Category: Book Forward
Pricing of Self-published Books to International Readers
Self-publishing is changing. I think that in 2012 indie authors should go global. One of the important topics to raise is how to price books for international customers. My advice is simple: keep them low. The report on top self-published Kindle books of 2011, which I’ve recently released, shows a downward trend in both the [...]
Ebook Specific Cover Design: #4 – Shape
This post is a part of Ebook specific cover design series. This is the most exciting part of the series, as it opens infinity of possibilities. Starting point: book cover doesn’t have to be rectangular any more. In this post I’ll explain why. I’ve designed a cover for Water’s Edge by Robert Whitlow to show [...]
Ebook Specific Cover Design: #3 – Proportions
This post is a part of Ebook specific cover design series. In a third post about ebook cover design I’d like to focus on proportions. A digital book is immaterial. It’s a file, not an object. If you open it on your device, it would most probably fit to the proportions of the screen. So, [...]
Ebook Design: Interview with Sarah E Melville
I’m honored to share an interview with Sarah E Melville. Sarah is an extremely talented graphic designer and award-winning artist. Recently she launched a new site, Your Cover Uncovered, where you can submit your book’s cover for review – as well as learn from reviews of other books. Designing covers specifically for ebooks is a [...]
Ebook Specific Cover Design: #2 – Size and Resolution
This post is a part of Ebook specific cover design series. When you make a decision to publish your book only in digital format, you are also making essential change in how you approach cover design. You no longer have to deal with dots per inch in a high-quality print. The goal is not 9 [...]
How to Create Ebook Covers with Phoster Application
Phoster is a fantastic application for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch, perfect to create posters, cards, invitations and, yes, ebook covers. I’ve used the word “create” instead of “design” because it better describes what you’ll be doing. You don’t need to design a layout, it’s already done by the developers of the application, folks from [...]
Ebook Specific Cover Design: #1 – Context
This post is a part of Ebook specific cover design series. There are three approaches to covers: – ebook cover is a copy of a print edition, – one cover is designed for both print and digital edition, – a cover is designed for ebook only. I’d like to focus on the last one as [...]
Books Help Focus in Times of Distraction [Video]
You’ve been probably reading Johann Hari’s article In The Age of Distraction, We Need One Thing More Than Ever: Books. It encouraged me to do something to reflect this idea as I truly agree with it. The outcome is a video you can watch below.
Best Self-published Books in Kindle Store in June, John Locke Out of Top 100
A couple of days ago I’ve prepared for Ebook Friendly a June edition of Top Self-published Books in Kindle Store. Below I’d like to share a major outcome, and in my opinion the biggest surprise – John Locke didn’t make it to Kindle Store’s Top 100. The author of the Donovan Creed series recently joined [...]
How to Effectively Publish and Promote Books to iPad and iPhone Users
Users of devices with Apple’s iOS mobile operating system (iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch) are a very attractive group of potential readers. There are two major reasons: 1. iOS is a very versatile system, allowing the author to distribute books via different sets of tools and channels. 2. iOS users are more willing to buy [...]
Self-Publishing: How You Can Learn and Improve
Check all articles from Technology for self-publishers series. Those who say that self-publishing is a vast world of bad quality writing, are right… still right. They do not take into account the fact that self-publishers learn and improve. Self-published authors, those who think seriously about their writing, are highly motivated to find answers to their [...]
Self-Publishing: How You Can Sell Globally
Check all articles from Technology for self-publishers series. On a surface it sounds obvious. Sure, if I publish a book at Amazon and Amazon delivers Kindle devices and content to more than 100 countries, that means I have a worldwide distribution. It’s obvious for English speaking authors, but it opens lots of possibilities for non-English [...]
Self-Publishing: How You Can Innovate
Check all articles from Technology for self-publishers series. Times when writers were the last people on earth to embrace technology are over. Internet with all the advanced tools and solutions is a chance to be at the forefront. Pioneering can draw unexpectedly huge attention, also from the potential readers of your book. There are two [...]
How Readers Embrace Electronic Books
The original title of this exceptionally interesting study by Bain & Company is “Publishing in the Digital Era”, but there is so much useful information about readers and reading here, that I think it’s worth stressing it in a post’s title. The study shows the pace of digital content adoption, the split between devices, age [...]
Kindle for the Web – How It Can Be Used by Authors
In September last year Amazon introduced a new tool, Kindle for the Web, which allows users to read and share first chapters of books without leaving a web browser. In addition to a good-looking preview interface, there are two useful features: sharing and embedding. The latter one is a very good, yet underestimated tool which [...]
Self-Publishing: How You Can Build Better Relations
Check all articles from Technology for self-publishers series. Digital environment is leading to an essential change of a relationship’s direction. In a traditional model the major flow was vertical, one way, from publisher to readers. Now the relationship becomes horizontal, two way, between the author and reader – at the level of the reader. Before [...]
Self-Publishing: How You Can Reduce Costs
Check all articles from Technology for self-publishers series. The price of a book is what really matters to readers. It’s where self-published authors can compete with traditional publishers, as the examples of Amanda Hocking or J.A. Konrath show. Many Kindle Store writers choose $0.99 price tag. They can afford it, as the cost of publishing [...]
28 Out of 100 Top Kindle E-books Are Self-Published
After a February excitement about Amanda Hocking earning millions of dollars from Kindle Store, I wanted to check how self-published authors are doing a couple of weeks later. From a Kindle Store list of top 100 e-books I’ve selected those ones, which were published by the authors themselves. It was not an easy task, as [...]
Self-Publishing: How Technology Is Making You More Powerful [Introduction]
Check all articles from Technology for self-publishers series. This is a kick-off post of a series of articles devoted to describe free tools, which can self-publishers write, publish and promote better books. If you decide to self-publish an e-book, you’ll become more powerful than you think. You can do it with a help of tools [...]
Free Tools for Authors Offered by Ebook Friendly: First Chapter Previews and Book Directory
You may already know that I founded Ebook Friendly – a very special e-bookstore addressed to those readers who are aware of distractions the web brings and want to avoid them at the stage of browsing for books. Why did I choose such a positioning? Because reading is all about being focused, opposite to Internet [...]
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