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#AuthorToolboxBlogHop, audiobook, author business, author empire, author entrepreneur, behind the scenes of publishing, behind the scenes of writing, book marketing, book sale, ebooks, print books, Publishing, publishing tips, self-publishing, South Africa, South African Publishing, writer's life
This post has moved to a new home: http://www.ronelthemythmaker.com/running-your-author-empire/
Ronel the Mythmaker 
What a great post with lots of great information. Thanks for mentioning the Writer’s Gambit.
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Thanks, Juneta 🙂 Of course I mentioned your blog: what you do for authors is amazing 😉
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Dankie, dankie, dankie! I’m so glad you put all of this in one place! It will make everything a lot easier for those of us starting out! 😀
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That’s why I did it — paying it forward and all that 😉 You’re welcome, Carin.
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This is chock-full, Ronel. All in one post! I like PayPal and especially the PayPal Me option–a simple link to be paid. ISBNs–I buy these in bulk (because I publish so many tech ed resources). Interesting that they’re free in some countries. Audiobooks–I really need to take your advice here.
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I decided to end this year’s Toolbox with a bang 🙂 As for the ISBNs — they’re not totally free. We still have to send in copies of our books for their records. Small price to pay, though.
Thanks for stopping by, Jacqui 🙂
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So much advice here, and so many resources to check out! I will have to stop back again to go over the other sections, but right now I’ll be looking more at your advice re: audiobooks.
Thanks for sharing your link on my blog, btw. And good luck with your audiobook.
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I’m glad to have helped, Suzanne 🙂
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Good post, Ronel. You’re correct! Writing is a business, and the financial record keeping, marketing, etc… are as vital as in any other business. Fortunately, for me, I sell only on Kindle/Amazon, so most of the sales revenue information can be gleaned from their reports. I still struggle with the marketing!!!
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Thank you 🙂 Yeah, marketing is the tough one. I suggest you focus on your brand — once you have that in place, the marketing stuff will become easier. Check out this post by Rachel Thompson about branding: The Reasons Branding Confuses You and How to Fix That Right Now
Good luck!
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Phew! That is a ton of great information. Will be posting to FB!
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Thanks, Raimey 🙂
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Wow! I think you’ve cover everything and some. Thanks for the post. 🙂
Anna from elements of emaginette
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You’re welcome, Anna 🙂 I hope to learn even more next year 😉
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Wow wow wow wow wow! What an extensive resource! Thanks so much for sharing what you’ve learned. You’re awesome!
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Thank you 🙂 I hope it helps you.
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I am amazed with all your research Ronel! Fantastic. I haven’t had nearly the experience as you, but I do have experience with cover design. Snappa is another fantastic resource to look into. You do have to pay for a membership, but it’s worth it to me. I love all the free images you get with it. And the fonts are amazing. I will look into the resources listed. I’d love to learn about video 🙂 Happy Hop Day 🙂
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Thanks, Erika 🙂 Adobe Spark is great for making video trailers — and it has a free plan. I’ll check out Snappa — thanks for the suggestion 🙂
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Wow! An ambitious article packed with information. Great resource here!
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Thank you 🙂
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Holy cow, Ronel! What an amazing post, and so thorough! I can’t imagine how long it took you to compile all this info, and then write it up, but I’m sure other South African writers appreciate it. I used to live in France and was struck by how difficult it was to get access to many things restricted to the continental USA. Great ideas here!
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Thanks, Elle 🙂 Hopefully this will help others so they won’t spend forever on the internet searching for solutions or — worse — give up.
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Bookmarking this! The business side is something it’s hard to find a lot of good information for.
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Thank you 🙂 Yeah, some of the info out there is a little dodgy.
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ISBN numbers in Canada are free. I have them on all my books. Awesome advice today.
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Great to know 🙂 ISBNs are so important — it’s like a book’s identification number (and we all know how lost we’ll be without one ourselves). Thanks for stopping by, Kristina 🙂
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It can definitely be funny, or frustrating, how much time a writer may have to spend “not writing”. It makes sense, but at the same time I think many began this journey because they wanted to spend most of their time writing. Still, c’est la vie. At some point I may start taking classes on being a small/independent business owner.
Thank you for sharing your experience. A post like this is a great way for someone else to develop a greater sense of what questions they should be asking, and what the answers might look like.
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Thanks, Adam. I wish I knew all of this before my first book was published. On the other hand, that might have made me procrastinate even more 🙂 I think taking classes about running a business is a smart idea.
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This is an awesome post, Ronel! Thank you, and thank you for linking to my posts on publishing again.
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Thanks, Iola 🙂
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Wow – this is a hugely informative post! As I’m in the UK some of it’s not quite for me, but I’ll definitely be keeping it bookmarked for re-reading. Excellent! Thanks so much for taking the time to put this together!
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You’re welcome 🙂
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So much useful information, thanks for sharing with us 🙂 I wish ISBN’s were free in the UK, but they’re pretty expensive. I’ve bookmarked this post for when I finish my book!
(I’m going to set up as an editor/proofreader as soon as I finish my MA, maybe sooner if I get round to it 🙂 )
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You’re welcome 🙂 It’s a shame about the ISBNs, though. I wonder why only certain countries have to pay? That’s awesome news about setting up as an editor/proofreader 🙂 Have you checked out the Society for Editors and Proofreaders? I’ve learned a ton form them.
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It’s very strange about ISBN’s, I guess there’s a reason there somewhere!
Thanks 🙂 I hadn’t heard of the Society for Editors and Proofreaders, but I’ll definitely take a look!
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Such much great info – I’m just starting to get into all this stuff so I will be prepared when I release my first book. Also, your book sounds intriguing and I’m going to have to check it out. 🙂
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Thank you 🙂 It was a lot to learn while jumping around like a nearly-headless chicken, but totally worth it.
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Lots of great info here, Ronel! You are so knowledgeable. Thanks so much for sharing this with your fellow Toolbox writers. Wow! I didn’t know you needed a different ISBN number for each version of your book. I’ll need to remember that if I ever finish this college memoir. All best to you!
http://victoriamarielees.blogspot.com
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Thanks, Victoria 🙂 Good luck with you memoir!
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This is an awesome post. There is so much that you have to know and do.
I wish the US was like other countries where ISBNs don’t cost money. That would help out so many of us.
One thing, though…CreateSpace is actually closing, that’s why everyone’s books on CreateSpace have to be moved over to KDP. I personally loved CreateSpace and was bummed when this all started to take place, but the transition was pretty easy, although I had to re-do all the covers because CreateSpace’s cover creator isn’t compatible with KDP’s cover creator, and I also had to re-upload all the manuscripts. Other than that, it’s been okay.
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Thanks for the update on CreateSpace 🙂 I did wonder about that for a while, and then something else caught my attention… You’re right: there’s loads to know about this author business thing and I’ve already spotted something new to engage me 🙂
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