Business End

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

100 Open Courses to Take Your Writing to the Next Level

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This article, from Suzane Smith, originally appeared on the Online University Reviews site in November of 2009.

Whether you are in high school, a graduate student, or a professional writer, there is [lots] of help on the web for your writing. [Communication is] an essential part to any career, everyone from journalists to managers to politicians needs to have an impressive [command of] prose. Those low on funds will find a wide array of tools to take their writing to the next level with these 100 open courses [offered by] everyone from leading universities to private companies.

MIT Undergraduate Open Courses To Take Your Writing To The Next Level

Start your free education off right by taking the same writing classes as the undergraduates of this leading Ivy League school.

  1. The Nature of Creativity : Get your writing to the next level by getting your creative juices flowing with this open course. It is an introduction to problems about creativity as it pervades human experience and behavior.
     
  2. Writing About Literature : Up your writing skills by writing about famous works of literature, poetry, and more. Goals of the course include increasing students skills in reading, knowing a single writer deeply, and encouraging independent decisions.
     
  3. New Media Literacies : Study literacy theory through media context in this course from ancient Greece to the present. Readings include Plato, Graff, Brandt, Heath, Lemke, Gee, Alvermann, Jenkins, Hobbs, Pratt, and Lankshear and Knobel.
     
  4. Shakespeare, Film and Media : A master of writing, study Shakespeare on film with this open course. Most of the work will involve analysis of the film text, aided by videotape, DVD, the Shakespeare Electronic Archive.
     
  5. Media in Cultural Context: Popular Readerships : This course will introduce students to the history of popular reading and to controversies about taste and gender that have characterized its development. Learn how to write for both men and women, different tastes, and more by taking this open course.
     
  6. International Women’s Voices : Learn how to take your writing to the next level by studying these leading women in history. Contemporary women writers studied will be from Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, and North America.
     
  7. The Linguistic Study of Bilingualism : If you speak more than one language and want to improve your writing, try this course. It examines the development of bilingualism in human history from Lucy to present day.
     
  8. Expository Writing for Bilingual Students : Similar to the above, this course specifically targets student’s abilities to write in two or more languages. It includes an extensive set of general writing guide handouts, located in the study materials section.
     
  9. Foreign Languages and Literatures : Examine the terms “avant garde” and “Kulturindustrie” in French and German culture of the early twentieth century through this open course. Figures considered include everyone from Adorno to Tzara.
     
  10. Advanced Spanish Conversation and Composition : This course examines perspectives on technology and culture in the language of Spanish. For fluent speakers only, students work on taking both their speaking and writing to the next level.
     
  11. Philosophy in Film and Other Media : See how philosophers have influenced writing and other media with this open course. It examines works of film in relation to thematic issues of philosophical importance that also occur in other arts, particularly literature and opera.
     
  12. The Art of the Probable: Literature and Probability : The objective of this open course is to focus on the formal, thematic, and rhetorical features that imaginative literature shares with texts in the history of probability. These issues include the causes for phenomena that are knowable only in their effects and the question of what it means to think and act rationally in an uncertain world.
     
  13. Technologies of Humanism : This open course explores the properties of narratives as they have evolved from print to digital media. Works covered range from the Talmud, classics of non-linear novels, experimental literature, early sound and film experiments to recent multi-linear and interactive films and games.

Read the rest of the article, which provides information and links for 87 additional free, online courses and seminars in writing, literature, communication, how to use software programs (a big help in the author platform area) and much more, offered by such respected names as MIT, Hewlett Packard, the United States Small Business Administration, Microsoft, Adobe and more, on the Online University Reviews site.

Et Tu, Indie Author?

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In which Publetariat founder and Editor in Chief April L. Hamilton explains her decision to go the mainstream publication route with a revised and updated edition of her originally self-published book, The IndieAuthor Guide.

I am a maven of self-publishing. I believe that in today’s world, in most cases, there’s not much of great value a traditional publisher can do to help a previously unknown, debut author reach her goals that the author can’t do on her own. Advances are down, publisher-funded promotional budgets are slim to nonexistent, and brick-and-mortar bookstore distribution is no longer the crucial linchpin for driving book sales that it once was. In fact, in the few weeks since I first drafted this post Borders UK has gone into receivership.

I’ve also recently come to learn, much to my shock and dismay, that mainstream publication isn’t the surefire path to solvency and a career in authorship so many aspiring authors assume it to be—even if your book is successful enough to land on the New York Times Bestseller List. Even if many of your books land on that list, it seems your net annual earnings on a given book will likely be no better than the wages of a typical fast food restaurant manager. Now that Lynne Viehl and some other mainstream-published authors are going public about their earnings, the conspiracy of silence among authors is being slowly but surely dismantled and the truth is nothing short of mind-blowing. It’s now all too obvious that for the most part, the only authors who are earning a comfortable living off their books are those who have become cultural phenomena, those around whom entire cottage industries of movies and merchandise have sprung up (e.g., Stephanie Meyer, Stephen Covey, Stephen King, JK Rowling, et al.) and those who were already cultural phenomena before they published (e.g., Sarah Palin).

The problem is, most aspiring authors have unrealistic goals for their books and assume a mainstream publisher will be doing all sorts of things for them that aren’t really in the cards at all. They think signing a contract entitles them to a sizable advance, a significant promotional budget and effort on the publisher’s part, editorial reviews in major magazines and newspapers and on important websites, and possibly a book tour as well. Unless you’re a celebrity or otherwise notorious individual, or someone around whom buzz has built up for some reason, none of these things are likely to happen. Once you realize:

– the great majority of mainstream-published books never even earn back their advances (which means most debut authors have more trouble selling their second book than their first, if they can sell it at all),

– even if you manage to hit the NYT Bestseller List you aren’t likely to see a commensurate uptick in your standard of living,

– and something on the order of just 5% of all mainstream-published authors are capable of earning a living from their book royalties alone (and most of that 5% has a name like King, Rowling, Meyer or Brown),

you stop seeing stars and start getting down to brass tacks. Your goals become far more realistic and attainable. You begin to understand that the decision between self-publishing and mainstream publishing comes down to choosing the path that is the most likely to bring your newly-downsized goals to fruition. If one of your goals is to earn a profit on your book, the decision of whether or not to self-publish is a business decision, nothing more nor less. Particularly in light of recent revelations about what mainstream-published authors really earn, it should be a very easy thing to divorce this decision from considerations of status or “legitimacy”.

So why am I working with Writer’s Digest Books on the release of an updated and revised edition of my book, The IndieAuthor Guide, for publication in 2010?

Maven of self-pub I may be, but even I realize self-pub is just one option among several for getting one’s work to a readership. Though I honestly believe it’s the most practical option for most debut authors in today’s chilly trade publishing environment, self-pub is just a means to an end—and the end is the thing that matters.

When I wrote and self-published The IndieAuthor Guide, my goal was simple: for the book to reach as large an audience of would-be indie authors as possible. It wasn’t even truly about sales, it was about getting good information out there to—ideally—every would-be self-published author out there before they went down the path of misinformation and made all kinds of costly mistakes that could doom their books to failure (and themselves to incurring unnecessary expense).

Working with Writer’s Digest Books will not get me a whopping advance, book tour, nor any of those other pie-in-the-sky things aspiring authors dream of, but it will do far more to help me reach my goal of maximizing readership than I could possibly do on my own.

Writer’s Digest is a brand that’s known and trusted by writers the world over. Writer’s Digest is a source authors specifically seek out when they want trustworthy, clear, and helpful information that will help them with craft and career. Having my book released under WD’s aegis grants a tacit endorsement from WD of the book’s value to authors, and that will increase author interest in the book.

Writer’s Digest Books is an imprint that specializes in books for authors and about writing. Their title list is small and highly specialized, WD Books’ staff are experts in how best to reach their target demographic of authors and in this case, their target demo is the same as mine. Had I signed with say, Random House or Penguin, or even Workman, there wouldn’t be any Books Especially Written For And Marketed To Authors department backing my play.

WD puts out multiple periodicals, holds numerous events for writers, and has a sprawling, dynamic and forward-thinking web presence. WD cross-promotes its various product lines across all its available venues, resulting in a highly-targeted and low-cost approach to advertising. WD further promotes all of its books by making them available for sale through its own book club and at its writer events. I will still need to keep up my own promotional efforts of course, but I know WD will be every bit as invested as I am in ensuring writers everywhere know my book exists, and that they know how it can help them.

WD is no ivory-tower monolith of the “old ways” of publishing, its staff are quick to adapt to market and technological shifts in publishing, and WD was among the first to recognize the potential of self-publishing to help authors, both aspiring and established, reach their goals.

Long story short: I couldn’t possibly find a more desirable publisher for The IndieAuthor Guide than Writer’s Digest Books, and that’s including myself.

