Ebooks

Articles specific to writing and publishing ebooks.

LendInk: A Post Mortem

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The totally legitimate, legal ebook lend exchange site, LendInk, is dead, and the cause of death was murder. Yet the mob still isn’t satisfied; LendInk’s owner has reported he, members of his family, and his former web host have all received numerous threats, even AFTER his site was taken down.

No matter how many times, nor how clearly anyone tries to explain how Amazon’s and B&N’s lending programs work, the ill-informed hysterics continue to insist LendInk was doing something illegal, and it was justifiably destroyed. These authors obviously have not read, or else don’t understand, the Terms and Conditions to which they agreed when they opted their books in for lending. Some are now saying it’s unreasonable for Amazon and B&N to expect them to have read those terms, or to make sure they understood the terms before agreeing to them. They are wrong.

Many of the others who are on the wrong side of this argument are attempting damage control, rather than simply owning up and apologizing. They’re fixating on some small detail that they feel still entitles them to feel righteous in their actions, instead of acknowledging that they’ve done a terrible thing.

Some say it’s LendInk’s own fault authors didn’t understand the LendInk business model, because LendInk didn’t make any effort beyond its FAQ to explain its service to authors, like placing a detailed explanation on its home page. This is a bad argument for two reasons. First, since LendInk was a site geared to readers, not authors, it had no obligation to plaster its home page with legalese intended to inform and pacify authors. Second, those who make this argument obviously haven’t read the FAQ; if they had, they would see the site’s business model and legality were very clearly explained there.

Some say that since not every book listed on LendInk was actually available to lend, that some were listed as Amazon affiliate ‘buy’ links, the site was pulling a Bait-and-Switch and deserved to be shut down for that reason. It is for site users, not authors, to decide whether or not they had a problem with this. Considering that the site had 15k+ registered users at the time it was shut down, it would appear they did not. Also, any author who objects to affiliate links for his book being placed on heavily-trafficked websites targeted to avid readers is arguing against his own interests.

Some say that since not every lend on LendInk generated a commission or royalty for authors, the site wasn’t really helping authors at all. Setting aside for the moment that LendInk had no obligation to help authors, the fact that some person or company isn’t helping authors is not a valid justification for destroying it. Besides, regardless of the commission/royalty issue, every listing of a book on LendInk was free advertising and exposure for authors, built entirely on a totally legal and totally pre-existing lend mechanism created by Amazon/B&N, to which authors and publishers voluntarily opted in.

Here are some follow-ups from around the web.

LendInk owner Dale Porter is interviewed on Digital Media Machine.

On Lynch Mobs, Social Media and LendInk.

A.B. Dada Offers T-Shirt Fundraiser, and Hosts a Boycott List of Authors Who Falsely Accused LendInk. Even if the thought of such a boycott list seems wrong to you, it’s important to know this kind of backlash is happening.

LendInk – How Can We Put Things Right? In which one blogger suggests those who falsely accused LendInk make amends via public apologies and retractions.

And finally, Publetariat founder and Editor in Chief April L. Hamilton offers this tongue-in-cheek YouTube video, How To Maintain Control of Your Work and Beat the Ebook Pirates, which is based on actual statements made, and objections levelled, by real indie authors who weighed in on the LendInk debacle.

 

And The Silver Bullet Of Book Marketing Is…

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This post, by Steve (Stephanie) Nilles, of Booknook.biz, originally appeared on the Crime Fiction Collective blog.

Kimberly Hitchens is the founder and owner of Booknook.biz, an ebook production company that has produced books for over 750 authors and imprints.

This week’s entry is from our Social Networking Genius  extraordinaire, Steve (Stephanie) Nilles, who holds down the fort on Tweeting and Facebooking, Pinteresting and other "stuff" over at Booknook.biz, and has taught me all I know about Twitter, et al.  She will be guest blogging for me while I recover from a shoulder problem, and to provide a different perspective than I usually have. Take it away, Steve:

I’m not an agent, publisher, or aspiring novelist. I’m a working musician. About a year and a half ago, while taking a month-long break from the road, I happened upon part-time work for a well-established and traditionally published mystery writer who was just starting her own e-pub company. I have since edited manuscripts and provided marketing assistance for an ebook producer, as well as for mystery, science fiction, romance, children’s books, and nonfiction authors, ranging from the seasoned and well-known to the obscure writer pushing his very first novel. Predictably, my work in publishing has drawn enlightening parallels to my work in the music business. In short, publishing seems to be about 20 years behind the music industry, at least in terms of adjusting to a preference for digital. And as an outsider temporarily peering into a world of energetic bordering on frantic writers and publishers, I’ve found the clamoring for the magical marketing plan that will give birth to the next Amanda Hocking, H.P. Mallory, or John Locke to be … amusing.

The obvious explanation for what now makes being a musician or author nearly impossible is that “everyone can do it.” Perhaps screenwriter Aaron Sorkin put it best in a particularly wry interview: Interviewer: "Look, I don’t want to step on your toes, you don’t want to step on mine. We’re both writers."  Sorkin: "Yes, I suppose, if we broaden the definition to those who can spell."

As technology provides limitless tools for distribution, self-promotion, and even production of the artform itself, the internet has, as Mark Bowden puts it, "replaced everyman with every man." From art of every medium to the once revered science of journalism, press critic A.J. Liebling’s 1960s fear of a dystopia with only one newspaper, "a city with one eye," has been replaced by a city with a million eyes.

Much like a writer, when I tell a stranger that I am a "musician," I’m painfully aware that my self-proclaimed title conjures up images of a dramatic and self-medicated kid, sulking in her bedroom and writing break up ballads in her diary. I am a 28-year-old that has spent 23 years playing music, 15 of those years nearly 5-10 hours a day. I’m on the road 8 months out of the year. I play 150 gigs a year. So imagine my displeasure at sharing the semantics of a vocation with an overnight YouTube sensation who recorded a 4 song EP in a basement with a Fisher Price tape recorder.

My 28 years notwithstanding, I think I’ve amassed an interesting cross section of experience witnessing the worlds of music-making as well as book publishing, and I can tell you with absolute certainty that what works in music works in publishing–whether you’re writing what one of my clients calls The Great American Novel or the next paranormal romance Kindle millionaire-maker. If we define "success" as "consistently selling books" (and I have yet to find a better definition), the most successful authors I’ve worked for have one and only one thing in common: they spend all of their time writing more books. And each book is better than the one that came before it.

 

Read the rest of the post on the Crime Fiction Collective blog.

Congratulations: You Killed LendInk And Denied Your Fellow Authors Their Lend Royalties

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April L. Hamilton here. This post provides a cautionary tale about what happens when paranoia about ebook piracy is allowed to run amok. While piracy and intellectual property theft are valid concerns, anyone who suspects his rights are being infringed must see to due diligence before setting out on a witch hunt with torch and pitchfork in hand, based solely on hearsay and suspicions. Remember: anyone can say anything on the internet; that doesn’t make it true.

Fair warning: I am angry, and this is an angry post. When misinformation has the power to kill totally legitimate, above-board small businesses, it’s time to stop being nicey-nice and start getting down to brass tacks. When the business in question directly impacts authors’ livelihoods, it’s time to take action.

This week, there was a huge kerfuffle on Facebook and elsewhere about LendInk.com, a site that allowed people to list any of the ‘lendable’ Kindle or Nook books they own in exchange for getting access to other members’ listings of ‘lendable’ books. The sites make their money on advertising: they don’t get any piece of the action on the lends, which are essentially private transactions between two individuals, carried out in full compliance with the lending rules and limitations set forth by Amazon and B&N. As another person put it in a discussion on my Facebook page:

If I have a copy of ebook X that I think somebody might want to borrow (just once, as per [Amazon’s and B&N’s Terms and Conditions]), I can say so on this site. If someone wants to borrow it, they contact me and I either say yes or no. If I say yes, I tell amazon to lend it and it’s flagged on amazon as having had its lend. No different than me lending it to my mum for her kindle.

Just as with any other lend, the author gets her commission [if she is eligible for one, per Amazon’s and B&N’s terms and conditions] on lends originating from contacts made on sites like LendInk. There is nothing illegal about such sites, and having your book listed as available to lend on such sites is a GOOD thing because the fact that someone else already bought it serves as a kind of implied endorsement, and the lend listings lead to lend commissions you wouldn’t otherwise get [on your Kindle/Nook books that are eligible for lend commissions].

