Sunday, April 13, 2014

5 Things I’ve Learnt About Self-Publishing


1. Use Smashwords to publish and distribute your books. It’s the best distributor I’ve found, and it’s easy to publish with Smashwords, even if you don’t know the first thing about publishing, formatting and/or marketing.

2. If you’re writing a series, make the first book permanently free. There are so many new authors out there now and, as great as self-publishing is for authors, it can be a nightmare for readers with all the badly written, unedited books out there and no quality control. Making your first book free allows readers to see if they enjoy your writing without spending a cent and, if they enjoy the first book, they will likely purchase the rest of the series.

3. Self-publishing is better than traditional publishing, in my opinion. You have more control over your work, and, if you’re prepared to put in the necessary time, you don’t have to wait a year or more after completion to see your book published. Indie authors (independent/self-published authors) also earn more royalties per sale, which means you can lower your prices to make it more affordable to readers and still make more money per book than if you’d gone the traditional route.

4. You need to edit your books properly and then have them professionally edited too. There’s nothing worse than spending money on a book only to discover that it’s badly written and full of typos and other mistakes. It’s bad form, and shows readers that you have no pride in your work.

5.  Don’t be fazed by bad reviews – or, better still, don’t read them. Remember that a review is just one person’s opinion and not everyone will enjoy everything you write. Don’t take it personally and don’t let it affect your writing or make you stop writing.


Sunday, April 6, 2014

The Broken World trailer


Today I’m pleased to share another book trailer with you, for The Broken World series. Comments welcome!


For those who haven’t read the series yet, you can find all the books at the following distributors:


Book 1 is free, so grab your copy today!


Thursday, April 3, 2014

Apple's iBooks Store Does It Again!


I’m delighted to announce that four of my free series-starter books, The Queen's Blade, Children of Another God – The Broken World, Demon Lord, and Queen of Arlin – The Cyber Chronicles, are featured on the 'First in a Series: Free' feature that the Australian/New Zealand iBooks Store launched this morning. I love Apple! The iBooks Store is constantly coming up with new ways to promote indie authors. It’s such a rush for a relatively unknown indie author like me to see my books touted at a huge worldwide retailer like Apple.

It’s the type of publicity all new, unknown and up and coming authors need to gain a foothold in this tough and competitive market, and I encourage new authors to choose Apple as one of their targeted retailers. It’s the best decision you'll make when it comes to marketing your books! Apple gives credit where it’s due, and for readers, that means it’s one of the best places to find exciting books by new and original authors who break the mould with their writing and therefore don’t fit into a niche mainstream publishers are prepared to publish. Here's the link, if you want to check it out: http://bit.ly/1hlzFRW