Self-Publishing Central

KDP FREE BOOK PROMO RESULTS - THE COVERT ELEMENT

2012-01-23T20:12:00.000-08:00

Free Book Promotion Results

Greetings and welcome to Self-Publishing Central. Thanks for stopping by.

Today I’m going to give you a summary of the results of my recent Free Book Promo for my suspense/thriller, THE COVERT ELEMENT. I promise you, this will be an interesting read.

THE BASICS

Book Title: THE COVERT ELEMENT (Published in May, 2011)

Pre-promo Book Kindle Ranking: >#100,000.

Requirement to hold promo: Sign THE COVERT ELEMENT up for KDP Select Program

When promo held: Jan 10 & 11 (Tues & Weds), more precisely, 12 am PST Tues to 12am PST Thurs.

Book Pricing: Decided to leave the Kindle book price at $6.99, where all my books have been priced for most of the year.

MY WILDEST HOPES:
I honestly wasn’t sure what to expect with this giveaway. I had done book giveaways on my website, on this blog, and on Twitter before. Never was I able to give away so many as 25 FREE books. However, I was inspired by the detailed Free Promo results David Wisehart posted in his nine consecutive blog posts. So I thought I’d give it a try.

These were my (very optimistic) hopes for the promo:

Maybe give away as many as 8,000 or 9,000 books.
Maybe get into the Kindle Free Top 100.
Maybe sell 500-700 books after the free period ended.

As you will see, these “hopes” fell well short of the realities this promo achieved. I should have dared to hope bigger.

FREE PROMO FACTS AND FIGURES:
Here are some key facts and statistics from the two days during which my book was free to buy from Amazon:

Books given away: Over 25,000, including >1000 in UK and at least 1 in on every Amazon site.
Highest Free Kindle Ranking: #10.
Highest Free Kindle Suspense Ranking: #1.
Highest Free Kindle Ranking in the UK: #84

PAID RESULTS FROM PROMO
Okay. So the giveaway portion of the promo was fantastic! 25,000 books out to potential readers. I was thrilled. But how would all these free books affect my sales? Had I given away any hope of selling even more books?

I’m thankful to say that quite the opposite was the case. Here are some relevant rankings and statistics from the first 7 days that THE COVERT ELEMENT was back in the paid column on Kindle:

Highest Paid Kindle Ranking – #162 (achieved 3 days after promo)
Highest Paid Kindle Suspense Ranking – #13.
Highest Paid Kindle Movers & Shakers Ranking – #45.
Highest on Kindle Most Popular List – #12.
Ranking at end of First Seven Days Post Promo: Approx. #800

KINDLE BOOKS SOLD IN FIRST SEVEN DAYS AFTER FREE PROMO:
Okay, those rankings were a big improvement from the book’s pre-promo status. But how do the rankings translate into sales? (I had two other titles in the same series as THE COVERT ELEMENT, and since the promo substantially affected their sales, I am listing them here as well.)

Here’s what I have found out regarding that first seven-day paid period. These are actual numbers of kindle books sold at $6.99 each:

THE COVERT ELEMENT (Promo Book): >1,150
THE 19TH ELEMENT: >200
THE MISSING ELEMENT: >200
A HIGHER COURT: 12
COMBINED UK SALES: >50

TOTAL SALES: >1,612

Compare this to my December monthly sales for the same titles:

TOTAL SALES OF ALL BOOKS IN MONTH OF DECEMBER: 44

Wow! I’d say the promo was a huge success in the sales column. I sold more than two year’s worth of Kindle books in seven days!

KINDLE BOOKS BORROWED IN AMAZON PRIME LIBRARY IN FIRST SEVEN DAYS AFTER PROMO:
But you know, there is a new source of revenue in the Kindle world these days – royalties from the KDP Select Library. In December, publishers (in my case, that’s me) were paid $1.70 per borrow of their books. It is uncertain whether that per-book figure will increase or decrease. But in any case, it appears to have some value beyond the minuscule. So here are the number of Borrows during the seven days post promo:

THE COVERT ELEMENT: >400
THE 19TH ELEMENT: 17
THE MISSING ELEMENT: 11
A HIGHER COURT: 0

TOTAL BORROWING: >428

INTANGIBLES
–     There have been four reviews from Free Promo book readers on Amazon so far – three Five Star and one Four Star.

–     The “Liked” button for The Covert Element on Amazon went from 4 to 34 since the promo started.

SUPPORTERS OF MY FREE PROMO
No promotion can be successful without the help of many people. Here are a few who helped me a ton with this promotion. Please forgive me if I omit your name. There were so many. And I truly appreciate you all.

Websites that helped promote the Free Book Promo:

pixelofink.com
icravefreebies.com
centsablemomma.com
thedigitalinkspot.blogspot.com
Reviewers Roundup on FaceBook
LinkedIn Writers Groups
Google+
My FaceBook Author Page
Twitter – Especially members of The Independent Author Network (#IAN1)

Special thanks to:

David Wisehart and his blog at:

http://kindle-author.blogspot.com/2012/01/kindle-ebook-sales-report-day-9.html

David’s detailed coverage of his 9 day promo and post promo results inspired me to try a free promo in the first place.

L.M. Stull – Who tweeted David’s blog. That’s how I found all of David’s great info.

All members of IAN who tirelessly tweeted and RT’d the availability of my books.

My many other Twitter and FaceBook friends who so faithfully spread the word. (Far too numerous to name, but each was crucially important.)

Finally, I credit the huge success of this promo to God. You heard me correctly. I have been praying for direction in my life. And I have specifically asked God whether I should continue writing novels. I think the results of this promo provide a clear answer. Without Him, nothing is possible.

CONCLUSION
Well...I think you’ll agree that the promo was a success by any measure. If you feel moved to give this marketing strategy a try, I’d say, “Go for it.” Honestly, there are so many potential book buyers out there, even if you gave away 100,000 copies, there’d still be millions of them left. It’s essentially an endless supply of potential readers. Okay...it’s not endless. But after you sell a million or so books, who cares?

That’s it for today. I encourage comments and suggestions that can help every self-published author make the most of this marketing opportunity.

Cheers!

John

PS: I have another free book promo going on THIS WEEK Tues and Weds, Jan 24 and 25, for A HIGHER COURT. Please take a copy.

http://www.amazon.com/A-Higher-Court-ebook/dp/B004AM59MI/ref=sr_1_5?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1327378634&sr=1-5

CreateSpace Offers Pro-Plan Benefits for FREE

2012-01-18T09:36:00.000-08:00

Hello all. Thanks for stopping in at Self-Publishing Central.

I just have a brief notice for you today from CreateSpace, one of today's most popular POD providers.

In the past, in order to receive reduced pricing on print costs of your book, and to have access to multiple distribution channels, such as Ingram and Roberts & Stevens, CreateSpace authors need to pay an addition $36 to $39 per title to join the Pro Plan.

CORRECTION: Now reduced book pricing is available FREE to all CreateSpace authors. A charge of $25 per title will be assessed to access expanded distribution channels.

This is GREAT news!

Here's the announcement I received a few minutes ago via email.

_______________________________

As a member with Pro Plan, we're emailing to let you know that Pro Plan is being discontinued as of January 18, 2012. We're now offering industry-leading royalties, low costs on copies of your books and improved distribution options to all our members, free of charge.

Here's how you are impacted:

·         The availability of your title(s) through our free Standard Distribution channels, including Amazon.com and CreateSpace eStore, will remain unchanged.
·        If you purchased Pro Plan for any of your titles, the availability of those titles through Expanded Distribution channels will remain unchanged.  You have the option to change enrollment in Expanded Distribution channels at no charge. To make your selections, go to your Project Homepage, click Channels, select your Expanded Distribution channels, and hit Save.
·         You'll continue to receive the benefit of improved royalty payouts due to lower unit costs on orders for all your titles.

We value your membership and we're here to help if you have any questions.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by.

Cheers!

John

Free Genuine Amazon Kindle Ebook NOW!

2012-01-09T19:46:00.000-08:00

Greetings all,

I'm hijacking my blog today for a bit of self-promotion. I'm hoping it's something you all will enjoy anyway, because it's an opportunity to get a free Kindle copy of my newest novel, THE COVERT ELEMENT.

Here are the details:

WHEN: Tuesday, January 10th and Wednesday, January 11th.
WHERE: The Covert Element at Amazon
WHY: This is my best opportunity to expose new readers to my books -- to let them try one for FREE. What have you got to lose?

HOW: In the US, just click on the link and download your FREE Kindle book from Amazon.
IN THE UK: Use this link instead.

Please confirm that the book price is listed as $0.00. Sometimes it takes Amazon an extra couple hours to complete the price adjustment.

After these two days, this book will not be offered for free again. It will return to its regular price of $6.99 in the US.

Here's the book cover and summary:

SILVER MEDAL - 2011 Readers Favorite Book Awards.
_______________________________________________

Former military intelligence operative, James “Beck” Becker and his CIA code-cracking wife, Beth, have retired to Beck’s hometown of Red Wing, Minnesota. Their retirement has already proven more exhilarating than they’d expected.

But they could never have anticipated the new source of crime and intrigue in their small community. A Mexican drug cartel has set up shop a few miles down the road. And they’re not just selling. The new meth production facility is the largest north of the Rio Grande.

To complicate matters further, Terry “Bull” Red Feather’s former comrade-in-arms has come to visit. And he’s on a mission. His decades-long assault on the cartels is coming to a head. His plan is to blow up the drug plant . . . if he can find it. He wants Bull to help.

The Beckers’ challenge? To dismantle cartel operations before a full-blown drug war breaks out in Red Wing.

_______________________

Get one for yourself and gift as many as you like to friends through Amazon's gifting button.

Hope you enjoy the free read.

Cheers!

John

Interview with Author Jennifer Chase

2012-01-03T18:05:00.000-08:00

Author, Jennifer Chase

Hello all. Thanks for stopping by Self-Publishing Central.

Today we welcome crime thriller author, Jennifer Chase, who has graciously agreed to take time out from her busy schedule busting perps to grant us a brief interview.

John: Hey, Jennifer. How's it going today?

Jennifer: Great, John. Thanks for inviting me to visit with your followers.

John: Okay. Let's kick things off with the basics. How about your bio?

Jennifer: Here's the formal into I generally use:

BIO: Jennifer Chase holds a bachelor degree in police forensicsand a master's degree in criminology. She is a member of the InternationalAssociation of Forensic Criminologists. Her intense curiosity into thepsychological aspect of crime is what drives her to write crime fiction. Shehas published four crime thrillers and one screenwriting workbook. She lives in California, where she'scurrently at work on her next book.

John: Please tell us a bit about your book: Dark Mind (Emily Stone Series #3) - characters, plot, etc.

Jennifer: A Serial Killer Plagues an Island Paradise.
Vigilante detective Emily Stone continues her covert pursuits to find serialkillers and child abductors, all under the radar while shadowing policeinvestigations.
Emily searches for an abducted nine-year-old girl taken by ruthless andenterprising slave brokers. Following the clues from California to the garden islandof Kauai, she begins to piece together the evidence and ventures deep into thejungle.
It doesn’t take long before Emily is thrown into the middle of murder, mayhem,and conspiracy. Locals aren’t talking as a serial killer now stalks the island,taking women in a brutal frenzy of ancient superstitions and folklore. Localcops are unprepared for what lies ahead. In a race against the clock, Emily andher team must identify the killer before time runs out.

John: If you could meet, in person, any of your characters,who would it be and why?

Jennifer: I would love to meet my heroine Emily Stone becauseshe inspires and reminds me how we all need to look out for one another.However, she’s smarter and definitely tougher than I am. She’s a character that goes out and does whatwe “would like to” do in order to assist law enforcement by finding serialkillers and rescuing children from abduction.

John: If you could fictionalize yourself and put yourselfin any situation, how would it play out? Could you give us a scene/scenario ofsuch an occurrence?

Jennifer: Ever since I was a little girl I’ve wanted to solvea mystery – something that has been on the books for a while, like a coldmurder case or a great train robbery. Iwould fictionalize myself as a character that’s a cross between Nancy Drew,Jessica Fletcher, and a smidge of the Scooby Doo gang. This character would be light hearted, butmaking a difference in solving crimes that have been forgotten by lawenforcement and the general public.

John: Do you have any particular habits that you do whilewriting? Places you write the best, foods, drinks, etc that help set your"writing mood"?

Jennifer: Well…the cat is out of the bag. I write barefooted. Yep, I’ve admitted my weird writer quirk. I like to write in my home office where it’squiet and with few distractions. I findthat I can get more done in a shorter period of time. I don’t drink coffee, but you can find alarge glass of mineral water with a slice lemon sitting on the corner of mydesk. When I’m writing, I have classicalpiano playing even when I’m writing a stressful scene or inside the mind of aserial killer.

John: What are you reading right now?

Jennifer: I justfinished a great thriller Hunter by Robert Bidinotto and I’m in themiddle of a fun, local mystery A Slice of Carmel by BarbaraChamberlain. In addition, I’m frequentlyreferring to many of my non-fiction textbooks on forensics, criminal profilingand serial homicide.

John: Who are some of your favorite authorsand/or books?

Jennifer: I loveso many authors. The authors that standout for me and what you’ll find on my bookshelf right now are Dean Koontz, JTEllison, Vince Flynn, Tess Gerritsen (Rizzoli & Isles) David Baldacci,Stephen King, Jeffrey Deaver (Lincoln Rhyme Series), Lee Child (Jack Reacherrules), many independent authors (the list seems to grow everyday), and thelist goes on…

John: If you could meet any author, dead oralive, who would it be and why?

Jennifer: This is a great question! I’m torn, but I would pickShakespeare. Why you ask? I have some questions for him about hisinsight into murder, crime, psychology and the motivations of people ingeneral. I think he was a criminologistof sorts.

John: Okay, here are a few "get to knowyou better" questions:

Please share with us a favorite memory.

Jennifer: There’s so many! From childhood, I would say the times I spent riding horses from theages of seven to about fourteen years old. That was a much gentler and wonderful time in my life. As an adult, getting married on the island ofKauai with all of those wonderful memories my husband and I have sharedtogether. My own personal independentfavorite memory would have to be the experience training my Labrador with thelocal police K9 units.

John: Please describe a perfect meal -including menu and those present.

Jennifer: Perfectmeal… so many tasty entrees to choose from… It would have to be an authenticCaesar salad, a perfect medium rare filet mignon, mango seasoned rice, assortedsteamed vegetables, a nice red wine, and crème brulee for dessert. This meal would be perfect to share withfamily and friends, especially people I haven’t seen in a while. It would be nice to have everyone alltogether for a perfect meal. Did I writethe word “perfect” too many times in my answer?

John: What are some of your favorite ways to relax?

Jennifer: I love to take leisurely hikes around my Californiaarea up in the hills, around the forests of the state parks, and along thebeaches. It’s a way for me tocompletely relax and just concentrate on my surroundings. It’s a stress reliever for me and sometimes Iget some of my best novel ideas.

John: If you could live anywhere in theworld, where would it be and why?

Jennifer: This is a difficult question, but I’d have to sayGreece. I’m not sure why because I’venever visited, but I would love to spend some time writing there. It’s a magnificent, picturesque area withwonderful food and a warm culture.

John: I know this is an inconceivable thought, but if you could only read books by oneauthor, who would it be?

Jennifer: Yikes only one author! My pick would be the entire library of DeanKoontz. He blends genres of mystery,thriller, suspense, horror, and paranormal. I wouldn’t get bored reading his books more than once.

John: Share with us a few of your dreams. Alsowhether they have been fulfilled or are still a work in progress.

Jennifer: I’m sure that many writers share this dream to be ahousehold name. That would be wonderfulalong with my own personal getaway beach house. But, seriously I would like to make a difference in some way, biggerthan my own personal life. There’s anorganization called Project Pooch matching juvenile offenders withrescue dogs. It’s an amazing project ofrehabilitation for both parties involved and producing some great results. I would love to be instrumental in a projectlike this in my area, especially with my background in criminology.

John: What are some of your guilty pleasures?

Jennifer: Ice cream!!! I can pass on most desserts and sweets, but I couldn’t live without myice cream: butter pecan, chocolate chip, and French vanilla. That reminds me, I need to buy another gallonat the grocery store!

John: If you could leave the world with one piece ofadvice, what would it be?

Jennifer: I maybe exceedingly naive, but I like to stay hopeful and optimistic in thedifficult days ahead. We all shouldleave the world a little bit better than how we found it.

John: Jennifer, I really appreciate you visiting with us today at Self-Publishing Central. Perhaps we'll see you again when your next book comes out.

Jennifer: That would be fun. Thanks for having me today.

Check out Jennifer's latest book on Amazon or Nook. And visit her on The Independent Author Network at her member page.

Thank you all for coming by.

Cheers!

John

Amazon KDP Select Library

2011-12-09T12:42:00.001-08:00

Hello all. Thanks for stopping by Self-Publishing Central.

Well . . . Amazon has been busy lately. Not long ago, they announced their acquisition of Marshall Cavendish's U.S. book titles. This is really no surprise, since Amazon has been firing up its "traditional publishing" market entry for quite a while.

And their latest offering (just in time for Christmas, by the way), is called KDP Select. If you somehow have managed to miss all the publicity regarding this new service, I'll give you a brief summary.

Summary of KDP Select: Kindle publishers (like you and I) can elect to sell any or all of their titles exclusively through Amazon Kindle. In exchange for this exclusivity, Amazon lets the publishers sign up to place their title(s) in the Select Lending Library, where Amazon Prime Members can borrow the book(s) for free.

Why would anyone want to sign up for this arrangement? Oh yeah . . . I left out the money part. Amazon is setting aside $500,000 each calendar month to be divided between the KDP Select publishers on a pro rata basis, according to a ratio between the number of times one's book is borrowed versus the total number of borrowings of all books that month.

More KDP Select Details: To clarify the above, the following will apply to any titles you may choose to enroll in the KDP Select program:

1) You may not sell that title as an ebook through anyone but Amazon Kindle. The instructions say the exclusivity is for a period of 90 days. If you look deeper, you'll see that the entire Select program runs on a 90 day cycle. In other words, you need to commit to a new 90 day period of exclusivity every 90 days. Or to put it plainly, as long as your title is part of the Select program, you may not sell ebooks of that title outside of Amazon Kindle.

2) Prime Members may think this sounds like a great deal. After all, there is no due date for any borrowed book. Wow! I might consider paying for a Prime membership, if it weren't for the following caveat: Prime Members may only borrow ONE BOOK PER MONTH for free. That's right. You can borrow 12 books per year. Big whoop! Do you think the Prime Members will borrow the 99 cent books? No. They can buy those. They'll borrow the expensive ebooks. It only makes sense. I no longer feel enticed to join Prime.

