Business End

Articles about the business aspects of publishing and self-publishing.

Twitter for the Absolutely Terrified Newbie Author

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Twitter just gets bigger and bigger. It’s amazing how often we’re hearing about tweets during the current election cycle, for instance. It’s really the perfect medium for getting the word out quickly, making a point, poking your opponent while they are still in the middle of a speech, or complaining about NFL refs.

Twitter is also an amazing resource for authors who want to market their books online.

But it’s not just book marketing, Twitter is so much more. Over the last few years we’ve seen this groundbreaking “micro-blogging” service transform into a worldwide communications utility. Twitter has played a major role in revolutionary struggles and social transformations.

Closer to home, Twitter has become a preferred method for celebrities, corporations, customer service departments, software developers, food trucks, dry cleaners and political movements to stay in touch with followers, customers, colleagues and fans.

Sometimes tweets can seem cryptic, but they are just as often illuminating, ironic, pointed, funny, or melancholy. Really, the only limitation of the utility of Twitter seems to be its 140-character limit.

I really enjoy Twitter and have been an avid user for several years. It has brought tens of thousands of visitors to my blog, allowed me to meet and get to know colleagues and readers around the world, helped me arrange writing and speaking opportunities. Oh, it’s also a lot of fun.

To get you started (and hopefully get rid of that terror that may be keeping you from diving in), I’ve put together this little primer on using Twitter.

Getting Started in 3 Easy Steps

Here’s how I would suggest you get started if you’re one of those people who is simply terrified of Twitter, or if you “just don’t get it.”

  1. Go to Twitter.com and sign up. You’ll need an email address, and you’ll get to pick your Twitter ID in the process.
  2. Fill out your profile and upload a photo of yourself so you look presentable to the rest of the Twitter world.
  3. Find some people to follow. Use the search field at the top right of your Twitter home page to enter a name or subject that’s an interest of yours, or that you write about. You’ll get a whole screen full of messages on the topic. Click the name of anyone who looks interesting, then click the blue “Follow” button.

Okay, relax, the hard work is done. Your next task is to listen. Keep reading the messages posted by people you are following, and follow new people who are also interested in the topic.

Once you start following people, Twitter will suggest other users to you on your home page. Follow them too. You can always “unfollow” them later if you like.

Many of the people you follow, by the way, will “follow you back.” That’s okay, you don’t have to worry about them until you start putting out messages of your own. But you’re not going to do that until you’re completely comfortable and feel safe.

After you’ve opened your Twitter account, spend some time listening, then dive in. You can make of it whatever you like. The ideas here will help you get started. Oh, and send me a tweet, I’ll be happy to respond.

Essential Twitter Basics

To use Twitter, you need to know some basic concepts. If you understand these, you’re ready to become a Twitter user.

Follow/Unfollow—On Twitter, you follow people you’re interested in. This means that every time they post a Tweet, it will show up on your home page, in your “timeline” or “stream.” Likewise, if someone follows you, they will see the tweets you post.

Tweet—A message you send via Twitter. Tweets are limited to 140 characters and can include links to websites or other resources. You can’t style these tweets, they are all just plain text.

Re-Tweet (or RT)—Broadcast a tweet by another user to your own followers. You can do this by clicking the “Retweet” button that appears when you hover your cursor over a tweet on Twitter, or by using the RT button in many programs that work with Twitter.

More on retweeting

Modified Tweet (or MT)—A tweet that’s been modified in some way before being re-tweeted.

Twitter ID (or Handle, username, etc.)—The name you create for your account when you set it up. Your Twitter ID always starts with an “at” sign (@). For instance, @BarackObama is the Twitter ID for the U.S. president. Pick this carefully, you’ll be using it for a long time.

Lists—You can create lists of other Twitter users and you get to control who is on each list. These are used only for reading the tweets by people on the list; you can’t broadcast just to one specific list. Lists are incredibly helpful in managing your Twitter feed so you can concentrate on one subject at a time.

More on Twitter lists

Direct message (or DM)—A private message you send to another user who is following you. No one else can see a DM. If you are following each other, you can carry on a completely private conversation this way.

By the way, when you follow people sometimes you’ll get a Direct Message from them instantly. These are automatic and I think most users avoid them. Don’t feel obligated to respond.

More on DMs

Trends (trending)—Twitter’s software robots watch what people are talking about and select the top 10 subjects at any moment, displaying them on your home page.

More on trending

Hashtags—A way to indicate that a tweet is part of a larger conversation or related to a specific topic or event. Hashtags are also really useful for filtering the stream of tweets to see those specific topics. They have a pound sign (#) followed by a word or phrase with no spaces within it.

Hashtags for writers

Profile Picture (or Avatar)—A clear, professional and friendly photo is usually the best to start off with.

Bio—The most crucial part of your profile, you want to use the 160 characters allowed to say something meaningful about your work and your interests.

Blocking—If you don’t want to unfollow someone, you can simply block their tweets, it’s easy. See the link for instructions.

More on blocking users

Mentions—When you are referenced in someone else’s tweet, using your @Twitter ID.

.@ (Period before a user’s Twitter ID)—If you tweet in reply to another user, your tweet will begin with that users Twitter ID, which starts with the “at” sign (@). Twitter may not send this Tweet to all your followers since it considers it a more or less “private” conversation. If you want the reply to go to all of your followers, put a period first.

More on “dot syntax”

Okay, Now What?

None of this will tell you what to do when you want to start publishing your own tweets. But watching the people you admire, and the people who seem to have a lot of followers will show you one very important thing.

Those who seem most successful on Twitter share lots of useful, interesting or amusing resources from other people. Interspersed will be tweets about their own content, books, or other projects.

If you do the same, you will also be popular. I think about 3 or 4 tweets from other people to every 1 of your own is about right for most people.

But listen as long as you like before you start tweeting. Here are some more resources if you’d like to delve deeper.

More Twitter Resources to Help You Get Started

10 Steps for Authors Who Want to Get Started on Twitter
Twitter Help Center Twitter Basics
Mashable’s Guide to Twitter
Twitter: Top 5 Ways to Find Your Tribe
Your 10-Step Plan for Becoming a Twitter Star
Metadata for the Tweeps: Using Twitter Hashtags

 

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

How To Read A Publishing Contract

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This post, by Stroppy Author Anne Rooney, originally appeared on Stroppy Author’s Guide to Publishing.

