Doris-Maria Heilmann's Blog, page 66

http://bit.ly/VmtVAS 111Publishing @ Google+

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Tagged: "INFUSED" by William Stadler, "REFINED" by W. Stadler, Author William Stadler, Dark Connection Saga, EXTRACTED by W. Stadler, Guest Blog, The Girl With The Scar, The Pioneers, trilogy, William Stadler, Writing a Book Series

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Published on December 04, 2013 19:40

Did You Think About It, Before Writing Your Book?

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There are a couple of hard questions you should ask yourself before writing and publishing a book. Having heard all these stories during the last years about (very few) authors who self-published their books and became famous / rich, might tempt you to follow their path.

90% of all authors I talk do haven’t done their research:

how many books of this topic (sometimes even with the same title) are out there already
where are these books sold and for which price
who are the customer of these books
how are these books received and which ones are the bestselling
in which categories / genres are these competitive books listed
what cover designs have been chosen for these books

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Research First and Build a Solid Foundation

Barely any author is really planning their book and its promotion. Only when frustration sets in, they think about getting help. Becoming an author-publisher is a long-term commitment and requires hundreds of small steps on the path to success! Before you even attempt to write, develop and market an e-book, or paper book for that matter, create yourself a road map.

The problem is that too many authors are in a hurry to start writing and don’t lay a foundation for book marketing. They spend all this time writing, and then they have no readers and customers to buy their books.

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Ask yourself some hard questions:

Who will be your e-book readers?
Is there a demand for your eBook product?
Is your e-book a “must have” purchase?
How much will people pay for your product?
Does the purchase of your eBook lead to additional e-book sales?
How much money will you need to fund your project?
How likely are you to excel among the competition?
How do you contact and “pitch” your product to your potential buyers?
How to you get the important book reviews?
Do you have already lots of followers in your social networks?

Writing your book is only 20% of the work, 80% is marketing! Having a plan on how you intend to market, publicize and sell your book before starting to write it is crucial.

• Choose your book content

• Start marketing your book, even before writing it

• Design and format it into a perfect downloadable file

• Create a professional cover for your e-book

• Select the e-book retailer to upload your book (Amazon, Apple, B&N, Sony…)

• Continue marketing your book

You are responsible for providing your own ongoing marketing for e-published work – the same as for paper books that are often not very well marketed. A book might be great, but if nobody knows about it, it won’t sell. Authors can’t count on the public seeing their books on shelves or in store windows – they have to find it on the internet.

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The Statistics are Dire

There are more than one million books published in the USA alone every year. Of those, some two thirds are self-published. Book sales are declining, having peaked in 2007. Your nonfiction book published in 2014 will, on average, sell less than 250 copies per year, fewer than 3,000 over its lifetime, which is increasingly short since publishers don’t back-list as much as they used to.

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Create Your Own Market

More books, fewer sales means that publishers have less money to spend on marketing to try to reach those increasingly rare readers. Less help from the publisher means that the author has to do more and more him/herself. So you not only have to write the book, you also have to figure out how to sell it. How will anyone hear about your book? They won’t see it – there’s a less than 1% chance that your book will be stocked in a bookstore.

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Establish Yourself as Expert

In an era of increasing specialization, and a daily explosion in knowledge, experts have clout and authority. So if you want to be at the head of your field, you need that book – especially if you’re a consultant or something similar, who’s hired because of your expertise. And then you’ll probably need another book in a few years’ time. But let’s worry about the next book later.

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Become a Professional Public Speaker

Public speakers – the paid ones – still need a book to point to. Even (former) President Clinton has had to write books to keep himself in the public eye. That’s why it’s important to get clear from the outset why you are writing this book.

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Don’t Let You Fool By These Bogus Stories

Writers claim to have sold hundred-thousands of their books in short time or claim bestseller status, and cash in on these stories. When you look behind the scenes, they have either paid for hundreds of reviews or a service company bought ten-thousands of their own books (which these authors had to advance), catapulting them to New York Times bestseller status. All this false hype brings writers to think their book is a failure if not showing up in bestseller lists. Wrong!

Don’t Be Discouraged

Just do more research into your book market, learn everything about book publishing and marketing, and built step by step your author platform and brand. And for your next book: Do the research first!!! Before you start writing.

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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 or your KDP Select Free Days.

Please check out all previous posts of this blog (there are more than 940 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://bit.ly/VmtVAS 111Publishing @ Google+

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Tagged: book promotion, marketing seminar, marketing support, marketing your book, self-publishing, selling your book, uthor-publishing

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Published on December 03, 2013 21:10

Successful Book Selling – The Non-Traditional Way

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Bookstores, brick-and-mortar or online, are wonderful places to buy books – and for authors to sell books, but they aren’t the only places. Do you know that more than half of all books are not sold in bookstores? If you really want to take your business to a higher level, there are so many other venues for selling your books.

