Doris-Maria Heilmann's Blog, page 65
December 15, 2013
Top 18 Book Launch Tips
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A great reason to celebrate the launch of your new book, which might have taken months or years to write, is a book launch party, actual or maybe even virtual. You will want to thank everyone who helped with the creation of your book and introduce your latest work to your adoring readers. With today’s digital printing techniques it is possible to have a couple of print books to sign at your event – even if your book is officially offered only as an e-book.
Plan Your Event at Least Two Months Ahead
The date can be well after the book hit the shelves or the Amazon sales pages. Important is that you invite as much people as possible (they won’t all come! Don’t worry) and that you get as much buzz as possible from book bloggers, from your Social Media followers, local book clubs and hopefully the local press. To use this article as a check list, it is set in chronological order.
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TWO MONTHS BEFORE THE BOOK LAUNCH
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1. Order your books
either as Print-on-Demand from CreateSpace or LightningSource or from an Espresso Book Machine or a local digital printer. If you go with a trade publisher, make sure you plan your event for at least two or three weeks after the first editions date.
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2. Rent a place for your book launch
Invite for coffee or wine and cheese:
at the Starbucks Coffee Shop in Barnes&Noble or Chapters
at your local library, if you expect a crowd, rent a board room there
or rent a side room in a restaurant, hotel or in a museum,
maybe even the foyer of a company (after working hours)
Best days are Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday between 4pm and 8pm
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3. Invite Social Media “Spreaders”
Create a “Spread the Word” page. Set up a special page on your web site called “Spread the Word”, in order to make it easy for people to spread via Social Media.
Create a short story, asking for people’s help. Include some prefabricated tweets that people can share with the click of a button, as well as instructions on how to share the book on Google+, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest or LinkedIn. Add several images of your books cover, so that people can use your images via copy / past to their sites.
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4. Organize a Bloggers promotion
Create a blog posts why bloggers should do book reviews and included tips on how to write a professional book review. Engage them: “Want a chance to review a new book?” “I am inviting up to 30 bloggers to review my new book on their blog and receive an extra copy that you can give away to your readers. On top of that there is a draw: one lucky person could win a Kindle Paperwhite / iPad.”
It should create a lot of exposure if done right. Bloggers are like the new press. Also ask people from your email list (you hopefully have one): “I would love to get your help spreading the word about this book launch! See how you can help.
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5. Invite the local Press
A book launch is not necessarily a news-worthy event, as millions of books are hitting the shelves every year. So you have to find an angle for the press to write about it and the benefit for readers to learn about your book. Get lots of tips in this short book: Media Training and Presentation Skills.
Write an igniting press release and a separate article about your book, along with images of its cover. Start with a press page on your website, see our blog on how to do this.
Find out the names of editors / journalists from the department that covers literature or local events, and send your invitation and information about your book to the right person. And mark your calender to follow up after a week.
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6. Retweet button in free ebook
Give away the first chapter of your book as an immediately accessible PDF on your page or on Amazon. Include a Re-tweet button in several strategic locations in the chapter. This allowed people who loved what they read to easily share it with friends on Twitter. When someone clicks on the Re-tweet button, it shows a pre-crafted tweet that says: “I’m reading @……. new book: … Get the first chapter free here too: http://………” You get the idea?
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7. Ask for book endorsements from influential people
Want to know how you get famous people to support your Book, eBook, or blog? Well, you ask them! Some will, of course, say no. But some will tell you yes. And you never know until you ask, right?
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THREE WEEKS BEFORE
8. Use Event Pages
Announce the event on Google+ and on Goodreads at least three weeks before the date. They both offer a free event function. A site that is very easy and fast to set up. Promote this event (can be real life or virtual) heavily on FB, Twitter, Pinterest, Google, your blog and to your email list.
If your local newspaper, neighborhood paper etc. has an event page, or if they have an online version, get your event in! Search the internet for events/websites in your area and announce it there too.
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9. Print invitations
Use your own home computer / printer to write the invitation and include a picture of your books’ cover, the location, address, maybe even a map and the time of the event. Send them out by mail or hand-deliver to those in your area. Print business cards or bookmarks as well.
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10. Verify delivery
Verify that your books delivery is ordered, with plenty of time to arrive. Nothing worse than having a date picked for your Book Release Party, and then having no books to sell! Reserve some copies for gifts to volunteers or the host.
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11. Get help for the party
Get a friend or family member to assist with selling your books. You, the author, need to be free to meet and great, talk, mingle, market and sign your books. Ask several people to bring their cameras and take pictures. Check your own camera and video for new batteries and memory card.
Have business cards or bookmarks to hand out as you talk with your potential.
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12. Order “Catering”
Organize your coffee orders, wine and cheese purchases and water/juice. Don’t forget to prepare a couple of folding chairs, table cloth, napkins, pen and paper for notes or if someone doesn’t have a card, to write down their name, email etc.
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13. Order big posters of your book cover
As bigger as better! Get some inexpensive frames to makes them look like a valuable painting. Avoid to tape them to the wall of your book launch party room, it would look cheap.
