Category Archives: Book Marketing

Posts about Book Marketing and Selling Books

Background On The Inventor And The Invention Of PODd Publishing For Self-Publishing Authors

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I’m Bruce Batchelor, the guy credited with inventing on-demand book publishing, also called print-on-demand or POD publishing. That’s the business process behind the services offered by AuthorHouse, BookSurge, Lulu, Xlibris, Spire, Agio Publishing House, Trafford and other ‘author services’ companies. “Invent” is an odd term, since I didn’t design any particular machine or gizmo, but rather I took existing devices and processes, and recognized how they could be combined into a viable business. That portion of the book industry now generates about $200 million per year in sales volume, and has enabled about 100,000 authors to be published since its inception back in the mid-1990s.

Here’s a bit of background to that invention …

Probably just like you, I have had a lifelong love of books. From following along as my mother read to me as a toddler, through my pre-teen years captivated by the Biggles and Hardy Boys books, I was mightily impressed with the printed word. Then, while working on my high school’s yearbook, I discovered that one could create books simply by being so bold as to typeset the words and pay a printer to make bound copies! After that, there was no stopping me.

In the 1970s, I wrote, self-published and successfully marketed two bestselling books, doing so independent of any conventional publishing house, somewhat oblivious to how selling books was supposed to be so terribly difficult. The marketing for those two titles was so obvious and straightforward that I thought marketing for all books would be as simple. I no longer believe that!

For the past 30 years, I’ve worked at editing, ghost-writing, publishing and marketing, sometimes with conventional publishing houses and more often assisting the self-publishing authors who bravely live on the fringes of the book industry.

During these three decades, my wife Marsha and I also operated a communications consultancy. We created marketing programs for business, non-profit and government clients. We designed, typeset and pasted-up literally thousands of books, magazine issues, brochures, technical manuals, reports, newsletters and ad campaigns. Generally, I was involved in the writing and editing of each job to some extent and Marsha was the graphic designer. We won numerous awards – the most gratifying ones were for the effectiveness of campaigns, rather than prettiness. I’ve taught marketing at the college level, and also worked as a newspaper journalist and magazine editor. When writing work was scarce I worked as a surveyor, fisherman and parks patrolman. Going way back, I was a computer programmer/analyst, and earned an honors degree in pure mathematical problem-solving. In the mid-1970s, I lived in a log cabin in the Yukon, sometimes going on long winter camping trips with a team of sled dogs, and often just sitting and thinking.

That eclectic background provided me with a unique vantage point in 1994 to foresee an amazing opportunity emerging from the convergence of certain technologies and trends. Print-on-Demand (POD) equipment + the Internet information super-highway + Internet search engines + credit cards + e-commerce + desktop publishing + email + Adobe PostScript(tm) + authors anxious to be published … I envisioned a book publishing service that would help independent (or ‘indie’) authors everywhere. It would conform with the conventional publishing industry by having ISBNs and copyright registration and library cataloging, yet it would be different in a very important way. It would conduct most of its business over the new Internet, and would use print-on-demand manufacturing to produce only as many books as needed. To keep costs to the absolute minimum, we would go one step beyond ‘just-in-time’ inventory to be totally ‘on-demand’, printing the books only after an order came in. Most people thought I was nuts.

Within a year, Trafford Publishing had been formed in Victoria, BC, and we had our first paying clients. These were pioneering authors who were departing from the book industry’s old distribution model (of having preprinted books sitting in warehouses and on bookstore shelves on a consignment basis), for the novel concept of promoting and selling books largely over the Internet.

By 1996, Amazon.com had begun to popularize the notion of buying books over the Internet. As well, Baker & Taylor, one of the USA’s largest book distributors, had set up POD equipment to print back-list titles for publishing houses, calling their service Replica Books. Then Ingram Book, the USA’s largest distributor, built a monster POD printing factory in Tennessee beside their largest warehouse, so POD books could flow into Ingram’s distribution system and out to bookstores and online retailers. Initially called Lightning Print, this print service later became Lightning Source Inc. (LSI). Soon other companies opened and adopted Trafford’s POD business model of serving independent authors: Xlibris, iUniverse, AuthorHouse and dozens of others. Now some newer publishing services, such as Lulu.com and Blurb.com, offer on-demand book printing without book trade distribution.

During my 11 years as Trafford’s founding publisher and CEO, it grew to become one of the world’s most prolific publishing houses with more than 10,000 active titles from indie authors living in more than 100 countries. Currently, thanks to Trafford and similar POD publishing services, over 30,000 new authors are published every year.

