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JD WRITES
Happy New Year!
Happy February! And here in the Northeastern US it has finally gone a
little wintery - it is snowing as I type. I'm looking out on the kind of
scene that should inspire any writer to set pen to paper. I know that
some of you are staring at tropical vegetation and heat-hazes out of
your windows, so I guess we all have something to inspire us!
This issue's article follows on from last time: a
few more points in the '10 Dos and Don'ts for Self- Publishers'. The
Question and Answer features a longish discussion of what to do when
you're in a hurry to publish. (No, the irony has not escaped me!)
The resources section is packed full of new links.
Remember, you don't have to wait for the next issue to get your new
resources or news & updates. Both
are updated between issues.
Well, I'm frantically reading books as a judge in a
prestigious Self-Published book contest at the moment, so I'd better get
back to it. (And don't ask who's going to win! A, I'm sworn to secrecy
and B, I just recommend a few and a panel of Important People makes the
final decision). I can say that it is interesting, and I am in awe that
so many people actually complete, polish, and publish whole books. But
don't worry, I'm still working on that POD e-book series. I hope to have
it ready in the next couple of months.
Keep writing,
Julie
NEW THIS WEEK
ARTICLE
10 DO'S AND DON'TS FOR
SELF-PUBLISHERS
Part II
There
is so much to think about when self-publishing a book. The 21st
Century Publishing Update brings you a 10-point checklist of
what to do and what not to do when publishing and promoting your own
book. Based on conversations with self- publishing authors and
marketing experts, this is not an exhaustive list of everything you
should be thinking about, but it is a list of some of the most
important.
3.
DO: Get involved in online
discussions, newsgroups etc...
The Internet has provided a way
for people with shared interests to gather and talk about those
interests. There are online groups for everything. Analyze your book
and see what interest groups it caters to. If it features a
psychologist, find newsgroups and online discussions for and about
psychologists. If it is a mystery, find a mystery readers' site (not
hard to do).
There are newsgroups and
websites for every imaginable interest and sub-category of that
interest. I came across a newsgroup for disbarred lawyers the other
day. Look long enough and you'll find an online interest group for
your topic, no matter how strange.
DON'T: Post blatant
advertisements to newsgroups and message boards.
There is an etiquette (known as
Netiquette) to participating in online discussions. First and
foremost: do not post blatant ads to the groups. People are there to
discuss their favourite topic, not to be bombarded with commercials.
However, it is usually more than acceptable to mention your product
or service after you have been participating in the group for a
while, and have proved yourself.
Lurk for a while, get a feel for
the group, then start posting helpful comments in response to
people's questions. Once you have been accepted you can start to
include information about your book. Even at this stage, be wary of
including the information in the main message. The best option is to
include a signature file, after your post, that contains the
equivalent of a 'classified ad' about your book.
4.
DO: Include a signature file on
every email and newsgroup post...
Signature files are a great way
of repeating advertising about your product without spamming. If you
send a helpful or friendly email answering a correspondent's
question, you should always include a signature file containing
information about your book and where to buy it.
Advertising professionals swear
that repetition is the key to sales. By repetition, they mean that
someone has to see something not three but 18-20 times before they
will buy. Signature files are a great way to remind people of you
and your product. Imagine if, every time you met me, I said, 'Hi, my
name is Julie and I'm a writer'. After a while you would have no
trouble remembering who I was (no more horrible moments at cocktail
parties!). Signature files work this way.
Signature files should contain
4-6 lines of no more than 60 characters. Any more and people will
not read them.
DON'T: Send a bulk
email to everyone in your address book...
Even if you have reason to
believe that they would be interested in your product, sending
unsolicited commercial email is SPAM. Don't do it.
If one person complains to your
Internet Service Provider (ISP), your ISP is within their rights to
cut off your Internet privileges and boot you off their servers.
Just like that. No warning, no excuses.
Yes, I know you get loads of
paper junk mail every day, but junk email is different. In the early
days of the Internet users took a stand against junk email -- mainly
because, in those days, people paid for their Internet access
according to how much data they transferred. Every piece of mail
cost users a little. Although the days of paying per byte are mostly
gone, the taboo remains strong today.
