When I first started researching the self-publishing industry, several resources and ideas proved to be especially helpful and saved me untold hours of unnecessary work and frustration. I highly recommend each one. Keep in mind that each of these resources also offers opinions and assistance with numerous related topics other than those I’m highlighting here. This article is the second in a series.
Lists of Service Providers
- Kindle Direct Publishing’s (KDP) list covers these categories: editorial services, book cover creation, book formatting, eBook conversion, and translation resources. KDP states that it does not endorse or sponsor these providers.
https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/help/topic/G201723120 - IngramSpark’s list covers twelve categories of experts, ranging from book editing to book marketing/publicity to full-service firms. A special tag marks those that are “highly recommended by IngramSpark publishers.”
https://www.ingramspark.com/resources/experts - The Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi) provides a Publishing Services Directory to its members.
https://www.allianceindependentauthors.org/members/join/
Finding and Evaluating Author Awards and Contests
Participating in writing awards and contests is a good way to market your book, poem, short story, etc. These three excellent sources of information on contests and awards will help you separate the wheat from the chaff.
- ALLi’s Watchdog Desk maintains an extensive list of contests and awards, and rates them as Recommended, Mixed, Caution and N/A. The table format is clear and as of the time of this writing includes 118 entries.
https://selfpublishingadvice.org/author-awards-contests-rated-reviewed/ - FundsForWriters.com has a hefty listing of contests. Start with the online list, then subscribe to their free newsletter for additional listings.
https://fundsforwriters.com/contests/ - WinningWriters.com’s “The Best Free Literary Contests” database comprises over 200 prose and poetry contests. You must be a newsletter subscriber but it’s free, and you’ll receive an updated list each month.
https://winningwriters.com/the-best-free-literary-contests
Update Your Amazon Author Page
Amazon is an important channel for book reviews and sales, of course. It’s important to keep your Amazon Author Page current, because that information helps your audience learn more about you and your books. The article “Amazon Author Central: The Underrated Book Discovery Strategy” by the folks at Author Marketing Experts covers the numerous features of the Author Page, some of which you may have overlooked.
https://www.amarketingexpert.com/amazon-author-central-the-underrated-book-discovery-strategy/
The NEA’s Statistics on Reading
I find statistics intriguing, how about you? The National Endowment for the Arts offers well-documented insights into the U.S. public’s participation in the arts over time, including reading books. This data can help you improve your understanding of the book publishing industry. This is a five-percentage point increase and a +75% rate of change during those five years. Here’s the portal to the most recent survey data and reports.
https://www.arts.gov/artistic-fields/research-analysis/arts-data-profiles/arts-data-profile-18
Lee Hudspeth is a poet, musician, recording artist and fellow human being. In December of 2019 he published his debut book of poetry Incandescent Visions. He is the co-author of ten nonfiction books in the field of Information Technology. He has written articles for professional journals like PC Computing and Office Computing, and is the author of over one hundred articles in the online magazine The Naked PC, where he was co-founder and co-publisher. Find out more about Lee, his books and his music at LeeHudspeth.com. Contact him at lee@leehudspeth.com.
Copyright © 2020 by Lee Hudspeth. All Rights Reserved.