Business End

Articles about the business aspects of publishing and self-publishing.

Post Office Slow – Three Kings Early

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Here’s an update on my trying to collect an insurance claim from the postal service for a box lost in the mail last year. I spent most of Monday afternoon copying proof to support my claim for insurance on a package of 15 books that was lost in the mail over a year ago. After 13 months of not hearing back from the postal service, I wrote a letter asking the status of my claim. The reply took a month to come back which was last Friday. My claim had been denied for these reasons. Mail not bearing the complete names and addresses of the mailer and addressee, or is undeliverable as addressed to either the addressee or the mailer. I’ve been given 60 days to reply.

I copied everything I had as proof that the postal services reasons aren’t so such as the pieces torn off the cardboard box which the postal service sent me back from the dead letter place in Hazelwood, Mo. where the box ended up. The postal service employees didn’t have any problem finding me by taking my address off the return address to contact me. Other cardboard pieces contained the address sticker for the person who bought the books plus the canceled stamps. I’d kept my email correspondence to show the person emailed her address to send the books to and the address matches the address sticker on cardboard piece.

My problem didn’t begin with this box. I sold the 15 books on January 1, 2009 and sent the first box a day later. It was lost in the mail at the same Hazelwood, Mo dead letter office as the second box. I was sent cardboard pieces of that box with address stickers and stamps, but I hadn’t insured the box so didn’t have any way of getting back my loss. So the second time February 9, 2009, I did insure the box. Both times, I was asked to send pictures of what was in the box so the postal employees could look for the contents and fill out a form describing the contents. I was hopeful if the employees had portions of my boxes they might have some of the books. I didn’t hear back one way or the other.

Not wanting to lose a good customer, I sent a third shipment of books by UPS. That box was delivered to the address, which the postal service said couldn’t be correct on the missing boxes, in 24 hours. By then, I was out 45 books and $20 postage, postal insurance and tracking fee and was paid for 15 books and postage to cover one shipment. My letter to the postal service states if I had that kind of bad luck with their service very many times, I’d be out of business.

In February 2009, I was told I had to wait a month to fill out a claim form in case my boxes were found. My month was up in March 2009. I waited patiently for a reply on finding the books or the insurance claim check but didn’t hear from the postal service. Finally months later, I called the claims status phone number. The help line is voice activated. I tried giving my umpteen numbered claim and was ask to repeat the numbers. Finally, I was told I’d have to wait 17 minutes for someone to help me in person that could understand me. Not 10, 15 or 20 but 17 minutes. I hung up.

After waiting a year, I’ve heard stories from others that they hadn’t gotten insurance claims either. I was told by them not to be hopeful. Now I’m sending my 9 pages of proof and two page letter back to see what happens next. It is a good thing to keep a paper trail for transactions. Whether it helps me or not we’ll have to wait and see. After all this long wait, I still may not get a reply for months. When my patience runs out again, I’ll inquire why the postal service hasn’t gotten back to me, I’ll get a letter from the postal service telling me the inquiry wasn’t bearing the complete name and address of the mailer so they couldn’t answer me.

Saturday afternoon, we scurried around like squirrels burying nuts for winter. The weather men said it was going to be down to 31 degrees that night. My husband covered up as much of our large garden as he could with tarps. I put lids on the plastic coffee cans that protected our two dozen tomato plants I’ve babied since February, a dozen pepper plants and a few sweet potato plants. I brought my hanging baskets and small flower pots inside. My husband took three large ones, containing two feet tall geraniums I had taken care of in an upstairs bedroom all winter, to the garage.

Sunday morning, we checked from window to window, looking for frost in the hayfield and pasture. Though the air was cold enough to cause the furnace to run with the thermostat set on 60, we couldn’t see any flowers or vegetables that froze. We spent the evening at my husband’s mother’s house in Belle Plaine. The rest of the family had tales about frosted grass, icy sheets and wilted leaves. When I lamented we may have to go through this again at the end of the week because it will be the Three Kings days, my mother-in-law said not to worry. The Kings came early this year. They won’t be back. I sure hope she’s right.

The first of our setting hens hatched chicks yesterday. My husband has them in a secure, warm place in the barn which is the only varmint proof building we have. We had two other hens sitting on nests in the machine shed, but a mother fox decided she needed those hens and eggs worse than we did. She has babies in a field driveway culvert not far from our house. Recently, I thought she was cute when I saw her red head peeking at me in tall road ditch grass as we drove by her home. Several mornings in a row, we discovered empty eggs shells a few at a time on the machine shed floor then my hens came up missing. We realized Mrs. Fox was paying us nightly visits. I don’t think she is cute now.

We decided the machine shed is off limits to the hens wanting to be mothers. We have other places that the hens can hide so we forgot to keep checking the old corncrib we use for storage. Yesterday we found a nest with 17 eggs. Later when I looked again, the hen was on the eggs. When she stays on the eggs at night, we’ll know she’s sitting. The corncrib isn’t any safer than the machine shed so I hope Mrs. Fox doesn’t find out about her.

Publishing & Self-Publishing in 2010

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I read quite a lot each day about the issues going on in the publishing world, but in particular about self-publishing and the part it now plays within the industry of book publishing. Note the subtle emphasis on the word within. Say nothing—keep it under your hat—just maybe they, the industry, won’t notice! What is significant today is, much of what appears in trade magazines, news services, publisher and writer blogs, as well as the wider media dealing with the latest technological and digital advances in publishing is just as relevant to independent and self-published authors as it is to the most seasoned publishing houses or bestselling authors.

I would go further and suggest the challenges facing publishing houses—trade and independent—in the current economic climate are what self-publishing authors experience in their microcosm world of publishing. Make no mistake—self-publishing a book is a business decision and slowly but surely, authors entering the field are realising this fact.

Self-published authors have long been dealing with the commercial dilemmas of e-book platforms and formats, targeting, and crucially, engaging their readership with carefully but aggressively led viral marketing plans. What self-published authors are quickly learning, particularly authors of non-fiction, is that the paper product of "book" is not necessarily always the primary selling point. It can often simply be a promotional tool used to present an idea, service, strategy or philosophy.

The core focus of POD, Self Publishing & Independent Publishing has always been to look at global publishing from the perspective of the author considering the possibility of publishing his book outside of the mainstream channels—that is—sans literary agent and even the sniff of a publisher or small press of any kind. I’ve never seen self-publishing as some form of compartmentalised oddity on the soles of the publishing industry’s shoes, or the guy who hawks folded and stapled A4 sheets of verse through the pubs of Ireland. This romantic notion of bard with verse may have once been the view of self-publishing in its bad old days of vanity publishers, but it no longer reflects the burgeoning industry within a larger industry.

Though our pub crawler with his sheets of stapled verse may consider himself as published and legitimate an author as Joyce, Yeats, Hemmingway, Pynchon or Picoult, the fact is, the self-published fraternity have dramatically upped their game in the past ten years. Self-publishing may have an unfair perception of poor-quality books and content, but is no longer the outpost for Aunt Maple’s home recipes for family and friends. It is now the playing field of talented authors with true and original voices, as well as highly motivated business entrepreneurs.

I’ve hosted several short, hour-long sessions with writers’ workshops and book clubs, with the topic of discussing self-publishing. I carry out the same exercise at the start of each one. I lay out ten books, a mix of fiction, non-fiction, paperback and hardback, and challenge them to identify the two books self-published or printed through an author solutions service. After several minutes and much mumbling, they all make their choices and note them down, having been encouraged to sniff, stroke, rub and read each book on the table. They will usually be insistent as a group on which ones are bona-fide and the three or four that ‘look suspect’. I normally go through the books afterwards with them and announce that actually eight of them are self-published and only two published by mainstream publishing houses. You won’t believe how many times at least one mainstream title ends up being one of the suspect pair. Yes, I did have a session where they both ended up as the suspect pair. God knows why some woman thought Nobel Laureate J. M. Coetzee was self-published!
 
I mention this exercise in the context of my opening paragraph and the fact that readers of books pay little or no attention to who the publisher of a book is; be it CreateSpace or Canongate, Little-Brown or Lulu. Branding only means something to the reader in the context of the author they identify with and the words produced on page. We don’t shop for books in the same way we shop for food. A good book is a good book and the most discerning and fickle editor in the world is often the ordinary reader.
 
The landscape of global publishing has dramatically changed in the past year. I find it increasingly difficult to speak about publishing without instinctively including self-publishing. For one, the most innovative and refreshing approach to modern publishing is coming from self-published authors, though not necessarily from the author solutions services they choose to pay for and use. For the most part, with a few exceptions, authors get their book set up with a digital printer and made available online, and with the potential to provide a finished product comparable to anything offered from a commercial house, provided the author invests in good editing and design services. From there on, the author is pretty much on his own to promote and market his book online, or ideally, secure distribution and placement on the shelves of bookshops—something even commercial publishers are finding harder to do with low and mid-listed titles from their catalogues.
 