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Your Own Webpage

David Gaughran wrote: “The first obvious advantage is higher royalty rates. You can earn a lot more than 70% if you sell direct. I’m making $3.49 on my $3.99 titles (as opposed to $2.70 from Amazon) and I’m getting nearly double the royalties on 99c titles. On top of that, I can now directly serve readers who face higher charges internationally (such as readers in Amazon’s surcharge zone) and those readers who can’t buy from the major retailers (e.g. Barnes & Noble only serve the US, and Amazon don’t serve much of Asia, most of the Middle East, and nearly all of Africa).” David gives in his article detailed information to pro’s and con’s of selling directly, payment options etc.

Gift shops

Many books fit well in the gift or souvenir market. The price for your book should be under $15, the cover bright and the book a good impulse item. If you offer your book in person, bring a display for dominantly presentation at the cash counter. A good place too is a hospital’s gift shop: visitors and patients need something to occupy their time at the hospital, right?

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Local Festivals

Build your local brand and get recognized by your community and sell your book at local festivals and fairs. Contact festival organizers in your area and ask them how you can set up a booth at the next festival. It may surprise you just how much traffic your booth could attract. Bring a fish bowl and initiate a raffle, and get names and email addresses to invite for your next book launch. A side effect might be that people demand your book at the local library and even in local bookstores.

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Retail outlets

Some golf club shops, gourmet shops, sporting goods stores, home improvement stores, museum stores, wineries or children’s shops sell books as sidelines, items that complement their other merchandise. Offer the outlet ten copies on consignment, plus a free display to get the ball rolling. For example: if there is an exhibition about the Victorian era announced, and your book takes place there, offer a limited time consignment of your book. Or an ice wine festival at a winery: offer your gourmet book to them. Golf tournament: show your mystery that happens on a gold course.

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Corporate gifts

A book is the ideal goodwill builder because people value books. Most corporations have marketing budgets for creating goodwill and turning prospects into clients or say thank you to customers. Do you have a guide on personal finance that you could sell to a bank or investment brokerage? Could your health-oriented book interest a pharmaceutical company or hospital?

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Book-Signings

Unless you’re a celebrity, don’t expect book signings to sell a ton of books for you; look at them as building brand awareness, the true power of a book signing is in its promotion. Get lots of tips for book signings on Writing-World’s blog post.

Catalogs

There are thousands of consumer and business-to-business catalogs that cover every imaginable subject. Find the ones that already have your customer base and convince them about the value of carrying your book. You can do this online or via a major library that has various directories. Catalogs have three great advantages: No book returns, they usually pay promptly and they order frequently and for a long time.

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Local mall

Contact the mall in your area and speak with the person in charge of leasing tables. Ask them how much it costs to lease a space in the mall, as well as the best locations to sell books and the best month, other than December: Easter or Back-to-School might be a good time too.

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E-books & audio-books

Make sure to sell it to e-book vendors all over the internet – not only to Amazon. There is Kobo, Apple, Barnes&Noble, Waterstones, Google, Gardners, Sony, Powell’s etc. If you don’t want to deal with each of them on a direct basis, there is BookBaby, who submits your e-book for a flat fee and you keep all your net-earning royalties.

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FuturePerfectPublishing wrote: ”Non-bookstore retail venues use different selling models. For example, Starbucks sells only one book at a time in its stores, featuring a title for several months. Costco, Walmart and other big box retailers carry bestsellers as well as a selection of lesser known titles. A recent New York Times article on non-reported sales of consumer books sold through such non-traditional outlets grew by more than $260 million.”

“Publishers have many book-selling options today and may continue to migrate away from bookstore retailers – as long as their outdated and onerous returns and payment policies remain in effect.”

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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 or your KDP Select Free Days.

Please check out all previous posts of this blog (there are more than 940 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://bit.ly/VmtVAS 111Publishing @ Google+

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Tagged: audio books, book signings, Bookstores, corporate gifts, Non-traditional book markets, retail outlets, sell books in gift shops, sell your book on your own webpage

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Published on December 03, 2013 05:44

How to Overcome these Contrasts?

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Being creative and on the other hand to manage their publishing and book marketing tasks? How can authors live with these contrasts: Being creative is a gift and can barely be trained, however to learn all about publishing and book marketing is just a question of time and patience and can be done well. Writers often excel at one or the other, but are more than capable of doing both!

