My Kindle Books & Gone Fishing

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I’ve decided to give Amazon’s Kindle book buyers a try with my Amish books. At first, I didn’t think I wanted to take less royalty. Admittedly, I usually take my time to think about a change. Finally, I decided the people that have a Kindle aren’t buying paperback books anyway so why not give this a try. After all it’s one more way to get people to see my name as an author. Once they try my books, readers usually want another one.

I’d already submitted to Kindle the first of my mystery series, Neighbor Watchers, awhile back. This time I added to the Kindle list my western The Dark Wind Howls Over Mary and two of my Amish books – Christmas Traditions-An Amish Love Story and A Promise Is A Promise-Nurse Hal Among The Amish – book one.

Using the different communities on Amazon is a good way to advertise. I entered posts about my books being in Kindle. Even started new discussions to make sure my posts would be noticed since if the discussions are popular ones, a post can soon get buried. I checked the boxes to let me know if there was a response to my posts. Later in the afternoon, I found three responses. Seems I got in a hurry when I posted. Three people wanted to buy my kindle books already and the link only went to my paperback books. I had to reply to each post that it takes two days for Amazon to get the kindle entries ready so be patient and try again. If there seems to be interest in my books on Kindle I will have to enter one now and then and do the posts just to keep my name noticed.

This morning I was delighted to see I had more posts to answer. One was going to her local library to see if she could get my books. My thought is probably not, but I posted that she can ask. I’ve been told if someone is interested in a book and asks, the library will get it for the patron. Another post was a reader was a comment I’ve heard before. The poster didn’t like the writing style of one of the better known Amish authors because there isn’t enough in the story about the Amish farm life. The stories concentrate too much on the serious and often not a very complimentary problem concerning the Amish. So I left a post that was an excerpt from one of my books A Promise Is A Promise. Nurse Hal is trying to help the Lapp brothers catch some pigs that escaped from their pen. She caught one. The pig squealed. The cry got the attention of the protective sow. She rushed at Nurse Hal to protect her baby. The boys were yelling. The dog was barking. Can you picture the scene? Something similar happened to me once. One of those moments when I was running for the fence that I won’t forget.

What I have tried to do with my Nurse Hal books is concentrate on Nurse Hal’s human faults and her learning about what it takes to be Amish. Dealing with every day life on the farm is part of her experience. As I’ve said before farming experiences are something that’s easy for me to write about since I’ve lived it and still do with our few head of livestock. Writing the books with that in mind, I hope I don’t put the Amish in a bad light. The whole point of the stories for me are to be entertaining and fun with characters that the readers want to continue to get to know.

I joined a website called Book Marketing Network. It’s looks interesting as a helpful place to get author information with many groups to join. The site is used by publishers which might be a good thing. Other businesses are offering to do editing and ghostwriting among other services. Emails have already started so I will pick and choose which members I want to hear from and stop the other emails while I explore the site. I did find a person that does free book reviews by book or PDF. I can send a copy of my book and the review will be on Amazon and B&N. That is the reason that I’m sending one of my Amish books. None of the readers leave a review to let others know how they liked the books. I know they must like my books, because the second one in the Nurse Hal series came out in March and has been selling. I wager that the buyers of my other two Amish books came back for The Rainbow’s End.

Now for the second half of this post. I knew it was going to happen sooner or later but just not which day. My first clue was when my husband got up at the crack of dawn which he doesn’t usually do. I got up an hour later to find chores already done. My husband stuck his head in the door long enough to say I thought we’d go fishing today. The door shut, and he was on his way to hook the boat to the pickup. I hustled to fix a picnic lunch and the water cooler. The day was a quiet, sunny one and not too warm. Perfect for being on a lake. We both caught a blue gill right away, but then the fish stopped biting. We didn’t mind as we floated and enjoyed the day. The geese seemed to have had good hatches this spring. We saw several families enjoying a swim. Did you know that geese families swim in a line? The mother takes the lead, the babies come next and father is last. I suspect that is the way the parents protect the babies. It’s their version of like us holding a child’s hand as we cross the street.

The next day, my husband had a different lake in mind. No matter where we go the lakes are over an hour away. I like the drive, watching the beautiful Iowa countryside. The lake we’re were going to – not so much. If I rate all the lakes from 1 – 10 with 10 being the worse this lake would be a 15. First of all, there aren’t public restrooms. I suspect that’s because there’s not a conversation officer station on the grounds. At one time long before I went fishing at that lake, I’m told there were portapotties, but a conservation officer said the portapotties were all vandalized and trashed so they took the facilities away. Made for a long day and lead me to wonder why I bothered to take a water jug.

While my husband was disconnecting all the straps on the boat, I wandered into the tall grass to check out a bunch of wild flowers. The banks of this lake have some interesting native plants. Also, wildlife. I came within an inch of stepping on a three feet long, very healthy looking garter snake. That was the end of my nature study. The snake slithered one way, and I ran the other.

The East wind was probably 15 mph that morning which is doable for our boat. Just after we settled in the boat, my husband said when the wind’s from the East the fish bite the least. It went through my head that should have been enough to make him load the boat and go home. The lake is long, running east and west with alcoves off to the north side. We had to buck the strong ripples to go east to get to an alcove. According to the fish finder, lots of fish were swimming around our hooks. To know that should be encouraging, but none of those fish seemed hungry. I’ve decided the only thing the fish finder is good for is to tell my brother in law about the big one that got away. I don’t have to exaggerate the size of the fish that got off the hook. The fish finder shows fish lengths. A 23 inch fish swam by without a second look at my worm. As I told it, that was the big one that got away from me that day. I just didn’t say how.

Finally later that afternoon after I worried that I might get sea sick, my husband had enough of the rocking boat and headed for the dock. Once we were back out in the main channel, we found the wind was more like 25 or 30 mph. Before my husband could get the boat turned toward the dock, waves splashed water over the side onto us. Once we got to the dock and tried to pull along side, a gust of wind and waves helped the nose of the boat land up on the dock. I fastened the rope and shoved the boat off the dock. My husband went for the pickup while I held the boat against the dock so it wouldn’t do a circle and end up on the dry landing. The waves splashed over the dock around my tennis shoes which aren’t water proof and slapped with a force against the boat, making a tight grip necessary.

That day wasn’t enough to do my fisherman in. The boat is still attached to the pickup, waiting for another go. So far I’ve been praying for rain, but as long as I’m on land, a strong wind will do. That’s an easy prayer to get answered. So far I don’t have to pray very hard for wind in Iowa.

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

It's Not Who You Know

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We’ve all heard the old adage:

It’s not what you know but who you know that matters.  
 