But once a few hair-on-fire, sky-is-falling types of indie authors got wind of LendInk and found their books listed there, they jumped right to the WRONG conclusion that this was some kind of illegal Napster for ebooks and went on the warpath. Rather than take a few moments to read the site’s FAQ, where the specifics of the site and the legality of it were addressed clearly and in detail, these authors immediately started posting warnings to all their author friends about this new ebook pirating site, LendInk. It became an online game of ‘telephone’, with well-meaning people re-posting incorrect claims about LendInk, and the claims about LendInk getting more distorted as they were passed around and new posters added their take on the situation. In a matter of just THREE DAYS, it went from an online campaign of spreading hysterical misinformation to LendInk being shut down.

The icing on this cake d’stupidity is that many people are taking the fact that LendInk has been shut down as proof that it MUST have been a pirate site, and posting "Yay, us!! We beat the evil ebook pirates!!" messages online. A more accurate message for them to post would be, "Yay, us!! We killed a small business that was making readers happy and making authors money!! And we did it without any actual evidence of wrongdoing, just hearsay and angry threats!! This is a victory for those who wish to cut off noses to spite faces everywhere!!"

While I’m still investigating the specifics of the shutdown, there’s a suspension of service message on LendInk’s former home page so I think the most likely reason is that one or more ill-informed authors sent ‘takedown’ notices to LendInk’s web hosting company, threatening legal action for intellectual property theft.

Even though LendInk wasn’t doing anything illegal or unethical, having to prove it in court is a costly and time-consuming process. Add to this the fact that you must generally stop doing business until you’ve been exonerated in court, and it’s not surprising that the great majority of small businesses are more likely to fold than fight the good fight. If anyone were to bring a totally bogus legal action against Publetariat, there’s no question I’d shut the site down rather than go to court to defend it. I simply don’t have the money or time to fight a frivolous lawsuit, no matter how completely ridiculous that lawsuit’s claims might be.

I fervently hope LendInk will be back, but it’s too soon to tell. For now, just let me say this to everyone who’s participated in the events leading up to its suspension this week:

Congratulations. You may have just destroyed a legitimate small business that was making life better for readers and authors of ebooks. You have caused someone who was in business to serve readers and authors a great deal of stress and expense, and potentially the total loss of his livelihood. You have definitely cost every author whose book was listed there the lend commissions [or added exposure] they would have otherwise received through this totally legal, legitimate channel for Amazon’s and B&N’s existing ebook lending programs. Pat yourself on the back, because I certainly won’t be doing it.

UPDATED TO ADD:
There’s some evidence to suggest LendInk’s site was hacked. I can’t say for certain whether it was or not, and if it was, whether the hack was a targeted attack instigated by one of those making false claims about LendInk. I’ve got some feelers out to contacts and I’m trying to get the full story.

But whatever the reason for LendInk’s current state of suspension, its owner is now put in the position of having to answer to all the false claims authors have made about it in emails to Amazon. I’m hopeful that once Amazon fully investigates the situation, they will see there’s been no wrongdoing and alter their responses to authors who complain about LendInk accordingly.

Also, I’m getting some feedback from people with wrong information. Let me address the myths floating around out there.

MYTH: Only Prime members can lend or borrow Kindle books.

FACT: Any Kindle book the publisher has marked as Lendable is lendable. The Kindle Lending Library is a special, sub-program for Prime members that gives them access to books publishers have approved only for limited lends to Prime members. Read Amazon’s page about Kindle book lending here.

MYTH: LendInk claimed to have Amazon’s approval to list its books on its site and lend them on its site, and it was a lie.

FACT: LendInk claimed all lends were processed by Amazon and B&N, and they were. No special ‘agreement’ is necessary, since it was the owners of the Kindle books who were listing them on LendInk, NOT LendInk itself. All they were doing was putting Kindle book owners in touch with one another, it was those book owners who actually transacted with one another to request and approve lends.

Here is some of the actual text from the former FAQ on LendInk:

Is the loaning of eBooks really legal? Isn’t this the same as file sharing?
Yes, loaning of certain eBooks is legal and No, it is not the same as file sharing. The key difference between the two is that the loan status of an eBook is directly dictated by the publisher and file sharing is usually done without the publishers consent. Working with Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble, the publisher’s make their eBooks available for loan under very strict rules. The actual book loaning process is handled by Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble, not by Lendink.

I am a Publisher or Author of a book on Lendink, how did you get a copy of my book?
First, let us explain up front, we do not have a copy of your book. This is actually a common misunderstanding of how Lendink functions. No book has or will be stored on any Lendink server, ever. The title of the book is entered by our members and the book information is fed to us by an automated link between Lendink and Amazon or Barnes and Noble. Our servers only store our member contact information and the basic book information such as the author, ASIN and book description. We do not even store the book cover artwork.

MYTH: LendInk was allowing members to lend multiple copies of the same book, which is against the one-lend policy. I saw (or my friend saw) where multiple copies of one book were listed as available to lend.

FACT: Not true. If multiple copies of a single book were listed as available to lend, that just means multiple members of LendInk owned that book and listed it as available to lend. Since all lends occurred off the LendInk site, through Amazon and B&N’s *own* lending mechanisms, it would not be possible for any Kindle book owner to exceed publishers’ specified lend limits—at least, not without some kind of hacking or dishonesty on the part of the Kindle book owner. And even if that were to occur, it would not be LendInk’s fault.
 

MYTH (Well, not really a myth, but another misleading item that needs to be addressed): I wrote to Amazon about LendInk and they wrote back to say LendInk was not authorized by Amazon to lend Kindle books.
 

FACT: Amazon is correct in this response, but the thing is, LendInk was NOT lending Kindle books. LendInk was just a specialized messaging and lendable ebook listing service, at its heart. It put owners of lendable ebooks in touch with one another, and those owners conducted the lend/borrow transaction off of the LendInk site, through Amazon’s (or B&N’s, in the case of Nook books) channels.

Amazon can only reply to the question put to it; if the question is, "Is LendInk authorized by Amazon to lend my Kindle book?" their answer will be "no". If anyone had written in to ask if owners of lendable Kindle books are allowed to list those books online for purposes of connecting with other lendable book owners, he or she would’ve received a different response.

 

MYTH: My book is offered through KDP Select, so it’s not lendable.

FACT: Lendability is a requirement of participation in KDP Select. Here’s the main Amazon KDP page about the program (note how most of the information here is specifically ABOUT lending), and here’s a link to KDP Select terms and conditions.

I’ll add more to this section [ on the original blog post ] as more myths come in.

 

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

Selling Books: The Only Guide You'll Ever Need

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Originally appeared as Selling Books: The Only Guide You’ll Ever Need on LiveHacked.com.

 

Note: This post is really long. I believe it’s pretty darn good, and there’s lots of information in it. If there’s one post I’ve ever written that truly sums up my thoughts on writing, books, and making money from them, this is it. Here we go! Since I’ve started this blog, I’ve grown a highly-targeted email list, gained attention in a crowded niche (writing and productivity), and have been able to correspond directly with literally hundreds of people. I’m not famous, and didn’t start by being well-known. In fact, if you would have Googled me six months ago, you’d have found my Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ pages, maybe my personal blog (now pointing to this one), and another dude with the same name as me who sings Backstreet Boys, albeit not well. Basically, I was a nobody.  Sure–I’m certainly not "famous" now, by anyone’s standards, nor have I become some sort of sage or guru. But I’ve definitely made an impact online, and the numbers don’t seem to be slowing down. There are lots of benefits to this sort of "impact," not the least of which is gaining attention and mindshare in a crowded world. For me, though, the best value I’ve received is having been able to help so many other people with their writing, business, and "platform building" online. …And, I’ve had a few book sales, to boot. That’s what this post is about I hope you’re writing for more than just making money. Selling a book is a great way to get your name out there, or promote an idea or mindset, and it can certainly lead to earning more money for yourself as well. Money’s a great thing, used wisely and for the right purposes, but it’s certainly not why most writers and creators are artists. That said, you do need money–either to spend on your family and lifestyle, or to reinvest into your writing business. Whatever the reason, I’ve been getting more and more questions lately about the writing + book sales dilemma. Most writers want to sell their books, and lots of them. But they have a (justified) hesitation when it comes to self-promotion, marketing, and spending hours and days on things other than writing. And I’ve harped on it enough to know that just writing and waiting is sort of a luck-based scenario. If you’ve been reading this blog for any amount of time, you’ll know that I believe in building platforms online, and these platforms help to promote us and get more books sold. The problem In a nutshell, the problem with this philosophy is that it’s unspecific. You might understand the concept of building a platform, attracting people to it, and then hyping your product, but you might not understand the intricacies of how it all works. For example, here are some questions I’ve been getting over and over again in my email inbox, in the comments section of some posts, and on guest posts I’ve written around the web:

  • I write fiction, not nonfiction. How can I blog and still sell fiction?
  • I don’t want to write about my life or other nonfiction stuff–how can I write a fiction blog that sells books?
  • How can I sell more of my books without a big publishing deal?
  • How much does it cost to build a solid platform online?

