There are so many good resources available for authors, publishers and writers, and I want to share some new ones with you, but in this post, thought it would be a nice refresher to take a look at some of the helpful posts that are already on the blog, including:
Self Publishing Book Service - Read this post about a self-publishing service, easy to use…this may not be for everyone, but it’s certainly worth a look…and it may not be the service you’re thinking of.
Self Publishing an eBook at No Cost - Do you think it can be done? Take a look at the post and you decide. There are a lot of helpful tips that will stimulate your thinking.
Making Your Own Audio Book - I have come across a lot on the web and in books about writing and publishing, but this is the first advise on making an audio book that I have found.
Help for Christian Authors - this post provided links for those who are particularly interested in publishing Christian books.
There are other helpful posts, use the categories along the right to find more, but these are 7 that provided information, or links to articles that I found to be particularly helpful.
On 3.25.09 I was to be part of a book tour for a wonderful eBook, “Family Folktales, Write Your Own Family Stories“, and didn’t have an internet connection for most of the day because they are doing work on Cable along our street, which then turned into not really being related to the work being done on the street at all. We had more issues, and had the cable service come out and fix things for us, so everything is working great…now as promised, let me tell you a bit about this wonderful book.
This book was particularly captivating to me, because I would like to write about some of the things that my grandfather shared with us about his life…he loved to tell stories from his life, in fact he spent hours when he was in his early 90’s sharing on video story after story…I treasure these tapes.
It has been hard for me to know where to begin, and reading Karen’s book has helped me sort through some of my concerns…including how historically accurate I want to make the book, Karen suggests that it doesn’t need to read like history, it can be from my perspective, the way that I remember the story being told. I felt “freed” by these words, and the thoughts began to flow! You’ll find this happens often as you read the book.
Here are a few of chapter titles from this writing instructor’s new book:
What Is a Folktale?
What Do You Do with Folktales?
Folktales Are for Everyone
Let’s Get Started - People; Places and Events; Things; The Process
Warming Up Your Writing Muscles
and there’s more!
Below you’ll find order and other info, and since this is a tour, please stop by and visit the following for more reviews: On 3.24.09 Carolyn Howard-Johnson provided an ebook review, then on 3.26.09 the blog tour continued with Julie McLaws.
Title: Family Folktales: What Are Yours Author: Karen Pierce Gonzalez Website: This, and other books available at http://www.folkheartpress Price: Under $8.00
I am not sure whether one can truly publish a book entirely at no cost, but this article provided by “Selling With Articles” will give you some tips that may set you in the right direction. I hope you enjoy!
How to Self Publish a Book For Free
By: Ruth Barringham
The internet and modern technology have made it very easy for anyone to self publish a book. But like everything else, to do something well and to do it profitably, it takes money. However, you can now self publish as many books as you want to – for free!
It’s every writer’s dream to be a published author; to sit and write books and have them published and selling all over the world.
How great would it be to be able to write as many books as you want to and know that they will all be published?
Can you imagine that?
If you could write and publish books for a living you could work from anywhere in the world. You could sit by a swimming pool and write, or sit on a warm tropical beach or hide away in a snowy log cabin while you churn out one great book after another, knowing that every single one of them will be published.
How fantastic would that life be?
Well you can now stop dreaming and make your life as a successful author a reality. And if you think you can’t afford to publish all your own books, you’re wrong. Because it’s now possible to write and publish all your books for free.
So if you’ve written a book, edited and proof read your manuscript, then it’s time to turn it into a published book. And there are several different ways that you can go about it.
The easiest way is to sell your book electronically (an eBook) as an instant download over the internet.
If you already have a web site you can sell your book from there by creating a sales page and a ‘thank you’ page that includes the download instructions. You can then set up the payment process using an online payment company such as PayPal.
PayPal allows you to set up an account with them for free. Through this account you can set up a ‘buy now’ payment link that you can simply copy and paste onto your sales page.
Once a customer has made a purchase they are then directed to your ‘thank you’ page where they can download your book.
If you don’t have a web site, you can sign up for a free blog and sell your book from there the same way.
Or if you’re really not that savvy at creating web pages, you don’t have to have a web site or blog at all to sell your book.
You can use an online eBook company called MobiPocket who will supply you with free software so that you can upload your book file to their web site.
You can then set your own price and book description, etc, and MobiPocket will sell your eBook for you and take a percentage of each sale.
MobiPocket is owned by Amazon.com and so if you sign a publisher’s agreement with MobiPocket, your book will also be available as an instant download through the Amazon stores too, as well as through over 100 other online eBook stores.
