September 30, 2008 at 10:42 pm (Uncategorized)
Kelly and I are happy to introduce a new resource to this blog – Bobby Christmas, Book Doctor. Bobby is an editor, ghostwriter, publishing consultant, and owner of Zebra Communications.
Bobby brings extensive general publishing and editing experience to the industry and offers outstanding consulting services to publishing authors. You can check out her book, Writing in Style, on Amazon. Bobby has been running Zebra (based out of Atlanta, GA) as a resource for authors since 1992.
Bobby will begin to help with weekly posts, beginning tomorrow, from her newsletter titled Ask the Doctor, which offers general author advice in question/answer format.
- Karl
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September 29, 2008 at 12:41 pm (Book Promotion)
Tags: book, libraries, library, market, Promote, promotion, self publish
In the course of promoting and marketing your self-published book, have you pursued libraries yet?
Libraries are a great place to conduct readings and a great way to get involved with your community. The contacts you make at your local library may be able to help you bridge that larger gap to national exposure.
Here is a website that lists all the public libraries by state. I hope you find it helpful.
http://www.publiclibraries.com/
Good luck and have fun!
Kelly Schuknecht
selfpublishingadvice.wordpress.com
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September 27, 2008 at 12:03 pm (Book Review of the Week)
Tags: book, book review, Murder in the Backstretch, Outskirts Press, review, self publish
Murder in the Backstretch
by Stuart Held
Genre: Mystery & Detective Fiction
Publication Date: June 18, 2008
Pages: 260
September 8, 2008
Long Island horse racing at its best
By Richard Felix “Long Islander”
Stuart Held writes about the real Long Island just as Jimmy Breslin used to write about the the real New York. “Murder in the Backstretch” captures the Long Island horse racing scene using details of places, people and the LI racetracks. It took me to the Belmont Stakes and into this exciting tale of murder and treachery. It’s his best book yet.
September 2, 2008
A great read!
By Wendi Jo Mathis “Wendi” (Silverthorne, CO)
I had recently finished Blind Spot by Stuart Held so I was excited about his new release Murder in the Backstretch. I was not disappointed. It was another page turner. There is a lot of interesting information regarding horseracing as well a good mystery. I was shocked each time another answer to the puzzle was revealed.
For more information about Murder in the Backstrecth and to purchase copies, visit the author’s webpage: www.outskirtspress.com/backstretch
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September 25, 2008 at 12:20 pm (Book Promotion)
Tags: book, itunes, podcast, Promote, publishing, self publish
Perhaps you’ve heard about podcasts? These are recorded sessions of either music or talking. Podcasts that focus on books are perfect because they are already written (so you aren’t making something up at the same time you record) and they are either entertaining or educational (or both).
Recording a podcast of your self-published book is a great way to promote it. Once your podcast is recorded, you can upload it to popular sites like itunes.com and reach a whole new audience.
Podiobooks.com is a relatively easy way to start creating a podcast for your book. You will find helpful instructions for what you need in the way of hardware and software to make your first recording. They also allow you to upload your files to their site for free, but once you have your podcast file (usually an mp3 file) don’t forget to upload it to other popular sites, too. You can conduct a search on Google to find sites where you can upload your podcast, and you can submit your podcast feed URL to the iTunes Store here.
Other links that will help you down the road of podcasting include:
audacity.sourceforge.net
mypodcast.com
switchpod.com
blogtalkradio.com
Good luck and have fun!
Kelly Schuknecht
selfpublishingadvice.wordpress.com
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September 23, 2008 at 10:14 pm (Tips, writing)
Tags: blog, demand, newsletter, self-publishing, writing
Nothing necessitates production like demand. Whether that demand is real or imaginary is irrelevant when it comes to motivation. Of course, “real” demand is certainly better in terms of promotion and readership. But “imaginary” demand also accomplishes the same goal – incentive for you to write a certain amount within a certain period of time.
We’ve discussed writing to publish (in some form) everyday, and great resources like Yahoo Groups and Google User Groups to help accomplish that. It doesn’t matter what; just the act of writing is inspiring and moving in the direction of book publication. Perhaps you even subscribed to a group or two, or at least reviewed a few to become comfortable with the new medium.
There are also a couple of additional options for writing online. These options accomplish the goal of writing publicly but add the additional incentive of “demand.” Both also create great marketing tools for promoting books, especially for those self-publishing authors when on sales in the ever growing online marketplace.
The first option is a “blog.” If you’re reading this chances are good that you’re blog experience is already there. Do you have a blog of your own?
Short for web-log, blogs are online diaries that allow you to post content quickly and conveniently for the world to see. Each blog posting is time-stamped with the date and time of your entry. Other readers can post comments to your blog if you allow them to. And you are open to comment on other interesting or related blogs.
Blogs that are updated consistently and frequently are more popular than those that languish. There’s your demand. If you want a blog with “buzz” you will find yourself motivated to add to it every day. Even if you’re only adding a paragraph with every posting – those entries add up. Keeping ahead of your public’s expectations is a great motivator to write.
The second option is an online newsletter, or e-newsletter. If you vow to distribute an e-mail newsletter on a consistent basis (let’s say once a week), you’ll be motivated to contribute new content to each newsletter before distributing it.
i hope that helps. Have fun and keep writing!
Sincerely,
Karl Schroeder
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September 19, 2008 at 7:31 pm (Choosing a Publisher, Tips)
Tags: advance, editing, self-publishing, traditional publishing
“I was told not to self-publish…it will kill your writing career before it starts.” This advice was pressed to author Lisa Genova from a literary agent just a short time before she did self-publish her novel on early onset Alzheimer’s, Still Alice.