3) Just which books are going to end up in the Select Library anyway? Good question. Amazon boasts a starting lineup of 5,000 titles - including NY Times Bestsellers. I read "NY Times Bestsellers" as J.A. Konrath and maybe one more. You can bet that the traditional publishers aren't going to restrict their ebook sales to Amazon only. Heck, Amazon is their arch enemy. On the other hand, maybe this opens the door for more indie titles to get a piece of the borrowing pie, and thus, a piece of the $500,000. That remains to be seen. No one has ever tried this model on a large scale before (at least as far as I can tell).

Is it smart to sign your titles up for KDP Select? Here's my take.

The whole thing is a big experiment, which if successful, will allow Amazon to further squash Barnes & Noble and its other ebook competitors. If Amazon has its way, the end of this path would leave Amazon as the sole ebook provider. Oops! Monopoly! All of a sudden, Amazon wouldn't have to compete for authors. So author royalties go down. We're all at the mercy of Amazon (which we know to be a merciful and benevolent non-profit enterprise, right?). No. Amazon will ALWAYS act in ways that benefit Amazon, all others be damned.

Conclusion:

Might you be able to make a few bucks by listing your title(s) with KDP Select? Sure. It's possible. Stick a toe in if you want. That's what I'm doing. I'm signing up a book that I sell almost exclusively on Amazon Kindle already. And this book's sales are a small percentage of my overall book sales. It's a "toe"!

In my opinion . . . and I'm certain many will disagree . . . putting all of your titles into KDP Select risks alienating other sales channels, losing sales rankings in those other channels, and supporting Amazon's predatory bid for an ebook monopoly, in which we will ALL lose.

You should know that, in general, I have a bias against monopolistic companies and in favor of free trade. I think our economy works best that way. So why are all my books for sale on Amazon? No choice, really. B&N sells very few of my ebooks and won't let me shelve my paperbacks at all. Local book stores (with very few exceptions) won't even take a FREE copy of the books for review. iBooks has a proprietary interface that requires you to upload your books using a Mac and Mac software - which is equally anti-competitive, and a pain in the @#%. And my books are listed on Smashwords, but the sales there are meager compared to Amazon.

So there you have it. My two cents. For a contrasting viewpoint, check out Jeff Bennington's The Writing Bomb blog.

I hope you found today's post helpful. Thanks again for stopping by.

Cheers!

John

Here's some reading material from Amazon's KDP Select contract, in case you're interested:

5 Your Commitment. Your commitment to these terms and conditions is important, and the benefits we provide to you as part of this option are conditioned on your following through on your commitments. If you un-publish your Digital Book, we will remove it from the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library, but you must continue to comply with these commitments, including exclusivity, through the remainder of the Digital Book’s then-current 90-day period of participation in KDP Select. If you don’t comply with these KDP Select terms and conditions, we will not owe you Royalties for that Digital Book earned through the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library Program, and we may offset any of those Royalties that were previously paid against future Royalties, or require you to remit them to us. We may also withhold your Royalty payments on all your Digital Books for a period of up to 90 days while we investigate. This doesn’t limit other remedies we have, such as prohibiting your future participation in KDP Select or KDP generally.

Tom Drinkard's New Release

2011-11-13T10:31:00.001-08:00

Welcome to Self-Publishing Central. I always appreciate you stopping by.

Today's post is a promo for my friend, Tom Drinkard's new novel, V TROOPER.

JOHN: Tom, what have you got to tell us about your new release?

TOM: Thanks for asking, John. Here's a brief intro:

Wil Boyd is a soldier. He’s an MP sergeant assigned toAfghanistan. He is also a vampire.

Boyd’s secret is discovered by a man who sees him as apotential weapon in taking the war to the Taliban. The vampire is to become the V Trooper, whocan terrorize the terrorists.

Boyd’s unique abilities are put to their ultimate test whenhe is called on to execute a mission, alone—behind enemy lines and far from anysupport. His task is so vital that failure could change the course of the warand Middle East history.

From the book:

Boyd attacked.

Noneof the three saw him until he grabbed one who was about to send up anotherload. The man was bent over his task when his feet were snatched from underhim. Before his face hit the pavement, a powerful hand cupped under his chinand pulled his neck back. Before he could yell, something hit him behind theear. Blinding pain and darkness followed.

Thesecond man inside saw a shadow that was blacker than the rest and stepped back,to run. A gloved hand stifled him and thunder sounded as a red flash in frontof his eyes preceded unconsciousness.

Thethird thief had seen scuffles through the fence and started to pull the ladderback as something moving down the ladder like a soundless desert storm engulfedhim. An eyeblink before he was knockedunconscious, he saw a vision that would have loosened his bowels. Eyes likesmoldering coals glowed above a mouth with teeth like a steel viper.

V Trooper – First Mission is anovella (23,000+ words) and is the first in a series

JOHN: Thanks for the heads up on your new release, Tom. We'll have to check it out.

________________________________________

For the rest of you, here's a bit more about Tom:

Thomas Drinkard was born and reared in theDeep South—Alabama. He graduated from the University of North Alabama with adegree in English. At graduation, he was commissioned as a SecondLieutenant in the United States Army and went on active duty eight days later.Within two years, he volunteered and was accepted into the Special Forces(Green Berets) after Airborne and Special Forces school, he’d found a home.With a few other assignments in between, he spent ten years with the fabledunit. He was unhappy with the Army’s plans for his future and left active dutyand moved into the reserves. He is now a Major, retired reserves.

After the Army, he found his way intoteaching and writing in the securities licensing preparation business. His textbooks, articles and CE courses are in use today. His poetry can befound in a number of literary magazines, including Negative Capability,Cotton Boll/Atlanta Review, Elk River Review, Sisyphus and others. One ofhis Vietnam poems was chosen for inclusion in Whatever Remembers Us: An Anthology of Alabama poetry.

Piety and Murder was hisfirst novel, and the prequel; Where There Were No Innocents followed. Thenovella, V Trooper, is a departurefor him in both form and genre. It is Tom’s first venture into the paranormaland the shorter format. The book is first in a series.

__________________________________________

Thanks to everyone for stopping in.

Cheers!

John

Book Giveaways

2011-10-18T15:20:00.000-07:00

Hello and welcome to Self-Publishing Central.

If you stopped in last week you probably saw that I was offering to give away Kindle copies of my very best-selling book, THE 19TH ELEMENT. All you had to do was check this blog last Friday and email me your request for the book, providing the email address to which I should send the book.

Pretty simple, right? No need to Follow my Blog, comment, buy anything, advertise for me, kiss my sister, etc.

So . . . how did the giveaway go?

I gave away NINE copies. I had offered FIFTY. I would consider it to have been a BUST!!! But then, that's just me. In any case, the results of the giveaway have raised new questions that every Self- or Indie-Publisher needs to answer, to wit: (They teach us to write "to-wit" in law school. I think it sounds dumb. But there you go.)

First of all, why did I do this giveaway?

I had a couple reasons.

First of all, everybody seems to be doing giveaways these days. Maybe they know something I don't. Why not check it out and see?

Second, I hoped to boost the Amazon Sales Ranking for the book for one day. Sure, I'm buying the books. But after my royalty, it only cost me a buck a book. Pretty cheap advertising if those folks actually read the book.

And third, I wanted to see if my social media Followers overlapped with my target audience for the book.

I guess I answered my questions with a new one, to wit:

Why did so few people want FREE genuine Amazon Kindle copies of my book?

Email Privacy. I'm hypothecating here (not apothecating; that would be pharmaceutical), but one reason may be that they didn't want to give me their email address. Okay. That's valid. You don't know me personally. Just because I SAID I wouldn't spam you doesn't mean that's true. Maybe a free ebook isn't enough to tempt readers out of their email privacy.

Failure to get the word out. Maybe there weren't many readers of thrillers who heard about the giveaway. If true, that's a platform problem (for a guy selling thrillers, at least). I tweeted the heck out of this giveaway to my 5000+ Twitter Followers, and placed an announcement on my FaceBook page several times, for at least four days before the giveaway. I also announced it here at Self-Publishing Central. If my target audience didn't see that the book was available for free, I need to work on building a new social media platform.

Maybe it's just a bad book and nobody wants it. I suppose this is possible, but I doubt it for several reasons. First, how good does a book have to be to warrant the selling price of ZERO. Second, the book has won awards which are referenced on Amazon and on my author pages. Third, the book has had 23 reviews with an average of something like 4.7 Stars. It's not WAR AND PEACE. But it's not awful either. And four, in the two days after the giveaway, I sold four copies of the exact same Amazon Kindle book -- through Amazon -- for $6.99 each.

Fellow authors may have felt obligated to give me a quid pro quo. I know that I like to support authors, and taking their books for free doesn't seem like much support to me. Maybe some authors felt guilty taking the free book without offering me one of their own? This isn't a great explanation, since it applies only to authors and I don't know why they should feel guilty accepting my book on the terms it is offered. But I suppose it needs to be considered.

People were suspicious of my motives? I don't know. Maybe the saying that "if it seems to be too good to be true, it probably is" got in the way of this giveaway. If so, that's unfortunate, because there were no strings attached.

Conclusion.

Other than the explanations above, I'm at a loss to explain the failure of the giveaway. I'm hoping some of you wise folks will make comments and provide answers. This blog is all about learning. Usually, I share what I have learned. Today, I'll let you educate me.

That's it for today. Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers!

John

FREE KINDLE BOOKS

2011-10-10T15:21:00.000-07:00

***CONTEST ENDED***

TO CLAIM YOUR FREE KINDLE BOOK:

-- Email me at betcherjl@q.com
-- Put FREE BOOK in the subject line
-- Make sure I have the correct email to which your Amazon Kindle book should be gifted.
-- I will let you know within a day or so whether you have won.
That's it. I'm giving away 50.

Go for it!!!

PS. I won't spam you or give away your email address.
***CONTEST ENDED***

______________________________________________

Hey, gang. Thanks for checking in.

I've got a special offer this week . . . something I've NEVER DONE BEFORE. On Friday, October 14th, 2011, I will be giving away 50 FREE Kindle copies of my best-selling book, THE 19TH ELEMENT.

Check out the book to see if you're interested by viewing my IAN Member Page here -> John's IAN Member Page. Remember, it's THE 19TH ELEMENT, I'm giving away. I normally sell this book for $6.99. So this is a real opportunity, if you're interested.

Check back here on Friday. I will post instructions for how to claim your FREE BOOK sometime during the day on Friday. The first 50 followers to follow the instructions for claiming the book will get this FREE DEAL. (Don't worry. I'm not going to make you follow my blog, kiss my sister, change the oil in my car, etc. to win. It'll be a simple, one step process.)

To help you prepare, here's a TIP:

When you check this blog on Friday, make sure you have your email address ready. (Use the one that is linked to your Kindle device if you have one. The email address should be the one at which you would want to receive your FREE BOOK.)

Got it?

See you this FRIDAY!

Cheers!

John

Pete Morin Gives an Interview

2011-09-28T10:59:00.001-07:00

Greetings and thanks for stopping in to Self-Publishing Central.

Today I am pleased to welcome author, Pete Morin, who has just released his new book, Diary of a Small Fish, in multiple ebook formats.

I've known Pete in a virtual sense for a couple years now. And I had the rare privilege of reading a beta version of Small Fish last year. It was a terrific read back then. And I hear it's even better now.

Pete's got an agent who has been working diligently on his behalf to place this book with a major publisher. But as we have learned, even having a great agent doesn't guarantee you will find a home for your book in these turbulent publishing waters.

Pete's going to share with us today parts of his road to publication. I hope you enjoy it. I know I did.

John: How about a brief introduction, Pete?

Pete: Okay. My name’s Pete Morin. I live in a money pit on the south coast of Boston with my lovely wife, a young adult son and a flock of overbearing, diarrheic wild turkeys.

John: How old were you when you wrote your first story?

Pete: The first time I tried, I was about 10. I’d just finished reading Goldfinger. I proceeded to write my own spy novel, titled Silverthumb. I quit after the first page.

John: When were you first published?

Pete: A short story was published in the Vermont Cynic, the University of Vermont newspaper, in 1976, as the winner of its first short story contest. Soon after, I became its copy editor and arts/entertainment editor, which got me front row seats and backstage passes to concerts.

John: Why are you passionate about writing?

Pete: I really have no idea. A few years back, I visited an energy healer who read my energy and told me I should be writing. Sounded good to me. (That’s a true story.) I think it’s Karma.

John: Tell us about your ‘writing life’ to date?

Pete: Since I re-started fiction writing in February of 2008, I’ve finished one novel, started 12 short stories and finished 8, and completed most of a second novel. I spent too much time on Authonomy years back, but earned what little acclaim it offers and received a positive review from a Harper Collins assistant editor (I assume). The experience convinced me to continue. That manuscript garnered representation from the first agent who read it, the fabulous Christine Witthohn. Most of the shorts have been published in one place or another, and one is due for a rather auspicious honorable mention that I cannot disclose.

I spend anywhere from ten minutes to ten hours a day staring at work in progress.

John: What are your goals for the next five years?

Pete: Besides seeing my current two novels in print, I just want to be involved when writers come out on top of the publishing revolution. I want to learn how to write a whole novel in nine months. I want to: watch my wife stay as lovely as she is, my son become a successful fantasy writer, and my daughter become a successful New York food writer (and marry a rich man); preserve my health and sanity; and keep my handicap below 10 and my weight below 220.

John: All admirable goals. Tell us about the books you have out?

Pete: At this time, I have self-published one short story, Giving It Away, and a collection of six short stories, Uneasy Living. These are stories that are best described as literary fiction that deal with man’s reaction to good fortune, bad luck, sorrow, abandonment, alienation, loss and betrayal. They were written at a time when I was grieving the loss of my father and the imminent loss of my mother, so they are uncharacteristically somber and maudlin for a man of my usual exuberance and good cheer. Still, I know that they get inside the people who read them and make them laugh and cry, so I think they’re pretty successful.

John: What do you say to new writers?

Pete: Be yourself, keep your day job, read everything you can get your hands on, and pay attention to craft!

John: Anything else you'd like to offer? Maybe a plug for your brand new book?

Pete: First of all, thanks for hosting me on your blog, John. Decent of you. Then, of course, I'd appreciate it very much if everyone ran right over to Amazon, BN, or Smashwords and grabbed a copy of Diary of a Small Fish.

John: Thanks for stopping in, Pete. Best of luck to you in your continued writing endeavors.

Here's a cover pic of "Small Fish" and some further background you'll want to know about Pete.

Bio:

Pete Morin has been a trial lawyer, a politician, a big government general counsel, a lobbyist, and a grand jury witness. He is now a trial lawyer, a writer and a blues guitarist. He is represented by Christine Witthohn of Book Cents Literary Agency. His short stories have appeared in 100 Stories for Haiti, Words to Music, Words With Jam, and NEEDLE, A Magazine of Noir.

You can find Pete, if you want, here:

www.petemorin.wordpress.com

http://www.facebook.com/pete.morin2

http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/smallfish

@petermorin on Twitter

2011-09-05T12:18:00.000-07:00

WANTED

On Dead Tree Paperback or Alive in EBook!

For Having Way too Much Fun

Name: Tom Ryan

Age: 10

Physical Description: Too big for his britches, too tough for his own good

Distinguishing features: a scar in the shape of your nose on his right hand

Aliases: “The King,” “Tom Terrific,” “Hey Ryan,” and “Big Trouble”

Known to frequent: The Cherry Tree Hideout, Isaly’s, The Harris Theater, South Park Drive-In

To report a sighting, to read a sample, or purchase please contact A King in a Court of Fools

REWARD

Hours of enjoyment reading stories from the Book of Tom

Statement from Tom’s brother, Harry who chronicles Tom Ryan’s exploits

It’s been a while since I’ve seen it, but that’s how I remember the chicken scratch from the cover of Tom’s journal. Tom Ryan — he’s my big brother. He was in sixth grade at the time he started keeping it. He was ten and I was five. Sister Jeanne Lorette made him do it, he said. Tom thought it was punishment for constantly misbehaving in her class. He would say that. That’s how he was. I think she was just trying to help him express himself in ways more productive than his usual tough guy act.

Speaking of tough guy acts, I’ve always imagined that if Tom had the room on that composition book cover, he would have added:

You’re still reading, aren’t you? I warned you, but you couldn’t stop, could you, you nosey-baloney? Well, it’s too late now. And don’t bother wiping your prints off the book. I have my ways. And don’t try to hide either. I’ll find you.

Go ahead, keep reading, but once you know the secrets, it will be the last thing you ever read.

Tom was big on threats. That was his modus operandi. He was under the impression that it was the only way to get anyone to do what he wanted. So he picked on us a lot, but we all knew he was a softy deep down — all talk, no action. You know the type. I honestly don’t remember him doing anything really nasty to anyone, except kids who were picking on us. And I’m sure he felt totally justified in those cases because he was doing it for a good cause.

Of course, I can’t speak to his behavior once he moved on to high school. I saw less and less of him and the gang had, by then, disbanded. But before that, we were all part of his gang and under his protection, whether we wanted to be or not.

Tom’s journal is long gone. It’s unfortunate in a way. It would be much better hearing his story in his own words rather than from my memory of the events that took place that year. It seems like so many years ago. But I imagine like all the other evidence he wanted “lost,” he covered it with Testors cement and burned it when he moved on to the seventh grade. Or maybe he buried it in the side yard. We’ll probably never know. I’m sure he’ll never tell, and I doubt Mom and Dad will be digging up the yard any time soon to find it.

That leaves you with me to piece this together. You have to keep in mind that I was only in first grade at the time, so my reading skills were limited. Simple chapter books were easy, but not sixth grade Tom-ese. He used words I’d never heard of, words I found out later I was better off not knowing.

How did we get our hands on Tom’s secret journal? My other brother, Sam and I found it. We used to sneak into Tom’s bedroom despite the threat of the “Keep Out or Die” sign on his headquarters door. Or maybe it was because of that sign and the inherent danger involved in tempting fate. In any case, we’d play with the toys he never let us touch, we’d look out his window at the Ioli’s house across the street just like he did when he was preparing for a mission, and we’d rifle through his drawers looking for his secret stuff. That’s how we found it. He kept it hidden under a pile of shoes in his closet. It smelled like old shoes, too. That was cool, but the coolest thing? The journal was about us.

Tom was chronicling the adventures of his gang for Sister Jeanne Lorette. Every chance we got, we would sneak in, and Sam would read it to me or I would try reading to him. We had a blast with it. The way Tom described his adventure we couldn’t believe it was about us at first, but there was no doubt after several pages that this story was our adventure as seen through his imagination. And did he ever have an imagination.

So, if you’re willing to accept it on that basis and for what’s it worth, I invite you to enjoy the story of A King in a Court of Fools.

