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

By Ted Nicholas

Today’s topic is about two little-known action tips that will help you succeed in the world’s most ideal business.

I know there is huge worldwide interest in what constitutes an ideal business.

How?

When I first wrote about this subject in my news-letter in the early nineties, I received more feedback on it than any other topic.

What constitutes the ideal business?

1. Enjoys low overhead.

2. Products can be sold throughout the world.

3. Is portable-can easily be moved and operated anywhere in the world.

4. Requires little capital or major investment in equipment.

5. Enjoys high profit margins.

6. Has minimal labor requirements. Can be operated with few or no employees.

7. Can be operated from home.

8. Is relatively free of government regulation and control.

9. Is highly respected in the business community.

10. Sells on a cash basis instead of offering extended credit.

11. Competitors cannot duplicate. Creation of product is legally protected.

12. Is fun for you while satisfying your intellectual needs.

13. Helps make the world a better place.

Self-publishing best meets the above criteria for the ideal business.

Tip: Publishing unique, helpful information can be an unbeatable marketing tool. Further in this issue I’ll show you how to use it successfully for any business.

Let’s briefly look at what self-publishers and conventional publishers typically do when they decide to market a book or special report.

1. The book is written, taking up to two years of effort. Little or no thought is given to the marketing process.

2. The title is decided by some editor often over lunch in less than 20 minutes.

3. The book is published. Absolutely nothing happens. This has been called “the calm before the calm.”

The book never sells out its first printing. (This is the fate of more than 96% of all books published. Is it any wonder!)

Here are the two most important actions I always take. I recommend both as an indispensable part of your action plan.

1. Write an ad to sell the book before a single word is written.

Tip: The result is the eventual book will have the best chance to do what it should–serve the readers’ self-interest. (Most books are incredibly dull and boring and are an ego trip for the author.)

Plus, of course, you can use the ad to market the book.

More than 90% of your time as a self-publisher must be spent on marketing. For my book HOW TO FORM YOUR OWN CORPORATION WITHOUT A LAWYER FOR UNDER $75, I’ve written more than 120,000 words of advertising copy. The book has just 32,000 words in it. Sales are nearly 2,000,000 copies to date. The reason for all the success is not the book itself, but all the marketing.

As Tom Watson, the late founder of IBM, said so well, “Nothing happens until a sale is made.”

2. Create a great book title. A book title is actually a headline for the book. It’s crucially important. When I create a book title, I write a huge number of potential titles. For my books HOW TO PUBLISH A BOOK AND SELL A MILLION COPIES, MAGIC WORDS THAT BRING YOU RICHES, and HOW TO TURN WORDS INTO MONEY, I wrote over 120 titles for each before choosing the final one for each of these best sellers.

Best-selling authors like Harvey Mackay, author of “Swim With The Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive” and “Beware the Naked Man Who Offers You His Shirt,” invest about $60,000 in fees for an expert to create each title for their books. They know how important it is.

Tip: Here is a business-building blockbuster.
Regardless of the business in which you are engaged, whether you market online or offline, you can use books and special reports as free bonuses to build your sales. Here are some examples of businesses and the type of material they could publish that could dramatically boost their business.

Real Estate Developer:
“Seven Easy, Low-Cost Tips Which Will Increase The Value of Your Property”

Plumber:
“How to Stop Leaking Faucets Yourself in Less Than 60 Seconds”

Architect:
“How to Build The Beautiful Home of Your Dreams Below Budget”

Restaurant:
“How to Prepare Ten Terrific Gourmet Meals in Less Than 20 Minutes”

Vitamin Distributor:
“Maximum Health Secrets On a Minimum Budget”

Tip: Your information should be written in such a way that it is (A) immediately useful to the reader, and (B) you do not directly benefit in any way.

What you are seeking is a special feeling of reciprocation on the part of the reader: “I got so much out of this special report, when I think about possibly availing myself of your type of product or service, I will think about you first.”

The result in increased sales will delight and astonish you.

Stay tuned for more tips on self-publishing success.

Warm regards,

Ted Nicholas
www.tednicholas.com

P.S. To get information or obtain a copy of my best-selling book HOW TO PUBLISH A BOOK AND SELL A MILLION COPIES, click here.

P.P.S. “The secret to success, in life and in business, is to work hard at the margin. Relentlessly. It’s as powerful as compound interest, the eighth wonder of the world. Those little marginal extra efforts will inevitably grow into something big.”
–Bill Bonner

Little things mean a lot.

“God is in the details.”

Copyright 2003 Nicholas Direct, Inc.

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Love digital? We’ve finally created an online bookshelf exclusive for e-books!

The e-Bookshelf enables self-published authors to their e-books that feature a thumbnail image of their book’s cover, publishing details, a 25-word advertising blurb, and a link to an online bookstore where their book is being sold.

Submit your book advertisements now! Log on to http://www.bookwhirl.com/e-Bookshelf/

Sincerely,

BookWhirl.com | You have the book…We have the marketing resources.

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Summary: BookWhirl.com launches a bookshelf service exclusive for e-books.