Genova did self publish—and flourished. She spent a year successfully selling and promoting her book. Several media spots in her local Boston area helped gain a wider audience and shortly after winning the Bronte prize for excellence in romantic fiction her book was auctioned out to traditional publishers on a six-figure contract.
It’s no secret that self-publishing is gaining steam in the book world in it’s own right, with it’s own advantages. And in the case of Genova and many other authors, self-publishing can be a calling card of sorts, helping get your book noticed all over the industry, and even in those big (often cloistered) traditional houses.
While it is never guaranteed that any particular book will be picked up by a traditional publisher, there are a few key elements in self-publishing that will help your book gain as much attention as possible. And why not enjoy all those advantages of successful self-publishing, regardless.
- Custom Cover Design. You’ve got great content, pertinent and insightful. Truly great words to share. How do readers find those words? A professionally, custom designed book cover.
- Cover Scribing. Now your cover has sparked interest. Where to next? The book back cover or webpage synopsis. Writing sales copy is a specific skill. Have a professional copywriter help sharpen those few, important paragraphs.
- Editing. Now you’ve got an open book in reader and reviewers hands. What will they find? A published author and professional editor once commented that even after proofing her manuscript for the 50th time she couldn’t manage to catch many apparent problems. An editor herself, she reluctantly opted for another professional editing service—and claimed that decision to be among the most significant in her entire publication.
These 3 key elements are among just a few of the services and options available with the rapidly growing world of full-service self-publishing.
As always, have fun and keep writing!
Sincerely,
Karl Schroeder
3 Comments
September 17, 2008 at 8:41 pm (Book Promotion)
Tags: author, blog, book, Promote, self publish
Here is another opportunity to use your blog to promote your book.
Have you heard of Authors Promoting Authors? This is a free promotional service for authors either self-published or published by small presses or independent publishers. Authors Promoting Authors will post your cover and “blurb” about your book on their blog. You take the post that appeared before your book and blurb and post it on your blog (within the week).
If you have a blog and you are interested in this free opportunity to promote your book to other bloggers and their readers, email a jpg image of your cover and blurb to authorspromotingauthors@gmail.com
Good luck and have fun!
Kelly Schuknecht
http://selfpublishingadvice.wordpress.com
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September 16, 2008 at 6:25 am (Tips)
Tags: blog, self-publishing, writing group
We’ve been discussing the benefits of the Internet in writing and self publishing, and even promoting your book as Kelly mentioned on Monday.
The fact is, the Internet appeals to instant gratification—in a good way. There is something empowering about being able to compose an original story, or the start of a new novel, and upload it for a virtually unlimited audience to see within minutes.
It is important to play that card smartly though. Here are some notes for consideration.
Be sure to upload your writing in an appropriate forum, preferably in a place where it will provide long-term promotion assistance down the road and where you trust the people to provide worthwhile feedback, rather than pilfering your ideas for their own.
Writing online is no easier than writing offline. In fact, it may seem harder at first. But trust me; the extra effort is worth it later on.
If you are seeking instant feedback on your writing from other people, I would suggest participating in online writing groups and forums. Yahoo offers “Groups” specific to a wide array of writing subjects. You can access the Groups section by going to the Yahoo main page at www.yahoo.com
Google offers groups also, and you can find them on the Groups link on Google at www.google.com
By conducting a subject or category search from either of these venues you can find a number of possible groups in which to participate.
I recommend you spend some time exploring Yahoo and Google groups. Register for an account with the one you like best. Don’t necessarily start writing online yet. That comes later. Instead, just look around and become familiar with the “environment.” It may be foreign to you at first.
Have fun and keep writing!
Sincerely
Karl Schroeder
http://selfpublishingadvice.wordpress.com
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September 15, 2008 at 12:01 pm (Book Promotion)
Tags: blog, book, directory, Promote, promotion, self publish
Do you use a blog to promote your self-published book(s)?
If not, this is something you may want to consider. If you do, there are many blog directories out there to help you promote your blog. Here are a few to start with:
BlogFlux 
BlogDigger 
BlogHub 
Blog Top Sites 
Blog Top List 
You can visit each site and add your blog to their list if it is not there already. Some blogs require that you link back to their site or add a button as shown above. If so, they will provide an html code for you to do this.
There are many blog directories out there. Listing your blog on them is easy, and can improve your blog stats and, ultimately, your book sales, so give it a try!
Good luck and have fun!
Kelly Schuknecht
selfpublishingadvice.wordpress.com
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September 14, 2008 at 6:20 pm (Uncategorized)
Tags: blog, forum, publishing, self-publishing
Finishing a book is not as daunting as it sounds. The key is to write something everyday. Then, use the Internet for accountability. Interesting right? Write everyday, and publish everyday—either on a bulletin board, a writing group, or on a personal “blog.”
There are a number of reasons to do this.
1) The public commitment will help motivate you. When you publicly declare that you will add content to your blog every day, or every week, you are more bound to complete your task.
2) If you choose the right forum, people may offer to help you. (Note, if you choose the wrong forum, and find people are being counter-productive, simply change venues).
3) By creating an Internet presence this early in the process, you can start to generate interest in your book when it comes out—either search engine interest, or human interest. Both are good when it comes time to promote and sell your book later on.
You may wish to search Google for some forums in which to participate. You’ll be writing and more and you may make some new friends and/or fans.
Then when you are ready to publish your book, consider all of those things we’ve discussed previously in finding the right self-publisher to meet your goals.
Have fun and keep writing.
Karl Schroeder
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