Monthly Archives: June 2012

Publishing – Self-Published Authors

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When we read a blog, can we safely say that its author is a self-published writer? And the answer is yes: we can safely say that the author of a blog is a self-published writer. That means that anyone could become a writer online and that includes you! All you need is a blog (hosted on a free domain, but preferably on your domain to avoid any data loss) and the will to succeed.

A blog is a space where an author can publish his/her thoughts. It doesn’t matter why people blog. Whether they blog for fun or for financial revenue (generated through AdSense ads, other ads, paid entries etc) all blog authors are self-published authors.

Successful bloggers are powerful bloggers. They are consultants for other bloggers, for businesses that want to achieve similar online recognition and so on. These people prove that blogging could be the path to a successful career. All you need is a brilliant idea, dedication and perseverance.

Some young talented writers start a blog hoping that a publisher will discover their art online and make them an offer for a hard cover chance. Many of these authors blog daily just to collect their entries and turn them into a book or an eBook using a free publishing service such as the ones offered by Lulu. Then they offer their work for free or for a small fee, or they start a slid marketing campaign to sell it both online and offline. Some are really successful. Others still spend their time online trying to make it to the top of the search engines and to become the crème de la crème of the blogosphere.

There are so many wonderful poems and literary works online waiting for you to discover them! All you need to do is start browsing the blogosphere or some high quality article directories like Associated Content or Ezine Articles.

Some bloggers consider their blogs private spaces. Yet they should understand that a blog becomes public if it is cached in a search engine and submitted to some directories, if it’s a part of any blogger community or interlinked with any other blog or website. So even a “private” blogger is a self-published author.

Self-publishing doesn’t refer solely to literary work and words. Publish your artwork and photography online and guess what: you become a self-published author. Any original contribution you sign with your real name or with a pseudonym and publish online wears your copyright and it’s your sole responsibility. Even when you choose to hire a ghostwriter, once the deal is done, if you were not smart enough to check the accuracy and originality of the content you paid for, you become responsible for what you publish.

Practically, self-publishing means that you publish your work alone – without being paid in advance by a traditional publishing house for your work.

The Web is full of surprises. HowStuffWorks started out as a collection of self published articles on how stuff works. Today this is a billion dollars business. I’ll not waste your time with similar examples. Have a brilliant idea and you’ll reach fame in no time, even in such a highly competitive world as the WWW!

Michael Russell

Your Independent guide to Publishing [http://publishing-guideto.com/]

Author: Michael Russell
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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How To Write Your Own Self Help Book In 12 Days

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Anyone can publish a book these days. With the emergence of POD (publish on demand) companies where authors can write and upload their books for sale to customers on an as needed basis as well as the Kindle book publishing method, many are realizing their dream of holding their very own books in their hand and adding the word AUTHOR to their biographies.

In this article I will teach you the process behind writing your own self help book in 12 days.

Organizing Your Book – Day One

Organizing a book will only take one day as you prepare the outline. Decide on a topic for your book. I usually decide on the name of my book first and it inspires me throughout my writing process.

After you have your topic, write down 10 questions your book will answer concerning your topic. Each of these questions will become your book chapters. Since most books have 10 chapters you can add more if you’d like, but you don’t have to.

Now you should have a book title and a list of questions (chapters). For each question write down as many answers to the question as you can think of. List these answers as bullets under each question. Move through each of your chapters this way until you have outlined all of them.

Writing Your Book – Day Two through Eleven

You can write one chapter a day by deciding which day you want to write and sitting down to do it. You already have the topic questions and the answers, all you have to do is expound on each answer. Use examples, share stories, resources and information to validate your views.

Write out one chapter per day and don’t worry about editing anything, that will come later.

Polishing Your Book’s Structure- Day Twelve

Now that you have the guts of your book written you can go ahead and change the chapter questions to statements. Be creative with your chapter headings. Write headings that will grab attention and also support your book title. Add an introduction to your book that explains why you wrote the book and how the reader will benefit from reading it.

The rest of the process is editing and you’ll have to develop your own strategy for that. For tips on structure, editing, formulating plots for fiction books and how to market your book, I highly recommend that you order Nick Daws’ Course How To Write A Book in 28 Days. This will become your new book writing bible. It was extremely useful to me. I wrote my first self help book in just 6 weeks while a full time graduate student and single mom.

Happy Writing!

Te-Erika Patterson is a journalist and Success Coach who teaches that every fantasy or goal is attainable if the right attitude and approach is used to move toward it. She writes using her personal experience of overcoming obstacles to coach her readers and clients to self awareness and ultimately self appreciation.

Visit her website http://www.mysavvysisters.com for more inspirational reading.

