The meteoric rise of Amazon into a global retail empire has hit a number of industries hard, but perhaps none more so than the publishing industry. Along with the dramatic shift in producing books, obviously Amazon, other online retailers, and even the invention of the ebook had a huge impact on booksellers. Sadly, it wasn't in a good way. While major brick-and-mortar chains … [Read more...] about Indie Bookshops Are Back from the Brink
self publishing
Tate Publishing Crooks Receive 20 Years, Nearly $1M in Restitution
In a victory for indie authors, the founder and CEO of vanity press Tate Publishing and his son who worked with him have been sentenced to a total of about twenty years in prison for taking money from authors for services they never provided. The jail sentences for a variety of charges have been suspended, meaning Richard and Ryan Tate will not have to serve that time as long … [Read more...] about Tate Publishing Crooks Receive 20 Years, Nearly $1M in Restitution
Where Would We Be Without Amazon? Buying Books on Smashwords
There's little doubt that Amazon has changed everything about publishing. It's not just a matter of opening the doors for indie authors, producing a viable e-reader device and then creating a platform for content to fill it, or leveraging the power of enhanced searchability to give authors potential visibility. Amazon has even sparked change in traditional publishing, such as … [Read more...] about Where Would We Be Without Amazon? Buying Books on Smashwords
Amazon Claims to Resolve “Disappearing” eBooks Issue
A couple of weeks ago, prolific author, advocate, and self-pub expert David Gaughran published a blog piece on a disturbing phenomenon: international customers were having trouble buying titles that had been published via KDP. The post had over 100 comments in the first twenty-four hours, largely from authors who detailed their own problems with trying to sell their books on … [Read more...] about Amazon Claims to Resolve “Disappearing” eBooks Issue
KDP Launches New Reports Dashboard in Beta
Self-published authors whose works are distributed via Amazon's Kindle Direct Publishing platform may have noticed a couple of beauty-wise changes to their author dashboards. A new report dashboard, currently in beta, gives the muddled old dashboard a much-needed facelift. However, other than being more eye-catching and appealing, not much has changed about the sales report. … [Read more...] about KDP Launches New Reports Dashboard in Beta
Bowker Announces Data Breach of Self-Pubbed Authors’ Credit Cards
Bowker, the international clearing house for ISBN numbers, has announced a breach of its MyIdentifiers.com website which resulted in theft of payment card information. This theft resulted in an alarming pattern of fraudulent transactions on the cards that Bowker customers had used to order their ISBNs. The number of self-published titles has grown dramatically … [Read more...] about Bowker Announces Data Breach of Self-Pubbed Authors’ Credit Cards
Do Indies Need to Worry about Adaptations of their Books?
If only every indie author had it so rough: being so successful with their books that they now have to worry about film adaptations of their work. Right? A new Netflix ten-part series adaptation of Shirley Jackson's novel The Haunting of Hill House has left some fans of her work elated, others fuming. None other than Stephen King tweeted that he thought she'd be proud of the … [Read more...] about Do Indies Need to Worry about Adaptations of their Books?
KDP Offers New Indian Languages for eBook Uploads
While Amazon's KDP publishing platform gave voice to authors all across the US, it took a little time at the onset for that freedom to reach other countries and other reader markets. The company continues to roll out not just the ability to find and devour new books in far-flung places, but also the language algorithms that are necessary for books to be published in multiple … [Read more...] about KDP Offers New Indian Languages for eBook Uploads
Is Self-Publishing Still a Flash in the Pan? Yeah, Right.
In case you were waiting for the hoopla surrounding self-publishing to die down, there's some unfortunate news from Bowker: the number of ISBNs issued for self-published books just reached one million last year. That may not seem like a lot--surely there are more than one million self-published books, right?--but remember, that's only the number of books whose ISBNs were issued … [Read more...] about Is Self-Publishing Still a Flash in the Pan? Yeah, Right.
BN Press Now Offers Pre-Orders, But Why?
Barnes & Noble is still clinging to life despite years-long rumors that almost every aspect of the business model is at death's door. With physical stores closing and the Nook constantly rumored to be on the chopping block, it's hard to know what to believe. So the recent announcement that B&N's Press (formerly Nook Press, the self-publishing wing of the company) is now … [Read more...] about BN Press Now Offers Pre-Orders, But Why?