tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-67827131278244781762012-01-24T20:53:45.820-08:00Follow my adventures in both self-publishing and traditional, trade publishing.April L. Hamiltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06450879359445096462noreply@blogger.comBlogger1021100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6782713127824478176.post-24820407100256814012012-01-16T08:28:00.000-08:002012-01-16T09:37:40.213-08:00

Note: I've made my latest book, Overshare, available for free download through this Friday, 1/20/12 - it may be informative to download a copy and look at it in the (free) Kindle Reader app or on a Kindle Fire (it's presented in full color, so viewing it on a monochrome Kindle won't give you the full experience) before reading this post.These days, authors and publishers are beset on all sides by

April L. Hamiltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06450879359445096462noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6782713127824478176.post-20145243549188411392012-01-02T12:46:00.001-08:002012-01-02T18:43:00.312-08:00

Inbox Zero is that state of digital communications nirvana in which you empty your email inbox, and keep emptying it on a daily basis. This may sound like a pipe dream to many, especially if you've had your email account for many years and your inbox message count is hovering somewhere around 1700, as mine was when I finally bit the bullet and tackled Inbox Zero. But believe me: it can be done,

April L. Hamiltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06450879359445096462noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6782713127824478176.post-75527449772147102032011-12-14T13:45:00.000-08:002011-12-14T14:32:09.431-08:00

My new book, Overshare, went on sale in Amazon's Kindle store early this morning, and because it's such an unusual book and I'm really pulling out all the stops...okay, as many stops as I can...to get some momentum going with it early on, I'll be periodically reporting on its progress here. I first introduced the book and offered a free excerpt from it here, so readers could see what's so

April L. Hamiltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06450879359445096462noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6782713127824478176.post-10651069772051372052011-12-08T10:00:00.000-08:002011-12-14T13:44:16.315-08:00

At the bottom of this post, I've provided a link to a pdf excerpt containing the first five chapters of my new "book", Overshare. For quite a while, many bloggers and digital media mavens have been asking when authors are going to start exploiting the possibilities ebook formats have to offer, and when they're going to start redefining the meaning of the word, "book". My new "book", Overshare, is

April L. Hamiltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06450879359445096462noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6782713127824478176.post-15545776643978148952011-12-08T09:16:00.000-08:002011-12-08T09:26:30.890-08:00

If you're an Amazon Prime member and you have a Kindle or Kindle Fire, you can now borrow any of my self-published Kindle books for free under the Amazon Prime Lending Library program! Just turn on your Kindle or Fire, go to the Kindle Store, and look up Adelaide Einstein (comic fiction, chick lit), Snow Ball (dark, comic mystery), Shorts (collection of shorts and flash fiction) or From Concept

April L. Hamiltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06450879359445096462noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6782713127824478176.post-19245181453128634782011-09-20T10:42:00.000-07:002011-09-28T15:31:51.104-07:00

I've been a guest speaker for numerous webinars and have found them to be an excellent way to deliver presentations. Now that my book, The Indie Author Guide: Self-Publishing Strategies Anyone Can Use, is coming up on its one year anniversary since release, many of you are hoping to get your books available for sale in Kindle format in time for the holidays, and thousands of folks will soon have

April L. Hamiltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06450879359445096462noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6782713127824478176.post-74184937652433171912011-08-30T08:27:00.000-07:002011-08-30T08:43:35.688-07:00

Have you ever been watching a movie or reading a book in which a character does or says something that doesn't fit with who that character has been set up to be, and you're left annoyed, wondering why the character behaved or spoke as such? And then the plot continues cranking right along, and if the story's very funny or involving, or there are lots of explosions and cool special effects, you

April L. Hamiltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06450879359445096462noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6782713127824478176.post-6464217543254332272011-08-11T15:27:00.001-07:002011-08-11T21:21:03.723-07:00

Ah, progress. Had telephones existed in Verona of old, Romeo and Juliet would've been able to synchronize their plans perfectly and avoid all that mistaken suicide business. Consider the movie, It's A Wonderful Life: if security cameras had been mounted in the Bedford Falls Building and Loan, George Bailey and his scatterbrained Uncle Billy would've known in a matter of hours what became of the

April L. Hamiltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06450879359445096462noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6782713127824478176.post-74501572632258920602011-07-28T17:30:00.001-07:002011-07-28T18:09:38.568-07:00

I'm always astounded by the hard-sell and oversell antics of some indie authors. While I often advise indie authors that they must be able to take off their Author hat and put on a Publisher hat, the thing is, no matter which of those two hats they're wearing they should always have a Reader beanie on underneath.While I wouldn't ever advise a writer to engineer his or her fiction to suit a given

April L. Hamiltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06450879359445096462noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6782713127824478176.post-78904897818341038332011-07-25T16:21:00.000-07:002011-07-25T21:11:16.237-07:00

Dialogue is an area where many writers struggle. This is pretty ironic when you consider that words are writers' stock in trade, and unless a given writer is mute, he or she has been plying that trade since about the age of eleven months. Yet while most of us communicate normally and without much difficulty in our everyday lives, for some reason many of us have a tendency to go all flowery,

April L. Hamiltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06450879359445096462noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6782713127824478176.post-59029099210368986212011-07-11T17:12:00.001-07:002011-07-11T17:57:07.244-07:00

I recently read a Slate article about how the film industry is repeating the DRM and business model mistakes of the music industry, and of course saw many parallels with, and implications for, trade publishing in it. But unlike the film and music industries, Big Pub has plenty more market and cultural shifts to contend with these days than just the rising popularity and availability of digital

April L. Hamiltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06450879359445096462noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6782713127824478176.post-71568872343592710022011-06-20T16:06:00.001-07:002011-06-21T22:16:52.413-07:00

In a word, no.If I've said it once, I've said it too many times to count:There is no one-size-fits-all, by-the-numbers success formula for indie authors. There is no specific template or blueprint that will guarantee lasting sales or readership for any book.Assuming for the moment that your indie book is exceptionally well-written, immaculately edited and sports a compelling cover, it's just a

April L. Hamiltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06450879359445096462noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6782713127824478176.post-37192923551760125982011-06-03T10:05:00.000-07:002011-06-03T10:11:22.704-07:00

Self-publishing, that is. Or at least, it can seem so. There are the breakthrough success stories at one end of the spectrum, bitter tales of sales disappointment at the other, and between the two, a generous smattering of testimonials from indie authors who aren't earning enough to quit their day jobs yet but are covering the rent or groceries each month with proceeds from their book sales.