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Creative Business People

That’s not a paradox, as book marketing is a very creative endevour. Authors need creative ideas:

to evaluate your competition and potential readers,
to set up their marketing plan,
to create posts and tweets,
to write blog and website content,
to write articles for newspapers and magazines
to take images for their online presence,
to write queries to editors, agents or publishers

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Being an Introvert vs Working with Others

Writers have a profession where they are working alone, writing for hours, deep in their thoughts. And then they have to go out and

be present at book signings,
speak to readers,
network on Social Media
collaborate with editors, designers etc.,
discuss with agents, printers, or e-book formatters

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Authors Can Do Both

Success demands both: A well-written book and a savvy book marketer. Building a daily plan that and adhere to it like the success of your business depends on it, because it does! You can do it all yourself. But you don’t have to. With a little help, you’re free to more easily find your balance that allows you to do what you do best, and do it even better.

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Successful people in every field are always growing. Mostly through reading, independent study, and attending seminars, workshops and conferences. Writers, building their career, have numerous ways to keep learning and growing.

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Making a living from writing needs sometimes to gracefully blend art and commerce. Sharing their writing with others, needs creating in the first place. Adjustments to a writers thinking might be necessary, in order to be able to sell their writing, but is usually well worth it. And it is necessary too, no matter if you self-publish or go with a trade publisher.

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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 or your KDP Select Free Days.

Please check out all previous posts of this blog (there are more than 940 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://bit.ly/VmtVAS 111Publishing @ Google+

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Tagged: Being an Introvert, book marketing tasks, Creative Business People, savvy book marketer, Success demands both, well-written book

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Published on December 01, 2013 20:34

3 Frequently Asked Questions by Writers

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Some author-publishers want to “just write”. Not even write a blog, guest blog, articles for newspapers or God-forbit, “waste time on Social Media”. However, in order to “just write”, and if no money comes in within days or weeks, then you will have to stay at the day job, all week long doing something other than writing. You will only make money by selling books, and the first step in selling a book is to get in contact with potential readers and show that your book exists. For a self-published author, Social Media is the only gateway to a global audience that doesn’t cost money, only your time and a bit effort to social “network”.

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Question #1: I Follow People on Twitter – But They Don’t Follow Back

Did you just click on “Following” – and nothing else? Or did you frequently re-tweet or engage otherwise with them? They are certainly not obliged to follow, it’s voluntarily, but you have to give them a reason, other than just click on following. Think about your appearance or your tweets:

Do you have an appealing avatar (portrait) and introduction, so that people are enticed to follow you?
What are you tweeting? Is it newsworthy, funny, useful? Or are you talking only about your book?

If you go to a party and and just say hello or nod at someone, and continue into the room to get a drink, do you expect people to run after you, trying to invite you into a conversation? Social Media is like a big party. As more interesting you are and as more friendly and social, and as more communicative you are, as more people will want to talk with you.

Replying to someone’s tweet, is a great way to make friends and followers on Twitter. Asking them a question, sharing a success, or otherwise adding value to the conversation will most likely get you a response, and probably a follower.

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Question #2: How Do I Get Followers on Google+

… and also: Why should I be on GooglePlus? It is one of the most important Social Networks for authors – if not THE BEST in terms of your Google Search Engine ranking. Success.com sums it up in an article:

Share good content, people will spread the word, and you’ll get more followers. Add the Google+ badge to your website and blog, help people, make meaningful comments and invite people to join your circles.

Authors can start a main page on GooglePlus and separate sites for each of their books. Google+ allows to create up to 50 pages. Please do read this article by moz.com about Google+ for higher search engine rankings:

How to build your Google+ circles, filled with potential followers, is explained in lots of articles and YouTube videos, just a few links of many:

http://www.wikihow.com/Create-Circles-in-Google%2B

http://websearch.about.com/od/web20/p/Google-Circles.htm

http://www.martinshervington.com/what-are-google-circles/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7vxTKvi3e0#t=11

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Slwgtb803WY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVrV2-dr3FU

For a FREE PDF book, how to use Google+ get the links here:

http://savvybookwriters.wordpress.com/2013/09/01/15-reasons-to-be-on-google/

http://savvybookwriters.wordpress.com/2013/08/30/how-to-make-use-of-google-as-

an-author/

As an author you want to interact with potential readers, reviewers, book bloggers and book clubs – find these people by using the search function on top of your Google+ site.

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Question #3: I Had a Radio/TV Interview – But Nothing Came Out of It …

When I hear this, my first reply is:

What did you do with the interview?
How did you promote this free promotion?
Did you promote your interview that you got on a blog website, podcast, TV show, or radio, before and after the event?

