Ebooks

Articles specific to writing and publishing ebooks.

26 Ways To Win At Self-Publishing

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

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

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

This Is For The Winners

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

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

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

26 Ways to Win at Self-Publishing

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

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

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

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

The Print-On-Demand Molehill

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One of the best things about being part of a community is that the whole has the potential for being self-correcting. It’s not a sure thing, as any example of mob rule or cultural intolerance can attest, but there is at least the potential for a group to help individuals overcome blind spots or obstacles.

Individuals who do not belong to a group, or who do not have access to collective wisdom, may be doomed to reinvent the wheel or to repeatedly fail because of their own tendencies and shortcomings.

I’m not a big joiner. I just threw Facebook in the junk pile because the price of belonging to that group is self-deception, and like Sam Spade I’m not willing to be somebody’s sap.* More than wearing a team blazer or adopting a popular philosophy or expressing loyalty to a particular trendy brand, I value belonging to a community of ideas. This has always led to involvement with smaller groups of people who share my interests, but the benefit to me is that these more issue-oriented groups can both augment and check my own thoughts.

I order to derive such benefits, however, it’s not simply enough to belong to a group. Approaching someone to suggest that they may be incorrect about something is fraught with risk, and presumes that the individual is open to such communications. As we all learn at a very young age, this is usually not the case. Most people would rather feel right than be right, even at the expense of their own well being. There is also a tendency for people to be more interested in telling others how wrong than they are in hearing the same thing themselves, and this tendency is often (if not commonly) greater in people who are ignorant or uninformed than it is in people who are knowledgeable. As a result, even if we are open to hearing about our mistakes, the number of reliable advisers that anyone might hope to hear from is usually small.  

To expand on the thesis above, if the size of any group interested in ideas is generally small, the size of a group of people who are interested in ideas above ego is exponentially smaller. I tend to form and hold firm opinions. I do this not as an aspect of ego, but as an extension of the process by which I analyze issues and form conclusions. I try to be rigorous and I try to drill down to bedrock, and I’m seldom if ever interested in fleeting trends. As a result, it is particularly important that others catch me when I get something wrong because I am used to trusting my own conclusions.

I mention all this because last week I wrote a post expressing frustration about the print-on-demand (POD) options available to me for The Year of the Elm, a collection of short stories I recently published on Smashwords. My main complaint was that the cost of printing a physical copy of my book seemed prohibitive, and that the potential providers of such services seemed determined to fleece me.

In subsequent comments to that post, and in private messages on the subject, I was pointed to more information, offered assistance, and encouraged to take another look at the question. And I can’t tell you how happy I was to have that kind of response and support. In that post my conclusions were hasty and I allowed my frustrations (and general fatigue) to get the better of me. Rather than simply ignore my post, however, people took the time to help me get my bearings, and that’s exactly the kind of group to which I want (and need) to belong.

After another week of reading and studying the POD question, I think I see a way to move forward with my collection. Lulu is clearly a mess, and as far as I am concerned it’s out of the running in almost every way.

LightningSource seems to have a solid set of services and options, but it also seems to be geared to people who want to pursue the production of books on a larger scale — even if that’s only 100 books at a time. As noted previously, I’m not interested in becoming my own brick-and-mortar publisher, or in trying to move quantities of books around myself. I’m trying to find a way to give readers the option of ordering a physical copy of any content I publish, and I prefer to have as little to do with the production, shipping and handling of that copy as possible.

Taking another look at CreateSpace has provided me with the answers I’ve been looking for. The sole remaining sticking point for me is the degree to which shipping costs seem both inflated and obscured, but that kind of deception is as old as the hills. The company does have the pared-back services I’m looking for, it seems healthy and focused, and in fairly short order I was able to answer most of my questions using either the site’s own FAQ or posts from community members.

I still have a lot to learn about POD. I still need to focus my goals. I still need to talk with others who are doing the same thing. Along those lines, Catherine, Caffeinated has an excellent and current CS timeline. Joel Friedlander pointed to a great post about publishing costs for self-published writers. And for a comparison of Lulu and CreateSpace that still resonates (and has proven quite prescient), see this post by April L. Hamilton. (Also see this post by April before you decide to pull the trigger on any publishing order.)

