Welcome to this issue of the Carnival of the Indies blog carnival. This issue is for May, 2012. We welcome your submissions on topics related to writing, self-publishing, book design or marketing books.

A collection of outstanding articles recently posted to blogs, your reading here will be richly rewarded.

See the end of this post for links to submit your blog posts for the next carnival, or for participating Bloggers and Featured Bloggers to grab your sidebar badges. Thanks to everyone who participated.

Featured Posts

India Drummond presents Hiring a Freelance Editor posted at India Drummond Author, saying, “Recently my beloved editor L.J. Sellers told me she could no longer take in freelance work… She’s an amazing editor and I was so lucky to have found her. (Here are) Five steps for indie authors on how to hire and vet an editor.”

Joanna Penn presents Traditional Publishing And Self-Publishing Are Not Mutually Exclusive posted at The Creative Penn, saying, “The choice of how to publish must be made per book. I believe in the empowerment of the author to choose what is right for their book, and their business. Sometimes it’s not clear which way to go so consider all your options.”

Nick Thacker presents How to Find the Perfect Audience for Your Book, and Sell it to Them posted at LiveHacked.com. “So you just finished writing a book. Awesome–now who are you going to sell it to? If you’re not published by a major publishing house, chances are you’re going to sell it to your parents, your kids, your neighbors, maybe coworkers, etc. You won’t, however, be selling it to a massive segment of the U.S. adult population–unless you’ve been building a list.”

Book Design and Production

Sara Rosso presents How do I prepare my blog content to publish as an ebook? posted at When I Have Time, saying, “Following up to my introduction article about self-publishing on Amazon Kindle, I share some tips for repurposing your blog content as a book, with regards to images, chronology, and links.”

Sara Rosso presents How to publish an ebook with Amazon Kindle in 7 steps posted at When I Have Time, saying, “This article is an overview of 7 things you’ll need to do to publish an ebook with Amazon Kindle, using the tools and resources they make available to you. It’s a great introduction to anyone thinking about self-publishing with Amazon Kindle.”

Indie author

Dan Collins presents My First Ebook posted at The Daily Collins Cartoon Chronicle

Julie Covert presents Being a Kickstarter posted at Julie McKay Covert, saying, “This blog article is about to to successfully raise money with a crowd-funding site, such as Kickstarter. I successfully raised $8882 in 30 days to help pay for the printing of my photography coffee table book, “Art of Winter.”http://juliemckay.wordpress.com/”

Amy Keeley presents does publicity help sell books? posted at where i keep my stuff

Jeff Bennington presents Navigating a First Time Author’s Book Launch posted at The Writing Bomb, saying, “Great post for newbies who have no idea where to start or when or where to market their books.”

Jen Smith presents Richard Nash- Literary Savior? posted at JenSmithSICK, saying, “Many thanks for your consideration. Jen”

Patty Jansen presents Self-publishing successfully: seven further thoughts posted at Must Use Bigger Elephants, saying, “A companion post to an earlier post about beginning in self-publishing that I made a while ago.”

Jeff Bennington presents VOTE for indie Authors – They are Creating Jobs posted at The Writing Bomb, saying, “Thanks again for doing this. Very grateful.”

Marketing and selling your books

Laura Pepper Wu presents What key elements make an effective book trailer? posted at 30 Day Books

Shannon presents 3 Ways To Make Your Media Kit Rock posted at Duolit | Self-Publishing Team, saying, “When properly executed, your media kit should work for you like a hired Hollywood publicist, promoting you and your books. It should leave potential interviewers, reviewers, and bloggers impressed by and interested in your work. Here’s 3 ways to make it rock!”

