Over the past several years, there's been an increasing
awareness about the need to have diverse
books in homes and schools in order to provide young people with both «mirrors» to
build self - esteem in their own identities and «windows» to let them understand people who are different from them.
(cont'd)- I'm giving away hundreds of listings on the Vault, and as a result of doing so, won't see one thin dime of income on the site until October or later - Given all the time and money I've already sunk into developing the site, I don't even expect to earn back my upfront investment until sometime next year - I'm already personally reaching out to publishers on behalf of authors who are listed in the Vault, on my own time and my own long distance bill, despite the fact that I don't stand to earn so much as a finder's fee if any of those contacts result in an offer - I make my The IndieAuthor Guide available for free on my author site and blog - I
built Publetariat, a free resource for self - pubbing authors and small imprints, by myself, and paid for its registration, software and hosting out of my own pocket - I shoulder all the ongoing expense and the lion's share of administration for the Publetariat site, which since its launch on 2/11 of this year, has only earned $ 36 in ad revenue; the site never has, and likely never will, earn its keep in ad revenue, but I keep it going because I know it's a valuable resource for authors and publishers - I've given away far more copies of my novels than I've sold, because I'm a pushover for anyone who emails me to say s / he can't afford to buy them - I paid my own travel expenses to speak at this year's O'Reilly Tools of Change conference, nearly $ 1000, just to be part of the Rise of Ebooks panel and raise
awareness about self - published authors who are strategically leveraging ebooks - I judge in self - published
book competitions, and I read the * entire *
book in every case, despite the fact that the honorarium has never been more than $ 12 per
book — a figure that works out to less than $.50 per hour of my time spent reading and commenting In spite of all this, you still come here and elsewhere to insinuate I'm greedy and only out to take advantage of my fellow authors.
Reports have come in that 60 percent of Snapchat users are under the age of 24, so if you're a Young Adult author or Middle Grade author especially, this app might be an incredible marketing tool for raising
awareness about your
books as well as to gain readers and
build your author brand.