Category Archives: ebooks

03/4/12

Read An Ebook Week, March 4 to 10, 2012

Read an Ebook Week has begun! To celebrate, I’ve enrolled The Veiled Mirror: The Story of Prince Vlad Dracula’s Lost Love, in Smashwords’ site-wide promotion. Use coupon code RE100, and you can get the ebook for free. My two short stories, The Red Witch and Ivy League Crypt, are there for free as always. The offer lasts until March 10, 2012.

A busy schedule has prevented me from writing much lately, both on this blog and for my upcoming novel. I’ve been caught up a maelstrom since November: boyfriend moved in; editorial day job is high volume and always under a torrential downpour of deadlines; teaching assistant/writing instructor job is going very well, and we’re managing 230 students for an amazingly popular literature course about Paris in the 1920s; my elopement via domestic partnership to above-mentioned boyfriend; and just trying to keep up with all the little things that clutter the day. The Muse is miffed by my neglect, and I feel awful for not writing more. But soon…the clouds are clearing and the maelstrom will abate…

But my awareness of my life as a writer remains strong, despite these distractions and challenges. I continue to work on publicity. Guest posts are coming up, and the second novel is coming along well, even though I haven’t spent as much time on it in the past few weeks as I’d like. Skyrim, my obsessive guilty pleasure, distracts yet inspires. But I manage to keep up with it all, and made my books available on Goodreads as well. As a literary social media platform, Goodreads has become one of my favorite sites. Feel free to friend me there: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/736573.Christine_Frost

In my day job, I’ve been putting a tremendous amount of effort into exploring how ebooks may benefit the organization. It’s placed me at the center of all the debates that rage online: from Jonathan Franzen’s vitriolic dismissal of ebooks to objective marketing research which clearly demonstrates the rapid rise of ebook popularity, I’ve been crunching the numbers and writing a lot about the industry. One thing is clear: ebooks are here to stay. While new e-readers seem to be released every other month, and there is quite a bit of discussion about ePub formats, HTML5, and so on, most people recognize that even though devices and formats are in a constant state of flux, it will even out. It always has for every new technology that has become standard. But the idea that they are ephemeral is folly. They are no mere fad. And the broadening ebook market has opened ever more possibilities for readers. Works that traditional publishers would be wary to take a risk on are doing well all on their own, thanks to all the self-publishing options that are out there. Pricing is still a hotly debated issue, but one article recently spelled it all out for me. It focuses on science fiction, and demonstrates that the 25 best-selling sci-fi books on Amazon are independently published. A key factor is pricing. Most people agree that traditional publishers are pricing their ebooks ridiculously high. Often more than the print copies of the books. The high prices are unnecessary, and everyone knows it. So now indie authors can showcase their works and the playing field (i.e., the market) is leveled to some degree.

Hence my support of Read an Ebook Week. Smashwords has been great to work with, and I appreciate all the work they do. They just announced a partnership with Blio and Axis360, making their books available to an even broader market, and also makes the ebooks available in participating public libraries. It’s an exciting time to be a writer, and I’m grateful for everyone who has been a part of it: the indie publishing companies, the readers who have bought my work, and everyone who has supported me in this effort. So thank you. :-)

 

 

10/10/11

October Promotion and the Journey of a Book Cover

One year ago, the paperback edition of The Veiled Mirror: The Story of Prince Vlad Dracula’s Lost Love, was released on CreateSpace. The price has recently been lowered, but one fact remains clear: it’s an ebook world. Sales of the ebook version have outstripped the paperback version by quite a bit. To celebrate the month of October, I’m offering a Halloween promotion of the ebook on Smashwords. It is now 99 cents with the coupon code FY99T – please visit http://bit.ly/obZve1.

I originally designed the cover myself. When I released the ebook on Smashwords on January 1, 2010, I used a rare image of Vlad Dracula that was in public domain. It was a simple design, reminding me of reprints of old books that you’d find in the Harvard Coop.

Original Cover for The Veiled Mirror

 

Then I had the good fortune to be introduced to Dimas Reyes, an artist from Florida. His site is here: http://www.dimasreyes.com/. I told him about the first time I saw the Carpathians for myself. As I disembarked the van in the town of Busteni, the sun was setting. The Carpathians loomed above us. The sky was a dusty shade of pink, and a gray mist swirled among the jagged mountain peaks. I was mesmerized. I found my room, on the top floor of the villa, which had a balcony facing the mountains. A wooden plaque of Prince Vlad hung by the door to the balcony. I stepped through, sat in a chair, and stared at the Carpathians until the last trace of the sunset disappeared from the sky. It was one of those enchanting moments that you hold onto forever. Unfortunately, I was too mesmerized to take a photo of it…but did get around to it the following morning.

