Self-Publishing Resources

Posted By Marilyn Ross on February 8, 2010

Promoting fiction is never easy. Yet you can craft a manuscript that has built-in promotional and sales angles. It simply takes some forethought and creative planning. By following the secrets revealed below, fiction writers can greatly enhance their chances of getting print, radio, and TV exposure.

1. Provide a local angle. Set your story in a real place. People who live in the area love to read about restaurants, amusement parks, streets, landmarks, etc. they know. And if you set your story in your own area, it simplifies promotion greatly. You can easily spin the local PR, then let it ripple outward regionally, then nationally.

2. Carefully evaluate your main characters. Does the protagonist have an interesting profession or hobby you can use as a sales hook? One novelist I know sold her book in spelunking shops because caving was the avocational pursuit of her main character. Another merchandised her mystery in Volvo dealerships. Why? Because that make of car played an important role in the story.

3. Revolve your story around an important “issue.” Add an aspect to the plot that addresses something newsworthy. If there is a dominant thread that deals with a timely topic, you may be called upon when a fast-breaking news story hits. Topics you might consider, for instance, are Internet privacy, battered men, terrorism, fetal tissue, obesity, or Medicare woes. You get the idea. By the time you’ve written at length on the subject, you will become an “expert” on that topic. Monitor the news each morning for references to your theme, then immediately piggyback on it with emails and faxes to the media.

 As a fiction writer, you can greatly impact the marketing potential of your book. Use the guidelines above to write a savvy book. Planting interesting angles during the creation process opens doors to lucrative results when your finished book comes out.

Category: fiction, publicity, writing | No Comments »
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Posted By Sue Collier on February 1, 2010

If there is one thing about promotions I try to impress upon authors, it’s that reviews sell books. The process for obtaining reviews can be somewhat overwhelming, though, so here is a step-by-step approach. 

1. Well in advance of your publication date (at least two or three months), gather your list of potential reviewers in print, broadcast, and electronic outlets. Double-check that contact information is correct and be sure to address your request to a person—by name.
2. Write a great letter or email, emphasizing the benefits to your reviewers’ readers, and be sure to include a picture of your book cover. We’re finding that there are very few sources who don’t want to accept emails these days, so that’s usually the route we take. However, there are a group of book trade reviewers who have very specific requirements for review requests. Be sure to follow the instructions on their websites.
3. Follow up on all requests the week after you’ve sent them out. Continue to follow up until you have either gotten a “yay” or “nay” from everyone, or until you’ve made at least three attempts to touch base. We use an Excel Spreaksheet to keep track.
4. When the responses start coming in, send review copies within a day or two of receiving the request. Include with the review copy of the book your press kit, which should minimally include a press release, an author bio, a mock review (This is a favorable review written for your book.), and a galley information sheet.
5. After two to three weeks, send an inquiry to the potential reviewer, ensuring your book has arrived and asking when they might make a decision as to whether or not a review will appear in their publication.
6. If you don’t hear back from them, follow up a couple more times, emphasizing how your book provides a benefit for their readers.
7. If you do hear back, be sure to follow up, based on the response you receive. Always express your appreciation for their consideration.
8. Continue to follow up each week until you’ve exhausted your list.
9. Keep track of the favorable responses you receive and make sure you get a copy of every review—or article, story, or interview. You can use these pieces to obtain even more publicity.
10. Post the links to the reviews/stories in your media room on your website and mention them in your blog or newsletter, and on social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook.

Category: authors, promotions, publicity, reviews, social media | No Comments »
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Posted By Sue Collier on January 21, 2010

I recently connected with Penny C. Sansevieri, CEO and founder of Author Marketing Experts, Inc., while conducting research for the new edition of The Complete Guide to Self-Publishing. Penny is a best-selling author and internationally recognized book marketing and media relations expert. Her company is one of the leaders in the publishing industry and has developed some of the most cutting-edge book marketing campaigns. Her company researched, developed, and implemented the first comprehensive Internet publicity campaign called The Virtual Author Tour. She is the author of Red Hot Internet Publicity. Learn more about Penny at www.amarketingexpert.com.

Thanks, Penny!

What is the best way to find appropriate blogs/sites?

I always recommend that authors get to know blogs in their market. They can do this by going to Google Blog Search, Technorati, or any other blog directory. In order to acclimate yourself to the blog environment, start by following five to seven blogs in your market and see what they are talking about. Then, I recommend that you communicate with them. How do you do this? By commenting on their posts. And don’t just write “great post!” offer some thoughtful feedback. This is a great way to start cyber-schmoozing with the bloggers you need to know. When your book comes out you can then offer them a review copy, since bloggers get so many books submitted to them, having done this advanced networking will really help get you and your book to top of the review pile!