So, you’ve got a contract – congratulations. Now it’s time to argue about it. Here is the whole series of posts on how to read a publishing contract. The series works through one of my publishing contracts, clause by clause, explaining what it means and what you should argue about. You can see it as a series of lessons in how to be stroppy, or in how to protect your professional and financial interests.

Every so often, I’ve included a clause from a different contract. This means we can cover mutually exclusive positions, such writing for royalty and writing for a fixed fee. It might be useful to work through your contract comparing it with this one. Yours may be very different, but a lot of the same issues will be covered.

Don’t assume your contract is non-negotiable. And don’t be so pathetically grateful the want to publish your book that you accept any outrageous terms they offer you. Publishing is a business and no matter how friendly and reassuring your editor, they want to make as much money out of the deal as they can.

Don’t take any notice of arguments like ‘we never use that clause’. If they don’t use it, it doesn’t need to be there. If ‘it’s just the standard contract’ you say that’s fine as a starting point but now you are going to make it suitable to you and your book. If they say ‘no one has ever objected before’ that means either they’re lying or no one has read the contract properly and taken a professional approach. So  – put your angry eyes in and let’s look at that contract!

Introduction to the series and preamble to the contract

Delivery of the manuscript

Illustrations 

Permissions 

 

Read the rest of the post, which includes links to posts that cover over 20 more contract sections, on Stroppy Author’s Guide to Publishing. 

The Biggest Secret of Book Marketing Success

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I love the enthusiasm of authors who are new to book publishing. After months or years of work on their book, many are rightfully proud of what they have created.

It’s no easy thing to finish writing a solid, salable book. Pretty easy to start, not so easy to finish, and you should be proud of that accomplishment.

The problem comes in when, after publishing the book, authors start to wonder why they have sold so few copies. Don’t other people realize how great the book is?

Well, the fact is that most authors don’t intuitively understand why books sell. This leads them to start thinking about:

  • Buying advertising
  • Hiring publicists
  • Printing bookmarks

Or other things that usually mean you’ll end up with a lot less money in your pocket than when you started, and no guarantee of any book sales, either.

There’s nothing wrong with ads, publicists or bookmarks when they are part of a plan you have for marketing your books. But all too often we feel like we just have to do something.

There’s a Secret

Here’s the secret that savvy book marketers understand, and that most authors don’t:

No one knows in advance which books will sell and which won’t sell.

Of course I’m not talking about books by niche-market publishers who research and test their products before publication. But by and large, most trade publishing happens with absolutely no guarantee of what the sales of any particular book will be.

This is just as true for big traditional publishers with huge marketing departments as it is for huge Hollywood movie studios and big conglomerate television channels, so don’t feel too bad about it.

All the advertising, promotion and marketing in the world cannot guarantee that real actual people will buy your book.

For example, a long time ago Donald Trump, the real estate investor and television reality show host, published his first book, The Art of the Deal. It was a huge hit.

Of course Trump wanted to follow that up with another blockbuster. A book was created and rolled out in anticipation of huge sales. Books were stacked in huge pyramids of expectation in bookstore display windows.

Problem was, nobody bought the book. The return rate must have been shocking, because they all went right back to the publisher.

No Guarantees

Why is is that no one can guarantee a book will sell? I bet you can find the answer in your own book-buying habits.

It’s because most people buy books based on the recommendation of someone they know and trust. And you can’t buy those recommendations, can you?

This is the holy grail of book marketing, the “word of mouth” influence that travels directly from one individual to another.

By extension, it can also work for trusted book reviewers or others in the media who have earned readers’ trust, but it rarely extends past that.

For instance, I just read Lynne Truss’ Eats, Shoots & Leaves, a fantastic and very funny book about punctuation that I had known about for years but never read. It hasn’t been on television, I haven’t seen a book trailer about it, nor have I seen an ad for it anywhere.

But a friend mentioned it recently and told me I “just had to read it.” Doesn’t that happen to you all the time? And don’t you recommend books exactly the same way to people you know? I know I do.

What Next?

This leads to a big question for authors, and that is how do you get that word of mouth marketing working for you?

Of course, if I had scientifically worked out how to do that, I’d be selling it to some big publisher for a gazillion dollars, wouldn’t I?

But there are things we, as self-published authors, can do to get word of mouth started. You might boil it down to this:

  1. Write the best book you possibly can, and get an editor to make it better.
  2. Make sure the book speaks to the audience you wrote it for, and let readers judge whether you’ve hit your target.
  3. Get your book in front of enough people who don’t know you to get the ball rolling.

Figuring out how to do this is why people hire professional book marketers, and that’s a smart move.

It also pays to really understand how to match up what you have to say with what readers really want to buy. Whether you call it “marketing” or “thinking deeply about the people who read my books” doesn’t much matter.

What does matter is getting the best book you can create in front of the largest number of people who are likely to love it. As an author and a publisher, you can’t do any less.

Because then at least you’ve put it where word of mouth can take over.

 

 

 

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

12 Reasons To Ignore The Naysayers: Do NaNoWriMo

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This post, by Carolyn Kellogg, originally appeared on the Los Angeles Times’ Jacket Copy blog on 11/3/10.

 

If you want to write a novel in 30 days, don’t let anyone stop you. Not even Salon’s Laura Miller.

Miller, who I usually find thoughtful and sweet, has written an anti-NaNoWriMo column — "Better yet, DON’T write that novel" — that is at best wrongheaded, and at worst, smallhearted. Miller would lay the blame for too many writers — and not enough readers — at the foot of NaNoWriMo, the project that challenges would-be authors to write a 50,000-word novel during the month of November.

 

 

The too-many-writers trope is echoed by people who publish literary journals, who see more submissions than subscriptions, and those in the publishing industry who’d simply like to sell more books. Even if it is true — which I’m not convinced it is — there are certainly other factors, including the hundreds of MFA programs in creative writing, that swell the ranks of hopeful writers.

