I have written and illustrated a picture book called Khalil’s Magic Brush, which is about a boy overcoming his fear of comparison to paint again. I think it’s perfect for art museums.

I did get it into a small art museum through a friend who works there and got the buyer’s info from the Seattle Art Museum. The thing is the smaller art museum bought them on consignment and that really doesn’t make me any money since I have to purchase the books myself and then make a cut back.

Should I write and offer them a discount through Ingram as an enticement? Or is consignment really the only way to get a foot into this kind of place?

Thanks in advance for the advice.

Might be a dumb question, but I briefly checked the Amazon self-publishing site and it tells me to choose one, either through Kindle or a physical copy. I’m wondering if I have to re-enter everything and submit it twice or if it will be automatically distributed both ways

I enabled distribution on my book two days ago for the paperback, yesterday for the hardcover, and today I set out to a couple local bookstores to ask if they would carry it. At the first bookstore I went to the man working there pulled it up on IngramSpark and told me it was selling at a 20% discount, which shouldn't be possible for two reasons. One, I selected the minimun 40% wholsesale discount. Two, 40% is, again, the minimum discount.

Has this happened to anybody else? Is there any way to fix this without dealing with IS's infamous customer service? Does it have anything to do with how recently I enabled distribution?

Hey all! I have been freelance marketing for 2 years now with a specialization in social media, public relations, writing, and project management. As a long time lover of reading and writing, I am looking to expand my clientele into the self publishing space. In order to move into the self publishing space as a marketer, I am curious what are the sticking points that independent authors experience when trying to build their marketing and how can I best serve the community.

So, I'd love to hear about challenges you face in building/maintaining your marketing? What's the worst part of marketing as an author? What's the best part of marketing as an author? What do you feel prevents you from reaching your goals pertaining to marketing yourself/business? If there's one thing that could be taken off your plate for marketing your writing, what would it be?

Thanks so much! I look forward to looking through your responses!

I read a lot of fantasy/smut novels. I want to write a book in this genre, but honestly I have this huge feeling of embarrassment holding me back, because I know that an editor will have to read it. I feel confident in my sexuality, I have no problem expressing it in person. But I feel embarrassed with the thought of a stranger reading the thoughts in my head, and the words I use to describe sex 😅

Is this a thing with any writers in that genre? How do you get over it? Any tips?

Thank you.

Hi all! I've put my blurb in here a few times for feedback and been tinkering around with it since then. My sales have dropped considerably, and I'm thinking that the blurb is still the issue. How is this:

In the industrial Arlaiin Empire, the winds are changing for three unlikely heroes.

In a land recovering from war, whispers stretch into rumors of a returning evil- one that threatens even the Gods themselves. Rolen Aloro, a thief gifted with extraordinary control over the winds, crashes suddenly from an airship. He becomes the victim of theft himself when his belongings are stolen from him in the wreckage, sending him searching for someone who can help him reclaim his personal effects- and possibly save the world.

Little does he know, Marina, a student of the local Kyanite Academy has just discovered a secret: a mysterious book that hints to the existence of a cult that is slowly spreading across all of the Settled Kingdoms. When the cult finds out that she has the book they pursue her, forcing her to flee from her home and search for answers.

Meanwhile, in a neighboring kingdom, a naïve young man named Zaer discovers a dark power within himself- the power to manipulate blood. From a haunted past, he follows a path to redemption which is offered to him when he finds himself seeking refuge in the isolated home of a dour witch. There, he begins to learn control over his power- a power foretold to shape the future of the world and even challenge the Gods themselves.

Will our heroes, if we can call them that, involve themselves in battling against the Blades of Coryllion, or will they choose a path that better suits their own interests?

Hi folks, I'm part of the publishing team for a self-pubbed anthology. We went through IngramSpark so that we could get bookstore distribution. I've tried to do what seems most often recommended -- to publish through IS and then publish through KDP over top of it, so that Amazon orders go through KDP. However, we have multiple authors (an editor and two headlining contributors) and Ingram force alphabetizes them, making the editor, who we want listed first, come second. So when I created the KDP entry, I put our editor's name as the primary author (how he is also listed in Ingram) but KDP *doesn't* alphabetize so it kept him first. Making the two book entries different enough that the KDP won't overwrite the IS. So NOW I have two separate ebook entries for the same book. I wanted to do the same for the pb, but don't dare if I can't have the entry properly done.