GREEN BAY, WI (06/28/11) – As part of the company’s current move on innovation and development, BookWhirl.com launches its e-Bookshelf today. After the launching of the company’s e-Book Conversion service just last week, they have unveiled another e-book publication service. Self-published authors who are interested in boosting their e-book sales online can now do business with BookWhirl.com’s e-Bookshelf.

BookWhirl.com created the e-Bookshelf to provide more options to self-published authors who are into e-book publishing. The newest online e-bookstore features the simplest yet staple system for an online bookstore. The e-Bookshelf also has an easy sales system tracker that enables authors to keep track with their progress like a walk in the park.

“One year ago, e-book publishing was just a part of our vision. Now, everything is already happening. Our visions are slowly but surely coming into reality. BookWhirl.com is proud to announce the birth of e-Bookshelf, our latest offering in providing self-published authors the best possible business solutions. And with our success, we are grateful to our employees in every essential department who have worked hard for us to finally bring our ideas to life. We have every reason to celebrate,” concludes Johnny Chu, CEO of BookWhirl.com.

For more details about BookWhirl.com and its book marketing services, visit the company’s official website http://www.BookWhirl.com. You may also channel your inquiries through email at Info@BookWhirl.com.

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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Source: http://adzines.com/Book-Marketing-Articles/Book-Publishing-Without-Pain/6459

When I meet an author with a great book concept, one who’s definitely the right person to write that book, right away I’ll often encourage her to self-publish. This is because I know that, if that author is thoroughly invested in what she has to say, and if she is determined to create a buzz about her message, she’ll discover

5 Fantastic Benefits of Self-publishing

1. Control. When you enter into a contract with a major publishing house, you’re signing an exclusive agreement that prevents your having input into most of the important decisions that will affect your book’s perception by the public, and its sales. You’ll have very little say about the look and feel of your book cover, the endorsements that appear on the back of your book, or the wording of your press release, for example. And since all of the above elements are critical to giving your book its best chance for bestseller status, such loss of control can pose significant problems. “But don’t publishers know better than I what to do to sell a book?” you may ask. Not necessarily. Authors usually know more about their book’s subject-and hence, about their target audience (market)-than anyone else. Hey, they wrote the book!

More food for thought about signing with a major publishing house: If for some reason your book doesn’t sell quickly and the publisher lets it go out of print, there’s often a “waiting period” before the author is allowed to self-publish the book to get it back on the shelves. In the meantime, the reading public sees that your book is “out of print” and a great deal of word-of-mouth damage is done. Self-publishing means that you are at the helm of your book project. Of course, it also means that the responsibility for its success rests in your hands. But when you believe in your message and know that you’re going to do everything in your power to get that message out to your target audience, isn’t it a good feeling to know that you’re the one driving its success in the marketplace?

I suggest a balance of control and delegation. The right publishing ally can coach you through the process of writing and editing your book, and will also advise you to design and market your message in a way that gets optimum results. Your publishing ally may be a book editor, a publishing consultant, a published author, or all three. If she’s worth her salt, though, she’ll know what it will take to get your book published, and she’ll know how to help you make it happen. Reputable help can be found in Literary Market Place (online or in your local library). LMP is the publishing industry’s by-nomination-only directories–here you’ll find book editors and publishing consultants with a proven track record.

2. Money. Why does it make good business sense to self-publish? Consider the following: a contract with the book publisher doesn’t give you an ironclad guarantee that your book will ever and upon the shelves. If you’re a new author, your publisher will allocate zero marketing dollars to promote your book. It’s sink or swim! If your book does sell well, it will be due to your own hard work and ingenuity-and your reward will be a tiny fraction of the book’s total profits. Self-publishing admittedly involves more capital risk, but it also means that the extensive footwork you do to market your book will go to producing income for the person who most deserves it. After all, you’re the one who’s doing all the work to ignite word-of-mouth about your book. Not only that, you wrote it! Don’t you deserve to reap 100% of the profit?

Makes sense, doesn’t it? One of the greatest perks I experience collaborating with authors is seeing our self-published books consistently create more reader excitement and interest than their traditionally published counterparts.

3. No Waiting, No Rejection. The Cinderella story of the little book that gets discover by a publisher and becomes an overnight bestseller is mostly just that-a fairytale. Yes , it happens. But it hasn’t been happening a whole lot lately. In the current publishing climate, with major houses paying gigantic advances to celebrity authors-their “cash cows”-not much is left to spend on developing new talent. Let’s be honest: a publisher isn’t going to spend a dime marketing a book by an as yet unknown author. To get your book considered for publication in the first place, you’ll need to have an extremely convincing marketing strategy in place which you intend to implement on your own, at your own expense! Such as the case in every genre from children’s books to alternative health to historical novels. First-time authors are being turned away en masse. And since many nonfiction book projects are time-sensitive-well-placed offerings intended to respond to a specific market trend-their authors often while way their precious window of opportunity waiting for agents or publishers to respond to a proposal. It isn’t impossible to get a major publishing house interested in a book by a first-time author, but it’s getting more difficult all the time. Self-publishing removes the wait (and the accompanying weight from your shoulders) and the discomfort of rejection from the process of getting your book into print.