And if you want your book to be available in print form too, you can use LuLu.com.
LuLu.com is a free online POD publisher who will sell a printed copy of your book On Demand from their web site, as well as help you design a free book cover. All they ask in return is a percentage of every book sale.
So if you want to publish your book for free, try these simple ways and you can publish your book easily in only one afternoon and have it available as an eBook and printed book.
And then it’s time to begin writing your next book, and the next, and the next… Author Resource:-> Learn how to publish as many books as you want for as long as you want and from anywhere in the world. Become a successful self published author. http://selfpublishworldwide.com
A month or so ago, I was made aware of a eZine called “Book Marketing Matters” by a Brian Jud. It contains regular columns with tips from Dan Poynter, John Kremer, Marcella Smith, Penny Sansevieri, Rick Frishman, Eric Kampmann, Pam Lontos, Paulette Ensign, Robin Bartlett, Roger C. Parker, as well as guest columnists.
The newsletter is sent by subscription only. If you would like to have it sent to you as a pdf, please click here to open your email service, and put “pdf” in the subject line or body of the message.
I reviewed an issue of the newsletter, and visited the associated website, and was quite impressed. I haven’t been compensated for this post, just sharing because I like what I saw!
I just found out about an event that is taking place THIS Friday that those of you who are considering self-publishing a book may want to be a part of. Even if you’re reading this too late, you’ll find a link to “Logical Expressions, Inc.” to learn more about what the presenter, Susan Daffron, has to offer.
I’ll make the link above “live” later, but for now would like you to click here to review the information about this event, taking place at 11 a.m. CT (12 noon EST, etc.) on Friday, and other virtual events taking place over the next few days.
You can’t get enough help when it comes to publishing your first book or ebook. That’s why I post whatever I find that might be helpful to you. Here is something that might interest you, follow the link and see if this Report will be of any benefit to you.
I have a number of friends and acquaintances through online networking who are authors who send books or scripts for me to review. I also have several who are interested in knowing how to publish a book. If you among those who are looking for assistance in the process, I found a site that may help. 48HourBooks.com claims that in some circumstances they can have your book done in 2 days, but if you visit the site, you will see that they offer a lot of assistance. I appreciated the fact that they openly show the price of each service, to me it is frustrating to go through a website that doesn’t tell you up front how much something will cost, I don’t have the patience to dig to find it and move on.
Among the services that they offer are:
Self-publishing services…if you’re confident in your book and have had it reviewed and edited, don’t risk being rejected by publishers, upload your book to the site and have it published. This allows you more freedom in expressing your creative self!
Case or Spiral Binding
Cover Design if you don’t have one already.
Printed Proofs
ISBN U Barcode (YOU will be publisher)
AND A LOT MORE!
So if you’re considering Book Publishers, and are looking for a process that is easy to understand, stop by a visit 48HoursBooks.com, and let me know what you think with a comment.
Authors, writers, maybe you already know about this wonderful and helpful newsletter, if not, I want to introduce you to this newsletter for authors. According to the writer, it is “A newsletter all about SUCCESSFUL publishing and POWERFUL promotion”.
Featured in the most recent issue:
– Note From The Editor
– What Does Amazon’s Decision Really Mean?
– Pitching Yourself to Bloggers
– Heal: Living Well After Cancer Magazine
– What’s Google Seeing When it Sees Your Site?
– 41 Blog Success Tips You Can Learn Today
– Book Bits and Bites
– Blogs Gone Wild
– Delivering a Perfect Pitch
– From the Publishing Insider:
– The Scoop on Outbound Links
– Tune in to The Publishing Insiders
– Check Out The Red Hot Blog Tour
– Create A Membership Program For Customers Who Want More Than One Item
– It’s Never Too Late to Market Your Book!
– How to Buzz Your Book!
– Get Noticed by a NY Publisher
– What is the Virtual Author Tour?
– Reader Tip!
– WHO ARE WE
Here is only part of the first article, contact Penny and visit her website (information at the end of this post) for the latest issue in full, and to sign up for the newsletter..I receive no compensation for offering this information, just found it very helpful!
What Does Amazon’s Decision Really Mean?
An interview with Jerry D. Simmons, regarding the far-reaching implications of Amazon’s announcement that any small press or print-on-demand publisher doing business with them would need to print books through their publishing arm: BookSurge. Jerry is a former Executive with the Time Warner Book Group who left there in 2003 to build one of the leading social networking sites for Independent authors, NothingBinding.com.