View of the Carpathians from the villa in Busteni

I asked Dimas to paint a picture of Ecaterina looking toward the mountains. I envisioned the sky to be a deep shade of azure. It was his idea to have Vlad’s face rising up from the mountains. We went through a series of drafts, and then he completed the painting. I found it stunning. He put the finishing touches on the cover, selecting the fonts and adding the logo he also designed for me, and I was then off to CreateSpace to complete the process of making the paperback available.

An early draft of the cover by Dimas

It’s been a fascinating journey as an author. The investment in the beautiful cover design was probably the best decision I made during the process of producing the book. We may advise that people should not judge a book by its cover, but I hope that in this case, they see what I see: Ecaterina come to life, and admiring the haunting beauty of the Carpathians.

The final painting

08/7/11

New short story: Ivy League Crypt

Free short story, Ivy League Crypt, available on Smashwords.com

OK, so I admit, there’s a bit of an inside joke here, but it was irresistible. Last year, I was asked to be a teaching assistant and course grader for a new course at Harvard Extension called The Vampire in Literature and Film. Participating in the course helped me get over my insecurities about writing within a genre, which I wrote about in a blog post after the course was done. It was a hugely popular course, with nearly 200 unabashedly proud fans of vampire fiction. Certainly, some held to their particular favorite series, be it Charlaine Harris’s Sookie Stackhouse books, the Twilight series, or Laurell K. Hamilton’s Anita Blake series, and the in-class discussions were fascinating. It was so popular that it’s being repeated again for this fall term, as a distance-only course, open to all.

Reading a stack of vampire novels, one after another, has its effect. I’ve always been a fan of the genre, and the experience coincided nicely with the paperback release of my first novel, The Veiled Mirror: The Story of Prince Vlad Dracula’s Lost Love. The ebook version had been out for nearly a year.

A few months after the course was over, the Extension School was in the midst of a new online program called Freethink@Harvard, where guest speakers would present a topic in a specially designed classroom for online learning,  and alumni and students world wide participated via chat and email. One event featured Professor John Stilgoe, Robert and Lois Orchard Professor in the History of Landscape. It was called “The Obvious Secrets of Harvard Yard.” In it, he talked about a crypt that lay under the stairs of Sever Hall. After having just been involved in a course that focused on vampires, how could I pass up the opportunity to connect the two? The scribbled idea remained in my notebook for several months before the story formed a cohesive plot in my imagination.

What I intended to be a one-off short story has become more enduring. The imagery in Ivy League Crypt has stayed with me, and now I have an idea to keep it running as a series, and it will probably be its own novel somewhere down the road. It’s available for free on Smashwords.com.

 

 

07/9/11

50% off Veiled Mirror ebook on Smashwords site

Gotta love Smashwords. They are a great platform to publish ebooks, and they’ve really established a good community of authors. Last month, I did a guest post on ilovesmashwords.com, entitled “Journey of a Smashwords Author.” For the month of July, Smashwords is offering discounts for ebooks. The Veiled Mirror: The Story of Prince Vlad Dracula’s Lost Love, is available in a variety of e-reader formats for 50% off. (That means a mere $1.50! Cheaper than a venti chai latte from Starbucks! Cheaper than a Coolatta from Dunkin Donuts! And it lasts longer, too!) The coupon code is SSW50. Thank you to all the readers out there who have enjoyed it, emailed me, and reviewed it! A new novel is in the works, and a  free short story is going to be released soon! (Another free short story, The Red Witch, is also available on Smashwords.)

An excerpt can be found on my author page there: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/7942

 

The Veiled Mirror complete cover

 

 

 

06/17/11

Marketing Lessons in a Shifting Social Media Landscape

I held my breath as I hit “search.” I had just typed in the title of my novel into the Google search engine. A fierce attack of the what-ifs sets in. What if I’m slammed by bad reviews? What if the results generated by Google’s search engine is the equivalent of crickets and tumbleweeds?

What I learned was that one of the best investments I made was the trailer for the novel. It popped up on several sites. Marketing theory proved true: visuals work, and shorter trailers are more effective. The second interesting point was that as I had hoped, that the novel would find appeal across genres. I found references to it on both horror and romance blogs.

