Self Publishing is...IN?

A lot has changed in the year since I self published my debut novel, The Bum Magnet in October 2009. And I do mean a lot. When I first considered putting my book out myself, just after the 2009 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Awards Contest had dashed my hopes for an “easy” road to a publishing contract, self published authors were still the scourge of the publishing world. You could hardly speak the word “self-publish” without watching someone’s face curl in disgust. Why in the world could you possibly want to put your book out there yourself when there’s all these publishing houses and big advances to be had in the traditional route? Or…if you can’t find a traditional house, then your work must really suck, so why would you want to embarrass yourself. Or…self published authors, on average, only sell 50-100 books (a few more if you have a larger social network), so why waste your time?

As a matter of fact, the only segments of the publishing industry who didn’t shun self published authors were the authors themselves or the range author support business who wanted to exploit them for the thousands of dollars many were willing to invest to get their masterpieces in book form.

My, my, my how times change. One year later and now even reputable major news papers like the New York Times are touting self publishing as a viable option. Don’t believe me? Check it out for yourself here, here, here, and here. It’s amazing to me how quickly perceptions about self publishing are shifting. Amazing. As more authors come into the fray and find success, industry perceptions shift. Self publishing isn’t a dirty word anymore. As a matter of fact, some authors like J.A. Konrath are making a good living from his titles listed on Amazon’s Kindle book store.

In a time not too long ago, literary agents and industry experts would tell authors that if they self-publish their book, they would NEVER be considered by traditional publishers. Such advice was prevalent…all the way up until traditional publishers started plucking authors from the ranks of the self published, like Lisa Genova, Boyd Morrison Zane, Mary B. Morrison, E. Lynn Harris, and the list goes on and on, giving them advances and turning some into instant best sellers. I know of several deals in the last year where self published authors with Kindle e-book best sellers were offered book deals by big six publishers. Now? Publishers, like Louise Burke at my own pocket books, say that they trawl the Internet looking for self published books that are generating great buzz and reviews so they can snap them up. It’s a win-win situation for them so why not? Self published authors are coming to houses big and small with market-tested material, minimizing the financial gamble that publishers have to take, particularly in today’s sluggish economic climate. As time goes on, I believe self publishing could become the new slush pile.

What’s more? Publishers Weekly, which used to fall in stark opposition to self published authors within industry debates, has recently changed its tune. Not only do they say self publishing is “getting respect,” they are launching a service geared toward self published authors, including a supplement to their magazine that features self published works and a slim chance at getting a their book reviewed…for a “small” fee of course. While many argue that their service should be free to authors, the point is that even PW had to face the hard truth—self publishing not only isn’t going away, it is growing and becoming more legitimate in the eyes of the general public everyday.

So, what’s my point you ask?

My point is simply this…if the so-called stigma of self publishing is one of the reasons (excuses) you’ve used not to put your book out there yourself, scratch that one off the list. If cost is an issue, you’re on the cheap indie author’s blog—use the vast information I’ve provided to help you publish on the cheap. Don’t let your work collect dust in a drawer. Dig it out, polish it up, and publish it.

I'm On the Other Side

Okay... so today I had my first in depth discussion with my editor, so it was really my first chance to get a taste of life on the traditional publishing side. I thought I'd share some of the experience with you.

So, the first thing we talked about was the cover. As a self-publisher you get full control of your cover design. I actually consider that a perk. Right now, I sit here on pins and needles waiting anxiously to see Simon & Schuster's concept of the cover. She kind of eased me into the idea that it's a "romance"- like cover. When you say "romance cover" to me, I picture a half naked woman draped in some kind of scarfy thing, wind-blown hair, and some muscular mandingo type hovering nearby. I don't know if that's what my cover will actually look like, but whatever the outcome, it HAS to be better than what my imagination has conjured up.

Next, she asked me if I had a list of people that I wanted to send the book up. I was like, hold up. Wait! I don't have to send the books out myself? I thought those might come from my author copies. Au contraire mon frere-ette. I will have a publicist that will be assigned to the book who will handle publicity. More than that. They will send out review copies on my behalf and print up galleys. That's a whole lot of different from self-publishing where I would bear the cost of all that stuff myself. And the publicist will actually set up a blog tour near publication time. I had to do that myself as a self-publisher (and I don't think I did it as well as it could've been done).

Soon I will get a log-on for the Simon and Schuster website so that I can set up a webpage on their site...more great PR. They also allow you to use their studios to produce a video which I hope to do as well. It would cost me a pretty penny to do that professionally and the service through the publisher is free to authors (and will ensure I have yet another great reason to roll up to New York!).

The best part about all of this is that it's happening while I'm diligently working on my next novel. Definitely wouldn't have happened as a self-publisher.

So...we'll see how things go on the cover front.

Stay tuned for my next report from the other side where I will discuss...the cover!

Marketing Your Book on Amazon

There are several techniques, built into Amazon's site, that you can use to market your book. Today I'll discuss one of them.