I reached out to Amazon, and while they connected the two entries as different "editions", they said they can't do anything about how Ingram's meta data comes in. Ingram says they can't control how their metadata is interpreted. Basically, both parties say we're FUBAR'd. Has anyone else had experience with this?

Hello friends!

I am planning on publishing my first book, but I have no idea what I'm doing and would love any and all tips that published authors have!

Currently I'm working on a young readers book (ages 7-12) about a kitten with a magic bell collar who solves problems in whacky ways(example: a Canine friend has a peanut butter jar stuck to his nose? He summons a whole circus and has a strongman juggle the dog before popping it off). I plan for it to be a series of books, with a reading level somewhat on par with Magic Tree House.

Currently I have the entire script done and peer reviewed, and I'm drawing the 19 pictures needed for the 38 page book(not counting the other pages). My original plan is to try and publish it through a site like Amazon and make a website for the books...

But this is where my brain is coming to a blank. My book is not done yet, as I need to draw everything still, but I'm not sure what I should do AFTER I draw my book. I know I need an ISBN so that it can be scanned and legally documented(I think???), but can I do it BEFORE i finish it? Of I plan on self publishing a book series is it a good idea to trademark the characters? Would I run into legal trouble since a few of my characters sound close to other characters (example: the main character is named Tinkertom. I'm worried that a magical kitten named "Tinkertom" might get sued by Disney since they got a magical fairy "Tinkerbelle"). There is also the fact I'm not sure what to write on a copyright page as I'm a self publisher. Do I write my name as the publisher? Do I need to make a publishing house and copyright that? What should go into it?

I'm also not sure how to promote the book. I'm a student in college working towards an animation degree, and one idea I had was making a mini animated trailer like the old Scholastic book fair trailers. But I am worried I'll just be throwing money into a grinder

Plus the fact I'm self conscious about my art in general. I'm not using fancy programs. I'm legit only using Ibis Paint on my phone to make the art! It's beautiful, but I'm worried people might see through my cheapness

Any and all tips are helpful

I’ve been working to stay resilient since learning that Kindle Vella will be ending. Writing episodic fiction on the platform provided both a significant income stream and a format that I genuinely love. I appreciate the flexibility and ongoing connection with readers that serial fiction offers, which is different from traditional publishing formats. Given that, I’m interested in exploring alternative platforms for serial fiction. Publishing on Kindle Unlimited doesn’t feel like the right fit for my work, as it doesn’t fully support the episodic style I enjoy. Any recommendations for platforms that cater to serial fiction writers and the pay is pretty good??

So, I've concluded that the current (sub)title of my book does not represent the genre and content and may be associated with other subgenre. Hence, I need to update the title to a more suitable one. Subtitle, to be exact.

This is what I've found thus far: you can update eBook titles and details, but it may cause the creation of new ASIN and the reviews might need to be migrated manually.

Questions: when own ISBN is applied(don't worry, they're free where I come from), should this be changed? I presume that the associated physical books must be unpublished and archived, and a brand new title must be created to substitute it?

Experiences? Complications? Please share.

I published my first book. I had planned to gift copies for the holiday season. Is there some kind of etiquette with allowing friends and fam to buy them to support me? I built a hard cover to use as a novelty for this reason.

Hey folks,

I was wondering if someone could help me. I have a book on Netgalley for review and one of the reviewers said that the format gets screwed up on Kindle. It has text on grey backgrounds that is impossible to read.

I don't have a Kindle so I can't side load to compare. I have checked it in the Kindle pre-viewer and the KDP preview tool and it looks fine.

When contacting Netgalley, they seem to imply it's an issue with epubs created by Atticus.

Has anyone run into this issue? Will this affect my Kindle/KDP formatting? Or only on Atticus?

Is there a fix/solution that someone has implemented?

Hi all, I’m working on my first book now, and honestly I am loving the process and feel so proud of what I’ve written thus far. I have every intention to publish (hopefully sometime next year).

