Archive for the ‘ self-publishing ’ Category

Monday, March 30th, 2009

Author : John Abate

The only way to keep up with the latest about Self-Publishing is to constantly stay on the lookout for new information If you read everything you find about Self-Publishing, it won’t take long for you to become an influential authority

Even if your best friend owns a top publishing

company, giving you an immediate “in,” this does not

guarantee publishing success

First, you have to write a quality book that has a

clear target audience And your book must answer a

common problem or need that audience shares Then you

have to develop a marketing plan, and stick to it for

at least two years

Let’s begin with the process that should commence

before you write your first word Begin by reading A

LOT Read both books you passionately love and books

you can’t seem to make it past page five Then figure

out what the author did in the book you loved, and

what was wrong with in the book you couldn’t finish

Write down these points so they are crystal clear to

you Read other people’s books for inspiration and to

discover what you should avoid as a writer

The next step is to plan out your book Narrow down

your subject, and then divide it into chapters Each

chapter should address a specific aspect of the

problem your book is going to solve In each chapter,

break the specific aspect down into several parts

This will help your readers take in your information a

bit at a time instead of overwhelming them with every

bit of information clogging up the pages until they

feel like they’re about to go blind It’s not quite

spoon-feeding the information to your readers, but

it’s close

The next two steps are obvious Write your book and

then revise it And then revise it again And perhaps

again Of course, writing is extremely hard, and

writing a book can seem like an impossible task There

are many books out there that give you guidelines to

help you become familiar - and even love - the process

of writing and revision Find a number of books about

writing Better yet, find a number of books about

writing the specific type of book you aspire to write

These can serve as roadmaps on your writing journey

Once you’ve written your ebook and revised it at least

twice, show it to someone else whose opinion you

respect If you’re lucky enough to know a good editor,

see if you have something to barter for him or her to

go through your manuscript Or join a writing group

and let the other members critique your work

Then take all these ideas from other people, and

revise your manuscript one last time And then stop!

Put down that pen! Get your hands off the keyboard!

One of the most important steps to actually producing

a book is to know when to stop writing and tinkering

with it

You’ve finally written your ebook! Pop open the

bubbly! Give yourself a night out on the town!

Okay, now that this necessary celebration is out of

your system, what do you do next?

How to turn your ebook into Profits

If you base what you do on inaccurate information, you might be unpleasantly surprised by the consequences Make sure you get the whole Self-Publishing story from informed sources

Ebooks are a revolutionary way to publish your book

without incurring the costs of print production All

you need is a relevant and targeted subject and some

inexpensive software, and you can transform your

manuscript into a book

The problem, in terms of actually seeing any profits

from your ebook, is that the market is overwhelmed

with ebooks, and many of them are not worth the time

it takes to download them Just because the ability

exists to easily produce an ebook, doesn’t make it

good writing

Make sure your book does not simply rehash old

material You will injure your credibility as an

author by claiming to offer valuable new insights and

disappointing your audience with material they’ve read

a zillion times before So spend enough time writing

and revising your book to make sure it’s of the

highest quality and presents the most current

information A good book will eventually sell itself;

false claims about your book will make it extremely

difficult to sell any future books you may write

Assuming you have determined that you do indeed have a

quality product that answers some question or need of

your target audience with NEW information, how do you

know how much to charge for it? Rule number 1: Set a

price for your book equal to its value An

under-priced book will only give the impression that

your book isn’t worth very much

To figure out a fair price, estimate how much time you

put into creating it and how difficult it was to

transform the necessary information into

understandable and engaging writing Figure out how

much your time and effort is worth, and then price it

accordingly The goal is for you to be adequately

compensated for your talent, your time, and your

effort

Once you’ve figured out a price that is high enough to

convey the value of the book, but not so high as to be

out of the reach of your target audience’s mean

budget, then it’s time to offer it for sale on your

website To attract sales, you will need to develop a

promotional campaign, particularly if you are an

unknown author

There are multitudes of books about self-promotion

that will guide you in your efforts Choose a plan

that is both creative and professional Learn how to

write a catchy yet informative press release, and send

copies of your ebook to sites that specialize in ebook

reviews

Learn how to write powerful sales copy, or hire

someone to write it for you This is an essential You

absolutely need excellent sales copy to sell your

book Make sure the copy includes all the reasons your

target audience needs your book, and the benefits they

will derive from buying it

Use graphics in your promotional materials Beautiful

graphics have the power to instantly convey the

quality and value of your ebook Graphics can also

convey the amount of valuable information the book

contains, and your careful attention to detail

Professional graphics sell professional books They

reassure the customer that the product is what it

claims to be

Consider excerpting chapters for articles You can

offer these tidbits for free on your website as a sort

of demo of your book Include an order form for your

ebook at the end of the excerpted articles

Finally, when you set-up your download link, make sure

to simplify the process It’s a good idea to offer a

few bonuses that make your book even more enticing to

purchase, but make sure the bonuses are valuable and

high quality Too many bonuses that are basically a

load of useless stuff will compromise the impression

your audience has of your ebook The goal is to convey

to your audience that they are getting a quality

product for a good deal That means applying

restraint, especially when it comes to adding bonus

items Too much free stuff offered diminishes your

credibility

Make sure your book is a quality product Make sure it

is relevant and current Develop an effective

marketing plan that includes excellent sales copy and

excerpted articles Then offer your book for sale, and

wait for your audience to discover you!

