Social Media

&
Marketing
August 2014
Your Guide to Self-Publishing
Advanced Marketing Techniques
Social Media Strategies
57 New Titles Listed
Our Latest Indie Reviews
P U B L I S H E R S WE E K LY A U G U S T 2 5 , 2 0 1 4 54
Social Sophistication Not all social media platforms are alike
B R J
If you build it, they will come.
S
uch is the dream behind so-
cial media marketing. But
its also a dream distant from
reality. While self-pub-
lished authors hoping to
successfully market themselves and their
books are well-advised to establish a
presence on the major social media plat-
forms, in addition to creating personal
websites and Amazon author pages, so-
cial media needs to be approached strate-
gically.
An authors presence on each plat-
formwhether its Facebook, Twitter,
Goodreads, Wattpad, Instagram, You-
Tube, or Pinteresthas to be maintained
and updated with purpose.
Some clients want to shotgun [social
media] out to everyone, says Jared
Drake, new media director at Julia Drake
PR, a boutique marketing and PR agency
for authors. While Facebook, Twitter, and
Goodreads are the big three, other social
networks, depending on an authors vi-
sion and abilities to invest time and mon-
ey, could come into play. An author with
a photography book or a video series pro-
moting his books should be on Insta-
gram, Drake says, but not necessarily
everyone should be. Focus on those
[sites] that make a difference, he adds.
For instance, Colleen Hoover, a New
York Times bestselling author who self-
published her series Slammed on Ama-
zon (shes since signed a contract with
Atria Books, a Simon & Schuster im-
print), hosts videos on Instagram, which
is easier for her to upload to than Face-
book or Twitter. People really like the
videos, I think because Im kind of ri-
diculous in them, she says. But I basi-
cally just use that as my main form of
social media because its so easy to hit the
button, and it shares.
Thats another important element
about social media: the platforms dont
exist in a vacuum. Interconnectivity wid-
gets enable an update on, say, Twitter to
feed to Facebook or the Amazon author
page, extending reach. Drake approaches
each social media platform as part of a
larger marketing and publicity machine,
one that entails accumulating fans and
followers, engaging with that audience
(especially leading up to and following a
books release) and featuring advertorial
messages designed to actually sell books.
But operating this machine means
knowing how to pull the right levers at
the right time. Certain strategies work
better on certain platforms. Facebook,
more than any other social network, is an
advertising platform. By contrast, the
Goodreads community can be hostile to-
ward marketing messages. Social media
marketing success means understanding
the community on each network as well
as the promotional and messaging tools
built into the platform itself.
Facebook
The worlds most popular social network
has evolved significantly since its 2004
inception as a place for friends. In its
early days as a marketing platform, Face-
book touted itself as a great venue for
small businesses to achieve organic reach.
In other words, a self-published author
with a Facebook business page could, in
theory, send messages to friends and
friends of friends, exponentially increas-
ing her network and driving sales.
While Facebooks marketing tools are
now focused on advertising and paid
reach, its still an effective platform to
begin audience building. Facebook is
much more of a presentation: heres what
Im doing, what Im about, like my
stuff, says Drake. Its not conversation-
al, but its a great way to build an audi-
ence, which you need to do.
Beyond asking your immediate friends
and family to like your official author
page, what more can a burgeoning writ-
er do? Drake advises authors, first, to
define who their audience is and to come
up with five different interest areas.
From there, they should start targeting
their messaging through ads.
Facebook has two types of ads: display
banners that run on the right side of the
page, called right rail ads, and ads that
run in a users news feed as promoted
posts.
One of the biggest mistakes busi-
nesses make is not using our targeting
options when sending out marketing
messages, says Bess Yount, Facebooks
small- and medium-sized business lead.
For small businesses with limited mar-
keting options, its very important to use
our targeting options to spend money on
people who will be your customers.
There are several ways to send targeted
messages to people on Facebook. At the
most basic level, you can upload to Face-
book an email list filled with people who
have previously purchased your books
and target messaging to them. Interest-
based targeting is a more advanced and
slightly pricier tactic. If your book is a
biography about, say, legendary 49ers
head coach Bill Walsh, you can target
your messaging to 49ers fans, or if youve
written a fantasy epic reminiscent of A
Song of Ice and Fire, you might target
fans of the series, author George R.R.
Martin, or the HBO show Game of
Thrones.
Also consider what you want your
messaging to achieve. If you simply want
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people to be aware of your presence, you
can toss $100 into the Facebook machine
and get back around 5,000 impres-
sions. On the other hand, if you want
people to actually engage with your mes-
saging by clicking on it or liking your
page, the cost will be higher, and youll
want to target a pool of users who are
more engaged but consequently smaller.
Facebook also has a built-in ad report-
ing tool designed to show what sort of
returnwhether its clicks, engage-
ments, or sharesyou get for each dollar
spent. Authors should use this to under-
stand what theyre getting for their mon-
ey so they can optimize their messaging
and targeting.
But while it might be tempting to use
Facebooks advertising tools simply for
promotional messaging, Yount suggests
diversifying posts to drive engagement.
You need to engage with different cus-
tomers and create content, she says.
Understanding what people want to see
and hear from you is really important.
Ive spoken to a couple of authors, and I
tell them to make their Facebook page a
glimpse into their process.
For example, authors can upload im-
ages of their favorite place to write, or
post about whatever power breakfast
gives them the energy to write for a full
day.
Its an amazing opportunity to give
readers a behind-the-scenes look at what
theyre doing, Yount says. Putting in
that human voice is an engaging way to
use your Facebook page.
Twitter
If you want people to like you,
use Twitter.
Its so easy to reach out
and shake someones hand
and hobnob with a bigwig
you otherwise wouldnt,
says Drake.
Engaging on the platform
is straightforward: find people who share
your interestsespecially the influenc-
ers with lots of followersthen follow
them yourself and start commenting on
or retweeting things they say. If they like
what you have to say, hopefully theyll
follow you back, and voil, youve ex-
panded your network.
It also helps to figure out which of
your followers are the most influential.
Free online tools like SocialRank enable
you to sort your followers based on influ-
ence.
Twitter also has paid options for pro-
moting and targeting messages to its us-
ers. Like Facebook, Twitter allows you to
upload and target users based on your
existing email list or to build your own
audience to message, based on factors
like the keywords that appear in a public
bio (so you can target tweets about your
Bill Walsh biography to self-identified
49ers fanatics), follower count, and
tweet history. You can also request from
Twitter a line of code to add to your web-
site, which allows you to target Twitter
users who have visited (Facebook has a
version of this, too).
You can target anybody on Twitter
whos visited your website in the past 90
days, Drake says. You know youre tar-
geting someone whos a quality lead.
One thing to consider when it comes
to marketing on both Twitter and Face-
book: both user bases tend to access feeds
via mobile devices. Currently, 78% of
Twitter users and 81% of Facebook users
are mobile.
So links directing users away from ei-
ther social network should lead to a site
that loads well on mobile devices. If
youre trying to drive purchases via ei-
ther Twitter or Facebook, make sure that
path to purchase is both mobile-opti-
mized and fluid. If a purchase on a mo-
bile device requires too many
clicks or requires extensive
form filling, your would-be
customers will abandon the
page, and that may well
mean lost sales.
This might soon become
an outdated concern, how-
ever, as both Facebook
and Twitter are experi-
menting with features
that enable users to buy goods directly
through their respective networks. Nei-
ther, however, has made these capabili-
ties generally available.
Goodreads
Authors on Goodreads are going to want
to drastically tone down their promo-
tional messaging. Unless youre inter-
ested in irritating prospective readers,
approach Goodreads as a reader first and
an author second.
Authors who do well on Goodreads
treat it as a big party, says Patrick
Brown, the com-
panys director
of author mar-
keting. They
add value not
only by talking
about their own
books, but oth-
er s books as
well. Theyre experts oN the genres they
work in.
After setting up an author page on the
site, Brown recommends using the social
networks tools like Ask the Author to
begin engaging with users, or to do a free
book giveaway, in which Goodreads se-
lects certain interested members to re-
ceive a free copy of a participating au-
thors book. Goodreads supplies the au-
thor with the mailing addresses of the
giveaway winners, and the author pays
for shipping and handling.
I got a few thousand entries in the
first giveaways I did, Hoover recalls.
Through this, she got more people to fol-
low the author profile page shed previ-
ously established.
The detriment is cost. Goodreads
doesnt support digital distribution
(Brown wouldnt comment on whether
Goodreads would introduce this feature
in the future), and printing and shipping
books can be prohibitively expensive.
Hoover acknowledged the steep up-
front costs. She buys the books involved
in the giveaways at $7.50 each directly
Not all social media platforms are alike
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S O C I A L ME D I A
from the publisher, but
she thinks it pays off in
the long run.
I spent a lot of money giving away the
books instead of advertising, and that has
helped with word of mouth, she says.
That helps people want to come back to
my page to see if Im doing other give-
aways.