And is a large pool of hopeful writers really a terrible thing? Are there not thousands more marathon runners than medalists, more home chefs than pros who might ever run a restaurant kitchen? What’s wrong with an enthusiastic amateur class of writers? Who says they’re not readers, anyway? I’ve yet to see anything more substantial than a dinner party anecdote.

Here’s a quick rundown of Miller’s argument, and where it goes wrong.

1. Miller writes: " ‘Make no mistake,’ the organization’s website counsels. ‘You will be writing a lot of crap. And that’s a good thing. By forcing yourself to write so intensely, you are giving yourself permission to make mistakes. To forgo the endless tweaking and editing and just create.’ I am not the first person to point out that ‘writing a lot of crap’ doesn’t sound like a particularly fruitful way to spend an entire month, even if it is November."

In fact, spending a month "writing a lot of crap" is more fruitful than many things, including much of the fun, casual cultural consumption we regularly engage in. It’s more fruitful than watching TV, playing video games, spending hours on Facebook or Twitter. It might not be more fruitful than innoculating children in an underdeveloped village, but we’re not talking about people quitting the Peace Corps in order to do NaNoWriMo. The only thing "writing a lot of crap" can genuinely be said to be less fruitful than is writing well. 

Miller quotes it, but misses the essential point: for a hopeful writer to "just create." It’s the act of doing that’s important. Knitters don’t knit because their friends need more hats. But so far, there hasn’t been a "Better yet, DON’T knit that scarf" manifesto.

 

 

Read the rest of the post on Jacket Copy – and start clearing your decks for NaNoWriMo!

How To Price Ebooks For Maximum Profitability

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Ebook customers tend to be price sensitive, but it can be difficult for authors to know how to price their ebooks for maximum profitability. It may seem counterintuitive, but a higher price doesn’t necessarily mean higher profits. The good news is that ebook publishers can experiment with different price points. 

Below are links to two excellent articles on the topic of finding the optimum price for your ebook. Some of the principles discussed in these articles apply to printed books too, although consumers are generally willing to pay more for print books.

 

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

Start A Self-Publishing Business While You Maintain Your Regular Job

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Anyone can write a few books and easily start a self-publishing business. The tough part is in creating a financially successful self-publishing business. The reality of publishing is that most authors and self-publishers make little or no money from self-publishing. You must understand that it is going to take a lot of time and effort on your part to get your publications to start making money.

That’s why, if you already have a paying job, the best way to start and maintain your new self-publishing business is to keep your paying job – and do both together. And, in most cases, it is easy enough to keep your regular job (for medical benefits, retirement savings, regular pay check, industry contacts), and also run your self-publishing business (for extra income, fame, credibility, retirement business and income, creative outlet) at the same time. In addition, staying employed while you build your self-publishing business is the best way to dip your toe into the entrepreneurial waters.

1. Keep your current job and think long and hard about what you would like to publish.
Do lots of research and soul searching about what subject matter you will be writing about. What will your specialty, or expertise, or niche be?

2. Keep your current job and write and publish a subject that you love.
You are going to be devoting many long hours to your writing, promoting, marketing, and sales, etc. You will not be able to go the distance if you do not have a passion for your subject (niche).

3. Keep your current job and get your family on-board with your plans – especially your spouse.
Your spouse, in most circumstances, should be your partner in your new venture. They have as much to gain, or lose, as you do. Therefore, they will be very motivated to help make it a success.

4. Keep your current job and get professional help for your business.
This means an accountant (for financial planning and taxes), and an attorney (for copyright, trademark, and business formation). These are not subjects that you should be trying to do on your own to save a few bucks.

5. Keep your current job and keep your new business lean (keep expenses down to a minimum).
Using the internet wisely gives you the ability to run an entire business from home – very inexpensively, efficiently, and with no employees.

6. Keep your current job and become an amazing employee at work.
You must continue to perform well at your job; lose it and you could lose everything.

7. Keep your current job and save your business’ profits – and reinvest them when necessary.
Use earnings to set up the business infrastructure (llc, copyrights, computers, etc.) that your business needs.

8. Keep your current job and create a time schedule for your writing, your business, and your personal time.
Make lists of things to do, to achieve, to accomplish – to keep yourself and your new business on track to success. And always make time for your family – without exception.

9. Keep your current job and do not complain about your challenging work schedule.
Co-workers don’t want to hear it – and it will hurt your at-work reputation. And never let your family hear you complaining – it will upset everyone. Once your self-publishing business has been running for a while, scheduling and time management is less of a problem.

10. Keep your current job and wait longer than you want to quit that job.
At the very least until your self-publishing can provide enough income to cover all of your living expenses. If you have a family, then double or triple the amount of income needed. If your job is what gives you credibility in the eyes of your readers, which will help you sell more copies, then you might want to keep that job.

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

 

Beyond the Bookcast: Winning Publishing Strategies

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We’re happy to share this post and accompanying podcast from the Beyond the Bookcast group of the Copyright Clearance Center. In it, publishing expert Bruce Harris talks about the opportunity to approach a publishing project the same way producers approach film and TV projects: by assembling a team of talented freelancers on a per-project basis.

There’s no business like show business to serve as a model for book publishing, according to industry veteran Bruce Harris, who spoke earlier this summer at the Yale Publishing Course.

“When you’re doing a show, a group of talented people come together. They focus on a particular task. And they get very involved, and very intense about it. And then, after it’s done, they split up, and they form other groups to do different things,” Harris tells CCC’s Chris Kenneally. 

“In publishing today, there seems to be this thing about having a fixed group of people who constantly have to do work on very different kinds of books. And I think that now, with so much freelance talent available, you can form your own team. There a lot of people who are skilled at publicity, there are people who are skilled at marketing, there are people who are skilled at production. And so you can form your own team and say, what can I do?”

Indeed, that is just what Harris has done. As an independent producer, he has supervised publication of several books that have become national bestsellers. In June 2012 at BookExpo America, Harris previewed the October publication of Anomaly by Skip Brittenham and Brian Haberlin, “an oversized (10” x 15”) 370 page full-color painted hardcover graphic novel, a sprawling science-fiction saga about a corporate space mission that goes deeply awry.”

