source: http://www.bookbuzzr.com/blog/book-marketing/drumroll-please-the-next-generation-of-facebook-marketing-is-here/

written by: Vikram Narayan

The problem with today’s Facebook fan pages
So you’re an author with a Facebook fan page. You’ve got book trailers, polls, quizzes, photo and writing contests running on your page. You’ve even got a few hundred “Facebook Likes” for your page. And yet your book sales are not going up. You then compare yourself to popular authors with tens of thousands of Fans on their Facebook fan pages. And you wonder what they are doing that you’re not doing.

Here’s what’s happening.

If you are a popular mainstream author, the people becoming fans of your page are people who already read your books or have heard enough about you that they are likely to soon become readers.

If you are not yet a literary superstar, then the people who are “Liking” your page are doing so because of some other inducement that you may be providing (“get entered into a prize drawing if you Like my page”). They are unlikely to think about you or notice your book even if they “Like” your Facebook fan page. And they are unlikely to return to your Facebook page or tell their friends about it.

Thus, while a Facebook fan page (and associated bells and whistles such as the BookBuzzr Facebook Fan Page Widget) is a necessary condition for entry into the book marketing game, it is not sufficient.

So how do you actually find some readers for your book?

John Locke’s Principle of Transfer of Loyalty
A few months ago, best-selling author – John Locke – wrote a book – “How I Sold a Million Books”. In this book John comes up with the concept of “Transfer of Loyalty”. The idea is simple and fairly well-known. It is best illustrated by an example.

Let us say that you’ve written a vampire romance book and your target audience is the set of people who liked the Twilight movie series. You write a blog post on the Twilight movie series and promote the blog post on Twitter to Twilight movie fans. Some of these folks will read your blog post and get exposed to your book. Some of your blog post readers may now “transfer their loyalty” to give your book a try.

While this is a fantastic, proven concept, we at BookBuzzr, believe that the principle can be extended to find readers on Facebook.

Characteristics of Facebook users
Some of the characteristics of Facebook users are:
1. They don’t like reading lengthy blog posts while on Facebook.
2. They like playing trivia games
3. They like sharing fun stuff with their friends
4. They are usually thinking WIIFM (What’s in it for me?)

Announcing QuizBuzzr – a revolution in book marketing on Facebook

Melding John Locke’s loyalty transfer principle with our insight about Facebook users, we’ve come up with QuizBuzzr.

QuizBuzzr is a quiz that you, the author, create. There are ten questions in each quiz. The quiz would ideally appeal to your target audience. For example, if you think that fans of the Oprah Winfrey show would enjoy your book, you would create a quiz featuring 10 questions about Oprah Winfrey.

QuizBuzzr also features “Lifelines”. Clicking on these will offer you clues to the correct answer with one twist – some of them require you to share the game with your Facebook friends.

QuizBuzzr is also made interesting by the fact that at each point during the game, you can “Walk Away” from the game thereby saving the points earned till that point or risk it all by trying to answer the next question.

And we’ve built in several ‘viral hooks’ which cause users to share information about the specific quiz and about your book with their Facebook friends.

And winning points in the game allows users to use those points on Freado.com where they can win real prizes including Kindles and best-selling books.

Why is this useful for you?

To summarize, this technology is particularly useful because:

1. You can create several quizzes that are likely to appeal to your readers.
2. It shows up your book at strategic points in the game alongside the questions.
3. As described earlier, it appeals to the average Facebook user.
4. Because of the in-built viral hooks at various points in the game, your book will be surely be marketed.

How can you use QuizBuzzr to market your book on Facebook?
QuizBuzzr will soon be released as a test beta product. It comes bundled with a BookBuzzr Author Pro subscription. To use it to market your book, simply sign-up for a BookBuzzr Author Pro account.

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source: http://www.bookbuzzr.com/blog/book-marketing/how-to-market-your-book-with-free-giveaways/

Written by: Dan Petrovic

Marketing a book means being creative. After all, there are new book releases coming out every other day. Staying ahead of the competition means thinking about how you can make a title and its author memorable. This is where giveaways really come in handy. People like to receive free things. The usual promotional products such as buttons, t-shirts, keychains, and desk items are useful and popular, however, it is always better to think of book-related giveaways when marketing a book. This is a chance to show people exactly what they are getting from an author. The following are some of the benefits to marketing a book with free giveaways.

Why Use Giveaways?

The key to marketing a book is to make people remember a book’s title, author, and message. This is where free giveaways become so useful. The right giveaway is something useful: An item that can be read or used while reading. By printing a book title on a bookplate, a cover image on a postcard, or offering folks the chance to download the first chapter of a book, a publisher can pique buyers’ interest. This in turn can motivate a person to invest in the book either for themselves or to give as a gift.