While digital-only authors are shut
out from participating in the book give-
aways, they arent shut out from the
greater Goodreads community.
So many authors go to Goodreads and
look at it wrong: Heres a pond full of
fish I can start marketing to! says Rob-
in Sullivan. She is married to hybrid sci-
fi author Michael J. Sullivan, who self-
published his first books, then got a deal
with the Hachette imprint Orbit, but
returned to self-publishing with his lat-
est novel, the Kickstarter-funded Hollow
World. Robin oversees the business ele-
ments of Michaels writing career, in-
cluding marketing. Goodreads is about
a community of readers, and when youre
in it long enough, they talk about your
books so you dont have to talk about
your books, she says.
For example, Hollow World was select-
ed, completely unprompted by the Sul-
livans, as a July read for a Goodreads
group devoted to time-travel fiction that
Michael participates in.
If youre helpful to other people,
theyll gravitate to you and when they
find out youre an author; theyll adver-
tise it for you, Michael says.
The Sullivans recommend joining
Goodreads groups related to your inter-
ests and hanging out for a week or two
absorbing the culture. Occasionally, au-
thors will enter a group and do some-
thing, like promote a project, that riles
the community. Those are learning op-
portunities. Once youve grasped the cul-
ture of the group, start contributing. If
people ask for book recommendations,
give them a few options. Community
members who click on your profile will
learn youre an author, but avoid men-
tioning it unless youre explicitly asked
about it.
Wattpad
If Goodreads revolves around
reading, Wattpad revolves
around writing. Because
Wattpad is fundamentally an
online publication portal,
writers using it to host their
work can build a fan base and
eventually drive sales (though as with
Goodreads, authors shouldnt rely on it
too heavily as a commercial vehicle).
Keep in mind, Wattpad is a social
network, says Ashleigh Gardner, Watt-
pads head of content. Many writers, shes
noticed, use their Wattpad bios simply
to blurb their books. If you do that, you
risk coming off as a hack, not a human.
Sometimes, a good Wattpad bio is as
simple as writing in the first person or
making sure your user name is your ac-
tual name and not, say, the name of your
book.
Self-published authors like novelists
Bill Gourgey and Brittany Geragotelis
drove much of their early success posting
on Wattpad. Geragotelis, after being
dropped by an agent who couldnt sell
her novel, began putting her work on the
social network.
She noticed most people published
paranormal romance, so she came up
with her own spin on the genre, called
Lifes a Witch, a reimagining of the Sa-
lem Witch trials set in the modern day,
with a kickass heroine.
Geragotelis got comments directly
from people loving her work, instead of
a stream of rejections from publishers
and agents. In six months, she had six
million reads. By 11 months, she had 18
million reads and people started asking
where they could buy it.
Like any other social network, those
interactions are important. Gardner em-
phasizes that authors on Wattpad should
take advantage of its environment by fol-
lowing other users and commenting.
Many authors join Wattpad and just use
it to broadcast what theyre doing, she
says. But its important to engage with
other users. Wattpad shows which user
is interacting with which story or author,
so its easy to identify the authors who are
active participants versus
those who arent.
From a more strategic
standpoint, its also impor-
tant for writers to consider
the keywords theyre using
to tag their work. Often, au-
thors can be a bit broad, tag-
ging a story with something like liter-
ary fiction.
Readers dont search for stories that
way, Gardner said. Tag it with some-
thing a user might search for. Consider
more specific tags like divorce or
coming-of-age. Instead of tagging a
story paranormal romance, consider
vampires or bondage.
Users search for universal themes, or
cities, or they search for unique character
archetypes, Gardner says. Using those
words rather than a genre is much more
effective.
Kickstarter
When self-published authors consider
their social media presence, the last site
they consider is probably Kickstarter, a
platform on which people can explain the
projects that they are working on and
their fund-raising needs, and interested
users can kick in a donation.
When Michael J. Sullivan decided to
go back to self-publishing with Hollow
World, Robin recommended he use Kick-
starter to raise $3,000 to have the book
professionally edited and produced (the
Sullivans budgeted $6,000, and planned
to contribute the other half). His Kick-
starter campaign ended up raising just
north of $30,000. In addition to replac-
ing the advance Michael would have got-
ten from a traditional publisher, it turned
out to be an unexpectedly efficient way
to garner new readers and to hype the
book well before it was released.
Most people think that if you have no
fan base whatsoever, theres virtually no
way you can succeed at Kickstarter, Mi-
chael says. He believes more than a third
of the people backing Hollow World had
never read his books or even heard of
himthey simply liked his project and
decided to fund it.
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However, Robin believes it helped
that Michael had already completed Hol-
low World and simply needed editing and
production services, so the project was
largely complete when he began asking
for donations. Additionally, hed already
published books, which legitimized him
and likely convinced Kickstarter users he
wasnt a fly-by-night.
Kickstarter campaigners create incen-
tives for prospective donors by giving
out prizes based on the donation sum
the bigger the donation, the better the
reward. Among the rewards Michael
gave to backers were early copies of
Hollow World.
It was a great way of advertising a
book. I got people whod never heard of
me to know about me, but part of the
appeal is that those people got the book
a year in ad-
vance of ev-
eryone else,
Michael says.
They received it a year in advance, read
it, and promoted it. Because they were
invested in the product, they generated
buzz a year in advance.
Theres another social component to
Kickstarter: you can follow other back-
ers. Robin, who is active in the commu-
nity, follows backers who have a reputa-
tion of funding interesting projects,
which is how she learns about work that
she otherwise wouldnt know about. In
other words, the more funders your proj-
ect attracts, the more exposure itll get
on Kickstarter.
All Things All at Once
If theres one characteristic that unites all
social networks, its time. To effectively
participate in just one community re-
quires consideration and effort. And time
youre using to partici-
pate in social media is
time youre not using to
write.
Whi l e Facebook, Twi t t er, and
Goodreads are obligatory when it comes
to social media marketing, you still need
to consider how much time you want to
spend on each (Michaels Twitter and
Facebook presence is pretty dismal,
Robin says).
Julia Drake, founder and CEO of Julia
Drake PR, emphasizes that despite each
networks unique rules of engagement and
promotional tools, social media market-
ing only gets out of hand when authors
dive into everything without any strategy
or understanding of their motives.
Spend the time to really understand
what youre doing and why youre doing
it, she says, or you can feel really over-
whelmed.
Ryan Joe is a writer living in New York City.
Tools for Success
Since most authors fail to take full advantage of best practices,
it means that those who do implement all the best practices have
a tremendous sales and discovery advantage over those who do
not, says Mark Coker, founder of the e-book publisher and
distributor Smashwords and author of Smashwords Book Market-
ing Guide. He cites preorders as a case study.
P U B L I S H E R S WE E K LY A U G U S T 2 5 , 2 0 1 4 58
Advanced Marketing Tactics for Indie Authors
B J MC
A
usten, Blake, Proust,
Whitman, Woolfthe
list of successful self-
published authors is as
old as traditional pub-
lishing itself. As long as there have been
gatekeepers like agents, editors, and
publishers, there have been determined
writers who find creative ways to operate
outside the castle walls. While an author
like Jane Austen never found success in
her lifetime, many more managed to find
an audience for their books and even cre-
ate a bit of controversy while they did it
(Walt Whitman was fired from his job at
the Department of the Interior after self-
publishing his book Leaves of Grass,
which some at the time felt was obscene).
These days, authors like Hugh Howey,
E.L. James, and Barbara Freethy regu-
larly hit the New York Times bestseller list
and have readers numbering in the mil-
lions. How do they do it? They do it by
writing good books and then helping
readers discover their workmarketing
themselves and their books like its their
full-time job. There remain many obsta-
cles to publishing success, but there are
also a lot of best practices that successful
indie authors followpractices that give
books maximum exposure and provide
authors the best opportunities for a work
to be discovered. Below, we go beyond
social media tools to look at different
ways authors can market their work.
An Education
A great way for indies to become part of
publishing and educate themselves about
the industry is to learn from peers and
industry experts, says Robin Cutler, se-
nior manager, independent publishers, at
Ingram Content Group. We highly rec-
ommend that indies join publishing as-
sociations like the IBPA [Independent
Book Publishers Association] and ALLi
[the Alliance of Independent Authors] in
the United Kingdom.
Cutler notes that many first-time au-
thors are often learning the business of
publishing from scratcheverything
from ISBNs to trade discounts and re-
turnswhich means authors have a lot
to learn before theyre able to think about
marketing. Before diving into publish-
ing, wed recommend a thorough due
diligence of the industry, to be knowl-
edgeable about your target market and
the publishing services providers that
can help you achieve your goals, Cutler
advises.
Once authors have a handle on how a
distributor operates and learn about
pricing structures theyre in a better
position to lay out an effective market-
ing plan.
MA S T E R I N G MA R K E T I N G
PREORDERS
Many e-book retailers, including Smashwords, offer preorder distributionwhich allows
customers to buy the book months ahead of its release. Weve found conclusive evi-
dence that books born as preorders sell more copies overall than books that are not,
