Doris-Maria Heilmann's Blog, page 82

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

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Tagged: Author Fiza Pathan, CLASSICS Why We Should Encourage Children to Read Them, Fiza Pathan's latest book, Fiza's Poems, InsaneOwl.com, S.O.S. Animals, Treasury of Bizarre Christmas Stories

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Published on June 25, 2013 18:42

Do You Know These Writing / Publishing Resources?

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Are you sometimes scrambling for phrase ideas or marketing tips, not sure, if your query is proper written or do you want to find out where the next writing contest takes place? All these information and more can be found in the following blogs and websites:

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http://www.phrases.org.uk/

|The Phrase Thesaurus is a writers’ resource that stimulates ideas for headlines, copy, song lyrics, fiction writing etc. Journalists, advertising copywriters, songwriters, or anyone interested in creative writing in English, can benefit from this ideas generator. Also very interesting: Famous last words of famous people.

http://www.abookinside.blogspot.com

Amazing and useful blog where author Carol Denbow shares excellent writing, publishing and marketing tips. She gives lots of valuable info in each post – tips and expert advice, plus interviews with bestseller authors.

http://www.bookwritinghelp.com/

Chock-full of tips for aspiring writers and their publishing path.

Earma Brown is the author of 12 books including “eBook It! How to Profit from Your Passion with Ebooks & More” and “Article Marketing Speedway”: “How to put your article marketing in the fast lane to sales” as well as other inspirational non-fiction titles.

http://www.booksandtales.com/pod/index.php

This comparison chart of print-on-demand provider shows you the basics about each company. Clea Saal who runs the website also wrote a book about the process of finding a reputable POD company, the title: “The Clearly Confusing World of Self-publishing & POD.”

http://www.carolkluz.homestead.com/index1.html

Lots and lots of writers resources at the click of a button. No explanations – go directly to the companies or associations. Another site for great links is: http://resourcehelp.com/qserwrit.htm

http://www.easywaytowrite.com/articles.htm

“Becoming a Better Writer: A 10-Step Guide” is a perfect place to start browsing. The author has been helping writers and artists improve and further their careers for ten years. Fiction – What to Leave Out!, I Can’t Put It Down – How to Write Compelling Fiction, Don’t Think, Write! are some of the best blogs. Do sign up for the newsletter.

http://www.cbaybooks.blogspot.com/

Professional, valuable tips how to create a winning query. The author describes herself as: Editor/Publisher, Location Texas, United States and overworked, underpaid, with a teething tantrum-throwing toddler. What I Do: Talk about writing, submitting, publishing, and marketing children’s books and teen books.

http://www.newpagesblog.blogspot.com

Find the latest writing contests for all genres.This invaluable free blog provides news, information and guides to literary magazines, alternative media and more. Also: The best online guide to independent & university book publishers.

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Enjoy browsing through these websites and blogs. But don’t get yourself lost in it… Your book waits to be finished! And bookmark http://savvybookwriters.wordpress.com to get even more news and info for the writers and publishers, plus tons of book marketing tips.

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If you would like to get help in all things publishing, have your book heavily promoted and learn how to navigate social media sites: We offer all this and more for only a “token” of $1 / day for 3 months. Learn more about this individual book marketing help: http://www.111Publishing.com/ Once you are on this website, click on Seminar to register.

.

Please feel free to check out all previous posts of this blog (there are 785 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 to StumpleUpon.

Thanks a lot for following:

@111publishing

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

.

Tagged: http://resourcehelp.com/qserwrit.htm, http://www.booksandtales.com/pod/index.php, http://www.bookwritinghelp.com, http://www.easywaytowrite.com/articles.htm, http://www.newpagesblog.blogspot.com, http://www.phrases.org.uk, interviews with bestseller authors, marketing tips, phrase ideas, query to publisher

http://www.firstgiving.com/

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Published on June 25, 2013 03:36

Kickstarter – a Way to Finance Your Book?

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Photo Petr Kratochvil

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When I discovered KickStarter on the Internet and I became one of the people who funded a community garden / small park to transform an ugly, abandoned parcel of land in a hideous downtown area into a blooming paradise, I was hooked by the idea.