My self-published novels are another story, however. I can’t imagine signing either of them over for mainstream publication, but if the publisher were to guarantee me major promotional backing—in writing—, I might consider it. I’d also consider it if I’d already built up a bunch of buzz around the book, or had an offer in hand for a film adaptation, because that’s a scenario in which the book would already be at the tipping point of success and a nudge from a publisher could pump up the book’s momentum. But, given my total-nobody status in published fiction circles, none of this is likely to happen anytime soon.

Another instance where I think it would make sense for an author to sign a mainstream publishing contract for a novel is if a huge advance is on offer, and the author wants that chunk of money more than he wants longevity for his book. Mainstream publication with a huge advance means the author better hustle and invest heavily in book promotion, because if the book doesn’t earn back the advance the author’s mainstream publication career is over. Now, if the publisher is offering enough money upfront that the author can move to Bora Bora and live like royalty for the rest of her days, maybe she doesn’t care too much about the book’s ultimate performance, or whether or not she ever gets another book published by the mainstream.

Finally, it seems to me that self-pub versus mainstream pub is no longer an either-or proposition; increasing numbers of authors are successfully straddling that line to do both. Whether it’s about getting one’s back catalog back into print, publishing something one’s publisher has rejected due to market concerns, making one’s print edition works available in ebook or podcast formats when one’s publisher hasn’t elected to release them in those formats (and the author has retained the rights to do so himself), building momentum for an upcoming release, or simply reaching a readership through any means necessary, such familiar names as Stephen King, JA Konrath, Cory Doctorow and Piers Anthony have self-published, or are currently self-publishing.

I will continue to bang the self-publishing drum and provide whatever information and assistance I can to self-publishers for the sake of raising awareness and dispelling myths, but that doesn’t mean I’ve taken a hard line stance against going the mainstream route. That’s an author-by-author, book-by-book, or even format-by-format decision each of us must make. So long as the author is making an informed decision, neither option is any more or less valid than the other.

This is a cross-posting from  April L. Hamilton’s Indie Author Blog.

Why Booksellers Must Become Destination Marketing Oriented

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What is Destination Marketing?

It is creating your business in such a manner that people want to come to it to have fun and be entertained. Whole downtowns can band together to create fun-to -shop places as a theme for their business community. There are plenty of stories about the big box chain bookstores driving the Mom and Pop bookstores out of business. How can the little guys compete and survive? By becoming a shopping destination.

My bookstore, The Book Barn, is a small store. It is literally a Mom and Pop operation, since 1979—just my wife and myself. It was 10 years or so ago that we first learned about destination marketing. We began having many more events at our store—author chats & signings and historical events such as The America Girls. We got better at these until we began to win national and State Governor awards for our events. More importantly, the word of mouth started getting around. The Book Barn was an interesting and fun place to be. Despite the economy, the price of gas, and 3 big box bookstores within 15-20 miles, our business began improving. Just as important, businesses around us began to understand what we were trying to do and started working on their events.

Two plus years ago, we decided to expand the scope of our next Harry Potter release party. It was difficult, but we talked the businesses on our block to work with us to create a Diagon Alley experience. The newspaper printed a special edition of the Daily Prophet and handed them out at the event. We had a HP movie playing outside. Over 2,000 people, many in costume ,came. Click here to see many pictures of people having a very good time. Ask yourself the following questions:

  • If they had a really fun experience in our downtown, would they leave with a good impression?
     
  • Are they more likely to return to shop?
     
  • Are they going to tell others about the fun time they had?

By putting this together and succeeding, the businesses around became more likely to join us in future events and have done so

In addition we have author book chats and signings, music & poetry events, and finally, we have historic events where we talk about a time frame, play & sing music from that time, play games from then, work on art/craft projects centered around the theme, and eat snacks common to the time and culture—a surround sound context. The kids and the parents love it. We ask for food or school supply donations for our local social care organizations

We have a wonderful Yellow Lab, Tucker, who greets everybody and loves up to them. Some bring in their dogs to meet and play with Tucker. We have had both dog and cat theme events featuring animal books and activities. We ask for treat and food donations for the animal shelter and the new dog park the city is building.

Do you see a pattern here?

We want people to see our store as a happy, happening place. We are not alone in this. Look at Rainy Day Books in Kansas City. They have stupendous lecture/signing events in cooperation with the Unity Church near their store. They draw huge crowds for national and international-level speakers and authors and sell a lot of books. The Wild Rumpus, a wacky children’s bookstore in Minneapolis, creates a wonderful, child-appealing atmosphere. There are live chickens and rabbits running around the store. In the middle of the mid-level book section, there is a small log cabin. Inside, there is a foot-wide plexiglass covering of a 10′ long trench which is lit up and contains white rats running back and forth under the floor. When you go into the unisex bathroom, watch what happens to the mirror over the sink when the light goes out—whoa, there is a beautiful aquarium filled with colorful tropical fish behind the mirror showing through.

The Bottom Line

For the smaller stores to compete there a number of things they can do; however, becoming a destination for people who want to come there is absolutely critical. The same can be said for websites. Make them interesting and fun to come to. People tend to share two things with their friends: great experiences and terrible experiences. Be sure you’re in the first category. Providing a good time while giving great service is essential.

 

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

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Small Ads Can be Beautiful and Work, too!

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Let’s talk about producing an ad design for your book. You’ve already assembled your media information, and narrowed down the potential venues to the ones you believe will give you the best targeted exposure for your money. On one side, you’ve got a list of the venues, sizes and color considerations that fit your budget. On the other, you’ve listed your “If only…” publications and online venues. These are usually places you’d like to see your ad based upon such careful research as “Wouldn’t my ad look great there! I’d be so proud!” They are usually the kind of venues that would somehow give credibility to your book, just for the association with the venue.

First…

First thing, pick up the “If only…” list, crumple it up, and throw it into the nearest circular file. Advertising venues don’t exist to grace your book by hosting your advertising. They exist to obtain your money in exchange for space. All the credibility you need, assuming you haven’t rushed the book to market without adequate editing and developmental re-writing, is in the fact that your book is complete and ready for sale. You’ve already achieved much more than most writers in just sticking to your guns and believing in your story.

Cost-Effective is the Key to Effective Design…

Now that we’re back to the work-table, and the “what-ifs” are buried properly, we’re going to prepare some cost-effective advertising to test the waters for your book. You’ll be testing each of the affordable venues to see if you can detect an edge for one over another. The results you are looking for are track-able inquiries for your book. It might show up as online click-throughs, impressions, or some other media-generated term that implies your ad was read. Each medium will have its own language and explanation for the fees you will be paying, so pay attention, and make sure you are set up to record and watch the results.

 

Let me make the point here, that IMHO, any reasonably skilled idiot can produce a beautiful, effective full-page ad.  It’s much, much harder to create an effective ad in 1/8 page or smaller, so assume the challenge. "Man" (or woman) up, here! You’ll be proud of what you can do in almost no space at all, if it is handled right.

Vector art, not "Paint Program" art…

Then, if you haven’t already done so, acquire a vector-based graphics and layout program. I was never able to justify the huge added cost of the Adobe, Quark and other “professional” caliber software. My design business was able to produce excellent results using CorelDraw and a few shareware add-ons. Since I didn’t have to a share files very often with other designers, it wasn’t worth paying twice the price for a program that really only did the same basic job. Same thing goes for the argument to buy a Mac rather than use your PC. I’ve been using a PC to do four-color separations and high-end, high resolution graphics since I threw out my color markers, around 1988. So do the best you can afford – don’t overextend yourself. It’s not as much the software as the brain behind it anyway.

 

Why Vector and not a “paint” program alone? Because you can achieve more with a vector program and have cleaner results. There are vector images, and there are bitmapped images. Vector images are mathematically-expressed descriptions of the outline of an object, which is then “filled” with coloor, or what have you. A bit mapped image , like a jpeg, is a collection of thousands (even Millions!) of tiny square, pieces of the whole.

Bitmap issues…

Bitmaps are resolved to be clear and fine in one resolution setting, one size. Vector images can be manipulated in size and shape with no diminishing of their final resolution or appearance. In the old, photo-mechanical graphics trade, we used to talk about generations of degradation in images, even type headlines. Each change in size, etc. used to cost about 10% of the clarity of the image. The more changes, the worse each image got. That holds true with bitmaps. It’s best to only have to re-scale and adjust a bitmap once, if at all possible, for the best results.

Vector benefits…

But with a vector image, it doesn’t matter how many times you tweak it, it will be perfect when you are ready for output. If, for example, your headline type is bitmapped type, then if you need to make it a bit taller and a bit narrower, the results will probably be less crisp than the original. If a headline needs to be tweaked with vector type, such as True Type fonts, then after the font is happily residing in your outline of a box as a headline, it can be tweaked as much as you want, height, width, letter spacing, etc., etc., with no ill effects in resolution at the output stage. I like Vector artwork for the same reason. Look exactly like a hand-rendered illustration with all the benefits explained above. You’ll still import any bitmapped photographic images into the vector program where you can now add type overprints and reverses with no ill-effects!  Anyway, onward…

First, the Headline…

I start every ad with a group of possible headlines. These are the calling cards for the concepts they represent. The idea, of course, is to motivate the reader to an action. The action, in print, may be to complete an inquiry form, or take a coupon to a book seller, or just copy down an online url for a later visit. The latter, in a print ad, is very difficult to track, beyond hoping for increased sales. Print advertising is generally more expensive, and generally needs more space to achieve trackable results, as you will need to allow for a form or a coupon, or you can utilize the numbered response service offered by some publications – at a higher price. I recommend, that for the most cost-effective use of your budget, you should do most of your initial testing online.