For today’s post, I’d like to begin with an experiment. First, I’d like you to pull up the Amazon.com website. I’d like you to conduct three searches the term “chick lit.” On the drop-down menu next to the search box, I’d like you to use “All Departments”, “Books”, and “Kindle.” Then review only the first page of books on each of those searches. See anything familiar?

Yes, that’s my book The Bum Magnet on the first page of each of those searches. The position may change from day to day, but it typically stays on the first page.

One reason we love Amazon is that it really helps level the playing field for indie authors and publishers. They have a number of tools that can help you get more visibility for your book.
Let’s face, we human beings are a pretty impatient lot. When we are shopping online, we don’t want to have to look through 237 pages of products to find the one that we want. Typically, we give up looking somewhere between 5-10 pages in unless we don’t have anything better to do. Then we go on and search another term we hope will get us there faster. Your goal on Amazon is to ensure that your book shows up within the first 5 to 10 pages of a general search term (i.e., cozy mystery, chick lit, romantic comedy). Any further back and it’s likely that a potential reader looking for something new and different may never find your book.

So, how did I do it?

One thing you really want to ensure that you leverage to the fullest extent that you can is the “Tags” function. The more tags you get in a particular category, the higher your book will place in that category. The key is ensuring that your tags accurately describe or define the type of book you’ve written. For example, if you tag your book as action thriller but people click on it to find it’s a romance, you’re not going to help your cause. No, you want someone looking for a romance read to find your book.

Where are the “tags” on Amazon?

If you look at any book product page, you can find the “Tags” section somewhere between the Product Detail section and the Customer Reviews.

If you don’t have tags yet, then you should get your tags started by listing the terms that accurately identify your book. Now, each time someone clicks a tag on your book, your book will move up higher and higher in that category. Of course, it’s not tags alone that will help your book move up, but they definitely help. Your sales and rankings will also factor into it as well. For example, on my paperback book, I have a very high tag count in chick lit. However, if my sales ranking creeps up too high, my search ranking in the category usually drops. I don’t know what kind of crazy algorithm they use, but I do know that if you keep consistent sales and you have a lot of tags, that helps move you up.

Within the tag section, just to the right of the tags that you select, you can select the “See Most Popular Tags” option and it will show you a “Tag Cloud.” This will tell you which tags are most frequently used among books on Amazon. Although you may be tempted to list the popular tags, don’t! I tend to stay away from the most popular tags because for my book to show up high in those categories, a million readers will have to click the tags to move my books over more popular books. However, if you find a few popular tags that apply to your book, it’s okay to use them. The best strategy is to use those tags that apply to your book.

How do I get people to tag my book?

Well, one way is to ask your friends and family members with Amazon accounts (they must have Amazon accounts) to take a minute to tag your book when they make a purchase.

Another way is to use the services of “Tag My Book on Amazon.” It’s a site for indie authors who want to get their books tagged. It works on a quid pro quo basis, meaning you have to tag other people’s books and they’ll tag yours. The address to the website is http://www.tagmybookonamazon.wordpress.com/ . Createspace and some of the Amazon discussion boards that cater to authors also have Tag My Book discussion threads in them. You’ll have to search for them, but they’re out there.

Make sure you list both your paperback version and your Kindle version on the same post, and they’ll tag them at the same time.

This is a great marketing technique that won’t cost you anything but time!

That’s all for now.

Keep it real…and keep it real cheap!

Getting Bookstores to Carry Your Indie-Published Book

By the grace of God, and with lots of hard work I was able to get my book into Barnes & Nobles stores across the country (see http://www.klbradywrites.com/ for a list). I'm often asked how I did it. First, understand that this starts with a good book. You need to have a marketable cover that doesn't look "self-published," you need a well-edited book with a professional-looking book interior.

The Hard Way...

(Note: This is a repost from another forum. I figured there was no need to reinvent the wheel. This is the method that I used BEFORE I did it the "Easy" way which can be found below. If a bookstore tells you they don't stock "POD" please see my post on PODs for further explanation and don't give up.)

So, I promised to come back and let you know how my experience was getting into bookstores this morning. Keep in mind, everyone's experience may be different but I will just tell you how things went for me.

I woke up Saturday morning, loaded my truck with press kits and copies of my novel, and headed to Borders. When I arrived at Borders I asked to speak to the manager and told them I was inquiring about the process to get my books on the shelves in Borders. I told them my book was available in Ingram, told them the wholesale discount, and told them that it’s returnable. So, the manager turned to me and asked me if my book had a BINC? “What the heck is a BINC?” I asked. She said this is the sticker placed on all books sold in borders stores. Once your book is approved by Borders HQ (yes, it has to be approved), books are purchased from one of the distributors (Ingram or Baker and Taylor), the books are shipped to Borders warehouses where they are stickered, then the books are sent to Borders stores and shelved.

Long story short, your book must go through the corporate to get approved to be shelved. No way around it.

