Monthly Archives: February 2012

I’ve been reading a few blogs and books about self publishing, lately. And one thing stands out. Although a lot of the advice is good, everyone seems to assume there’s only one right way to do it.

Publish your books as ebooks on Amazon, says one. Get a printing company to run off 1000 copies says another. Another praises print-on-demand, so you don’t need a lot of stock. And another says to create a “PDF” of your book and set up your own website to sell it as a download.

All can work. All can work really well, in fact. But I wouldn’t blame anyone for being confused.

Here’s the simple truth: there is no one route to success. There are lots of ways to do it.

But you don’t need to just pick one. First you need to do a little thinking… thinking about what you want to get out of it.

Thinking through the different options about how to get your book published is the first step. Don’t listen to anyone saying that one way is the only right way… or even the best way. What’s best depends on your aims.

If what you’re after is having a printed copy of your book on your bookcase (and this is a great feeling), then ebooks aren’t going to satisfy you. But getting 1000 copies printed at a traditional printing company is probably excessive. On the other hand if you want to make a living out of selling your book, this might be the best way to go – as long as you know how you’re going to sell them.

If you want to get your book out there – but aren’t into anything technical, then creating a PDF file and selling it on your own website is going to be a tricky business… and probably take longer than writing it in the first place. On the other hand if you’re a computer whiz and want a little income without having to keep any stock or deal with the orders yourself, this could be a good method.

If you want to sell books to make money (and yes, it is possible, even for an individual. Not easy, but possible) then visiting a few local bookshops with a handful of copies of your book isn’t likely to do it for you. But if what you want is to see your book on sale and have the satisfaction of being a published author, this could be a great method.

So don’t listen to anyone who tells you there’s only one right way. Work out what you want to get out of publishing your own book, then pick the way that suits what you want to get out of publishing your own book.

Tim Wakeling writes www.theyoupress.co.uk – tips, help and advice for people who want to self publish, or have and want to sell more copies.
(c) Tim Wakeling 2011 May be published elsewhere but only including this full message.

Author: Tim Wakeling
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Anti-angiogenic Food

It used to be hard to earn money as a writer. But now, thanks to the internet and print on demand, there’s a whole new world of self publishing that allows you to work from home writer and earn money on the internet.

If you want to make money writing, then there’s no easier and faster way than to using your writing skills to earn money online.

You can write a book, or as many books as you want, and know that all of them will be published.

Just write a book on any subject that you’re passionate about or have a lot of knowledge on. If you love your subject or know a lot about it, then it’s easy to write a book.

Once your book is finished, create a web site on your chosen topic and write articles to make it into a really great information site for your visitors.

You can place some Google AdSense ads on your site for free to earn some revenue, or join a few affiliate programs to earn commissions from selling other people’s products from your web site.

And then create a sales page for your book and sell it as an eBook. Or read a great book on self publishing, like ‘Self-Publish Worldwide’, and you can also have your book published in print and sell it from book stores too because it’s easy to set your book up with an online company and have the whole printing, packing and shipping process done for you, which leaves you free to write more books.

You can write articles to promote your book and upload them to article directory sites, with a link back to your web site.

If you want to, you can even write a few short reports to give away as an instant download to further promote your book.

And when you’ve done all you can, you can write another book and another and as many as you want because the internet and print on demand has opened up a whole new exciting world where writers are able to write and publish books and receive a residual income for years to come.

Ruth Barringham is succesful writer, author and publisher and runs two web sites for writers. Writeaholics.net is a web site for freelance writers and Self-Publish Worldwide is a website full of information on all areas of self publishing. So if your interested in writing or publishing, or both, visit these two web sites. You can also sign up for the free monthly newsletter at Writeaholics.net and receive the free eBook ‘Become a Freelance Writing Success’ when you subscribe, or download a free self publishing report at Self-Publish Worldwide. Or why not do both? After all – they’re free!

Author: Ruth Barringham
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Advice on AdSense

The dust is settling on 2010 self-publishing industry and the results seem promising. But are they promising for you?

You may have read some of the more compelling industry data published about e-books recently.

