Cyndy Aleo's Blog - Posts Tagged "how-tos"

subtitled: YOU CAN DO THIS!

So in the interest of sharing information (and selling my book), I thought I’d do a little post or eleventy about what I did and how I did it. (And, you know, convince you to buy my book.)

First up: cover design.

I’m not going to lie to you; I really, really, really wanted a professionally done cover. I have a professional photographer’s work bookmarked, as well as cover artists I’d kill to employ.

However, the bank account! She is empty!

So I had to punt. Good news is YOU CAN DO THIS.

1. For starters: finding low- or no-cost artwork.

This is a lot easier than you’d think. Places like Flickr and Wikicommons have work licensed under Creative Commons licensing. You want CC by 2.0, which is the attribution license that allows work to be used for commercial purposes and allows you to alter the work so long as you give the artist credit.

This takes TIME. I’ll be honest; a search on Flickr for “blonde” netted — no exaggeration — hundreds of pictures of some woman posing in more leather than any one human should possibly own.

Most importantly, don’t steal. Ganking off DeviantArt or someone’s web site is NOT OKAY. And be sure to give that credit to the artist. They’re kind enough to let you use their stuff; the least you can do is put their information in your front matter.

2. Once you find something, KEEP IT SIMPLE.

Unless you are a professional designer, less is MORE. You can’t screw up or over-do simple. I picked a single image tha wasn’t busy and really didn’t have much in the background. (read: it was a solid background). Use NO MORE than two fonts and try to keep them complementary. Keep the color scheme simple.

3. Make good friends.

I’m going to probably have this tip in everything I post on this subject. You cannot underestimate the value of having friends who are talented, but best of all, DO NOT BLOW SUNSHINE UP YOUR ASS. That’s crucial. I did a mock-up of my cover, sent it to some friends and got back “It’s okay, but looks amateur. Let me fix that for you.”

Friends who own Photoshop or Illustrator or even know their way around GIMP are PRICELESS. If you don’t know someone, you might be able to barter services to find help.

(I'd be lying if I said I wasn't tempted to call it Part Deux)

subtitled: YOU CAN DO THIS! (It’s just going to take a little work.)

Okay, so yesterday I talked about how to do a cover when you’re broke. Today we are talking editing.

First, I’m going to say something not everyone is going to agree with: EVERYONE NEEDS AN EDITOR.

Sure, I’m a freelance editor, so I literally get paid to say that, but I believe it as well. I mean, I AM an editor and I still wouldn’t rely on myself to edit my stuff.

Here’s the thing: You can catch a lot of things if you are careful and skilled. What you can’t do (ever) is view your work objectively. We all go through those moments of “OMG, this is amazing” and then “OMG, I can’t write and this sucks” but the thing is, we’re emotionally connected to our words either way.

That’s where having someone come in and look at your stuff is KEY.

I know what you are saying: Editors are expensive. Yes. They are. My rates are at the low end of the scale, and I still wouldn’t be able to afford myself. You can, however, potentially skimp on this IF YOU DO THE WORK.

By work, I don’t mean run spellcheck and grammar check and call it a day. I mean, put a great team together for yourself. You need a group of crit partners/betas who are going to be bluntly honest with you. If you send out your MS to someone, and that person says “I love it! I wouldn’t change a thing”? You need to find someone new.

This is HARD and it takes a lot of time. You have to find people and be willing to do the same for them and you also have to find the right people and develop a skin thick enough to not take offense when someone says “This part sucks and you need to rewrite it.”

There’s no room for snowflakes here, and it’s not a fast process. I mean, let’s face it: You’ll note my acknowledgments contain some people who have some pretty popular books. That means they are busy people. And lots of times, they don’t have time to read my stuff, so it also helps to:

HAVE A LARGE ENOUGH TEAM.

I actually use different betas for different stuff. Some, like Eden Barber, do everything. (Also, if you are lucky enough to have an Eden Barber, you should reward them with things like rotisserie chickens, because she copy edited for me and is SUPER SMART. I mean, she can READ IPA pronunciations. Without looking things up)

The key is to be open. Be willing to barter. Be willing to accept criticism GLADLY and then have a discussion about which things you agree with and which you really don’t. But definitely don’t write in a vacuum. And try to hook up with writers who are as good or better than you are, but also try to help others who might not have been writing as long.

Also, here’s my uncomfortable standard shill. Buy my book, won’t you? Or at least download the sample and see if you might like me? I can always use more crit. I can take it. I went to CATHOLIC SCHOOL.

In part one, we talked cover, and in part two we discussed editing.

Now we have a crucial decision to make. You wrote a book, and it’s all ready to go with a great cover and fantastic text, but where — and how — should you publish it.

I originally started out this post trying to corral all my information gathering into a neat little place, but there’s a great post from David Carnoy over at Cnet that covers a lot of the basics (and a link to a companion post about non-ebook publishing).

Let me cut to the chase and tell you what I did and why.

