Publetariat

Publetariat Resource Lists

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Publetariat is in the process of adding resource lists to all applicable departments.  These lists of links to free resources will appear at the top of the list of articles within each department, so that when you click on ‘Design’, for example, the first item listed will be the Design Resources List. Resource lists are now posted in the Think and Write departments. 

The Think resources list features blogs and sites offering insightful opinion pieces on broad-ranging topics that all fall under the umbrella of self-publishing.  For example, in his blog, Mick Rooney offers reviews of self-publishing service providers, and PMI Books’ The Populist Publisher analyzes just about every issue you can think of related to self-publishing. 

The Write resources list highlights sites with helpful tools you can use when dealing with issues related to craft.  For example, Get Into It can help you work through writer’s block, the Internet Public Library offers a list of basic plot outlines, and Rick Walton maintains an extensive collection of brainstorming ideas and lists for authors of books, stories and poems for children (i.e., lists of common proverbs, first lines of kids’ songs, summaries of popular fairy tales, etc.) .

Additional resource lists are planned for the Design, Publish, Sell and Imprint departments, and will be announced when they’re ready. Check back from time to time because new links will be added periodically. 

Feel free to use the Contact Us form to recommend relevant links. Recommended links should primarily offer information, opinion, instruction or downloadable resources of interest to indie authors and small imprints. Links to sites that only offer goods or services for a fee will not be added. 

DRM on the Kindle – an update

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This is cross-posted at Teleread.org.

A few weeks back I posted on Teleread about Jew Bezos’ take on DRM on the Kindle. Bezos said that copyright holders can choose to include DRM in their Kindle books if they want it, but my contention was that anyone who uploads content to the Kindle through the Digital Text Platform (DTP) did not have this option. I made that assertion because there was no information on the DTP about how to add DRM to a book, and there is certainly no check-box on the upload interface that lets a user choose to DRM the content or not when Amazon prepares it for publication.

 

Well, it looks like the option is available after all — in a manner of speaking.

After some investigation I started to see that most of the books I downloaded that were published on the DTP did not have DRM. To figure this out, all you have to do is change the extension from .AZW to .PRC or .MOBI. Then the files will open in any Mobipocket Reader program or supported device if they are DRM-free.

 

So, I contacted Amazon to see what they would say about the issue officially. The response I received was enlightnening:

 

Using Amazon DTP, publishers have the ability to add or omit DRM from their submissions. If you use the DTP conversion, the default will be DRM-Free. You can, however submit a mobipocket file through DTP, which can have DRM when it was created. If this is the case, then DTP will honor the DRM.

 

That little bit of information is a game changer. I would venture to guess that the majority of individuals and companies using the DTP do not have any idea about DRM, and even fewer know how to effectively use Mobipocket Creator to make a decent eBook file.

 

I would encourage Amazon to make this option more prominent on the DTP and give users a front-and-center option for selecting DRM or not. A link to the Teleread DRM Primer would be a good addition, too.

 

Joshua Tallent is an eBook guru in Austin, Texas. He offers Kindle eBook formatting tips and tricks at his KindleFormatting.com website, as well as formatting assistance for authors and publishers.

Facebook: How authors can use it for book promotion

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 Facebook has more than 175 million active users worldwide. If Facebook were a country, it would be the eighth most populated in the world, just ahead of Japan, Russia and Nigeria. The fastest growing demographic is those 30 years old and older (and you can bet a whole lot of them read books!).

It can therefore be a powerful place to promote your book and yourself as an author. Here are 5 ways you can use it for book promotion: 
 

  1. Set up your own personal profile and start making some friends. If you are a complete beginner, check out these “How to use Facebook videos” on YouTube. You can find my personal profile page and friend me here http://profile.to/joannapenn    

     

  2. Set up a Group. You can set up a group for your book or for yourself as an author here. You can also get a memorable URL instead of the incomprehensible one Facebook gives it.

Here are some related groups to check out:

 

For the other 3 ways to use Facebook for book promotion – check the original post out here. 

Building and Curating Your Community, Part I

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With all of the negative news of late about the collapse of the publishing industry and the "death of print", combined with the report that Captain America, Chesley Sullenberger, "scored a $3.2 million two-book deal with HarperCollins’ William Morrow imprint" for a memoir and a book of inspirational poetry, one might understandably think that jumping into the publishing game right now would be like investing in Ruth Alpern’s new hedge fund based on the advice of Jim Cramer, no?

