Self Publishing

Episode 445 – Writing Commandments, Account Glitches, and AI Copyrights

Posted on by SMBS Team

What is one commandment you live by as an author?

This week we have a great show in store for you. Leave us a review on Apple Podcast and answer the Question of the Week in the comment section. Author Ad School is now open for $100 off! Https://AdSchool2022.com Top Tips of the week include why the basics matter with book marketing, the 10 Commandments of Writing, and how to get out of your stuck ways. The 5 News stories that matter most to indies this week include what successful authors have in common, and what you can learn from them, Amazon is having lots of hiccups, but what can you do, An AI copyrighted art for the 1st time, Hallmark is outta here, but I hope not before Christmas movie season, and how to recover from an Amazon suspension or termination (first, just breathe). Question of the Week: What is one commandment you live by as an author? read more

Episode 444 – NFT Comeback, Free Data, and Amazon Attribution

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If you’re going to use the Amazon Attribution links, HOW are you going to use the data you collect from them

This week we have a great show in store for you. Leave us a review on Apple Podcast and answer the Question of the Week in the comment section. 5-Day Author Ad Profit Challenge starts today! Sign up at https://AuthorsAdvertise.com Top Tips of the week include why editing is a must have if you’re thinking of your writing as a business, where to go to learn all about romance. Romance books, at least, and how to make your cover stellar! The 5 News stories that matter most to indies this week include whether NFT books can really be a thing, why you shouldn’t bother to find a publisher, why free data is worth every penny, why BookTok promoters are ignoring a big new feature, and there’s a new way to track your Amazon sales conversions. Question of the Week: If you’re going to use the Amazon Attribution links, HOW are you going to use the data you collect from them? read more

Episode 443 Beta Bruises, Unreliable Narrators, and Changing Covers

Posted on by SMBS Team

Question of the week: What’s your process for using beta readers?

This week we have a great show in store for you. Leave us a review on Apple Podcast and answer the Question of the Week in the comment section. Author Ad Challenge starts Oct 12th! You can join here: https://AuthorsAdvertise.com Top Tips of the week include why your book isn’t for everyone, and that’s a good thing, how beta readers can hurt, but also help at the same time, whether authors should be seen marketing their books. The 5 News stories that matter most to indies this week include how D2D is making proofs and author copies easier for non-US authors, how TikTok is changing book covers, how to leap ahead of the Big 5, protecting yourself and your audiobook using Findaway Voices, why genre doesn’t matter except to your readers. Question of the Week: What’s your process for using beta readers? read more

Episode 442 – Non-Fiction Niche, French Shipping, and Amazon Returns

Posted on by SMBS Team

What is the next step Amazon can take to help authors succeed?

This week we have a great show in store for you. Leave us a review on Apple Podcast and answer the Question of the Week in the comment section. Top Tips of the week include how you can master your series while prepping for NaNoWriMo, how to find your next non-fiction niche to write in, and why your prologue could be hurting your sales. The 5 News stories that matter most to indies this week include Amazon fixing the ebook return problem, how BookFunnel can help you deliver lots of books at once, how Amazon Ads can help readers find your book, the biggest problem that keeps books from selling, and how France is fighting back to protect its indie bookstores. Question of the Week: What is the next step Amazon can take to help authors succeed? read more

Episode 441 – Author Pressure, 1-Star Experiences, and Small Books

Posted on by SMBS Team

What do you think (or want to believe) is behind the mystery of author Ellie Conway? #whereisellieconway

This week we have a great show in store for you. Leave us a review on Apple Podcast and answer the Question of the Week in the comment section. Last call: Claire’s Reclaim Your Author Career Coaching is open. Go to https://www.ffs.media/coaching to enroll before it closes. Top Tips of the week include relieving the pressure of being an author, riding the algorithms to sell more books, and how to survive your first 1-star review. The 5 News stories that matter most to indies this week include how Amazon is letting sellers ‘talk’ to customers, the way to securely deliver ARC copies that can’t be pirated, the solution to Apple’s demands, the mystery behind a mysterious new movie, based on a mysterious new book, and from an even more mysterious author, and that books are getting smaller, and maybe that’s ok. Question of the Week: What do you think (or want to believe) is behind the mystery of author Ellie Conway? #whereisellieconway read more

Episode 440 – BookFunnel Previews, Finding Focus, and Trad Pub Stat Silliness

Posted on by SMBS Team

When you’ve been able to focus on a project, what have you usually had to do to make that happen?