This post will hopefully answer some of these questions. Step 1: Ask the Right Questions First, though, it’s important to make sure you’re asking the right questions. Questions like, "how do I sell more books," or "how many books do  I need to sell to quit my day job?" These questions aren’t bad, they’re just too early in the process of building a platform. The first, most obvious, and most-forgotten question is WHY.

  • Why do you want to build a platform?
  • Why you? Why not someone else?
  • What do you hope to gain from your platform?
  • What do you want others to gain from your platform?

These questions are the "business plan"-type questions that are all related to vision. Vision is a fleeting, hard-to-capture entity that dances in our dreams and makes our mouth water, but it’s not something we usually write down on a piece of paper. For some people, the vision questions (and their corresponding answers) lack clarity, specificity, and action-based steps, so they ignore it, opting instead to "just have it in my head." I can tell you from experience that "just having your vision in your head" is way different than having it written out in perfectly clear sentence form. I’ve launched a few businesses and blogs, and the ones that had a chance of succeeding were the ones that I spent time working on a vision for. Note: Here’s a secret, though. The really good visions aren’t ones we usually have to think too long or hard about–they’re already floating through our heads and in our minds. We just need to actually write them down.  What if your vision is just "to be a writer"? That’s a good question–and the answer is that it’s really not your vision, it’s just the method you want to use to get to your vision. Your real vision is something like:

  • To provide a new, fresh perspective on modern-day cultural changes in humanity, provided through writing and blogging
  • To offer a style of horror novels that inspire, teach, and guide young adults into adulthood
  • To change the way the world views life in third-world countries by writing personal first-person accounts and testaments of the men and women who live there

Do you see the difference? These "vision statements" are bigger–much bigger than, "to be a writer." Your vision can change, and it often does, but it needs to be something big, lofty, and "change-the-world"-y. So again, ask yourself the right questions and come up with a vision you can stick to for awhile. If you need help with these questions, I’ve written an entire book giving them to you (101 in all), and you can grab it here. Step 2: Build A Platform Once you know the right questions, you’ll know the right answers. You’ve been around long enough to have heard all of the ins and outs of what you do, and you’ve read enough about it and studied it long enough. In other words, you’ve read so many answers that all you need to do is figure out the right questions, ask them, and then let your mind answer them the way you know is right. I realized long ago that my platform was going to be successful only if I provided a solid value to other people, first and foremost. Building a business on affiliate programs and product sales was one of the many "answers" floating around on the web, but for me the "right answer" was more about writing for other people and listening to their concerns, and then helping when I could. So, how do you build a platform? You start by figuring out your value. What are you going to offer me that’s going to save me time, earn me more money, entertain or enlighten me, or give me something to think about? You can pick any of these things, but the secret to providing value is doing it well enough that I’ll want to come back later. Platforms range in all shapes and sizes, but the ones we’ll talk about (because that’s what I’m trained to talk about and what I know how to build) are those platforms that are built and grown online, using technology like social media and blogging, and are teaching-based and product (books)-based. This website is a good example of that kind of platform. And here are instructions for building one:

  • Set up a home base. Your "Home Base" is a website, preferably a blog, that will act as your online start and endpoint to everything you do. You don’t need to spend forever building this Home Base, but you do need to take some time to get it right. Here are a few posts describing this process in more detail. Use Google Analytics to track your Home Base’s activity.
  • Set up your outposts. Like your Home Base, these "Outposts" are websites, but they’re usually owned and controlled by someone else. Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter are all Outposts, and they should all be set up with one and only one goal in mind: Get people to click through to your Home Base.
  • Start promoting. Use the "Slow-Drip Marketing Method" to promote other peoples’ content most of the time, and your own stuff a much smaller portion of the time. Don’t be afraid to promote your own stuff if you’re promoting other stuff most often. Shoot for an 80/20 ratio of promoting other content versus promoting your own. Figure out how to promote almost on autopilot, so you can focus on the next step.
  • Start writing. Actually, you’ll be writing throughout this entire process. You are a writer, so this shouldn’t be difficult. Specifically, you need to write about things people want to read about, and don’t be afraid to try out new things. Again, get this on autopilot (blog every Tuesday and Thursday, for example, no matter what), and then start writing other things, like guest posts, manifestos, and books.

Tweak as you go, adding/subtracting/changing/whatever until you feel like your platform is looking polished and running like a well-oiled machine. Once you get to the point where you don’t need to actively be working on your blog’s theme, widgets, and plugins, use that energy to write more and broaden your horizons. Once you’ve started writing more, measure the results of everything you do, which is the next step. Step 3: Measure and Improve What gets measured gets managed. You don’t want to micromanage for too long, though, or you’ll get analysis paralysis and burn out. However, don’t use that excuse to not track what your efforts are leading to. Here are some key points:

  • Watch Google Analytics data on your Home Base and track things like Bounce Rate, which pages are bringing in the most visitors, and where your visitors are coming from.
  • If you’re using WordPress, install Pretty Links and set up some "pretty links" on your site. An example is the link I use for my new book: www.livehacked.com/blogging-101, which is a "pretty" link that just sends you on to Amazon–but it also tracks how many clicks there are on it, and now Analytics can track it as well. If you’re not using WordPress, start. If you won’t, then I guess you can use gaconfig.com.
  • Using the data you’re starting to measure, tweak things on your Home Base to hopefully improve them.

The formula for all of this is build-measure-tweak-repeat, over and over again. It’s not fancy, pretty, or even fun sometimes, but it works. Having a vision that excites and invigorates you is going to help you run with this formula without getting sick to your stomach. "If you fail to plan, you plan to fail." Alright–that covers it! Wait–you thought I was going to give you a top-secret recipe for selling loads of books? Well, I can’t do that–but what I can do is help you figure out how you, as a horror/romance/memoir/investing author, can actually get people to pay attention to you and take the time out to visit that awesome platform you’re building. There are a few tried-and-true methods in the industry that still work, and probably always will. Pick one of them if you want:

  1. Writing about writing. Companies like Writer’s Digest do this very well, and probably make a killing. The goal is to teach other writers about the craft and business of writing, and sell them products, services, and books that further help them. LiveHacked is doing this to some extent.
  2. Writing about yourself. Memoir writers and some other nonfiction authors can usually do this pretty well. Basically, you’re blogging about yourself, your life, your cat, your kids; whatever. It can sometimes be more difficult to make a long-term career out of this style, unless you have a large catalog of your work for sale or you have a bestseller or two.
  3. Writing about your fiction. Every now and then, I’ll come across a blog that’s just a mashup of an author’s fiction–blog posts are really snippets of short stories, character shorts, or serialized books (one chapter or section each day/week). If you want to sell books like this, you might try starting with releasing your book as serial fiction, one post every other day or so. This way, you can "set it and forget it" while you work on your next novel and promote the blog.
  4. Writing about your subject matter. This one’s cool, but it’s difficult. Basically, you’re writing nonfiction blog posts about your fiction’s subject matter. Let’s say you write a novel about a wizard kid who has to defeat He Who Shall Not Be Named. You might write a few posts about the history of wizardry, maybe another few on castles, and some on fantasy in general. You can certainly build a successful platform, but be careful when you try to turn around and write a Tom Clancy-esque military novel–that might need another platform (or pen name) altogether!

