Tag Archives: Books

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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Self Publish Online – Publishing Your Novel Online is a Fast Way to Start Earning Money As a Writer

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These days it is becoming easier and easier to be a published writer. Assuming you have completed your book, you may be interested to know you can self publish online and get your novel seen by many people.

In the past, many of these so-called self-publishing companies were really a waste of your money, but not so much anymore. In fact, there are quite a few very reputable companies that will allow you to publish your book online and in fact they invite you to do so. And with eBooks becoming so popular these days because of all the e-book readers like Kindle, you can make a tidy profit on every sale, much more than ever before.

The fact is that online publishers have much less overhead than a print publishing house and it is a much easier and faster process. It is because of this that it has become so much simpler to self publish your novel or work of nonfiction online.

Gone are the days of searching high and low for an agent only to be rejected time and again. Who knows if those agents ever even read your novel. It was often a waiting game and then a bunch of rejection slips. Not fun at all and not very helpful for your confidence either. You could have had an amazing book but it wasn’t getting out there to be read by anyone.

These days, because of the great success of online publishers, more and more are arriving on the scene every day. This is good news for the writer because it allows you to shop around for the best deal.

One thing to remember though is you still need to have a quality piece of work. Don’t think that just because you are going to be publishing online that you can just throw any old thing out there. You’ll also want to be sure to have a great title that will catch people’s attention.

So, if you do not wish to have the major headache of locating a literary agent, killing tons of trees printing out your book to send it hither and yon all over the place, and waiting sometimes years to see your book to its final end (published and on the bookshelves), do consider the idea that it is easier than ever before to self publish online. Now is certainly a great time to look into this further and start earning money right away.

Did you know you can quickly and easily get your first novel written using Book Writing Software?

Need additional information on writing and publishing your first novel? Self Publish Online

Author: Anabelle J Paisley
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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Abridging Books Into eBooks

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For people who are authors of books and have perhaps self published previously it might be a good idea to turn your book into an eBook. If your book is a nonfiction book it may be possible to break the chapters down and perhaps elaborate on some of the subjects and 2-3 E-books from that one work. It does not make sense to take a book which you may have produced that perhaps sold less than 10,000 copies since you self published it and then not turn it into something that can be seen by many more people.

If you break down the subjects properly into the books you may be able to get quite a few more people reading your book and you can charge a very low price. The lower the price the more people who will afford it can buy it and eBooks cost very little to produce.

There are many successful online eBook writers and authors and you can go to Lulu.com and see all the eBooks there available to all online Internet buyers. What do you have to lose? And why would you allow such information that you spent so much time and hard work and effort in producing go to waste. Isn’t it time that you made a second edition anyway and this might be a way. Think of this in 2006 and maybe you might find success in the eBook business.

“Lance Winslow” – Online Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; www.WorldThinkTank.net/. Lance is an online writer in retirement.

Author: Lance Winslow
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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Two Roads Diverged – Understanding Traditional and Self-Publishing Differences

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The publishing world has experienced change over the past several decades as all industries have, but the next 10 years will be a cocoon altering it into a different species altogether. Many major print publishing houses have either merged, or acquired smaller houses, and the net result is that there are fewer traditional channels for getting your book published. However, this only means that the nature of the challenge of getting a book published has changed. It does not mean that the challenge has become insurmountable.

The traditional publishing path of the past has been described similarly by many sources. Write a book, send query letter and/or book proposal to agents, get picked up by an agent, get sold by agent to a small-to-medium-size publisher, pray that your book takes off and garners attention from a big publisher who pays you a six-figure advance in return for the rights to your book.

Nathan Bransford, a literary agent with Curtis Brown, discusses going from small presses to big publishers. I agree with many of his points on the difficulties of being recognized by a big publisher. His advice is very similar to my premise, if your book is really good, well edited, designed, printed, distributed, and promoted, it will succeed.

Today, the traditional publishing path is in upheaval and turmoil. The economic downturn has caused many small publishers to shut their doors or, at best, significantly decrease their new release budgets. The emergence of the Kindle, Nook, and other Ebook readers has stirred things up. Publishers of all sizes are more carefully scrutinizing new authors, primarily seeking to invest in less-risky authors with established platforms. Gone are the days of a publisher investing marketing dollars to help an author develop their platform.

The new traditional publishing path is emerging as more of a partnership between author and publisher with the responsibility for marketing and publicity resting on the shoulders of authors. If you bring a viable manuscript to the table with a sound marketing plan and/or platform, the publisher will invest in editing, design, printing, and distribution, the rest is up to you.