Deflated, I left the store with their standard author-book signing brochure in hand. I got in my truck and read the brochure. Funny enough, the brochure didn’t say anything about needing a BINC to do book signing, so I called another store and spoke with a different manager. Turns out, you don’t need a BINC just to do a book signing, but your book MUST be available through Ingram or Baker and Taylor. What they do is order enough books for your signing, and depending on how your signing goes, they can request to get a BINC and shelve it or they ship your books back to the distributor, which is why your books MUST be returnable. So, then I said, “Ohhhh, well can I set up a book signing? My book is available through Ingram and it’s returnable.” And they said, “Sure!”

This is where I learned the second lesson to apply when querying Borders stores. There are managers and then there are managers. Not all managers can set up your book signing. Moreover, if the manager on duty is not the right manager, they will be completely disinterested in your little press kit and looking at your book. Lesson learned: Save your gas, call first, tell them you’re a local author that wants to set up a book signing, they will either connect you with that manager OR give you an email address to send your information. Ensure that you have a link to your press kit on your website, save some trees.

Barnes and Noble

Barnes and Nobles stores operate in this century. You’re not required to have any special stickers. Once again, the process is the same to conduct book signings and to get your book into stores nationally. Call for the correct manager, ask to set up a book signing, they will ask you whether your book is in Ingram or Baker and Taylor (it must be), then they will fit you into the schedule. Once again, they took no interest in me handing them my press kit or looking at my book at the time. Maybe later they will, but they didn’t initially.

Indie Bookstores

Indie bookstore not only want to your press kit and a copy of your book, but they want to read through your book before they agree to order it. That was my experience when I went to the two Indie stores. They wouldn’t even discuss carrying up my book or scheduling a book signing withou\t reading it. The great thing is, Indie bookstore owners know their inventory and seem to be the best proponent for selling your book. If they like it, they will push it to everyone who walks in the door. I lingered for a while and bought a couple of books and the owner could tell you the plot of just about any book you picked up. That doesn’t happen in the big stores. One author sold 3,000 copies between one of the stores and Amazon alone. You want to be nice, make a purchase, and make them a fan of you and your work.

So, to sum up my advice:

For Borders and BN: · Call first · If your book isn’t in Ingram or Baker & Taylor – Fuhgedabouditt! · Just ask to do a book signing, don’t even bother asking to get shelved initially · Make sure you’re speaking to the right manager. · Make your press kit available on your website!! · Make your signing as successful as possible so they’ll push to carry it on the shelves.

The process is much easier in Barnes and Noble than it is in Borders from an inventory perspective.

Indie stores: · It’s okay to drop by, most of the owners also run the store. · Bring a pretty press kit · Be prepared to leave a (free) copy of your book. · Linger, shop, and make nice with the owner.

The "Easy" Way...

An easier way to get your books into the major bookstores is to send your book to the book buyers at the corporate level. If they approve it, your book will be made a part of the chain's official stock and this makes getting your book stocked in individual stores and doing booksignings MUCH easier.

To get your book approved you need to do several things.

First, for Createspace users, you must own your own ISBN, and you must have the price barcode on your books. You must use an approved distributor. B&N uses Ingram which means you have to use Lulu, Lightning Source, or some other printer that offers Ingram distribution. Borders uses Baker & Taylor. BooksAMillion uses both.

You must send a cover letter, 1 copy of your book to BN or BAM/2 books to Borders, and a press kit (including a marketing plan) to their Vendor/Small Press Department. You should emphasize in your letter what makes your book special, why it will sell, and an information sheet with all the details about your book. The information sheet should contain: a picture of you cover, your book's bio (ISBN, size, type, suggested retail price, etc.).

Most importantly, you need a marketing plan that discusses who you've submitted your book to for review, online marketing strategy, off-line marketing strategy, radio interviews, newspaper articles, tv appearances, etc. etc.

Barnes and Noble: Small Press Department, 122 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York, 10011.
Borders: New Vendor Acquisitions Borders Group, Inc. 100 Phoenix Drive Ann Arbor, MI 48108
BooksAMillion: Director of Merchandising, Booksamillion.com, P.O. Box 19728, Birmingham, AL 35219

I am now working on getting into Borders, which I'm finding is a little bit different. You MUST work with Baker and Taylor to get into Borders. Even though Lightning Source has an established relationship with Baker & Taylor, I can tell you that I have jumped through a gahzillion hoops and still have not been able to figure out an easy way to get listed with B&T, until yesterday. The reason I keep getting the run around at LS is because B&T now has its own POD service-TextStream. If you set up your title through TextStream, you're automatically listed with B&T retailers and libraries, which means that you're taking away some of LS's business (certainly a reason why they keep giving me the run around).

To list your book with TextStream POD, you need to have your print-ready files ready (which should have already done through LS or CS (although their specifications require a .25 bleed which is a bit more than LS or CS). You can find out more info here: http://www.btol.com/supplier_textstream.cfm

This process can take 6 to 8 weeks, so be patient. The faster you get a response, the more likely it is that your book wasn't approved. Also, from my understanding, if they return your book, they probably did not accept it.