H. Ryan

About the book: A King in a Court of Fools, originally published as a serial novel, is Larry Enright’s second published work. It is humorous, nostalgic fiction about kids growing up in the 1950s and has been already enjoyed by ages ten through ninety-one. It is available in both eBook and paperback from Barnes & Noble and Amazon.com. Click for details to Purchase or sample A King in a Court of Fools.

About the author: Larry Enright was born to Irish Catholic first-generation immigrants and raised in Pittsburgh. After college, he moved to the Philadelphia area where for the past 40 years he has filled his life with many careers including musician, teacher, programmer, researcher, and writer. He has written three other novels, including the best-selling Four Years from Home. Visit Larry Enright's site.

#100blogfest is at Self-Publishing Central

2011-08-09T13:16:00.000-07:00

Self-Publishing Central welcomes Martin King's #100blogfest. This is what it's all about:

#100blogfest

“100 blogs as a child” August Tour. I am attempting to write 100 blogs as a guest at 100 different websites in the single month of August. You can stop whistling now. This works out at roughly 3 a day (Okay Mr. Mathematics nerd, 3.2258… to be exact). What am I going to blog about? This is an interesting question you’ve just posed. After a lot of thought about this, I decided 100 different things I got up to as a kid. So many people tell me they cannot believe how much I can remember about my childhood. It doesn’t matter what age you are, we all have fantastic memories about ‘the good old days’. And for the younger ones who are still, young (jealous), they will be able to go ‘Hey I did that only last week.’ Each and every site is connected with writing in some way or another, be it an established author, or an author wannabee, book reviewing site etc. A few of the authors have decided to write their own fond memory too, which should be fun!! Thanks for taking the time to look.

And here is today's post from Martin:

Did you ever want to play an instrument? Do you remember taking a comb and some tracing paper to make a crude form of one? We were so inventive back in those days. If you were lucky then your parents might have bought you a Rolf Harris (wrong – I’m not going to say didgeridoo) Stylophone. Now that was a great invention.

Then in music class you got to play with the maracas or the triangle. Then there were instruments with weird sounding names such as the xylophone or glockenspiel.

I remember having a recorder and going to recorder lessons. I think I learnt the two classics, London’s Burning and Three Blind Mice that every child seems to learn. And perhaps you may have had a piano; a lot of houses did back then before they ended up at the local gala being smashed to bits by the local strongmen in a piano smashing contest.

I did try to play the guitar and the drums in my later years, but I think I was destined never to play an instrument. But it was when I was about twelve at High School that my main memory takes me. I was desperate to play an instrument in music class. But because it was so long ago, I cannot remember the reason I received the instrument I did.

Maybe I was the last in the queue or our music teacher, Mr. Powell had figured out I wasn’t very talented. But can you guess what I was privileged with learning? The Tuba!

Can you believe that? And to make matters worse, we live miles from school and I had to walk home. So every week I would have to lug this great box full of the wonderful metal, musical delights of a contraption that wouldn’t even work. No matter how hard I blew into that thing, it wouldn’t play me a single, beautiful note.

These blogs are all about fun and sharing. Thank you for reading a ‘#100blogfest’ blog. Please follow this link to find the next blog in the series.

Thanks for stopping in, Martin. Best of luck to you in your blog travels!

That's it for today.

Cheers!

John

Paperback or Not?

2011-07-05T09:51:00.000-07:00

Hello friends,

Welcome to Self-Publishing Central. Today I've got a post that is the direct result of changing times in the publishing industry. Not long ago, we were asking whether it is worth it to publish in digital formats in addition to paper. Now we need to ask . . . with Kindle, Nook and iBook digital book sales skyrocketing, is it even necessary for a self- or indie-publisher to publish ON PAPER?

The rapidly increasing adoption of Kindles, Nooks and other eReading devices (including iPads) for buying and reading books has many indies asking themselves this question. And given the necessarily high prices of POD books, I can see their point.

In my personal experience, sales of paperbacks through Amazon and BN have all but dried up, when just last fall they amounted to about 20% of my book sales (in units sold). Last month, I sold a measly SIX paperback books on Amazon - and I had FIVE titles listed for sale! In the same month, my eBook sales numbers (and profits) were higher than ever . . . with Nook making up an increasing share. (I charge $6.99 for my eBook novels, in case you're interested.)

For so few sales of the paperback format, why should self- and indie-publishers even bother to make tree books available anymore?

Reasons why tree books are still important.

While I can certainly understand the arguments against bothering to publish in paperback in today's publishing environment, I believe there are still good reasons to make your titles available in paper. Here are a few:

1) Some book buyers still don't believe that eBooks are REAL books. As uninformed as this opinion may be, authors need to be aware of this perception. Having your book available on paper makes it more "legitimate" to this group of buyers. Oddly enough, once these buyers have confirmed that your book is available in paperback, they will turn around and buy the eBook copy instead. After all, eBooks are typically much less expensive. Make sense? Not really. But we need to take this situation seriously and deal with it appropriately.

2) Some buyers want an author-signed original. I know there are various movements afoot to standardize a way to "sign" an eBook. But for many people, none of the proposed digital solutions will substitute for the good old pen-and-ink method. For these folks (book collectors among them), price is not the obstacle. They want that unique feeling of owning an author-signed original. Why not make purchase of just such a product an option?

3) Friends and family want paper. In my experience, when my friends and family members want to support my writing by buying my books, they almost always want a paper copy. A keepsake, if you will. And digital books still don't collect dust well enough to satisfy this type of buyer.

4) Reviewers want paper. Again, in my experience, many book reviewers prefer to read your book in paperback before giving their opinion. I don't know whether they consider ownership of the (usually signed) book as a memento, an investment in a potentially famous author's work, or a commodity to be resold. But regardless of their motives, many of these reviewers (who are otherwise unpaid, by the way) prefer paper.

5) Why not have your book in paperback format? In my mind, the only legitimate reasons for not offering your book in paperback are: a) lack of money for design and printing or b) lack of time to set up the book with a POD printer. I find neither of these arguments persuasive.

If you choose to print through CreateSpace (where I do), it can cost you literally NOTHING to make your book available in paperback. (I recommend spending the $39.00 for the Pro Plan because it gets you better books prices, etc. But you don't HAVE to spend even that.) CreateSpace no longer requires you to even order proofs if you don't want to. Therefore, you can literally have your book available in paperback on Amazon for NOTHING!!! (I don't use exclamation points lightly.)

If you elect to buy the Pro Plan, you can buy your own books for sale to friends IN ANY QUANTITY, at prices ranging from $3.00 for thin books to maybe $8.00 for a pretty thick one. My books are usually around 290 pages and cost in the vicinity of $5.00 each DELIVERED TO MY HOME. Of course, delivery costs vary depending on quantity. But I could literally buy a single copy of my paperback (w/o the Pro Plan) and have it delivered to my home for less than $20.00. Not bad.

But why not get five copies for around $35.00 or 40 copies for around $240.00 (including Pro Plan). Then I've got some books to sell in my local bookstore, arts association or from my home.

6) Libraries prefer paper. Most of the libraries I have contacted still only accept paper books for shelving. Some will buy your paper books. Others won't pay you, but will agree to shelve your books if you donate them. Either is great exposure.

7) Guests at book signings prefer paper. When you schedule a book signing at your local sales location, or library, or book club, most of your guests will want to buy signed paper books. Sure . . . you can have a card to sign and an eBook to download; but most of my target market would just give me a blank stare if that's all I had to offer them at a BOOK signing.

I could probably come up with more reasons why you should still go to the trouble of publishing your books in paperback. But I think you get my gist. There are advantages to paper; the costs are minimal; why not do it?

I'm open to all your opinions on this one. I'm sure everyone would like to hear your comments.

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers!

John

Kindle vs Nook (Again)

2011-06-06T13:13:00.001-07:00

Welcome to Self-Publishing Central. I hope you have all been well lately.

I haven't written a post on this blog for quite some time. There's a reason for my absence -- I haven't had anything helpful to say. Sorry. I refuse to blog unless I think the message has value.

Well . . . today I do have something to say. It's a redux of the now-aging argument over whether to buy a Kindle or a Nook. I know you've heard all the reasons before. But those reasons applied to the old Nook. There's a brand new one that will ship in time for Father's Day. And in my mind, the new Nook option is a game changer for eReading.

Here's a link you should follow to get a bunch of info on the new Nook, including videos of the New Nook in action. After you read the link, I'll give you my take below.

What's important about the new Nook?

Up till now, the Kindle held two huge advantages over the Nook for readers of "word books," as opposed to books with pictures. If the lighting was even a little bit wonky -- like if a room had windows, or your porch has a sun outside -- the Kindle's e-Ink Pearl screen was far superior to the Nook's backlit display. And the Kindle's battery life (about a month) absolutely annihilated the Nook's mere hours.

With the release of "The All New Nook," these two advantages have evaporated. The Nook will now have an e-Ink Pearl screen with at least as good a resolution as Kindle's. AND it will be a touch screen! Battery life will not only equal the Kindle's, but beat it! B&N claims the Nook can live for up to TWO MONTHS on a charge.

These changes essentially result in the Nook becoming a Kindle with a touch screen. And admit it, you Kindle owners . . . you were poking at your Kindle screen for a good two weeks before you got it through your head that it wasn't going to respond to your advances.

To be honest, if you watch the videos of the New Nook in action (see previous link), the touch screen is not the completely interactive slide, drag, drop and pinch capacitative screens we're used to on our iPads, Androids and tablets. But it will respond to poking. And that's a good thing in my book.

Other features.

The All New Nook has less on-board memory than the Kindle. But it has an SD slot, so you can expand the memory infinitely. And the Nook is not available in a 3G version. But the $139 Kindle isn't 3G either. (You have to pay $189 for the 3G Kindle.) And who really needs to buy their books where they can't get Wi Fi anyway?

Both readers are light, fast and highly readable. Both come with gobs of book available for purchase.

The Kindle will display .mobi and PDF files. The Nook will display ePub and PDF files. EPub is the industry standard format open to everybody. Amazon's .mobi format is proprietary. But will Kindle learn to read ePub soon? Probably.

Kindle will let you browse the web and search with Google. But it's an emergencies-only feature. It's very cumbersome. Nook has no browser, but will let you upload snippets from books to FaceBook directly. Kinda cool.

Bottom line?

I agree with the author of the article referenced above that the Nook and the Kindle are now essentially in a dead heat. No material advantage for either. But that's great for authors!

Up until now, you probably sold most of your eBooks on Kindle. Nook was a distant 2nd. The improved Nook promises to improve B&N's share in the eBook marketplace. This is a positive development for a couple reasons.

1) Amazon needs to have some competition. The free market system works better that way.

2) B&N buyers are used to paying higher prices for books than are their budget-conscious Amazon counterparts. Tapping into this less price-sensitive market should help stabilize and support eBook prices.

3) I expect to see B&N paying more attention to eBooks now that they have a decent black & white reading device. Heck, they may even place some titles on sale -- causing Amazon to follow suit.

Conclusion.

Okay. You're an author. What does this development mean for you?

It means that, if at all possible, you need to get your eBooks decently formatted through PubIt and available on B&N immediately! No Smashwords middle man to cut into your royalties. Since PubIt now accepts .html uploads, you can use the same computer file of your book to upload to both Kindle and Nook. There should now be enough sales on B&N to justify the work to publish your book again through PubIt. I don't think that's true with the iBookstore, or Google Books, or Kobo. At least not yet. You can still use Smashwords for those outlets.

Regardless of whether you prefer to read on the Kindle or the Nook, The All New Nook is great news for authors and will substantially boost sales of our books. I promise!

Thanks for stopping in to visit today.

Cheers!

John

Copyright Protection

2011-05-05T11:28:00.002-07:00

Greetings and welcome to Self-Publishing Central.

Today's topic is copyrighting your work. How to do it. How to maintain it. Registering your copyright.

DISCLAIMER: The following post is not be be considered legal advice. If you have specific legal questions, please contact an attorney for answers or clarification.

_________________________

A lot of people ask me questions about copyrights. What are they? How do I get one? When are they needed?

I've got some answers for self- and indie-pubbed authors in this post. If you're interested, please follow along.

How do I copyright my work?

This is the easy one. According to the United States Code, Section 102(a), "Copyright protection subsists . . . in original works of authorship." This means that, as soon as you create and publish your work, it becomes copyrighted. To say it another way, the creator of the work automatically owns the copyright on that work.

Under the old system of copyright law, you could lose your copyright protection by publishing your work without a copyright statement on it. A copyright statement is something like: "Copyright 2011 by John L. Betcher." You can use the copyright symbol shown above in place of the word "Copyright." The date is the date you first published your work. The name is the name of the owner of the copyright (initially, the author).

Under the new law, it appears that leaving off the copyright statement may not cost you your copyrights. But since it is so easy, I would use a copyright statement every time I publish the work, nevertheless.

Where do I put the copyright statement?

In books, there is a recognized format for where to put your copyright. It is included with other publication data in the front matter of the book. You can follow the preceding link for details. Or you can look in any published book for a template. If you put the copyright statement somewhere else, it should still protect your work. But the front matter is where, by tradition, it belongs.

EVERY TIME you publish your work, you should include a copyright statement!

Do I need to register my copyright?

It is possible to register your copyright with the United States Copyright Office at any time after publication. There are some benefits to registration. You can check this out yourself to see if the benefits outweigh the costs for you. I do not, as a rule, register my copyrights. That doesn't mean you might not benefit from registration.

Is it really that simple?

Yes.

If you read this blog post, and check out the links for supplementary information, you probably know everything you need to know about copyrights.

That's it for today. Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers!

John

Your New Friends

2011-05-01T09:34:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone and welcome to Self-Publishing Central.

Today's topic concerns seeking out and taking advantage of a particular in-person marketing opportunity for your books - "Friends of the ___________ Library."

Here's what prompted me to post on this issue:

Speaking Engagement.

This past Saturday I spoke at the monthly meeting of The Friends of the Red Wing Library. Most of you have never heard of this organization - or even heard of the city of Red Wing, Minnesota. The Friends aren't exactly a stop on the Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang tour. Nevertheless, it was a chance to connect to readers - and the venue was a mere six blocks from my home.

The group meets in the basement at the Red Wing Public Library. About fifty Friends members were in attendance. The atmosphere was casual . . . though I needed to speak through a microphone so some of the "less spry of hearing" would be able to follow my presentation.

The President of the Friends introduced me as a local author and offered me the floor "for as long as I wanted to speak." She didn't know how imprudent it is to give a lawyer carte blanche to address an audience indefinitely. LOL.

Actually, I spoke for only about fifteen minutes, then opened the meeting to questions from the floor. Those questions extended my time at the podium to nearly an hour and a half. At that time I decided that we needed to wrap up . . . otherwise, I believe questions would have continued quite a while longer.

After the presentation, The Friends invited me to sell my books to the group. One of their members even volunteered to act as my cashier. I sold about a dozen books. Not a lot . . . but then again, a number of the audience members already owned my books.

I also received a generous "stipend" for my appearance - $150. Wow! Twenty bucks is a stipend. One-fifty is a payday. That's $75 per hour from set-up to departure - plus book sales revenue.

Can you get this sort of speaking engagement?

Absolutely. And it doesn't even have to be your local library. This is how I did it.

A few months ago I sent a copy of one of my books to the President of the Friends asking if she might be willing to give it a read. If she enjoyed the book, I would appreciate the opportunity to speak to the Friends some time. (No discussion of compensation or book sales.)

About a month later, I had already moved on to other marketing efforts (BTW . . . Bud Light DOES NOT want to be the official beer of the Beck suspense/thriller series) when I received an email from the Friends Pres. She had enjoyed my book and wondered if I could speak April 30th. (That was about four months away at the time.) I immediately accepted the invitation.

After I had accepted, she emailed again saying the Friends couldn't afford to pay me what my time was worth, but there would be a "small stipend." I thanked her again and assured her that the stipend was not necessary. I would be happy to speak.

Most libraries have an organization of volunteers who support the library and its mission. Quite often, these groups are named "Friends of the _______ Library." If you are interested in doing what I did . . . speaking to such a group . . . I encourage you to use the library's website to contact their Friends group and follow my method - offer a free book.

NOTE: These groups usually schedule their authors at least four months, and sometimes as long as a year, in advance. So ask early and be prepared to wait patiently for a response. Don't send follow-up emails or reminders until you have already gotten an invitation to speak.

Don't limit yourself to local libraries.

Most of the authors who speak to these groups are NOT local authors. They are simply authors who have had the gumption to ask for the opportunity. And you know what? James Patterson and Janet Evanovich don't frequent this particular circuit. So it IS available to indie- or self-published authors if you take the initiative.

I do recommend that you include a free book along with your first contact to the Friends group. It allows them to readily judge your work and shows your inclination to be generous to their library.

Although it may be most convenient for you to start with libraries near home, remember to also contact libraries in parts of the country where you may be vacationing, or to which you are willing to travel. This is a terrific way to spread the geographic distribution of your book. But plan far ahead . . . or they'll be booked.

Conclusion.

There are probably thousands of Friends groups nationwide (and even more internationally). Don't leave this potential marketing channel untapped.

O yeah . . . if you don't like public speaking, it's time to get over that!

That's it for today. Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers!

John

Blog to Book - How Did it Come Out?

2011-04-26T12:44:00.001-07:00

Welcome everyone to this edition of Self-Publishing Central.

A couple weeks ago I wrote a post about converting your blog to an eBook. In that post, I told you all of the how's and whys concerning this process. Now I'm back to report the results of my blog-to-book ePublishing experience.

How did the conversion go?

When you last heard from me, I had turned the PDF of my eBook over to Bob Mehta at ebookconversion.com to complete the process of making my PDF book a Kindle Book and an ePub (Nook) Book. I ordered the regular speed service. I ended up receiving an email with the draft ePub conversion for my review about ten days after I sent it in.

I was really excited to see how this thing would work. Lacking a dedicated ePub reading device, I downloaded a free copy of Adobe Digital Editions to allow me to read the file. I opened the file and it looked pretty much as I had expected. The rather crude formatting of the PDF had been retained. But the Table of Contents now hyperlinked to each Chapter (blog post) in the book.

That was nice.

I continued through the book, checking each web link to make sure it worked. For the first 60 pages or so, all went well. When I clicked on a link in Adobe Editions, the corresponding link opened in FireFox. Of course, this would work with Internet Explorer, Google Chrome or Safari just as well.

When I reached page 63, I started to find lots of web links that were not "live." Apparently, they had not been correctly converted to ePub. The remainder of the book had literally hundreds of such inactive links.

So . . . I sent the draft back to ebookconversions noting the numerous inactive links as "nearly all web links after page 63."

About a week later, I had a new ePub version of my blog. This time, ALL the web links worked great. I emailed back that the ePub version was a "Go," and they should proceed with the Kindle conversion.