April L. Hamiltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06450879359445096462noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6782713127824478176.post-76126437300010577032011-05-18T09:59:00.000-07:002011-05-18T11:06:45.824-07:00

I just read this article about Bookish.com, a new joint venture being launched later this summer by Hachette Book Group, Penguin USA and Simon & Schuster. Per the article:The site intends to provide information for all things literary: suggestions on what books to buy, reviews of books, excerpts from books and news about authors. Visitors will also be able to buy books directly from the site or

April L. Hamiltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06450879359445096462noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6782713127824478176.post-31607382796010887442011-05-15T13:12:00.000-07:002011-05-19T11:50:49.011-07:00

I haven't posted anything here in a mighty long time, and you may be wondering what's up with that. I could just say I'm busy, which would be true, but that doesn't do justice to the question. Particularly since I'm supposed to be some kind of expert on author platform and whatnot, and as everyone who knows anything about author platform knows, neglect is a platform killer. Well, that's more or

April L. Hamiltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06450879359445096462noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6782713127824478176.post-46573473902300625602011-04-21T08:58:00.000-07:002011-04-21T09:09:45.773-07:00

WILL YOU BE A SAVVY, OR SHORTSIGHTED SELF-PUBLISHER?More and more authors, aspiring and mainstream-published alike, are embracing the benefits they can enjoy through self-publishing. Retaining full creative control, earning significantly higher profits, being able to bring a complete, polished manuscript to market in a matter of weeks instead of months or years, releasing one's work in as many (

April L. Hamiltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06450879359445096462noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6782713127824478176.post-83732093095806023262011-01-24T10:31:00.000-08:002011-01-25T08:05:38.151-08:00

I love books, but I am not a particular lover of paper. For years now, most of my "reading" (where fiction is concerned, at least) has been done via audiobooks. I am also receptive to ebooks, and feel that certain books actually offer much more functionality in electronic form than in hard copy: travel guides, tech books, pretty much anything where the ability to easily jump to a specific topic

April L. Hamiltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06450879359445096462noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6782713127824478176.post-73077024732648338882011-01-07T10:37:00.000-08:002011-01-10T12:36:57.136-08:00

As anyone who follows this blog or reads Publetariat regularly already knows, my financial circumstances have been precarious lately. Because of this, I've concluded I simply can't afford to do the self-financed book tour I had planned to support the release of The Indie Author Guide. "But April," you may ask, "how can you afford not to be out there, promoting your new book? Isn't that what all

April L. Hamiltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06450879359445096462noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6782713127824478176.post-87274722219764378292011-01-06T16:24:00.000-08:002011-01-09T00:31:47.002-08:00

When my first mainstream-published book, The Indie Author Guide: Self-Publishing Strategies Anyone Can Use, shipped to booksellers at the end of November, I started checking the Borders and Barnes & Noble sites almost daily to find out when the book would become "available in-store". I planned on making the pilgrimmage to all my local stores to see my book on the shelves, but with some

April L. Hamiltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06450879359445096462noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6782713127824478176.post-70320447629431773112010-12-07T21:32:00.001-08:002010-12-07T21:43:50.844-08:00

Thanks very much to everyone who entered the contest. =') I printed out all the tweets, cut them into individual slips of paper, shook 'em all up in a bag and drew the winners at random. Drumroll, please!The winners of a signed copy of my book are:@LenoxParker@RDavisKeller@ponilinda@wildlypoetic@ReDcirKle...plus, I'm throwing in a bonus copy for @Mike_Gerrard, who was the first to tweet.The

April L. Hamiltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06450879359445096462noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6782713127824478176.post-2168856379410750912010-12-03T08:34:00.000-08:002010-12-03T09:58:58.721-08:00

Okay folks, my book is now out and it's time for some giveaways to help promote it. What am I giving away, you ask?1 one-year, VIP subscription to Publetariat Vault University, granting the winner access to all lessons in both the Publishing and Author Platform/Promo curricula - a $160 value1 Wi-Fi Kindle - a $139 value5 signed copies of The Indie Author Guide: Self-Publishing Strategies Anyone

April L. Hamiltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06450879359445096462noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6782713127824478176.post-52136629401421753472010-10-20T09:51:00.000-07:002011-06-29T12:18:52.037-07:00

I'm getting a lot of emails from authors who tell me this or that company or person is offering to convert their manuscripts into ebooks for some ridiculously low fee, like $50. What the authors don't know is that conversion of a manuscript to an ebook format takes fifteen minutes or less, is mostly an automated process, and will only deliver a quality ebook at the back end if the file being

April L. Hamiltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06450879359445096462noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6782713127824478176.post-85649999038957121632010-10-17T12:40:00.000-07:002010-10-17T14:28:22.244-07:00

On Twitter, I try to retweet links of value to writers. Since I know many writers are constantly on the lookout for paying gigs, I follow @writersjobs and frequently retweet the help wanted ads they post. Mind you, @writersjobs isn't actually placing any of these help wanted ads, they just post links to the ads on Twitter to provide an easy, centralized gig list for writers. Today, I was

April L. Hamiltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06450879359445096462noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6782713127824478176.post-91691908165464601082010-08-31T15:29:00.001-07:002010-08-31T17:04:39.081-07:00

I was about to post an overlong response in a comment thread on Joel Friedlander's The Book Designer blog, but on reflection, realized what I was about to post wasn't a response, it was a blog entry in its own right. The article associated with the comment thread is about Library of Congress registration information, and the subject of ISBN ownership came up in the discussion going on beneath the

April L. Hamiltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06450879359445096462noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6782713127824478176.post-83277663274039682472010-08-24T11:12:00.000-07:002010-08-24T21:36:03.442-07:00

Seth Godin's announcement yesterday that his future works will not be traditionally published seems, to me anyway, to have finally knocked over the "Tipping Point" domino in a chain that's long been poised to open the floodgates of true acceptance and respectability for indie authorship. For authors like Godin, JA Konrath, Steven Covey, and lesser-known indies like me, this is a wonderful