 

Online advertising venues include social sites, discussion forums, special interest sites (including merchandise that may relate to your reader’s interest) and of course blog sites. You’ve already got a few of these in your list of possibles, so lets, just for clarity’s sake say three have similar space size, resolution and color requirements. You’re, of course, going to use full color in your ad, unless you have a very compelling reason not to do so. Your book’s content will determine the best way to market it, and you may have a specific idea of an ad layout featuring black and white, with just a touch of color in exactly the right spot to grab the eye and get your meaning across – say a single drop of red blood, poised to drip off the end of your book’s title.

 

A hard-hitting ad is one that forces the reader to read it. It can’t be ignored and will stand out from other ads on the page upon which it’s presented. You need to test this phenomena by scooting your computer chair away from the screen for a moment, a bit further than arm’s length and while looking at a typical “page” on the venue you’re considering, see which ad or ads immediately grab your eye, even (especially!) if you can;t read them. These ads have an arresting design going for them, and after you’ve tested this a few times in different venues, you’ll get a good idea of what you’;re trying to achieve graphically.

 

The headline can’t be too long. Preferably, it will be two to four words, which will tell the reader to do something. A short, directive subheading is also a good idea, but it shouldn’t have to “explain” the headline. The headline should also, of course, be VERY legible. At arm’s length (my arm is pretty long — even better), whether in print or online, it should still jump off the page. In a small ad, with little room to sell, the headline should dominate the layout.

Legible! Legible! Legible!

Don’t use fancy type here unless you can test its legibility.  There are both serif (type with feet) and sans serif (no feet) type fonts that have lots of punch without losing any legibili8ty.  Choose one that "fits" with your book’s content, as to formal vs informal, business vs how to,  modern fiction vs literary. Look at book covers that work with ther content and see what type fonts are chosen. Find one you like, but also one that works well.

 

  If the type face is too busy, it will detract from the effectiveness of the message, while the reader has to figure it out. One exception might be using type that is so associated with your book’s content, the nature of the type face chosen accents the message. For example, you’ve written a thriller about a kidnapping. There are display typefaces that resemble the cliched “Ransom Note” made up of cut-out letters from magazines, etc. If you keep the headline short, the overall “design” is something the reader is probably already familiar with, so they don’t have to figure it out, only read it.

 

Another example, you’ve written the latest post-post-modern coming of age story set within in a dysfunctional family (maybe they are also vampires, but that’s another subject…). You might want to capture some of the essence of the story by using a “fractured-look” typeface, but again, it must be legible, legible, legible. The headline is the hook.

Color? Of course!

You may want to incorporate a full color background, a section of your book’s cover (for recognition’s sake) or say a related object. Keep it simple, and keep the type legible. Whether the type is reversed or “knocked out” of a color background to show in white or a highly contrasting color, or whether it stands alone in color itself, be sure it still jumps off the page. If using a section of your cover photograph, or illustration, be sure it is a section that when cropped down to a small sizer, is still recognizable, or that relates to the book’s content.

 

If your book isn’t fiction, but an instructive book, or a specific subject non-fiction, concentrate on a detail that your reader would respond to, and make that your “hook” graphic. This is the one, dominant graphic element that holds the reader’s eye, once the headline has done its job. Of course, if your book’s cover artwork has little to do with the content, beyond carrying the title and other information, then I wouldn’t recommend using it in this manner. I’d build my ad using type only or type plus color plus object. The hold-em graphic should always relate strongly to the content, and if your headline is a question – which is a great idea, as long as the answer can’t be “no” – then it should embellish or further associate the reader to the answer. The answer being, of course, within your book. I’ll give you an example in my own book ad.

An example of a small online ad:

 

 The ad runs regularly here and on a few blog and discussion sites. It is pretty small, as you can see. What I wanted to do was create recognition, and motivate the reader to click through. I use the title of the book to set up a question: “What red gate?” “Where?” Why is this important to me”, then use the subhead to direct the reader to act: Uncover the secret.

 

The small "triskelle" graphic below the subhead is instantly recognizable to readers with an interest in Celtic or Irish traditions, which "places" my bokk’s subject with little clutter. The overall photo section from the cover of the book sets up a mysterious, disturbing emotion, plkus it creates bookstore and online regcognition.

 

The really great thing about online ads is that all the reader has to do is click! You don’t have to add space for contact information, or anything else at all – that will reside on the link that comes up, of course! My ad links directly to Amazon, where they can sample the book, see it’s full cover, read reviews, and click once to buy! I leave a lot of the selling to Amazon. All my ad has to do is get them to click on it to get some questions answered.

 

One of the things that can be very useful in online advertising as in print campaigns, is to vary the copy. Changing the subheading can actually, with enough time and a good sequence, set up the reader to “look forward” to seeing the next one in the series. It also allows you to fine-tune your ads until they work the best they can, in the given venue.

 

I’ve also used a display typeface that is legible, but that also conveys the concept of antiquity. This alone adds more information. To the reader: uncover “ancient” secrets. In other words, "want to uncover these secrets? click the ad!"

 

You’ll notice that in my ad, I don’t even put my name in. My name doesn’t mean anything to the reader…yet. It isn’t important enough as a motivator to take up space. Maybe in a few years’ time it will be, but I’m not fooling myself – right now, it’s a zero when it comes to setting up a reader to click on my ad. It does exist on the cover of the book, of course, and when they click through, they’ll have access to as much information as they need to make the decision to buy.

Print considerations….

In print advertising, the creative work is more difficult because you need to push much harder setting up the reader’s motivation to action. In print, the action requires more from the reader than it does online. You’re, at the very least, asking them to remember your ad. Remember? In this A.D.D. World? If you need to actually do more than set up recognition for eventual book store or online action, then you will need to incorporate a device such as a coupon, contact information, a “reader service number” etc.

 

However, in magazine print, you have a lot more detail possible, as the resolution is usually pretty high. Newsprint can be hard for bitmapped photographic images in small sizes as the resoluition is very low.  You need to choose your eloements based upon the printed resolution. 

 

Keep it simple, Don’t ask too much of the reader of your ad. Make it easy for them to respond. Make everything as legible as it can be, and be sure to allow all the room they will need to respond properly, if it’s a cut-out form. More important, because you’re asking more from them, you have to make it worth their while. Offer them a discount, then be sure to make it enough that the savings are actually a factor, and not just “lipservice” Offer Free Shipping. Offer a Free Read. Free: the most effective word used in headlines in print when it comes to response.

Layout Issues….

Finally, set up the components of the ad in a motivating design. We’ve discussed some of the frameworks to creating an effective cover design, so use these in your ad as well. Reinforce the circular form of the reader’s eye movement to holed them in the ad. Have the various components “feed” the readers eye and lead into the next component. The idea is to hold them as long as possible. Give the individual components breathing room. Don’t crowd them against each other, for example, unless confusion and confrontation is the feeling you’re trying to achieve. If they stick with your ad long enough to actually process some thoughts about what you’re pitching, you’ve won the battle – the chances are you’ve bagged ’em.

Wrap it up with alternatives….

Finally, once you have a working layout, try making up a few alternates, using different colors, different type faces, different key graphics, so that you can place these upon examples of the pages they’d be inserted in (I always thought it was funny that that was the verb used to describe your ad being added to a page pf media, but then my humor can be pretty sophomoric…) so you can test how they come across in the actual environment where they will appear to the reader. Almost every ad layout looks great on a page of white space. What else can your eye be drawn to? Try it with other ads above and below, and in print, side to side, where unless it’s really good, it will be buried. If it works like this, and try it with a few people if you can, then it will do it’s job and you’ll get the best bang for your bucks.

 

Next week: Output — mechanical requirements, resolutions, file formats, and other jargon-riddled detail. This is what you send to the ad venue.

 

The Anatomy of Determination

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This essay, from Paul Graham, originally appeared on his website in September of 2009. While it’s geared toward investors and participants in start-up businesses, since authors (especially self-publishing authors) and small imprints are businesses, his comments and advice in this piece are also applicable to Publetariat’s audience.

Like all investors, we spend a lot of time trying to learn how to predict which startups will succeed. We probably spend more time thinking about it than most, because we invest the earliest. Prediction is usually all we have to rely on.

We learned quickly that the most important predictor of success is determination.