Actually, no; not at all.

While the major publishing houses continue their suicidal death spiral, and being a mid-list author or aspiring newbie at one of them is less appealing than it’s ever been, this is arguably the proverbial moment of opportunity in a time of crisis for indie authors and publishers.

As I’ve noted previously, self-publishing is becoming an increasingly viable option for non-fiction writers and poets, as well as for ambitious genre fiction writers who understand that, no matter who their publisher is, they’re going to have to bust their ass to market their book and hand-sell it to as many people as possible, one copy at a time, in person and online. These savvy authors know that they have to build a platform for themselves over time — something almost every major publisher requires these days — and know how to use it, attracting a loyal tribe and continually nurturing it.

This exact same opportunity exists for indie publishers who can identify an under-served genre or topic of interest, carve themselves a niche and build a platform around it, and produce quality content that attracts a following that they can then nurture into a passionate community, or tribe.

Back in the late-90s, I founded a poetry reading series here in New York City called "a little bit louder" (now known as louderARTS) that you can read about in Cristin O’Keefe Aptowicz’ definitive history Words in Your Face: A Guided Tour Through Twenty Years of the New York City Poetry Slam, published by Soft Skull Press last year, themselves about as interesting a case study in indie publishing as you could ask for. In the four years I ran the series — as curator, host, accountant, and occasionally even poet — I learned a lot about community organizing, and most of that experience is directly transferable to indie publishers looking to build their own community.

Here are four fundamental tips for curating a thriving community, or tribe, that every indie publisher (and author) needs to keep in mind:

1) It’s not about YOU, it’s about the tribe. Probably the most simple and straightforward point, and yet one that is completely missed more often than not. The strongest tribes share something in common, and it’s rarely the glorification of a specific individual, brand or distribution model. Barack Obama made his Presidential campaign about our hopes for America, while Hillary Clinton’s was all about her until it was too late. Avoid the vanity of a ReganBooks and choose a name that means something to the community you’re looking to become an integral part of.

2) Professionalism is important, but the tribe must have an equal voice. Social media and user-generated content are all the rage right now, and getting the balance right is tricky, but crucial.  It’s what the major publishers have failed miserably at, positioning themselves as unfallible arbiters of taste and opening the doors to the indie revolution. Don’t stumble lazily through those doors; take the best of what they do (editing and design), jettison the worst (high advances, minimal marketing support, no interaction), embrace new distribution models, and add real value to the process by plugging in directly to the community you’re looking to serve and becoming a valued member.

3) "Location, location, location"…isn’t nearly as important as it used to be. Thanks to the internet and digital technology, New York City is no longer the home of the publishing industry, major industry events like BookExpo America are less important than ever, major retailers have less control over distribution, and elite reviewers have less authority than ever before. The only "location" that counts these days is your position within the tribe, and there is no middleman standing in the way of your positioning yourself properly and, more importantly, authentically.

4) Be authentic. Any community worth being a part of is one that is bound by a common interest, cause or goal. In the age of the internet, there are no hiding places and fakers will eventually be exposed. Seriously. A friend of mine, a young woman in her early 20s, recently tweeted the following instructive bit of advice: "to all you marketers on twitter trying to follow us 18-24 yr olds to see what is hip. F*** you.You’re all blocked"

While building and curating a community is incredibly important, the single most critical step comes at the beginning of the process: understanding the reason you’re doing it and managing your expectations on how it will play out.

"Community leads to sales, not necessarily vice versa."

In part 2 of this series, I’ll look at the community=revenue mindset that’s driving a lot of new initiatives in the publishing world these days, and explore the right way to go about turning a loyal community into paying customers.

 

Guy LeCharles Gonzalez is the Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Spindle Magazine. He’s won some poetry slams, founded a reading series, co-authored a book of poetry, and still writes when the mood hits him and he has the time. Follow him on Twitter: @glecharles

Should You Create a Kindle Book? An Author's Guide

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March 8 -14 is Read an E-Book Week. In keeping with the spirit of the event, I thought I’d try to summarize what an author should know about Kindle, the e-reader from Amazon.

I’m going to assume that you’ve heard about the Kindle but you don’t really know too much about it. My aim with this post is to provide enough information for you to evaluate the market and figure out if it’s worth pursuing. So let’s get started. 

 

What Is the Kindle?