Exposure

Today, people do not want to spend their hard earned money on unproven products. This is why giveaways are effective: They give people a taste of what’s to come. By offering up book or reading accessories like reading lights or bookmarks, or even free chapters of a book, an author and his or her publisher give buyers a taste of what’s to come. This is a creative and effective way to spread the word about a new book release. Additionally, it ensures that people are satisfied once they invest in the book since they already have an idea of what it is about.

Book-Related Accessories

The great thing about bookmarks and bookplates is that people who like to read often collect them. Book buyers will not only gain something useful but will be more likely to invest in the title or author marketed on the book lights and postcards complete with the book’s cover art. Readers do not want yet another brochure that takes long to read or even skim. Instead, if free giveaways are book or reading related, people will be more likely to keep them and more likely to invest in the marketed book. Silicone wristbands are another great tool for marketing books, because a publisher can have the silicone accessories printed with fun quotations from the book. People will wear these bracelets around town, which in turn means that other people will see them and will be more likely to buy the book.

Free Chapters

Another giveaway and a great way to show buyers that an author and publisher are confident in a book is to offer free chapters. This can be done online with free downloads or can be done by emailing out the chapter or even printing it in brochure form. A free chapter shows readers what a book is like. This taste could wet the buyer’s appetite so that he or she invests in the book to find out what happens or what else is contained in it.

Giveaways are becoming increasingly popular as a tool for marketing books, since they are cheap, and people will keep them if they find them interesting and useful. People tend to buy books with titles and by authors they recognize. What better way to promote a book than putting the title of your book on a something that people will not throw away or walk by, but keep and look at often? Giveaways are a great, creative way to get noticed.

Dan Petrovic is a marketing specialist who writes articles for several blogs in his free time. He enjoys reading fiction, as well as nonfiction related to marketing and technology. He is currently working for 24 Hour Silicone Wristbands as a consultant.

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source: http://www.writersdigest.com/whats-new/how-to-reboot-your-writing-routine

Written by: Brian A. Klems

Trash the brownies. Nix the wine. Cut the Coolatas. Dang. Is it that time of year again? Soon enough, everyone will be turning to those grim New Year’s resolutions.

That roll call of self-deprivation has never been productive. I prefer to look on the bright side.

This year, I plan to live and write large. If I’m making any new year writing plans, it’s to write bolder and happier. This year, I’m going to be the bon vivant of the writing world.

What about you? Was 2011 the year of great and generous writing? Or was your work already trudging toward the winter blahs? Has this been the year when your day job and your family and your pets and the neighbors have demanded too much of your time and sidetracked you from your creative dreams? Or have you been faithfully putting in the time but … well … writing has become just another daily chore? Have you lost your passion?

It’s time to ring out the old writing year and plan for how to build on the past year’s success. And to do that, you may find that you need to refresh your writing routine.

So get happy. Get writing. Here are six questions to ask yourself so you can finish the year right.

1. Your New Year artist statement: You do have one, don’t you?
From those first drafts to that Pulitzer Prize party, I believe that your writing should be inspired by something much deeper than getting rich or getting famous or getting even with your ex. It should cohere with your own personal vision or belief system.

This is a good time to look within yourself and ask some tough questions about what you write—and why. How much does creative writing actually matter to you? Why do you even bother? Your honest and highly personalized answers will help you write a brief artist’s statement. I’m not talking anything Hallmark or biblical here. I’m talking about a simple, heartfelt statement that will sustain you over the next year. It will help you to balance your writing with working and parenting and commuting. It will serve as your daily reminder, your check-in with your creative self.

Already have an artist’s statement from last year? Dust it off and ask yourself if it still applies. A lot can happen in a year. These life changes can shift your worldview and your inner sensibilities. So take these early days of the new year to ensure that your artist’s statement still fits.

2. Your current regimen: Still working?
I put the finishing touches on this article in the beauty salon. It was a Wednesday evening after work. I was sitting in the stylist’s chair, editing and tweaking while she put the finishing touches on my new hair coif. A long time ago, my stylist stopped offering me those glossy magazines. She simply applies my chemicals and says,

“I’ll let you do your usual homework.”

As a busy day-job writer, you need to be ready to mix it up, to write on the go, to always have a draft or a research article or a final edit in your briefcase or under the seat of the car.

Take an honest look at how well your current regimen is really working. If necessary, be willing to experiment or make a change.

Ask yourself: Does last year’s writing schedule still work with your life? If you’ve been promoted or downsized, if your kids have graduated or started school, it may be time to tweak or adjust. Just like in real life, when you get lost in your writing routine, the easiest thing to do is to retrace your steps until you discover the juncture where things went wrong. If you’ve just had a year in which you often got sidetracked, take a diagnostician’s look at the where, the how and the who. Make a list.

In the new year, how can you change or avoid these? Often, this is a simple fix. For example, if you habitually get caught up in the TV morning news or the daily chores the second you go downstairs every morning, then … don’t go downstairs. Keep your laptop or your notebook upstairs, and get in some writing before the day actually begins.