April L. Hamiltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06450879359445096462noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6782713127824478176.post-60660377849191440162010-08-18T19:30:00.001-07:002010-08-18T20:09:29.783-07:00

I recently redesigned my author website. It's something many of you will do at some point, whether to add features, get a more professional look, put the focus on a specific book or service, or just because you think it's time. Whatever the reason, when bringing in the new, be careful not to get too overzealous about throwing out the old.Some of the content on your site may be quite popular, with

April L. Hamiltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06450879359445096462noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6782713127824478176.post-27014375612404706032010-07-29T17:08:00.001-07:002010-07-29T19:32:51.864-07:00

By now you've probably heard all about Amazon's new 70% royalty option for authors and publishers who release Kindle books through the Amazon Digital Text Platform (DTP), and many of you who have Kindle books in release may have already opted in for the higher royalty. But there's a major gotcha here no one seems to be talking about.No, I'm not talking about the 'delivery price' factor, which

April L. Hamiltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06450879359445096462noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6782713127824478176.post-64449068387869283742010-07-11T08:58:00.000-07:002011-06-22T09:34:08.961-07:00

Once again, I'm judging for Writer's Digest's annual Self-Published Book Awards, and once again, the need for a good edit is crying out to me from the pages of most of the entries. Mind you, I'm not talking about the occasional typo or missing space between words. Most of you would think those things are nits, just as likely to have been introduced in the typesetting phase as to have been

April L. Hamiltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06450879359445096462noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6782713127824478176.post-84773187139431840862010-05-17T19:14:00.000-07:002010-05-17T21:44:26.080-07:00

Anyone who follows this blog knows I'm not big on rules of writing. But in my experience as an author, a reader, and an editor, I've found the word "that" is one of the least-needed, most overused, and most frequently misused, in all of modern literature. To better understand what I'm driving at here, allow me to rewrite those first two lines with the "thats" left in:Anyone who follows this blog

April L. Hamiltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06450879359445096462noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6782713127824478176.post-915634090784718582010-05-02T19:58:00.000-07:002010-05-02T21:13:19.900-07:00

I've been editing a provocative nonfiction manuscript that contains some ideas with which I agree, some with which I disagree, and some with which I disagree strongly. The author has expressed concern that in the process of editing his work, I may inadvertently or purposely alter his meaning due to its controversial content. This is a reasonable worry for any author to have when handing his

April L. Hamiltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06450879359445096462noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6782713127824478176.post-53659120082685746242010-03-28T11:03:00.000-07:002010-03-29T07:26:48.831-07:00

I haven't been blogging or otherwise communicating online as much as usual lately, for very good reasons. I'm facing two major life crises, simultaneously. As I've been half-joking to friends, if I survive this year I may as well sign up for the Navy SEALs, because it'll be clear that nothing can kill me.The blog of record for what I'm going through is To Hell & (Hopefully) Back. I won't be

April L. Hamiltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06450879359445096462noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6782713127824478176.post-18988594922196410722010-03-03T16:47:00.000-08:002010-03-03T18:09:33.451-08:00

Hey, wouldn't it be great if you had a little brother or sister hanging out on the interwebz all day and tattling on anyone who said anything about you or your work online? Then you could quickly respond with appreciation to any kudos, and if it seemed like it would do any good, with damage control to any not-so-kudos. As it turns out, you already do have just such a little tattle-tale, ready and

April L. Hamiltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06450879359445096462noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6782713127824478176.post-69472411752299110802010-02-08T14:36:00.000-08:002010-02-08T15:44:55.586-08:00

Over the weekend, a certain woman who shall remain semi-nameless—I’ll call her May—was confronted with the choice between committing piracy and…well, going without. While her story centers on a couple of music files, the larger issues it raises are equally applicable to ebooks. So hang in there, this really does have some bearing on matters of authorship and publishing.May has been waiting for

April L. Hamiltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06450879359445096462noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6782713127824478176.post-73170546092691817752010-01-31T19:00:00.000-08:002010-02-03T15:04:19.403-08:00

Herewith, I present an updated and amended version of my original blog post on the Amazon v. Macmillan affair. Let me state up front, I do not agree with Amazon's strongarm tactics, and it is not my intention to defend those actions in this post. Rather, I'm puzzled by authors' nearly universal lack of criticism for Macmillan's part in the matter. I can't help wondering, if Amazon had quietly

April L. Hamiltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06450879359445096462noreply@blogger.com23tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6782713127824478176.post-25546659494720786502010-01-29T19:49:00.001-08:002010-01-29T22:01:22.481-08:00

My ereader is a tablet computing device that's 9 3/4" x 8 3/8", with a full-color touchscreen that measures 6 3/4" x 5 1/8". It's 3/4" thick and weighs about 2 pounds. It carries an on-board, removable stylus, like a Nintendo DS.It came standard with 2 USB ports, a built-in microphone, jacks for an external microphone and headphones, built-in compact flash card reader, 9-pin connector (for

April L. Hamiltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06450879359445096462noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6782713127824478176.post-57204429696222946452010-01-20T11:37:00.000-08:002010-01-20T12:10:23.400-08:00

If you’re working your author platform effectively, you’re very active online. You’re doing any or all of the following: posting to your blog, possibly posting to others’ blogs, tweeting, posting updates on Facebook or MySpace or LinkedIn, participating in online discussion groups and comment threads, posting or commenting on YouTube book trailers, and maybe even podcasting. Your goal is to open

April L. Hamiltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06450879359445096462noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6782713127824478176.post-70325781997276673042010-01-07T17:11:00.000-08:002010-01-07T17:36:09.641-08:00

[This is excerpted from a lesson I wrote for Vault University, with a little extra commentary added.]What is “voice”? There are differences of opinion on this, but generally speaking a writer’s voice is that combination of style, technique, tone and subject matter that immediately identifies a piece of writing as part of a specific author’s canon of work. As a rule of thumb, if you can imagine a

April L. Hamiltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06450879359445096462noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6782713127824478176.post-25160417547402144242009-12-18T08:32:00.000-08:002009-12-18T15:42:02.160-08:00

If you've ever belonged to a workshopping writers' community and have made your work available for critique, you're probably all too familiar with a certain type of singularly insulting and useless feedback. And you've probably wondered why the authors of condescending and mean-spirited critiques are so...well, condescending and mean-spirited.At last, I've found the answer in the following