Bruce Harris began his publishing career at The Crown Publishing Group where he publishedThe Joy of Sex, Martha Stewart’s Entertaining, Douglas Adams Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, Maurice Sendak’s Nutcracker and founded the Harmony Books imprint. He became President of Trade Sales and Marketing at Random House and supervised successful publishing strategies for books by Colin Powell, Tom Peters, and hundreds of other best-sellers. Later, he became Publisher-COO at Workman Books and designed campaigns for 1,000 Places To See Before You Die by Patricia Schultz, Younger Next Year by Chris Crowley and Henry S. Lodge and The French Laundry Cookbook by Thomas Keller and Deborah Jones.

 
Winning Publishing Strategies Podcast [10:55m]:  | Play in Popup | Download
 

The Yale Publishing Course (YPC) offers mid to senior-level publishing professionals from all over the world access to industry experts and a cutting-edge curriculum focusing on the most crucial areas in publishing. During the week-long programs in book and magazine & digital publishing, YPC participants learn new leadership skills and develop their global network and perspective. Follow YPC on Twitter #YPC2012 

 

Are You Making These 7 Book Marketing Mistakes?

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by Toni Tesori (@Duolit)

Toni is one half of the team at Duolit, a self-publishing blog and author services company (the other half is Shannon, Toni’s BFF). I’ve been impressed by the way Toni and Shannon have set out to help indie authors market their books, and I asked her for tips that would help you, too. Here’s her response.

When you make the decision to self-publish, you join a crowded marketplace: the number of indie books has more than quadrupuled since 2006! 

With thousands of new authors taking the self-pub plunge every year, it’s becoming drastically more difficult to distinguish yourself from the pack and find success.

This is reflected in the (rather depressing) statistic that 8 out of 10 books sell fewer than 100 copies. Doesn’t that make you sick to your stomach?

Every day, I hear from indie authors sadly confirming this statistic; frustrated and disheartened after selling just a handful of books to family and friends!

To be honest, it’s not their fault: the root of this selling problem lies with the DIY nature of self-publishing itself.

Learn as You Go

Unless you have a money tree, to travel the indie author highway you must quickly become a jack of all trades.

And you know the phrase “jack of all trades, master of none?” Well, that’s particularly true for the marketing part of the publishing process. Indie authors are forced to figure out selling as they go, often picking up tactics from other authors, (wrongly) assuming those tactics are effective.

As a result, we see the same book marketing mistakes repeated over and over again.

Do me a favor: decide right now to help reverse that 80% failure rate. You’ve put too much effort into publishing your book to let it flop!

7 Common Book Marketing Mistakes (and How to Fix Them) Mistake #1: Having unreasonable expectations.

I’d love to say otherwise, but book marketing is much more an art than a science. The variables involved (quality, genre, target market, etc.) are endless, and there’s no whiz-bang silver bullet for success.

Many authors, however, come into self-publishing convinced they’re going to retire the day after their book is released (after making a quick pit stop on Oprah’s couch, of course).

If that fantasy has crossed your mind, don’t let me deter you: that type of self-publishing success is possible! To achieve it, however, be realistic about the time and effort you must put in to get there.

Like it or not, when you self-publish, you’re running a business!

Think back to your childhood lemonade stand days. I don’t know about you, but I had a hard time selling that delicious cool drink, even in the heat of summer. And those customers only had to hand over 25-cents to an adorable (I hope) child!

Just because you’ve gotten older doesn’t mean selling is any easier. Remember,you have more than 300,000 others publishing their work at the same time as you!

Mistake #2: Rushing to release.

I totally understand how easy it is to make this mistake.

After you put the finishing touches on your book, you’re exhausted…but pumped. You’ve spent weeks, months, or years of your life writing this masterpiece and want nothing more than to share it with the world.

When you rush your book’s release, however, you’re shortchanging the immensity of your accomplishment!

You did something millions only achieve in their dreams: you authored a book. Don’t release it with a whimper. This is your personal moon landing, build up to that massive moment. It’s a big effing deal!

Basically: take a breath and give yourself ample time to plan an epic book release. Set a launch date three to six months down the road. It may seem like a long time, but you’ll still release your work faster than you ever could with traditional publishing!

Mistake #3: Being a “Survivor”

Remember when Survivor premiered? Millions tuned in each week, shocked to witness the lengths folks would go to in hopes of winning the million dollar prize. Backstabbing, bad-mouthing and all-around nastiness were the name of the game.

What’s shocking to me is how many indies possess this Survivor mentality today, seeing their fellow indies strictly as competition.

The scenario here, however, is totally different: there’s not only one big prize for which we’re all competing. Readers don’t read just one book, or even just one author. There’s room in the book-selling world for everyone!

You’ve been there; you know how hard it is to market your own book.Forming an indie alliance can mean doubling your audience in a flash!

When searching for a partner:

  • Only approach authors whose work you truly adore; for your alliance to work, it must be genuine.
  • Don’t feel pressured to stick to your own genre; many YA fans enjoy “chicklit” and quite a few sci-fi fans enjoy fantasy.

Mistake #4: Selling to everyone

It’s only natural to want (or assume) that everyone will enjoy your book. While that may be true, marketing to everyone is not only impossible, but also ineffective.

Finding your target market gives you a powerful tool: a group to center all of your marketing decisions around.

As an example, let’s check out how having a target market helps you answer common book marketing quandaries:

  • Q: Where do I find new readers? A: Where does your target market hang out?
  • Q: What do I include in my newsletter? A: What would your target be interested in reading?
  • Q: How do I encourage readers to purchase my book? A: What makes your target decide to purchase books?

Okay, so sometimes the answer to a question is a question, but reframing it from your target market’s perspective often allows you to answer your own question.

If you want to go all out, you can even give your target market a face. That’s right, picture one of your target market members and give him a name, background info, personality traits—just like a book character. When you get stuck, ask him what he’d like to hear/read from you!

Mistake #5: Neglecting your fans.

A huge benefit of self-publishing is the ability to form relationships with your readers on an individual basis.

Growing up, I adored Ann M. Martin (author of the Babysitters Club series—don’t judge). The closest I could ever get to her, however, was the “About the Author” page in the back of each book. I could never dream of communicating with her directly!

