-star piece of work if ever there was one.

Reading this book is a must for the writer who is trying to self publish their work. Everything you need to know or could ever have a question about is covered. I had the honor of reading it before publication and I found it extremely helpful and easy to understand. The author has done a massive amount of research.

April Hamilton gives a brief background to the publishing business as a whole and then leads you from start to finish on getting your work into print. She covers subjects like getting started, formatting, editing and designing your own cover as well as promotion and getting a website up. Everything is in plain easy to understand language so it is very easy to follow if you are new at this. In my opinion this book is a must have.

After recently writing and publishing two books of my own and spending most of my time learning the hard way (trial and error - mostly error) I was kicking myself for not taking the time and doing the right searches to find this book before and not after the 100's if not 1000's of hours of writing time. After a while you quit counting. April's book is indeed a breath of fresh air in otherwise stuffed rooms of misleading, and often wrong information. I was very appreciative of finding so much information in one source. Took a few pages to unravel the meaning of the title - Indieauthor Guide - but this may have been intentional as the style of writing develops like a story - one chapter at a time - uncovering the hidden secrets in the publishing industry. Great job - great writing - April did her homework.

I came across the author's website while searching for more in-depth help when self-publishing my first book. Since I found the website helpful, I decided to order the book.

I'm not disappointed. It arrived today, and it is a hefty volume chock-full of all of the information any would-be indie author needs to get a book off the ground. From formatting to promoting, it's all covered here.

Definitely recommended!

I've self-published a book and am very interested in all the ways I can promote it. I'm also interested in producing it in e-book form. To that end, I bought "The Indie Author Guide" and I'm so glad I did. It is just loaded with all sorts of practical advice that has gotten my juices going. There is in-depth exploration of ideas I'd thought of but had little idea of how to best explore plus ideas I'd never thought of. Thanks, April Hamilton!

There are a number of self-publishing guides in print, many of which are excellent. "the indie author guide" is the one I'd recommend as a first read. The author did self-publish her book, then had it picked up by Writer's Digest Books. Having a book picked up by a publisher is what many self-published authors dream of. Here's proof that that particular strategy can work.

Beyond the example of the author's success, I can recommend Hamilton's book because it is thorough, well written, and provides a grounded view of the self-publishing process. There's no hype, and we don't hear stories of how author x turned down a big publishing contract to go indie. As inspiring as such stories are, most of us won't get hit by the big bucks lightning. In this title, we find an insider's knowledge of the indie publishing field explained thoroughly, and clearly. We also find useful business and marketing checklists and worksheets in the appendix. There's a short HTML primer, too, though I'm not sure how important that is. It might be. I don't know.

One huge advantage that "the indie author guide" holds, is that it is up-to-date. As good as many books on self-publishing, books -- like Dan Poynter's -- the self-publishing field has gone through a tectonic shift in the last few years. E-readers such as the Kindle, iPad and Nook didn't exist, or were novelties, even as recently as 2008. Now, Amazon is selling more Kindle editions than paperbacks. Any book on independent publishing written before the second generation Kindle or the iPad is out of date.

Then there's social media marketing. Twitter and Facebook are vital marketing venus. They are as new as popular ebook readers. April Hamilton covers both social media and ebook publishing well. Any printed book written before hers has to be behind in coverage of these crucial self-publishing factors. That's not saying that such books aren't valuable. Many aspects of self-publishing haven't changed, and there's still a lot of good information to be gained from older titles.

No one volume can cover every aspect of independent publishing in great depth. If you choose to follow this route, you'll undoubtedly need other references or training. But, for a solid grounding in the field, "the indie author guide" is an excellent resource.

I ordreed this from Kindle and read it the same evening. Some parts are too simple or easy, if you have used word processor programs, like Word, then you can just skip those instructions, but then there are some good insights of marketing your book, what to expect of your sales/royalties and how to manage and organize your files.


Inside you can find the following topics:
How to...
-organize your files
-create your brand
-explore your self-publishing options
-format your book
-edit and revise you work
-design your own book cover
-publish in e-book formats
-build an author platform
-promoting/marketing
-topics including the transition from indie to mainstream publishing adn what is the difference, and how the publication world has changed since the e-books came..

If you plan to publish your own e-book, then you should read this. It gives you good ideas and confirms your own thoughts of the self-publishing. It does not sugarcode the self-publishing, but it also tells you what is good/bad in mainstream publishing vs. selfpublishing.