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14. Create a photo contest
It can be a fun and friendly competition to get people excited about your book. And there’s no better platform than Social Media sites to do just that.
You can call it the “Know my Book?” or “Help Me Launch” photo contest. All participants needed to do was take a creative photo with the words “Know my Book?” or “Help Me Launch.” The three best images might receive the book or you can offer an additional first prize for a Kindle or a digital camera.
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15. Prepare an Event Website
To upload images and videos from your book launch and to introduce your book via a short video (don’t forget to add purchase links!) set up an extra page on your website or even an extra blog. This URL can later be used to blog / post about the event. Don’t stop to promote your book launch several times a day on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google+, Pinterest, your blog and to your email list.
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16. Broadcast live videos
To promote the event party, talk about subjects related to the book, but do not overtly pitch the book. Organize and let someone connect with Google+ Hangouts to show the event in real time. Double check that the person can do both professional: Taking several short videos from an event like your upcoming book launch and knowledgeable with computers to set up the Hangout. Make sure you have WiFi at this location.
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DAY OF THE EVENT
17. Set up early enough
Check once more a day before or in the morning your equipment and the internet connection. Set up tables and chairs if possible and hang up your books’ images. On the big day: come at least an hour or longer before you expect your first guests to place your books, decoration and catering.
18. Gather addresses
You want to stay in touch with people you spend time with at your launch party. Make sure you have a way to capture each attendee’s email address, whether it’s a sign-up sheet, a bowl for business cards, or a laptop or tablet where people can opt into your mailing list on the spot.
These email addresses come handy when you thank every person a day later for coming to your book launch. And don’t forget those who helped you in any way. Write also those that did not make it, kindly tell them they were missed and where your books can be purchased, whether online or in a store. Post your photos and video immediately after the event. Add more images over the period of a week or so, to spread out the fun and reminders.
Enjoy to meet the people who are interested in your book! Have fun at the party! Writing and author-publishing a book, is a great accomplishment and reason to celebrate.
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If you would like to get more support in all things publishing, have your book intensively promoted and learn how to navigate social media sites: We offer all this and more for only $159 for three months! Learn more about this individual book marketing help: http://www.111Publishing.com/Seminars
To advertise your new book, specials, your KDP Select Free Days or the new Kindle Countdown Deals visit http://www.e-book-pr.com/book-promo/.
Please check out all previous posts of this blog (there are more than 960 of them : ) if you haven’t already. Why not sign up to receive them regularly by email? Just click on “Follow” in the upper line on each page – and then on “LIKE” next to it. There is also the “SHARE” button underneath each article where you can submit the article to Pinterest, Google+, Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr and StumpleUpon.
Thanks a lot for following:
@111publishing
http://www.international-ebooks.com/
http://bit.ly/VmtVAS 111Publishing @ Google+
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Tagged: author-publishing, Book Launch Party, Galleys, how to organize a book launch, Manuscript, pre-editions, salesman’s editions
December 13, 2013
Interview With Three Authors of Legendary Christmas
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A pleasure to meet today with Jan Scarbrough, Janet Eaves and Magdalena Scott. Thanks for telling us about your Legendary Christmas Past. We hear you have an e-book promotion going on at Amazon?
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Jan: Our publisher Turquoise Morning Press has bundled six Christmas novellas that are on sale until the end of December for only 99 cents. It’s called A Legendary Christmas Past Boxed Set. http://amzn.to/17luvoI
The six novellas were written by three authors—Janet Eaves, Magdalena Scott, and myself, Jan Scarbrough—and they were set in a fictitious town of Legend, Tennessee. The neat part about this bundle is that the novellas take place in the 1940’s, the 1960’s and the 1970’s. So they are “historical” even though they deal with very recent history.
These Christmas novellas are set in Legend, Tennessee
· If Only In My Dreams, 1944 and 1945, by Janet Eaves
· A Groovy Christmas, 1968, and Not Quite Christmas, 1969, by Jan Scarbrough
· Under The Mistletoe, 1975, and The Holly and the Ivy, 1978, by Magdalena Scott
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How did you come to write stories set in the same fictitious town?
Janet: Maddie James, Magdalena Scott, Jan Scarbrough, and myself, Janet Eaves carried on our friendship online via email. We mainly talked about our writing projects. After playing around and creating character names from our first pet and the first street we lived on, we decided to create a story about each of these characters, but as a twist, they all had to live in the same small town. And to twist it even further, we each took a season—fall, winter, spring and summer.
That was the beginning of months of collaboration as towns have their own personalities, peculiarities, and of course landmarks. But first, our town needed a name.
At the time I was sitting in my home office discussing this project via email, and I glanced up at the extremely large map of the United States on my office wall… and there, down in the right corner, was the map’s Legend. So I suggested Legend as the name of our town and we liked it… Now that our town had a name it needed a location, and it seems it took only seconds for us all to agree that Legend would be in Tennessee, sitting at the foot of the Smoky Mountains, which is an area many people recognize because if its tourist appeal.
Do you have other books set in Legend, Tennessee?
Jan: Yes. Our publisher has bundled the non-Christmas novels and novellas into a nine book set called Love in a Small Town. Again, it’s on sale until the middle of December for 99 cents. We’re so pleased it’s reached the top 100 Amazon Bestseller list in Romance.
