K. Elliott's Blog, page 4

Why Authors Should Use Professional Cover Art

You've written a great story. You've edited it. Everyone who reads it loves the story. You've bought your ISBN. You're ready to sell it as an Ebook. Wait a second. Did you decide to wait on the cover? If so you could be making a very costly mistake.

The plain truth is that people judge books by their covers. That's where that cliché, "you shouldn't judge a book by its cover" comes from in the first place. In brick and mortar bookstores the average buyer takes only 35 seconds to size up whether or not to purchase a book. She takes a lot less time to decide buying ebooks. A professional cover design is going to be your first step.

Think about it. When you're browsing through titles online, which ones are most likely to draw your attention: ones with visually appealing art thoughtfully introducing your story or a black and white thumbnail picture of your beginning text?

Most readers are going to react the same way you do. They'll look at the cover, read some of the product description and after a few seconds they'll have decided whether or not to buy your book.

Whether your title is a work of fiction or non-fiction, most people are going to be more quickly drawn to find out more on your ebook if you have a well-designed cover.

The internet and ebooks have done much to democratize publishing for authors. Costs are lower than ever. There are still some essentials in which successful authors should consider investing. One of them is a good cover that's representative of the content in their books.

If you want to boost your online sales and you don't have a cover, try adding one and see what happens.

Amazon's Numbers Don't Lie, Ebooks are the Future

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos holds up a Kindle. Bezos recenlty told Amazon shareholders that sales for Kindle titles surpassed paperback sales.

Ebooks are selling at Amazon like hot cakes. In fact, they've surpassed dead-tree paperbacks to be in sales. That's according Amazon CEO, Jeff Bezos. That's not to say print publishing is dead. But two things are for sure. Print books have less and less of future than ever and unless you have $5000-$10000, new authors should probably avoid this avenue all together.

This does not mean that print does not make money it just means that that their is a significant hard cost to publish dead tree editions against a very limited future. "If you're interested in the future of print," author Jessica Penn blogs, " you will need to inspire buyers with something more than they can get in an ebook i.e. it needs to be more than the content itself." Penn suggests creating highly artistic novelty editions.

As a self-publisher, the business is definitely changing and it certainly time for self-publishing to don your CEO hats and start examining the landscape. With e-Readers, fellow authors can now sell their titles for considerably less than a dead tree book and get profitable much quicker than when they print. I've personally found that when I print books, my overhead costs me $5 to $7 per book, before I'm able to make a profit. In a dead tree world, that's not bad. But this is fast becoming a ebook world. It's now next to nothing to produce and distribute content and it's going to get cheaper.

I may be wrong, but I believe that in the next few years, less and less competitive until it rarely makes sense to do so.

Personally, I'm readying for the transition and I'm all the more happier for it. The ease of downloading ebooks has made it easier or me to buy books I like and distribute my own titles. Now I have more time to do what authors do: write. Because of that I have two books and one novella coming out in 2011.

Many say that they love books too much to let them go. But the numbers don't lie. Amazon is proving that there is huge market for people willing to create and market their stories as ebooks.

Using Amazon with Social Media Can Reach Readers via Mobile Devices

Thanks to Steve Jobs, his iPhone and the roll out of the App economy over the past few years, everything for self-publishers has changed. It's a good thing too. Now your titles can be in the hands of your readers when they want and where they want.

A traveler riding shot-gun can be saved from boredom by going to Amazon on their Android phones or the iBooks app for the iPhone to download and read your next great work.

Though Jobs may have been the first to introduce the app concept, Amazon may offer the best platform for self-publishers to distribute and market there mobile books. Here's why.

First, Kindle apps are also readily available on all type of mobile devices including the Android, iOS, Windows Phone 7 and Blackberry. Second, Amazon allows links to every single Kindle title to be shared. This is very important when it's time to market via social media platforms.

In fact, using Amazon also opens the door for authors to very easily market their books via their Facebook personal and fan pages, Twitter and other sources like the About.me splash page service.

Twitter in fact is used more often via mobile device than PCs. So why not Tweet a link that leads directly to the Kindle purchase page? Doing so will position you to be picked up by people using their phones. There readers can quickly view a description of your title and then pull out their credit card to make a purchase.

The most powerful reason for doing this is that mobile is where readers are going. More and more, books are being downloaded to E-readers of some sort. Along with that, people are looking to have one mobile device that allows them to communicate with others and find entertainment.