Other projects that I funded followed. Then I saw that a couple of writers use KickStarter to fund their book publishing projects. Maybe you read about the fantastic success of “The Order of the Stick” and its Reprint Drive, a comics project by Rich Burlew. He managed to raise $1,254,120 (his initial goal was only $57,750).

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Paul Jackson Art

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Or a current projects such as the coffee table book “The Wandering Watercolorist“, by Paul and Marla Jackson from Columbia, MO. which is short of its $25,000 goal – they need to raise another $4,400 till the end of the week… Kickstarter kicks only in when 100% of the amount is raised. Otherwise card payments from the funders will not be processed.

However, the famous KickStarter is not the only “Crowdfunding Community” on the Internet, many other have been founded in the last years – is it an answer on a small scale to Wall Street?

http://rockethub.org

http://www.indiegogo.com

https://www.buzzbnk.org/

http://www.causevox.com/

Crowdfunding became popular in other countries too:

Germanys answer to Kickstarter and IndieGoGo is STARTNEXT, a non-for-profit organization. Their Crowdfunding turns people into fans and supporters. Because their joy and their help allows the creation of projects that do not yet exist – but should be! Read more about STARTNEXT on our Publishing blog in German language.

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Crowdfunding pulls together a community over the Internet to fund a project, business or cause. Rules differ from site to site. Generally an idea is pitched, a fundraising goal and a deadline are set for raising funds. Potential patrons can review the pitches and decide if there are any they’d like to support. They might be rewarded if the project comes to fruition, but will not own any part of the business or project.

Start with a pitch to launch your own project, describe your project, specify what rewards patrons will receive if the fundraising is successful, and create a funding goal and a timeline. Pledges are made with a credit card, however, the patron’s credit card won’t be charged until the project is successfully funded. If you don’t reach your funding goal by the deadline, no money changes hands.

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Here are just some of many tips to help you secure funding:

choose the right crowdfunding site
know your target audience & leverage your social networks
plan ahead and prepare email blasts
create a compelling name, description, image and video to stand out

“The Order of the Stick” success has shown that crowdfunding can provide funding for authors at a level, equal to or higher than traditional publishers’ advances. Right now is an exciting time to be an entrepreneurial author. Authors who went through this crowdfunding process have almost a build-in readership / book customers due to the heavy promoting for the campaign. People who funded a book, will buy it for sure!

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If you would like to get help in all things publishing, have your book heavily promoted and learn how to navigate social media sites: We offer all this and more for only a “token” of $1 / day for 3 months. Learn more about this individual book marketing help: http://www.111Publishing.com/

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Once you are on this website, click on Seminar to register.

Please feel free to check out all previous posts of this blog (there are 785 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 to StumpleUpon.

Thanks a lot for following:

@111publishing

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

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Tagged: comics project, Crowdfunding, Crowdsourcing, fund a project a business or cause, http://rockethub.org, http://www.causevox.com, http://www.firstgiving.com, http://www.indiegogo.com, https://www.buzzbnk.org, Reprint Drive, Rich Burlew, The Order of the Stick, www.kickstarter.com

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Published on June 23, 2013 20:56

Top 10 List of Advice For Aspiring Writers

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Rebellious Heart by Jody Hedlund

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Author Jody Hedlund wrote a fantastic article for aspiring writers: “Beginning novelists often struggle to know how to start a writing career and end up feeling overwhelmed. There are some basic steps that can make the process more successful.”

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Here’s Jody’s top advice to beginners:

1. With the first book, let your creativity have free reign.

2. Finish a book.

3. Study basic fiction-writing techniques.

4. Then write a couple more books.

5. Find a critique partner/group.

6. Enter a writing contest.

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Read her full article on Writespassage.blogspot.ca where she explains the reasons behind her advice and her own experiences.

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Jody Hedlund’s conclusion: “We never “make it.” We’re never finished learning and growing. We should never stop with one book, while we wait to hear from agents and publishers. We need to write the next and challenge ourselves to make it better than the last.”

Have a close look at her blog and her website JodyHedlund.com, one of the best author websites out there. Very professionally created and an example for writers how to present themselves (and their books) to readers and the Media.

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If you would like to get help in all things publishing, have your book heavily promoted and learn how to navigate social media sites: We offer all this and more for only a “token” of $1 / day for 3 months. Learn more about this individual book marketing help: http://www.111Publishing.com/

.

