Month: February 2013

Trolls Among Us

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This post, by Steven Ramirez, originally appeared on his Glass Highway site and is reprinted here in its entirety with his permission.

A few of my colleagues have been commiserating lately in various social media circles about the one-star reviews they received for their books. I am in complete sympathy with them. I’ve had my share of nasty comments over the years. Because of this, I always do my best to comfort these sensitive souls. Truth is though, the lovely, caring artists filled with God’s gift for stringing words together in a way that amazes need to, well, man up.

How, you say, can I be so callous? Trust me, it’s not that hard. I’m sitting here alone in my office writing this piece with no audience to glower at me disapprovingly. I’ve got all kinds of chutzpah when I’m by myself. Besides, I’m in a basement, and it’s about fifty degrees down here. I could keep turnips fresh for months. If we were having this conversation in person though, say at a nice warm Starbucks, I might be a little more inclined to be nice.

Anyway, the thing is, there are trolls out there. Don’t ask me where they come from or why they feel the need to destroy another person’s months or even years of labor by making snarky remarks meant to illuminate their own questionable wit rather than provide honest, intelligent feedback. But there you have it. Know only that they exist. Like piles.

The Need to Feel Superior One author wrote recently that one of her book covers had—without her permission—been uploaded along with other covers to a sort of online wall of shame. The perpetrator even had the temerity to say that he would be more than happy to design a “good” cover for her and for all the rest of these poor hapless authors who had obviously gone astray in the cover design department. Unfortunately, the author decided to go after this person, and he retaliated by getting his friends to generate a bunch of—you guessed it—one-star reviews for her books. Ouch.

Personally, I’d love to know how much business this marketing genius actually drums up for himself using tactics not seen since Watergate. One thing’s for sure, I wouldn’t hire him to decorate the cupcakes for my daughter’s Bat Mitzvah, were she Jewish.

To me, this is simply a case of someone needing to feel superior by denigrating the hard work of others. It’s not professional, not wanted, and has no place in online commerce. Period.

The Need to Compete There are well known stories of authors—some of them successful—who write sock puppet reviews, singing the praises of their own works while eviscerating those of “the competition.” One best-selling author was recently found out. Check this out. Hey, it’s business! No, it’s stupid.

I am getting my own novel ready for publication, and I have nothing but admiration and good cheer for other writers who have already published their books and are seeing brisk sales. Why? Because I know how much work goes into a book. And because it helps all of us. This is a community, after all.

The Need to Be Unhappy Then there are those who write bad reviews—often without even reading or at least finishing the book—because they themselves are miserable. This makes no sense to me at all. If I have a headache, I take Ibuprofen. I don’t whack the guy next to me over the head with a wet sock puppet in the hope that somehow my pain will go away.

What’s maddening about these people is there is nothing to be gained whatsoever. No money, no fame. Nothing. They are just being mean.

The Need to Face the Truth This is a tough one. Maybe—just maybe—the one-star review is (gulp) deserved? Especially if most of the other reviews are lousy. It means you wrote a lousy book. In that case, you need to step back, regroup and try again. Maybe it is that awful book cover. Or maybe the book needs some serious rewriting. In any case, a work would have to be pretty bad to warrant one star. I mean any book in your friendly airport Hudson News is worth at least two stars, am I right?

Which brings me to my theory about one-star reviews. I’m no statistician, but it seems to me that readers might just be treating one-star reviews as patently fake anyway. I don’t know about you but when I see a one-star review, I tend not to put a lot of stock in it. For me it screams, “I was having a bad day when I wrote that!” I would hope that other readers are doing the same.

But what about those trolls? The ones who are going against the tide of good reviews, essentially throwing dog poop on an otherwise pristine basket of daisies? Two words. Ignore them.

And with that, here’s some troll humor.


 

Jezebel Blogger Totally Misses The Point Of Bell Jar Cover Redesign

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Publetariat Editor’s Note: strong language

Over on Jezebel, blogger Tracie Egan Morrissey has got her knickers in a twist over the cover design for the 50th Anniversary re-issue of Syliva Plath’s The Bell Jar. Tracie rants:

If Sylvia Plath hadn’t already killed herself, she probably would’ve if she saw the new cover of her only novel The Bell Jar. For a book all about a woman’s clinical depression that’s exacerbated by the suffocating gender stereotypes of which she’s expected to adhere and the limited life choices she has as a woman, it’s pretty fucking stupid to feature a low-rent retro wannabe pinup applying makeup. (Also, it’s ugly and the colors suck.)

Way to completely miss the subtlety of a very cleverly and thoughtfully -designed book cover, Tracie.

As we all know, book covers are supposed to convey something about the content of the book, whether in terms of plot, setting, tone or character. And they must evoke something about one or more of those things using the visual shorthand of imagery—typically, symbolic imagery. Still with me there, Tracie?

Let’s start with the publisher’s description of the book:

When Esther Greenwood wins an internship on a New York fashion magazine in 1953, she is elated, believing she will finally realise her dream to become a writer. But in between the cocktail parties and piles of manuscripts, Esther’s life begins to slide out of control. She finds herself spiralling into depression and eventually a suicide attempt, as she grapples with difficult relationships and a society which refuses to take women’s aspirations seriously.

The Bell Jar, Sylvia Plath’s only novel, was originally published in 1963 under the pseudonym Victoria Lucas. The novel is partially based on Plath’s own life and has become a modern classic. The Bell Jar has been celebrated for its darkly funny and razor sharp portrait of 1950s society and has sold millions of copies worldwide.

Now, looking back at that cover…is this really just a glam shot of a young, attractive woman tarting herself up, signifying nothing more than ‘girls just wanna have fun and look pretty doing it’? I don’t think so.

First, the background color is a dark red. Not only is it an iconic and representative color for the time period of the novel, but taken on its own, completely out of any context, it’s a symbolically negative color that evokes obstacles, conflict and high energy. Red means stop. “Seeing red” means anger. Red is the color used all over the world on warning signs. Red is also the color of blood, and therefore the color most associated with violence. So the background color should clue the viewer in right away on a gut level: this is not a happy book, you have been warned.