Even if you offer people a
chance to unsubscribe, thereby staying within the law, you will be
transgressing the 'common law' of the Internet. Some people will
write you off forever based on one piece of spam.
Don't do it!
Far better to build an opt-in
mailing list, and invite people to join it (put an invitation in
your signature file).
***
***
AUTHOR'S Q & A
This
week Elisabeth writes:
Hello,
Very
nice reading your information and helpful. We were on the verge of
signing up with 1st Books. We have a 115 page business book and we
know our target market and have plans on contacting them when the
book is available. We wanted hardback and softcover as an option was
fine. Anyway, back to 1st books - we wanted the books by April of
this year and they were prepared, they said, to do this. However,
before we signed away big bucks, we wanted to see a hardcover with
dustcover that 1st Books had manufactured, to see the quality, of
course. This they are not prepared to do unless we wait another 7 to
10 days for them to print one up on their POD system. This makes us
very nervous. It seems fair to expect to see a sample of the
merchandise before you send someone a check. How come they don't
have some retired books around?
Anyhow,
we are again looking for a publisher. We don't really care about
e-books. We don't know anyone that uses them -- certainly not the
clientele that will be ours. Ebooks are fine, but not a priority.
1st Books seem to be nice people, and trying hard (except for that
request we have to wait 7-10 days for and thus will not meet our
deadline of the 1st of April)., so we would love to have another
suggestion. I have been surfing the web, trying to come up with
someone good. We didn't like Trafford. We want Amazon.com and Barnes
and Noble, and Ingram, but we are desperately open to suggestions
and help. Anything you can tell us will be greatly appreciated.
Thank
you.
P.S.
I was impressed with BookLocker but they don't have a telephone
number or location listed on their website, and I e-mailed them days
ago.
Elisabeth
Lehrer
A.
Hi
Elisabeth,
Thanks for writing.
Regarding the 7-10 days for printing a hardback, that's actually
not bad timing. I understand your point about having extra copies
lying around but it sounds like they haven't made up a sample book.
Since author's titles are printed on-demand, it is unlikely that
they would have extra copies lying around. Every book they make is
made for a specific order. To print authors' books and give them
away would be outwit the bounds of their agreement with the authors.
In addition, I think 1stBooks uses Lightning Source to do their
printing, which probably means they rarely see a book in their
offices - they are printed and fulfilled elsewhere.
Of course, if I were them, I would print a few copies of a public
domain book in hardback and have them on hand for requests like
yours... It is relatively expensive to print hardbacks on-demand,
though ($12-16) and perhaps they felt they didn't want print a batch
all at once, preferring to demonstrate the whole on-demand process
when an author requests one.
This doesn't help you with your deadline, however.
I am not aware of any other company that produces hardbacks that
could have the book done for you by April 1. I love the hardbacks
Xlibris produces, but I don't think they could produce the book
quickly enough for you. Is April a definite deadline?
I am always nervous when people want a book quickly. There is an
old saying in the print-trade: You can have it done well, quickly,
and cheaply. Pick Two.
Your options, it seems to me, are to:
1, Go with 1st Books and trust that you'll like the sample book.
Xlibris offers a money-back satisfaction guarantee. Perhaps 1stBooks
does the same (or perhaps you can dangle the Xlibris guarantee and
get 1stBooks to extend one to you as a courtesy). This means you
could be back to square one in a few weeks, but at least you would
have your money back, to pursue another option.
2, Work with a small book packager to design and produce a
short-run of books (500-1000) and use a print on-demand edition to
mop up the rest of the sales, after the initial copies are sold. In
this case you will have to obtain an ISBN, distribution, and online
listings yourself (or with the help of your book packager). Smaller
organizations tend to have a more one-to-one relationship with you.
Customized services might suit you best if you have strong feelings
about design elements, deadlines etc. You may be able to strike a
deal with the packager to allow you to use the same cover art on
your POD version, but make sure you check this out first.