Janet: Yes. The boxed set bundle of Love in a Small Town starts with the first four books I was telling you about. In Claiming the Legend, the opening book in the series, the town is detailed as my character rolls into Legend for the first time. Streets, businesses, and directions give a sense of place in this seemingly sleepy town. My heroine heads for the local Bed and Breakfast, owned by the heroine of Bed, Breakfast and You, written by Maddie James. This lovely home is also described as is Maddie’s character, and the B&B itself. So you see it took lots of collaboration between all four of us to pull off a series written by four different authors using the same setting and recurring characters.
But before all the details of our stories could solidify, we needed a detailed map of the town. This map took me weeks to build and is continually updated whenever one of us has a new story that requires their location to be land-marked.
Why did you choose to set your Christmas romances in the past?
Jan: A year earlier, we had already written a set of four Christmas novellas at the request of our publisher. These e-books are bundled in A Legendary Christmas Boxed Set.
Magdalena: When we decided to do Ladies of Legend Christmas romances set in the past, we each chose a somewhat recent decade.
Jan: Maddie James was going to take the 1950’s but work commitments and other book deadlines didn’t give her time to participate the following year.
Janet, why choose to write about the 1940’s?
Janet: Christmas near the end of WWII was all about love, struggle, fear, hardship, and remembrance. Gifts were hand-made items of necessity such as scarves, socks, and maybe even a sweater or blanket. Food and nearly every item one could purchase at the time was limited by the rationing stamps allotted to each family. Families leaned on their faith, each other, and awaited news from outside of their homes by word of mouth, or if they were fortunate enough, a radio.
But as hard as it was to survive, people persevered, they pulled together as a nation, and they fell in love. The two stories set in Legend during this period reflect the hardships and the joys of life as the war wound down, and the danger of falling in love when the life of the one you love could so quickly end.
Jan, why write about the 60’s?
Jan: As a teenager during that time, I had seen it through the eyes of teenage angst. Going back to research those two years, I discovered that so much happened—the association of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy, riots in Chicago, and a flight around the moon for 1968. In 1969, people were dealing with times that were changing even faster. In both novellas, I write about characters who confront the change. In A Groovy Christmas, the heroine is sorry she’s never burned her bra and comes face-to-face with her blossoming sexuality. In Not Quite Christmas, I flip it, making my hero straight-laced and my heroine a hippie who has been to Woodstock. I had fun weaving the days’ events into the stories while setting the characters in a typical, small town where nothing changes.
My two novellas in this boxed set are prequels to my other two Legend novellas The Reunion Game and Santa’s Kiss. I’ve created a mini-series within the main Legend series based upon my first two characters Jane and Graham in The Reunion Game. Jane’s sister Dawn appears in Santa’s Kiss. You’ll find the love story of Graham’s parents in A Groovy Christmas. Jane and Dawn’s parents have their own love story in Not Quite Christmas. I wasn’t aware of how much readers enjoy series until I wrote these. Now I hope to write more series. It’s fun to piece relationships together like giant puzzles.
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Magdalena, why did you choose to set your “historical” romances in the 1970’s?
Magdalena: My husband graduated high school in 1970 and I graduated in 1978; I thought it would be fun to revisit those times. And it was! I pulled out my yearbooks to describe the clothing and hairstyles for the characters, and my husband’s for the times when the characters were looking back. I used Wikipedia to help choose songs to play on the juke box in Jim Bob’s Saloon. Music is so evocative, and I think the juke box adds an important layer to the scenes that take place there. In Under the Mistletoe, the first time Charles McClain goes into Jim Bob’s when he’s visiting Legend, Freddy Fender’s Wasted Days and Wasted Nights starts playing on the juke box, and Charles realizes that’s pretty much what his visit to Legend has been. Of course this is just minutes before he meets Dorothy Robbins, the pretty blonde waitress who wants to go back to college so she can get a good job and leave Legend forever.
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So the stories in A Legendary Christmas Past are prequels to your other Ladies of Legend stories? What was that like to write?
Magdalena: It was fun, like when I introduced Martin McClain as a little boy back in the 70s. He is a hero in one of my contemporary Legend stories, Midnight in Legend, TN. And that saloon I mentioned before? It is the building that, years later, Midnight Shelby buys when she moves to Legend from NYC. She converts it into a beautiful store and the actual bar area serves designer coffee.
Writing the prequels also forced me to become more organized. Each of my Legend stories has a McClain as one of the main characters. Because of doing the prequels—Under the Mistletoe and The Holly and the Ivy—I now have a reasonably detailed family tree including birth years for the McClain family and some of the others who become involved in the stories, like Dorothy Robbins of Under the Mistletoe and her friend Jeannie Adams in The Holly and the Ivy. Having that family tree with notes to myself about who does what and in which story is very helpful.
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Do you have a favorite story in the boxed set?
Janet: If Only In My Dreams (1945) is one of my all-time favorites. The novella is told through the eyes of the heroine. When she takes on a blind, wounded soldier to help him recuperate, she finds that life is so different from anything she had ever known before, and to break through his shell of pain and loss, she has to let him now see the world through her eyes. In the end, the message, if there is one, is that people are people no matter their disability. To treat them any differently takes away their identity.
