The Word Cloud

There’s a lot of interest in podcasting at the moment. Authors such as Scott Sigler and Nathan Lowell attribute at least part of their success to the large, passionate audiences they built through their regular podcasts.

However, most writers don’t have a clue about what podcasting entails, or how they could explore it further. I’m certainly in that camp, so I thought it would be a good idea to invite someone along who knows a lot more about it to give us the basics.

W. Brondt Kammfer is a fantasy author who has his own regular podcast. Here’s what he has to say about podcasting.

Today, he provides a guide to podcasting basics, and sticks around for a quick interview afterwards. I can't copy the whole thing here as it's over 2,000 words, but pop over to my blog if you are interested in learning more about podcasting, and how a writer can use it to build an audience:

http://davidgaughran.wordpress.com/2011/08/02/podcasting-for-the-indie-author-guest-post-by-w-brondt-kammfer/ 

It's been a very hard slog, including working well past sunrise the last couple of weeks, but my new book has been released.

Let's Get Digital: How To Self-Publish, And Why You Should is available from Amazon UK for the special launch price of £1.71. But best of all, it's also available as a free PDF download on my blog, which you can share with anyone you choose.

Today is a very exciting day, the book is racing up the charts in the US and the UK, and I have already picked up some excellent reviews.

The cover and blurb are below. 

You won’t make any money from self-publishing.

MYTH!

The internet has revolutionized every business it has come into contact with, and publishing is no different.

For the first time, these changes are handing power back to the writer. It’s up to YOU if you want to profit from them.

Let’s Get Digital: How To Self-Publish, And Why You Should.

This guide contains over 60,000 words of essays, articles, and how-to guides, as well as contributions from 33 bestselling indie authors including J Carson Black, Bob Mayer, Victorine Lieske, Mark Edwards, and many more.

It covers everything from how the disruptive power of the internet has changed the publishing business forever to the opportunities this has created for writers. It gives you practical advice on editing, cover design, formatting, and pricing. And it reveals marketing tips from blogging and social networking right through to competitions, discounts, reviews, and giveaways.

If you are considering self-publishing, if you need to breathe life into your flagging sales, or if you want to understand why it’s a great time to be a writer, Let’s Get Digital: How To Self-Publish, And Why You Should will explain it all.

If you are interested in reading more, you can download the PDF for free on my blog.

I haven't posted here in a while, but as you will see, I've been very busy.

This month will see the release of my latest book Let’s Get Digital.

As is almost compulsory in non-fiction, it now has a snappy subtitle: Not just how to self-publish, why to self-publish.

That’s not just window-dressing. I believe it is essential to have an understanding of the current state of the publishing industry in addition to learning how to publish something professionally.

Let’s Get Digital

The first part of this book will give you an overview of the rapidly changing book business. It will explain why the big publishers are in serious trouble, and how the internet has revolutionized things to the point where a writer, working on their own, can make a living out of it.

It will talk about why you don’t need to fear piracy. It will shatter the myths surrounding self-publishing, chief among them being that you will never make any money out of it.

And it will explain why this is a great time to be a writer, and how you can profit from these seismic changes that are taking place.

The second part of the book will deal with the nuts and bolts of digital self-publishing in a very hands-on fashion.

It will cover everything from finding an editor, arranging for a professional cover, how to format your book so it appears perfectly on every device, the appropriate pricing strategy for your work, and a whole host of marketing tips covering everything from blogging, social networking, reviews, competitions, to how to arrest a sales slump.

Finally, in the third part, I will present the stories of thirty-three successful self-publishers who share their journeys in their own words. Most of these guys are selling over 1,000 books a month, some are selling almost 100 times that.

There is a real mix of writers, covering all genres. Some had long, successful publishing careers but are making even more money from self-publishing, others had careers which had hit plateaued, but re-ignited when they went out on their own.

But most are people who had never published anything before, and are now either making a living from writing or quickly approaching that point. Their stories are powerful and inspiring, and I am very excited to present them to you.