 Are there specific genres that have more success with a virtual author book tour?

Not really, but we’re often surprised at books that just take off like wildfire. We had a book, self-published that was a fictional account of the life of a concubine. We almost couldn’t keep up with the review requests. Oddly enough I told the author that I wasn’t sure how well this market would do, but he decided to risk it anyway; we were both pleasantly surprised. One market that I can tell you is very cluttered is business. It’s a rough category to get into online, which is why I’m a fan of blog commenting to network with these folks. Someone out of the clear blue won’t get much traction in this area. New Age and Law of Attraction is similar though not as challenging. Thanks to The Secret and the tsunami of books in the LOA market that followed, this category saw an onslaught of titles that it could barely keep up with.

What would you consider a “successful” tour? How many site visits?

When it comes to online promotion, a lot of authors are impressed by getting on hundreds of sites. I counter that idea only because I know that sometimes online less is more and more is, well sometimes just more. Let me explain. The idea behind online promotion in my view is to gather incoming links to your site—these links act as highways, funneling traffic and readers to you. The other element of incoming links is the Google-factor—meaning that when ranking sites in their market, Google looks at the quality and relevance of incoming links. We’ve seen cases where authors have gotten hundreds upon hundreds of mentions and new links online with little or no change in their website ranking or traffic. Why? Because the incoming links themselves were coming from sites with very little traffic and small Page Rank (Page Rank is a number Google assigns to a site indicating its importance on the Net, Page Rank goes from 0 to10, 10 being the highest).

When considering a tour, you’re better off targeting sites with high Page Rank and depending on your market, this could be anywhere from a 3 to 6… If you can only get on 25 such sites your time will be much better spent than pushing through the onslaught of hundreds of sites that don’t even show up in search engines.

So how much is good? Well, in my view online promotion doesn’t end—unless you decide to let the book and your career die. You should look at doing online promotion for as long as you’re in the business of being an author. So once you’ve captured the high-end sites in your market, it’s okay to go after the smaller-niche ones and keep building your momentum online.

How are tours coordinated? Over a set period of time? Or can they continue for weeks or even months as interest continues?

My recommendation is to not do a tour that is limited to a time period. Sure, week-long tours seem fun and exciting but what happens after the week is over? Not much. You’ve got to keep it going. I recommend doing one to five things a day to promote yourself; this should include commenting on blog posts and pitching your topic to bloggers.

What advice do you have for self-published authors who are organizing their own blog/networking site tours—specifically, dos and don’ts?

First off, think of the Internet as one big networking party. Even though you may never meet the blogger you’re pitching, the same rules apply. You’d never walk up to a group of people at an in-person networking event and say “I wrote a fabulous book and you should review it.” You should always lead with helpful information. Ask yourself why the blogger will care and then, offer them tips to get them to care; they must want your book not because you wrote it but because their readers will want to know about it, it’s timely, it’ll help in some specific way. Whether it’s to entertain, enlighten, or engage them. Lead with the benefits, not the features.

Second, the best kind of promotion online is slow growth over time. That’s why I recommend that authors build their network by engaging with bloggers long before their book comes out. There is no such thing as instant success, and you should shy away from anyone who promises you overnight success or a million Twitter followers in a week.

Third, remember that it’s all about your reader. Whether you’ve written fiction or non-fiction, your efforts to engage your reader are about your reader, not about you. Don’t give them what you think they need, give them what they want. Be interested, not interesting. Listen first, spend a good deal of time listening to what’s going on and what people are saying, then respond. By listening first you’ll show up engaged and informed and readers will beat a path to your door.

Category: The Complete Guide to Self-Publishing, authors, books, marketing, promotions, self-publishing, social media, virtual author book tour | 2 Comments »
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Posted By Sue Collier on January 19, 2010

Apparently, not even Publishers Weekly understands that POD ”self-publishing” is not self-publishing at all. Here is the article I responded to: http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6712254.html?talk_back_header_id=6637648#talkback. (There is a lot of other excellent feedback there, including from self-publishing pioneer Dan Poynter, so be sure to read that as well.)

My comments:

I find it amazing that Publishers Weekly still doesn’t understand the difference between self-publishing and subsidy/vanity publishing.

When authors are “self” published, they start up a publishing company; they obtain an ISBN prefix; they handle and make decisions about editing, interior and cover design, and printing (often paying subcontractors to handle these items for them); and they are responsible for marketing and promotion of their title. Period. This is the *only* way authors can truly self-publish. It’s pretty simple.