So that's it! Get out there and get your books shelved!

Until next time...

Keep it real...and keep it real cheap!

Editing: One Commandment, Seven Tips

If you are going to do any major cash outlays on your book, my suggestion—as I’ve stated before—is that that bulk of your money go into two key areas: your book cover and editing. Today, I'll give you my take on book editing.

First, I can’t even begin to tell you how important editing is, particularly for indie published titles. You may attract a reader with a fancy cover, but you establish an audience by putting out well-written, well-edited, and entertaining stories. Period. If you fail on the latter, I don’t care how fancy your next cover is, people are not going to want to lay out cash for your book. It’s that simple. Your reputation and career in writing is based on what lies between the cover.
With that in mind, one commandment about editing that every indie author should heed.
Thou shalt NEVER be the sole editor for thine own book.

Serving as your own editor, in my opinion, is like representing yourself in court—not very smart. If you don’t know the law, how can you apply that law to defend yourself? By the same token, most of us don’t know grammar rules at a professional level. We can get by, but you have to do better than “get by” when you publish a book for public consumption.

For my day job, I work as an editor for a military organization. And what I can tell you is that, as an editor, with something of a trained eye, ICONSTANTLY miss mistakes in my own work. I’ll read through something I’ve written a few weeks prior and I can’t believe the mistakes I make. Why is it so difficult to edit your own work? Even the best writers have a tendency to read what they MEANT to write instead of what’s actually on the paper. At a minimum, you need a second set of eyes to read over your work. If you’re lucky, that person will also know basic English grammar. But the more eyes on your work, the better for your book.

With that said, when you ask someone to edit your book, what are you REALLY asking them to do? Most of us don’t really categorize editing, we have an idea that you just fix what’s wrong. But knowing the levels editing will help you determine what you can afford if you do eventually hire an editor.

In my experience, there are essentially four types of editing.

1. Proofreading. When you ask someone to proofread, you are really asking for the most basic editorial service. Proofreading really involves fixing the mechanics, such as missing or improperly used punctuation, wrong typefaces and font sizes, mist italicizations, capitalizations, transposed letters, etc. etc. The proofreader won’t change any words, they won’t delete anything you’ve written, they won’t rewrite. Just the basics.

2. Copyediting. In addition to proofreading, copy editing involves ensuring consistent word usage throughout the book, suggesting word changes, fixing language usage errors, etc.

3. Substantive or Heavy Editing. This is the maximum level of editing service that you can get. Everything’s pretty much on the table. They look at everything from grammar to structure, plot, and style. (This service can cost several thousand dollars for an adult-length novel.)

4. Manuscript Review or Editorial Review. This level of editing involves no changes to your manuscript whatsoever in terms of copyediting or proofreading. With this level of service, the editor reviews your entire manuscript and provides you with suggestions on plot, structure, pacing and flow, dialogue, etc. They may say “You use too many semicolons” or “check your comma usage” but they don’t make changes for you. They will answer questions like, such as Does the book have its intended effect (i.e., if it’s supposed to be funny, does it make the reader laugh?) Is the book commercially viable? They will usually provide you with written report that summarizes their findings and you’re left to incorporate those changes on your own.

In addition to the multiple levels of editing, there are also multiple types of editors. For example, I’m an editor in the technical sense. A professional editor too. BUT apart from writing my own novels, I do not have any experience in the acquisition, editing, and sale of books for a major publishing house that will be sold to readers nationally/internationally through major retailers. That subtle distinction sets apart editors from EDITORS. If you hire somebody, make sure you know who you are hiring and what level of service you’re paying for.

With that said, I have a few recommendations for self-editing and what to ask for when you hire an editor.

1. When editing your own work, two things you can do to help yourself find mistakes are read your work out loud and read the chapters and pages out of order. When you read out loud you tend to read exactly what’s on the page. Reading aloud also helps you identify issues with rhythm and awkward sentences.

2. When I edited my novel, I used a software called Autocrit. It is one of the single most valuable tools I used in self-editing. After processing each chapter through this software, my book was noticeably improved and got A LOT more attention from literary agents. You cut and paste blocks of text into the program and it helps you identify such issues as overuse of adverbs and clichés, poorly-worded sentences, and many many many other items that you would not likely see on your own. It does not provide alternatives, however, so the hard work is up to you. I HIGHLY recommend this tool. It’s available by a yearly subscription and the cost is cheap compared to the benefit you receive. http://www.autocrit.com/

3. If you cannot afford to pay for copyediting or proofreading, my suggestion I highly recommend getting a manuscript review from a former acquisitions editor of a major publishing house. Costs vary ($500 and up). Some will allow you to set up a payment plan. I did a lot of my own editing in addition to a friend who is a teacher who helped me proofread for the small fee of an acknowledgement. Then I could afford to spend all my editing dollars on getting a manuscript review. The key is getting someone who will tell you what you need to hear and not necessarily what you want to hear. I hired such a person. She kept it very real with me and gave me very good advice about how to proceed with my career and issues that I needed to keep in mind. If you need a recommendation, please let me know. I have three that I regularly recommend because I’ve had some interaction with them or they were recommended to me by others.

