With the Colorado Gold conference right around the corner, I thought it might be a good time to revisit an article I wrote a couple of years ago… If there’s anything scarier than public speaking, it’s private speaking. Not the quiet conversations you have with friends, but the prospect of being thrown into a room…
Author: Nathan Lowell
A Few Notes On Discoverability
Discoverability is one of those newish buzzwords that tries to describe the process by which a reader finds a book to read. It’s a subject I’ve thought a lot about and one that keeps coming back to haunt authors. It’s Not The Book The problem with the generally accepted view of discoverability is that the…
The Networked Economy
And now for a few harsh words about operating in the Networked Economy. The problem for most indies—particularly new ones—isn’t producing a book. Once you’ve gotten a full draft written, the rest is mechanics. Cover art is cheap. Editing is relatively cheap. Conversion from word processor to ebook, and even paper, is cheap. After you…
Wag the Tail
I keep running across statements saying things like “The average self-published author only sells 500 books in his lifetime” or “The average author earns less than X dollars/euros/pounds a year.” Here’s the problem, and it goes back to the idea of the “long tail.” Average (or arithmetic mean) is a measure of central tendency. It’s…
Nobody Here But Us Chickens
There’s a lot of noise around a chicken coop. Chickens aren’t quiet birds, especially in groups. Sometimes they squabble among themselves. That’s where we get the phrase “pecking order,” because people – like chickens – like to know who’s better than whom. Ideally the “me” wants to be positioned above the “you.” Some might argue…