I am curious about how you got over your “first book blues” - as I’ve been calling it for myself. I love this story so much, I can’t imagine feeling this way over a completely new story. The idea of starting this process over again with new characters feels so daunting. Did anyone else feel the same? If you are feeling this right now, do you want to wallow a bit together?

I have some ideas for what I could write in the future, but nothing that I can actually see a finish line for with how I feel about my first (my story is definitely a one shot btw, I don’t foresee this as a series nor do I want it to be). I’m afraid of being trapped in a genre as well, even though I know that’s a smart marketing move.

Edit to add: I know this could be a side effect of being so engrossed in the story I’m writing right now, and I should give it time. But if anyone felt this and started minor brainstorming on something else to keep their momentum and has advice, that’d be great.

A small PS: this thread has already taught me SO much, and I’m so appreciative of this community!!

Hi, so I’m publishing my first book on IngramSparks and it keeps coming back with errors. I’ve changed things to “fix” them but it isn’t working.

The book is saved and formatted with Atticus and it had saved fine as a pdf along with posting on KDP without any problems.

I do have art on a few pages and for the beginning of each chapter there is a small illustration. They are all saying it has a transparent background or layer however when I added a background and changed the colors to greyscale it didn’t resolve the issues. Then as for the embedded fonts there is a small section with the title to one of the chapters I “…” put at the end and it’s coming up flagged for some reason?

For the covers I used procreate to draw them and Canva (free version) to format it to the template I got from IngramSparks. All of the art is well in the recommended DPI and I even changed it to CYMK colors and it didn’t help.

Is there anything I can do to fix these issues without getting photoshop or anything?

I have: Atticus Procreate Adobe Acrobat

I would appreciate any advice. I might look into having it professionally formatted if this doesn’t work but as I said the pdf looks exactly as I wanted it’s just not working for IngramSparks.

I am new in Stuttgart and Germany. I am looking for nearby places to Stuttgart for snowboarding and skiing where the kit is also provided on rental basis. Any other ideas are also welcomed...

I'll try to keep this updated if anyone is interested, then summarize at the end of the month. My book went live on NetGalley yesterday. I'm terrified, but it mostly makes me laugh. Yeah, sure some people aren't going to like it, oh well right. What can we do. I think I've lived with this story for so long that criticism won't run me down too much. Readers are free to like or dislike, no harm no foul. So far I've had 15 requests, I've accepted 9, declined 6, my cover has 6 likes 0 dislikes, my other stats, which seem to be ok: (Reason for request 34% say description, 30% cover, 26% title, 5% author, 5% I keep hearing about this book.) So 90% are for description/cover/title, makes sense, I'm just a minnow out here, nobody has heard of me or my book lol. This is my debut, it's YA coming of age kinda book, crossover potential I think. If you are thinking about netgalley, def uses Victory Editing Co-op, 55 bucks a month. Anne and her assistant are great people, they've made it seemless. It is scary, no reviews in yet, but I'm ready to take the blows haha! My book is being published mid-december so I'm doing this a month before.

Hello!

On KDP, I already have my own account with books listed. Now, I am self-publishing a book I wrote with my brother and sister. Looking for suggestions on how to set this up.

FYI: We are releasing this book under a moniker of our names.

1. Is it better to release this under the pen name on my account or to have one of my siblings create an account?

2. If I did release it under my account using a pen name, would it appear in its own Author Central, or would it appear on mine?

3. And if we use the moniker, can I simply write this in the author section when listing on KDP or do I have to list everyone as contributors?

Thanks, as always!

Can the ppl who handle and dispatch hardcover books at Amazon please stop with the hand cream? Two years writing and publishing a book and after receiving it in the mail I find oily hand cream finger marks over it that can’t be removed. This has happened for a third of the books I’ve received from trad publishers too. My Tyranny of Faith was ruined.

https://i.imgur.com/bpst9Zw.jpeg

I know that when we talk, for the sake of politeness, we mention ourselves after the other person. E.g. Mary and I went fishing yesterday. (Not I and Mary went fishing yesterday.) But what about when in narration we are in a character's head? Would a character, in their thoughts, follow the same rule of politeness? Does the order of the mentioned names matter or not? For example, how would you write this?