Without doubt the most significant news in self-publishing occurred in late 2009. For many traditional-thinking purists of the publishing industry—the unthinkable happened. Thomas Nelson, the fifth-largest trade publisher in the United States and leading global publisher of Christian textbooks, signed a partnership deal  with Author Solutions (ASI), the largest global corporation of author services. ASI own some of the biggest brands in the self-publishing sector, with companies like AuthorHouse, iUniverse, Xlibris, and Trafford. Their partnership with Thomas Nelson led to the formation of Westbow Press, an imprint of Thomas Nelson offering self-publishing services to authors. Hardly had the ink dried on that deal when ASI announced a second partnership, this time with commercial romance giant Harlequin. The resulting new imprint, Harlequin Horizons, caused considerable criticism from three major author guilds in the US, MWA (Mystery Writers of America, RWA (Romance Writers of America) and the SFWA (Science-Fiction Writers of America). Within days Harlequin changed the name of the imprint to Dell Arte Press in an effort to remove the implied connotation authors might be confused and think they were being published for a fee by Harlequin’s mother ship.
 
The jury is still out on these new entities of self-publishing—shrouded in the criticism that Thomas Nelson and Harlequin are exploiting manuscript slush piles by referring rejected authors to their paid services. But then, in some form or another, haven’t commercial publishers always been exploiting authors by retaining and sharing out 90%+ profits with printers, distributors and retailers on every book sold? Would you be happy if you devised or invented a product, sold it to a manufacturer, and they offered you 6 – 8% on every unit sold? Probably not, but then, that’s the publishing model as we know it. Deal with it or self-publish.
 
What we are seeing in self-publishing increasingly are authors with more savvy and the know-how to reach directly out to the readers through blogs, online forums and fanzines like Shelfari, and the ability to use unique sales platforms like the Amazon Kindle bookstore and Smashwords, beyond the standard e-tailers. More authors are slowly educating themselves about self-publishing and they know the difference between services like CreateSpace and AuthorHouse. In the past couple of years we are seeing an increasing amount of authors opening commercial accounts with Lightning Source (LSI), the primary choice of printer and fulfilment services for many of the world’s POD (Print-on-demand) Publishers—effectively we are seeing a new breed of self-publisher confident and bold enough to purchase his own block of ISBN’s, set up his own imprint, and entirely cut out the middle man by going straight to source.
 
It is clear we are seeing the lines between publishing and self-publishing blurring, and the core model of the traditional business of publishing is changing, not because it wants to, but because it has to if it wants to survive. In many ways, both publishing perspectives have a great deal to learn from each other. Time, then, to learn…
 
(This article first appeared in Irish Publishing News on February 8th 2010.) 

 

This is a reprint from Mick Rooney’s POD, Self-Publishing and Independent Publishing site.

Marketing to Indie Bookstores

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The following are some considerations when developing a marketing plan for independent bookstores. The primary questions are surprising: “Do you really want to?” and. “If so, how should I do it?”

Do You Really Want To?

The most important question is, “If I sell books to independent bookstores, will I get paid?” The answer is probably, but very slowly. Why? Indy bookstores are fighting for survival against the big box stores and the online retailers. Cashflow and dependable suppliers are very important. When it comes time to pay the bills, many stores will prioritize where their bill-paying money goes. Usually they will pay their primary suppliers first: Ingram and Baker and Taylor Distributors and perhaps a regional distributor. These book sources are their lifeblood. They must make sure they keep them happy, especially because these sources are very hard-nosed about keeping current and have the collection resources to back it up. Lower on the priority list are the major publishers and then finally small/self-publishers. 
 
Understanding this reality necessarily should drive your policies of doing business with the bookselling community. Yes, you should seek their business, but understanding the above realities will help you to develop these. 
  • First, it is imperative that you get accepted by the major distributors so Indy bookstores can easily order your books in whatever quantity they need without having to pay heavy shipping and handling charges. Ordering convenience is paramount to them. One stop shopping is also important—only one bill at the end of the month to keep track of and pay. You can expect to give these distributors a 55 to 65% discount. They, in turn, will sell your books to the bookstores at a 38 to 42% discount.
     
  • If a bookseller orders from you directly, make it easy, fair, and smart. Some small publishers have sell-defeating discount policies. They may have a structure such as this: 1 book= no discount, 2 to 9 books= 20% discount, 10 or more= 40% discount. This is absolutely insane. You may think this will urge booksellers to order more books from you. It really has the opposite effect. Bookstores must be very careful about their inventory. Their display space is limited and valuable. They would rather depend on just in time inventory replenishment than on carrying unnecessary multiple copies. Regardless of how many books an Indy orders, give it the standard 40% discount. Make the process as easy and fair as you can.
     
  • Understanding bookstores’ bill paying priorities makes it imperative that you urge on the spot credit card payments. This makes much more sense than trying to urge multiple copy buying with an unrealistic and restrictive discount schedule. If you want to extend billing privileges after they have gone through a credit application process, you can take your chances with their payment priorities. You also are going to have to establish a collection process. Will it be worth it?
     
  • Offer an additional 5% discount for non-returnable purchases. This makes far more sense than a complex copy vs. discount plateaus such as above. Again, make it easy for the bookseller while protecting your cashflow.
     
  • Match your marketing campaign to the above realities. First priority is to the distributors in terms of announcing new titles and any marketing aids that will make their job easier and more effective to their bookseller community. If you want to conduct a postcard or email campaign to booksellers, stress your books are available through the distributors.

Some effective marketing strategies you might want to consider: 

  • Direct mail to booksellers with postcards
     
  • Emails to booksellers
     
  • ABA (American Booksellers Association) white box program (monthly package sent to 1,200 Indy bookstores with sample books and marketing materials) guaranteed to get you in front of the book buyers.
     
  • Indy regional booksellers marketing email blasts. See my blog post Getting the Attention of IndieBookstores by Bob Spear 
Pot Sweeteners
 
Here are a few marketing aids you might consider using:
  • Bookmarks
     
  • Sell sheets
     
  • Some bookstores have reading groups or support local reading and education groups. Provide a downloadable reading guide or a teacher’s guide for children’s books.
     
  • Indy bookstores are always looking for excuses to have events as a way of standing out from the big box stores and making their store a destination. Provide an event kit upon request, if that is appropriate. That will be more likely for children’s books, but maybe it will work for specialty niches. If you have a touching story about a pet, for instance, maybe you can think of some fun activities that would involve customers bringing in the their pets of at least having a pet themed party about similar pets. If you have a book about dating, provide a speed dating event kit. Your imagination is your only limitation.
In summary, use your head. Make doing business with you as convenient and fair as possible. Support your channels. Provide marketing materials that make sense and set you apart as someone with marketing expertise.

This is a cross-posting from Bob Spear‘s Book Trends blog.

Lessons Learned From National Speakers Association Convention 2010

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This year, I have committed to become a Member of National Speaker’s Association, which means I have to do a certain number of paid speaking engagements and also receive a number of testimonials. I believe that being able to speak publicly is a key skill for successful authors so focusing on improving speaking skills is high on my list of goals.

Last weekend, I went to the National Speaker’s Association Australia Convention on the Gold Coast. Here are some of the highlights from the lessons I learnt and also some of the people I met along the way. National Speaker’s is packed full of amazing and inspirational people, and you can learn a hell of a lot about business and marketing, as well as speaking skills. I highly recommend the organisation which has chapters all over the world.

(<– At left: Joanna Penn with Dan Poynter, from Para Publishing, self-publishing guru)

  • From Mike Rayburn, virtuoso guitarist and humorist speaker. “Set goals that don’t exist. Don’t start with what’s possible. Start with what’s cool.” Mike played a lot of very cool guitar but also inspired with his talk about huge dreams and big goals. Ask ‘what if?’ and then give it a go and see what the Universe has in store for you. You don’t need to know the first step, or the next step – just shoot for the stars. Mike had a goal to have his own show in Vegas, which he now has. What are your big goals? I want to be the world’s #1 female thriller writer, selling more than Dan Brown in my niche. What about you? Check out videos of Mike here.

(At right: Rachael Bermingham, self-published author of over 3 million books—>)

 

Rachael Bermingham from ‘4 Ingredients’ talked about her journey from being rejected by every publishing house in Australia to selling over 3 million self-published books. Rachael’s key tip is: “80% of the business is marketing”. She basically hustled the same message through all the  Aussie media aiming at Mums who wanted to cook easy, fresh recipes for their families. She wrote the marketing plan, and stuck to it, cold calling multiple times a day to media outlets all over Australia. From this basic premise, she and co-author Kim McCosker now have 3 books (with more coming), cookware products, a TV show, an iPhone app and more. Major publishers have been chasing the pair for several years now, and they continue to self-publish in order to control the product and the income stream. You can listen to a podcast interview with Rachael here. Her message on the podcast is basically what she spoke about, even using the same words. She is a testament to the power of repeating a message to get it to a target market.

 

  • Janet Lapp, keynote on tips for public speaking. This was one of my favorite sessions because Janet came across as amazingly authentic and her message resonated with me. So often, the big speakers are larger than life, rock-star types who I could never be like (and I don’t want to be like). But Janet was not a performer so much as a confidante and friend who just had some lessons to share. I felt her style was what I would like to model. I want to speak authentically and with real heart. However, she is also a professional speaker and shared her tips. As a flight instructor she talked about “Plan the flight and fly the plan” as a rule for speaking. Know what you are doing, prepare and practice so you control the situation. Be skilled enough to manage if things go wrong, but if you are that well prepared, the plan can be executed and your talk will go swimmingly. Your talk is not about you, it’s about the audience. So forget about focussing on you or your achievements, and get your message across to help them. However, you also need to “get out and live a little, so that it shows on stage” – you still need to be an interesting person! Combine the science of speaking (technical skills, presentation, handouts, products) with the art of speaking to create a beautiful but effective message.