Much like other public appearances, radio interviews are a great way to get attention: AM/FM, satellite, internet, or even Blog Talk Radio, the interviews can be used to gain some positive and popular PR.

There are lots of Possibilities to Promote Your Interview:

Before and after, on Social Media: Promote upcoming interviews – “Looking forward to talking with radio host …at 10 a.m. Wednesday. Love his show!” “Like” the interview show on Facebook,follow the host on Twitter, and look for other ways to cross promote. Get busy tweeting after the interview: “Great conversation with …. on Wednesday! If you missed the show, here’s a link.”
Get a copy of the taped interview

Use the link to show the video on your sales pages, e.g. on your Amazon author page, your Goodreads page (or other book lovers sites) and on Google+, where you can post it as many times as you want in your timeline and on all your pages or communities.
Re-blog your interview on book blogger sites to your own blog, and promote it heavily on Social Media.
Write an article on your own blog about the experience of being interviewed on radio or TV, give fellow authors tips, and promote this blog post.

Last, but not least: Get the next interview booked. Now that you know how it works, try to get as many interviews as possible – which means lots of exposure for your book.

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Read also:

How to Get Radio Interviews

http://www.radiopublicity.net/radiopublicitytips.htm

How to Promote Your Book During your Radio/TV interview

http://emsincorporated.com/promote-product-book-radio-interview/

Preparing for a TV / radio interview

http://www.nrcdv.org/dvam/themes/dvap/PDF/Preparingfor-TV-Radio-Interview.pdf

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Hope these tips help you to successfully promote your book. Let me know about more questions : )

And don’t forget: an interview is not a book sales event, you cannot expect soaring sales after, it is one little step of building your author brand and reputation and to get your name out there.

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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 or your KDP Select Free Days.

Please check out all previous posts of this blog (there are more than 940 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://bit.ly/VmtVAS 111Publishing @ Google+

.

Tagged: author interview on blog talk, follow back, how to built circles on Google+, how to contact radio show hosts, how to get followers on Twitter, radio interview, why should they follow you

http://savvybookwriters.wordpress.com/2013/10/05/interview-with-author-caro-ayre/

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Published on November 30, 2013 08:38

Special Thanksgiving Book Offer: BREATHLESS

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Take advantage of a special Thanksgiving offer:

3 day Kindle Countdown starting, on Thursday 28th November

– Act quickly for a good deal – and a good cause.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DFOT5VI

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A novel about a family struggle.
Mike the father has become obsessed with his silver collection and is ignoring important family issues.
Clare the mother is exhausted from coping without his support. She knows she must let her teenage daughter Hannah who has Cystic Fibrosis, take control of her own health, but is finding it hard to let go.
Edward their son is becoming withdrawn, guilt that he is healthier than his sister and the inability to be help her is overwhelming him.

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The reappearance of Clare’s childhood sweetheart brings the marriage to a breaking point. The big question is, will the family ever be able to restore communication and support each other?

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Author Caro Ayre: “A donation or £1 / $1 is being made to the Cystic Fibrosis Trust for every copy sold. Please help me reach my target of £1,500 to help with research into this genetic disease.”

For more information check out:

www.cysticfibrosis.org.uk

www.cisticfibrosis.com

Visit Caro Ayre and see our interview with her:

http://www.greenhamhall.co.uk/

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Please check out all previous posts of this blog (there are more than 940 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://bit.ly/VmtVAS 111Publishing @ Google+

.

Tagged: Black Friday, BREATHLESS, Caro Ayre, Cystic Fibrosis, Cystic Fibrosis Society, deal, Greenham Hall B&B, Kindle Countdown Deal, Somerset UK, Thanksgiving

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Published on November 28, 2013 19:11

Kindle Countdown Deals – How They Work

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Kindle Countdown Deals are limited time discounts on Kindle eBooks. A note about the pending price increase tells customers the regular price and the promotional price on the book’s detail page, as well as a countdown clock telling them how much time is left at the promotional price. This Amazon feature is more like a sale that gives authors and publishers another way to push through sales of a Kindle exclusive book. They set incremental pricing which will change at decided intervals.

Kindle Countdown Deals is a new KDP Select benefit that allows authors to run limited-time discount promotions on their books, which can help earn more royalties and reach more readers.

Customers can see the regular price and the promotional price on the book’s detail page, as well as a countdown clock telling them how much time is left at the promotional price. You’ll also continue to earn your selected royalty rate on each sale during the promotion.