Companies such as AuthorHouse are vanity publishers calling themselves “self-publishing” or “self-publishing POD” companies. They are trading on the good name of self-publishing to make their companies appear to be a legitimate option for authors.

You ought to be embarrassed, Publishers Weekly, for not doing your research and perpetuating this misinformation.

Category: POD self-publishing, self-publishing, subsidy publishing, vanity publishing | 8 Comments »
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Posted By Sue Collier on January 18, 2010

In the old days of promotions—before the Internet came along and changed the way we do pretty much everything—you had two options for garnering attention for your product or service: advertisements and the media. But now you have the World Wide Web as your oyster. And a new paradigm, with terms like “Twitter,” “friending,” “LinkedIn,” “Facebook,” and “tweet” as the new rulers of this Internet realm. Publish interesting content in the social media marketing format, and you can potentially have thousands—millions—of people read it and take action. Furthermore, a virtual author book tour can give you exposure to literally millions of potential book buyers.

Overview

Web 2.0 and social media—the new, live Web—are here to stay. It’s no longer adequate to write your book, put up your website, and expect people to find you. You need to maximize your Web site’s value through interactivity, sharing, and building relationships. Although some people are intimidated by the newness of “viral marketing,” they needn’t be. Leveraging social media marketing to make yourself stand out from the crowd is not that difficult.

So what exactly is “social media”? It is often described as the online practice wherein people use technology to talk, participate, network, and bookmark. Social media sites blogs, microblogs, podcasts, videocasts, forums, wikis, or some kind of content community are included under this umbrella. It’s a contact sport. Unlike traditional media, which more or less is a one-way form of communication, social media promotes discussion, feedback, voting, and otherwise sharing of information. It also enables participants to stay connected with other people and resources.

Incidentally, “Web 2.0” doesn’t really mean there is a different Internet than there was before. The Internet superhighway is the same, but there are more vehicles traveling on it now, including communities that interact together (that is, social media). So the terms are closely related and often lumped together; we’ll simply refer to social media from here on in.

People are jumping on the bandwagon at incredibly high rates: Nearly half of all adult Internet users have created content online. And some studies show that 67 percent of businesses say their best source of advice for products and services are their consumers (who communicate with them via social media). Can you afford not to ride this technological wave of the future?

Are there pitfalls to this new technology? Absolutely! Losing track of time is the biggest. You start chatting on Twitter about your new book, and the next thing you know an hour or more has slipped by and you are clicking on links that have nothing to do with promoting yourself. (Some experts recommend spending twenty minutes or so in the morning and another twenty minutes in the late afternoon to respond to the day’s activities.) Another problem is not defining your purpose for using social media and making a plan before you get started.

Don’t think you have to do anything and everything in terms of social media. New social media channels are cropping up on a seemingly daily basis; don’t be like the proverbial child trying to power through an entire bag of Halloween candy in one day. Pick two or three things that seem most applicable for you, and work at them consistently.

(Excerpted from The Complete Guide to Self-Publishing, 5th Edition, by Marilyn Ross and Sue Collier. Due from Writer’s Digest Books, summer of 2010. Email Sue at sue@SelfPublishingResources.com for more information.)

Category: The Complete Guide to Self-Publishing, books, marketing, promotions, publicity, self-publishing, social media | No Comments »
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Posted By Sue Collier on January 5, 2010

As an editor and writing coach, I run across the same grammatical issues over and over again. With the help of a colleague (thanks, Jack!), I’ve assembled this “writing tutorial,” which addresses some of these. This information, presented in alphabetical order, should assist you in writing professional, clear, succinct, and grammatically correct books, articles, and promotional materials. Although some grammatical information is given, other information is a matter of personal style and format suggestions based on a couple of decades of professional writing and editing experience. Naturally, the style and format suggestions are only recommendations. As with any of this, it can be viewed as an editor’s job anyway, but the fewer the problems, the less editing will cost you in the long run. I’ll be running this as a several-part series. I hope you’ll find it helpful!

Overused
Commas. Commas should only be used when grammatically correct and to emphasize a comfortable pause in text. Do not use them simply because you think one might go there; always have a good reason. When in doubt, leave it out!

Quotation Marks. Quotes draw attention to words. Many words do not always need to have attention drawn to them, and do not need attention drawn to them more than once in a text—and especially in the same sentence. Never use them to indicate overused terms; this is simply bad form and bad writing, and it draws attention to both the quotes and the term. Use quotation marks sparingly to indicate direct quotes, titles of articles, and words that require emphasis to help the reader understand a point.

Bolding. Often overused, bolding should be reserved for headings and words that necessitate emphasis. Avoid bolding words in sentences when bolding is also used in headings as it tends to diminish the importance of headings. Avoid using boldface for emphasis in books; it looks amateurish.

