Top products from r/selfpublish

Hello everyone!

I don't believe I've done one of these self-promotion threads since my last book was published back in 2012. With that said, I'm delighted to say my new book just went live last week. I will also include something about my other two books, because why not?

Beginning

($2.99 Kindle - $15.99 Trade Paperback. If you buy the paperback, you get the e-book for free.)

He hunted mammoths long ago.

He raised megaliths all over Western Europe.

He went to sea at the dawn of the Bronze Age in search of tin.

He performed with the world’s first magician.

He watched Icarus fall from the sky.

He played a small part in setting off the Trojan War.

All this and more happened to one man who has been alive since the last Ice Age. While waiting for a mysterious visitor who might be the death of him, he is dictating the stories of his life into a tape recorder. What will he say now that he is at last free to share the secrets his immortality has shown him?

Beginning is the first book in the Tape Recorder Trilogy, a journey through humanity’s past from before recorded history up to the twenty-first century. Starting with his first life in the Stone Age, Beginning sees our narrator move from life to life over the course of centuries as he wanders across Europe. The dawn of the Bronze Age inspires him to become a sailor and a merchant who travels throughout the Adriatic, Aegean, Eastern Mediterranean, and up into the Black Sea selling everything and anything but especially tin, the crucial metal that makes bronze possible.

Throughout his travels he meets people from all walks of life, some of whom go on to be the inspirations behind myths and legends that are still remembered today. It is his pleasure in the privacy of his own home to finally say what really happened all those years ago.

Inca

($3.99 Kindle - $15.99 Trade Paperback. If you buy the paperback, you get the e-book for free.)

Inca is the life story of Haylli Yupanki, a man who served three generations of emperors only to watch his whole world shatter and shatter again, leaving nothing behind but his memories and his pride. Hiding in the jungle with the last of the unsubjugated Inca, Haylli transcribes his memoirs from quipus –the Inca’s writing system of knotted string– into Spanish with the help of a captured priest. Beginning with a childhood of privilege and a youth spent as a fugitive from Imperial justice, through a successful career as the Inca’s most powerful bureaucrat, to an old age spent in the ruin of his life’s work, Haylli was present at all the important moments of his people. Through his words he hopes their story will be remembered. Fans of historical fiction can look forward to an epic family saga covering more than seventy years to include almost everything we know happened between the zenith and nadir of Inca power. More than two-thirds of the characters are based on real people, and every corner of the empire is visited over the course of the narrator’s life: The plot has court intrigue, forbidden loves, triumphs, tragedies, rivalries, heroes, monsters, coups, civil wars, prophecies, plagues, treasures, sex and violence –all before the conquistadors arrive to change everything forevermore.

Zulu

($2.99 Kindle - $15.99 Trade Paperback. If you buy the paperback, you get the e-book for free.)

Zulu is the story of a people who fought for their king, their herds, and each other against an empire that spanned the world. They almost won...

Mbeki and Ingonyama are the gifted sons of the blacksmith Jama. Their adventures at the royal court of King Cetshwayo draw them into the great events of a kingdom on the cusp of a golden age. There they meet Inyati, an exiled Matabele prince, and Nandhi, the daughter of a northern baron. Their unlikely friendship promises a life of peace and plenty, but their future is darker than they could ever imagine. Through love triangles and power struggles, boxing matches and elephant hunts, brush fires and battles, they are witnesses to the astonishing true story of an iron age pastoral civilization that held off a quarter of the world for six agonizing months before their whole world collapsed into ashes and dust.

In addition to Chris Fox's videos, also check out his book, 5000 Words Per Hour.

I write 2000 words a day and I do it in an hour. Here's how that works:

The first thing I do when I wake up is I shower, make some coffee, and then sit at my computer to start writing. My daily goal is 2000 words a day.

I use Chris' 5000 Words Per Hour iOS app. I set the timer for 20 minutes and also set a 20-minute timer on the the Freedom app on my computer. Freedom disables email and chat and I also set it to block Facebook and Twitter. This is so I don't have any distractions while I'm writing, but I can still use the Internet for reference purposes, like looking up a street or city on Google Maps.

I also use a site called Brain FM. This is a great site that plays music that helps you focus. I plug in my headphones, start my timers, and start writing. And I don't stop until that timer goes off.

Once the timer goes off, I record how many words I wrote and then take a 5-minute break—go to the bathroom, get a refill on my coffee, check email/social media really quickly, etc. After the break's done, I begin another 20-minute session.

By the time I've finished, I've gotten anywhere from 2000-2400 words down.