What I’m most thankful for, however, is that people simply took the time to urge me to take another look at the issue, and in so doing offered me their support. There’s no better feeling than knowing that someone has your back, even when you’re making an idiot out of yourself. That’s what a real community is supposed to be about. There will always be large social circles in which everyone validates everyone else as a means of ensuring their own validation, but I have never had an interest in that kind of society. I’m looking for people who are interested in working through ideas even at the expense of their own ego, and in living up to that standard myself.

* There are valid reasons for remaining active on Facebook even as Facebook clearly intends to profit from disclosing and selling your content and user data. Each user will have to make a value judgment, including risk over time, in order to know if Facebook is worth using. What is not in dispute, however, is that Facebook is lying to all of its users in order to increase the likelihood that users will make such judgments in Facebook’s favor.

This is a reprint from Mark Barrett‘s Ditchwalk.

How NOT To Win Friends On Social Networks

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Something To Be Said…Again

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If you work at something long enough, eventually you’ll find a work around [for] what “can’t be done.” Today I challenged myself to finding a solution to the Gravatar image problem I’ve had. The problem: keep the Gravatar image of my book cover while adding a photo of me to my blog.

[Editor’s note: Gravatar is a free service that allows users to set up a single avatar, or user icon, and use that one icon on multiple sites all over the web]

Why, you may ask, would I want to bother doing that? For two simple reasons: 1) I like using the book cover as a Gravatar because it’s great marketing on Facebook when I link my blog post to my “thought”, and 2) it’s super important to put a face with a blog (and everything else) for a writer.

After a lot of hunting (and a major headache :P ) I finally had a solution. Get a Flickr account, upload my author photo to it, link it to my sidebar Flickr widget and — voila! — instant author photo for my blog. In the future I may have to rethink this approach, but by then I hope to have a better web presence.

All that work is just another way to show just how creative Independent Authors can be on The Road to Writing.

Update: You have to make sure to choose the image you want displayed before you post your “thought” on Facebook.
 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Here Comes the DIY Option

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

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

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

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

Mixed Feelings

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Time We All Took The Self From Self-Publishing

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

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

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

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

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

Referencing The Last Song for points:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

How many are really up for that journey?

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Book Marketing Tips

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Our journey to a Midwestern Booksellers Assoc. training session in St Louis last weekend was very interesting. There was a lot of discussion about the digitization of books and how that might impact independent booksellers. More of us are selling books over the web, and the major distributors are starting to carry ebooks, so we’re trying to figure out how all this will work out.

 
As an author/publisher, I’m really glad I’ve gone with Smashwords, who have just signed a contract with Apple to provide content for the new iPad.
 
I’ve been asked to chat a little on book marketing. Since that’s a huge topic, let me focus on the lowly postcard. First, I recommend that you use a 4×6 inch format. This is the largest that can go at postcard rate. Anything larger than that will be treated as standard first class and bulk rates, and be more expensive.
 
Why a postcard? Because bookstore staffs have so little time, it is one of the few marketing pieces they’ll take time to read. Forget sell sheets, press releases, extensive review sheets, and bookmarks. Make your initial contact with the postcard, and send that other stuff if they ask for more information.
 
What should be on the postcard? On the front side just place the book cover. That way the bookseller will have an idea of how the book will show up on the shelves among other books. On the back side: Divide it into two halfs. The one on the left should contain contact info, what the book is about (very briefly), and what are the target markets and how to handsell them. On the righthand side, reserve room for the stamp and the mailing label. Along the bottom on both sides, leave about .5 to .75 inches across the card for the post office barcode.
 
Follow up with email, letters, or phone calls, depending on the size of your campaign. The postcard is like a resume–it’s an invitation to a conversation.
 
By the way, if you enjoy my blog, please consider RSS-ing or email subscribing (look on the right hand side of the home page—scroll down a bit till you see these options).

 

This is a reprint from Bob Spear‘s Book Trends blog.

Analysis Of First Quarterly Sales Or Can I Call Myself A Real Published Author Yet????

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Last year as I was making the decision whether or not to self-publish my historical mystery, Maids of Misfortune, I read blog after blog post that tried to parse the differences among traditional publishers, small presses, subsidy and/or vanity publishers, and independent or self-published authors. While I found little absolute agreement, I was left with the impression that if you self-published a book that ended up being bought primarily by immediate family and friends, you were probably involved in vanity publishing, no matter what method you used.