What’s the real outcome going to be from this Amazon decision?
The publishers impacted will follow the demands of Amazon and print their books with Book Surge. The wider implication is that Amazon strengthens their position with these publishers and creates a monster with their vertical integration. This leaves each one of those publishers vulnerable to new demands by Amazon. What’s next? Higher discounts. Right now these publishers have been forced to change vendors, it might have cost them a bit more money, but remember, they market to writers not consumers. So if they are unable to place their authors’ books on Amazon, it looks bad in the eyes of their customers, the writers. These publishers don’t have the courage to say no and take a stand. And it’s not about the fact they sell a ton of books on Amazon, it’s about their customers’ view of them and their ability to market their own books.
How do you predict the long-term effects of this as it relates to the small author and publisher?
The long-term effects for the author and publisher are devastating. With Amazon strengthening and securing their place in the distribution and sales channel, they can do anything they want. The next move will be to squeeze these small authors and publishers for placement fees, advertising fees, and eventually higher discounts. When you give in once, it never stops, this is the way of the publishing world and booksellers. It will get to the point where they start to lose money on each book sold. Only then will Amazon back off, but you can bet they are going to push authors and publishers to the wall and take every possible nickel out of the equation.
What can an author/publisher do to “fight back?”
Draw the line with this decision, pull their books from Amazon, create a new online market for selling their books, a central location for all self-published, print-on-demand books that has no alliance with any publisher or printer. Again, it’s not about selling books, it’s about how they are seen in the eyes of their customers, the writers. They are concerned about their own pipeline for new business drying up and that is much more important than giving in to Amazon’s demands. Each one of these publishers could switch all their allegiance to B&N.com today, but they haven’t, and the reason is that in the eyes of the writer, they feel they must be on Amazon to be successful. Short term it hurts business and they are more concerned about that than the longer term impact which is going to be a continual erosion of their profit margin.
What alternatives do authors and publishers have besides selling their books on Amazon?
It’s time for the self-published, print-on-demand companies and small publishers to begin creating their own marketplace, totally and completely separate from all the online platforms that sell their books. I strongly believe that the website www.NothingBinding.com is a solution, and for full disclosure, it is a site that I founded. But here is the key, if you are not part of the traditional world of big New York publishing, from which I spent 25 years, then authors must realize it is fruitless to continue to struggle to become part of something dominated and controlled by the largest publishers in the world. Amazon is clearly inside the traditional world, and they are setting restrictions on anyone outside that wants to be part of their world. This will never end! It’s time now to create your own community and establish a voice in the marketplace. I’m confident that Nothing Binding can fill that void, becoming the community and voice for Independent publishing. The name alone signifies a non-alliance with any publisher or printer. A social networking website that allows authors free placement of their books with links to outside sources is a perfect way for authors to separate themselves from the traditional world of big publishing; in fact, it’s the only way to create a market and achieve increased sales they so desperately want and need.
Do you think this was a bad decision on Amazon’s part and if so, why?
Obviously Amazon weighed the profit from the sales of all these POD books versus the additional revenue of printing AND sales. They made a calculated gamble and it appears they have been right. Now there is no stopping them on their demands. It won’t happen overnight, but they will make new rules and continue to do so until it negatively impacts their own revenue stream. Giving in is a monumental mistake for the author and publisher, if the POD companies had taken a stand against the decision and risked short-term profits, they would have been much better in the long term and more respected by their own customers in the marketplace. Why do you think Amazon did this only for the print-on-demand books and not books that are offset printed? They claim they did this so it would be easier for them to marry books with other products that customers wanted, combine the package and shipping for convenience and cost savings. What about all the other books that are offset printed? They have the same problem with marrying books and products, but they don’t own an offset printing company, yet! If I was running any company that does a substantial amount of business with Amazon and saw what they were doing with books, I’d keep a close eye on what other parts and manufacturing companies they purchase. Vertical integration in this case is good for Amazon, no, great for Amazon, but bad for the publishing business and possibly very bad for other product lines sold on Amazon…..
Contact information for this newsletter and website:
On 3.25.09 I was to be part of a book tour for a wonderful eBook, “Family Folktales, Write Your Own Family Stories“, and didn’t have an internet connection for most of the day because they are doing work on Cable along our street, which then turned into not really being related to the work being done on the street at all. We had more issues, and had the cable service come out and fix things for us, so everything is working great…now as promised, let me tell you a bit about this wonderful book.
