Spain: A New Playground for Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror

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Author and SF blogger, Cristina JuradoI am delighted to host author Cristina Jurado on my blog today to describe the current boom in Science Fiction in Spain and the assimilation of Fantasy into mainstream publishing. Cristina brings together the views of leading figures in Spain’s SFF community to discuss the future of science fiction, fantasy and horror publishing.

If Spain were the title of a recent fantasy movie, it would be “The desolation of Smaug”. The country has been in such economical stress over the last few years – rampaging unemployment, numerous banking and political scandals, and popular discontent over the Government decisions – that it looks as if it has been ravaged by powerful predators. No more Spanish miracle due to the booming of the construction market.

Spaniards are having a hard time getting back on their feet, and the cultural landscape has been greatly affected by high taxes (21% in cultural related products like e-books, movies, etc.) and cuts in public funding. Although the Conservative party in power has recently announced it is planning to lower taxes, people remain highly skeptical.

Fewer books but more science fiction titles Read more

Kindle Dollar Royalties Sorted, At Last

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Indie-authors who operate outside the US often feel like country cousins who invariably arrive late to the party. But slowly things are improving. One breakthrough came earlier this year when Amazon’s CreateSpace switched to regional distribution for print-on-demand books. This alone persuaded me to go with CreateSpace for my paperback (announcement coming imminently on that front). Read more

Buy Your Own ISBNs To Unlock Pre-Ordering

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Isbn_postI have discovered, unexpectedly, a major advantage in buying your own ISBNs for the print versions of your books. Self-published paperbacks (and hardbacks, I assume) with ISBNs can be pre-ordered on certain Amazon sites before the publication date.

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Self-Publishing Tips: From Manuscript to Kindle

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So, your manuscript is finished (raise the flags!) and you’re ready to self-publish your ebook. You’ve already set up an account on Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) and you’ve completed all the information requested – book title, description, categories, verified your publishing rights.

Here are my hints and tips that should contribute to a smooth upload of your completed book. My advice is really aimed at other novelists rather than writers of non-fiction since their books have more complex formatting issues. And I took the simplest route, I believe, by preparing and uploading a Word document to the KDP website. (I won’t deal with the Front Cover upload in this blogpost). The KDP conversion process will produce a .mobi file, which you can download and check before you hit the Publish button. Read more

Brave New World of Indie-Publishing: Curtis Brown takes plunge

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How interesting is this? Very, I should say! Well known UK authors including Tony Parsons are allowing their literary agent Curtis Brown to ‘self-publish’ on their behalf in the US market. In effect, Curtis Brown is reinventing itself as a publisher – CB Creative Books – for these specific authors to help them break into the US market.

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What? Launch-day bestseller on Kindle?

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This was a surprise: A Calculated Life reached the Kindle Bestseller List for Science Fiction on Amazon’s UK store, on launch day.

So was it Flukey-Tuesday, or what? I’ve been mulling this over and . . . I suspect I’ll never know the reason. Read more

‘A Calculated Life’ is now available on Amazon

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I clicked the ‘Save and Publish’ button yesterday morning and just seven hours later A Calculated Life went live on Amazon’s websites as an eBook. To be precise, at 18:28:12 GMT on Monday 12 November. Read more

Decisions for Indie-Authors going Kindle

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Along with most authors I’ve opted to go, initially, with Kindle Direct Publishing because, quite simply, this reaches the highest number of potential readers. Indeed, many indie-authors don’t bother with any other eBook or any Print-on-Demand (POD) provider. I can see the logic: readers can access Kindle books without even owning a Kindle device. There are free Kindle Reading Apps for smartphones including the iPhone, computers and tablets, including the iPad and Android devices. So, it’s a pretty rational decision to stick with publishing Kindle eBooks.

However, Read more

My Indie-Author Strategy

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After weeks of tortuous research, I’ve now finalized my indie-author strategy for publishing my first novel. I’m mightily relieved that I’m releasing A Calculated Life this month rather than six months ago because at least one major problem facing non-US authors has been addressed. But before I get into any detail, here’s the broad-brush plan. I’m not saying this will suit all indie-authors but I reckon it’s the best for my circumstances:

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