he says. However, despite the availability of this free opportunity, he notes, most indie
authors dont use it, giving those that do an advantage. Offer e-book preorders, Coker
says, and make the preorder runway as long as possible. At the Apple iBooks store,
Barnes & Noble, and Kobo, Coker notes, all the accumulated preorders credit toward
unit sales on the first day of release, which causes the book to spike in the bestseller
lists. Once a book reaches a bestseller list, its discoverability is increased, which in
turn drives more salesmaking preorders a key marketing tool.
METADATA
Metadata is another key marketing tool that authors may overlookmetadata is the in-
formation an author enters about her book into her chosen distributors system that
feeds out to the marketplace. This includes the book description, the category, the
price, the author bio, blurbs, and any other data that bookstores and readers will use to
find an authors book. Incorrect or lazy data entry can make a book harder to discover,
weakening its search engine optimization (SEO). Be thoughtful and purposeful when de-
veloping metadata for your title, advises Cutler. Authors should include such key words
in the book description as relevant place names, current or historical events, and best-
selling books similar to the title being sold; select the most accurate category (ro-
mance, new adult romance, historical romance, etc.); and ensure their author bio is up
to date. Help us help readers find your title, Cutler says.
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MA S T E R I N G MA R K E T I N G
What to Avoid
If a campaign isnt targeted and partici-
patory, it annoys readers, says Coker. If
every marketing message is simply a bla-
tant sales solicitation, its boring and
readers will tune out. He advises au-
thors to engage readers in smart and in-
teresting ways that celebrate the book:
sneak peeks, cover reveals, and contests.
Beyond Social Media:
Marketing Case
Studies
Successful marketers do a lot of experi-
mentation, says Coker. They try and
test different campaigns. We talked to
a few indie authors about some of their
marketing successes (and failures) and
what theyve learned so far.
One marketing tool is to create con-
tent that complements the book and
then use that to get more publicity. Stine
relates how her forthcoming new adult
novel is set in the famous Domino Sugar
Factory in Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Advanced Marketing Tactics for Indie Authors
Finding (and Keeping) Readers
LEVERAGING EXISTING BOOKS
Another activity that distinguishes successful authors is that theyre writing multiple
books, and theyre leveraging those books as tools to promote new releases, says Coker.
Authors who are writing multiple titles in a series can drive preorders by updating all their
existing titles with a teaser for the new book in the backmatter. You should be running
special promotions, including pricing at free, to drive more downloads of existing books,
which will thenvia the updated backmatterdrive preorders for the upcoming books,
says Coker.
Authors who publish multiple books and employ smart marketing techniques are in-
creasing their chances for growing their readership. Focus your marketing on your fans,
lavish attention on them and their needs, and then leverage your fans to bring you more
fans, Coker says.
PRICING
In traditional publishing, authors usually dont have a say in the pricing of their booksa
big discount at any point in the supply chain means publishers, distributors, and book-
stores can lose money. This means pricing at traditional publishing houses is fairly predict-
able and set by the publisher: hardcovers are currently priced around $24.95 and paper-
backs around $16. Deep discounts on new books are rare, and there arent a lot of incen-
tives for readers to take a chance on a new author. But for indie authors, a marketing plan
that takes pricing into account can be a key component of a successful bookmost e-
book retailers allow authors to set the price of their books or even give them away for free.
Indie author Catherine Stine says shes learned a lot from marketing her thriller Fireseed
One, a finalist in the YA and SF categories in the 2013 USA News International Book
Awards and an Indie Reader Approved notable. Everyone wants a deal, says Stine. Her
advice to authors is to set their first book as perma free to help attract readers. Get on
Bookbub, BookGorilla, and other reputable sites whenever you have a sale, she adds.
DISTRIBUTION MATTERS
Those authors not content with just an e-book or simple POD edition need to plan aheadespecially if part of an authors marketing plan
is a book tour with speaking engagements. To host an author event, bookstores need to offer the authors books for sale, and for that
they must be able to order (returnable) copies. This is where choosing the right distributor comes in. While authors may think of their dis-
tributor simply as Amazon (if they think about their distributor at all once a book is published), the fact is that if authors want their
books in bookstores they need to publish with a print-on-demand service that makes books available to bookstore buyers. Bookstores
want returnable inventory, and CreateSpace PODs are not [returnable], says author Stine.
IngramSpark is Ingrams year-old publishing service developed specifically for indie authors. Unlike many of its competitors, it allows
authors to publish in print and digital simultaneously, as well as offering distribution to bookstores. The benefit, notes Cutler, is that au-
thors can take advantage of Ingram marketing services and gain access to Ingrams distribution channels that reach online and bricks-
and-mortar retailers worldwide. Every bookstore with an Ingram account can access and order books published through the service.
While most indie authors wont see their books automatically stocked on shelves across the nation (unless the buyer of a national
chain has reason to believe that a book will be receiving national media coverage), an author can still think locally and plan to create a
home-grown print market for her book. Engage your local bookstore and offer to speak, suggests Cutler. Patronize the store and build
relationships.
Authors who want to plan bookstore events or a larger book tour will want to think carefully about this marketing angle as online mar-
keting remains the most popular arena for indie authors.
continued on p.60
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MA S T E R I N G MA R K E T I N G
which was recently the site of a well-
publicized sugar-sculpture installation
by artist Kara Walker. Stine took ad-
vantage of this coincidence to pitch articles to media
outlets about the sugar trade and the factorys history to
coincide with the release of her book. While the articles
wont directly address the book or its publication, Stine
will be raising her profile as an author and hopefully
helping maximize her SEO as well.
Indie author Betsy Talbot constructed an unconven-
tional book tour she called the International Love Affair
tour to promote her title Married with Luggage: What We
Learned About Love by Traveling the World. The book high-
lights the couples adventures and insights working to-
gether while traveling around the world, and the tour
visited 10 romantic cities in Europe with her husband.
They promoted the tour both in advance and while they
traveled using social media, videos, and guest blog posts,
says Talbot. Successes included sponsorship of their
travel (hotel rooms, train tickets, donations from friends) and
new opportunities, including an invite to audition for a television
show. The downside? We didnt sell any more books during the
tour than we would have if we stayed at home, she says. What
would have sold the book better is [in-person appearances] at
bookstores, on morning television shows, on radio shows, etc.
Talbot will apply the lessons from this experience to her next
book tour and notes her email subscriber list has grown as a result
of the trip.
Marketing strategies can take many forms, and even the new-
est members of the publishing community are thinking of cre-
ative ways to sell their work. Hannah Yerington, an 18-year-old
poet, created a small publishing house, Bolinas Books, with her
father and recently launched her first book of poetry available
in print via Bolinass website. Her marketing idea? Writing
poetry on demand for people while wearing a silly white feath-
ered hat, says Yerington. People buy a book and then give me
a prompt or word, and I type out a poem for them on my 1950s
Royal typewriter.
It may seem silly, Yerington says, but Im finding the more
Im enjoying the whole launching and selling process, the better
I seem to be doing.
Persistence
While Virginia Woolf enjoyed great success with her own Hog-
arth Press, the publishing industry today is a lot more compli-
cated than investing in a hand press and cranking out printed
copies of a book in your living room. Modern indie authors have
to deal with choosing a publishing platform, designing covers,
organizing blog tours, getting Goodreads reviews, and setting
pricingall in a global marketplace that sees more books pub-
lished each year than ever before.
A successful marketing campaign involves many of the tools
mentioned here. While theres no one key tool to achieving
marketing success, using best practices and persevering, through
the publication of multiple books, will increase an authors
chance of success. Authors need to be ready to capture the
lightning when it hits, says Coker. Too many authors give up
too early.
Jennifer McCartney is an author and editor.
Indie author Hannah Yerington at her pop-up poetry booth.
Indie author Betsy Talbot and her husband traveled Europe as part of their marketing
campaign.
WWW. P U B L I S H E R S WE E K LY. C O M 61
Surprising Self-Publishing Stats
B B K S
S
tatistics are funny things. Sometimes they teach us
a lot, sometimes they are confusing, and sometimes
they are intentionally misleading. Some of the sta-
tistics from two recent self-publishing surveys,
however, are starting to shake up the conventional
wisdom about indie authorsat least a little.
The first survey is the third quarterly Author Earnings re-
port, compiled by bestselling indie author Hugh Howey to
gather and share information so writers can make informed
decisions. The report concludes that the indie movement in
literature is not a blip and not a gold rush. It is definitely here
to stay.
The Author Earnings report takes its data from 7,000 top-
selling digital genre titles on Amazons category bestseller lists.
Among its findings:

The Big Five traditional publishers now account for only 16% of
the e-books on Amazons bestseller lists.

Digital rights management (DRM) harms e-book sales at any

price point.

Self-published books now represent 31% of e-book sales on

Amazons Kindle store.

Indie authors are earning nearly 40% of the e-book dollars going
to authors.

Self-published authors are dominating traditionally published

authors in sci-fi/fantasy, mystery/thriller, and romance genres,
butand here is the surprisethey are also taking significant
market share in all genres.
Not so surprising is the finding that sales of literary fiction
are fairly weak. This, the report says, is because literary fiction
is an anemic segment of publishing overall (the study, though,
does not reflect sales of print books).
Its clear from the report that, though the upward trend in
sales of indie titles for the past three quarters may slow or even
reverse during the upcoming holiday season, strong indie sales
will continue, and indie books are now a significant and per-
manent part of the book publishing landscape.
The second survey is from Mark Coker, founder of the e-book
distributor Smashwords. He has also come up with some sur-
prising findings. For example, what would you guess the sweet
spot for e-book pricing is? Just last year it seemed that 99 was
the magic number and that giving away free books, at least for
a while, was almost guaranteed to jump-start future sales. Not
so anymore. At least not in the way it used to be.
In his 2014 survey, Coker took a look at aggregated retail and
library sales data for Smashwords books. Smashwords catalogue
offers more than 250,000 titles from over 70,000 authors and
publishers. Coker examined $25 million in customer purchases
through retailers that include Apple iBooks, Barnes & Noble,
Diesel (now closed), Kobo, Oyster, Scribd, Smashwords, Sony
(now closed), and public libraries. Notice that Amazon is not
on the list.
Here are some of the key findings from the 2014 survey:

$2.99 and $3.99 are currently the pricing sweet spots for most
e-book bestsellers. In general, authors who price their books
modestly earn more than those whose prices are higher,
but 99 is no longer the path to riches.

Readers prefer longer e-books. In fact, bestselling books tend to

be over 100,000 words. This was a big surprise to us.

Series books outsell standalone books, but series books under

50,000 words are at a sales disadvantage.

Free still works as a marketing tool, especially when an author

offers the first book in a series for free, but it is much less
effective than before, primarily because so many authors are
taking advantage of it.

Preorders give authors a sales advantage. I think preorders

today are where free was five years ago, says Coker. The first
authors to effectively utilize preorders will gain the most
advantage, just as the first authors to enter new distribution
channels gain the most advantage.

