Monthly Archives: March 2012

The introduction of Print on Demand publishing sparked a bit of a revolution in the publishing industry. Writers no longer need to be at the mercy of editors and publishing houses, earning only tiny portions of the sales their hard work actually generates.

What is Print on Demand?

Print on demand is not a publishing style. Rather it’s a form of technology that allows the printer to create limited runs of a book that you’ve created.

Print on Demand simply means that the printer creates only as many copies of your book as you’ve ordered. Computer technology effectively replaced the old type-setting blocks that used to be the standard in publishing so that writers are now able to take control of their own publication careers.

Before the advent of Print on Demand (POD), writers who wanted to self-publish had to pay for large print-runs of books that they would often need to store in garages or spare rooms until they’d sold. Using POD means that you only need to order as many books as you’ve sold. This saves you time, money and storage space!

Why Should Writers Self-Publish?

The traditional method of publication was to write a novel, submit it to a publisher and then wait 6 or 12 months for the editor to decide if they would accept or reject it. If they accepted it, the book would go into a large print run of usually 10,000 and get shipped out to stores.

The writer got offered a contract that promised that they’d get paid 5% or 10% of the sale price of the book in the stores. If the book didn’t sell well within a few short months, then the book was withdrawn from sale and the writer would usually not get offered a new contract to write anything else.

This is a harsh way for any talented writer to make a living, but self-publishing changes the rules.

When you self-publish, you’re self-employed. You’re in control of all the profits – not just a tiny percentage of them – and you’re in charge of marketing and sales. By using Print on Demand technology to have your book printed, it means that you only have to print as many books as you have orders for.

Writing Your Book

Always be sure you’ve written and edited the complete manuscript before you send it out to your Print on Demand publisher. Many newer writers tend to send out incomplete manuscripts that haven’t been edited to check for typing errors or plot problems.

This might not seem like such a big thing when you’re excited about finally finishing your manuscript, but your readers will notice. Word of mouth is vitally important to a self-published author.

Visit some of the professional writing sites available to learn how to edit your work on your own properly without having to pay exorbitant fees to a proof-reader.

How To Self-Publish

There are plenty of reputable print-on-demand publishers available, all willing to allow writers to publish their own books. Always check that the company you choose has a good reputation with the writers who have already used them.

Some POD companies, such as Lulu or Booklocker, will create an ISBN (International Standard Book Number) for you as part of the printing service they provide. If you don’t want them to have control over who owns your ISBN, you can register your own at isbn.org

Check and double check the formatting guidelines your print on demand publisher expects. There’s no point sending in a manuscript that is incorrectly formatted. After all, your printer will only create what you send them. It’s important that you get your formatting right before it goes into print.

Creating a Cover

If you know someone who is great with graphic design and you can have your own cover created, then this can help you enormously. Paying a print on demand company to hire a graphic designer for you can get a little expensive, but it’s still a better option than trying to create something yourself.

Remember, your self-published book could be listed on sites like Amazon or Barnes and Noble, so you’ll want it to look as professional as possible.

Print on Demand vs. Vanity Press

Learn the difference between self-publishing and vanity press. A true self-publishing print on demand publisher will always be clear about you keeping your own rights to your work. You control the content and the cover art. You control the sales and pricing.

A vanity press is where you pay a company to publish your work for you and then you only receive a percentage of the sales price back in return. This arrangement is NOT the same as self publishing through print on demand and can actually compromise your rights to your own work.

Marketing Your Self Published Book

If you decide to self publish, you’re not just in charge of writing and creating the book. You’re also in charge of sales and marketing too. The first place most writers think of selling their book is in a book store.

Unfortunately, the vast majority of bookstores and chains won’t stock self-published books. However, you might be surprised to find that more books are sold outside of bookstores anyway.

It’s possible to list your books for sale on your own website, but unless you have some serious visitors to your site, you might find your book sells a little slowly. Your POD publisher might have a great bookstore listing right on their own website that will happily list your book for sale there.

Submit your book to book review sites. Many readers will only buy books after they’ve read a recommendation and a little teaser about what the book’s about.

Finding a way to get the large online bookstores to list your book can be a great benefit to your marketing efforts. Submit your book to Amazon, Barnes and Noble or any other online bookstore you can think of to help increase your exposure.