  • The Kindle is a dedicated e-book reading device, meaning it reads e-books, along with some newspapers and magazines, but not much else. Version 2 of the Kindle was released in February of this year.
  • It uses E ink technology for the display. E ink is very different from a computer screen or the screen on, say, an iPhone. It is not backlit and so the experience of reading on a Kindle is very much like that of reading off paper. There’s no eye strain and it can be comfortably used for long periods of reading.
  • The Kindle is relatively small and lightweight. It weighs just 10.2 ounces and has a 6″ screen on the diagonal. It’s very convenient for carrying, and many users appreciate its portability over heavy books.
  • The Kindle 2 can hold about 1,500 books at a time.
  • The device currently sells for $359 USD.

There are many video reviews online that will give you a more detailed look at the Kindle and its features. Here are a few good videos I have found:

Who Uses a Kindle?

  • Amazon will not release any sales data about the Kindle devices so no one really knows how many they have sold or who is buying them. Guesses from industry watchers range from 300,000 units sold to as high as 500,000.
  • Contrary to what you might intuitively guess — that the biggest users are kids of the ‘Net generation — anecdotal evidence points to users 40 years of age and up as the primary market. This older audience appreciates the resizable type, the light weight and portability, and the convenience of instant access to content. Typically, they also have more money and are able to afford the $359 ticket price.
  • Oprah Winfrey endorsed the Kindle on her show in October 2008, raising the device’s profile with the public in a big way. Demi Moore twitters about how much she loves her Kindle.
  • Right now, the Kindle is only available in the United States. There is some speculation that version 3 will be available in other countries, but Amazon has yet to confirm that this is true.

What About the Content?

  • There are about 245,000 book titles currently available in the Kindle format, including 102 of 111 current New York Times bestsellers.
  • Amazon reports that Kindle books have been selling briskly, now accounting for about 10% of sales for titles where both print and Kindle editions are available.
  • Kindle books are proprietary files. The files are wrapped in DRM (Digital Rights Management) technology, meaning they are encrypted. They can only be read on a Kindle or on the Kindle app for the iPhone. There is a great deal of debate and criticism in the publishing industry over Amazon’s choice to encrypt its files. Many publishers are pushing to standardize e-books around an open file format called ePub. (More on that in a later post.)
  • The typical price for a Kindle book is about $9.95. Amazon keeps a 65% commission on each sale. This is higher than the 55% commission they keep on print book sales.

What’s the Upshot?
While Amazon has taken its share of criticism over the Kindle for a variety of reasons — some of it well deserved — it can’t be denied that the device is helping bring e-books to the mainstream and creating new opportunities for book sales.

If you are an author with an existing print book, or one in production, publishing a companion Kindle version is pretty easy and inexpensive. For a small additional investment, you can make your book available to an audience that craves new content and wants it quickly. This audience is relatively small right now but will continue to grow over time. It’s almost certainly a good investment to make.

Jennifer Tribe is a principal at Highspot Inc. where she helps business owners publish their non-fiction books.

Getting Out of The NY Mindset

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A challenge I’ve had in going indie, is to get out of the "NY Mindset." There is an assumption I think many people have about indie authors that basically starts with: "Secretly they really want NY."

 

Well, maybe they do, maybe they don’t. But as I’ve been exposed to more and more indie authors as well as small press and e-published authors, I’ve started to learn that every writer has a different dream. We aren’t a homogenous blob of one desire.

 

Not every author wants to be a bestseller. I know that sounds insane, but nevertheless. Not everybody wants to be president of the United States either. There are drawbacks to everything, no matter how amazing it looks on the surface.

 

Not every author wants another publisher, whether it’s a small press or a big major NY publisher, to take control of their work. It’s easy sometimes for one author to look at their personal wants and desires and decide that must be what all authors want. It’s easy for human beings in all areas to do the same thing.

 

If you want a house with a white picket fence, a dog, and 2.5 children, then that must be what everyone wants. If you want to run your own business, that must be what everyone wants. Intellectually we all know this isn’t true, but emotionally sometimes it’s easy to forget that our goals are not everyone else’s goals.

 

As writers we’ve been conditioned to believe that only bad writers won’t give up control of their own work. While I agree that editing is one of the single most important facets of a book, whether self published or not, I don’t agree that in the end the author shouldn’t have the final say over what happens to his/her work. After all, it is his/her work. And the goals of the author might not be to fatten the bank accounts of a major NY publisher. Wacky idea, I know.

