End of the year means time for lists. I’ve seen lots of book lists over the past few weeks, but they’ve hewed to conservative choices like the new Stephen King time-travel novel or Chad Harbach’s The Art of Fielding. I’ll be honest: I tried both before I got distracted (Kindle’s make it easy to get distracted by another book. Just a few pages that don’t grab and suddenly button-click I’m back to my home library with all those other books I wanted to read . . .).
I’ve also seen lots of discussion about the top-selling indie (or “self-published”) books of 2011. Notable: two of the top ten bestselling books at Amazon this past year were independent novels (and fine books to boot).
But I haven’t seen any lists of terrific independent novels–and by independent, I mean what people with corporations would call “self-published.” And I thought, hey, I’ve read some great independent novels this year. Why not talk about them? Of course, I probably should be less declarative and more accommodating and title this something more generic like “My Favorite Indie Reads of 2011,” but none of the other lists I’ve seen have done so, so I figure why not?
I don’t really think in lists, so I’m not going to make one, but here are some independent books I thought highly of. A caveat: through social networking, I’ve “met” a lot of the authors on this list, as we run in the same circles, but they’re not here just because I follow them on Twitter. I follow them on Twitter because they’re here.
Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Blackbirds, Chad Harbach, Christopher Meeks, Chuck Wendig, Darker Things, Donovan Creed, Entertainment Weekly, Grass Valley, hemingway, Inside the outside, Irregular Creatures, J.D. Salinger, Joanna Penn, John Locke, Love at Absolute Zero, Martin Lastrapes, Miya Kressin, Monica Bloom, My Memories of a Future life, Nick Cole, Nick Earls, Pentecost, Prophecy, Rob Cornell, Roz Morris, Shotgun Gravy, stephen king, The Art of Fielding, The Changeling's Champion, The Creative Penn, The Gargoyle, The Love You Crave, The Middle-Aged Man and the Sea, The Old Man and the Wasteland, The Road, the time-traveler's wife, USC, What Once Was
Posted in Amazon, books, fiction, Independence, Kindle, publishing, reading | 9 Comments »
So what might a writer learn from Locke? You’ve written a “good enough” novel–whatever you’ve decided that means. Maybe you just finished it for NaNoWriMo (and in which case, congratulations!).
Maybe you’re an experienced indie author still frustrated when you see other authors selling crazy amounts of books while sales of yours trickle in.
Maybe you’re an author who got a corporate deal–advance and all!–but your publisher never really got around to marketing you. Maybe you signed with Simon & Schuster, and they’re too busy with uploading and then deleting Snooki YouTube videos.
Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: amanda hocking, barry eisler, corporate publishing, Donovan Creed, independent publishing, Joe Konrath, John Locke, malcolm gladwell, marketing, Michael Connelly, occupy wall street, publishing, self-publishing, tipping point, traditional publishing
Posted in books, marketing, publishing | 1 Comment »
In discussing Locke and How I Sold (as well as Hocking and Eisler et al.), I think one huge caveat that must be enumerated, and can’t be mentioned often enough, is that: there is no magic bullet. What’s worked for one writer might not–and probably will not–work for others.
I’m sure someone could make the argument that people don’t discuss that bit because it’s understood, but I don’t buy that.
Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: corporate publishing, Donovan Creed, independent publishing, ipad, John Locke, London, malcolm gladwell, marketing, Michael Connelly, publishing, self-publishing, shakespeare, tipping point, traditional publishing
Posted in books, marketing, publishing | Comments Off
