by Tom Ashford

Welcome to the SPF Weekly Write-Up, where each Wednesday we’ll be collecting together the self-publishing news of the week so you don’t have to.

This week: Reedsy Discovery is announced, Lana Del Ray self-publishes her poetry, and SPF heads for LBF.

Introducing Reedsy Discovery

Love writing, and love being an indie author, but hate all the business/ marketing side of things? Well, Reedsy has got you covered. Introducing Reedsy Discovery – a new way of getting your books into the hands of readers (and, just as excitingly, reviewers).

So far they’ve amassed over ten thousand readers and over one hundred reviewers ready for when the service launches. It’ll cost authors $50 a pop, but that’s not all that much compared to what you might get out of it. Reviewers get the book in advance (and for free), whereas those ten thousand readers (and this will grow with time) get a sneak peak and can purchase the book upon its ‘Discovery’ launch date.

It’s kind of like a social media Goodreads for readers, and a paid promo site for authors. Definitely worth keeping an eye on! You can read more about it here.

Lana Del Ray is Self Publishing Poetry

That’s right – the melancholy pop sensation, Lana Del Ray, is choosing to self-publish a book of poetry, which is believed to be called Violets Bent Backwards Over the Grass.

I’m not entirely sure how she’s going about doing it – it appears that she’s getting the physical copies bound herself and offering it to local (San Fran) bookstores, but there doesn’t seem to be word on any Kindle edition. But it’s interesting that she’s decided to bypass what could have potentially been quite a lucrative trad deal to do it herself.

That said, she’s selling copies for $1 – maybe it’s more of a personal project for her than a serious revenue stream.

We’re at the London Book Fair!

The London Book Fair (which is held in London, if that wasn’t obvious), runs from March 12th to 14th. The SPF team will be there (as usual, Mark will be making a few panel appearances so keep an eye out). If you spot us, make sure to come over and say hello!

Tom Ashford

Tom Ashford is a professional copywriter, author of numerous dark fantasy and sci-fi novels, and the Head of Content at the Self Publishing Formula Blog. His books include the Blackwater trilogy and the Checking Out series.

He lives in London with his wife, in an apartment that doesn’t allow pets. Find out more about Tom here.