April L. Hamiltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06450879359445096462noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6782713127824478176.post-57562997739149768832009-12-09T13:15:00.001-08:002009-12-19T20:18:19.585-08:00

Ah yes, the only two things that are certain in life are death and taxes. While I hate to harsh anyone's holiday season mellow, this is something to which we U.S.-taxpaying authors need to pay attention, especially at this time of year.Let me open by saying I am not a tax professional and nothing in this blog should be construed as professional tax advice. For that, you must consult a

April L. Hamiltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06450879359445096462noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6782713127824478176.post-12281803790223672152009-11-29T17:57:00.000-08:002010-07-28T17:00:49.664-07:00

I am a maven of self-publishing. I believe that in today’s world, in most cases, there’s not much of great value a traditional publisher can do to help a previously unknown, debut author reach her goals that the author can’t do on her own. Advances are down, publisher-funded promotional budgets are slim to nonexistent, and brick-and-mortar bookstore distribution is no longer the crucial linchpin

April L. Hamiltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06450879359445096462noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6782713127824478176.post-46407014389488895712009-11-18T12:30:00.000-08:002009-11-18T14:54:16.065-08:00

Just as Thomas Nelson did about a month ago, Harlequin has announced it is partnering with Author Solutions, Inc. (ASI) to form a self-published books imprint. This new imprint is called Harlequin Horizons (HH), and according to a Harlequin press release:“Through this strategic alliance; all sales, marketing, publishing, distribution, and book-selling services will be fulfilled by ASI; but

April L. Hamiltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06450879359445096462noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6782713127824478176.post-83030243639273821762009-11-16T19:41:00.000-08:002009-11-16T20:30:31.048-08:00

Most of us indie authors talk a good game about how there are plenty of quality indie books available, and how there are plenty of terrible mainstream books. We also like to complain about the lack of variety and originality in mainstream book offerings as compared to indie books. Such musings generally lead to the conclusion that if people would just give indie books the same chance they give to

April L. Hamiltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06450879359445096462noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6782713127824478176.post-51227574918177929002009-11-06T20:19:00.000-08:002009-11-09T11:54:46.140-08:00

If you’re budget-minded (like me), you probably think of writers’ or publishers’ conferences as a luxury: something you know you can benefit from, and something you’d love to do more often, but something for which it can be hard to justify the expense. Well, in addition to the educational and social networking benefits, it turns out there can be major author platform dividends as well.Author

April L. Hamiltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06450879359445096462noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6782713127824478176.post-2916411934179130612009-10-15T08:14:00.000-07:002009-10-15T08:31:22.380-07:00

Christina Katz, The Writer Mama and author of Get Known Before the Book Deal, hosts a regular Twitter interview series known as #Platformchat, and I and author Seth Harwood will be guests on Friday, 10/23. From Christina's site: On Friday, October 23rd our #platformchat guests will be Seth Harwood & April Hamilton. Time is: 11:00 - noon PT (noon - 1:00 MT, 1:00 - 2:00 CT, & 2:00 - 3:00 ET).Topic:

April L. Hamiltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06450879359445096462noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6782713127824478176.post-87793232298111211712009-10-11T14:32:00.000-07:002009-10-11T14:40:32.483-07:00

It’s a cliché that so-called overnight successes are many years in the making, but it’s also true. As you plug away at your day job and your manuscripts, year in and out, it’s easy to get discouraged. It’s hard not to feel nothing’s ever going to happen for you. And when you read about some hot new author du jour you’ve never heard of who got a six or seven figure offer, landed a spot on Oprah

April L. Hamiltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06450879359445096462noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6782713127824478176.post-24288071220985846632009-10-08T11:59:00.000-07:002009-10-08T19:36:23.602-07:00

For the past several months, I’ve been working on the Publetariat Vault. Among the hundreds of authors who’ve registered for Vault membership, about 5% are completely overwhelmed by the listing form. They refuse to read or follow the instructions on the form, or think 17 required fields are too much to ask, or don’t know how to create a synopsis or excerpt in pdf, rtf or txt format, or don’t know

April L. Hamiltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06450879359445096462noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6782713127824478176.post-9407914718384696232009-10-01T18:12:00.000-07:002009-10-01T18:38:52.304-07:00

There’s a lot of hue and cry against online aggregation circulating around the interwebs these days, and I really don’t get it.Aggregator sites reprint excerpts from other sites’ articles and blog posts, along with a ‘keep reading’ or ‘read the rest’ link to the source article/blog post. The more responsible aggregators also include the name of the author, and the most considerate ones also

April L. Hamiltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06450879359445096462noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6782713127824478176.post-82339166538326683962009-09-29T12:02:00.000-07:002009-10-02T19:29:13.933-07:00

*UPDATED* (see revision in blue, below)Have you been wishing you had some time to speak with me in person about your self-publishing quandaries and questions, preferably while on a cruise to the Mexican Riviera? Or perhaps you've wanted to ask NYT bestselling author Scott Sigler how he crossed over from indie to mainstream success on the basis of his author platform, ideally while sipping a

April L. Hamiltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06450879359445096462noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6782713127824478176.post-88937402866946087322009-09-22T18:58:00.000-07:002009-09-22T19:49:57.208-07:00

Until recently, if you were self-published virtually any agent or book editor worth her salt didn’t want to hear about it. Many of them would want nothing to do with you at all, as if your self-published status might rub their own cachet off or something. But given the tenor and content of the sessions at this year’s Writers Digest Business of Getting Published Conference, I predict it won’t be

April L. Hamiltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06450879359445096462noreply@blogger.com45tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6782713127824478176.post-4668987185618568382009-09-06T20:56:00.000-07:002009-09-06T21:14:51.776-07:00

Hi, Joe or Jane Author. My name is...well, it doesn’t really matter what my name is, all that matters is I’ve just signed up for your newsletter, or started visiting your site or blog, or registered for membership on your site, or started following you on Twitter, or friended you on Facebook or MySpace or FriendFeed or Goodreads or LibraryThing or something similar. This should be the start of a

April L. Hamiltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06450879359445096462noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6782713127824478176.post-22899172941725972772009-08-04T21:02:00.000-07:002009-08-04T23:49:26.645-07:00