4. When hiring an editor, unless the recommendation is coming from someone you know and trust, ALWAYS CHECK REFERENCES. Good editors will have testimonials available on their website.

5. Critique groups, some which are free to participate in, offer great opportunities to get your work reviewed and most reviewers tend to do some proofreading as well. I’ve heard that AbsoluteWrite.com has a great critique group. My personal favorite is http://www.thenextbigwriter.com/. The reviewers on that site are really amazing and generous with their time and effort. The site is set up like Authonomy.com but unlike Authonomy, you have to give as much as you get. You’re required to review in order to earn points to post your own work chapter by chapter. In this way, they really encourage maximum participation. The cost is $50 a year, but the invaluable feedback I got from reviewers and the friends I made were far worth the price.

6. Buy at least ONE style manual! There are three that I highly recommend for writers: 1. The Chicago Manual of Style. 2. The Elements of Style by Strunk and White (often referred to at the Writer's bible.) 3. A Writer's Reference by Diane Hacker. Those are my three favorite/best reference tools and I own them all. There are MANY others that I'm sure are used that others will recommend. These are the ones that I've found most useful. Strunk and White is very cheap and can be read in a couple of hours. It's amazing all the mistakes that you will pick up in your own writing by just reading that just one time.

7. If you’re in a major bind, on rare occasions, I do proofreading/copyediting for authors who are tight on cash and need a trained eye. My fee is SUPER cheap because I don’t do really do it for the money. I do it to help out broke authors like myself. I only accept a small number of projects (because I’m focused on my own writing) and they have to be pretty straightforward. Contact me at karla (at) klbradywrites (dot) com for more information on that.

Whew! That's about it. What are your big editing challenges?

Keep it real--and keep it real cheap!

Quality Book Covers for the Cheap, Frugal, and Broke

As I’ve mentioned before, a quality cover is your book’s single-most important marketing tool. You could’ve written the next great novel but if your cover looks cheesy and unprofessional, most people won’t find out. The LAST thing you want is for someone to pick up your book and say, “This looks self-published.” That’s the same as saying, “There is no way in HELL I’m paying my good money for this crap!”

I’m one of those people who will buy a book largely based on the cover and a quick glance over the back cover copy. I’m easy, I know. And I can’t tell you how many books sit unread on my bookshelf because of that. Oh yeah, I’d been snookered, bamboozled, led astray, cast aside…lol. But it didn’t matter because by the time I figured it out they already had my money.

A really good quality cover is sometimes all you need to entice buyers…but to keep those buyers coming back you better have a damn good story too. But your cover and editing should be your two biggest investments when designing and publishing your book—no ifs, ands, or buts about it!

So, you whine, “Kaaaaarla, I don’t have enough money to hire a designer. And I can’t even draw stick people.”

Well, I’m going to give you a couple of money-saving tips that might help.

Tip #1: Check Craig’s List and Writer’s Forums. There are tons of freelance designers, many of them fresh out of design school, who would love the opportunity to design your book cover. Most don’t charge that much and are only looking for a good reference, so they go above and beyond. Always be sure to ask to see their portfolio so that you can see their previous work and whether their style of design fits in with your ideas.

Tip #2: Barter. Exchange service for service (and I don’t mean sexual services so get your head out of the gutter!). I know one writer who got her a graphic artist to design her book cover and in exchange she helped edit his graphic novel. You’ll never know if you don’t ask.

Tip #3: Hire someone to design the front cover only…and you do the rest.

I actually designed my spine and rear cover right on Microsoft Word and paid an illustrator to do the front cover because I didn’t have the money to pay someone to do the whole thing. I’ll admit that my first try really sucked because I didn’t go to the stores to look at back cover designs. But my second version turned out pretty dang decent. Looks like a REAL book. Note: You must have the Adobe Acrobat PDF plug in or the full standard or professional version on your computer to do this.

Here’s how I did it.

1. I opened up a new document in Word and set up my page dimensions by going to “page size” under the page layout menu. My page size is the size of the front and back cover of my book + the spine (6x9*2 + spine thickness). Lightning source, one of my printers, has a free spine calculator. You tell it how many pages your book has and what size it is, and it tells you the spine thickness based on the types of paper they use. (Note: You will usually need to make your length and width dimension about .25 longer to account for what printers call “bleed” around the outside edges. I could go into a long explanation here, but I won’t. Just do it! i.e., each box for the front and back cover is 6.25 x 9.25 and for the spine you only add .25 to the length. .71 x 9.25)

2. I set up two boxes for the front and back cover and one separate box for the spine. So, it should be in three pieces. I simply inserted the illustration in the first 6x9 box, inserted text boxes in the back cover box, and inserted a text box in the spine. Word 2007 has some great pre-designed text boxes that are great for inserting reviews and quotes from readers and reviewers. All you have to do is enter the text.