Apart from being a conspiracy-theorist’s dream excuse, the adage does have a grain of truth in it. Relationships and networking may matter as much or more in business as your skill set.

 
I mention this because of a blog post put up by Debbie Stier, Senior V.P. and Associate Publisher at HarperStudio, and Director of Digital Marketing at HarperCollins. It’s a short personal piece about an epiphany in Debbie’s work life, but it also speaks volumes about the book business and how it actually works.
 
Like many would-be authors I used to think that writers wrote books in little cottages in the woods, bleeding truth onto pages already saturated with tears. When a book was done the author then agonized over query letters, blindly attempting to appease personal idiosyncrasies that each agent somehow believed to be an industry norm. If, against all odds, the author managed to land an agent for his book, the agent went through a similar process trying to generate interest in an editor at a publishing house. If, against these even-longer odds, an editor became interested, that editor then went through a similar process trying to get the support of the person or group that was responsible for pulling the trigger on an actual deal.
 
Read Debbie’s post about the five new books she’s excited to be working on and you’ll see none of that. In fact, there is no direct mention that Debbie read a single word by any of these authors as a means of discovering them:
I’d heard him speak at the Web 2.0 conference and I wanted desperately to work with him.
…
The next author to sign with HarperStudio was Kevin Rose, the founder of Digg.com. I’m a huge fan — have been following his blog, twitter, videos, etc. for some time…
…
Jill Kargman is a novelist. I saw her on Samantha Ettus’s show Obsessed TV six months ago and knew I wanted to work with her.
…
I’d been thinking a lot about merits and challenges of being a small company within a large corporation, and Bob suggested that there’s a book in that. Nick Bilton from the New York Times lead me to Ryan Tate at Gawker, and he is now writing a book for us called Skunkworks, which I can’t wait to read.
…
One more author who I want to mention who signed with HarperStudio, though it was slightly before that December epiphany, but still very much part of my process of realizing how much I love my job, is Melanie Notkin, the Savvy Auntie. She’s writing her Savvy Auntie’s Guide to Life.
Here’s what Debbie did not say: ‘I read Author X’s novel/manuscript and it knocked me out.’ And yet there’s nothing wrong with that. As noted above, this kind of book-production paradigm may actually be the norm these days.  
The point I want to make is that here you have someone in the business talking about five books she’s excited about, and none of them is a book that exists because of an author’s personal convictions. Rather, those five books came into being because Debbie Stier contacted five people and suggested a writer/publisher collaboration.
 
Again — and I really mean it — there’s nothing wrong with this. If it cuts against the romantic grain of the literary world, or your own authorial fantasies, it’s also the way most corporate entertainment works. In fact, if you really think about it, it couldn’t work any other way. Predicating the success of your business or industry on the speculative output of a bunch of writers would be like putting on a sporting event and hoping that some athletes show up. If you sell gas you can’t wait for someone to strike oil; if you sell food you can’t wait for the crops out back to mature. You’ve got to drive product yourself or partner with people who can deliver a steady supply.
 
In order to protect the bottom line, people in the book business (in any incarnation) cannot wait around for good books to find them. They have to be proactive in priming the pump and reconciling the content of a title with the objectives of their business. Again, who else other than publishers would be qualified to make such informed decisions? Agents? Writers?
 
Whether Debbie had the budgetary authority to make these projects happen herself or not, it’s clear that her personal interest in the people now working on the new HarperStudio titles short-circuited the much longer approval process facing a writer with a spec manuscript. It’s also clear that those five people did something that helped catch Debbie’s attention, and that that was critical to the book deals they signed. Debbie didn’t hike into the woods and knock on a door, or even plow through a slush pile: she looked at interesting people who made themselves visible to her in a variety of ways and asked herself if they might have a book in them that also fit HarperStudio’s goals.
 
This is another big reason why you constantly hear everyone talking about having a platform as a writer. It’s not simply that a manuscript you’ve written will gain more visibility, it’s that you as a writer will also come to the attention of the decision makers in the industry. Maybe a publishing house needs another writer for a series project. Maybe they’re looking to capitalize on a trend. Maybe they like your attitude and a blog post you wrote suddenly helps focus a hazy idea they’ve been wrestling with. Whatever the project, the chance that you’ll be working on it is pretty much zero if they don’t know you’re alive.
 
That’s why it doesn’t really matter who you know. On any given day you can call up your publishing contacts and pitch book ideas until you turn blue, but the majority of opportunities in your future are probably not ones you’ll be initiating. They’re ones the industry will create, and the simple truth is that you’re not going to have a shot at those opportunities if the industry doesn’t know who you are.
 
Does this mean that writing a book is a waste of time? Absolutely not. What it means is that when you write a book you’ve created two properties. One is the book, the other is you as a writer. Neither of them will see if nobody knows they exist. If you’re already committed to getting your manuscript some visibility, then you should be willing to do the same thing for yourself.
 
If you have the conviction of your own creative vision, and you’re willing to suffer and die for that cause, I’m not telling you to change your ways. I wouldn’t do that to myself on a project that I initiated. Having worked as a writer on collaborative projects in multiple industries, however, I can tell you that there’s a lot to recommend them. And not just the fact that you get paid.
 
First, there’s the implicit networking bonus that goes with any collaborative project. Assuming you don’t reveal yourself to be insane or abusive, and assuming you do what you say you’re going to do, you will, simply by demonstrating those two traits, successfully separate yourself from approximately 90% of potential competitors. (That’s a conservative estimate.)
 
How many people does Debbie Stier know? How many times a year does she sit down with a co-worker or a peer at another publishing house and talk about projects which can’t find the right writer, or projects where a writer pulled out and they need someone at the last minute? I have no idea, but I’m guessing the number of people that Debbie knows is not trivial, and that the percentage of her contacts who can approve projects is higher than most agents you’re likely to sign with.
 
Second, you might get to work with people who are actually happy to work with you. One read-through of Debbie’s post and you’ll see that she’s clearly good at marketing — almost instinctively, reflexively so. But I’ve also read enough of her tweets, posts and musings to believe that there’s a real person in there who had a genuine epiphany about the fact that she loves what she’s doing. And that in itself is rare.
 
There are a lot of people out there in positions of power and authority who are really not happy. They don’t like their life, they don’t like their work, they don’t like the people they work with. The only thing they like is spreading unhappiness around like shrapnel. You might even run into a writer killer or a writer hater who loathes you for the very skills that brought you to their attention. Does that sound like fun?
 
Take a moment and think about what it would be like to work on a book with someone who wasn’t jaded. Not someone who’s in your grill every minute, telling you how to write each paragraph, but someone who is interested in you, in your skills, and in the project you’re both working on. Writing is lonely, and there are times when it’s satisfying to have someone other than you cat say they’re excited about a project or thrilled with your last chapter.
Finally, as much as any author believes they know it all, they don’t. As I said in a previous post, there are good editors and bad editors. A good editor knows craft. A good editor listens.
 