This idea was reinforced when I read such statements as those by Jane Smith in her blog How Publishing Really Works that self-published books sold on average “between forty and two hundred copies…”(http://bit.ly/6gvvj2) and that “Despite some highly publicized successes, the average book from a POD service sells fewer than 200 copies–mostly to the authors and to “pocket” markets surrounding them–friends, family, local retailers who can be persuaded to place an order.”(http://bit.ly/LRqxM)

Now to be fair, these numbers for self-published books don’t sound so shabby when compared to the statistics quoted in Chris Anderson’s article, A Bookselling Tail, that, according to the 2004 Nielsen Bookscan, “The average book in America sells about 500 copies” and, in fact, 96% of title sold fewer than 1000 copies.”

Nevertheless, once I published my mystery, I became obsessed with tracking the number of books I had sold, looking for that point when I could tell myself and others that I had safely made it out of the vanity press category. Or, as I put it, I wanted to make sure that writing and publishing Maids of Misfortune wasn’t just an interesting retirement hobby. By the way, the fact that every night I can see how many books I have sold that day by looking at my CreateSpace and Kindle accounts is both a blessing and a curse.

The following is a report of the number of books I have sold and the royalties I have received in the first quarter the book has been published (December 1, 2009-March 31, 2010.) I published Maids of Misfortune as an electronic book on Smashwords and Kindle, and I published a print on demand 6×9 inch paperback through Amazon’s CreateSpace. The book did not appear in all these venues immediately, and the book was unavailable for about a week in December when I took care of typos that were discovered after the first printing.

December 2009 Copies Sold Royalties($)
Smashwords 1 3.05
Kindle 27 36.40
E-store 17 90.24
Amazon 2 5.54
Total 47 $135.23
January    
Smashwords 0 .00
Kindle 16 22.40
E-store 0 .00
Amazon 5 13.85
Total 21 $36.25
February    
Smashwords 1 3.05
Kindle 26 36.40
E-store 10 53.20
Amazon 9 24.93
Expanded distribution 16 3.52
Total 62 $121.10
March    
Smashwords 0 .00
Kindle 15 21.00
Estore 3 15.96
Amazon 7 19.39
Expanded Distribution 3 .66
Total 28 $57.01
First Quarter totals

 

158

$349.59
Smashwords 2 1% $6.10 12%
Kindle 84 53% $116.20 33%
Estore 30 19% $159.40 46%
Amazon 23 15% $63.71 18%
Expanded Distribution 19 12% $4.18 1%

So, what does all this data mean? In terms of numbers of books sold, I think it is a safe bet that a good proportion of the books that I initially sold were bought by family and friends, most of whom bought the paperback version. Except for sending out email messages to about 20 people and making announcements on Facebook (where after a year I only have 60 friends-what a social networking wimp I am!) that was my major method of marketing in the first two months. Yet, when I sold my 100th book, a close friend exclaimed, “Well even you don’t have that many friends and relatives,” and she is right.

So, I have to assume that over time a growing number of those 158 books were purchased by strangers. In fact, what I found most significant from these statistics was that over half of my sales were on Kindle. Since very few of my friends and family own this or any other ebook reading device as of yet, this suggests that people who own Kindles found the book in Kindle’s store, felt the $4 price was reasonable, and, after reading the sample, purchased the book. While these numbers are nowhere near as impressive as those by JA Konrath (smile), this data reassure me that the book has a commercial future. See Konrath’s data on his blog, Newbie’s Guide to Publishing http://bit.ly/xGwfa.

Another fact that reassures me of the commercial viability of Maids of Misfortune doesn’t show up in the sales figures, and that is the number of people I know who have bought the book and tell me they have given it to other people to read. While I should be cringing at the lost revenue, instead, this gives me intense pleasure. My secret fear had been that the book would be bought primarily by people who know and love me, but they would feel embarrassed by the book and simply slip it onto their shelves as the equivalent of a batty relative’s ugly home-made pottery. I am sure many authors, no matter what their method of publishing, recognize that fear!

