The Indie Author's Guide to the Universe [Kindle Edition]

Jeff Bennington (Author)

Book Description

THE INDIE AUTHOR'S GUIDE TO THE UNIVERSE is THE Author's Guide for Motivation, Selling/Marketing Tips and Encouragement From Over 20 Bestselling Authors~ From the #1 Bestselling Author of Reunion, Creepy, and Twisted Vengeance.
~ Listed with Goodreads Breakout Authors of 2011

SIZZLING HOT REVIEWS"The Indie Author's Guide has made a huge impact on my sales. I've only just started incorporating what I've learned and in three days have tripled my sales." ~ Robbi Bryant, author of The Beautiful Evil

GET WINNING WITH KDP SELECT FOR ONLY 99¢ APRIL 19-23

"If you are preparing to self-publish, and even if you've already done so, you need this book! Finally, a guide that covers it all... every aspect of book creation from humble beginning to publishing success! This guide is my "go to" writer's bible! High praise to Jeff Bennington for creating a writer's gold mine of information and advice." ~ Deborah Hughes, author of Be Still, My Love

The Indie Author's Guide to the Universe is meant to help any author, whether they are traditionally published or self-published. This book is designed to encourage and inspire authors in their craft, and give creative ideas that can improve sales and grow an author platform.

If you bought a book about self-publishing 6 months ago, it is ancient history.

The Guide Includes Helpful Information Like:~ Encouraging Stories
~ How to Build a Blog Tour
~ Your Role as Marketer
~ Marketing Strategies
~ Your Role as Publisher
~ Author Blogging
~ The Ultimate Book Promotion
~ Understanding "Floatation Pricing"™
~ How to Build an Author Platform
~ Selling and Price-point Strategies
~ Strategies for Navigating Amazon's KDP Select Program
~ Understanding the Indie Author Movement
~ Helpful links

Includes Tips From Over 20 Bestselling Indie Authors Like Scott Nicholson, Bob Mayer, Joanna Penn, Blake Crouch, Robert Bidinotto, Richard Bard, Amber Scott, Melissa Foster, Saffina Desforges and many more!

ADDITIONAL PRAISE FOR THE INDIE AUTHOR'S GUIDE TO THE UNIVERSE:"If I only had one resource to effectively promote, market, and sell my novels, it would be the Indie Author's Guide. It is definitely the roadmap to success with each step of the way carefully marked and easy for anyone to follow." ~ Caleb Pirtle III, author and publisher from Venture Galleries

WHO IN THE WORLD IS JEFF BENNINGTON???Jeff is the Author of Reunion, Twisted Vengeance, and Creepy: A collection of scary stories. He Blogs at The Writing Bomb and strives to be a great dad and husband. Jeff is also an author consultant and has helped other writers hit the Amazon Top 100.

You can follow Jeff on Twitter @TweetTheBook, and Facebook. Check out his Author Services Page at The Writing Bomb and The Kindle Book Review.

Product Details

• File Size: 297 KB
• Print Length: 222 pages
• Publisher: Nexgate Press (February 23, 2012)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B007D0HTFE
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• X-Ray: Not Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #94,587 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
  • #74 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Education & Reference > Writing, Research & Publishing Guides > Publishing & Books > Authorship
  • #79 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Computers & Technology > Web Marketing

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

55 of 63 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Awful. Don't waste time or money on this. June 21, 2012

By CharlotteSimmons

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

Interestingly, the author makes an unusual distinction between self- and indie publishing. To me, self-publishing is the act of publishing a book yourself, where the author foots all the costs. Indie publishing is when an author publishes a book through an independent (i.e. not owned by a huge international company) publishing company. Indie publishing is essentially the same thing as publishing with a Big Six publishing company, but on a smaller scale.

Not so in this book;

An indie author, in my opinion, is in complete control of their publishing project, including cover design, pricing, editing, formatting, and ownership of the ISBN. As an indie author, you report to no one but your readers.

A self-publisher, as I see it, is one who contracts a pay-to-publish business such as Tate Publishing, Outskirts Press, Author House or any other service that charges to publish an author's book. I include 50/50 publishers as well because they require the author to pay a portion of the production expenses.

Now, the misuse of terms like self-publishing and indie publishing is one of my pet peeves. Personally, I think indie-publishing is being misused here, perhaps deliberately, in an attempt to distance the writer from the many preconceived notions that abound about self-publishing. Not all self-publishers pay to be published. I don't know about marketwide figures, but the self-published writers I know personally, and those I have reviewed, have all footed the entire cost of publishing, and remain the owners of the rights to their work, and the ISBN.

Now that I'm done with my little rant about terminology, on with the actual review.

There is no practical advice re: editing, formatting etc.... The advice is to hire a professional, which I can't disagree with, I'm the first person to point out a crap cover in a review, but formatting is actually pretty simple.