From Matt Church (pictured at left), I learnt about the different personas that we all need in our repertoire in order to perform in different ways. He gave examples to do with speaking, but it also rings true for authors these days. You need to be “Lonesome Writer” sitting alone at your computer, creating and writing, communing with the muse. You need to be “Author Entrepreneur” and make a business plan if you are actually to make a living as a writer. You need to be “Marketing Guru” to get the word out about your book.  You also need to be “Author Speaker” to perform at festivals, events and book groups as well as give webinars, interviews and do TV/radio, plus “Geek Author” in order to cope with the technology these days – ebooks, blogs, podcasts, youtube… and the rest! Matt also focused on authenticity, calling it “exposing your jiggly bits to the audience”. You need to be real to connect these days. These personas are all valid sides of ourselves that we can use to express facets of our personalities and also use practically to get into state quickly. Matt’s site is  ThoughtLeadersCentral.com

 

I learned so much over the 3 days of the conference and will continue to share ideas from it in coming weeks. I would encourage you to check out your local National Speaker’s Association if you are at all interested in the speaking profession. They are an inspiring bunch of people!

National Speaker’s Association USA

National Speaker’s Association Australia

 

 

This is a reprint from Joanna Penn‘s The Creative Penn.

26 Ways To Win At Self-Publishing

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I visit a lot of blogs about publishing, writing and related topics. There’s a huge interest in self-publishing, and it seems that many developments in the publishing world are helping to stimulate that interest. New technologies, new devices, new formats are making it easier and easier for authors to get their work out into the world by making an end run around the gates that the gatekeepers are so fervently guarding.

Balancing the interest and opportunities is the drumbeat of warnings, prejudice and downright threats that seek to discourage people from diving into the independent publishing pool. “You’ll ruin your career.” “My friend spent $10,000 and all he has is a garage full of books.” “We’ll be buried in an avalanche of crappy books.”

It seems pointless sometimes to engage with these attitudes, since there often seems to be a fixed idea behind them: self-publishing is for losers, people who couldn’t get published any other way. And nothing you can say will change this view. It’s my opinion that this attitude arises from some need for personal validation, but hey, that’s just me.
 

This Is For The Winners

Many people “win” at self-publishing. That’s because there are lots of reasons why authors decide to publish their own books. Some self-published books aren’t even meant for sale, and will never change hands for money. Some are published for reasons that have nothing to do with monetary reward, career advancement, or ego gratification.

People are funny. Given the chance, tens of thousands of ordinary people have decided to publish their own books over the last few years, and more are certainly on the way. I applaud every one of these authors for taking their destiny into their own hands, for turning a deaf ear to the people who said “You can’t do it,” or “You’ll look a fool.” They accomplished something. They expressed themselves in the world—these are not small things.

So I’ve put together this list of ways that you can “win” at self-publishing. In this context, “winning” can be a moment of tremendous personal satisfaction. It can be accolades from your peers. It can be the joy of accomplishment. If you’re reading this, you’re probably a writer. What would “winning” be for you? Here’s my list:

26 Ways to Win at Self-Publishing

  1. You finally get the book finished, printed and in your hand: you win
     
  2. At last you have a chance to fully explain the ideas you’ve been thinking and talking about for years: you win
     
  3. You get an interview in the local paper as a “published author”: you win
     
  4. You send a copy of your book to your ex mother-in-law: you win
     
  5. You get interviewed by a local radio show and people actually call in to ask questions: you win
     
  6. You’re invited to write an article on your specialty in a trade magazine, and they actually publish it, referring to you as the author of…: you win
     
  7. You create a course based on your book and sell it to the local adult education center: you win
     
  8. You speak at the Lions or Elks or other fraternal club on the subject of your book: you win
     
  9. The local bookstore lets you have a book launch party for your book, and everyone shows up: you win
     
  10. You wander into an indie bookstore in another town, and find your book on their shelf: you win
     
  11. You gift wrap a copy and hand it to your mother, watching her unwrap it: you win
     
  12. You send an autographed copy to your 8th grade English teacher: you win
     
  13. You take a table at a street fair and sell your book, encountering people who just want to talk about your subject: you win
     
  14. You overhear coworkers talking, and one mentions that you’ve published a book: you win
     
  15. Every one of the people you care about tell you how much they love your book: you win
     
  16. You give a talk to a local writers’ group about self-publishing and find yourself answering many questions: you win
     
  17. Your dad pulls you aside at the next family gathering and tells you how proud he is that you dedicated the book to him: you win
     
  18. Your alumni news writes you up with a picture of your book cover and some nice blurbs: you win
     
  19. You send an advance copy to someone you’ve never met, but who you respect, and they send you a glowing endorsement to use: you win
     
  20. Readers keep asking you when the next book in the series will be out, and you know they mean it: you win
     
  21. You realize you’ve sold enough books to pay your printing bill, that all the rest are profit: you win
     
  22. You receive a request from someone you don’t know for permission to quote from your book: you win
     
  23. You open your mail and find a check from your distributor that you didn’t expect: you win
     
  24. A friend at a party asks if you’re still looking for an agent, and for a moment you don’t understand the question: you win
     
  25. Your local library buys two copies of your book: you win
     
  26. You start to think about other books you’ve always wanted to write and can now publish: you win

The secret is this: when you publish your own book, you get to decide what winning looks like, how success feels. You’ve taken back control of your writing destiny. You know winning comes in many ways, in many small moments, and you can finally relax and savor them.

Takeaway: When you self-publish, you get to define success, to set goals for your own publication. In a way, you’ve already won.

This is a reprint from Joel Friedlander‘s The Book Designer.

How NOT To Win Friends On Social Networks

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Social networking is a wonderful way to meet people who share your interests, develop relationships and ultimately increase your book sales. But spamming people in your network isn’t likely to win you many friends. Here are some examples:

• On LinkedIn, someone in a group that I belong to has sent me two sales pitches for her products in the past couple of weeks, by direct message. I’ve never heard of this woman and she’s not on my list of connections.

• On Facebook, the use of direct messages to send promotional pitches has become so prevalent that many people simply tune out their messages.

• On Twitter, people I don’t know send me @reply messages asking me to buy their product.

• On Facebook, some people leave frequent promotional posts on group walls or post promotional messages on their friend’s walls.

Yes, you can promote yourself and your book on social networks, but be subtle about it. Most of your communications should be about developing relationships, getting to know people, sharing information and resources, helping others, and being a member of the community. I recommend that no more than 10% to 20% of your status updates and tweets be promotional or self-serving.

Be cautious about using direct messages for promotional purposes. For example, a direct message to announce an event (like your book launch) or a message that contains tips and resources will probably be more acceptable to people than a sales pitch. Just don’t overdo it.

Remember the golden rule of social networking: treat others as you would like to be treated. 
 

This is a reprint from Dana Lynn Smith‘s The Savvy Book Marketer.

Podcast: Crime Writer Seth Harwood On New Publishing Paradigms And Author Marketing

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It’s great to have crime novelist Seth Harwood on the show talking about the new publishing paradigm for his latest novel, Young Junius available for special edition pre-order on May 5th.

Seth Harwood is the author of several crime novels including ‘Jake Wakes Up‘ published last year and his latest book, ‘Young Junius‘ . Seth is also a podcaster, writing teach and co-creator of the Author Bootcamp program.

In this podcast you will learn:

  • The publishing world does not quickly recognise new novelists, so Seth used podcasting to build an audience for his crime novels.
     
  • Pre-release of ‘Young Junius’ is inspired by Scott Sigler’s self-publishing run of ‘The Rookie’ and now ‘The Starter‘ which his publisher didn’t want to publish as it didn’t fit the genre. Seth has partnered with a small press, Tyrus Books to organise a special edition that is only pre-sold on the internet with tons of special extras, photos, cover art, embossed and more. People pre-order on Amazon so why not skip them as the middleman and do this directly.
     
  • The possibility of mainstream authors doing this is out there i.e. avoid the middleman and publish straight to the market. We will likely see more authors using this model for publishing.
  • ‘Young Junius’ is a crime novel, fans of ‘The Wire’, ‘Dexter’, ‘Law & Order’ and authors Richard Price, David Simon, Michael Connelly will enjoy it. It’s available for pre-order on May5th – Cinco de Junius! If you use promo code ‘PENN’, you’ll get $3 off. Go to SethHarwood.com on May 5th.
  • How podcasting can still benefit new authors by getting your work out there to new fans. You need to have a presence where people can find out about you, and podcasting is ideal as you can podcast your actual work and people can listen when they are doing other things. [Seth has an online workshop with Writer’s Digest, a webinar on podcasting, coming up if you want to know more]. The podcast version of ‘Young Junius’ is here.
     
  • Don’t worry about your voice! Fans like to hear the author’s voice reading the book.
  • How to balance your time between writing, marketing, revisions, online promotion. It varies depending on the phase you are in for your book. But it is definitely tricky!
     
  • It’s important to write well but also sell a lot of books. Write what you love to read and create, not something that is ‘literary’ if that is not the genre you love.

You can order ‘Young Junius’ special edition at SethHarwood.com on May 5th. You can connect with Seth on twitter @sethharwood

 

 

Click here to download, or listen to, the podcast on Joanna Penn’s site.

 

 

This is a cross-posting from Joanna Penn‘s The Creative Penn site.

iPad's epub: the "Book" of the Future?