Finally, the numbers also reveal how financially successful the book has been so far. If you consider my costs in publishing the book alone, I have definitely passed the break-even point. My only expenses were $250 for the cover design-which was money very well spent. As I have written about in earlier posts, I didn’t pay for any professional editing, and I did all the formatting (with a little help from my husband) to get the files ready to be uploaded to Smashwords, Kindle, and CreateSpace. I also did the interior design for the paperback as well. None of this would have been possible without April Hamilton’s The IndieAuthor Guide, which was my bible throughout this process, This book is coming out in paperback [this November], do check it out!

Marketing costs are a different matter, and my marketing plan, and how this relates to the different book prices and royalty percentages for each method of distribution, is a subject for a later post.

So, to answer the question posed in my title, am I a real published author yet? Of course I am. Despite my obsession with the numbers, I have always known that success for me was never going to be based on the number of books I sold or the amount of money I made. The recent post by Mark Barrett entitled The Successful Author reminded me of this when he wrote about the “miserable scorekeepers” within the publishing industry and that the “…antidote to all this, of course, is defining success for yourself. And I don’t mean that as a trite observation. Rather, I mean you should have an actual conversation with yourself about this issue and define why you’re writing and what it is you hope to give and gain by linking words together.”

Over forty years ago I defined success for myself when I decided that I wanted to write “happy books” when I grew up (I kid you not, that is what I put under my yearbook picture senior year in high school). I have always had an abiding love for what Laurie King recently called “frivolous fiction”in a talk she gave at the 2009 California Crime Writers Conference, and I have always known that I wanted to write books that drew readers into another world, were filled with characters that made them laugh, and sometimes cry, and would leave them with such a sense of joy that they would want to return to that world again, and again.
 
Five days after Maids of Misfortune appeared on Smashwords and I got my first review, by Anna Drake (someone I had never heard of before then), that ended with the statement “We certainly hope it is the first of many stories for her, as we doubtless will be following the rest of the series with great delight” http://bit.ly/c2SHbG I knew I was successful. Since then, every time I hear from another person that they enjoyed the world of late Victorian San Francisco that I created, that they had come to love Annie Fuller and Nate Dawson so much that they didn’t want to leave them when the book was done, that they can’t wait for me to finish the next book, I know that I am a real published author.

 

This is a reprint from M. Louisa Locke‘s The Front Parlor blog.

What Every Self-Publisher Ought to Know About Editing

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New self-publishers are often confused about how the editorial process works. They want to know what takes place at each stage of their book’s development.

It seems that if you have a map, even if it’s a sketchy one, it’s easier to understand where you are on the road to getting your book into print. Let’s take a look at the stages through which your book moves.

Keep in mind that the entire editorial process may be long, extending from before the completion of the manuscript through proofreading of the final page proofs. Self-publishers need to understand the whole process so they can hire people with the specific expertise needed to complete their project.

Although publishing houses vary widely in how they implement the editing process, and change has also come over time, this schematic is intended to be a simple and helpful “map” to the journey of your book from manuscript to printed books. 

Manuscript: Developmental Editing

Before you even finish your book, perhaps before it’s more than an outline, a sample and an idea, you may start the editorial process. The first kind of editing you will encounter is developmental editing.

Developmental editing, as the name implies, helps develop the author’s concept, the scope of the book, the intended audience, even the way elements of the book are arranged. The relationship between author and developmental editor is intimate, and their work is something of a collaboration.

It can require a great deal of time, as the author responds to the editor’s suggestions, and may require a good deal of patience and tact, since the editor may be instrumental in helping to shape the final work.

Developmental editing can be assigned to specific editors, or some of these functions may be done by either the author’s agent or an acquisitions editor at a publisher. Self-publishers who make use of this type of editing will hire freelance editors to help with the development of their project.

Manuscript: Copyediting

When the author and developmental editor have finished organizing the manuscript, and the editor considers it complete and ready to take the next step, it will go to a Copyeditor.

Copyediting is accomplished by editors who examine the manuscript line by line, word by word. It takes people who are meticulous, excellent at spotting errors, and who mostly don’t mind working without interference or accolades from the world outside.

