1) Hurrah! I got writing again this week. 5178 words written, this book has to be 1st draft completed by Friday 16th June. It's working title only at the moment, I need to come up with something much stronger!

I'm using the Novel Factory to plot out my book: https://paulteague.com/how-and-why-i-use-the-novel-factory-to-plot-my-books/

2) I'm co-hosting a live Q&A with Orna Ross from the The Alliance of Independent Authors on Tuesday 11th April - find out more at http://selfpublishingadvice.org/event/ask-alli-member-qa-self-publishing-questions-answered-by-orna-ross-and-paul-teague/

3) I won a Bronze in this year's Wishing Shelf Awards. I'm not really entering awards any more, mainly because most of them are social media 'beauty contests' or outright money-making schemes, however, the Wishing Shelf Awards is highly recommended, because it's judged by real readers and is totally independent. I spoke to the creator of these awards, Edward Trayer, for the podcast, you can listen to the interview here.

4) Reminder! The Self-Publishing Conference in Leicester on Saturday 22nd April https://selfpublishingconference.org.uk/

5) Reminder! The Newcastle Writing Conference on Saturday 20th May http://newwritingnorth.com/projects/newcastle-writing-conference/

6) Link to Instafreebie Leads Explosion webinar replay: https://paulteague.com/instafreebie-leads-explosion/

7) Check out Graham Smith, a future podcast guest: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Graham-Smith/e/B006FTIBBU

7) Check out Jason Blacker, another future podcast guest: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Jason-Blacker/e/B0051QUDA0/

8) QuickBooks for UK-based sole trader accounting: https://paulteague.com/QBooks [this is my referral link]

Self-Publishing Journeys is 1 year old today!

Iain Rob Wright is one of the UK's most successful horror and suspense writers.

Iain worked for many years as a mobile telephone salesman.

After publishing his debut novel, The Final Winter, in 2011 to great success, he quit his job and became a full time writer.

His work is currently being adapted for graphic novels, audio books, and foreign audiences.

He is an active member of the Horror Writer Association and runs his own online training website, azofselfpublishing.com.

Episode 57, release date Monday 3rd April, 2017

Find Out More:

Iain's website: https://www.iainrobwright.com/

Follow Iain on Twitter: https://twitter.com/iainrobwright

Iain's Amazon author page: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Iain-Rob-Wright/e/B0052WR48C

Iain's Goodreads author profile :https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4888646.Iain_Rob_Wright

Iain's Facebook page :https://www.facebook.com/authoriainrobwright/

Iain's original blogger site: http://iainrobwright.blogspot.co.uk/

Iain's author training website: https://azofselfpublishing.com/

Talking points:

1) Iain's author income blog post: https://azofselfpublishing.com/self-publishing-earnings-2016/

2) Iain's YouTube video, showing his author income since he began self-publishing:

3) Stuart Bache book covers: http://stuartbache.co.uk/

4) Write It Now software: http://www.ravensheadservices.com/

5) EasyAzon Wordpress plugin: https://wordpress.org/plugins/easyazon/

Also see Amazon Link plugin: https://en-gb.wordpress.org/plugins/amazon-link/

6) Book Funnel: https://bookfunnel.com/

InstaFreebie: https://self-publishing-journeys.com/IF [My affiliate link]

7) Merch by Amazon: https://merch.amazon.com/landing

8) Zippy courses: https://zippycourses.com/

9) Drip

1) The benefits of using YouTube - page views grow consistently over time and drive decent web traffic:

2) This is a preview for my InstaFreebie webinar on Wednesday 5th April - you can register via https://free-book-giveaways.com/webinar/

3) My InstaFreebie Crime/Thriller Giveaway event has gone really well this week https://freebie-books.com/crime-thrillers/

This is what the leaderboard looks like: https://freebie-books.com/leaderboard-mar2017/

4) Amazon Academy event took place in Manchester on Friday 31st March.

Speakers were:

Tracy Bloom https://www.amazon.co.uk/Tracy-Bloom/e/B00BSRA0TA/

Keith Houghton https://www.amazon.co.uk/Keith-Houghton/e/B005UMEUJA/

Joseph Alexander https://www.amazon.co.uk/Joseph-Alexander/e/B008VW6Q0M/

5) Reminder! The Self-Publishing Conference in Leicester on Saturday 22nd April https://selfpublishingconference.org.uk/

6) Reminder! The Newcastle Writing Conference on Saturday 20th May http://newwritingnorth.com/projects/newcastle-writing-conference/

7) My Q1/Q2 planning boards:

Angela Marsons discovered her love of writing at Primary School.

She began to enter short story competitions in Writer’s News resulting in a win and three short listed entries.

Angela self-published two of her earlier works before concentrating on her true passion – Crime.

After many, many submissions she signed an 8 book deal with Bookouture as their first crime author.