A few days later, I had the Kindle version (a PRC) file in my email inbox. I immediately loaded this one onto my Kindle to check it out. This time, all of the web links and hyperlinks worked beautifully. Since my Kindle was connected to the web, clicking on a link on the Kindle book would open a browser window with a black and white version of the appropriate web page.

Success! The book's format worked out fine on the Kindle and the web links were all live.

Additional suggestions.

I could probably stop right there and declare the blog-to-book conversion a success. But there is more you should probably know.

Although I could, indeed, read the book and follow the web links on my Kindle, the display of the web pages was tiny and clumsy. Sure, I could "zoom in" to magnify parts of the web page at a time. But I found this less than optimal.

Therefore, when you buy a Kindle eBook with lots of web links like mine, I recommend reading the book on your computer using the FREE Kindle to PC or Kindle to Mac software. That way you can get clear and readily viewable web content without the limitations of the Kindle Device itself.

I'm going to be publishing this book on B&N's Pubit soon. So those of you who have a Nook can see whether you feel the same way about the limitations of that eReader. It's already available on Kindle.

Conclusion.

After initial hiccups, the conversion was a huge success. I designed my own cover (which you can see in the right hand column of this blog). And I'm quite pleased with the whole project.

I only wish I had all of the valuable information contained in the blog and in the hundreds of web links available to me when I first set off on my publishing journey. One self-pubber has already commented to me that he thought he would have saved at least $1500 if he had possessed even a portion of the book's storehouse of information.

So the book is done. The information is easily accessible. I hope someone decides it's worth nine bucks to take advantage of the tips and analysis the book contains.

That's it for today.

Shameless Plug: Please consider buying the Kindle version of the book (link above or on the right). I'll have the Nook version available on B&N online soon.

Cheers!

John

Tech Update for Authors

2011-04-15T13:35:00.001-07:00

Hello everyone. And welcome to Self-Publishing Central. I've got something a bit different for you today. Here's what's up . . .

Yesterday I had the rare opportunity to attend the Minnesota High Technology Association's Spring Conference in Minneapolis. I came away with some pretty nifty stuff.

But the coolest think I got wasn't a thumb drive, a USB multiplexer or even a Microsoft T-shirt. In fact, it wasn't a thing at all. It was an idea.

Robert Stephens, founder of the "Geek Squad" and current Chief Technology Officer for Best Buy Company addressed the collection of IT gurus, infrastructure maintainers and tech devotees during the opening session of the conference. He is the reason for the picture of Ramen Noodles - which he called "the international sign for financial distress" - at the top of this post. He remembers the days around 1994 when the Geek Squad was still just an idea, and the number of his meals that consisted of "distress food."

He also remembers the great incentive the "Ramen Noodle effect" provided for him to be innovative and creative. His idea of forming the Geek Squad hadn't been tried before. But what did he have to lose? He was already at the bottom, right? So he pitched it until he got a taker, in Best Buy. Now the Geek Squad is a huge financial and personal success for Robert.

I think the idea of taking risks when you have nothing to lose is a great one. But how many of us truly have "nothing to lose"? Zero? But it can still be a way of thinking. Please read further.

He went on to tell us that it was time to let go of old ways of thinking about computers and communicating, and to embrace 21st century opportunities. One of the most important points he made to this group of tech developers, maintainers and users was to start thinking MOBILE FIRST.

By this, he meant that, instead of downsizing existing computer programs, interfaces, search engines, etc., developers need to start with a blank page - or a bag of Ramen noodles - and re-design everything from the ground up with mobile devices in mind. If you've every tried reading a web page on your SmartPhone, you know what he is talking about. Downsizing to fit mobile devices doesn't always work so well.

So why should self-pubbers care?

If you apply Robert's thinking to books, there are some interesting possibilities/challenges that emerge for the future.

Text. How will book text fit comfortably on a phone-size screen? The answer? It probably never will. Sure, you can read on a SmartPhone for short periods. But you're not going to read your whole library that way. Thinking from the bottom up, what are some possible solutions to this situation?

Audio/Video. Converting text books to audio books, or even hybrid-video books, is certainly one possibility. New technologies are emerging that improve text-to-speech and speech-to-text conversions. Many tech-savvy folks already respond to their emails while they're in the car on the way to work. Their phone reads them their emails and they dictate responses -- all hands-free.

The technology also exists to embed audio or video inside text-based eBooks. This technology isn't a complete fix for tiny text on tiny screens. But it at least offers the "reader" some respite from all-text eye strain.

eCommerce on your phone. Another interesting ramification of the transformation to a mobile-device-centered reading world is the ability to pay for, and to sell, eBooks using just your phone. With "cloud-based" applications beginning to dominate the Mobile App (MoApp) landscape, it becomes necessary to store less and less information and programs on our individual devices. This means that we'll be able to sell - and buyers will be able to buy - our books through our own cloud-based web stores, accessible by SmartPhone.

Sure, Amazon and Nook stores are already cloud-based sales tools. But imagine the ability to conduct business a whole new way, with no Amazon in the middle taking a bite. How might that private cloud look for an author?

It's hard to predict. But it would probably involve much more video marketing than is currently used. Your cloud would be able to tap into other clouds holding databases of helpful customer information so you can more precisely target marketing and promotional efforts. If you and the buyer have the right phones and apps, you can already show the buyer your book on your phone and then sell him/her a copy by just tapping your phones together. Is that cool or what! The possibilities are endless.

What should I do now? For now, I think the key for authors is to remain vigilant for these new MoApp breakthroughs when they happen . . . and that will be soon. When new tech becomes available at reasonable prices (or more likely, for free), be an early adopter. Don't wait for others to try it out first. Become the recognized "expert" in applying to the writing world whatever new tech has become available. Write about it. Use it in your publications. Get a leg up on the other publishers out there. Take advantage of one of the greatest strengths of self- and indie-publishing -be nimble! By the time the Big Six are on board, it's too late for you to take a leadership role.

Here's one other thing you can do right now - BE EXCITED ABOUT THE FUTURE OF PUBLISHING!

Like 'em or not, eBooks are here to stay. You've already adopted that trend ahead of the Big Boys. Now stay ahead by watching for the MoApp opportunities as they arise, and daring to adopt early.

I love the possibilities, even though no one can yet articulate their exact nature. Think "blank slate." Do more with less. Eat your Ramen Noodles and conquer!

That's it for today. Thanks for stopping in.

Cheers!

John

Combating Writer's Block

2011-04-08T12:51:00.000-07:00

Hello and welcome to Self-publishing Central. Today's post is on the subject of combating the dreaded "Writer's Block." Many writers experience Writer's Block at one time or another. Whether you are a self-pubber, or you prefer the traditional route to publication, there should be something in this post for you.

Exactly what is Writer's Block?

According to most definitions, Writer's Block is a "psychological condition" in which a writer finds it difficult or impossible to continue writing on a given work. Writer's Block is usually temporary. (Well . . . that's good news, at least.)

How does one combat Writer's Block?

David Taylor, long time editor of national magazines such as Prevention, Men's Health and Runner's World, doesn't believe there is such a thing as Writer's Block. Nevertheless, he has written a wonderful article identifying four causes of the condition and seven ways to fight Writer's Block. I recommend that you review his insightful suggestions before reading further here.

Waiting for you to read David's article . . .

Okay. To summarize, David says you can try:

1) Free-writing. Write anything you please, as fast as you can, for a set period of time. Don't stop for anything.
2) Copy and Write. Read a sentence or paragraph from a favorite writer's work and try to recreate it on the page.
3) Re-Read and Notate. Review your research materials and make notes.
4) Write to Someone. Write a letter to a friend.
5) Write Dialogue. Set up a conversation between yourself and someone who wants to learn about your topic. Write out that dialogue.
6) Write Invisibly. Turn off your monitor and write without seeing your writing. (Or write with an empty pen and carbon paper.)
7) Write About Writing. How do you feel about writing? Who influenced you and how?

Please read David's Post completely. It's really creative.

What do I do to Combat Writer's Block?

Like David, I don't believe in Writer's Block (at least I don't believe I will experience it). It's one of those psychological phenomena that is very real if you believe in it, and doesn't exist at all if you don't. It's like an irrational fear that becomes very real. Or like an irrational belief that one will fail, which becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

For these reasons, I'm not saying Writer's Block isn't real for YOU. Psychological conditions are every bit as real to those experiencing them as are objective real world conditions. So please don't think I don't understand. That's why I'm writing this post, after all. :)

My strategy for combating Writer's Block is pretty straight-forward . . . maybe too straightforward for it to work for everybody. When I struggle to write well, I write poorly. I just keep on writing my story, whether I think it's any good or not. I don't wait for a good idea to write about. I write about whatever good, bad or mediocre idea I can come up with.

If I'm not feeling my muse that day, I won't wait to create clever dialogue. I'll write the dialogue that comes to mind. Some days I fully recognize that a LOT of what I have written will be changed or excised in the re-writing or editing process. But here's the benefit. I CAN'T edit a blank page. I CAN edit whatever garbage I may have written at some previous date.

By keeping the story moving, I eventually come to a place in the plot, or a day of the week, where I feel like I'm writing good stuff again. As a consequence, I eventually reach the end of Draft No. 1.

Conclusion.

If you experience Writer's Block (or any obstacle to having a "good writing" day), try one of the suggestions above. I am optimistic that you will find success.

Thanks for stopping to visit.

Have a great day!

Cheers!

John

Blog to Book - Publishing Your Blog as an eBook

2011-03-31T08:38:00.000-07:00

Hello all.

Welcome to Self-Publishing Central. Today's topic has to do with publishing your collected blog entries in book form. It's easier than you might think. And it's a great way to help readers catch up on what they've missed.

Why would I want to publish my blog as an eBook?

Everything I've ever written on Self-Publishing Central, including guest posts, Tips lists and my real life experiences as a self-published author is still available, right here on my blog. It's all in the archives. Why would anyone want to buy a book containing the same information when they can get it for free here?

That's an excellent question. The answer is that, while all the blog posts remain available in the blog archive, in order to find one in particular, you need to page through each month's posts - one month at a time - and scan what you find for the post you're looking for. I've done it myself to link new posts with supplementary information contained in posts I'd already written. Frankly, it's a pain. Maybe there's a way that Blogger will let me index all these posts and I just haven't found it yet. If so . . . darn it!

By publishing the blog posts as an eBook, I can add a table of contents that will hyperlink directly to each post. In my mind, that's a huge advantage for anyone trying to use this blog as a resource. Information is no good if you can't find it when you need it.

What about all the web links contained in the blog? Won't those be lost in an eBook?

If you publish your blog the right way, the eBook you produce will contain live links to every web page you have referenced in your blog. Really?

Yes, really! Of course, the device used to read your eBook must be web-enabled and connected to the internet. But then, most devices these days, including Kindle and Nook, have that capability. And of course, if you're reading this blog right now, your computer has the capability, too. That means you could be reading the eBook right on your laptop using a free Kindle software download, or almost any reader software for the Nook (ePub) version. And yes, your eBook can also be made available in PDF, complete with live web-links. So you can use Adobe to read it, as well.

Can you imagine reading a paper copy of a blog and not being able to follow the blog references to the web? It would be frustrating as all get out. That's why eBooks are the ideal publishing format for blogs.

Okay. But isn't it a ton of work to retrieve those hundred or so blog posts, format them, make a table of contents, make sure the web links are live, etc.?

I'd say creating an eBook from your blog entries would be more work than it was worth, if it were not for the two brilliantly conceived tools I am about to share with you. (NOTE: There are almost certainly other such tools as well. These are the two I have used.)

The first tool is absolutely free and will convert your blog to a PDF-formatted eBook in just a couple minutes. It's called BookSmith, From Blog to Book. At the BookSmith site you simply enter your blog's URL, indicate whether you use Blogger or WordPress, select how many blog posts you want to include in your book and shoot from the hip.

The output is a PDF with a simple cover, a table of contents (including page numbers), and all the posts you selected, complete with live web links. You could publish your blog right at this point. But I'm not sure whether most eBook sellers will be able to read the links when the books are "converted" to their particular formats.

I know that a basic upload and conversion to Kindle or Smashwords from this enhanced PDF format will not preserve the links as you intend. Nor will such a conversion make hyperlinks out of the Table of Contents, as you would want for most eBook formats (since page numbers are fluid).

Enter tool number two . . . . This one costs a little money. (Hey, you can't expect everything for free in this life.) The second tool isn't really a tool - it's a company (or at least a guy). It's called ebookconversion.com. To use this service, you email the PDF of your blog/book to Bob Mehta at ebookconversion.com and he gives you a quote to accomplish the conversion to Kindle and/or ePub. For my conversion, Bob quoted me $153 for the conversion to Kindle and another $45 if I added ePub as well. I could pay an extra $63 for rush service to get the conversion completed in one week instead of two or three. (I elected to forgo the rush service. I'm in this for the long run.)

I spoke to Bob on the telephone after receiving his quote to confirm that all the web links in my blog would be live in the eBook and that the Table of Contents would be hyperlinked to the appropriate posts. He confirmed that such would, indeed, be the case.

His site had a bunch of positive testimonials and links to samples of his work. It all looked good to me. So I sent my book off to Bob this past Monday. Of course, I will report on the final product when I receive it. But I'm pretty optimistic that Bob will come through for me.

If you want to add a custom cover to your eBook, go for it. I'm working on a little something on my word processing software that I plan to use as my book cover on Kindle and Nook. I'm no artist by any means. I'm sure most of you can do better. You can see at the top of this post what I've come up with so far.

Conclusion

If you're blogging about writing (or anything, really) and your blog contains lots of useful information like this one does, why not make it a book? I plan to list "Self-Publishing Central" for sale on Kindle and Nook when it's ready. I'll add buy links at the top of this blog so you can take a peek at the finished product if you wish.

That's it for today. Thanks for stopping in.

Cheers!

John

Pricing Your eBook

2011-03-23T13:53:00.000-07:00

Hello all.

Some of you may have noticed me on Twitter or FaceBook, or even on this Blog, advertising "experimental pricing" on Kindle versions of several of my novels. My goal was to test the price waters (again . . . I did this last fall, and again this winter, as well). I wanted to find the best price point for my books.

Following are my observations:

GENRE MATTERS

If you write paranormal romance novellas, I can safely say that the folks who have had the most success with selling these eBooks are pricing them at $.99 each. I didn't find this out through my own empirical study. I sampled other blogs. I looked on Amazon to see how much the popular books in this genre are selling for. And of course, there's the famous case of Kindle millionaire, Amanda Hocking. (If you haven't heard her story, Google her. You'll find out plenty.)

Although my pricing study didn't include novellas of any kind, I feel pretty comfortable going with the prevailing opinion on this one. $.99 is your price point.

If you write popular fiction, I have some actual results from my unscientific studies (both last fall and recently) to offer.

For the past several months, or more, all of my novels on Kindle have been priced at $8.99. Sales have been surprisingly steady -- I said steady, not high. But the steadiness gave me a nice comparison point for my price study.

For a period of several days this March I lowered the price on my most popular novel from $8.99 to $2.99. I advertised the price drop like crazy, everywhere I could. The first day, I sold triple the number of that book compared to the average daily number I had been selling. After the first day, sales dropped below my normal sales numbers and remained there for three days, at which time I returned the price to $8.99. Sales of this book have now returned to their pre-experiment level. And they did so almost immediately.

My conclusion, based on this admittedly scant, but entirely accurate, data, $8.99 was a better price for the book than $2.99. Even though I did sell more books the very first day, I suspect that those purchases were made by folks who planned to buy the book anyway and simply took advantage of the price drop to do so. (I actually contacted two buyers who had notified me of their purchases. I asked if the price was a factor for them. Both said that it wasn't.)

In the battle between the $8.99 and the $2.99 price points for popular novels, the unscientific winner is: $8.99. Not only do I get paid three times as much per book sold, I actually sell more books at that price level.

If you write religious or other niche fiction, I can offer you some information on pricing in this area as well. Before my price study, I was selling my full-length religious novel at $8.99. For the study period of four days, I lowered the price to $.99. As with the other novel, I advertised the heck out of the price drop.

The results? I sold four copies of the book during the four days of the study. I hadn't been selling tons before that. But this level of sales certainly didn't make the $.99 price point an attractive option.

What I learned with this book experiment, is that almost giving your book away does not attract purchasers. This bears out similar results I have experienced when I have actually offered to GIVE eBooks away. I don't believe people value most fiction when you price it too low. (Romance being one apparent exception.)

So the price point for my religious novel at present? Back to $8.99. Sales are still slow. But awards are starting to come in. So we'll see what the future holds.

The above findings are comparable to results I discovered last fall when I lowered prices on my books to $6.99 and then to $2.99. No appreciable increase in sales. In fact, sales DECREASED as the price dropped.

I posted an article on this blog a a couple months ago describing how I chose the prices for my books. I'll see if I can locate it and link it here.

The upshot of my pricing strategy is to price my books slightly lower than their traditionally published counterparts. If NY Times Best Seller thrillers sell for $9.99 to $11.99, I sell mine for $8.99. You get the idea.

I would like to have done a more thorough and more scientific pricing study whose results I could share with you. But as you know, among other things, I am an author. So writing itself has to be a priority. This is especially true since, as I have stated in this blog before, if you want to sell more books, write more.

I hope you have found this article helpful to you (if only in a small way) when you make that important decision about pricing your book.

That's it for today.

Cheers!

John

5 Self-Publishing Tips (Part 4)

2011-03-18T07:51:00.000-07:00

Greetings to all. Thanks for visiting Self-Publishing Central.

Today we wrap up our "Tips" series with self-publishing tips 16 through 20. Links to prior posts are here: Part 1; Part 2; Part 3.

And here are your final five tips of the series:

16. Consider entering your book in awards competitions. There are lots of reputable contests out there. Generally, the entry fee is under $100 and goes (mostly) to pay for the judging and prizes. There are also scam contests to avoid. If you’re wondering about a particular contest, type its name into Google followed by the word “scam.” If it’s a scam, you’ll find out. Here’s a link to a post I did last year listing some respected contests. Check them out. Most of them are accepting entries RIGHT NOW.

17. A decent Media Kit is a valuable tool. When you send out requests for reviews, press releases or other media coverage, an up-to-date Media Kit is irreplaceable. If you don’t know what a Media Kit is, here’s one of many places you can find out. I expound on one of my Media Kits in a post from last summer, if you want a more personal example. Your Media Kit makes your first impression on many contacts in the publishing world. Develop one to be proud of.

18. Don’t plan on selling lots of books at book signings and book festivals. The average number of books sold by a relatively unknown author at a bookstore signing is FOUR. I usually do a bit better at my signings (16 to 34 books), but only because I really “work” the customers. If you just sit there behind your table of books, you probably won’t sell any.