Why wait? And why bother wading through a mountain of rejections?

4. Independence. Self-published authors are usually people with confidence in their message. Many have already developed a following by giving talks and seminars in areas where they live and work. Experts know when they have a powerful personal message-they don’t need a publisher’s approval to pump themselves up. Such authors, many of whom are already seasoned professionals, self-publish their books because they love being in the driver’s seat of their book project. Rather than gamble that a big corporation will treat their book with the respect it deserves, such an author takes the publishing reins to ensure that her message reaches the widest possible audience.

No one cares more about your book than you do. Get someone on your side who will help you get your book the attention it deserves. A good editorial and publishing consultant knows how to

• make your book irresistible and
• market your book efficiently and effectively to your target audience.

5. Power of Belief. The power of belief in our words is what makes promises good and turns dreams into reality. Authors who self-publish their books believe deeply that others will benefit from reading what they have to say. They have unshakable conviction. Such authors often tell me, “I had to write this book. I just have to get it out there!” Deep belief is the selfless power that drives all true service and makes a difference in the world. Authors with a strong sense of purpose know that they can make their books succeed. They don’t want to wait around for a publishing house to “accept” their work. Aware that time is precious, such authors create their own publishing opportunities. They get behind their own message. They launch a campaign fueled with belief in the creative power of intention.

A good publishing consultant knows that the best way to make your book a true success is to help you create and market a message that both of you will be proud of for years to come. Creating uplifting books is a passion. Make it yours, and every one of your books sold will be a vote of confidence in humanity.

Copyright ©2005 Ceci Miller

Ceci Miller is President of CeciBooks Editorial & Publishing Consultation, a firm with a world-class professional marketing and design team devoted to creating uplifting, first-quality books and giving those books their best chance of success in the market. CeciBooks Editorial & Publishing Consultation is listed in Literary Market Place. Please visit http://www.CeciBooks.com or call 206.706.9565 for a half-hour consultation at no charge.

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Today, more than ever before authors are presented with publishing opportunities that have never existed before. This is not to understate the hard work that authors have to go through to get recognition, write great books, and make a full time living from their passion of expression. However, it is to say that today, due to advances in communications technology, authors can now get their books distributed much easier than they could a decade ago. One very popular way that authors are distributing their work is digitally through ebooks. Digital books are gaining so much popularity that even some of the most popular authors in the world have used it to distribute their books. Stephen King for example published “Riding the Bullet” exclusively in ebook format. When this ebook began distribution over Barns and Nobel and A om there was so much demand for the download that the servers of these two book giants slowed down almost to a halt. People that wanted to download the ebook were put in a large queue with the hundreds of thousands of other who downloaded the ebook as well.

It’s not only big name authors that are finding success in ebooks. Many of these people are first time authors and are often amazed with the success of their ebook sales. Below are some of their ebook writing tips.

Don’t underestimate the power of the Ebook

Ebooks are still looked upon as unpopular by many authors who have not yet taken the time to learn about the success within this industry. For example, while the traditional publishing industry growing at the sluggish rate of 5% a year the digital publishing industry is growing at rates between 30% -50%. This means that the opportunities within the publishing industry are growing at a fraction of the rate that opportunities within the digital publishing industry are growing.

To set up an ebook you don’t need to be a tech wizard

Setting up your ebook from the idea conceptualization stage to the selling stage can’t be completed overnight but it is definitely something that can be done by anyone regardless of your technological background. If you can use a word processor then you can create and sell an ebook online. While it is recommended you set up your own website, it is not necessary. There are outlets such as om, EBay and L om to name only a few sites that allow you to post your ebook on their servers.

Setting up an Ebook site is virtually costless and you keep 100% of the profits

With traditional publishers you’ll be lucky to see 10% of the profits from your book. With ebooks however, you keep 100% of the profits minus the fees required to set up the site which are minimal. Here is the fee breakdown for ebooks vs traditional books:

Ebook vs Book cost
Ebook = Free to create an unlimited number of copies
Book = approximately $1500 for 200 copies of a 200 page soft cover book
Rights and profit
Ebook = You keep 100% of the profits and rights to your ebooks
Book = You get 10-40% royalty (usually about $2-$5/ book)

With the above examples it is easy to see that for first time authors ebooks make a lot of sense. The risk associated with publishing an ebook is much lower than it is with distributing a soft or hard cover book. Likewise, as an ebook author you’ll keep virtually all of your own profits.

If nothing else, it is something worth consideration. Ebooks may not replace traditional paperback books, but they certainly are gaining popularity at a rate that should make all authors stop to think about how they could use ebooks to their advantage.

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Source: http://www.goblogin.com/index.php/internet/1203-book-marketing/3991-book-marketing-101-for-self-published-authors

No matter what any POD publisher or marketing company tells you (even the traditional publishing houses) you, the author, are almost 100% the reason your book will sell.

It is your belief, excitement, enthusiasm, and energy that will get a reader excited about buying your book.

