Amy Ellis

As always, I'm a bit last minute but I thought I'd post an invite on the blog. If you don't follow me on Facebook or Twitter, two of my poems placed in the Oxford Brookes University Wellbeing Poetry Contest which was announced on National Poetry Day. This week is the prizegiving and reading which means I will be reading my winning poems at Oxford Brookes University this Tuesday at 7pm in the Enquiry Centre of the John Henry Brookes building. Everyone is welcome to attend.

All of the winners of the poetry competition will be reading their winning entries and there will also be a reading by Dan Holloway, a local poet, novelist, and publisher.

If you're in the Oxford area, stop by and see me and my peers reading some awesome poetry.

Click here for more information and to read the winning entries. 

After a few months of work, I'm excited to announce that I've officially launched the website for my Major Project: The Self-Publishing Toolbox. YAY!

I am so happy that it's finally live and out in the world. After months of writing copy, decyphering HTML, CSS, and PHP coding, crying, groaning, eating chocolate, and becoming permanent fused to my couch, it has finally happened! I still have a lot of content to write and add so stay tuned and sign up for the mailing list for weekly emails with all the new tools added to the site.

I hope it becomes a valuable resource for anyone looking to pursue self-publishing, or even those who have been self-publishing for years! I can tell you from experience that I find new tools and programs to help make self-publishing easier and more successful every day. The possibilities are endless and I can't wait to keep adding content to the site for you to enjoy.

Let me know what you think and what you think I should add. I have a huge queue of products and websites to review but I'm still missing plenty from my list so all suggestions are welcome!

Thanks so much for your support!

-Amy

It's been a while since I blogged because I've been writing masses of copy for my major project. The other day, I realized that as much as I've mentioned/complained about the work I'm doing for my major project, I've never actually said what I'm doing so here's the big project reveal:

I'm creating a website which will act as toolbox for self-published authors or aspiring self-publishers to use as a resource.

I've gotten a huge head start on the project and have been working my little butt off trying to get it ready in order to launch it sometime in July. While I've got until September to have the whole thing ready to go, I'd like to have some semblance of a product ready for a soft release in July with all of the major players outlined. I will continue to add smaller apps and products as I go of course, but getting the "big 'uns" out of the way is my goal.

Until July, you can follow the Twitter account I've set up for it @Selfpubtoolbox or sign up for the mailing list. There is a temporary website set up at http://www.selfpubtoolbox.com.

I just couldn't wait to share the news and start getting the word out about my project. I'm hoping it'll be a valuable resource to any self-published authors, new and experienced.

Also, if you have a product you think should be included, feel free to email me at selfpubtoolbox@gmail.com with any suggestions!

Well I completely disappeared for a month and a half but with good reason: This semester has been BUSY. The work has been constant from week 1 and I also just recently started my first work experience placement at Osprey Publishing in the marketing department. Between coursework, writing, and work experience, I am swamped but in a very great way.

However, I could not let Indie Book Day pass without posting a blog with links to FREE copies of all three of my YA novels. Yep. All of them. Completely free. Because I'm a mad woman.

Here ya go:

On Thursday, I stuck around campus for a few hours to attend my first Oxford Publishing Society event which was held at Oxford Brookes University. Despite the long and tiring week, I was excited to see what the six speakers at this event had to say about Self-Publishing and was actually pleasantly surprised at the positive attitude most of the speakers had toward this blossoming industry and its effect on publishers.

Dr. Alison Baverstock, author of The Naked Author, started the event I felt her statements were the ones that stuck with me most. She viewed self-publishing as a form of responsibility, defining the act of self-publishing as "taking responsibility for the management of content." Anyone who has self-published can attest to this statement, knowing that the entirety of your book's success or failure is your responsibility. That is, as Alison mentioned, an empowering feeling. I think Ruth Fielder, Sales Controller at Albury Books, summed up this best when she stated that self-publishing "shouldn't attract the stigma" it has been branded with and I whole-heartedly agree.

Many of the other speakers built upon Alison's statement that the term "vanity publishing" is horribly "out-dated" and "inappropriate." Publishers are realizing that the majority of content that self-publishers are generating is interesting and high quality. James Rennoldson, Digital Product Manager for Writers & Artists at Bloomsbury, noted that "the technology is there" and "the quality is there" for self-publishers to be gaining credibility as authors and as professional small/micro-publishers. Bloomsbury (of Harry Potter fame) has even released "Bloomsbury Spark" which accepts YA and New Adult manuscripts directly from authors to publish in ebook form. Writers & Artists has even launched a sister website which serves to "demystify" the world of self-publishing for those considering it as an option for their work.

These services prove that even though there seems to be a power struggle between traditional publishers and self-publishers, larger publishing companies are starting to recognize it as a valuable source of talent (and revenue, of course...) Clive Herbert from Neilsen Book Scan also spoke and pointed out Neilsen's free and low cost services that aid self-publishers in gathering data and metrics, a feature that we self-published authors love and live for. In fact, self-published author Talli Roland even mentioned checking her Amazon stats while in labor! These tools, from printers to advanced data and metrics, are all services that were built and are constantly being improved upon because there is a huge market of self-publishers out there and money to be made from it.