 

I have several NY published author friends, and I think they’re awesome. And I have several friends who are on that NY publishing track, which is great too. But I often find it hard to relate with this group of writers because their perception of what success is, and what we should want, and what is real or fake, or acceptable or unacceptable, flies in the face of what I’ve learned about myself.

 

The economy is creating a funny dichotomy. On the one hand, more people seem to be open to the idea of self publishing. It’s as if we only needed the economy to really go bad for people to feel like they had permission to publish, because the odds suddenly got so awful that it’s almost "legitimate" now. On the other hand, some are getting more loud in their arguments against self publishing.

 

I’m not sure why self publishing is of interest to someone who has no intention of doing it, but the biggest argument that is brought forth is how "bad" most self published books are. Well, yeah, that’s true.

 

The unfortunate side effect of lowered entry barriers is that anyone who wants to play can play, even if they aren’t any good. But that’s been the case for all other types of business forever. If you open a bad restaurant, you fail. But anyone can open a restaurant. You don’t have to be vetted by another restaurant owner first.

 

If you sell wilted flowers from a stand on the side of the road, you fail. But anyone can sell flowers without a vetting process.

 

I’ve seen my fair share of really bad NY published books as well. In fact, of the 41 novels I read last year, about half of them were bad enough that I couldn’t write a review for them without it sounding like sour grapes. So I abstained from comment.

 

But the one thought running through my head with regards to most self published books being bad is: who cares? There are lots of bad books, but one of the primary forces that drives sales besides just getting your book out there somehow, is word of mouth.

 

When people love your work they tell others. And if those new readers love your work, they tell others. The statistical percentage of bad self published work is entirely irrelevant to your book and your personal success, however you choose to measure it.

 

But I got to thinking more about those "bad self published books" and wondering about the goals and dreams of the person who wrote them. Does that person want to be a bestselling author with a NY house? Maybe. That’s the stereotype. But what if they have a different view?

What if they aren’t on the author career path at all. Maybe they wrote a book because it was inside them and they needed to get it out. Maybe they wanted to see their name on a book and hold that book in their hands. (Why this is wrong and ‘vain’ when everyone chases after things that make them feel good, I have no idea.) Or they wanted to give it to family and friends. Or they wanted to sell it just to see what happened.

 

Some people really are okay with creating their art for whatever audience they have without having to have a dollar or prestige goal attached to it.

 

Yes, a lot of self published books are bad. So are a lot of NY published books. While there is a lot of chaff, indie authors can produce whatever they want, and in that artistic freedom we sometimes find something really great.

 

Writing Tips For The Reluctant Writer

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This piece, by Lisa Barone, originally appeared on Outspoken Media on 3/9/09.

It’s Monday morning. Okay, it’s actually more like Monday afternoon now. And that simple fact means that I spent a big chunk of today reading and commenting on different blogs (and re-breaking my foot…). It’s part of my Monday morning Getting Caught Up process, the one that prepares me for the week ahead. Impressive considering that my brain on Mondays is still usually half dead from whatever transpired over the weekend.  But that doesn’t matter. Because it’s Monday, dammit. And now my head is filled with half-written blog posts on SEO and social media and blogging and search and everything in between.  And they’re all fighting for their proper attention.  Because Monday means writing.

Monday also means one more thing: My head. Is going. To explode. 

This is my life. And if you’ve ever been in the position of having to write content, it’s probably something you’ve experienced as well. It’s hard, that whole ‘getting it out’ thing. The ideas are there, your mind is racing, but trying to get them down…well, that’s a whole other story.

On Friday, my friend and kickass Web designer Zane DeFazio tweeted this bat signal:

"I need writing tips!"

He was trying to knock out a few awesome blog entries but couldn’t get them out of his head. He was stuck and needed some writing tips. Vince Blackham suggested we blog about it.

I get their struggles because I have them daily. Just because I’m a writer doesn’t mean it always comes easy. It doesn’t. It’s a process. But here’s what I do when I’m having a hard time getting my writing juices flowing, maybe it’ll help you as well.

Close down the distraction sites.

If you were to look over my shoulder during the day, you’d find that I’m staring at 18 different browser windows (all tabbed for her pleasure). My eyes are bouncing back and forth between information groups and my brain is about to explode. I like it that way. That’s how I take in information. I’m ADD and I jump around, always looking for more, clicking further into a Web site. Until it’s time to write.