I have no experience working with Debbie, but in reading her post she says the right things. She talks about kicking ideas around and finding something that works for both parties, and that’s what you want. You want someone who actually listens, instead of just smiling and saying nice things. You may not always get your way, and the project may have other masters (including time and money), but when you work with someone who takes your concerns seriously you get to take a break from the exhaustion of being your own biggest fan and your own worst critic.
 
There’s no way you can plan for this kind of synergy, of course. If you actively try to impress the Debbie Stiers of the world you inevitably end up making an idiot or nuisance of yourself. The goal is not getting attention, but being who you are and doing what you already do in a way that is visible — whether than means blogging or attending conferences or speaking or giving readings or something else. Even if you can’t make anyone open a door for the book you wrote or the writer you are, and you probably can’t, you can be there when they open the door.
It’s not who you know. It’s who knows you.

 

This is a reprint from Mark Barrett‘s Ditchwalk.

Writing and Reading Books Are Stress Relievers

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Authors have always been lucky enough to have a built in stress reliever whether they know it or not. It’s called writing a book. Once I’m working on my characters and their lives for a new book I’m so absorbed that nothing [and] no one in today’s stress-filled world bothers me.

I like getting lost in a developing story and putting the main idea whirling around in my head down. It’s a challenge adding to the skeleton story I’ve created to fill in and build a book. That takes all my concentration. I get excited every time I’m working on a scene, and when something new pops into my head for the character to say or do that fits into the story.

Humor is important to me. It should be to everyone. The more we laugh the better we feel. Humor is a stress reliever. Being able to laugh can make you feel more relaxed. You smile at someone, and they’ll smile at you. You laugh and someone laughs with you. The scenes in my book I’m working on that make me giggle while I’m writing them are the moments I’m told by readers that make them laugh out loud when they read my books. What a delightful feel-good moment for me to hear this from readers.

Sometimes, the comments are that my characters draw the readers into the story. In my mystery series of five books, the characters are so colorful that once the readers have finished the first book, they have to read the other four to see what happens next to everyone in the book. The same is happening now that I’ve written two books in my Amish series. Readers like the characters Nurse Hal and her Amish family. They want to know what will happen to all of them next. The readers are so deeply absorbed in the characters lives to the point that they try to read my books in just one sitting. While reading my books doesn’t leave any room for thinking about something stressful. It’s simply a time to relax. I know all this because I hear it from my book readers.

Not everyone has the inclination to write a book just to find a stress free time but if writing interests a person keeping a journal might be helpful. I’ve written daily journal logs over the years. Now it’s fun to look back and read about something that I had long ago forgotten. One journal was about the ten years I helped care for my father while he was battling Alzheimer’s disease. Talk about feeling stressed. In those days, I’d come home from my parents home and plop down exhausted emotionally and physically. I’d pick up my journal and write about that day with my father, entering my thoughts, emotions, fears and dreads. Though I hadn’t thought about writing a book at the time, that journal later became my book Hello Alzheimer’s Good Bye Dad. I’ve hoped that the story might be of some help to others. There are many similar books on the market about a family coping with Alzheimer’s. To make my book an educational tool rather than just a story, I added helpful tips throughout the book and in the story. Perhaps, reading that book would be a stress reliever for caregivers. They learn ways to help their family member while they become educated about what the disease will do to their loved one next.

I know for a fact that books help readers relieve stress. When I don’t like the programs on television in the evening, I tune out by reading a book while my husband watches a program. Then there is maybe the extreme when one buyer wrote me that she read one of my books (A Promise Is A Promise) six times while she’s been going through a tough spot in her life. Wow! I as an author am helping myself and helping others at the same time just by being creative. So if you’re a writer, relax and work on that story. If you’re a reader get you a good book (of course I’d like it if you bought one of mine at ebay, amazon or www.booksbyfaybookstore.weebly.com), set down in a quiet place with a cup of coffee or a glass of wine and go with the flow.

 

This is a reprint from Fay Risner’s Booksbyfay blog.

Konrath Sieges the Castle

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This post, by Mary Anne Graham, originally appeared on her Quacking Alone blog on 5/23/10.

Joe Konrath,  author of the Jack Daniels thriller series and of the new resource for indie writers – The Newbies Guide to Publishing – has inked a deal that sieges the Publishing Royals’ Castle.  It also charts the course, showing the Royals, authors and agents where the future lies.  The deal itself and the fact that it is with the biggest, baddest ebookseller AND bookseller on the planet has traditional publishing Royals hunkering down in the castle in the futile hope that they can survive the coming indie siege.

Konrath signed a publishing deal with AmazonEncore for the newest JD thriller, Shaken. Under the deal, Shaken will be available in the Kindle store this October and will then be available in print about four months later, in February 2011.   The deal turns the traditional arrangements around 180 degrees and has the Kindle version released first with the print book following several months later.  Some of the Royals have been trying to kill the  upstart ebook industry by releasing their “big” books only in paper form for several months.  That would force loyal fans to buy the paper version and discourage the fans from investing in the future.  Or so the Royals thought and the Royals are used to deciding what we will read, when we will read it and how we will read it.  

The Castle Dwelling Royals, their Acceptable Authors, and many of the Chosen Intermediary literary agents have been particularly disgruntled by this deal.  Why?  Well, first of all, the deal was done with Konrath and his literary agent.  No doubt, the Royals were convinced that the agent should have known better.  See, Konrath had marketed the book to the Royals.  Between his efforts and those of his agent, even if the Royals were too good to bother to Google it for themselves, the Royals were surely advised of Konrath’s killer numbers on Kindle for sales of all of his ebooks.  But, as usual, the Royals knew more about what America wanted to read than Americans did, so they rejected the book.  Why would they encourage one of those  people anyway? 
 
But Amazon is not fettered by the Royal Superiority Complex.  The rebel company offers a platform for all authors to put their work out there and let readers decide for themselves whether or not to hit the buy button.  The Royals (and a few jealous indie competitors) might believe Konrath was inflating his numbers, but Amazon knew better.  And Amazon knows that the digital future is better served by getting it out there electronically first.  So, Konrath and his agent refused to take the Royal NO for an answer and signed on with a company sailing for the future, rather than with one mired in the past. 

Read the rest of the post on Mary Anne Graham‘s Quacking Alone blog.

Finding and Filling Book Marketing Niches

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I have been a niche marketer all my adult life. For me, niche filling and creativity go hand in hand.
 

