January 9, 2023

4 ways indie authors go wrong designing book covers

By BlueInk Review

A book’s cover serves as its advertisement. It tells readers what to expect inside, and hopefully sells that content with visual sizzle. Think of it as a mini billboard: It’s purpose is to catch the reader’s eye and convey a message in the time it takes someone to speed on by.

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January 9, 2023

4 ways indie authors go wrong writing a bio

By BlueInk Review Staff

Every book needs an author bio. It lets readers know who you are and why you are uniquely qualified to write the book at hand. Readers expect this at the back of your book. And booksellers and other industry professionals expect it on your press releases and other marketing […]

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January 9, 2023

4 ways indie authors go wrong writing a book description

By BlueInk Review Staff

Every book needs a description of its contents – that snappy teaser copy you traditionally see on the back cover. When done properly, it lures readers in, as well as signals what audience the book is targeting. And it’s invaluable on marketing materials, author websites and other promotional materials.

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November 21, 2022

Why Your Novel’s Cover Art is Even More Important Than Ever

By Paul Goat Allen

As someone who has been in the self-publishing business for decades—from purchasing titles for a national book chain to reviewing thousands of self-published titles for Kirkus, BlueInk, etc. to interviewing countless self-published authors for various sites—I’ve seen cover art quality for self-published titles increase exponentially over the last few decades […]

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November 9, 2022

The Ending is Everything! Is Your Novel’s Conclusion Strong Enough?

By Paul Goat Allen

Straight from the files of Stating the Obvious comes the next BlueInk blog about the monumental importance of a novel’s conclusion. It’s a no-brainer, right? Your novel needs a memorable ending in order to have any chance at commercial success.

But then why do so many novels have weak conclusions?

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June 16, 2022

9 Features on KDP You Should Know About

By Amanda Miller

Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) platform has been an amazing tool for independently published authors to get their books into the world and hit a big market—not only swiftly but affordably. Not only is KDP’s platform easy to use, but it is ever-evolving with fresh, new developments for authors to take […]

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March 14, 2022

7 Must-Have Tools for Your Book Marketing Toolkit

By Amanda Miller

Faced with the arduous task of marketing a book, you may conclude that writing it was the easy part! Most authors—both traditionally and independently published—eventually face a laundry list of marketing tasks, including devising an overall plan, creating marketing materials (such as bookmarks, postcards, and press releases), and finding ways to […]

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