Would mornings work better than evenings for chipping away at that ms? Are there incidental spots (lunch hour, waiting for your kids to get out of sports practice, a half-hour between school drop-off and your morning commute) when, given the right setup and equipment, you could easily fit in a solid spate of writing or editing?

3. Your hardware, software: Time for an upgrade?
Machines will not make you into a better writer. Commitment, passion and self-belief will. If, however, you’ve spent part or most of the past year unjamming your printer or cursing at your computer, then this is the time to upgrade your technology. Or, if you’ve found some incidental times and places in which you can fit in some writing, now is the time to splurge on a portable device that will help you use those times efficiently.

If you’re due for a tech upgrade, do it—it may be tax deductible. Many freelance writers work from a home office, which is tax deductible—including all the equipment that helps you do your job. (The same applies if your creative writing has reached professional status—even if it’s not your full-time gig. Check with your tax accountant about what is required to deem yourself a pro, or do some online research.)

4. Writing extracurriculars: Are you missing out?
Being a professional writer goes way beyond the U.S. Tax Code—but nobody will treat you like a professional unless you treat yourself like one. It’s important to give your writing equal or greater status to the other facets of your life—including your paid day job. And it’s important to utilize professional development opportunities. Workshops, writing conferences, webinars and classes are all excellent venues where you can keep up with developments in the field and network with your fellow writers.

So as you plan the next annual chapter of your writing life, investigate what opportunities are available, and what will work for your budget. Writing conferences fill up quickly. Continuing education classes are enrolling now for the spring semester. Don’t get shut out of those webinars.

Professional education and training—and your mileage—are also tax deductible for professional writers.

5. Your support network: Is it in place?
Nobody really writes alone, without the support of a partner, friend, babysitter, neighbor, cat, agent, local indie bookstore. As you draft your plan for a grand and happy writing year, list the people who can help you make it happen. If you’re a parent, can you and your partner agree to one kid-free night each? Can you trade or pay for babysitting services in your neighborhood? Would joining a local writing group give you the support, friendship and deadlines needed to get your work out of the attic and into the world?

As well as recruiting your cheerleaders, this may be the time to look at the people who have distracted or discouraged you from your writing dreams or plans. Is there a family member who never takes your work seriously? Is there a writing buddy who spends more time moaning about the publishing industry than actually writing or providing mutual support? Trust me, there’s a reason why people discourage you from your creative dreams. And the reason is them, not you. So make a New Year’s resolution to beef up your support systems, and either reduce your time with the naysayers, or at least change your reactions to them.

6. Day planners and deadlines: Have you mapped out a path to success?
I had a college professor who used to tell us evening graduate students, “A good paper is a done paper.” I’ve always remembered her advice. Whatever mood you’re in, there’s nothing as motivating as a fixed date with an editor who wants your work.

But how to find those editors and those calls for submissions? Take the time to research the writing and funding opportunities for the new year.

Many magazines, literary journals and fellowships have long lead times. Study the Standout Markets column in this magazine, and check out books like Writer’s Market to choose the opportunities that either apply
or appeal to you.

Be realistic here. Given your daily schedule, what can you reasonably achieve? Equally, it’s important to aim for some projects that will stretch you as a writer. Once you make your 2012 list, note the submission dates in your electronic or paper day planner. Done? Not yet: Inset those pre-submission dates to make a little project plan for yourself, including the sub-dates by which you need to complete your first draft, get it to your writing group for review or, if you use a copy editor, get it to him for that final pre-submission review and rewrite.

As writers, we often get so caught up in our work that it’s hard to take time to examine how we can make things better and plan ahead. But you use this kind of goal setting and long-range project management at work and at home. Why not finish the year right by setting yourself up for success in the new year with resolutions to approach your craft smarter and happier?

Your writing will thank you.

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source: http://selfpublishingresources.com/11-self-publishing-strategies-for-success/

Written by: Sue Collier

As self-publishing continues to go mainstream and lose its stigma, more and more authors are taking the plunge and going indie. Success, however, is certainly not guaranteed. By following the tips below, you’ll avoid many of the pitfalls and enhance your chances of flourishing.

1. Educate yourself. Publishing is a business and needs to be treated as such. There are books, blogs, websites, and associations devoted to self-publishing. Failing to learn all you can about it can mean wasting thousands of dollars by blundering along without knowledge or a plan.

2. Study the competition. Be sure your topic hasn’t been overdone. Check the library, your local bookstore, and Amazon.com. But don’t stop there: Check Books in Print Subject Guide and Forthcoming Books in Print Subject Guide. Then make sure yours is better than what is already out there.

3. Write what other people want. Catering to one’s own personal desires often makes for a blah book nobody buys. Face the facts: Personal journals and impassioned tirades are best saved for family and friends, not foisted upon the general public.