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A few weeks ago Smashwords made it possible to get self-published books into Apple’s iBookstore for sale on the iPad, and from what I read there are already several thousand Smashwords titles in the iBookstore.

Some of Apple’s approved content aggregators have also put out mechanisms for making contact with content creators and rights holders. Both Libre Digital and Bibliocore will take your information and have someone get in touch with you if you want to talk

Bibliocore, “… was launched by the same team that created TuneCore, the largest distributor of music, artists and labels in the world. We believe that all writers, artists and musicians should have equal access to the channels of distribution without having to give up rights or revenue.”

LibreDigital ” … has already delivered thousands of e-books to the iBookstore on behalf of some of the largest book publishers in the world.”

Bibliocore also states they take no commission on sales, that you will receive 100% of payments from Apple. They do this by charging fees upfront. LibreDigital, on the other hand, seems to have the opposite model. They announce no fees up front, and a “transparent” pricing model.

Constellation, from Perseus Books, is another Apple Approved EBook Aggregator. Perseus is ” … the largest distributor of independent publishers in North America, with more than 300 publisher clients.” Their focus is on independent publishers, and providing complete, end-to-end services not just for iPad but—ambitiously—for all types of digital distribution.

I haven’t explored these companies in detail, but I think it’s fascinating how many options are starting to open up with the rapid sales of the iPad. Many of the ads for content creators mention “over 300,000 iPads sold” and the expectation that Apple may sell as many as 3-5 million iPads this year alone.

Here Comes the DIY Option

According to an article by Dan Moren in Macworld the Storyist software—an intriguing hybrid word processor specifically designed to format and organize writing projects of all kinds—will now come with a direct to ePub export feature. You can create a book, add a cover, and upload it to your own iPad to sit on the iBook shelf alongside all your favorite authors.

Increased support for ePub conversion is also built into the new Adobe InDesign CS5, and you can see why. The demand from publishers of all sizes has increased exponentially over just the last four months. Even in my own design practice, every author now wants to include ebook conversions in their project right from the start. This week I received the first inquiry from a prospective self-publisher about whether it was still necessary to get the print book ready at all.

Over at Foodsville, Hewlett-Packard is showing one example of their new BookPrep system, which pretty much allows you to scan old books directly to ePub files, suitable for … well, you know.

More and more programs will likely come with the epub export option, and why not? It is the typesetting of the future.

Mixed Feelings

I assured the author I was talking to that it would be best to do the print book first if he had any plans to publish at all. Although a lot of the formatting will be lost in the conversion to epub, it will be maintained in the “original” book.

But I really started to wonder how long we’ll be referring to the print books as the “originals” or the “best edition” in the language of the Copyright Office. More and more it feels like the pace of the transition to digital books has picked up. Things are moving faster. As the beautiful full-page iPad ads continue to spread over the countryside, more and more people get accustomed to the idea of reading on tablets, phones, screens of all kinds.

Soon the word “book” will be like the word “leading” is now; a convenient descriptor that some people will remember actually existed in the real world at one time, but is only remembered now because of its name. Digital “books” are unlikely to resemble printed books for very long, and that is as it should be. Digital works—text and a host of other media and capabilities—are entirely different from printed books. Why should they continue to slavishly imitate a 500-year old form?

Typography will retreat, maybe completely out of the mass-reading space. Watching text reflow in your choice of fonts and sizes is pretty much the death of typography until someone comes up with a format that can be both designed and extensible. The implied elasticity of that future typography is dizzying to someone who is used to fixed forms on paper. How will they do that?

It’s questions like that that keep this revolution interesting. And this: What will happen next? Stay tuned.

Takeaway: We can watch as the epub format for ebooks and iBooks begins to assert itself as the foundation for the “book of the future.”

This is a cross-posting from Joel Friedlander‘s The Book Designer site.

Time We All Took The Self From Self-Publishing

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Last year I wrote an article about Lulu and in the title for that article I suggested; 2010 May Be The Time For Lulu To Drop The Self From Self-Publishing. At the end of that article I wrote the following as an explanation as to what I meant. On reflection, and in light of the following Lulu Forum posting by author Julie Ann Dawson, which today was cross-posted by Emily Veinglory on POD People, I would like to expand on that original article I posted here in January.

Having re-read the post again today, I think there is a danger in believing I was being somehow entirely supportive of the direction Lulu where taking their marketplace and business as a whole. If anything, I have subsequently being calling for Lulu to get back to the core values of what they are; a DIY self-publishing services company – at least that is how I still see them – but their recent attempt at diving into the Canadian stock market in an effort to raise investment finance may suggest something quite different.

Here is what I wrote at the end of my article in January:

Indeed, and that movement and protection under the umbrella of publishing is what Lulu is quickly trying to embrace by expanding their marketplace to include mainstream books for purchase, as well as recently trumpeting the arrival of John Edgar Wideman, presented as the exasperated renegade from the traditional world of publishing. It is this fairytale renegade story of disillusioned author that Lulu wants to sell us. Wideman is among the self-publishing masses – equal in our kindship of self-publishing and its empowerment. For the most part, Lulu still remain in the business of selling self-publishing services, but authors crossing over the self-publishing/publishing divide are what helps Lulu sell their services to the ordinary masses.

Let us pause for a moment and consider what Julie Ann Dawson has cited for her decision to remove her books from Lulu. Incidentally, there is not one thing which follows I do not disagree with…
 
Julie Ann Dawson on the Lulu Forum:

Referencing The Last Song for points:

Preferential pricing: This is a 413 page book, selling for $10.94. Do you know what my cost to print a 413 page book is? $12.76! It costs me almost $2 more to print than this book sells for! And if I went through retail with the book, with NO ROYALTY the book would sell for $19.52. WTF!!!???

Preferential tools: Notice that this book has a “retail” price and a sale price? Well, I have been asking for this FOR YEARS for US, and Lulu has systematically refused, claiming that they couldn’t let us sell the books on Lulu for less than what the book retails for due to contractual agreements with Amazon and other vendors. I think this proves beyond a shadow of a doubt Lulu was LYING."

Dawson refers to traditionally published authors getting preferential treatment from Lulu, and that rules and limitations imposed on self-published authors, which Lulu previously advised could not be broken, are now being freely broken to woo (my hypothesis) authors with books printed and published by mainstream publishers over to Lulu’s marketplace. This flirtation also extends to wooing experienced authors with a mainstream publishing background to move their latest books to Lulu’s new VIP publishing service.

The example Dawson gives in her forum posting on Lulu is Nicholas Sparks’ The Last Song. Dawson comments; ‘How the books get printed is of no concern to me.’ Well, actually, it should, because it would explain why your 413 page book retails at $19.52 and Sparks’ book retails at $10.94. Lulu have a deal with Ingram as their ‘available’ distributor for POD books, but The Last Song is published by mainstream publisher Grand Central Publishing, and you can bet your bottom dollar it ain’t being printed POD, but rather sourced from printed stock Ingram hold in a warehouse for Grand Central. And that will be likewise for all books from mainstream publishers Lulu has in its marketplace. So, yes,  we can go on comparing apples with oranges, but they will always be uniquely apples and oranges.

Looking at the deal John Edgar Wideman did with Lulu; if any author believes, like the multitude of authors who sign up with Lulu each day, that Wideman somehow decided one evening over a coffee, ‘ah fuck it, I’ll sign up with Lulu and self-publish my next book’, they are being naive, deeply naive. Wideman was negotiating with Lulu and using their VIP services. From an article I wrote on Wideman’s publication with Lulu:

All authors are equal, just some are more equal than others!
 

If you think Lulu see all their authors in the same light; think again. This is akin to DellArte Press authors (Harlequin’s self-publishing service) thinking they are operating in the same field of publishing dreams as all of Harlequin’s traditionally contracted authors. The Lulu VIP program offers everything to try and lure an established author to the lulu brand, every turn of the drive shaft and spark from the Lulu engine—pre-production and post-publication—is being directed towards the sale of the author’s book. It is notable that the press release to go with the book was not released by Wideman, but Lulu themselves. While Lulu right now needs Wideman more than he needs them, there is no doubt in my mind; the experimental nature of Wideman’s Briefs made it a difficult sell to Houghton Mifflin, and as the author freely points out, he is no writer of literary blockbusters."

There is a dichotomy at the heart of this discussion, and it can lead us to make an inaccurate assumption about self-publishing and mainstream publishing. Lulu has taken a step closer to the traditional world of publishing by taking on the wider marketplace, and the traditional world of publishing has begun to re-evaluate its own publishing models and taken a step closer to embracing some of the components of the self-publishing fraternity. Some might say never the twain shall meet, but it is discussions like this which come from the inevitable collision and consummation of all publishing into one entity. We are seeing the Lulu marketplace as a platform where self-published author collides with traditional author. The glare of the headlights shows us that an author is an author and a published book is a published book. It is just that some authors and their books are more equal than others. There is nothing new in this – it has being going on in the traditional world of publishing for decades.  

This is also one of the reasons why I believe self-published authors should be careful not to be so quick to adopt labels like ‘indie author’ or ‘indie publishing’ when so many authors happily label themselves with these convenient monikers as badges of honor when actually they have little experience or knowledge of what it is they perceive themselves to be independent of; in abhorrence of; or dislike. I have pointed out before the label of ‘indie’ is a complete misnomer, Faber and Canongate are strictly ‘indies’, but they punch way above their weight in the publishing industry.
 
