Obtaining Your Own ISBNs

For those who are self publishing, if you are using portals such as Draft2Digital or Amazon KDP, it is highly attractive to use the free ISBNs available through those publishing portals. For some writers, the cost of the ISBNs is something that is not in the budgets. But those free ISBNs are not registered to you. They're not something that you can take with you when using another publishing portal. And if you were to run an ISBN search, you would not be listed as the publisher.

In today's post, we are going to talk about the importance of sourcing your own ISBN numbers if you are self-publishing your books.

Novel Word Counts by the Genre

We’re coming up to competition season. As such, there seems to be an increase in the number of questions and discussions online about the accepted word count range for novels.

In a previous post, I discussed the limitations that word counts can have on short stories. In a recent post, I briefly outlined what the differences were between a short story, novella and a novel. Today, we’re going to compile into one list what the current accepted ranges are for debut writers heading down traditional publication roads.

You Need to Register Your Copyright

Every so often, I come across some blog post or a Facebook group message, or something, where a writer is asking about copyright certificates and the like. Amazon is becoming more insistent on obtaining those copyright certificates, and rightly so.

Too many times, I have encountered some horror story where some honest writer has had their precious work taken down from the Amazon sites because some BLEEP has chosen to claim that they own the copyright. If this happens to you, it falls on you to prove the other person is wrong.

To complicate matters, far too many writers choose not to register their copyright with a copyright authority because of the cost. However, these are the writers that run the risk of finding themselves being the victim of some copyright scam.

All writers want to protect their writing as much as possible, and for the most part, people are honest. It’s the shady ones that you need to worry about. Here is where taking a few simple steps can save you.

Working with Graphic Designers

My readers will know that I’m working toward the publication of Hidden Traps: A Writer’s Guide to Protecting Your Online Platform, due to be released August 2017. It’s been an interesting journey: revisiting my nonfiction writing roots; learning about ISBNs and publishing options; and devising marketing strategies. It has definitely been a steep learning curve. I have learnt many things along this journey, topics of which will become future blog posts, but there is one aspect that I thought was perfect to reveal now.

Graphic designers think in images.

Looking back at it now, it seems so logical, but at the time that I commissioned the cover for Hidden Traps, it was a concept that completely eluded me. I’m a writer and editor. I spend so much of my time looking at how to craft that perfect sentence to convey the right picture. I’ve commissioned artwork before, providing only a line from my stories and getting the perfect image in return. Surely, I can do the same for a cover.

I’ll hang my head in shame now, because clearly my words weren’t enough.