3. I cut and pasted my barcode into the bottom of the back cover and ensured that I typed in the price. (One tip for inserting your barcode: Do NOT resize after you download it from Bowker. If you do, the picture will come out pixelated and the printer won't accept it. Ask me how I know!)

4. Next, I grouped all three boxes together by holding down the ctrl button and clicking on all three boxes, hitting the right click button, and clicking on the word "group." Voila! My cover was in one single box instead of three separate ones.

5. Then, I used my Adobe PDF plug-in to convert my Word file to pdf. Be sure to select “US Prepress” and “press quality” in the preference section of Adobe to ensure the colors convert to CMYK, which is what most printers use. And that was pretty much it.

It doesn’t have to cost a million bucks for your book to look like a million bucks!

Next, I will cover the all-important topic of editing!

Until then,

Keep it real—and keep it real cheap!

Much Ado About Book Covers

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Your book cover is the single-most important marketing tool that your book will ever have. Forget what you heard, EVERYONE judges books by their covers in some respects. Although a poorly-designed front cover may not stop everyone from checking out the back cover or the first page, those people are few and far between.

I do not profess to know all the elements of book design, but I do know a little bit about the book business now and if I indie publish my second novel, there are several things I’ll be taking into consideration that I did not during the first round. So, I've created "The Four Commandments of Cover Design for Indie Publishers and Authors" A few of these principals are particularly geared toward African-American authors because, like it or not, our books are not necessarily going to be marketed like those in the mainstream. It’s just a reality you’re going to have to learn how to deal with.

1. Know where thy book will be shelved in a bookstore.

When I created the book cover for The Bum Magnet, I designed it in a bubble. I didn’t go to the bookstore to look at other books. I had NO idea whatsoever about how books were shelved and marketed by retailers. In my poor naïve little mind, I wrote a “chick lit” book, you know, women’s fiction. So, I imagined my book shelved with the Sophie Kinsellas, Emily Giffins, Erica Kennedys.

Boy was I WRONG! As an African-American author with an African-American on the cover, your book gets shelved in the African American/Urban Lit section of the store. So, instead of my book sitting among the cute colorful illustrated covers, my book was placed on the Urban lit table right between the following books. Book 1 and Book 2.

Yep! Imagine my surprise.(LOL) It's funny now that I think back on it. I was like, “It’s not supposed to be here!” because, in my head, I had shelved the book in another place in the store. Knowing what I know now, I would probably go with a fun all-text cover, so that the book could reach more mainstream audiences without looking like “Which one of these is NOT like the others?” no matter where it sits in the store.

African-American authors in particular need to understand (if not accept) the fact that retailers lump all African-American books into one big pile, with the exception of the best of the Bestsellers. Terry McMillian and the like will always have a space with other mainstream writers. Most of us will not. So, you should not write a book about women living in the '60s and expect to get shelved next to Kathleen Stockett. It's probably not going to happen UNLESS you become a bestseller. Make sure your book will attract ALL audiences that it's marketed to!

2. Know how thy book will be tagged online.

Thankfully, the big cover debacle did not spill over into the Internet world. That’s the beautiful thing about tags, which are especially important on Amazon. What’s great about tags is that the customer, not the retailer, gets to decide where your book will be shelved. The most frequently used tag on my book is “chick lit” so readers see the book as I intended them to see it. If you pull up the Amazon website and type “chick lit” in the search box, my book will come up on the first or second page. My cover fits in among the chick lit titles...yet it still stands out. That's what you want.

As an aside, make sure that you encourage people to tag your book when it’s listed on Amazon. The more frequently your book is tagged in a particular category, the sooner your book will come up when someone searches by that term. For example, I have 50 tags in the chick lit category, so my book now comes up within the first two pages if someone searches for chick lit. I don’t know about you but I may look at the first 5 screens of books in a given category before I give up, so the earlier your book comes up on a search, the better chance you have to get a sale. Encourage folks to tag your book…and please tag mine if you’re in the neighborhood. :)

3. Design thy cover to look the same as others on “thy shelf” – but different.

You want the cover to stand out, but you don’t want it to stand out in a bad way. You want your cover to be unique and similar at the same time. Sounds oxy-moronic but it’s true to an extent.
As I watched book buyers come in and peruse the books on the Urban Lit table, my poor little book was mostly overlooked. I think because the cover said, “You are waaaay out of my genre.” Even if the story might’ve appealed to from a female perspective, the cover didn’t get them. So, I moved the book over to the mainstream table and covered up another author’s book so I could squeeze The Bum Magnet in between Emily Giffin’s “Love the one you’re with” and another title that had a very colorful “chick lit-ish” cover (can't remember the name). And guess what? It got picked up within ten minutes. I moved two more books to that same table (on top of the author's book--shame on me!) and the entire supply had sold out within two weeks and the store placed a second larger order the next go around. Why? Because the cover was at least “in the family” of the kind of book they were looking to buy.