It seems to me that what this whole discussion is simply here to remind us of the fact that self-publishing is still publishing a book in essence, and now that self-publishing is broadly accepted as it is; it is still reluctantly part of the whole publishing industry. Self-published authors must realize and accept that they shelter under the same umbrella of the book buyer, book reader and industry. They must accept that in any form of aspiration, commerce or even faith, there comes an ordained hierarchy whether it is perceived or imposed.

No publisher or agent, in their heart of hearts, believes all their authors are equal. They may humanly treat them as equals, but as business people they will not act equally and accordingly.

Whether the above is accepted or not, self-publishing affords the author the latitude of not accepting any compromise – that is – total control, but that comes at a price, and a greater price than the ones Lulu or CreateSpace charge if self-publishing is truly to be executed properly. More importantly, it also comes with a responsibility and presents the author with The Publishing Road Less Traveled. Complain as we may, we are all in this together.

It is time we all took the self from self-publishing.

How many are really up for that journey?

 

This is a cross-posting from Mick Rooney‘s POD, Self Publishing and Independent Publishing blog.

About That Kindle Revolution: A Few Nuggets From Amazon's April 22 Conference Call

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As a follow-up to my post yesterday about Amazon’s earnings report and the company’s progress in advancing the Kindle Revolution, I thought it would be helpful to post some brief excerpts from last Thursday’s Amazon earnings conference call.

I am using the transcript provided by Seeking Alpha, which is available here if you’d like to see the full transcript.  

In order to abide by Seeking Alpha’s 400-word maximum on such excerpts, I’ll pare this down to a few quotations from Amazon senior vice-president and chief financial officer Tom Szkutak, specifically about the Kindle:
 

  • "[I]n terms of marketing itself you saw that it increased a little bit as a percentage of revenue year-over-year and we are doing advertising for Kindle, it’s certainly a product and an area that we are very excited about. You probably seen some of the ads that we are doing…."
     
  • "We are excited about the idea that the world may shift to a place where 3G connected devices are available to browse [the] net and our view is that the more of web connected devices whether [they] be tablets or smartphones, the better that is for our retail business … and we will figure out the best way to make sure that we [make it] as easy as possible for customers to purchase from those devices but we think that that’s an exciting opportunity to have a world that looks like that."
     
  • Spencer Wang of  Credit Suisse asked an interesting Kindle question:"A question on e-books. I guess, as you and the industry move more towards the agency model for digital books, it shifts the ability to set pricing to publishers. I guess our understanding is you also have to charge sales tax, also. So it would seem that your ability to leverage low price maybe mitigated a little bit. So I was wondering if you could just talk about how you would adjust your model to differentiate Amazon versus some of the other players in the context of the other two pillars, I guess, convenience and selection that you are focused on?" Szkutak answered: "One of the things that we’re doing is we are expanding selection, pre-dramatically. When we launched two plus years ago, with Kindle we had approximately 90,000 titles. Just recently we passed over 500,000 titles and so our vision is, as we stated when we launched Kindles to have every book ever published in any language available for customers in under 60 seconds and that’s still our stated long-term goal and so we’re going to continue to add selection in support of that vision."

A few other nuggets from the call, not specifically about the Kindle, that struck me as significant:
 

  • Amazon now has 114 million active customer accounts, which more than doubles that metric for the point when the Kindle was launched in the fourth quarter of 2007.
     
  • Although it is reasonable to think that the Kindle is just beginning to penetrate the international ebook market, given the fact that the Kindle is still nearly an English-only platform and only began shipping outside the US in late 2009, it is nonetheless stunning to note the extent to which Amazon itself, the mother ship, has matured into a truly international company. $3.35 billion of Amazon’s $7.13 billion in first-quarter revenues came from outside the US. It would be silly to think that Amazon does not have plans to give the Kindle an equally impressive global footprint, or that such plans would not be based on an integrated business plan involving expansion of catalog, foreign language support, and in-country retail and wireless carrier support.
     
  • Regarding Kindle demand during the quarter, Szkutak did give one cryptic but significant answer that suggested that the rate of growth for Kindle sales compared with the year-ago first quarter of 2009 was greater than the 2009 fourth-quarter rate of growth for Kindles sales over the year-ago fourth-quarter of 2008. Although Szkutak wouldn’t translate any of this into actual units or dollars, the fact that Kindle unit sales experienced such an upbeat first quarter (within a calendar-year model) is especially significant given that we might reasonably have expected the January announcement of the iPad and the subsequent opening of iPad pre-orders to have at least a chilling effect on Kindle hardware sales. I’ve seen where some observers have tried to extrapolate a slowdown in Kindle sales from "data points" such as a slowdown in Kindle hardware orders placed via their own Amazon Associate links, but this just seems a little silly: unless those "sales" were in the hundreds, the sample size is just too small to be a basis for such assessments.

This is a reprint from Stephen Windwalker’s Kindle Nation Daily.

Book Sales on Ebay

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About a year and a half ago, after I self published, I decided to try selling my book, Christmas Traditions – An Amish Love Story, on Ebay Fixed Price at an affordable price and see what would happen. Buyers pay the postage. I pay 15 cents to list for a week and $1.50 more when the book sold.

 At first, sales were slow. I’m an unknown author. Buyers weren’t sure they should take a chance on me. What helped my sales was the fact I had written an Amish story. That’s why out of fifteen books, I picked the Amish story to sell on ebay. My reasoning was 15 cents a week to advertise my book wasn’t too much to pay in a market that has as many viewers as Ebay does. Even if the book didn’t sell, I was getting noticed as an author.

There are a lot of Amish book consumers around the world. I’ve hit on a market with fewer authors to buy from. I hear quite often from readers that they have read all the Amish books in the stores. They don’t buy anything but Amish stories and eagerly await the latest book from any of the Amish authors, including mine now.

I had a few customers that have continued to email me just to visit. At least one recommended my book to someone else so I’m sure there are others talking about my books now. By the time my next Amish book, A Promise Is A Promise – Nurse Hal Among The Amish, was for sale, I’d saved a long list of emails from my ebay customers that bought Christmas Traditions. I sent a notice to each of them before I put the book up for sale on ebay. The customers that choose to buy from me directly saved me Ebay’s selling fee. After I put the book on ebay, sales continued to grow.

By the time my next Amish book, The Rainbow’s End – Nurse Hal Among The Amish, was ready to go, I had an even longer customer list. As a way to increase sales, I asked each buyer to send me a review of the book if they had time. The reviews I immediately put on Ebay in my book descriptions so other buyers could see them.

My customer service approach has been each time I sold a book to a new customer I put a list of all 17 of my books with a synopsis of each in with the book. Each book is signed. Extra postage is refunded. After the first book when the customer buys another book, I slip one of my business cards in the book as a reminder. I wrap each book to protect it from getting scuffed in the mail before I package it and stick on a colorful sticker that matches the holiday or season. For a follow up, I email the buyer to announce the book is on the way so watch for it. If the book gets lost in the mail, I will send another book to replace it. Last year, I found out paying for insurance to the postal service doesn’t do me any good. I lost $250 worth of books between two shipments. The last one of those shipments was insured.

I filed a claim, and I’ve never been reimbursed.

Ebay asks for feedback about the service between seller and buyers. My reviews from buyers have all been good. The sales are handled through Paypal and happened fast most of the time. So I started using my feedback review to advertise. After saying this was a speedy transaction, I write Thanks for buying my Amish book Enjoy Author Fay Risner. This review got me in google search at least once that I know about. I hadn’t expected that but I knew that first time buyers would be checking out my sales reputation. The reviews from buyers does help with sales when they leave remarks like they liked the book, and I do a good job of packaging.

A few months back, I decided to try my mystery series, Amazing Gracie Mysteries – five books, on ebay now that I am better known. These books are cozy mysteries about a Miss Marple character in Iowa. As I’ve been told, the story line is now known as Geezer books. At first, sales weren’t going so hot. I had to do something to get some interest for the books.

I had three of my proof books in the series I hadn’t given away to relatives. I put them in the ebay auction for 99 cents. Starting at 99 cents meant that I didn’t have to pay an insertion fee, but ebay doesn’t mention they expect to have the seller fill in the buy it now fee box. For that the charge is 5 cents. Then if the books sold the charge is 9 percent. No one bid on the books the first week so this last week I listed in Fixed Price for $4.00. All three books sold to the same person. I sent a reminder email that I still have two more in the series priced at $10.00 if that person wants to continue reading those books. The proof books were ones that I would never have sold otherwise so I think I put them to good use.

The buyer of the mysteries had bought one of my Amish books the week before at the Fixed Price, a proof for $4.00. The Rainbow’s End-Nurse Hal Among The Amish. I wondered why she let such a bargain on the four mystery books go from 99 cents to $4.00. When I found the notes on the ebay invoices I knew why. One of the notes was a practical reason. The buyer wrote, "I am ordering several of your books, hopefully to save on postage. I love your books." (The more books in the package, the cheaper the postage is, so I do refund any postage I don’t use. Out of almost $10.00 ebay took for postage on all four books, I used $3.16.) After that the buyer’s notes were, "I am so excited to find another author that I know I am going to love all your books." "Can’t wait to get this one too. Thanks so much."

What happened to spark the added sales to this buyer? The buyer waited until she read the Amish book. When she found out she liked that book, she was positive she was going to like the mystery books, because she likes the way I write.