April L. Hamilton opens up this fascinating book with a portrait of what an India Author actually is. She examines Indie versus Vanity publishing, the vanishing stigma of Self-Publication, Common misconceptions of Indie Authorship, tools for the Indie Author and finishes up with goals for Indie Authors.

Chapter two is the next logical step which is missed a lot of the time. How to get your hard drive and email organized for maximum success. Next April walks you through how to create your brand and why it is so important.

In chapter four we begin to discern between self-publishing, vanity publishing, subsidy publishing, print service providers, print on demand, and rights, royalties, and advances. The end of this chapter includes ISBN number information, how to get your book into bookstores, how to choose a service provider, along with the all important task of crunching the numbers.

Chapter five gives you the basics for formatting your book. It presents the steps in an easy to understand and follow manner. You will learn about styles, how to build a manuscript shell, creating a separate chapter shell, and getting everything ready for the printer.

Editing and revising is the next subject in chapter six. This essential step is taught in a way to help you
do it yourself. April also discusses content rights and workshopping.

Another time saver is chapter seven called: Designing Your Own Book Cover. Book covers are one of the hardest elements for most writers to conquer. There is a fine line between acceptable book covers and those covers that are close...but just don't cut the mustard. If your cover is not right you will lose sales. So this is a must know section.

Chapter eight teaches you how to print your book through a print on demand (POD) print service provider. April covers the basics to the advanced here. You learn the advantages of POD, how to set up your book and manuscript, the review setup, and the review proof. Another great tip you won't find elsewhere is how to customize your book's page on your provider's bookstore website.

The next three sections take you through epublishing formats, having an author platform and promotion of your book. Finally April rounds everything out with the last section on how to make the transition from Indie authorship to mainstream published author.

What I love about this book is the variety of worksheets in the back. Here you will find a worksheet to help you compare service providers. How to compare publisher- printer upfront costs. A worksheet that walks you through calculating per-copy production costs. How to calculate author copy cost. Next is a worksheet designed to help you figure out your net author royalty per copy sold by booksellers.

Another fantastic worksheet teaches you how to calculate your net author royalty per copy hand sold for mail order. And a companion worksheet: how to calculate net author royalty per copy hand sold in person. Your next order of business is to know your break even point. And yes, there is a worksheet for this as well.

There are worksheets to help you track your sales and expenses, figure out your profit or loss. And you can use her additional worksheets to keep track of contacts, both print service providers and other service providers, fellow authors, and industry contacts. Next your scheduling just got easier with April's speaking and signing events worksheet. You will love her author platform administrative records worksheet. It will have you selling and organizing your book sales faster than anything else I've seen.

Now I really do not think there is anything missing in this book. When you are ready for a website for your book you have a worksheet that spells out all the must have's and steps to accomplish this task in an easy manner. And when there is a website can a blog be far behind? Of course not. Next you find a worksheet to help you get your book or author blog ship shape.

One of the hardest tasks for selling online is keeping track of online communities and membership sites you belong to. Well, not anymore. Yes there is a wonderful worksheet for this as well. You can also keep track of professional associations, and bookseller references.

I know all books have a weakness. And it is important to know what that is. However, in this case the only weakness I could find is not on April's part. It is on Kindle's part. I bought the Kindle version of this book and when I saw all the wonderful worksheets I knew I had to have the paperback version as well. I think Kindle should upgrade their technology and allow for printing.

Other than that, I vote 5 stars for this quick, easy to read, essential Indie Author manual.

There are many practical pieces of advice in this book, and it helped me greatly in my self-publishing efforts. The author goes into detail on such tasks as setting up a "manuscript shell," which I was unaware of before reading. I only wish I had read it BEFORE writing my book, so it would have organized me better, but I could still use her instructions on Formatting and using Styles afterwords, as I was pasting my manuscript into the 6X9 "shell."

At the current price (which is far below what I bought it for), I would not hesitate to buy this book, as there will certainly be info. you will glean from it. Sure, there is info. that will be obvious to some (like sending a "thank you" response to a reviewer- Duh!), but you can skip over these details. I feel Hamilton really wants to give you all she knows and help you along in the self-publishing process. She even answered two emails of mine (quite quickly) when I had questions.

I bought this book, along with "Aiming at Amazon" and "The Fine Print of Self-Publishing" and the 3 are helping me tremendously (although sometimes they contradict each other.) I highly recommend you buy this book if you want details on how to format a book for self-publishing. (It also touches on finding a printer/publisher and marketing the book.)