[Guide]Self publisher resources: books, articles, podcasts, etc

[Lysmata Debelius]

Please recommend the books, articles, blogs, etc. I'll copy and paste into the headings below.


Getting started: Formatting and uploading

Smashwords style guide - how to prepare a word document for formatting as an ebook. Useful not just for Smashwords http://www.myebook.co.za/files/smashwords-style-guide.pdf

KDP Jumpstart, the official Amazon step-by-step guidelines on how to get published: https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/help/topic/G202187740


David Gaughran's book on getting started as a self publisher "It gives you practical, hands-on advice, sharing the very latest best practices on editing, cover design, formatting, and pricing."



Writing Software

Writing software Scrivener's help forum: http://www.literatureandlatte.com/forum/index.php

Gwen Hernadez Scrivener resources: https://gwenhernandez.com/scrivener-corner/

Also check out this thread on free and reliable software for writers.

Marketing

Joanna Penn's books and website: https://www.thecreativepenn.com/

Janet Friedman :
https://www.janefriedman.com/marketing-advice-2018/

Kristine Kathryn Rusch “Discoverability Series” Articles about how to find readers http://kriswrites.com/business-rusch-publishing-articles/discoverability-series/

Mark Dawson's Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/SPFsecretgroup/ (See Tom Wood's comment below for more info)

David Gaughran's books:





Self Publishing News:


A Lawyer's Thoughts on Authors, Self-Publishing and Traditional Publishing: http://www.thepassivevoice.com/

Author Earnings: http://authorearnings.com/

David Gaughran's blog at https://davidgaughran.com/blog/

[Vijaya]

Joanna Penn's books and website: https://www.thecreativepenn.com/

[Tom Wood]

I lurked in Mark Dawson's Facebook Group for a while:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/SPFsecretgroup/

You have to ask to join, but they let me in so they aren't picky! 

Dawson markets his own 'how to' stuff pretty heavily, so buyer beware. The value comes in seeing the posts by others who share their experiences. It becomes repetitive after a while, but for someone completely new to running ads it can be helpful. You'll see discussions in there about other marketing tools like KDP Rocket, Machete and Yasiv. I haven't used those, but they may be worth a look.


I use Scrivener, and found the software publisher's forums to be very helpful:

http://www.literatureandlatte.com/forum/index.php


I used one of Gwen Hernandez's Scrivener templates, but haven't used her other resources yet:

https://gwenhernandez.com/scrivener-corner/


Author Earnings has a take on Indie sales figures that the trad press ignores:

http://authorearnings.com/

[Lysmata Debelius]

Brilliant. Thanks Tom!

[Vidya]

http://www.thepassivevoice.com/

described as:

A Lawyer's Thoughts on Authors, Self-Publishing and Traditional Publishing

[Lysmata Debelius]

Thanks Vidya, I will add that as soon as I am back at my computer. Too fiddly on the phone!

[tha_lioness]

Please recommend the books, articles, blogs, etc. I'll copy and paste into the headings below.


Getting started: Formatting and uploading

Smashwords style guide - how to prepare a word document for formatting as an ebook. Useful not just for Smashwords http://www.myebook.co.za/files/smashwords-style-guide.pdf

KDP Jumpstart, the official Amazon step-by-step guidelines on how to get published: https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/help/topic/G202187740


David Gaughran's book on getting started as a self publisher "It gives you practical, hands-on advice, sharing the very latest best practices on editing, cover design, formatting, and pricing."



Writing Software

Writing software Scrivener's help forum: http://www.literatureandlatte.com/forum/index.php

Gwen Hernadez Scrivener resources: https://gwenhernandez.com/scrivener-corner/

Also check out this thread on free and reliable software for writers.

Marketing

Joanna Penn's books and website: https://www.thecreativepenn.com/

Janet Friedman :
https://www.janefriedman.com/marketing-advice-2018/

Kristine Kathryn Rusch “Discoverability Series” Articles about how to find readers http://kriswrites.com/business-rusch-publishing-articles/discoverability-series/

Mark Dawson's Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/SPFsecretgroup/ (See Tom Wood's comment below for more info)

David Gaughran's books:





Self Publishing News:


A Lawyer's Thoughts on Authors, Self-Publishing and Traditional Publishing: http://www.thepassivevoice.com/

Author Earnings: http://authorearnings.com/

David Gaughran's blog at https://davidgaughran.com/blog/

Maybe I'm here way later than most posts were made, or maybe I'm too new but I'm feeling super disoriented and almost freaked with a book in hand and no clue what to do next with it. Oh and the information here is not all up to date, so now and then, whatever link I brace myself to click on and doesn't work further hassles me. (This was one: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B078ZNWD61/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0)

Is this just me or is it a thing that everyone goes through? I'm stuck in a publisher's block as punishment for never knowing what a writer's block felt like, it seems!!
 

[Jeff Tanyard]

Maybe I'm here way later than most posts were made, or maybe I'm too new but I'm feeling super disoriented and almost freaked with a book in hand and no clue what to do next with it. Oh and the information here is not all up to date, so now and then, whatever link I brace myself to click on and doesn't work further hassles me. (This was one: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B078ZNWD61/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0)

Is this just me or is it a thing that everyone goes through? I'm stuck in a publisher's block as punishment for never knowing what a writer's block felt like, it seems!!

This thread is old and somewhat out of date.

My advice would be to start a thread of your own, tell us all about your book, and then ask all the questions you can think of.  We'll try to help you as best we can.   

[Lynn]

Ah, I get it now. That link is for the David G book. It's no longer published at Amazon at that link so it's a bad link.

But I agree with Jeff. This thread really is a little too old to be trusted.