Once you are on this website, click on Seminar to register.

Please feel free to check out all previous posts of this blog (there are 785 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 to StumpleUpon.

Thanks a lot for following:

@111publishing

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

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Tagged: Jody Hedlund, JodyHedlund.com, never stop with one book, tips for writers, Top 10 List of Advice For Aspiring Writers, write more books, writing tips

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Published on June 22, 2013 22:01

17 Smart Ways to Market Your Blog

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No matter if you are blogging just for fun or as a content-marketing tool for your books, for example. Your achievement and your success will be measured by the amount of readers / followers. A mistake that many people make, is that they write new blog posts and expect that it will be magically promoted on social media right away or gain thousands of visitors on its own. This may be true for established web sites with a huge readership but for smaller web sites or new blogs it is important to spread the word.

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Use some or all of these possibilities to promote your blog – and at the same time your books:

Make it easy for readers to subscribe to your blog.

They can either use the “follow” icon if you have a WordPress blog – or if your blog is included in your website you can install an opt-in window to encourage your readers to subscribe to your email newsletter. Every time you write a new article, send them an email with an excerpt that requires them to click on the link to read the rest. Some professional email providers, such as MailChimp allow you to do this for free if you have less than 2,000 subscribers.

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Post your article on social media at the most effective time

Use tools (e.g. Hootsuite, Tweroid, Sprout Social and Buffer) to select the time when most users are online at every social media site you want to share your article on. Also tweet or post at these times about your new blog post.

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Optimize your blog article for search engines

Keywords, lots of (inbound) links, and most of all, valuable content are important for Search Engine Optimization promotion to get a better ranking.

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Submit article to PDF submitting sites

With your newest article, create a pdf version of it and submit it to top pdf-submitting websites, such as Scribd, Yudu or Calameo. Here is a list of PDF sharing sites:

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Embrace Social Media

Add as many relevant users to your friend’s / followers list so that they can add you back. Engage on at least these social media sites, your followers will help to spread the word or re-tweet your blogs – and you can connect these social media sites to minimize “work”:

Twitter
Google+
Goodreads
Pinterest
StumbleUpon
Facebook
Scoop.It
Tumblr
LinkedIn

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Offer guest posting

One of the best promotion methods you can do, is to guest post. Write your best article and contribute to a top blog within or close to your readers interest.

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Use as many images as possible on Pinterest

Create a large number of boards on your Pinterest profile and pin the best images from your blog post, that will contain the links to your published articles. Connect with others on Pinterest, share their content, and you will be invited to join a group board where you can post your links to new articles on the blog.

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Don’t under-estimate Flickr

Transfer several photos that relate to your blog post to Flickr and add up to 75 tags / keywords to each of them, certainly including your blog posts title.

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Signatures

Promote your newest article in the signature of every post you create on forums or communities, at least 5 times a day for effective promotion.

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SlideShare

Create a well-designed slideshow based on the topic of you newest, published article and link to it in the description and in the slideshow.

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Submit your post to RSS directories

Submit your Blog’s RSS feed to the top RSS directories and see your published article published on other blogs, automatically. TopRankBlog.com has a list of 60-80 RSS Blog Directories to list your blog for free.

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Try “Long-Tail Keywords”

SEO ranking has become tougher but ranking for long-tail keywords or tags (sentences that would be used to find (your) article, which is a little easier due to less competition.

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Top news sites

In certain niches, find “news-submitting” sites within the niche and submit your newest link to them.

Mashable.com, Google.com, Bing.com for example.

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Email signatures

Create an email signature using your blogs address, and for every email you send, there will be a link back to your newest, published article.

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Comment on YouTube videos

Choose videos that talk about the same topic as your newest article does and comment with a link back to your blog post.

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Host a contest

Create contest where your participants have to share your article to their social networks or in any other way that helps promote it.

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Create Squidoo lenses

Many people like to read Squidoo.com lenses or Hubpages.com, which is a perfect opportunity for you to promote your article to them in a lens that links back to your newest article.

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Every time you publish new blog content, it’s a great opportunity to reach out and inform your existing audience but also gain new readers, followers or customers. What about you? How are you promoting your blog?