Pavarti K Tyler presents Book Review Request Rules – How to piss off a blogger posted at Fighting Monkey Press

Sarah Bolme presents Extending the Life of a Book posted at Marketing Christian Books

Dana Lynn Smith presents How to Get Traffic to Your Author Website posted at The Savvy Book Marketer

Cynthia Morris presents Independent Booksellers Nimbly Stay Afloat posted at Writer Unboxed, saying, “It was really fun to write this article. In the future I’d like to write one from the author’s perspective – how indie authors can connect with indie booksellers. Thank you for considering this as part of this month’s Carnival of Indies! Cynthia”

Joanna Penn presents Secrets of Amazon Metadata from #1 Amazon Bestseller Mark Edwards posted at The Creative Penn, saying, “The runaway successes we see in the Amazon charts often have years of work behind them. In this interview, I chat with Mark Edwards whose Amazon #1 bestsellers with Louise Voss got them a 6 figure book deal, but only after years of hard work. Mark also gives some tips on how he used the Product Description metadata effectively.”

iWriteReadRate.com presents Writers & Readers of the World Unite! posted at The iWriteReadRate Blog, saying, “The Indie publishing movement is an exciting and innovative emerging array of people and organisations out there in the wide old reading world to support and develop new writers and help connect them with their audience. Here’s a short article from one of our founding Directors around why he thinks that now is a revolutionary time to be a writer or a reader.”

Alexander M Zoltai presents Writers Want To Be Reviewed & Read ~ More on Book Promotion posted at Notes from An Alien, saying, “Those Wonderful Book Bloggers :-)”

Self-Publishing Success

Jon Rhodes presents Affiliate Marketing For Writers posted at Affiliate Help!

Nick Daws presents 12 Reasons Entrepreneurial Writers Should Connect With The Warrior Forum posted at Nick Daws’ Writing Blog, saying, “In this post I set out 12 reasons I believe self-publishing authors should check out the popular Warrior Forum for internet marketers.”

Writing Tools and Tips.

Russell Phillips presents Backup, backup, backup posted at Russell Phillips, saying, “A friend’s laptop recently died, and with it a whole load of important documents. It was under warranty, but warranties don’t cover data. Backups are important, but people tend to think they’re difficult. So here’s an easy and free way to So here’s an easy and free way to backup your most important stuff (like book manuscripts).”

Pamela Hegarty presents How to Take Charge of Your Novel: Write It Now 4 Review posted at pamelahegarty.com, saying, “This article reviews highlights of the writing software program, WriteIt Now 4. You’ll see your WIP in a whole new way. I hope this helps my fellow writers!”

Bryan Thomas Schmidt presents Outlining From a Finished Draft for Pantsers posted at Bryan Thomas Schmidt dot Net, saying, “Might be of interest”

Bryan Thomas Schmidt presents What I Learned About Editors From Editing posted at Bryan Thomas Schmidt dot Net, saying, “Might be of interest”

Well, that wraps up this issue. I hope you enjoy some of the great articles here, and let other people interested in self-publishing know about the Carnival—Use the share buttons to Tweet it, Share it on Facebook, Plus-1 it on Google+, Link to it! The next issue is June 24, 2012 and the deadline for submissions will be June 20, 2012. Don’t miss it—here are all the links you’ll need:

The original announcement post
Carnival of the Indies web page
Submit your article here
Bloggers, grab your official Carnival of the Indies Badges here
Follow Carnival of the Indies on Twitter
Subscribe to The Book Designer Blog

By Linda Jay Geldens

Linda Jay is a very experienced book editor and member of the Bay Area Independent Publishers Association (BAIPA). We’ve worked together on a number of book projects, and I asked Linda Jay if she would give readers some advice on one of the most important decisions a self-publisher makes: hiring a copyeditor. Here’s her reply.

Now you can’t wait to get your little gem “OUT THERE” for all the world to marvel at. You are indeed a writer (which nobody can deny, which nobody can deny)!

Oh, yes, you’ve given a sneak peek at your masterpiece to a few people whose opinion you trust—relatives, longtime friends, business colleagues. And, sure, they may have spotted a few misspellings, or a weird sentence construction here or there, but what the hey—everybody makes mistakes.

They’re just tickled that you’ve had the audacity, capacity and tenacity to write a book; a few glitches only show that you’re human. After all, who’s perfect?  It’s time to send your “baby” on its way to possible fame, and reap the glories of being a published author!

Are You Serious?

Oh, but wait… if you really want to be taken seriously as a writer, stop and listen to that little nagging voice in your head that keeps saying, “Shouldn’t you be running the manuscript past an experienced professional copyeditor before you send it out?” 

Yes, you’ve read that in order to make your book as good as it can possibly be, you must take that vital step of investing in the services of an editorial pro. And just think—in the twinkling of a well-trained eye, a topnotch editor could burnish your precious prose so it sparkles in the sunlight.