This last week I added a couple more of my books to ebay. Both books are in genres that are popular for sales – a children’s book – My Children Are More Precious Than Gold and a Civil War story based on true facts – Ella Mayfield’s Pawpaw Militia- A Civil War Saga In Vernon County, Mo. Besides the proof books, I had a box of books I’d read over the winter laying around. I put those used books on Ebay a few at a time for 99 cents in the auction. Am I making money at this? No not a cent by the time I deliver the used book to the post office, but in each sale is a list of my books and how to buy them. Selling the books I no longer have a use for is just another way to promote my own books.

Re-listing the books at the end of seven days took time when I had 8 books, and now I’m adding two more. So I listed the books until I decide to cancel them, and that is for a month at a time at 50 cents. I save 10 cents in that four weeks each time, and the time it took to list the books is cut down.

If you take the time to go to my online bookstore, http://www.booksbyfaybookstore.weebly.com, and look at my customer site map, you’ll see I’ve sold to customers all over the United States and three International in this last sixteen months. I haven’t had one bad review yet from buyers and plenty of return emails that want me to hurry up and get the next book done. I’m happy with the way my book sales have progressed. I’m getting somewhere with my books. After waiting years to get discovered by a publisher or agent, I’d say this is an improvement that can only get better.

 

This is a cross-posting from Fay Risner‘s BooksByFay blog.

How Amazon's Pricing Affects Author and Publisher Profits

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Authors and independent publishers are sometimes upset to find that online bookstores like Amazon.com are selling their book at a discount from the list price (the price printed on the book).

For books sold and shipped by Amazon, the fact that Amazon has chosen to sell at a discount to list price has no effect on the amount of money that the author or publisher earns – they still receive their standard payment from their publisher, distributor or wholesaler.

For example, if Amazon purchases your independently published book at a 55% discount through their Advantage program, it doesn’t matter what price they offer to the consumer – you will still be paid 45% of the list price. Amazon is reducing their own profit margin (to undercut their competitors) when they choose to sell a product below the list price. Of course if you are selling books on your own website, then you are competing with Amazon.
 
The books listed for sale on Amazon by other resellers (the "new" and "used" listings you see below Amazon’s selling price) are being sold through the Amazon Marketplace. Most of the vendors who are selling new books on Amazon don’t even have the book in stock – they will order it from Ingram when they get an order. Again, the fact that the vendor is selling below list price doesn’t affect the author’s profit. You can even list your own book for sale in the Marketplace.
 
Many book dealers and individuals sell used books on Amazon.com. When used books are sold anywhere (in online or physical bookstores or at garage sales or used book sales) authors and publishers receive no payment. The practice of selling used books has been around for decades, but large online booksellers like Amazon make the process much more efficient and widespread. There is nothing authors and publishers can do to stop used books from being resold.

One positive effect of used book sales is that it gets your book into the hands of a wider readership – these readers may tell others about your book, buy new copies of your other books, or purchase other products and services from you.

See this article for a explanation of how the Amazon Marketplace works and how you can list products for sale there.
For an explanation of reseller discounts and the role of distributors, wholesalers and retailers in the book trade, see this article.
 

This is a cross-posting from Dana Lynn Smith‘s The Savvy Book Marketer.

Embracing The Fool As A Metaphor For The Writing Life

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Whatever you think of the Tarot, the images are deep archetypes and resonate with us on many levels. On April 1st, let us consider The Fool and why writers should embrace it as a metaphor for our writing life.

The Fool of the Tarot

  • The Fool acknowledges he knows nothing and seeks wisdom. Learning is an integral part of life. We are all learning the craft of writing. My bookshelves are packed with books on writing, technique, plot, character building, book promotion and much more – I bet yours are too! I love to learn more every day and share what I learn here. I actually consider learning to be one of the meanings of life itself. We have brains that cannot be filled up, we can keep learning more and more and apply what we learn daily. Wow! That’s incredible. But we only learn by understanding that we don’t know enough.
  • The Fool is ‘the spirit in search of experience’ – isn’t that a great idea to aspire to? The journey to knowledge is long and never-ending. We can keep learning all our writing lives, we can always improve – each sentence, each paragraph, each chapter, each book improves us and our writing. We can explore other genres, new experiences, network with new people and enjoy the journey. So often we rush headlong, desperate for the end of the book we have in progress, whereas we should revel in the journey itself, enjoy the view and the experiences along the way.
  • The Fool is an optimist and naive. Both of those traits are good if understood correctly. Let’s face it, there’s plenty of doom and gloom in the publishing industry. You’ll never get a publishing deal. It’s very hard to get an agent. It’s nearly impossible to sell thousands of books. You’ll never be a NY Times bestselling author. Self publishing is a terrible idea. Why bother with blogging or social networking as no one is listening? …. and so it goes on. But then why write at all! We have to remain optimistic and a little naive about the whole thing. Believe you will make it, whatever your goals are… and stay the course, and you will make it. Life is surprising!
  • The Fool takes risks. Look at the picture – he’s about to step off the cliff! It’s a sunny day in the beautiful countryside and he’s about to plummet to his death – or is he? Maybe there is a little ledge just out of our view, we don’t know. This teaches us to get out there and take some risks – finish that project, write that first chapter, start tweeting, try making a video to say hi, write a guest post for a blog and submit it (bloggers are friendly you know!), try speaking about your book. All these things take courage and are a risk – to your mental health if nothing else! But they are worth it over time.
  • The Fool is alone but also has a companion. The man is alone but has a little dog, his friend along the way. The writing life is alone -only you can write those words from your mind. But there are also ways we can support each other and be companions along the way. Find yourself a writing group, online or in real life. Network with other authors online. This is brilliant as you choose when to be present and you will always find someone to talk to on sites like Twitter – just jump into the conversation.
Can you relate to the Fool?

Image: Flickr CC N0cturbulous

This is a reprint from Joanna Penn‘s The Creative Penn site.

Virtualbookworm US – Reviewed

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When I first started researching companies who provide author solutions services some years ago, Virtualbookworm (VBM) was one high on the radar. About four or five years ago, had you dropped ‘self-publishing’ as a keyword into a Google search or visited many self-publishing resources looking for information on self-publishing, you can bet VBW would have been pretty high up there in prominence. Try the same now and you will have to do far more extensive searches before you come across the name, VBM.

 
Instinctively, when I came across VBM a few years ago, I held off reviewing them. In many ways, they should have been in our first batch of reviews in early 2008. Back then, they provided quite an extensive range of services and price-ranges easily reviewed without the need to spend a considerable amount of time looking at what they had to offer. I actually still have a book I ordered from them in 2008 as an example of their physical book product with an intention to doing a review back then. It never happened.
 
Why?
 
For one, their services required a great deal of research and time, due to the wealth of information they provided, as well as the fact I had noticed a considerable slide off the top-notch of choices for self-publishing authors. I do not think a lack of a review did anything to help nor take away from what VBM had to offer self-publishing authors.
 
I know I checked the books the amount of titles they had published on Amazon and it was in the very high hundreds. A couple of years on—I note that it shows 1034 titles. The Virtualbookworm site has been radically redesigned since I looked at it in late 2009, around the time I had planned to look at their services again and do a full review. I actually led with an article in the autumn of 2009 suggesting the review would come in the following few weeks. The reality was every time I started my review of them, I perceived a continual shift in the sands, and felt it pointless to focus on a company struggling to maintain its high-ranking position as an author solutions services, with all the changes of print-on-demand and digital publishing.
 
In some ways, VBW, were a company who had decided to take a trip to some far-off flung island and just sit back and see how things panned out. At least that is what it seemed like; certainly they dropped off the radar for me and a great many other authors regarding usage and feedback I was getting in 2008. In fact, on more than one occasion I checked just to make sure VBW were still in business. We actually ran a poll in that year and the companies most popular with authors were as follows:
 
1. Xlibris
2. Lulu
3. iUniverse
4. Outskirts press
 
Outside of the top four, we had services like Booklocker, Infinity and Authors online in the UK. VBW came in around 8 to 12th, a reasonable enough performance and representation. This was a time when we had less than half the amount of author solutions services we have now, and a time when services like CreateSpace were not offering online distribution beyond Amazon and companies like Dog Ear Publishing and Mill City were only finding their feet in the self-publishing world.
 
So, who and where are Virtualbookworm now?
 

“Then he [writer and founder] discovered self publishing and the endless opportunities it presented. However, such a venture requires countless hours of research of printers, proofreaders, artists, etc. And after publication, even more time is consumed trying to market the book.

So, Virtualbookworm.com was established as a "clearinghouse" for authors, since it offers virtually everything under one roof. Although we now charge setup and design fees, those costs are kept to a minimum so as to cover all expenses. And, as with "traditional" publishers, we carefully review each manuscript and only offer contracts to authors who truly have exceptional manuscripts. We don’t print garbage, and we want our authors to proudly say they were published by Virtualbookworm. If we accept your book for publication, you can rest assured that it will be sold next to other quality books, and not just work that had enough money behind it. And, you’ll receive some of the best royalties in the business!”

I have never once thought that a writer founding a service for self-publishing is entirely a sound foundation, unless of course that writer has had considerable experience in all the critical areas of the industry—sales, marketing, editing and production under the umbrella of a traditional publisher. I also do not think authors of any savvy will take to the description of VBW as being a ‘clearing house’ when it first was established.