 
In college, I created the only rock and roll band with multiple horns on the Indiana University campus. In the 1980s, I created a society orchestra with a sound similar to “Big Bad Voodoo Daddy,” before they ever came on the scene and played all the formal dances at Ft. Leavenworth and later on the Bavarian Fest Circuit out of Munich, Germany for three years. From 1987 to 1997, I became the go-to- author for military self-defense and personal security books. Now, my wife and I are doing it again at our bookstore, The Book Barn, and with my publishing company, Spear’s Mint Editions Publishing. For me, finding a niche and filling it is as natural as breathing. I have always had an instinct for it. I’m not rich, but I’ve had a lot of fun along the way. I would like to use my store and writing/publishing efforts over the past ten years or so to explain what and how we do what we do.

 
Heads Up—Look Around
It’s important to be aware—sensitive to patterns in life and the day-to-day routines. What do people like, want, and need? Are they being satisfied? Are any fads becoming trends (a genuine turning point)? What excites and interests you and the people you service? Listen to what people say. Watch the news. Talk; get opinions. Watch and experience life. Here is how all that works:
 
The American Girls product line came out. What a great idea—hooking American history to female characters representing different periods and producing common formats to each one. We decided that was a good idea and began to organize events around single characters at a time. Instead of holding tea and doll admiration parties, we created a full context experience. We would pick a character and invite customers with girls 6-11 years old for an hour-long experience. I would quickly explain the historical period for the chosen character. I would play and sing a couple of songs from that time and culture. We would play a game from that time. Then came a short craft or art project centered on the time, after which we served a typical snack from the time. The little girls loved it and the parents could be heard commenting in the background, “I didn’t know that.” These events helped us receive a win in a national level competition amongst many other Independent bookstores.
 
Leavenworth was the first city in Kansas and has a rich historical background. We have always had a good regional selection of books. In 2000, I decided to add music to that by creating a CD album of ten songs—5 were original songs I wrote to tell fun stories about our area and 5 were traditional folk songs that had connectivity to our area. It has sold slowly but steadily ever since.
 
Next we noticed we had no attractive book below $15 for the tourists about our community. There were some excellent histories, but they were hardbacks in the $50 to $60 price range. They were fine for interested locals, but not for casual tourist shoppers. I asked several area historians if they would be interested in writing such a book ,and they weren’t. So, I took it on and spent six months researching and writing in 2005 to produce Leavenworth: First City of Kansas. This book won three marketing awards for its cover and interior design and has sold steadily with lots of favorable feedback. Four area museums and several gift shops sell it and the CD, as well as our store.
 
Don’t Be Surprised if You Earn A Reputation As A Reliable Resource—That’s What You Want to Happen
An interesting phenomenon has occurred. People are now introducing me as an area historian. My choosing to expand my storytelling programs into the next higher level called historical performing, where I become the famous Leavenworth favorite son, William F. (Buffalo Bill) Cody. I tell his stories in the first person, as if I really was him. I try to make him come alive for the listeners. Now, my college degrees are in music and business. I’ve had one American history course and four music history courses in my time. That does not make me a professional historian; however, the research I have done to put together credible projects and events provide me with enough knowledge to be interesting.
 
Now I am taking this Leavenworth/Midwestern history niche and adding something something that has been missing—a body of literature that provides a clear picture of pop culture of our area’s frontier times. My last post was a review of a wonderful book that explained how to find and re-publish public domain materials. What a Godsend that was! I have been able to locate a number of nonfiction and fiction books of the 1800s to early 1900s that opens wonderful windows of the exciting era. How much have I had to invest? Mostly my time and skills and very little money. I have downloaded text or htm files, pasted them into Word format, and then used InDesign to lay out the books with an old-timey look. The covers are simple black ink printed on colored card stock.
 
Now I have a unique offering in our niche. Could competitors do this? It’s doubtful; it’s too skill dependent and too small of a market segment for the big box stores, and there are no Indy stores in the area with the ability to pull it off. This is the ultimate example of “Long-Tail” marketing—find little niches that need filling but are too small for the big guys. Next week I will have ten copies of each of these digitally printed to provide enough for the store and to show the other outlets. See what I mean about not having to make a large investment. I will then use just in time inventory control to drive future print runs. Since I don’t have to use middlemen for these books, I can afford the higher pod costs. So, what are these long-lost tomes that will catapult our store’s image several notches upward? They are a good mix of nonfiction and fiction and an amalgamation of the two:
 
The Prairie Traveler— In 1859 an Army Captain who spent 25 years guiding settlers across the plains safely write the ultimate how-to book on doing this. He addresses the animals you’d need and why, the equipment, the supplies, and the skills. He also provides the day by day mileposts along all the major trails. This is an absolutely fascinating book, even providing information on the major Indian tribes you might encounter and what to expect.
 
Twin Hells— Leavenworth has a prison industry—7 of them in the area. This 1800s book was written by a man who founded one of our banks and was also president of an insurance company in Atchison. Political competitors managed to railroad him into an 18-month sentence on a trumped up fraud charge to the Kansas State Penitentiary, working in its very dangerous coal mine. After serving his time, he is hired as an investigator of Missouri’s penitentiary, which he finds to be just as bad. He takes his notes in shorthand so the guards won’t know what he’s writing about. There will be a lot of interest in this book in our unique community.
 
Adventures of Buffalo Bill From Boyhood to Manhood— Deeds of Daring, Scenes of Thrilling Peril, and Romantic Incidents in the Early Life of W.F. Cody, the Monarch of Bordermen. By Colonel Prentiss Ingraham, who was a master of pulp fiction. The subtitle is straight off the book’s title page. Buffalo Bill is of huge interest here.
There are several, but I think you’ll get the idea by these illustrations.
 
Emerging Pop Book Trends
Next, I noticed that novels of “place” had become popular. Setting is important to people. My wife also noticed the trend of adults buying Young Adult books for their own reading pleasure because they want entertaining, easy and quick to read books. That combination of factors is what prompted me to write and publish a series of five simple mysteries set in Leavenworth with easy-to-recognize settings and arch-typical Leavenworth characters. People love them.
 
Niche-Filling Creates Credibility and Trust
Notice all these projects and events are supportive of our community. We continue to raise the public’s awareness of our store and ourselves as a trustworthy source of information and entertainment based on the community past and present. This brings in more foot traffic of people interested in the niche and all our other offerings. They simply cannot get this kind of support at a major chain. We know the area; we know our books; we know the authors (many of them personally), and we know how to fit it all together with an additional service of fast, reliable special ordering of book not on our shelves. By approaching our niche from several different directions with different product types. I hope this gives you an idea of the mind set that you should find useful in this essential marketing attitude in today’s marketplace.