So that's the basic process. Some other tricks I've learned in order to make the most of each sprint:

-Outline: When I have an outline, even if it's just a few sentences per chapter/scene, that makes the writing go a lot faster. I've got a basic roadmap and that keeps my mind focused. If I make changes to the outline or if I add in something extra, that's fine. But I already have a basic guide for what to write and that means I don't have to waste any time thinking of what to write.

-Learn To Type: This really can't be understated. If you type by hunting and pecking on the keyboard with two fingers, even if you can do it faster than anyone else, you're still not going to be as fast as someone who never has to look at the keyboard and can type with all ten fingers. There are lots of free resources out there for learning how to type. It's nothing more than drilling. I can type about 100 words per minute going at a straight clip, so you'd better believe that when I'm in that flow zone when the words just pour out of me, my fingers are dancing across that keyboard and I'm getting a ton of words written in a short amount of time.

-Minimize Distractions: Not only distractions from the web, but other distractions as well. Put your phone on Do Not Disturb mode. Make sure your family understands this is your writing time and you shouldn't be disturbed. If there's a room in your place where you can be alone for your writing time, do your writing there. Put a Do Not Disturb sign on the door if you need to. Or if you have to write at say the kitchen table, make a little standee or nameplate you can put in front of you with DO NOT DISTURB written on it. I always set up my office with my desk facing the wall and not the window so nothing outside can distract me.

-Make It Routine: Can you write at the same time and in the same place every single day? If so, do it. If you have the ability to set up a home office, then absolutely do that. Try not to use that location for anything other than writing if you can help it. After some time, your brain will start to associate being in that place at that time with writing.

Now obviously, not all this will be possible for everyone. But it's what works for me. Figure out what works for you.

JADE

The color of spring that lifts high my heart

the winter now passed, in due its part

I have no hold to keep you in tow

and like my favorite season, you'll come as you go


Jade is a collection of poems written during the year 2018. I began writing them in the middle of Spring, at a time in which I was quickly falling in love. As time passes, so do many of the joys we experience and so it is with love. As quickly as well fell together, we fell apart, and that theme is introduced and reintroduced throughout.

The work also contains a number of nature themes inspired by imagery on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. A fair amount is also expressed concerning the conflict of having an analytical mind, or as described therein, a wandering mind. One that chooses willingly to divest nearly too much effort into wherefore and why.

All in all, the book will take readers through many experiences I had during the year and decided to express in writing. Some of them are very personal searches and attempts at gaining understanding of my own thoughts while many others are a quick jaunt through word play and rhyme.

Please enjoy these pages as much as I have, thank you.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1093961775/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I'm a bit late to the party, but I just answered this same question on a more recent thread:

> I've been hired a couple of times for the exact scenario you've described. An author has an existing piece of artwork, and they just want some nice typography over the top, and the book cover laid out.
>
> The Things that Grow with Us by Jordan Anderson, and Burner by J.S. Lenore.
>
> I'd be more than happy to get involved. PM me for a chat and we can see if I fit your bill.
>
> Normally, if I'm starting from scratch, I send out an in-depth questionnaire to find out as much about the book as I can, what the author is expecting, and how they want to pitch it. It allows me to really tailor the cover to the person and their book, rather than just slapping some text on a picture.
>
> I've also done a lot of redesign work with other redditors, here's a selection.
>
> Feel free to get in touch, even if it's just for advice. I'm always happy to help.

I don't believe you need to sacrifice quality for quantity. Quite the opposite, in fact. The more you write, the better you get. A novel every two months may feel impossible to you right now. It certainly did to me when I started, especially since the first one took two years.

I intend to do a book a month for the next twelve months. The books I've written at this speed are selling extremely well, and all have a 4.3 average or higher across multiple platforms.

You'll note that one of these books is called 5,000 Words Per Hour. I've harnessed neuroscience to train myself to write faster, and the results have been amazing.

Want to hear something crazy? I'm middle of the road on production speed among the top selling authors I know. Amanda Lee puts out 2-3 full length novels a month.

You can argue that her books are crap, but I'd argue otherwise. They tell great stories and fans buy them in droves. We don't all have to be Patrick Rothfuss, and in fact can't be if we want to make a living.

Asimov wrote over 500 books in his lifetime. If you want to make a go at this, then odds are good you'll need to write faster than you currently believe you're capable of.

Before you discount what I have to say bear in mind that I put out 7 books in my first 14 months, and every last one has sold thousands of copies.

Also bear in mind that I have three editors and a great system for rotating through drafts. That's taken me a while to get down, and it's still a work in process. I also have an author assistant who takes care of a lot of day to day tasks.

On the flip side, I have a day job as the sole iOS developer at a startup so I'm working a more than full time job. I'm proof that anyone can do this, regardless of real life obligations.