Next, look at the model’s pose and facial expression. She is not smiling, and if anything, the corners of her mouth are downturned. She’s touching up her make-up, but she doesn’t look too happy about that. Actually, her reflection in the mirror shows an expression with downturned mouth that looks more like disgust than anything else. And since the woman is looking at herself, wouldn’t this mean she’s disgusted with herself, and/or with this female obligation to be pretty at all times and at all costs?

And how about that compact? Notice how it completely dominates the image? How it’s front and center, shown in its entirety, while our heroine is only partially visible and off to the side? What message does this convey about the industrial beauty complex versus an individual woman? Also notice – the compact’s red color is being cast downward, partially enveloping the woman’s hand and arm. What does that say about this woman’s relationship with beauty standards and rituals? Could it be that she feels she’s being obscured or overshadowed by them?

Finally, how about the font? Notice how the lines are uneven and spidery, that none of the lines of text are level, and how the text very subtly angles increasingly downward with each line.

Now consider the pre-existing cover designs for this book, in paperback, hardcover and Kindle formats:

Do any of these covers say anything at all about the content of the book? The first one clues you in that it’s about a woman, but that’s it. The second (the 25th anniversary re-issue cover, BTW) looks more like the cover of a romance novel than a semi-autobiographical account of feminist rage and depression. I guess the rain on the third one symbolizes depression, but that’s all it says. Maybe if you saw all three of them together, you’d get some idea of the content. But as standalones, they don’t hold a birthday candle to the 50th anniversary redesign.

Apparently Tracie would’ve preferred a more literal, hit-you-over-the-head cover, perhaps showing a hot mess of a woman slashing her wrists. But wouldn’t an image like that 1) be a spoiler 2) be a tough sell and 3) overpower the book’s feminist message?

 

2/7/13 Updated to add: Now THIS is a crime against lit – Anne of Green Gables made over into a blonde farm tart on the cover of a self-pub edition snagged from public domain content http://ht.ly/hvSam

 
This is a reprint from April L. Hamilton’s new site, The Digital Media Mom.

10 More Cons Of Self-Publishing

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Here are ten more reasons that explain why self-publishing might not be the right thing for you to get into when you are trying to publish your new book. But when reading this list, keep in mind that there is no one right way to get your book published. Therefore, it is important for each writer to consider their own goals, reasons, and resources before choosing to pursue the traditional book publishing route, or the self-publishing route.

1. You Are Responsible For All Editing
As a self-publisher, you need to become skilled in all editorial and design areas – or hire and pay for an expert to do it. Editing takes a lot of time to do correctly. And a good editor is not easy to find. If you overlook any editorial mistakes, they could be stuck in your book until the next printing.

2. You Must Treat Your Self-Publishing As A Business
Managing a business, even a very small one, is very time-consuming. As the owner you are responsible for every aspect of the business, such as marketing, finance, public relations, design, writing, website design, etc. The list is endless.

3. Booksellers Will Not Buy Directly From An Author
Many booksellers will not buy directly from an author. It is too expensive and time-consuming for them to set up an account to handle only one book. That means you will need to find a distributor, who will insist on a large discount from the cover price. That means that about 70% of your profits gets consumed very quickly.

4. It Can Be Difficult To Get Reviews
Most reviewers, especially in the main-stream media, won’t review books that are self-published.

5. You Must Get A Lot Of Exposure
You will discover very quickly that with self-publishing, writing is 5% of the process – marketing is 95% of the process. You might spend twelve months writing your book, and then spend the next sixty months putting all of your time into marketing that one book. Marketing your book never ends. Going with a traditional publisher puts your book way ahead of the self-published books – right from the start. Traditional publishers have the ability to get your book a huge amount of media exposure very quickly.

6. Self-Publishers Might Not See A Profit For A Long Time
Most traditionally published books see a positive return on their investment. Most self-published books never make a profit. So, if positive cash flow is your only motivation for enter self-publishing, you might be making a mistake.

7. There Is A Prejudice Against Self-Publishing
This is the general perception of the general public, and most of those who work in traditional publishing, the media, and every university and college. These are the same people who believe that unless you have convinced a traditional publisher to publish your book, there must be something wrong with it. If this bothers you, then self-publishing is not for you.

8. All Marketing And Promotion Is Your Responsibility
Although this is similar to traditional publishing, with self-publishing you are completely on your own. You will need to expend an enormous amount of time learning to market and promote your book. Your life will be consumed with marketing and promotion for the entire life of your book. It never ends.

9. Self-Publishers Have A Smaller Marketing Power And Reach
This is a great reason to use a traditional publisher. They have enormous marketing power and clout, and are very sophisticated marketing experts. They can wield their power to get your book into every imaginable outlet. The fact is that there are fewer marketing and advertising opportunities for self-publishers.

10. Self-Publishers Don’t Have Big Industry And Media Connections
This is another great reason to use a traditional publisher. The main reason is that as a self-publisher, you will need to develop your own connections within the media, and within the industry that you write in. And a traditional publisher is already set-up within the media to promote your book on a large-scale.

This article was written by Joseph C. Kunz, Jr. and originally posted on KunzOnPublishing.com

 

10 Cons Of Self-Publishing

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Here are ten reasons that explain why self-publishing might not be the right thing for you to get into when you are trying to publish your new book. But when reading this list, keep in mind that there is no one right way to get your book published. Therefore, it is important for each writer to consider their own goals, reasons, and resources before choosing to pursue the traditional book publishing route, or the self-publishing route.

1. No Guarantee Of Success
There are no guarantees of any kind of success with self-publishing – or any kind of publishing or business – or in life in general. That’s just how it is. One of your publications that you put all of your efforts into might sell one copy a week. And your next one will sell 100 per week. You won’t know for certain which of your books will sell well until you write it and publish it. And to make the whole process of self-publishing more interesting, you will shoulder 100 percent of the financial risk. If you can’t deal with any of that, then self-publishing is not for you.

2. High Out-Of-Pocket Expenses
Self-publishing start-up costs can be very high if you foolishly purchase and take delivery of a large quantity of books from a printer. And then spend the next three years trying to sell them. And then get sick of the entire process and sell them to a big bookstore chain for pennies on the dollar. Where do you think those expensive coffee-table books on the bookstore discount table come from?

