Is Your Book Lost at Sea?

(from The Book Designer)

Dr. Judith Briles is a writing coach, book coach, and publishing expert who recently offered detailed advice on evaluating a floundering book and tips on how to avoid getting lost in a literary sea.

Amazon changed the publishing field—a great thing for so many newbie authors who didn’t think New York or an agent would ever give them a moment’s notice … and it’s also a not so good thing. The level of book pollution has gone beyond the stratosphere.

Anyone and almost everyone can vomit out words and dump them into Amazon’s CreateSpace or get in bed with the growing number of vanity-type presses and in days, literally days, have a book in hand. Is it a quality book or a great looking book? Most likely, not. Too many launch with little to no editing. Ditto with interior and cover design.

Which means that finding buyers—the potential Super Fans—has become fierce. And for authors—all authors—getting found has become the eighth wonder of the world.

Has your book become a sardine in the sea of books available?

Is it lost? Can it be found? Can it become a whale so your buying public can’t miss it?

Read the remainder of Judith's article here.

ReBlogs via Indies Unlimited: Almost Everything You Need to Know about ISBNs

Are you considering self-publishing your book? 

Laurie Boris, a freelance writer and indie author, is a regular contributor to IndiesUnlimited.com and she recently discussed the how-to's and what-for's about ISBNs.




One of the most frequent questions I’ve heard lately from self-publishing authors is about ISBNs. Do you really need them? Do you really need to buy them? What are the pros and cons of buying an ISBN versus using the free or inexpensive ones offered by CreateSpace, BookBaby, Smashwords, and other online partners? Let’s see if we can clear that up some.

First, a little background

ISBN stands for “International Standard Book Number.” Early iterations began in the 1960s as a system for booksellers to better organize and track their inventory. Books published before 2007 have ten digits in their ISBNs. Books published after January 1, 2007 have thirteen digits.


Read the remainder of Laurie's article.