I've been away because I've been judging in this year's Writer's Digest Self-Published Books contest, and unlike some other contest judges I know of, don't think it's fair to reject any entry after reading only the first paragraph---or less. I read all of the 25 books allotted to me from cover to cover, and went back to re-read certain passages in most of them when compiling my judging notes. I

April L. Hamiltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06450879359445096462noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6782713127824478176.post-4409746147541234252009-06-25T08:29:00.001-07:002009-06-25T08:49:15.489-07:00

I'll be presenting a workshop at this year's Writer's Digest: The Business Of Getting Published Conference, and the nice folks at WD have provided me with a $50 discount code my audience can use when registering for the conference (discount code below). From WD:The Writer's Digest Conference: The Business of Getting Published is designed to guide any author through the new dynamics of today's

April L. Hamiltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06450879359445096462noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6782713127824478176.post-38401338510004306712009-06-08T21:00:00.000-07:002009-06-08T21:21:35.239-07:00

‘Author Platform’ is the buzzphrase of the moment. If you’re doing a good job of creating and maintaining that all-important communication channel between yourself and the public, it’s only a matter of time before the web trolls descend upon you to ruin things for everyone. Herewith, I present a relevant excerpt from Ms. Gertrude Strumpf-Hollingsworth’s “Encyclopedia of Annoyances, Bothers and

April L. Hamiltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06450879359445096462noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6782713127824478176.post-31706100932782313192009-05-13T15:07:00.000-07:002009-05-13T21:44:10.587-07:00

My blog series on the most common problems I found in the self-published, non-fiction books I recently judged for The Next Generation Indie Book Awards continues. In part one, I discussed books written by authors who are not qualified experts in their chosen subjects. In part two, I wrote about authors who come across as dabblers or flakes in their author bio. Part three was about memoirs

April L. Hamiltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06450879359445096462noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6782713127824478176.post-51692225713496188992009-05-07T11:25:00.000-07:002009-05-07T11:28:59.681-07:00

My blog series on the most common problems I found in the self-published, non-fiction books I recently judged for The Next Generation Indie Book Awards continues. In part one, I discussed books written by authors who are not qualified experts in their chosen subjects. In part two, I wrote about authors who come across as dabblers or flakes in their author bio. Today, it’s about memoirs

April L. Hamiltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06450879359445096462noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6782713127824478176.post-83429474177404608942009-04-25T10:55:00.000-07:002009-04-25T12:47:35.487-07:00

My blog series on the most common problems I found in the self-published, non-fiction books I recently judged for The Next Generation Indie Book Awards continues. In part one, I discussed books written by authors who are not qualified experts in their chosen subjects. This time, I take on the dabbler: the author who comes across as a jack of all trades, but master of none.Nobody wants to take

April L. Hamiltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06450879359445096462noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6782713127824478176.post-30611448891324472142009-04-17T10:41:00.000-07:002009-04-17T11:29:34.239-07:00

I recently completed a stint of judging nonfiction, indie books for The Next Generation Indie Book Awards. Popular lore holds that most self-published books are of poor quality, both in terms of layout/design and writing, but that was not my experience with these books.Most of the books had very attractive and professional-looking covers, and many of them had excellent illustrations and interior

April L. Hamiltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06450879359445096462noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6782713127824478176.post-36948452497876090312009-04-07T10:51:00.001-07:002009-04-07T11:05:58.842-07:00

By now, most any writer on Twitter has heard of #queryfail and the subsequent #agentfail. For those of you reading who have no idea what I'm talking about, #queryfail was a collection of Twitter posts made by literary agents in which they variously railed, joked, complained, and talked about failed queries from writers. Writers shot back with their own Twitter stream: #agentfail, in which they

April L. Hamiltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06450879359445096462noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6782713127824478176.post-38375475468013403652009-04-02T14:31:00.000-07:002009-04-02T14:43:45.705-07:00

Note: This article is a cross-posting from Publetariat.com. You’ve probably been hearing a lot about Google Book Search lately. Mainstream publishers and authors are variously confused, angry or nervous about GBS, but for indie authors and small imprints, it’s all good.What’s This All About, Then?From Wikipedia:Google Book Search is a tool from Google that searches the full text of books that

April L. Hamiltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06450879359445096462noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6782713127824478176.post-26845486142861448302009-03-16T10:34:00.000-07:002009-09-30T13:17:07.692-07:00

At the risk of coming off as some kind of Amazon shill, I'm afraid I've just got to blog about one of their services again: CreateSpace. I feel this is necessary because I keep seeing tweets, posts and Facebook notes from indie authors--especially authors outside the US---who intend to go through Lulu based in part on a belief that Lulu is the most economical choice for the services offered, and

April L. Hamiltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06450879359445096462noreply@blogger.com107tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6782713127824478176.post-55338853004364097172009-03-02T17:39:00.000-08:002009-03-02T18:53:36.788-08:00

I received an email today from someone who says: I am wondering why you call yourself an "inide" (sic) author when you have not one, but 2 links to Amazon on your site with no mention of Indiebound.org. Amazon is the anti-indie.As the manager of an indie book shop we seek the support of authors by asking them to post Indiebound.org as a purchase option. I cannot believe that you profess to be

April L. Hamiltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06450879359445096462noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6782713127824478176.post-23259004491398567332009-02-26T10:08:00.000-08:002009-02-26T10:45:01.639-08:00

In his book, The Cult of the Amateur: how today's internet is killing our culture, author Andrew Keen argues that Web 2.0 (content for media consumers created by media consumers) will soon spell the death of Western media culture as we know it. I don't disagree with him, but unlike Mr. Keen, I don't think that's a bad thing.Mr. Keen likens the worldwide community of bloggers and indie artists to

April L. Hamiltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06450879359445096462noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6782713127824478176.post-73081526064896811792009-02-22T09:15:00.000-08:002009-02-22T11:09:31.851-08:00

A funny thing happened to me this month. Not funny ha-ha, but funny WTF?!As you probably already know, the launch of Publetariat, a new online news hub and community for indie authors and small imprints I've founded, was announced on 2/11 at the O'Reilly Tools of Change (#TOC) conference. Okay, I say "announced", but this wasn't any kind of onstage, glitzy,