Publishers are certainly a vehicle by which you can communicate your passion to the rest of the world, but, for ANYTHING to happen you’ll need to know a few things about yourself and your book – and be able to communicate them very clearly.

1. What is your definition of success for your book?

Some authors write for themselves and their families only – they don’t dream of their books as bestsellers in the marketplace. Some authors write for a very specific personal need to tell their story. Some have unique insight into very specific topics. Many have dreams of seeing their book in the front of Borders or Barnes & Noble. Each author is different, but you MUST decide what your real definition of success happens to be. Don’t try to pursue a goal that may not be what you actually feel is important.

2. Who will buy your book?

This is the big secret to sales success in self publishing. Target your marketing to your potential reader – and have it be someone who is reachable.

“Everyone will want to read my book!” Sorry, but that doesn’t work. Even the absolute best selling books – that sell 2 or 3 million copies in a year – only penetrate to a very small percent of the population. Sales success for your book will be driven by defining a very clear picture of who is interested in what you have to say.

And – they must be identifiable: Make a list! Which groups would be interested in your book? Why? Who is next? Why should the need or want your book? (remember this – someone is more likely to buy something they NEED before something they WANT)

Now – narrow it down even more. Years ago books on computers were all the rage – the market was saturated at the “beginner” level, and it seemed impossible to get anymore books into consumers hands. Then a company came along with the bright idea that they would write a computer book for beginners – but beginners who felt intimidated by their computers – and the now ubiquitous and quite famous “For Dummies” series was born – at the time the books hit, there were nearly 3 dozen titles out for beginners. Yet this one scooped up nearly a 70% market share overnight. The rest were left to fight for the scraps. Find a unique angle about your book – and don’t try and be everything to everyone, because you can’t – instead target 100% of a specific part!

3. Where will you sell your book?

Start Worldwide (world wide web that is) and then get local: Where are your customers? Probably scattered around the country. Use the power of print on demand and just in time fulfillment to deliver books all across the nation without having to print hundreds at a time. Where does your customer hang out online? What magazines and papers do they read? What stores do they frequent – that AREN’T bookstores? What associations, clubs, or affiliations do they join? What conventions to they go to? How can you reach them? Promote your books where you find your potential buyers.

4. How will you promote your book?

The least expensive and most effective ways to promote books are with book reviews, news releases, search engine registration, and some form of highly targeted direct advertising – such as email campaigns, news releases, and pay-for-performance click through advertising. Longer term promotions include author signings, TV and Radio spots, and tradeshows – these are also the most difficult, time consuming, and expensive to secure.

Do NOT neglect the power of you the author – many publishers promotional packages include materials that can help turn you into a promotional machine. Business cards, posters, bookmarks – all are available to support your marketing efforts.

Follow these steps on creating a plan for your book, and you’ll find it much easier to create an effective and efficient marketing program for your book.

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source: http://www.streetdirectory.com/travel_guide/103363/publishing/useful_web_sites_for_self_published_writers.html

Written by: Kev Woodward

It is amazing what you can find on the internet nowadays; instructions on how to download music to an ipod, on-line cookery lessons and mouth-watering recipes, broad-sheet newspapers and the history of European art, everything you have ever wanted to know about Elvis Presley , Cat Stevens or S Club 7 – the list is endless – literally. So when you are thinking about self-publishing and are looking for advice, resource or guidance, the Internet should really be your first port of call. But where do you start looking for information? And how can it help you?

There are four principle ways that the Internet can help ease the self publishing process;

1-Getting your text right in the first place and generating ideas
2-Providing you with a forum to learn from and talk to other writers
3-Listing literary agents, editors and designers who can help you improve your manuscript prior to publication
4-Walking you through the entire self publishing process

Let’s look at each of these in turn.

Getting your text right in the first place and generating ideas

Nowadays there really is no need to purchase a multitude of text books on “How to use Words”, “Grammar”, “Generating creative ideas” or “Using Language”. Whilst one or two reference guides are always handy to keep on the bookshelf, the Internet can now supply you with all the information and practical guidance you should need on these subject matters. For help and assistance with spelling, word meanings and pronunciation, take a look at Dictionary.com (http://dictionary.reference.com) or Your Dictionary (www.yourdictionary.com http://www.yourdictionary.com). If its language usage or grammar that you are interested in, try www.usingenglish.com http://www.usingenglish.com and www.englishforums.com http://www.englishforums.com, where you can find answers to almost all of your word usage and grammar queries. You will also find a wide variety of grammar and spell checker software programmes and packages that you can purchase and load onto your computer – ‘White Smoke’ is one of the more popular software packages recommended.

Both fiction and non-fiction writers find that they need to research their subject matter and look up various dates, facts, places and names when writing their manuscript. The internet is fantastic in its ability to support this “fact-finding” process! Google’s answer to scholarly research is a search engine called Google Scholar (http://scholar.google.co.uk) which searches through a wide range of scholarly literature to answer the question or subject matter you pose in its search tool bar. If it’s an easier, straight forward encyclopaedia search you need, navigate your way to Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org), which is the most comprehensive on-line encyclopaedia I’ve ever come across. And most importantly, it is very easy to use.