I believe self-publishers who adopt this will reap the awards.

Use Amazon with Social Media Can Reach Readers via Mobile Devices

Thanks to Steve Jobs, his iPhone and the roll out of the App economy over the past few years, everything for self-publishers has changed. It's a good thing too. Now your titles can be in the hands of your readers when they want and where they want.

A traveler riding shot-gun can be saved from boredom by going to Amazon on their Android phones or the iBooks app for the iPhone to download and read your next great work.

Though Jobs may have been the first to introduce the app concept, Amazon may offer the best platform for self-publishers to distribute and market there mobile books. Here's why.

First, Kindle apps are also readily available on all type of mobile devices including the Android, iOS, Windows Phone 7 and Blackberry. Second, Amazon allows links to every single Kindle title to be shared. This is very important when it's time to market via social media platforms.

In fact, using Amazon also opens the door for authors to very easily market their books via their Facebook personal and fan pages, Twitter and other sources like the About.me splash page service.

Twitter in fact is used more often via mobile device than PCs. So why not Tweet a link that leads directly to the Kindle purchase page? Doing so will position you to be picked up by people using their phones. There readers can quickly view a description of your title and then pull out their credit card to make a purchase.

The most powerful reason for doing this is that mobile is where readers are going. More and more, books are being downloaded to E-readers of some sort. Along with that, people are looking to have one mobile device that allows them to communicate with others and find entertainment.

I believe self-publishers who adopt this will reap the awards.

About.Me Helps Authors Cheaply Create Professional Splash Sites for Selves & Titles

The time to cut your costs is always now.  I've found that some are too important to get around. But if you use simple splash page services like about.me, you may be able to avoid the cost of building a website until you have larger budget or you may even find doing so unnecessary at all.

Why About.Me?

It's easy to set up. Very quickly I built my page. Now Fans can go to a single site to see my picture, read my bio, send me an email, link up with me on Facebook, find my blog, read my books, and buy them for their Kindles, Nooks, or print collections.

What's more for your visitors, the site is simple and clean. In a short time, your about.me splash page will have very little distracting content to navigate but will appear very professional. Simple? Yes. But I believe if you try it for yourself, you'll find the functional versatility obvious.

I've taken advantage of About.Me in two ways. The first thing I did was create my personal author page. That's the obvious thing an author can do. The second thing I did is a real life-hacker tip. In about 10 minutes, I created a splash page for Entangled. On the page is the cover and description and links fans quickly use to read and make a purchase. I don't see why anyone with some ready-to-go cover art can't quickly do something just like this for themselves.

Creating Your About.Me Profile

When setting up About.Me, here are a few things for you have together:

A Picture. If you're creating a personal splash page you need a picture of you. For a book page, you'll need an image of your cover. If you don't have either, get them as people want to know what you look like and they often decide to buy based on the cover.

You Bio. If you don't have and easy to read bio about yourself or story description that explains to your fans why they should want to read your book, get one. This is your sales pitch your reason that someone would want to follow you or buy your title.

Your Links. How do you use social media? Do you blog? Do you sell your titles via online vendors like Amazon.com? As you are setting up your splash page think about the needs of your fans. Some want only to buy print titles, others may use ereaders like the Nook, Ipad, Kindle or Kobo. When adding your links there is no right or wrong way to do it as long as you're making it easy for all of your fans to get to know you and buy your titles.

Helpful Links to Get You Started.

Click here to go to my Personal About.Me page.

Click here to go to my Entangled About.Me page.

Click  here to register an About.Me page of your own.

About.Me Can Be A Great Tool For Authors To Cheaply Create Professional Splash Site for Selves and Titles

The time to cut your costs is always now.  I've found that some are too important to get around. But if you use simple splash page services like about.me, you may be able to avoid the cost of building a website until you have larger budget or you may even find doing so unnecessary at all.

Why About.Me?

It's easy to set up. Very quickly I built my page. Now Fans can go to a single site to see my picture, read my bio, send me an email, link up with me on Facebook, find my blog, read my books, and buy them for their Kindles, Nooks, or print collections.

What's more for your visitors, the site is simple and clean. In a short time, your about.me splash page will have very little distracting content to navigate but will appear very professional. Simple? Yes. But I believe if you try it for yourself, you'll find the functional versatility obvious.