3. Choosing A Particular Niche For Your Writing Can Be A Crap-Shoot
There is a market and audience for every imaginable niche. But if you expect to make any money writing about your particular micro-niche, you better pick wisely – and really know what you are writing about. A traditional publisher probably won’t accept your book if your micro-nice is too small to be profitable. They will help you make your book more marketable to a bigger audience. But if you don’t want that kind of professional help, you can self-publish your book about a very obscure topic that is of interest to you, and not many others, and languish in obscurity.

4. Revisions Can Get Expensive
Revisions can be very expensive if you haven’t yet sold the bulk of your initial inventory of books – that inventory that you foolishly ordered in bulk to lower your per-copy price – and are now storing in your basement.

5. Distribution Is Limited
Distribution can be limited because bookstore chains, for the most part, do not accept self-published books. But eventually you will find other sales outlets for your books. You can do your own distribution by finding bookstore that will accept self-published books in your niche. You can also sell and distribute your books directly to buyers that contact you through your own website. Shipping fees, bookstore fees, and distribution company fees will all take a huge chunk of your profits. And all of this takes time away from your writing.

6. Fiction Market Is Very Tough
The fiction market can be particularly difficult to sell to – especially for unknown or new authors. It is especially difficult to build a following for your fiction without the backing of a traditional publisher. And most reviewers will not touch your book with a ten-foot pole.

7. Can Be Very Time Consuming
Self-publishing is extremely time-consuming – especially if you expect to make any money at it. Don’t forget, that with self-publishing you are responsible for all aspects of your book’s production, marketing, sales, design, writing, publicity, finances, website design, etc. It can easily become a major portion of your life.

8. You Must Accept Returns And Give Refunds
If your books do not sell, the stores return them to you for a refund. And you pay for shipping both ways. You can offer a larger discount and write a special contract refusing returns, but stores will not accept that. Accepting returns and giving refunds can be a dangerous and costly game for a self-publisher with limited financial resources.

9. There Is A Huge Amount Of Competition
If you are afraid of competition, and the challenge of building a following for your publications, then self-publishing is certainly not for you. Competition is what keeps you on your toes, and constantly striving to offer a better product, and helping more people in the process. It’s called capitalism. If you don’t have the intestinal fortitude for a good challenge, and the chance to help people with your books, and make a few bucks while doing it, then a life of self-publishing is not for you.

10. Big Learning Curve
There is a very big learning curve for self-publishing. It can take a few years to learn all the ins and outs of self-publishing. In addition, you need to learn the ins and outs of the publishing industry, and also learn about all aspects of running a small-business.

This article was written by Joseph C. Kunz, Jr. and originally posted on KunzOnPublishing.com

 

10 Amazing Low-Cost Ways To Market Your Book

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Here is a list of effective, popular, proven-to-work, and low-cost ways to market your book. I personally use every one of them, so I know for a fact that they are an effective way to build up your audience and sell more books. The steps to marketing your book, and deciding which avenues are good for you to utilize for this, might take you a few months to figure out. But all of the ways on this list are very easy to set-up, and most of them are low or no-cost to you.

1. Blog Your Book: Post articles from your book, as well as articles on related topics, on your blog. This is a great way to prove to your audience that you know what you are talking about. Writing on your blog is also a practical way to create the content that eventually might go into your book. The best website for blogging is WordPress.

2. Write Guest Posts: This is a very effective way to get your name in front of the readers on other blogs. You should only post useful content on other blogs that let you include a link back to your blog. If they don’t allow this, don’t waste your time on them

3. Get Published In The Print Media: Do your best to get your articles printed in magazines and newspapers. This will get you a lot of credibility with your audience – and this credibility will eventually help you sell more books. The very big mass-media publications are very difficult to get published in – especially for beginners. Start with the smaller industry specific publications. These little publications are always in need of high quality content from someone that they can trust.

4. Post Your Profile: Post your profile on blog listing websites. This is a great no-cost way of getting very wide exposure on the internet – and, most importantly, in Google searches. A few good websites for you to look at are Bloggers and AboutUs.

5. Connect Your Blog: Some blog listing companies will also connect your blog to your profile page on their website. This means that every time you post to your own blog, it will also show up on the blog listing website – automatically. A good website for you to look at is PaperBlog.

6. Create A Google+ Account: This is very quickly becoming a very important and popular way to connect with others. It takes a while to figure out how to use all of its features. But because it involves Google, you must learn how use it and take advantage of all of its features.

7. Use LinkedIn To Develop Your Professional Network: This is the best way to show the world what you have accomplished. It is also an amazing way to connect with people all over the world with similar professional qualifications and interests. Some of these people will become part of the audience for your book, as well as a pool of people to ask to write testimonials and endorsements for your book.

8. Use Everything Amazon Has To Offer: Amazon is just about the most amazing tool for marketing your book as well as yourself. It has several tools that are very effective and easy to use. Its best feature is the Author’s Page, where you can add lots of information about yourself and your publications, as well as add a video. This Author’s Page is like having an additional website devoted to you. Amazon has several other ways for you to connect with your audience. One such tool is Listmania, where you can help guide readers by listing your favorite books for a particular subject.

9. Article Marketing: This is a way for you to post your articles (blog postings) on an “article listing website”. On these websites, readers can search their database by typing in particular search terms and find articles that contain the appropriate article tags. The best website on the internet for this is EzineArticles.

10. Post Videos On YouTube: At the very least, you should post at least one video about your book. This is your chance to show yourself to your audience, let them see you talk about your book, and see how confident you are about your topic and your book. It only needs to be a short video, anywhere from five to eight minutes long.

This article was written by Joseph C. Kunz, Jr. and originally posted on KunzOnPublishing.com

 

10 Reasons Self-Publishers Should Avoid Selling To Bookstores

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Trying to get bookstores to accept your book and give it shelf space is very time-consuming and difficult to achieve. Most bookstores are not anxious to get your book. And to make matters worse, as a small, independent, publisher, or self-publisher, you are at the complete mercy of the bookstores. They set all of the terms, whether you like them or not. But even if you do everything they want, and spend lots of time and money in the process, to get a bookstore to accept your book, and give it some self-space, there is no guarantee that they will sell your book. Here are ten reasons that a new self-publisher should avoid spending valuable time and money trying to get their book into brick-and-mortar bookstores.