Copyeditors have vast knowledge of English vocabulary and usage, command over style resources such as the Chicago Manual of Style or other style guides in use at the publishing house. In reviewing the manuscript, they will be paying attention to and correcting:

  • Punctuation, capitalization, spelling, and grammar
  • Errors in word usage
  • Subject-verb agreement
  • Consistency in treatment of material
  • Adherence to establish standards of style and formatting
  • Accuracy and completeness of citations, references, notes, tables, figures and charts
  • Amgibuity, incorrect statements, lapses in logic, libelous comments, and so on.

In the course of editing the manuscript, most copyeditors will also produce a style sheet for the book listing the correct spellings of any unusual names, the proper format for each element in the manuscript, and any other usage or style guidelines that will be useful to other people reviewing the book farther down the production line.

When the copyeditor has finished her work, the manuscript goes back to the author for clarification of any remaining open questions, and then the changes are input into the manuscript.

Manuscript to Book Page Proofs: Production Editor

The manuscript is next routed to a Production Editor who will be responsible for the entire production process. The tasks of the production editor include:

  • Scheduling the project and tracking its progress
  • Hiring and coordinating the work of the book designers, illustrators, indexers, proofreaders and other professionals needed to complete the book
  • Getting estimates from printers or print brokers for the physical production of the book
  • Making sure the books are properly printed and delivered on time.

Book Page Proofs: Proofreading

The last stage in the editorial process is proofreading the book. This step can be easily overlooked in self-published books, to their detriment. The proofreader is the last guardian of the publisher’s reputation for accuracy and care, the protector of the author’s reputation for diligence, and sometimes the least noticed professional to handle the book in its journey.

Proofreaders examine the book’s complete and final pages for more than typographical errors, although that’s a big part of the proofreading job. In addition they will be on the lookout for:

  • Inconsistent line, word, or page spacing
  • Misnumbered list items and mislabeled captions
  • Improper word breaks
  • Page break problems like widows and orphans
  • Irregularities in the use of the books type fonts
  • Accurate and consistent page headers, footers and page numbers
  • Accuracy and completeness of tables, figures, charts, and graphs
  • Consistent use of abbreviations and acronyms.

The End of the Line

When the proofreader is finished with their work, the book is corrected for the last time. Once the pages are set, the final page proofs can be sent to an indexer, if one is being used on the project, and the book will be ready to go to press.

In brief: Developmental editors help shape the work in progress; Copyeditors correct the language, usage, and consistency of the manuscript; Production editors manage the physical manufacturing of the book, and Proofreaders hunt down and fix any errors that have crept into the book. All are necessary to produce a top-quality book.

This is a reprint from Joel Friedlander’s The Book Designer site. Click the ‘reprint’ link to access a podcast version of this article.

BookBuzzr Interviews Author [and Publetariat founder] April L. Hamilton

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This interview originally appeared on Bookbuzzr.com.

BookBuzzr recently interviewed April L. Hamilton who is the author of the book ‘The IndieAuthor Guide’ which was ranked fourth among the Top 10 Books of 2009 on BookBuzzr.

 
1. Welcome April. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and how long you’ve been writing?
I’ve been writing pretty much since I’ve been old enough to hold a crayon. I dreamed of being an author as a girl, but since that didn’t seem a very practical or clear-cut career path, I pursued other options for making a living. I was a technical writer, then a software engineer and web developer, for many years, and this has turned out to serve me very well now that authors are expected to be web-savvy and develop a platform.
 
2. What has been the highlight of your career to this point?
I think that would have to be reading the first review of my first self-published novel, Snow Ball. I’d published it in Kindle format in an effort to drive more traffic and attention to another novel I’d entered in a contest. The review was very positive, and that’s when I realized it really would be possible for me to reach a readership through self-publishing. My other novel advanced no further than the semifinal round of the contest, but by the time it was eliminated, Snow Ball was doing so well I felt as if I’d already won.
 
3. Can you please tell us about ‘The Indie Author Guide’ and what led to writing it?
The IndieAuthor Guide is a how-to book that aims to be a comprehensive reference to self-publishing and managing a career as a self-published author. It’s the book I wish had been available when I set out to self-publish.
There are a lot of books on the subject of self-publishing, but I found them all to be either too specific, covering just one aspect of self-publishing such as manuscript formatting or book promotion, or too general, lacking in the step-by-step instruction I needed. Many of them are geared to people who want to start a small imprint to publish other authors, and most were too dated, failing to address ebooks and author platform at all. Most service provider sites offer their own user guides and online help files too, but those I had to work with weren’t clear and detailed enough. I found that in the end, I only discovered the numerous “gotchas” and best practices through trial and error, and once I’d done so, I thought it made sense to draw on my experience as a technical writer to document all I’d learned.
 