Two websites that are particularly handy for generating poetry or story ideas are ‘Instant Muse: Poetry Generator and Story Starter’ (www.thestorystarter.com http://www.thestorystarter.com) and ‘Story A Day Writer’s Kit’ (http://westwood.fortunecity.com/smith/406/StoryaDay), both of which help you get your creative juices flowing with free, fun exercises or writing prompts.

Providing you with a forum to learn from and talk to other writers

Learning from other writers, self publishing or commercial publishing, is an invaluable tool. Other writers can empathise with your experiences and frustrations, they can offer advice and enable you to learn from their successes and mistakes, and they can provide you with a safe haven to bounce ideas around and request constructive feedback from those within the industry. The internet has revolutionised the way that we interact with others, and has significantly broadened our capacity to communicate with other likeminded individuals across the world. Through the introduction of user forums, online communities and networks, self publishing writers can now talk to other writers, editors and publishers across the world. A fantastic resource of knowledge and information can now be accessed, and accessed for free, from the comfort of your own home.

Good examples of forums and networking communities to take a look at are www.writing.com, www.publicityhound.com http://www.publicityhound.com, http://wordsworthreading.blogspot.com, www.writewords.org.uk http://www.writewords.org.uk, www.absolutewrite.com http://www.absolutewrite.com and www.writerswrite.com http://www.writerswrite.com. The last two sites mentioned have specific forums dedicated to Self Publishing authors.

When it comes to on-line forums and networking communities, it is important to remember that each forum is generally created with a specific purpose or discussion topic in mind – be that self publishing, marketing your book, or generating ideas. So you may find that you need to try out a few different forums before you find the one that best suits your needs.

Listing literary agencies and editors who can help you improve your manuscript prior to publication

As a self publishing writer, you can sometimes feel that you’d like a second, informed opinion on the manuscript you have produced or the poetry that you have written. You may want an editorial critique of your use of characterisation, language, structure, style and storyline. Or you may simply require a second pair of eyes to check your use of spelling, punctuation or grammar. There are several editorial agencies that provide these services for self publishing authors. Words Worth Reading (www.wordsworthreading.co.uk http://www.wordsworthreading.co.uk) provides comprehensive editorial packages for manuscripts of all genres and sizes – providing tailor-made services where necessary to cater for all our clients’ needs. As with most contemporary literary agencies or editors, Words Worth Reading can be found on the Internet, via online search engine tools or by typing in the website index into your tool bar.

The internet is also a very useful tool for researching and locating self publishing companies, printers, illustrators and designers – all of which are crucial contacts for a Self Publishing author. Most self publishing companies and printers offer a design service, giving you the opportunity to work with professionals when choosing your book cover design, typesetting style and paper type. However, you may want to work with an independent illustrator or designer, or at least investigate a range of designers and illustrators to compare cost and quality. www.contactacreative.com http://www.contactacreative.com can put you in touch with various illustrators and designers and provide examples of their work through on-line portfolios. Similarly, www.ukchildrensbooks.co.uk http://www.ukchildrensbooks.co.uk lists a vast number of children’s books’ illustrators, and www.writersservices.com http://www.writersservices.com has a particularly strong book cover service.

Website search engines such as Google and Yahoo have made the searching process for literary agencies, editors or designers extremely easy. All you need to do is type in your requirements, and a list of suitable companies or websites will appear!

Walking you through the entire self publishing process

So, you’ve got the idea, you’ve spoken to others in the writing community to glean their advice, you’ve written the manuscript and you’ve submitted it to an editorial agency to ensure its squeaky clean. You’re now ready for publication, which for many self publishers is perhaps the scariest stage! Where do you start? Who do you approach? How much should it cost? What about printing? Distribution? Marketing and selling? It can be a minefield. Fortunately there are some excellent websites that can provide you with the advice and guidance you need to make the self publishing process as pain-free as possible.

Take a look at Parapublishing (www.parapublishing.com), a website which contains numerous articles, resources and signposts to books and links that will get you started. The website is built up of comprehensive, informative articles that really dive into the detail. For example, in the ‘Book Design’ section of this website, everything from book covers, printers, audio publication and the benefits of Hard Copies are discussed. Furthermore, each information page includes additional downloadable resources that can be saved onto your computer, or printed.

Another great website to browse through is www.bookmarket.com which covers everything you’d ever want to know about marketing your own, self published book. Whilst it is an American website, it is still very relevant to the English reader, providing downloadable seminar sessions on marketing that you can watch or listen to. This website also contains free marketing reports on both bookstore and internet marketing, and a free online magazine (an “Ezine”) that you can subscribe to.

Don’t forget to take a look at the broadsheet paper’s online book supplements too, as they can help you understand bookseller trends. Most popular are The Guardian (www.guardian.co.uk/books http://www.guardian.co.uk/books), The Times (http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk) and The Mail (www.dailymail.co.uk).