1. Bookstores Only Take Books That They Deem Will Sell In Large Volume
They will almost never believe that a self-published book will sell more than a few copies. They know that a small publisher does not have the power, connections, or budget to execute a large and sophisticated marketing plan.

2. Bookstores Will Typically Order Less Than 10 Copies
Even if they accept your book and agree to give it some shelf space, most bookstores will order less than ten copies at a time.

3. Bookstores Only Accept Books That Can Be Returned
And they might return 50% to 80% of your books to you – and you must pay to get them back. Some big bookstore chains know that small publishers cannot afford to buy back the books. They will then offer to buy your books back for under a dollar, and then put your book on their discount table.

4. Bookstores Expect The Publisher To Pay For Shipping Both Ways
This is a fact of life for the self-publisher that self-distributes. It is also time-consuming to package your books for shipping, and postage is expensive.

5. Bookstores Sell Very Few Books Compared To The Online Retailers
This is especially true for self-publishers. Big-name well-established authors, and the biggest publishers, are the ones that get the best displays and locations in the bookstore.

6. Bookstores Physically Do Not Have Enough Room To Stock All Titles
The small bookstores might stock 5,000 titles. The huge bookstores might stock 140,000 titles. Amazon stocks a few million titles. You will end up spending lots of time and money trying to get your book into bookstores, most of which simply do not have the space to take your book.

7. Bookstores Will Force You To Take Back All Of The Damaged Copies
You book will sit on the bookstore’s shelf, get handled, bent, banged-up, etc., and then the bookstore will force you to take them back, and force you pay for the shipping.

8. Bookstores Have A Bias Against Self-Published Books For Two Big Reasons
a. The reputation of vanity presses and self-publishers producing low-quality and un-marketable books.
b. Self-publishers typically lack the proper relationships with distributors, therefore their books are difficult to obtain.

9. Bookstores Can Order Your Book Even When It Is Not On Their Shelf
Almost every bookstore in America can order a book online through companies such as Ingram or Bertrams. The book will then be shipped to the bookstore, and the customer will pick it up.

10. Bookstores Can Easily Take 90 To 120 Days To Pay You
As a small, independent, publisher, or self-publisher, you are at the mercy of the bookstores. They set all of the terms, whether you like them or not. And as a small publisher, waiting several months for your money can be devastating.

This article was written by Joseph C. Kunz, Jr. and originally posted on KunzOnPublishing.com

 

10 Basic Steps To Setting-Up Your Blog

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Introduction
It is absolutely essential that you get your blog up and running as quickly as possible. As soon as you realize what specific topic, or niche, that you want to write about – start writing. This will help you build up a body of work that shows the world that you are an expert in your niche. If you already have expertise in a particular topic, and already have a body of work that you have already written, you need to break that work down into a format that is blog friendly.

I am still amazed at the number of my business associates and clients that are still avoiding blogging as a way to promote their business. None of the steps to setting-up a blog are difficult or costly. There is a learning curve to it. And it will take several months to fully learn all aspects of blogging and how to do it successfully. But the benefits that you and your business will gain can be enormous.

Here are ten of the essential basic steps that you must follow in order to set-up your blog and quickly get it running.

1. Open A WordPress Blog
Do not waste your time on any of the other blogging websites. This one is by far considered the best and most user friendly that is available. It is very simple to use, and has many free add-ons available. Most bloggers use this site, so there is plenty of help and advice available on the internet. WordPress.org is self-hosted. WordPress.com is hosted (this means that your url will have the WordPress name attached to your URL).

2. Write Your Profile And Add A Face Photograph
You must put a lot of thought into creating your profile. Use your LinkedIn profile to help you write this. Give some specific information about yourself, but do not exaggerate. Do not oversell yourself by being boastful or arrogant. Write several sentences giving the essential, but relevant, information that a reader might need to determine that you have the relevant experience to be writing about your blog’s topic. Include a nice photograph of your face.

3. Write Your Blog Posts
Your blog posts can be written about anything that you want to write about. Some post will be like a formal essay. Some will be a two sentence quick tip. But always remember, that each post must support your niche. Any information that you post on your blog must benefit your readers – your followers.

4. Keep Your Posts Short
If you are going to write a longer post, you should make it at least 400 words, but not more than 1,000 words. Each one should be about one specific topic. If your article is long than this, you should try to break it down into two posts. EzineArticles has written some great free ebooks about this that you should read. EzineArticles has written some great free ebooks about this that you should read before writing your first blog posting.

5. Add One Image To Each Post
Add a small image to each post to keep them visually appealing. This image will also be used when another blog, or blog listing service, displays your article. The image’s topic doesn’t necessarily need to be directly related to the post’s topic. But it should probably be visually attractive, or eye-catching.

6. Use Bullet Points
It is essential that you keep all of your posts easy to follow, and easy to read. No matter how serious a topic is, you must take the reader by the hand, and guide them through your article. Not only is this common courtesy, but essential if you expect your readers to continue to read your postings. By having a blog you are putting yourself out into the world, and telling people that you want to share information with them, and hopefully help them. Show them how much you care about them by truly helping them understand what you are writing about.

7. Add Header Tags And Bold Text To Each Important Heading
This will tell the search engines what is important in your article. When a search engines crawls your site, it will give a higher priority to the headings and bolded text of each section of your article. This is very easy to do when you use WordPress. It will simply be a matter of highlighting each paragraph’s header text, and then clicking on the header button and bold button.

8. Add Google AdSense Advertisements
This is very easy to do, and an easy way to make a few extra bucks from your blog. Don’t expect to make much money from this. It is simply a hands-off way to help off-set any expenses that are involved in maintaining your blog.

9. Promote Your Blog
You must always be open to finding new ways to promote your blog. This can be as simple as listing your blog with a “blog listing service”. Or using your “Amazon Author Page” as a way to connect with your readers. So far I have found twenty-five legitimate places to promote my blog. And this does not include the websites where I have added comments (only do this on websites and blogs that allow a link back to your blog).

10. Improve Your Blog
This is a never-ending process. You must constantly strive to make your blog look and sound like you know what you are talking about. This also includes making any corrections to your past postings. Your readers will be scrutinizing every word that you write. Be quick to admit that you made a mistake about something that you wrote about, tell them why you made that mistake, and fix it right away. The readers want to trust you, and learn from you. Make sure that you give them plenty of reasons to do this.