Nowadays, thanks to the internet and social media, readers can do just that. And that connection is a powerful selling tool!

To communicate with your readers, create an email list. Encourage folks to sign up by offering an exclusive excerpt, short story or other freebie.

One note of caution: your emails must be (1) consistent and (2) useful. Our inboxes are super-cluttered, so you must condition readers to expect your emails and give them a reason to open those updates.

When your readers take the time to email you back, respond to each one thoughtfully and genuinely. Don’t take for granted the opportunity to build real relationships with people who love your work. In yo’ face, Ann Martin!

Mistake #6: Unintentional spamming.

While social media has allowed readers greater access to their favorite authors, keeping up with social networks can quickly become a drain on your precious marketing time.

Luckily, there’s plenty of apps to help out, so you begin to implement some automation. First you simply send every new Twitter follower a welcome message, but soon you’re scheduling a week’s worth of tweets and Facebook updates in advance.

I’m not going to argue that automation has its place, but at what cost? Too much automation dilutes the effectiveness of your social media efforts; you may even (unintentionally) turn off fans by seeming like a spammer!

You know that whole thoughtful and genuine thing I mentioned in regards to communicating with your fans? It applies to social media as well.

Believe me: your followers can tell when you’ve over-automated and will respond appropriately (that is, by not responding at all or by unfollowing you).

There’s nothing wrong with scheduling some updates in advance, but make an effort to check your networks and personally respond to a few replies and mentions every day. You don’t need to set aside too much time for this; 15 minutes will do it. It’s better to have fewer updates (that are truly entertaining and personal) than a continual stream of spammy content.

Mistake #7: Undervaluing the importance of professional editing and design.

Like it or not, pro editing and design affect the perceived value of your work (and, thus, your sales).

I understand how painful it can be to depart with your hard-earned cash, but (just like that lemonade stand) your book is a business, and these professional services are an investment in that business.

Learn from successful business-y folks: they know when to spend some money to make a lot more!

This is another great reason to avoid rushing to release your book—holding off gives you more time to save up for these services.

If you’re already released your book but didn’t invest in editing or design the first time around, plan a second edition launch 3-6 months down the road and start saving now!

What Will You Improve?

If you’ve made any of the mistakes above, don’t feel bad! Like I said at the start, with all the work indie authors do themselves, there’s simply no way to perfect your book marketing in one shot. You must continually experiment, refining your approach once you find out what works for you.

To wrap up, I just want to say that I’m a huge cheerleader for indie authors. Your resourcefulness and dedication to the success of your book is the inspiration for everything we do over at Duolit. Give your marketing efforts a bit of time and patience, and I know you’ll achieve success!

I’m curious, though: did any of the above mistakes resonate with you?What can you do today to begin patching things up? If you’re mistake-free (rock on!), have you noticed any oopsies from your fellow indies? Let’s chat in the comments!

Toni TesoriToni Tesori is one half of Duolit, two gals who help passionate fiction authors sell more books by building their crazy-dedicated fanbase. If you’re ready to become a book marketing whiz, check out their FREE 4-week training course. A new session starts later this month!

 


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

Selling Yourself to the Book Industry

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My bookstore’s writers group has asked me to tell them what is needed to present themselves to agents and publishers. What I came up with for an answer was a sample of short bios and elevator synopsis for a fiction and a nonfiction book and a press release. Bios are like good resumes. They are written from the perspective of the agent’s or publisher’s needs, not the author’s.

Here are two samples:

Bio for Senior Citizens’ Self Defense (Nonfiction sample)

Bob Spear, a 67-year-old retired martial artist, holds an 8th Degree Black Belt in the Korean art of Hapkido. An American pioneer in this battlefield defense system, Bob was the first American to obtain a 3rd Degree Black Belt and Instructor’s Certification in Korea. He has trained over 11,000 students throughout the world and eight people are known to have been saved from death or serious injury by his instructions, videos, and books. Now a physically handicapped elder, he understands the concerns of older people and how there are still things they can do to protect themselves.

Bob is well known with a Twitter following of 3,907, a FaceBook following of several hundred, and a Book Trends Blog with 14,080 hits.

Bio for Quad Delta (Fiction sample)

Bob Spear, a Leavenworth, KS resident since 1981, is a retired Military Intelligence professional of twenty-five years. He has written 17 books, five of which are a series of mysteries set in Leavenworth, Kansas. He is Internationally known as a self defense author. Owner of a bookstore located in downtown Leavenworth, he has a keen interest in the underground complex beneath the downtown which provides the setting for his first mystery, Quad Delta.

Bob is well known with a Twitter following of 3,907, a FaceBook following of several hundred, and a Book Trends Blog with 14,080 hits.

Note: Note how the bios are written differently to support the books’ themes. Also, each mentions your platform size in social media.

Imagine walking onto an elevator and finding an agent riding with you. What do you do if he asks, “What’s your book about?” You are getting off at the 10th floor, so that’s how long you have to tell him. These are short explanations that you should have memorized.

Elevator Synopsis for Senior Citizens’ Self Defense (Nonfiction sample)

With a rising crime rate set against an expanding senior citizens’ population, what is an elder to do when suddenly faced with a violent confrontation? This DVD/Training Manual explains the dangers of the streets and the simplest, most effective ways to counter these threats which can be done by anyone, even the handicapped.

Elevator Synopsis for Quad Delta (Fiction sample)

A PTSD -suffering retired Military Intelligence Lieutenant Colonel, Enos Hobson, is dragged into the private investigation world when an old military friend asks him to save his mother and their family fortune from a diabolical Satan worshiping cult that hides its unholy chapel underneath the streets of Leavenworth, KS.

Finally, here is a sample press release. Remember to put the most important things up front.

Sample Press Release for Senior Citizens’ Self Defense

“Old Folks Can Be Deadly”

Local author and self defense trainer Bob Spear says the elderly can defend themselves. With a rising crime rate set against an expanding senior citizens’ population, what is an elder to do when suddenly faced with a violent confrontation? Spear’s DVD/Training Manual program, Senior Citizens’ Self Defense, explains the dangers of the streets and the simplest, most effective ways to counter these threats which can be done by anyone, even the handicapped.