Nonfiction earns more at higher prices. This was a real shocker

for us. Nonfiction buyers are less price sensitive, says Coker.
It appears as if most nonfiction authors are underpricing their
works, and they should experiment with higher prices, he says.
Coker is quick to point out that this analysis is based on his
own interpretation of the findings, and should only be used to
provide authors with possible clues to help them make informed
decisions about how to market their own unique books.
Betty Kelly Sargent is the founder and CEO of BookWorks.com.
B O O K WO R K S C O L U MN
P U B L I S H E R S WE E K LY A U G U S T 2 5 , 2 0 1 4 62
ART
Marketing for Professional Artists: In
the Second Decade of the 21st Century
Peter K. Worsley. CreateSpace. $14.99
paper (114p), ISBN 9781493527366;
$9.99 e-book, ASIN B00II5PVTO
Amazon; BN.com
How to brand yourself and your artwork
to stand out; the many channels to get
your message to a prospective collector,
including social media;
how to be ready when
a prospect responds.
Also, how to close the
sale and the tricky issue
of pri ci ng. Worsl ey
advises on tools needed:
choosing a computer and
essential software and accessories; ways to
obtain, handle, and preserve images of
artwork and references; email as the prime
messaging channel, and how to ensure that
a prospect opens and reads your message;
plus your website as your most important
marketing tool.
BIOGRAPHY &
AUTOBIOGRAPHY
White Gloves and Collards: A Memoir
He l e n Pr ude n Ka uf ma nn. HPK
Publishing. $14.95 paper (256p), ISBN
9780989801102; $6.95 e-book, ASIN
B00GK4JJ8E
S E L F P U B L I S H E D L I S T I N G S
Booksellers, publishers, and agents are encouraged
to take a look at the listings of self-published books below. Some of these authors
are waiting to be discovered; others have a track record and a following, and are
doing it on their own.
New Titles
from Self-Publishers
Tnc j; 1i1ics sunri11cn ron oun a(1n PW Scicc1
Amazon; BN.com; Ingram
Against the backdrop of the civil rights
movement, this is the story of a privileged
childhood in a small North Carolina
town that cherishes its customs and
history as symbolized by its Confederate
monument. As she copes with her parents
untimely deaths, young
Helen observes how the
community deals with
the end to the Jim Crow
rules theyve always lived
by. With love and support
from an older brother, an
eclectic extended family
(many of them segregationists), and a wise
African-American maid, Helen tries to
make sense of the changes taking place
around her.
BUSINESS &
ECONOMICS
Aesops Keys to Profitable Marketing
Betsy Kruger. Premium Book Co. $17.95
paper (157p), ISBN 9781928782582;
$17.95 e-book
Betsykruger.com
Kr u g e r p r e s e n t s
1 2 wa y s t o p r o f i t
by de l i ght i ng ke y
customers. Each chapter
updates a tale by Aesop,
relates his wisdom to
marketing, and coaches the reader on
how to adapt each key to any situation.
Examples show readers how to use the new
marketing strategies in their businesses.
Attention! Get It, Keep It
Erik van der Luijt. BookBaby. $6.99
e-book, ISBN 9781483530666
Amazon; Apple iBooks; Baker & Taylor;
BN.com; Copia; eSentral; Gardners; Kobo
Trouble drawing attention to your
product or message?
Trouble keeping the
audiences attention
when lecturing? Cant
seem to draw attention
to your art? This book
explains how to get and
keep attention when
and where you want it.
The Beginners Guide to Content
Marketing for Small Businesses:
The Quick Way to Know if Content
Marketing Is Right for Your Small
Business, How to Create Great Content
and Where to Learn More
Ma t t Ma n s f i e l d . Ma t t Ab o u t
Business. $9.99 paper (132p), ISBN
9780988843707; $4.99 e-book, ISBN
9780988843714
Amazon; BN.com
Mansfield aims to quickly bring you
WWW. P U B L I S H E R S WE E K LY. C O M 63
up to speed on the
essentials of content
marketing, teach you
the content creation
basics while helping
you overcome common
obstacles, and support
your content marketing efforts by showing
you how to hire help and with free access
to a growing collection of online resources.
Dont Run Naked Through the Office:
Your Guide to Surviving in Any
Workplace Environment
F r e d S t a wi t z a n d Ga r y L u s t .
StoryMakers. $19.95 paper (348p), ISBN
9780988807907
Amazon
A veteran recruiter and an experienced
corporate training manager clarify the
dangerous dynamics of workplace politics
while walking the reader
through their step-by-
step process of creating a
Workplace Survival Plan.
They show how to make
your manager redundant
while increasing your
value in the job market
and how to avoid traps set by unscrupulous
bosses.
COMICS &
GRAPHIC NOVELS
The Big Belch
Kay Wood. CreateSpace. $12.99 paper
(118p), ISBN 9781483994147; $9.99
e-book, ISBN 9781310625169
Amazon; BN.com
An unusual team of
environmental crime
f i ghterstwo baby
boomers, a parrot, and a
French bulldoghave
to foil earth-threatening
corporate foolishness.
FAMILY &
RELATIONSHIPS
Intentional Parenting: A Guide for
Christian Families
Linda Stahnke. Axiom Press. $21.95 paper
(344p), ISBN 9781628901764; $18.30
e-book, ASIN B00JQUCPYE
Amazon; IntentionalParenting.us
Intentional parenting is about choosing
your path, pl anni ng
what to train into your
children, and how to go
about it. It is the opposite
of simply reacting to
whatever comes up. It
is the opposite of going
with the cultural flow
that surrounds your family. It is choosing
to set yourself and your children up for
success as adults and as believers in Christ.
FICTION
The Acceptance (The Keller Family
Series, Book 8)
Bernadette Marie. 5 Prince Publishing.
$4.99 e-book, ISBN 9781631120367
All Romance; Amazon; Apple iTunes; Baker
& Taylor BN.com; Kobo; Smashwords
Tyler Benson is shaken when he learns
he has a sister he never knew he had. For
Courtney Fields, losing her sight as a child
gave her many other skills. Now shes dealing
with the loss of her brother
in combat. Tyler couldnt
expect that Courtney
would be his lesson in
accepting what he cannot
change or control. Can he
help her accept the loss
of her brother when she
learns the truth of his death?
Autumn in Carthage
Christopher Zenos. CreateSpace. $12.99
paper (332p), ISBN 9781496043023;
$3.59 e-book, ASIN B00ISEGXEM
Amazon; BN.com
Nathan Price is a professor with crippling
impairments. In a package of old documents
from Salem Village, he finds a letter by
his best friend, who has disappeared.
The document is dated
1692the height of
the witch trials. The
only lead: a mention of
Carthage, a tiny town
i n Wi sconsi n. There
Nathan meets Alanna,
heir to a legacy of power
and sacrifice, in a story of love
and terrible passions.
A Book to Die For
Richard Houston. CreateSpace. $12.95
paper (258p), ISBN 9781497329119;
$3.99 e-book, ASIN B00JLW1E1W
Amazon; BN.com
From the author of A View to Die For.
Jake Martin is not your ordinary sleuth
hes an ordinary guy
with an extraordinary
dog. The story takes
place in the foothills of
Denver. Jake is accused
of manslaughter and has
to prove the accident was
really murder. Along the
way he encounters a poaching ring and falls
in love with a beautiful game warden.
Bodies on the Potomac
Daniel ONeil. Open Road Media. $7.99
e-book, ISBN 9781497669352
Amazon; BN.com
When former D.C.
power broker Tayl or
Clark investigates the
s t r a nge c o ndi t i o ns
behind a motor company
s h u t t i n g d o wn a
dealership, he realizes
there is more to the story.
A Russian billionaire has laid deep ties into
the U.S. government, putting his own
fortune at risk to persuade the president to
abide by his wishes. Clarks resourcefulness
and nerve fuel his pursuit of the truth, a
pursuit that ends in a violent public death.
The Caine File
Angela Ciccolo. Carthage Road. $13.99
paper (310p), ISBN 9780615971933;
$3.99 e-book, ASIN B00K7BYWFG
Amazon; BN.com
In the 1980s, Det.
Roger Luby responds
to the discovery of a
carefully folded human
skin. Decades later, Luby
is confronted with two
suicides and a skinned
c o r p s e . Th e t h r e e
S E L F P U B L I S H E D L I S T I N G S
P U B L I S H E R S WE E K LY A U G U S T 2 5 , 2 0 1 4 64
victims connection to the
prominent Charleroi family
only complicates matters, especially since
young Sam Charleroi is the focal point in
an ecclesiastic sex scandal and the church
claims hes possessed by demons.
The Captive Queen: A Novel of Mary
Stuart
Danny Saunders. Danny Saunders. $12.49
paper (332p), ISBN 9781497462434;
$2.99 e-book, ASIN B00KHAXQY0; BN
ID 2940045649506
Amazon; BN.com
Political schemes, religious partisanship,
and unbridled love shake the royal court of
Scotland at the end of the Stuart dynasty.
Witness to sordid murders, spy for Her
Maj es t y among t he
Protestants of preacher
John Knox, forced to
give up her one true
love, thrown out onto
the streets and then
ruthlessly attacked by
a drunkard, Charlotte
Gray will do everything in her power to
remain the imprisoned sovereigns lady-
in-waiting.
Cat Eyes
Teneca Meeks. Outskirts Press. $12.95
paper (206p), ISBN 9781478733041;
$3.99 e-book, ASIN B00K79RPES
Amazon; BN.com
The Equestrians are a dying breed of
tiger aliens come to Earth in a last-ditch
effort to mate with human women. They
request one thing from
Tia Calloway: stay with
them for seven days. Tia
knows she should say no,
but Ekale, dangerously
tall and alluring, cant be
denied. Dr. Diane Smith,
a brilliant government
scientist, wants to be the Equestrian queen
and will do anything to get Tia away from
the Equestrians before she gives birth to
their future.
The Deadly Caress
O.N. Stefan. Payella Pty. $3.99 e-book,
ASIN B00I0DI0MY
Amazon
Freel ance photographer Amanda
Blake tracks down her birth mother, the
multimillionaire Jean Campbell. But hours
after she arrives to meet
her, Jean is murdered.
Amandas quest to find
her mothers killer takes
her to Australia to find
the man she thinks holds
the answer to the killers
identity. Now Amanda is
running for her life under a hail of bullets
because someone will stop at nothing until
she is dead.
Imperfect Inside
S c o t t M. S ul l i v a n. Di gi t a l I nk
Publishing. $13.88 paper (362p), ISBN
9780990482338; $3.99 e-book, ISBN
9780990482321
Amazon
What would happen if fate stepped in on
your impromptu suicide? Sean ORourke
meets an unusual man mere seconds before
he committed to ending it all. What
happens after that is a
journey that Sean is ill-
equipped to handle. A
sickly-looking man only
he can see, worsening
ni ght mar es , and an
increasing belief that he
is going clinically insane
push Sean to question what is real and what