April L. Hamiltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06450879359445096462noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6782713127824478176.post-21080271454147169312009-02-14T15:58:00.000-08:002009-02-14T16:08:13.151-08:00

Everyone is invited to a free online party to celebrate the launch of Anne Cordwainer's new book, Modern Magic. Check out this review, from an author more than a few of us have heard of: “I love it! The magic framework is well worked out, the writing is apt, and the crises are scary . . . . this is a fun novel.” -Piers Anthony At the online party you'll find great music, pointers to great books

April L. Hamiltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06450879359445096462noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6782713127824478176.post-51809619491202224922009-02-14T09:37:00.001-08:002009-02-14T12:36:29.277-08:00

Don't believe what you hear about New Yorkers being rude. During the four days I was there for the O'Reilly Tools of Change conference, only two people were rude to me. One was a woman who sat next to me during a showing of the musical Billy Elliot. The other was an author in attendance at the conference. I've blurred the details in relating my experience with the author here, but there's still

April L. Hamiltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06450879359445096462noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6782713127824478176.post-68186316502827575172009-02-11T07:33:00.000-08:002009-02-11T07:41:19.398-08:00

The panel discussion in which I was a member, The Rise of Ebooks, played to a packed auditorium here at the O'Reilly Tools of Change conference on technology and the future of publishing yesterday. Luckily for me, the lights shining on us were so blinding that it was difficult to see---and therefore, to be unnerved by---the large audience. The other panel members were Smashwords founder Mark

April L. Hamiltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06450879359445096462noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6782713127824478176.post-29246122352269087782009-02-04T10:31:00.000-08:002009-02-04T10:46:32.687-08:00

Isn't it about time we indie authors and small imprints had an online home to call our own? And wouldn't it be great if that online home had news about publishing and authorship, articles on topics of interest to us, a moderated discussion board, member profile pages where you could promote your work and keep a blog, reviews of reference books, products, sites and services used by indies, and a

April L. Hamiltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06450879359445096462noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6782713127824478176.post-78980057454011497022009-01-23T14:49:00.000-08:002009-01-23T14:50:40.554-08:00

As an author, your brand is the name under which you write and the image associated with that name. It takes time, effort and lots of exposure to develop ‘brand recognition’, and whether you’re in the process of building that recognition or trying to maintain it, consistency in your image and message is very important. Be cognizant of how you are presenting your brand to the public, and strive

April L. Hamiltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06450879359445096462noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6782713127824478176.post-82052668430011550502009-01-14T10:32:00.000-08:002009-01-14T10:34:56.152-08:00

Red Room is an online community for writers, publishing industry people, students and avid readers: sort of a bibliophile MySpace. Red Room’s tagline is, “where the writers are,” and sure enough, there are many famous authors listed there. The site contains links which allow visitors to join Red Room, either as a “Red Room Author” or “Red Room Member”. The “Red Room Author” application page

April L. Hamiltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06450879359445096462noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6782713127824478176.post-12908522730423340932009-01-07T10:17:00.001-08:002009-01-08T14:24:29.731-08:00

I've been taking a lot of flak lately from professionals in the graphic arts and typesetting fields because in The IndieAuthor Guide, I more or less tell indie authors that in most cases, the services of those professionals are optional. The flakkers protest, in frequently ugly tones, that I'm giving bad advice in this regard and a book brought to market without their services is a "defective"

April L. Hamiltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06450879359445096462noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6782713127824478176.post-60936785707321685672009-01-02T14:42:00.000-08:002009-01-02T14:59:00.887-08:00

Bottom Line It For Me, Baby Version (200 words or less):I'm taking this blog in a new direction, but don't worry: if you've been following along with the series from The IndieAuthor Guide, you will not leave empty-handed. Just because I'd like to start blogging on other topics doesn't mean you don't get to see the rest of the book.Go On An' Run Yo Mouth, I Ain't Got Nuthin' But Time Version (

April L. Hamiltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06450879359445096462noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6782713127824478176.post-91796053911862621812008-12-10T11:32:00.000-08:002009-01-08T18:30:07.197-08:00

Ahem. I lied again about my next post resuming the series from The IndieAuthor Guide, and again I don't feel too bad about it since this earlier post explained how to get a free electronic copy of the entire book during the month of December. And in fact, I've decided that going forward, I'll be alternating editorial/informational posts with posts in the series from The IndieAuthor Guide.Bottom

April L. Hamiltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06450879359445096462noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6782713127824478176.post-11474417999999047192008-12-03T21:02:00.000-08:002009-10-01T07:27:53.356-07:00

Okay, I'm delaying the next installment of the series from The IndieAuthor Guide one more time, but I don't feel too bad about it since my previous entry provided a means to get a free copy of the entire book. I'm afraid there's something I'm feeling pretty fired up about, and I've been encouraged to blog on it. Read on.Bottom Line It For Me, Baby Version (200 Words or Less)In this year's Amazon

April L. Hamiltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06450879359445096462noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6782713127824478176.post-18741598101037385562008-11-29T14:42:00.000-08:002008-11-29T14:57:38.351-08:00

Bottom Line It For Me, Baby Version (200 Words or Less)The serialized how-to series from The IndieAuthor Guide will continue with my next post. Today, I've got some free holiday goodies to share!Until the end of December you can get a free, electronic copy of my book, The IndieAuthor Guide (a $24 value), and a free upgrade to CreateSpace's Pro Plan (a $50 value). Indie authorship just doesn't

April L. Hamiltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06450879359445096462noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6782713127824478176.post-81884512290907464332008-11-12T18:50:00.000-08:002008-11-12T19:17:23.036-08:00

Bottom Line It For Me, Baby Version (200 Words Or Less):The series based on content from my how-to reference book on self-publishing, The IndieAuthor Guide, marches on. In the series, I present topics from the book to the extent of detail possible in a blog post. Note that I'm not covering editing, designing your own book cover, creating your brand or publishing to the Kindle here, since those

April L. Hamiltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06450879359445096462noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6782713127824478176.post-81072471024110666132008-10-29T19:35:00.000-07:002008-10-29T19:43:40.546-07:00