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See an example of a “Kindle Countdown Deal” here with BREATHLESS by Caro Ayre:

www.amazon.com/B00DFOT5VI

www.amazon.co.uk/B00DFOT5VI

Amazon explains the benefits of Kindle Countdown Deals:

They’re time-based: Not only does this give you more control to decide how long the book is discounted, but the time remaining for the promotion is visible to customers to increase excitement for the price discount.
Customers see the regular price: It’s easy for customers to see the great deal they’re getting, as the regular price is included on the book’s detail page, right beside the promotional price.
Royalty rate is retained at lower prices: You will earn royalties based on your regular royalty rate and the promotional price. As a result, if you are using the 70% royalty option, you’ll earn 70% even if the price is below $2.99.
There’s a dedicated website: Customers can easily browse active; Kindle Countdown Deals at www.amazon.com/kindlecountdowndeals, providing yet another way for books to be discovered.
You can monitor performance in real-time: A new KDP report displays sales and royalties at each price discount side-by-side with pre-promotion performance, so it’s easy to compare.

During each promotional day, your book’s detail page will display a counter announcing the promotion, the current price, the time remaining until the price changes, and the next price. If your book, for example, has a list price of $4.99, and you start a promotion on Monday at 8 A.M. your time, with a starting price of $1.99. You set three price increments to run 24 hours each.

Resources:
http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/big-deal-on-amazon-kindle-countdown-deals-and-amazons-new-kindle-first-service/

https://kdp.amazon.com/help?topicId=A3288N75MH14B8&

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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 or your KDP Select Free Days.

Please check out all previous posts of this blog (there are more than 940 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://bit.ly/VmtVAS 111Publishing @ Google+

.

Tagged: Amazon Kindle, Book Marketing, how do countdown deals work, Kindle Countdown Deals, new KDP Select benefit, promotional price

Book Whole Sale / Distribution in Canada:

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Published on November 27, 2013 20:18

How to Distribute Your Book to Stores

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Distribution of your book to stores is one of the toughest nuts to crack when it comes to author- publishing, compared to how easy it is to get your print book into Amazon, Barnes&Noble or Apple. And then there are discounts, returns and commissions… not to speak of waiting times till your invoice is paid. Book distributors & wholesalers take care of all this – for a price.

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POD print and distribution

For small amounts of print books, say less than 2,000 books, an author is better off to have it “printed on demand”, done by CreateSpace or by Lightning Source, who are also the distributors. The printing might be higher priced, but you can decide on discounts and there will not be any returns from book stores for unsold books, which can be costly. POD produces only after receiving orders.

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Distributors

Let’s assume your book sells like hot cakes and you would like to have it distributed to book stores. So, how to find a book distributor? And should you go with a big, national or a smaller distributor?

An advantage to small distributors (often specialized in certain genres) is that they often know their bookstores better than larger distributors. The orders tend to be smaller but more realistic. Returns with larger distributors to bookstore chains can be very high: 30% returns is expected, but it can be as high as 70%.

Another option is to make an arrangement with a medium-size publisher who already has a distribution deal and a sales team. For a percentage of the sale, they could include your book in their catalog, which goes out with the sales reps to book stores across the country, and their sales team will present your book. Some publishers may want all the attention for their own titles, but some may like the idea: there’s no printing cost for them, for instance. Their catalogs are produced 5-6 months in advance.

Many large US book distributors won’t take you on before you have at least five to ten books in print. They might also want you to have a sales team who will present your books to booksellers, to show that you are willing to move those books. They also prefer a contract for a certain number of years. Another issue with full service distribution is that they take a minimum of 20% commission, but it will often be closer to 30% if you’re a small publisher. Check them out before signing with any book distributor. Talk to their customers (both publishers and bookstores) to verify they would be a recommendable company for you to work with.

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Be aware of these book industry distribution arrangements

Discounts: Bookstores get ($8 when a $20 book sells) or in percent, a 40% discount from the distributor, big box stores often get 45%.
Returns: Bookstores can return books back for credit against future orders, on average, about 30% of their initial sales might be returned. Paperbacks are not “stripped” so they can be shipped out again when another bookstore orders them. However, distributors may charge for warehousing of returns.
Commission: Sales reps work on commission and only gets paid when books “sell through” (sold to the consumer). The distribution company also works on commission, which is one of the reasons they are so picky about taking on non-validated clients: if the books don’t sell through, they lose the money they have spent storing and shipping the books, their commission is usually 25-30% ($5-6 on a $20 book).

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Direct Sales via your website

There is an even more lucrative way to sell your print book and distribute it: through your own website. You keep 100% of your revenue, and you know exactly who bought your books. Valuable data that you can use for promotion of your next book releases. The only “work” you have, is to stuff envelopes and ship your books once or twice a week – or more if you sell a lot. Setting up a PayPal account and an ordering form on your website is pretty easy. Direct selling means that you can make almost three times the amount per book than you can make, compared to a sale through traditional bookstore distributors.