I hope all of this makes sense–blogging and platform building is not as much about the subject matter (what you’re blogging about) as it is about to whom you’re offering it. If you can figure out a subset of your demographic that really loves the stuff you blog about, it doesn’t really matter if it’s related to your book’s subject or not. WHAT?!? Yeah, okay, I said it. If you can build a great, successful, and popular platform, your readers and fans will buy your book.  They might not all buy it, but don’t think that just because they like reading your blog about military history, they won’t like reading your YA fan fiction. If you’re building a platform correctly, people will know you as a good writer, not just as a niche-focused writer. An example Trent Hamm, a very popular blogger, is known primarily (and almost exclusively) for his blog, TheSimpleDollar. He’s written so many blog posts on personal finance and helped so many people find financial answers, it came as sort of a shock to me when he announced that his next book (after his first, called The Simple Dollar) would be a novel.  Huh? That’s right–a novel. I don’t know what it’s about, but I know that I’ll buy it. Part of it is just trying to support the guy–hey, I love his work–and the other part of it is that I know he’s a great writer, and even if the book’s a flop, it’ll be like having a friend’s book on my bookshelf. I’m pretty sure that there are about 100,000 other readers of The Simple Dollar who feel the same way. Last thing–let me paint a picture There’s one other way I can illustrate this. I had a comment from a reader not too long ago asking (basically), "how can I promote and blog about nonfiction stuff, and expect these readers to buy my fiction?" It’s a good question, and it warrants a good answer. So here’s my best shot: Imagine you’re at home, having a nice dinner with a friend, whom you know through work. You often exchange work-related ideas, and help each other on projects and such. After dinner, you start watching TV, and the friend says, "hey, man, is this book on the coffee table yours?"  You of course reply, "Yup! I wrote it last year–I’d love for you to read it, but I don’t have another copy here." They will, no doubt, say, "Oh please! Just tell me where to get it! Is it available on Amazon? I’m more than happy to help you out!" You’ve just sold a novel to a "nonfiction friend" (does that analogy make sense?). There will be some friends who congratulate you and pat you on the back, but who never actually buy the book. There are also people who read only one book per year (usually Harry Potter, Twilight or Hunger Games, etc.), so you can’t really expect them to read yours, too. The point The point, if you’re still following along, is that this little parable of The Friend in Your Living Room is really People Who Read Your Blog. Your "living room" is your "Home Base," and the "friend" whom you invite over is the reader whom you attract through your platform-building efforts. Keep plugging away at your platform, and there will be more and more friends in your living room. The end.  I’m really sorry this post ended up so long–thanks for holding on there with me, and if I can ask one more favor–let me know what you thought. Leave a comment, and add your thoughts on the subject!

Publetariat Endorses Kindle Nation Daily For Kindle Book Marketing

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A message from Publetariat founder and Editor in Chief, April L. Hamilton

Publetariat has never taken the endorsement of goods and services intended for indie authors and small imprints lightly. Publetariat has always erred on the side of caution in this area because there are lots of rip-off artists out there who specifically target our community, making their living off our hopes, and in many cases, our desperation. We take our audience’s trust very seriously, and understand Publetariat’s reputation as a reliable, respectable resource hinges on that trust.

However, in the interests of bringing deserving, effective tools to the attention of Publetariat’s audience, I am giving Kindle Nation Daily‘s Sponsorship Program my personal endorsement, and the endorsement of Publetariat. 

KND is one of the oldest, most heavily-trafficked and most respected sites dedicated to Kindle content; Kindle owners flock to this site, and they trust it. The site made its name with news and commentary of interest to Kindle owners, and then built on that core content by adding categorized lists of free, quality 99 cent (‘quality’ means an average Amazon review rating of 4/5 stars or higher), and Kindle Lending Library -eligible Kindle books, all of which are updated all around the clock.

One of the reasons I can recommend KND’s Sponsorship program without reservation is that KND is totally transparent when it comes to sharing the results of advertising on their sites. KND has advertising options starting as low as $30, and since the site insists on a minimum quality level before agreeing to run advertising for a given book, site visitors know the books they find advertised there have already been subjected to some scrutiny.

Perhaps most importantly, KND is truly dedicated to serving the needs of both authors and readers. One example of this dedication is their recently-launched eBookTracker service: a very useful and totally free tool that makes it easy to track sales rank and pricing changes on any book Amazon carries—like yours, for example.

So if you’ve got a Kindle book that’s not selling as well as you’d hoped, take a look at the Kindle Nation Daily Sponsorship Program. It carries the Publetariat seal of approval.

– April L. Hamilton

 

Why I Signed With A New York Literary Agent

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Last week I announced on my author blog that I have signed with literary agent Rachel Ekstrom from the Irene Goodman Literary Agency in New York. Thank you for all the congratulations I have received!

Many of you have been incredibly supportive of my independent publishing career so far and I know you will have some questions. Since I have always been transparent with my journey, I’m happy to share what I can.

I am a fan of publishing in all its myriad guises, and none of us know where the industry is going.  It’s also quite ironic that I feel like I have to defend my decision, since in the past, self-publishing has needed the defense more!

Why do I even want an agent?

I am an author and an entrepreneur, so my goals center around:

  1. Creating great books and quality products that will delight, entertain, educate and inspire my readers
  2. Building a long term career as an author and widening my reader base
  3. Growing a sustainable income that enables me to travel and spend my time on (1) above!

In working towards these goals as an independent author over the last 3.5 years, I have used business partnerships with professional editors, book cover designers and formatters. I also depend on distributors like Amazon, Kobo and BookBaby to get my books into the hands of readers. I use tools like blogging and social networking to market and I pay for internet hosting to enable this. I sell from my site so I use Paypal as a merchant service.

I could not run my business without these business partners.

I look at signing with an agent, and possibly a traditional publisher, in the same way. They are business partners who I will work with to achieve a mutually beneficial goal. I am not a newbie in this business anymore. I have been learning about publishing for nearly four years, so this is certainly done with forethought. I have also done a lot of research on contracts and legalities, attending the Rights workshop at the London Book Fair as well as poring over books on contract clauses. I’m not going to sign anything that doesn’t fit with my goals.

Being an indie author is not only about self-publishing anymore. It’s more about taking control of your career as an author and becoming a creative director for each book. The Alliance of Independent Authors has a fantastic definition here if you want to read more.

So signing with an agent and pursuing traditional publishing reflects on my overall goals above as follows:

(1) Traditional publishing is excellent at creating quality products.

I’m an ebook only author right now and although I have dabbled in print, I don’t enjoy the process. I know a lot of indies do it successfully but I am a huge fan of doing things I enjoy :)

I currently employ several different editors during my writing process, and I absolutely believe this is critical for any author to invest in. Traditional publishing will hopefully take me to a new level with my writing and push me further. I will certainly be looking for a great editorial team as part of any deal.

(2) Traditional publishing will enable me to build a wider audience.

There are still many readers who will only buy print books in bookstores, or who hear about books through more traditional venues e.g. book clubs. I can reach an online audience myself but there are possibilities with traditional publishing that I also want to pursue.

(3) On the income question.

I am the kind of indie who wants a hybrid approach combining traditional publishing with self-publishing. After all, traditional and independent publishing are not mutually exclusive.

This approach can bring in spikes with advances, and then a monthly rolling income with self-publishing. I specifically went with the Irene Goodman Agency because they understand self-publishing can be an option for some of their authors at certain times, depending on the specifics of the author’s career and goals. I know some of their authors who are already following this hybrid approach successfully.

Nothing changes right now in terms of my books being available for sale. You can still buy Pentecost and Prophecy at the moment (better snap them up though!).

Here are some of the other reasons for pursuing this opportunity.

Authority, experience, social proof and let’s face it, ego.

You guys know I am proud of self-publishing and absolutely intend to continue doing it in some form. Indeed, I recently re-released my first book on career change. But originally, this blog was sub-titled ‘Adventures in Publishing’ and it was always my goal to have a traditional book deal one day.

In the UK, there are still bookstores on the high street and my parents read books in print that they buy from Waterstones. I do want to be on those shelves among the bestsellers. There is definitely still some authority and social proof with traditional publishing that I want to benefit from, so long as I can integrate it with my self-publishing goals.