The same goes for large book fairs and book festivals. I’ve participated in a couple book fairs. At the Minneapolis Book Festival, I sold ten books over a period of seven hours. I paid $60 for the privilege. The two guys next to me at the author tables combined didn’t sell as many as I did. There are some other benefits to Book Festivals, though. If you’re interested, take a glance at my report on the Minneapolis Festival here. But never expect to sell a bunch of books.

19. Take advantage of guest posters on your blog. There are lots of authors out there who have insights into the rapidly changing world of self-publishing. If you have a writing blog, share your blog space with a few well-chosen guest bloggers. They’ll appreciate the opportunity. Your readers will enjoy a new perspective. You’ll tap into at least a few of their Followers. Plus, you'll get a break from writing your blog that day. It’s a win-win-win-win.

20. Remember to have fun being an author. You are one of a select few who can say that he or she has published a book. I’ve mentioned several ways you can feel good in this post. Please read it. It’ll lift your spirits and encourage you to press on. In a like manner, all authors should encourage and support all others. I don’t get why some self- or indie-publishers and some traditional publishers can’t be civil to one another. Publishing is tough enough without authors beating each other up over their chosen paths to publication. So please . . . play nice.

Well . . . that's the end of our self-publishing tips series. It's not that there aren't more tips I could tell you here. But I want to move on, in future posts, to a bit more in-depth discussion of self-publishing topics.

Hope you enjoyed the "Tips" series. And thanks for stopping in.

Cheers!

John

5 Self-Publishing Tips (Part 3)

2011-03-15T08:40:00.000-07:00

Hello all.

Today we continue our series of self-publishing tips with Tips 11 - 15. Here is where you may find the First Five Tips and the Second Five Tips. The Fourth and final installment in the "Tips" series will be posted later this week.

Here are today's five tips:

11. Make sure to give back. If you’re the sort of writer that expects others to give, give, give while you soak up their riches, you can expect the pot o’ gold to run empty pretty quickly. Tweet the successes of other authors – especially your special friends. Read some indie- or self-pubbed books. If you truly like them, let the world know. Maybe start a blog to share what you have learned. Be a source of writing energy, not a sink.

12. Stay up to date on Self-pub news and technology. It’s truly surprising how quickly news and advice in the self-publishing world can go stale. Publishing these days is a dynamic environment. Look for new perspectives and new opportunities on a regular basis. Do yourself a favor and acquire the ability to accept credit card payments with The Square. Americans don’t carry cash and checks anymore. You’ll be the envy of everyone at the book festival when you pull out your smartphone and start accepting Visa/Master/Amex/Discover. It’s easier than you think with this gadget.

13. Writing is NOT a competition. When other authors experience success, cheer them on. When any author finishes a book (or even a first draft), congratulate them. The author community may seem large on the web. But how many people do you know who actually have succeeded in publishing a book? We authors should be a welcoming group for our fellow writers. Help when you can. Applaud when appropriate. And always remember that writing is a cooperative endeavor – not a competition. This attitude will serve you well.

14. Learn to be patient. If you haven’t yet reached the point in your writing adventure where you have encountered the need for EXTREME patience, well . . . you’ve got a ways to go. Writing for publication IS NOT a sprint – it’s a marathon. Don’t expect your emails to be returned, or your letters acknowledged. Everybody is swamped with life these days. Remember, YOUR work is not THEIR only priority. Be patient, kind and understanding with everyone you encounter in the writing business. Most are doing their best. And the rest? Well . . . they’re not worth losing your inner peace over.

15. If you want an affordable book video trailer, get one from Apex Reviews. Apex has frequent sales when you can purchase their “Platinum” publicity package for as low as $49 or $69. Regular price is only $99. This package includes a pretty well-written book review, entry of your book into an awards competition, press releases to 50,000 or so outlets AND a one minute video book trailer. If you’re operating on a tight budget, you can’t beat that. I had my trailers done through Apex. Check out my IAN Member Page to see both.

Well, those are today's five tips. I hope you will find at least at least some of them helpful to you in your writing activities.

That's it for now. Check back for the fourth and final installment of the "Tips" series later this week.

Cheers!

John

5 Self-Publishing Tips (Part 2)

2011-03-12T09:56:00.000-08:00

Hello all.

My latest post on Five Self-Publishing Tips has been very popular. So I've decided to make it into a series of three (maybe four) posts.

Today's tips are numbers 6 - 10. And here they are:

6. Get an author website. The nicer job you do putting together your website, the more professional the impression on your audience. Unless you’ve got a knack for web development, consider hiring someone to help you out here. Prices vary all over the place. But $500 should get you something pretty decent. My recommendation for help in website development? Duolit. Make sure your book is available for purchase on your site. If you want to have a blog, that’s great – but it’s not the same as a website. Provide sample chapters and maybe a “Things I learned while writing XYZ Book” list. (BTW...I did my own website, so don't blame Duolit.)

7. Get involved in Social Networks. The basics here are Twitter, LinkedIn and FaceBook. Each has advantages and disadvantages for the author. Experiment with all of them. On Twitter, look for the #amwriting hashtag as a place to start. On LinkedIn, look for the Definitive Serious Writers Group. Set up a FaceBook page strictly for your authoring activities and update it regularly – daily if possible. Beyond the big three, consider writer support groups like The Independent Author Network (for marketing and networking) or the Association of Independent Authors (for help in many areas).

8. Don’t forget the home front. Social networking is great . . . but increasing evidence indicates that you shouldn’t ignore author marketing activities closer to home. Offer to speak to book clubs, service clubs (Kiwanis, Rotary, etc.), local “Friends of the Library” associations and study groups of all kinds. If you can find an audience, go for it. I sell lots of paperbacks at these speaking engagements. Don’t forget to provide local libraries with copies of your book.

9. Keep on writing. As my friend @JamieDeBree likes to say: “The best way to sell books? Write more books.” I agree 100%. Readers don’t want to fall in love with a one-hit-wonder. Show them you’re serious about your writing by starting work on that next book even before you’ve released your current masterpiece.

10. Establish solid relationships with other writers. It’s pretty easy to get a few thousand Followers on any social network. And that’s arguably important. But in my experience, it’s the closer relationships – the folks you Message with and exchange emails with – who will anchor your online presence. Yes, it takes time to make a truly great online friend. I’ve been lucky enough to have half-a-dozen or so. When you encounter that “right” person, take your connection to the next level. It’ll benefit both of you.

Those are today's Five Tips. Check back around March 16th for five more.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping in.

Cheers!

John

FIVE TIPS FOR SELF-PUBLISHING

2011-03-09T16:13:00.000-08:00

Hello all. And thanks for stopping in.

I've been collecting some of my favorite tips for self-publishers. I've probably mentioned some of these insights in previous posts. But there's some new stuff here, too. And we can always use a reminder to help refocus our thinking.

So here are today's five tips"

1. If you’re in the U.S. and plan to publish a paperback, print your book through CreateSpace. Their inside connection with Amazon, and low up-front costs, make them a compelling choice as a POD printer. Costs for author copies are also among the lowest in the industry. So you can warehouse and sell your books through any channel you wish. Here’s a link to CreateSpace.

2. Publish your eBooks through at least the following channels: Amazon Kindle. Barnes & Noble PubIt. Smashwords. Kindle is still the best selling outlet for eBooks in the U.S. Don’t forgo the chance to tap into this vast market. It costs nothing to have your book available in Kindle format. And royalties are up to 70% of the list price of the book – which you set! Check out the details here.

Barnes & Noble’s PubIt gives you access to another excellent market. It’s not quite as big as Amazon’s. But there are lots of B&N devotees out there who will still look for eBooks at B&N first. Once again, there is no up-front cost to list your book. And author royalties are up to 70% of the list price. Here's a link to the Pubit site.

Smashwords doesn’t sell tons of books directly. But it does make your book available through iBooks, Sony, Diesel and Kobo. Smashwords will also convert your Word document to all the major eBook formats for free – .mobi (Kindle); ePub (Sony, Nook and others); PDF; html and plain old text. When Smashwords resells your books to these retailers it takes a fee. On the other hand, it does make your books available to all these outlets for free. In my book, that’s too good a deal to pass up. Check out Smashwords here.

3. Make sure your paperback is for sale through multiple online channels. Even if you don’t plan to sell many books through B&N Online, or through ABEBooks, etc., some of these other retailers will price compete with Amazon. Since Amazon refuses to be outbid for lowest price, it will beat all other prices. This makes your books cheaper for your readers to buy at Amazon and still nets you the same percentage of your LIST PRICE.

4. Don’t spend money on blog book tours. If you want to organize your own, great! They take a lot of time and research. But they can get you good exposure if done properly. I paid $500 for a blog tour through “Pump Up Your Book.” They came highly recommended. And it wasn’t worth the money. My book didn’t get the individualized attention it needed to expose the book to my audience.

5. Get as many “independent” book reviews as you can. Nothing gives a self-published better bona fides than a nice set of well-written, independent book reviews. Friends and family reviews are okay. But many shoppers will ignore these as inherently biased. You can get free reviews from bloggers in your genre, from Amazon Top Reviewers, from BookPleasures.com and numerous other sources. Seek out unbiased reviewers for your book. It’s well-worth the effort.

That wraps up your five tips for today. Five more coming in my next post.

Thanks for stopping in.

Cheers!

John

TIPS ON SELLING YOUR BOOK

2011-03-07T07:32:00.001-08:00

Hello , all.

My travels continue this week. So my good friend, Mr. Al King, has agreed to step in with a guest post on selling your book. Al is an insightful guy with a message from which we can all benefit.

The stage is yours, Al.

Your Book Will Not Sell Itself

As an author, you’ve positioned all of your time, originality and creative energy into the conception of one book -- your book. Now that it’s done, you’re looking to get it in the hands of as many readers as possible. You’re confident that it’s a rock-solid book, a great read that’ll be well received by anyone who comes in contact with it, simply because -- it’s just that good.

This is where I have to stop you. Despite the fact that I salute your optimism, it’s going to take much more than just your want to actually become a best seller. For the record, regardless of how good any product is, it will require the well-deserved and time-consuming effort of making a solid connection with those that have a like or interest in your product.

How does that apply to selling a book you’re probably asking. Well, for starters the paramount instrument you have will always be YOURSELF. Take every opportunity to expose your brand by displaying your interpersonal abilities and establishing a “Human Connection,” an authentic connection with each and every person that is capable of reading/ purchasing your book. What I mean by that is, you shouldn’t restrict your marketing attack to only those you deem as a targeted audience, but all people in general.

In my opinion, an audience immediately exists once you share your manuscript with the world and every author should immediately understand he or she is now on stage. Authors should use every opportunity to determine how a book is being received and identify with fans. Instead, these days I’ve noticed, and you probably have as well, authors who haven’t taken the time to build rapport are begging and shoving the expectations to purchase on potential customers.

The truth is -- every time a choice is made to spend money, a connection is made. All consumers are moved by energy, the hype, the need, the want, which eventually transcends into a connection between consumer and product. As a writer you are the personality to your masterpiece and must always be the face of your book. It is then that something can surmount to a common interest -- in this case, it's author to reader.

Virally, there are many suggestions of ways to enhance the sales of books, with social media sites being the most common. These platforms (LinkedIn, Twitter and FaceBook) are viewed as the most viable marketing and promotional outlets when they are used effectively. One thing I want to emphasize is . . . just because you have accounts on these sites, doesn’t mean anything if they aren’t being serviced. Remember, what you put into them, will be what you get out of them. During my own presence on these sites, I’ve seen many people with great potential to capture their following if only they took the time to service this potential.

What is Servicing? One must publicly engage and interact at some point by respecting the real purpose and premise of social sites. If the connections are made, I’m almost certain it will lead to the support of your book. Based on the ideology of selling, most purchases are provoked from being emotionally stimulated from the thought of that purchase will make one feel better.

Realistically, if a person wakes up in the morning wanting to buy a book that day, that is exactly what they will do. But it’s the person that didn’t have any intention of making a purchase on their mind, but is then enticed into buying, that matters. Again, if you’re not concentrating on fusing with people you don’t know, a potential purchaser or a possible future recommendation that will co-sign your book, then what will make you exceptional from the author of the book next to yours?

Remember, your book will not sell itself!

____________________________________

More about our guest author . . .

AL KING

ENTERTAINMENT MANAGER ·AUTHOR · TALK SHOW HOST · ENTREPRENEUR · MOTIVATOR

Born and reared in the Bronx, New York, Al King is a dynamically and diverse entity, driven as an entrepreneur, author, entertainment manager, visionary and motivator. Inspired by the foresight of his predecessors with the likes of Berry Gordy and Quincy Jones, he has his eyes set on creating his own legacy. Taking over ten-years in the corporate sector doing management, combined with his experience in the real estate industry, he credits that path with honing in on his business outlook.

In 2002, combining his love for entertainment and leadership abilities, he decided to catapult his spirit and drive as an entrepreneur by launching Go Gettaz Entertainment, Inc. The full-service, Artist and Project Management and Production Company has been effective with specializing in the development and guidance of clients. The company has overseen the careers of rappers, singers and projects that has included a partnership in China—resulting in appointing the dj’s for a newly built nightclub ”Club New York” in the city of Hangzhou. One of his major accomplishments was the concise execution of gaining a contractual release from a major record label for a client that took almost two years of grueling legal warfare.

In 2010, by adding author and publisher to his arsenal, he launched a literary publishing company, Go Gettaz Publications. The first release will be his first penned novel “Let It Be Known” The Al King Point of View, scheduled to be released in March, 2011. This non-fiction book is what he considers to be “A sincere conversation on a collage of life matter’s”. He adds: “ A motivational, inspirational, empowering and instructional push in the form of a solution for what we face day in and day out”. In June,10, in conjunction with the book, he launched the weekly internet radio show “Let it Be Known” Live. The show covered a successful span of forty-four shows, garnering a faithful following from around the country and extending to some international listeners.

Mr. King’s paramount objective is to bring forth a multi-media conglomerate that will empower, inspire and influence the universe in general!

www.linkedin.com/in/MrAlking www.Twitter.com/MrAlKing

www.Facebook.com/MrAlKing

If you have questions or comments for Mr. Al King, we'd appreciate hearing from you.

Thanks for appearing today, Al.

That's it for now.

Cheers!

John

Lessons Learned in Self-Publishing

2011-02-26T18:37:00.000-08:00

Today we welcome my good friend, and experienced author, blogger and book reviewer, William R. Potter for a guest post.

What have you got for us today, William?

Big Name Pay-for-Publishing VS True Self-Publishing

I wish I had known more about the Self-Publishing/Print-On-Demand Industry before I chose to self-publish my first book with a big name vanity publisher back in 2008. Many authors are now choosing to publish with do-it-yourself publishers like CreateSpace and Lulu. I went for a full service POD publisher for my first book. This was a mistake and here is why.

The big pay-for-publishing companies (iUniverse, Xlibris, AuthorHouse etc.) don't make their money selling their authors' books. Their income stems from selling expensive publishing packages and marketing/publicity campaigns to their authors.

The suggested retail price for many books published by these companies is preset by the publisher with no author control. It is often way above market standards. Imagine $19.99-$24.99 for a 250 page trade paperback book and $9.99 for a Kindle ebook. Compare this to the 10 bucks for best sellers by world famous authors. A 250 page book POD published should retail for $15.00 or less and the ebook for no more than half the print retail.

On average, these overpriced books sell 5 copies or less (not including to family or friends). One big name publisher admits to many titles not selling a single copy at on-line stores like Amazon.com. (In rare instances, some self-published authors have sold hundreds, even thousands of copies from these same online stores.) Learn as much about self promotion as you can online and be prepared to work hard to build your reputation.

Books from these companies often have a terrible reputation. The books themselves are believed to be of poor quality and the writing is thought to be weak and in need of professional editing. (Printing quality has improved greatly over the years but the stigma remains.) Hire a professional editor to make sure your manuscript is at its best. Also, don’t cheap out on cover design as readers do judge books by their covers.

Some interested readers might shy away from your book when they realize it is published by one of these companies because of the industry reputation. My recommendation: Mail a print copy of your book to reviewers and run contest giveaways at your website or blog to get your book out to the reading public.

The marketing packages these companies push on their authors are overpriced and often ineffective. An opt-in e-mail campaign sent an ad for my book to one million prospective readers for $600. Only 1500 people opened the e-mail and none made a purchase. This service is available direct from Opt-in e-mail companies for about $100. Avoid these marketing schemes. My "big name" calls me about every three months with some new angle to sell my book.

Proofreading done by staff editors is often little better than the Spell Check on most word processing software. I purchased copy editing from my publisher for over $1100.00 and still found more than 120 simple spelling and grammar mistakes in my manuscript. Don’t use staff editors at any SP firms. Research and hire a highly regarded proof reader.

My overall recommendation is to avoid these companies. Free do-it-yourself print publishing through CreateSpace and Lulu is much more cost effective. E-publishing direct to Kindle or B&N NOOK is also free. Smashwords.com is a great way to get your work out to many ebook readers at the Sony bookstore and the Apple iBook store.

_________________________________________

Thanks for stopping in with this informative post, William.

To the rest of you guys, I have to tell you that I have read William's Crime Thriller, DEAD OF KNIGHT, and it is a terrific book. Well-edited and authentic action. See my review on Amazon for more details.
_________________________________________

William's Biography:

William Potter attempted his first novel at age eleven when he scribbled a few lines about a giant rampaging crab. The teen years kept his imagination in a state of unrest and he used poetry to journal personal thoughts, achievements and events of those times. He returned to his love of storytelling in his twenties, writing numerous short stories; and now in his forties, has published two books.

Lighting the Dark Side-Six Modern Tales represents his short story work from the past several years and is his first published book. Won the 2009 Best Short Story Collection at Allbooks Review International.

DEAD of KNIGHT The first book in the "Jack Staal" thriller series. A Hard boiled detective/police procedural. Available at Amazon, B&N. Book two Dead to Rights will be released Fall 2011.

Falling Down The Hole. Peter cox had it all. A wonderful wife, beautiful intelligent daughter and a successful career. A freak kitchen accident would rob him of his sight and his will to live. Falling Down The Hole. Spring 2011.

William resides in New Westminster, Canada with his wife and two children.

Find William on The Independent Author Network (IAN), Twitter, and his home page at WilliamRPotter.com.

Guest Bloggers

2011-02-21T12:58:00.000-08:00

Hello all.

I'm back from a few days spent north of the 48 40 parallel on Lake of the Woods, Minnesota ice fishing. Here are a few sample pics for your viewing pleasure.

Cleaning fish on the ice. Four guys lived in that green,
10 x 20 foot shack for three days & 3 nights.

A couple of the guys with the green Bombardier that shuttles us out to the ice house at the beginning and end of our fishing trips. Think antique snowmobile on steroids.