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If you would like to get help in all things publishing, have your book heavily promoted and learn how to navigate social media sites: We offer all this and more for only a “token” of $1 / day for 3 months. Learn more about this individual book marketing help: http://www.111Publishing.com/

Once you are on this website, click on Seminar to register.

Please feel free to check out all previous posts of this blog (there are 785 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 to StumpleUpon.

Thanks a lot for following:

@111publishing

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

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Tagged: comment on YouTube, Hubpages.com, Offer guest posting, Optimize your blog article for search engines, PDF submitting sites, slide share, Squidoo.com lenses

http://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/

http://publications.gc.ca/site/eng/ccl/aboutCopyright.html

http://www.stroppyauthor.com/2010/07/how-to-read-publishing-contract-part-15.html

http://savvybookwriters.wordpress.com/2013/04/28/how-to-sell-foreign-book-rights/

http://savvybookwriters.wordpress.com/2012/03/16/part-2-great-opportunity-for-authors-foreign-right-sales/

http://www.sfwa.org/for-authors/writer-beware/

http://www.writing-world.com/links/rights.html

http://www.cipo.gc.ca

http://www.writersunion.ca

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Published on June 21, 2013 21:00

Are You Sure You Know Your Rights As Author?

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Smart Racoon

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If you are serious about being a writer, you need to know a bit about the business. Let’s start with your rights as an author and how to read a publishing contract, in case you are not an author-publisher, keeping ALL your rights.

Anne Rooney summed it nicely up: “Publishing is a business and no matter how friendly and reassuring your editor, they want to make as much money out of the deal as they can. If “it’s just the standard contract” you say that’s fine as a starting point, but now you are going to make it suitable to you and your book. If they say “no one has ever objected before” that means either they are lying or no one ever has read the contract properly and taken a professional approach.”

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As an author you own the copyright, and you own all the rights to your work. You can sell – or give away these rights or use in several ways:

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First Serial Rights

They can be print or electronic and mean you are selling a publisher the right to publish your article once for the first time. In the case of print rights you are free to immediately sell the piece to an e-magazine or e-zine before print publication and, after the print magazine containing your article hits the newsstand, you are free to sell it again as a reprint to other print markets.

First Serial Rights Electronic

However, first serial electronic rights are different – for sample e-magazines or e-zines buy first rights for an exclusive time period, usually one year (often for the laughable amount of $5 or $10), and at the same time, ask for non-exclusive rights after that. While you can immediately sell the same piece to a print market as a “first print right,” you cannot even post the article on your own website until the year is up. After that you are free to sell the article to other electronic markets as a reprint and post it yourself online everywhere you want.

North American first serial rights

Most Canadian and US freelance authors sell North American first serial rights, reserving the right to sell in other world markets (e.g. Great Britain, Australia, Asia). Specify what type of rights you are selling: First North American Electronic Rights Only.

Second Serial Rights

These are reprint rights and apply to print and electronic markets. Never sell reprint rights, keep them at all costs. Even you will earn less money for each reprint, you can sell your work over and over again.

Subsidiary Rights

Other rights that authors and freelancers hold are subsidiary rights, including, but not limited to movie rights, dramatic, TV and radio rights, audio and other media rights.

Digital Rights

However, don’t give up or sell your electronic rights to a traditional book publisher without receiving a large lump sum or at least 50% royalty from the retail price. Most publishing houses are not really experts in e-publishing and often don’t use the electronic rights to your book. But it would prevent you from e-publishing your own work or selling it to a high-royalty-paying e-publisher.

All Rights

In this case the author gives up all future income from the article or book and only retains the copyright. Giving up all your rights should be only considered if a tremendous sum is paid for.

Copyright Protection in the USA and Canada

Copyright protection in Canada is automatic upon the creation of a given work, regardless of the medium of its creation, and it lasts until fifty years after the creator’s death – in the USA seventy years.

Before You Sign Any Contracts:

Always first contact your national authors’ or writers’ associations for further information and get legal advice from a lawyer who is specialized in copyright. This can save you ten thousands of dollars.