The book was originally self-published in May of 2008, and at the end of 2009 I signed with Writer’s Digest Books to release an updated and revised edition of the book later this year.
 
4. What were some of the biggest challenges you faced writing it?
The challenges all came before I wrote it, during that trial and error process of self-publishing I mentioned. From all those years as a technical writer and a software engineer, being required to fully document my processes and the applications I developed, I find I have a natural drive to document any new skill or information I learn. At first I was just writing guides to individual steps or aspects of self-publishing and making them available to my fellow authors on my website, but it wasn’t long before I realized I had enough material to write an entire book. So I did just that!
 
5. What according to you are the most rewarding aspects of writing?
I think the best part for me is more about the feedback than it is the writing. There’s nothing so fulfilling as hearing from a formerly-struggling author that something in my book, on my blog or website has solved a problem for them or otherwise made their writing lives easier.


Read the rest of the interview on Bookbuzzr.com.

Virtualbookworm US – Reviewed

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ur, Er, Play Ball!

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

How Are You Juggling All of Those Writing Projects?

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For many writers, this becomes a very tough question to answer. In many ways, the balancing act hasn’t been going well. It is a given that writers must be able to work on more than one project at a time. Yet not all can do this without encountering some difficulties with keeping it all organized while also being efficient. Perhaps, you may be one of the few who have a system that works and you manage to keep your productivity high. The question the rest of us have is this one: How do you do it?

A Little Common Sense

Of course, it’s clear that no matter if you are writing fiction or non-fiction, taken a commissioned project or you’re currently on spec, you know that each one of these writing projects needs careful attention in order to be successful. What sort of attention you can pay each will largely depend on whether you have to wade through mounds of books, notes, and drafted pages in order to work on a given project. The less organized you are with your projects and scheduling the more problems and repeat work you will encounter. 
 
Even with the use of computers and electronic filing, there are no guarantees that you will be making your freelance work easier to do. In many cases, you may find that there will be more confusion than before since you’ll have to keep both electronic files and hard copy pages or notes straight. Organization and streamlining are essential if you wish to retain control over your workflow.
 
A Few Ideas
 
In reality, your methods of organizing a writing project will probably vary some depending on the type of work you’re doing or even the markets themselves. (There are some niche markets that require a very specific process so bear that in mind.) Let’s look at it this way. If you produce a variety of material such as articles, stories, and other forms of copy for multiple publications, you may want to start by categorizing your ideas for each market. If this is the case, what do you do then? Well, for some of you, it might help to put things into separate notebooks or folders on the computer. Regardless of what you choose to do, you should always keep things separate and in its place. 
 
If you’re only working on a handful – perhaps one or two publications – you may want to take a slightly different approach. You are still separating or classifying your ideas, but you are including detailed categories to help you micromanage your writing projects on a different level. You may be separating ideas based on genre, subject matter, length, and by sub-category.
 
 Filing
 
Now, you probably already do this, but it is good to say a few words about your filing system. Most of us arrange our projects in separate project files on the computer. (Although, some writers still keep a spiral bound notebook or an equivalent hard copy version.) Files allow you to keep everything in its place. A good idea all around if you want to be organized. The method will vary with each writer. (I have both hard copy files in a cabinet and tons of files saved on CD and flash drive.)
 
About The Schedule
 
This may be where a form of productivity software may come in handy. Many writers benefit from keeping a set schedule for each of their writing projects. The schedule has one clear-cut benefit that no writer should ignore. If adhered to, a standardized schedule ensures that you will give each project its fair share of time and attention during the course of the day or week. Another type of record kept by some freelancers is one based on their output. By recording the number of words produced or the number of hours worked can help you determine how long similar future projects will take to complete. (Don’t forget to take advantage of to-do lists since these tools can help cut out nonessential information by providing a concise listing of each project’s requirements or deadlines.)
 
