Month: May 2010

Something To Be Said…Again

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If you work at something long enough, eventually you’ll find a work around [for] what “can’t be done.” Today I challenged myself to finding a solution to the Gravatar image problem I’ve had. The problem: keep the Gravatar image of my book cover while adding a photo of me to my blog.

[Editor’s note: Gravatar is a free service that allows users to set up a single avatar, or user icon, and use that one icon on multiple sites all over the web]

Why, you may ask, would I want to bother doing that? For two simple reasons: 1) I like using the book cover as a Gravatar because it’s great marketing on Facebook when I link my blog post to my “thought”, and 2) it’s super important to put a face with a blog (and everything else) for a writer.

After a lot of hunting (and a major headache :P ) I finally had a solution. Get a Flickr account, upload my author photo to it, link it to my sidebar Flickr widget and — voila! — instant author photo for my blog. In the future I may have to rethink this approach, but by then I hope to have a better web presence.

All that work is just another way to show just how creative Independent Authors can be on The Road to Writing.

Update: You have to make sure to choose the image you want displayed before you post your “thought” on Facebook.
 

This is a reprint from Virginia Ripple‘s The Road to Writing blog.

How NOT To Win Friends On Social Networks

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Social networking is a wonderful way to meet people who share your interests, develop relationships and ultimately increase your book sales. But spamming people in your network isn’t likely to win you many friends. Here are some examples:

• On LinkedIn, someone in a group that I belong to has sent me two sales pitches for her products in the past couple of weeks, by direct message. I’ve never heard of this woman and she’s not on my list of connections.

• On Facebook, the use of direct messages to send promotional pitches has become so prevalent that many people simply tune out their messages.

• On Twitter, people I don’t know send me @reply messages asking me to buy their product.

• On Facebook, some people leave frequent promotional posts on group walls or post promotional messages on their friend’s walls.

Yes, you can promote yourself and your book on social networks, but be subtle about it. Most of your communications should be about developing relationships, getting to know people, sharing information and resources, helping others, and being a member of the community. I recommend that no more than 10% to 20% of your status updates and tweets be promotional or self-serving.

Be cautious about using direct messages for promotional purposes. For example, a direct message to announce an event (like your book launch) or a message that contains tips and resources will probably be more acceptable to people than a sales pitch. Just don’t overdo it.

Remember the golden rule of social networking: treat others as you would like to be treated. 
 

This is a reprint from Dana Lynn Smith‘s The Savvy Book Marketer.

Western Book Fan Gave Me A Story Idea – Sort Of

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I’ve noticed over the last couple of years there are several people in my acquaintance that have active imaginations when it comes to a story line for a book, but not the inclination to write the book themselves. They seek me out to tell me about their idea and suggest I should write the story for them.

That’s how my soon to be 18th book was started. This one has been three years in the writing so that’s why this book will seemed to be coming so close behind the last one I published. The genre is western. My second one. It so happens that I worked with one of the few readers of my first western. I can count on one hand the number of people I know that are as fond of reading westerns as I am. My coworker is one of them. I wrote the last western for the fun of it, because my parents loved westerns. Since that was the type of books laying around the house, that was what I read while I was growing up so I’m comfortable with old west tales from Zane Gray and Louis L’amour.

Of course, I’ve put my own spin on my character, a lackadaisical sheriff in small town Montana named Stringbean Hooper. This man is not at all like one of Louis L’amour’s tough, fearless Sackett brothers but more like Bret Maverick from the television series. However, when the man is forced to show what he’s made of while he’s trying to solve the town doctor’s wife’s disappearance he turns out to be more trust worthy than first thought.

A Stringbean Hooper book – The Dark Wind Howls Over Mary – (ISBN 1438221576) became such a favorite with my coworker, she asked me to write another western about him. I said I didn’t have any ideas what he should do next. The woman said she had it all thought out. She wanted him and his new wife to take a trip to California, camping out in the rugged elements. This woman is a fan of Lonesome Dove. I’m sure she was thinking of that book and movie. No way was I going to come up with a story written as well and with so much rugged authenticity as Larry McMurtry puts into his great stories.