Now might be a good time to write down the main points covered above The act of putting it down on paper will help you remember what’s important about Self-Publishing

John F. Abate, MBA OpportunityChest

Syndication Source: Thought Search Articles
By thoughtsearch.com

 
Monday, March 30th, 2009

Author : David Granoff

Generally there is a single traditional approach to putting a hardback book together Most modern printers and binders use the “case” method which must always begin with the printing of the pages in the book This is done on a commercial press according to the needs of the book Some books use large pages of glossy expensive paper, others may use lightweight and bright white paper that is far less expensive The choice in paper depends upon the type of book being made A “coffee table” book full of fine art prints and images will use an extremely high quality and thicker paper A simple “how to” manual will probably use the least expensive paper possible

Once the pages have been created by the publishing house they are sent off to a printer who must print them in sections called “signatures” Signatures in a hardback book will be divided equally by the total page count, and their number depends on the weight of the paper and the binding style to be used

When creating a case bound book the printer or binder will either sew or glue the signatures together with a flexible glue and spine tape The determination to sew or glue comes from the thickness of the book For example, most modern hardback children’s books are constructed without the use of sewing because the glue and case are strong enough to meet the needs of many readings

Larger or thicker hardback books will always demand sewing of the signatures since the sheer weight of the pages would break or crack a simple glue and cloth tape combination Once each group of signatures has been pressed and sewn, the bindery then flattens the spine and applies what are known as “end sheets” End sheets will serve as the inside lining on the case of the book and also as the first (and always blank) page The spine is then taped and glued again at which time the hardback or case is applied While the glue is still pliable the book is inserted into a special finishing press which squeezes the spine and creates the distinctive grooves that line each side of every book’s spine These are not simply decorative features, but allow the cover to be opened and closed without causing stress to the spine and signatures

Today there are a number of styles for hardback covers, or cases Many printers allow a customer to choose a glossy cover that has full color art printed on a special wrapping There are also options for the printing of dust jackets as well Hardback books are one of the most popular options in “self-publishing” and many printers make “short runs” or jobs of less than one thousand copies available to the public

David Granoff is a 25 year veteran printing business owner. His company specializes in commercial printing in Dallas, as well as other services such as digital printing,book printing. There is a also a commercial printing Addison location.Check out http://www.ThePrintPlace.com

Syndication Source: Thought Search Articles
By thoughtsearch.com

 

Every part should be written passionately and designed to be a sales tool. Touch your readers’ emotion with passion for your topic and you’ll sell more books. In fact, when you design your book to include the passion points below, you’ll sell more books than you ever imagined.

Passion Point #1 Write to help one targeted audience.
It’s true not everyone wants your book. But there is a community of people in your field waiting for you to solve their problem. What problems does your message solve for them? Develop an audience profile (picture) and keep it in front of you as you write. That way you can visualize a real person to solve problems for. Though 78% market is women who buy books, choosing an audience of women is not narrow enough. Chicken Soup for Mothers, Chicken Soup For The Teenager, For The Prisoner and other specific groups sold way more copies than the original Chicken Soup.

Passion Point #2 Sizzle Your Title and Book Cover.
Your title may well be 90% of the pulling power for your book. Researchers say you have 4 seconds to hook your potential buyer. An excellent title is short. The top titles are benefit driven. Don’t forget to heat them up with emotion. Use terms your audience can relate to. Use action words and verbs. Quantify change with ways and time limits. Use one or two word ideas to tell a story. Pledge change. Spark interest. Instead of “How to Write an E-book” the author chose the title “Ten Secrets to Write Your E-book Like a Winner.” She quantified change, sparked interest and branded her title.

Passion Point #3 Design a 30 second “Billboard.”
Sprinkle this billboard throughout your book, your speeches, elevator conversation, radio spots. Let your passion for your topic shine for a few seconds in this billboard. After all, you only have a few seconds to make an impression on the media, the agent, the bookseller, the individual buyer. Incorporate your title, a few benefits, and the audience. Write this billboard with sound bites that capture attention. Don’t be afraid to compare your book with a successful one. “Women With Passion, Purpose & Power” is the “Purpose Driven Life” for women.