Conclusion

Self publishing can be an incredibly rewarding way for any writer to realize the dream of being published. You not only get to hold your finished book in your own hand, but you might also find that the freedom of creativity you have along with the control over the potential profits is second to none.

Discover how to successfully self publish from leading self published authors. Here at Self Publishing Explained we focus on bringing you the most relevant self publishing information. Start now with real life strategies and information by visiting Self Publishing Explained [http://www.selfpublishingexplained.com] to read what people are saying. [http://www.selfpublishingexplained.com]

Author: Lee Benz
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Assisted living

When I read different books on publishing, I think it is implied that publishing your own informational, inspirational or self-help books are the only works one can self-publish successfully. Granted, this is the Information Age and people buy information. But all due respect to how-to books, there is still a market for self-published fiction. I have found that self-publishing is just as viable an avenue for fiction, if not more.

One only has to look at the many fictional books that are circulating on the Internet (and off) which are doing well financially and which were self-published. Some have even been picked up by mainstream. One only has to go to Mosaic Books.com and Cush City.com and even my column, On The Same Page, to see this is true. Many of the authors I interview on my Internet radi shows are self-published authors of fiction.

To begin with, self-publishing is not only becoming more acceptable, it can be a lucrative venture. A few years ago, I read about a novel in the Publisher’s Weekly’s newsletter. Although this book was a self-published fictional book (it sounded like a roman a clef of Monica Lewinsky), it was chosen by the Double Day Book Club! This was a first. Now to me, that meant this was a door opener. For other examples, in mainstream America we can look to Grisham and James Redfield, the author of The Celestine Prophecy. What would have happened had these writers not self-published their fiction?

In African American literature, we know what happened with Michelle McGriff and many others who have ‘blown up.’

In addition, it is not unusual for authors who have been published by mainstream to turn around and self-publish their subsequent works. Why?

Factor in the recent explosion of print-on-demand companies and ebook companies or writers selling books directly from their website, and fiction is a great way to get your name out to the public.

Let’s look at what you gain when you publish your own non-fiction, then what you gain when you publish fiction. Neither one is better than the other. This is just to encourage writers of fiction to consider publishing their own works.
When you self-publish non-fiction, these are the things you gain:

· Speed. Most publishers work on an 18th month production cycle. Will you miss your market?

· Authority. The word ‘author’ is the root word in authority. People listen to you when you are an author. You become an ‘expert’ or ‘authority’ on a subject. From here you can do seminars, tapes, speaking engagements, and consultations.

· Control. Twenty-three per cent of publishers do not give the author the right to select the title, 26% do not consult the author on the jacket cover’s design, 36% rarely involve the author on the book’s promotion.

· A profit center. You make more money. The profit margin is 40% on a self-published book. After the advance, you only get 6 % to 15% of the sales on a traditionally published book.

· A reading audience. Many publishers receive more than 100 unsolicited manuscripts for consideration each day. As a result, no one will ever read your manuscript.

· A tax-write off. You get more write-offs as the publisher/author, than just the author.

When you self-publish fiction, in addition to all of the above, these are your gains:·

– Posterity. Your deciphering of mankind’s trials and tribulations in the twentieth century are recorded for future generations.

· Fame. If you build a reading audience, you may become famous. Even if you don’t become famous, you have a sense of satisfaction. A sense of testifying, a way of saying, ‘I lived. I was here. I made a difference.’ ·

– A possible movie deal. Movie companies, television and independent filmmakers are always looking for good stories. Many movies, such as Waiting to Exhale or How Stella Got Her Groove Back are made from books. My favorite book, Beloved, has been made into a movie. Although the movie can not touch the art of literature, Oprah has tried to capture its essence on film for future generations.

· A reading audience who loves stories. From the time man sat around the first cave fires, they loved to hear stories. When one hears a story, this can resonate in their mind long after the story is over. In essence, you are renting space in your reader’s imagination, which they will carry around with them for years.

Also take this fact into consideration. Many books which we have studied in our classrooms, such as Lady Chatterly’s Lover, (D.H. Lawrence), Leaves of Grass, (Walt Whitman) and Ullyses (James Joyce) would never have become classics if the writers hadn’t self-published. These books were ahead of their times and considered too risque to be published by mainstream publishers. So for writers of fiction, don’t wait for years and years to be discovered!