This will not be an inexpensive route, but if you really, really
need the book in April, it might be the best. Plus, your printing
costs will be lower, per copy, allowing you to keep a larger chunk
of change, as profit. Of course, your initial investment will be a
lot higher, too.
3, Find another POD company that can produce hardbacks and rush
you through the production schedule. I know Xlibris does, but I'm
not sure if any others do.
I think you are going to be hard-pressed to get the book produced
and listed with all the bookstores in time for an April launch, at
this point, no matter who you go with.
Firstly, you have to allow time for a close reading of the
galleys, to ensure that no errors have crept in, in the layout (and
this can happen with the software more POD companies use. Italics
often get dropped - it's a 'Microsoft vs. the world' font thing -
and other inconsistencies can creep in). Then you have to allow time
for those corrections to be made, and take another look at the
corrected galleys (of both cover and interior).
Sending your information to all the necessary organizations is a
relatively quick process, but it takes them a while to process the
information. The online bookstores will probably be the first to get
the books in to their systems, but bricks-and-mortar bookstores will
probably have difficulty finding your book for some time.
"Books In Print", the database that most bookstores use to
find titles, only updates its listings every two months. The
deadline for each update is a month before its release date. This
means it can take up to four months for your listing to show up
(worst case). Then the electronic updates are distributed, but not
all bookstores subscribe to the electronic version of this, and the
print edition is a quarterly publication. This means that people
walking into bookstores may encounter problems ordering your book
for many months. In traditional publishing this is not a problem
because is takes so long to publish a book. The publishers send the
information a year in advance with a publication date of some time
in the future. The listing appears before the book is out, and
everyone has their updated copies. Quickly-published books do not
have that lead time. A big marketing push just after the release
date, may not be the best option for books like these.
I don't mean to sound discouraging. I have just seen so many
authors plan events around speculative events (when the company says
your book will be ready, when someone estimates the online listings
will go up, when your first order of books is supposed to arrive)
and be disappointed. I wanted you to be aware of the realities of
the bookselling world.
If you decide to push ahead with an April launch, make sure you
are prepared to have readers order directly from 1stBooks or from
the online stores. I would be tempted to wait until everything was
complete and I had done a few test runs, ordering from various
channels, before I 'launched' the book. Of course, business books
are the one line of books that really does sell well in e-book. You
may find that your readers are willing to download a $4 version of
this relatively slim title, rather than paying more (plus shipping)
to wait for a bound book. So this may help you out too. The e-book
will be available as soon as you approve the book - no need to
update distributors' databases or bookstore records.
If you are happy with 1stBooks so far, I'd recommend going with
them, and being prepared to delay your launch plans if necessary. I
don't think you would get better timing anywhere else.
I have met the owner of Booklocker and believe her to be honest
and competent. I don't think, however, that Booklocker offers
hardbacks. I could be wrong.
Hope this helps,
Julie
Have a question about writing, publishing
or marketing?
Email editor@jdwrite.com
See previous Author's Q&As at
http://www.jdwrite.com/writing/question001.htm
NEWS & UPDATES
http://www.jdwrite.com/writing/updates.htm
Grisham's
Back
4 Feb 2002
John Grisham's first legal thriller in two
years hits the stands this February. The New York Times published an
interesting interview with the man who defines 'bestseller'. The
interview is a must for anyone with stars in their eyes about the
publishing world. For example Grisham, who has been branching out
into other genres, sighs, "Obviously if I was not getting paid
for the books, I wouldn't write them...I have this contract with
Doubleday that calls for me to write a couple more legal
thrillers."
more
New York Times Article
The Summons at
Amazon
Distributors
Join Forces
22 Jan
2002
Publishers Group West
(PGW) has agreed to be acquired by Advanced Marketing Systems(AMS).