This article was written by Joseph C. Kunz, Jr. and originally posted on KunzOnPublishing.com

 

Will Book Publishers Become Irrelevant?

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(updated) I was interviewed today on NPR’s All Things Considered by the amazing Audie Cornish. We talked about how the rise of ebook self-publishing will transform publishing for the benefit of writers and readers.

I shared how when we launched Smashwords five years ago, self-publishing was seen as the option of last resort, and today it has becoming the option of first choice for many writers.

But what about publishers? Where do they fit in the future landscape? I expressed my view that in publishers’ attempt to acquire books that they think have the greatest commercial potential, they are excluding many of the potential breakout bestsellers. These authors will find their way to market via ebook self-publishing platforms, and once they learn they can do it better, faster, more profitably and more enjoyably on their own, it’ll be tougher and more expensive for publishers to win them back. For this reason, I said, “over the next few years, traditional publishers are going to become more and more irrelevant.”

At the end of the interview, they interview Michael Pietch, the current top Editor of Little Brown, and the incoming CEO of its parent company, big 6 publisher Hachette.
He takes issue with my comment about the future relevancy of publishers. He says:

“I think Smashwords is an amazing opportunity for people who want to publish themselves. I love the diversity of the publication that is possible now, but I object strenuously to the notion that publishers are irrelevant because publishers are doing things now that are extraordinarily complex [and] exciting. The ways that publishers can work to connect readers with writers now are the kinds of things that publishers have dreamt of doing since Gutenberg first put down a line a type.“

It’s a cool comment, and I don’t disagree with him.

It’s tough to capture my complex thoughts about publishers in a five minute interview. I don’t want to see publishers suffer as the industry evolves over the next few years. I think the world is a better place with publishers, especially if publishers can do for authors what they can’t do for themselves.

Will publishers become irrelevant? No, I don’t think so, and I hope not. In the future I see, indie authors and publishers will co-exist and co-mingle along the publishing spectrum. Four years ago, here on the blog, I wrote a piece titled, Why Book Publishing is Like Venture Capital. It’s starts with a summary of how VCs aren’t as necessary for some Silicon Valley startups as they once were, and it ends with a word game you can play with your word processor. If you’re writer, the game is fun. If you’re a Big 6 publisher, not so much, because the transition will be difficult.

Publishers once controlled the printing press, the access to retail distribution, the knowledge of professional publishing, the access to professional editors, and the marketing capacity to give their books merchandising advantage in stores. These advantages are dissolving. The playing field is leveling, readers are propelling indie ebook authors to the top of the charts, and the field is tilting to the indie author’s advantage.

If you like interview above, please share it with your friends, embed it on your blog or on Facebook, and share your views about the future of publishing.

FEB 5 UPDATE: The next day on All Things Considered, Mr. Pietch shared his perspective on the future of publishing, and why he thinks publishers will remain relevant. It’s a great interview. I like that Hachette is putting a former editor in charge. Editors are the heart and soul of good publishers.

 

This is a reprint from the Smashwords blog.

A + B = You (The Secret Equation Every Author Needs to Know)

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Who are you?

I don’t mean in the sense of your name, age, or personality.

I mean, as an author, who are you?

If you had to describe your writing – not a specific book, but just your personal writing style —to a stranger, what would you say?

It’s okay if you don’t know the answer right now.

Because by the end of this post, you will, thanks to our two secret equations (Yeah, that’s right, you’re getting a two-for-one!).

Defining who you are as an author is about more than just your genre, your book, or your blog.

It’s about what makes you unique.

And once you know what makes you unique, you can find the right readers who will appreciate your unique appeal.

So how do you find out who you are as an author?

Easy – you just have to do the math.

Don’t worry, I’ve got two simple formulas to help you along and all tests will be open book and open notes!

Both of these equations will give you two key elements:

  • Something fans can relate to (in this case, a well-known author)
  • Something that makes you unique

It’s up to you which one fits your writing personality best (Or, if you want to get really crazy, you can use both!).

1. The Unique Twist Algorithm

Start this equation by choosing a well-known author with a very similar writing style and genre (it has to be someone fans of your genre would definitely know and like).

Now take that author’s work and add a twist that describes why you are not only different, but *better* than that author (yeah, it’s bold, embrace it, my friends).

So you’ll wind up with a declaration something like one of these:

  • I’m like Nicholas Sparks, but with more laughs and less tears
  • I’m like Stephanie Meyer, but with stronger female characters

2. The Love Child Theorem

This second equation is my favorite. If you straddle a couple of genres or feel like you sort of embody a mix of two completely different styles, this one’s for you.

Start again with a well-known author who shares similarities to your writing style and genre.

Then, add another author.

Someone very different from Author A. Whether it’s in terms of genre or writing style or subject matter, just choose someone different, but who is also similar to you in some way.

Put those two authors together and proclaim yourself their simply unique lovechild.

I, for example, consider myself the lovechild of Joshilyn Jackson (smart, Southern, sassy) and Carl Hiaasen (fun, colorful, Floridian).

Try it out! You’ll come up with a statement like one of these:

  • I write science fiction like Ray Bradbury, but my characters are more like something from John Steinbeck.
  • I write a mix of fantasy and political thrillers like the love child of Stephen King and Brad Metzler.

So, which equation fits you best?

Try’em both on for size and figure out which one highlights your unique author attributes the best, and then share it with us in the comments!

Once you have a short synopsis of your writing style, you’ll have a much easier way to introduce yourself to new fans. Even better, you can do a little internet stalking/research on your new author doppelgangers to find out who their fans are and where they hang out!

 

This is a reprint from Duolit.

Top 10 Book Cover Design Tips For Self-Publishers

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You must first realize that a book’s cover is the equivalent of a product’s packaging. What is on that cover, or packaging, is advertising. You must figure out what needs to be on that cover in order for a buyer to choose your book over the many others that cover the same topic. What needs to be on your book’s cover that will draw in, or attract, a buyer? You must separate yourself from your personal feelings about your book, and think like the buyer would think. What would attract you to a book like yours? Your book cover’s ability to attract buyers will have a direct effect on how well your books sells. So, don’t be afraid to design several covers. And don’t be afraid to hire professional help.