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What else would you like to tell us about A Legendary Christmas Past Boxed Set?
Magdalena: I love my McClains and Legend. I’m so glad the four of us created this little town where “romance lives next door,” and thrilled that so many readers are discovering it and learning to love it too!
The whole set of a Legendary Christmas Past is available for a short time for only $0.99
Amazon Kindle e-book, 392 pages: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00GQ1WQIG
Link to Legend Website: http://www.legendtennessee.com/
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If you would like to get more support in all things publishing, have your book intensively promoted and learn how to navigate social media sites: We offer all this and more for only $159 for three months! Learn more about this individual book marketing help: http://www.111Publishing.com/Seminars
Or visit http://www.e-book-pr.com/book-promo/
to advertise your new book, specials, your KDP Select Free Days or Kindle Countdown Deals.
Please check out all previous posts of this blog (there are more than 960 of them : ) if you haven’t already. Why not sign up to receive them regularly by email? Just click on “Follow” in the upper line on each page – and then on “LIKE” next to it. There is also the “SHARE” button underneath each article where you can submit the article to Pinterest, Google+, Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr and StumpleUpon.
Thanks a lot for following:
@111publishing
http://www.111publishing.com
http://www.e-Book-PR.com/
http://www.international-ebooks.com/
http://bit.ly/VmtVAS 111Publishing @ Google+
http://pinterest.com/111publishing/
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December 12, 2013
How to Get Reviews Before Your Books’ Launch
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Did you ever wonder why brand new books had already reviews? New author-publishers can learn a lot in book stores: Check out how professionally published books look like: Many of these trade books have either on their back cover (paperback) or on their binding flap (hard cover) several snippets of the book reviews, as well as endorsements from bestselling writers or other professionals, that were already written before the book was printed.
Pre – Editions
The more work you do to promote your book before the publication date the more people will already know about it, and that means more sales!
Pre-editions include advance(d) reader copies (ARCs), galleys, salesman’s editions, proofs and sometimes manuscripts. Nowadays often digital versions. Some bibliophiles even collect these pre-editions. AbeBooks , which belongs to Amazon, is a dealer for these rare first prints and on their website you can get an idea how they look like.
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Types of Pre-Editions
Manuscripts are created by the author, usually be a copy which pre-dates an uncorrected proof or galley, and is often marked, unbound and sometimes handwritten.
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Galleys can be digital or in paper, and meant for review by the author, editors and others within the publishing house. They might be even uncut and unbound. The term galley proof comes from the days of hand-set typography.
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Advanced Reader Copies: ARCs, or advance review copies, these are produced privately by publishers and distributed to booksellers and journalists prior to the official release date. Because ARCs may not have been put through the entire editing process, the copy will often differ slightly from the standard edition of the book. Important: always apply the term “Uncorrected Proof” to it, or “Advance Reading Copy”, “Uncorrected Advance Copy” or “Not for Sale”.
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Dummy Copies: Sometimes called a salesman’s dummy or publisher’s dummy, these books look exactly like the final consumer edition except they only contain a small amount of text, usually the first chapter.
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Industry insiders are used to these samples of books that publishers send out as pre-publication sales materials.
The key, and this is what traditional publishers do, is to have these ARC’s printed well in advance of your publication date in order to distribute it to book reviewers, at trade fairs, festivals, and at sites such as Goodreads approximately 8 – 6 months! before your publication date. This gives reviewers enough time and you as the author-publisher can add the reviews to the book layout, while the reviewer can add their writing to your book retail websites or author pages, and write an article about your book to their blog or website. Additionally you can use their original comments for book fairs or book signings.
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As you can see, it is imperative that you plan your publishing endeavor well in advance! Get more tips for the pre-publishing process:
http://www.abebooks.com/books/RareBooks/collecting-guide/what_books_collect/advanced-copies.shtml
http://www.thebookdesigner.com/2009/09/self-publishing-basics-how-to-create-arc-cover/
http://finishyourbooknow.com/2012/06/25/creating-advance-reader-copies-arcs-and-galleys/
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If you would like to get more support in all things publishing, have your book intensively promoted and learn how to navigate social media sites: We offer all this and more for only $159 for three months! Learn more about this individual book marketing help: http://www.111Publishing.com/Seminars
Or visit http://www.e-book-pr.com/book-promo/
to advertise your new book, specials, your KDP Select Free Days or the new Kindle Countdown Deals.
Please check out all previous posts of this blog (there are more than 960 of them : ) if you haven’t already. Why not sign up to receive them regularly by email? Just click on “Follow” in the upper line on each page – and then on “LIKE” next to it. There is also the “SHARE” button underneath each article where you can submit the article to Pinterest, Google+, Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr and StumpleUpon.
