Success Stories

For a few days now, I’ve been dabbling with the idea of adding a “Success” Tab to the LLBR blog where both Lulu authors, and even other POD authors, could share their success stories in writing, publishing, marketing, and sales. It’s always fun to bounce ideas off one another and find out what may be working in the industry for some, and what may not.  And of course, we all love to brag, right? After surfing the web today and visiting my regular blogs I like to read, I found some valuable resources I wanted to share here on the Lulu review site.

The iUniverse Book Reviews site posted an excellent interview today with author Janet Smith.  Janet is a POD pioneer with a wealth of knowledge and experience.  She’s also self-published over a dozen books!  Read the interview for some nice insight to self-publishing success and also check out Janet’s PromoPaks book for some advice on “nearly-free” marketing.  I have already ordered my copy!

An MSN article on B&N’s attempt at winning the big retailer book wars led me to another blog kept by POD author April Hamilton.  April was a fellow ABNA contestant along with myself.  She used Amazon’s Createspace opportunity to publish her work, which inspired her to start an indie author blog.  April’s blog offers some fresh views on the direction of the traditional publishing world and how POD is growing faster than ever because of it.

In the continuing online saga of Amazon’s attempt at monopolizing the POD world, I think we need to offer inspirational support to one another as writers and publishers.  I know I need motivation from time to time and all of these interviews and blogs I visited today definitely helped.

So what’s working for you?  What isn’t?  How many copies did you sell last week?  Do you have a public reading or signing this weekend that you are antsy about?  Did you start writing a killer novel last month that you can’t wait to publish?  Got writer’s block and need a boost? Let’s hear those success stories (or the one’s that weren’t so successful).  Just click on the “Success” tab at the top of this page and start typing! All Lulu and POD authors are welcome!

Readers too!  Tell us what type of book covers you like, which ones you don’t like.  Which POD publisher has the best online bookstore?  Where do you buy your POD books?  Do you prefer one site for a specific genre, and a different site for something else?  Does price matter?  What are you reading right now?

I’d love to see this Success tab outweigh the rest of the tabs on this site (except for the reviews, of course).  Think of this as an online ongoing writers/readers conference if you want.  So, let’s hear from all of you!

Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.
-Winston Churchill