I would also like to say I have ‘done it’ so I can justifiably join in the discussions on traditional publishing that I can only report on second-hand at the moment.

Film rights and other subsidiary rights.

As well as my lovely agent, Rachel Ekstrom, the Irene Goodman agency has a couple of great rights agents who focus on specific areas of subsidiary rights. I am interested to see what they can do with my books.

Lee Child talked at Thrillerfest about the upcoming movie Jack Reacher, starring Tom Cruise. Very exciting. I want Morgan Sierra to be the next Lara Croft, so I need people with the right contacts to make that happen. I know the film deal is a lightning strike type of luck, but some authors make it, and I have always had stretch goals and dreams!

Peer respect, blurbs and networking.

At Thrillerfest, I was excited to meet some of the big name authors who I call my writing heroes. Much as I love self-publishing, even in the current market, I think I am more likely to be able to get blurbs from big name authors if I get a traditional book deal. I have to build my author brand over time and peer networking is critical for this.

Entry into prizes.

This is an arena that is slowly opening up to indies, but most prizes are still currently based on traditional publishing. I think nominations and awards can help marketing and enable the expansion of readership.

Speaking opportunities at festivals.

I already have a professional speaking career but it doesn’t currently include talking specifically about my fiction :) The festivals in the UK especially are only about traditionally published authors, and this is an area I want to break into. (btw, I’m speaking at Zurich WriteCon in October if anyone fancies some Swiss chocolate with their scribbling!)

Why a New York agent when I live in London?

I am British but I moved back to London last year after 11 years in Australia and New Zealand. In the last four years, I have learned about online marketing from mainly US blogs so I am enmeshed in their business models. My Mum also lived in the US for many years so I have visited a lot. I love my homeland but in terms of publishing, I believe the Americans are still ahead of us in terms of the new paradigms in publishing. I wanted a forward thinking agent at an innovative agency.

It’s also a bigger book market in the US and my current sales are about 4:1 US:UK split. I wrote for the US market and even use an American spell-check. My traffic for this site and my podcast is over 50% US so most of my existing audience is there. In publishing terms, books that make it big in the US are more likely to be picked up in the UK and in other countries. So it is a business move that hopefully will put me in a better position for achieving my goals.

I have years of writing ahead of me.

The books I have out right now are not the end of what I can create. They are not precious snowflakes (much as I love them!). I have stacks of ideas and I am writing more books. At the moment, I am mostly in the library working on edits for Exodus, ARKANE book #3 and researching my next book, Hunterian, which is possibly a stand-alone or the beginning of a new series.

This is a serious career for me. I want to sell some books to the right trade publisher and self-publish others.

I am 37 with (hopefully) 50+ years of writing ahead. The decision to sign with an agent and pursue traditional publishing for some of those books opens possibilities but it certainly doesn’t stop me from doing all kinds of exciting things in the future.

This is just the beginning. I hope you will join me for the ride!

I’d love to hear what you think as I know it’s an emotional topic. Please do leave your comments [here, in the post’s original location].

 

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

15 Steps to Create Great Blog Videos

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Video is everywhere in blogs today. As many people predicted, when web surfers get broadband internet service, they want blog video and lots of it.

Let’s face it, we’ve all be raised on television in one way or another, and that’s got to be a powerful influence.

Lots of people enjoy learning through video lessons, and if it’s entertainment that drives your blog and your books, there’s no better way to deliver it than through video.

In order to deliver great content, it seems like you have to get your videos to look good, too. A year or two ago you could probably get away with bad-looking video if your content was good.

But the spread of video has also raised the bar as far as what looks “good” to the average viewer.

A few weeks ago a woman walked up to me at a publishing group meeting and introduced herself. “Actually,” she said, “I feel like I already know you since I’ve been watching your videos.”

Wow, that was great, because that’s just what I was aiming for. It’s also the way I feel about people I’ve watched on blog videos, and it’s a powerful testament to how we humans connect and how, if we invest ourselves in what we’re doing, it can really affect other people.

Which is Better, Video or Text?

Last week I posted a video instead of writing a post. At times I’ve wondered whether making a video takes more or less time than writing a typical 1,000-word article.

Over the past year I’ve acquired equipment for doing videos, gotten a ton of practice, and created hours of video for my online training course for authors, The Self-Publishing Roadmap.

So while I’m sitting at my desk pounding on my keyboard, right behind me are the lights, tripod, camera and a big whiteboard just waiting to be used.

The two processes—writing and making video—use completely different skills and equipment.

Writing a post is pretty straightforward:

  • outline
  • write
  • edit
  • format
  • add photo
  • post

With video, you get much more involved with technology and completely different kinds of processes. For short videos you might not need a script if you already know what you want to say, so at least you can avoid the writing part if you’re confident on your feet.

Of course, it’s far simpler to create screencasts where you make a movie of what’s happening on your screen, and you add your voiceover. I use a lot of these, too, but it’s the live action videos that I like the most.

With all that in mind, here’s my method of dealing with web video for blog posts, and for products and services that you might create from your blogging activity.

How to Create Blog Videos in 15 Steps

This is the basic process I go through—along with the tools I use—to make blog videos like the Book Marketing Continuum, a pretty simple whiteboard presentation that ran about 13 minutes:

  1. Outline content—there’s no way around this, and it’s very similar to outlining a written post. Regardless of how it looks, most people can’t just turn the camera on and start shooting impromptu and hope to get anything of quality out of it.
     
  2. Create a cheat sheet—I hang a single piece of paper on the front of the tripod so I can glance at it during filming. I do them with a Sharpie marker which makes creating diagrams very easy and quite visible from 4 feet away. I’ll use this as I work through the content. The illustration at the top of this article shows part of one of these sheets from a recent shoot.
     
  3. Adjust the lighting—On the recommendation of a cinematographer I bought a set of 2 “softboxes” on tripod stands. Unless you’re adept at shooting outdoors, you pretty much need to have lighting to get a good looking video.
     
  4. Check the microphone—You may have realized this, but while you can watch a video that’s not very well made and still get a lot from it, if the sound is bad, it’s likely you will stop watching. When I realized that microphones don’t have to cost that much, I got an Audio-Technica ATR-3350 microphone for less than $25, and it works great.
     
  5. Set the camera—Last year I made a bunch of videos using my iPhone. Although these came out better than expected, eventually I realized I needed a camcorder, and bought a Canon Vixia MF400. This allows me to zoom, adjust white balance and exposure, and generally takes great HD video.
     
  6. Shoot the video—Surprisingly, this part can be just a small part of the process. I know what I’m going to say, I’m all set up with equipment I’ve used a lot before, so I’m comfortable and just launch in. I was super pleased to find a tiny remote control that came with the camera, too. This allows me to flip the screen around so it’s facing front, which makes it easy to see if you’ve got the shot framed properly, then start filming with the remote. Love that.
     
  7. Transfer the video—My camera uses SD cards, so I’ve got a couple of those, and they are very cheap for mass storage. Not only that, I discovered the new Macintoshes now come standard with a slot for SD cards, making it very easy to get them onto my Mac.
     
  8. Convert the video—Unfortunately, I can’t use the videos in the format the camera uses (*.MTS) so the first thing I do is run them through a converter to get a .MOV file. I use Wondershare, a fast and capable program with lots of options.
     
  9. Edit the video—When I first got started with video I realized it would work for me if I could keep it simple. Like a lot of people I don’t have time to learn a ton of complicated new software. iMovie looked like what I wanted, but the interface was frustratingly hard to learn. Eventually I started using the editor in Screenflow, a fantastic screen recorder for Macintosh. I love this software for its simplicity, range of tools, and speed at getting video done without getting hung up in editing minutia. What a great program.
     
  10. Export the video—Once you’re finished adding titles and editing your video, you export it from Screenflow. You can send your videos straight to Youtube.com or Vimeo.com or just dump them to your drive in .MOV format. I’ve been hosting my videos on Amazon S3, a bulk hosting service. This means I’ve got another step to do.
     
  11. Convert the video again—The standard for web video is the MP4 format, and that’s the one that also plays on mobile devices like phones and tablets. So now I run the video through a great free product, Handbrake, to get them encoded properly for all kinds of uses.
     