We have fishing holes augered into the three-foot-thick ice and fish from the indoor warmth of the shack. There are a propane-fueled heater, lights and stove. Pretty deluxe . . . as you can clearly see. :)

Okay. Enough fishing. Back to the blog.

Today's post is about Guest Bloggers. What are they? Where do you get them? and Why would you want them?

What are "Guest Bloggers"?

I'm sure many of you already know what a Guest Blogger is. But for the rest of you kind folks, here's a quick and dirty rundown. A "Guest Blogger" is someone who writes a post for someone else's blog. Simple enough?

For example, I had the privilege of having my friend, Clay Rivers (@TuffyPants on Twitter), guest posting about writing memoirs here on Self-Publishing Central last week. So if you want to see a sample guest post, just click on the link.

Usually, a guest blogger writes a post and provides their Bio and pic so the host blog Followers know something about the poster.

Where Do You Get Guest Bloggers?

Guest bloggers can be found anywhere that others have expertise in an area of interest to your blog. Writer friends on Twitter or FaceBook, writers' groups like The Independent Author Network, or The Association of Independent Authors, or other writer blogs are all places you could find excellent guest bloggers.

Many writers and/or bloggers are more than happy to write a guest post for your blog, provided they have a message of interest to your audience. Usually, an email, or a Message to them will suffice to start a discussion on the topic. Of course, no one owes you a guest blog. So if a contact declines to write one, you shouldn't be offended. Just move on to another candidate.

Why Would You Want Guest Bloggers?

There are a whole bunch of reasons why guest bloggers are good for you, for your blog and for your blog Followers. Here are just a few:

-- You and your Followers benefit from your guest blogger's knowledge. No single blogger has the corner on useful information related to the blog's topic. Why not share the opinions of other "experts" with as many interested people as possible?

-- You get a break from the work of composing an interesting and informative blog post for a few days while your guest carries the load. Everyone goes through periods when they just can't think of something good to say to their blog's Followers. I struggle all the time. But I refuse to write a post just for the sake of posting something. I want to have a topic that I believe to be worthy of hearing before I make a post. I know that may result in fewer posts and lower blog traffic . . . but I hope I write fewer boring and/or unhelpful posts that way.

-- Both you and your guest get an opportunity to spread messages to a larger audience. For instance, Clay picked up at least a dozen new followers for his blog when he posted here last week. Self-Publishing Central picked up three new Followers. More Followers means that more people can benefit from what you have to say. And isn't that what blogging is about . . . sharing knowledge?

-- If you share your blog with a guest, some of your Followers may realize that you are open to guest posters and may contact you to ask if they can write a guest post for your blog. Or, your Followers may invite you to be a guest on their blog. Either one simply multiplies the guest blogging benefits I've already listed.

Conclusion.

I know that these aren't the only benefits of guest blogging . . . but they're the ones that came to my mind today. If you'd like to share other benefits of guest blogging, please feel free to do so by leaving a comment below.

Well . . . that's enough for now. Hope you enjoyed the post.

Thanks for stopping in.

Cheers!

John

How to Write a Memoir

2011-02-14T21:49:00.000-08:00

Hi there. Thanks for stopping in.

Today, I've invited my good friend, Clay Rivers, to submit a guest post on writing a memoir. Turns out he knows quite a lot about it.

Take it away, Clay
_______________________

So You Want To Write Your Memoir.

Writing a memoir can be an exhilarating and exhausting experience. It requires not only taking a look at your life in retrospect, but making sense of it. Readers want to know what obstacles you faced and how you overcame them. Before writing the first paragraph of your memoir, check out this list of the top five things I think you should consider that could make the actual process of writing your life story go a lot smoother.

1. The Message

What do you want to say in your memoir? Is there one thing you want your readers to take with them after reading your tome? Memoirs aren't laundry lists of events. "First I did this. And then I went there. Next we..." Snooze.

Good memoirs give readers insight into personal struggles as well as lessons learned. Picking a central message will help you in choosing which anecdotes to include.

2. The Content

When friends found out I was writing a memoir, the number one question was "how do you remember everything that happened?" The answer: I didn't.

Before I wrote the first word of the manuscript, I made a time line of my life and included the major events that supported my theme. I didn't get hung up on exact dates. I jotted things down as they occurred to me for the first few days; funny stories, sad events, accomplishments, cultural events, and the like. When I felt I had enough events I checked them against my theme. If the events didn't fit into my theme they were cut. Why spend all that time writing about an event that doesn't serve your theme?

The next step involved checking dates and events for accuracy. I dug out old pictures and documents to ensure things happened the way they did, not as I remembered. I talked with friends to compare recollections and fill in details.

Periodicals, TV shows, pop music, sporting events, and general history are also great resources that will help you sharpen your memories.

3. The Voice

Choose how you'll tell your story. How will you relate to your reader? Perhaps your style will be conversational and intimate as if speaking to a good friend. Or will your tone be that of an insider spilling hard facts in a cut and dried manner? Whichever you choose, make sure the style is one that reflects who you are and serves your content well.

4. The Plan

Put yourself on a reasonable writing schedule. Two pages a day is a good start. The goal isn't to write it perfectly the first time, the goal is to get it committed to paper, be it real or virtual. Don't edit yourself on your first draft. There'll be plenty of time to go back and edit your manuscript. If you get to a point where you're stuck or the subject matter is something you still need to process or it's of a sensitive nature, take the time to work through what you're writing about. Eventually, the direction you should take will become apparent.

There are desk drawers and hard drives all over the world harboring thousands of unfinished memoirs. Don't let your memoir become a casualty of perfection.

5. Have fun

Go easy on yourself. If you don't have fun telling your story, your readers won't have fun reading it. And remember writing is rewriting.

Bio

Clay Rivers is a working actor (TV, film , and stage), screenwriter, and print art director. He is currently finishing his memoir "Walking Tall." Feel free to chat with him on Twitter (@TuffyPants) or read his posts at http://TuffyPants.wordpress.com.

_________________

Leave a comment for Clay here, or contact him at the above Twitter address.

Thanks, Clay, for providing this great post. And thanks readers for visiting once again.

Cheers!

John

Expect the Unexpected

2011-02-08T09:15:00.000-08:00

Hello all.

I've just returned from an ice fishing trip to northern Minnesota. Had a great time. Not so many fish caught, though. Oh, well.

Anyway, I'm back. And true to form, I have something to say.

I've been on this self-pub marketing adventure for about nine months now. And I'm starting to see some unexpected turns in my marketing road -- turns that mean new and unanticipated opportunities.

Let me give you some details.

Writers' Groups

I belong to several online writers' groups in which I participate to varying degrees, as time allows. I always knew that networking with other writers was important from both a writing and a marketing standpoint. But I hadn't realized some of the many doors these connections would open.

As a member of The Independent Author Network (IAN), I have experienced unprecedented peer support for my books. Even though this group is very new (just started up in December), it has already had BIG impacts on: 1) The number of hits I get on my website; 2) The number of writers who have emailed or messaged me about my writing; and 3) The number of potential reviewers -- and actual reviews written -- for my novels.

Beyond these benefits, several members of IAN have actually purchased and read my books! This is most certainly above and beyond the call of membership. But when a community forms, one learns more about the various members' writing endeavors, and you can't help but want to know more. (I've bought several books from the IAN crowd myself -- and have enjoyed them very much.)

As a member of The Definitive Serious Writers Group on LinkedIn, I've broadened my connections even further. Terrence Brejla put this group together to form a small, informed, cordial collection of writers to share ideas and information. It's a private group. But if you want "in," please contact me (betcherjl@q.com) and I will pass along your interest to Terrence. In this group, I've not only sold books and obtained reviews, but made some telephone connections and established topnotch editorial contacts as well.

As a member of the Association of Independent Authors, I've gotten great coverage of new book "events." The AiA is happy to publish, email and tweet all sorts of accomplishments, including reviews, awards won, honors received, milestones achieved, etc. Membership is $50 a year; but imho, it's well worth it.

Twitter

In addition to circulating in writers groups, I also spend a good deal of time connecting with other writers on Twitter. My Twitter name is @JohnBetcher.

I have identified most of my Twitter followers -- or they have identified me -- through tweets with a writing or publishing emphasis. Hashtags I use a lot include #amwriting #authors #writer and #IAN. Searching for #amwriting on Twitter is a great way to find fellow authors.

When you connect with folks on Twitter, the discussion often includes more than just writing. In one case, I connected with an Egyptian poet who wanted to read my, at the time, soon-to-be-released book about a trial to determine God's existence, entitled A HIGHER COURT - One Man's Search for the Truth of God's Existence. I sent her a PDF of the nearly final version.

That interchange on Twitter got me into a discussion with my new Egyptian friend, May, about Islam, Christianity and her poetry, among other subjects. When the Egyptian protests began, May's well-being became a matter of my concern. Here was a person I had never met, seen or spoken to (other than on the web), and I felt very connected to her as another human being.

Initially, I asked May if she would like to communicate her message of freedom for Egypt through a regional TV station in my area. She was agreeable. So I contacted several by email with an offer of a telephone connection to an Egyptian protester "on the ground" in Egypt. By the time one station followed up on my email, the Egyptian government had terminated all communication between the U.S. and Egypt. I told them I was sorry, but I could no longer connect them to May.

To my complete surprise, the reporter asked if I would be willing to do an interview on the Egyptian situation. Other than May, I have never (to my knowledge) even MET an Egyptian--at least not a live one less than a couple thousand years old. But I agreed to do the interview, nevertheless. The TV crew came to my home and we spoke for over half an hour on camera. The interview resulted in the news story shown here.

There I was, on a news show with over a million viewers, and I WASN'T even talking about my books! (You can bet I gave the reporter copies though.)

The TV interview has led to new connections for me on FaceBook and Twitter -- some Egyptians, some writers, some publishers, some simply concerned citizens of the world. And the Editor of Onislam.net news service has invited me to write an Op Ed piece for their publication. You can bet I will do so.

Are you starting to see the possibilities here? I was just tweeting with a friend about poetry, when all of a sudden, I was on the evening news. Was it Ferris Bueller who said, "Sometimes life moves pretty fast. If you're not careful, you might miss it"?

My head is still spinning.

Conclusion

The possibilities for the unexpected to occur in our social media lives are greater today than ever before. In fact, they are so great that I believe we should begin to EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED and be ready to embrace it.

Opportunities abound. They "come at you fast." Will you miss yours? Or are you ready?

That's it for today. Thanks for stopping in.

All the best.

John

Lessons Learned in Self-Publishing

2011-02-02T09:02:00.001-08:00

Hello all. And welcome.

For today's post, I'm going to refer you to a writing that "Sierra" was kind enough to allow me to guest post on her blog, Sierra's Writing Adventure.

It's all new material. So please check out Sierra's blog for this week's post.

All the best!

Stop back soon.

John

Orchestrating a Successful Book Release

2011-01-27T18:10:00.000-08:00

Today's post is by fellow author and blogger, Jamie DeBree.

Jamie's author website is here.

A full-time webmistress by day, Jamie writes steamy, action-packed romantic suspense late into the night. She resides in Billings, MT with her husband and two over-sized lap dogs. Here are her tips on Orchestrating a Successful Book Release. I think you'll be impressed with her organization! Take it away, Jamie.
____________________________

When John asked me if I’d like to do this post, I hesitated. I was in the midst of frantic last-minute chaos surrounding the release of my second book, and I felt, as most relatively new authors probably do, that I was doing it “all wrong”. I sometimes need to remind myself that there really isn’t a “wrong” way to market a book – there are things that work, and things that don’t…and the only way to figure out what will work for you and a particular book is to experiment. I’m still learning and experimenting with different marketing methods, but hopefully this will help those just starting out. Note that I don’t actively market locally in deference to my day job, so I do my promotion primarily online.

What Is Success?

First, let me define what a successful book release means to me. It may mean something different to you, but for me, I have only two goals for an actual release date:

To get the word out about my latest book.
To sell more copies of the new book on release day than I did for the previous book launch.

Number one, of course, is to tell people about my book. One day is not nearly enough time to spread the word around, and from what I’ve seen, it’s far more effective to have other people spreading the word than doing it yourself. But in order for others to want to talk about your book, you have to make *them* excited about it too. My philosophy is to market my books to my immediate social circles first, in the hopes that come release day, they will spread the word to their networks. And that means starting to market well before the book is due to come out.

When/Where To Start

Here’s the basic breakdown of what I did to lay the foundation for releasing Desert Heat.

Six Months Ahead

- Blurb for Desert Heat in the back of my first book.

- Talked about the revision process for Desert Heat (DH) on social media as I was going through it.

Three Months Ahead

- Talked up the final editing process for DH

- Started sharing small excerpts via newsletter & blog

- Announced a free sample & giveaway opportunities to come in Dec.

Two Months Ahead

- Circulated first three chapters of DH free on web sites & through social media

- Offered a three-week giveaway on Goodreads for 8 advance reader copies of DH

Six Weeks Ahead

- Set a firm release date of January 21, 2011

- Started more twitter marketing of my first book, as well as the sample chapters of DH

- Shared progress reports on the final cover art & formatting progress via social media

- Traded business cards & bookmarks with another author to mail out with print copies

Three Weeks Ahead

- Sent out ARC’s for potential review to GR winners and friends

- Shared short excerpts & progress reports via social media

- Kept promoting both books via social media

- Traded back-of-the-book blurbs for DH with an author friend

One Week to Release

- Announced the uploads of electronic files

- Started separate contests for Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads and my blog for signed copies of DH (to last all week)

- Promoted my books along with others through social media outlets at least once daily

The Big Day

From what I’ve seen watching other authors, gimmicks, expensive contest prizes, and multi-media don’t really have much of an impact on sales for release day (and whether they have long-term sales impact is debatable). My strategy is to keep it simple – a blog post announcing the release populated through all social networks to be shared by those in your network. I post the cover, links to where people can buy the book, and a nice long excerpt that isn’t included in any of the sample chapters online. I also post individual links for kindle, nook & paperback versions throughout the day on various networks, and deal with any issues that pop up (like formatting that always seems to go awry no matter how many times I go over it before posting). I considered posting a press release on my business site, but ran out of time – I may try that for the next launch.

You may be wondering why, if everything was so organized I was in a frantic state just before the release. Part of it is that unlike a lot of writers, I don’t stop writing just because I have a book coming out, so the release workload is added to my normal schedule. I also tend to butt right up against deadlines (always have), so my natural inclinations work against me there. If you avoid those two things, your book launch will probably be much calmer than mine.

I have more ideas to wade through that I may implement for my next novel release around July/August this year, as well as for a few short story releases under a pen name between now and then. What’s good for one may not work for the other, so I plan to do a lot more experimentation along the way. I think that’s really the key to orchestrating a successful book release – experimentation and being open to new ideas.

For a more detailed report on the actual release day for Desert Heat, please visit my publishing/marketing blog, Beyond the Words. http://bookbiz.jamiedebree.com/2011/01/27/post-release-report-for-desert-heat.aspx

______________________________________

Thanks for sharing your expertise, Jamie. I can tell that you have put considerable thought into this process. I know that, personally, I have learned a lot today.

If you have comments on Jamie's post, she will be checking in periodically and may be able to respond. So feel free.

All the best!

John

Choosing a POD Printer

2011-01-23T11:24:00.000-08:00

Hello all.

It's been a busy week; but I'm back with another post. :)

With eBooks sweeping across the publishing landscape, there may no longer be a need for every book to be published on paper for it to be a success. But for those writers who still like to see their work in a tree-book format (like me), and want to have their book available for buyers of tree-books (like me), what's the best way to get that book into print?

There are lots of options. Let's consider what we should be looking for.

What type of book do you have?

Is yours a gift book? a novel? a romance? a children's book? a scholarly text? a biography? a How-To manual? the list goes on.

When you choose a printer, you need to consider your particular book, the POD printer's ability to produce it. If you need a hard cover, that will limit your options. And color images will dramatically affect pricing.

I must confess that I have no personal experience with hard covers or color interiors, since I write good old black-and-white text-filled novels. So my advice in today's column may not help those of you who need a hard cover or a lot of color inside your book.

If your book has these cover or color requirements, look for confirmation that your chosen printer will do a good job for you at a reasonable cost.

The remainder of this post deals with trade paperback books that have color covers and black-and-white interiors.

Some POD printer options.

There are a number of POD printers out there for you to choose from. These are a few of the more popular ones. (A listing here is NOT an endorsement):

-- Lightning Source (affiliated with Ingram Book Company)
-- LuLu
-- CreateSpace (afilliated with Amazon.com)
-- Virtual Bookworm
-- Xlibris
-- iUniverse

A more complete list with evaluations of strengths and weaknesses of each Printer may be found here.

My favorite and why.

My favorite POD Printer is CreateSpace for the following reasons:

1) Low upfront costs. You can literally have a proof copy of your book (that looks just like the finished product) in your hands within two weeks for under $20.00.

2) Low cost for author copies. I can buy copies of my books, including shipping costs to my home, for anywhere from $4 to $6 each, if I buy at least 20 at a time. I can also buy 1 at a time. But shipping costs about double the cost of the book.

3) I set my own price and royalties are based on that price. CS Tells you going in what your royalties will be when sales occur through various sales channels. There are no questions later on.

4) Print quality has been excellent for my books. This may not be an exceptional statement -- but it is certainly a necessary one.

5) Book orders are delivered to me within two weeks -- often within 10 days -- of my placing an order.

6) Books are listed for sale on Amazon.com without any additional listing fee from Amazon. This is a biggie for me. Amazon is the "elephant in the room" in the self-publishing business. If I can sell through them as cheaply as possible, that's a huge plus. In addition, CS handles placing the listing on Amazon promptly AND my book qualifies for Amazon's FREE SHIPPING OVER $25.

7) I have found author support from CS to be excellent. You can message them or have them call you IMMEDIATELY during business hours.

8) CS has a nice selection of customizable book covers that can give you a cheap start on setting up your book. Their not the same as covers you pay a bunch of money for; but they're free and you can make them look pretty decent. Check out the cover for my latest book, A HIGHER COURT. Of course, you can also custom-design your cover from scratch if you wish.

9) Distribution channels. CS offers what they call Expanded Distribution Channels. Through these channels your book will be sold by wholesalers Ingram and Roberts & Taylor, and to libraries through whatever their usual buying channels may be.

The only POD printer I have found that comes close to matching what CreateSpace has to offer for MY books is Lightning Source. Their biggest advantage is affiliation with Ingram Book Company (huge book wholesaler) which I presume would get you a better shot at getting your book into bricks and mortar bookstores at a decent discount. CS can make your book available at bookstores. But when your books go from CS through Ingram to get there, the stores only get a 25% discount instead of the 40% they're used to.