Life is a smorgasbord! Go out there and help yourself!

Dr. Maxine Thompson is the owner of Black Butterfly Press, Maxine Thompson’s Literary Agency, Maxine Thompson’s Literary Services. She is the author of six self-published titles. Her most recent novella, (Second Chances), included in anthology, Secret Lovers, made the Black Expressions’ Book Club Bestseller’s list. She is the author of upcoming novella, Summer of Salvation, which is included in Anthology, All in the Family. She is the owner of http://www.maxineshow.com. She is a host on http://www.voiceamerica.com.

You can sign up for her free newsletter at http://www.maxinethompson.com.

Author: Maxine Thompson
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Pension

I can’t help but quote the late, great James Brown…”Please, please, please… (Please, please don’t go.)”

I beg you please don’t take your book to market if you haven’t developed a marketing plan. That includes:

– defining your target audience (visualize specific individuals you foresee purchasing the book)

– making a list of specific organizations that might

– hosting a book signing or speaking engagement

– developing promotional materials – sales sheet, web page, post cards and book marks

– writing an enticing book description

– determining ideal outlets for selling your book (internet retailers, your web site, independent book stores, speaking engagements, etc.)

What’s the worst that could happen? You could be one of those authors who never sells more than 99 books!

Marketing should not begin after the book is produced; it must begin before the book goes to press. Why not wait until the book has been printed? First of all, you’ll miss several crucial marketing opportunities. Secondly, if you wait until the book is in your hands you’ll feel under the gun to sell it and planning probably won’t be a priority for you.

Another good reason to think of marketing before your book is printed or published is the book cover. After all, you can’t expect your readers to judge a book without its cover!

MARKETING PLAN

In regards to your book cover, the marketing plan will help you determine the appropriate design, key words, and the content for the back cover. By developing a marketing plan, you’ll be forced to consider:

○ specific target markets

○ their interests and desires

○ their trusted and frequent information resources

Armed with this information you’ll be able to write a back cover description that entices prospective readers to open and purchase the book.

Target Market

Once you understand your target market, where they purchase books and whose opinions they trust and admire you’ll have enough information to identify the appropriate sales venues (internet retailers, book stores, conferences, etc.). I’ve included a sample target market analysis at the end of the book.

Here’s an example: I mentioned the client who’s writing a young adult fiction novel. She told me her target market was teens and young women aged 15 – 35. That’s a great start, but it’s not enough. With my help she was able to expand this description…

○ Primary target: black single women and single mothers ages 23- 30;

○ Secondary target: black young adult women & college students age 18 – 22

○ Tertiary target: black high school teens 15-18

Notice that we didn’t just say readers, but that we were specific about their sex, age, marital status and education – single women, single mothers, college students and high school students.

We also considered geography. The author lives in Atlanta, GA therefore this is her primary geographic target. We expanded this to include the Southeast region of the U.S. since it’s easy for her to travel to neighboring states for book signings and speaking engagements. She also has extensive contacts in New York so we included the Northeast as a secondary geographic market. Segmented the market this way does not mean preclude the author from pursuing national sales, it just helps her focus on specific regions.

Don’t worry if the thought of writing a formal marketing plan, causes some apprehension. Instead consider using a tool that my clients and I have found extremely helpful – the book proposal. Traditionally, book proposals are only necessary for authors in search of an agent or a traditional publisher, however I’ve found the proposal to be an immense help to all authors.

In the process of writing a book proposal you will:

○ Clarify the subject hook (short, compelling book description)

○ Present the book hook (title, selling handle and length)

○ Identify specific benefits and features

○ Identify competitive titles

○ Address marketing strategies and tactics

While writing God is My Consultant I found myself a bit confused about how to position the book, how to make it different and better than other spiritual/self-help books and the book’s major selling points. After two re-writes I still like it wasn’t quite right. So I stopped working on the manuscript and turned to writing the proposal. By the time I finished writing the proposal I was able to delete a lot of extraneous information from my manuscript, I had a full-fledged marketing and promotions plan and I knew exactly what to put in query letters to agents and publishers.