This week we have a great show in store for you. Leave us a review on Apple Podcast and answer the Question of the Week in the comment section. The Kickstarter Webinar with Russell & Monica is Thursday, September 15th. You can sign up at https://bryancohen.lpages.co/kickstarter-webinar/. Claire’s Reclaim Your Author Career Coaching is open. Go to https://www.ffs.media/coaching to enroll. Top Tips of the week include why you should stop kidding yourself that multitasking works, why authors should use Kickstarter, and how slow writing can lead to writing success. The 5 News stories that matter most to indies this week include Bookfunnel’s new sample feature and how it can help sell books, how Big 5 publishing’s own stats are making Big 5 publishers look bad, why showing your work can bring you business, how Spotify plans to sell your audiobooks and whether you should let them, and the new minimalist writing tool on the market. Question of the Week: When you’ve been able to focus on a project, what have you usually had to do to make that happen? read more

Episode 439 – Writing Joy, Gen Z, and Tools of the Trade (with Mark from Stark)

Posted on by SMBS Team

In the coming years, what’s something you would consider doing to tap into the growing marketing of Gen Z readers?

This week we have a great show in store for you. Leave us a review on Apple Podcast and answer the Question of the Week in the comment section. Top Tips of the week include a few good reasons to do a preorder, the best reasons to step away from your computer and write more, and how to gift your book to fans, friends, and reviewers. The 5 News stories that matter most to indies this week include how those books get onto the bestsellers table at your local bookstore, the new marketing subscription to help sell your books, where to go to learn the best in author tools, how Gen Z is making romance more popular than ever, and how to last for the long-haul in publishing. Question of the Week: In the coming years, what’s something you would consider doing to tap into the growing marketing of Gen Z readers? read more

Episode 438 – Author Habits, Myths, and Big Decisions

Posted on by SMBS Team

What’s a myth you held when you started indie publishing that you’ve since dispelled?

This week we have a great show in store for you. Leave us a review on Apple Podcast and answer the Question of the Week in the comment section. Top Tips of the week include how easy and quick it is to set up your own author page on Amazon, how habits that once served us can be working against you, and there’s a new print book formatting tool in town, and it’s free. The 5 News stories that matter most to indies this week include making smart decisions about what NOT to do as an author, a great way to make BookBub ads quicker and easier, why author myths could be holding back your author career, why Brandon Sanderson is the biggest threat to traditional publishing, and what Amazon ordering fewer books means to publishers. Question of the Week: What’s a myth you held when you started indie publishing that you’ve since dispelled? read more

Episode 437- Damage Control, Fair Use, and Anticipating Objections

Posted on by SMBS Team

What’s a situation where you had to do damage control with your book and how will that experience inform how you handle it in the future?

This week we have a great show in store for you. Leave us a review on Apple Podcast and answer the Question of the Week in the comment section. Top Tips of the week include how to quickly recover from common author mistakes, to edit faster by playing a game, and to anticipate objections for your non-fiction books. The 5 News stories that matter most to indies this week include how an author found success on Vella by letting readers help her choose the adventure, how ScribeCount is making Ingram more accessible, how one reader learned that people really do care, why Barnes & Noble might not stock certain books, that fair use isn’t always cut and dried. Question of the Week: What’s a situation where you had to do damage control with your book and how will that experience inform how you handle it in the future? read more

Episode 436 – AI Art, Kate Bush, & The History of Blurbs (with Phoebe Ravencraft)

Posted on by SMBS Team

If you had to choose between earning some money now but losing future rights, would you take a chance on keeping all of your rights (with no guarantee of a future payday)?

This week we have a great show in store for you. Leave us a review on Apple Podcast and answer the Question of the Week in the comment section. We welcome Phoebe Ravencraft as our Co-host. She’s the author of Fiction Blurbs The Best Page Forward Way and Editor in Chief of Best Page Forward. Top Tips of the week include the history of blurbs and why they still work today, all the parts of a book, and why you need to know them, and how to manage your screen time as an author. The 5 News stories that matter most to indies this week include why AI’s can’t copyright their work. Even with human help, what Kate Bush’s success tells authors about rights, how one librarian is fighting back against book banning activists, that Amazon has a big problem with fake books on its platform, and about D2D’s new partnership with Humble Bundle. Question of the Week: If you had to choose between earning some money now but losing future rights, would you take a chance on keeping all of your rights (with no guarantee of a future payday)? read more