BLOG

Whether you are an aspiring author, a published author, a publisher or one who provides services to those who publish, the purpose of this SLPA Blog is to provide information and resources on a full range of author/publishers issues and ideas.
  • Tuesday, February 14, 2012 10:21 PM | Anonymous member (Administrator)

    Thanks to SLPA member Eleanor Sullivan for bringing this to our attention:

    Ten Questions to Ask Before Committing to Any E-Publishing Service by Jane Friedman

     

  • Tuesday, January 24, 2012 1:55 PM | Anonymous member (Administrator)

    Book designers and SLPA members Peggy Nehmen and Sue Sylvia gave a bang-up presentation for our January meeting on what it takes to make your book look good. We are pleased to tell you their slides are now up for viewing in the Members Only section. Thank you to our webmaster, Kevin, for creating this new Speaker Notes and Slides section, which so far has notes from writer/author Diana Gravemann and our Bob Baker. Check it out!

    Peggy wanted to add another little showcase of fabulous book covers by the awesome Roberto de Vicq de Cumptich. No, most of you can't do this at home. While you probably won't end up with one of Roberto's covers, be sure to dress your baby up to play with the pros.

  • Saturday, January 21, 2012 10:40 PM | Anonymous member (Administrator)
    Mark Coker of Smashwords talks about e-book pricing strategies.
  • Wednesday, January 18, 2012 4:39 PM | Anonymous member (Administrator)

    Passing it on: 89 Bookmarketing Ideas that will change your life.

    If you need more ideas and more details about those ideas, John Kremer is famous for his 1001 Ways to Market Your Book (latest edition 2006), but here are a few more recently (re)published books by top author/promoters that should be up to speed with the rapidly evolving publishing/promoting industry:

    Promote Your Book: Over 250 Low-Cost Tips (2011) - Patricia Fry

    The Frugal Book Promoter (2011) - Carolyn Howard-Johnson

    55 Ways to Promote and Sell Your Book on the Internet (2009) - Bob Baker

    Red Hot Internet Publicity (2009) - Penny Sansevieri

    Get Known Before the Book Deal (2008) - Christina Katz (all about building platform)

    Christina will be featured at the Missouri Writer's Guild Conference this April.

     

     

     

     

  • Saturday, January 14, 2012 4:11 PM | Anonymous
    Each year the Independent Book Publishers Association of America (IBPA) sponsors a one and a half day workshop called Publishing University. IBPA is the largest not-for-profit trade organization representing independent book publishers in the United States. Publishing University offers information-packed seminars developed and led by industry leaders, who share ideas and applications you can use in your day-to-day business to assist you in improving and enhancing the profitability of your publishing company. This year Publishing University is being held in San Francisco on March 9-10.

    As an IBPA affiliate organization, the SLPA is awarding one scholarship to Publishing University. The registration fee to the conference is covered by the scholarship. Flight, hotel, meals and other expenses will be the responsibility of the attendee. In order to qualify for the scholarship you must be a member of both the IBPA and the SLPA. Interested members can email Kim Wolterman at membership@stlouispublishers.org and request the scholarship application or additional information. Applications for the scholarship are due by February 5, 2012.

    As the scholarship recipient in 2010 I can attest to the fact that this is an amazing day and a half. If you are serious about being successful in your publishing endeavors, this is an opportunity you don't want to miss.
  • Wednesday, January 11, 2012 10:41 AM | Anonymous member (Administrator)

    Judith Briles, The Book Shepherd who presented with Brian Jud and Dan Poynter last fall, is now hosting a radio show online each Thursday evening with guests, features and call-in opportunity. Your Guide to Book Publishing begins at 5pm on Thursdays. See the link below. You can call in with questions and comments at 866-404-6519 (will be announced during shows).

    http://rockstarradionetwork.com/shows/yourguidetobookpublishing

  • Tuesday, January 03, 2012 9:54 AM | Anonymous member
    An interesting article for those who are creating ebooks:

    What size is an eBook cover for Kindle?

    http://webdev-il.blogspot.com/2011/07/what-size-is-ebook-cover-for-kindle.html

    Take a look at the following list of popular eBook readers, along with the screen dimensions and display technology...
  • Thursday, December 15, 2011 11:57 AM | Anonymous member (Administrator)

    Amazon's behavior affects you, too, as an author:

    Amazon's contentious relationship with authors and bookstores

  • Sunday, December 11, 2011 9:19 PM | Anonymous member (Administrator)
    If you are writing a book, you should be blogging and otherwise developing your platform (fame). You might also consider joining Twitter because I just got out of a great Twitter chat called #blogchat, which is every Sunday night at 8pm Central Time. Together we learned that shorter blogposts are better, it's good to mix fun with more serious posts, tweet your posts and use hashtags, and take your own photos to store in a "stock photos" file so you have a supply of photos to consider using without a mad scramble or resort to plagiarism (always get permission to use other people's photos). And we argued about what it means to be an expert. Are you an expert?
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