I also used the book proposal format to help a client edit her novel and write a book description to use on the back cover and in promotional material. To solve this problem we wrote the subject hook and the target market sections of the book proposal. In doing so, she was compelled to focus on the book’s main theme and why it appealed to her target readers.

TARA Y. COYT believes in the power of the written word. Known as The Write Author Coach, she has been writing and speaking professionally for over twenty years. Tara helps aspiring and existing authors by sharing her best talents – writing, strategic development, marketing and creativity. In 2005 Tara founded the GET IT WRITE Author’s Circle to connect writers and authors with industry professionals and resources. Her first book, DOWNlo MARKETING: Uncover Your Business, Discover More Profits is an example of Tara’s straightforward, personable and humorous approach to writing.

When she isn’t coaching authors or writing (a column for Catalyst Magazine, a memoir and a book on spirituality) Tara can be heard discussing the GET IT WRITE Approach. Her audiences include writers, business professionals, elected officials, speakers, educators and college students striving to transform their ideas, goals, experience and passions into successful ventures.

Visit http://www.TheWriteAuthorCoach.com or http://www.GetItWriteAuthorsCircle.com

Author: Tara Coyt
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Coffee and Cancer

Though self-publishing online has been a viable model for aspiring authors for at least the last 10 years, self published authors have been second-class citizens in the publishing world and are still somewhat looked down on by traditional publishers (for example, the NY Times will not review a self-published book under any circumstances). With the emergence of e-reader devices such as the iPad, Kindle, Nook, Sony Reader, etc. and the gentle (or not so gentle) unraveling of the publishing industry, this is all about to change.

As these trends begin to play out, self-published authors will have direct access to larger and larger audiences and more and more receptive audiences. As more and more self-published authors see success over time, they will certainly look with either pity or bewilderment upon their ‘published’ brethren who will be saddled with their agent’s fees, paltry advances, miserably small royalties, and tied helplessly to the anchor of a traditional publisher who is becoming less and less relevant and less and less effective in marketing their book.

What to do? The self-publishing model, while on the rise, is certainly no cure-all or quick-fix. In fact, it is hard work. And it is work that does not tend to come naturally to most authors — it really comes down to marketing. Marketing yourself can be daunting to many authors, but the rewards are well worth it, and the same trends that are slowly displacing traditional publishing are making it easier and cheaper to market yourself effectively online.

At this point, if you are a fiction writer, you may still be holding out for a traditional publishing deal. Even if you are, you need to be aggressively marketing yourself in the meantime. You’d better have a good blog or website. You need to be active in social media such as Twitter and Facebook. Make samples of your work available as broadly as you possibly can. Create something that you can give away be it a short story, novella, or chapter sample. Traditional publishing deals have always been few and far between and difficult to land, but nowadays they are also becoming stingier and stingier as publishers are becoming increasingly risk-averse in this dynamic environment with new eReaders and new eBook stores arriving monthly. The more you do now to market yourself, the more likely that you will get a traditional deal, the more favorable it will be for you, and the more likely you will be to have success. If that traditional deal never comes, you will be very, very happy that you laid the foundation for a solid author brand and developed a readership and name for yourself. Your odds of successfully self publishing will have increased exponentially.

If you are a non-fiction writer, the tipping point is upon us or is very, very soon to be. You should be very seriously considering self-publishing over pursuing a traditional publishing deal. You should be doing everything that fiction writers should be doing. The marketing tasks that are required to be successful as a non-fiction writer are easy and cheap enough to buy on the open market. Many of these tasks are far more effective when performed by the author rather than by a publisher, anyway (such as blogging and participating in social media).

It is a very, very exciting time to be launching into self-publishing. As e-books and the self-publishing model grow and displace traditional models, many of the old barriers will lower and prejudices will go away (and even reverse!). If you write a good book and most importantly market it well over the next couple years, you’ll be very, vary glad you did.

Gk Parish-Philp is an over 10 year veteran of the digital media industry. He has been an integral part of two successful internet IPOs with mp3.com and DivX, Inc. His latest venture is BackMyBook.com, a self publishing and marketing platform.

Author: Gk Parish-Philp
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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