Overall. Trust the reader to use his or her intelligence to understand what is important in text.

Parallelism. When developing items in a series, ensure that all components are parallel, such as using sentences or fragments, beginning with verbs or nouns, structuring as questions or not, and the overall structure of the line item.

Beginning Lists. Be sure to always begin each item in a list the same way, i.e., with active words, with verbs, “How to,” etc.

Consistency. Be consistent with your use of subjects and verbs with items in a series and with bulleted items.

Introducing Items in a Series. Sometimes you use a colon, sometimes you use a complete sentence, and sometimes you use a fragment. This is okay; just be sure to do it consistently. Variety is not the spice of life in all situations.

Punctuation
Apostrophes. Pay attention to the differences between plurals and possessives.

Colons. When introducing items in a series within a sentence (not a bulleted or numbered list), it is often better not to use a colon to prevent breaking the flow of the sentence.

Hyphens and Dashes. Study the various uses for the hyphen, en dash, and em dash, and use them consistently.

Semicolons. Note how these are used most often. They should not be used interchangeably with em dashes; both have unique and specific uses.

Serial Comma. Always use a comma before the “and” in items in a series. You will see this not done often because it is usually a matter of personal preference rather than grammatical protocol, but in business writing it is always best to use it to avoid confusion regarding whether or not the last two items go together as a pair or are as separate as all other items. For pairs, go ahead and use two “ands,” such as “For breakfast I had ham, grits, biscuits, hash browns, and bacon and eggs.”

Quotation Marks. Always be sure to have “smart quotes” activated in MS Word. You do not want to use the foot and inch symbols for quotes (although they are used automatically with sans serif fonts such as Arial).

Quotes. Ensure all quotes are accurate and verbatim. Otherwise, they are not quotes.

Redundancy
Acronyms. Avoid using acronyms or initialisms in titles. It may not be a standard grammar rule, but it is a good practice to avoid redundancy. Reserve in-text references for spelling out acronyms and initialisms. However, you may want to use the acronym if it makes headings fall on two lines in the Table of Contents. For instance, use “ES” for Editorial Services, but use it consistently.

Terms/Phrases. Avoid terms such as “free of charge.” It is just “free”; what other kind of free can it be.

References. These are tricky, but you need to ensure you are following a standard format, such as The Chicago Manual of Style, when listing references.

Show/Hide ¶. Try using the “Show/Hide ¶” activated when typing. It takes a little getting used to (just like using a trackball mouse) but you will catch many format problems along the way.

Spacing, Line. Be sure not to leave two or three spaces between words instead of the correct one space. (Many people who learned to keyboard on a typewriter still use two spaces between words; this is no longer correct.) This is noticeable in printed text and looks a bit unprofessional like you had a sloppy typesetter. Also, avoid inconsistent spacing between paragraphs. Although you are depending on your layout person to clean this up, you should get into the habit of using consistent spacing while writing. This would help to eliminate the potential for problems and mistakes later, and would reduce your production costs.

Spacing, Between Words and With Punctuation. The standard now is to use one space between words and after colons.

Subordinate Clauses. Avoid beginning sentences with subordinate clauses unless it just flows better, which it usually does not. Write “I have evaluated publishing operations for two major nonprofit member organizations” instead of “For two major nonprofit member organizations, I have evaluated publishing operations.”

Symbols
Auto Symbols. Be careful when using such automatic symbols such as ellipses. They are displayed in a way that is not in compliance with s
tandard style guides. (See “Ellipses” above.) Also, sometimes it is better to use boxed bullets from Format, Bullets and Numbering…instead of the Bullets icon, the latter of which may not apply the correct size and font.

Money. It is not necessary to include the period and double zeros if there are no cents.

Symbols such as @, #, %, &, +, =. Reserve symbols for tables or figures where space may be at a minimum. Otherwise, spell out “at,” “number,” “percent,” “and,” “plus,” and “equals.”

Time. When indicating before or after noon as well as before or after Christ, use periods and small caps: A.M., P.M., A.D., B.C. Type in lowercase, then format to small caps; otherwise, you will get uppercase small caps. Also, it is not necessary to include double zeros if no minutes are indicated.

Tables. Tables are a great way to display information. Just be sure that all items are parallel with or without subjects and verbs in each line item, are or are not complete sentences, and are punctuated appropriately and uniformly. Also, unless line items in a table are multileveled, you do not need bullets.

Tables of Contents and Indices. Think about generating these automatically; they will save you time and money later.