I’m keeping the identities of my contributors secret for now. The plan is to name them on release day, but I may get excited and leak a few in the run-up. Anything is possible.

Overall, Let’s Get Digital will contain 60,000 words of articles, essays, and how-to guides. Some of it is information that has appeared on this blog in one form or another. Some of it is brand new. All of it has been extensively re-written and updated.

I think everyone will get something out of this book, no matter what stage they are at in their own writing career.

Let’s Get Radical

I will be doing something a little counter-intuitive with this book: giving it away for free.

To read about that, and how I think it will make me more money, read today's blog post:

http://davidgaughran.wordpress.com/2011/07/06/let’s-get-digital-a-radical-free-strategy/ 

This is the ninth part of my continuing series INDIE PUBLISHING FOR INTERNATIONAL WRITERS, a step-by-step guide to getting your stories into (digital) print. I’ll be doing each step with you, learning as you do, because I’ve never done this before either.

I will be compiling all these steps into a free e-book for my blog-readers when I am done. It's called Let's Get Digital and is pencilled in for release at the end of June.

The final steps of this self-publishing guide is going to focus on further marketing tips. We have already covered the basics: blogging and websites, pricing, social networking, and reviews. Today, I talk about using discounts, competitions, giveaways, and blog tours to promote your book.

Step 9: Discounts, Competitions & Blog Tours

Read the full post here:

http://davidgaughran.wordpress.com/2011/06/06/indie-publishing-for-international-writers-step-9-discounts-competitions-blog-tours/ 

This is the eight part of my continuing series INDIE PUBLISHING FOR INTERNATIONAL WRITERS, a step-by-step guide to getting your stories into (digital) print. I’ll be doing each step with you, learning as you do, because I’ve never done this before either. I will be compiling all these steps into a free e-book for my blog-readers when I am done.

Step 8: Pricing Strategies

There is a lot of debate about pricing. Today, I want to avoid a discussion of the ethics of various strategies. Instead, I would like to talk about their respective pros and cons for the writer employing them.

This means we won’t talk about whether it is right for authors do give away work or price it low (or high). We won’t get into emotional arguments about how your novel took you three years so it’s worth a lot more than $2.99. In a strict business sense, it’s worth what people are willing to pay for it.

Instead, we will discuss what works and what doesn’t depending on your respective goals.

The only firm belief I have with regard to pricing is that you should be flexible, and find the right price for your own book free of ideology or any other such nonsense, depending on what you hope to achieve.

I will round off this post by outlining my pricing strategy and the reasons I have chosen it. Not everyone will agree with my choice. That’s fine, you should choose a strategy that suits you.

To read my assessment of the four pricing strategies (free, discount, regular, and higher), and to see what I have chosen, go here:

http://davidgaughran.wordpress.com/2011/05/27/indie-publishing-for-international-writers-step-8-pricing-strategies/ 

Today, I have some news on upcoming releases, new projects, some interesting stuff from around the web that you may have missed, as well as a special surprise for my blog-readers.

But you only qualify for the special surprise if you read my blog.

(It's a good one, trust me.)

Dave 

This is the seventh part of my continuing series INDIE PUBLISHING FOR INTERNATIONAL WRITERS, a step-by-step guide to getting your stories into (digital) print. I’ll be doing each step with you, learning as you do, because I’ve never done this before either. I will be compiling all these steps into a free e-book for my blog-readers when I am done.

Step 7: Reviews: How To Get Them, And How To Deal With Them 

Some people are sceptical about the power of reviews and whether they have any significant effect on sales. However, I think this is a very short-term view.

In today's post, I show you why every review is important if you look at the big picture, how to go about getting reviews on Amazon and Smashwords, how to find book bloggers, and how to get them to review your book.

I also discuss paid reviews, dealing with negative reviews, and how to promote your book using positive reviews.

Read the full post here: 
http://davidgaughran.wordpress.com/2011/05/18/indie-publishing-for-international-writers-step-7-reviews-how-to-get-them-and-how-to-deal-with-them/