But if you submit (interesting, the ramifications of that word “submission” when it refers to sending in a manuscript, isn’t it?) your pages to the hyper-scrutiny of a nitpicky copyeditor, won’t your authentic voice be changed or deleted or mangled beyond recognition? 

The answer is… no, not if you properly vet the copyeditor to make sure you can work together well, and if the copyeditor stipulates that one of his or her goals is to make your manuscript publisher-ready… but not change your unique voice.

A good copyeditor will offer to edit a few pages of your work as a sample, to see if you two are, literally and figuratively, “on the same page.”  You can usually judge from his or her edits whether you would be able to work together happily or not. For example, if you question some of the edits and the editor responds in a haughty or rigid “only my way is right” tone, run as fast as you can toward another editor.

If your manuscript is about the life and times of the artist Edward Gorey, and the editor you’re considering has never heard of Edward Gorey and, furthermore, has no interest in learning anything about Edward Gorey, bid farewell and turn quickly on your heels.

6 Ways Copyeditors Make Your Book Better

A good copyeditor brings so much to the party. He or she can:

1. go over grammar, punctuation, spelling, and sentence structure with a fine-tooth comb;
2. check for consistency of verb tense, tone, and mood;
3. find instances where sentences or paragraphs could be moved to make more logical sense;
4. ask questions about clarity of idea, or accuracy of fact;
5. call attention to parts of the text that could be tightened, expanded, livened up or deleted;
6. make suggestions — synonyms for overused words, deletions of redundant words or phrases

With a good copyeditor on your team, misplaced modifiers, dangling participles, its/it’s, to/too and other hair-raising/hare-raising errors will melt away. Skilled editors say that mistakes “leap off the page” at them. And potential readers of your book will not be distracted by sloppy copy.

You can find professional book manuscript copyeditors through organizations such as BAIPA and the Bay Area Editors’ Forum (BAEF), through online editorial sites, through ads in magazines that are targeted toward writers, and through looking up “copyeditor” on search engines.

A good copyeditor can make your book’s message shipshape—and that’s not just editorial spin!

Linda Jay Geldens is a longtime publishing professional who has edited over 60 book manuscripts in the past three years. She specializes in the genres of: business, novels, memoirs, spirituality, sci fi, academic topics and children’s. Linda is also a promotional copywriter.  Contact her at LindaJay@aol.com, visit her site at www.LindaJayGeldens.com, or connect on Twitter at @LindaJayGeldens.

Blog header photo by mpclemens

By Cali Gilbert

You’ll read below how I came to meet Cali at a local publisher’s meeting, but what’s way more impressive to me is the way Cali has persevered to publish the books of her dreams, and how that has had an amazing impact on her life. When we re-connected at a recent publishing event, I asked her to tell her story, and here it is.

I was halfway through my Masters Program at the University of San Francisco when I had an epiphany. Reading Jack’s book made me realize I was living my life on automatic pilot. I was doing what I thought was expected of me instead of what my heart truly desired.

My passions in life had been writing and photography, yet I never pursued those avenues of interest. My area of expertise was Event Management and that is the path I followed.

In the autumn of 2010 I submitted a photograph for the Art of Peace Exhibit in conjunction with the Sausalito Art Festival. The piece was selected and exhibited for three weeks to rave reviews.

Following that event I was encouraged to follow my passion for photography. I wondered how I could combine both of my passions, photography and writing. The answer was to create a book that included both. I had some publishing experience because I had published a magazine in 1998, but not when it came to books. I soon began to research everything I could find online about self-publishing.

Making Connections

Through my local network I met first time authors who were happy to offer guidance. I was also introduced to the Bay Area Independent Publishers Association (BAIPA). That is where I first met Joel Friedlander.

I had put together a template for my first book of photographs and inspirational phrases that I wrote. I met with Joel in late 2010 and showed him the layout. He told me I didn’t need his assistance in book design, I just needed to get the book printed. I looked into options and decided to go with Blurb.com. Although the result was pretty amazing, the cost was way too high and, as a result, the file sat on my computer for the next six months.

