Category Archives: Self-Publishing

Blog posts about Self-Publishing

Traditional Vs Self-Publishing

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After you have poured your blood, sweat, tears and a dash of red wine into your manuscript, you now have to ask yourself the big girl question, “Should I self-publish or shop for a publisher?” (Cue dramatic music and lightning sound effects)

With all the new technology and random news stories about how some new author made millions of dollars selling their self-published ebook for a penny, it all may have you believing that self-publishing trumps the traditional publishing option 100% of the time. And that is simply not true. Each side has it’s own pluses and minuses that you need to consider before making the decision. Hopefully I can provide some assistance in that area. So let’s dive in, shall we?

It’s every author’s dream – you come home one day and find a letter from Random House. Your family gathers around as you skim over the words which inform you that your manuscript has been accepted, will be on the shelves in a month, here’s a movie contract for you to sign and, oh, a big fat advance check is enclosed.

Sorry to burst your bubble, but don’t hold your breath while waiting for that letter. Publishing companies won’t even look at your manuscript unless you have an agent to represent you or you have somehow proven that you have an established fan following, marketable platform or sales.

Traditional publishing has many benefits. In the first place, it doesn’t cost you a cent to get your book published. In fact, they pay you! Well, eventually. You will get royalties from the sale of your books.

If you are the type of person that is only interested in the “writing” portion of book creation, traditional publishing may be the best option for you. Many self-published authors have to find editors, graphic design artist, printers and a slew of other professionals to complete the book publishing process. It can be overwhelming for someone who has absolutely no interest in such. Traditional publishers do it all for you. They design, print, ship, sell and market your masterpiece.

Traditional publishers take over the heavy lifting, but it will cost you. It may cost you your intellectual property. Once you sign that contract, you may not own your book anymore. From then on, the publishing company decides how, or if, to release and market your book. In a traditional publishing contract, you get royalties and the publisher gets your book.

If you want to retain all of your intellectual property rights and managing a staff of publishing professionals doesn’t make you want to pull your hair out strand by strand, you may want to consider self-publishing. You make profits rather than royalties.

What makes self-publishing challenging is that there are so many ways you can do it. You can go to a printer and print a couple thousand copies. You can go to one of the on-line publishers, upload your book and have them print it. You can also self-publish using the various forms of epublishing and make your book available through the Kindle®, Nook®, iPad® or other electronic devices. Do you want to know what is even more disgusting? Each one of the above mentioned methods have their own way of doing things along with their own advantages and disadvantages….DUN DUN DUNNNN!!! (Cue horrific scream)

Another major difference between traditional and self-publishing is the access to distribution channels. Traditional publishers have distribution channels already established, which means it will be easier for your book to get into book stores or other retail stores. In contrast, most of the self-publishing options can’t measure up when it comes to placing your books on bookstore shelves.

If you have already established a strong online presence, not afraid to walk in some seriously uncomfortable shoes, and prepared to market like there is no tomorrow, self-publishing can be a very profitable and rewarding option.

So there is the brief overview. Once you delve further into the subject, you’ll find confusing questions that you will need to answer before you make a final decision. Regardless of the direction your decide to go, make sure you understand your options and the corresponding advantages and disadvantages.

Happy publishing!

Cinnamon McCann is the author of Self-Publishing in Stilettos: A Woman’s Guide to Publishing With Confidence. Learn everything you need to know about self-publishing and sign up for her newsletters to receive the latest tips and techniques by visiting her at http://www.selfpublishinginstilettos.com.

Author: Cinnamon McCann
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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Writing a One-Page Business Plan: 5 Questions A Self-Publisher Must Ask

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Whether you are about to self-publish your first book, or start a micro-niche publishing company, you need to have a business plan in place. A business plan will give you a basic roadmap for your new business. An easy and quick way to do this is to create a one-page business plan. This will let you quickly clarify your own thinking about your new business. This short, one-page plan can also be used as an outline for a longer more in-depth plan. With some research, you should be able to complete this one-page plan in under one week. Here is a list of five questions that you must include in your simplified, one-page business plan.

1. WHY do you want to self-publish?

Your answer cannot be only about the money. It needs something more than that. It also needs to be short, very specific, and very personal.

Examples:

a. “I want to write a book that will help new nurses be more productive, more effective, and more marketable in today’s tight job market.”

b. “I want to write small-business management books so that I can share my knowledge and expertise with others that would like to start their own small-business. I gained this knowledge and experience over the last 35 years while starting and managing my own successful small-business.”

c. “I want to write and self-publish a book to give myself more credibility in the eyes of my peers.”