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Book Fairs

Comb the Internet and regional newspapers for Book Fairs. Rent a booth or share one with other writers and have fun to meet readers in person, sign your books, maybe even meet library buyers and book store owners – and keep 100% revenue. Authors could even band together and exhibit at national and international book fairs, such as New York, Edinburgh, Leipzig, Bologna or Frankfurt. If ten or more authors for example share the cost for exhibition, travel and accommodation, it seems to be visible.

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Consignment at Bookstores

Some local independent bookstores will take books on consignment. A 60% to you, 40% to them split might seem a bit unfair to the uninitiated, but it’s the standard in the book trade. If sales are really good, some bookstores will offer to buy your book or you offer it to them which saves on paperwork and hassle. In this case you might offer them 50% discount.

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Fazit:

Small publishers and author-publishers with at least 3 books might be better off with Lightning Source / Ingram and CreateSpace combined – until their book sale numbers are into the several thousands – also due to the print on demand possibilities that both companies offer.

Lightning Source connects you with the world’s largest distribution channel of book wholesalers and retailers. In addition to distributing books through their parent company Ingram Books, they print to order, which means, your book is printed and ready for shipment in 12 hours or less. With over 30,000 wholesalers, retailers and booksellers in over 100 countries your titles will gain the maximum exposure.

Lightning Source / Ingram work with over 28,000 publishers of all sizes around the world. They deliver digital, print, wholesale and distribution services through a single source, and makes it easy for you to reach more customers in more places.

CreateSpace has slightly lower print on demand fees and set up fees per book, but it doesn’t get you into Ingram worldwide distribution. They offer something, called the Expanded Distribution Channel: “the potential to distribute your book to a larger audience through more outlets including: retailers, bookstores, libraries, academic institutions, wholesalers, and distributors.” Well “potential” which means actually nothing! If a bookstore is really willing to order a single book from them, they will deliver…

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Whole Sale and Book Distribution in USA

BCH Fulfillment & Distribution – BCH is also a vendor for Ingram, Baker & Taylor, Amazon and Barnes and Noble. BCH offers 24/7 telephone order taking, an on-line catalog, representation at major trade shows, and more.
Atlas Books - Distributes online, via wholesalers, and commissioned sales reps. AtlasBooks is the distribution and marketing arm of the BookMasters Group which represents small to mid-size publishers.
Midpoint Trade Books – works with small and medium size publishers. No catalogs, so they can take on new titles any time of the year.
National Book Network – Distributes for 85 publishers, they offer Print on Demand, starting at 20 books

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North 49 – trade book wholesaler with an inventory of over 3000 bestselling books from more than 500 publishers from Canada, UK and USA
Librarybound – a wholesaler delivers Canadian books to libraries (fulfillment orders only, no warehousing)

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More resources:

Distributors and Wholesalers, compiled by IBPA, Independent Book Publishers Association

https://www.ibpa-online.org/resources/distributor-wholesalers/#.UWlwW7VO-So

Create Space Vs Lightning Source

http://write2publish.blogspot.ca/2011/02/why-create-space-is-better-than.html

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With more than 30 years experience in both, print and now e-publishing, we can provide you with many more tips, background information and support – additional to the huge amount of promotion you get in our online and off-line seminars. http://www.111Publishing.com/seminars

If you enjoyed this blog post, please feel free to check out all previous posts of this blog (there are more than 940 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, Chime.in, Facebook, Tumblr and StumpleUpon.

Thanks a lot for following:

@111publishing

http://bit.ly/VmtVAS 111Publishing @ Google+

.

Tagged: Book distribution, Book Fairs, book wholesaler, Canadian book wholesaler, CreateSpace, Edinburgh Book Fair, Frankfurt Book Fair 2013, IBPA, Ingram, Lightning Source

http://ebookarchitects.com

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Published on November 27, 2013 03:31

Manuscript Finished? Tips for Pre-Book-Production

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I saw a brilliant poster at a print shop / book designer, which said: “Pick Any Two, I Pick One”

It was a triangle and on each tip had these words: Money – Quality – Time/Speed

Always keep this in mind when you hire freelancer / employees or subcontractors, such as editors, book and cover designers. You get what you pay for… Don’t shop for the cheapest, rather the best partners.

We give you here just an overview whats involved in book production, there are many other tasks that are covered in a great blue print, compiled in Joel Friedlander’s really helpful blog articles

Start with his article: Why Self-Published Books look Self-Published

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The Editing process:

Even though many authors are talented writers and even spectacular at grammar, they should never be the book editor of their own project. You might have logged long hours going through your manuscript with a fine-tooth comb, read, write, delete, re-write, re-read, delete… Then, after carefully reviewing the spelling and grammar and fact-checking the document, you may have even handed the manuscript over to your your former English teacher and every member of your writing group, however none of this is equal to a professional edit.