1. The Title Should Be Readable From Six Feet Away

This is a good general rule for most book covers. This is especially important if you ever plan on having your book on the shelf of a bookstore. This will also help with design tip number 3.

2. The Font Should Be Readable And Appropriate

If your cover’s font is too fancy or complicated, it will be too difficult for buyers to read your cover. This will also be important when it comes time to reduce the image of your book cover that will be viewed on the internet. Don’t be afraid to use one font for the main title, and another for the subtitle.

3. The Cover Should Be Recognizable As A Thumbnail Picture

This is extremely important in today’s internet world. Most buyers today will only see your book’s cover as a tiny image before they buy it.

4. The Cover Images Should Reflect The Theme Of The Book

There should be some connection to the overall subject matter and theme of your book.

5. Include Testimonials On The Back Cover

Put several testimonials from big recognizable names on the back of your cover.

6. Include Really Impressive Testimonial On The Front Cover

Put your most impressive testimonial from the most recognizable person that you can get.

7. Include The ISBN, The Price, And The Bookland Bar Code on Back Cover

Amazon, and every bookstore in the world, will only accept your book if it has the appropriate Bookland bar code.

8. Include Bookstore Shelving Category On Back Cover

You put this on your back cover so that the bookstore clerks don’t put your book in the wrong section of the bookstore. It also helps the buyer quickly categorize the book in their own mind.

9. Put Information About The Author On Back Cover

Include any relevant and impressive information about the author, and possibly a picture. This is to help convince the buyer that the author is qualified to write this book.

10. Avoid White Background

Book covers with white backgrounds will simply disappear on the internet, so you should generally avoid white.

This article was written by Joseph C. Kunz, Jr. and originally posted on KunzOnPublishing.com

 

Social Media Tutorials: Apps For Writers And Other Creative People

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This post, by Robin A. Burrows, originally appeared on her site on 1/22/13.

A writer-friend recently got a smart phone and wanted app recommendations. I decided that would be a good idea for a blog, and my Social Media Tutorial blog series came to be.

The first installment will be apps for writers and other creative people. I plan to post a new tutorial once or twice a month.

I use a Windows-based PC and apple products for my mobile devices, so that is what I will be talking about. However, most apps have an equivalent Android app.

DropBoxDropbox

By far, this is the most useful app I’ve found as a writer. It’s basically an online storage account that you can sync between devices. For example, you can install the app on your phone, your computer, and your ipad/tablet. Any documents you place in the Dropbox folders will be available in all three places. If you are away from home and think of the best story idea ever, you can write a note and place it in the Dropbox folder on your phone. Then when you get home and log into your computer, the note will also be available in the Dropbox folder on your computer.

People also use Dropbox an off-site backup of those important manuscripts. If your house burns down and you lose your computer, hard drives, and paper manuscripts, your documents will still be available on Dropbox.

Accounts are private, but Dropbox has the option to share individual folders with your friends on Dropbox. This is handy for collaborating on projects. One note, I wouldn’t save any financial documents to Dropbox because anything online has the possibility of being hacked.

There are a number of competing services which do the same thing as Dropbox. I tried out the Google Drive since I have a lot of google accounts, but Google Drive kept converting my documents into Google Docs format which I couldn’t open using my office software anymore. There are ways to work around that (primarily being always open files in the editing software and never directly from the Google Drive), but if you accidently open something important, you might not be able to “un-convert” it. So I decided to go with Dropbox instead of Google Drive since Dropbox didn’t have that issue.

The Dropbox app is free. You start out with 2 gigabytes of space, but you can get up to 16GB by promoting the app and inviting friends to join. There are also several paid packages if you need more space. You can download Dropbox free here.

QuickOffice Pro HDQuickOffice Pro / QuickOffice Pro HD

Every writer needs a word processing app. I tried dozens of apps, but QuickOffice is the only one I found that does everything I need it to do, and it has built-in Dropbox compatibility. I can create Office documents on my computer and save them to DropBox. Then I can open those Office documents in QuickOffice on my mobile devices, make edits, add text, add comments, etc. Or I can create documents on my mobile devices and open them later in Office on my computer.

My favorite thing about QuickOffice is that it retains formatting. This is especially important for writers in the editing process. Many people provide feedback to documents using the “comment” ability in Office. If you open that document in most mobile word processing software, those comments are either invisible or erased. So you’ve lost those comments when you reopen the document on a computer. All of that beautiful formatting that took hours to do also disappears in other apps, but Quick Office retains formatting. That is so incredibly wonderful for writers.

QuickOffice lets you create and edit Word, Excel, and Powerpoint documents and their equivelants. (I haven’t actually tried a PowerPoint document yet, but the others work beautifully! There is an iPhone version (QuickOffice Pro) and an iPad version (QuickOffice Pro HD).

This app is not free. The price varies depending on sales, but it typically costs less than the amount you would spend for two people to eat out. You can run some iPhone apps on your iPad, but they run at the same size as the iPhone unless you use the 2X button to double the size. This doubles the screen size, but still uses the iPhone resolution, so things are blurry. I highly recommend buying the specific version of this software for the specific device.

You can find QuickOffice Pro and Quick Office Pro HD in the iTunes app store. I think it is also available in the Android app store. If you use a Mac as your primary desktop computer, and wants a mobile app that works well with that, Pages works well from what I’ve heard.

Read the rest of the post on Robin A. Burrows’ site.

25 Hard Truths About Writing And Publishing

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This post, by Chuck Wendig, originally appeared on his terribleminds site on 1/22/13. Note that it contains strong language.

1. This Industry Is Alarmingly Subjective

Despite the promises of certain snake oil salesmen offering to sell you a magical unguent that — once slathered upon your inflamed nethers — will assure that your book gets published, no actual formula for success exists. If it did, a book would go out into the world and either fail utterly or succeed completely. All editors would want to take it to acquisitions. All readers would snap it up from bookshelves both real and digital with the greedy hands of a selfish toddler. But it ain’t like that, slick. One editor may like it. Another will love it. Three more will hate it. The audience will run hot or cold on it for reasons you can neither control nor discern. This is an industry based on the whims of people, and people are notoriously fucking loopy.