2. WHAT will you write about?

Explain it in one sentence, in very specific detail. You must understand what your writing niche, or specialty, will be.

Examples:

a. “I will write and publish books about all aspects of self-publishing for people who have not written a book before.”

b. “I will write a how-to book for experienced nurses who want to advance to become part of nursing management in a hospital.”

c. “I will write a how-to guide for new parents who are raising a deaf child.”

3. WHO is your market?

You must narrow this down to a very specific group of people. Your answer cannot be “everybody and anybody”. You must know exactly who buys your type of book. You only have a limited amount of time and money for marketing and promotion. You must target your best efforts at those who are most likely to buy your book. Keep your answer down to a few tight sentences.

a. “The market for my book is American nursing students that are in nursing school, or have just graduated as RN’s with an AS or BS degree in nursing and are searching for their first job. They are generally females between 20 and 26 years of age. Half of them like to read a hard-copy of a book; the other half like to read the ebook version. They are very worried about getting a job after graduation, because the nursing shortage has ended.”

4. HOW do you define success?

You might spend the next twelve months writing your first book. And then a year later you are selling less than 8 copies a month on Amazon. Therefore, you must come to terms with what success means to you. Does success mean seeing your name on the cover of a book? Does it mean being able to give each of your customers a copy of your book so that they will have more admiration and respect for you? Does success mean getting letters and emails from people who read your book – telling you that your book has helped them in some positive way? We all can agree that making a lot of money is great – and is possible as a self-publisher – but it cannot be your only reason for writing a book. Therefore, you should write a paragraph here about how you define success for your book.

5. HOW HARD are you willing to work at it?

How much time and hard work are you willing to put into your self-publishing venture? This is probably the step that you must put the most honest thinking into. Are you willing to spend most of your time marketing and selling your book? Your book might take 6 to 12 months to write. But you will spend the next several years marketing and promoting it. Are you willing to put yourself out there and market and promote yourself, your name, and your book, the for next several years? Are you willing to keep writing and building your next book? The more time and effort that you put into your self-publishing venture, the more success you will have. It will be much easier to go the distance if you love your subject matter. And the more you love your subject matter, the more successful you will be at self-publishing. It is as simple as that.

Joseph C. Kunz, Jr. is an author, publisher, educator, business manager, and entrepreneur. Life-long love affair with books and reading. Very excited about being part of the new media movement. Known for casual, easy-to-read writing style and ability to explain complex topics in an understandable way. “If you are serious about your work you should self-publish. Retain creative control. Retain the profits. Enjoy the satisfaction and status that comes with being published.” Visit Kunz’s website about all aspects of self-publishing at http://www.KunzOnPublishing.com/, for an insider’s guide to becoming a financially successful and happy self-publisher, and sign-up for his free newsletter.

Author: Joseph C Kunz, Jr
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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Self Employment in The Age of Self Publishing

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Never before has it been so easy for the average person to
publish his ideas to the masses. The printing press
revolutionised the book industry in the 15th century and it is
the same effect the internet is having on self-publishing in
this day and age.

Article, ebooks, reports and blogs are a few examples of
self-published materials. You can literally wake up this morning with a great idea and have it in front of people in a day once
you know the proper techniques.

Say you are an aspiring music producer or writer and you need to
set up shop for others to enjoy your creativity. You could visit
Lulu.com and sign up to become a self-publisher and it is all
free. Cafepress.com also offer similar services with the added
benefit in that you can market their affiliate program and earn
commissions.

Now that you have signed up, you are ready to expose your
creativity and talents to the world. Self-publishing websites
offer easy step-by-step instructions which you can follow to get
started right away. It is wise to decided before hand what you
intend to do with your product. Are you offering it as cheap
promotional material or is it a business from which you want to
earn a living.

Once you have created your product, you need to save it as a
file on your computer. The beauty of products like ebooks is
that it can easily downloaded over and over once you have done
the initial work in getting it published.

Now that the creation process is over, it is time to market your product so that others can know that it exist. Articles, ezines,
classifieds, forums and press releases are some of the avenues
on which you can concentrate your marketing efforts. So far all
of this has cost you nothing but some of your time which is a
huge advantage for the self-publisher.

So how does self-publishing facilitate self-employment? Simple.
Create your own self-publishing empire. Don’t stop at one
product instead develop a range of ebooks, blogs and reports so
that you create multiple sources of income.