Sources:

If you would like to get help in all things publishing, have your book heavily promoted and learn how to navigate social media sites: We offer all this and more for only a “token” of $1 / day for 3 months. Learn more about this individual book marketing help: http://www.111Publishing.com

Please feel free to check out all previous posts of this blog (there are 785 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 to StumpleUpon.

Thanks a lot for following:

@111publishing

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

.

Tagged: Book Contracts, digital rights, foreign rights, North American first serial rights, Second serial rights

Million Dollar Question: How to Get Book Reviews?

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Published on June 20, 2013 18:21

6 Things to Avoid When Pitching to Book Reviewers

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First of all: Let’s keep in mind that almost all reviewers are volunteers. They gladly write reviews because they enjoy providing a service to fellow consumers, and to support good writers. They love to read good books and are passionate about evaluating books. They spend their valuable time to write a review for YOU. Some are published authors themselves, working on their own writing projects – often on top of working full-time jobs, being parents, pet-owners and on top of it all are running a household – which means they are very busy!

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Here are some tips that will help you not to waste the reviewers (and your) time and hopefully get a review of your book:

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Read the submission guidelines!

Follow their directions carefully. Don’t give reviewers a reason to disqualify your book right off the bat. Not everyone reads e-books. Often reviewers prefer hard copies of the book. Having print copies is not only important for reviewers, but also for your book launch or book signings and to sell them to people who prefer print instead of e-books.

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Don’t put time pressure on reviewers.

See the introduction above! Book reviewers love to read and if they have a bit of time, they will grab the next book and indulge in it. Please don’t try to push them to read your book ahead of the pile of those who wait much longer in sequence. They are doing you, a total stranger an (unpaid) favor and don’t want to be pressured and annoyed. The sheer volume of review requests that reviewers receive can be staggering.

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Research the reviewer’s interests.

Don’t pitch romance to a children’s book reviewer. Don’t pitch a self-help book to a mystery reviewer. Investigate at least 20-30 books reviewed on Amazon or the reviewer’s blog to find their preferred genres and read the reviewer’s biography, in order to learn about the kind of books he/she likes and reviews.

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No mass mailings please!

Don’t pitch via a DM (direct message) or tweet or mass email that reads “Hello, I’m looking for someone to review my book. You can read about it on my website at …. Thanks!” When the reviewer checks the writer’s Twitter timeline, they will find out that you just pitched dozens of reviewers…. Not only is it unprofessional but it will not get you into a reputable reviewer’s book list. Pitch professional via customized email, just like you would pitch an agent, editor or publisher.

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Don’t address your query “Dear Reviewer”.

Would you write to an editor or publisher “Dear Publisher”? Be polite an use the reviewer’s name…and please: spell it right! Nothing ticks off more than to receive a letter with your name wrongly spelled.

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Don’t make reviewers buy your book.

They “work” for free for you, read and then write about your work. Most important: reviewers help you to sell more of your books and climb up the rankings on Amazon, the least they can expect, is that you provide them with your manuscript. If a reviewer states in their guidelines, to read print books only, don’t offer the digital version and suggest that they print it out for reading. There are digital printers (e.g. Espresso Book Machines) who will do this job for you and even ship it to the reviewer – in case you have only an e-book version of your novel.

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No attachments please.

Don’t send an attachment of your book with your introductory email. Most reviewers won’t open any attachments from people they don’t know.

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Read more tips on how to get book reviews:

Most sites publishing reviews have a procedure for receiving requests. Abide by the blogger’s requirements and show respect for the reviewers time.
Find a way to convert the book into the format, most convenient for the reviewer.
Send an email with a query first. You are competing with other books so be professional. Don’t be pushy as reviewers are doing you a favor, reading your book.
Send customized requests to your prospective reviewers: A reviewer receiving a request that looks like mass mailing has no incentive to review your book.
You certainly have to offer a free copy of the book, reviewers will not fork out the money to buy your book, and then invest time in reading and reviewing it.
Not all books are for all people. The reviewers opinion is required and that includes the risk that the review will be scathing, if that is the reviewer’s opinion.

Be courteous, professional, thank them for their review and reciprocate the favor, making sure you credit the reviewer and provide them with publicity in return for their book review. Write more reviews and you will get more reviews of your own book! So, when did you write your last book review?