 

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

The Write Music for the Write Mood

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Here’s the scenario: It’s late at night and after a long day of doing what you have to do (i.e. working, cooking, cleaning, etc.) you finally get a moment to do what you want to do: write. You sit down in your personal writing space, put your fingers on the keyboard (or wrap them around a pen) and wait for the words to come to you.

And wait.

And wait some more.

And then pass out face down on your desk for an uncomfortable (and unproductive) nap.

We’ve talked a lot about how hard it is to find time to write, but even when you do find the time, how do you also find the inspiration? 

My answer is music.

Not only can music stir up your brain waves, the right music can get you in the right mood for the exact subject matter you need to write about. Music can be a geographical reference (jazz, latin, hip-hop, western, etc.), an association with a particular time period (big band, disco, grunge, etc.) or specifically associated with certain emotions.

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How To Attract Subscribers to Your Author Blog

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Wouldn’t it be great if people in your target audiences automatically received your blog posts, rather than having to rely completely on new readers to find your blog and repeat visitors to remember to visit your blog periodically?

Set up an email subscription widgetThere’s an easy answer — RSS feeds allow your author blog posts to be automatically delivered to your readers’ email or feed reader, and even to other websites. All you need to do is provide a sign up mechanism for your visitors to subscribe.

In the right column of this blog, under the heading "Get Blog Updates," is an area where readers can sign up to receive my author blog posts. I’ve reproduced it here for illustration. My blog visitors can enter their email address in the box to receive blog posts by email or click the "subscribe in a reader" link to choose their favorite feed reader or have my blog feed delivered to the "RSS Feeds" folder in Outlook.

Some blog visitors may not be familiar with RSS feeds. I created a "learn more" link that takes readers to this page for a brief explanation of how feeds work and how to sign up. I also offer a free bonus report on that page, as an added incentive.

FeedBurner is the best tool for managing your author blog subscriptions. Your blogging platform may provide an easy widget or plug-in for creating feeds, but it’s best to set up your own account at FeedBurner. You will have more flexibility in the set up and be able to track the number of subscribers to your author blog.

FeedBurner is now owned by Google, so you will use your Google user name and password to set up your account. For step-by-step instructions on setting up your RSS Feed in FeedBurner, I highly recommend Just the FAQs: Feeds by MaAnna Stephenson. This ebook walks you through the process of using FeedBurner to set up, optimize and manage feeds. You’ll learn how to best format your feeds for delivery to mobile devices, how to republish feeds on another website, how to offer updates by email, and more. The non-techie language make it a snap for anyone to master RSS feeds.

If you aren’t yet offering feeds on your blog, get started right away and watch your readership soar! And be sure to subscribe to The Savvy Book Marketer blog using the tools in the right column, so you don’t miss any posts!
 

 

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

Discovering Passion and Purpose in Writing

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I’ve often heard it said that everyone dreams of writing the next great novel. That may be, but few get beyond “trunk writing” and fewer still actually publish something of quality. Why is that? Perhaps it’s because, while people may dream of being a “writer,” only those with a true passion for writing can find the energy to do it.

As I continue work on Prayerfully Yours, I am amazed at how much passion it takes to keep plugging along at something I often feel unqualified to write.  I sometimes ponder what exactly is my purpose, not just in writing this book about prayer, but also about my purpose in life in general. It’s given me yet another subject for research and I would like to share what I’ve found.
 
First, there is the need for passion. If you’re like me, determining your passion can be difficult. I’ve always thought of it as something you eat-sleep-breath (much like my husband’s obsession with Star Wars action figures). That may not be the case for you, as it hasn’t been for me. A passion can be something that you naturally gravitate to, but don’t necessarily obsess over.
 
In her article Determine Your Passion, Amber Keinath poses several questions such as the obvious “What are you good at?” to the less obvious “What were you doing the last time you really had a lot of fun and found the time flying?” that can guide each of us to determining our own passion. For a writer, those questions can lead to a long list of possible books, essays, posts and even workshop notes on a particular topic.
 
After passion comes purpose. That is possibly the most difficult question to answer: What is my purpose in life? Some people, called nihilists (see #6 on Dictionary.com), believe we have no purpose. Others, like myself, want to believe we have a purpose (or more than one), but just don’t know how to discover it.
 
Many a book has been written on the subject of discovering one’s purpose in life and some have become very popular for whatever reason, like Purpose Driven Life. Unlike Rick Warren, however, I like to think that each of us has our own purpose separate from each other. As Albert from UrbanMonk.net said in a guest post to ZenHabits:
Are Your Goals Yours? This statement is everywhere, and yet it is ignored so often that it bears repeating: Your purpose is your own. No one can cramp themselves into another person’s definition of happiness and success and, well, expect to be happy and successful.
 
That was why I particularly enjoyed Steve Pavlina’s article “How to Discover Your Life Purpose in About 20 Minutes.” Steve’s solution is simple: title your blank page with “What is my true purpose in life?”, then write down any answer that pops into your head. According to Steve, the answer that makes you cry is your life’s purpose. Again, as an Independent Author, I can see where finding this purpose can lead to so many new avenues of income from book sales to speaking events.
 
It’s not always about making money. The money, in my opinion, is a byproduct of doing what we’re meant to do. For this Independent Author, discovering a passion and a life purpose is just part of the journey on The Road to Writing.

 

This is a reprint from Virginia Ripple‘s The Road to Writing blog.

Four Good Reasons You Should Plan A Book Before You Write It

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Today, I just wanted to look at a few good reasons why it is better to plan your next book rather than blindly taking a plunge and plunking down text on the page. In this case, I will offer five good reasons. At this time, I’m focusing this post on their relevance to writing a non-fiction book rather than the novel. I’m sure some of them would apply in some sense, but right now I find myself writing a piece of nonfiction so it is easier to write about nonfiction.

The issue we are addressing right now is really one of good project management. For most things, it really does make more sense to start planning out what you want to say before you ever write a single word. Think about? Most of those writing resources you’ve read or that are currently taking up space on  your bookshelf will mention something about the benefits of having a plan whether it is taking notes, writing a synopsis, or outlining. These are obviously important elements. Still, you may be one of those writers that ignores this little piece of advice and you tackle that book without a clear picture. I want to give you some really good reasons not to skip the plan.

Four Reasons

1. A plan helps you find a focus for the book. If you have started writing a non-fiction book with no thought for the contents, you may end up rambling along without a clear objective for the text. While you may have had a central reason for writing in the first place, this may be obscured by side issues. You could end up writing on tangents that change the real scope of your book to something you didn’t expect. You may even repeat yourself from different perspectives. Why muddle the content? If you have a focus that is organized as part of your overall writing plan then you can avoid these difficulties.