However, I began to think I should give the story a try as a challenge for myself. I set to work researching to figure out what each state was like in the late 1800’s. I read about what was happening in history at that time in the west. With all my facts at hand, I wrote most of the first draft. Then came my retirement. Just before I stopped working, I told my western fan coworker that I wouldn’t forget her when the book was done. One day, she would find a package in her mailbox from me. Outside of her, one uncle and my older brother, no one else will want to read this western book. Those three will receive a complementary copy, and I’ll move on to the next Amish story.

A year ago during a snowstorm, I brought the manuscript up on my computer. Over the years, I’d gotten Stringbean and his bride through the pass into California, but I didn’t have a clue why they wanted to make such an arduous trip when they had a prosperous cattle ranch to work in Montana. The last time I talked to my western fan, I reminded her this story line was her idea. I asked her how I was suppose to end the story. She didn’t have a clue. I said I didn’t either. She told me coming up with an ending was my job. I’m the writer. Besides if she knew what was going to happen at the end, it would take all the fun out of reading the book. It would appear her imagination isn’t fool proof when it comes to book beginnings, middles and endings. She left me hanging high and dry so to speak.

Finally, while I was working on what I did have I was struck with the idea for the ending like a bolt of lightning had hit me (funny how that happens to me). I knew why the couple had to get to California, and I’ve ended the story in Stringbean Hooper style. Now I’m working on my last draft so I can send it to my editor. Some time in June when the book is published I’ll see if I can get my three readers to give me their reviews to use on a blog post.

Get a Free Book!

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During the months of May and June 2010, buy a copy of my story collection, The Principle of Ultimate Indivisibility (print version only: $14.95) from Lulu.com and Bliss Plot Press will send you a free copy of The Other Face: Experiencing the Mask, a fascinating anthology of writings about the mystery of masks (an $8.00 value).

Get more information about both books at BlissPlotPress.com.

When your purchase at Lulu is complete, you’ll get an e-mail receipt. Just forward that receipt to Bliss Plot Press, along with your shipping address, and they’ll put The Other Face in media mail at no cost to you. Send the receipt to: order [at] blissplotpress [dot] com .

Two good books for the price of one!

Podcast: Crime Writer Seth Harwood On New Publishing Paradigms And Author Marketing

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It’s great to have crime novelist Seth Harwood on the show talking about the new publishing paradigm for his latest novel, Young Junius available for special edition pre-order on May 5th.

Seth Harwood is the author of several crime novels including ‘Jake Wakes Up‘ published last year and his latest book, ‘Young Junius‘ . Seth is also a podcaster, writing teach and co-creator of the Author Bootcamp program.

In this podcast you will learn:

  • The publishing world does not quickly recognise new novelists, so Seth used podcasting to build an audience for his crime novels.
     
  • Pre-release of ‘Young Junius’ is inspired by Scott Sigler’s self-publishing run of ‘The Rookie’ and now ‘The Starter‘ which his publisher didn’t want to publish as it didn’t fit the genre. Seth has partnered with a small press, Tyrus Books to organise a special edition that is only pre-sold on the internet with tons of special extras, photos, cover art, embossed and more. People pre-order on Amazon so why not skip them as the middleman and do this directly.
     
  • The possibility of mainstream authors doing this is out there i.e. avoid the middleman and publish straight to the market. We will likely see more authors using this model for publishing.
  • ‘Young Junius’ is a crime novel, fans of ‘The Wire’, ‘Dexter’, ‘Law & Order’ and authors Richard Price, David Simon, Michael Connelly will enjoy it. It’s available for pre-order on May5th – Cinco de Junius! If you use promo code ‘PENN’, you’ll get $3 off. Go to SethHarwood.com on May 5th.
  • How podcasting can still benefit new authors by getting your work out there to new fans. You need to have a presence where people can find out about you, and podcasting is ideal as you can podcast your actual work and people can listen when they are doing other things. [Seth has an online workshop with Writer’s Digest, a webinar on podcasting, coming up if you want to know more]. The podcast version of ‘Young Junius’ is here.
     
  • Don’t worry about your voice! Fans like to hear the author’s voice reading the book.
  • How to balance your time between writing, marketing, revisions, online promotion. It varies depending on the phase you are in for your book. But it is definitely tricky!
     