Thanks a lot for following:
@111publishing
http://www.international-ebooks.com/
http://bit.ly/VmtVAS 111Publishing @ Google+
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Tagged: ARC, author-publishing, dummy book, Galleys, Manuscript, pre-editions, proofs, salesman’s editions
December 11, 2013
Get Even More Royalties for Your Book
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A study found that 80% of all copies made on copy machines are from books! As a Writer and first-time publisher, back in Europe in the early 1980′s, I was thrilled when I received a my first copy-royalty cheque for $180.00 from VG WORT.
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Later I found out that the same system works well in Canada under the name ACCESS COPYRIGHT. One of the benefits of being a small publisher or trade-published writer in Canada! However you must have set up a small business in Canada, if you are not with an established (not Vanity) publisher ACCESS COPYRIGHT explains on their website:
Join Access Copyright for Free
If you are a writer, publisher or visual artist, Access Copyright is an organization that believes that you should be fairly compensated when your works are copied. By becoming an affiliate of Access Copyright, you will have access to services that will help maximize royalty income for the secondary use of your works.
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Benefits of Being an Access Copyright Affiliate
Royalty Payments: They ensure our affiliates are fairly compensated.
Affiliate Outreach: They make sure the interests of their affiliates are heard by policy and decision makers on important issues, such as intellectual property.
International Network: Access Copyright has reciprocal agreements with reproduction rights organizations (RROs) from around the world. When their affiliates’ works have been copied in a country with which they have an agreement, they distribute the royalties to them.
Becoming an Access Copyright affiliate is free.
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International:
In the United States, Copyright Clearance Center, short CCC, compensates publishers and creators / writers for the use of their work.
Their subsidiary RightsDirect does the same in several European Countries. German authors and publishers join VG WORT, to be precise: members of the European Union and authors who have Germany as their place of residence. - Let us know about other countries : )
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If you would like to get more support in all things publishing, have your book intensively promoted and learn how to navigate social media sites: We offer all this and more for only $159 for three months! Learn more about this individual book marketing help: http://www.111Publishing.com/Seminars
Or visit http://www.e-book-pr.com/book-promo/
to advertise your new book, specials, your KDP Select Free Days or the new Kindle Countdown Deals.
Please check out all previous posts of this blog (there are more than 960 of them : ) if you haven’t already. Why not sign up to receive them regularly by email? Just click on “Follow” in the upper line on each page – and then on “LIKE” next to it. There is also the “SHARE” button underneath each article where you can submit the article to Pinterest, Google+, Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr and StumpleUpon.
Thanks a lot for following:
@111publishing
http://www.international-ebooks.com/
http://bit.ly/VmtVAS 111Publishing @ Google+
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Tagged: Access Copyright, CCC, compensate writers for use of their work, Copyricht Clearance Center, VG WORT
December 10, 2013
Good Times for Gold-Diggers are Gone …
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Molly Greene wrote in a recent blog post “Book Sales Dismal Lately? Could Be The Big 5!” about flagging independent book sales, and at the same time desperation-book-discounts by established publishers who are continuing to consolidate. She interviewed several bestselling authors about their sales.
Bad News the Burgeoning Amount of Competition
Mimi Barbour also wrote about the future of indie books: ”Amazon’s algorithms are spinning with so many choices that the cutthroat era will be soon upon us if it hasn’t already started. I remember not too long ago when for every few books given away free, Amazon credited us with one book sold and increased the book’s ranking to reflect that sale. Today that number has changed and the difference is more like fifty free books equal one sold.”
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Wheat Separates from the Chaff
Do you remember these books: “How I Sold 1 Million Books” or “Writing an eBook in One Week”? These get-rich-quick hype is a thing from the past.It seems that the time has come when the wheat separates from the chaff. Or as author Christine Nolfi said “The dreamy, strike-it-rich-as-an-indie phase is ending. Many writers entered the field either because they thought this was an easy road to riches or they had one novel from the heart they felt compelled to write. Which is great, but writing one novel doesn’t make one a career novelist.”
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Which means only authors:
who are willing to write book after book,
who are willing to learn all about publishing and marketing,
who plan their books, its creation and distribution
will survive in the future, and strife as an author.
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Judith Briles wrote in another blog post: “The POD—print-on-demand method of printing—has created more trash than the book buying public needs, or wants. Why? Simply because authors are “publishing” without caring or knowing the ins and outs of being an author and publishing a book. They get duped by publishers and others who want their money.”
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Predictions Became True
One year ago, bestselling author Toby Neal gave in her blog some predictions regarding the author-publishing world and lots of tips how to deal as an author with changes in publishing. Most of it already happened or is about to – and not always to the benefit of indie authors.
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Her Tips How to Prepare for Changes in Author-Publishing are Timeless.
Notably this one:
“Continue to focus on building an individual, loyal fan base for your books. She explains: The great advantage of self publishing is that there’s no middleman and we can reach readers directly. I’m doing this by promoting my email sign-up for new titles, strengthening relationships with readers via Social Media, and hand-selling books locally via speaking gigs with Rotary, etc. Those email names are your hardcore fans and are worth gold!”
Every indie author should have a live link in their e-book that lets a reader signup to be notified when the next book by the author becomes available.
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Mimi Barbours’ Advice:
“I know a large back list has always been important and will continue to be even more so in the future. I also suspect that we’ll have to spend a lot more money on promotion and that marketing experts will become as crucial as good editors.”