2. Keep your options limited. What does this mean? Well, you should be aware that there are many options to choose from when writing a non-fiction book. It is your goal to find a structure that will work for you and eliminate all of those that are not appropriate for the information or subject matter you’re trying to convey. This point might also include practical issues of design, page count, and distribution choices (especially if you’re a self-publisher). If you don’t narrow these considerations, the task of writing a book can become overwhelming.

3. Make sure you have a market. If you stop to take in all of the considerations about potential markets before you’ve starting writing, you can save yourself from producing a book that no one wants to read. This is particularly true in the realm of non-fiction where some topics have been so thoroughly covered that the market is saturated. Additionally, if you know you have a market before you write, then you will be able to produce a book that best fits the current needs of that market.

4. Consider the alternatives to your book. What do I mean by alternatives? When it comes to non-fiction there is room to think about peripheral benefits. If you do research and take the time, effort, even money to making this book happen, then you should consider how you can get the most out of this expense as you can. Simply put, planning up front allows you to identify markets for future books so you can start planning for the next project. You may be able to write on the subject in magazines or create a course which can help promote your expertise in your topic of choice. Think about how you can use the information and planning you’ve done to your advantage.


In Closing…

I’ll admit that these are just a few reasons. If you commit to planning before you write, you should be able find other reasons based on your own experiences or choices of topic. I wish you luck on your writing endeavors. If you have any other reasons, please leave a comment. I’d love to hear from you. Keep writing!

 

This is a cross-posting from Shaun C. Kilgore‘s site.

Barnes & Noble PubIt™ To Provide Digital Self-Publishing Program

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US bookseller Barnes & Noble has announced it is to launch a digital publishing program for independent publishers and self-published authors. PubIt! will allow users to load up completed book files online where they will be converted to the ePub format and made available for sale through Barnes & Noble.com and the Barnes & Noble eBookstore.

PubIt! will be easy-to-use and provide independent publishers and authors with a digital platform to distribute their ebooks. The service will launch this summer, but no specific details have been made available about royalties, other than the model offered would be a ‘competitive royalty model and compensation process’.
"As a company that has achieved much of its success by building mutually beneficial relationships with publishers and authors. Barnes & Noble’s new PubIt! service represents an exciting evolution and significant opportunity in the digital content arena. Barnes & Noble is uniquely positioned to support writers and publishers and bring their exciting digital works to the broadest audience of readers anywhere."

– Theresa Horner, Director, Digital Products, Barnes & Noble.

 

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

Writing and Reading Books Are Stress Relievers

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Authors have always been lucky enough to have a built in stress reliever whether they know it or not. It’s called writing a book. Once I’m working on my characters and their lives for a new book I’m so absorbed that nothing or no one in today’s stress filled world bothers me.

I like getting lost in a developing story and putting the main idea whirling around in my head down. It’s a challenge adding to the skeleton story I’ve created to fill in and build a book. That takes all my concentration. I get excited every time I’m working on a scene, and when something new pops into my head for the character to say or do that fits into the story. Humor is important to me. It should be to everyone. The more we laugh the better we feel. Humor is a stress reliever. Being able to laugh can make you feel more relaxed. You smile at someone, and they’ll smile at you. You laugh and someone laughs with you. The scenes in my book I’m working on that make me giggle while I’m writing them are the moments I’m told by readers that make them laugh out loud when they read my books. What a delightful feel good moment for me to hear this from readers.

Sometimes, the comments are that my characters draw the readers into the story. In my mystery series of five books, the characters are so colorful that once the readers have finished the first book, they have to read the other four to see what happens next to everyone in the book. The same is happening now that I’ve written two books in my Amish series. Readers like the characters Nurse Hal and her Amish family. They want to know what will happen to all of them next. The readers are so deeply absorbed in the characters lives to the point that they try to read my books in just one sitting. While reading my books doesn’t leave any room for thinking about something stressful. It’s simply a time to relax. I know all this because I hear it from my book readers.

Not everyone has the inclination to write a book just to find a stress free time but if writing interests a person keeping a journal might be helpful. I’ve written daily journal logs over the years. Now it’s fun to look back and read about something that I had long ago forgotten. One journal was about the ten years I helped care for my father while he was battling Alzheimer’s disease. Talk about feeling stressed. In those days, I’d come home from my parents home and plop down exhausted emotionally and physically. I’d pick up my journal and write about that day with my father, entering my thoughts, emotions, fears and dreads. Though I hadn’t thought about writing a book at the time, that journal later became my book Hello Alzheimer’s Good Bye Dad. I’ve hoped that the story might be of some help to others. There are many similar books on the market about a family coping with Alzheimer’s. To make my book an educational tool rather than just a story, I added helpful tips throughout the book and in the story. Perhaps, reading that book would be a stress reliever for caregivers. They learn ways to help their family member while they become educated about what the disease will do to their loved one next.

I know for a fact that books help readers relieve stress. When I don’t like the programs on television in the evening, I tune out by reading a book while my husband watches a program. Then there is maybe the extreme when one buyer wrote me that she read one of my books (A Promise Is A Promise) six times while she’s been going through a tough spot in her life. Wow! I as an author am helping myself and helping others at the same time just by being creative. So if you’re a writer, relax and work on that story. If you’re a reader get you a good book (of course I’d like it if you bought one of mine at ebay, amazon or www.booksbyfaybookstore.weebly.com), set down in a quiet place with a cup of coffee or a glass of wine and go with the flow.

　

Behind the Headlines: Amazon Announces Kindle for Android App for Release Summer 2010

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Amazon announced overnight that it will release a Kindle for Android App this summer to allow Kindle content to be purchased, read, and synched on the Droid Incredible, Google Nexus One, HTC MyTouch, Motorola CLIQ, Motorola Droid, and other devices that have an SD card and run Android OS 1.6 or greater. Importantly, Amazon appears to be readying the Kindle for Android App for international roll-out.

No Kindle Required, and no surprise here, but kudos to Amazon for continuing its relentless march to make the Kindle platform available for free download on the widest possible array of popular mobile devices. The relatively new Android platform is capturing impressive early market share, despite the notion that one might get from the gadget and mainstream media that every family in the world will own 5 iPhones, 3 iPads, and an iPod Touch by Labor Day.

Amazon’s release and placeholder page don’t give away much information about the finer points of the Kindle for Android App feature set, but include a line that promises users will be able to "[a]djust the text size, add bookmarks, and view the annotations you created on your Kindle, computer, or other Kindle-compatible device."

But I find it mildly intriguing that another line notes that "Kindle newspapers, magazines and blogs are currently not available on Kindle for Android." Call me greedy, but when I see the juxtaposition of the words "currently" and "not available" in Amazon metadata or news releases, I take it to mean "We’re working on that and we will let you know when it is ready."