At first we thought it might be intelligence. Everyone likes to believe that’s what makes startups succeed. It makes a better story that a company won because its founders were so smart. The PR people and reporters who spread such stories probably believe them themselves. But while it certainly helps to be smart, it’s not the deciding factor. There are plenty of people as smart as Bill Gates who achieve nothing.

In most domains, talent is overrated compared to determination—partly because it makes a better story, partly because it gives onlookers an excuse for being lazy, and partly because after a while determination starts to look like talent.

I can’t think of any field in which determination is overrated, but the relative importance of determination and talent probably do vary somewhat. Talent probably matters more in types of work that are purer, in the sense that one is solving mostly a single type of problem instead of many different types. I suspect determination would not take you as far in math as it would in, say, organized crime.

I don’t mean to suggest by this comparison that types of work that depend more on talent are always more admirable. Most people would agree it’s more admirable to be good at math than memorizing long strings of digits, even though the latter depends more on natural ability.

Perhaps one reason people believe startup founders win by being smarter is that intelligence does matter more in technology startups than it used to in earlier types of companies. You probably do need to be a bit smarter to dominate Internet search than you had to be to dominate railroads or hotels or newspapers. And that’s probably an ongoing trend. But even in the highest of high tech industries, success still depends more on determination than brains.

If determination is so important, can we isolate its components? Are some more important than others? Are there some you can cultivate?
 

Read the rest of the essay on Paul Graham’s site.

Boost Your Profit Margin with Amazon Associates

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Every author who has a book for sale on Amazon.com should be enrolled in the Amazon Associates affiliate program. Even if you don’t have a book on Amazon, you can still profit from this program by promoting other books or products using your affiliate link.

Just sign up for an Associates account, then create affiliate links to place on your website for your own books and any other books or products you’d like to promote. As an Associate, you will earn a commission (called a referral fee) each time someone clicks on one of your affiliate links and purchases the product. This is extra revenue, above and beyond whatever you normally make when you sell a book on Amazon.com.

Even better, you’re paid a commission on anything else the customer purchases during the same shopping session on Amazon. So if they put your book in their shopping cart, then decide to purchase a Kindle or a new vacuum cleaner, you get commissions on those items as well.

The amount of the commission depends on the type of product and your monthly sales volume, but it ranges from 4% to 10% of the total purchase made by the customer. You can read the fine print and find a commission chart here. You can’t use your affiliate link when you make personal purchases on Amazon.

To get started, sign up for an Associates account at https://affiliate-program.amazon.com/. You will be assigned an Associates ID, usually a string of numbers or letters ending in 20.  To create a link that will give you credit for sales, use this formula:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/ASIN/?tag=ASSOCIATESID

Replace “ASSOCIATESID” with your own Associates ID

Replace “ASIN” with the Amazon product ID. For books, use the ISBN-10 (10-digit ISBN).  For other products, look for the ASIN. Both are located in the Product Details section of the product page.

Associates
 
Check your product link to make sure there are no extra spaces, and test it to make sure it works. There are also some link building tools on the Amazon Associates page, and you can even create banner ads or a whole store full of products.

What other products could you promote? Feature complementary, non-competing books that would appeal to the people who read your books. If you’re a cookbook author, you can link to your favorite cooking gadgets for sale on Amazon. If you’ve written a travel book or a book on photography, you could link to cameras. Think about how the product categories on Amazon.com tie to your book and use your imagination.

Other Amazon-Related Articles:

How to Increase Your Book’s Visibility in Amazon’s Search Results

Publishing Content for Amazon’s Kindle

This is a reprint of an article that originally appeared in Dana Lynn Smith‘s The Savvy Book Marketer newsletter for November 2009. You can subscribe to the Newsletter for free here, on The Savvy Book Marketer site (see signup box near the middle of the left-hand column of the site).

Everything You Thought You Knew is Wrong

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And this is what surprises me. Harlequin, you’re brilliant. You’ve made nothing but all the right steps in all these decades of publishing. You flourish where others founder. You took a great (welcome) leap with Carina, but this? This displays the business sense of a kindergartner.

–Moriah Jovan, Harlequin: Ur doin it rong

How fast is the publishing industry changing?

Two weeks ago, I praised Harlequin for their new digital-only imprint, Carina Press, noting that its business model, while not “new” by any stretch, was a great leap into the future for a traditional publisher to make, especially a well-established leader in its niche. Commentary about the new initiative was mostly positive all around, and purely measured on buzz, its announcement was a PR success.

Last week, they got a noticeably different response to another new initiative, the launch of a self-publishing program under the banner Harlequin Horizons, in partnership with Author Solutions, Inc.. The backlash was fast and furious  from both the Romance Writers Association and several outspoken members of the romance community, including Jackie Kessler, whose “Harlequin Horizons versus RWA” post is a must-read.

By almost any definition, last week was a PR disaster for Harlequin, but for authors, it was just the latest sign that everything you thought you knew about publishing  is wrong.

Ten years ago, when I worked for Poets & Writers, they didn’t accept advertising from vanity presses, and their definition was pretty strict and unwavering. A little over two years ago, when I worked for Writer’s Digest, we had some heated debates over how to handle the topic of self-publishing from an editorial perspective, as well as how to deal with the various advertisers in the space, some with worse reputations than others.

Earlier this year, Author Solutions acquired another one of its competitors, Xlibris; entered partnerships with traditional publishers Thomas Nelson and Harlequin to create self-publishing imprints; and partnered with Sony to make all of their books available as eBooks.

Other recent developments in the POD/self-publishing space include Amazon’s merger of Booksurge and CreateSpace; Lulu’s adding 200,000 eBooks from traditional publishers to their platform; and Andrew Sullivan is self-publishing a book via Blurb.

The publishing industry is changing dramatically, and while it’s much too early to predict where things will end up and whom will be left standing, one thing is very clear: the old rules are being thrown out the window.

Publishing, whether traditionally or DIY, is a business decision, not an artistic or political statement–it needs to be approached with a rational head; an understanding of the pros and cons; and a clear definition of what “success” means based on your own goals.

Everyone has their own agenda when it comes to publishing, but at the end of the day, it’s your book, your career, and your decision.

Anyone who tells you differently is either selling something, or clinging to the past.

This is a cross-posting of a piece that originally appeared on Guy LeCharles Gonzalez’ blog on 11/23/09.

 

From The Editor's Desk: Publetariat Takes A Holiday And Gives Thanks

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Publetariat staff will be unavailable from Wednesday, 11/25/09 through Sunday, 11/29/09 (in the Pacific time zone) in observance of the Thanksgiving holiday. New articles will still post on the usual days according to schedule, but no email or contact form correspondence will be answered, no comments will be moderated and no memberships will be processed until Monday, 11/30/09.

In keeping with the spirit of the holiday, I’d like to take this opportunity to express my personal gratitude to all of Publetariat’s contributors and just as importantly, if not more so, to you: Publetariat’s audience. After all, the wonderful work and input of Publetariat’s editorial roster doesn’t mean much on this site unless it means something to you.

Thank you for making Publetariat a part of your writing and publishing life. My aim in founding the site was to give self-publishers and small imprints a welcoming home on the web. I wanted Publetariat to be a place where their specific needs for industry news, assistance with the craft and business of authorship and publishing, and an interactive community would be met, and their informed decisions in publishing would be honored. I wanted Publetariat to be a place where they would finally get the recognition and respect they deserve. 

The credit for making that dream a reality rests with you, the Publetariat community.

I am deeply humbled by how quickly the site has grown in traffic and memberships since its launch on February 11 of this year, and I’d be remiss if I didn’t also express my gratitude to the larger community of kindred independent artists in every field, publishers, writers and authors of every stripe who’ve embraced Publetariat and have supported its vision even if they themselves are not involved in any way with self-publishing. 

So thank you, every one of you: self publishers, indie artists outside of publishing, micro and small imprint operators and staff, mainstream publishers, mainstream published authors, aspiring authors, industry watchers, literary and publishing professionals in all walks, readers, book bloggers, teachers, academics, members of the media and yes, even Publetariat’s critics. 

I wish all of you a happy and restful few days, and look forward to rejoining you Monday.

GeoCities, Scribd and Your Content

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This post, from Mark Barrett, originally appeared on his Ditchwalk site on 10/8/09 and is reprinted here in its entirety with his permission.

I ran across a short note on Mashable yesterday announcing that Yahoo will be closing GeoCities this month. While the post rightly notes that GeoCities was one of the first social networking sites, that’s not what I first thought about when I read the news.

What I thought of was this:

In January 1999, near the peak of the dot-com bubble, Geocities was purchased by Yahoo! for $3.57 billion in stock, with Yahoo! taking control on May 28. The acquisition proved extremely unpopular; users began to leave en masse in protest at the new terms of service put out by Yahoo! for GeoCities. The terms stated that the company owned all rights and content, including media such as pictures.

Yes, you’re reading that right. Yahoo paid 3.5 billion dollars for an online community, then one of the first things they told every user in the GeoCities community was that Yahoo now owned all of the content on each and every GeoCities web site. In the business world this type of decision is known as the dumbest thing anyone has ever done.  