I've taken advantage of About.Me in two ways. The first thing I did was create my personal author page. That's the obvious thing an author can do. The second thing I did is a real life-hacker tip. In about 10 minutes, I created a splash page for Entangled. On the page is the cover and description and links fans quickly use to read and make a purchase. I don't see why anyone with some ready-to-go cover art can't quickly do something just like this for themselves.

Creating Your About.Me Profile

When setting up About.Me, here are a few things for you have together:

A Picture. If you're creating a personal splash page you need a picture of you. For a book page, you'll need an image of your cover. If you don't have either, get them as people want to know what you look like and they often decide to buy based on the cover.

You Bio. If you don't have and easy to read bio about yourself or story description that explains to your fans why they should want to read your book, get one. This is your sales pitch your reason that someone would want to follow you or buy your title.

Your Links. How do you use social media? Do you blog? Do you sell your titles via online vendors like Amazon.com? As you are setting up your splash page think about the needs of your fans. Some want only to buy print titles, others may use ereaders like the Nook, Ipad, Kindle or Kobo. When adding your links there is no right or wrong way to do it as long as you're making it easy for all of your fans to get to know you and buy your titles.

Why Write Daily

My past posts have been about marketing and distribution channels for authors. Today is about the craft of writing itself and the commitment it takes to produce a manuscript for your loyal readers to appreciate in the first place.

I've taken classes and attended workshops on crafting fiction. I've learned from some real business pros on how to develop and run my publishing company, Urban Lifestyle Press. I believe my commitment to my continuing education is absolutely essential to my long-term success. But my most important commitment is to writing every single, solitary day. It doesn't matter if I'm home in Charlotte, on a book tour, or spending a weekend away on vacation: if I'm not making time to be in front of my Mac, punching out pages daily, then I must be ill or tending to some Emergency. I keep this commitment for two reasons.

1.       Writing Consistently Over Time Allows Me To Keep My Pen Game Up:

Writing every day, is just like lifting weights. The more I've consistently written, the better of an author I've become. There are so many techniques and device you can only use effectively via practice. Do you want to improve as a story teller?  Do you want to be good at plot development, character development, conflict, climax, resolution, irony, etc. The only way to get better is through the practice of writing. How else will you try out and master the techniques? Just like anything else, you have to do more than just "get it." You have to put in time to actually do it!

2.       It's About Self-Respect

All most all self-respecting, successful writers go at it every single day. So for me to credibly tell myself, "I'm a writer," it can't simply be aspirational. There must be pages hammered out as a product of my daily commitment. I challenge you assess yourself and, if you're not writing daily, commit to being what you say you are. A lot of people worry about being perfect at their work and let that hold them up. But don't make this mistake. In the Linchpin, Seth Godin writes that you get good at creating good art through the constant practice of creating bad art. In Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell demonstrated that expert knowledge at anything came after approximately 10,000 hours of practice. Relevantly combined for aspiring authors, these two are simply saying that a constant routine of putting out any kind of writing will create good writing.

It's easy to say, I'll get to it tomorrow. But the most prolific authors are able to publish so often because they've committed to writing daily. I know many of you reading this have 9-5 jobs, so you may have a limited amount of time you can give. The point is that you schedule at least 1 hour per day to doing what authors do: creating that next great piece of literature or non-fiction. That's what I do and I look forward to publishing my fourth novel very soon.

Content Marketing for Authors Right Now

Before your book is published, before you've written the first idea for a story, you can be relevant as soon as right now. The way you do it is to be as helpful as you can right now online. This practice is known as content marketing. If you do it consistently, you'll create and nurture a following ready to purchase your next title.

It Works But Why

It's all about trust. If you regularly blog content that helps people, actually solves their problems for free, you'll eventually become a trusted online brand. Do it repeatedly and consistently and you will have helped a plethora of potential fans who now know who you are and better than that, trust you to know what you're talking about. In terms of marketing that type of exposure is as good as gold. With the internet at your fingertips, it's practically free to do.

Some Specifics to Consider

When you're thinking about creating content there are some things to consider:

First is your purpose. You need to have one and it needs to be about one of two things, or both: help and/ or entertainment. I've created channels for both. On Facebook I dialogue with my friends and fans about hot topics. The purpose for this forum is to provide entertainment. I've also recently created this blog to be to help aspiring authors market themselves. This is all about providing help.