Contact editors whose sites inspire confidence and ask about their work process, rates, time frames, and any other information you need to know. Request a sample edit from the respondents you like. Samples are often free, and around five 250-word pages.

The editing process is not meant to offend you or detract from all of the perfecting you have already done. Rather, an edit is meant to increase the quality and success of your book, regardless of subject or genre.

Choose an editor on the basis of compatibility and how well the results of his or her editing appeals to you. ask for references, but learning about the editor’s background shows you how long he or she has been in the business. It also gives an idea of how many and which types of clients have actually trusted him or her to edit. There are several steps involved in editing and professional trade publishers often employ special editors for each of these steps:

Line editing
Content Editing
Copy Editing
Proof Reading

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The Book Cover and Title

The correct title can really help to ensure the success of your project. Or not… A great cover will raise the attention of potential readers. And yes, books are judged by their covers.

It must be easy to understand and speak.
It should ideally be less than 32 characters.
You must be able to purchase the exact URL for the title.
Buy your Author name domain also.
The title should clearly demonstrate to readers what they will discover in this eBook.

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Cover Design

Keep the design clean.
Use a focal point to orient the user
Make sure people can read it without glasses.
Make the design match the content.

For Print:

Use the spine properly.
Include a photo of the author.
The largest font size is used on the information that is most important

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Joel Friedlander has a great blog post series about book layout mistakes to avoid. You can learn almost everything about book design by following Joel Friedlander’s blogs and by reading his books, to be found at www.TheBookDesigner.com. Technical information can be obtained at Basic Book Design http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Basic_Book_Design for answers to your basic book design questions.

Pre-Publishing Services:

Editing:

Suzanne Nussay, M.A.,

Editing, Writing and Constulting Services

snussey@sympatico.ca

Lisa Costantino Editing Services

http://www.lisacostantino.com/

Susan Uttendorfsky Adirondack Editing

www.adirondackediting.com

Daniel Kenyon Editing

http://danielkenyon.wordpress.com

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Cover design inspiration:

http://www.1stwebdesigner.com/inspiration/creative-book-cover-story/

http://faceoutbooks.com/ (print book covers)

http://causticcovercritic.blogspot.ca/

http://www.book-by-its-cover.com/

http://bookdesigner.com/53972/book-covers/

http://bookcovers.creativindie.com/cover-samples/

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Book cover designers I can personally recommend:

Anitra Jay http://www.anitrajay.com/page:designs

Laura Wright LaRoche http://www.llpix.com

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e-Book Formatting

Another important step in creating an e-book that should be done by real professionals,

here are two proven e-book designers:

http://e-bookbuilders.com

After going through the pre-production stages – the editorial and design part – your next step will be distribution of your new book, covered in the next blog post. However, while your book is at the pre-publishing service providers, don’t forget to actively market your upcoming book! Prepare your author pages on Goodreads and Amazon, starts Goodreads Giveaways, if you have an ISBN and planned a print book. Get as many pre-orders and reviews as possible, plan and invite all your potential readers to your book launch – virtual and in person.

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With 30 years experience in both, print and now e-publishing, we can provide you with many more tips, background information and support – additional to the huge amount of promotion you get in our online and off-line seminars. http://www.111Publishing.com/seminars

Please check out all previous posts of this blog (there are more than 940 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://bit.ly/VmtVAS 111Publishing @ Google+

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Tagged: blueprint for book production, book designers, book editing, Book Layout, book production, e-Book-Builders, pre-book-production, self-publishing tips, where to find an editor or book cover designer

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Published on November 25, 2013 20:21

All You Need to Know Before Publishing

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Why should authors sell their manuscripts for a pittance to publishing houses, if these publishers are not doing the marketing part? Only celebrities and star-authors, such as Stephen King or Bill Clinton get publicity from their publishers. 95% of all authors have to do the marketing for their books.

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Authors are smart and able to start their own publishing business, REAL publishing, not POD and not Vanity Publishing: Finding and getting quotes or referrals for an editor, a book lay-out company or book designer, cover artist, e-book formatting company and a printer is not difficult, but one has to do a lot of research – as every new entrepreneur has to do. Where to find all these start-up publishing business information:

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Setting up a Business

can be done online – in minutes. Find all the necessary information here:

Canada: http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tx/bsnss/sm/

USA: http://www.sba.gov/content/follow-these-steps-starting-business

UK: https://www.gov.uk/browse/business/setting-up

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Writing your Business Plan

http://savvybookwriters.wordpress.com/2013/11/20/your-success-plan-to-author-publishing/

is the work of a couple of days, once you have done the researching into all aspects of the publishing enterprise.