I wasn’t going to post about this bit of web history, however, because there’s nothing new under the sun. Facebook, MySpace, Google, Amazon, Microsoft and hundreds of other tech players are constantly trying to figure out how they can own or exploit user-generated content. That’s the entire online game. It’s not the ads or the clicks or the twits or the tweets or the bleats. It’s legal ownership. (Which is why there is no greater battle being waged on behalf of independent authors than the copyright battle.)

Yesterday afternoon, however, I ran across a week-old forum post on a writing-related forum in which a frustrated writer pointed to this section of the Scribd Support FAQ:

Every three months we’ll review your earnings balance. If your balance is at least US$100, Scribd will issue you a check or credit your PayPal account, depending on your preferred payment setting. If your balance is less than US$100, we’ll roll your earnings over to the next quarter.

The author in question wanted to remove a story from Scribd and cash out her balance of approximately $50. But the Scribd elves pointed her to the $100 threshold in the FAQ and told her they couldn’t give her the money she’d earned from her own story. In effect, until she earns $100 from the work, Scribd holds any earnings hostage.

I have no idea if her dispute was resolved or not, but I have to hand it to Scribd: they figured out how to effectively lease content from authors with no money down, while simultaneously cutting cash-flow needs by instituting a relatively-high minimum-payment threshold. Where GeoCities tried to steal user-generated content outright, the noble lords at Scribd — whose stated passion is making documents available to the masses — have figured out how to control authored content and disbursements in a way that benefits themselves.

Am I saying Scribd is doing something illegal? No, and that’s exactly the point. If you put your content on Scribd you’re agreeing to a CONTRACT Scribd wrote which governs how you are paid for YOUR CONTENT.

Given that most authors probably do not meet the $100 threshold for any given quarter it would be interesting to know how much cash Scribd rolls over each month, and how much interest is made on that money. Assuming the money is being invested, of course, as opposed to, say, being used to cover operating or legal expenses.

It would obviously be a shame if Scribd went under and took all those small author-earned balances with it. I would hope funds earned by authors are kept separate from Scribd’s own business expenses, but the FAQ doesn’t seem to address that question. It also doesn’t spell out whether Scribd invests author-earned revenue, or whether authors are entitled to interest on their own earnings.

The moral here is pretty simple. If you have content, corporations who want you or your stuff on their web sites are going to try to profit from your content any way they legally can. That’s how you know these people are not your friends. At best they’re your business partners, but they’re better at business than you’re ever going to be. They have lawyers and financial advisers on staff or available through funding agents. You have nothing, and they know it.

Watch your back. Read the fine print. Don’t give up your rights.

Update: To make sure that Scribd’s policy was not the industry standard, I asked Smashwords’ Mark Coker about his policy on payments to writers:

We’ve traditionally had a $25 threshold, though we officially lowered it last week when we added a formal PayPal option. See your Payee page via your Account page. If an author leaves Smashwords, we settle up with them, no matter how small the amount. Otherwise, we pay at the thresholds (though we make exceptions all the time on request).

Mark added that Smashwords settles up with any author who wants to leave the site:

We’ve paid some former authors as little as $2.80. It’s their money.

Yes it is.

Show Me The Money, Bitches

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At the end of the day, I can be a very pragmatic and mercenary individual. Some people deeply admire this about me, some think it makes me a bitch or naive. But it is what it is. When I was a little kid, I wanted to be a published author. I wanted my book to be on bookstore shelves and I wanted to be famous. 

At that time, I believed that everybody who had a big publisher publishing their books, who had a book on bookstore shelves, was making a living doing it. Hell, even into adulthood as I started to seriously begin the undertaking of writing novels I still believed this.

So naturally, in the beginning I was all about traditional publishing for myself. I read all the standard magazines and books and knew all about how to query an agent. I was confident I was one of the smart ones because I wasn’t like these other little boob wannabes who were sending in their submissions on pink scented paper and telling the agent that their grandmother loved it and their grandmother’s dog took a nap on it which meant that the dog loved it too.

At some point I don’t know how or why, I started to wake up. I mean let’s be real here, this may not be the truth for everyone, but I am not working my ass off to give up control of my work and get paid shit for it. Period. dot com, dot net, dot org. It just ain’t happening. I don’t really care what everybody else is doing, or what the socially approved standard path is, or what is “respectable.” “Socially acceptable” has never paid a single person’s bills.

I think my eyes were opened when I started talking to a published author on LiveJournal. It was my first actual back and forth real written contact with a published author and I was thrilled that she’d taken time out of her glamorous life to help me. (Though later when I decided to self-publish, she heavily encouraged me not to cause I wouldn’t make any money self-pubbing, but on to that in a minute.) I won’t mention this author’s name because I’m not dragging her into my diatribe, and I admire her and her writing very much, but suffice it to say, her posts were candid enough that I could read between the lines.

Even though she had a major name brand publisher that we’ve all heard of, she still had a full-time job and wasn’t able to live solely on her writing income. This gave me considerable pause. As I studied more, and read between more lines of what authors were saying and specifically what they weren’t saying (the exact dollar amount of their advances), I began to realize that this author was in no way unique.

I felt like I’d been Mary Kay’d. I might need to explain that reference. When I was eighteen I signed up to sell Mary Kay. I was lured in with the promise of the pink car. I knew I was motivated and could sell things and surely I could have the pink car. But once I was inside I started to see all the downfalls of multi-level marketing and why most people can’t make a living at it. And why the pink car, was not going to be a part of my future most likely.

It seems this is the same thing that has gone on forever in the publishing industry. Hopeful writers believe at first they’ll make a living just by being published by a big name publisher. Then once they’re in, they realize they need to have a backlist first (though please explain to me how an author can gain any traction in this way when so many times they only can manage to keep 2-5 books “in print” at any given time. I prefer a treadmill that makes my ass smaller, thanks.)

Then of course the realization starts to sink in that MOST published authors, including many who have reached that pinnacle, the NYT Bestseller list, are not making a living doing this. Only those with huge prolific outputs that are fairly successful along with the famous ones, are making a living doing this. (And I really just don’t want to put out more than one novel a year on average. I want to put out better quality books not more of them. And normally quality suffers with quantity. We’ve all seen it happen.)

Once I learned these financial realities, I was off the trad train. Fuck that. If I’m going to make peanuts, I’m keeping full creative control. I’m going to be able to approve or deny my cover. I’m going to pick how my book is laid out, and how it’s marketed and distributed. I’m picking the formats. I’m picking the editors, I’m titling my own books. (i.e. I’m not coming up with a great title just to have someone’s marketing department shoot it down and rename it.)

I am not your commodity.

I belong to me. My words, thoughts, feelings, and art belongs to me. And I will create it, package it, and distribute it the way I see fit. The ONLY people that matter in this equation outside of myself, are my readers. Not the talking heads in the publishing industry. I don’t need a publisher to get my words in front of readers. I don’t need a publisher to make a little money. And I certainly don’t need the drama, politics, and headache of the whole treadmill if I’m only going to discover that the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow for most is fool’s gold.

With authors doing so much of their own marketing now, and fewer people buying most of their books in brick and mortar bookstores anyway… with so little money on the table for most even after years of grueling work and many books… exactly what the hell could possibly be in it for me besides external validation from the other writers and the “publishing industry” as a whole? Why is that validation worth my soul? It isn’t.

So many discourage those who want to self-publish with the warning: “You’re unlikely to make money self-publishing.” As opposed to what option? And how are we quantifying the phrase “making money” here? Because a tiny bit of money is still a tiny bit of money even if your publisher handed it to you.

Will I “make a living” self-publishing? Well… that’s hard to answer because I’m thinking inside a different box. I have the MPC-mentality (multiple-profit-centers.) My “business” is basically finding every way in which I can make money from my writing and making use of it. This includes writing websites that I monetize, selling fiction in print and ebook, selling nonfiction/infoproducts in print and ebook, copywriting, a bit of freelance work, and any other ideas I come up with.

This little mini writing empire is on a 10 year plan, of which I’m in year 2. Some of the plates I spin are more for passion than for profit, like fiction. But considering the fact that I can keep my ENTIRE backlist in print, I’m writing a series, and I keep ALL the profit and not just a royalty, the concept that I could “make a living” just from fiction in ten years isn’t so outside the realm of realistic that I can’t even entertain the possibility.

I do understand that writers are part of a community and in some ways I purposefully alienate myself from this community. But at the same time, most of the politics and drama is unnecessary to my life. And I always get burnt because what I’m saying is not what people want to hear. Even if I say it nicely and temper it with many caveats. I have my own tune, my own plan, and I’ll follow it succeed or fail. But what I won’t do is jump on a treadmill that to me isn’t worth the small payment at the end.