Find Out More:

Angela's website: http://angelamarsons-books.com/

Angela's Amazon Author page: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Angela-Marsons/e/B00J6D3914

Angela's Goodreads page: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7942666.Angela_Marsons

Follow Angela on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AngelaMarsonsAuthor/

Angela's Twitter account: https://twitter.com/WriteAngie

Talking points:

Bookouture article announcing that Angela has sold over 2 million books: http://www.bookouture.com/2017/01/30/angela-marsons-sells-two-million-books/

The People's Friend: https://www.thepeoplesfriend.co.uk/

Kindle Direct Publishing: https://kdp.amazon.com/

Bonnier Publishing: https://bonnierpublishing.com/

Lorella Belli Literary Agency: http://www.lorellabelliagency.com/

The Festival of Writing is hosted by Writers' Workshop: http://www.writersworkshop.co.uk/events.html

1) I got my trilogy formatted at http://www.frostbitepublishing.com/

2) This is a preview for my InstaFreebie webinar on 5th April – I'll share the registration link for this from Monday 27th March:

3) My next InstaFreebie Crime/Thriller Giveaway event which starts on 27th March https://freebie-books.com/crime-thrillers/

4) Amazon Academy event in Manchester on Friday 31st March http://selfpublishingadvice.org/amazon-academy-manchester/

Visiting speakers:

Tracy Bloom https://www.amazon.co.uk/Tracy-Bloom/e/B00BSRA0TA/

Keith Houghton https://www.amazon.co.uk/Keith-Houghton/e/B005UMEUJA/

Joseph Alexander https://www.amazon.co.uk/Joseph-Alexander/e/B008VW6Q0M/

Darren Wearmouth https://www.amazon.co.uk/Darren-Wearmouth/e/B00EBIGIZI/

5) The Self-Publishing Conference in Leicester on Saturday 22nd April https://selfpublishingconference.org.uk/

6) The Newcastle Writing Conference on Saturday 20th May http://newwritingnorth.com/projects/newcastle-writing-conference/

7) Bookbub book promotions https://www.bookbub.com/home/

Avril McDonald grew up in New Zealand, trained as a primary school teacher then become a Managing Director of a Digital Entertainment Company in London.

A desire to create beautiful characters and stories that help kids manage tough emotions and feel brave led her to develop www.feelbrave.com

This project also has a charitable arm at www.friendsoffeelbrave.com which has the vision ‘To give all children access to tools to help them manage tough emotions and reach their true potential’.

Avril has signed her first deal with Crown House Publishing for a series of six children’s books (five children’s books and a teacher’s accompanying book) to help tackle personal, social and emotional development in children.

Find Out More:

Avril's website: http://www.feelbrave.com/

The charitable arm of Avril's project: http://www.friendsoffeelbrave.com/

Avril on the Waterstones website: https://www.waterstones.com/author/avril-mcdonald/142272

Connect with Avril on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/avrilmcdonald28745

Avril's page on The Bell Lomax Moreton Agency website: http://belllomaxmoreton.co.uk/childrens/avril-mcdonald/

Avril's Amazon author page: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Avril-McDonald/e/B015TJWKX6

The Feel Brave books on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FeelBraveLtd

The Feel Brave books on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/feelbrave/

Avril's pins on Pinterest: https://uk.pinterest.com/crownhousepub/feel-brave-series-childrens-books/

Talking points:

Tony Robbins' Morning Ritual: http://sourcesofinsight.com/start-your-day-like-tony-robbins/

PeoplePerHour outsourcing site: http://www.paulteague.com/pph [My affiliate link]

BookBaby self-publishing: https://www.bookbaby.com

Wix websites: http://www.wix.com/

Crown House Publishing: https://www.crownhouse.co.uk/

Createspace: https://www.createspace.com/

Avril's press page: http://www.feelbrave.com/press-

Avril's Kickstarter campaign: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1639726590/feel-brave-stories-to-help-children-manage-tough-e

Avril's social enterprise work: http://www.friendsoffeelbrave.com/

1) The Crime & Publishment event that I attended last Friday http://www.crimeandpublishment.co.uk/

2) The ALLi Author Fringe is this Saturday - find out more about the event at http://selfpublishingadvice.org/lbf-indie-author-fringe-2017-speakers/

Link to my presentation page http://selfpublishingadvice.org/speaker/paul-teague-lbf2017/

3) My next InstaFreebie Crime/Thriller Giveaway eventcan be viewed here https://freebie-books.com/crime-thrillers/

4) The Amazon Academy event in Manchester is on Friday 31st March http://selfpublishingadvice.org/amazon-academy-manchester/

5) My trilogy is all ready to go:

6) Amazon is nagging me about being ready in time :-)

7) My exploration of a lorry cab - for authorial purposes!

Merita King’s stories are inspired by watching Star Trek – with William Shatner – and Blakes 7, which was really popular in the UK in the 70s.

Merita is the creator of The Lilean Chronicles, The Sinclair V-Logs series and several standalone stories.

She is a self-published author and regular blogger who also provides some excellent and helpful ‘how to’ articles on her website.

Merita began writing in 2011 and has a back list of twelve books to her name.