Sales are slow but steady. I downloaded a report from Smashwords, which showed me quarterly sales. Barnes and Noble and the Apple store are working well. Once I navigated my way to the Kindle sales report on Amazon (not the most user-friendly area, people!), I was fairly happy with the results. For what I’ve invested so far, it’s doing well. I could do better, but as author JA Konrath says, this is a marathon, not a sprint. Since I released the paperback and Kindle version too late to really do a fall/Halloween ad campaign, and approached social media promotion in sporadic, modest bursts, these results meet my expectations. I don’t want to be one of those people who annoys the hell out of friends and fellow writers by jabbering about my novel all the time, so I try to play it cool.

As I move toward my fall promotion, I’m making judicious decisions. After all, I’m trying to save up for a house, and don’t want to blow hundreds of dollars on ads that will disappear via browser plug-ins like AdBlock, which I use myself. I never see ads. If I don’t, then many other people do not. I didn’t find the Facebook ad tool particularly effective, either. Many more clicks than I thought, but the sales didn’t justify continuing the cost of advertising through them. It’s run on a bid process, and there are a lot of organizations out there with a bigger budget. I entered into a few competitions. The average entry fee is about $100, though some were free. Again, this didn’t prove to be worth it to me. Some awards seem too obscure, and even if I did pay my $100 and win, I wasn’t sure if having some badge donning the cover for an unknown reward would garner more sales or make it look as though I made it up. Winner! Uncle Vlad’s 2010 Award for Peachy-Keen Spookiness!

But then again, I’ve been told I overthink things. I have many scenarios for every possible event in life. In any case, marketing through social media channels is a fascinating, ever-changing landscape. I’ve just joined The Blog Zone group on LinkedIn, as well as a few other groups, to share ideas. The Indie Author Group on Facebook has been a wonderful community of fellow self-publishers who have worked with Smashwords. Through that group, I met Patti Roberts, author of the young adult series Paradox. She posts interviews with authors. Mine was posted this week (Thanks again, Patti!).  :-)  http://paradox-theangelsarehere.blogspot.com/2011/06/up-close-personal-with-christine-frost.html

 

04/9/11

Publicity, Methods and Resources

I had a plan. A two-page marketing plan with brief bios and summaries to accommodate the variety of word limits on sites to promote my book. My list grew, some ideas worked well, others not so much, but were worth trying. With the infinite resources available, marketing a self-published book is an adventure with challenges and triumphs that are likely experienced in the traditional industry. Tried and true means may not be as successful now, and the newest trend may put your book in the limelight in unexpected ways. What have I done, and what have I learned?

  1. Take advantage of prime, free real estate. I love working with Amazon’s CreateSpace. And it took my longer than I expected to get around to it, but creating a robust profile on Amazon’s AuthorCentral is a great opportunity.
  2. Find all the networking resources: AuthorsDen, Goodreads, Book Marketing: the Authors Marketing Powerhouse, where I did an internet radio interview on the Authors Radio Show, and do a search for any similar organizations.
  3. I also made my book available via Google Books. I understand the controversy, but I also see it as a viable avenue to promote my book. Until Robert Darnton’s magnificent vision of a national digital library is established, it’s the best alternative to its kind that is currently available.
  4. Don’t dismiss Twitter. It’s a powerful way to market and network. Use hashtags and lists; establish a good network of publishers, self-publishers, marketing advice, and excellent resources that aggregate resources and self-publishing advice, such as Carnival of Indies. Likewise, use Facebook and LinkedIn to your advantage.
  5. I had a great experience with Apex Reviews: I signed up for one of their marketing packages, and they had a book trailer produced and distributed for me, reviews posted, and an interview and profile posted on their feature page, Above the Fold.
  6. Publishers Weekly Select offers ad space, and chooses 25 self-published books per issue.
  7. If you publish ebooks (and I strongly recommend it! It’s the new mass market paperback), follow Mark Coker’s advice on Smashwords.com. Follow him on Twitter. He gives great advice, and is one of the most vocal proponents of self-publishing.
  8. Keep pricing low. I followed what a lot of other people were doing and made my first ebook about 3 dollars cheaper than the average Kindle book, $6.99. But other authors experimented with price, and I noticed a big uptick in sales when I dropped the price to $2.99.
  9. Give some freebies. People can read a good portion of my first novel for free and download a free short story on both Smashwords and Figment.com.
  10. There are many, many reviewing sites, blogs, etc. I’ve only just begun to plumb the depths.
  11. And of course, maintain a blog, and share its content whenever you can.

