Welcome to Friday Night at the Movies

Send in your trailers!

Starting in the new year, Indies Unlimited will be introducing “Friday Night at the Movies.” Each week we will feature a different book trailer video on Friday night at 5 p.m. Pacific time.

Trailers will be featured once a week on Friday night. At the end of the month there will be a contest where people can vote for the “Video of the month.” No cash. No prizes. It’s all for the glory!

This is a great excuse for you to “rally the troops” and ask for votes – it’s a gentle reminder to your posse about your book.

Here are the submissions guidelines, which can also be found on our submissions page:

The Video Trailer Feature requires a 100 word book description to accompany the video. Include a link to YouTube so we can obtain the necessary HTML code. You can see an example HERE. Authors submitting a Video Trailer will have that book showcased in the IU store for one year. These features require a purchase link for Amazon, Smashwords, Barnes and Noble or some other mainstream outlet. Please include at least one of these links with your query. Trailers should not have a run time in excess of 1:30 (90 seconds).

Publish it with PubIt?

For the past nine months or so, I’ve been conducting an experiment. Instead of letting Smashwords handle distribution of my new ebooks to Barnes & Noble, I’ve been uploading them directly to B&N by using PubIt, their dedicated ebook publishing system. The royalty is slightly higher by going directly through B&N (65 percent on ebooks priced at $2.99 and higher, compared to 60 percent when you go through Smashwords). Plus I thought I might get paid faster if I cut out the middleman and uploaded my books directly to B&N. Continue reading “Publish it with PubIt?”

Flash Fiction Double Winner

For the third time since we started the flash fiction challenge here on Indies Unlimited, we have a tie for first place. Congratulations to Gabrielle Baer and Kent Chapman (slimgrady2).

The winning entries are recognized with a special feature here today and a place in our collection of winners which will be published as an e-book at year end.

Here are Gabrielle and Kent’s entries:

Continue reading “Flash Fiction Double Winner”

Ed’s Casual Friday: Happy Trails 2012

Well, turns out the world didn’t end (thanks for nothing, Mayan King Yik’in Chan K’awiil) so it looks like we’ll all be embarking on another year of Indie World. And since last year was my first of writing this weekly column (episode one, 12/30/11), I guess this year I should at least acknowledge the new one.

Many traditions come along with the changing of a calendar date, including spending the next month or three swearing quietly as you continue to write the wrong digit at the end of checks. Also popular are the “Year in Review” sort of things every news broadcast, blogger, and columnist feels the need to uncork along with the bubbly. I myself am more of a “Don’t look back, as something might be gaining on you” type of guy, so I won’t be doing that. 😉 Continue reading “Ed’s Casual Friday: Happy Trails 2012”