• The sale of e-book readers continues to grow. Gartner, a leading information technology analyst firm, predicts that the global sale of electronic ebook readers will have reached up to 6.6 million units by the end of 2010. This will represent a 79.3% rise from 2009 sales figures of 3.6 million units worldwide. Further, if this rate continues, the global e-book reader sales is expected to reach the 11 million mark in 2011.
• The sale of e-books surged after the Christmas sale of e-readers. According to Publisher’s Weekly, this holiday season, Simon & Schuster reported a 150% increase in e-book sales over last year, Random House reported a 300% surge, and Kensington saw a 400% jump over 2009. For the first time, USA Today’s Best-Selling Books top-50 list had more than two titles in which the e-version outsold print. Of the top 50, 19 had higher e-book than print sales. Is the surge sustainable? Kelly Gallagher of the publishing research firm Bowker, believes that the 9% e-book market could double in 2011.
• Libraries saw a 200 percent increase in e-book checkouts. At the American Library Association Midwinter Conference (January 6, 2011), it was announced that libraries and schools worldwide were at the forefront of the e-book boom in 2010. More than one million new users signed on to access free e-books at ‘Virtual Branch’ websites, resulting in a 200 percent increase in e-book checkouts.
• Some self-published authors are generating thousands of book sales a month. According to the Kindle forum, there is an increasing membership in the 1000 sales/month club. (The average book sells 200 or less in its lifetime.) It’s important to note that analysis of the data shows that 67% of authors in the club have three or more titles available. Four genres-romance, paranormal, thriller, mystery– occupy 50% of the sales.

One such author is L.J. Sellers. who took an aggressive approach to her marketing efforts, participating in forums, book review websites, and posting blogs all over the Internet. In addition, she sponsored numerous book giveaways. So a good book, good cover, good description, and low price are not good enough. It takes a major marketing effort on the author’s part.

In a recent blog post at Writer’s Beware, Victoria Strauss, advised writers to look at the hype in context. Among her comments on high-selling, self-published authors:

Many of these authors have multiple books on offer (i.e., they may be selling 250 copies each of four books, not 1,000 copies of one book), and/or are pricing them well below what larger publishers charge…. These success stories have to be considered in the context of the thousands of self-pubbed authors whose ebooks aren’t selling in large quantities.

So, with all the hype, is self-publishing really for you?

Let’s look at what it takes to write, publish, and sell your book successfully: advanced planning, time, resources, more resources, and tireless patience. Below are five questions to consider.

Are you willing to commit to the:

…planning to determine if writing and self-publishing is right for you? Realize a book is a commercial product. Are your goals realistic? Who will buy your book? How will you reach your potential readers? Who is your competition? How will your book be better or different? What are your realistic ROI expectations?Do your homework in advance and you will save a great deal of time, effort, and stress.

…time to write a high quality content? That means knowing your audience, supplementing “what you know” with appropriate research, and knowing how to tell a good story (for fiction and nonfiction). It also means carving out the time to do the actual writing or working with a ghostwriter.

…resources to produce a quality book? At a minimum expect to pay professionals to proofread your book, design an attention-grabbing cover, and format the interior pages. You want a timeless book you’ll be proud of forever.

…resources to create your platform? Must-haves include a website/blog, Facebook and Twitter presence, Youtube channel, and other social media sites appropriate for your book.

….practice of tirelessly and patiently promoting your book and building your readership? You can pay thousands of dollars to have self-publishing companies market your book, with no guarantees. The bottom-line, you must spend YOUR time and energy communicating with your readers-consistently and creatively. Marketing can seem daunting until you learn the efficient methods for promoting your book. Realize that building a fan base likely will take a year or more.

Before getting carried away by all the hype about self-publishing and e-books–and quitting your day job, take stock and determine if you are you willing to make the five major commitments for writing, publishing, and selling your book successfully.

For a decade, Patricia Benesh has been providing personal coaching and a range of “success-oriented services” to fiction and nonfiction writers at http://AuthorAssist.com. No matter what your writing level or publishing goal (traditional publishing, self-publishing), AuthorAssist helps ensure you are ready to publish and promote your book. Get complimentary feedback on your writing at http://AuthorAssist.com/complimentary.html.

Author: Patricia Benesh
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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