While some of these are free, or free in stages—doing an interview with the Authors Show is free, having it archived on their site or having an MP3 version for your own purposes costs money—you do have to allocate a budget for advertising. Research your options, prioritize them, and implement them over time. Even in the traditional publishing industry, authors are now expected to invest in their own publicity.

Cast a broad net into the depths of the Internet, keep track of your experiences, and continue to search for opportunities. Persevere. Rewards will accumulate over time.

 

03/17/11

The Veiled Mirror, the Interview and Video

Finding paths to market my novel has been interesting! Using social media has been successful, and I’ve been surprised by some of the contacts that have found my via the blog, the book….or wherever they may find me!

On March 17, my interview was  featured on The Author’s Radio Show. It’s about 10 minutes long, and I think they did a great job with the production! It isn’t archived on their site, but the podcast can be found here.

There is also a video trailer for my book, now making the rounds on YouTube and other channels. It can be found here. A feature about the novel also appeared on Above the Fold, done by Apex Reviews. Recently, while participating in a webinar about self-publishing hosted by Digital Book World and Publisher’s Weekly, I learned that PW has launched Publisher’s Weekly Select, a supplemental service for self-published authors. Being one of the key publications in the industry, it’s a great way to advertise your work.  They choose at least 25 books to be reviewed and featured in each issue. Yes, there is a processing fee. $149. But as one commenter said on the page full of negative comments reacting in horror to the price, “You want to run with the big dogs you have to at least have an advertising budget – whether you’re indie or not.” True. And furthermore, one of my friends does publicity work for two authors, and guess what? The traditional publishing industry is not always picking up the tab, and authors have to pay for their own publicity out of pocket. After reviewing other rates, it’s industry-standard. So be judicious when working on your marketing plan.

And in addition to Smashwords.com, I also made the ebook version available on the Berlin-based XinXii.com.

Update: July 16, 2011: Another interview posted! It’s with author Patti Roberts, and can be found here: http://paradox-theangelsarehere.blogspot.com/2011/06/up-close-personal-with-christine-frost.html

So thank you to those who have found and enjoyed The Veiled Mirror: The Story of Prince Vlad Dracula’s Lost Love!

The Veiled Mirror Video

Cover art by Dimas Reyes


 

03/6/11

Evolution vs. Revolution: ebooks and self-publishing

 

A medieval print shop

I often can’t help but wonder what my life had been like if I had been born about 25 years ago. Being a total tech-nerd, I love my cylon-looking Alienware desktop from Dell, My Droid 2, and I’m the kind of person who will read a software manual from cover to cover. In my mid-20s, I was a prolific writer of vampire and paranormal fiction. What if I had the opportunity to become like Amanda Hocking? She’s made a fortune by self-publishing. By self-publishing her work,she can set the price, and gets a much higher royalty than if she had been published through a traditional publishing house. Interesting questions can be drawn from this: If she had been traditionally published, would she have been as successful? With smaller advances and books going out of print so quickly, how would things have been different for her. She’s been philosophical about this lately, too, and has been using her blog to dispel the myths that have been circulating about her.

Indie Paranormal Book Reviews invited author Lori Devoti to write a blog post about why she left traditional publishing to self-publish. Her answer: to form a closer connection with her readers. Books that publishers may not have made it in the big industry now have the opportunity. Let the market, i.e., the readers, decide what they want. Devoti talks about how the author-as-self-publisher can respond directly and quickly to the readers. Change the price, change the cover, make revisions to the story. It’s a radical change from the norm, and I know what a lot of people would say about this. So doesn’t that make it an unfinished work? If there had only been an editor, etc. We need to change how we think about this industry. It’s art as a direct conversation with the consumers. I’ve done this myself. I released The Veiled Mirror as an ebook first, months before the paperback was out. I created a cover myself while I waited for the bookcover to be painted by a friend. A typo was found. I fixed it. And recently, I reset the price, having learned from the myriad articles and podcasts and webinars that I have seen about self-publishing and ebooks. There’s no overhead for me to cover, so why set it as though there is?

