Tag: Self publishing

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Book Review: Become An Amazon Keyword Master by Peter MacDonald

Become an Amazon Keyword Master - Maximize your Amazon Book SalesBecome an Amazon Keyword Master – Maximize your Amazon Book Sales by Peter MacDonald

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Become an Amazon Keyword Master by Peter MacDonald claims to show you how to increase your sales by using more effective keywords.

The Cover: This is a typical non-fiction cover and fits the title well, the yellow text on blue background works, but the red text is hard to see/read on smaller images of the book cover. The font choice works for me, but I would change the red text to white or a similar light colour that works with the blue background.

The Good Stuff: This book is well presented and does provide some useful information. It will give you a better understanding of search engine optimization (SEO), and the differences between Amazon and Google. While I believe the author is incorrect on the issue noted in ‘The Bad Stuff’, he still has a good grasp on maximising your keyword efficiency and there is merit in the method he uses.

The Bad Stuff: I’m no expert on this topic, but I believe the author may be mis-informed on identifying keywords other people are searching on. The method described to find Amazon’s most popular keywords is, in my opinion, incorrect. I believe that when you search on Amazon, they provide you with search options tailored to your own interests and search history – Not the most popular searches by other people as suggested. This is an older title from 2014 and I can’t see that there is an updated version. It could be that the keyword issue noted was correct at time of publication, but with Amazon continually evolving and changing their algorhythm, some of the information in this book is likely to be inaccurate.

Overall, I found this to be of some use and believe the methods described will be of benefit, even if I do disagree with the authors understanding of how to find optimal search words. I’m giving this one 3 out of 5 golden bookmarks.

Allan Walsh writes Fantasy and Horror. If you’re looking for something new to read in these genres, why not check out his books here. You can also find his titles available in libraries.

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Book Review – Zen of eBook Formatting by Guido Henkel.

Zen of eBook Formatting: A Step-by-step Guide To Format eBooks for Kindle and EPUBZen of eBook Formatting: A Step-by-step Guide To Format eBooks for Kindle and EPUB by Guido Henkel

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Zen of eBook Formatting is a book for writers who want to know how to format and create eBooks. Written by Guido Henkel, a writer and an experienced programmer, for writers. This book provides a step by step guide on how to correctly format and produce your own eBooks.

The Cover: This is a clean and simple cover that matches the branding of Guido Henkel’s other non-fiction title Zen of eBook Marketing. It is evident from the cover that this is non-fiction and clearly states the topic covered. I like it.

The Good Stuff: This book gives you a great insight into how to format and create an eBook, from cleaning up your manuscript to adding the cover. Guido provides all the code and links to the tools you will need within the pages, making the process as simple as possible. I certainly recommend you read this book if you are looking at publishing your own eBooks online. I have definitely gained some knowledge in the process that I will be putting into practice in the future.

The Bad Stuff: If you are just looking for a book that says do this, then do that, this book may frustrate you a little. There is a lot of explaining, but to be fair, it is of value to know ‘the why’ behind what you are doing. I think the book would benefit from a summary at the end, that details what you have learned in the book without all the explaining in between, and can be used as a quick reference guide.

There is a bit of a learning curve required for this book, so don’t expect it to be really easy. It isn’t hard, but you will need to put a little effort into learning. I constantly refer back the book when I code my stories for publishing, but the more I do it, the easier it gets. This is certainly considered a great addition to my toolbox as an Indie writer. It will save you time and effort, and could even prevent you damaging your brand name as an author by giving you the advice you need to produce quality eBooks. I’m giving it a code dropping 4 out of 5 golden bookmarks.

Allan Walsh writes Fantasy and Horror. If you’re looking for something new to read in these genres, why not check out his books here. You can also find his titles available in libraries.

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Do You Want To Know How To Be A Self-Published Author? Maybe I Can Help.

Hello Readers,

It is a well known fact that a lot of readers dream about becoming a writer themselves one day. There is a load of info available on the internet to teach people how to write and there is more and more info becoming available on how to self-publish. I started writing many years ago, but I didn’t start to take it seriously until around 2010/2011. That’s when I joined a writers group, started editing my work and began researching how I would go about publishing when I was ready. Over the years I trawled the net, spoke to fellow authors, read books, etc… all the time making notes I what I found. One day as I was flicking through these notes, it occurred to me that I had all the information I needed in one place. I realized I could share that information with others and save them months of research. So I took all my notes and organized them into a step by step guide on how to self publish. The result of all this work is my most recent book:

Cover of book 'Get Published'

So, if you are at the start of your writing journey and want a concise guide, packed full with information on what you need to know about self-publishing, you should grab a copy of Get Published.

Happy Reading

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New Release – Get Published: An Author’s Guide to Self-Publishing


Cover of book 'Get Published'

Hello Readers,

Here is another quick post to let you know about my latest book release,  ‘Get Published: An Author’s Guide to Self-Publishing’. This one is a non-fiction title that covers the topic of self-publishing from setting yourself up, to publishing your books. If you’ve always wanted to know how to go about self-publishing , why not grab yourself a copy here.

Happy Reading.

Allan Walsh writes Fantasy and Horror. If you’re looking for something new to read in these genres, why not check out his books here. You can also find his titles available in some libraries. 

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