Two further important websites to look at as a Self Publishing writer are www.isbn.nielsenbookdata.co.uk http://www.isbn.nielsenbookdata.co.uk and www.booksellers.org.uk http://www.booksellers.org.uk. The ISBN website explains how to use ISBN numbers, and their importance if you want to sell your book through book stores. It also provides the pricing list for purchasing ISBN numbers, allowing you to purchase your required numbers directly through the website. The Booksellers Association is a wonderful website for anyone interested or involved in the book publishing and sales process. As well as being a great forum for obtaining an insight into the book trade, this website also allows you to search for local book stores in a given town or postcode area, which is very useful when it comes to drawing up your marketing contact list! The website also provides the names and contact details of all the librarians in your area, so that you can address them personally when writing to encourage stocks of your latest book in their library environments.

There is a wealth of online information, support and guidance available to self publishing writers, so don’t forget to tap into the internet when you need some help or advice. You’ll be amazed at what you can find.

About The Author, Kev Woodward

Need your work appraising or proofreading? Words Worth Reading, an editorialservice for writers. Words Worth Reading provides comprehensive editorial services to writers, as well as running informativewriter’s workshops. It is predominately run by expert volunteers and donates part of all submission fees to Oxfam.

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source of article: http://www.streetdirectory.com/travel_guide/140975/publishing/self_publishing_the_hard_way_the_art_of_giving_birth.html

By: Dodie Cross

You know? When you publish a book and send it out into the world, it’s like giving birth to a baby. Everyone checks out your baby. Is it breath-taking? Does it have ten toes and ten fingers? Is it pink and sweet or does it look like an extra from “Alien?” We writers are baring our souls, our deepest thoughts, and our feelings lay open like a cavernous wound. We can’t hide anymore. They know us inside and out. Now they see our baby, and they get to pick it to pieces, bit by bit, until the only thing left is a fuzzy blanket.

Oh, hell, we know that and go right on writing, don’t we? It’s in our DNA. We can’t help ourselves, we’re masochists.

When I started this whole book-writing process, I had full intentions of finding an agent and/or a traditional publisher; they’d do all the work while I sat back and listened to “Ca-ching, Ca-ching.” However my journey to that end has been long and stress-filled and I ended up doing just the opposite…I’d kept a daily journal while living in Thailand in the 90s. When I returned to the States, I copied my journal onto a floppy and had it printed, spiral-bound, and mailed it out to friends and family so they could read about all my trials and tribs while abroad. One of the friends who read it insisted that I make a book out of it.

“You know,” she said, “like the book ‘A Year in Provence.’” I immediately ran out and bought the book and was amazed at the problems that the author had endured in a short year. I just knew that if his book sold, then mine would also, however, life got in the way of living and I put it aside.

I joined some creative writing classes a few years later, and with encouragement from my peers I began the long road of putting the journal into book form. In 2003, when I finally thought I’d finished it, I entered it into the Southern California Writers Conference in San Diego. While there, I read chapters from my story in the Read and Critique groups and the attendees laughed in all the right places and even clapped, (I’d hoped it wasn’t because they were happy I’d finished). At the end of the conference I was notified that I’d won the Best Nonfiction award for my story and an agent asked for my manuscript. Wow! That just doesn’t happen unless they love it! I knew I was ready for the Pulitzer.

Then I began to panic. What if it isn’t perfect? I had talked to a “book doctor” at the conference who advised me that my story “…needed some conflict. Who really cares about a housewife who’s having a good time in Thailand? Give them a reason to turn the page.” Okay, that’s what I’ll do. There certainly was plenty of conflict in my life in Thailand, but I’d left it out; it was painful to relive and I wanted it to be a humorous book. I emailed the agent and told her I wasn’t ready. Take your time, she’d said. It’s not time sensitive.

So began the journey of “weaving” the conflict into my story. It was the hardest thing I’d ever done. It was three years before I felt it was good enough to be a real book. But, those three years were not only spent rewriting. I took online writing classes and signed up at the local college for creative writing classes, I attended a critique group every week, putting my chapters up to their scrutiny as they tore it apart and helped put it back together. The rest of the time I was editing my life away. But as Stephen King says in his book On Writing: edit, edit and edit. And when you think it’s perfect, edit some more. My husband had a name for my constant editing: “Paralysis by analysis.”

When I felt I had everything in place, I looked for professional editing. I first paid the book doctor $500 to tell me that it needed help. He didn’t give me any, just told me it needed it. I found a line-editor in Canada, who did a great job, and then I hired a freelance editor; total for both $600; quite inexpensive in today’s editing market.

During those three years, I also did a lot of reading on the publishing world; agents, print-on-demand (PODs) and off-set printing companies. I attended conferences specifically on “How to get published.” The more I heard and read, the more I thought: From all the conferences I’d attended, the agent panels were the most disillusioning. I learned that agents don’t want you if you’ve not been published, and publishers don’t want you if you’ve not been published, or don’t have an agent, who doesn’t want you either. Who needs ‘em?

Publishers don’t want you if you don’t have a “platform!” A what? To my dismay I learned that I needed to have my own buying public. There was no publisher that was going to run out and sell my book for me, pay for my cross-country book signings and hotel rooms, unless of course I was a King or a Grisham or a Joyce Carol Oates. Then of course, there’s the eighteen month wait for the book to appear on the shelves after the publisher accepts it (if the publisher doesn’t decide to pull the plug at the last minute), and don’t forget the two years that it takes the agent to shop around for a publisher who might decide to pull the plug at the last minute. Who has that long? I don’t even buy green bananas anymore.