2. One Big Collective Shrug

More to the point, just as the industry starts first with opinion, it ends on what is essentially guesswork. It’s not so blind and fumbling that industry insiders gather in a darkened room to examine the cooling entrails of New York City pigeons, but just the same, nobody really knows what’s going to work and what’s not. Their guesses are educated, but I suspect that nobody anticipated that 50 Shades of Grey was going to be as big as it was — that must’ve been like finding out your Fart Noise smartphone app sold a bajillion copies overnight. They don’t have a robot they consult who tells them: BEEP BOOP BEEP THIS YEAR EROTIC FANFICTION IS THE SMART MONEY BZZT ZING. ALWAYS BET ON BONDAGE. BING!

3. They May Like Your Book… And Still Not Buy It

Trust me on this one, you can get a ton of editors who love your book who won’t touch it with a ten foot pole. That’s disconcerting at first, because you think, “Well, you’re an editor, this is your job, you are in theory a tastemaker for the publisher, and here you’re telling me you love the book but wouldn’t buy it with another publisher’s money.” You’d almost rather they just send you a napkin with FUCK NO written on it. But then you realize…

4. It’s All About Cash Money, Muthafuckas!

At the very end of the day, publishing is an industry. That editor gets a paycheck. Everybody there gets a paycheck.When a book does well? Folks get paid, keep their job, maybe even get raises. Books do shittily, people get paid, but no raises, and some poor bastards will be punted out onto the sidewalk. It’s overly cynical to suggest that people in publishing don’t love their jobs. Generally, they do. Most folks I know inside that industry do this because they love books, not because they want to be rich. But despite what some politicians will tell you, companies are not people. And companies like money. Oh, and at the end of the day? Self-publishing is about money, too. Success is marked by books that sell well, not by books that were “really good but nobody read them.” Art must operate within a realm of financial sufficiency.

5. About A Billion Books Are Released Every Week

As I write this sentence, 50,000 more books will be released into the world like a herd of stampeding cats. By now, I think the books are actually writing other books in some self-replicating biblio-orgy of books begetting books begetting books. All in a big-ass mash-up of ideas and genres and marketing categories (MIDDLE GRADE SELF-HELP SCI-FI COOKBOOKS will be all the rage in 2014). Between the publishing industry and self-publishing, I think more books are born into the world than actual people (and just wait till one day the books become sentient — man, forget SkyNet, I wanna know what kind of Terminators Amazon is probably already building). Your book is sapling in a very big, very dense forest.

 

Read the rest of the post, which contains 20 more items, on Chuck Wendig’s terribleminds.

 

10 Most Common Grammatical Errors – and How to Fix Them

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This post, by Honor Clement Hayes, originally appeared on Quips & Tips For Successful Writers.

A grammar mistake as “little” as its instead of it’s can stop you from getting published, or change an A paper to a B or even a C.

Here are the most common grammatical errors people make, plus tips on how to fix them. This is a guest post from Honor Clement-Hayes, who is – among many other things – the Women’s Fashion Editor for an online culture magazine called HOWL.

I hadn’t run into Honor until she tweeted me, then emailed me this article. I love her writing style: witty, fun, easy to read, and free of grammatical errors! And she’s a feminist – she even mentions Caitlin Moran in one of her recent posts on her blog, Mutated Musings.

Even if you’re one of those enviable writers who never gets your its and it’s mixed up, you’ll enjoy Honor’s grammar quips and tips…

10 Grammar Mistakes to Avoid if You Want to be a Professional Writer

The English Language is a difficult beast to tie down. Even those rules which we consider mandatory may actually change very quickly, especially with words moving into ever more fleeting media. However, there are a few mistakes which – for now at least – can make you look very silly…

1) The Errant Apostrophe

Sure, it’s not good if you miss out an apostrophe but it’s often just a typo that you can pick up later. However, an apostrophe in the wrong place clearly shows that you haven’t quite grasped the rules and are in fact a bit of an idiot. Serious offenders: CD’s, the dog wagged it’s tail. CRINGE.

EXAMPLES:

  • If something owns something else, it gets an apostrophe e.g. ‘The man’s abs were great’.
  • If you are smooshing two words together e.g. ‘it is’ to ‘it’s’ then you use an apostrophe to show you have missed out some letters.
  • Decades, acronyms and plurals in general never use an apostrophe: ‘The 1950s’, ‘MPs’, ‘Dos and don’ts’ etc.
  • ‘Ours’, ‘yours’ and ‘theirs’ don’t need apostrophes because they’re already possessive i.e. ‘Your hat’ is possessive whether you mention the hat or not.

2) Confusing American and English Verb Endings

The verb ending ‘-ise’ comes from the French infinitive ending ‘-iser’ as in ‘spécialiser’. Loads of our language comes from French so in England we ‘specialise’, we don’t ‘specialize’. These later spellings were made up by a comedian by the name of Webster who wrote one of the first American dictionaries and decided it would be fun to just spell stuff differently from the motherland.

The ‘-ise’ verb ending is argued over between the Oxford and Cambridge dictionaries but that’s not actually what matters. An English audience strongly associates ‘-ize’ with American spelling, so make sure you know who you’re writing for. These are a pain in the bum but they’re vital and the only way to get them right is to learn or check.

EXAMPLES:

  • ‘Emphasise’ vs. ‘emphasize’.
  • ‘Practice’ in English: ‘I practise (verb) at band practice (noun)’.
  • We also hold a ‘licence’ not a ‘license’ but that does make us ‘licensed’.

For more tips on fixing grammatical errors, read How to Write Better Sentences.

 

Read the rest of the post, which includes 8 more of the most common grammatical errors, on Quips & Tips For Successful Writers.

Indie eBook Marketing: When You Get to the Fork in the Road, You Must Take It.

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This post, by James Moushon, originally appeared on The Self-Publishing Review.

So you just created your first book and you’re done with the editing. You have someone lined up to help you with the formatting and to help you upload the ebook to the online retailers.

You’re an indie author and you’re going to self-publish. The ebook will be available for anyone in the world to buy. Look out Patterson and Hocking. Your Romance novel is in a hot genre. It won’t be long until you’re helping find someone to play your lead character in Hollywood. It’s the author’s dream.

One of the first things you realize is that you’re not alone. There are hundreds of authors in your same position with that ‘must read love story’ and they are all fighting for the reader’s attention.

The next thing you realize, you didn’t start marketing soon enough and there is no one to hold your hand while you do it. You will find out quickly that trying to sell your novel is a full time job.