Speaking of what the Kindle team may be working on, will a Kindle for Palm app be next up, or is it way too 2001 of me to suggest such a thing? A decade ago when I was at Inc. Magazine one of my responsibilities was to provide our magazine and book content digitally to Palm and Pocket PC owners through Peanut Press and netLibrary, and there were plenty of orders for those early days. Getting Kindle on those devices would, in my perhaps nostalgic view, kind of complete the circle so that some of Kindle’s device-apps team could spring to the next level and begin investing serious energy in important projects such as:
 

  • bringing all of the world’s languages and alphabets, if not to the Kindle device itself, at least to the Kindle for iPad and other devices;
     
  • making "plays-well-with-others" deals with some competitors’ dedicated ereaders; and
     
  • renewing its subsidiary Stanza platform as the app of choice to read free content from sites like the Internet Archive on the iPad, iPhone, and other devices.

The availability of the Kindle for Android, which is a Google-developed platform for mobile devices, could be one more ingredient to make things interesting as Google, fresh off recent failures as a mobile phone retailer with the Nexus One and a social network developer with Buzz, moves to try to find work as an online book retailer.

Here’s the guts of Amazon’s news release this morning:

 

Introducing Kindle for Android

Free Android app for reading allows customers to enjoy over 540,000 Kindle books on Android phones; Amazon offers Kindle apps for the iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, Mac, PC, BlackBerry and, soon, Android


SEATTLE, May 18, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) –Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) today announced that Kindle for Android, the free application that lets readers around the world enjoy Kindle books on their Android phones, is coming this summer. Kindle for Android enables customers to discover and read from over 540,000 books in the Kindle Store — the largest selection of the most popular books that people want to read — including New York Times Bestsellers and New Releases from $9.99. Like all Kindle apps, Kindle for Android will include Amazon’s Whispersync technology, which saves and synchronizes a customer’s bookmarks across their Kindle, Kindle DX, iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, PC, Mac, BlackBerry and, soon, Android, so customers always have their reading material with them and never lose their place. Kindle is the most wished for, most gifted and #1 bestselling product on Amazon.com.

"Kindle for Android is the perfect companion application for Kindle and Kindle DX owners, and is also a great way for customers to enjoy over 540,000 books in the Kindle Store even if they don’t yet have a Kindle," said Jay Marine, director, Amazon Kindle. "We think customers are going to love the convenience and simplicity of having instant access to a massive selection of books from Amazon on their Droid, Nexus, Incredible and many more Android devices."
 

Android owners can take advantage of the features that customers love about Kindle and Kindle app experience, including:

  • Search more than 540,000 books, including 96 of 110 New York Times Bestsellers, plus tens of thousands of the most popular classics for free directly from their Android device. Bestsellers such as "Backlash" by Aaron Allston, "Big Girl" by Danielle Steel, "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot, and "The Lost Symbol" by Dan Brown, and hundreds of thousands of other popular books are $9.99 or less in the Kindle Store
     
  • Browse by genre or author, and take advantage of all the features that customers enjoy in the Kindle Store, including Amazon.com customer reviews, personalized recommendations and editorial reviews
     
  • Access their library of previously purchased Kindle books storedon Amazon’s servers for free
     
  • Synchronize last page read between their Kindle, Kindle DX, iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, PC, Mac, BlackBerry and, soon, Android
     
  • Choose from five different font sizes
     
  • Read the beginning of books for free before they decide to buy
     
  • Read in portrait or landscape mode, tap on either side of the screen or flick to turn pages

Customers can see a sneak peak and sign up to receive an e-mail when Kindle for Android is available at http://www.amazon.com/kindleforandroid.

 

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

What Does Self-Publishing Cost: Competitive Self-Publisher

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This is the last in the series of What Does Self-Publishing Cost posts. After a preview, we looked at two other models of self-publishing, each representing a range of choices that self-publishers can make when they start planning their publication. Here are the links to the rest of the series:

 
Today we’ll look at the most ambitious self-publishers, the authors who set out to compete head to head with books from major publishers, to get reviews in the most prestigious newspapers and journals, and to eventually compete nationally in the marketplace. I’m calling these publishers Competitive Self-Publishers.

 
9 Cost Categories for Competitive Self-Publishing
  1. Company setup—Competitive self-publishers have a fully-formed business structure. It may be a sole proprietorship, a partnership or a corporation. Many already have businesses when they enter publishing, and use that company to launch their new endeavor. Our publisher will have proper accounting and understands the tax implications of business decisions. Since the Competitive Self-Publisher intends to sell across the distribution spectrum, this publisher will have to handle record keeping, invoicing, banking and collections. It’s also more likely he will fully outfit his publishing company with branding and peripherals like a logo design, stationary and other accouterments of a small business.

    Total: $500 – 1,500

  2. ISBNs—Costs here are pretty much the same as for the Online Self-Publisher. You still need ISBNs for all your editions, and the question remains of how many to buy, but the single ISBN is no longer an option.

    Considering the different formats this publisher will use, and the possibility of additional products, figure on at least ten ISBNs at a cost of $250 at myidentifiers.com. But in many cases, publishers will opt for the 100 ISBN plan, to fully prepare for a successful publishing future.

    Total: $250 – 575
     

  3. Manuscript preparation—The Competitive Self-Publisher may use office staff available to her in her business, or outsource the details of manuscript preparation, although many will do all manuscript preparation themselves.

    Total: $0 – 150
     

  4. Editing—The Competitive Self-Publisher approaches editing as a critical and necessary part of the publishing process. They find editors through other industry professionals, and may survey a variety of editors for prices and sample edits. Competitive Self-Publishers often get editors involved early in the process to help shape the manuscript as it develops. They will use most if not all of the editorial services that are so important to creating a really high quality book: developmental editing, copyediting and proofreading. For scientific, technical, historical or similar books, they will use editorial help for fact checking, bibliographic help, and other tasks in book creation.

    Repeating from the last post:

    Nothing is more difficult to estimate in the book process than editing. Recent books I’ve worked on have ranged from 45,000 to 227,000 words. Some are challenging in their language and aspirations, others are intended to be casual and conversational. Each author brings different communications skills to their books. Some books need a lot of fact checking, or have copious notes sections that have to be painstakingly formatted. Each of these factors influences the time it takes to edit the book, and therefore the expense.
    Here we’ll assume our self-publisher understands that a well-edited book is essential to reaching the wide audience she desires. She engages the services of an experienced book editor for her 65,000 word, 200 page 5.5″ x 8.5″ trade paperback, and brings in other editorial professionals as the book develops.