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If you would like to get more support in all things publishing, have your book intensively promoted and learn how to navigate social media sites: We offer all this and more for only $159 for three months! Learn more about this individual book marketing help: http://www.111Publishing.com/Seminars
Or visit http://www.e-book-pr.com/book-promo/ to advertise your new book, specials, your KDP Select Free Days or the new Kindle Countdown Deals.
Please check out all previous posts of this blog (there are more than 960 of them : ) if you haven’t already. Why not sign up to receive them regularly by email? Just click on “Follow” in the upper line on each page – and then on “LIKE” next to it. There is also the “SHARE” button underneath each article where you can submit the article to Pinterest, Google+, Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr and StumpleUpon.
Thanks a lot for following:
@111publishing
http://www.international-ebooks.com/
http://bit.ly/VmtVAS 111Publishing @ Google+
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Tagged: Book Sales Dismal Lately, Christine Nolfi, how to prepare for changes in publishing, Mimi Barbour, Molly Greene, Publishers Consolidate, Toby Neal
December 9, 2013
How to Promote Your Books with Goodreads’ Author Program?
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Learn more about how to promote your books with special tools on Goodreads. Each slideshow demonstrates a different aspect of the Goodreads Author Program.
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Get the word out about your book! Here are some of the promotional tools available on Goodreads:
Sign up to advertise your book to up to the Goodreads Community—16,000,000 readers!
List a book giveaway to generate pre-launch buzz.
Lead a Q&A discussion group for readers.
Participate in discussions on your profile, in groups and in the discussion forums for your books
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Author Profile, Author Dashboard, and Widgets
All members of Goodreads have regular reader profiles where they can review books, add friends, and post information about themselves. When an author signs up for Goodreads, he or she begins with this basic user profile.
For any book listed in the Goodreads catalog, you can click on the author’s name to find the author profile. This page lists all of the author’s published work, whether he or she is a member of Goodreads or not. When an author joins the Author Program his or her user profile will be merged with the author profile. Becoming a Goodreads Author carries special privileges, such as the ability to
edit profile information,
add book cover images,
write a blog,
list quotes that you like
upload your videos,
promote events, book launches, book signings,
and start featured author groups.
After you have signed up for the Author Program, your log-in process does not change: You will still use the same username and password, but now your user profile will point to your author profile. You will also have access to a special Author Dashboard that contains useful links and statistics about your books.
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If you would like to get more support in all things publishing, have your book intensively promoted and learn how to navigate social media sites: We offer all this and more for only $159 for three months! Learn more about this individual book marketing help: http://www.111Publishing.com/Seminars
Or visit http://www.e-book-pr.com/book-promo/
to advertise your new book, specials, your KDP Select Free Days or the new Kindle Countdown Deals.
Please check out all previous posts of this blog (there are more than 960 of them : ) if you haven’t already. Why not sign up to receive them regularly by email? Just click on “Follow” in the upper line on each page – and then on “LIKE” next to it. There is also the “SHARE” button underneath each article where you can submit the article to Pinterest, Google+, Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr and StumpleUpon.
Thanks a lot for following:
@111publishing
http://www.international-ebooks.com/
http://bit.ly/VmtVAS 111Publishing @ Google+
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Tagged: add book cover images, benefits of Goodreads Author Program, Goodreads Author Program, how to join Goodreads Author Program, how to use the Goodreads Author Program, upload videos on Goodreads
December 8, 2013
Benefit of Following these Sites?
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What’s the Benefit of Following us?
First of all thanks to our numerous visitors of our websites and blogs every day, especially to our subscribers of SavvyBookWriters.com/blog. Thanks for your comments and encouragement. It is YOU, for whom we write for in our daily blog.
Reading regularly the articles and blog posts, gives you countless valuable tips about self-publishing in any medium and insights into the publishing industry. Having more than 30 years experience in publishing and especially in book marketing, and studying it for many years, helps us to give you behind-the-scene tips and tricks through our blogs: how to navigate this important platform-building in the new publishing world. Please feel free to re-blog our posts on your own website or blog.
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Visit us here too:
http://www.twitter.com/111publishing
http://pinterest.com/111publishing/
http://bit.ly/VmtVA 111Publishing @ Google+
http://bit.ly/13NFyBT ebookPR @ Google+
http://bit.ly/19PrQAz Doris Heilmann @ Google+
http://www.twitter.com/ebookPR
http://www.twitter.com/eBooksIntl
http://www.111publishing.com/Seminars
http://www.goodreads.com/111publishing
http://ebooksinternational.tumblr.com/
http://www.111publishing.com
http://savvybookwriters.com
http://www.e-Book-PR.com
http://www.international-ebooks.com/
http://www.stumbleupon.com/stumbler/111publishing
Last but not least: You will find some very interesting fellow authors and readers/reviewers on our Social Media sites with whom you want to connect as well.
Thanks for being a friend.