Take the Time Needed. I believe most good writers think faster than they write, and you are probably no exception. But if you want to save time and money, slow down. If you focus more while writing and proofing, it will take the editor less time to decipher your meaning and to offer suggestions that may or may not be correct, and this can reduce your costs in time and money to respond.

Use Standard Style, not British/Scientific Style. Standard style mandates that the writer put periods and commas on the inside of quotation marks all the time; British/scientific style places these punctuation marks contingent on the use. Colons and semicolons are placed contingent on use in both styles.

Use/Utilize. You “use” something for its intended purpose; you “utilize” it for something other than its intended purpose.

Voice. Although active voice is preferable, in some cases it is acceptable to use passive voice as in examples when the writer is trying to avoid using personal pronouns. In most cases, though, opt for “identify” instead of “the identification of.”

Weak Words. Avoid all words that really don’t add anything extra such as “very,” “thing,” and “there” as in “there are.” If you really feel a quantifier is needed, think of more descriptive words. Also, subjective words such as “good” usually can be replaced with a more objective term.

Which/That. “Which” commonly is used to introduce a subordinate clause; “that” is used in all other cases. Also, in most cases you should use a comma before “which.”

Who/That. Use “who” when referring to people; use “that” when referring to groups.

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Posted By Sue Collier on December 22, 2009

I received an email over the weekend, requesting that SPR get in touch with GLAWS (Greater Los Angeles Writers Society–http://www.glaws.org/). Apparently, the group had a meeting on self-publishing a while back, and they had people from iUniverse, AuthorHouse, and Xlibris there.

Here’s a little bit of what the email said: “I almost fell down. I kindly mentioned that a lot of people don’t consider authors going through those POD companies to be self-publishers. While keeping it simple, I mentioned a few of the reasons why, and the difference between them and digital printing and CreateSpace and offset printing and fulfillment companies vs. distribution companies and wholesalers. I’m not sure how much he understood. I told him that Xlibris, AuthorHouse, and iUniverse are rip-offs for authors, and that athours should not settle for not owning their ISBNs.”

Unlike the writer of the email, I am not shocked at all. Based on what I see online daily, there is still a HUGE misunderstanding as to what constitutes “true” self-publishing. In yet another attempt to clarify the differences in publishing options–I am one of many who is trying to educated people–let me explain what means what.


Traditional Publishers
An author who signs a contract with a traditional publisher usually receives an advance of a few thousand dollars against future royalties. The publisher owns the ISBN, but the copyright is in the author’s name. The publisher pays for and makes decisions about editing, cover, size, price, and production. Sales channels generally include book wholesalers and retailers, as well as inclusion in the company’s catalog. Authors are expected to do a good deal of book promotion and publicity—although they are often not aware of this until it’s too late.

Self-Publishers
True self-publishing authors assume all responsibility for all aspects of their books—and they keep 100 percent of the profits. They also own their book’s ISBN and copyright; they pay for and make decisions about editing, cover, size, price, and printing, and they can use a wide variety of sales channels, including the Internet as well as all routes available to traditional publishers. Self-publishers know up front that they will be responsible for marketing, promotions, and publicity. Self-published books that sell extremely well may be noticed by traditional publishers, who might want to buy the rights from the author/publisher. (This has been the case with four of Marilyn Ross’s self-published titles. Marilyn is the founder of SPR and my co-author of The Complete Guide to Self-Publishing, 5th Edition–one of the titles that was picked up by a traditional publisher.)


POD “Self-Publishers”—Another Twist
Today there is a popular player on the field—a hybrid of the typical “subsidy” press and POD. These companies call themselves “self-publishing companies” or “POD self-publishers,” and they offer more choices to authors at better prices than the typical subsidy companies. They might advertise that customers can use their own cover designs or set their own price. And they are usually inexpensive. What that means, unfortunately, is that they frequently attract bottom-of-the-barrel literary talent. Plus, with such low up-front investment, the authors themselves dive in head first, often without professional editing, typesetting, and cover design. Although these hybrids sometimes offer these services, they may be less than satisfactory. The result of this low-cost approach is frequently a poor quality book that sells few copies.

Typically, these companies issue one of their own ISBNs for your book. With this approach to POD, you are not the publisher. (There goes that control we wanted.)

The reality is that many of these companies are vanity publishers calling themselves “self-publishing” or “self-publishing POD” companies. In reality, though, they are often trading on the good name of self-publishing to make their companies appear to be a legitimate option for authors.

If you decide to go the route of one of these POD outfits, do your research! And keep in mind that since the digital landscape changes so rapidly, you should consult current Web sites of any companies that interest you. Also read industry magazines and newsletters to find out about new firms that have hung out their virtual shingles.

It’s also worth noting here that there are many digital (POD) printing companies that offer excellent service, prices, and quality. They should start calling themselves what they truly are: book printers.