The exciting game-changer for the unknown author is the advent of affordable self-publishing options. Self-Publishing should not be confused with the deplorable practice of Vanity Publishing where an author is charged seriously inflated prices for editing, design, printing, and/or marketing services while giving up 80% or more of profit and/or rights to their material. True self-publishing is where the author handles editing, design, printing, distribution, and marketing for their book or hires professionals to assist with the process while experiencing control, speed to market, ownership of rights, and max profitability.

The self-publishing path has existed since the dawn of time. Dan Poynter lists 155 best-selling books that started out being self-published. In the past, the editing, design, and printing of a book could easily run $15,000 or more because of minimum print runs of 5000 being required. With the advent of print-on-demand merged with distribution channels, the cost of the entry toll on the path of self-publishing has diminished significantly. And publishing a Kindle version of your book doesn’t require an investment of money whatsoever.

I’m not preaching against the traditional publishing model. I cut my teeth in traditional publishing. My family was in the traditional publishing business for nearly 25 years. I started at the bottom in the warehouse of a traditional publisher picking and packing orders. I eventually worked my way up to running a subsidiary of this same publisher. Throughout my career, I kept seeing countless numbers of authors turned down because we simply didn’t have the budget to add them to our production schedule. When I was asked to take over the helm at Yorkshire Publishing, I studied the self-publishing industry in great detail. I became passionate about being a part of an author-empowering movement to publish and promote quality books that otherwise may have been unrecognized without modern advances in the self-publishing industry.

The old-school mindset that says to avoid the stigma of self-publishing is quickly becoming a whisper in the wind. More unknown authors are starting out self-published for the first time in history. I believe self-publishing is the democratization of the publishing industry. Any unknown author now has a chance.

In my seminars and workshops, I tell authors to treat their book like a business. If you want a real chance, you must treat your book like a big publisher would. When naysayers point to the statistics that say self-published books average less than 200 units sold, I can rebut with a missing link in the formula and Poytner’s list. Remember, if your book is really good, well edited, designed, printed, distributed, and promoted, it will succeed, regardless of the road taken in the yellow wood of publishing.

Todd Rutherford is the Vice-President of Yorkshire Publishing, a firm that provides services to self-publishing authors. If you need a writing coach, ghostwriter, editor, designer, printer, distributor, publicist, or marketer for your book, contact Yorkshire Publishing for a free consultation – 918-394-2665.

Author: Todd Rutherford
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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Get Self-Published Today

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Getting your book published is easier than you think. I will explain the methods and why you should consider self publishing & marketing.

Traditional Method:
1. Copywrite your book (forms, fee of $35 and up)
2. Send your manuscript to publishers and agents (copies and mailing costs)
3. Hope somebody reads it and calls you back
4. Negotiate your contract and sign your deal

Traditional Method draw backs are:
1. You may never get a call back
2. Agent percentage
3. Negotiating a contract (attorney fees)
4. You may be asked to make rewrites by your agent or publisher
5. Publishers promote high profile authors not 1st timers
6. Your book will be in direct competition with the high profile authors
7. If your book doesn’t sell, agents and publishers might consider your work unsalable and will hinder you in ever getting another book contract.

2nd Method: Hire a company in the business of helping authors get published. Packages range from $1500 to $13,000. They can take of everything acting as your agent to get your book to publishers.You will have to make sure that your book gets reviewed, a good cover, and effective targeted marketing to your particular genre in order to succeed.

Self Publishing and Marketing EBooks Electronic EBook methods such as the article you are reading are already selling. Books online and the electronic devices for reading them are selling now.This is the future.

Self Publishing and Marketing Benefits:
1. Complete control of your product
2. Published instantly (your book offered to the whole world instantly!)
3. No Agent or Attorney fees
4. Reach a much larger audience to make money sooner
5. Attract offers for a book deal (Publishers pay attention to online sales) Get Self-Published Today and start making money with less effort and cost than the traditional no-guarantee way.

Click on the link below for a FREE Writers Newsletter plus a FREE 32 page Ebook entitled “Product Launch Inferno”.

My name is Mike Mirage. I have over 22 years in the computer consulting business and I found a way to help people get self published today! For more about writing and selling ebooks with an easy course with real help and guidance please follow my link here: http://squidoo.com/getselfpublished.

Author: Mike Mirage
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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