Marketing

The first big decision: Do you go the social media route or do you hit the pavement?

Do you try to build a large social network or do you rely on the online retailers, word of mouth and a website to do the selling for you.

There are a lot of questions and the answers aren’t easy to come by.

The Paper Route

If you are from the old school and you’re trying to adjust to online marketing, going Indie presents some problems. Your sales will rely directly on your marketing approach and you find out quickly it is going to be a long journey.

There are a dwindling number of book stores and there are no publishers helping you will drive. The covers and the blurbs are up to you or someone you engage to write them.

Your book may get great reviews but your challenge is to get someone to read them and then buy your book.

There is no shelf space limit to worry about. In fact, the problem is just the opposite. The shelf space is limitless and so is the number of authors, all trying to find a way to attract readers to their book.

The Need for Speed – Online Marketing

You are how competing in the online world and the Internet Super Highway speeds up the whole process. Readers can buy your book 24/7, if they can find it.

This approach is what I call the Conventional Online Method. You self-publish your book and post it at an online retailer’s site. In turn, they provide the reader/prospective buyer with information, so they can make a buying decision. That may include reviews, star-ratings, book descriptions, your author profile and a bestseller tag, if you’re lucky.

This is, in itself, a passive approach to marketing. You need to use more of the Internet to make your presence felt and to sell your books. There are many things you can do at this point to draw attention to yourself, as an author.

You can create an author’s blogs and have an Internet site with contact information. You can conduct giveaways and promotions or participate in book tours. You can provide your readers with free content and samples of your work.

There are a lot of things you can do online to promote your book.

The web is a vast arena for the Indie author. If you look hard enough you will find book trailers (live movie trailers), videos, pictures and other promotional material marketing books.

So you are all set up. Now how do you get readers to look at your book and buy it?

Now the Fork – Enter Social Media

 

Read the rest of the post on The Self-Publishing Review.

Getting Started With Microsoft Word Styles for Book Layout

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Okay, so you’re sitting at your keyboard pounding away, working on your latest work in progress. You get to the end of a section, hit [Enter] a couple of times and then type the subhead for the next section of text.

You’re an experienced word processor—hey, you’re a writer, right?—so you grab your mouse, select the text of the subhead and start formatting it. Maybe you want your subheads to be Helvetica Bold, 12 point, all caps. (I’m not recommending that, by the way, just using it as an example.)

You quickly select Helvetica from your font menu, change the size, change the alignment from fully justified—which you’re using for the text—to flush left (left-aligned), which is what you’re using for your subheads. Maybe, if you’re nitpicky, you also add a little space above and below the subhead, either by using the [Enter] key or going into the Paragraph formatting palette and setting values in the “Spacing Before/After” boxes.

The Problem with Formatting

That was a lot of work to format a subhead, don’t you think? We walked through about 6 steps to get the formatting right. And you’ll have to repeat these steps every time you come to a subhead in your manuscript.

Some people realize this is a lot of repetitive work and invent shortcuts like copying the last subhead, which copies all the formatting with it, then pasting it where you want the new subhead, and then deleting the old text and replacing it with the new text. That saves time, doesn’t it?

But the fact is that all these methods are bad choices.

Over the course of a long book, can you really be sure you’ve input exactly the same formatting values every time? Did you remember to add that “Space/After” every time? Maybe you should check, since there’s no other way to be certain.

Wait, didn’t you try a couple of subheads in the Verdana font? Did you remember to go back and change those? What about if someone mentions that your 12-point Helvetica bold subheads would look a lot better in 11 point? What are you going to do then?

The Answer to the Formatting Problem

No professional typesetter or designer would face these same problems. Would you like to know why?

It’s because professionals are getting paid for their work. The longer it takes to do a particular task, the less money they will derive from a project with a flat fee. Therefore, they will use the tools built into professional-level software to automate and standardize this process as much as possible. And that’s what you should be thinking about also, if you plan to do your own book interior in Microsoft Word.

Microsoft Word and most other robust word processors now contain a few of the same tools found in high-end layout programs. These are the tools that will make your life easier and your work more efficient. The one you really want to learn right now is Styles.

A style in Word is simply a way to capture all the formatting for a particular piece of text so it can be named, edited, and used for all other similar pieces of text.

For instance, in my example, we could do all that formatting once, then capture it as a Style and call it “Subhead.”

When you get to the next subhead in your manuscript, instead of reaching for the mouse and starting to format it, you just assign the “Subhead” style to it. Bingo, your text is completely formatted in one simple step.

If you learn to do this, the time you spend working on your manuscript will be a lot more enjoyable and contain a lot less of the routine, mind-numbing repetitive work it takes to do these tasks manually.

But using styles has three other crucial benefits:

  1. All the similar pieces of text—like all the subheads—will be formatted exactly the same way, because they are all assigned with the same Style. There is much less margin for error, so you can be sure your book’s formatting is professional and consistent.
  2. You can change the definition of your “Subhead” style—for instance, from 12 point to 11 point—and all the pieces of text with the “Subhead” style will change instantly and uniformly.
  3. Your path to eBook conversion will be greatly simplified, because your eBook files need to have all text assigned to a style, and the styles will enforce consistency on the final eBook files.

One of the great things about using word processing software to prepare our manuscripts is its ability to harness the power of our computers to easily and quickly produce manuscripts and books that are consistent.

And knowing that you don’t have to go back and check hundreds of subheads to make sure they are all perfectly consistent? Well, that’s priceless.

The World Up Until Now

Of course, trying to create a book in Microsoft Word is no easy task. I’m pretty sure it would drive me crazy, but that’s because I’ve never had to do it.

I’ve been spoiled by great tools like InDesign.

But I know there are a lot of authors out there who confront this problem, and I have a message for you.

The world is about to change.

In a couple of weeks I’ll have a solution for your problem that I think you’ll really enjoy. It will take away the pain and frustration of trying to get something that looks like a book out of your word processor.

And in order to use it, you’re going to need to know these styles. So take a few minutes to study your word processor’s styles. It will repay you many times over.

 

Originally published in a slightly different form at CreateSpace as Start Styling! Word Processing Styles & Why You Need Them

 

This is a reprint from Joel Friedlander‘s The Book Designer.