Every time I jump at the notion that the stigma of self-publishing is still out there, I find myself surprised at how welcoming people are about it. I work at Harvard. In the past few months, when telling various professors about my book, I start to make excuses for self-publishing. I’m immediately told that it’s a perfectly respectable way to publish. At a dinner last week, I explained that I’m not only a writer, but a professional editor and graphic designer, so why not be my own publishing house? I have a great group of writer and editor friends who read my work. My writers’ group is like having several editors working with me. Their thorough feedback has made me a better writer.

Mark Coker, founder of Smashwords.com, the first place I published, did a blog post on Huffingtonpost that says it all for me. The central question is: What can a publisher do for me that I (the author) cannot do for myself? He lists the reasons why in this day and age, an author may be better off by self-publishing. And I agree with many of his points, found here. And in this enlightening post on Forbes, the hidden (and expensive!) costs foisted upon the author who works with traditional publishing are found here. Author Meghan Casserly explains, “In fact, going with a traditional publisher can be extremely expensive. Authors are generally expected to pick up costs for their book’s website, a book’s outside publicist, marketing materials like postcards, and any costs associated with readings or tours. All of this can run into the thousands of dollars.”

And finally, a word about how traditional publishing houses are causing damage. In a greedy move, HarperCollins decided to revoke licenses of ebooks to libraries after an ebook has been lent 26 times, forcing already cash-strapped libraries to renew the license over and over again. The news spread like wild fire, and the hashtag #hcod on Twitter was quickly filled with calls for a boycott. We know. It’s a business. But really? Picking on already beleaguered libraries? Big publishing needs to think about its business model differently. Their survival depends on it, and the sooner they understand that and make wiser decisions, the better off the industry will be.

 

02/19/11

The Red Witch

It began with a nightmare I had in the fall. If it had a soundtrack, it would have been a feature film. It was so richly detailed, and so…different. It felt as though I was transmitting someone else’s dream. The shy girl in the stained yellow sweater was me, I saw the world from her perspective. I was exploring a luxurious villa, and was taunted by the bullies about the Red Witch. The dream was even partly in Spanish.

Then I woke up. I couldn’t shake it, though. I told my friends, I talked about it for a long time with my boyfriend. So I made it into a short story and shared it with my writers’ group. They loved it, but wanted it to be more complex. The revision took about a month, and I even put my new novel aside to focus on it. Whosever nightmare it was–here it is–reinterpreted by my imagination. You can find read it online at Figment.com or download it from Smashwords.com.  It’s free. And just as an aside, it was about a year ago that I uploaded The Veiled Mirror as an ebook to Smashwords. It took minutes. But in this short span of time, the ebook business has really taken off. The Red Witch was #250 in queue, and took quite a while to upload to their system. And within a day, more than 100 people downloaded the story. So thank you everyone who is enjoying it!

I love Mexican culture and cuisine. I’ve been to Puerto Vallarta twice, each time during the Day of the Dead festival. But that’s another story. It was a profound and transformational experience each time, though, and had an effect on my writing. There are certain scenes from those trips that will be in my memory forever. The art of the Day of the Dead is amazing, detailed, and heartfelt. Some of the most memorable meals I’ve ever had were in the restaurants of Puerto Vallarta. So in honor of the Red Witch, and of Puerto Vallarta, and of Frida Kahlo, one of my favorite artists, and all the music, art, and culture of Mexico—here are two of my favorite recipes. Enjoy.

Cream of Peanut Soup

3 large tomatoes
2 cups peanuts
1 quart water
vegetable oil
2 tsp. chicken consommé powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup heavy cream

1. In a blender, liquefy tomatoes with enough water to measure 2 cups of broth when blended. Strain the tomato broth into large saucepan. Bring to a boil. Simmer at a low boil for about 15 minutes.

2. In a sauté pan, brown the peanuts in a half inch of oil, stirring constantly, until they are dark golden brown. Strain off the oil.

3. In 2 batches, liquefy the peanuts in the blender with enough of the remaining water to measure about 2 cups total peanut broth for each batch. Add to the tomato broth with the rest of the water with which you first rinse out the blender. Sean to taste with salt and chicken consommé powder. Bring to a boil and simmer for 15 minutes more.

4. Remove from heat. Stir in one cup heavy cream. May be reheated, but do not bring to a boil.

Meatballs in Chipotle Sauce

1 lb. lean pork                    1 lb. lean beef
1/2 tsp. cumin                   2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
3 eggs                                   4 tsp. bread crumbs
6 canned chipotles          6 med. Tomatoes, roasted and peeled
1 c. chicken broth             2 cloves garlic
pinch cumin                        1 tsp. oregano
2 tbl. Oil                                salt and pepper to taste

1. Mix meat, ground cumin, garlic eggs, and bread crumbs very well and season with salt and pepper. Shape into golfball-sized portions.