4. Think “marketing” from the start. The time to start generating marketing ideas is before you even write the manuscript. Identify your market. How can you reach them? Start folders of ideas. What catalogs might be interested? Which associations reach your potential readers? Can you sell the book as a premium to companies that would give it away as a gift to entice new customers or use it internally for training? Think about who else reaches your potential customer and how you can partner with them. Do you have contacts who have national name recognition and might write an advance endorsement?

5. Get professional editing. You cannot edit your own work. You cannot.

6. Create a catchy title. The right title can make a book. Short is best. Clever is fine but don’t sacrifice clarity. Include a subtitle for nonfiction books as it gives you extra mileage in ensuring readers know what the book is about.

7. Include all the vital components. Depending on whether your book is paper or electronic, you may need an ISBN, LCCN, EAN scanning code, subject category on the back cover, the title displayed boldly on the spine, and so forth. Don’t know what you need? See item number 1 in this list!!

8. Have a dynamite cover. Get it designed by a professional who knows book cover design, not just someone who does nice logos or brochures. There is a lot of competition out there; this is your opportunity to stand out from the crowd.

9. Make the interior inviting. Study the insides of books that look clean and user-friendly; use these as your model. The production values of your book must meet the competition to be acceptable in the trade. It is not advisable to do your book layout in Word, so if you are not budgeting for the steep price tag and learning curve of a program such as InDesign, hire a pro.

10. Price properly. Books that are much more costly than the competition—or even sometimes a lot cheaper—can meet resistance. Figure out a per-unit cost that still offers you a margin for profit and enables you to offer booksellers a discount—and that keeps you in line with your competition.

11. Publicize, promote, publicize, promote. Eat, sleep, and talk your books. Ongoing, enthusiastic marketing is the real key to success. Never quit. Always be on the alert for new opportunities; marketing is forever and your efforts today can yield results way down the road.

(Portions of this post have been excerpted from the upcoming second edition of Jump Start Your Books Sales by Marilyn Ross and Sue Collier, scheduled for release in late 2011.)

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source: http://www.go-publish-yourself.com/archive/articles/book-marketing/poynterd3.php

By Dan Poynter

Publishing is changing—for the better. There is a New Model for book writing, producing, selling and promoting. One part of this revolutionary change is in book promoting.

Here are several ways to use new technology to promote your book faster, easier and cheaper.

Broadcast email, done properly, is not spam. Book announcements should only be sent to existing customers, potential customers on opt-in lists and targeted members of the press. Most of these people are in your personal address book. Match your offer to those who have already expressed an interest in this type of information.

Make your publishing company Web-site centric. Put your book and all your basic promotion documents on your site and print from the site when you need hard copies. Don’t maintain a stock of dealer bulletins and news releases in your office. Keep the masters in your cyber pressroom and retrieve them when required. For an example of a pressroom, see http://parapub.com/getpage.cfm?file=pressroom/pressroom.html

If you speak on the subject of your book, set up a speaking sub-site with all the information on what you can do. Post your speech descriptions, client list, fee schedule, facilities forms, speaking calendar, audio/video clips, etc. Replace your press kits; avoid printing and mailing. For an example of a speaking sub-site, see http://parapub.com/getpage.cfm?file=/speaking/index.html

Help the information-seeking potential customer to make a buying decision. Give enough information on the book. Provide the same shopping experience they have in a store. If you are publishing fiction, put the first chapter on your site as a free read. The first chapter in a creative work will give the reader a taste and is designed to keep the buyer reading. If your work is nonfiction, provide the first page or so of each chapter to give the browser an idea of what is in the book. If you need help setting up your web site on this model, contact Mary Westheimer at http://www.BookZone.com. BookZone hosts the websites for some 3,500 book publishers.

For the media, put the entire book in a unique address section (URL) along with your promotional materials. Email a pitch letter to the editors and reviewers and invite them to your web site to see your book, and media kit: bio, testimonials, news releases, etc. Tell them what is in the “media kit” and remind them they will save time because they do not have to retype the material. Let them read the book free online. Capture the reviewer’s address when they log on. Add the reviewer to your list and notify them directly when you are promoting your next book. The mission is to design an online media kit that is so useful, the reviewers will flock to use it. And, self-service will save you a lot of time and money.

Publishers Weekly and USA Today recently reviewed their first eGalleys. Invite reviewers to your site and offer to send an eGalley. Promotion @ the speed of email is the wave of the future.

Do the reviewers want eGalleys? PW, for example, receives over 100 galleys each day. They select a handful and the rest go to a holding room. Periodically, someone comes to clean out the room. EGalleys avoid this solid-waste disposal challenge.

Subsidiary rights. Send an email to editors of newsletters, magazines and ezines and offer them the opportunity to excerpt parts of your book free. Ask them to include source, copyright and ordering information at the end of the excerpt.

