May the Cash Flow Be with You
The Money-Managing Instruments to Master for Your Business to Take to the Skies The Force is strong in indie authors! Given a single worst-case scenario, we can probably spin up a story world in the throes of conflict. Unfortunately, that same imaginative bias can wreak more havoc on your business than a sandcrawler swarming with […]
Your Publisher Persona
A Different Way for Indie Authors to Approach Publisher Events Although many international book fairs, such as Bologna, London, or Frankfurt book fairs, have introduced author tracks or highlighted best-selling authors for prestigious readings in recent years, the primary players at these fairs are, and have been from the beginning, publishers. Conferences targeted at authors […]
A ‘Book Cave’ of Wonders
Six Marketing Features that Make the Marketing Service Worth Exploring As an indie publisher, you have likely built up a hoard of shiny, eye-catching ideas about how to get the word out about your books over the course of your author journey. Unfortunately, the sheer number of opportunities may be enough to paralyze your inner […]
Let the Games Begin
Marketing Lessons Children’s Book Authors Can Learn from the 2024 Olympic Games Laurel Decher France is making its final preparations for the Olympic Games next month. Stadiums have been erected around famous sites in Paris, including the Eiffel Tower and the Palace of Versailles, so that historic shots of winning athletes will have cultural icons […]
Shifting Magic: The Many Publishing Lives of Skye MacKinnon
The Many Publishing Lives of Skye MacKinnon Never mind that Skye MacKinnon shares her Scotch heritage, teaching ability, and calm courage in the face of a changing world with J.K. Rowling’s Professor McGonagall. Or that MacKinnon’s cat never appeared during our interview, so spectacle-shaped markings around the cat’s eyes—like those on McGonagall’s feline form—cannot be […]
Procrastination or Incubation?
For Creatives, Doing ‘Nothing’ Can Be Essential to the Process Can you tell the difference between wasting time and giving an idea space to develop? Creativity coach and poet Mark McGuinness has a simple rule of thumb. “Procrastination happens before hard work,” he writes in his book Productivity for Creative People, and “incubation happens after […]
Children’s Author-Publisher Darcy Pattison Builds Her Brand with the Youngest Readers in Mind
Children’s Author-Publisher Darcy Pattison Builds Her Brand with the Youngest Readers in Mind Ten years ago, children’s author Darcy Pattison faced a dilemma. After publishing with multiple traditional publishers—Lothrup, Lee & Shepard; Harcourt Inc.; Sylvan Dell Publishers; Philomel; and Stone Arch Books—from 1991 to 2011, she couldn’t find the right home for a nonfiction picture […]
A Tale of Three Presses: Lessons in Finding A Path to Your Dream Publishing House
Children’s author, Marti Dumas (https://martidumasbooks.com) is an indie publisher who started her career with a clear mission: to provide specific books for specific readers. In some ways, her mission hasn’t changed at all. When her six-year-old ran out of books and started taking Jonathan Swift off the family bookcase, Dumas decided to write an age-appropriate […]
Grow Your Audience and Your Publishing Skills by Organizing Anthologies
Are you an author who likes to volunteer your time for a good cause, find mentors, learn from your peers, or learn by doing? By organizing an anthology for your target audience, you can not only build your publishing skills and the audience for your books but also share the voices of other authors with […]
Frankfurt Book Fair Showcases a Bigger World for Indie Authors
Going to the Frankfurt Book Fair is a jolt of adrenaline for book lovers. For the past seventy-four years, from all the regions of the world, publishers have been coming together to show off their beautiful work for readers, and as an indie author, you are part of the trade. Each year, the six-plus buildings […]