When I graduated with my degree in Sport Management I thought I was set. I had three college degrees, 20+ years of experience and a huge network. Unfortunately I was wrong.

I was hoping to find an executive position in the non-profit sector but was unsuccessful. I spent the majority of 2011 applying for any type of full-time position because I was rapidly running out of money. I could barely pay my rent let alone follow my passions. Something needed to change and soon it would.

Things Start to Change

In September, 2011 I received an email from Rich German, a colleague who had recently published his book, Monetize Your Passion. He invited me down to San Diego for the 21^st Century Book Marketing Conference where he was scheduled to speak.

I really wanted to go but didn’t have any money. I knew however I needed to find a way to make it happen. As one who believes in the power of the universe, I knew if I was meant to be there, I would find a way.

Coincidently the conference was being hosted by Arielle Ford, an icon in the publishing industry. I had just heard Arielle speak on a teleseminar the week prior and she mentioned needing volunteers for events she hosted.

I immediately wrote her an email asking if I could help out. She said yes and put me in touch with her Event Manager. With the assistance of friends and renting out my parking spot, I managed to come up with enough money for the airline ticket and accommodations at a hostel.

In October I headed down to San Diego and spent three amazing days learning from the best. I made some amazing connections with fellow authors and came away with a font of knowledge. I was ready to take things to the next level.

The next three weeks were spent connecting online with those I had met at the conference and converting what I had learned into action steps. I dusted off the file of my first book, made slight changes from recommendations I had received, and self published the book on Amazon using CreateSpace.

On November 8, 2011 I officially published my first book. It’s Simply…Sausalito: An Inspirational Journey is an 82-page book containing my original photography and inspirational phrases highlighting the city of Sausalito, California from a resident’s point of view.

The Book Becomes a Reality

I will never forget the day I received the first copy in the mail.

Holding a book with your name on the cover is an incredible feeling, one every author should cherish. I wanted that feeling to last forever and as I promoted my first book, I began working on my second.

It was as if I had unleashed all the creative energy that was inside of me and needed to come out. On January 8, 2012 I released It’s Simply…GOLDEN: 75 Years of Inspiration. This book, which uses the same format as the first, celebrates the 75^th Anniversary of San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge.

Sometimes we take for granted what is right in front of us. For me, living five minutes away from the Golden Gate has always felt like a blessing. Now I was able to show my appreciation through my work.

In February I attended the San Francisco Writer’s Conference, again as a volunteer. I had learned so much from the conference in San Diego, but there was more to learn and I was the eager pupil. The 3-day conference was another amazing experience.

I connected with Joel again as well as local agents and publishers. I was able to pitch my books and receive critical feedback. In the weeks that followed I again put what I learned into action.

As a result I landed my first radio interview and speaking engagement. I updated my social media presence and created an author’s page on Facebook – www.facebook.com/CaliGilbert.

One of the connections I made at the SF Writers Conference was Terry Nathan, Executive Director of Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA). I asked him if I could volunteer at his conference which was being held in San Francisco in March. He of course said yes and I was excited to learn more.

When I attended IBPA Publishing University, I was promoting two books and working on my third and fourth simultaneously. Working with the crew from IBPA was a great experience. I learned so much from that conference and again took action.

Looking Back, Looking Forward

When I look back at the last two years, what comes to mind is unwavering faith.

I was forced to make a change in my life. I took that leap of faith into a world of the unknown. What I soon learned was that the moment I decided to follow my heart and what I was truly passionate about, the doors began to open. The right people, right situations came into my life. I didn’t know how it would all work out, but I didn’t need to. I just needed to set the intention for what I wanted, do my part, and allow the universe to handle the rest.

As someone who just two years ago had an idea for what I wanted to create, to now having published two books, I feel honored to offer guidance to those on the same journey.

I believe there are three crucial steps:

1. Set the intention for what you want.
2. Learn from those who are already doing what you want to do.
3. Take ACTION!

If you don’t at least try, you will never know what you are truly capable of. Do your part and watch your life transform before you.

To learn more about Cali Gilbert’s work as a transformational author, award-winning photographer, and social entrepreneur, visit www.CaliGilbert.com or connect with her on Twitter at @SerendipityPEM.

Blog header photo by baseertome. All Amazon links are affiliate links.