In Closing…
 
I think it’s safe to say that you may now have a little more insight into what it takes to juggle all of those writing projects. If you are still trying to get things into focus so you can start making schedules and categorizing ideas, then you may be on the right track. I wish all of you the best of luck in your own writing endeavors. I hope you wish me the same luck. Please feel free to add your own advice and tips to those mentioned here. Catch you later!
 

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

Indie Bookstores & Indie Publishers—On The Same Page?

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Saturday was the monthly meeting of the Bay Area Independent Publishers Association (BAIPA). It’s been a year that I’ve been going to the meetings, and I look forward to them.

We had the usual hour of Q & A from those who chose to show up at 9:00 a.m., orchestrated by BAIPA President Pete Masterson. The questions ran from how to get on a bestseller list to printing with Createspace, Lulu and Lightning Source. We talked Smashwords, ISBNs, Baker & Taylor and the transition from Print on Demand to offset production. The usual.

Entering the second hour the room began to fill. The subject announced was “Indie Bookstores + Indie Publishers: Working Together for Success” and the speakers were Calvin Crosby of Books, Inc. and Bill Petrocelli of Book Passage.

I don’t know Books, Inc. very well, since they have no stores in Marin county. They do have eleven stores in other parts of the Bay Area, and their website shows a tremendous number of events they hold with noted authors.

Book Passage bills itself as the Bay Area’s Liveliest Bookstore (two stores) and you’ll get no argument from me. In the next few weeks they will play host to Anthony Bourdain, Elizabeth George, Isabelle Allende, Annie Lamott and Anna Getty, while also hosting dozens of author events, readings and workshops, over 700 events a year.

Great Expectations

At BAIPA meetings we have a time where each person gets up and gives their “elevator speech,” a 30-second pitch on who they are and what they do. People also use these to announce personal victories and milestones.

Over the course of the year I’ve alternately heard stories of how difficult it was to get a book event at Book Passage or, having gotten the event, how exciting it was to have an event there. Back and forth. Complaints about the process, excitement over the product.

Of course the one thing most self-publishers want more than anything else is to see their books in bookstores. This is what eludes many self-publishers, who rely on Amazon and other online retailers who have no need for gatekeeping, since they stock—at least virtually—everything. Amazon, along with digital printing and print on demand distribution, has really made self-publishing what it is today.

Ah, but the bookstores. The lure of being on an equal footing with every other publisher out there—that’s the holy grail to a certain segment of self-publishers. And what better place, what more suitable place, what place will they be understood better, than at the independent bookstores? It seems to the new self-publisher like a match made in heaven.

So the idea of “Indies” working together has a special potency to it. The meeting was very well attended, the room overfull. I would guess sixty or seventy avid self-publishers were ready to hear the talk, learn how we could work together. Here are some notes from the presentation, including some responses to impromptu questions:

  • Independent publishing is growing while big publishing is waning
  • Stores work with self-publishers on a consignment basis, and will shelve books in a “special section” for local authors and publishers, giving them 2 or 3 months shelf time
  • Yes, they do charge a fee for having an event, and this is to cover promotion costs including $30,000 – 40,000 every two months for catalog mailings and email promotion.
  • We have one of the biggest communities of local authors, publishers, and booksellers and we should try to utilize that community
  • Distribution and publicity are most difficult for self-publishers
  • They are optimistic about the survival of indie bookstores, because they adapt to changes in the market
  • Discounters like Borders (which has flirted with bankruptcy for nearly a year) are in trouble, not indies
  • Some of the biggest events have been run by self-published authors, who bring a considerable following into the store

What’s Missing From This Picture?

One question that was asked repeatedly was “What do we do to set up an event or put books into your store?” We received a sort of narrative in response, about how authors who had events were long-time customers, who would naturally, over time, become friends with one or more people “behind the register” so that, when a book came into the equation, they would have a friend to talk to.

It was suggested that authors have a promotion plan, that they be organized, two pieces of good advice. It was also suggested that authors have a blog, a website for their book and to build their community. And, Bill Petrocelli pointed out, make sure there’s no link to Amazon on your website, because that will kill any chance you had of doing something with the store.