That's it. I'm not joking. That is it in terms of useful advice. As I sit writing this review, mere seconds after finishing the book, I cannot think of a single piece of advice offered in the book, other than to hire a professional editor and designer.

The entire first part of the book, called "Why Indie?", could be dropped, in my opinion. It contains no relevant or interesting information.

There is an entire chapter which outlines the process of becoming an "indie" author, starting with writing a book and approaching publishing houses. It was a bizarre chapter though, because it used Santa Claus, along with his "sexy little elf," as the examples. It was truly weird, and the weirdness overrode any useful information. I also felt the chapter was superfluous. I would assume people would come to the decision to self-publish before reading this book. I don't need to know why other people chose this route, I need to know what to do to improve my sales. The following chapter is dedicated to the story of the author's "entrepreneurism"- he used to have a paper route and he used to shine shoes as a child.

Similarly weird was the entire chapter dedicated to Bennington's real-life encounter with a ghost as a young boy, and why that encounter makes him a great writer. I mean, this is some bizarre (and irrelevant, and useless) stuff.

The blurb for this book is in no way connected to the buy you buy ($9.99 for the hard copy, by the way). The blurb promises a one-stop guide to self-publishing. This is a one-stop guide to Bennington's experiences, and why he's a great writer. It really does read more like an ego trip than anything else.

For example; there is a chapter entitled "Why No One is Buying Your Book(s)" which repeatedly tells the reader how important it is to have a platform, how important it is that readers know who you are. It offers no advice on how to achieve this, beyond including a link to your blog at the end of the book, which as we already discussed, NOBODY IS BUYING.

Oh, it also includes the line "Amazon's KDP Select program is one tool that can boost an unknown author's visibility tremendously."

That's it for advice on KDP Select, y'all.

The chapter "Building bare-naked suspense," similarly offers no advice on how to create suspense within your writing. Rather, it's an excuse for Bennington to include an extract from one of his own books, showing you how great he is at writing suspense (he's not, by the way, or at least, the extract he included isn't great).

The chapter on building your platform offers Bennington's definition of a writer's platform, offers the story of how he built his platform and how nine months later he had an Amazon bestseller, and asks rhetorical questions of the reader, like "At what pint are you in the building process? Are you pouring concrete, or framing walls?" and then reassures the reader that it's OK not to know the answers to these questions. Just as well, because there certainly aren't any answers offered here.

I cannot stress enough how pointless this book is. If you're interested in useful, up-to-date advice on the self-publishing process, avoid this like the plague.

A little rant; it has begun to really, really irritate me that self-published authors are writing books about self-publishing which offer no constructive advice. Hell, I'll take advice to spam readers over what's offered in this book.

I have no problem with self-publishing. None. At. All. I do not moan about the low-quality of self-published novels because I hate the practice, I moan about them because I'm a book reviewer. I review books, self-publishing and traditionally published, and as part of that, I moan about flaws in the books, from poor characterisation, to repeated errors in spelling or grammar. As I state in my review guidelines, I really don't care who publishes a book, I care how it reads.

Most self-publishing guides I've read come across (to me, at least) not as an attempt by the author to genuinely help fellow self-publishers, but as an ego trip, written solely because it's a way for the author to get paid to advertise his/her fictional works at the reader.

If you really want decent guides to self-publishing, just look for blogs. There are absolutely invaluable blogs there, written by (genuinely) successful self-published authors who are completely transparent; going so far as to post their sales figures and incomes. That is what you should be reading.

Not this book.

Never this book. Read more ›

21 of 23 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Refreshing and accurate view of the Indie field February 26, 2012

By Kirkus MacGowan

Format:Kindle Edition

I've read plenty of how-to Indie author books. Some great, some not so much. Jeff stuffs his with such valuable information; I'm not sure where to start. Even with all this information, the part that really hit me was the motivation and encouragement. His upbeat personality shines through in his writing. He's motivational without sounding preachy, and gives the aspiring author a realistic view of the current Indie field.

To give you an idea of what The Indie Author's Guide to the Universe entails, here are just a few subjects covered.

1. Life as an author.
2. When, where, and how to promote.
3. An in-depth view of the KDP Select program offered by Amazon.
4. What it takes to be successful as an Indie author.
5. Why your book might not be selling and what you can do about it.

Jeff Bennington gives the reader a refreshing and accurate view of the Indie field in The Indie Author's Guide to the Universe.

Thanks for the ARC, Jeff. Truly appreciated.

12 of 15 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Must Read for All Indie Authors June 17, 2012

By Phyllis Zimbler Miller

Format:Kindle Edition

I highly recommend Jeff Bennington's book to every indie author, no matter where each author is on the scale of knowledge concerning marketing a self-published book online. While I know a great deal, I did not yet know many of the invaluable recommendations in Jeff's book, especially about planning for free promotions on Kindle Select.

I also realized, thanks to Jeff's excellent advice, how I have been under-utilizing the product description on Amazon for each of my books. This information is so incredibly worthwhile and must be read!