Self-publishing, even if at the end of the day I make little money, IS worth it to me, because it’s MINE. There is a pride of ownership there. Even if it’s not considered as socially acceptable yet as say opening a flower shop, it’s not like I’m running a brothel here. Social attitudes will catch up (and if they don’t you know I’m still doing it, because that’s just me.)

And on the money issue. KEPT has sold 2,500 copies on Amazon and has had 15,000 readers otherwise in the past year. It’s only a dollar on Amazon because they wouldn’t let me give it away for free. It was initial test marketing, not a money-making enterprise. Nevertheless, I’ve already in one year made more in royalties from the novella on the Kindle than I likely would have been paid as a first-time author, had I had my novella accepted for a print anthology.

I don’t write “for the money.” But if money wasn’t any piece of the motivation for me, I would just give all my work away for free. What is the point of selling it for profit if you don’t intend to actually MAKE a profit? I intend to make a profit. There is no crime in this. But I realize I can’t make a profit worth my time inside the standard publishing system. Your mileage of course may vary and it’s okay if it does. I don’t require a bunch of bobble-head yes-men in my life. You can disagree with me and I won’t call your momma names.

So yes, self-publishing for me is a business decision and a personal decision.

Also, just in case you think I’m talking out of my ass and can’t possibly know anything cause I haven’t been inducted into the standard publishing system, here are some posts for you to chew on… two traditionally published authors, both saying basically the same things I am, they just draw different conclusions for their own lives (i.e. not self-publishing), and say it a little differently. But it’s the same bottom line truth.

More on the reality of a times bestseller

The Big Lie

[Publetariat Editor’s note: also see this post from author Kimberly Pauley, in which she shares some of her financial details, and some other authors do likewise in the comments section.]

This is a cross-posting from the weblog of Zoe Winters.

21 Steps: How to Publish a Kindle Blog (And Why You Might Want To….)

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This post, from Stephen Windwalker, originally appeared on his Kindle Nation Daily blog on 11/15/09, and is reprinted here in its entirety with his permission.

Kindle, how do I blog thee? Let me count the ways….

In the past few months I’ve had numerous writer-blogger-publisher friends and colleagues ask me how to publish their blogs and other content as Kindle Blogs.

 

  • Or how to take the short stories or social commentary that they have been writing for other media and make it come alive on the Kindle.
     
  • Or, in the case of some very talented people who write everything from business marketing material to political content to community organizing campaign literature, how they could re-purpose the publications that they or their organizations are already doing as Kindle blogs so that they could begin to reach a wider audience.
     
  • Or how to take those steamy stories they’ve been writing for years and connect them with the thousands of Kindle readers who appear — from Kindle sales rankings — to have an appetite for erotica and like the fact that the Kindle does not require a brown paper bag.
     
  • Or how to turn Kindle owners on to the wonderful services or products that their businesses provide to the public.
     

Those of us who tapdance on the keyboards come in so many different shapes, sizes, and settings.

At first, back in June when I had just begun to make Kindle Nation Daily available as a Kindle edition blog, I might have answered, "Don’t bother." Although I had plenty of independent confirmation of wide and growing readership, I was skeptical that significant numbers of people were going to pay for the goat when I was already giving away the goat’s milk for free.

With monthly summaries that show up a couple of weeks after the end of each month, Amazon is slower to report Kindle blog subscription and revenue data to its publishers than any other of its formats, which generally report in something close to real time when they are working. But based on the data that I could gather, it seemed that very few Kindle blogs were thriving. When my own numbers began to come in — with 7 subscriptions in May and even with 150 for June and 201 for July — well, it was nice to have some paying readers, but at 30 cents a pop as my monthly royalty for each 99-cent-a-month subscription it certainly did not seem like a business model. I now have over 7,500 people reading my posts each week in their several free formats, and I certainly don’t expect the number of paid readers ever to catch up with the number of free readers.

But as the "installed base" of Kindle owners has continued to grow dramatically each month, and promises to keep growing, I’ve changed my mind about the usefulness of the Kindle blogging format, and I would no longer say "Don’t bother" to anyone with useful information or creative work to share. Granted, the number of Kindle owners who subscribe to Kindle blogs remains very small: my educated guess is that there are somewhere south of 10,000 regular Kindle blog subscribers among roughly 2 million Kindle owners at present. My own subscriber numbers keep growing — from 201 in July to 346 in August, 494 in September and 778 in October — but while the percentages of increase are astonishing, the actual numbers and revenue figures are tiny. It’s great to be the #1 blog in the Kindle Store this morning, but the fact that somewhere in the ballpark of 99.96% of Kindle owners do not read my blog certainly constitutes a cold splash of reality.

Or should I see it as opportunity?

To extrapolate based on my recent month-over-month subscription growth rates yields laughable results (the last four months’ figures are 56.64%, 67.02%, 36.82%, 58.12%, or so says my handle little Google Docs spreadsheet), yet even the act of plugging in seemingly "conservative" growth rates in the 5 to 10 percent range yields projections that are wild enough both to concentrate my attention and to suggest to me that, with an 11-year-old son who I am probably not going to talk out of going to college, I should continue to make Kindle Nation Daily a priority even if it weren’t so much fun.

What are the real parameters for potential growth in subscribers for the Kindle edition of my blog or anyone else’s in the future?

I certainly believe that Kindle ownership will continue to grow dramatically in the next few years. People far smarter than me are suggesting that there will be as many as 25 million or more ebook readers by the end of 2013, and that a large percentage of these will be Kindles of some sort. So, even if I had 25,000 subscribers by then, something over 99.97% of all Kindle owners would not be subscribers.

Will the percentage of Kindle owners who read blogs on their Kindles increase significantly in the future? As with anything else, it probably depends on convenience, the importance and value of the content being delivered, and the relative terms of price and convenience under which such content is available elsewhere. Although blogging as a zeitgeist phenomenon may be beginning to seem, well, "so 2005," it has the potential to gain real force as other content formats and sources fall away and creative content providers find new ways to use the incredible simple blogsite architectures to deliver fiction, poetry, other narrative, and other forms of business, cultural, and political comment.

Those of us who read blog content on the Kindle find it a very convenient, portable feature, and it is great to have new posts pushed regularly to my Kindle so that I don’t have to remember to go looking for them. I subscribe to about 10 blogs on a range of subjects including technology, news, sports, and creative content, and whenever a blog is refreshed and moves to the top of my home screen, it takes me only a few seconds of peeking at its Table of Contents and an initial sentence or two to decide if there is something new that I want to read or flag for future reading.

Just as important, both for myself and for other bloggers, we are finding ways to include the Kindle editions of our blogs in a symbiotic loop wherein each kind of subscriber, reader, or visitor is more likely to visit other associated venues. Not only does my Kindlized blog help make interested readers aware of my Kindle books, but it also drives visitors to my free blog, the free weekly email newsletter that I publish with the help of Constant Contact’s growing suite of complementary services, and even to my telephone or my email inbox if they want to engage me in helping them in their efforts. Most of these other centers of activity, in turn, also build my base of Kinle edition subscribers: proof again that what goes around comes around. And what works for me is working for many other authors, publishers, businesses and organizations as well.

Kindle blogs may be the ultimate long-tail phenomenon, so they only make sense from a business point of view if they require little or no investment either by Amazon or by the bloggers in question. That’s the situation here. I spend plenty of hours each month posting to my blog, but the total amount of time I spend maintaining its Kindle edition architecture amounts to less than 5 minutes.

Initially, though, it took me about three times that much time to get up and running.

Yep, 15 minutes.

If you have blog content that you want to make available on the Kindle, all you need is a U.S. bank account and an existing blog. Here’s how, in 21 easy steps:
 

  1. Get the RSS feed address for the existing blog that you wish to publish on the Kindle and paste it into a text file so that it will be ready to paste in the appropriate place later in this process. Have your blog’s main page open in another window or tab as you proceed. You can bring up the RSS feed address by clicking on the little syndication icon at the far right of the URL field for your blog’s main address near the top of your browser when you are looking at the blog’s main page in that other window or tab. For this blog, whose address is http://thekindlenationblog.blogspot.com, the RSS feed address is http://thekindlenationblog.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?alt=rss.
     
  2. Go to the Kindle Publishing for Blogs Beta page, which is compatible with both Windows and Mac operating systems, and click on the Create a New Account link.
     
  3. Create your account using an email addresss that is not associated with an existing Amazon account. (You can always set up a new email account, free, with Gmail and have the new account’s incoming mail sent to an existing email address, including one that is associated with an existing Amazon account.)
     
  4. Choose and answer your security questions and affirm that you have read and accept the program’s Terms and Conditions.
     
  5. Click on the "Add new blog" link in the upper right corner of the "Dashboard" display that appears on your screen.
  6. Enter your contact and bank account information on the next screen. This will allow Amazon to pay you royalties for your blog subscriptions. Monthly royalties are 30% of the monthly subscription price for actual subscriptions. You don’t get paid for the 14-day free trial that precedes any subscription. Once your bank account’s routing number and account number as well as your social security or tax identification number are successfully entered, you will be able to have royalties deposited electronically in your bank account, usually in the second half of the month following the subscription revenues on which you are being paid.
     