    Developmental editing: $1,500 – 6,000
    Copyediting: $2,500 – 5,000
    Proofreading: $750 – 1,500
    Indexing: $500 – 1,000

    Total: $5,250 – 13,500

     

  5. Design—Competitive Self-Publishers make a big leap in this category. They realize that competing toe-to-toe with books from major publishers requires them to turn the design of their book over to professionals. Both the product—the book’s interior—and it’s packaging—the cover—will receive the attention they deserve to fulfill the Competitive Self-Publisher’s aspirations for their book. He will rely on these professionals to take care of the myriad tasks in book production such as dealing with printers and preparing files for reproduction.

    Total: $1,500 – 5,000
     

  6. Review program—Make no mistake, Competitive Self-publishers will mount a vigorous review campaign for a book with potential review sources. From Prepublication reviewers, to national and local newspapers, magazines, specialty media, and trade associations are likely candidates for review copies. A media kit created with help from professionals will accompany the review books. It’s not unusual to see review mailings of 200-300 copies in an attempt to drive traffic and sales for a self-publisher who has their book in national distribution. Add to this an Advance Reader program for peer review or “blurb fishing” and you can see that the costs here add up quickly. Let’s plan on digital review or reader copies, too.

    Books: $700 – 1,000
    Packaging and shipping: $800 – 1,200
    Media kit: $250 – 1,500

    Total: $1,750 – 3,700
     

  7. Platform building—Our Competitive Self-Publisher will use as many methods of promotion and marketing as feasible for their budget, and platform-building will receive a lot of attention. An e-commerce enabled website, a blog around the topics of the book, as well as offline efforts like organizing seminars and workshops come into play. Using internet book marketing is a given, and web professionals will design the online properties needed by the self-publisher.
    Running autoresponders, opt-in programs, newsletters, seminars, workshops and speaking engagements are activities that can make a powerful difference to the success of a book. Here’s where the author’s reputation and authority in their niche contribute to spreading the word. Since this is such a big cateogry, let’s make it an estimate.

    Total: $1,500 – 7,500

     

  8. Proofing and Reproduction—Competitive Self-Publishers make another move away from the pack by much more frequently relying on offset book printing instead of digital. To fill the distribution chain and have books available in just the major metropolitan areas of the U.S. our publisher is going to print 2,000 books minimum. This will allow her to get a better-looking book, to use special finishes or unique trim sizes, to have a wider choice of materials, and to get a much lower production cost.
    Suppose we find a good deal among the abundance of high-quality short-run book printers, and we can get the unit cost down to $2.25, about 40% less than what the same book would cost in digital print-on-demand production. However, these cost savings come at the price of a steep upfront investment.

    Total: $5,000 – 7,500

     

  9. Fulfillment—The Competitive Self-Publisher may concentrate on digital sales, or driving buyers to online retailers like Amazon.com, but to truly compete, she knows she needs distribution. Since it’s virtually impossible at the moment for single-book self-publishers to get distribution, she will have to settle for setting up accounts with whatever wholesalers might take her book, and either do her own fulfillment, packing, shipping and invoicing bookstores, libraries and institutional buyers herself. It’s no longer enough to just buy the big box of Jiffy bags. The costs here are for storage and insurance on her inventory. Even if she puts the books with a fulfillment company, the costs are transactional, and don’t come into play in our financial planning.

    Total: $500 – 1,000
     

Let’s Add It All Up
 
The Competitive Self-Publisher is establishing a business. More than the others we’ve looked at in this series, this is a business proposition, and the expectation is to make a profit. Our publisher will make her decisions in consultation with editorial, design and marketing professionals, and the resulting book is intended more as a product or professional lever than as an act of creative self-expression.
 
Adding our nine categories, we have a total of $16,000 – 40,425. At this point it’s easy to see why you need to make a profit. Self-publishing at this level isn’t a hobby, it’s a business enterprise. Our Competitive Self-Publisher may be looking to establish her book as an authority with a long shelf life. This will help amortize the investment by returning profits for years to come. Or she might be rolling the dice, convinced she can attract enough media attention to make it into the spotlight for a rush of sales.
 
The commitment by any self-publisher is immense, but for the Competitive Self-Publisher it’s combined with a serious business investment.
 
Variations and a Final Thought
 
My range of figures is only meant to be representative. I think it’s entirely possible to produce a competitive book and get it into print closer to $10,000. On the other hand, I know that some people spend in excess of $50,000 to launch a book. When dealing with investments like this that are tied to the success or failure of a single product, it just seems prudent to get the best help you can afford.
 
Beyond the costs involved and the risks and rewards of playing in a big marketplace, this is also how the best books come into being. Book publishing, in its most developed form, seems to me to be a collaborative effort. Many talented and experienced people bringing their knowledge and creativity into play to produce something that no one person could achieve by themselves. When an author makes the decision to publish their own book they are—wittingly or not—jumping into just such a collaboration.
 
When it works, it can produce really outstanding contributions to our cultural life. There’s just nothing else quite like it.
 
Total Competitive Self-Publishing cost: $16,000 – 40,425
 
Takeaway: Competitive Self-Publishers invest in professionally-produced books and spend the money to compete on a national scale. They often produce superior books, making a lasting impact on society.

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

Here's a twist…

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Want to get your book out there into the hands of readers?  Here’s an idea: give it away.

After seeing how a few indie authors have used the time-tested concept of "something for nothing" as a hook, I’ve allowed the eBook site Kobo to offer my first novel, The Red Gate, in several, currently supported formats, FREE for the download. 

In two weeks I’ve had quitre a few takers, and have received review comments of four stars out of five. 

Now, I am only doing this for a month, ending the First of June.  Reg. price is US$4.95 — pretty inexpensive anyway., but the point is, with all the books now being released in print as well as electronic versions, the INdie author is up against it when it comes to getting some exposure for your work.  I’ve just resigned myself to thinking of The Red Gate as the pre-release marketing for The Gatekeepers (industry specific pun intended).  It seems to be working, as I’ve got readers now interested in reading the sequel, which is in it’s final re-writes. 

It’s not a path I’d suggest for every indie author out there, but for me, the entire cost has been less expensive than bearing a full-blown distribution marketing campaign on my own shoulders.  This is something I can afford to do.  I’d be grateful to any others out there who’ve used this technique with good resultys, to let me know what they suggest from this point!

 

 

Copyediting Services

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Here at inWrite, we provide copyediting and proofreading services for authors and publishers. We provide services to some of the top self-publishing companies in the US.
Our structured workflow and quality assurance processes ensure on-time, quality copyediting and proofreading at the right price. We’ll be happy to make your manuscript ready for publishing.
 
Contact me for more info.