2. To make sauce, liquefy chiles, tomatoes, chicken broth, garlic, cumin, and oregano in blender.

3. Heat oil in hot pan. Strain sauce directly into the hot oil, and cook, adding salt and pepper. Add meatballs and simmer for about 25 minutes.

5. Serve with rice and beans.

And beware…the Red Witch may be watching.

01/7/11

Cynics, Skeptics, and Stigma: A New Era in Self-Publishing

Ugo da Carpi's Diogenes the Cynic (1524)

Tradition had it that self-publishing was the kiss of death for authors. The word stigma went hand-in-hand with self-publishing. The initial expense was high, the product was of poor quality, there was little to no editing, and the books had amateurish cover designs. At conferences, some agents and publishers would say they avoided working with authors who had self-published. And so on. I bought into this notion myself for a long time. Then came a wave of changes, that, no matter how resistant you are to the actual change itself, you have to make note of it. And now it seems that survival in publishing hinges upon accepting these changes.

A recent article by E-Reads drew the conclusion that it isn’t a good idea for authors to self-publish. The  tone smacked of smugness, that authors can’t handle all the work, they lack the skills, “but it’s interesting to watch them try” (link is here). They used author J.A. Konrath as an example, and misrepresented his views on the subject. He promptly issued a rebuttal on his blog, which is an excellent example of exactly how self-publishing does in fact benefit authors. A key element is better royalties. If you can self-publish, why not omit the middle man?

Self-publishing has become one of the most common topics when talking with other writer friends. Disillusioned with the traditional publishing industry, even authors who enjoyed success in the industry described going independent as liberating. Cut-backs in publishing houses have limited the amount of new authors they’re willing to take on, and authors complain of lack of editing and publicity support. In many cases, the book doesn’t earn profit above the advance, so the author sees no money beyond the advance. In fact, the publishing house can lose money. It’s worth clicking on the links within Konrath’s rebuttal, as it gives plenty of insight into how the industry really works—this coming from an insider, who definitely has his facts straight.

Sure, self-publishing takes time away from writing. So does writing tons of query letters to literary agents. So does attending writing conferences to have a brief appointment to pitch to a busy agent who is besieged by hundreds of other writers in the same position. If you’re passionate about your work, you’ll find some way to make it succeed. I’m not saying we should go all pitchforks and torches against the traditional industry. What I am saying is that now is the time to take advantage of these broadening opportunities that are going to forever change the industry. In fact, some literary agents are advising authors to try self-publishing. It’s a fantastic way to test the market. If you do well, then agents approach and offer contracts. This vital shift is a benefit to everyone. As an author, you learn much more about what is needed to be a success. For the literary agent, it’s no risk to them, and they get to observe not only the book’s success, but the author’s level of motivation. Printing companies save on paper with print-on-demand, and there aren’t loads of returns to worry about. And e-readers…very easy and accessible!

But the charge is still out there by those who stand on their soapboxes: self-published authors are embittered by rejection, so therefore there must be something wrong with their work. I’m on my own soapbox, to be sure, refuting these claims, and I’m not alone. I’m pleased to be part of a growing tide of authors, publishers, and agents who see the benefits of this change. Ebooks and print-on-demand publishing are evolving at a rapid pace, and are absolutely changing the industry—this is no fad—and the smartest people are going to watch it carefully and adapt. MediaShift has a great summary of these changes here.

For every publicity opportunity I’m turned down for because I self-published, another one presents itself to me out of the blue. I find ways through social media networks, I market on my own, and I work with marketing companies for a much lower cost than one would guess, and with effective results. I’ve been approached to do interviews, so something must be going well. Let the quality of my work speak for itself, and let the market decide if it’s good enough. I’ll probably make a few mistakes along the way, and maybe I will miss some prime opportunities. But at least I’m moving forward with my work, rather than languishing and worrying about whether I’ll get picked up. If my work eventually interests someone in the traditional industry, then wonderful! If not, so what? I’m doing what I love on my own terms.

As to those condescending types who still resist the evidence that the world of publishing is a very different place than it used to be—and give me the gimlet eye and a touch of attitude when I say I self-publish? I smile. There’s that great old faux Latin phrase from the WWII era, Illegitimus non carborundum est. Don’t let the bastards grind you down.