  7. On the "Add Blog" page which appears next on your display, paste in your blog’s RSS feed address from Step 1.
     
  8. Type or copy and paste the blog’s title, tagline, and blog description directly from your blog’s main page. This metadata will appear in the Kindle Store so it should be worded in an attractive way and conform to the material already on your blog. You may find it beneficial to include a descriptive subtitle such as my blog’s "The inside scoop on all things Kindle." Why? Because everything you do to package and market any content on Amazon should reflect your awareness of the importance of search engine optimization (SEO) within Amazon’s, and the web’s, architecture. I have also found it beneficial to include some search keywords in a blog’s tagline.
     
  9. Enter your name or pen name of the name of your publishing company, business, or organization as the blog’s publisher.
     
  10. Take a screenshot of your blog using COMMAND+SHIFT+4 on a Mac or the PrintScreen key on a PC, and then use Preview or Paint to save the image as a GIF, JPEG, TIFF, or BMP file. You may find it beneficial here to select a particular post with attractive above-the-fold graphics and overall presentation and bring that post onto your screen for the screenshot.
     
  11. Click on "Upload image" to browse, select, and upload your screenshot to the "Add Blog" page.
     
  12. Follow a similar process to upload a masthead graphic. This should be a simple icon image; it will appear, in a tiny image, at the head of each post in the Kindle’s rendering of your blog.
     
  13. Enter the actual website address for your blog where indicated; this is not the RSS feed address that you have already entered above.
     
  14. Select your blog’s language and choose three categories from the list of 10 offered. You may easily change these categories in the future.
     
  15. Enter search keywords to help Kindle owners to find your blog in the Kindle store or the overall Amazon website. This process, again, is all about SEO, and it may prove helpful to check out similar or other blogs in the Kindle Store and scroll down to the section headed "Tags Customers Associate with This Product."
     
  16. For the "Blog Post Frequency" pulldown menu, be conservative. If you post 4 or 5 times a week, choose "2 to 5 times a week" rather than "Daily," and if you post 10 times a week, choose "Daily" rather than "Multiple times a day." Readers get annoyed if you do not delivered what you promise, and that annoyance can be reflected not only in your subscription sales but in lethal negative reviews. It may also be true that the "Multiple times a day" option, even if true, might actually drive away some potential subscribers if they are concerned that they may be inundated with posts.
     
  17. Click on the "Generate Blog Preview" button to make sure that everything looks right. Your preview will take a few minutes to format and load, then you can click "View Preview" and a Kindle-sized display of your blog will appear.
     
  18. If so, check the box showing that you accept the "Terms and Conditions" (after you’ve read them, of course), click on the "Save" button.
     
  19. The orange "Publish Blog to Kindle" button will then become live on your screen. Click it, and you’re done. All you have to do from here on out is keep posting to your blog, and each post will be delivered directly to subscribers’ Kindles within an hour or so of your posts.
     
  20. Amazon will set the price of your blog between 99 cents and $1.99. It’s probably better for you if the price is 99 cents, since that’s the price for many of the most popular blogs in the Kindle Store, but it is out of your control.
     
  21. Subscribe to your own blog, if you have a Kindle, so that you can keep a close eye on how it looks on the Kindle and trouble-shoot any problems. If you don’t have a Kindle yet, and you don’t want to spring for the $259 to buy a new one, you can buy a refurbished Kindle 1 for just $149.99 by clicking here. But you do not need to own a Kindle to publish your blog in the Kindle Store.

I know, I said you could do all this in 15 minutes, and it probably took you a little longer because we writers are careful people. Or should be. And I didn’t mean to include the time it took you to read this post in the 15 minutes.

In any case, I wish you good luck, and I hope that you will stay in touch with me at KindleNation@gmail.com to let me know how this goes for you.

(If you’d rather have me set this up for you for a one-time fee of $49, just click on the Buy Now button [at the bottom of the original post, here] and send an email to KindleNation@gmail.com with Kindle Blog Publishing Package in the subject line and your blog’s URL and an email address and phone number so that I contact you in the the main body. I’m not looking for the extra work, but it may be easier for me than for you and I don’t want to see you blocked from participation if I can help.)
 

Cartoon reprinted with permission from We Blog Cartoons.

RWA Wants Associate Members Who Foster Relationships Between Readers and Authors

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This post, from Jane L, originally appeared on Dear Author on 11/23/09 and is reprinted here in its entirety with her permission.

I received a letter today from RWA [Ed. note – Romance Writers of America] indicating that I would not be able to renew my membership when it expires at the end of the month. I have posted the letter for you all to read it. While it says that I am a General Member, this is an error that RWA has consistently made. I’ve signed up an associate member for the three years that I have paid my dues. I want to state at the outset there there is absolutely nothing in the letter that is not true except for one thing.

Dear Ms. Litte,

On November 30, 2009 your General membership with Romance Writers of America will expire. We are unable to renew General membership for individuals who have indicated in writing that they are not in serious pursuit of a career in romance writing.

General membership in RWA is open to all persons “seriously pursuing a romance fiction writing career” (Section 4.1.1 RWA Restated Bylaws 2007). On September 11, 2009, you wrote, “I have not written a book nor do I have plans to write a book…” Staff is unable to allow renewal of General membership for individuals who publish statements such as the one cited above.

In most instances, we are able to offer Associate membership to individuals who do not qualify for General membership. However, Associate membership is offered to individuals, “who support the organization and its purposes but do not meet the requirements for General membership” (Section 4.1.2 RWA Restated Bylaws 2007). We have been made aware of numerous posts on your blog and on the “romfail” thread on Twitter that indicate you do not support RWA or romance authors.

This decision is not one that we would have chosen. We feel that authors’ and readers’ interests are closely related and that both have much to gain by a harmonious and mutually beneficial relationship. In light of the evidence on file, RWA is not offering you the option to renew.

It is true that I have publicly stated I have no aspirations to write. (See blog post referenced in letter here). It is also true that I make fun of bad books (or what I consider to be bad books). Examples can be seen here.

It is also true that I have been critical of RWA and its inability to provide its members full information on the panoply of ways that publishing is changing for the membership.

It is also true that I have been critical of authors.

I do find it interesting that the justification for blackballing me from RWA is because my blog posts and #romfail thread on Twitter” indicate that I do not support RWA or romance authors. I have supported RWA but I have also been extremely critical of them. I don’t support romance authors individually, but I do support the romance authors in general; and, of course, I support the romance genre and romance books.

I actually had not planned to renew my membership. I joined because it gave you a discount for the RWA conference and you received the RWR but over the past three years, I’ve read the RWR only a couple of times and I decided that this year I would go to RomCon instead of RWA.

I have had a lot of supportive emails sent to me over this. I hope that none of you jeopardize your own membership or standing or position in RWA or with your fellow authors over this issue because I do not want to be the cause of any more disharmony for authors. And I can apparently still be an RWA member if I choose to publicly state that I am seriously pursuing a writing career.

Anyone who reads this blog will know that RWA’s actions will not change my conviction that true advocacy requires a conversation among many different — often contrary and conflicting — views. I will never believe that bad books are a necessity about which we must remain quiet, nor will I relinquish my critical views of a genre I love and an industry in which I have taken an active interest. Hopefully authors know that whatever they get here at Dear Author is candid, honest, and a product of my faith in good books and the readers who love them.

Jane

 

Jane L. is a long time romance reader whose passion is, you guessed it, reading. She’s currently loving contemporary authors like Sarah Mayberry and Kristan Higgins but her first love will always be the historical. Some of her old time favorites are Amanda Quick and Johanna Lindsey and some of the new favorites are Sherry Thomas, Joanna Bourne and Claudia Dain.

Book Interior Designing Trends

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There used to be sacrosanct rules in the layout of book interiors. To violate these rules was to scream, as the Germans would say, “Unprofi” or unprofessional. That became one of the sure signs of a self-published book. That is no longer the case. Green considerations about wasting paper and economic considerations about printing costs when margins are so small for the publisher have forced publishers to re-think how books should be laid out.

One of the major changes is the old rule about always beginning new chapters on the recto or right hand side. When a chapter ended on the recto, there would follow a blank page on the next verso or left hand page. That is seen as wasteful today. Chapters’ beginning pages will often be seen on either page, eliminating the need for blank pages on the left. This cuts down on the page count.

Another rule is to not show headers or footers on blank pages and pages where a chapter begins. This is beginning to change. One, there are fewer blank pages. Two, not showing a page number on the start of a chapter, especially when the table of contents gives one is annoying to the reader. The header above the chapter heading still should be eliminated because the page will look too cluttered; however, the page numbers should be placed as footers and they should remain so someone can more easily find a chapter from the TOC.