Bottom Line It For Me, Baby Version (200 Words Or Less):The series based on content from my how-to reference book on self-publishing, The IndieAuthor Guide, marches on. In the series, I present topics from the book to the extent of detail possible in a blog post. Note that I'm not covering editing, designing your own book cover, creating your brand or publishing to the Kindle here, since those

April L. Hamiltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06450879359445096462noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6782713127824478176.post-49210426593042691482008-10-15T16:57:00.000-07:002008-10-15T17:24:09.105-07:00

Bottom Line It For Me, Baby Version (200 Words Or Less):The series based on content from my how-to reference book on self-publishing, The IndieAuthor Guide, marches on. In the series, I present topics from the book to the extent of detail possible in a blog post. Note that I'm not covering editing, designing your own book cover, creating your brand or publishing to the Kindle here, since those

April L. Hamiltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06450879359445096462noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6782713127824478176.post-16521074610319297862008-10-05T18:11:00.000-07:002008-10-05T18:28:54.219-07:00

Bottom Line It For Me, Baby Version (200 Words Or Less):The series based on content from my how-to reference book on self-publishing, The IndieAuthor Guide, marches on. In the series, I present topics from the book to the extent of detail possible in a blog post. Note that I'm not covering editing, designing your own book cover, creating your brand or publishing to the Kindle here, since those

April L. Hamiltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06450879359445096462noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6782713127824478176.post-7459458731380730312008-09-20T10:48:00.000-07:002008-09-20T11:25:31.322-07:00

Bottom Line It For Me, Baby Version (200 Words Or Less):The series based on content from my how-to reference book on self-publishing, The IndieAuthor Guide, marches on. I can't just copy and paste everything from the manuscript, because the thing is 300pp long and heavily illustrated besides. But I will present topics from the book to the extent of detail possible in a blog post. Note that I'm

April L. Hamiltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06450879359445096462noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6782713127824478176.post-73360246137225593392008-09-11T10:53:00.000-07:002008-09-11T11:06:19.031-07:00

Bottom Line It For Me, Baby Version (200 words or less):We interrupt your regularly-scheduled installment in The IndieAuthor Guide series for this important announcement: The IndieAuthor Guide is now available in an edition specially revised and updated for the Kindle. Don't worry your pretty heads, the installment series will continue as usual within a week. Go On An' Run Yo Mouth, I Ain't Got

April L. Hamiltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06450879359445096462noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6782713127824478176.post-87586335242292704932008-08-30T17:20:00.000-07:002008-10-15T17:08:57.689-07:00

Bottom Line It For Me, Baby Version (200 Words Or Less):The series based on content from my how-to reference book on self-publishing, The IndieAuthor Guide, marches on. I can't just copy and paste everything from the manuscript, because the thing is 300pp long and heavily illustrated besides. But I will present topics from the book to the extent of detail possible in a blog post. Note that I'm

April L. Hamiltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06450879359445096462noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6782713127824478176.post-18059529728572729722008-08-13T10:00:00.000-07:002008-08-13T10:09:41.466-07:00

Bottom Line It For Me, Baby Version (200 Words Or Less):The series based on content from my how-to reference book on self-publishing, The IndieAuthor Guide, marches on. I can't just copy and paste everything from the manuscript, because the thing is 300pp long and heavily illustrated besides. But I will present topics from the book to the extent of detail possible in a blog post. Note that I'm

April L. Hamiltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06450879359445096462noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6782713127824478176.post-68454570417933330182008-07-31T15:16:00.000-07:002008-07-31T15:36:37.913-07:00

Bottom Line It For Me, Baby Version (200 Words Or Less):The series based on content from my how-to reference book on self-publishing, The IndieAuthor Guide, herewith continues. I can't just copy and paste everything from the manuscript, because the thing is 300pp long and heavily illustrated besides. But I will present topics from the book to the extent of detail possible in a blog post. Note

April L. Hamiltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06450879359445096462noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6782713127824478176.post-42297488749856142372008-07-25T11:19:00.000-07:002008-07-31T14:07:51.729-07:00

Bottom Line It For Me, Baby Version (200 Words Or Less):I've been fielding a lot of email questions about the nuts-and-bolts aspects of self-publishing lately. Rather than answering the same questions over and over again in private messages which don't benefit the self-publishing community at large, I've decided to blog a series based on content from my how-to reference book on self-publishing,

April L. Hamiltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06450879359445096462noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6782713127824478176.post-1089063152962105362008-07-22T23:39:00.000-07:002008-07-23T00:03:05.398-07:00

Bottom-Line It For Me, Baby Version (200 Words or Less):Writers are pretty much known for expressing themselves in writing, and I've definitely got something to express about The Dark Knight. I'm interrupting the series on self-publishing to get up on my soapbox for this one post, but don't worry. The series on self-publishing will resume next week. Feel free to skip this one if you'd like.Go On

April L. Hamiltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06450879359445096462noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6782713127824478176.post-55273685043474019072008-07-14T14:45:00.000-07:002008-07-14T14:56:45.351-07:00

Bottom Line It For Me, Baby Version (200 Words Or Less):I've been fielding a lot of email questions about the nuts-and-bolts aspects of self-publishing lately. Rather than answering the same questions over and over again in private messages which don't benefit the self-publishing community at large, I've decided to blog a series based on content from my how-to reference book on self-publishing,

April L. Hamiltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06450879359445096462noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6782713127824478176.post-66458337595456559052008-07-09T13:10:00.000-07:002008-07-09T16:36:45.387-07:00

Bottom Line It For Me, Baby Version (200 Words Or Less):I've been fielding a lot of email questions about the nuts-and-bolts aspects of self-publishing lately. I have written a whole book on the subject, The IndieAuthor Guide, but it would be pretty obnoxious of me to answer each query by saying, "Buy my book and flip to page such-and-such," so I do my best to provide answers when I have them.