Spear uses true stories to illustrate his program. One describes a confrontation an 83-year-old woman experienced in her rental-assistance apartment in Leavenworth with a night time intruder. He tells about how she used a screwdriver and her common sense to survive the ordeal. Spear says such illustrations are meant to entertain and give confidence to his readers and viewers that they are not helpless.

Bob Spear, a 67-year-old retired martial artist, holds an 8th Degree Black Belt in the Korean art of Hapkido. An American pioneer in this battlefield defense system, Bob was the first American to obtain a 3rd Degree Black Belt and Instructor’s Certification in Korea. He has trained over 11,000 students throughout the world and eight people are known to have been saved from death or serious injury by his instructions, videos, and books. Now a physically handicapped elder, he understands the concerns of older people and how there are still things they can do to protect themselves.

This timely training package is available at The Book Barn at 410 Delaware, Leavenworth, KS 66048.

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I hope you find these tools helpful. 

 

 

This is a cross-posting from Bob Spear‘s Book Trends Blog.

The New World of Publishing: What Should Indie Publishers Be Called?

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This post, by Dean Wesley Smith, originally appeared on his site on 9/8/12.

We have indie publishers, self publishers, specialty-press publishers, small-press publishers, and so on and so on. Are there any differences and does anyone care?

Well, it seems some people care. Those people with far too much time on their hands, in my opinion. But alas, I have been asked questions about the differences now for some time and I figured it was about time to lay out my opinion on the subject.

So here is how I break it down….

(I will not defend this because, honestly, I have too much actual work to do. And I honestly don’t care. But for the sake of future articles, let me be clear how I see each term. Then you all can agree or disagree.)

Self-Publishers.

Writers who are publishing their own work and have not started a press, don’t have a press name, and when they publish a book, it says only their author name as the publisher.

I have zero issue with authors publishing this way as long as they never hope to grow a larger business. This way is for occasional writers wanting to get something into print. Nothing wrong with it at all.

In fact, this article is self-published. So for this blog and other articles on this web site, I am a self-published author.

Indie Publishers

Indie publishers are writers or fans or whatever who have started a press name that publishes either their own work or someone else’s work. Indie publishers run their press like a business. They often don’t even have their own checking account under the business name, although most do.

Again, nothing wrong with that.

Indie presses usually have more than one author name under their press, have a press web site, and act like a business with their writing. In my columns called “Think Like a Publisher” I try to help writers set up their own presses and act like a business.

Specialty Press Publishers 

 

Read the rest of the post on Dean Wesley Smith’s site.

Using Real People in Stories: Part 3 of 3, By A Copyright Law Attorney

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This guest post originally appeared on Beth Barany‘s Writer’s Fun Zone site on 8/31/12.

Welcome to our regular column on literary law. Today we focus on the thorny issue of using real people in our stories, part 3 of 3 — from our monthly guest columnist, Kelley Way, a lawyer specializing in literary law. If you have general questions for Kelley on contracts or other aspects of literary law, be sure to comment [on the original post]. Thanks!

PS. A list of books on literary law can be found here.

PPS. For more on copyright, visit the U.S. Copyright Office.

And now for a bit of necessary legalese:  Please note that this article does not constitute legal advice, and that an attorney-client relationship is not formed by reading the article or by commenting thereon.

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In Parts 1 and 2, we covered defamation and privacy rights, and how they applied to literary law. Today we turn to the right of publicity, which is a favorite among celebrities.

The right of publicity is actually an offshoot of the right of appropriation, which we covered in Part 2.

It even has the same definition: the use of a person’s name, image, or other identifying characteristic for a commercial purpose.

Don’t worry if you’re confused; some courts still haven’t figured out the difference, and mix up the names for them, creating some murky case law. The key difference is this: appropriation is about protecting your privacy, while the right of publicity is about protecting the commercial value of your identity.

Let’s go back to some examples. In Part 2, John was suing you for appropriation after you used pictures of him for the cover of your novel. The idea there was that you invaded his privacy, causing him embarrassment and distress. Now let’s say that John is a studly movie actor, and you used a picture you cut out of a magazine instead of camera-stalking him. He’s in the public eye, so he can’t say his privacy was invaded, and he’s hardly going to be embarrassed to have his picture all over the place, even if it is on the cover of a romance novel. No, he’s upset because first, someone’s making money off his face and it’s not him; and second, now everyone will think he endorses romance novels, or at least can be paid to model for them, which could quite possibly damage his reputation and/or affect current and future contracts. These are grounds for a right of publicity lawsuit, rather than right of appropriation.

 

 

Read the rest of the post on Beth Barany’s Writer’s Fun Zone.

Writers' Code of Ethics

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This post, by J.A. Konrath, originally appeared on his A Newbie’s Guide to Publishing blog on 9/4/12. .

Lots of controversy on the internet concerning writers lately. It’s time for…

THE WRITERS’ CODE OF ETHICS

1. I will never pay people to write positive reviews of my books.

2. I will never use a false account (aka a sock puppet or anonymous account) to leave negative reviews of any of my peers.

3. I will never use a false account to review my own books.

4. I will never send reviewers copies of my books if they review in a periodical where my publisher buys advertising.

5. I will never ask friends, family, peers, or anyone who knows me to write reviews of my books, since they are biased toward me.

6. I will never ask fans to write reviews of my books, since they are biased toward me.

7. I will never pay a publicist to send out books of mine to be reviewed, since I am essentially paying someone for reviews.

8. I will never allow a publicist working for a publisher to send out books of mine to be reviewed, since they are being paid to do so.

9. I will never allow anyone to send out copies of my books to be reviewed, because if they were doing that they must know me, and if they know me it is impossible to get an unbiased review.

10. I will never allow any review from anyone I’ve ever met. Every review must be from someone who has never met me, heard of me, or read me before, and must come with a signed affidavit proclaiming such.

11. Every review must be from a professional reviewer who has true integrity. But this professional reviewer cannot accept money in any way, shape or form, because getting paid for reviewing could compromise their ethics.

12. I will personally interview every reviewer to make sure they are unbiased, and then ask them to remove their review because upon meeting them (The Konrath Uncertainty Principle) I may have affected their review, which renders it biased.