  12. Upload the video—Since these files can get pretty big, you either have to use FTP software to transfer them to the server you’re using for hosting, or a special program. Right now I’m using a nifty free plugin for Firefox called S3 Organizer that does the job quickly and easily.
     
  13. Set permissions—By default all media files uploaded to the S3 servers are private, so you’ve got to go in and set the permissions through the ACL (access control list) because otherwise people will get an error when they press the “play” button.
     
  14. Create a player—If you use a host like Youtube.com you won’t have to worry about this, but for S3-hosted videos, you have to create the player that will actually show your video on your blog. I use the (paid) EzS3.com service to do this.
     
  15. Embed your video—Grab the code from your host (or EzS3.com player) and make sure it’s sized properly for your blog. The main content area on my blog is about 500 pixels wide, so I want to stay within those boundaries. Embedding is just a matter of putting the HTML code provided into your blog post.

Extra steps can include creating an MP3 audio file for those readers who would rather listen than watch, and that has its own conversion and uploading chores, too.

Is all that faster than writing a blog post? I don’t think so, but if you want to get the benefits of a great connection with your readers and the ability to explain complex or visual tasks, it’s really worth it. This whole process probably took me about 2 hours to produce that 13-minute video.

Have you thought of trying out video on your blog? Have you been able to streamline the process?

 

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

Living In The Past

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This post, by Liza Perrat, originally appeared on The Writer’s ABC Checklist on 7/30/12.

Some wonderful advice from historical novelist, Liza Perrat, on how to breathe life into your novels.

I was initially drawn to historical fiction because I love history, and historical novels bring it closer to us in an entertaining fashion. I have only just set out on my third historical fiction adventure, so I’m far from being an expert, but this is what I’ve gleaned about this fascinating genre so far.

It appears very few historical fiction writers have university degrees in history. Most authors of historical fiction are, first and foremost, novelists who must master the craft of good fiction in the same way as contemporary novelists. Knowing how to write a good story, which hooks readers and keeps them turning the pages, is as vital as getting the historical details right.

Yet we do have to get those period customs and technological details right. Our ancestors had very different attitudes about many aspects of life than people of today. What was your heroine’s relationship with her husband, her children, the people with whom she lived? Did she use cutlery and plates? What job might she have had? Would she have been literate? Historical fiction falls flat on its face when the characters jump off the page as modern-day people dressed up in period garb, and details like this can be frustrating to research. But these days, with all the historical resources available, and the internet, authors spending the time and effort can usually discover those golden nuggets that will bring their story to life.

Besides spending hours online and frowning over the barely legible print of yellowed letters, postcards, diaries and old books, there’s nothing like spending time in a place, trying to imagine how it might have looked, felt and smelled, in the past. Readers like to sense the spirit of place –– the vegetation, the seasonal light, the odours. It pulls them into the story, makes them empathize with the characters, and provides a stage on which they can visualize the story. But readers will quickly become bored with history lessons, so information should be integrated into the story, without it coming across as school textbook.

Historical monuments and structures evoke the past and I like to study them as closely as possible, and take lots of photographs (preferably minus any lurking tourists!). A walk around the rural French village in which I live gave me the idea for Spirit of Lost Angels, the first novel in my historical series, set during the French Revolution, and recently published under the Triskele Books label. On the banks of the Garon River, I came upon a cross named croix à gros ventre (cross with a big belly). Engraved with two entwined tibias and a heart shape, it is dated 1717 and commemorates two children who drowned in the river. Who were they? How did they drown, and where are they buried?

 

Read the rest of the post on The Writer’s ABC Checklist.

Remember When Amazon Set the Pace for Ebook Pricing? It’s Back!

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This post, by , originally appeared on Digital Book World on 7/26/12.

 

Remember when Amazon set the pace for ebook pricing?

Remember when they set prices designed to build a market from scratch – and did just that – built a market from scratch?

If you don’t recall a time before Agency Pricing, a time when Amazon fully ruled the ebook roost, dust off your history books. That time is coming back, in very short order, and it’s going to completely redefine the publishing and ebook landscapes (again).

Once the DoJ case is officially adjudicated (with all signs pointing to the Hachette, HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster deal being the final structure of the settlement) we’re going to see an unprecedented 30-70 days where the ebook market and competitive landscape will be complete re-written – literally in real-time.

Despite all of the upheaval that’s coming, what I’ll be watching most closely is discoverability – specifically the ability for authors to build audiences in light of massive price competition from retailers and publishers.

With prices crashing through the floor, upstart authors losing their ability to compete / differentiate / build an audience based on price and publishers frantically racing to develop direct to consumer (reader) relationships in a bid to re-establish themselves as the foundation of the ebook market, it’s going to be increasingly difficult for readers to keep finding new quality works.

When best sellers are priced at (or nearly at) the same level as unknowns, the decision to venture off the beaten path will become more difficult. This is the same concept as purchasing Kleenex vs. the store brand tissue. If the price is close enough (<10% variance), you’re buying Kleenex. It’s only when the price variance exceeds 25% that consumers begin to react negatively to a brand and seek information about alternative products.

 

Read the rest of the post on Digital Book World.

The Ebook Marketplace is About to Change…a Lot

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This post, by Mike Shatzkin, originally appeared on The Shatzkin Files on 7/26/12.

Now that the DoJ’s response to the public comments has made it overwhelmingly likely that the settlement it negotiated with Hachette, HarperCollins, and Simon & Schuster will be accepted by the Court, it is time to contemplate the changes we’ll see in the ebook marketplace in the next couple of months.

The settlement requires the three affected publishers to inform retailers working under agency agreements that they can be released from them. Ten days is alloted from the time of the Court’s acceptance for that to take place. Then the retailers have 30 days to terminate their agreement and then the publishers have 30 days from receiving that notice to actually end it.

So the process could be almost instantaneous, if the publishers served notice immediately, the retailers responded immediately, and the publishers reacted to the response immediately. Or it could take as long as 70 days from the Court judgment, if everybody used the entire time alloted by the judgment.

Assuming that Amazon acts with competence and alacrity in its own interests (and I’d expect nothing less), the entire process could take no more than 40-45 days with them. (Each retailer can be on its own clock.) That should liberate Amazon from most pricing constraints on the three settling defendants’ books by the middle of September.

There’s a bit of confusion in the settlement language here. In the same paragraph, IV-B, that lays out the 10-day, 30-day, and 30-day requirements as described above, it also says that 30 days after “entry of the Final Judgment” (the starting gun for everything), the Settling Defendants take “each step” required to terminate or not renew or extend the agreement. Or maybe the language makes sense to a lawyer but I’m just confused. It seems like they’re asking for results before the first 30-day period would have expired.

The settlement, which ostensibly does not eliminate agency agreements (although it clearly eviscerates them), requires that any new agreements not allow publishers to dictate final sale prices by the retailers, except to cap them (in an unwieldly way we’ll consider below in more detail) and also disallows any “most favored nation” (MFN) clauses protecting any retailer from the impact of other retailers’ pricing decisions. These restrictions are specified to last for two years for each retailer, starting from the date the old agreement’s price-controlling clauses are mooted, whether by the agreement being terminated or by the publisher notifying the retailer, in writing, that the offending clauses will not be enforced.

It is back to the drawing board for new agreements. Ostensibly they can be “agency” agreements by which the publisher sets a price and pays a commission for sales based on that price. But since agency agreements were actually attractive because they achieved what is now deemed illegal price parity across the marketplace, these publishers must be rethinking the efficacy of the model. I would be.

So new contracts will be needed between the three settling publishers and all the retailers. And they’ll need to be crafted, negotiated, and signed within a maximum 70-day window.

Anybody responsible for this who remembers what a combination marathon-and-sprint these negotiations were in 2010 won’t be planning any 2-week vacations over the next few months.

There is one big fat joker in the settlement. The publishers are allowed to negotiate agreements limiting the retailers from discounting from the publishers’ (now) suggested prices. The settlement allows the publisher to prohibit discounts on their books which in the aggregate over one year exceed the margin the retailer has earned on those books.

 

Read the rest of the post on The Shatzkin Files.

How to Have a Great Social Media Presence and Still Have a Life

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This post, by , originally appeared on Ezine @rticles.