When I’m writing, the noise has to stop.

Here’s the thing, it’s really easy to spend 5 hours writing a 400 word blog post. If I leave all my screens open, it means I’m going to notice when my Twitter Search updates. It means I’m going notice when another piece of email rolls in and I’ll have to check it immediately. I’m going to keep an eye on the Celtic game that is updating in the background. And the second my brain hits a lull, I’m going to go straight to one of my social media sites to check in there. It’s too easy to give in to the temptation and what’s easy. [Hey look, as we speak Rae is Skyping me.  I should have turned that off as well.]

These tics not only rob you of time, they also affect the quality of what you’re writing and disrupt your flow. When you’ve hit a groove and then you look away because your BlackBerry just lit up, you break your train of thought. You take yourself out of what you were doing and away from your current thought. You’ve set yourself up to come back feeling scattered and disconnected. That means more editing time.

Close it down, folks. Commit to your writing time and write. Unless Google buys it and feedburners it, Twitter will still be there when you’re done.

Start with a short sentence.

I know, this sounds stupid but I swear to God it works. I write a lot of content. Blog entries, longer articles, guest posts, comments, guides, social media stuff, etc. And if you’ve noticed, most of my posts start off with a short sentence. A quick three or four words. And I do it that way for a reason.

I love blogging. I love my job. But it can also carry a lot of pressure. The act of having to produce something daily. To constantly be funny or smart or to get a point across. It’s daunting. And there’s nothing more daunting than the sight of that blank screen with that stupid cursor flashing in your face reminding you that you’re only at the beginning of the race. Honest to God, I think that’s why we kick letters off with a simple “hi”. Anything to get you quickly get over that awkward hump and get you into the flow of writing. Because once you make it passed that, you’re in the zone. It’s like sex. Once you get passed that initial awkwardness, everything just fits together the way it’s supposed to. You remember why you’re here, what you’re doing and what your audience is waiting for.

Beginnings are scary but you can tackle them. Just say hi and get it over with.

Write without reading.

For the love of God and all things holy, writing and editing are two different tasks. Stop trying to do them at the same time.

The reason you can’t write is because you keep breaking your flow to fix that typo, to use a different word, to clean something up, to say something else, to make yourself sound smarter etc. Of course you can’t get anything down, you’re using the different sides of your brain against one another.

When you’re writing, just write. The first draft is all about getting it out. It’s about getting out all your ideas, putting it all down and losing those restraints. And that’s really the best piece of advice anyone can give you. If you’re having trouble writing, just start typing. Don’t look at the screen, don’t edit yourself, don’t read it aloud yet, don’t even pay attention to what you’re saying, just type. You can fix everything else later. But writing and editing need to be two different processes. Accept that from the beginning and stop trying to combine them.

Lisa Barone is the Chief Branding Officer of Outspoken Media.  Read the rest of Lisa’s terrific tips at Outspoken Media.

Books in 140: An interview with Twitter book critic Erin Balser

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This piece, by Mark Medley, was originally posted on The Afterword on 3/10/09.

Erin Balser is the founder of Books in 140, the popular Twitter feed in which a book is reviewed in 140 characters.

 

By day, she works in the marketing department of the University of Toronto Press. The 24-year-old East Coast transplant exchanged e-mails with the Post‘s Mark Medley about the difficulties of short reviews, the site’s popularity, and the future of publishing.

The Afterword: Where did the idea for Books in 140 come from?

Erin Balser: I wanted to use social media — Facebook, my blog, Twitter, etc — as a space to better participate in the book community and validate the
ridiculous amounts of reading I do, but I couldn’t think of an original angle to approach them from. I had started to use Twitter as a means of networking and connecting professionally when it came to me — Twitter could give me the originality I was looking for while participating in the always-growing online literature community.

Previous to this, were you writing book reviews for any magazines or websites?

No, I wasn’t. But critique was a large part of my education and I was always talking about books, buying books for others and recommending books. Book reviewing, I think, is a natural extension of that.

So how hard do you find it whittling down a book to 140 characters?

It’s not as tough as it seems. I’ve been using Twitter for about two years now, so I think I’m used to the 140-character limit. I think it’s not the format of the review that makes it difficult so much as the books I’m reviewing. And some books are easier than others.

You’re up to almost 1800 followers — that puts you in the top 20 in Toronto. When did Books In 140 really take off?