  • It’s important to write well but also sell a lot of books. Write what you love to read and create, not something that is ‘literary’ if that is not the genre you love.

You can order ‘Young Junius’ special edition at SethHarwood.com on May 5th. You can connect with Seth on twitter @sethharwood

 

 

Click here to download, or listen to, the podcast on Joanna Penn’s site.

 

 

This is a cross-posting from Joanna Penn‘s The Creative Penn site.

When Editing & Critiquing, Check Your Personal Opinions At The Door

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I’ve been editing a provocative nonfiction manuscript that contains some ideas with which I agree, some with which I disagree, and some with which I disagree strongly. The author has expressed concern that in the process of editing his work, I may inadvertently or purposely alter his meaning due to its controversial content. This is a reasonable worry for any author to have when handing his manuscript over for edit or critique.

I’ve been on the receiving end of revisionist edits and notes which were based entirely in matters of the reader’s personal sensibilities, and it’s an experience that’s annoying at best, downright offensive at worst. Imagine having your independent, feminist protagonist watered down by a reader who feels such traits are unattractive in a woman. Or getting the note that there are too many references to liquor and bars from a reader who happens to be a recovering alcoholic. Such notes aren’t helpful, because while they demonstrate very clearly how to alter the manuscript to better suit one specific reader’s tastes, they don’t offer any guidance on how to improve the manuscript in a way that will make it more appealing to the general public.

Editing and critiquing demand judgment calls from the reader, but it’s a very narrow kind of judgment which should be based only in matters of linguistics and literary form. For example, it’s fine to suggest the author eliminate a lengthy passage of navel-gazing on the part of the indecisive protagonist because it brings the story’s pace to a crawl, but it’s not okay for the editor to make the same suggestion merely because she has no tolerance for indecisive people in real life.

It can be a very fine line to walk, because the nattering observations of an indecisive person truly will seem to bring the story to a crawl for a reader with no patience for such people. But it doesn’t mean a reader who doesn’t share that particular pet peeve would suggest the same change. This is one of the many reasons why authors should seek out multiple reads from different people, and one of the many reasons why those readers should approach their task with self-awareness and humility.

In the end, matters not specifically pertaining to rules of grammar, spelling and proper usage are all matters of opinion, and this is something authors, editors and critiquers alike should never forget. What one reader finds distasteful, another will find fascinating. What one finds boring, another will find lyrical.

For authors, the trick is to work toward some kind of majority consensus. For editors and critiquers, the trick is to remember that their proper role is merely to bring the author’s vision of his ideal manuscript into sharper focus, not to alter it, editorialize on it, or make it more closely resemble whatever vision the editor or critiquer may have in his own life or philosophy.

So, while I may not agree with an author who says [insert viewpoint to which you are strongly opposed here], it’s still my job as editor to ensure his message is communicated as clearly and forcefully as possible. If I’ve done my job well, by the time I’m finished I will have helped the author win some converts to his cause—just as I’ve been won over to various causes by well-written treatises. And if I have a problem with that, I shouldn’t be editing his manuscript in the first place.
 

This is a cross-posting from April L. Hamilton‘s Indie Author blog.

iPad's epub: the "Book" of the Future?

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A few weeks ago Smashwords made it possible to get self-published books into Apple’s iBookstore for sale on the iPad, and from what I read there are already several thousand Smashwords titles in the iBookstore.

Some of Apple’s approved content aggregators have also put out mechanisms for making contact with content creators and rights holders. Both Libre Digital and Bibliocore will take your information and have someone get in touch with you if you want to talk

Bibliocore, “… was launched by the same team that created TuneCore, the largest distributor of music, artists and labels in the world. We believe that all writers, artists and musicians should have equal access to the channels of distribution without having to give up rights or revenue.”

LibreDigital ” … has already delivered thousands of e-books to the iBookstore on behalf of some of the largest book publishers in the world.”

Bibliocore also states they take no commission on sales, that you will receive 100% of payments from Apple. They do this by charging fees upfront. LibreDigital, on the other hand, seems to have the opposite model. They announce no fees up front, and a “transparent” pricing model.