4. Thy cover MUST reflect something in thy book.

You'd think this wouldn't need to be said, but I've seen a few indie published books, which shall remain nameless, in which I could not figure out what the cover had to do with what I was reading. If your book cover doesn't reflect something in the interior, then that's literary fraud as far as I'm concerned. It should also reflect the tone. If your book is funny, the cover should give that impression. If the book is full of drama but you have a clown on the front--that's not a good thing. If you have a sexy half naked woman on the cover but there's no sex in the book, somebody's probably gonna be looking for a refund.

Anyway, you live and you learn! As an African American chick lit writer, I have a good idea of what kind of cover it will take to sell my book to African-American and mainstream audiences—a catchy title and a cover that literally sits on the fence between the two segments.

So, do your market research and DO NOT design your book cover in the bubble that is your head—the way I did. Trust me, you want your book to find its audience as quickly as possible and a little research will go a long way in helping the two meet.

Until next time

Keep it real...and keep it real cheap!

Awards, Awards, Awards...Tis the Season!

Oscars, Grammys, and Emmys...oh my! For indie authors, the opportunities for recognition are . . . ummmm . . . infrequent to say the least. And unfortunatey, the few opportunities available do not come without their costs. But I wanted to post information about some upcoming awards shows specifically designed for indie authors and publishers. Most of the deadlines are coming up in March, so if you're interested in entering your book for consideration, get your entry in as soon as possible.

And here they go...

2010 Next Generation Indie Book Awards®
Deadline: March 10
Cateories: 60 - fiction and non-fiction
Top Prizes: $1,500, a pretty trophy and bragging rights.
Entry Fee: $75 per category

National Indie Excellence Award
Deadline: March 31
Categories: A lot
Top Prizes: thousands of dollars in tv radio and other media promotion
Entry Fee: $65.00 per category

Independent Publisher - IPPY Awards
Deadline: March 20th
Categories: 67
Top Prizes: Gold, Silver, Bronze Medals (All I could find)
Entry Fee: $85.00 per category

Writer's Digest Self Published Competition
Deadline: May 3
Categories: A lot
Top Prizes: $3,000, promotion in Writer's Digest and Publisher's Weekly, submission to major reviewers - The Washington Post, NY Times, etc. etc.
Entry Fee: $125 first category, $75 each additional category

(Notice: I do not endorse any award over another, nor can I vouch for the validity of any of the above organizations or their awards. So, please do your research and enter at your own risk.)

What is a POD? And What is "Maintaining Control" of Your Book?

Earlier today, I made a post on an Amazon forum about POD publishers. What does it mean to be a POD? What is the difference between service oriented PODs like iUniverse, AuthorHouse, and Xlibris as opposed to other PODs like Lightning Source and TextStream. And what does using one POD over the other mean in terms of your control. As one of the principal goals I stated in the previous post is maintain maximum control over all aspects of your book, I thought it would be a good idea to repost my response to another author's question about iUniverse, what does it mean that iUniverse is a POD, and what impact does using their ISBN over buying your own ISBN have over your "control" over your book.

Here is my response...

Keep in mind that Print On Demand is only a method of printing. iUniverse, Xlibris, Createspace, Lightning Source are all the same, POD companies, the real difference is the level of service that they offer to help you get your book ready for market. Lightning Source and Text Stream are bare bones, they do nothing except accept your files and print your book. iUniverse, Xlibris, Createspace offer more services--editing, marketing, book design, etc. The result is the same. Your book is printed as the book is ordered - print on demand. They are NOT publishers per se, they are printers. But because they provide you with the use of their ISBN number and their printing service, you are bound by their terms. For a publisher to be a publisher in the true sense of the word, they will not charge you a penny. They will do everything from editing book design, marketing, etc. AND pay you a royalty. Through iUniverse and such services YOU PAY them to handle those services ... and that makes you a self-publisher when you use them.

In terms of your ISBN, iUniverse is the publisher associated with your ISBN number--not JOe Shmoe. So, if you, as Joe Shmoe, wanted to take that ISBN and print your book with TextStream (baker and taylor), or Lulu, or Booksurge, for example, you as "Joe Shmoe" could not use that ISBN number anywhere you choose to use it. iUniverse will always be the publisher of record for that ISBN, not you.

Here's a practical example.

9780615307046 is my ISBN number.

That number is associated with K.L. Brady/LadyLit Press (my imprint). I use that ISBN number with Lightning Source, Createspace, and Text Stream - and the publisher of record is K.L. Brady/LadyLit Press.

Your ISBN number is 987876568788, that number is associated with iUniverse, iUniverse uses that number to get you into Lightning Source -- and the publisher of record is iUniverse.

What does that mean for you?

Say you and I want to get our books into a Bart's Bookstore. Bart requires requires a 50% wholesale discount and returnability and that the book should be competitively priced at $14.95 to sell.

For me, it's not an issue. I can set my price at whatever I want, I can offer returnability (and it doesn't cost me a penny, no special service to purchase), and I can dictate my wholesale discount.

iUniverse dictates your wholesale discount and your price. So, iUniverse may say the maximum discount you can offer is 40% and your minimum price is $16.95. Furthermore, iUniverse says books cannot be returned.