I'd be interested to hear others' comments on their experiences with POD printers. Maybe someone has found a better deal than CreateSpace.

Please share your knowledge. (Did you know that "knowledge" isn't really "knowledge" unless you share it with someone?)

That's it for today.

Thanks for stopping in.

John

eBook Pricing - Redux

2011-01-17T10:50:00.000-08:00

Hello all.

A few months ago, this blog discussed the issue of eBook pricing of novel-length works. At the time, I didn't have lots of comparative data from my personal experiences. I asked others to share their thoughts on bargain ($1 or less) eBook pricing and got a few comments from readers (Thank you). No one who commented said lower prices had helped their sales.

Since then, I've been doing quite a bit of research and "field testing" concerning my pricing theories. This post will share what I have found out.

Theory

We have to begin with a bit of marketing theory here, so you can see the logic behind my price testing.

As most of us know, sales are controlled by the laws of supply and demand. In most circumstances, the number of units (books) sold is a factor of pricing vs willingness to pay the asking price. The lower the price, the more books sold. This is how typical product pricing is determined in our economy, and how competition keeps product prices in check.

There is an exception to the "lower price equals more sales" paradigm in the area of "luxury goods." In the case of luxury goods (such as prestige watches - Rolex- fine jewelry and gems and luxury automobiles - Mercedes/Ferrari) sales actually DECLINE when prices are too low. This is because either: 1) buyers of luxury goods want everyone to know that they possess these luxuries that others cannot afford. Lower prices mean more people can afford the items; or 2) buyers perceive that higher prices mean higher quality (and conversely, lower prices mean lower quality).

Artistic creations often fall into the category of luxury goods. Buyers assume that if the price is too low, the art is no good. Since buying art is a very subjective purchase decision, buyers rely--to a degree--on the pricing of the product to assess its value.

What about books?

What I have found is that, in the venue of book sales, buyers act more like purchasers of "luxury" goods than they do buyers of "normal" goods. The market value of a book, like the market values of many other artistic creations, appears to be driven more by luxury buying principles than ordinary supply/demand economics.

That is a very cool finding in so many ways!

If you consider your book to be a "good" book with a target market that can afford "good" books, charging more for your book (within some parameters) will actually stimulate sales! You can earn a decent sales margin and not have to worry that buyers will think you are pricing yourself out of the market. Of course, this thinking won't work if your buyers don't care if the book is any good. They'll happily pay $.99 for a book they expect will be worth only that amount.

What have I done that leads me to this conclusion about books being luxury goods?

First of all, I've done a lot of asking among book buyers. "What do expect to pay for a quality eBook?" Responses have almost universally been that any price under $10 is considered a good deal.

Not coincidentally, many NY Times Best Sellers are currently being released at a price of $9.99. Apparently the market research of these mega-publishers coincides with my own, much smaller, sample.

Secondly, I tested my theory over the last six months. I currently have two novels that have been listed for sale as eBooks for more than six months. During that time period I have re-priced each book at different points and observed sales results.

-- at a price of $6.99 -- sales are okay.
-- Drop to $2.99 -- sales drop off dramatically
-- Raise to $8.99 -- sales approximately same as at $6.99
-- drop to $6.99 -- sales remain steady
-- drop to $2.99 -- sales drop off again
-- raise to $8.99 -- sales increase to previous levels again

Conclusion

If you have a book that you want to market as a quality work of contemporary commercial literature, or as a quality non-fiction work, I recommend pricing it at $8.99 (just under the NY Times books, but still high enough so buyers perceive the quality of your publication).

Okay . . . I'm sure many folks will disagree with me. And no one can ever say for certain what the total sales of their specific book would have been had they sold it at a different price.

So . . . if you have your own well-reasoned pricing strategy that you'd like to share, please feel free to comment. I'd love for my readers to benefit from it.

For now, my eBooks are for sale at $8.99. I certainly need sales to increase to make significant money in this writing endeavor. But as I mentioned in earlier posts, marketing books is a marathon, not a sprint. I'm only about 7 months into my initial 18 month marketing strategy. (And 18 months is the average time that a traditional publisher will market a book BEFORE releasing it. So I think my timetables are reasonable here.)

That's it for today. Thanks for stopping in.

Cheers!

John

Book Marketing While the Sun Shines

2011-01-07T09:42:00.000-08:00

Hello all.

Today's post is about taking advantage of opportunities when they present themselves. The old farmer's saying is that you need to "make hay while the sun shines." In other words, take advantage of the good weather, because it's gonna rain sometime.

Well . . . I'm not baling any hay this winter. But I have had a bit of sunshine come my way in the publishing world. And I'm going to tell you how I hope to take advantage of my good fortunes.

Book Awards

Two of my books, A Higher Court and The 19th Element, have recently received year-end book awards from literary bloggers. (I'm not saying which blogs here, because promoting my books is not the primary focus of this blog.)

Besides being pleased by this fortuitous "sunshine," is there something else I should be doing with this news? Of course. I need to get the word out to as many potential markets as possible that my books are considered "award-worthy" by at least somebody. Here's what I'm doing.

Local/Regional Newspapers

I put together a press release to be sent to my area newspapers and emailed that out to the appropriate contacts. A couple of these papers have previously favored me with some press coverage. Why not see if they (and maybe another paper or two) will help out a local author?

Speaking Engagements

I know that it may not be possible to arrange speaking engagements on short notice. But I was lucky enough to have one scheduled for yesterday, January 6th. I had been invited to speak to a group of about 50 "Golden K" (senior citizen) Kiwanis members. Purely as a matter of chance, one of my books received an award that very day (which I learned about in my email inbox shortly before my date with the Kiwanis club).

I quickly printed out the award information and brought it with me to the meeting. During my presentation, when I mentioned that this certain book had just received the aforementioned award and held up the printout to prove it -- though of course, no one could read the paper while I was at the podium -- I received a robust round of applause. After the meeting was over, I sold 13 copies of my two award-winning books. (For those of you who may have no idea about such things, that's a pretty decent sales number for a half hour chat -- especially when my presentation wasn't at all geared toward sales.)

I KNOW mentioning the awards helped those sales. And I will probably sell more books when the Kiwanians tell their friends about the "award-winning" author they heard speak at their meeting.

Future Book Signings

As soon as I am able, I plan to schedule a book-signing or two so I can use the "award-winning books" line as a sales tool. I'll be sure to mention the awards in the pre-signing media advertisements as well.

Embossed Medallions?

Neither award came with an embossed medallion to attach to my paper books. I'm seriously considering asking permission from the bloggers if I could fashion my own award medallion and then affix them to my books. People are impressed by a gold seal you know . . . no kidding . . . it's been proven. :)

Book Contests

Receiving these awards has also prompted me to spend a bit of dough and enter these books in the IPPY Awards Book Contest this spring. I know that some positive mentions in literary blogs does nothing to guarantee success in a book contest. The judges won't even know the books have received the awards. Still, the recognition of my books has tipped my confidence scales in favor of me spending the $85 to enter the contest. Again, no guarantees. But you never know.

Success?

I don't know how an author should measure success. I can only say that I believe each author must have his/her own definition of that word in the context of writing.

I can say, however, that having two books receive awards this year is now a part of my definition of the personal success of these books. I still would like more sales -- which is why I continue to market. But I definitely feel closer to considering these books "successes" in my own mind. And isn't that what really matters when it comes to success?

Conclusion

You may have other ideas of how an author should take advantage of receiving book awards or recognition. If so, please share them as comments below. The goal of this blog is for everyone to benefit from my experiences -- not necessarily from my wisdom. ;)

Well . . . that's it for today.

Thanks for stopping in. Cheers!

John

Self-Publishing Central's Top 10 of 2010

2010-12-31T09:15:00.001-08:00

It seems like everybody is into wrapping up the year with a list of greatest hits or top stories for 2010. So who am I to buck the trend? This post is going to remind you of some of Self-Publishing Central's best of the year gone by.

But first . . . a couple of announcements.

1) In case you haven't heard, Amazon Kindle books may now be loaned by their owners for a single lending period of 14 days without charge. Some authors may oppose this "free book for your buddy" approach. I believe that the more people who read my books, the more can help me market them. I don't think I'm going to run out of potential readers -- though it would be great of I did!

2) Belonging to The Independent Author Network (IAN) (just started up in December, 2010) has given my promotional efforts a big boost in terms of site hits -- both here and on my author site -- and actual book sales. If you're a motivated book marketer, you may want to check it out. (NOTE: IAN is not an author-mill. IAN founder @WilliamPotter68 gives the site (and each author) his personal touch. Rarely will IAN add more than one new member per day. So please be patient. The wheels of quality grind slowly, but exceedingly fine.)

3) This blog has grown in recent months to a following of more than 1000 hits per month. Thanks to all of you Followers. I hope this means I'm supplying something useful to authors and self-pubbers on Self-Publishing Central.

AND NOW . . . The Top Ten Posts of 2010.

10) My Most Successful Book Marketing Tip to Date. Find reviewers for your books among Amazon's Top 500. And a redux on this topic: Marketing Update.

9) An Author's Greatest Challenge. The value of patience.

8) The Importance of a Media Kit. An invaluable sales tool.

7) Is Print on Demand Really a Bad Idea? Refuting the established wisdom about POD.

6) Making Sure Your Self-Pub Research is Current. Times are changing fast in the publishing industry. If you're researching whether to self- or indie-publish vs the traditional route, make sure your research is current.

5) Choosing Your Self-Publishing Formats. Paper? Kindle? ePub? PDF? All of the above?

4) Just Write. How to make the leap from shorter works to writing a novel.

3) Finding Reviewers for Your First Book. Such a great topic there are two posts. Here's the second: 25 Places YOU Can get Book Reviews.

2) Book Award Competitions for Self- and Indie-Pubs.

1) Authors Deserve to Feel Good, Too. Reasons it's great to be an author!

Okay . . . I have to admit I would have liked to add another ten posts to this list, but long lists are deadly to readers! (Good to remember that.)

So there you go. My Top Ten. You may have others. And you may have comments. So please feel free.

Here's wishing all of you peace, prosperity and happy writing in the new year. Make 2011 the best yet!

That's it for today. Thanks for stopping by.

John

Book Signings and Festivals

2010-12-27T13:44:00.001-08:00

Hello all. I hope you're having a peaceful and joyous holiday season.

Today's post is about book signings and Book Festivals. You know . . . those places where you get to sit around feeling nervous about engaging customers and wondering why you came? If such is your experience with these events, you need to loosen up and enjoy the buyer contact. Some ideas on that in a moment.

But first, if you haven't read my post on the Twin Cities Book Festival in October, you might want to take a look at that.

Then, let's divide these two similar, yet not identical, in-person book selling events into separate categories for consideration.

Book Signings

Book signings are usually "author meets buyer" events where a single author, or a small group of authors, participate. There is typically pre-event publicity such as publication of press releases, distribution of flyers, placing of posters in store windows, or other creative advertising. The signing may focus on a single new release; or it may encompass all of the author's books. If you can coordinate a press release or book review in a local newspaper with your signing, that's great!

Often bookstores will host book signings in the hopes of boosting their own sales of books by that author. When a bookstore hosts your event, all books are normally purchased through the bookstore's till, and the store takes its usual percentage as commission. This is true whether the books sold come off the store's shelves or out of boxes in your car trunk.

The store will assign you a location to sit and display your wares. It is a good idea to ask ahead of time what sort of seating, table or other space will be allocated to your signing. In some cases you may wish to have a bit larger table than the store has offered, and you may inquire if you can bring this along with you.

In my experience, the accommodations for book-signings have been fairly spare and quite cramped. Be prepared for these eventualities. Have book stands (buy some wire ones if you don't have any -- they're cheap) along with you, so your books can serve as their own display if space is tight. I also like to bring a relatively large, formal linen cloth to cover the table. This touch classes up your presentation and makes both you and your books look more professional -- not t0 mention giving you a spot to hide your book inventory. My cloth is cream-colored, satin brocade. It goes with pretty much anything.

At a Book Festival

Unlike a book signing, where you are the star of the show, a Book Festival or Book Fair will usually feature many authors. Author "tables" are often only part of a table. And the authors are arranged in a central area, around a perimeter or both.

With all these authors around, you want your presence to stand out -- but in a good way. A table cloth is also a good idea for these events. (See above.) You may want a paper or tag-board sign to hang in front of your table. (Most of the time you will not be allowed to have banners or displays that block the buyers' view of other authors.)

Be ready for cramped seating arrangements. (See my Minneapolis Book Festival Post if you didn't look last time I mentioned it.) Bring a water bottle. You may get thirsty. Make friends with the authors near you so you can watch their tables when they need a break, and vice versa.

Unlike a "signing," you will probably be responsible for ringing up your own sales. This means you need to bring plenty of cash to make change. If you are savvy enough to own THE SQUARE, you should have a conspicuous sign boldly stating: CREDIT CARDS ACCEPTED. This sign will make your table stand out even if nothing else does.

Also, since at a Festival or Fair you are not usually paying a retailer, you may want to consider a discount off the List Prices of your books, and mark the discount clearly so buyers know they are getting a DEAL. You don't need to discount your prices. But I recommend it. It's one more reason to buy NOW.

Useful Information for Both Signings and Festivals

Whether your at a signing or a Festival/Fair, unless your a NY Times Best Seller, you won't make many sales without some sales effort on your part. (I read somewhere that AVERAGE book sales at a signing is FOUR books. You want to sell more than that. And you can. I always do!)

If you stay comfortably seated with a table segregating you from your customers, it's going to be tough to get their attention. If possible, stand and say "Hello," "Good Morning," "Hi. These are my books." "Can I interest you in a good ________mystery/memoir/children's book, etc?"

If it's crowded, search for faces that turn your way, or glances that catch your eye. Those folks just might want to know more about your books, but are too uncomfortable to ask. If buyers studiously avoid looking at you, they probably want to be left alone. Look for someone else.

Smile.

Have your "elevator pitch" ready. And have it geared to your audience. (If you're a local author, maybe emphasize that. If not, maybe focus on the plot, or other similar authors. "If you like _____, you'll enjoy my books.")

In case you're not sure what an elevator pitch is, I offer the foregoing link. In the case of authors, an elevator pitch describes in just a sentence or two what aspects of your book you think will capture the potential buyer's interest. Be quick. This is your chance to entice the buyer to learning more. And you don't want to bore them to death.

If you decide that you are just too shy to be the first person to speak at a signing or Festival, don't expect to sell many (or any) books. It is very rare for the buyer to initiate the discussion.

Crawl outside your comfort zone and connect with your audience in a new way. Try different approaches. Ask a question. Comment on the weather. Mention the "big game." DO WHAT IT TAKES TO CONNECT.

Well . . . as usual, I've rambled on. Still, if you know the information contained in this post you will be far ahead of where I was at my first signing and my first Festival. So try to take something useful away today and make it yours!

That's it for now.

All the best!

John

Great Gadget for Authors - THE SQUARE

2010-12-21T07:46:00.001-08:00

Thanks to Twitter's @Worderella for putting me onto a little gadget called simply "The Square."

If you haven't heard of "The Square" yet, it's a slick little hardware/software system that allows you to accept credit card payments using your iPhone or android-compatible device. Here's a list of supported devices from Squareup:

Apple iOS

iPhone, iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4
iPod touch (2nd generation or later)
iPad

Google Android

Motorola Droid, Droid X
HTC Nexus One, Droid Incredible, Evo, Desire, Hero (With Android 2.X)
Samsung Galaxy S Series, Intercept
LG Ally

There's a picture of The Square at the link above. You might want to glance at it so you have a mental picture of what I'm talking about.

How do you get started with The Square

I found it really easy to get up and running with this clever device. You install the free Square software on your PC or Mac. Then you set up an account with all the same sort of info you would need to provide to set up a PayPal Account, or an auto-transfer system to/from your bank account.

Finally, you install the "Square" free app on your cell phone or other device.

Now all that's left is to verify your access to and control over the bank account you have chosen to associate with processing of payments with The Square. This is accomplished with the usual two small deposits into your account. Then you verify by reporting the exact amounts of the deposits to Squareup . . . and you're set to receive credit card payments.

What cards can I accept?

According to Squareup--

Square works with any US-issued credit, debit, pre-paid, or gift card with a Visa, MasterCard, American Express, or Discover logo.

They currently do not accept HSA cards (Health Savings Account), even if they have a Visa, MasterCard, American Express, or Discover logo on them.

I've already tried my Square with Visa, Mastercard and Amex. All worked flawlessly.

Exactly how do I accept a payment?

To accept a credit or debit card payment, you simply:

1) Plug the white square into the headphone jack on your phone;
2) Launch the Square app on the phone;
3) Enter the amount to be charged;
4) Swipe the buyer's card through the slot in the white square; and
5) Let your buyer "sign" your phone screen (with a finger or stylus).

That's it -- unless you want to send the buyer an email receipt, in which case you will have an opportunity to do so after step 5.

Squareup will send you an email with a transaction summary.

Squareup deposits your sales receipts into your bank account weekly (for amounts up to a total of $1,000), or monthly for larger amounts. I've already received my first deposit.

So what does this system cost me?

The upfront cost is ZERO. Software is free. The app is free. Even the little white square gadget is free (sent to you in the mail). The only cost is a portion of each transaction. If you charge the card by "swiping," the fee is $.15 plus 2.75% of the transaction amount. If you charge the card by typing in the CC number manually, the cost is 1.00% more. (I suppose there is a greater risk of fraud in this manner of transaction.)

No monthly/annual fees or minimums!

So if you're selling a $20 book, your cost to accept a credit card would be $.70 -- if you swipe the card. Compared to losing a sale at a book fair because the buyer wasn't carrying cash, I think that's a pretty reasonable cost. I know I could have sold at least a few more books at the Mpls. Book Festival if I had been able to accept credit cards!

My evaluation

This is a really cool gadget that will earn you additional book sales AND make you look like you are tech-savvy. It's a great tool, plus a conversation piece. At a grand cost of ZERO to get set up, I'd say, "What are you waiting for?"

That's it for today.

Thanks for stopping in.

John

Book Tour Wrap-Up

2010-12-19T11:55:00.000-08:00

Okay folks. Here's what you've been waiting for. My official wrap-up summary of The 19th Element Book Tour. What went well. What didn't. What I expected. What I got. And whether it was worth the effort and cash.

We'll start off with a statement from my blog tour hostess, Dorothy, at Pump Up Your Book. I invited her to say whatever she wanted for this post. Here's what she said:

Comments from the Tour Company.