To find the email addresses for magazines and newsletters, see http://parapub.com/getpage.cfm?file=/bookprom.html and http://www.opinion-pages.org

Email promotions can result in slightly fewer responses than traditional mailings and follow-up telephone calls. But the costs in time and money are far less and the responses begin immediately.

Foreign Rights. Use email to ask foreign publishers if they would like to buy subsidiary rights and translate your book into their language. Send publishers directly to a rights section on your Website. That section will provide a complete book, author bio, testimonials, cover image, news releases, back cover sales copy and other promotional materials. Capture their address when they log on. Then follow up with email.

For foreign publisher email addresses, see International Literary Market Place. It lists publishers outside North America by country. Start with the major language groups: Germany, France, Italy, Spain and Japan. Select publishers that publish in your subject area. If you can’t find many, email the national publishing association for that particular country, describe your book and ask for suggested matching publishers.

See the RightsCenter at http://www.rightscenter.com and PMA’s Foreign Rights Virtual Book Fair at http://pma-online.org/pmafair/index.cfm .

Use every means possible to send people to your site. List your URL in ads, your .sig, and anywhere you might ordinarily leave your telephone number.

Replace expensive four-color brochures with less expensive business cards. Your card should have a photograph of the book’s cover, your usual contact information and a list of all the resources that can be found on your Website. Use the cards to drive traffic to your web site. For great prices on cards, see http://www.MWMdexter.com

Related Web Sites. Surf the Web for sites related to the subject of your book. When you find one that matches, contact the owner and suggest a dealership. Get as many outlets as possible to sell your book.

Newsgroups. Take part in newsgroups related to your book’s subject. Answer questions and become known as an expert on your subject. For a list of newsgroups, see Groups at http://www.excite.com, http://www.YahooGroups.com and http://www.deja.com.

Promotion services. Do not hire the spammers who flood your email box with offers to promote your site or product. Doing so will cost you a lot of money, incur the wrath of potential customers and will encourage more spam.

Direct Contact Media Services will send out your news release to carefully selected media via fax and email. Paul Krupin will rewrite your news release to make it more useful to the media. He will send the announcement to 1,500 to 2,500 targeted print, radio and TV outlets. 1500 one-page releases cost $300. Contact him at dircon@owt.com and see http://www.book-publicity.com .

For more ideas on promoting books online, see U-Publish.com by Dan Poynter and Danny O. Snow. See http://www.u-publish.com .

New computer programs, new printing processes and the Web are transforming the writing, producing, disseminating and promoting of information. Books will never be the same. The winners are author, publishers and readers.

In the future, nonfiction book publishing will see minimized inventories and maximized relationships between authors and customers (readers). Publishing will become customer-centric and “books” will thrive on uniqueness, customization and variety. Book writing, publishing, selling
and promoting are changing—for the better.

Writing periodicals:

Dan Poynter does not want you to die with a book still inside you. You have the ingredients and he has your recipe. Dan has written more than 100 books since 1969 including Writing Nonfiction and The Self- Publishing Manual. For more help on book writing, see http://ParaPub.com. © 2003

or

Book Publishing periodicals:

Dan Poynter, the Voice of Self-Publishing, has written more than 100 books since 1969 including Writing Nonfiction and The Self-Publishing Manual. Dan is a past vice-president of the Publishers Marketing Association. For more help on book publishing and promoting, see http://ParaPub.com. © 2003

or

Professional Speaking periodicals:

Dan Poynter has written more than 100 books since 1969 including Writing Nonfiction and The Self-Publishing Manual. He is past-chair of NSA’s Writer-Publisher PEG and the founder of the PEG newsletter. For more help on book writing, publishing and promoting, see http://ParaPublishing.com. © 2003

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GREEN BAY, WI (01/24/12) – BookWhirl.com, one of the leading companies in the book marketing industry moves up a notch as they unveil the new face of their online bookshelf.

The company has vividly expressed its intentions of having multiple and tangible developments to serve their clients better. The newly revamped online bookshelf has a definite modern touch, easy navigation, and a feel of convergence. They have improved its functions and used a better layout for readers to easily browse products. BookWhirl.com’s online bookshelf is cost-free. Self-published authors can now start marketing books even without the budget.

“Our online bookshelf is still very young. But if one would look at it, you will see a lot of potential. We already catered hundreds and hundreds of books in our online bookshelf. And every year, we keep on improving things around our website. We listen to what authors, clients, and readers tell us. Our team of developers and designers are passionate about the work. We want the authors who submit their books and e-books in our bookshelf to realize that marketing can start even without a budget. So today, we unveil an online bookshelf like no other”, announced Don Harold, Marketing Director.

For more information, please visit http://www.bookwhirl.com or call 1 (877) 207 1679.