Now we authors are entering a wonderful new chapter in indie publishing, highlighted by ever-expanding distribution using eBook editions, audio books and truly global POD production. I call this coming phase the multiple long tails era and predict that greater awareness and availability of indie books will significantly boost the average number of copies authors sell, and quadruple the count of new indie titles by 2010.

Helping authors realize their dreams is magical for me. In July of 2006, I left my leadership position at Trafford to return to working personally with authors, their manuscripts and those dreams. Once again, as we did before launching the POD revolution, my wife and I are operating a small publishing company – Agio Publishing House (www.agiopublishing.com). I feel very fortunate and privileged to be editing and advising creative people. I recently interviewed top executives in the largest POD author service companies and dozens of indie authors. The result is my new book, Book Marketing DeMystified [Agio, ISBN 978-1-897435-00-7].

A big thank you to all the authors who embrace print-on-demand publishing and who continuously amaze the world with your writings and thoughts.

Bruce Batchelor is the inventor of print-on-demand publishing (POD publishing) and author of Book Marketing DeMystified: Enjoy Discovering the Optimal Way to Sell Your Self-Published Book [ISBN 978-1-897435-00-7]. He is the CEO at Agio Publishing House (http://www.agiopublishing.com) and a presenter at writers conferences.

Author: Bruce Batchelor
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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Self-Publishing – Pros and Cons

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Self-publishing is not a topic that requires a definition. If you are already an experienced author and you used such tools for your writing, you know what you are dealing with. You probably have a blog or a website where you showcase your skills.

If you monetize your blog, you are even one of the self-published authors who makes money from his/her work. Many bloggers refuse to display AdSense ads or other such distracting features. They fear that displaying moneymaking widgets lowers the credibility of the blog and their own credibility. If we analyze the Web and the online self-publishing channels we find even more controversial opinions. But no matter how we look at it, self-publishing is more than a trend: it is a way of publicizing content quickly and freely.

The debate begins when the readers start doubting the quality of self-publicized content (particularly when we speak about self-publicized books). Ebooks don’t trigger so many controversies as printed books. The problems appear because of free self-publishing services where no proofreading is ensured and the books come from print without a proper quality check, hence many spelling and grammar errors.

Any professional writer knows that it is human to err, no matter how great the skills. Even academics use proofreaders prior to publishing their essays and treatises. But some young authors are not so careful. Many dream and pray for overnight success. They forget that sudden fame has the same value as a shooting star: it’s pretty as it glows, but soon forgotten. Real success is a marathon, not a sprint.

Considering these facts, should we vote against free self-publishing providers? Not really.

The ones who should care about the quality of their work are the authors. They should understand that “free” is not always the best choice.

For example, many foreign authors choose to write in English, because, let’s face it, the English speaking public segment is broader – hence the chances to make an author known are higher. Some of these authors are confident in their skills (and generally they have no reasons to doubt themselves), but they still choose to hire a proofreader prior to publishing their work.

Others are too confident and they forget that any language has subtleties mastered solely by natives. These “too confident” authors go on publishing their works without proofreading. Sometimes the results are not bad, but in most of the cases the readers will find enough reasons to complain.

The readers don’t really care where the books are coming from. They don’t really want to know who published the book (unless we talk about famous publishing houses or collectible books). But they do have the tendency to blame the printing house if they find spelling and grammar errors.

The readers don’t know that the modern authors tend to skip the proofreading process just to save a few bucks. However, even if your “name” as an author will not have too much to suffer, do you really want to deliver a poor quality book on the shelves of your readers? Do you really want the libraries to store something that later, when you are a famous writer, will come back to you like a boomerang? Think about it!

Michael Russell

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

Author: Michael Russell
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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The Difference Between Digital Books and Ebooks

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Most people today, don’t know the difference between a digital book and an ebook. In fact, many people think they are one and the same. They couldn’t be farther from the truth. They are entirely different species of the same animal.

Digital books

Digital books, sometimes also called electronic books or PDF books, are scanned, digital facsimiles of standard printed, published books. You can think of them as enhanced copies of the actual hard or paperback books we have come to know and love.

When we are talking about the digital version of newer publications, they are pretty much identical to the original. When talking about old or even ancient publication, they are much better than any original you would find on the shelf of your local library. Since they are facsimiles of the original printing, this really increases quality and helps overcome the problems of many older books, such as yellowed pages, stains, see-through or onion skin type paper, colored paper, brown inks, etc. These are scanned pages, not ‘copied’ pages, and the quality of print truly represents a better quality than the print of the original book.