If the idea of Facebook, Squidoo, Twitter, and YouTube (not to mention your own site and blog) are inundating you. Take heart! You’re not the only person overwhelmed with choices. With more places to post and keep track of, our days seem to shrink . Here are some helpful, time-saving tips for making the most of your social networking without having it take over your life.

1) Blogging: first off, try and plan as many blogs as you can so you can preload them and forget about them. You can still post additional content but ideally you want to have at least one or two posts a week that are scheduled.

2) Social networking: sometimes an author will come to us with 35 social networking sites. Frankly that’s about 34 too many. With the popularity of social networking growing these niche social sites are popping up everywhere. I’m not telling you not to post something there but if you are stretched too thin and can’t keep them updated, what’s the point? Personally I recommend posting to two sites: Facebook and Squidoo. Start with one or the other and get your feet wet, then once you have an audience built and a social networking routine in place you can expand your networks.

If you’re unfamiliar with these sites (and many are unfamiliar with Squidoo, I’ll explain why in a minute) know that these are the two powerhouses when it comes to social networking. You can get on there and start a page, build a fan base and promote your book. It’s very easy to do and best of all, it’s entirely free. Squidoo.com is (like Facebook) very integrated in Google’s ranking system. Any Search Engine Marketing expert will tell you that you need three things: Facebook, Squidoo, and Twitter. Squidoo (again free) is very easy.

Also take advantage of time saving options on both of these sites. Both Facebook and Squidoo let you feed your blog and Twitter account through there which will help with keeping the page updated. You should plan to update each page once daily and here’s a quick Facebook tip for you and a great way to expand your network. Go in and wish folks a happy birthday. Birthdays are always posted on your page so go in and write on someone’s wall and wish them well, it’s a great way to network with your FB peeps and trust me, it will also help to expand your network!

 

Read the rest of the post on Ezine @rticles.

Justice Department slams Apple, Refuses to Modify E-book Settlement

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This post, by Jeff John Roberts, originally appeared on paidContent.org on 7/23/12.

The Justice Department released a document today that characterized criticism by Apple and publishers of a controversial price-fixing settlement as “self-serving” and ill-founded. The Department also pointed to recent ventures by Google and Microsoft as evidence that the e-book market is thriving and that Amazon’s dominant position has been overstated.

 

The arguments came as a reply to the 868 public comments that were filed in response to a settlement announced in April under which three publishers agreed they would change their pricing policy in accordance with Justice Department demands.

The settlement was imposed after the Justice Department sued Apple and five publishers for allegedly conspiring to wrest pricing power from Amazon. Apple and two of the publishers, Penguin and Macmillan, refused to settle and are fighting the case in court.

The Justice Department document is posted below with key passages underlined. The primary upshot is that the Department is refusing to modify any parts of the settlement agreement despite about 800 comments in opposition to the deal and new political opposition from people like Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY).

In its filing, Justice says it addresses Apple’s objections at length because of “[Apple’s] central role in the events leading to the underlying enforcement action.”  It also quotes an incident in which Steve Jobs reportedly told publishers, “the customer pays a little more, but that’s what you want anyway.”

The government goes on to refute Apple’s contention that it is imposing a business model on the industry:

 

Read the rest of the post on paidContent.org, which includes an embedded copy of the DoJ’s full response. Also see Consumers face long wait for $52 million tied to Apple e-book ‘conspiracy’, by the same author, on the same site.

Tim Roux of Taylor Street Publishing, on “The Publishing Market”

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This post, from Winston Emerson, originally appeared on The Object on 7/22/12.

Recently, The Object interviewed author J. Eric Laing, who told us he had placed his novel Cicada with Night Publishing, owned by Tim Roux, but several months ago withdrew it from Night and self-published instead.

A disagreement between the author and publisher unveiled itself during the interview and subsequent commenting, which has led to Tim offering us an article entitled “The Publishing Market” that details his perspective on the subject, along with how his company operates in today’s publishing world.

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The Publishing Market

by Tim Roux, Taylor Street Publishing

I have been a professional international marketer, brand manager and business strategist for 30 years but, like many a closet (or at least bookcase) bookworm, I always felt I had a book inside me.

Then, in 2004, after throwing away a few chapters of an effort that embarrassed even me twenty years earlier, I went for it and wrote ‘Blood & Marriage’ in 3 months, mostly 35,000 feet in the air.

It was, and is, a totally self-indulgent book that nobody should ever be asked to read, but it led to nine other books, some of which have been kindly reviewed, and I have had something like 20,000 sales / downloads of my books since, so I can declare with false modesty to anyone who will listen – and many who won’t – ‘Yeah, I have sold a few books’.

However, where I have really begun to sell books has been as a publisher. When I started out in January 2010, I simply knew that I wanted to get some books I loved into print. I knew how to publish books on the cheap into paperback – I had self-published my own – but I certainly didn’t know how to promote or sell them. Nevertheless, I was friendly with several authors and managed to persuade a few of them to let me publish them (as I still do).

I started with a target of publishing 5-6 books a month. Nine months later, our first book really took off – 3 sales in 6 months, then 11,000 the next day. The company got into its true sales rhythm about a year ago. It has certainly had its ups and downs since, and the original company was driven into the sidings during a particularly vicious divorce process, but the phoenix companies are up and fighting all over again, with a specific view of publishing which I would like to share here, whether it is useful to you or not, or even true or not.

I think the first thing, as authors, we have to decide is what we want from writing. Do we want to hold our own book in our hand; do we want people to read it; do we want to make money out of it?

If all you want is your own book, then you can self-publish your book in a day, and nothing can stop you. If you want people to read your book, you have Kindle Select and Smashwords to offer free downloads in their tens of thousands, if your book is attractive enough. If you want to make money, well, as Mark Twain said, “Any idiot can write a book, but it takes a genius to sell it.”

The book market is a market, and all markets have segments, eventually. As far as we are concerned, there are four topline segments for fiction – literary, genre, life and weird.

 

Read the rest of the post on The Object.

Splurge & Save: How To Be A Thrifty Indie!

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If you’ll allow me, I’d like to take just a second to clarify an important point before we resume our regularly scheduled blogging…

Last week, our post on Self-Publishing Costs was added to Reddit.com by a well intentioned reader who felt we were projecting way too much overhead cost for indie authors (a sentiment that was echoed by many other readers on that website).

Holy misinterpretation Batman, that’s definitely not what we meant.

Judging from the comments we received here on Duolit from our wonderful readers, you guys seemed to have no problem picking up on the point of the guide – it was an overview of the possible costs associated with self-publishing.

 

But just in case that wasn’t clear, we want everyone to know that it was never our intention to say that self-publishing required the purchase of every service, product, tool, and coaching session we mentioned in the post.

Just like the example we used at the beginning about going to Wal-Mart – it’s possible to spend thousands of dollars in Wal-Mart (especially if you like camo and beef jerky) but it’s also possible to spend $5.

It all depends on your wants, needs and budget.

The same goes for self-publishing.

*Phew! Glad we got that straightened out!*

Moving right along, we thought that this week we could delve a little deeper into the possible costs of self-publishing by giving some advice about where you’ll get the most bang for your buck and where it’s okay to scrape and save a little.

To simplify things, we’re going to use the same breakdown from last week.

The Costs of Writing

¢ Save ¢

  • Organizational Materials: The dollar store sells post-its, pens, highlighters, thumbtacks and a variety of other office supplies that we love (!) but don’t need to spend big bucks on.
  • Coaching: Find a friend or family member who can be your sounding board/motivational coach through the writing process. You can also buddy up with a fellow author to keep each other on the straight and narrow for free!

$ Spend $

  • Books and Courses: Research is valuable. The more information you have at the outset of your project, the more you will save down the road by avoiding costly mistakes. Don’t go overboard by any means, but find a few resources that you trust and invest in your author education.
  • Software: If you’re planning to do your own formatting (see below for more on that) Microsoft Office is a better bet than any of its open source counterparts. There are more features, it’s user-friendly, and you can easily find support for it online if you have questions. It’s worth the extra cost for less headaches!