13. I will never blurb a book by an author I know.

14. I will never accept a blurb from an author I know.

15. I will never blurb a book from any author, because I may know them some day.

16. I will never review anything, or blurb anything, or allow any of my books to be reviewed of blurbed.

17. I will never allow anyone I have ever known, or ever might know, to blurb or review anything.

18. I will never use a sock puppet or post anonymously online about anything at all, because I should stand by my own words.

19. I will never post anything at all online, ever again, because it might impinge upon someone else’s ethical standards.

20. I will publicly chastise, denigrate, ridicule, mock, and lynch anyone who has breached any of the above.

21. I will tattoo this code of ethics permanently upon my back to show all how ethical and moral I am.

22. Those who don’t ask about my ethics will still be forced by me to memorize the tattoo on my back, in public, as many times as I demand.

23. All who do not comply will never be allowed to write again, and will broken on the wheel, their intestines forced down their own lying, cheating, dishonest, unethical throats while they beg for mercy, then they’ll burned at the stake, drawn and quartered, their charred, smoking, crispy body parts placed on spires for all to view. This punishment will be meted out to any person, living or dead, who has ever had contact with, or has heard of, the offending party.

Joe sez: If you haven’t figured it out yet, this isn’t about dishonesty. It’s about degrees of dishonesty. And everyone, to a degree, is dishonest. Glass houses and throwing stones, folks.

The only way to make the system pure is to never allow anyone to do anything, ever. But that’s impossible. So instead we have people pointing fingers and masturbating to their own smug sense of superiority because they haven’t been caught in the "ethical lapse du jour" yet.

 

Read the rest of the post on A Newbie’s Guide to Publishing.

A Warning To All Writers Who Need Help Indie Publishing

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This post, by Kristine Kathryn Rusch, originally appeared on her The Business Rusch on 8/29/12.

From the beginning, I have warned readers of this blog away from services that promise to publish your e-books for a percentage of the royalties. I haven’t done so in a while, and I really need to again.

Here’s why:

These businesses will harm you and your career. Best case, they’re run by well-intentioned idiots who have no idea how a business works. Worst case, they’re scams.

Most of the ones I’ve seen are scams.

This particular topic came up this week in a strangely roundabout way.  I have my Facebook e-mail notifications shut off, but every now and then one slips through. On Thursday, I got one in which a friend of mine mentioned me and Dean in a comment on a bestselling writer’s post. I was rather stunned that my friend, also a bestselling writer, knew the bestselling writer in question. My friend’s a military sf guy, and she’s a romance author.  Neither reads each other’s genre. But, I figured as I clicked on the link, that shouldn’t get in the way of friendship.

His comment was rather strange. It said that he had self-published five e-books and he would never, ever pay anyone 15% of those royalties. Then he told the bestselling romance writer to look at my blog and Dean’s blog for his reasons why.

When I clicked on the link, his comment was gone. There were 30-some other comments, but none from him, and none negative.

The post he was responding to was also strange. It purported to be from the bestselling romance author. She listed a service—which shall go nameless here—that was now e-publishing her backlist. She recommended everyone use it because “e-publishing isn’t as easy as everyone makes it out to be.”

Okay, fine. I know that for some people the learning curve is high and it frightens them. I know that others simply don’t have the time to spend on indie publishing. I figured she was one of those.

But as I scrolled through the comments, I noticed something else strange. She responded to every five comments by linking to that e-publishing service’s website. The language of her posts was odd as well. It was riddled with typos and other mistakes that she didn’t make anywhere else on her Facebook page.

And the posts didn’t sound like her.

I never did find my sf friend’s comment. Someone had deleted it. If anyone had responded to it by agreeing with my friend (and I have no idea if anyone did), then that comment was gone as well.

It wasn’t until I dug into that e-publishing service’s Terms of Use that I figured out what was going on. The bestselling romance writer didn’t write that post on her Facebook page. The e-service did. They handled all social media related to books for the author.

 

Read the rest of the post on The Business Rusch.

How To Work On More Than One Book At A Time

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When I was writing my first novel, I couldn’t ever see a point at which I would work on multiple books at the same time.

I couldn’t imagine juggling all the worlds or the amount of research I do for each book. But then I met professional writers like CJ Lyons (who is writing 4 books in 2012) and realized that it sometimes has to be done.

So although I swore I would never do this, I am currently working on several books at the same time, and to be honest, my head is exploding!

 

These are the books I am currently working on:

  • Pentecost,to be rebranded as ARKANE. I’m working on edits for my agent before we pitch to publishers in Sept/Oct, so this is the most urgent. It’s a fascinating process as the book went through several editors before publication and I also updated it after the first few months. Now I am reading it again and finding lots of things I want to improve as well as new scenes, adding depth to characters and more. Plus I know the future story development now so I can make sure the first book has some open questions for those subsequent books.
     
  • Exodus, ARKANE #3 is in second draft. It needs new scenes, reworking and deepening. My problem with getting this finished is that I may sell the ARKANE series and then this book won’t see the light of day for several years. I did have a deadline for self-publishing it by October, but that disappeared when I got an agent. But I need to get it to the point where I would be happy to publish it, take it through my editor and maybe even beta readers before resting it until we see what happens with publishers.
     
  • Hunterian (working title). This is a stand-alone or the start of a new series. It’s in research and first draft phase and I’ve only written ~2500 words but I obsessively think about it. The book will be a London based thriller/crime novel and would be under JFPenn: Ancient Mystery, Modern Thrill. I love the way this book is shaping up and I really want to work on it exclusively but it has to be sporadic until I can clear some head time.
     
  • Escapist (working title). This is a stand-alone or the first of two. ~16,000 words of first draft done. This is something a bit different and wouldn’t be under JFPenn because it’s probably categorized as contemporary women’s fiction. I’d have to use another name. I had a bit of a manic writing session the other week and the ideas took hold. I shouldn’t have indulged it but it feels like a little bit of fun writing that is turning into a book.