Author: Te-Erika Patterson
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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Brilliant Strategy For Self-Publishers to Become an Amazon Best Seller

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With over 400,000 books being published every year its not likely that your book will make the New York Times Best Seller List. Now that’s not to say that you doesn’t deserve it, its just a numbers game as well as the fact that self-published books aren’t even eligible.

According to Edwin Diamond in his book Behind the Times, over 3,000 bookstores are surveyed as well as “representative wholesalers with more than 28,000 other retail outlets, including variety stores and supermarkets” to determine the Best Sellers.

So if you can’t make the grade for the New York Times how can you ever earn the title of being a Best Seller (BS)?

Go to Amazon, they are an equal opportunity seller, that’s how.

To begin with the Title of being a (BS) is an honor that no one can take from you however it doesn’t necessarily mean that you have sold tens of thousands of copies of your book. There are those who have earned this title by selling no more then 50 copies within a given time period.

Begin by crafting an email asking everyone on your list to buy a book at the same time, which will curve book sales during that peak time. The author usually creates Joint Ventures with complimentary companies to offer incentives – eBooks, downloadable audios etc. to the buyers for contributing to the (BS) campaign.

The Joint Venture partners will usually share the email list created from the (BS) campaign. The whole purpose is to have enough book sales to boost the Amazon rank to somewhere in the top 10 books, and preferably to #1, even if only for a very short period of time.

If you’re ready to go to learn more about how to write your own book and scale it into a Highly Profitable Teaching, Training, Coaching, or Speaking business than go to;  http://www.adaptonadime.com for your FREE “Fast Start Guide”

Paul Godines helps Authors with the Publishing Process, building the Authors Marketing Platforms (social media, products, coaching programs) Book Promotions (virtual book tours, amazon best seller campaigns, book award competitions) and receiving Publicity for your Book (Radio/TV and in Print.)

Author: Paul Godines
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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Self-Publishing – What Does ISBN Mean?

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You have seen ISBN barcodes on book covers, but what do the numbers in an ISBN mean? Although it may appear to just be a random sequence of numbers, each portion of the ISBN provides information about the book to which it is assigned.

An International Standard Book Number (ISBN) is a unique 13-digit number assigned to each title, edition and format of a book, ebook, audio book or similar product. The ISBN is used to identify a specific book product, in much the same way a Universal Product Code (UPC) identifies other products.

There are five parts to an ISBN:

  • Prefix
  • Group or country identifier
  • Publisher identifier
  • Title identifier
  • Check digit

The prefix is a three digit number that identifies the product type or industry. For books, the prefix will be 978 or 979.

The group or country identifier indicates the country or language in which the book was published. English-speaking countries will be indicated with a 0 or 1, the identifier for French speaking countries is 2, the group identifier for German-speaking countries is 3, 4 for Japan, 5 for Russian speaking countries, and 7 for China. The group or country identifier may have as many as five digits.

The publisher identifier specifies the publisher of record for that title.

The title identifier is assigned by the publisher to a specific title, edition and format of the book. For example, the first edition of a hardcover book would receive an ISBN. If the book is also issued in paperback, audio book and ebook formats, each format would receive its own unique ISBN. When a second edition is published, each format of the second edition would receive a unique ISBN. New ISBNs are not required when a book is merely reprinted.

The last digit of the ISBN is a check digit. The check digit is a single-digit number from 0 to 10 (with X used to represent 10) that is computed from the other 12 digits in the ISBN. The purpose of the check digit is to catch errors in the entry of an ISBN.

Let’s take a look at a real-life example of how this works. The ISBN for my book, The Mystery Shopper’s Manual, is 978-1-888983-30-2.

  • 978 tells us that this number identifies a book.
  • 1 identifies the book as originating in an English-speaking country, in this case the United States.
  • 888983 is the code assigned to my publishing company, Special Interests Publishing.
  • 30 is the title identifier the publishing company assigned to this book: the trade paperback 6th edition of The Mystery Shopper’s Manual.
  • 2 is the check digit calculated from the other digits in the ISBN, using a formula established by the ISBN agencies.

The product identifier is always three digits, and the group identifier and check digit are always one digit each. The length of the publisher and title identifiers may vary. Together, they will contain eight digits, but large publishers will have shorter publisher identifiers than small publishers. That is because the large publishers will have more title identifiers in their block of ISBNs. Here is how that works:

ISBNs are assigned to publishers in blocks of 10, 100 and 1000. The ISBN for my book comes from a block of 100 numbers. That means that two digits are assigned to the title identifier and six to the publisher identifier. If the block of ISBNs contains 10 numbers, there would be one digit to identify the title and seven for the publisher. If the block contains 1000 ISBNs, there would be three digits in the title identifier and five in the publisher identifier.