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Read more about how to get book reviews:

Tips to Get National Media Book Reviews

How to Get Book Reviews – Lots of the

Bestsellers with More Than 150 1-Star Reviews

Need Book Reviews?! Part 2

Are Book Reviews really THAT important?

Review Tip: Send a Query to Los Angeles Literary Reviews

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If you would like to get help in all things publishing, have your book heavily promoted and learn how to navigate social media sites: We offer all this and more for only a “token” of $1 / day for 3 months. Learn more about this individual book marketing help: http://www.111Publishing.com/seminar

Please feel free to check out all previous posts of this blog (there are 780+ 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 to StumpleUpon.

Thanks a lot for following:

@111publishing

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

.

Tagged: book reviews, ForeWord Review, how to find book reviewers, Kirkus Review, Library Journal, Los Angeles Review, NY Times Review

Million Dollar Question: How to Get Book Reviews?

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Published on June 20, 2013 16:56

5 Things to Avoid When Pitching to Book Reviewers

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First of all: Let’s keep in mind that most reviewers are volunteers. They do it because they enjoy providing a service to fellow consumers, and to support good writers …or they love to read good books and are just passionate about evaluating books. They spend their valuable time to write a review for YOU. Some are published authors, working on our own writing projects – often on top of working full-time jobs, being parents, pet-owners and running a household – which means they are very busy!

Here are some tips that will help you not to waste the reviewers (and your) time and hopefully secure a review of your book:

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Research the reviewer’s interests

Don’t pitch romance to a children’s book reviewer. Don’t pitch a sports book to a mystery reviewer. Investigate the last dozen books reviewed on Amazon or the reviewer’s blog to find their preferred genres and read the reviewer’s bio. It will likely tell you exactly the kind of books he/she reviews.

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No mass mailing

Don’t pitch via a blanket Tweet or mass email that says “Hello, I’m looking for someone to review my book. You can read about it on my website at …. Thanks!” When the reviewer checks the writer’s Twitter feed, they will realize, you just pitched a dozen or so others…. Not only is it unprofessional but it will NOT garner a reputable reviewer’s notice. Pitch professional via email just like you would pitch an agent or editor.

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Don’t address your email “Dear Reviewer”.

Would you query an agent “Dear Agent”? Use the reviewer’s name…and please, spell it right!

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Don’t lure reviewers

Don’t try to lure reviewers into “biting” by pitching a print book, CD, physical deck or other product then, when they agree, offer digital versions. Give the reviewer the option of requesting the e-book, PDF or downloading the audio book instead…but don’t bait and switch.

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No attachments please

Don’t send an attachment of your book in your introductory email. Most reviewers won’t open any attachments from people they don’t know.

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Here’s an example of a great email pitch from an author to a reviewer:

Dear Ms. …

I found your name on the list of Amazon Reviewers and thought, given your interests in travelogues, you might be interested in a trip-around-the-world novel, taking place in three continents, that I have written. The title is “The Final Cartwheel”

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B009Z5ELaFA

If you think you might be interested in reading my book and posting an honest review of it on Amazon, I would gladly send you a complimentary copy. I’m happy to send you a pdf copy for Kindle, or, if you’d prefer, a paperback if you provide me with your mailing address. There is no obligation, of course.

Thanks in advance for answer!

……. ……………

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Read more about book reviews:

Tips to Get National Media Book Reviews

How to Get Book Reviews – Lots of the

Bestsellers with More Than 150 1-Star Reviews

Need Book Reviews?! Part 2

Are Book Reviews really THAT important?

Review Tip: Send a Query to Los Angeles Literary Reviews

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<><><><><>

.

If you would like to get help in all things publishing, have your book heavily promoted and learn how to navigate social media sites: We offer all this and more for only a “token” of $1 / day for 3 months. Learn more about this individual book marketing help:

http://www.111Publishing.com/seminar

Please feel free to check out all previous posts of this blog (there are 780+ 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 to StumpleUpon.

Thanks a lot for following:

@111publishing

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Published on June 19, 2013 20:08

6 Essential Steps for Self-Publishers

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You worked very hard – maybe for years – to write this magnificent book and now you want to publish it, always in the hope to become a bestseller author. Take your time now and do it the professional way, like a traditional publisher. There are several important steps to go, no matter if you create an e-book or a traditional print book.