If you are an indie author, do yourself the biggest favor possible and get -- and READ -- this book right now!
-- Phyllis Zimbler Miller, author of the thriller CIA FALL GUY

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars What a great book! April 27, 2013

By Dr. PatMannelly

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

This book offered solid, helpful advice to this two book beginning indie author. Lots of sage tips and ideas! Thanks.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars An Informative Read February 20, 2013

By Leti Del Mar

Format:Kindle Edition

I don't normally review non-fiction but I found this so powerful, I had to share it. This book is broken down into 4 sections. The first covers why you would want to self-publish (been there, done that, read that before). The second section is an overview on being a better writer and how to improve your craft. I though this part was a little too general to be helpful and has been better done elsewhere. However, the final 2 sections are full of marketing tips and business suggestions and all sorts of ideas you will be itching to try. These final two sections make this read worth it's weight in gold! If you have ever considered self-publishing or already have and now are wondering what to do, then read this book and you won't be disappointed!

The Inadvertent Thief (The Thief)

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Great tips, but more than anything ENCOURAGEMENT! September 20, 2012

By Carl S. Plumer

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I refer to this book constantly (I'm using it now to promote Mad About Undead You). Especially interesting is Jeff's well-researched method for exactly how much to price your ebook, when to move the price up or down, and why. I also appreciated his use of quotes from the likes of the great Joanna Penn. But mostly, what I liked about this book was Jeff's encouraging attitude and "you can do it, too" approach. Indie writers have so much to do to launch and sell books that it can seem overwhelming at times (most of the time?). Jeff is like a good friend guiding you up the mountain, one step at a time. I highly recommend this book, and that you seek Jeff's advice and tips out on the Web (he is on a number of websites offering links, advice, tips, and more).

PROS:
- Well written
- Real world examples
- Applicable strategies
- Positive message

CONS:
- A couple of the anecdotes are "m'eh" IMHO
- Inclusion of sample chapter from his Twisted Vengeance novel might seem self-serving
- A bit of self-marketing here and there

I'll post an update here in a few weeks and let you know how things are going per Jeff's advice.

****UPDATE OCT. 4**** Okay, just ran a KDP Select promo (which means the Kindle eBook was free for, in my case, three days) and promoted via free Kindle book websites, including Jeff's. My verdict? The KDP select promotion as Jeff advices, works. I had hundreds of downloads for an unknown author's unknown book. This is just step one, of course. But I just wanted to drop by and let folks know that so far, Jeff B's advice is solid.... Funny enough, I was "competing" with a compilation at the same time, one which featured stories by Jeff Bennington. :D Read more ›

More About the Author

Jeff Bennington is the bestselling author of supernatural thrillers like REUNION, TWISTED VENGEANCE, CREEPY, CREEPY 2, and CREEPY 3. The CREEPY series is a unique paranormal collection that blends true ghost stories with short supernatural tales that will keep you up at night.

You can get your Kindle book autographed by Jeff here ~> http://www.authorgraph.com

Jeff's novels have been compared to Koontz and King by his dedicated fans, and although many writers would love to hear such praise, Jeff simply turns red-faced, shakes his head and walks away. Mr. Bennington is a student of the craft, and hopes to perfectly pen a novel that balances fear, hope, tension and the state of the human condition so that every reader who reads it, weeps for days, nearly suicidal that it had to end. But until then, join him on the journey, and discover the many stories that have ravaged his brain in their struggle to get out... and they will escape... at any cost.

LATEST NEWS: The Secret Tree, co-authored with Patrick Bousum is NOW available in the Kindle store and print. Coming to audio soon!

WHAT'S COMING NEXT? Jeff will release MISSION UNDER FIRE in late summer - 2013. Mission Under Fire is a memoir co-written with Jeff's father-in-law, Rex Byers, about the terrifying events that unfolded on a mission trip to Haiti. After arriving in Port au Prince, the team endured a violent gun battle with a Haitian gang of bandits, with nothing to defend themselves except knives, coke bottles, and prayer. This is truly an amazing story of determination, faith, love, and ultimately forgiveness.

Jeff is publishing A GOLFER'S GUIDE TO LOVING YOUR WIFE by Jon Tice, a perfect Father's Day gift for the Golfer in your life that wants to improve his game where it really matters.

Jeff's short story, Suka: The White Wolf, was purchased by The Horror Zine and is scheduled for a 2013 release with Imajin Books.

Jeff has written political thrillers, supernatural thrillers and short suspense. You never know what he's going to write next, but you can bet that it will be suspenseful, intriguing, romantic or thrilling -- but not necessarily in that order. His blog posts can be funny, inspiring or informative; depends on his mood. He is truly a creative soul. He designs his own book covers, has been drumming for over 30 years and loves creating glass mosaics!

You can follow Jeff on Twitter @TweetTheBook and his blog, The Writing Bomb. If you enjoyed any of his works, please write a review and then look Jeff up online. He'd love to hear from you!