I asked who and where is Virtual Bookworm? The short answer is Bobby Bernshausen and Texas. Bernshausen is listed as the owner and president of Virtual Bookworm, founded in 2000. In light of the above quote from the Virtual bookworm site, I found it odd I could not find a single book by Bernshausen, or that I could not unearth any sources of business experience in publishing or marketing. I am sure it could be there—somewhere—but I certainly did not find it. For a writer running a business offering publishing services; I’m more alarmed that I cannot find a book by Bernshausen on Amazon or anywhere—not even on VBW!
 
To be fair, we do not ask the same question of the CEO of Random House, HarperCollins, Macmillan or Penguin, but author solutions services are a different kettle of fish, and they are often founded on the reasons Bernshausen describes above—for me—it remains curious, but something I am happy to put to bed. Bernshausen has being doing this gig for more than ten years and it should have brought him a wealth of experience in a changing industry. He founded and presided over a company which was one of the earliest to dip its toes into print on demand publishing.
 
The 2010 incarnation of the VBW homepage features one advertised book and large glaring icons about their services. This is a step backwards for VBW—the intent is clear—whatever they were, they are certainly driven now by attracting authors and present little for what their output might offer readers.
 

“What makes Virtualbookworm.com different than other POD providers?

Well, first off, we won’t print garbage. You must follow the submission and genre guidelines … and each manuscript must be reviewed and approved before we will accept your order. If we do accept the order, we will give you as much personalized support as necessary until the project is complete. This means your book won’t be selling on the same site as a book that has tons of errors just because the other author had enough cash! Plus, Virtualbookworm.com is one of the most established POD publishers in the industry, having been in business since 2000.”

http://www.virtualbookworm.com/about.html

 

VBW are based in Texas—their address is a post-office box—but they do offer a support centre driven by email and a ‘ticket’ formula to answer questions on their services and the process of publication. Beyond reading their FAQ’s, this is their preferred method of query and contact.
 

“Have a question or comment? Need help ordering or with the publishing section? First check our searchable Knowledge Base for Frequently Asked Questions. If you didn’t find the answer to your question, please click the link below to go to our Support Center, which is on a separate server to save resources. After registering, you can submit a trouble ticket (which can be used for any question, etc.) or check the status of a ticket.”

VBW do offer a downloadable publishing guide to their services, an online bookstore, a latest release link at the bottom of their web pages, and a recently launched author community, which turns out to be essentially links to their Facebook and Twitter pages. However, for the first real time, we get a glimpse at a number of published titles with links directly to their online bookstore.

From memory, their previous web design worked better. It was more classical and stylish, and the present graphic rendition is glary with its blue background and white text. The links provide a FAQ, information pages, as well as details of their publishing packages.
 
VBM offer a bespoke service for authors wishing to truly self-publish by submitting their own completed files and can avail of design, edit and print services in preparing their book. Alternatively, they have a number of flexible packages.
 

http://www.virtualbookworm.com/ebook.html
 


The following are included in all packages:
 
Softcover available on white or creme paper.
Page counts as low as 48 and many as 828 pages.
Electronic proof
ISBN assignment (author can provide own ISBN and imprint at no additional charge)
Copyright application kit
Book page on our website
Barcode
15 free internal graphics/images (must be submitted to specs)
Data Backup
Full Distribution
Drop Shipment
Book registration through Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, Books in Print and many others
50% royalties of net receipts (Approximately 30-35% of cover price on paperbacks sold through us!)
Monthly Sales Report
Author may purchase first order of his/her softcover edition for 50% off list price (subsequent orders at least 30% off list, but discount increases with larger orders)
 
VBW list their packages in levels as to what is included. Each package includes the above basics as well as what is listed below for each individual level.
 
Level A: Includes all of the above services and one free book. The package includes a generic cover with an author photo and bio on the back. (The author may supply artwork for the cover as well, as long as the work is 300dpi or greater)
Level A Price: $360

Level B: Includes all of the basic services, Library of Congress number and three free books.
Level B Price: $440

Level C: Includes all of the basic services, Library of Congress number, five free books and professional cover.
Level C Price: $495

Level D: Includes all of the Level C services plus professional editing package (for up to 75,000 words).
Level D Price: $790

Level E: Includes all of Level D services, plus Bronze Marketing Package.
Level E Price: $1,110

Level F: Includes all of Level D services and the Silver Marketing Package.
Level F Price: $1,390

Level G: Includes all of Level D services and the Gold Marketing Package.
Level G Price: $1,950
 
If there is one thing I can remember from looking at VBW services over the years, it is the flexibility, but complexity of the packages and levels on offer, and again, I feel the latest incarnation of presented options for a self-publishing author is detailed, but somewhat confusing. Even for me—familiar with looking at many different companies and services—this really is a handful for any author even with a basic understanding of what it is they are looking for their self-publishing endeavours.
 
The above level packages have approximately an additional 10% increase if you are intending publishing a hardcover (packages range from $430 to $2100) and about 15% if you want a combination of paperback and hardcover (packages range from $590 to $2225). I am not going to represent all the levels for hardback and combination (paperback & hardback editions) packages here for the purposes of this review.
 
The marketing packages are included in the more advanced level packages, but can be purchased separately and are listed below.
 
Bronze Marketing Package: $400 (if purchased separately). Includes professional press release, 100 four-color business cards, and a personal storefront for two years!

Silver Marketing Package: $700 (if purchased separately). With this package, we will write a press release and send it to over 200 media outlets and send review copies of your book to at least 10 major reviewers. You will also get a Personal Storefront for two years and 100 four-color business cards.

Gold Marketing Package: $1,300 (if purchased separately). This package includes a professional press release written and distributed to over 200 media outlets, review copies of your book sent to at least 15 major reviewers, a Personal Storefront for two years, placement in Ingram’s Advance Magazine, 500 four-color post cards, 500 business cards and 500 2X6" book markers.
 
VBW also offer colour (illustrated packages ranging from $625 to $2095) and an ebook package is $99 or $65 if purchased with a print option.
 

The standard 200 page paperback from VBW retails at $13.95, about average for a trade paperback, with the average hardback ranging from $20 to $26 for retail purchase. VBW offers its authors a 50% discount on the listed retail price on the first order of paperbacks placed with them, and 30% thereafter. For hardback books, the author gets a 35% discount on their first order and 30% thereafter. Even at the initial 50% discount on an order of paperbacks, the author will have to fork out $7 ($6.97) per copy on a book costing $3.90 to print as listed by Lightning Source. That is almost an 80% mark up from print cost, and by my reckoning, way too much. I can live with an author solutions service marking up a modest profit take per unit of say 20%, but 80% is just out of the park.
 
VBW pay royalties at 50% of net receipts to their authors. To clarify, net is after the print and retailers discount have been subtracted.
 

“How much of a discount does the distributor and/or bookstores receive?

This is a tough question since it depends on a number of factors. We usually list our books at a 30-35% discount. This keeps the retail price low and is acceptable by Amazon and the other "big boys." However, some small bookstores want a 40-50% discount. Since it is your bottom line that is affected (royalties), we let YOU decide on the discount (however higher discounts will raise the retail price).”

Taking the retailer discount at its lowest, for books sold through distribution networks like Amazon, the breakdown is as follows:

$13.95 – the retail cost of a book
-$3.90 – the cost of printing the book
-$4.18 – the discount given to the retailer
$5.87 – the net receipt to the publisher and author
 
VBW splits this net receipt 50/50 giving an equal share of $2.93. While it is not the worst deal I have seen from an author solutions service, it is by no means the best deal you will find out there. Royalties are paid on a monthly basis (others only pay quarterly or every six months) but the amount must exceed $25 before it is payable. This is a common clause and pretty much standard fare from most author solutions services. I have never really understood why some author solutions services choose to pay royalties on a monthly basis—it is just not necessary when most authors are simply not going to earn enough royalties through sales to warrant the time, effort and expense for a publisher to administrate this process. It is another sign of an author solutions service stretching itself in an area where there is no mutual benefit for anybody.
 
Distribution is the standard online global listing and availability offered by most author solutions services using print on demand. However, VBW do offer a $100 warehousing option, meaning they will keep a very small inventory of books onsite to fulfil and ship same day orders to customers who purchase directly from the VBW online store. A returns program for books is also offered to authors as an option. This is a service VBW ran for quite some time and they were one of the earliest author solutions services to do so. It was withdrawn for a period of time due to it being ‘abused’ and has been recently reintroduced again. I have previously expressed my opinions on publishers and author solutions services using POD for print providing these returns programs to the retail sector. I will say again, I believe it is admirable some companies want to make POD produced books acceptable to the book retail trade, but ultimately, it is entirely at odds with an on-demand print and fulfilment model of business. A returns program would be of real use and sense if author solutions services offered it in conjunction with a committed short print run of books.
 
VBW will provide a ‘true self-publishing’ service to authors. In other words, they will facilitate an author with their own block of ISBN’s and their own imprint and whatever bespoke services are required for a book project.
 

“Since some authors think true self publishing is when you do all of the setup, etc. yourself, we’ve decided to just put all of the services under one roof (er, website) for you. Instead of having to search for a cover designer, layout artist, editor, printer, etc., you can simply do it all here. Just let us know which services you need and how many copies you would like in your original order and we will send you an estimate.


