Amazon's Kindle Unlimited, the ebook and audiobook subscription service that lets members pay a flat monthly fee for unlimited access to its catalog, went live today, offering users a thirty day free trial and the option to pay $9.99 a month for the service. According to a press release issued by Amazon, the service is compatible with both Kindle reading devices and tablets, as … [Read more...] about Kindle Unlimited Goes Live with eBook, Audiobook Titles
self publishing
New Author Earnings Report Compiles Mid-Year Numbers
Author Earnings, who has a two-fold mission that encompasses supporting authors of every publishing path, has released a new report, this time looking not only at the data so far up to July 2014, but also mapping out the trends that the data can help identify. The comprehensive and exhaustingly complete report provides graphs on a variety of factors in publishing, all aimed … [Read more...] about New Author Earnings Report Compiles Mid-Year Numbers
The Stigma Around Erotica Continues
Despite the fact that Fifty Shades of Grey is old news--at least the book, the film doesn't release until Valentine's Day next year--and the door to free publishing of adult content has been thrown wide open since EL James' book took newsstands by storm, critics are still claiming the downfall of human society due to the abundance of explicit content. Interestingly, it seems … [Read more...] about The Stigma Around Erotica Continues
UK Society of Authors: Traditional Publishing No Longer in Authors’ Best Interests
Thanks largely to Hugh Howey's recent post about the need for organizations that truly work on behalf of authors rather than their own self-interests, serious discussion has opened up about the need for a better structure that works to speak up for writers and their work. Organizations like the Author's Guild have recently been questioned as their interests lie in furthering … [Read more...] about UK Society of Authors: Traditional Publishing No Longer in Authors’ Best Interests
Advice to Indie Authors: Don’t Overlook Kobo
When Amazon introduced KDP Select, the exclusive program that offered indie authors extra benefits for only selling the ebook through their platform, critics argued that Amazon was encouraging authors to forfeit the ability to sell their books in other locations, thus hurting their overall careers. In exchange for incentives such as paid royalties when Kindle owners borrowed … [Read more...] about Advice to Indie Authors: Don’t Overlook Kobo
Five ABNA Category Winners Annouced
The end is almost near for this year's Amazon Breakthrough Novel Awards, hosted by Amazon and CreateSpace. A contest that began in January with 10,000 entries from authors across a spectrum of genres has now been whittled away to just five finalists. At each stage in the contest, the field of entries is narrowed dramatically, leading up to today's announcement of the five … [Read more...] about Five ABNA Category Winners Annouced
Smashwords’ Survey Indicates Shifting Trends in eBook Pricing, Sales
Self-publishing and ebook distribution platform Smashwords announced this week the results of its annual survey which tracks sales for the previous year and compiles an intense look at trends in ebook retailing from the data. Each year, this data has provided an in-depth understanding of how reading consumers are behaving in regards to their ebook purchases. Some of the key … [Read more...] about Smashwords’ Survey Indicates Shifting Trends in eBook Pricing, Sales
Hugh Howey on Writers’ Unions: Who Really Speaks for Authors?
There are a few groups out there that claim to be the voice of advocacy and support for authors. Chief among them is the Author's Guild, an organization that actively works to block self-published authors from its inner sanctum by imposing hefty sales requirements before indie authors can join, thus making them a retailer's guild, rather than an author's guild. There's also the … [Read more...] about Hugh Howey on Writers’ Unions: Who Really Speaks for Authors?
MyPublishingAssistant Lets Authors Streamline Blog-to-Book, eBooks
There are a wide variety of tools available on the market that put more power in authors' hands, letting them do everything from market their work to create new formats for their content. Unfortunately, there are an even wider variety of products that don't do much at all. One of the tools that does stand to support indie authors' by making their ebook development process … [Read more...] about MyPublishingAssistant Lets Authors Streamline Blog-to-Book, eBooks
Nook Press Blog Offers Support to Indie Authors
There's a lot of talk about Amazon and what it has done to revolutionize both bookselling and publishing, namely in the doors that it opened for self-published authors to put their books in front of readers. There's so much talk, in fact, that it's easy to forget that there are other platforms out there that also do great work for authors and readers. Nook Press, the … [Read more...] about Nook Press Blog Offers Support to Indie Authors