The great majority of digital books come in PDF format, though Amazon offers a Kindle edition, Mobipocket offers the MOBI version, then there is the plain TEXT format, as well as many others.

Digital books are usually far less expensive than their hard or paperback counterparts, and there are hardly ever shipping costs, unless they are delivered on a CD (Compact Disk).

Ebooks

Ebooks are digital books too, but they were designed and written for the internet. Many, if not most ebooks were never officially “published” at all, unless you count posting something on the internet as publishing.

Most ebooks were meant to be written quickly, with little or no expenses except for possibly distribution. The majority are short, almost always less than 100 pages, usually under 50 pages. Some ebooks are literally slapped together in a matter of hours. Often they are little more than several short reports combined together.

Many ebooks are self-help books, or manuals of some kind, though there are some ebook works of history and fiction to be found if you look for them. More often than not, they have little or no literary value, their intentions being the distribution of facts, instructions and/or ideas.

Sometimes you may come across the ebook version of a hard or soft cover book. It will even be called the “ebook version” of whatever book. But if you look closer, you will find that this ebook version is almost always far fewer pages than the original. You may as well call the “ebook version” the “condensed version” of the book.

Though you will find many ebooks in PDF format, much like digital books, but many come as various generic interactive applications. But don’t let the initial attraction of interaction fool you. Even if this sounds like high tech education at first, you will find that there is not much to the promise of interaction. It just disguises the fact that these books are short, technically no more than a few pages, with little to no real practical, and even less academic value.

Last but not least, ebooks are often free or cheap, though you will occasionally find some specialty instruction “programs” costing hundred of dollars.

Conclusion

Technically, ebooks are digital books, though practically there is a big difference. Personally, I usually prefer a digital book to its ebook cousin.

By Thomas A. Retterbush

After a long, hard walk on the wild side, I’ve finally become a legal, honest, successful citizen and social media geek, living in SA, Texas. I have dedicated my life to proving, that success of one’s hopes and dreams are possible no matter how far you have fallen, how low you’ve sunken or what rock you’ve crawled out from u. If you read my story on the first page of my Digital Book Supersite, at http://assetebooks.com, you will realize that, if I can do it, ANYBODY can.

Author: Thomas Retterbush
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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Book Marketing Secrets – Sell More Books With These Easy Book Marketing Tips

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This article will provide you with easy, free, and cheap book marketing, promotion and publicity tips to get you headed in the right direction fast. You can have the best book in the world, but if no one knows about it, no one will buy it; publicity, promotion, marketing and a focus on selling more books should now be a big part of your daily life. Self publishers need to have a good marketing plan to sell books and should be written prior to writing your book and in place a year prior to publishing your book.

Mail a press release to at least 1000 print and broadcast contacts just prior to publishing your title and again and again after you publish; you can never send too many. Make sure your press release spells out the ‘who, what, where, when, and why.’ Send out the same press release to the editor of your local daily newspaper every week until you are called for an interview or are written up.

Using press releases can be a very effective marketing tool if used properly. Using press releases for marketing or promoting your book or book’s website has become increasingly popular as publishers discover the powerful benefits of using press releases. Send out at least 10 press releases to the print and broadcast media in your area every month.

Learning to write and use powerful optimized press releases can often drive tons of traffic to your website while providing multiple back links that can lead to increased page rank and numerous top ten search engine rankings for your targeted keywords. Invest in press release submitting software and set aside time every week to send out a press release online to the press directories.

Submit articles to online article directories that focus on your book’s topic to drive customers to your website. If your book fits a specialty market, find a store that fits the genre and offer to leave books on consignment; many publishers have sold thousands of books this way. Make sure not to overlook the Internet; get yourself interviewed or profiled for sites both about writing, publishing and about the topics covered in your book.

Place free ads periodically for your book’s website on Craigslist in different categories to drive even more traffic to your website.

Make five telephone calls a day that relate to marketing your book. I’ve seen publishers lose a lot of money paying for expensive display ads, so beware if you do this; I don’t advise it in the beginning — get your feet wet first so you know what you’re doing.

I’ve not found that book signings sell many books for publishers and are often a waste of time; better to spend it elsewhere. Contact non-bookstore booksellers and offer to leave books on consignment. You can give away your book in a raffle at a local function to get more book recognition.

Build a web site that provides another avenue for ordering, a virtual online press kit and link exchanges with sites that relate to your topic. Offer to trade writing a monthly column in a trade publication in your books’ genre, in trade for display ads on the same page. Contact any companies, corporations or organizations that might use your book for promotions; offer significant discounts for volume orders or for thousands of copies offer a specified amount above book production costs.