The dependence on 9-5 jobs to earn a living will decrease in the
age of self-publishing. More persons will start to depend on
themselves to raise their standard of living. So what are you
waiting for? Are you still sceptical about self-publishing? No
need to be, you just read an example.

Copyright © Oceanroc Web Publishing

Nicholas Dixon is the CEO of Oceanroc Web Publishing, a one man self publishing company from Mandeville, Jamaica. Get free tips and hints on how to start your own affiliate ebiz @ http://MajorMoney.blogspot.com.

Author: Nicholas Dixon
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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Self-Publishing – Not for Sissies!

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“I’m going to write myself to freedom.”

Overworked and stressed, with two babies and a child wobbling badly in school, teaching music by day and doing microscopy for leukaemia cases in the nights between 8h p.m. and 12h a.m., that decision came from the murky depths. It was made on a week’s break, staring at the sea in the romantic light of a full moon. And it was the beginning of a journey that would boldly take me staggering on a road many have walked and more have failed on.

Did I reach my goal? Not by a long mile yet. But the landscape is beginning to look greener, and there are unexpected orchids along the way.

Writing has always been a part of my nature. A word of caution to would-be authors: If it comes easily, you’re on the right road. At least one part of this journey needs to be easy. If you begin with a roll of the eye and a great big sigh, perhaps try your hand at something more lucrative, such as nuclear engineering.

Here are the steps, point-wise, that I have followed. I’ll also outline the results of each step.

    • Submitting to hundreds of agents and publishing houses in a climate of world financial crisis – not clever. Only now, since 2011, do I have a literary agent… unofficially.

 

    • Self-publishing as ebook. Alright, that was seduction. The website was well-worded. It got me a couple of hundred views and some nice readers’ comments; hardly any downloads but as I could see the other authors’ stats too, I saw that I didn’t fare too badly in comparison.

 

    • Self-publishing as paper-book on Lulu.com. Good quality (though the binding could be improved); the books look good. Too pricey to offer to shops or sell directly, after shipping; even in “bulk”. But handy for sending single copies overseas.

 

    • Blogging. Careful: Blogging is addictive. The most important reason is the friends one makes online. One can easily spend days and weeks blogging, ultimately losing the way and forgetting that blogging is really a tool, not a hobby.

 

    • Online networking. Once again: Careful, addictive. I use Facebook mainly for games now, though I’m thankful that I’ve found so many of my old friends again. Neither of these have anything to do with internet marketing though.

 

    • After the necessary distractions of blogging and online networking, back to reality: Reviews. I got both readers’ comments and professional reviews over time. Reviews are important; you paste them as advertisements wherever you need them.

 

    • Professional editing and finishing: I met my editor on the blogs. This is why online networking and blogging is necessary despite the time factor: You meet important people who help you along your path. I also had the book covers professionally designed. You need that kind of finishing. A cover sells a book.

 

    • Paper publishing. A friend helped me get started (she is a graphic designer, where would publishing be without them?) and I printed a run of the first book in the series. This small local print run brought the cost per copy into the sellable range.

 

    • Launches: We launch each new book; the launch itself brings some much-needed capital as well as a bit of publicity. Book signings and promotions are on a similar level.

 

    • Sales through shops: We were fortunate that our leg-work paid off and a number of our books were accepted in a number of shops. Frustratingly though the cost-per-copy of small digital runs is still too high for the large chain bookstores to look up. Besides, you’ll have to be something special to get them to look at Science Fiction. The genre is… while not dead, badly abused and tattered.

 

    • Direct sales at markets, events etc: A lot of work for very little reward. However it does raise awareness. We had a few sales every time we staged such a sales event.

 

    • Newspaper and magazine publicity: This is a slow process. We have had podcasts, press releases and reviews in newspapers, and a popular magazine reviewed the first of the series; yet, sales figures didn’t seem to reflect. However, the news is filtering through to people and over time, there is indeed a sales impact.

 

    • Revisiting internet marketing: So far, all we explored was free marketing. Now we put up a website to showcase each of our books (by which time we had acquired a couple of more authors, and had added some music books to our stash). A learning curve how to program a website such that it works, across browsers. I doubt that many self-publishers actually design their own; but I’m headstrong and knew exactly which way I wanted it. Possibly this is a mistake; time will tell.

 

    • Adding “freestuff” to our website: This brings eyes, and clicks. Inquisitive clicks who enjoy browsing. These clicks have in all probability browsed for “free books” or something similar. Previews on books are a must, but how much to tell, that is a pickle. The wording is still a learning curve. It’s not a given that if you purportedly know how to write and capture a reader from scalp to toe, you’ll also know how to write a good ad!

