Doris-Maria Heilmann's Blog, page 20

Who is the Publisher? Check the ISBN!

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Have you been wondering about thenumerous news stories about “declining e-book sales” during the last couple of months? Well only those who have an ISBN, and only those from certain book stores,online retailers and large trade publishers are counted.

30% of alle-books being purchased in the United States do not use ISBN numbers and are invisible to the industry’s official market surveys and reports. Which also means: all the ISBN-based estimates of market share reported by Bowker, AAP, BIS...

Do Authors Need a Media Kit?

Short Answer: YES. Being discoverable, approachable, and professional will help you draw more attention to your book and yourself. Generating publicity for your books using a press kit / media kit is essential, even if it’s only one page. You will be much more attractive as an interviewee, event participant or having your book reviewed when your press kit can be downloaded by anyone who takes an interest.
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A media kit, or a press kit for authors is a kind of portfolio for their books and th...

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly in Publishing

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Success of the self-publishing movement during the last ten years attracted lots of vanity/subsidy/self-publishing services. Even large, once respected trade publishing houses jumped on the bandwagon, founded dozens of imprintsand are trying now to monetize their “slush-piles” of once rejected writers via their newly established subsidy services.
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Often Difficult for Authors to Determine…
How can authors figure out what lures behind a publishing name and enticing advertisements? Let’s dis...

Social Media, the Big Online Party!

Imagine you are invited to a fantastic party. You are entering the room, you say hello to everyone, you small-talk a bit, you participate in a discussion, you listen what others say, you make some compliments or praise someone, you have fun and you show yourself from your best side – or at least that’s what it is supposed to be. However there are some people on social media who do not know or respect the unwritten party rules:
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There are these party guests who seem to be very uncomfortable:...

Save Yourself Time, Money and Frustration!

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Reading another warning by Writer Beware regarding certain publishing contracts by deceptive businesses, I was reminded to blog once more about the dangers of “being published”.
These days not only the classic vanity publishing companies are taking advantage of authors who want to have their book in stores, but also (in the past) respected legacy publishing houses try to get on the bandwagon and persuade independent writers to get “published” with them.
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The expression “publisher” should...

Well-Paying Markets to Write for

2016 Writer’s Market, “Yellow Pages” for Writers
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Do you like to travel to foreign countries, or other states / provinces? Enjoy weekend trips to new places? Where does your novel or nonfiction books take place? In your hometown or in a foreign city? I bet you did a lot of research to describe those places.
Leverage this research work for your novel and all your travel experiences to write not only for travel or well-paying airline magazines, but also for newspapers or lifestyle magazines –...

American and British Book Reviewers

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A beta reader once commented: “A great book – but some typos are distracting.” She learned English as a second language in school – British English that is – but the book was written (for a US readership in mind) and edited in American English, using the Chicago Manual of style. Book Reviewers, authors and editors in New Zealand, South Africa, Australia or Canada for example, have the same issue.
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“England and America are two countries
separated by a common language”
~ George Bernard Shaw...

Important Tips on How to Write Book Reviews

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Reviewing can be a daunting task. Someone has asked for your opinion but you may not feel qualified to evaluate this book. Who are you to criticize abook if you have never written a novel or a nonfiction book yourself, much less won a literature prize? You might have questions, such as:

What should the review contain? Can I really voice my opinion? What are the do’s and don’ts of reviews?

Above all, a review makes an argument. The most important element of a review is that it is a commen...

Why Readers (You) Should Write Reviews

Bestseller authors have the support of multinational publishinghouses with billions in revenue behind them – and who have connections, and often pay for reviews.Writing reviews for independent authors means: helping individualswho have gone it all alone and need all the support they can get.

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In this article well-known Authors whoare also book reviewers encourage readers and fellow writers to evaluate the books they are reading. There are manyreasons, here are just some of them:
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Bestsell...

DIY Selling of Your Foreign Book Rights

There’s so much more to publishing than just printing a book and putting it into shops – brick-and-mortar or online. For small publishers and Indies the thought of selling their book rights internationally might be a scary one, especially if they are not familiar with the foreign publishers or haven’t attended any of the large book fairs in Europe (Frankfurt Book Fair, Leipziger Messe, London or Bologna Book Fair) or the ones even further abroad in Dubai or in Asia.
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Some Facts concerning F...