Author: selfpublishingadvisor

Kelly Speaks, news from the self publishing world, self publishing news, Uncategorized

Self-Publishing News: 7.4.2017

happy 4th of july independence day

And now for the news!

Some highlights from this month in the world of self-publishing, specifically news from or regarding self-publishing companies!

Ever heard of Totally Entwined? It’s a name that’s been around for a while, but now … now it’s an e-store and self-publishing platform for those writing in the romance genre. Says Katherine Cowdrey of The Bookseller, the new site offers great benefits not just for authors looking to break into the genre, but also to readers who consume romance books like you and I consume coffee. And also romance books. We consume a lot of those around here at SPA. (Just being honest.) The royalties situation looks a little complicated, though, so fair warning! Cowdrey lists them as such:

… authors selling books in the First For Romance e-store will receive 60% of the sale price of an e-book over $1.99/£1.99/€1.99, and 40% of the sale price of an e-book under $1.99/£1.99/€1.99; 50% of the sale price of a print book; and 40% of the sale price of an audio book.

It may not be the best offer on the market, but it’s a solid attempt, and as previously mentioned there are a lot of perks for people interested in the genre of romance. According to Cowdrey, the self-publishing aspect of the website will launch in August 2017. Watch this space—as we will track their progress for you!

Two items come to us this week from Outskirts Press, one of our favorite self-companies for a variety of both objective and self-interested reasons. First off comes this piece from the Book News Desk of Broadway World, and describes OP’s brand-new Live Chat option on its website. Says OP Executive Vice President Kelly Schuknecht, “It may seem like a small thing, but LiveChat makes a real impact on our customers … It lets us respond immediately to questions about our self-publishing and book marketing services and walk them through their best options. The quicker we can lend a hand to an author, the more effective that author can be, too.” All prospective authors need to do is access any page on the Outskirts Press website, and the chat box will appear, including the picture of the staff person on the other end answering the questions. All in all, it seems like a personable approach.

outskirts press one click children's

The second piece from Outskirts Press this week comes in the form of a press release through PRWeb, and outlines their new offering for publishing children’s books. The service in question may cost a pretty penny, but the services bundled together within OP’s one-click offerings routinely lead to award-winning products, and there’s also the matter of OP’s award-winning customer service. And while no one should publish without a careful evaluation of the risks and rewards, it’s fair to say this is a contender in the self-publishing market.

Another day, another self-publishing service, another press release! This one comes from Business Insider, and delivers good news for authors looking to get into magazines! FlipBuilder has released Flip PDF Pro, a service will allow people to convert their professional PDF files into interactive magazines with flipping page effects and background sounds, and which is no doubt intended to broaden the reach of these magazines in the digital age. After all, as many librarians and store owners might tell you, paper magazines don’t move nearly so much as they used to, and profit has waned. These days, self-published magazines can provide invaluable tools for the average businessperson as well as self-publishing authors looking to create samples of their work, or to distribute bite-sized portions of their work to drum up interest in their longer works. There are thousands of reasons one might make use of a high-quality and easy-to-use self-publishing magazine service. We imagine you can think of one or two!

spa-news

As a self-publishing author, you may find it helpful to stay up-to-date on the trends and news related to the self-publishing industry.This will help you make informed decisions before, during and after the self-publishing process, which will lead to a greater self-publishing experience. To help you stay current on self-publishing topics, simply visit our blog every Monday to find out the hottest news. If you have other big news to share, please comment below.
Kelly
ABOUT KELLY SCHUKNECHT: Kelly Schuknecht is the Executive Vice President of Outskirts Press. In addition to her contributions to the Outskirts Press blog at blog.outskirtspress.com, Kelly and a group of talented marketing experts offer book marketing services, support, and products to not only published Outskirts Press authors, but to all authors and professionals who are interested in marketing their books and/or careers. Learn more about Kelly on her blog, kellyschuknecht.com.
Book Reviews, Self-Publishing Book Review of the Week, Uncategorized, weekly self published book review

Saturday Book Review: “God and the Gods”

Book reviews are a great way for self-publishing authors to gain exposure. After all, how can someone buy your book if he or she doesn’t know it exists? Paired with other elements of your book promotion strategy, requesting reviews is a great way to get people talking about what you’ve written.

When we read good reviews, we definitely like to share them. It gives the author a few (permanent) moments of fame and allows us to let the community know about a great book. Here’s this week’s book review, courtesy of Midwest Book Review:

god and the gods genesis yengoh

God and the Gods

by Genesis Yengoh

Publisher: Outskirts Press

ISBN: 9781478753568

Synopsis*:

A Fascinating Story of Culture Clash in Contemporary Africa…

Nsiemboh Ngoske is the most successful member of his family. Intelligent, educated, and poised on the brink of a career promotion, he has blessed his parents and siblings with wealth and comfort formerly beyond their reach. His parents, Elias and Lydia Ngoske, want to do all they can to protect and support their son. Lydia Ngoske believes in the Christian God—that wonderful heavenly Father who has so much to give, and who asks only prayer and belief of His followers.

She prays fervently for protection and favor from God, but she knows that won’t be enough in a world where personal agendas are advanced through the powers of the occult. She demands that her son be protected by traditional medicine, and enlists Elias Ngoske’s brother, Nsanen Jude, to find the most powerful protection available. He recommends Mforme Tata, a renowned traditionalist sought after by the most influential men in the country.