 

  • Giving up and the angels intervening: Now this is the part you might hate to hear. So far, all has been hard and consistent work (though you have probably spotted all the holes by now). But it felt as though it were going nowhere; so I sighed pitifully and gave up. For a moment. I needed ten “Violin Tunes” as I use them in my teaching (and the music shop needed stock) so I trudged down to the local copy shop with my professional covers… ordered the insides and CD’s… was referred to a sister branch of the shop for the insides, and met a lady who introduced me to a distribution agent for music books.

After all this Scifi agony, my unassuming “Violin Tunes” was the book that started moving first! We’re still in small runs (South Africa = financial struggles and a battle to get a product finished in time due to all sorts of shortages at all times); but the ball is rolling, and as I promised my friend who set it rolling, I have taken a new breath and am pushing onwards.

I still have a list of things to do to promote the Scifi series, the other music books and by now, the new authors.

Perhaps the most important piece of advice:

  • Follow every lead, promptly. You never know where it will take you. If the angels want to intervene, let them.

I hope these tips will help you along your publishing road. I intend to come back with more when I have progressed further.

(Lyz Russo is a self-published author and violin teacher in South Africa. At the time of writing she is getting ready to launch the third in her series of Science Fiction books, and some other authors’ books.)

P’kaboo Publishers

Author: Lyz Russo
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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How An Online Writer Can Easily Self-publish Their Way To A Fortune

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Online writing is really self-publishing made easier and potentially much more lucrative with much less cost and investment to be made. But what is self-publishing and what does it have to do with online writing?

Self-publishing is older than America and through the centuries great fortunes have been made by folks who opted to privately produce and market their own writing. Yet all the amazing stories of great success in the past pale when compared to what has happened online already and what is to happen in the days, months and years to come.

The World Wide Web was really made for self-publishing in more ways than one. For example, in the offline days a self-publisher would have to raise hundreds and sometimes thousands of dollars to produce their book or special report for sale. Then they would need to look for more money to advertise and market their information aggressively in newspapers and opportunity magazines. Finally they would have to ship their information out, usually using the postal service (snail mail).

If Joe Karbo (the greatest self-publisher of all time) were alive today, he would quickly become a billionaire many times over by going online. Today the self-publisher uses blogs to avail their information at a cost of virtually zero. Then there are numerous effective advertising and marketing tools online, including the very blog itself that can be used to market the self-published information. Self-published special reports can be instantly emailed to clients. Not to mention the fact that the self-publishers market is now enormous covering virtually every corner of the globe.

Who Was This Self-publisher Joe Karbo?

Joe Karbo was on the brink of personal bankruptcy when he self-published his classic, Lazy Man’s Way to Riches in 1973. Using his amazing knowledge of human behavior, he created tiny ads to advertise his self-published book available via mail order. His ads remained the same for years and later he graduated to bigger ads in newspapers and magazines from coast to coast.

By the time Karbo died at the age of 55, he was a millionaire many times over and his place in the self-publishing hall of fame was guaranteed. His techniques are still used by mail order self-publishers the world over, many of whom have successfully moved their operations online.

The arrival of the World Wide Web has not changed human nature and this is the reason why Karbo’s techniques and way of thinking have transferred so well to the Internet.

The Huge Advantages Of Online Self-publishing

While it is true that the rules of the game are a little different for the online self-publisher, the truth is that things have never been better. In the old days, the offline publisher had only one source of revenue that came from selling copies of his self-published information. The online self-publisher can still charge for copies of his special report, newsletter or ebook but he or she now has other amazing sources of revenue. They can post ads like Google Adsense ads, not to mention the dizzying choices of high earning affiliate programs he can sign-up for.

What all this means is that an online writer who understands that they are self-publishers capable of making serious money from the information they provide in their blog, email newsletter or special report, will have a distinct advantage. To take advantage of an opportunity, you need to “see” it first.

Let us take a closer look at the various self-publishing opportunities available online for writers.

Blog Power Works Wonders For The Self-publisher

Blogs or web logs as they were originally called is a self-publishers dream come true. The most profitable way to use a blog is to use it to promote a website or product available online.

Christopher Kyalo earns a living writing online. To read the rest of this article visit his blog at http://100grandonlinewriters.blogspot.com. His free email course on making money from online writing can be obtained by sending a blank email to writertips@freeautobot.com. He can be reached at strongwallafrica at yahoo.com

Author: Christopher Kyalo
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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