The Costs of Editing/Revision

¢ Save ¢

  • Beta Readers: This is a no-brainer my friends. If you start your marketing early on in your writing process (like we recommend!) you should have some fans in your corner prior to publishing who would be happy to test drive your novel. You’ll get valuable feedback, earn new fans, and not have to spend a dime. That’s the definition of a win-win!
  • Proofreader: When it comes to copyediting (finding those pesky typos, misspellings, inconsistencies and general word flow) you can probably find a friend, family member, or former teacher who can read over your manuscript for the cost of a nice dinner (or maybe a gift card). It’s so cheap we’d recommend getting at least two people to proofread for you.
  • One other quick savings note for editing: Do the less expensive editing options above before you dive into the professional editing below – you’ll take care of all the basic fixes before you put your manuscript in a pro’s hands and start incurring some pro costs by the hour.

$ Spend $

  • Professional Editor: A good editor is worth Fat Albert’s weight in gold, if you know what I mean. This is not the place to cut corners – find someone good, with good references, who has experience in your genre. Get this domino positioned perfectly and all the rest will fall into place behind it. [Check out our Indie Resource Directory if you don’t know where to find someone!]

The Costs of Professional Design/Layout

¢ Save ¢

  • Layout Design: If you really need to save money, you can DIY your interior formatting with the right software (see the discussion about software above).  To avoid piling up your set-up/submission fees with your publisher, you should do your research on margins, bleeds, fonts, letting, etc. (see the discussion about courses and books above). Believe it or not, eBook formatting is actually more complicated in a lot of ways than print formatting, so be sure you know what your publisher requires before you dive into this one and if you don’t feel comfortable doing this yourself, you can hire a professional without breaking the bank.

$ Spend $

  • Cover Design: We all know this by now, but you absolutely do judge a book by its cover. There are simply too many books in the marketplace not to make snap judgments based on a book’s immediate visual appeal. To compete in this market your book design *must* hold its own against traditionally published titles. Still, you can sometimes college art students or online designers who can give you a good deal without sacrificing quality.

The Costs of DIY Design/Layout

¢ Save ¢

  • Software, Stock Images/Photography & Fonts: Toni gave pretty good details on how/where to save here, so I’ll just offer one other tidbit for you – if you are a college student (with a valid college email account), you can get major awesome discounts on design software like the Adobe Creative Suite through AcademicSuperstore.com. If you are not a college student, I would NOT ever tell you to find a college student in the family and use his credentials to get your discount. I would NOT tell you to do that. NOT.

The Costs of Publishing

¢ Save ¢

  • ISBN: If you plan to write multiple books, it’s well worth it to buy ISBNs in bulk (lots of 10) directly from Bowker (keep in mind that your eBook has to have a different ISBN than the paperback version, so that’s two separate numbers right there). If you’re just getting started, it’s totally okay to use the provided ISBNs from publishers like CreateSpace and Lulu. You absolutely maintain the rights to your work, they just get listed as your publisher in the files and on your title page. Not a big deal, yo.
  • Setup Fees & Distribution: Do your research on publishers before hand to find out who has the loweset fees for set-up and distribution (but be sure you’re comparing apples to apples – what you get for the money is as important as the money itself).

$ Spend $

  • Proof: Once your book is approved and sent out to the distribution lists, releasing a new edition becomes time consuming and often requires you to pony up those set-up fees all over again. It’s MUCH better to get the proof copy and clear up any issues from the outset than to try and fix those mistakes down the road.
  • Review Copies: Like Toni said, where possible you’ll want to provide eBook copies to reviewers, but some will require paperbacks so it’s worth it to have a stash of printed copies on hand to mail out.

The Costs of Promotion/Marketing

¢ Save ¢

  • Website Design: I recently put on my big girl pants and redesigned my website all by myself (even though I have a world class designer for a best friend and business partner). With the newest Twenty Eleven WordPress template (free) it was easy peasy to add a custom header and background. You can also add navigation tabs and set-up pages with one click, it really couldn’t be any easier. (Also, take a look at Suzanne Collins’ website and you’ll feel much better about anything you can design yourself.)

  • Domain Name & Hosting: I hate their commercials, but Go Daddy is cheap and easy when it comes to domains and hosting. You can choose to pay monthly or quarterly (for less commitment and smaller upfront cost) or get long term savings by paying for a year in advance. Either way, it’s a bargain.
  • Mailing List: We seriously love Mail Chimp like whoa. We are unfortunately in the process of leaving them for AWeber (only because we’re planning some more advanced marketing stuff coming up in the near future) and it’s breaking our hearts. But for your indie author purposes MailChimp is a dream come true!

$ Spend $

  • Book Trailer: You don’t have to do a book trailer, but they are becoming pretty popular and give a three-dimensional feel to your book. If you do decide to get one, it’s worth it to spend the extra bucks and get a quality one versus using something that looks like it belongs in a bad corporate media presentation.
  • Author Branding: If you’re really serious about making a career out of this author business and you are clueless when it comes to design, it’s worth it to get with a designer and plan out a logo, colors and general brand aesthetic you can carry through everything you do (website, book designs, business cards, etc.). It will help readers begin to recognize your books from the very beginning and I think it has a lasting impact!

Don’t smash the piggy bank just yet!

That’s our two cents (get it???) on where you can save and where you should splurge when self-publishing your book.

We have one other tip that’s worth mentioning – and it’s you! If you’ve already been down the self-publishing path, you probably learned where you could save in the future and where you were glad you spent some extra money.

Help your fellow authors out and share some of those tips, you’ll probably learn a few secrets as well!

 

 

This is a reprint from Duolit.

Thank You For Unsubscribing

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This post, by C.J. West, originally appeared on the Crime Fiction Collective blog and is reprinted here in its entirety with that site’s permission.

Several years ago I had a conversation with a woman that really changed the way I think about how I relate to people. What she said was simple and elegant and probably one of my first memorable exposures to a Zenlike philosophy.

She said, “Do you want everyone to like you?”

What a stupid question. Of course I want everyone to like me.

I’m a people pleaser. I like doing things for people and I have a terrible time saying no to a request.

But there is more to me than that. I have my share of strong opinions and an overactive sense of justice. Some people disagree with me based on what I believe. That’s only natural. So even as I go through life trying to make everyone happy, I invariably find some people I don’t get along with.

Another thing I’ve realized is that I am very slow to anger. Very few people annoy me and usually when someone annoys me they are annoying a whole lot of other people, too. So I’ve decided that sometimes it is okay to act on those feelings of annoyance.

Last week someone on Facebook taunted me about a spelling mistake in my status (with three derogatory posts). I reflected for a moment and realized a few things. This person is highly unlikely to buy my work. They might prompt others to decide not to buy my work as well. And I certainly was not enjoying their company. So why have this person on my page?

I’m not a public service. I’m just a guy trying to make a buck and have some fun.

The solution… I blocked them. I never have to hear from that person on Facebook again. Ever.

That got me thinking about what’s been happening with my newsletter lately.

I’ve been running a Kindle Giveaway called CJ West Fires Me Up. Each month I send out two or three newsletters to contestants. At the end of each month I give away a Kindle Fire in the form of a $200 Amazon Gift Card.

A month or two ago I came across a guy named Ben Settle who professes to be a master of email marketing. I read a bit of his advice and changed the way I write my contest emails.

My new messages are snarky and fun. Sometimes flirty. Almost always sarcastic. Basically I’m having fun writing a quick email and delivering some news to my contestants.

The response has been very interesting.

First there was the older woman who accused me of trying to start a fight between her and her husband.  I got a good laugh out of that one, but I was concerned.  I didn’t want my female readers to think I was hitting on them. (I’m writing suspense not romance.)

A dozen other people have unsubscribed in the past two months. Reading between the lines of their messages I could tell they were not entertained.

I became concerned so I started paying close attention to feedback.

Several friends on Facebook complained they didn’t get one of my messages when I had a database glitch. One woman actually requested that I resend a message because she deleted it too soon. She wanted to reread it. Really?

And nearly fifty people have written to say how much they enjoy my contest emails.

How cool is that? I’m sending marketing fluff and people enjoy it so much they thank me.

What I realized in the end is that I should thank people who unsubscribe. They give me the freedom to be my authentic self. My new messages are fun for people who enjoy my writing and my sense of humor. And I enjoy writing them, too.

How do you feel when someone quits your list?