Tag Archives: Books

Writing How to eBooks – The Difference Between Writing Books & Writing eBooks

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In the last few weeks, I’ve run into an issue three times. Now writing isn’t a big subject, so I probably shouldn’t have been surprised. But I was. You see writing also isn’t a subject that evokes passion in people — especially professionals. Or maybe I should say excessive emotions rather than passion. You see writers tend to put their emotions onto the paper, not into their real lives. Maybe that’s one reason writers are such a laid back bunch — we expend the noisy emotions on paper and keep the quiet ones for real life.

In any case, two of these cases involved people claiming that eBooks weren’t real books. And that only printed books were worthy of serious consideration. I must be honest; one of them admitted that digital books — meaning real printed books copied to a digital format — were still valid.

At the same time, I was predicting the effect of the arrival of traditional publishers on the eBook scene.

This got me to thinking since I write both types of books. What is the difference between writing an eBook and writing a traditional book?

It didn’t take me long to realize that I needed to determine what I meant by a book and an eBook. You see eBooks have developed a bad reputation. One that’s deserved. That of being poor quality and being typically a tempest in a teapot. A very tiny teapot.

So I had to put some limits around the terms.

Far too often eBooks are actually just reports with an over-inflated sense of self-importance. They’re really just white papers and extended report length pieces. They’re far too short to be honestly considered as a book or eBook. At most they might fit the definition of monograph. An essay or thesis to be more precise.

And second they are often poorly written and poorly edited. But that’s not a factor of the medium. That’s a factor of the expense and recognition of quality.

But both of these are a vanishing breed. They may last for a short time but the market is going to kill them soon.

On the other hand I also looked at books. And realized that books ran from novelty and executive length all the way up to tomes. So comparing writing different length books was going to be a problem.

The only way to be fair was to compare the same fruit of the writing tree… equal length books of the same type.

So what’s the difference between writing a very long eBook of a hundred pages and an executive length book of a hundred pages?

Does an eBook take less time? Nope.

Does an eBook take less effort? Nope.

Does an eBook take fewer steps? Nope.

Does an eBook take different steps? Not for the writing parts.

So what is the difference?

The publishing step. When writing an eBook you need to format the book in the form it will be sold in. When publishing using a traditional process the publisher does that.

But arguably that’s a publisher’s problem not the writer. And it’s really a function of the use of traditional publishers versus self publishing.

So the answer is… there is no difference. Writing an eBook is exactly the same as writing a traditional book.

Do you want to learn how to write a book in 24 hours? Take my brand new free course here: http://www.learningcreators.com

Do you want to read more free information like this? Go to my blog: http://www.learningcreators.com/blog/

Glen Ford is an accomplished consultant, trainer and writer. He has far too many years experience as a trainer and facilitator to willingly admit.

Author: Glen Ford
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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So Ya Wanna Self-Publish That Book That’s Been Hiding in Your Head?

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Have I got news for you! Most of it good. Some not so good. But let’s start with the good news. In today’s high-tech world there are two popular ways to give birth to that novel or how-to book you’ve been writing in your mind for all those years: One is called self-publishing – aka print-on-demand or POD – where you end up with printed books in hand. The other is to create an eBook, which means you’ll be selling access to an electronic file rather than to printed books.

Either way, it’s amazing how much more there is to self-publishing a book than just writing it and paying to have your book “published,” meaning made available to the public. Obviously, your book is something the entire world has been waiting for, right? Too bad no one knew that. Or cared. Sadly, no one ever will, unless you’re willing – and have both the funds and the skills – to promote your book yourself.

There is no sure-fire formula, no magic route to becoming a successful author. It takes time, money and effort. And, after all is said and done – unless you’ve written the next Harry Potter sequel or Hunger Games trilogy – it’s highly unlikely your book will ever end up “on book store shelves.” Sorry, but that’s a fact of life.

Book stores today – dwindling in number as they are – do not buy printed books in the sense that you and I buy shoes or groceries. If they like a particular book – and their reasons for that will vary – they request a very limited supply of printed volumes on consignment. That means that at the end of some pre-agreed period of time any unsold copies of your book will be returned, usually at your expense, to you the self-publisher.

Fortunately, there are no such “returns” with eBooks because the aggregator of your eBook – the primary distributor you select – has only an electronic file of your book, not hundreds of thousands of printed copies.

As a self-publisher, promoting your book is almost always your responsibility… and your expense. With an eBook, the aggregator makes your electronic file available to the Amazons, B&Ns and other eBook sellers of the world, but rarely does anyone in that chain fully promote an eBook. And with a self-published POD book, promoting and selling your printed book through websites, social media, news releases, media kits, book signings and the like is…? You guessed it, your responsibility and your expense.

The good news, as I explained earlier, is that self-publishing – either in a printed version or as an eBook – gives you a feeling of relief, something like what a female elephant must feel after giving birth following almost two years of being pregnant. You’ve been carrying your book around in your mind for years, and self-publishing in either form will allow you to give birth to that seed of an idea that’s been growing there almost forever. The bad news? Either way will take some time, effort and money on your part. But either way it’s definitely doable. And it’s wonderfully enjoyable!

© 2012 Philip A. Grisolia, CBC

An accredited Certified Business Communicator (CBC), Phil Grisolia specializes in creating results-oriented marketing programs that generate additional revenue for his clients, money they can take to the bank. An award-winning copywriter and respected marketing professor, Phil is the author of 30 Money-Making Marketing Secrets No One Ever Told You which is available from Amazon. He is also a syndicated business columnist and an executive business coach. Discover for yourself the broad range of services Phil provides for his worldwide clients by visiting http://PhilGrisolia.com.

Author: Phil Grisolia
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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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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