I Think I’m on the Wrong Page

It was around this time I started to grow uncomfortable with the whole presentation. There was a question from an indie publisher, who had earlier announced the publication of his 36th book, about why he had to keep going into the stores year after year to remind the buyers to stock his consignment books.

Of course, selling on consignment is not a long-term business model, and the publisher was advised to find some way to get into the bookstore’s database by finding a wholesaler or distributor. Of course, he would have to be prepared to give a discount up to 70%.

This also seemed odd, since the consignment model was the one being pitched at the beginning of the meeting. They agreed that books from Lightning Source with 55% discount, fully returnable, would be acceptable to them, but that iUniverse books were a problem because they had to buy them retail and they were non-returnable.

In a subsequent question it turned out that this information was incorrect, and an iUniverse author in the audience confirmed that they sold on regular, returnable wholesale terms.

Another questioner had trouble containing the outrage he felt because he had to pay to have an event at the bookstore, to which he would be bringing his own new customers, on top of which they wanted him to not sell on Amazon.

Surprisingly, in response Bill Petrocelli launched into an energetic attack on Amazon in what I can only call “Axis of Evil”-type language. I remember the word “pariah” came up, and there was discussion about Amazon’s tactics and their refusal to pay sales tax.

And I can understand some of this. Bookstores are businesses. As Bill pointed out, it costs a lot of money to pay for all the activities they put on. Both Book Passage and Books, Inc. are treasures of our community and centers where people gather to celebrate books, authors and writing. And certainly the internet and the companies it has spawned have decimated some bricks-and-mortar businesses, that’s obvious.

But at the same time I found this the most disappointing meeting of BAIPA I’ve been to. Despite the promise of the billing, this is what we didn’t receive:

  • Any organized process to make contact with the bookstores. Even all these years into the self-publishing “revolution,” neither of these stores seems to have any formal process of any kind for dealing with one-book self-publishers.
  • Confirmation that booksellers have any idea what self-publishers are all about. The complete tone-deafness of the attitude toward Amazon was startling. It’s impossible to overstate the importance of Amazon to self-publishers.
  • A hint that there was any interest on the part of the indie booksellers in actually working together. The presentation contained no suggestions, no ideas, no call to action, no request for input from publishers, and no direction. Some people prepare slides, handouts, talking points for their presentations to this group. Bill and Calvin didn’t even stand up. They sat at a table the whole time, which means they basically didn’t make contact with most of the people in the room.

Still Waiting

I was left with the distinct impression that the indie bookstores may not have much common ground with indie publishers and self-publishers, no matter what we’d like to think. Book Passage and Books, Inc. are full of books from major publishers. Smaller presses are certainly well represented, and there’s a definite effort to reach out to the local community in many ways.

But if I were managing one of those stores, would I want an endless stream of self-publishers coming in, trying to get shelf space, trying to have author events? What would I need them for? They just create more work for the bookstore, and the possibility of bad feelings.

Concessions can be made for long-time customers, or for those who “know someone” at the store. If all the self-publishers were subtracted from the equation, it’s likely the bookstores would be just as happy. Can you imagine just doing the accounting for 70 publishers, each of whom publishes 1 book, for which there is likely to be little demand?

I think we’re kidding ourselves if we think the bookstores have any common ground with self-publishers and small indie presses. Individual staff members may have a love of books that extends to the books made by these publishers, but that’s not the same thing.

I shop at Book Passage, and I bet most of the people in that room shop at these stores, and the stores know that. Self-publishers as a group are activist, passionate, independent-minded people. Otherwise they wouldn’t have taken on the enormous job of publishing—and trying to sell—their books.

The dislocations in the publishing industry brought about by digitization and hastened by the speed of technological development and the urgency of the recession, are severe. We’re faced with serious challenges, like

  • Finding new ways to deliver content,
  • Finding new ways to identify and satisfy discrete audiences,
  • Discovering how different media can be used together while maintaining the integrity of the book
  • Redefining what it means to “publish,” to “author” and to “distribute” content

Right now everyone concerned with these issues has a stake in working together, of being on the same page when it comes to the changes we will have to negotiate. I hope some of us end up on the same page. What do you think?

Takeaway: There are many challenges for the self-publisher, and establishing relationships with bookstores—even indie bookstores—remains one of the most problematic.

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