Karen's blog: BOOKBABY

Here are the latest bookbaby newsletters for my followers to peruse:

Featured Article:
Your Book as a Product, and Other Takeaways from the Creative Penn/BookBaby Interview

Best-selling author and independent publishing expert Joanna Penn interviewed Steven Spatz to discuss the state of indie publishing, treating your book as a product, and marketing insights. Read more.

How Do Readers Choose Books?

When it comes time to market your book, it’s important to understand how readers choose books so you can deliver the right message to the right readers. Read more.

Crutch Words: Why They Cripple Your Writing

In a conversation, “crutch words” give you an extra second to think of what to say. In writing, they are glaring annoyances that destroy your writing style. Read more.

What’s the best way to publish on Amazon? With BookBaby. See how you get the best of both worlds.

Top Stories:

Six ways to contemplate yourself as a writer

The accidental novelist—How stolen moments can make a book

15 Book discovery sites that can help you find more readers

You cannot overedit

Comparative figures of speech: Similes, metaphors, and analogies enhance your writing

How long did it take to write your favorite book?

Captivating by design. Sell your book with professional cover design.

Featured Article:
Six Ways to Contemplate Yourself as a Writer

Here are six things to consider that will help focus your thinking on your internal development as a writer. Take stock and contemplate yourself as a writer. Read more.

The Accidental Novelist—How Stolen Moments Can Make a Book

I write while riding the subway, waiting in lines, or after rocking my baby to sleep. In the cracks between events, my ideas simmer, and I record them while they’re warm. Read more.

15 Book Discovery Sites That Can Help You Find More Readers

Enlisting a book discovery service promoting cheap or free eBooks to a subscriber list is one way to get reviews, grow your social network, and find readers. Read more.

The Complete Self-Publishing Package. Literally everything you need to publish your book.

Top Stories:

You cannot overedit

Comparative figures of speech: Similes, metaphors, and analogies enhance your writing

How long did it take to write your favorite book?

Voices silenced: 12 authors who died in 2017

Developing a distinctive voice in writing

Find funding for your book: Navigating the landscape

Save 15% on pro editing. Use code BBEDIT15 at checkout.

Saturday, February 17, 2018

What’s the best way to launch your book?

It’s a great question—and one that our BookBaby publishing support team fields many times each week.

The usual answer is both simple and vague: It depends. But it’s not a copout answer. Book launches are never a one-size-fits-all kind of thing. Your best promotion plan will depend on things like your genre, your marketing budget, your timeline, and many other factors.

But there is one essential element to almost every single successful launch: The author had a plan.

Author Shelley Hitz knows all about book launch plans. Shelley and her husband together have published over 50 books in the last decade. We asked her to share some book launch ideas in a recent BookBaby blog post. It’s a great starting point for developing your own unique plan. You can learn some of her ideas and tips right here.

Want some more writing tips? How about “buying a cat,” “staying up late,” and “don’t drink”? The Guardian compiled advice from great literary figures in a recent column over here.

All the best,

Steven Spatz
President, BookBaby

Create your cover

Whether you’re cataloging your next Humans of New Hampshire edition or unveiling clues in your whodunit novel, you need a book cover that stands out on the shelf. And even if CreateSpace is no longer up to the task, we have an entire team ready to help make your book look its best.

With years of experience and thousands of titles under their belts, our designers will help you express your book’s themes while transforming your cover into a powerful selling tool. Choose from two design options:

Basic Cover Design: We’ll focus on one central image that will be designed to both grab the reader’s attention and convey the subject of the book.

Deluxe Cover Design: Graphic elements, textures, and photo blending are combined to create a scene that showcases your book’s content.

Special Offer

Buy printed book design and your eBook cover is free.

Cover design is more than a feature—it’s a necessity.
Start getting noticed today.

Create your cover

Featured Article:
You Cannot Overedit

You cannot overedit, whatever anyone says. I dare say I’ve never read a book without finding a mistake, but when I see one in my own work, there’s nothing that can make me feel good about it. Read more.

Comparative Figures of Speech: Similes, Metaphors, and Analogies Enhance Your Writing

One of the most effective ways to convey passion and aid your readers’ understanding of your message is to paint a word picture using comparative figures of speech. Read more.

How Long Did It Take to Write Your Favorite Book?

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde took six days to write, while J. D. Salinger averaged 20 words a day to finish his 73,000-word classic The Catcher in the Rye. Read more.