is not as he begins to discover how deep the
roots of his own problems go.
Impetus
S c o t t M S u l l i v a n . Di g i t a l I n k
Publishing. $13.55 paper (350p), ISBN
9780990482314; $2.99 e-book, ISBN
9780990482307
Amazon; Appl e i Books ; BN. com;
Smashwords
Whe n t he wo r l d
first heard about the
me t e o r i t e s , i t wa s
already too late. Ten
arduous years later, Mick
and his group of eight
have adapted. With no
clean running water, power, or means of
communication, survivors like Mick were
forced to do the best they could in the post-
Impact world. Now a deadly virus promises
to finish off those who were unfortunate
enough to survive.
Kates Escape from the Billable Hour
Petula Parker. BookBaby. 99 e-book,
ISBN 9781483524023
Amazon; BN.com
Ka t e Bi l l i ngs , a
burned-out Bi g Law
attorney, suffers a career-
endi ng mel tdown at
the office, quits her job,
and moves to Barcelona
without even packing a suitcase.
Kill All Men
Phil Hipside. Phil Hipside. $12.99 paper
(318p), ISBN 9781499711196; $4.99
e-book, ASIN B00KJ0WAZ4; BN ID
2940045965200
Amazon; Appl e i Books ; BN. com;
Smashwords
Marketing masters of the universe
dont usually wash up in low-paid public
sector jobs, but thats
what happened to Carl
Waxman following the
banking crisis. A novel
about one mans attempt
to navigate political
correctness and radical
feminism to regain his
status and pride. When testicles get in the
way of ambition, something has to give.
The Last Encore
Julia Butler. Julia Butler. $15.99 paper
(280p), ISBN 9780991150984; $3.99
e-book, ISBN 9780991150977
Amazon; BN.com; Lulu.com
When redhead Katherine Konova
forsakes figure skating for a career as a
concert pianist, she falls
for a charismatic but
married conservatory
professor. She moves to
the U.S., knowing her
soul mate is still out
there. Dani el Adl er,
S E L F P U B L I S H E D L I S T I N G S
WWW. P U B L I S H E R S WE E K LY. C O M 65
a young German writer, journeys to
Los Angeles, obsessed with a red-haired
beauty who disappeared after their brief
and inexplicable encounter in an ominous
forest. An erotic tale laced with mysterious
interconnections of love, conspiracy, and
fate.
Little Red Rider
Audie Cockings. CreateSpace. $14.99
paper (365p), ISBN 9780615798301;
$5.99 e-book, ASIN B00L6ANNBG
Amazon; BN.com
A year after her army
ranger husbands death,
Pea is trying to reengage
wi t h l i f e but t he
dreams that have been
comforting her shift into
troubling forecasts of
terrorist attacks.
Noise
Brett Garcia Rose. Velocity Imprints.
$ 1 3 . 9 9 p a p e r ( 2 3 6 p ) , I S B N
9780991549405; $4.99 e-book, ISBN
9780991549412
Amazon; BN.com
Lily is the only person Leon ever
loved. When she left a suicide note and
disappeared, she left him drifting through
a silent landscape. Then a postcard in her
handwriting pulls Leon to the concrete
heart of New York City. A grisly trail of
clues leads to a sadistic
Russian crime lord, but
the police are little help.
Leon is deaf, but no sane
person would call him
disabled. He survived
the merciless streets
of Nigeria. He misses
nothing. He feels no remorse. He will not
stop until he knows. Where is Lily?
One Chance, One Moment (Book One,
The Mandy Story)
Judith Kohnen. CreateSpace. $14.95 paper
(368p), ISBN 9780990367413; $7.95
e-book, ASIN B00L0EHU4E; BN ID
2940149804603
Amazon; BN.com; Books A Million; Lulu.
com
For the 40th anniversary of Barry
Manilows hit song Mandy, Kohnen
presents her fictional account of the story
behind the song. Nurse and holistic healer
Amanda Fields takes a
job caring for a famous
singer-musician after a
car wreck nearly kills
him. He refuses help, and
she refuses to give up
until her perseverance
rehabilitates his body,
his career, and their ability to love again.
Twenty percent of proceeds to be donated to
the Manilow Music Project, which assists
the severely depleted music programs of
public schools.
Pegasus to Paradise
Mi chael Tappenden. Acorn/ Pal ace
Park Press. $15 paper (364p), ISBN
9781909121836; $4.99 e-book, ASIN
B00CS94RBO
Amazon
Based on a true story. In the early hours
of June 6, 1944, Cpl. Ted Tappenden lands
as part of a glider-borne force to secure vital
bridges in Normandy,
the first Allied action
of D-day. He returns
from the war somehow
unscathed and a hero,
but as he tries to resume
normal l i f e wi th hi s
young wife and family, he
is haunted by the terrors of battle. A salute
to the extraordinary efforts of ordinary
men and women in World War II, and a
commentary on the lives of real people in
postwar England.
The Plateau of Remembrance
Michael Moon. Balboa Press. $11.99 paper
(118p), ISBN 9781452513959; $3.99
e-book, ISBN 9781452513966
Balboa Press
The pilgrimage of the
Great Wanderer Ze-ar-
ben into the uncharted
dr e a mt i me mi r a ge
lands. A new hero has
arrived, this time from
the Australian desert.
This book examines aspects
and qualities of the human
condition in relation to natures sublime
paradoxes.
Ransom in the Rock (Book 3, Gateway
to Gannah Series)
Yvonne Anderson. CreateSpace. $15 paper
(296p), ISBN 9781499132144; $4.99
e-book, ASIN B00JSXQU7M
Amazon; BN.com
How much is a life worth? And who
will pay the price? Fifteen-year-old Lileela
returns from the planet
Kar kar, bi t t er over
what she perceives as
abandonment by her
parents. Why do they
want her back now?
And why does Karkar
demand a huge payment
for delivering her? Neither Lileela nor her
family suspects that Karkars true motive
is revenge. The tiny New Gannahan
settlement has no hope of repelling an
invasionno hope except for One the
Karkar cant see.
Saints in the Shadows: A Mystery of
the Mind
Alana Cash. Hacienda Press. $9 paper
(199p), ISBN 9781497511170; $2.99
e-book, ASIN B00KL2080O
Amazon; BN.com
In this mystery set
between New Orleans,
Manhattan, the dream
state, and memory, the
author reveals remarkable
ans wer s t o compl ex
questions pondered by
all of us.
Saving Jackie K
L. D. C. Fi t z ge r a l d. Ur s a Mi no r
Publishing. $9.97 paper (382p), ISBN
9780983747314; $7.99 e-book, ASIN
B005EA4UXO
Amazon; BN.com
Coerced to build a war-ending antimatter
weapon, female inmate scientists Iggy
Mikos and Sera Banks blast out of federal
prison. Americans have subsisted in an
S E L F P U B L I S H E D L I S T I N G S
P U B L I S H E R S WE E K LY A U G U S T 2 5 , 2 0 1 4 66
oppressive police state and a
corrosive Russian war since
1963, when KGB operatives botched the
assassination of President
John F. Kennedy, killing
his wife, Jackie, instead.
When Iggy and Sera
discover a way to jump
t hr ough t i me, t hey
embark on the ultimate
mission: saving Jackie
K. The time line counts down to the
instant shots were fired at the presidents
motorcade. Real-life eyewitnesses chronicle
the events of Nov. 22, 1963.
Secret Keepers and Skinny Shadows:
Lee and Miranda
Mary A Russell. CreateSpace. $14.50 paper
(346p), ISBN 9781499262964; $2.99
e-book, ASIN B00KC4RCHI
Amazon; BN.com; Powells Books
When Bert Grayson was found with his
throat slit in a dark alley, the drinker and
fighter was considered just another casualty
of hanging around on the wrong side of
town. Lillian Grace was sure she knew
whod murdered the man
she loved. In letters to
Berts sister, she warned
her not to trust the police,
convinced they were part
of a larger cover-up. Fifty
years later, researcher
Lee Perkins reads these
letters and is instantly compelled by the
mysterious Lillian, who claims to be the
key to unraveling a mystery half a century
old.
Seven Days
Sterling Nixon. S&J Publishing. $9.99
paper (359p), ISBN 9780990370802;
$3.99 e-book, ISBN 9780990370819
(801) 361-8664
An unpayable debt.
A nation divided. What
is the price needed to
prevent civil war? What
if the U.S. can no longer
pay that price? Rick
Savage finds himself in
the middle of a power
struggle that could spell the end of the U.S.
The Spider Tree
Vanessa Mulvaney. Vanessa Mulvaney. $14
paper (302p), ISBN
9781494254667
Amazon; BN.com
A fantasy novel that
takes Dallas Lawson
f r o m t h e g r u n g y
WWII atmosphere into
Arthropoda, a world of
giant insects and mystical Manna.
The Stowaway: A Novel of Horror
Clyde Edwards. Baudrons Books. $3.99
e-book, ISBN 9780989784061
Amazon; Apple iTunes; BN.com; Google
Play; Kobo
Kit Cabot stows away on his beloved
uncles vessel, only to find that his uncle
has r ecent l y gai ned
his own stowawaya
hidden entity. As they
sail from Boston toward
the West Indies, Kit
realizes he is trapped in
a nightmare with his
childhood hero, who
is seemingly possessed by evil and has a
secret, deadly mission.
Summit
Harry Farthing. Hawkridge. $17.99 paper
(487p), ISBN 9780615884448; $5.99
e-book, ASIN B00I4XABJK
Amazon; Indigo Books
I n 1938 Rei chs f hr er Hei nr i ch
Himmler plots to do something the British
have failed to achieve: a first summit of
Mt. Everest. Seventy years later, seasoned
mountain guide Neil
Quinn stumbles across
a clue to a story that
questions everything he
knows about the great
mountain. His discovery
t akes hi m f r om t he
dangerous heights of
Everest to the equally treacherous margins
of a new Europe where history hungers to
repeat itself.
Theres an App for That: Book 1.0
Ed Toolis. BookBaby. $2.99 e-book, ISBN
9781483528779
Amazon; BN.com
Toolis says weve always longed to have
all of human knowledge and wisdom at
our fingertips, so we can live up to our
potential and be the geniuses we think we
are; outsmart our kids when they ask for
money; and know what
to do when the love of
our life screams, If you
really loved me, youd
know what I m mad
about. Now we have
apps for all that, but there
are some unintended
consequences. The story of our timestold
in an amusing way.
Twilight in the City of Angels
Chris Ahrens. Perelandra Publishing
Co. $24.95 hardcover (190p), ISBN
9780964085848; $6.95 e-book, ASIN
B00KVRNTFK
Perelandrapublishing.com
Nothing was the same for Jose after
the train ran him over. He was left with
a belief in Jose Cuervo tequila, because he
was drinking it at the time; Our Lady of
Guadalupe, because of
the medal around his
neck, and the Union
Pacific Railroad, because
it had spared his life.
Once Joses spirituality
combines with that of his
sorceress Apache wife,
Soridtha, the couple unite to fight the LA
power structure by standing with the poor
to save their neighborhoodsand theyll
do anything in the name of justice.
HISTORY
Last Train Home:
An Orphan Train
Story
Re n e We n di n ge r.
Legendary Publications.
$15 pa pe r ( 164p) ,
ISBN 9780991360307;
$9. 99 e-book, ASIN
B00IDCYPDU; BN ID
S E L F P U B L I S H E D L I S T I N G S
WWW. P U B L I S H E R S WE E K LY. C O M 67