It is important to know that the ISBN tells the book industry who the publisher is. That is why you only want to get ISBNs from the official agency and not borrow or buy an ISBN from another publisher. If you use their ISBN, it will appear that they, not you, are the publisher.

Although all of this may seem confusing, ISBNs help to keep book distribution orderly by making sure that each edition of each book has a unique identifier.

Cathy Stucker is the founder of http://SellingBooks.com/ where you can learn all about writing, publishing and marketing books. Learn how to get an ISBN and more at SellingBooks.com.

Author: Cathy Stucker
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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Develop Your Book Marketing Strategy Now!

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Do you think your book is going to be a best seller because it’s awesome? Are you positive that everyone will want to buy a copy of your book? It might be bestseller material but if you don’t market and promote it, no one is going to know about your great book. It takes a lot of time and effort to make a book a bestseller.

The best time to decide on your book marketing strategy is while you are writing your book. Don’t wait until you finish writing your book.

Here are some marketing activities you can begin working on right now while you are writing your book.

Become a well-known speaker in your community.

If you have a fear of speaking join a Toastmasters International chapter in your area now, or take the Dale Carnegie’s Effective Speaking training program. I have done both and they can give you the confidence and knowledge you need to be a good, effective speaker. You have an important message to share on your expert topic. You must be able to present yourself well and build your name. You can begin speaking now to get the practice so that by the time your book is published you are ready to go on the speaking circuit.

Build Your Mailing List.

Start doing Google searches for organizations and groups you can speak to: Women’s groups, business organizations, Rotary Clubs, personal development groups, plus groups that specialize in your book topic.

Build Your Testimonial List.

Write down the contact information of people you want to give you a testimonial for your book. Get 20 names or more. Once a preliminary copy of your book is available you can write to your list and ask if they would like to write a testimonial for your book. It is best to ask people who have titles that would be of interest to your potential readers. You can put the testimonials in your book and on your website.

Be the Expert.

If you solve problems for your clients, then you are an expert. Now continue to build on that by reading, learning, participating in seminars that can expand your knowledge in your field of expertise.

Promote Yourself.

This is no time to be shy. Start writing articles in your area of expertise and get them out there in the Internet article-writing world. Begin reading promotional materials you receive and save the ones that catch your attention. Begin practicing writing your own promotional materials for your pamphlets and brochures.

Create a website to sell your book.

Get help–find a student from your local college to help you. Sign up for a Paypal credit card account to begin your book-selling program. Your website will promote your book, speaking engagements, and anything else to get that recognition you deserve. There is a lot involved in setting up your website so if you are not knowledgeable in this area get help.

Write a Book Proposal.

This is the best marketing tool you can have. Get a book on how to write a book proposal. There are many books available on this subject. A book proposal can help you with your planning. You will include your marketing and promotional strategies in it. Even if you are planning to self-publish your book I recommend that you still prepare a book proposal.

Create a Blog.

If your book is a long way from being published, start a Blog. You can keep a journal or business tips on it and soon readers will be coming to your Blog. This is a way for people to get to know you and for you to get that expert recognition before your book is written.

Learn Amazon.

Review the guidelines for getting your book listed on Amazon.com. Be ready so that when your book is published you can list it on Amazon. Find out the requirements, costs, etc.

“Book Marketing” Internet Search.

Do a Google search for “book marketing.” You will discover some of the newest services. Google has a book marketing service now. Also Facebook is a good way to build a list of people who might be interested in your book. You can talk about the book before it comes out and build your list. Once your book is published and available you can announce it to your Facebook friends. There is MySpace and many other ways to promote your book online.

These are just a few ideas to help you develop your marketing plan. Don’t wait until your book is finished. Begin working on as many of the above as you can now. Focus on one marketing idea at a time. Avoid getting overwhelmed. “Inch by inch it’s a cinch.” I imagine that you thought that once your book was written the rest would be easy. Hah! You’ve only just begun. Stay focused, set up a plan, take action, and you could have a bestseller.

Copyright 2008, Joan Clout-Kruse. All rights reserved.

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Joan Clout-Kruse, America’s Book Coach, is the publisher of one of the top weekly Ezine reports for small biz owners covering writing, marketing and publishing on anything words to make money and boost your business.

Sign up for her FREE weekly Ezine how-to articles today at Powerhouse-writer.com/Powerhouse-Writer.html

Find more articles and reports at Words4Money.com

The article can be reprinted freely online, as long as the entire article and this resource box are included.

Author: Joan Clout-Kruse
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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