Wow! I remember my table mates and I frowning as we listened to the dire answers of this panel of agents and publishers. So how do we get published? Well, we have two options so it seemed: 1) have an agent living next door who loves your home cooked brownies or has a crush on your husband, or 2) know a publisher whose kid mows your lawn or has a crush on you. Not living in New York was going to be a definite drawback. Should I move? Okay, how about a POD? I was fortunate to have a friend who is a small press publisher of railroad books. He offered to put my manuscript into a Quark Express PDF file (which is the format printers prefer). He did an incredible job putting it together for me. He felt that if I had the print setup taken care of, I could approach a POD and save some money.

I signed up for the POD classes at the conferences I attended, where they explained everything I needed to know about their business ─ except how they kept most of the author’s money while they got big and rich and the author got $3.09 per book. Okay, well, $3.09 a book is not that bad. Maybe I could make it. But, wait, I had to pay them to print my book, and then pay them to buy my book back from them; too many “thems” going on here. Something didn’t compute. Maybe I should chuck the book and go into the POD business.

Well, I succumbed. I bought a book called The Fine Print of Self Publishing by Mark Levine, an attorney, then sat down to do some homework. After going over all the PODs he listed with a fine-tooth calculator, I realized that I could pay as much as $30,000 to one such POD group, but hey, my books would be free. How generous of them. Or, I could choose a POD group charging as low as $299, but I’d still have to buy my own books back at about $8.00 each.

I finally settled on a firm I’ll call “Dewey Cheatem & Howe” (name changed to protect the guilty), and thought I’d finally get on with this damn book printing. They sent me a sample of their work that was done beautifully. I signed on the dotted line, waited three more weeks and then my author’s copy was delivered. And there it sat. On my desk. Opened to the first page, which I couldn’t read. I started bawling. Where is my baby? The font was so garbled that it was illegible. There was a space after every capital letter and the other letters were so piled on each other you couldn’t make out the words.

When I’d used all the Kleenex in my desk drawer, I called them. Of course, no one was on the other end, save for the automated voice of their mailboxes. But at least I got rid of my postpartum anger. I cried and said very imperiously, “HOLD THE PRESSES! I will not accept this book. I will call Visa (of course they already had my money) and stop payment and …” I felt like an inner tube impaled on a sharp rock. Then I called my friend, the publisher. “Of course you can do this on your own. You have the file, just find a good printing company.”

I inquired around and found out that I could get my book printed overseas at half the cost of stateside. I began to get phone numbers and surfed websites. There were some good deals to be made overseas; however, the problem was I needed a broker. So after the broker took his cut, and the shipping charges were added, a stateside printer looked better. Plus, the thought of having a problem and not being able to connect at once with your printer was worrisome.

I searched the Internet and found many websites where you could input the details of your book, number of pages, size of book, print run, etc., and within a week I got a bid from ten printing companies. After picking one printer (not the cheapest), I felt we had a fit. I spoke to the owner, who offered to throw in a hundred free books, which might have had something to do with my decision. He checked out my website while we were speaking, loved the site and the look of my book and of course, he had me. He also offered storage and order fulfillment. Now, all I had to do was put our house on the market and clear out our 401K.

I know what you’re thinking. Sure, maybe she has it, but not everyone can come up with that much money. Yes, you can if you want to. We took an equity line on our home and as the money comes rolling in, I’ll be making payments on the equity line. We authors must be optimists. Really! If you don’t believe in your book, who will?

I ran off my own bookmarks and saved a few hundred dollars. I used the cover of the book, wrote a short synopsis on the back, and had 500 printed. I have handed out those bookmarks on airplanes and in airports; Seattle, Palm Desert, San Diego, Portugal, New York, Australia, New England… well maybe not personally, but I’ve given them to people who live in those places and they were happy to have them and said they’d pass them on. I’ve handed them out in restaurants to women sitting around me; two of them bought my book right on the spot. My friends call me “A self-promoting slut.”

I have to leave you now, as that’s where I am in this wonderful world of the written word, where the writing was easy… now comes the hard part ─ marketing!

About The Author, Dodie Cross
Dodie Cross is a freelance writer who has received numerous awards for her writing and poetry. Dodie has traveled the world, writing about her life in foreign countries. Learn more at: A Broad in Thailand.

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source: http://www.streetdirectory.com/travel_guide/141472/publishing/how_self_publishers_can_market_and_sell_more_books.html

Written by: Helen Hecker

As a self publisher you can market and promote your book on a shoestring budget, thousands of independent publishers have done it; be careful about your promotion and marketing dollars and don’t plunge into unknown waters — test, test, and test some more. Self publishers need to have a good marketing plan to sell books and it should be written prior to writing your book and in place a year prior to publishing your book. Your book selling, book marketing, and book promotion planning should begin before the manuscript is completed.