I've published a collection of my poetry that includes 62 poems and my original artwork. It covers my struggle with anxiety, depression, and insomnia. I began writing it after seeking out help for my issues. My one hope is that my words can let others with similar issues, hopes, and dreams know that they aren't alone in this world.

These poems were very relieving to write. Some are based on dreams I had and one, Her Ghost, is based on a real hypnagogic hallucination. This is my first time writing and I was particularly surprised at the positive feedback that I've received from others that weren't friends or family. Hopefully, others out there can get something out of my writing. I appreciate any feedback or comments.

​



Genuine: A Poetry Collection - Vol. 1 : $2.99 eBook and available on Kindle Unlimited and $10 paperback available!

​

Vol. 2 currently in the works!


Also, check out my friend Tom's poetry book: JADE

It's available as a paperback for $7.99!

It's super easy to learn, honestly I would recommend anyone who self publishes to learn this part of the process because it is best to have fine control of it.

So learn up on some basic CSS, read this book but instead of doing all the stuff she says about formatting the text in word (search and replace), copy and paste your word document into this tool and let it do allll the work for you.

Otherwise, play with different CSS on your title pages (look at other authors for ideas), learn to embed custom fonts (fancy), and learn how to code a TOC from scratch (not hard! it's basic css).

I use Sigil personally because it gives me fine control of everything. You can use Calibre as she instructs, but Sigil is XHTML and will get pissed off if you screw anything up so it's a bit safer to me.

Why hand formatting instead of just grabbing Vellum and formatting for people? Vellum doesn't teach you shit, and you'll give people a better KENP by doing handformatting. You can do all that fancy Vellum shit with handformatting, and you can squeeze more pages out of it which is what everyone wants. How many more pages?

Some more schmuck uploaded this long ass story from a word document to Amazon and got 200 pages out of it. Using proper formatting, it went to 600+ pages. That is an uncommon example, but handformatting is nearly always better.

Hiya, so I've taken the view that a free eBook in someone's hand is better than them never hearing of me. I only started publishing 9 months ago, and the more people who read my work, the better.

My first eBook is free. It's What Went Wrong With Mrs Milliard's Mech?. Over 3,000 people have downloaded it since it went perma-free. I'm not expecting people to know me without trying my writing first, so I'm stoked to see it getting downloaded. Hopefully some folks even read it and want to buy the sequels!

So in short, no. But make a book free only if you feel comfortable with it. I'm just stoked that people would even read my work.

Edit: Format URL

It was about 2 years ago, I think. I did see a good uptick in reviews, although not as many as I hoped. I read an article stating that free downloads only have about a 10% rate of being opened. So for 15k downloads, you should get about 1500 people to open the book. From open, there is about a 50% chance the person reads the book (obviously depending on interest, quality, etc.). That reduces possible reviews to 750. From reading the book, the article claimed about 30% of people will actually finish it. Now we are down to 225 possible reviews. From possible review candidates, the article said on average, only about 1% of people ever review any product they use, including books, so that drops it to 2.25 reviews. My experience is pretty similar to those numbers. That is a conversion rate of 0.015% from downloads into reviews.

What I learned was simple: you have to have a reason to give your book away. Why are you doing it? If it is to get reviews, you need a higher conversion rate than 0.015%. How do you achieve that? Offer the book for free to only interested parties is one method. Offer it on websites with genre themes where the conversion rate should at least hit 1%. There are other methods as well.

For me personally, when I giveaway a book, which I am currently doing, you need to have the second book in the series already available. I wanted free downloads to help drive sales. In order to do that, you need the next one released, plus you need a high conversion rate of downloads to being opened and read. So for marketing this promo, I targeted websites with curated email lists for my genre, fantasy. That leads to higher conversion rates and possibly higher review rates too. In fact, the book has been free for maybe 30 hours, and I've already gotten sales on book 2, despite it being priced at $4.99. That means the conversion rate is high from download to open, and the conversion rate is decent at least from open to read and so forth.

In my first giveaway promo, I targeted volume. I marketed with websites dedicated just to free eBooks, not to free fantasy books. By using that method, I got high download numbers, but low conversion. This time, by changing my approach, I'm getting fewer downloads, on target for maybe 3000 over 3 days, but I should have much higher conversion rates, which I am already seeing. Of course, you could always target both groups, and aim for high downloads + high conversion. It all depends on how much you want to spend marketing.

Thanks so much! The artist has a strong history of this style, so I was keen to engage him for the cover. If it goes well, then I'll be getting him to do my original story as well, which currently has a (highly) average cover! here it is

Whatever saves to Word format is fine. Doesn't matter what you use, really. Remember that both mobi and epub are very stripped down - you can't have a lot of formatting in there.