Make sure to promote and market your book each and every day, both online and offline. Remember to make sure your book is listed in Books-in-Print; don’t assume it’s already listed. Every day it’s important to focus on a variety of marketing approaches. Market your book to your number one market first, and then go after the secondary markets.

The success of any book marketing effort depends on a good book and just plain hard work; its been done many times before and you can do it too. Now promote, promote, and promote your book some more! Make sure to test, test, and test some more before you lay out large sums of money.

For more information on book marketing tips and selling more books go to http://www.TwinPeaksPress.com founded in 1982, specializing in help for authors, self publishers, ebook and book publishers with tips, advice and resources, including information on media, library and other mailing lists, and press releases – online, wire service and offline distribution

Author: Helen Hecker
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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How to Finish Your Self-Published Book Fast

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Started a book and then got bogged down? Like many of my bookcoaching clients do you say, “I have so many other demands, I just can’t get to the book.”

This isn’t procrastination or fear. Most writers get stuck when they don’t know how to move forward, finish, publish and sell their unique, useful book to audiences just waiting for it to come out. Let me share two ways to speed up your process.

One. Take One or More High Level Action Each Day

Another to do, you groan? Not really. If you don’t make your book one of the top three priorities in your life, it won’t finish it.

Get real. How many hours can you give to your book a week?
If not ten, I say you may never get your book out. Clients get so discouraged when they don’t do their fieldwork for our coaching calls, so I came up with one solution of doing one High Level Activity or more each day for five days a week. (HLAs) Go ahead; take the weekend off like I do.

Some HLA steps include:

– Write on a chapter that you have passion for first.

– Write 2-3 pages a day on just one chapter.

– Finish one chapter before you move on.

– Write 3-6 questions you need to answer for your audience for each chapter before you write a word.

– Read a book on how to put a chapter together the fast way

– Write in your organizer each day the specific HLAs you will do

– Contact a book coach who has low-cost teleclasses, small group coaching groups, or writes books on the topic you need help on.

– Write a sample chapter introduction with a hook and thesis to direct your reader to the meat.

-Write compelling copy so your reader will turn all the pages and recommend your book to others.

Sample Organizer Page

Write your intention: I finish this book (name the title) by (name date and year)

Affirm: I stay on track every day with my HLA’s.

Take Action: My HLAs for Wednesday, date, year

1. Contact a cover person for my how to book

2. Answer three questions for chapter 6. For example,

– Can I write print or eBook at the same time?

– What’s the best eBook format for my book’s purpose and me?

– How much will it cost to self- publish? (A lot less than you think)

– Add front and back material to sell more copies

Think of the Payoffs.

The trick is to finish these three HLAs or even one before you go to bed that day. If you finish fully, you’ll feel confident and your guilt will disappear.

Two. Write Fast-Forward, Well-Organized, Easy-to-Read Chapters

Do you try to use past research for your chapters? This is not necessary. All you need to do is answer your reader’s concerns and questions.

Your reader wants your to solve his problem or challenge, whether it be to make more money, save more money, create better relationships, connect with their inner self, or to communicate better.

If you don’t answer these in each chapter, your reader will say “ho hum” or “I’m confused, what’s the point of this chapter? They will put your book down and not recommend it to others.

One common mistake writers make with their books:

They don’t complete one chapter with all its parts including the sizzling hook and introduction, the middle with stories or how tos with engaging headlines, and the ending that inspires the writer to keep going to the next chapter.

When you sidetrack, you get off focus, and that’s also a big challenge for book writers. When you focus, you write so much faster, and with a little professional help, get to market so much sooner. Results? More cash flow so you can market and promote properly.

Judy Cullins ©2005 All Rights Reserved.

Judy Cullins, 20-year Book and Internet Marketing Coach works with small business people who want to make a difference in people’s lives, build their credibility and clients, and make a consistent life-long income. Judy is author of 10 eBooks including Write your eBook or Other Short Book Fast, Ten Non-Techie Ways to Market Your Book Online, The Fast and Cheap Way to Explode Your Targeted Web Traffic, and Power Writing for Web Sites That Sell. She offers free help through her 2 monthly ezines, “The BookCoach Says…,” “Business Tip of the Month,” blog Q & A at [http://www.bookcoaching.com/opt-in.shtml] and over 170 free articles.

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Email her at Judy@bookcoaching.com. Phone: 619/466-0622 — Orders: 866/200-9743

Author: Judy Cullins
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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