Passion Point #4 Write Your Back Cover Before You Write Your Book. This is ranked the second most important “Passion Point” for your book. Think about it in choosing a book to read for yourself,how many times the title has hooked your interest enough to pick it up. Then usually you turn it over to see if you really want to read it. On the back cover, you put the most compelling ad copy, benefits, testimonials, and a small blurb (bio) about yourself. If your prospective buyer likes it they will buy instantly. If they need more information to make the decision they will preview your introduction and table of contents.

Passion Point #5 Develop your book introduction.
State the problem your reader has, why you wrote the book, and its purpose. In a few paragraphs include specific benefits and explain your format (how you will present it.) Make sure it’s one page or less.
Your sales message will be more subtle here. Nevertheless pinpoint and emphasize the benefits to your reader for you may still be convincing them your book is the book to buy.

Passion Point #6 Make a table of contents.
Each chapter should have a sizzling title. If the chapter titles are not obvious, then annotate them. Add some benefits or a sub-title explaining. In “Women’s Passion, Purpose & Power,” the author put the word “women” in each title. Which creates more synergy? Image, Worth, Name or “A Woman’s Image”, “A Woman’s Worth”, “A Woman’s Name.”

Passion Point #7 Contact influencers in your field.
Don’t just fill your book’s back cover with a wall of text explaining your book. Instead fill it with some bulleted benefits and testimonies. Find experts and normal people that will refer your book to your potential reader through a testimonial. After an initial contact of asking for feedback, resend them the same chapter and the table of contents of your book. Ask for a testimonial then. These experienced contacts’ testimonials will lend influence to your back cover making it a powerful sales tool.

About the Author

Earma Brown, 13 year author and business owner helps small business owners and writers who want to write their best book now! Author of “Write Your Best Book Now”. Click Here

Article Source: Content for Reprint

By lifestream1111

 

Self-publishing original eBooks can be a profitable means of generating a lucrative income. eBooks are books that can be written, designed, downloaded and purchased through electronic means. If you’ve been on the internet for even a short period of time, you know that eBooks are extremely popular and have made money for many people.

What makes eBooks so hot is the fact that they provide information to online readers who want to be able to access knowledge quickly and immediately. These are individuals who don’t want to wait around for days or weeks for a book to be delivered via snail mail. Their thing is instant gratification and eBooks satisfy that need.

So, where do you come in?

Even if you’ve never had experience with writing, you can still be a success as an eBook author. All you need to do is to figure out what topic you have some helpful knowledge about and create an eBook based on it. Each of us has experience and know-how in some area that we can share with others who desire to learn more about it. Your eBook may be the very answer to somebody else’s questions.

Some eBook writers opt to go through third party publishers, in order to sell their work. While this can be a positive enterprise, there is always the risk that third party publishers could reject your work. Even if they accept it, they could end up watering down your message so much, that it hardly resembles your original concept. Another problem is that you will only get a percentage of any profits from your eBook sales.

Self-publishing, on the other hand, can offer you much better advantages.

Self-publishing your eBook allows you the freedom to express yourself without being edited or rejected by a third party publisher or editor. You have complete artistic control over your work, including its content, its design and all price-setting. You also retain all the rights to your eBooks and can change or edit them at your own personal discretion, without any protest from somebody else. The profits from all sales of your eBooks go to you. In other words, you are totally independent.

Sounds wonderfully empowering, doesn’t it?

That being said, being able to actually accomplish the task of publishing your own eBooks may seem overwhelming to put into practice. What should you write about? What tools do you need? What resources do you use? How in the world do you market your products?

These are all questions that you are going to need answers to, in order to become a thriving eBook writer and self-publisher.

You need to learn about the basic “mechanics” involved in putting together well-organized eBook products that address subjects that will be of interest to a specific target group. For instance, if you’re a stay-at-home mom, you could focus your eBooks on topics that would concern other stay-at-home moms, such as work-from-home options, parenting issues, tips for frugal living and more. When you get a solid idea of your niche market, you then need to get busy writing and find out how to put everything in an appealing, orderly package.

You then need to find out about the practicalities involved with the business of self-publishing. Learn what it takes to make your eBooks grab the attention of potential buyers, so that you can have a competitive edge over other eBooks out there in the cyber world.

Once you discover these things, writing eBooks and self-publishing will be a snap.

About the Author

Scott Boyd is an author of Internet Marketing and Health related Books. See more information about writing, publishing, and selling eBooks at Writing & Selling EBooks.

Check out my jam packed Self Publishing Ebooks where you will discover a wealth of free information for a lifelong resource.

Article Source: Content for Reprint

By ScottBoyd_10

Related Items at Amazon: