Category Archives: lulu

How to Get Started in Self Publishing…

Getting Started in Self-Publishing Your Books There’s a great deal being said about this area. My own books on Lulu – http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/robertworstell(shameful self-promotion, yes I know) gives me some years of experience in this area. And for so long, it’s been … Continue reading

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Why Self-Publishing on Kobo’s Writing Life Makes Sense

Just discovered this site recently and was very impressed. If you already have a epub file, it’s simpler than anything else to get it uploaded and on offer internationally. They are already known for global sales, this lets you in … Continue reading

Posted in agent, books, distribution, ebooks, epub, kobo, lulu, publishing, self-publishing, writing life | Leave a comment

Can You Get Promotion as a Local Self-Published Author?

Local Authors Get the Limelight: Self-Published? Getting a local author book promoted is probably easier with self-publishing. With Lulu and Create Space to get your hardcopy versions out (how do you autograph an ebook?!?) – you can quickly turn on … Continue reading

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How to post more than a dozen ebooks online within 7 days.

That concludes posting my self-published books  to Amazon and 5 others – whew! Just wanted to make a note of this while it’s still life in my head (as it were.) What we started out with was a tall (virtual) … Continue reading

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How to Blog Your Book – or How to Self-Publish Your Book and Blog It.

How and Why to Blog First, Then Self-Publish Your Book Quite simple, really: you are already (or should be) blogging as a natural extension of your writing (at least posting to Wattpad…) So why not simply take your posts and … Continue reading

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How Indie Authors Find (More) Readers: Goodreads

Goodreads: Probably the best place for Indie Authors to mingle and find new readers Of all the social sites which service the reading public, none seems more potent than Goodreads to do an author good. It’s not without it’s tricks, … Continue reading

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Bittorrent Book Marketing – the way of the future?

How to Market a Book via Bittorrent – the Tim Ferriss Way [Update:  Here’s the how to make your own BitTorrent bundle to promote your ebooks. http://goo.gl/7KmdJg] These days, a book isn’t just about the words you used to craft … Continue reading

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How to Leave a Nicely Walled Garden – Through the Cracks…

Beating Amazon at their own Game (or: how to game Amazon…) Studies show that Amazon isn’t what it used to be. Statistics are doing their usual song-and-dance, but tell that the big box giant may be around (or even below) … Continue reading

Posted in amazon, apple, author, books, distribution, ebooks, epub, ibookstore, KDP Select, kindle, kobo, lulu, marketing, self-publishing, writing life | Leave a comment

New Authors Publish Best on iBookstore? How Come?

How to Sell Your Book on the iBookstore – why does this work? My own experience strays from conventional “wisdom”. iBookstore outsells every other outlet by 4-1. And I’ll get into this below – the key questions are 1) How … Continue reading

Posted in amazon, apple, author, books, distribution, ebooks, google, ibookstore, KDP Select, kobo, lulu, smartphone, smashwords, tablets | Leave a comment

Book III Outline – “How to Sell a Book Online”

(Just to make a note of things. Yes, I also have some outlines for Book I and II, but this came together today, so I thought to make a record of it. Feel free to ask me questions about this … Continue reading

Posted in amazon, author, books, distribution, ebooks, kindle, lulu, marketing, publishers, publishing, self-publishing, SEO, smashwords, writing | Leave a comment

J’APE – the parody of self-publishing – first draft

Well, you’re either going to be amused or offended.I didn’t originally plan for the book to come out this way – it was going to be a “serious” piece. But here’s the first draft. The parody part has to be … Continue reading

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Notes on Book Publishing

Some collected tips, hints, and tricks to get your book written & published. I just published yet another book, this one a collection of interviews and writings on writing I had laying around, or had published earlier in some other … Continue reading

Posted in amazon, Amazon Kindle, b&n, bestseller, iTunes, kobo, LibreOffice, lulu, Onlywire, Scribd, smashwords, Storify, synnd, writing | Leave a comment

The only Constant is Change – ebook publishing continues to shift.

(photocredit: Nikki L.) Of course, I owe you an update on “Just Publish: Ebook Creation for Indie Authors” – because there have been so many changes going and coming around. If I haven’t already let you know otherwise, I’ve got … Continue reading

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You may have thought self-publishing ebooks was bad – try audiobooks…

(photocredit: Brett Jordan) The problem with audiobooks is Amazon – exactly why anti-trust laws were created. Amazon bought Audible. And got exclusive contracts with iTunes and others, such that they essentially are the only on-ramp to major distributors.(That’s called a … Continue reading

Posted in amazon, Amazon Kindle, iTunes, LibriVox, lulu, OverDrive, Podiobooks.com, publish | Leave a comment

DIY Audiobooks for the Self-Publishing Authors – a Review of Sources

(photocredit: mlibrarianus) How to publish audiobooks can be learned by indie authors – this is a review of places you can, just maybe, get your book published. Like ebooks, you first encounter the shadow of the Amazon Monster before any … Continue reading

Posted in amazon, Amazon.com, Internet Archive, iTunes, lulu, Podiobooks.com, smashwords | 1 Comment

How to Get Your Audiobook Linked Up With Your Kindle (and Hardcopy) Books on Amazon

Just had an audiobook go live… by itself. Needs links. So I was supposed to email somebody in Author Central about linking this with the Kindle version it was based on. You see, they both have the same title, just … Continue reading

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How to Publish Public Domain Books and Profit Nearly Forever, Part 1

(photo: 401(k) 2012) I found sometime this year that it was more profitable to publish than it is to write. And publishing copyright-free material was faster than about anything.[Update: the list of How-To steps have just been posted.] I now have … Continue reading

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Some copyright notes – where to check for public domain issues

Some places to check for copyright orphans before you give up on that great public domain book. The safest approach is to only use books printed before 1923. That limits what people want to read, though, since the language and … Continue reading

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Lulu gets finicky about publishing ebooks – tsk, tsk.

Is the business plan for publishing public domain and PLR books dead? No, but the rumors would make you think so. (photo: seebrownflikr) Got this from Lulu today: Please note that we no longer accept public domain or other content … Continue reading

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Why Lulu Made Me Buy a MAC for Self-Publishing

iTunes, unlike Amazon, doesn’t seem to be a walled garden. But there are hurdles which they put in place to keep indie authors out. Here’s some solutions to the problem. (photocredit: Kyle MacDonald) This began for me when Lulu decided … Continue reading

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How to Build a Public Domain (Self) Publishing Assembly Line

Publishing public domain books means volume and repetitive tasks – an assembly line. (art credit:Tobias Mikkelson) A one-person publishing “empire” is possible these days. Regular passive income can be made from re-publishing public domain as long as you: 1) Add … Continue reading

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How to Make Higher Royalties From Your Books

Affiliate Book Sales can earn you even higher book royalties. Some tricks, though. The simple approach is to get your distributors to pay you affiliate sales fees on top of your royalties. None of them do it the same way, … Continue reading

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How to Post Your eBook to Multiple Distributors – Ease and Profit

(photo: Blythe) Sequence and Feeding of eBook Distributors – How to take it easy and make extra passive income meanwhile. If you’ve been following this series of articles, you’ll know that we are now up to about eight major distributors … Continue reading

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Leanpub Joins the Mix – Extending the Top Distributors List

Getting More Distributors Means More Eyeballs, More Income  (photo: Jena Ardell) This post is to update the publishing sequence to improve your profits with your home publishing business. We’re going to get into Leanpub next, a logical step – and … Continue reading

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Book Marketing That Actually Works: Part 1

Books are only paid journey invitations. They are not the journey itself. “You buys your ticket and you takes your chances.” While they make income, they are not your bread-winners, despite any individual bestseller. Your income comes from the teamwork … Continue reading

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Book Marketing That Actually Works: Part 2

The soul of your marketing journey is Copywriting. Copywriting is communication, it’s actually telling the story of a product or service and inviting a potential customer along for the journey – or giving that individual a tool or weapon or … Continue reading

Posted in book, iAmplify, iTunes, Joseph Campbell, LeanPub, lulu, Portable Document Format, publish | Leave a comment

A Comparison of Distributors – Who’s on First?

Figured I owed you a no-holds-barred, warts-and-all review of the main distributors – from my experiences with them. The aggregators all charge something to post your ebook to the various distributors. Lulu is the cheapest, at 10%, Smashwords at around … Continue reading

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Summary of Getting Started: Lists and Sequences

Tying it all together in a neat package means giving you a shopping list of stuff to do in what order. I. What distributors? Leanpub Lulu Google Play/Books iTunes Nook Amazon Kobo (OverDrive) This sequence is to get all possible … Continue reading

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Update: How Lulu Distributes Your eBook – on a Lag

Something funny with Lulu – why the delay in distribution? (Photo: RainbowCave) Lulu has now started e-mailing when they actually ship your book to the main distributors (iTunes, Nook, Amazon, Kobo.) Nice. But why does it take so long? “Congratulations! … Continue reading

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Leanpub Shows Their TImidity – Accepts Original Works Only.

(Logo property of Leanpub as trademark.) Just got suspended for “copyright violations” from Leanpub (on one account, anyway.) Means they don’t like public domain books. Scratch them from anything except original books. Which means they’re in the same category as … Continue reading

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Choosing Your eBook Package Distributor – A Review

Distribly vs. JVZoo vs. BlueSnap vs. DigiResults vs. MyCommerce, etc. (Your choice of dancing affiliates…) When Leanpub showed me they weren’t publishing anything but original works, I was left finding other options for creating binders and packages – as well … Continue reading

Posted in amazon, Amazon.com, Clickbank, iTunes, Lowest common denominator, lulu, Portable Document Format, publish | Leave a comment

The “News” in Self-Publishing is all DIY, not “done-for-you”.

Self-Publishing is the new model which is far more profitable than traditional-publishing lock-step hobbles. (photo: eXtensionHorses) Hobbles are used on animals to keep them from wandering. They’re usually put on the (front) feet and are uncomfortable. The model for traditional … Continue reading

Posted in amazon, Amazon.com, GooglePlay, iTunes, kobo, lulu, OverDrive, paperback, publish, publishing, writers | Leave a comment

The Copywriting Classics Publishing Post-Mortem

(photo: School of Veterinary Medicine) Racking up a queue of public domain classics for publishing, does seem like an hygienic assembly line at times. This post-mortem is a critique of what went well and could be improved on this latest … Continue reading

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New release: How to Earn Extra Income Through Your SOHO Publishing Business

Publish. Profit. Independence. Find independence and financial freedom from one of the simplest home businesses you can start from scratch – or less… Learn Tips and Tricks to make self-publishing pay well. I fell into this by accident. There I … Continue reading

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How to Game Amazon at Their Public Domain Publishing.

(photo: aktivioslo) Winning the self-publishing race can mean gaming the Publishing Godzilla. (Meaning: you can get around Amazon’s Public Domain policies and still be legal in your agreements with them.) You might have peculiar books which Amazon will query, but … Continue reading

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Adding a New Distributor for Book Discovery

More multiple eyeballs to add to your list of book-buying promotional outlets. (photo credit: Jackie) Which means more discovery and more sales = more income. Found it when I was chasing down a new series of books which had fallen … Continue reading

Posted in amazon, Amazon.com, Goodreads, google, Internet Archive, LibraryThing, lulu, Shelfari | Leave a comment

How to Publish a Dozen Books in an Afternoon.

An afternoon’s work can get your next dozen books available to millions within 3 days. This came home to me today as I (finally) started publishing another batch of books I’d been polishing. Of course, it didn’t go smoothly – … Continue reading

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Update: The Distributors Discriminate (against your profits.)

In any book sales, it’s bulk vs. originality. There’s room for both. (Photo Credit: Phil Roeder) Viable book sales depend on volume of books first, quality second, originality third.  But this isn’t how the distributors see it. No reason for … Continue reading

Posted in Amazon Kindle, Amazon.com, International Standard Book Number, iTunes, Kobo Inc., LibreOffice, lulu, Nook, public domain, publishing | Leave a comment

Why Aren’t Authors Happy Publishing Their Book?

Most authors don’t make a lot of money from publishing… (Photo: Diana Brown) …and what they don’t know is killing them. I’ve done my own study of DBW’s author survey. In addition to their earlier year’s surveys, this also adds … Continue reading

Posted in Amazon Kindle, Amazon.com, E-book, Ebook Publishing, iTunes, Kobo Inc., lulu, OverDrive, public domain, publishing | Leave a comment

Market Research Starts With Amazon?!?

Indie SOHO Publishing needs market research to succeed. Start with Amazon. (graphic: Chris Piascik) Why? Because they will tell you if your book as even a fighting change of breaking into the big time. While Amazon has been consistently shrinking … Continue reading

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How to Publish Public Domain Books and Profit Nearly Forever – Part 2

(continued from Part 1) The How-To Tips of Publishing PD and PLR to Profit From Here On Out (Photo: Simon Cunningham) Sorry I didn’t give you exact steps last time. (Of course, you can get this from my books, “Just … Continue reading

Posted in Amanda Hocking, Amazon.com, Google Play, iTunes, LibreOffice, lulu, public domain, publishing, Stephen King | 1 Comment

Staring an Indie SOHO Publishing Career and Making Income Immediately

You Can Publish Your Friend’s, Neighbor’s, and Strangers’ Books From Your SOHO Publishing Business… (photo:epSos .de) …with no more than the tools you already use to publish your own books. It’s long been said that there is more money selling … Continue reading

Posted in Amazon Kindle, Amazon.com, book, iTunes, lulu, Print on demand, public domain, publishing, SOHO | Leave a comment

How to Keep the IRS From Nickel and Diming Your Book Income

A Little-Known Way to Get the IRS Off your Self-Publishing Back (Graphic: DonkeyHotkey) Just a (hopefully) short note about author earnings on Lulu. Stumbled on this while researching my recent posts and thought you’d want to know. Disclaimer: this isn’t … Continue reading

Posted in Amazon Kindle, author, book, E-book, Ebook Publishing, hardcopy, lulu, print version, publishing, self-publishing | Leave a comment

The Numbers Racket and Amazon’s Public Domain Problems.

Amazon’s problem with public domain books are overcome by sheer numbers. (Photo: Conor Lawless) You beat Amazon at public domain publishing by having a lot of dogs hunting for you. Recently was in the middle of a test which had … Continue reading

Posted in Amazon Kindle, Amazon.com, book, E-book, Ebook Publishing, epub, Goodreads, ibookstore, iTunes, lulu, publishing, smashwords | Leave a comment

Solving Competition and Making Profits by Indie Publishing

Competition Can Be Both Good and Bad For Indie Publishing –  Particularly With Public Domain Books (photo: Ronel Reyes) Some ebook distributors don’t want you competing with other titles, others encourage it. Amazon and Google seem to be at different … Continue reading

Posted in Amazon Kindle, Calibre (software), google, International Standard Book Number, iTunes, Kobo Inc., LibreOffice, lulu, Nook | Leave a comment

The Espresso Network – the 7th Book Distributor.

Found a new place for Indie Authors to Publish their books – the Espresso Network. (Photo: Illinois.edu) This was an interesting find – and wound up with another way for you to self-publish books. Yes, of course it’s free. The … Continue reading

Posted in Amazon Kindle, Assembly line, author, E-book, ebook, Ebook Publishing, LeanPub, LibreOffice, lulu, Portable Document Format, publishing, smashwords | Leave a comment

How to Edit a Book Into Shape and Stay Sane

The Route to Producing a Book Requires You Organize to Maintain Your Sanity. (Photo: Matt Elwood) This is always the rub. Editing is what most writers hire out. It’s also known as proofing. But it’s a craft on it’s own, … Continue reading

Posted in Amazon Kindle, book launch, Calibre (software), E-book, google, iTunes, LibreOffice, lulu, napoleon hill, publishing | Leave a comment

How to Really Profit from Self-Publishing – Follow the Disney Route to Success

Use public domain to inspire your own works – that’s their greatest, and most profitable use. The real reason for works returning to the public domain is to inspire the next generation. The long-dead authors no longer need to profit … Continue reading

Posted in Amazon.com, book, E-book, iTunes, LibreOffice, lulu, Private label rights, public domain, publishing | Leave a comment

When to Cave Over a Fake Copyright Claim

When they have a lawyer and you can’t afford one. (Jurisdictionary – lousy packaging, great course.) Hopefully, you don’t have a lot invested in that book. Might be a crying shame, but get over it. The two questions you have … Continue reading

Posted in Amazon Kindle, book, E-book, How to Win Friends and Influence People, iTunes, lulu, Private label rights, public domain, publishing | Leave a comment

Is there any Real Money in public domain (self-)publishing?

Why you can make a financially free lifestyle with public domain (self-)publishing, but getting rich (quickly) is elusive. (Photo: Jeneraly) For several years, I’ve been evolving the business plan of re-publishing public domain books as an off-shoot of self-publishing, Recent … Continue reading

Posted in Amazon Kindle, Copyright, E-book, Internet, iTunes, Kobo Inc., lulu, public domain, publishing | Leave a comment