Amazon, like it or not, currently owns the lion’s share of the ebook market. No, not everyone has a Kindle, but just about everyone can download the Kindle app to a tablet or laptop/desktop. Now add in the Kindle Direct Program. No, not everyone loves it, but here are the bonuses:

70% of the price you set for your ebook goes INTO YOUR POCKET so long as the minimum price you set is $2.99 or higher. (Keep in mind, we are broke here, so this is A Big Deal.)

If Prime members borrow your book as their free book for the month? You will get some money for that. YOU CAN GET MONEY FOR PEOPLE READING YOUR BOOK FOR FREE. I can’t stress that enough.

Up to five days in each enrollment period, you can list your book for free to promote the title. Win.

Did I mention 70%? And best of all, if you have your file all formatted (follow the directions; it’s not that difficult) and your cover all done, there is NO FEE TO START SELLING YOUR BOOK.

Now, the downsides: You can’t sell or list your book anywhere other than Amazon for 90 days. That’s suckish when you have people with Nooks and Kobos and what all else or who hate Amazon with a fiery passion. You can, however, offer a print version via CreateSpace and Amazon is completely copacetic with that.

Amazon also holds your first royalties for 60 days. So you have two months of no money in your pocket.

Now, compare that to places that take a percentage off your sales or require a setup fee, and you’re ahead of the game.

Note that I am only starting out here, so this may end up as a dumb move in the end. But for zero cost, I’m able to get my book out there, get reviews, gauge interest in it, and make some money while you’re doing it. For a first-timer, this seems like a pretty sweet deal.

And at the end of the 90 days? I can do another splash when I port it to other formats.

Now… tools you need here. Run, do not walk, over to Calibre and download their software (runs on Windows and OS X). This is a free, open-source program that allows you to convert your files. All you have to do is save your manuscript in HTML format (all major word processing programs should allow you to do this), import it into Calibre, and convert it to anything from .EPUB to .MOBI. You’re already going to be messing with an HTML file for the inevitable typo you will find (KDP requires edits be done in HTML form), so this should be easy.

Best of all, you can work from one file and not have to pay a third-party a percentage of your sales like you do with Smashwords. Sure, it’s easier to pop it in once and be done with it, but again, we’re broke. Every penny counts.

By the way, feel free to drop me a message or comment here on Goodreads if you have questions or want to know details about anything I’ve posted so far.

Subtitle this one: A work in progress or OMG I have no idea here.

Okay, so obviously I’m lying about having no idea. I have a little bit of an idea. A tiny bit of one. Some little gems that hopefully sparkle for those of you, who, like me, have no money and a need to get your book into people’s hands.

1. Social media

I heard that groan! Stop it now!

Here’s the thing: if you aren’t participating in social media before you self-publish your book, you are probably already too late. It’s next to impossible to make up ground when you are simultaneously trying to build your audience and SELL to that audience.

So you should be doing your social media stuff from the second that plot bunny hops into your head.

a. THAT BEING SAID, there are ways to work this. Are you on email? THAT IS SOCIAL MEDIA. Sure, it’s old-school, but it WORKS. You just have to be genuine. Don’t email people with “here buy my book” and definitely don’t spam people (for instance, by emailing every single contact person, including those agents who rejected you). Email the people you think would seriously be interested. Take the tone of “Hey, I did this thing and would love it if you would check it out. NO PRESSURE.”

While obviously, I’d love it if every single person I know bought my book, that’s not realistic. But if every single person I know checks out my book? And maybe brags about it to friends even though they don’t want to read it? Boom. Marketing.

b. Use what you have.

In other words, don’t go out there and sign up for a bunch of things just to try to sell your book. You are going to end up spreading yourself too thin, and the time you spend won’t be justified in sales, in all likelihood. Odds are, if you’re reading this post, you’re either on tumblr or Goodreads (or know someone else who is). Or you found it through Twitter. USE THOSE, but don’t be spammy. Be yourself, and limit the number of times you post your pitch.

Facebook is the devil, but the cool thing is that the people on there are probably your actual friends and family. Who want you to succeed. Or they are people who hated your guts in high school but will be more than happy to pimp your book based on the “I know this person” idea if it takes off. Take advantage of that good will.

The other great part about those folks? They’ll often be honest about things. They’ll point out typos or complain you don’t have a dead-tree version of your book. Listen to them.

2. The dreaded review sites

We all live in fear of the review sites. Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble. But here’s the thing: those reviews get your name out there, and get people to notice you.

Most important: take what you get there and be grateful people are reading it. DO NOT go off on people who give you a bad review, no matter how personal an attack it seems.

I’m a pretty blunt person, so I love arguing points, but if you do choose to go that route (and believe me, I don’t recommend it), be polite and respectful and thank the person for their insights. Sleep on it. They may have something valuable to say that you can’t see right away because it feels like someone attacking your babies.

Most of all, you are going to have to interact some to get the ball rolling. Tweet the best 4- and 5-star reviews OCCASIONALLY. Link them up on your Facebook. The reviewers like knowing they are appreciated, and if it gets you a little mojo in the meantime, yay!