Is POD “self-publishing” ever a good idea? Absolutely! Suppose you have no time or inclination to go the self-publishing route, yet have a book of poems you want to distribute to friends or relatives at Christmas. Or perhaps a beloved family member just died, and you want to preserve her writing for posterity. Maybe you’ve just finished tracing your ancestry and choose to distribute these genealogical findings to a wide circle of relatives. These circumstances, and any others where profit is not your motive, might be justification for subsidy publishing.
 
Subsidy/Vanity Publishers
A subsidy publisher (which was more frequently called a “vanity” publisher in the past) takes payment from the author to print and bind a book. With subsidy publishers, it’s the writer’s cash, not the quality of his or her work, that counts. They publish anyone who can pay. Typically, they provide little or no book editing, marketing/promotion, or warehousing services. It has become more and more common in the past couple years for these subsidy presses to refer to themselves as a “self-publishing company.”

Their use of the term “self-publisher,” which they and their authors are not, is misleading at best and dishonest at worst. They are even so bold as to imply that authors have only two choices: publish with a traditional house or “self-publish” with a subsidy publisher. Self-publishing your own book implies that you, yourself, are the publisher. If you use a subsidy press, they are the book publishing company, not you. They are a book publisher for hire, not a self-publishing company.

Authors who are “accepted” by subsidy publishers—and 99.9 percent of them are as long as they have the cash—pay to have these companies publish their books and get royalties on copies sold. The publisher owns the ISBN, although the author retains the copyright. The author pays for all steps in the publishing process, but the publisher makes most or all of the decisions on editing, cover, size, price, and production of the book. Sales channels are usually limited to the Web since these books are generally ignored by reviewers and others in the book trade. Authors must do their own promotion and publicity. Since they make money up front, subsidy publishers take no risks, and they have no incentive to design an outstanding book or fix typ
os or other problems. They likely print very few copies and stamp their company imprint on your book.

If you have visions of your book becoming the next bestseller—or if you’d simply be satisfied just turning a modest profit—a subsidy publisher may not be your best route. Books printed by subsidy presses rarely make it into bookstores. If your book does make it into a bookstore, you may find that it is not shelved in your intended genre, but rather, it has been placed in a catch-all category called “local authors.” Potential buyers often ignore this category because they perceive these books as being inferior in overall quality, which they sometimes are.

Review copies of books sent to columnists by subsidy publishers generally go directly into the trash can. Reviewers realize that very little editing has likely been done, and they also know that promotional efforts will be practically nonexistent and the book will not be available through the usual book distribution channels. A subsidy publisher’s name on a book is pretty much the kiss of death.

When you choose a subsidy publishing company, there is another issue to consider: Since they own the ISBN for your book, they usually set the price. They literally will tell you what to charge for your own book! This is more than a loss of control—it can even damage the sales of the book if they set the price too high or too low. Once an ISBN is set and printed on the back cover, and embedded in bar code, it’s almost impossible to change.

An ISBN is to a book what your Social Security number is to you. It’s your ID in the world. Consequently, all orders and inquiries will go to them. They are also listed as the publisher of record in Books In Print.

Why would this matter? Let’s take a few hypothetical situations: What if a book club discovers your book, loves it, and wants to adopt it for an alternate selection? The club will contact your Internet publisher who can’t handle the deep discounts needed and thus has no financial stake in such a transaction. What do you think will happen? Zip. Zero. Nada. Suppose a corporation is interested in purchasing 1,000 copies of your book, contacts the Internet publisher, but is turned off by the high cost of the books. You never hear about it. What if a distributor wants to take it on, but finds the economics aren’t feasible? Tough luck. Any of these scenarios can cost you thousands of dollars.

Authors choosing subsidy publishing really need to do their homework to make sure they understand exactly what they are signing. But if you intend to make money selling your book, and if you want value for your money as well as a credible product, true self-publishing is likely the best way to go. If you do self-publish, ensure your book’s quality by working with a reputable self-publishing company. Doing anything less can be a costly and career-threatening mistake.

(Excerpted from The Complete Guide to Self-Publishing, 5th Edition, by Marilyn Ross and Sue Collier. Coming in summer 2010 from Writer’s Digest Books. For more information, contact sue@SelfPublishingResources.com; 720-344-4388.)

Category: POD self-publishing, The Complete Guide to Self-Publishing, self-publishing, subsidy publishing | 2 Comments »
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Posted By Sue Collier on December 14, 2009

If you’re an author with a book ready for publication and you’ve looked into self-publishing, and it’s probably become pretty clear there is a lot more involved than just sending your manuscript to a printer and kicking back to wait for the money to start rolling in. In fact, the process is downright complicated—and somewhat frightening.