Constellation, from Perseus Books, is another Apple Approved EBook Aggregator. Perseus is ” … the largest distributor of independent publishers in North America, with more than 300 publisher clients.” Their focus is on independent publishers, and providing complete, end-to-end services not just for iPad but—ambitiously—for all types of digital distribution.

I haven’t explored these companies in detail, but I think it’s fascinating how many options are starting to open up with the rapid sales of the iPad. Many of the ads for content creators mention “over 300,000 iPads sold” and the expectation that Apple may sell as many as 3-5 million iPads this year alone.

Here Comes the DIY Option

According to an article by Dan Moren in Macworld the Storyist software—an intriguing hybrid word processor specifically designed to format and organize writing projects of all kinds—will now come with a direct to ePub export feature. You can create a book, add a cover, and upload it to your own iPad to sit on the iBook shelf alongside all your favorite authors.

Increased support for ePub conversion is also built into the new Adobe InDesign CS5, and you can see why. The demand from publishers of all sizes has increased exponentially over just the last four months. Even in my own design practice, every author now wants to include ebook conversions in their project right from the start. This week I received the first inquiry from a prospective self-publisher about whether it was still necessary to get the print book ready at all.

Over at Foodsville, Hewlett-Packard is showing one example of their new BookPrep system, which pretty much allows you to scan old books directly to ePub files, suitable for … well, you know.

More and more programs will likely come with the epub export option, and why not? It is the typesetting of the future.

Mixed Feelings

I assured the author I was talking to that it would be best to do the print book first if he had any plans to publish at all. Although a lot of the formatting will be lost in the conversion to epub, it will be maintained in the “original” book.

But I really started to wonder how long we’ll be referring to the print books as the “originals” or the “best edition” in the language of the Copyright Office. More and more it feels like the pace of the transition to digital books has picked up. Things are moving faster. As the beautiful full-page iPad ads continue to spread over the countryside, more and more people get accustomed to the idea of reading on tablets, phones, screens of all kinds.

Soon the word “book” will be like the word “leading” is now; a convenient descriptor that some people will remember actually existed in the real world at one time, but is only remembered now because of its name. Digital “books” are unlikely to resemble printed books for very long, and that is as it should be. Digital works—text and a host of other media and capabilities—are entirely different from printed books. Why should they continue to slavishly imitate a 500-year old form?

Typography will retreat, maybe completely out of the mass-reading space. Watching text reflow in your choice of fonts and sizes is pretty much the death of typography until someone comes up with a format that can be both designed and extensible. The implied elasticity of that future typography is dizzying to someone who is used to fixed forms on paper. How will they do that?

It’s questions like that that keep this revolution interesting. And this: What will happen next? Stay tuned.

Takeaway: We can watch as the epub format for ebooks and iBooks begins to assert itself as the foundation for the “book of the future.”

This is a cross-posting from Joel Friedlander‘s The Book Designer site.

Getting The Attention of Indie Bookstores

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Small presses and self publishers usually have a difficult time getting positive attention from Independent (Indie) bookstores. I’m going to let you in on a dirty little secret today that will help immensely.

You may know that the American Booksellers Association looks out for the interests of Indie bookstores; however, were you aware there are nine regional bookseller associations that do even more for them? For instance, my bookstore is served by the Midwest Booksellers Association (MBA). I know you’re probably wondering why I mention these. It’s because they have a marketing opportunity program that reaches all the Indie stores that are members of their respective regional organizations and get emails.

The following is a quote from an email I received from the MBA yesterday: 

Reach thousands of booksellers. The Regional Bookseller Trade Associations are combining efforts to get your promotional materials, ideas, and gift items into the hands of our nearly 3,000 independent bookstore members. Entries cost $100. Each participating regional will send an email alert to our members.  Payment must be made before the alert is sent.  You can pay with a credit card or a check.  For credit card payments call 800.331.9617, or mail your check to SIBA, 3806 Yale Ave., Columbia, SC 29205

New! Reserve your listing online: Click Here!

Email your entry to: alert@sibaweb.com exactly as you’d like it described in the alert.