The inclusion of Library of Congress numbers on the Copyright page. I see these as optional. One, the staff at the LOC seems somewhat overwhelmed by the number of number requests. Two, if you don’t feel there is a large market in the library sector for your book, why bother with it. The librarians are the only folks who refer to these numbers in any way. If your book was designed to sell off the back table at your lectures and your primary sales venues are direct sales or bookstores, don’t bother with the LOC number.

These may seem like small points, but trust me, many publishers agonize over them. If any of you know some other practices which are changing and why, please add a comment below.

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

Dan Clancy Answers a Few Quick Questions About the New Google Book Search Settlement

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This post, from Siva Vaidhyanathan, originally appeared on his The Googlization of Everything site on 11/17/09 and is reprinted here in its entirety with his permission. Dan Clancy is the Engineering Director for Google Books.

Hi Dan.

I know it must have been a stressful week for you. So I hesitate to ask you for a favor. But there are a lot of people in the scholarly/library community who have unanswered questions about the terms of the new GBS deal. So I was hoping you could help us out.

Would you mind answering these so I can post the answers on my blog?

1) The settlement is now restricted to works from the Anglophone world (which will mean mostly, but not entirely, books in English). Does that mean y’all will stop scanning books published and copyrighted in other countries that sit on the shelves of partner libraries?

Dan: Google is still scanning non-english books just as we are doing today. These books simply are not covered by the settlement so we will treat them as we do today (i.e. showing snippets, etc). As always, if a rightsholder requests that we not scan their book or that we stop indexing their book and showing results in Google, we will respect this request.

2) Will you still offer research access to the larger corpus of works (including non-Anglophone-published works)? Or will you restrict research access to works covered by the settlement plus public domain plus partner books?

Dan: The library partners are responsible for creating the research corpus. The settlement agreement will only provide authorization regarding the research corpus for those books covered by the settlement agreement. How they decide to use those books not covered by the settlement agreement is up to our partner libraries and what is allowed under US copyright law.

3) Does Hathi have to remove non-Anglophone-published books from its collection?

Dan: No. Again, everything stays the same as today.

 

4) How does this settlement affect the scanning deals you have with BN in France and other such sources of books?

Dan: There is no impact. The settlement only covered scanning in the US to begin with. All of our partnerships with non-US libraries focus on public domain books or books where there is explicit authorization.

Thank you, Dan!

 

Pondering: snippety-snip

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This post, from Lynne Connolly, originally appeared on The Good, The Bad and the Unread on 11/9/09, and is reprinted here in its entirety with her permission.

Several bloggers have answered comments on the AAR forums about blogging recently. In doing so, some have noticed a recent snippiness and touchiness in the reading community, from readers and from writers. I was hanging around at Wendy’s blog recently, something I do a lot, and she’s noticed something similar, too. Mrs. Giggles has spotted it. 

 

I think I have an inkling as to what might be going on, or at least some of it.LynneCs icon

Actions and consequences…

I heard a program on the radio this morning, “Whistleblowers” about Paul Moore and how he warned the bank HBOS about its risky strategies and its target-based culture, and how it and banks like it pushed consumers into taking too many risks. It was all about selling, recessionhe said and they didn’t look at the long term consequences, and the unbalanced risk it introduced.

Sound familiar? It should.

It’s happening in the book business, and it’s not all down to the recession. Before 2009, signs of strain were already showing. Historically, books have always followed the newspaper model of distribution – copies were distributed to suppliers, bookstores for the main part, and those that didn’t sell were returned. That meant that you could drop into your local bookstore and be confident of finding the book you wanted. It also meant a bucketload of returns. Then Anderson News, one of the biggest distributors went under.

Two things were happening. The supermarkets were buying books in bulk, undercutting traditional retailers and doing their own distribution. And the newspaper industry was failing. It would have made sense to try to do away with the “sale or return” system, but it was too convenient to the companies involved – the accounting and financing of the publishers would have had to be restructured, and that can’t be done quickly, and it was a good thing for the supermarkets, who wouldn’t have surplus stock to sell or dispose of.

Philippe Petit

Sell or die…

At the publishing houses, there were a number of fine editors who had a lot of control over the books the house took and what was done with them. It gave each house a distinct identity, and its authors were given relative artistic freedom. Now, no decision is made independent of the marketing and finance departments. The question was no longer asked, “Is this book good for us?” but “Can we sell enough copies?”

A carefully balanced portfolio of bestsellers, middle ground authors and risky chances that could take off in a big way or could bomb spectacularly, was abandoned for the best seller model. Big authors, controversial themes, with big money put behind them. Middle ground authors, career authors with reputations but no huge sales were dropped. I’ve met a few, and while being resilient and determined to weather the storm, there’s a core of unhappiness and cynicism that just wasn’t there before. Existing authors are sometimes desperately chasing targets, because if their current book doesn’t sell up to target, they’re dropped. No second chances.

wolvesThe publishing business has gone from brutal to savage, from relatively civilised to a jungle culture. If you don’t sell, you’re gone. No benefit of the doubt, no “see what your next title does,” no “this will be a slow burner.” Without that attitude, we wouldn’t have had The Lord of the Rings, or The Chronicles of Narnia, or even Dorothy Dunnett’s Lymond Chronicles, all series that became massive sellers, but had relatively slow starts.

Wait, we don’t get them, do we? Not any more. A series has to start with a huge bang and go on to sell and sell, otherwise it’s gone. A writer with a three-book contract will see her books cut off after the second, even the first, leaving the readers hungry for the last ones, and increasingly determined not to buy a series until it’s all out. So sales at first are low, and more get cut. A self fulfilling prophecy.

Big publishers are struggling to stay afloat. If it weren’t for cash reserves and the massive profits they stand to make by selling e-books and not passing on savings to authors or readers, they’d probably go under. Midlist authors are going to the e-publishers, giving up or trying for the big one. Or writing for Harlequin, which is taking serious note of the market and going from strength to strength.

Ahead of the curve…

Harlequin always had the drop on other publishers with its direct mail order service, which didn’t depend on distributors or returns. It had a regular audience and after slipping behind in the late 1990’s, turned its lines around and rejuvenated or dropped them. And Harlequin has an established, successful e-bookstore.

You’d expect me to say e-publishing is where the future is because I write for e-publishers. Well that’s not why I do it. I’ve had chances to write for others, but the offer or the money wasn’t quite right. I promised myself I’d do this to make myself happy, not to go for the big bucks or the huge sales. As it happens, I think I’ve fallen into the right part of the industry. Right for me, right for the future.

No, I don’t think we’ll see the end of the paper book. It’s a transition. But the sale-or-return culture, plus increasing costs in distribution and production, plus increasing pressure from ecologists has all pushed producers of print to think again. It’s been coming for a long time, from the day when Rupert Murdoch pushed the print unions to breaking point and then smashed them, from the day when Anderson’s closed its doors, to when Wal-Mart became indispensable to many people and one-stop shopping became important.

Make a fast splash…

So, back to the point of the article. Writers and readers getting snippy. Of course there’s no one reason. Writers are being pressured to write the big one, the big series, the High Concept book, something that is different but stays the same. Nobody’s telling them to, it’s just sp_freddiethe way “the market” is going. Fewer authors, higher sales per unit. Splashy, lots of action, lots of sex.

For some writers, that’s exactly what they want to do. Others don’t, their metier runs to a different kind of book and they’re getting short shrift now. The chase for the next big thing has resulted in markets rising and falling ever faster. Right now it’s urban fantasy, next it’s steampunk, but if you aren’t already in there and working hard, either close to publication or accepted, then forget it, because for the writer, that’s over. The publishers have all the authors they want in that genre and you’re going to have to look for something else, something with a platform, a high concept, a distinct genre.

This is making writers edgy. They’re putting out books faster, and each book is getting a little less theirs, a little more of a product. Less love is going into creating it. Editors are all about buying the next book and spotting the next trend, not nurturing the writers they’ve already bought. It’s not their fault, it’s just the way the market is going.

Readers can only buy what is in the bookstores. If you love paranormal but you hate the market leaders, you’ll look for something else, pick up the next book with a great cover and blurb. Maybe you’ll find something. But rarely a book with great depth, something that speaks to your soul. It’s always been like that, there have always been splashy, dramatic books, and good luck to them. We all need one of those to read from time to time. But readers want more, they want different, and it’s getting harder to find. It’s not the reader’s concern to analyse and decide what they want. Why should they? But if they don’t find what they want, they’ll move on to videos, video games, other genres.

So writers, edgy with the increased pressures and with writing more books are snipping at readers, and readers, dissatisfied but not quite knowing why, are snipping back.

Unique-largeThere are always exceptions, always a great book, always an author who ploughs her own furrow, but it’s the general trends, not individual greatness or otherwise that is driving the market. Always the Pareto rule, the 80:20 ratio that goes into the marketing and finance departments. There’s a reason for the saying “the exception proves the rule.”

Plus it’s the change of the season, and that always brings a bit of disturbance. So maybe it’s just the weather.