Fortunately for the novice self-publisher, there are publication consultants who can guide you through each phase of the complicated publishing process. There are advantages to using a “book shepherd” (so dubbed, I believe, by one of the original self-publishing gurus Dan Poynter)—one of which is that it can save you a lot of money in the long run. A book shepherd can keep you from making some of the typical rookie mistakes. Look at it this way: You can spend years learning the self-publishing business on your own, or you can hire an expert to help you navigate the process.

There are different types of book shepherds. Some offer advice on the many aspects of publishing, referring you to experts for the areas they don’t handle. Others provide turnkey service, taking care of filing the necessary forms, manuscript editing, interior and cover design, printer brokering , and overall project management. Others, like us at Self-Publishing Resources, offer either turnkey service or hourly consulting if you want to do-it-yourself.

Working with a good book shepherd can also greatly increase your chances for publishing success. Planning ahead is extremely important, and something that is not always considered. Often, authors jump in to self-publishing without a lot of forethought. A self-publishing venture is a business enterprise, and it should be treated as such. There are myriad decisions to be made, including book title, cover design, printing options, price, just to name a few. And all can have a huge impact on whether or not your self-publishing undertaking will be successful.

There are well over 100,000 book published each year. You can’t wait until after your book is printed to think about marketing and promotions. And even the most well-written, beautifully designed book in the world isn’t going to sell if no one knows about it. Book shepherds can offer advice in this arena as well, often suggesting options for selling your book you had never considered.

The bottom line is that a good book shepherd can save you time, money, and stress, and will give you a much greater chance for self-publishing success.

Category: book shepherding, business of publishing, marketing, promotions, self-publishing | 3 Comments »
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Posted By Sue Collier on December 1, 2009

As an editor and writing coach, I run across the same grammatical issues over and over again. With the help of a colleague (thanks, Jack!), I’ve assembled this “writing tutorial,” which addresses some of these. This information, presented in alphabetical order, should assist you in writing professional, clear, succinct, and grammatically correct books, articles, and promotional materials. Although some grammatical information is given, other information is a matter of personal style and format suggestions based on a couple of decades of professional writing and editing experience. Naturally, the style and format suggestions are only recommendations. As with any of this, it can be viewed as an editor’s job anyway, but the fewer the problems, the less editing will cost you in the long run.I’ll be running this as a several-part series. I hope you’ll find it helpful!

Editing and Proofing

Developmental Editing. Understand that a developmental editor is not the same as a peer reviewer. I can tell you from my observations that they are not catching overall writing problems, and this is not the job of a copyeditor either. Whether you use me or someone else for developmental editing, it will be expensive but it will improve the overall read and feel of your writing. Even while your writing improves over time, you cannot expect it to be perfect–ever; that is just the nature of writing. I never depend on myself for my final edits but rather I send my work through one and often several professional editors at whatever cost to me.

Proofing. Always proof your work after completing it. It will save your editors and layout people time and will save you money.

Ellipses. Rules for ellipses are well defined. The Chicago Manual of Style defines the grammatical use as follows:

• To indicate text missing from within a sentence, put a space before the first ellipsis, after the last ellipsis, and in between all ellipses. “The author…wanted all writing to be clear and concise.”
• To indicate text missing from the end of a sentence, do not put a space before the first ellipsis, put a space in between all ellipses, and add an extra one at the end to indicate the final period. “The author demandingly wanted all writing to be clear….”

Gender-Specific Language. Avoid gender-specific language if possible. I prefer the “compromise” of alternating the use of “he” and “she” throughout a document rather than “he/she,” “he or she,” “(s)he,” or “s/he.”

Glossaries. Consider using them; glossaries are a great help for obscure terminology. They are as helpful, if not more so, than an acronym list.

In-text References. Always ensure that in-text references to book or article titles as well as Web site URLs are accurate. Incorrect references should never appear in a publication. Developmental editors and reference checkers catch these in the book and periodical publishing field, but when you are publishing your own materials you will either have to be extremely thorough and double check all material or pay someone else to do it.

Keep Verb Forms Together. Watch out for splitting verb forms. Opt for “also will be responsible for” over “will also be responsible for,” unless it is extremely awkward when the former is used. 