PGW is North America's largest distributor of Independent
publishers' books. AMS concentrates mainly on warehouse retailers
and membership wholesale clubs.
more:
WriteNews report
Publishers' Weekly report
Stage
02 Festival Call for Plays & Performances
16 Jan 2002
The Stage 02
Festival, run by New York City's Singularity company is looking for
plays and performances up to 30 minutes long. The festival runs from
April 8-20, 2002, in Manhattan. Applications should be submitted by
Feb 15, 2002. Source: backstage.com
RESOURCES
http://www.jdwrite.com/writing/resources.htm
BARNES & NOBLE CORPORATE SITE
http://barnesandnobleinc.com
This site contains loads of information you won't
find at the bookstore site, including information for
authors on how to get your book in BN stores.
BUSINESS NAME AND TAG-LINE GENERATOR
http://www.yudkin.com/generate.htm
While aimed at businesses, Marcia Yudkin's Generator
can help you come up with titles or tag-lines for
your book. It's not a quick and easy form that you
fill in, rather it is an exercise you go through. As
such, it will get you thinking about your product
much more thoroughly.
LEE CHILD, AUTHOR
http://www.leechild.com/
An example of what an author's website should be -
and an award-winning example, at that.
THE INDEPENDENT INTELLIGENCER
http://www.fearlessbooks.com/Intelligencer.html
Reports and resources for independent publishers. The
site is home to Fearless Books, an indie publisher,
and the Fearless Reviews, fearlessly reviewing
independently published books.
PICTUREBOOK
http://www.picturebook.com
The online resource for children's illustrators,
publishers, and book lovers. Find an illustrator,
list yourself as a resource, or gain information
about writing and illustrating books.
SELL WRITING ONLINE
http://www.sellwritingonline.com/
Markets, articles, e-books and more, for writers who
hope to improve their craft and make some money at
the same time.
SOCIETY OF CHILDREN'S BOOK WRITERS AND
ILLUSTRATORS
http://www.scbwi.org
"the only professional organization dedicated to
serving the people who write, illustrate, or share a
vital interest in children's literature."
Information, resources, events, conferences,
awards...everything you'd expect from a writer's org.
TUMBLEBOOKS
http://www.tumblebooks.com/
Innovative publisher of animated, illustrated kids e-
books. Interesting idea...
WOODY'S WATCH
http://www.woodyswatch.com/
All Microsoft users should subscribe to this
newsletter. Woody's watch painlessly explains all the
little quirks of Word, Access, Excel, and more --
from how to kill the paperclip, to how to
incorporate the latest Windows Update. Go from being
a clueless victim, to being the boss of your system -
at last!
WRITER'S DIGEST'S TOP MAGAZINE MARKETS 2002
http://www.writersdigest.com/hotlist/
WD turns out its annual list of the best markets for
freelancers.
WRITER'S
MARKETS MARKETWATCH
Writer's Market did a very smart thing, and hired
Debbie Ridpath Ohi (founder of Inkspot) to take
charge of their Market Updates page. It immediately went from an
occasional update page, to a daily log of the goings-on in the
publishing world - and one of the site's most visited pages.
UPDATED!GREAT UNPUBLISHED
Writer's Weekly/Booklocker
has updated the listing for Great Unpublished/Digitz/ BookSurge
group on its Warnings page. More authors have added their complains
(remember, this is only one side of the story).
and more...
NEW LAST TIME
10 Do's & Don'ts for
Self-Publishers Pt I
The
Problem With E-Books
ABOUT JDWRITE
JDWrite is the online home of writer, journalist and former Xlibris Director of Author Services, Julie McCarroll Duffy.
Julie has expert knowledge of the new world of publishing: Print On-Demand, self-publishing, online publishing, eBooks, the
evolving publishing industry and more. Her role at Xlibris was
to work with authors to help them understand these developments, to listen to authors' needs and communicate those to the
company. She has been a speaker at writers' conferences around the US and seeks to continue to educate authors to understand
their ever-increasing opportunities in the publishing world. After following her husband's career from their native Scotland
to the US, Julie is working on a series of e-books about Print On-Demand
Publishing.
All content copyright 2001 Julie Duffy.
For permission to reprint articles, contact the editor at
jd@jdwrite.com.
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