Top 20 in Toronto? I had no idea! I started Books in 140 in October 2008 and it’s been an exponential rise from there. It was very much an organic, word-of-mouth thing. My followers have been amazing at promoting me with retweets, Follow Friday and more.

The book community — whether authors, publishers, ‘zines, or journalists — seems to have especially embraced Twitter. Why do you think that is?

Readers seem to seek out a vibrant community in which they can discuss books and social media is a logical extension of this. This curiosity and desire to communicate, coupled with the contraction of traditional media has those who are eager to share, participate and learn looking to other options through which to do so. The openness of Twitter really encourages these types of connections.

Read the rest of the interview at The Afterword.

Free & Discounted Ebooks During Read An Ebook Week!

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March 8 – 14 is Read An Ebook week, and in honor of the event many authors who publish their books in electronic format are making those books available for free or at a discount for a limited time. 

 

Some of the books on offer from Publetariat contributors, members and friends are listed below (click each cover to read more about each book and access download links).  See this page at Smashwords for even more free and discounted ebook selections—note that you may need to click through to each book’s detail page to view the coupon codes that allow you to buy the ebook for free or at a discount.

Authors who are offering their ebooks for free or at a discount and are not listed here, feel free to add to this list via the comment form at the end of the article.

RealmShift – Supernatural thriller from Publetariat contributor Alan Baxter – available in multiple formats at Smashwords – use the coupon code displayed on the book’s product page at Smashwords to download for 50% off!  Be sure to check out Alan’s other supernatural thriller, MageSign, also at 50% off on Smashwords this week.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kept – Supernatural romance from Publetariat contributor Zoe Winters – FREE!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As The World Dies: The First Days, A Zombie Trilogy – Supernatural thriller/horror from Rhiannon Frater – available in multiple formats at Smashwords – use the coupon code displayed on the book’s product page at Smashwords to download for 49% off!  Be sure to check out Rhiannon’s other two books on the site, Pretty When She Dies: A Vampire Novel and As The World Dies: Fighting To Survive, which are both also available for 49% off.

 

 

 

How To Enjoy Your Job – nonfiction from Publetariat contributor Joanna Penn – available in multiple formats at Smashwords – use the coupon code displayed on the book’s product page at Smashwords to download for 49% off!

 

 

 

 

 

Boob Tube – Chick lit from Publetariat contributor Mark Coker, co-written with Lesleyann Coker – available in multiple formats at Smashwords – use the coupon code displayed on the book’s product page at Smashwords to download for 49% off!

 

 

 

 

 

Snow Ball – dark, comic mystery from Publetariat’s founder, April L. Hamilton – available in multiple formats at Smashwords – use the coupon code displayed on the book’s product page at Smashwords to download for FREE!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Adelaide Einstein – comic fiction/chick lit, also from Publetariat’s founder, April L. Hamilton – available in multiple formats at Smashwords – use the coupon code displayed on the book’s product page at Smashwords to download for FREE!

 

 

 

 

AND NOW, as a special reward for those of you who read all the way to the bottom of this piece and are paying attention, here’s another special gift from Publetariat’s founder in honor of Read An Ebook week.

Tweet to share this page!

Book Covers: Tips and Resources

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 Cover design is an incredibly important part of the publishing process. If you are published by a publishing house, you probably won’t have much say in the matter. But for self-published and indie authors, this is a key topic.

You want people to pick your book out from the others in the store, or from the website. Here are some tips and resources you can use to stand out. 

 

Get some inspiration

·         Book cover examples : lots of book covers to give you ideas for yours . Some are terrible covers but probably sell a lot of books (Warren Buffett), some are brilliant and eye-catching (Leather Maiden), and others go for plain and simple (Secret of Scent).

·         The Book Design Review Blog – examples and commentary on book covers

·         Archive of book cover designs and designers – over 1000 covers to view

·         Cover as brand – how Penguin uses the classics look. Also, think “For Dummies” range and other book brands where the cover distinguishes the content.

 

 

Top Tips for book covers:

·         Remember you are selling on the internet (as well as bookstores). Your cover needs to be clear and legible even at Thumbnail size. Make it clear and eye-catching. Always include your website somewhere on the cover.
 

·         Spine Tips: Keep plain colours near the spine. I learnt this the hard way by having multicolours which bled onto the spine on some print runs. I will keep plain colours as background in the future to avoid this. If you are making your own files for upload to a Print-on-Demand site, use a spine calculator to check the width.

