For Writers
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The Stranger Things Chicago Episode is Bad – But It Could be the Future of TV
Source: Netflix The first season of Stranger Things took me by surprise. Literally. My friend introduced me to it and, seven hours later, I was still sitting on the couch. The second season of Strangers Things failed to captivate me in the same way. But one episode was particularly egregious: the Stranger Things Chicago episode.…
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An Interview with Alec Hutson on Self-Publishing, Fantasy, and the Book Industry
The battle has been going on for years now: traditional publishing vs. self-publishing. For fantasy and sci-fi, romance and young adult, a million different options are available to those brave enough to try. And whether you decide to traditionally publish or self-publish, getting your book discovered is a problem. Amazon has weird algorithms. Goodreads has merciless…
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Promoting Your Book with BookBub: A Case Study
My first novel, Blest, was published last year in March. It wasn’t traditionally published, but it wasn’t traditionally self-published, either. I worked with Alloy Entertainment to outline and write the book. It’s been an interesting process, because we’re also working with the Powered by Amazon team. Powered by Amazon takes book marketing to a new level.…
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The Big Bad Discovery Problem: How Is Anyone Going to Find Your Book?
At #FutureBook16, a conference based in London, authors, agents, publishers, and others converged to discuss the future of the book. Or, really, the future of publishing. Spoiler: the industry doesn’t think it’s that bright. In his keynote, Tim Healy Hutchinson Hachette UK said that the book market is in “secular decline.” The entire industry is…
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Yes, The Goldfinch is Overrated… But Why?
I’m not really qualified to decide what does and doesn’t deserve a Pulitzer. But I’m of the somewhat strong opinion that “The Goldfinch” by Donna Tartt shouldn’t have made the cut. Let me break down this epic journey in rambling, poorly plotted, erratically written, Pulitzer-worthy material. And then let me explain why it spells trouble…
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Hachette v. Amazon: Whose Fault Is It, Anyway?
If you’ve paid any attention to the book industry, you’ll know by now that Hachette and Amazon are locked in some kind of pricing battle. The details aren’t that well known, but the strategy is: Amazon disabled the pre-order option for Hachette books, discounts have vanished and some authors have gone completely unlisted. Meanwhile, Hachette…
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3 Ways to Measure Your Book’s Online Marketing Campaign
When it comes to online marketing, independent authors like to think they’re ahead of the curve. Social savvy, internet savvy, and savvy in other miscellaneous ways. But just because you made a Facebook Page and have a Twitter account doesn’t mean that they’re helping sell your eBook. Online marketing is a mysterious mix of luck…
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Innovation & Stagnation in the Traditonal Publishing Industry
The Tribune Company did something that surprised me the other day: it released a new product. An app, to be specific. Newsbeat converts newspapers into audio, so people can listen to them in the car, on their iPhone and in various other Mobile scenarios. Aside from Tribune newspapers like The Los Angeles Times, Newsbeat will…