2940149354276
Theorphantrain.com; Amazon; BN.com
The story of two children, a boy and
a girl, who rode the orphan trains west.
Would they be adopted by kind and loving
families, or would they face a childhood and
adolescence of hard labor and servitude?
JUVENILE FICTION
Bing & Nero: Boy + Robot = Fun
I.L. Williams, illus. by Inci Alper.
Northern Phoenix. $10.99 paper (36p),
ISBN 9788293353003; $4.99 e-book,
ASIN B00JF9S36K
Amazon
Whats a young boy in need of a friend
to play with to do? Make his own friend.
The product of Bings
i ma gi na t i o n a nd
household junk from
the basement, Nero
is a metallic wonder.
When they take to the
sky for a late afternoon
flight, boy and robot
are in for a joyous ride that celebrates their
friendship. Ages 37.
Chicano
Sheila OMalley. Sheila OMalley. $11.95
paper (122p), ISBN 9780692243862;
$7.99 e-book, ASIN B00L7YLXU4; BN
ID 2940149733309
Uhohmalley.wix.com/chicano
The journey of a lifetime takes a young
boy from his home in Naco, Mexico, up the
San Pedro River, through
the Arizona desert, all the
way to Aspen, Colorado,
and then back to his
hometown. It is also his
journey of becoming
Chicano. Ages 812.
The Crystal Navigator
Nancy Kunhardt Lodge. Wilwahren
Press. $14. 99 paper ( 168p) , ISBN
9780996088527; $4.99 e-book, ASIN
B00JXVMGSG
Amazon; BN.com; Ingram
When 11-year-old Lucy Nightingales
mind goes blank during her oral report,
her confidence evaporates. When a teacher
assigns a report about
five paintings, and
Lucy decides the only
way to get an A is by
talking to the artists in
person. She summons
a Wise One to help
her with time travel,
and he shows up in the form of a loveable,
befuddled corgi named Wilbur, who wears
spectacles, has an endless number of fur
pockets, and invents gadgets. Ages 711.
A Different Kind of Safari
Helen C. Hipp. A Different Kind of
Safari. $17.95 hardcover (32p), ISBN
9780989013406
Amazon; BN.com
Feeling different and lonely, Raymond
befriends a hippo while on safari in Africa.
Unlike other hippos,
t hi s one i s pi nk.
Ray is soon carried
into a world beyond
labels and learns the
difference between
seeing things as they
a ppe a r t o be a nd
seeing things as they are. Based loosely on
real-life experiences. Ages 58.
Fighting for Freedom and General
Washington
Michael Justin Lee. CreateSpace. $8 paper
(150p), ISBN 9781500249694; $5 e-book,
ASIN B00M8PLZ1I
Amazon; BN.com; Kobo
Thirteen-year-old twins Amanda and
Alexander Lee yearn for adventure off the
family farm. Their opportunity arises when
fellow Virginian George Washington is
commissioned as commander-in-chief of
the Continental Army. Too young to enlist,
Alexander devises an
audacious deception to
serve under Washington.
Amanda devises an even
greater deception and
fights with many of the
wars greatest heroes.
Through the turmoil,
the twins earn an education in honor and
patriotism. Ages 812.
The Incredible Charlotte
Sycamore and the Secret Traps
Kate Maddison. Katherine Haupt. $9.99
paper (300p), ISBN 9781500256050;
$3.99 e-book, ISBN 9781475604535
Amazon; Apple iBooks; BN.com; Kobo
Sixteen-year-old Charlotte Sycamore
lives in Buckingham Palace and is
hiding her secret identity. Surrounded by
scientific inventions and
mechanical creatures of
Victorian London, she
is wanted by Scotland
Yard for stealing medical
supplies from the queen
to treat the citys poor.
When two royal horses
are stolen, a reward is placed on Charlottes
head. Fighting her confusing feelings for
her daring ally, Peter, Charlotte leads her
friends through the gaslit streets to find the
stolen horses and uncover the dangerous
truth. Ages 10up.
A Little Wicked
Janet R. Macreery. Outskirts Press. $9.95
paper (188p), ISBN 9781478733461
Amazon; BN.com; OutskirtsPress.com
After her Scottish village is attacked,
12-year-old Dory must flee without
her family. Once the granddaughter of
the chi ef but now a
f ugi ti ve, Dory treks
through the dangerous
Scottish wilderness to
cross the Atlantic in
di sgui se i n order to
reach the Massachusetts
Bay Colony in the New
World. There she must survive a crisis that
is different from the one in Scotland but
no less fatal. The year is 1692, and Dory is
plunged into mayhem on both sides of the
ocean. Ages 10up.
The Monsterjunkies, an American
Family Odyssey, Book Two: Sanctuary
Er i k Da n i e l S h e i n . Ar k Wa t c h
Holdings. $8.99 paper (190p), ISBN
9781500348328; 99 e-book, ASIN
B00LEZRGVG; BN ID 2940149757589
Amazon; BN.com
S E L F P U B L I S H E D L I S T I N G S
P U B L I S H E R S WE E K LY A U G U S T 2 5 , 2 0 1 4 68
S E L F P U B L I S H E D L I S T I N G S
make a friend, hug those you love, climb
a tree, throw a ball higher than before.
Color photos show girls watering flowers,
whispering in Grandfathers ear, or playing
Hula-Hoop. But life has its bumps, and the
girls also learn how to turn lifes lemons
into lemonade in a book that celebrates all
the fun a girl can have and all the things a
girl can do. Ages 37.
NONFICTION
Nothing Is Promised
Marjorie E. Belson. IngramSpark. $12.99
paper (200p), ISBN 9780990388807;
$12.99 e-book, ISBN 9780990388814
Nothingispromised.com
Although many Americans have been
touched by the tragedy of 9/11, the
deployment of loved ones to a faraway desert
region, and the crisis of breast cancer, few
have dealt with all three at the same time.
Belson chronicles the
joy of survival: how she
overcame apprehension
about her sexuality after
a bilateral mastectomy,
how the man i n her
life coped, how trips to
Atlantic City became
therapy, how friends helped her search for
the perfect breast implant design, and how
she learned to sleep without Ambien and
vodka.
Waiting for Heaven: Finding Beauty in
the Pain and the Struggle
Heather Gillis. WestBow Press. $17.95
paper (220p), ISBN 9781490827865;
$6.99 e-book, ISBN 9781490827858
Westbowpress.com; Amazon; BN.com
Gillis and her husband eagerly awaited the
birth of their third child, but were left grieving
a life that would never be. They uncovered
the stepping-stones of the healing process
as they redi scovered
Gods abounding love
through joy, heartbreak,
and purpose. Through
her organization, Gillis
reaches out to parents
around the gl obe to
speak openly about life-
changing trials and devastating struggles.
The Oysters Secret
Traci Dunham, illus. by Hannah Tuohy.
Outskirts Press. $12.95 paper (34p), ISBN
9781478729471; $18.95 hardcover (34p),
ISBN 9781478729730
Amazon; BN.com; Outskirtspress.com
Many of Mr. Oysters sea creature friends
brag about what they
can do. Mr. Oyster
isnt worried because
he is doing something
special too. Through
Mr. Oys t er, young
readers learn that what
is on the outside is not
what counts. True beauty lies within, and
inner beauty matters most of all. Ages 36.
Ryans Imaginary House: The Power
of Imagination
Judith Z. Brutus, illus. by Kathy Kerber.
AuthorHouse. $19.99 paper (28p), ISBN
9781481765848; $3.99 e-book, ISBN
9781481765855
Amazon; Authorhouse.com; BN.com
Ryan lives in a small house and needs
more space to play, so he makes up for
it by using his imagination. He plans
playdates with his
classmates for the
whol e year, but
the girls challenge
him and the boys in
everythingeven
wearing superhero
outfits. Ryan realizes that having fun with
his friends is the most important thing, so
he decides to switch to planning special
celebrationsand never ask his parents for
a bigger house again. Ages 47.
JUVENILE
NONFICTION
I Love Being a Girl!
Kathryn Dixon. Bellagio Press. $16.95
hardcover (48p), ISBN 9781627320009
( 6 1 0 ) 8 5 3 - 9 1 3 1 ;
s e a n . j o h n s t o n @
casematepublishing.
com
Eve r y da y i s a n
opportunity to be kind,
be helpful, read a book,
Enter the realm of a gothic
family where the magical is
real and the bizarre is normal, at 1313
Road to Nowhere in Foggy Point, Maine
Monsterjunkie Manor.
But outside forces are
scheming to drive the
Monsterjunkies from
the area, while teens
Indigo and Crow and
their friends cope with
harassment for being
different. Suspicion and rumors abound
about what goes on at this mysterious
residence. Will the Monsterjunkies private
world be exposed? Ages 12up.
Natures Angels
Suzi Minor. Carpenters Son Publishing.
$12.99 paper (32p), ISBN 9781940262468
Amazon; BN.com
Follow a grandfather and his grandson
along their journey as they encounter
miraculous displays
o f na t u r e . The
prose and colorful
illustrations invite
t h e r e a d e r t o
imagine how the
wonders of nature
take shape, as angels help decorate the
landscape. Ages 36.
The Orchard of Hope
Amy Neftzger. Fog Ink. $28.99 hardcover
(290p), ISBN 9781940894034; $3.99
e-book, ISBN 9781940894102
Amazon; Fogink.com
In the sequel to The Orphanage of
Miracles, Kelsey, a strong-willed and
high-spirited young girl, embarks on
another adventurous
questthis time to save
hope, which is being
stolen from the orchard.
Whi l e t he ki ngdom
is still under the spell
of an evil sorcerer, the
king begins training
someone he believes can ultimately defeat
the sorcerer: a young boy named Nicholas.
Ages 11up.
WWW. P U B L I S H E R S WE E K LY. C O M 69
S E L F - P U B L I S H E D L I S T I N G S
happiness does not
materialize as we had
hoped. Happiness in
the form of a deep
sense of contentment,
s a t i s f a c t i on, a nd
f ul f i l l ment s eems
to be missing. This
book aims to provide
a clear plan on how to choose happiness
and leverage that happiness to become
even more successful.
Unleash Godly Power for Happiness,
Health, & Success
Matt Jordan. Unleash Godly Power. $19.95
paper (264p), ISBN 9781620307236;
$9.95 e-book, ASIN B00GR4ED1A
Unleashgodlypower.com; Amazon
Learn how to unleash your inner power
to accomplish any goal or to gain unlimited
abundance. Despite what some contend,
but visualization will
not work without the
critical missing links.
Onl y a ve r y s ma l l
per cent age of each
generation learns how to
unleash the supremacy
God gave us. People of
all faiths will be able to
relate to and embrace the concept of infinite
power as their own internal resource.
When Love Speaks: An Unusual
Conversation With Love
Maha Khalid. CreateSpace. $9.99 paper
(258p), ISBN 9781500122072; $4.99
e-book, ASIN B00IS2MFBY
Amazon; BN.com
Like many, Khalid
had a hard time with
love. She had a powerful
longing for love, but
i t remai ned el usi ve
and distant until one
day she met love and
i t answered al l her
questions, bringing her
the clarity shed always longed for. This
book is about the conversation she had with
love, and she hopes to share the clarity with
the reader.
RELIGION
Understanding: All Success Is Attained
by It
Shane Wall. Godly Writes Publishing.
