Hey, Look, Another Link

[kriadydragon]

Goodreads has the best groups, seriously.

Goodreads has the best forums, seriously. The support for indie authors is awesome. Case in point, the following link.

Indie Books Discovery

As the title says, it's a place for self-published books. If you have a self-published novel available on Amazon, you can submit your book. If you're a reader, you can find more obscure titles that would otherwise be buried under Amazon's top-sellers. Because it's in its infancy all book submissions are free (so if you got an indie book on Amazon, you might want to take advantage of this). But when the site owners do begin charging for book submissions, the cost is only around two dollars (per book).

What I like about this site (other than having someplace to advertise my book, that is) is 1. the books are randomly generated. That means no top selling book making it to the front page with bottom-selling books buried at the, well, bottom. 2. To find out more about the book, you just click on the Amazon icon that takes you straight to the book's Amazon page, which means being able to read reviews and excerpts and knowing what you're getting into. Which means having a better chance of sifting the promsing from the drek.

Although when browsing you definitely need to have a "don't judge a book by its cover... literally" mindset. Some of those covers... *shakes head*

Comments

[nefhiriel.livejournal.com]

Ooo, this is so timely, since I'm gearing up to self-publish a novella.

...Also, now I'm wondering about a potential market for making ebook covers for some of the authors. (Book cover design is pretty much my favorite "niche" of design to work in. :D)

So thanks for the link! I foresee exploring it.

[kriadydragon.livejournal.com]

Well, now would be the time since submissions are free. Of course even when they start charging it's not like it's going to cost an arm and a leg ;) (one person talked about this one site that charges sixty bucks to submit your work for only a couple of months).

...Also, now I'm wondering about a potential market for making ebook covers for some of the authors. (Book cover design is pretty much my favorite "niche" of design to work in. :D)

Oh, heck yes! Editors/beta readers and cover designers are the two biggest things indie authors are always scrounging for. I'm even thinking about hiring someone to do the cover for my next book, so I could be your first customer :D

[nefhiriel.livejournal.com]

Yikes, sixty bucks is steep, especially for new authors looking to just get started. So that sounds like a great deal, and I'll have to get on it (although I'm think I want to enter this particular story in a contest first).

Yes! With boom of self-publishing happening, I'm always looking for an "in" on the indie book design market. Although there are some genres I'm kind of keen to avoid (such as erotica), so that always complicates the matter a little. Turning down work is never fun. :P But I would be thrilled to make a cover for you sometime (you can even check out my Spiffy New Portfolio (www.rebekahsather.com) for sample work *so officious*)! :D What book are you working on right now?

[kriadydragon.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'm definitely hiring you :D I just need to design a picture... if my drawing skills are not too rusty :/

You should advertise yourself in one of the Goodreads Indie communities. I think they have forums where people who are editors or cover designers can advertise. People who offer their services in young adult and fantasy threads get a ton replies, so avoiding erotica should be pretty easy. I don't think you'll have a problem getting your foot in the door :D

The story I'm currently working on is a fantasy/mystery that was inspired by The Tempest (I kept calling it The Tempest AU). It's the one I kept having doubts about but that now I'm pretty happy with. I'm crossing my fingers that I get it published sometime during the summer.

[nefhiriel.livejournal.com]

If you can't come up with a drawing you're satisfied with, I really enjoy doing digital blending style art (like this one (https://www.dropbox.com/s/gv3nr2c5ilsrv75/chatoyant_small.png?dl=0)). So there are options. ;D

That's a great idea - I think I will look into poking around/getting connected on the goodreads forums, and hopefully find some people looking for cover design.

That sounds like an awesome premise! And - ha! - I have stories, too, that are far removed from being an AU of "fandom X" anymore, but once you start it out thinking of it as fanfiction, it's hard to stop labeling it that way. XD

[kriadydragon.livejournal.com]

Here's the two indie groups I'm part of if you want a starting point.

https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/154447-support-for-indie-authors

https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/126776-sci-fi-fantasy-and-speculative-indie-authors-review

There might be more groups out there, including a group for people offering services.

[imbecamiel.livejournal.com]

That sounds like such a great resource! :D

(LOL at the self-published book covers thing, though. It can be... highly unfortunate. I think a lot of people figure it's just putting some text over a picture, something they can easily do themselves. But it's really, really not.)

[kriadydragon.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'm even thinking about hiring someone to do the cover for my next book. Book covers and blurbs are the biggest pain in the butt :/