Self-published writers

Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) - Amazon's e-book publishing platform offers a royalty rate of 70% of list price minus delivery costs, with a few exceptions. One of the chief advantages of working with Amazon is the incentives it offers to authors through its KDP Select program.  Read more

Authors have heard the same advice from their agents, fellow author friends, and even publishers time and again: if they want readers to know about their books, they should hire independent publicists to supplement publishers' publicity campaigns. The new normal is this: independent presses and major publishers alike expect many authors to do the lion's share of their own publicity.

There was a time when self-publishing your book through a vanity press was the kiss of death for any hope of a writing career. It was considered tacky and desperate, and not something any worthwhile author would ever consider.  Read more

In America and Britain, fiction is said to be in decline. PW recently called attention to the 16% (or $830 million) decline in the sales of adult fiction reported by the Association of American PublishersThe national trade association of the American book publishing industry; AAP has more than 300 members, including most of the major commercial publishers in the United States, as well as smaller and non-profit publishers, university presses and scholarly societies during the 2013-2017 period. In Britain, the Publishers Association reports a slightly larger drop over a similar period.  Read more

As one of the editors of the The Hot Sheet, produced in collaboration with journalist Porter Anderson, I regularly read and report on marketing trends that affect traditionally published and self-published writers. Today I'm sharing the most useful articles we've found and mentioned in our newsletter in 2018.