Mail a press release to at least 1000 print and broadcast contacts just prior to publishing your title and again and again after you publish; you can never send too many. Make sure your press release spells out the ‘who, what, where, when, and why.’ Press releases can generate thousands of dollars in sales when picked up by national trade or print media.

Make sure you have at least one good press release, written in AP style, which you can send out for the lifetime of your book. Learning to write and use powerful optimized press releases can often drive tons of traffic to your website while providing multiple back links that can lead to increased page rank and numerous top ten search engine rankings for your targeted keywords. Using press releases for marketing or promoting your book or book’s website has become increasingly popular as publishers discover the powerful benefits of using press releases.

Invest in press release submitting software and set aside time every week to send out a press release online to the press directories. Don’t underestimate the value of a good press release for making book sales.

Create an online contest and list it in online contest directories to drive traffic to your website. Make sure your sales letter or flier is first class; this is your formal presentation of your title to the prospective buyer. Make sure not to overlook the Internet; get yourself interviewed or profiled for sites both about writing, publishing and about the topics covered in your book.

Your sales letter or flier should include an eye-grabbing headline, the benefits to the buyer, the book features, book sales information and testimonials. Remember to make sure your book is listed in Books-in-Print; don’t assume it’s already listed. Submit articles to online article directories that focus on your book’s topic to drive customers to your website.

Build a web site that provides another avenue for ordering, a virtual online press kit and link exchanges with sites that relate to your topic. I’ve seen publishers lose a lot of money paying for expensive display ads, so beware if you do this; I don’t advise it in the beginning — get your feet wet first so you know what you’re doing. Arrange to speak at local, regional and national events that relate to your book topic; bring books along and have an associate sell them at the back of the room.

It’s important to publish a website that focuses on your title; you’ll be able to refer editors and customers and all interested parties to your book information with the click of a mouse. You can give away your book in a raffle at a local function to get more book recognition. If your book fits a specialty market, find a store that fits the genre and offer to leave books on consignment; many publishers have sold thousands of books this way.

Contact any companies, corporations or organizations that might use your book for promotions; offer significant discounts for volume orders or for thousands of copies offer a specified amount above book production costs. Women buy more books then men; see how you can fit your book into the women’s market.

Be your own publicist and send a press release along with a review copy of your book to publications in your book’s genre and to book review magazines. Market your book to your number one market first, and then go after the secondary markets.

Now promote, promote, and promote your book some more! Use your book promotion and book marketing dollars wisely; go after the free and cheap resources daily. If you apply yourself every day and you promote your book like crazy, you can achieve that ultimate goal of selling thousands of copies of your book, many self publishers have done it.

About The Author, Helen Hecker
For more information on book marketing tips and selling more books go to press releases – online, wire service and offline distribution

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Self-publishing is business whether you agree or not. Being independent involves a lot of financial investment. As an entrepreneur and a self-published author, it is necessary that you consider ways to utilize monetary investment and generate a substantial return on your investment.

For most people, budgeting is never an easy task. Money is something that everyone else in the world worries about.

Mistakes, no matter how small, can cost you dearly. You should decisively look at the “big picture”. Decide on how much money should be devoted to what stage of your book’s publication. Learn to organize things according to their priority. Identify the things that are not necessary to fully optimize your budget.

Here are a few suggestions to determine a realistic budget for your pre-publication marketing plan:

(1) Have a list of quotes and estimates for all publication, distribution, marketing, and promotional activities.

Printing

-          book printing (number of finished copies)

-          ISBN numbers (do you have to pay an additional fee?)

-          Advance Reading Copies (are all your recipients interested?)

Distribution

-          list of distribution centers (local, national, or international)

-          postal or online purchasing for booksellers

Marketing

-          bookmarks, flyers, posters, and postcards (design, printing, and distribution)

-          book launching (date, venue, expected number of guests, gimmicks, and reception)

Online Marketing

-          author website (hosting, content, domain, design, and maintenance)

-          ads (banners, e-mail ads, pay-per-click ads, etc.)

-          online bookstore fees

Publicity and Promotion

-          PR (number of copies, type of media outlets and organizations, and distribution)

-          press kits (supplies, shipping and postage fees)

(2) Spend more on interested parties.

Marketing and publicity can be quite a risk, especially when you are new in the industry. It is wise to ask first before sending out your ARCs (Advance Reading Copies). Identify which individuals or media outlets may be interested. This way, your efforts and publicity materials will not most likely to end up in paper shredders.

(3) Take advantage of the Internet.

Blogging will definitely help you disseminate information about your book – at no cost. By joining and participating on social media sites, you can develop reader to writer relationships. You don’t only sell your books; you have to market yourself as an author. Have your author website provide another avenue for getting more readers, online book orders, and link exchanges.
(4) Embrace innovation.

Create a perfect media mix for an effective and extensive marketing campaign. Radio and television appearances can be quite pricey for self-publishers. Print and online publications, on the other hand, are tangible and are perfect for references. Read and take time to adopt what’s new. Learn how to maximize micro blogging and how to keep your prospective readers following you. Technology and innovation have endless marketing and promotional possibilities.

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