So don't worry about what you're writing in (honestly, just use whatever's most comfortable - I've used Evernote, Google Docs, Word, and others, depending on where I am working).

Things like text justification and hyphenation don't matter much. In ebooks, the reader decides things like font size and font formatting. What you DO have to worry about are:

• Headings and other styles
  
  
• Page breaks
  
  
• Non-breaking spaces, hyphens, etc.
  
  
• Centering
  
  If you want to get serious about getting your formatting right, let me recommend the book I refer to most often for these questions: Zen of Ebook Formatting by Guido Henkel. His blog is worth checking out too.
  
  Or wait till I give another webinar on the subject. :)

Last week I went on goodreads and found books similar in content to my own. I found some of the reviews that were longer than a sentence and had thought put into them, then I reached out to those people and offered them a free copy of my debut novel in exchange for an honest review. I got responses from maybe one fifth of the people I contacted and already have five new several paragraph reviews, and those people started spreading the word in there only circles since they enjoyed the book.

(http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00QIRLF8U?ie=UTF8&redirectFromSS=1&pc_redir=T1&noEncodingTag=1&fp=1) [Reviews on page 3]

I also want to mention, as a special promo you can get my first book, Love Unfinished free on Amazon today thru Friday. http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B005WL8H48/ref=mp_s_a_2?pi=53x75&qid=1345483250&sr=8-2

Hey, everyone! I just published Numbercaste, a scifi novel in the vein of The Circle and Black Mirror.
It's 302 pages - a very Orwellian story told through the eyes of a man who gets offered a job in Silicon Valley.

Kindle: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0748BRB87
Paperback: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1521795436

Amazon's emailed me to say the two will be linked in the store within 48 hours.

Pricing - I've set the Kindle edition price to $0.99 for this first week (it's Friday, GMT+5.30 here). After which it'll go back to its original price of $2.99. Honest reviews welcome!

111k is a bit longer than mine, but if you want to read some high fantasy, we can certainly trade. I'd love more reviews on The Goblin Wars.

Hey! I'm in your second preferences, but I'm getting some initial good feedback on my medical thriller:

Link

I can gift you a copy on Smashwords if you want.

You can be non-specific and say "award nominated" or "award winning" but if this is your book you have a much, much more hard hitting reviews and kudos than what this award offers.

Link for the Lazy... as I am.

http://www.amazon.com/Length-Days-Nazarite-1/dp/1507697740/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1427232043&sr=8-1&keywords=David+Heinz+or+For+Length+of+Days.

$4.99 too much money for a new author for me TBH. Not my genre either, but good luck!

I'd recommend reading Write.Publish.Repeat. and checking out /u/sapoia's posts.

Like /u/TildenJack said, write more books. Most of the time, you're better off writing than using social media or figuring out promos. Having that third book under your belt (kudos on the third!) seems to be the tipping point for many authors, and the more books you have out, the more likely it is your sales will grow.

I got a bundle with Write. Publish. Repeat., Let's get Digital, and How to Market an E-book. Good stuff. I think they have a podcast too, though I forget what it's called.

Did you use tabs to get the indents? I can pretty up the format, but honestly, taking out all the tabs is just too much work. There's this book you can check out too.

I've heard http://www.amazon.com/Publish-Repeat-No-Luck-Required-Self-Publishing-Success-ebook/dp/B00H26IFJS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1396188306&sr=8-1&keywords=write+rinse+repeat
is a pretty good book. They also have a podcast that I listen to.

I would be grateful for your consideration. It's YA epic Fantasy. I hope you don't consider that "cheesy fantasy".

Title: The Battle

Author: R.W. Allen

Link: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00KQ8YQRO


This 2nd one is to help someone else out. It's also listed under Epic Fantasy:

Title: Exile

Author: Tom Stacey

Link: http://www.amazon.com/Exile-Tom-Stacey-ebook/dp/B00L2N1CNI

Did you know Amazon will donate a portion of every purchase if you shop by going to smile.amazon.com instead? Over $50,000,000 has been raised for charity - all you need to do is change the URL!

Here are your smile-ified links:

give the first book away for free

Inca

Zulu

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^^i'm ^^a ^^friendly bot

Write, Publish, Repeat is popular.

Also, David Gaughran has two titles, Let's Get Digital and Let's Get Visible, which are highly rated.

Who Spoke on the other Side, my second collection of short weird/horror stories, is up on Amazon for $1.99.

I'd also recommend /u/JandersOf86's book The Things That Grow With Us, also self-published.