About BookWhirl.com

BookWhirl.com is an online book marketing service company, specializing in providing low-cost, high-quality marketing services for fiction, nonfiction, and poetry books. Through its unique, inexpensive book marketing services, BookWhirl.com helps authors promote their published works more effectively and connect to readers in a more effective, more efficient system. BookWhirl.com employs an experienced team of online marketing strategists, ad copywriters, graphic artists, and web designers, whose combined talents ensure an effective online marketing campaign at easily affordable rates.

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Written by: Mary Anne Hahn

To say that I read a lot is perhaps one of the greatest understatements of all time. I read chronically, obsessively. Articles, books, magazines, newspapers, newsletters–you name it. Whenever I am alone, if I’m not actually writing something, I make certain I have something to read with me. I carry a large purse precisely for this purpose; my partner, John, calls the one I hoist on my shoulder these days “carryon luggage,” which should give you some idea of its size .

Although I have a great love for novels, most of my recent reading involves topics that inform and/or inspire. Of special interest to me is anything that can show me new ways (or new slants on old ways) for writers to make a comfortable living using their skills, things that I can share with the readers of my ezine, WriteSuccess.

One area that continues to look especially promising and profitable for writers is ebook writing and publishing.

For readers, the convenience of ebooks can’t be beat; you can purchase your book and be reading it moments later without getting up from your PC or Mac.

For writers, benefits abound. Ebooks are relatively inexpensive and easy to publish. You don’t need to shop around for an agent. There’s no yearlong wait between having your manuscript accepted and seeing it in print. And you can do some neat things with ebooks that you can’t with the traditional print variety–include your own clip art and graphics, add hypertext links right in the pages of your book that take you readers to related Web sites, and other fun online stuff.

You can’t just slap an ebook together and expect to find an instant road to riches, however. Finding and developing a book on a topic that people care about, and will pay for, is key. You will also need to decide whether to self-publish, or go through an ebook publisher. And the success of your ebook lies in how willingly, and how well, you market it.

Probably the most sought-after type of ebooks, and hence the most profitable avenue you can pursue, are the ones that contain information. These run the gamut as far as content, from how to develop a gorgeous perennial garden to how to balance one’s work and family life. If peopleare passionate about the topic, and feel it will enhance their lives, they will buy a book about it.

You say that this information is already readily available for free? You’re right, much of it is. But if you write engagingly and well, and if you can save people hours of searching and sifting through useless information inorder to find what will help them, then you can sell your ebook. Do the research for them, include the best links in your ebook, and you have something of great value to offer.

Let’s take a look at a real life example: Matthew Lesko. For those who haven’t heard of him, he has put together over 70 books on how individuals and businesses can find free US government money, grants and cash loans to finance nearly any venture you can imagine. His books sell like hotcakes, and I daresay he lives comfortably because of that.

Could people have found this information on their own? Absolutely. But are they willing to buy Mr. Lesko’s books if it will save them hours and hours of trial and error research? You bet they will.

If the idea of writing ebooks for fun and profit appeals to you, the absolute best guide on the Web for how to create, publish and sell your own ebook is “Make Your Knowledge Sell!” This ebook is so packed with information; you’ll be biting at the bit to start writing before you’re even a quarter of the way through it. Even visiting the product’s Web site alone will provide you with ideas. You can check out “MYKS!” here: http://myks.sitesell.com/writeangles.html

Another *excellent* resource on this topic is Neil Shearing’s “Internet Success Blueprint.” Written for Internet marketers, it is a superb step-by-step guide to developing and writing ebooks that we non-marketing type writers could definitely learn from. From selecting topics to choosing an electronic publishing format for your books–plus guiding you through the ebook marketing process–this one’s about as complete as you’ll find online. Plus, it’s a fun read. Read more about Neil’s book here: http://scamfreezone.com .cgi/176198

If you love to write and want to make your living from it, I strongly believe that ebooks are a fantastic way to go.

Here’s to your writing success!

————————-

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Mary Anne Hahn is editor and publisher of WriteSuccess, the free biweekly ezine of ideas, information and inspiration for people who want to pursue SUCCESSFUL full-time writing careers.To subscribe, mailto:writesuccess-subscribe@yahoogroups.com .

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source: http://www.go-publish-yourself.com/archive/articles/self-publishing/poynterd.php

By Dan Poynter

Many nonfiction book writers ask how to approach an agent or publisher. Today the question is when to approach them. Traditionally, writers had to decide between selling out and self-publishing. Their considerations were Often reduced to money, time and control.

Money. If your publisher prints 5000 copies, the book sells for $19.95 and your royalty is 6% of the cover price (12-14% of the net), your earnings will be less than $6000. If the book sells and goes back to press, you may do well.
Otherwise, it is not worth the many hours at the keyboard for $6000. According to Publishing for Profit by Tom Woll, most initial print runs are 5,000 copies.

In self-publishing, you invest the money but you do not have to share the net. You get it all.