3. Bloggers

Here’s where you need to pick your plan of action.

Let’s face it; there are some bad apples who spoiled some barrels for the rest of us. Acting in an unprofessional manner and ranting about horrible book bloggers does no one any favors, least of all yourself. There are a lot of bloggers who simply refuse to review self-published books at all these days.

My advice? WORK AROUND THAT. And the easiest way is going to involve some time and effort, because you need to do the always-hated: RESEARCH.

First, you need to find a blog that fits your book. Don’t spam every high-level book blogger there is. Look for blogs that focus on your genre, or if — like me — your book sort of avoids pigeonholing, look for blogs that handle that well. Definitely don’t pitch your space opera to a romance blog unless you know they also like space opera. Or there’s a serious romance in there. Tangential is not going to cut it here.

Second, see what that blog’s policies are regarding self-published books. Some won’t touch them. Others are more friendly. Obviously, go with the latter. Did I really need to explain that?

Third, look to friends/acquaintances with blogs who might be willing to review books. Or do an interview. Or let you guest post. Offer CONTENT here, not just a sales pitch.

Fourth, look for blogs you can help as well. Let’s face it; we’re all in this together. If you have a nice twitter following, and there’s a newer blog that doesn’t have the following of a bigger one, you can help them out with increased attention as well. This isn’t all about what people can do for you; look for opportunities you can help others out as well.

Fifth, GIVE REVIEWERS AN OFFER OF A FREE COPY. IN THEIR PREFERRED FORMAT. I cannot stress this enough. I’m a reviewer first, author second (no, please don’t send me your book right now; I’m already stressed to the max trying to review AND sell my book, but thank you). Reviewing a book takes HOURS, from reading the book to writing up the review. And whether you’re paid for that review or not, that’s an investment of time. Making it easy to read and handing it right over is KEY to establishing a great relationship with reviewers (who might then want to review subsequent books… keep in mind this is not a short-term goal here).

Moreover, TRUST THE REVIEWERS. Are there some book blogs where the reviewers share the PDFs they get? I’d be lying if I said there aren’t. Shoot, I know some of them by name. But you can’t start out a relationship with someone if you can’t trust them. Don’t watermark or try to force a reviewer to buy your book to protect yourself. It’s tacky. If you include a typo Easter egg or send different versions out so you later know if one turns up on a torrent site which person did it to you? That’s your business. But don’t paint all reviewers with the same brush. Most of us are FANATICALLY ethical about our ARCs. I even delete mine and re-buy the book if I loved it enough to want to reread. And usually at full retail.


4. Cultivate friends who will help you.

I can’t say this enough. And no, I don’t mean using people. This is the OPPOSITE of what I mean.

Don’t join those RT circles or groups who promise to buy each others’ books. Those are short-term goals. What you need to do is be a true friend to the real-life people who ARE your friends. Offer your support to them for things they need, even if it’s unasked for.

In other words? PAY IT FORWARD. Those people will be thrilled to help when it’s your turn, and will be your staunchest advocates when you’re trying to sell your book. But viewing social media as a marketing tool and not the social interactions it’s really designed for is a huge error, and will turn off the very people who could be telling every person they know about your fabulous book.

subtitled: goals

We had a little break in the action here while I was busy and um… on my soapbox for a bit.

But I want to return to the topic of self-publishing with no money, especially since I had the laughable experience this week of trying to set up UNDYING in paperback form (coming soon to an Amazon screen near you!) and didn’t realize I’d have to BUY a copy, and I didn’t have enough money to even buy the copy at cost. So heh.

But I’ve watched a few promotions recently by self-published and micro-published authors, and to be honest, I felt a little squicky.

Promotions are a great way to get your book higher on Amazon (B&N, Kobo, iBookstore, etc.) charts. We all know this. Amanda Hocking showed us the way. And tying that promo into a contest or another sort of promo may boost the book higher for a short period, with some remaining holdover once it’s over.

That being said, I’ve also seen the research that says discounting your book is devaluing your book. That you are better off using the free days with KDP, for instance, than discounting your book to, say, 99 cents.

Obviously, I don’t have all the research in front of me. But I’m willing to buy into that theory.

Here’s my goal: to have steady sales.

I’m not concerned about being high on lists all the time or selling hundreds of discounted books over a weekend. I’m in this for the long haul, and the long haul requires regular sales, right?

The things I’ve read about discounting say that once you’ve done that, your book is then mentally valued at that lower price; if you started out at $4.99 and discount it to $0.99 for a short bump, what is the likelihood people are going to go back to buying it at $4.99 when the promo is over?

I’m going to level with you; I haven’t checked my sales numbers. For all I know, I’ve sold 10 books overall. But what I do check is my salesrank on Amazon. If it’s not drastically dipping, I figure I’m probably selling at least a book a day. And that’s more than I anticipated when I started out here, so I’m okay with that.

I think it’s important to set those goals when you start out so you aren’t lured into the shoulds and shouldn’ts once you get started. What are your goals for self-publishing? And what are you willing to sacrifice to get there? And how much does it cost?