The next step is to work hard and let your work stand for you. In other words, be sure to use a voice that relates to everyone. You don't want to seem like a know-it-all. Rather, you want to be known as a facilitator of good information.

Lastly, always be soft-selling. Now is the time to work like a spider, weaving a web of trust-based experiences. With each helpful and/or entertaining piece you write, you're bringing people closer and closer to trusting you as an authority worth their money. So connect, engage and create brilliant content that attracts potential readers as long as you can.

Finally when the time is right, when you've built up your throngs of fans, you'll be able to let your online world know about your big book release organically. You'll barely have to make a sales pitch because you will have built multiple trusted relationships. And with that, who needs to make a hard pitch.

Getting to that result begins with right now.

New Authors: How I'd Market and Distribute My Books Today

You created your new ebook, cover art included. The next thing you have to do is get people to read it. As a new author, this is never easy. I remember self-publishing "Entangled" back in 2003. In my garage sat a pallet of 10,000 books. They weren't going to sell themselves. So I hit the road and made my way to every book store and street vendor who would buy or even consign my books. Some things don't change. It's still challenging for a new author to make a splash. But there are some processes you can do online that make it a lot easier than it was when I started publishing.

If I'd had the same technology of today at my fingertips back then, here's what I would have done.

1.        Entangled would have been free for anyone to read on as many sites that would have me. Right now, my books can be read for free on Scribd. There are some specifics here that I do. I only allow reader to view the full books from a browser. Downloads to ereaders must be bought from exclusively from Amazon or Barnes & Noble.com.

2.       I'd have created ebooks for the Kindle, Kobo, Nook and Ipad and sold them for a much lower price than my print edition. The difference between the cost to create an ebook and the cost to print isn't more vast. It will always cost you less to create an ebook . That's important, because you can set prices that seem like giveaways but really can make you a profit. Moreover, from a marketing standpoint, the lower price point will earn something that more precious that a short-term monetary gain, more downloads by your next loyal fan who will one day be willing to pay a "premium value" to read your future work .

Back in 2003, I didn't have all these resources. I didn't have ebooks or such user friendly author platforms. So it used to cost me much more money to reach fewer people. Today, authors willing to consistently work an online marketing process will create value for themselves and the stories they're trying to sell.

Goose 2.0 for Authors: Two Online Platforms to Publish and Market Books

Today is the final installment of the Goose 2.0 series. Day 1 was an intro to the possibilities for authors to use the internet's tool as Geese that lay Golden Eggs.  Day 2, we went into the use of blogs and social media as a ways to and directly engage fans and relate to your fans. Today, the final installment, I introduce some publishing and distribution tools to help you bypass printers and bookstores to get your titles directly into the hands of your fans.

[image error]1.       Printing – Do you know someone with a Kindle, Nook, or some other ereader? Unless you've been living under a rock for the past few years, the answer is probably yes. This leads to the next question. Why go to press when you can create an ebook instead? Seth Godin blogged about it four years ago and this past fall announced he would produce no more books for print. This is an internationally best-selling author. Why does he thinks it's a good idea? "Some will ask, 'how much money did you make?' he writes. "And I think a better question is, 'how much did it cost you?'"

Your biggest benefit of creating an ebook a very low overhead way to tell your story. Right now I currently sell my titles as ebooks on Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble for $0.99. "Too low!" you might exclaim. I agree. $0.99 is a low price point. I'm practically giving it away. But I'm selling books and, because e-publishing costs me so little, I'm making good money in the process. Could I sell my books for more money? Sure. But now a lot more people know me and my writing style because they saw the low price points and had no problem downloading my titles on to their Kindles. I take less profit now and consider it  marketing cost that will pay off big when I publish my next novel, soon to be released. What I'm buying right now is easier access for new readers who will like my writing style and be eager to support me in the future. You can do it too.

2.       Author Pages – Scribd, Good Reads and Library Thing are great places to easily reference and upload your ebooks for potential fans to read and critique. All these sites have tools for you to find mutual friends and make both you and your titles searchable.  You can also feed your blog and post discussion topics about your books (just like a book club).

These are just a couple of Goose 2.0 ideas authors can apply to bypass traditional gatekeepers and take their books directly to their fans.