Have a lovely day,
Doris @111publishing
http://about.me/ebookPR
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If you would like to get more support in all things publishing, have your book intensively promoted and learn how to navigate social media sites: We offer all this and more for only $159 for three months! Learn more about this individual book marketing help: http://www.111Publishing.com/Seminars
Or visit http://www.e-book-pr.com/book-promo/
to advertise your new book, specials, your KDP Select Free Days or the new Kindle Countdown Deals.
Please check out all previous posts of this blog (there are more than 960 of them : ) if you haven’t already. Why not sign up to receive them regularly by email? Just click on “Follow” in the upper line on each page – and then on “LIKE” next to it. There is also the “SHARE” button underneath each article where you can submit the article to Pinterest, Google+, Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr and StumpleUpon.
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Tagged: 111Publishing.com, benefits of following us on Social Media, follow on Twitter, Social network, valuable tips about self-publishing
Did You Know: Free Phone via Google Voice?
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You might already Use it: ”Google Voice“, a free and very convenient way to make calls.
I heard about this great alternative to Skype during the last three years, but never paid attention, until now, when I realized that I could click on phone numbers in my emails and use the phone pad window that appeared, to make free calls. These calls are free for phone numbers that are based in the United States or Canada. Calls to numbers outside the US and Canada will incur a small per-minute fee, mostly between 2 cents / min for land lines and 10 cents / for cell phone numbers.
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Get a “Google Phone Number”
Friends and relatives no longer have to “hunt you down” by calling a series of different numbers
hoping to find where you are. They simply call the new telephone number and you can answer
on the ringing telephone that is closest to you.
Google Voice service is more of a “phone number management” service than a typical Internet
phone service so it does a lot more than let you make free phone calls. Google Voice can be
used to make free PC to phone calls and free PC to PC calls.
The easiest and most common way to use Google Voice is to allow the service to connect your
phone to the destination number for free as “phone to phone” call.
However, there is no phone required – just your internet connection and maybe a microphone to
make calls, which is really not necessary, I never used one so far. The connections are as good
as with Skype, if not better.
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Google Voice: Calling Rates
International calling rates, a couple of just samples, more here:
From Canada to the United States calls are FREE and WITHIN the USA certainly too.
International (differing to cell or land lines) e.g. France, Austria, Germany 2 cents for land lines,
10 cents to cell phones.
These free phone calls are clear and very easy to use, and I think Google Voice is one of the
best ways to make free Internet phone calls. One user said: “I don’t miss my old-fashioned phone
service from the local telephone company. I also don’t miss the old-fashioned telephone bill from
the local phone company.”
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More info about the free Google Voice calls:
http://www.google.com/googlevoice/about.html
Introduction by Google: http://bit.ly/1d1EiQG
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If you would like to get help in all things publishing, have your book intensively promoted and learn how to navigate social media sites: We offer all this and more for only $159 for 3 months! Learn more about this individual book marketing help: http://www.111Publishing.com/Seminars
Or visit http://www.e-book-pr.com/book-promo/ to advertise your new book, specials, your KDP Select Free Days or the new Kindle Countdown Deals.
Please check out all previous posts of this blog (there are more than 950 of them : ) if you haven’t already. Why not sign up to receive them regularly by email? Just click on “Follow” in the upper line on each page – and then on “LIKE” next to it. There is also the “SHARE” button underneath each article where you can submit the article to Pinterest, Google+, Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr and StumpleUpon.
Thanks a lot for following:
@111publishing
http://www.international-ebooks.com/
http://bit.ly/VmtVAS 111Publishing @ Google+
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Tagged: free calls via Google, free Internet calls, free telephone, Google Voice, just click on the phone # in your email, Skype
December 6, 2013
Treasury Of Bizarre Christmas Stories
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“Fiza’s first compilation of short stories makes her come across as a sort of modern day neo-mystic. Through the 22 stories in the book, the author communicates to us lessons in faith in a way that will appeal to both adults and children alike. The language is simple and lucid, yet enticing and appealing at the same time.” Reviewer for ‘The Examiner’
This collection brings together, a variety of bizarre Christmas stories never heard before. From creepy dark catacombs to a haunted winter wonderland, this treasury brings with it, a mystical side to Christmas and the birth of a legendary baby. Whether deep in a forest of India or back in time, in Bethlehem, ‘Treasury Of Bizarre Christmas Stories’ brings to its readers the holy, the Almighty, the haunted, the obsession, the innocent, the magical and the reason to celebrate.
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About the Author:
Fiza Pathan holds a Bachelor’s degree in History and Sociology. She is a qualified teacher having a Bachelor’s degree in Education, her special subjects being History and English. Fiza is an avid reader of books of all genres and writes short stories and articles. Don’t miss to read Fiza’s blog regularly:
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Fiza Pathan is also the author of ‘S.O.S. Animals And Other Stories‘ and ‘Classics: Why we should encourage children to read them‘ which is available as a paperback edition and various digital formats on Amazon and other platforms.
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e-Book version
http://www.amazon.com/Treasury-Bizarre-Christmas-Stories-Pathan/dp/1481081764
Paperback
http://www.amazon.com/Treasury-Bizarre-Christmas-Stories-Pathan-ebook/dp/B00ADQ7HMK
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If you would like to get help in all things publishing, have your book intensively promoted and learn how to navigate social media sites: We offer all this and more for only $159 for 3 months! Learn more about this individual book marketing help: http://www.111Publishing.com/Seminars
Or visit http://www.e-book-pr.com/book-promo/ to advertise your new book, specials, your KDP Select Free Days or the new Kindle Countdown Deals.