I like your ideas, and the instagram example is beautiful as a stand alone. i don't use tumblr or instagram but you have given me some ideas to incorporate one day. You could also [shamelessly plug your book] (http://www.amazon.com/Enter-Fistful-Marijuana-jay-royston/dp/1499759231) with every comment in r/selfpublish or r/writing.

Here are a few first in series if you are interested:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07HNJQQTG/

and

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01EO8DA0A/


​

That being said, you might like "Zen of eBook Formatting" by Guido Henkel.

http://www.amazon.com/Zen-eBook-Formatting-Step-step-ebook/dp/B00KJAH4HS

Realistically, I think this would be a total waste of money. Amazon have an entire free ebook devoted to this, and you can find it here. There are a few simple rules, but the biggest one is don't use the tab button. There you have it.

Read the whole series. Do the exercises.

Also check out his YouTube channel.

or here if you are in the US.

For some reason both this link and the main link are mobile links and won't let me buy or download either. Here is the link to Love Unfinished :

Here's Reinventing Claire

Here is the mobile version of your link

I don't mind. Recovering is an Art

If you have it in Word, I use this book. It's a little out of date but I used it for making a Kindle book last week. Building Your Book For Kindle (PS it's free)

Here is the desktop version of your link

Non-mobile: [http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00QIRLF8U?ie=UTF8&redirectFromSS=1&pc_redir=T1&noEncodingTag=1&fp=1\](Reviews](http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00QIRLF8U?ie=UTF8&redirectFromSS=1&pc_redir=T1&noEncodingTag=1&fp=1%5D\(Reviews)

^That's ^why ^I'm ^here, ^I ^don't ^judge ^you. ^PM ^/u/xl0 ^if ^I'm ^causing ^any ^trouble. ^WUT?

Oh, that's strange, I can't see the other comment. I found it from your post history, though.

I released my first short story compilation back in November. It is available on Kindle and Nook as well as print. If you like horror with the occasional bending into sci-fi or fantasy, then you may like my book The Things That Grow With Us.

Description: UFOs, demented tree stumps, deep space missions and more set the foundations for horror, emotion and oddity in this debut collection of stories.

Weed. Mad scientist. Canada. American super cop. Taxes. Panda bears. Its the beginning of the end. What could possibly go wrong?

A genre-bending counter-culture piece of Canadiana.

Enter A Fistful of Marijuana

https://www.amazon.ca/gp/aw/d/1499759231/ref=tmm_pap_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=&sr=

$12 Canadian which means it is probably less everywhere else.

Book two of my AIR series, Broken Paths, launched a few days ago. I'm very excited about the new addition to the series. It's available on Amazon here.

To celebrate the release AIR I: Shattered Soul is free on Amazon through 12/11/2016.

Synopsis for Shattered Soul:
Instead of using my powers as a Reader to work the psychic network hotlines, I work as a field agent for the clandestine agency, AIR. My elven partner Logan is showing me the ropes. Relocating a troll and interviewing a werewolf should be a normal day. When shots are fired and a fairy turns up dead, our day turns into a nightmare.

My job keeping mythological creatures, the Lost, hidden from the world takes a U-turn into an investigation. Using my powers, I have a shot at tracking the killer, but someone else has the same idea. An agency sanctioned assassin mistakes me for a demon and almost succeeds in taking me off the case and out of life. These are my tax dollars at work.

With my powers raging out of control and a target on my back, will I be able to protect the Lost?

Samantha Jane Taylor by Astrid Lee Miles
Being snatched is one matter. Being sold and then kidnapped is another. That is how Samantha’s new life began. At the young age of nine she was taken away from one mother and handed over to another. These new parents were strange. The new mom taught Sam how to be sexually alluring to obtain attraction and "love" from men. It was perplexing and demanding what this mother wanted, but the last thing Sam wanted was to be handed over to someone new. She struggled and learned all that her new mom wanted her to learn.
When Samantha turned eighteen, she began searching for her sister. A sister who was lost to her all those years ago when she was sold and kidnapped. When the siblings do find each other, there is a strained atmosphere between them. Life tends to be complicated when you believe every man has to think you are sexy in order for you to feel loved. Jealousy and confusion blend into a poisonous concoction as the sisters work to rekindle the bond between them.

For Mature Audiences (18+)

Samantha Jane Taylor* is now up for pre-order ($2.99) on Amazon. It is book two in a collection of novels (you can read it as a stand alone or find book one (1.99) HERE. I will be having sales and giveaways randomly over the next month in celebration of its completion. You can follow me on any of my Social Media to be alerted to these promotions.