Knowledge Base. Be careful when writing about any topic in which your level of experience may be limited. Your knowledge base appears to have increased by about 300 percent since I have known you (not to mention the increased development in your writing style), but none of us are perfect. If I, as your editor, question some of your statements because my research shows different outcomes, others will question your authority as well. (In all fairness, though, understand that it simply could be a matter of sources that are referenced.) And this could not be good for your reputation or book sales. If you are unsure about a certain technology or industry, research as much as you can. It is labor-intensive and time-consuming, but you cannot expect to get complete and accurate information by asking a couple of people. Plus, other specialists and experts do not necessarily have the time nor the inclination to do your research for you anyway.
   Lists. If the listed items are in a hierarchy, use numbers or letters; otherwise, use some sort of bullet.

Microsoft Word Tools. Do not depend on spell check or grammar check. Know how to research spelling and grammar issues since Word tools often recommend incorrect changes.

Noun (Subject)/Pronoun Agreement. The old school was to always have these agree such as “Every writer must have his or her way.” Today, it is becoming more acceptable to write, “Every writer must have their way.” 

Numbers, Writing. For numbers, follow the under 10 rule, i.e., spell out numbers if they are under 10, except for time, measurement, and money. Also, if three numbers are used in the same sentence, use whichever style outnumbers the others. For instance, you would spell out for “the contestant won 6, 11, and 15 times in a row.” Note how “6” is under 10 and normally would be spelled out, but the number is used since the other two numbers are over 10. If you decide to follow the ninety-nine and below rule where numbers are spelled out, be consistent. (Keep in mind, though, that numerals are nearly always used with percentages and measures.)

Category: editing, grammar, writing, writing coaching | No Comments »
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Posted By Sue Collier on November 19, 2009

If you are even remotely tapped into the publishing world, you’ve heard all about the new Harlequin Horizons, wherein authors can pay $600 to $1,600 for their book to be “published.” (Hmmm…sounds like a vanity press to me.) This might be a fabulous idea–if you’re Harlequin. And that is probably true only in the short term. Although they may profit at first, they run the risk of ultimately polluting what is a well-known brand. How many badly written books will readers buy from their Horizons line before they lose faith in the entire line? (And it’s optimistic to assume readers will buy any books from their Horizons line!) This is vanity publishing thinly disguised as “self” publishing, and they are taking advantage of naive wannabe writers who might as well toss their money out the window since the likelihood of their books reading readers is nil.

But the real shame in all this is that many in the industry are lumping together genuine self-publishing with subsidy/POD “self-publishing.” And there is a big difference between the two.

A hybrid of the typical “subsidy” press and POD, these companies call themselves “self-publishing companies” or “POD self-publishers,” and they offer more choices to authors at better prices than the typical subsidy companies. They might advertise that customers can use their own cover designs or sent their own price.

They are usually inexpensive. What that means, unfortunately, is that they frequently attract bottom-of-the-barrel literary talent. Plus, with such low up-front investment, the authors themselves dive in head first, often without professional editing, typesetting, and cover design. Although the hybrids sometimes offer these services, they may be less than satisfactory. The result of this low-cost approach is frequently a poor quality book that sells few copies. These companies are trading on the good name of self-publishing to make their companies appear to be a ligitimate option for authors.

In true self-publishing, authors assume all responsibility for all aspects of their books–and they keep 100 percent of the profits. They also own their book’s ISBN and copyright; they pay for and make decisions about editing, cover, size, price, and printing; and they can use a wide variety of sales channels, including the Internet as well as all routes available to traditional publishers. Self-publishers know up front that they will be responsible for marketing, promotions, and publicity. Self-published books that sell extremely well may be noticed by traditional publishers, who might want to buy the rights from the author/publisher (What Color Is My Parachute? and The Celestine Prophecy are two such titles).

Genuine self-publishing can be a good idea for speakers, entrepreneurs, business professionals, and other nonfiction writers with a niche market. Sensible authors/publishers realize they probably won’t achieve New York Times bestseller status, but with a well-edited and well-designed book, and a well-thought-out promotions plan, a book can be an important marketing tool.

Another bone of contention I have with Harlequin is the misleading (at best!) copy on their website. How about this, for example: “Have you always dreamt about being the center of attention at a book signing event featuring you, the publishing author? If so, then the Marketing Plus Package is for you.”

Unfortunately, this is seldom the case, as most authors (self- or traditionally published) will tell you. Without extensive promoting on the part of the author, there isn’t even a guarantee the bookstores will carry the book for the signing.

Or how about the Targeted Personal Media Valet service? For a mere $5,400, Harlequin will provide what amounts to generic PR authors could do themselves–or even get outside help from book biz professionals for a fraction of that cost.

The overcrowded self-publishing field is already chock full of poorly done books that very few people read (thanks, POD “self-publishers”). It’s a shame. And I certainly hope it’s not a continuing trend.

Category: POD self-publishing, books, promotions, publicity, subsidy publishing, vanity publishing | 2 Comments »
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