It has been such a pleasure having John on board. His Amazon rankings have been great and we've gotten him on the first page of google with his key search words. Overall, the tour is a success in the regards that now John has the online exposure we were after. Long after his tour is over, people will still be finding out about him using different key search words and that's what Pump Up is really all about. We don't just throw you on stops...it's a lesson in online marketing, using key search words strategically and having the author walk away knowing we both worked toward making it a success. As John will attest, putting an online book tour together for 2 months is not an easy feat. He has had to write guest posts and answer interviews until his fingers fell off but the hard work is definitely going to be well worth it. I feel it's not enough to have a tour consisting of mainly reviews, but reviews are a large part of it. Without the interviews and guest posts, the public wouldn't have ever found out all about John and his book from his personal perspective. I had an author tell me the other day that she never knew so much about her book before she went on a virtual book tour and that's another plus. In the future, John will know what to say to reporters or journalists because they basically will be asking him the same questions. It was a long journey for John but I hope he walks away knowing he is set up in the search engines and that Pump Up Your Book came through for him. We wish you much success, John, and keep pumping up that book!

Dorothy Thompson
CEO/Founder Pump Up Your Book
www.pumpupyourbook.com

My Take on Dorothy's Self-Evaluation

I agree with Dorothy on several major points.

1) My key search words will get my book on the first page of Google -- depending on which ones you choose to search for.

If I remember right, Dorothy and I chose the following words as my keys for this tour -- al Qaeda, author tours, bestselling book, blog tours, book marketing, book promotions, book publicity, book tour, Createspace, doomsday, international terror, James Becker thriller, John L. Betcher, Minnesota, mystery, nuclear, nuclear power plant, nuke plants, online book promotion, online book tour, Pump Up Your Book, Red Wing, suspense, suspense author, suspense novel, Terrorist, The 19th Element, Three Mile Island, thriller, thriller author, thriller novel, U.S. government intelligence, virtual book tours, volleyball coach, youth volleyball.

It's a long list. Only some of the words were used with each tour stop. But if you Google --Minnesota thriller author -- you will find two of my tour stops, on page 1. So the tour did give my book more search engine exposure than it had previously.

2) Dorothy's also correct that I wrote tons of interview answers, and blog posts about myself and my writing, and about writing in general . . . many more than I ever would have written without the tour. This is mostly useful material that I can employ again in various promotional situations in the future.

3) I don't know what Amazon rankings Dorothy considers to be "great." But that's because I know how little those rankings really mean about whether a book is selling well. So I guess I have a "no comment" on that statement.

My Additional Comments About Pump Up Your Book

I have to say that I was pretty impressed with Dorothy's organizational skills. And she was always very polite and encouraging to me when I had questions about my submissions for the tour. And she did manage to line up 30 blogs for my tour - covering every business day for six weeks.

Some of the blogs, I think, either belonged to or were affiliated with PUMP. So what . . . as long as they have Followers.

Book Reviews

I do question a couple of the choices Dorothy made for blogs to post reviews of my thriller. The blogger on one such site seemed to prefer reading chicklit, romances, and cozies to thrillers. The text of her review was very complimentary in all respects. But she gave the book a rating of 3 out of 5 with no explanation. My guess is that thrillers aren't her thing (which is cool . . . except for a thriller book tour review).

Another reviewer gave a less complimentary review, rated the book at 3 out of 5, and actually said that someone who enjoys thrillers would probably enjoy the book. So I'm pretty sure that thrillers are not her favorite books to read. Again . . . normally I would say, "different strokes." But I was on a book tour for a thriller and I don't think this blogger was a good choice to do a review (since she admittedly doesn't really care for thrillers).

I was pleased with the other two or three 5-star reviews I got on the tour. But two additional reviewers were a no-show entirely. I can't say that this was Dorothy's fault. The reviewers had the books in plenty of time, they just didn't post reviews as scheduled. Nevertheless, it's two less reviews than I had anticipated -- and nothing for me to post on Twitter or FaceBook for those days.

Other SNAFUS

The tour also had some other hiccups that I didn't expect. I can't say whose fault they were. But I wasn't too happy when they occurred.

On several tour dates, I had to email Dorothy to actually get the scheduled post displayed on the appropriate blog site. I missed quite a few hours of potential blog exposure time to these delays. Plus I didn't enjoy having to always be the one to follow up when the bloggers didn't do their jobs. I would have preferred Dorothy take care of checking those things for me. I was paying for the tour after all.

One post went up on time, but it turned out to be poorly formatted and really in rough draft form. This was particularly disappointing to me because I had been proactive and had asked Dorothy the day before if everything was ready to go for the next day. Uggh!

I have to say, in Dorothy's defense, that in every single case where I had a question, complaint or correction to report to her, she did her very best to correct the issue promptly. So no complaint there. Just too many things that needed fixing (in my humble opinion).

What did I expect? What did I get?

I wasn't quite sure what to expect from a book tour when I set out on this one. I assumed there'd be some reviews by reviewers who read my genre. And there'd be an opportunity to gain exposure to the Followers of the blogs on which I appeared. I hoped maybe I'd see an increase in action on my author website. And I dreamed that maybe I'd see a small increase in book sales during the tour.

Most of those things didn't seem to happen for me -- at least not yet. In fact, I tried to engage blog Followers during the tour by posting a "thank you" comment on each blog and inviting any questions from readers. Many of the bloggers had their comments set to post only "after moderation." Unfortunately, they weren't doing any moderating. So even my own posts never showed up, let alone any dialogue with Followers.

I saw no increase in my website traffic. In particular, I saw no direct links from any of the blog sites on the tour. And I didn't sell any more books per week than I had before the tour.

But as Dorothy notes in her comments (above), all the posts are out there for search engines to find indefinitely. Maybe I'll see more action in the future. Maybe not.

Bottom Line

I paid PUMP $495 to organize and execute this tour. I also spent AT LEAST scores of hours completing materials for the posts. This is the single largest marketing expenditure I have ever made in my short publishing career.

Despite Dorothy's sincere efforts, I DO NOT feel that I got out of this tour the value I put into it. Would I do another book tour someday? Maybe. Probably not through PUMP. And not for $495. I might put one together myself, though, now that I've had the experience of a chauffeured tour.

Bottom line -- NOT WORTH THE COST TO ME.

Hope you found this enlightening. Of course, there's nothing saying your tour might not work out better than mine. But my tour was what it was -- a disappointment.

That's it for today.

All the best!

John

Book Tour Ending Soon -- Wrap-up to Follow

2010-12-16T09:20:00.000-08:00

My book tour through Pump up Your Book is ending tomorrow with a final book review at Books R Us.

I've asked my tour coordinator at PUMP to comment for this blog on any aspect of the book tour that she wishes. And of course, you'll get my candid review of the book tour and its value as well.

I'll try to have that post up in a couple days. Tune in. I think you'll find it interesting.

Thanks much.

John

Getting Out of the Slush Pile

2010-12-12T10:51:00.001-08:00

Welcome and thanks for stopping in. Today's post has to do with what you need to do to get your book(s) FOUND among the slush pile of unvetted self-pubs flooding the book markets. Your task is formidable, to be sure. But there is hope. Please read this article I first published as a guest post on my 19TH ELEMENT book tour. But it bears repeating here.

Out of the Slush Pile and Out to Your Readers

Since I am a self-published author, I have to deal with all the same challenges that other self- and indie-published authors must confront. Writing and editing my books. Designing interiors and exteriors. Finding a quality printer. And selecting distribution channels.

But I think the single greatest challenge self- and indie-publishers face is how to differentiate their books from the growing slush pile of unvetted publications inundating the publishing world.

Depending on whose numbers you believe, it appears that there will be more than a million new book titles published this year in the United States. About two-thirds to three-quarters of them will be self- or indie-published books.

Who’s in charge of determining the quality of all these publications?

Well . . . we would like to think that mainstream publishers still give their titles a thorough vetting – though some readers would claim the overall quality of traditionally-published books has declined a bit during the present upheaval in the publishing industry. And mainstream book reviewers still devote 99% of their attention to these traditionally published books. We should expect that their reviews are honest and useful to readers.

But just how does a self-published author make his or her book stand out from the other 700,000 or so new self-published titles flooding the book distribution systems?

The optimistic answer is that “the cream will rise to the top.” Although I am optimistic, I don’t personally see the opportunity for the cream to rise when the milk is spilled all over, as it is in today’s publishing world.

For example – If you are an avid reader of thrillers (the genre in which I write), how can you find my books in the “slush pile” without first knowing my name or the title of my book?

Here are some possibilities–

Why not search Amazon, or B&N for “thrillers”? Good idea.

Wow! Lots of thrillers out there. Don’t see mine anywhere near the top of the list. Maybe instead of sorting by “Relevance,” we should sort by “Average Customer Review Ratings.” Tried that, too. Lots of different books than the first search. But my thriller still isn’t in the first dozen pages, even though it has a 5.0 star rating from 10 Independent Reviewers (not friends or family).

Maybe if you go to the library and ask for thrillers by indie-authors? Reference Desk: “Sure. I can help with that. What’s the name of the author or the title of the book?”

Okay. That service is helpful once you and your books are already known. But what if the readers are still trying to find the “cream.” They don’t know of you yet. So they can’t ask for you by name. Rats!

There are several websites claiming to be the gatekeepers of quality independent publications. “We separate the wheat from the chaff so you don’t have to.” What about them? Are they the answer?

Reason tells me that no website can afford to hire enough people to give the 700,000 slush pile books a bona fide review. I have visited many of these sites. My conclusion is that nearly all are profit-driven – not really trying to provide a useful reference tool. (If there are bona fide sites out there, I apologize — and good luck to you. I haven’t found you yet.) Rats again.

So just how is the cream supposed to rise from the spilled milk?

As far as I can tell, there is currently no definitive way for a very marketable, high-quality, self-published book to reach its readers without the author employing diligence, hard work and lots of time. And even then, a substantial modicum of fortuity is required.

That’s right. I said you need to be lucky. Believe it!

How do you increase the chances of having good luck with your book?

Just because luck is required for success, that doesn’t mean authors should throw in the hat. Do actors quit because they can’t find good acting parts right away? Not the ones you know about. They didn’t quit. So don’t give up. No white flags allowed.

Instead, try the following:

1) Write well. If readers find your book and don’t like it, it will not be a success.

2) Market creatively, both online and in the real world. Just because there aren’t many really good marketing tools doesn’t mean there aren’t any! Get that website up. Get on Twitter. Maybe on LinkedIn or FaceBook, too. Join some author groups. Share ideas. Make connections.

3) Give free books to libraries. Libraries tend to have a lot of readers stopping in. (Surprise!) Maybe one or more will pick up your book on a whim – or because they like the cover, or the cover text.

4) Seek out Independent Reviewers. If someone happens to stumble upon your book, those reviews will give the reader/buyer greater confidence that your book is the kind of book they want to read.

5) Alert the media to your author activities. Let your local paper, radio station, TV station know when you have book-signings, speaking appearances, published reviews or interviews.

6) Keep writing. The more books you have available, the greater the chance that a reader will stumble upon one.

7) Be patient. Writing and selling books is a marathon endeavor – not a sprint.

8) Keep improving your own skills. This applies to writing, publishing and marketing. Learn from your mistakes. Learn from the successes and mistakes of others. Keep on learning and improving.

9) Undertake any legal means at your disposal to get the word out about you and your books.

Do I guarantee these things will make your “cream rise to the top”? Of course not. But we operate in the real world. There are no guarantees. Until some big player (like Amazon, Google, B&N, Independent Book Sellers of America) promulgates a useful way to discriminate between good indie books, and not so good ones, you will continue to swim upstream.

This is the hand you are dealt. Play it out to the last card! Be tough! Be an author! That’s what author’s do – at least the ones you’ve heard about.

Thanks for visiting and have a great day!

John

Book Sales Outlets - An Update

2010-12-08T10:43:00.000-08:00

Hello all.

Today's topic has to do with places to sell your books. You might not think that this topic is newsworthy. But there have been so many changes lately, that I thought a recap and update might be in order.

Paper Books

Outlets for sales of paper books haven't changed a great deal -- with a few exceptions.

I have recently learned that, if your book is available through Ingram Books (a large book wholesaler), Barnes & Noble may be willing to carry a few of your books, and allow you to do a book signing in one of there stores. (I have recently coordinated a book review in a newspaper with a book-signing at B&N. Both the newspaper and the B&N manager loved the idea.) This news may not seem earth-shattering. But it represents a toe in the door of the mega-bookseller.

Amazon continues to be the retailer of choice for most paper books. They will accept anything. They do charge some pretty hefty sales fees if you haven't published through CreateSpace. You can handle fulfillment yourself, or pay Amazon to do it for you. But Amazon is probably still your first, and best, option for paper book sales.

Of course, one should not overlook your neighborhood Indie Bookstore. If you or your book has a connection to a small bookstore's market, they are normally happy to take a few of your books on consignment, with a 40% sales commission payable to them. PLEASE NOTE: You can negotiate the commission . . . but I don't recommend it. Would you feel comfortable in the dentist's chair if you had just haggled him/her into giving you a half-price root canal? The same principle applies. You want to partner with the Indies. Give them the percentage that they're used to receiving and you'll get more support.

There is also an option you may want to consider if you'd like to get your books overseas. CPI offers POD printing at fairly reasonable prices -- about 100 British pounds for set up. Then book prices vary depending on dimensions, number of pages, etc. But the prices are in the ball park of reasonableness. If you're wondering how to market your books in the U.K., you'll probably want to connect up with Gardner Books. They're the U.K.'s leading book wholesaler. They'll stock five copies of your book and list it as available on Amazon, as well as making it possible to order your book through hundreds of bookstores in the British Isles.

Digital Book Options

On to some big changes in digital book selling.

As you probably have heard, Barnes & Noble has its new Pubit ebook publishing operation up and running. I know that Smashwords books were available through B&N previously. But having the Pubit brand, and the Nook Book designation, on your ebook will definitely help with its credibility. You set your price with Pubit. I believe they pay a 70% royalty. (It's in that vicinity anyway.)

The long-awaited Google Editions has finally arrived (sort of) as Google eBooks. I say "sort of" because they are still in the process of getting all of their titles posted to the site. And some of the book details aren't up yet either. Google eBooks will sell books in either ePub or PDF format. Again...you set your price and Google pays you 70% or so. But I have noticed that one of my books that is priced by me at $8.99 is being discounted by Google EBooks to $7.55. A little price competition is not a bad thing, especially when the authors get paid the same royalty regardless of the retailer's discounts.

Don't forget one of the first ePublishers in the business -- LuLu. LuLu has upgraded their look and their products. In addition to the original PDF-only format, LuLu now offers an ePub option. And they are making their books available in the iBookstore, too.

Smashwords is still a good spot to make your book available in multiple formats, and to get it to resellers like Kobo, Diesel, Sony, the iBookstore and others. Smashwords has just increased their author royalties to 70%. (I don't recall what they were previously.)

Of course, I can't leave out Amazon Kindle. Kindle still has about 70% of the U.S. ebook market. I strongly recommend that you make your book available in Kindle format. (BTW, don't use a Smashwords-converted file to upload to Kindle. It won't look very good.)

My latest discovery is called XinXii. They are the E.U.'s largest ebook site. If you want a European market, I would definitely give XinXii a try. No upfront fees. Decent payouts. New markets.

Summary

I know that there are other publishers out there (eg. iUniverse, LightningSource, etc.) I just don't have personal experience with any of them. That doesn't mean they aren't good options to be considered, if you have the time and inclination.

Bottom line...there are more great places to sell your self- or indie-published books than ever. The more places you have your books for sale, the greater the chances of finding buyers. But whether you find more buyers or not, having your book available all over the web increase hits on search engines, and therefore, increases your book's overall exposure. And isn't that what we really want to see?

That's it for today. Thanks for stopping in.

John

The Independent Author Network: Welcome To The Independent Author Network

2010-12-04T20:51:00.000-08:00

I'm really excited about the burgeoning marketing opportunity for authors. Organized by my friend, WR Potter, IAN (Author Independent Network) has the potential to be a tremendous market aid for authors, by authors. Here are the details.

The Independent Author Network: Welcome To The Independent Author Network: "The Independent Author Network is a group of like minded authors who are self or published by a small indie press. This group would start ..."

Thanks for stopping by.

John

'Tis the Season for Digital

2010-12-02T13:23:00.000-08:00

Greetings all.

Today's post has to do with an upcoming event that may provide an opportunity for those Self- or Indie-Publishers who are prepared to take advantage of it.

I'm talking about Christmas. Not the holiday celebrating Jesus' birth. The holiday when Americans everywhere spend $450 billion dollars each year on gifts.

Why is this gifting day an opportunity? Well . . . according to predictions, a whole bunch of the gifts to be given this year are going to be Kindles, Nooks or other digital readers.

Which means . . . everybody will want to try them out. And how do they do that? By buying digital books, of course.

Time to Re-Consider Pricing

Not only will everyone be buying new eBooks, they won't have any idea of what the pricing of eBooks should be. Most major publishers release their eBooks at a price of $9.99. My personal experience with selling eBooks tells me that I actually sell more books at a price of $6.99 than at $2.99. I'm going to take advantage of the new buying crowd to bring my book prices more in line with the industry standard.

I'm raising my eBook price to $8.99.

This may sound high to some of you. But compared to the trade paperback versions of my books, which sell at $15.95 and up, $8.99 is a bargain. Shipping is free and immediate. And the buyer gets to play with her new toy right away.

Whether you choose to raise book prices, lower them, or keep them the same for the shopping holidays, you should at least make a conscious decision about pricing. Don't let past experience dictate your future. We are entering the digital book age. And it officially starts Christmas morning.

Go Digital, Go Fast

Besides the pricing issue, timing is important.

According to my thinking, all authors should aspire to have as many of their titles available on Kindle, Smashwords, PubIt and in the iBookstore before Christmas as possible. If yours aren't there yet, you'd best get hopping. There can be delays in the process of going digital.

Conversion SNAFUs, image size restrictions and publisher "technical difficulties" are just a few of the obstacles you may face when converting tree books to 1s and 0s. By way of example, three of my Amazon Kindle books magically became authored by a fellow named "Peterson" last week. Anything can happen. So it's best to get started right away.

I have sold the most eBooks on Amazon Kindle. And they control about 70% of the eBook market. So if I were you, I'd get my books into Kindle format and on Amazon first. Here's a link to Amazon's Digital Text Platform, aka Kindle.

The next best-selling eReader is Barnes & Noble's Nook. B&N now has its own epublishing division call PubIt. You can get started publishing your Nook Books here. (NOTE: PubIt is still new. So expect some hiccups and a non-responsive tech support department.)

And you can get plugged in just about everywhere else at Smashwords.

BTW, all of the above eBook retailers allow you to list your books on their sites for free. Their only payment is a commission on sale. In other words, they don't get paid unless you get paid.

So assemble your materials. Carve out a slot of time. And get those eBooks in circulation.

Fellow writers, 'tis the season to go digital. May your eBook conversions and listings go smoothly.

That's it for today.

All the best!

John