$9.99 paper (196p), ISBN 9780970409300;
$6.99 e-book, ISBN 9780970409331
Amazon; BN.com
The author explores the
subject of understanding
in the Bible. Wall says
the message is clear that
whatever God says is the
understanding, and he
always attaches success
to the understanding he
gives. We can understand God and even
how he understands our lives.
SELF-HELP
Attract Your Dreams:
A Dreamers Primer
Amber Dayva. Trafford Publishing. $17.89
paper (294p), ISBN 9781490707075;
$27. 89 ha r dc ove r ( 294p) , I SBN
9781490707068; $3.99 e-book, ASIN
B00DURBMRU
Amberdayva.com; Amazon; Trafford.com
Everyone has dreams, desires, and wishes,
but few know how to turn them into reality.
Dayva recounts her personal journey
t o s uc c e s s t hr ough
conscious dreaming to
guide readers to realizing
their dreams. True love,
financial success, and a
life of happiness can be
within readers grasp
once they learn how to
consciously dream of them and trust what
their dreams are telling them.
Connecting Happiness and Success:
A Guide to Creating Success Through
Happiness
Ray White. Xilo Media. $14.95 paper
(271p), ISBN 9780692216064; $2.99
e-book, ASIN B00KSS7HNW
Amazon
White says most of us have a deep sense
that we could be happier. We believe
happiness will come when we reach certain
goals, such as getting married, buying a
new home, getting a promotion. But our
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P U B L I S H E R S WE E K LY A U G U S T 2 5 , 2 0 1 4 70
the siblings to care for each other. Years
later, Maggie falls for a writer and for-
mer bull rider named Jackdaw. As Jack-
daw works to finish a novel, Maggie
becomes preg-
nant and the
couple gets
married. But
when their
baby has a
serious birth
defect and
Jackdaw finds
himself in the
grips of writ-
ers block and
haunted by his past, Maggie must once
again rely on her siblings for support.
Linse has created an intimate portrayal
of a small family coming to terms with
tragedy and strife. While the various re-
lationships are confusing at times, read-
ers will recognize and empathize with
the characters. Linse juggles the hurts of
the different characters well, with each
suffering from a need to belong and
struggling to balance their family and
personal lives.
Derelict
LJ Cohen. Interrobang, $11.99 trade paper
(400p) ISBN 978-0-9847870-8-1
Cohen (Future Tense) takes readers
through an admirable but uneven futuris-
tic adventure with plenty of YA-crossover
appeal. Rosalen Ro Maldonado wants
nothing more than to escape from the
grasp of her
emotionally
abusive father,
get off Daeda-
lus Station,
and go to uni-
versity. In the
meantime, she
takes a job as
an engineering
intern and
starts investi-
gating a derelict ship docked at the space
station. The ship proves full of mysteries,
including drugs grown on board and ille-
gal weapons hidden in the cargo hold.
When Ro awakens the ships ancient,
damaged AI, she and three companions
stow away aboard a vessel plunging into
deep space. They must work together to
survive, even as hostile forces pursue them
and the ship recognizes them only as
threats. The intriguing premise never re-
ally gels, and an overly long setup leads to
a meandering plot and hasty resolution.
However, Cohen has real talent with char-
acter development and interaction, and
prickly, defensive Ro is a sympathetic and
interesting heroine. Younger readers will
forgive the flaws, and older ones will hope
for stronger future volumes that build on
the promise of this one.
The Great Liars
Jerry Jay Carroll. Jerry Jay Carroll, $14 trade
paper (362p) ISBN 978-0-9898269-0-7
This meticulously constructed thriller
from Carroll delivers healthy doses of
political conspiracy, paranoia, and pulse-
pounding suspense. Oral historian Har-
riet Gallatin
gets more than
she bargained
for when she
begins record-
ing the recol-
lections of for-
mer Navy Lt.
Lowell Brady,
who now re-
sides in an old-
age home, but
who, during WWII, uncovered a terrible
secret about Pearl Harbor. And when
Gallatin is ordered to report what Brady
shares, what began as a routine assign-
ment becomes a race against time and a
battle for survival. Military absurdity and
governmental betrayal are depicted with
wit and humor in this provocative por-
trait of outsiders whose honor transforms
them from respectable citizens to demon-
ized agitators. Cantankerous, lewd, vul-
gar, and skillfully rendered by the author,
Brady is as warm as he is infuriating.
Carroll has crafted a crowd-pleasing
page-turner, replete with cultural criti-
cism and refreshing honesty.
Fiction
Blessed Are the Wholly Broken
Melinda Clayton. Thomas-Jacob Publishing,
$12.99 trade paper (252p) ISBN 978-0-
9895729-3-4
Clayton (Appalachian Justice) has writ-
ten an emotionally charged, engrossing
book that tackles lifes large and often
overwhelming questions. Phillip and
Anna Lewinsky are struggling with heart-
ache and grief after the death of their first
child when Anna discovers that she is
pregnant at age
43. Shuttling
between the
past and the
present, Clay-
ton probes the
couples trou-
bled world, as
Phillip looks
back at their
early relation-
ship. He recalls
that when Anna shortened his name in
conversation that, as silly as it may
sound, particularly given all wed suffered
at that point, it saddened me, as if Id
slipped a notch in her esteem, no longer
worthy of those extra letters. With an-
other child on the way, the couple wres-
tles with their demons: We didnt want
to get our families hopes up again only to
have them dashed....We also didnt want
to have to make that terrible phone call
again, the one signifying the end of every-
thing. Clayton writes with a raw imme-
diacy, and the multiple narratives satisfy-
ingly converge to create an intense and
compelling atmosphere.
Deep Down Things
Tamara Linse. Willow Words, $14.95 paper
(320p) ISBN 978-0-9913867-3-4
In Linses novel of family struggle,
Maggie Jordan; her sister, CJ; and her
brother, Tibs, were orphaned when their
parents died in a tragic accident, leaving
Reviews
WWW. P U B L I S H E R S WE E K LY. C O M 71
Imperfect Chemistry
Mary Frame. Createspace, $8.99 trade paper
(196p) ISBN 978-1-4954-7318-0
Perfectly imperfect characters and situ-
ations make Frames debut novel sparkle.
Dr. Lucy London is the quintessential
child prodigy with no clue how to navi-
gate social situ-
ations outside
of the academy.
Shes also on a
tight make-or-
break deadline
to prove her
theory that
emotions are
caused by
pathogens. En-
ter the perfect
person for her to study and also practice
her newly acquired social skills on: Jen-
sen Walker. The mysterious Walker is
Lucys neighbor, a student at the univer-
sity and, if school rumor is to be be-
lieved, quite the ladies man. While some
of the ensuing misunderstandings are
predictable, theres a very real sense of
character growth, brought to life by an
evolving narrative style that parallels Lu-
cys metamorphosis. The blend of humor
and heart makes for a thoughtful, highly
entertaining read.
In the Shadow of Lies
M.A. Adler. She Writes Press, $16.95 paper
(359p) ISBN 978-1-938314-82-7
After failing to apprehend the racist ar-
sonists who started a deadly fire or solve
several mysterious disappearances of
American Italians, Richmond, Calif., ho-
micide detective Oliver Wright reenlists
in Marines dur-
ing World War
II. Returning
home near the
close of the war,
Wright finds
himself investi-
gating a con-
spiracy horribly
reminiscent of
his past failures.
Adler delivers a
complex and engrossing mystery that
portrays the sprawling cities and small
towns of America and some of the desper-
ate people who inhabit them. While his
novel is sometimes hampered by distract-
ing flashbacks and time jumps, Adler ef-
fectively captures the plight of minorities
during World War II.
Nonfiction
Capital Offenses:
The Artwork of Stephen Barnwell
Stephen Barnwell, Antarctica Arts, $75
(140p) ISBN 978-0-9913216-0-5
Through a series of reimagined
banknotes, coupons, and stamps, Barn-
well, in the manner of much activist art,
appropriates the aesthetic of the estab-
lishment in order to comment on and cri-
tique it. His is an art of juxtapositions
and provocation: Indebted States of
America, reads a $1 trillion Oriental
Reserve Note bearing the signature of
erstwhile U.S. Treasury Secretary Timo-
thy Geithner and featuring a presidential
portrait of Chairman Dowwho looks
very much like Mao Zedong. More con-
troversial perhaps is the United States of
Islam series: U.S. currency depicting
scenes of historical Islamic military vic-
tories, such as the fall of Jerusalem in
638 C.E. But Barnwells criticism is not
limited to foreign pol-
icy and finance. With
American Excess, a
coupon similar to an
antiquated bearer
bond that depicts Un-
cle Sam tied to an oil
rig, he ably criticizes
the extent to which
energy and other cor-
porate interests influ-
ence American gov-
ernment and imperil the nations future.
Barnwells work exposes the contradic-
tions and hypocrisy of various power
structures and even underscores the intri-
cate elegance of currency as an aesthetic
experience.
Private Notes of a Headhunter:
Proven Job Search and Interviewing
Techniques for College Students
and Recent Grads
Kenneth A. Heinzel. Pythian House, $9.95
(206p) ISBN 978-0-9884936-0-5
Heinzel, a former manager, executive
recruiter, and instructor at the School
of Business and Economics at Sonoma
State University, provides a detailed,
information-packed guide for recent
college graduates beginning the job
search. He takes the reader step by step
through the process, from preparing an
information
packet, to the
big four
questions
asked during
an interview,
to how to take
notes and fol-
low-up after-
ward. Along
the way, he
discusses con-
cerns of the interviewer and the busi-
ness. He finishes by illuminating some
of the intangibles that can affect a
job search, such as chemistry, positivi-
ty, and ethics. Also included are many
tidbits not widely known, such as how
to navigate rsum-screening software
and whether to seek out a recruiter.
While Heinzels insights
are not always original
at one point, the author
writes, I have come to
learn in my own endeav-
ors that people will re-
member a little of what
you say to them, a little
more of what you do, but
they will remember a lot
about how you made
them feel, which is strik-
ingly similar to Maya Angelous famous
dictumhis advice is nonetheless
sound. Heinzels instructions to kick-
start students job searches, especially
for those starting out in the business
world, are effective.
R E V I E W S