Please note that you will be sent the master files of everything, so you can always go elsewhere to get the books printed if you prefer.”

VBW offer their authors a non-exclusive contract, though it should be noted they require exclusive distribution rights for ebooks—meaning you cannot make your ebook for sale outside of VBW’s distribution channels. The contract contains a cancellation term of 90 days for the author, but this is subject to a $50 fee before the author can move their book to another provider/publisher. The term of the contract is for two years.

I cannot fault VBW for aiming high and they offer a vast range of services and options many large competitors do not offer. I like VBW and what they do. The overall approach is sound and ten years as an author solutions service shows they understand the business and are doing a lot right. But sometimes when you offer so much in one place as a small operation, things can spread out a little thin in other areas. The lower priced packages promise a great deal, even offering editing and book cover design. I cannot help feeling it is a considerable stretch for an author solutions service to make a $600 to $800 package include a full cover design and an edit—no matter how basic the edit—at all the listed prices. At look through the VBW store reveals a mix of strong cover art and some pretty basic stuff.
 
While the VBW book retail prices are competitive, I would find it hard to live with an author solutions service taking an almost 80% mark up on print costs when I was the one forking out the cash for the set-up. But, that is just me, and if an author can get over that, then VBW has a great deal to offer an author and a multitude of options. This is going to particularly work against VBW if an author is already considering submitting print ready files. Frankly, those authors would be far wiser going with CreateSpace or directly with Lightning Source who can do their distribution and fulfilment.
 
The web page provided for authors is a very basic static listing for a book and I think it reflects the limitations of VBW’s own website design, which is flat and lacks any real dynamics, not to mention books. The contract on offer is reasonable, though there is one or two terms in there I would be uneasy about in the event of a dispute.
 
Contract – Paragraph one.
 

“The Author also agrees that he/she will hold Virtualbookworm.com, its distributors, and any retailer harmless against any recovery or penalty arising out of his/her breach of this warranty. Author will also reimburse Virtualbookworm.com Publishing for all court costs and legal fees incurred.”

Heck, I don’t fancy paying VBW’s court costs even when I’ve won a judgement! I am not sure how this term would play out with a judge in a court of law, but technically, I have signed the contract and I am bound by its terms.

I stated at the beginning of this review that VBW were one of the earliest author solutions services I looked at several years ago. Back then VBW were very much part of the big six of options for an author considering self-publishing, but with authors becoming more savvy, business orientated and discerning, and with the rise in DIY services like CreateSpace and the direct option of going with Lightning Source, VBW seem less elevated on the map of self-publishing solutions. I have thought long and hard about what precisely it is about VBW that has changed over the past few years. Maybe it is my own self-imposed nostalgia or the fact that this publishing business as a whole changes and develops month to month, but VBW isn’t like I use to remember it.
 
Reviewing VBW this week was like going back to a wonderful restaurant you remember from a few years back. The food is still good, the staff pleasant, and the prices ok, though the decor has changed a little, but overall, the experience is not quite the same. The restaurant is still were it always was in the street, but many of the other buildings have changed. If you weren’t absolutely sure that’s where it was, you’d has passed it by without noticing it.
 
VBW need to go one of two ways. Either they need to strip away the complex levels in their packages and have no more than four basic packages with a list of add-on services, or they need to offer all services as tailored bespoke options for an author’s book project. Attempting to do all things for all authors in the way they are creates an illusion of an operation working on a grand scale and dilutes VBW’s ability to stress what their core strength is or should now be—working one on one with authors on a book project.
 
Sometimes in life, less can be a great deal more.

This is a cross-posting from Mick Rooney’s POD, Self-Publishing and Independent Publishing site.

Is Stephen King "Reverse-Windowing" His New Novella?

by

"Blockade Billy," Stephen King’s Macabre New Novella with a Baseball Backdrop, Available Now in the Kindle Store with Buzz-worthy Publication Details – 5 Weeks Ahead of Hardcover Release 

Ur, Er, Play Ball!

Stephen King has served up a nice fat pitch for Kindle owners to hit out of the park with what appears for now to be the Kindle-only publication of a macabre new novella with a baseball backdrop, and the details of the release — discussed below — are likely to create serious buzz among readers, authors, publishers, and retailers.

 

Kindle owners may remember Mr. King, a novelist who makes his home in Bangor, Maine, but spends many hours each Spring, Summer, and Fall in a pretty good seat at Boston’s Fenway Park. A little over 14 months ago King traveled to New York to appear on stage with Jeff Bezos for the launching event of the Kindle 2 and of Ur, a novella that featured excellent product placement for a Kindle that was, perhaps to some tastes, pretty in pink.

Later in 2009, Kindle-packing King fans were disappointed when King’s bestseller Under the Dome was one of the first books to be "windowed," i.e., withheld in ebook format to give its hardcover launch a better chance. Today’s announcement of the Kindle availability of Blockade Billy, five weeks ahead of the book’s scheduled May 25 hardcover release, suggests an instance of reverse windowing that is unlikely to be upsetting to Kindle readers.

It appears that King has bifurcated or trifurcated his negotiation of book contracts for Blockade Billy, and published the Kindle edition under his own Storyville imprint, for which the only other Kindle publication has been Ur. Amazon has, at this point, discounted Blockade Billy‘s hardcover pre-order price by 33% from $14.99 to $10.11, and set a Kindle price of $7.99. Amazon’s product pages for the novella show Storyville as the Kindle-format publisher, no publisher line for the forthcoming hardcover, and Simon & Schuster as the publisher for a forthcoming audio CD release, scheduled for May 25 at a price of $19.99.

In addition to the discounted hardcover, Amazon’s news release and its website reference a limited edition hardcover that may have already sold out at a $25 price from tiny Maryland-based horror publisher Cemetery Dance Publications, with illustrations by Alex McVey.  The product page for the Kindle edition shows that the Kindle’s text-to-speech feature is enabled for Blockade Billy.

Under the Dome, one of the books at the center of a price war between Amazon and some big-box retailers last fall, was widely discounted then to prices below $10 in both its hardcover and ebook formats. Its Kindle edition is currently priced at $16.99 under the agency model, with a hardcover price discounted from $35 to $20 and paperback pre-orders discounted from $19.99 to $13.99 ahead of their July 6 release.

Your humble reporter’s initial research indicates that, as of 9 a.m. April 20, 2010, Blockade Billy is not available in Apple’s iBooks Store. That could change at any time, and Amazon’s news release does not refer to the novella as a Kindle exclusive.
 


However, as long as Blockade Billy effectively remains a Kindle exclusive, not only is it likely to help Amazon sell Kindles but, just as importantly, it is likely that to drive iPad owners to the Kindle for iPad app and increase public awareness that the Kindle Store provides iPad owners with a free catalog-rich, convenient "No Kindle Required" reading environment.

Here’s the guts of today’s news release from Amazon:

—————————————————————————————————————————–

 

Bestselling and Iconic Author Stephen King Publishes New Novella "Blockade Billy," Available in the Kindle Store

 

Kindle customers can now download Stephen King’s "Blockade Billy" and begin reading in under 60 seconds
 
SEATTLE, Apr 20, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) –Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) today announced that the new novella by bestselling author Stephen King, "Blockade Billy," is now available in Amazon’s Kindle Store (www.amazon.com/kindlestore) for $7.99. The Kindle Store now includes over 480,000 books and the largest selection of the most popular books people want to read, including New York TimesBestsellersand New Releases. Over 1.8 million free, out-of-copyright, pre-1923 books are also available to read on Kindle, including titles such as "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes," "Pride and Prejudice" and "Treasure Island."

"We’re excited to be able to offer our customers Stephen King’s new novella in the Kindle Store, especially after seeing customer enthusiasm for King’s Kindle-exclusive novella ‘UR,’" said Melissa Kirmayer, Director, Kindle Content. "’Blockade Billy,’ a shorter format book with a limited physical print run, is not only a great example of the publishing freedom Kindle allows writers, but also the rich content Kindle customers can find in the Kindle Store."
 

"Blockade Billy" tells the story of William "Blockade Billy" Blakely. He may have been the greatest baseball player the game has ever seen, but today no one remembers his name. He was the first–and only–player to have his existence completely removed from the record books. Even his team is long forgotten, barely a footnote in the game’s history. Blockade Billy has a secret darker than any pill or injection that might cause a scandal in sports today. His secret was much, much worse… and only Stephen King can reveal the truth to the world, once and for all. Publishers Weekly writes of the book: "As King’s fiction goes . . . a deftly executed suicide squeeze, with sharp spikes hoisted high and aimed at the jugular on the slide home."

The Kindle edition of "Blockade Billy" features both the cover illustration by Glen Orbik and the interior artwork of Alex McVey from the limited-edition hardcover published by Cemetery Dance Publications.

Stephen King has written more than 40 books, including "Misery," "The Green Mile," "Cujo," "IT" and "Carrie." He is the winner of numerous awards, including the Bram Stoker Award, O. Henry Award, Horror Guild Award and was the 2003 recipient of the National Book Foundation’s Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters.

"Kindle is a great way for authors to make different lengths of their writing available and to reach diverse audiences with their work," said Stephen King. "I’m excited to be able to offer ‘Blockade Billy’ in the Kindle Store."
 

Kindle is in stock and available for immediate shipment today at www.amazon.com/kindle. 

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This is a cross-posting from Stephen Windwalker’s Kindle Nation Daily blog.