Please check out all previous posts of this blog (there are more than 950 of them : ) if you haven’t already. Why not sign up to receive them regularly by email? Just click on “Follow” in the upper line on each page – and then on “LIKE” next to it. There is also the “SHARE” button underneath each article where you can submit the article to Pinterest, Google+, Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr and StumpleUpon.
Thanks a lot for following:
@111publishing
http://www.international-ebooks.com/
http://bit.ly/VmtVAS 111Publishing @ Google+
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Tagged: Author Fiza Pathan, Christmas Reads, Classics, S.O.S. Animals And Other Stories, short stories, Treasury of Bizarre Christmas Stories
December 5, 2013
How Important is a Great Author Photo?
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If you’re not seen as a professional, you will be seen as an amateur. Professional authors have professionally taken profile photos. This is immensely important for any author – no matter what genre you write. You can’t use a Facebook photo, not even a high quality wedding image that you might have cropped to show only your head. Or a snapshot with a cluttered background, out of focus image, and an unflattering and uninteresting picture. Even worse: Party or holiday photos with several persons, or with your dog or toddler. To top it: some authors show instead of a portrait or head shot an image of their dog, cat or their car. I cringe every time I see these images
used on Twitter or Google+. Don’t forget: Literary Agents and Publishers are on these Social Media sites too. And you never get a second chance for a first good impression!
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Every Author Needs a Professional Head Shot.
If you promote yourself and your book, you will need one and a photo can do wonders in terms of giving you credibility or establishing trust. The prices for these photos are varying a lot, it depends on the location, on the experience of the photographer, on his or her popularity etc. The honorary can vary from less than $100 to thousands.
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An Author Photo is an Important Piece of Your Brand.
If you have a photo you like, you can use it for years – and use it everywhere, not only on your books, but also in articles, promo material or your avatar for Social Media. When people see it, they will think of you and of your writing. Have a look at the famous photos of people like JK Rowling or Stephen King and how they convey so much at a glance. Pick your photographer by looking at the photographer’s web site and if possible meeting him or her before you decide having him/her as your portraitist.
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A Book’s Back Cover Will Often Include the Author’s Photo.
On a hard cover, the photo and bio are often placed on the back flap, while the books back cover is used for blurbs and reviewer comments. Paperbacks typically have the sales copy, an author photo and brief bio all on the back cover. Get both: a black and white glossy print and a full color cover. It’s important to realize that your author picture is for a different purpose than any photo you have ever had taken. Its main objective is to sell you as the expert.
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Have it Done by a Professional!
This part of your “brand” will present you to the world via social media, book jackets, etc. If you have a photographer friend who will do it for free or at a discount, all the better. Ask the photographer to give you both versions digitally: in TIFF for print and in jpeg for the web, and also preferably in several sizes, if you are not an expert in Photoshop or other image programs.
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Make Sure the Photo Reflects YOUR Personality.
Have your expression match your personality. For instance, if you are considered a pretty upbeat person and you are usually smiling, a pout would look ridiculous. The author photo needs to give the viewer a good sense of the persona of the author and, most of all, be close up enough that the face is almost format-filling. It should also be a well-composed and an effective photograph of high-resolution quality.
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In this cyber-over-exposed world, your photo may stay with you for a very, very long time. Ask yourself how you want to be seen by the world…
Get More Tips from a Photographer
http://www.fromthewriteangle.com/2013/02/author-photos-step-by-stepthe.html
http://blog.bookbaby.com/2013/02/how-to-take-good-author-photo/
http://indiereader.com/2013/02/tips-for-avoiding-awkward-publicity-photos/
http://www.ebookpublishinghq.com/5-tips-for-taking-a-good-author-photo/
http://www.authormedia.com/how-to-take-portraits-for-an-author-website/
http://authorculture.blogspot.ca/2012/02/is-your-author-photo-sending-right.html
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If you would like to get help in all things publishing, have your book intensively promoted and learn how to navigate social media sites: We offer all this and more for only $159 for 3 months! Learn more about this individual book marketing help: http://www.111Publishing.com/Seminars
Or visit http://www.e-book-pr.com/book-promo/ to advertise your new book, specials, your KDP Select Free Days or the new Kindle Countdown Deals.
Please check out all previous posts of this blog (there are more than 950 of them : ) if you haven’t already. Why not sign up to receive them regularly by email? Just click on “Follow” in the upper line on each page – and then on “LIKE” next to it. There is also the “SHARE” button underneath each article where you can submit the article to Pinterest, Google+, Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr and StumpleUpon.
Thanks a lot for following:
@111publishing
http://www.international-ebooks.com/
http://bit.ly/VmtVAS 111Publishing @ Google+
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Tagged: author bio, author photo, author portrait, Author portrait is part of the author brand, avatar, Google Image Search, how to organize photo archives, image caption, photographer, professional head shot