I've just got my book on a bookstore shelf and you did not, because iUniverse controls your terms--and I control my terms.

It makes a big difference for stores. Otherwise, it's not a big deal.

Also, I'm not saying those are iUniverse's terms, I'm just using those figures and policies as an example because that's how most PODs work. They dictate your price, your wholesale discount, and your returnability. I maintain total control over everything.

That is the difference.

So You Wrote Your Book. Now What? - Book Marketing

Before I get into the nitty gritty of my ideas for publishing, I’d like to set forth a few caveats and goals to help you keep things in perspective.

1. What I am presenting is my way—not the ONLY way—to indie publish your book. I’m giving you my opinion based on my (limited) experience.

2. My opinions are based on publishing FICTION. The rules are different for non-fiction, at least at the marketing phase. And really in some aspects of the book design phase as well.

3. If you know a better, easier way, please share it. I don’t profess to know everything about indie publishing. I’ve learned a lot in a very short time, but I don’t know everything.

4. I prefer the term indie publisher because it sounds sexier than self-publishing. So please avoid using the SP word as much as possible.

5. When I speak about indie publishing and costs, I really put my efforts and costs into three categories: Publishing, Distribution, and Marketing and Sales. Publishing deals with the physical book. Distribution is getting the book to retailers. Marketing and Sales is building demand for your book so you can sell it and make money. Three phases.

6. Google is your friend. Your best friend in fact.

As an indie publisher you should set goals that underline your overall strategy. My goals are as follows:

1. To maintain the most control over my rights, my price, and my distribution channels so that I can offer terms as flexible as they need to be to get my book into as many distribution channels as possible and sell my book at a competitive price point.

2. To produce a high-quality product as inexpensively as possible.

Now for the now what?

Once I’d determined that I'd finished querying agents and I’m going to indie publish come hell or high water, the first thing I’d do after I had a solid first draft done is, put the draft away and start marketing.

I realize this might be a bit out of order from what many books would tell you to do, but if you want to have a successful book release, you have to start your marketing as early as possible. The beautiful thing is that most online marketing is passive. You can post your information in places where readers go, and let it work for you while you’re working on editing your book and getting it ready to sell. If you wait to start marketing after your book is ready then you’re already too late. Starting your marketing at this time will allow you to start building "BUZZ."

So if I had to do it all again, these would be the first steps I’d take after getting a solid draft of my novel.

Step 1: I’d come up with a concept for and design my front book cover. You don’t need the entire cover, just the front. Why? Because most sites require you to have a book cover in order to post. And you want your audience to have a visual reminder of your book so that when it’s finally online or in stores they will remember having seen it before. (Cost varies from FREE and UP).

Step 2: I’d buy my own ISBN number. If you use Print On Demand (which I did and I suggest to keep your costs at a minimum), then POD companies will usually offer you the option of using their free ISBN or using your own. BUY YOUR OWN! Why? Our goal is to maintain as much control over our book as possible and buying your own ISBN allows you to maintain total control over that number. If you use a free one from a POD or other service, your use of that number is restricted. I will explain that further in a future post when I talk about PODs. ($150 – www.myidentifiers.com - Publishing Cost) If you buy the single ISBN from bowkers it will come with a bar code. DO NOT and I repeat DO NOT set up your barcode until you're ready to send your book into the printer. I will explain this when I talk about ISBNs.

Step 3: Although I will go into much more detail about marketing in later posts, these are the marketing steps I would take initially. Most of these steps require that you have an ISBN number, the size, the page, and a photo. You can fudge on your size and page numbers, they can always be changed. But you have to have the ISBN.

1. Set up your website! The first page should have a cover of your book, a short synopsis, and you can also put a short author bio on the page. This will be your headquarters for all things web related. If you can’t afford one, I highly suggest getting a free site via www.officelive.com . They have templates, you can buy your own domain name for $15.00, and they are easy to set up. They allow video, paypal, and everything you need to get started. ($15.00-Marketing Cost)

2. Set up author accounts on Shelfari, Goodreads, and Librarything. Once you have your account set up, then set up a book giveaway. You can set the giveaway for months in advance. This is great passive marketing that requires you to do nothing but post the book on the site. Thousands and thousands of readers check those pages every day. (FREE)

3. Set up author accounts on sites such as Published.com, Authorsden, and other author sites. If you want to find them, just Google author or writing websites and you’ll find tons. I will list more later, but these will get you started. (FREE)

After you’ve finished this part, then go back to editing and let your marketing work for you. By beginning marketing at this phase, you will stay focused so that you don’t dilly-dally in getting your book out. Now, people expect to see it within a certain timeframe and you can work toward that goal. Plus, you will put some time and space between you and your book, in a productive way, so that you can now look at it with a clear head and do the kind of editing you need to do it sharpen it up.

On the next post, I’m going to talk about some principals of book cover design from a marketing perspective.

Until then,

Keep it real—and keep it real cheap!