indie authors

Is a book's success all luck, even if 'luck' includes hitting the right subject matter at the right time, or is it marketing—and can an indie author in any way compete with a publisher?

Discussions about the "resurgence" of print and the comeback of independent bookstores amounts to wishful thinking, not an understanding of the industry.

Is it better to have a long or short book description on Amazon? What should go in the first line? How do you research appropriate categories and keywords? Learn principles and tools to master the power of descriptions and reach your target market.

Established writers can't often—and probably shouldn’t—publish far outside of their area of expertise. It’s a fast way to alienate your existing fan base. But crowdfunding allows you to experiment outside of your genre for a project you want to see out in the world.

The most important thing any author needs to know about book distribution is that more than half of all book sales (regardless of format) take place online.

Sarah Miniaci at Smith Publicity and Kristina Radke at NetGalley review the marketing and publicity strategies that can help increase your book's discoverability, word-of-mouth, and reviews, using NetGalley and Goodreads in particular.

In 2015, Kindle Press published about 90 novels. By the end of 2016, it had published a total of 218 books—all chosen through the Kindle Scout program.

Pronoun works with independent authors to distribute their ebooks to the five major online retailers: Amazon, Apple, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, and Google Play. Pronoun charges authors nothing upfront, and doesn't take a cut of ebook sales either.

There are advantages to selling ebooks only through Amazon, and makes most sense for authors who are just starting out or who are relatively unknown.

A round-up of important 2016 publishing news and trends that will affect authors in the years to come.

How a self-publishing poet achieved visibility for her book—and landed a book deal with traditional publisher Andrews McMeel.

If you want to sell books and have people read them, you have to meet other people and tell them about it. Learn the best networking strategies for people who hate networking.

Reddit is an online community where you can get your book in front of hundreds of thousands of readers for free. That is, if you have the right strategy.

The most important publishing industry headlines and stories that every writer should keep an eye on in 2016.

As publishing becomes increasingly digital-driven, how are the business models for authorship changing?

Amazon says that Kindle Select participation is healthy, and that the Kindle Unlimited ebook subscription service is leading to more reading and sales.

Old post alert! This was published in 2014 and some aspects of Kindle Unlimited have changed. If you're investigating whether

If you don't like the terms offered by Amazon's ACX for selling your audiobook, you do have an alternative. Author Lee Stephen explains the path he took.

Note from Jane: Today's guest post is from Joanna Penn (@thecreativepenn), and is based on her new book, Business for Authors:

Note from Jane: Today's guest post is by Beate Boeker (@BeateBoeker), whom I met at the International Women's Fiction Festival in

Porter Anderson looks at how six of the most prominently successful self-publishing authors are taking their own booth (#966) at BookExpo America (#BEA13), staking their claim to a new, unified presence at the industry's big trade show.

Many years ago, when I started working for Writer’s Digest, I was put on the self-publishing beat. I started by

The turning point of my long-term publishing plans came when I realized I have very little in common with author