·         The back cover is sales copy. It should include headline and blurb text. Make it like a sales letter so they want to read inside.  The headline should be in different size font so it stands out.

 

·         Don’t print the RRP (Recommended Retail Price) on the back of the book. If you are selling overseas then it will be in the wrong currency and you will sell it for different prices to different people anyway. Bookstores will price it if they take it and you can sell it for whatever you want.

 

 

Make your own cover – here are some helpful sites:

 

·         Dan Poynter (guru of self-publishing) has a fill in the blanks Book Cover worksheet.He also has a short document for sale which has some interesting points.
 

·         Interactive book cover creator – quite a cool gadget
 

·         Publishing learning centre at Cafe Press – lots of great technical information about how to design one yourself.
 

·         Buy images online at a number of sites. If you find an image online that is not for sale, then approach the photographer or site for permission to use. www.iStockPhoto.com has millions of images. I use this site for book cover images as well as for my websites.
 

If it’s all too hard, get it designed for you – here are some of the sites I found online (although I have not used myself).


·         Book Cover Express – email for price list

·         Book Cover Designer – various options from ebooks to hardcover, can also do type-setting

·         Book Cover Pro – some very nice covers on here. You can buy their software, use their templates or they will do a custom cover based on a template for US$275

·         Killer Covers  – for ebook covers that look good as thumbnails – for $117

·         Get a professional designer from Elance – post your project and get bids from professionals 
 

(First posted at The Creative Penn)  

Affordable Advertising

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From the Publetariat Editor’s Desk: 

A major challenge facing indie authors, small imprints and freelance author services professionals is promotion. 

Advertising on heavily-trafficked sites is typically too expensive for indies and freelancers, but the more affordable ads on smaller sites may not get the traffic needed to make the investment worthwhile. 

This week, Publetariat is rolling out its paid advertising program.  Now, you can get your ad in front of the thousands of people who visit Publetariat each day for just US$32 – $75 per week when you book for a whole month, and US$50 – $100 per week when you book one week at a time. Even if you want to go crazy and book the most premium ad slot, right beneath the login block on the front page of the site, for a whole month, it’ll only set you back US$300. Ad space can be reserved weeks or even months in advance, to synchronize your ad’s timing with your book, site, product or service launch.

But that’s the pricing for just anyone off the street, we can do better for our friends.  Registered members are entitled to a 15% discount off regular rates. 

Since its launch on 2/11/09, Publetariat has quickly gone viral and already has an Alexa traffic rank in the top 3.66% of all websites worldwide.  But Alexa ranks are based on a 3 month average; since Publetariat has only been open to the public for 25 days, its adjusted rank is actually in the top 1.33%.  Publetariat is already averaging 5,000 hits per day, our RSS feed has received over 4,500 hits in the past 25 days, and average time spent on the site per visitor is 8 minutes.

To view Publetariat’s full ad rate card with booking information, click here.

Choosing Strength

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"The economy is down. You can be up.

Times are tough. You’re tougher.

The recession is depressing. You don’t have to be."

 

I received this in an email from  www.NancyDSolomon.com, a motivation coaching service, and thought it makes a good mantra. Here’s the other part :

"It’s our choice to be powerful or powerless. We need support and encouragement right now. We need to remember how strong we are, how capable we are, how invincible we are."

I’ve had a real struggle this week with depression. I’ve decided to quit watching the news. I don’t need to hear any more crap. I know I’m now going to have to work at my day job/career for as long as I breathe, that quite a lot of what I’ve saved as a small business owner has evaporated. Oh well. It wasn’t really there to begin with!

As an independent publisher, i want to put my new book out there. I wanted to get it out last fall – when the economy tanked, I felt I needed to wait.

Well, I don’t want to wait much longer. I’m determined to find a way, even if I have to go through Booksurge. As long as it gets out there!

Think Resources List – sites that have some good ideas about indie authorship

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The Indie Author Blog – forging a career in authorship outside the establishment

Indie Publishing Revolution – dispelling myths and providing information about what it means, and what it’s like, to go indie

Mick Rooney – POD, Self Publishing and Independent Publishing

Nathan Bransford – literary agent/literary blogger; yes, he works in the mainstream, but he’s very positive on self-pub

The Populist Publisher – promoting equal opportunity for authors whose books are self published or published by small, independent publishers 

Publishing Renaissance – all things indie

The Self-Published American – from self-published author R.W. Ridley, this blog provides news, insight and commentary on topics of interest to indies

Self-Publish And Be Doomed? UK Author Norman Giller Regrets Censoring His Book To Please Booksellers

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This article, by Norman Giller, originally appeared on the Sports Journalists Association (SJA) site on 2/27/09.