April L. Hamiltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06450879359445096462noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6782713127824478176.post-28927017651644387532008-06-21T14:38:00.000-07:002008-06-21T19:31:25.325-07:00

Bottom Line It For Me, Baby Version (200 Words Or Less):In a Random House/Zogby poll released May 29, queried about their habits over the past year, 77% of respondents said they’d bought books online, 76% said they’d bought books in big chain bookstores, and percentages ranging from 16-39% named other outlets, such as supermarkets, drugstores, airports and big box stores. In other words,

April L. Hamiltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06450879359445096462noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6782713127824478176.post-82632898064819470882008-05-31T17:09:00.000-07:002008-05-31T17:34:34.037-07:00

Bottom Line It For Me, Baby Version (200 Words Or Less):I received my first lukewarm review on Adelaide Einstein a couple of days ago, 3 out of 5 stars on Amazon, followed by a second 3-starrer today. It’s disappointing, particularly since I went out of my way to post lengthy, free, online excerpts of both my novels specifically to avoid this situation. I figured the excerpts would weed out any

April L. Hamiltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06450879359445096462noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6782713127824478176.post-91421654736482680792008-05-29T10:30:00.000-07:002008-05-30T08:02:23.927-07:00

Bottom Line It For Me, Baby Version (200 words or less):I received my proof copy of The IndieAuthor Guide yesterday and approved it today, getting it listed for sale at the CreateSpace store just under the wire for publicity from Book Expo America over this weekend. And I'm offering my blog and website readers who buy the book from CreateSpace between now and the end of June a 20% discount code

April L. Hamiltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06450879359445096462noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6782713127824478176.post-53261749461466882282008-05-22T21:22:00.001-07:002008-05-23T08:30:32.957-07:00

Bottom Line It For Me, Baby Version (200 words or less):I've been working very hard to get my new book, The IndieAuthor Guide, into print in time to reap the benefit of BookExpo America publicity over the last weekend in May. Due to publisher delays (apparently they’re busier than last time I worked with them, because the time it takes to get a proof copy has doubled), my genius plan to have the

April L. Hamiltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06450879359445096462noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6782713127824478176.post-78064056643652630522008-05-08T10:49:00.000-07:002008-05-08T11:17:51.150-07:00

Bottom Line It For Me, Baby Version (200 Words Or Less)By now, I'm sure most of you know all about my IndieAuthor Guide to Publishing For The Kindle(TM), but what about all those other ebook formats? Finally, there's Smashwords: a service that works much like Amazon's DTP but outputs ebooks in pdf, prc, rtf, txt and pdb formats. Smashwords is the brainchild of Mark Coker, who runs a PR firm and

April L. Hamiltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06450879359445096462noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6782713127824478176.post-9118318564153573362008-05-01T20:06:00.000-07:002008-05-01T20:19:10.241-07:00

Bottom Line It For Me, Baby Version (200 Words Or Less)What have I been up to since my last entry? I completed The IndieAuthor Guide to Promotion and posted it at my website. I revised The IndieAuthor Guide to Publishing For Kindle and posted that, too. I submitted my first article to Teleread. I got the news I’d been selected as a featured author in the BookSurge / CreateSpace booth at this

April L. Hamiltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06450879359445096462noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6782713127824478176.post-22722163249969132282008-04-15T10:27:00.000-07:002008-04-15T11:03:28.789-07:00

Bottom Line It For Me, Baby Version (200 Words Or Less)Selling a book used to mean four things: a respectable advance, a respectable promotion budget and effort, your book would appear on store shelves, and your publisher would gladly publish anything new you had to offer. Thanks to industry consolidations, just 6 media megaconglomerates now dominate American publishing, and they are bottom-line

April L. Hamiltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06450879359445096462noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6782713127824478176.post-88450219564988687502008-04-11T12:53:00.001-07:002008-04-11T13:20:35.132-07:00

Bottom Line It For Me, Baby Version (200 Words Or Less):I've been working on The IndieAuthor Guide to Promotion, but when I realized that the section on Press Kits was over 20pp all by itself, I decided to break things up and release the Press Kit section as a separate, standalone Guide. This Guide includes how-tos and information about one sheets, press releases, writing articles to raise your

April L. Hamiltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06450879359445096462noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6782713127824478176.post-41931537325891165682008-04-03T11:23:00.000-07:002008-04-03T11:43:45.766-07:00

Bottom Line It For Me, Baby Version (200 Words Or Less):Media megaconglomerate publishers are starting to get wise to the new opportunities brought about by POD, ebook and Web 2.0 technologies. Now that it's becoming increasingly clear that these tools can allow authors to dispense with mainstream publishers entirely, those publishers are asking how they can use their ever-weakening chokehold on,

April L. Hamiltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06450879359445096462noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6782713127824478176.post-83176005645651726832008-03-26T14:02:00.000-07:002008-03-26T14:38:45.276-07:00

Bottom Line It For Me, Baby Version (200 Words or Less):If you think writing the book, soliciting feedback, revising, designing cover art, formatting, publishing and getting the book listed for sale are the hard parts...you ain't seen nuthin' yet. Your adventures in authorship have only just begun, and your work is far from over. Somehow, we've all acquired the tribal misinformation that once

April L. Hamiltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06450879359445096462noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6782713127824478176.post-48768818725290413982008-03-20T19:47:00.000-07:002008-03-26T14:37:48.643-07:00

Bottom Line It For Me, Baby Version (200 Words or Less):A number of friends and acquaintances have commented that the IndieAuthor movement needs t-shirts, coffee mugs and other stuff with appropriate slogans on them. Since I'd very much like to have an IndieAuthor t-shirt and coffee mug of my own, to show off my indie status with pride and maybe spark some conversations on the topic, I bet lots

April L. Hamiltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06450879359445096462noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6782713127824478176.post-11874392402169470282008-03-18T13:57:00.000-07:002008-03-19T08:19:31.884-07:00

Bottom Line It For Me, Baby Version (200 Words or Less)I've been working on a series of IndieAuthor Guides for authors who would like to go independent but worry that they lack the necessary technical skills or knowledge. When all the Guides are finished I will combine them for publication as a book, but until then I'm offering them to my fellow writers for free via the IA Guides link on my

April L. Hamiltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06450879359445096462noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6782713127824478176.post-34870348103360443642008-03-05T19:04:00.000-08:002008-03-13T23:12:54.241-07:00

Bottom Line It For Me Baby, Version (200 words or less) :My ultimate goal with Indie Author is to build it up into a time-saving, one-stop resource for independents such as myself, with information for every step of the process. Eventually, ideally, whether you're trying to decide if going indie is the right choice for you, figure out how to use various technologies in self-publishing, find ways

April L. Hamiltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06450879359445096462noreply@blogger.com3