The Publisher is the person or company that invests in the book.

Speed. It takes a large publisher 18 months to move a book through its system of production and distribution. From the time you deliver the manuscript, it will take a year and a half before books are on the shelves in the stores.

You can have a book printed in 2-5 weeks. You must consider: Do you want to wait an eternity to get paid? Will your information expire in 18 months? Will someone else beat you to the market with the same information? Do you want to let a publisher delay the publication of your book?

18 months? You can make a baby faster than that!

Control. Some of the larger publishers have surrendered to their bean counters. Many of their books are on pulp paper, the margins are narrow and the type is small. Your publisher may leave out some of your illustrations to save money.

As the (self) publisher, you can design the book to convey your information to your reader in the best-possible way.

A poorly-produced book lacks credibility.
People won’t buy the book and will never be exposed to the message.

Covering your bases. Today, with the computer and digital printing, it is possible to approach publishers and publish yourself. You can print 500 copies very reasonably (144 pages, 5.25 x 8.25, soft cover for $1,500). Then you can send the (example) book to agents and publishers.

Those who circulate a proposal, query letter or manuscript
are treated like a writer.
Those with a book are treated like an author.

You will also send copies of your book to magazines for review, to book clubs for adoption and to foreign publishers for translation and publication.

Self-Published Books that were “Discovered” by Publishers

- In Search of Excellence by Tom Peters. Over 25,000 copies were sold directly to consumers in its first year. Then it was sold to Warner and the publisher sold 10 million more.

- The Celestine Prophecy by James Redfield. His manuscript made the rounds of the mainstream houses and then he decided to publish himself. He started by selling copies out of the trunk of his Honda—over 100,000 of them. He subsequently sold out to Warner Books for $800,000. Over 5.5 million copies have been sold.

- The One-Minute Manager by Ken Blanchard and Spencer Johnson sold over 20,000 copies locally before they sold out to William Morrow. It has now sold over 12-million copies since 1982 and is in 25 languages.

- The Joy of Cooking by Irma Rombauer was selfpublished in 1931 as a project of the First Unitarian Women’s Alliance in St. Louis. Today Scribners sells more than 100,000 copies each year.

- What Color is Your Parachute by Episcopal clergymen Richard Nelson Bolles. It is now published by Ten Speed Press.

- Leadership Secrets of Attila the Hun by Wess Roberts sold 486,000 copies before selling out to Warner Books.

Self-Publisher Overcame Rejection

He was a 34-year old advertising executive in Salt Lake City. He had two daughters, age six and four. He loved them very much—he told them so every day. But he wanted to express his love more permanently.

So, every night after he and his wife put the two girls to bed, he sat in the kitchen and wrote. After six week, he had completed 87 pages. He took them to a copy shop and reproduced 20 copies for family and friends.

They read his work and passed it on. After three weeks, 160 people had read his work. He was even contacted by a bookstore—they had customers asking for the “book”.

Encouraged, he approached some publishers—and, of course, he was turned down. Not to be discouraged, he scraped together $5,000 and printed 9,000 copies. Then 19,000 more. By the end of the year, he had sold
over 250,000 copies.

And then, the publishers came looking for him! Simon & Schuster offered him $4.2 million—and he took it.

That was Richard Paul Evans and the book was The Christmas Box. It hit the top of the Publishers Weekly bestseller list and was translated into 13 Languages.

I teased him with “Rick, you were doing so well selfpublishing and you sold out. Well, we all have our price. Your price is $4.2 million. (I suspect my price is a bit lower).”

Authors and promotion. Some authors do not want to publicly flog their books. You may be looking forward to the day when your work is recognized and you won’t have to promote it. You may wish to be a celebrity and above all this crass commercialism. Be advised that Frank McCourt (Angela’s Ashes) spends some six months each year making appearances on behalf of his books. He is a best-selling author because he promotes his books.

Whether you sell out to a (NY) publisher or publish yourself, the author must do the promotion. Publishers do not promote books. They have the books manufactured and they place them in bookstores. It is up to you to let potential buyers know your book is available.

There are four stages in the life of a book: writing, publishing, distributing and promoting. Giving birth to a book is like bringing a child into the world—you have an obligation to raise it. Fortunately, the book is not a twenty-year commitment and you do not have to send it to college. But, you do have to promote it.

You will write and promote your book and your publisher will produce and distribute it. You can deal with typesetters, printers and distributors yourself to get your finished book into the stores. You might as well self-publish.

Publishing increases the value. No one can be an expert in every book—some 100,000 titles are published each year. Everyone specializes or, at least, has a track record with certain categories of books. If you are turned down by an agent or publisher, that is not a reflection on the ability of the writer or the quality of the work. That agent or publisher just does not get it. With this New Model, if industry people fail to recognize the need and market for your book, it does not matter because your book is launched. It is out for review, it is be considered by book clubs and evaluated foreign publishers. If an agent or publisher “discovers” your book after you have proven it in the market, it is now worth more. For examples, see the sidebars.

