RESOURCES FOR AUTHORS: POD AND SELF-PUBLISHING

RESOURCES FOR AUTHORS: POD AND SELF-PUBLISHING Have a Plan Have Patience Be Persistent

TAG, YOU’RE … WHAT? Self-Published Vanity Presses Service providers for publishing your work Complete/partial packages: editing, formatting, submission to eBook publishers, marketing, distribution, printing, etc Expensive – in the 3 to 5 figure category Lots of room for fraud • eBooks: a viable entre into the world of publishing • Ownership of the process from A(uthor) to B(estseller) • Ownership=responsibility for the entire process • POD-print on demand • Bottom-line: writing the book was the easy part

You Have a Manuscript: What Now? • Edit, Edit, Edit • And not by ToH, Auntie Mae (that’s nice, dear), or friends • You need, you deserve, a real editor who will examine your work critically, not just for typos, or the occasional lax bit of continuity • Find a Critique group, make a new BFF or three • Budget for a professional to look at the MS, the blurb, the synopsis, and the (gasp) Query Letter

REJECTION • …is not a dirty word. • …is a learning tool. • …is a way to hone your skills. • …is a good way to fine tune your market(s) • …is the catalyst for the decision to dive into those shark-infested waters

I’m An eBook Author Now! • Smashwords • Pay close attention to formatting rules • Make sure you get Premium status • Distribution channels-more variation than with Kindle • Lots of looky-loos to site, sales spotty • Amazon Kindle • Industry standard • Reasonably user-friendly • Use HTML/ePub format when submitting MS • Have a killer book cover and abide by formatting rules • Optional $39 distribution add-on + royalty booster

eBook or POD: Getting Noticed • Book Cover: if you are expert at PhotoShop, great. If not hie to your local high school or college and find a graphics designer – this is the first thing a reader sees – make it count • Back cover blurb: nothing says ‘read me’ like 2-3 lines of ‘can’t put this one back on the shelf’ • First two paragraphs: hook the reader, hook them fast, hook them hard

Getting the Word Out • Face Book: yours, friends’, a dedicated ‘Like’ page • Twitter: personal, dedicated-to-book • MySpace: a lot of kids still use this so if you write YA it is useful • LinkedIn – set up contacts with industry professionals • Local Book Clubs, Writers Groups, Newspapers

Must-Have Tools • Website: personal • Blog • Marketing Plan: target your market and pursue aggressively • Networking • Right mindset: no false modesty, persistence, reciprocity and good manners (‘thank you’ goes a long way in customer relations)

The Website(s) • What you see when it opens (without scrolling up or down) is the critical area – make it count • Pictures: readers love visuals • Keep it short, keep it pertinent • Share, don’t sell • Be generous • Be positive, upbeat

Blogging: Pros • Can be integrated with the personal site or separate • Site should be active with new material offered several times a week • Educate, illuminate, ruminate, cogitate – invite comments & interaction, have a dialog with the reader to build a fan base • Offer glimpses of your work

Blogging: Cons • Time intensive • Requires attention to ‘political correctness’ – you don’t want to offend & drive off your customer base • Tend to attract a small following that can devolve into a clique – this puts new people off and sends them seeking friendlier waters • Requires sophisticated tools to determine impact

Blogging Templates WORDPRESS WEEBLY Not so elegant but enough options to play with Very easy to use Text management … sighs Minimal SEO tools Offers optional upgrade – little bang for the buck Site can be squirrelly Free • Elegant, tons of options • Relatively easy to use • Text management a challenge • Superior SEO tools for site evaluation • Stable site • Free

Sites to Help you Publicize • PolkaDotBanner: run by Saloff Enterprises • Authors on Show • The Indie Spotlight • Book Blogs • Novel Help • Kindle Author • Kindle Boards • fReado/BookBuzzr

Give Them a Taste They’ll Come Back for More? • SlushPileReader: independent, vote-to-publish • Authonomy: HC-sponsored site • Smashwords • Amazon Kindle and Amazon books • Scribd: full or partial MS • Blogs: yours, theirs • Face Book: notes, discussion • Kindle Nation • Bookmato: sell WiP as a serial

Professional Help is Available • Saloff Enterprises: editing, MS prep, formatting, marketing • Jenkins Group: full service from editing to marketing • International Titles: marketing to international vendors • Write2market • Electric Publisher: apps for iPad & iPhone • Hudson Group