Alan Baxter Warrior ScribeI’m not the only one going through this process either. I was listening to the funThrillerPodcast the other day and discovered that my kickass, fight scene specialist friend Alan Baxter had this to say:

“I’m currently working on two novels – one is the sequel to a finished book that is currently looking for a publisher. The other is a project that is very much in my mind at the moment and won’t wait its turn! The first is about 42k words done and the second is only a couple of thousand words written, but I’ve been making extensive notes and plans. As the 42k project is the sequel to something currently before publishers, I’m making that my priority, and trying not to be too distracted by the other one. But when ideas won’t leave you alone, you have to at least make notes and rough outlines of scenes. So I would say that I’m working properly on one novel, while working part-time on the other!” Alan Baxter, dark fantasy author.

How do you work on multiple books at the same time?

So my head was exploding with all the different projects and it was hard to keep them all clear, or make progress on anything. So I asked for some comments on twitter and here’s some of the responses:

 

Are you sure there’s not a useful connection between them? Combine to make ONE GREAT NOVEL? @ThreeKingsBooks

Write them all. I have two I’m working on now. I’ve had as many as 4 at a time in my head. You have to let the ideas out.@lynnleite

Make an idea book where you can take a little time to put down info about the ideas you aren’t ready to work on. @druchunas

How about making a note of ideas for other two books, but concentrating on finishing the priority one first.@MJHolleyWriter

Plot them all, write chapter-by-chapter summaries and then go back to writing just one. That or work 24/7 til they’re done. @graywave

Keep feeding all 3 until 1 takes the lead (attention, energy). Then focus on that one, get to others afterwards. Good luck!@MsMartha_writer

Red Bull. @misterwakefield

Give into brain, ideas will sort themselves out @reebee01

Put your focus and talent into one at a time, scattering yourself won’t do any good! but keep the ideas noted for later!! @kiiyha

Keep going! Buy a dictaphone; hire an assistant. Better to juggle than be empty-handed @BookRambler

Can u capture ideas for two projects in outline form while only “writing” one at a time? @JenGresham

Hear ya. Done this many times. In the end I prioritised and focus on the one thing that would be done the quickest. @ColinFBarnes

That happened to me. But my creativity trigger is my playlists, so I only let myself listen to one set of songs. @LeighAnnKopans

Just write one trilogy? ;) @tomsbiketrip

Caffeine wins for me for every time. P.S Well done. I am struggling to finish the first!@iwanttowriteit

What I always do in that situation is write down key events, maybe write a full scene, so you can go back to it later. @NatashaMcNeely

Work on one in the AM and the other in the PM and vary it with the third. @LindaAdamsVA

How am I actually managing it?

Those were all great ideas, but we all have our own ways of working, right! Here’s how I am managing it.

So that’s me. I need to get my focus back and, in the words of the great Seth Godin, ‘ship’ some work!

Have you tried to work on multiple projects at the same time and how do you manage it? Or what do you recommend? Please leave a comment below.

  • I have shelved Escapist for now. I may do NaNoWriMo this year (November) and use that month to indulge this little project but for now it is parked. It doesn’t fit my brand and I need to finish the projects I have started.
     
  • I am primarily working on the edits of Pentecost (to be pitched as ARKANE) for my agent as that now has a deadline of mid September.
     
  • In late September I will get back to Exodus and finish that before October, so it will be the next primary project
     
  • Hunterian research is my weekend fun project, so I am doing field trips and reading books, but just note-taking and not even attempting to get into first draft writing anymore. 

 

This is a reprint from Joanna Penn‘s The Creative Penn.

 

 

 

Is Social Media Making Us All Too Vanilla?

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 by L.J. Sellers, author of provocative mysteries & thrillers

Several recent blogs made me think about the writer’s role and how social media has made us all so likable and homogenous. 

First there was Sandra Parshall’s great piece on Poe’s Deadly Daughters in which she asked the question: Should writers keep their opinions to themselves online so they don’t offend readers? She mentioned instances in which readers said they would never read so-and-so’s work again because of something they had posted on Facebook or Twitter. I’m guessing it was something political, and the readers were of the other persuasion. 

This has weighed on my mind because I have succumbed to self-censorship. Every day, I make a choice to not post links to liberal commentaries I enjoyed. When others post political statements I agree with, I’ll click the Like button but typically won’t comment. My thinking is that conservatives buy novels too, so why offend them? But it also makes me cringe. Until this point in my life—when I became a very public person—I’ve always spoken freely and said what I thought. Maybe too much so, I hear my husband say in my head. 

I even moved The Sex Club—my bestseller and a book readers loved—out of my Jackson series and into the standalone thriller list, because the book is political and I didn’t want to lose readers before they even gave the series a chance. But now Amazon wants to market it as part of the series, and I said yes. I’m a little worried about the backlash, but I’m also happy to take ownership of my politics again. 

The other interesting post that dovetailed into this discussion was in Slate magazine and subtitled The Epidemic of Niceness in Online Book Culture. The author made the point that when writers friend, support, and Like! everyone, it becomes nearly impossible to give an honest critique of their work. How can you say something even mildly critical about a novel if the author just gave you an online hug? 

In my experience, most writers are by nature really nice people. We’re typically very supportive. We want to help each other, and post great reviews on Amazon, and retweet book links. And l love it. I’m part of that culture. But is it honest? If I were a professional book reviewer who didn’t know some these authors personally, would I have a different assessment of their work? In that scenario, my loyalty would be to readers, to give them a full honest appraisal of the book. 

If I post on Twitter than I’m reading a particular book and someone asks me if I like it—and by then I’ve stopped reading it—what do I say? If I post that it was too slow for me, I risk offending several people and maybe that reader will decide we must like different books so they won’t bother to try mine. 

This is why I don’t read much fiction or talk about what I read—unless I love it. And I turn down almost all requests to review novels. My nature is to be supportive—often to an extreme—but I also have a loyalty to my readers, and I shouldn’t steer them toward books just because those writers are my friends whom I have great affection for. 

I love social media and connecting with people and I’ll keep doing what I can to cultivate friends and encourage people to like me. But some days, the self-censorship makes me not like myself. 

What do you think? Is the online writer community too nice? Do you ever wish you could cut loose and say something critical or political—without losing readers or friends?

 

This is a reprint from the Crime Fiction Collective blog, and is reprinted here in its entirety with that site’s permission.