I sold my journalistic soul this week, and I am ashamed of myself. As a self-publisher, I over-ruled myself as the writer and agreed to allow my book, The Lane of Dreams, to be censored.

Before they would consider stocking the book, a history of White Hart Lane, Tottenham asked to see a copy. Back came the response: “In view of some of the content, we are unable to sanction it.”

I tracked down John Fennelly, their Head of Publications, who told me politely but firmly: “We do not consider it appropriate to offer for sale in our store a book that is critical of our chairman.”

Here’s just a little taster of what Tottenham objected to:

If in 2007 you were a reader of London’s only paid-for evening paper, the Standard, you would have discovered that the depth of feeling against the Daniel Levy-style of leadership could be measured in fathoms. It reached the point when the newspaper and all its reporters and photographers were banned from White Hart Lane after a series of searing columns by confessed Spurs fan Matthew Norman.

Armed with a lacerating vocabulary that would have led to many challenges back in the duelling days, Norman wrote in one Levy-levelling column: “He can act like an imbecile of a very rare order indeed.”

Now that is going for the jugular, and the sort of crippling criticism I dare not put my tongue or pen to. You must weigh for yourself if the criticism was justified, but one thing for certain is that Tottenham showed poor judgment in banning the newspaper.

For this old hack with traditional Fleet Street principles, freedom of speech and freedom of the press is much more important and vital to our society than anything that happens on a football field.

I think I deserve your applause and appreciation for being such a principled and noble defender of our hard-earned freedoms.

But you won’t find a word of it in the book.

The Norman Giller I used to be would have told Tottenham that there was no way in a million years that I would alter a single syllable. I would rather have faced a Dave Mackay tackle.

But I called a meeting with myself, and the publisher in me told the writer: “It will make no economic sense for us to have the book banned by Tottenham. We need the sales that the club shop will give us. Easing out about 100 of the 85,000 words will not devalue the book in any way.”

Weakly, meekly the writer in me gave in, and the book – the censored book – will go on sale in the Spurs store. Humble apologies to Voltaire (“I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it”). Don’t blame me. Blame my publisher.

Publish and be damned? (Duke of Wellington). Publish and be doomed, more like.

The Lane Of Dreams has become part of a great adventure that includes a head-to-head sales war with the redoubtable Harry Harris.

I have known, liked and respected Harry since his local newspaper days, before he developed into arguably the greatest football news gatherer of his generation. I was chief football reporter on the Daily Express when he first came into the business, and I am glad I had got out before he started shovelling scoops by the lorry load.

We have come out with identically themed books, and Harry launched his Down Memory Lane at a Mayfair bash on Wednesday. His Green Umbrella Publishers are orchestrating a vigorous promotion campaign, but I am going to try to hang on to their coat tails.

I tried to spike the launch by almost giving away my book as a £2.99 try-before-you-buy download, with everybody purchasing it getting my £18.95 book in electronic form before it’s traditional paper-and-ink publication at the start of next season.

Fighting dirty, I leaked gossip of the “book war” to another of the outstanding newsmen, Charles Sale at the Daily Mail. I was following the dictum of old boxing promoter Jack Solomons: “All publicity is good publicity, provided they get your name right.”

But Harry has got off to a flier, and his book is already showing in the best seller lists while I am still in the starting blocks.

For anybody out there interested in going down the self-publishing road, be careful, be diligent and plan every step well in advance of publication.

Read the rest of the article at SJA.

Read an eBook Week

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Next week is the fifth annual Read an eBook Week.

This great promotion is being supported by a large number of companies and authors, all of whom want to see eBooks succeed and become part of the public consciousness. Some of my own clients have given me permission to offer their books as free downloads next week (http://kindleformatting.com/ebookweek.php). Do you know of any other free downloads or great eBook promotions connected to the event? Let’s create a master list here (in addition to the ones listed on the official site). Post your links in the comments.

Joshua Tallent offers eBook formatting and related services to authors and publishers, with specific emphasis on the Kindle and Mobipocket formats. Visit his website, KindleFormatting.com, for useful information and Kindle conversion assistance.