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Finding distributors / fulfillment company

for your print-version of the book is not a problem, distributors mostly require just three books to be listed as a publishing business, and if authors have not written three books yet, they can band together with other authors to reach this minimum.

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Books available for future publishers

Aaron Shepard has written two books about the topic of book distribution: POD for Profit and Aiming at Amazon, both contain very detailed information for small publishers.

Another great source is Dan Poynter’s Self-Publishing Manual, a classic publishing guide book.

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Learning how to market your book and getting lots of publicity support

http://savvybookwriters.wordpress.com/2013/03/14/10-reasons-to-get-help-boosting-your-books-success/

is offered in a variety of on- and off-line classes by 111Publishing.com/seminars

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How to create a business plan

for your book publishing company was the topic of our former blog post.

http://savvybookwriters.wordpress.com/2013/04/09/how-to-plan-your-publishing-business/

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Business name

Be careful when choosing a name for your book publishing company. Keep the name neutrally and usable in a variety of languages. Avoid your or your books name and survey several professionals for their input. Last but not least do a name check before your spend money on registering your business.

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Start-up financing and crowd funding

for your book publishing business is preferable through your own savings. Try to find the most economical way to start your publishing business. Don’t order any print runs before you have substantial orders, rather go in the beginning with a recommendable POD, such as CreateSpace. In several countries, such as the USA or Germany for example, financing the creation of books has become main stream. Kickstarter, IndiGoGo or STARTNEXT (German) are crowd funding sources, writers can use. More tips on crowd-funding can be found in this blog post.

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ISBN and bar codes

In a former blog post, we explained how to get an International Standard Book Number (ISBN) and bar codes in several countries.

http://savvybookwriters.wordpress.com/2012/01/30/isbn-numbers-and-how-to-get-one/

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How to copyright your books and what’s the benefit can be found in this article

http://savvybookwriters.wordpress.com/2012/01/28/why-should-you-register-the-copyright-of-your-manuscript/

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Most countries require publishers to submit one copy of each book for cataloging in a governmentarchives. In the USA for sample it is done by registering with a Library of Congress number.http://www.loc.gov/publish/

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How to get into the “Books in Print”, a worldwide database and to register your book for FREE! with Bowker was the topic of other blog posts. http://savvybookwriters.wordpress.com/2011/08/31/important-expose-your-book-to-the-world/.

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There is no world or national organization that determines a clear-cut genre or category for each book written. http://savvybookwriters.wordpress.com/2013/01/15/how-to-find-your-best-book-category-genre/

However it is extremely important to choose the right genre (or several) in order for your books ranking, e.g. on Amazon.

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Books you publish, should be available in other countries / languages too! Not always easy to find a literary agent who is specialized in foreign rights, get lists here:

http://savvybookwriters.wordpress.com/2012/10/10/100s-of-links-to-publishers-and-agents/ or in this article: http://savvybookwriters.wordpress.com/2011/04/14/foreign-book-rights/

and how to work with literary agents is covered in several previous blog posts. http://savvybookwriters.wordpress.com/2011/04/12/how-agents-work-how-to-work-with-agents/

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A great article, how to develop a publication timeline can be found in this article. http://www.wizardofebooks.com/2009/09/10/your-self-publishing-timeline/

Check out a variety of online retailers to “put your eggs in many baskets”.

http://savvybookwriters.wordpress.com/2012/11/17/put-your-eggs-in-more-than-one-basket/

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Setting up a website for your book publishing company, establish good practices in Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

http://savvybookwriters.wordpress.com/2011/07/03/boost-your-web-site-search-engine-optimization/

and how to get relevant links are the topic of several former blog posts.

http://savvybookwriters.wordpress.com/2011/10/24/66-tips-to-get-relevant-web-links/

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More resources and advice are the topics of blog articles for the next days, when we explain:

Pricing your books and standard book industry discounts
Advice and useful links for book layout, printing etc.
Financial management / accounting for book publishers
Finding freelancers for editing, design, proofreading, webdesign etc.
Marketing strategies for book publishing companies
professional associations for book publishers
educational programs in book publishing
Information about book awards and contests

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With 30 year experience in both, print and now e-publishing, we can provide you with many more tips, background information and support for setting up your own publishing enterprise – additional to the huge amount of promotion you get in our online and off-line seminars. http://www.111Publishing.com/seminars

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Please check out all previous posts of this blog (there are more than 940 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://bit.ly/VmtVAS 111Publishing @ Google+

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