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Welcome to the Roundtable Roundup, our weekly podcast where we go back to our roots and have brought back the Roundtable aspect. Each Sunday (American time) we’ll invite a guest or two to join us live to discuss the latest news and views from the self-publishing and indie industry.
Author Zoe York returned! She joined Chrishuan Keller Hanna and Erica Conroy to discuss the below topics:
Amazon Marketing Services for all!
Near the end of April Amazon announced that they were making a number of marketing services available to those who become Advantage Publishers–which means you’ve paid a yearly fee that is deducted from your sales.
Services provided include:
- keyword / tag pay per click which can raise your book in the search results–you pay if your book gets clicked on
- A+ Detail Pages gets you more stuff on your book’s page like video, extra photos and offerings
- Pricing Discounts that act like coupon discounting on your book
- Marketing Review Dashboard so you can check your ROI on each marketing option you try
- Access to Vine Reviewers
See the full story: http://www.thebookdesigner.com/2016/04/amazon-giveth-amazon-taketh-away-now-amazon-giveth/
Computer algorithms picking books for publishing
Inkitt announced that signing with Tor Books will bring about the first ever book chosen by predictive data.”
Tor-Forge Books has signed a deal with ebook startup Inkitt to publish the second book of author Erin Swan’s Sky Riders fantasy series.
Inkitt, the company responsible for discovering the novel, is an online writing platform where “budding authors” share their work with “inquisitive readers.” It relies on an “artificially intelligent” algorithm to bring the two together with the purpose of uncovering “blockbuster books.”
See the full story:
- http://flavorwire.com/573931/the-end-of-the-human-publisher-introducing-the-first-novel-to-be-chosen-by-an-algorithm
- http://the-digital-reader.com/2016/04/29/publishers-given-up-on-choosing-which-books-to-publish-outsource-the-decision-to-a-computer/
- Writer Beware article on Inkitt http://accrispin.blogspot.co.nz/2016/04/spam-spam-spam-spam-inkitt-and-grand.html
Booktrope closes its doors
Booktrope—a company that connects authors with editors, designers, etc and relied on an income sharing model—announced recently that it will go out of business at the end of May.
Those in charge said via email: Booktrope books have not generated sufficient revenues to make the business viable.
Rights are reverting back to authors, however, there seems to be some uncertainty over pay for the editors, designers etc who look to have earned a percentage of books sales.
See the full story:
- http://www.geekwire.com/2016/team-publishing-startup-booktrope-shutting-y-combinator-grad-cites-revenue-shortfall/
- One of the editor’s provides valuable insight https://medium.com/@upgradestory/author-seeks-publisher-a-not-so-happy-ending-481d7aeb753f#.xv2uql1pn
Goodreads introduces Kindle giveaway program
Goodreads announced recently that they will be starting a kindle giveaway beta—currently only open to the US—which will cost the author $119 to run. Up to 100 ebooks will be given away and Goodreads will send and administer everything. The giveaways will not be counted as sales on Amazon.
See the full story: http://www.thepassivevoice.com/2016/05/goodreads-introduces-kindle-ebook-giveaways-beta-program-u-s-market/
If you have a second, an iTunes review would be VERY appreciated!
Alternatively please feel free to leave a comment 🙂
See you next week!