1. John's eyes widened at the sound of a creepy voice. It looked like he and Mary were not alone in this swamp.
2. John's eyes widened at the sound of a creepy voice. It looked like Mary and he were not alone in this swamp.

how many should i accept for my team? currently i have 38 people signed up and i posted my form two days ago

I recently graduated and want to become an editor, but I'm feeling stuck and uncertain about my next steps. I've completed studying the "Chicago Manual of Style" and have a good understanding of it. However, I don't have the money to create a website. What should I do now to promote myself?

Additionally, if there are any authors looking for a chance to work with a new editor, please feel free to reach out. I'm offering a significant discount as I am starting my editing career, and my rates are based on the Editorial Freelancers Association's (EFA) Editorial Rate. Thank you!

I’m a graphic design student who is almost done college and I really want to design and publish my own coloring book! I’m in the concept faze right now and with only 5 weeks left of school I’m itching to dive in.

I just have a few questions:

1. Is Amazon kdp good for publishing coloring books? (Specifically thicker paper to use with markers)
2. If kdp isn’t something I should use is there anything similar?
3. This is more of a preference question for people who color here. Do you prefer the highly detailed adult coloring books or more simple and relaxed?

Please help me make my dreams come reality and educate me on what I need to know to publish! I’ve done almost everything but publish a book in school so I’d really appreciate any and all advice.

So Im writing a small town romcom series (can be read as standalones). I’m currently about to releasw book 2 and I’m thinking about the best publishing route (marketing wise)

Is it better to finish all books in this series first? Or should I release a book 1 to another series before book 3 of this one??? Just to create momentum? Idk any advice would be great

I recently received an email from someone claiming to be Chris Caraballo, using the address acquisition@rightsofferingboard.com, offering me a $1.2M advance royalty for the global publishing rights to my book. The email also talks about worldwide distribution and rights for print, digital, audiobooks, and even film adaptations.

This immediately reminded me of Wells Hamilton Indie now as Wells Hamilton Literary Consultants (connected to https://wellshamilton.com/). The tone, promises, and structure of the offer seem eerily similar, and I can’t help but wonder—are these two the same operation?

Has anyone else received emails from rightsofferingboard.com or noticed similarities with Wells Hamilton Literary? If they are connected, it feels like this could be part of a larger scam targeting authors.

Any knowledge or experiences would be greatly appreciated—thank you!

I’m looking for readers to review my new book, Empowered Weight Loss! In exchange for your honest review on Amazon, I’d be happy to read and review your book as well! https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DMLFYLRP

It's listed for FREE for eBook download for a limited time. If you’re interested, please comment below or send me a message. Let’s support each other in our writing journeys!

Thank you for your help! 💖

Be honest. How many of you actually subscribe and read author newsletter emails in 2024?

As a kid in the 90s, I remember newsletters being a big deal, but almost everyone I talk to (expect for two) tell me that unless there's consistently coupons in an email that they don't try subscribing to newsletters - even from their favorite authors - and it all goes to spam eventually.

I am subscribed to three right now, but it's largely a mini blog not related to the books I like. Sometimes they toss in ads for things that also are not related to any book series I might be interested in.

I've never tried to do my own newsletter. I keep seeing copy/paste articles swearing that if you don't have a newsletter that I dunno, the hounds will find you or something like that, but I have yet to have more than two friends who even like the idea.

Hey, I'm majoring in Literary Studies, and a friend of a friend asked me to beta-read their story.

I said I could, but for a fee since I don't know them. When I told him I charge $20, he said he’d pay $15 at most, claiming it’s fair since English is my second language–I'm completely fluent 🫣.

To clarify, I'm currently in Colombia, and $20 is a 'fair amount' here. He’s in Honduras but trying to get published in the U.S.

I get that he’s trying to keep it affordable, but I think he could be nicer about it.

I’m not sure what to say. I do have experience writing novelettes, flash fiction, and investigative prose. I’ve also worked as a medical interpreter in the translation field. But honestly, I could really use the money. 🥴

My book was listed for distribution (print only) on Ingram about 20 days ago. The paperback and hardcover did push to Amazon and can be preordered, but the paperback image was not pushed and it shows No Image Available.

Is there any way I can fix this either through Amazon or Ingram? Or does it just happen one day?