This New Book Model is the best approach for you, your book and your writing future. Send your finished book to agents and publishers. Do not send a proposal, query letter or manuscript. Don’t let the agents and publishers hold you back.
_____________________________________________________________
Writing periodicals:

Dan Poynter does not want you to die with a book still inside you. You have the ingredients and he has your recipe. Dan has written more than 100 books since 1969 including Writing Nonfiction and The Self-Publishing Manual. For more help on book writing, see http://ParaPub.com.
© 2003

or

Book Publishing periodicals:

Dan Poynter, the Voice of Self-Publishing, has written more than 100 books since 1969 including Writing Nonfiction and The Self-Publishing Manual. Dan is a past vice-president of the Publishers Marketing Association. For more help on book publishing and promoting, see http://ParaPub.com.
© 2003

or

Professional Speaking periodicals:

Dan Poynter has written more than 100 books since 1969 including Writing Nonfiction and The Self-Publishing Manual. He is past-chair of NSA’s Writer- Publisher PEG and the founder of the PEG newsletter. For more help on book writing, publishing and promoting, see http://ParaPublishing.com.
© 2003

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source: http://www.authorinsider.com/article.php?subaction=showfull&id=1158957291&archive=&start_from=&ucat=7&

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source: http://www.bookbuzzr.com/blog/book-marketing/book-marketing-is-not-the-same-as-sales/

Many authors mistakenly think that selling and marketing are the same.  They aren’t. You may already know that the book marketing process is broad and includes all of the following:
1. Identifying your target readers
2. Deciding upon a suitable subject, story and style
3. Writing and editing the book
4. Developing a suitable title for the book
5. Creating an attractive book cover
6. Getting reviews and endorsements from mavens and influential publications
7. Setting up distribution for your book in online and brick and mortar stores
8. Creating buzz for your book
9. Advertising your book
10. Getting your customer to buy your book (including order processing and calculating your royalties or revenues)

Most authors confuse the last step to be ALL of marketing.

Marketing is everything that you do to reach and persuade prospects. Sales is everything that you do to close the sale and get the book into the hands of your customer and the money into your bank account. You need both. Without marketing, you cannot expect a customer to carry out the final step and buy your book (except in certain freak purchases which are a result of luck.)

The book buying process works something like this:

4. She decides to purchase the book

The BookBuzzr Book Marketing Funnel which was featured in an earlier blog post is another way to understand how the book buying process works. As you move down the funnel, the number of people carrying out the activity decreases. To increase sales, you can either increase the size of the top of the funnel (i.e. get more people to hear about your book and look at your book cover.) Or you can improve the conversion rates from one stage to the next (and this is usually a result of quality … i.e. if your book title and cover are interesting, people proceed to the next stage; else, they abandon your book.)

Your goal then is to get people to hear about your book’s core idea (or about you or about the story behind your book.) The goal of your book front cover is to get people to look at the back cover. The goal of your back cover is to get people to look inside your book. The goal of the first few pages of your book is to entice your readers to continue reading (and buy the book.) So you are really selling on every page of your book.

Freado.com is designed to facilitate the first two steps of the initial process. Freado.com and the CoverMatcher game are designed to get as many people as possible from your target market to learn about your book title and view your book cover.

Freado also leverages upon the idea of the exposure effect. The exposure effect (also known as the mere exposure effect) is a psychological phenomenon by which people tend to develop a preference for things merely because they are familiar with them. In social psychology, this effect is sometimes called the familiarity principle. In studies of interpersonal attraction, the more often a person is seen by someone, the more pleasing and likeable that person appears to be.

Freado translates this idea to books. The more often a person sees your book cover and book title, the more likely that person is going to be to like or at least accept your book.

Now, one of the questions that we’re frequently asked by new authors is this:

“Does Freado.com guarantee that you will sell more copies of your book?”
And our answer always is a vociferous “NO!”

But Freado definitely increase your probability of selling more books. When a user constantly views your book cover inside the game, he or she begins to unconsciously memorize your book cover. So the next time this book lover is in a bookstore or on Amazon.com, and sees your book, the chances of him recognizing the book is increased. And it creates buzz for your book where people tend to discuss your book (or bid for your book if it is made available as a prize on Freado.)

In conclusion, when you put on your book promotion hat, it is important to understand that book marketing is a concept that is wider than sales. Sales are important. But they don’t happen unless you create the right conditions.

Or like author Chetan Dhruve says, “You know the saying in English – “You can take a horse to the water, but you can’t make it drink.” Similarly, we authors can bring the horse (reader) to the water, but we can’t make him buy the product, because that ultimately depends on the PRODUCT itself (i.e. the book). Think of the alternative, which is doing nothing, i.e. having no horses at the watering hole.”

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