Merita’s website: https://meritaking.com/

Merita on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MeritaKingNovelist/

Follow Merita on Twitter: https://twitter.com/meritaking

Merita’s Goodreads page: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5762816.Merita_King

Merita’s Amazon Author page: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Merita-King/e/B0062NEATG

Merita’s Google+ page: https://plus.google.com/103300817631297019460

Merita on Authorgraph: https://www.authorgraph.com/authors/MeritaKing

Talking points:

Blake’s Seven: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blake’s_7

Mailchimp for email marketing: http://www.paulteague.com/mailchimp-ar [Affiliate link]

InstaFreebie: http://www.paulteague.com/IF [Affiliate link]

Hootsuite: http://www.paulteague.com/hootsuite [Affiliate link]

Merita’s article on EIN numbers and USA tax: https://meritaking.com/tag/tax-code/

Merita’s compelling description of her self-publishing journey:

Since June 2011, I have been writing novels and short stories and now have a backlist of twelve books, with another finished to first draft and yet another half written. All have failed to sell and still nobody is interested in my work. I have tried doing free giveaways, one facebook release event I arranged garnered the impressive attendance of just 2. I am now experiencing the painful trauma of realising that I am wasting my time publishing and probably should not bother doing so again. When I say painful, I mean it. Failing at this is the most painful thing of my entire life so far. I cannot adequately explain how much I want to be a successful novelist, and to fail so spectacularly is a burden that is too much to bear.

Merita’s writing for readers blog post: https://meritaking.com/2014/02/11/write-for-readers-dont-write-for-writers/

Merita’s romance novel: https://www.amazon.co.uk/W-O-L-Merita-King-ebook/dp/B00J9V9VCE/

Arthur C. Clarke novel ‘Childhood’s End’: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Childhood’s_End

1) Details of the Crime & Publishment event that I'm attending this week: http://www.crimeandpublishment.co.uk/

The ALLi Author Fringe is next Saturday!

Find out more about the event on Saturday 18th March: http://selfpublishingadvice.org/lbf-indie-author-fringe-2017-speakers/

2) My InstaFreebie Giveaway event - update.

My Giveaway page: https://freebie-books.com/

The leaderboard: https://freebie-books.com/leaderboard/

Promo images that I have made available to participants: https://freebie-books.com/giveaway-promotional-images/

I am considering offering a paid-for Instafreebie service via a Wordpress multisite - users would get a cloned version of my Giveaway, done-for-you Google Forms and built-in training videos.

The Giveaway pages would be re-usable.

Find out more about Wordpress Multisite https://codex.wordpress.org/Create_A_Network

This is what the template would look like: https://freebie-books.com/template/

They'd get a leaderboard and promos page too.

Any thoughts on this? What would that service be worth to you?

Please drop me a line at [email protected]

3) Mark Edwards on Amazon https://www.amazon.co.uk/Mark-Edwards/e/B004PP3WV0/

Linwood Barclay on Amazon https://www.amazon.co.uk/Linwood-Barclay/e/B001IGONCG/

Harlan Coben on Amazon https://www.amazon.co.uk/Harlan-Coben/e/B000APCH7Y/

4) Vellum formatting software https://vellum.pub/

How to use Vellum on a PC: https://paulteague.com/how-to-use-vellum-on-a-pc/

5) My holding book covers for future projects - I know that Backpacker looks like a hiking book at the moment, but I couldn't find a decent image to get the ball rolling!

6) Helen Fazal does my editing work, here is her podcast interview link https://self-publishing-journeys.com/episode-13-helen-fazal/

Katja L. Kayne is the creator of The Novel Factory software https://self-publishing-journeys.com/episode-10-katja-l-kaine/

7) StartUp is on Amazon Prime, not Netflix (oops, sorry about that!) but it's well worth a look if you like thrillers https://www.amazon.co.uk/Startup-Season-1/dp/B01M5DOUUW

7) This wee

After gaining a New Zealand Certificate in Science, Wendy Scott worked in a variety of different laboratories in New Zealand and Australia in the fields of salt, meat, dairy and wine.

While living in Adelaide, she spotted a course on Novel Writing offered by WEA.

She signed up immediately and made a commitment there and then that she would write a fantasy novel.

Wendy then completed other creative writing courses, joined the South Australia Writers’ Centre and published her first novel - Ferrasium.

Find Out More:

Wendy's website: http://www.wendyjscott.com/

Follow Wendy on Twitter: https://twitter.com/wendyjaynescott

Connect with Wendy on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wendy-scott-366a6749

Wendy's Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorWendyScott

Wendy's Hieroglyph website: http://www.hieroglyph.ws/

Wendy's WJ Scott website: https://www.facebook.com/ChildrenAuthorWJScott

Wendy's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAGVKpSHYM4zzXcJWoWrcDQ

Talking points:

WEA in Australia: https://www.wea-sa.com.au/

Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/

The Wishing Shelf Awards: http://www.thewsa.co.uk/ (listen to my interview with the creator of The Wishing Shelf Awards, Edward Trayer, here: http://self-publishing-journeys.com/episode-32-edward-trayer/)

Readers' Favorite Award: https://readersfavorite.com/

This is an example of the star logo that Readers' Favorite gave me for a 5-start review, which you can read here.

Scrivener, writing software: http://paulteague.com/scrivener [My affiliate link]

Mailchimp for email marketing: https://mailchimp.com/

ACX.com for audiobook creation and slaes: http://www.acx.com/