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1. Let it edit, edit and edit some more – by professionals.

2. Find a superb title for your book.

3. Create a brilliant cover image.

4. Write a splendid description for your back cover including blurbs.

5. Hire a professional book designer (or formating service for your e-book)

6. Get lots of reviewers

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1. Editing

If you ignore all other advice’s, don’t overlook this one: Hire professional copy AND content editors. Bad editing immediately mark you as an amateur and your book will not be taken seriously.

What you can do yourself before handing them your manuscript, is letting it run through a spell check and through a grammar program, such as Grammarly.com. But then leave it to professionals to correct your spelling, grammar and punctuation, to make the writing consistent, which is critical to readers (and reviewers). A content editor will give you feedback beyond writing mechanics that will help you bring the best out of your story.

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2. Title

Find a title that matches the content of your book. Titles create expectations. Be sure your readers won’t be disappointed when they start reading your book. Have a look at this funny blog/book with it’s amazing new titles for books: Better Book Titles.

But seriously, this is the one you should use to find a good title:

Read also these tips on Joel Friedlander’s blog:

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3. Cover Design

Visit bookstores, your library, or go to the internet and research as many book cover designs as possible. You learn as much from badly designed books as from beautifully designed books.

Avoid centering all the text on your cover or title page, this looks pretty unprofessional. Right or left aligning creates much cleaner lines. Never use more than three different fonts on your cover, to not confuse your reader – this includes bold, italic or underline variations.

View your cover always in stamp-size image – this is the size it will appear on website catalogs. Use bold or complementary colors, but NEVER use a white or a very light background as background colors on online retail sites are almost always white. And white on white… you get it. Use light font on dark background for dramatic effects (novels, spiritual, etc.) and dark on light for easy readability (self-help, how-to, business books).

And don’t forget to design spine (also called dust rag) while you’re at it. On bookstore shelves your potential customers only see this half-inch of your book before they pull it out to have a closer look at your book.

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4. Book Description and Blurbs

Potential readers shopping for books follow an age-old browsing routine. They check out the title, then flip the book over and look at the top of the back cover for a description of what’s inside and also for blurbs (pre-publishing reviews). That’s why it is important to write a crisp, enticing summary for your back cover and to have blurbs from professionals in your field or other writers in your genre. But what to do if you don’t know any?

These days, most authors have websites and contact forms so you can get in touch. If you enjoyed their work, consider sending them a short note to let them know. It does not only make their day, but it can help them sell more books, if you allow them to use your words in their “praise” section. When your manuscript is finished ask them to return your favor. Or if you have another author mentioned in your book, ask him or her to write a short blurb for your work.

Hopefully you have been smart and started marketing and networking long before you finished your book. Now you have enough contacts made who can be helpful with blurbs and reviews.

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5. Book Design

Reading e-books is sometimes very irritating. There have often formatting problems and line breaks, or odd symbols appear instead of letters, which interrupt the pure pleasure of reading seamlessly. It is sometimes so annoying for readers that they ask Amazon to refund them – and they will get their money back, which means you as an author loose out as well.

The same is true for print book publishers. As a self-publishing author, you need a layout artist who creates a beautiful and properly designed interior for your book. See what’s involved in book layout:

And the worst 5 mistakes in interior book lay-out here:

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6. Reviews

A book review is both a description and an evaluation of a book. Try to get as many blurbs and reviews before your book is even published. You don’t need only 5-star reviews, book reviews are very subjective. But you need lots of reviews. Try to get some of professional reviewers at newspapers and magazines too, to have some literary criticism in which your book is analyzed based on content, style, and merit.(hopefully) rather than on the basis of personal taste…

Never trust family and friends to give accurate feedback about your book. Family and friends don’t want to hurt your feelings; readers and reviewers generally are not as kind.

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Using these 6 essential steps in self-publishing will help you to present a professional book to your readers. A book that will command respect and shows you not only as a brilliant author but also as a professional publisher.

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If you would like to get help in all things publishing, have your book heavily promoted and learn how to navigate social media sites: We offer all this and more for only a “token” of $1 / day for 3 months. Learn more about this individual book marketing help: http://www.111Publishing.com/seminar

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@111publishing

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

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