Marketing Options with a Professional • Book Fairs: NYC, Library Assoc., London, Dubai, China, Frankfurt, Bologna • Press Releases to targeted audiences • Newsletters to critics, bloggers, book reviewers • Newsletters to Library Associations • Newsletters to Independent Booksellers • Book Award programs: IPPY, Axiom, Moonbeam

Reviews: How to Get Them • Strong arm anyone you know who has read your novel to do a review on Amazon, the more, the better • Canvas FB pals to read and comment • Offer free download to anyone willing to do a review – via blog site, website, etc • Canvass the review sites (1000’s out there), read a few and see what the reviewer likes, then submit a proposal (another Q-letter)

Interviews • FaceBook friends all have blog & websites, all are desperate for content • Start the ball rolling: work up a list of generic questions, add something pertaining to their book/interests, i.e. personalize, then ask a few folks if they’d be interested (I haven’t been turned down yet), time it to coincide with their pub-date … smiles all around • Make sure to include a book cover image, author image, links to everything, excerpt - gussy it up because ultimately it will reflect on your image as a professional

Google Is Your Friend • Independent Booksellers: they are out there, find them, pitch them • Like-minded bloggers: sign up, sign on, participate in forums • Attach yourself to Network Bloggers via FB • Twitter: there’s a huge number of indies tweeting away, friend them, start a dialog • Use non-traditional venues: CafeMom has a book club!

Distribution: the Gorilla in the Room • Amazon: Golden but not universal, UK site not up to spec yet, shipping costs can be obscene • eBooks: gottalove’em, cheap, easy to disseminate, easy to pirate • LSI & the Ingram Content Group: world-wide channels • Bookmarket.com lists top indie distributors • Baker & Taylor: qualification tough for an indie

Are We There Yet? • Metrics is the name of the game • When I figure it out, I’ll be happy to share • Metrics: yes, it is truly higher math, the kind that does not end up in your wallet • Metrics: make sure your professionals give you a way to determine whether or not a particular strategy works and/or has legs

What Else Can I Do? • Organize: learn to use Excel, record everything • Got a review? Tag the site, copy the review, the URL, and save in a folder • Sent out requests for this ‘n that? Tag, copy, save • Make up a calendar: target something for every day if possible, every week for sure, every month • Bottom line – no targets, no sales

Diane’s Excel Sheet • Title • ISBN • Publication date • eBook distribution sites • Print book distribution sites • Reviews requested, dates, URL of reviewer site • Reviews received: URL, copy to doc with running tally, extract pithy snippets for later use • List of Promo links • Blog mentions: URL, date • Book trailer link • Interviews: ditto

Diane’s Other Docs • Book blurb in parts: full synopsis, 3-paragraph, 1-paragraph, 2-3 sentence, single sentence descriptions [trust me, the more you do this, the easier it gets] • Reviews: where, when, text, all documentation for citing later • Where books are sold by eBook & print: links, discounts currently in use • Google yourself and your book title regularly to find where you are in cyberspace, ditto your blog and website titles

What About Contests, Giveaways? • Dunno, haven’t run any yet • There are so many writing ‘contests’ out there that it is overwhelming – I have 3 favorites I like and contribute to on a regular basis (one is a WebZine) • WordPress is the better format for running these things although Blogger seems like a reasonable alternative. Weebly doesn’t have sufficient interactivity to make it work without … a LOT of work.

Bottom Line • Writing the book? Pfft. Piece of cake. • It’s a journey. • Persist. • Keep the faith. • Believe in yourself. • Don’t ‘sell’. • Engage in a dialog with your readers, ‘friend them’. • And remember, it’s about 90% luck at the end of the day. Just make sure that when the 10% rolls around, it rolls with you attached.

Good afternoon … and Good Luck • I will put together links which I will post on my two websites: • www.idancewithwords.com • www.romancingwords.com

And a Call for Submissions • Do you like to write erotic romance & erotica? • Have you ever tried flash fiction? • Do you have a short story in that genre that could be serialized? • Submit your work to • www.HotFlashes.weebly.com

Pfoxmoor Publishing Does YA • And we are interested in your action-adventure, romance, coming-of-age, SF, paranormal, urban fantasy YA • PfoxPub has Lily, Dragon Academy and Wizards, with more exciting titles due out this spring • Submissions currently being accepted, YA only • www.pfoxmoorpublishing.com

RESOURCES FOR AUTHORS: POD AND SELF-PUBLISHING