Along with bookmarks & posters, there are other materials that our booksellers would like to know about, such as contests, event kits, authorless events, and other creative materials that you spend dollars on developing and shipping.  This would be a Call to Action to Booksellers to request the materials that they believe will be most valuable to them.  Booksellers will email you directly to request the items allowing you to capture the emails of the stores that are most interested in the materials.  All requests should include any parameters you choose.

Submission guidelines are below.

See a sample Creative Advertising & Promo Alert here!

This is a great opportunity for greeting card companies and other sidelines vendors to connect with independents and to get a sample of your wares into their hands.


Here is a quote from an email to member bookstores so you can see how they are contacted:


 

Dear Booksellers,

Here is the latest installment of the Creative Advertising and Promo Alert, sponsored by your regional trade associations. In this email you will find a list of promotional offers from publishers, wholesalers, sideline companies and other vendors who have developed a variety of marketing tools and pieces designed to help you sell more stuff; specifically, more of their stuff!

Offers are arranged alphabetically by vendor name, but we have included a summary at the top of each listing to show the company name, the category their products fall under, and a list of the items/promotional pieces that are being offered. These are great items, not just for your own in store use, but also to give to teachers, educators and librarians.

PLEASE READ EACH LISTING CAREFULLY. They each contain specific instructions. If you are interested in a particular item, please follow the directions in the listing to request an item. DO NOT simply reply to this email, as we can not guarantee that your request will get forwarded to the proper person in time.

We hope this Creative Advertising & Promotional Alert will be useful to you, by bringing together into one place many of the resources publishers and vendors create to help encourage sales.

Yours truly,

Your Regional Booksellers Trade Association

Here is contact information for all the regionals:

Great Lakes Independent Booksellers Association

Jim Dana (Executive Director)
208 Franklin St.
P.O. Box 901
Grand Haven, MI 49417
(800) 745-2460, (616) 847-2460
Fax: (616) 842-0051
E-Mail: glba@books-glba.org

 

Midwest Booksellers Association

Susan Walker (Executive Director)
Kati Gallagher (Assistant Director)
3407 W. 44th St.
Minneapolis, MN 55410
(800) 784-7522, (612) 926-5868
Fax: (612) 926-6657
E-Mail:  susan@midwestbooksellers.org
kati@midwestbooksellers.org

 

Mountains & Plains Independent Booksellers Association

Lisa Knudsen (Executive Director)
19 Old Town Square, Suite 238
Fort Collins, CO 80524
(970) 484-5856
Fax: (970) 407-1479
E-Mail: lisa@mountainsplains.org

 

New Atlantic Independent Booksellers Association

Eileen Dengler (Executive Director)
2667 Hyacinth St.
Westbury, NY 11590
(516) 333-0681
Fax: (516) 333-0689
E-Mail: info@naiba.com

 

New England Independent Booksellers Association

 

Steve Fischer (Executive Director)
297 Broadway, #212
Arlington, MA 02474
(781) 316-8894
Fax: (781) 316-2605
E-Mail: steve@neba.org

 

New Orleans-Gulf South Booksellers Association

Britton Trice (Chair)
Garden District Bookshop
2727 Prytania St.
New Orleans, LA 70130
(504) 895-2266
Fax: (504) 895-0111
E-Mail: betbooks@aol.com

 

Northern California Independent Booksellers Association

Hut Landon (Executive Director)
The Presidio
P.O. Box 29169 (mail)
37 Graham St. (delivery)
San Francisco, CA 94129
(415) 561-7686
Fax: (415) 561-7685
E-Mail: office@nciba.com

 

Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association

 

Thom Chambliss (Executive Director)
214 East 12th Ave.
Eugene, OR 97401-3245
(541) 683-4363
Fax: (541) 683-3910
E-Mail: info@pnba.org

 

Southern California Independent Booksellers Association

Jennifer Bigelow (Executive Director)
959 E. Walnut St., Suite 220
Pasadena, CA 91106
(626) 793-7403
Fax: (626) 792-1402
E-Mail: office@scibabooks.org

 

Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance

 

Wanda Jewell (Executive Director)
Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance
3806 Yale Ave.
Columbia, SC 29205
(803) 994-9530
Fax: (803) 779-0113
E-Mail: info@sibaweb.com


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This is a reprint from Bob Spear‘s Book Trends blog.