He agrees to give the Ngoske family what they want…but inexorable rules govern the world of the occult, and the Ngoskes find that they are given something unexpected, which neither the dark arts nor the Christian God can control. In a compelling, richly atmospheric, beautifully characterized exploration of how belief shapes destiny, God and the Gods draws you into a world of intricate ritual and family love, where one person’s mistake may have irreversible consequences.

 * courtesy of Amazon.com

Critique:

When a gruff young policeman asks to see what’s in his pouch, traditional medicine man, Mforme Tata, responds, “It is not something you want to see… So are you sure I should open this package?” Brace yourselves, readers: “when traditional values that have been held, respected and unquestioned for several generations are mixed with the complacency and stupidity of of modern rationalism in the contemporary world, the outcomes can be disastrous.” Genesis Yengoh’s story centers around the dramatic coming-together of old and new in the lives of Nseimboh Ngoske and Tayang Emmanuel Tifu. As Nseimboh, the favorite and eldest son of Elias and Lydia Ngoske, moves steadily up the civil service ranks, his family enlists traditional practices for protection. Meanwhile, Nseimboh’s uncle, Tayang, himself initiated into the high ranks of a secret traditionalist society, decides not to bring his twelve year old son forward for initiation. Both men reap the consequences of their actions, as do other members of the family. Mixed with beautiful renderings of landscape and dress, as well as hospitality and village life, Yengoh’s probe into Cameroonian culture is shocking and at times brutal.

[ reviewed on Mari’s Bookshelf at the Midwest Book Review ]

Here’s what some other reviewers are saying:

“Death celebrations, like other activities, have morphed to reflect the dualism that penetrates the very fabric of social and cultural life in Oku.”
The future looks very bright indeed for Nsiemboh Ngoske. Unlike so many of his colleagues, who seem to spend their time looking for ways to leave the job early, he is a dedicated government employee who takes pride in doing his best on a project. Such diligence does not go unnoticed for long, and soon Nsiemboh finds himself rising in the ranks and being given more and more responsibility. As the firstborn son, he also knows his duty to his family, so in addition to providing for his wife and children he generously passes much of his financial gains to his parents and siblings. Of course, there will always be those who are jealous of someone else’s success, and their envy can sometimes lead them down dark paths. To protect their son from witchcraft or other nefarious attacks, Nsiemboh’s parents seek out the help of practitioners of traditional medicine to safeguard him. But will their efforts result in keeping the family’s chief provider out of harm’s way, or will their opening the door to the occult possibly lead to tragedy?
Yengoh’s well-written and thought-provoking tale of the clash of worldviews in Oku, Cameroon, succeeds on many levels. First, as a story of a family’s love and loss it rings true with universal and identifiable emotions, even for those unfamiliar with the lush African backdrop. Lydia’s pride in her son’s accomplishments as well as her enjoyment of how his success elevates her own status is instantly recognizable irrespective of culture. Likewise, Elias’ overwhelming despondency toward the end of the book when he absorbs the fact that his own inattention to detail has placed the life of his child in peril will be easily understood, even if never experienced, by almost any parent. Second, the book succeeds as a fascinating study of the duality of religious and social thought in Cameroon. While statistics show that over 70% of the country’s population claim Christianity as their religious faith, as Yengoh so clearly illustrates that worldview is often coupled with a strong belief in the power of the spiritual forces and practices associated with the tenets of traditional African religion. Almost every character in the book, whether a professing Christian or not, seems to seek out ways to cover their bases through traditional medicine and rites, and those who opt to ignore the strict rules of the secret religious societies pay the price. Third, the author’s tale stands out as an excellent addition to the rich tradition of West African literature.
Although unique both thematically and narratively, the book fits easily into the ranks of other great novels of the region such as Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe or some of the darker works by Wole Soyinka and Bessie Head. Yengoh gilds the lily at times with superb craftsmanship. For example, in one of the final scenes of his book, the author describes in excruciating detail the painstaking construction by a character of the hangman’s noose he will use to commit suicide. The exquisite care and pride that is shown in making something so personally destructive is absolutely haunting and possibly the most poignant moment in the book.
Yengoh is currently a researcher in Sweden but was born and raised in Cameroon and has a deep understanding of the world that he writes about. Filled with believable characters, cultural insights, and intriguing themes, his tale of a family’s descent into tragedy is both powerful and heart-wrenching.

– John Roper of US Review of Books

 

saturday self-published book review

Thanks for reading!  Keep up with the latest in the world of indie and self-published books by watching this space every Saturday!

Self Publishing Advisor

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Conversations with a Self-Publishing Writer, Royalene Speaks, Uncategorized

Conversations: 6/30/2017

DON’T FORGET AUTOBIOGRAPHIES AND MEMOIRS!

Just yesterday, a neighbor asked me a few questions about the “easy way” to pull the time-frames together as he writes his Memoir. Then he wondered: “Is a memoir the same as an autobiography?”

There was a time in my early writing career when these two categories were quite different, the memoir focusing on one brief period of time in someone’s life and the autobiography creating as complete a picture (from birth to present time) of a living person’s whole life. However, today, all the major bookstores I visit combine these two genres in one area: Autobiographies. So does Amazon, even to the point of blurring the lines between all three classifications (biographies, autobiographies and memoirs).

However, as I did my research for this month’s blogs, I came across an interesting quote from the famous writer Gore Vidal who wrote two personal memoirs: “A memoir is how one remembers one’s own life, while an autobiography is history, requiring research, dates, facts double-checked.” I like the clarity of that definition, and plan to use it when talking with future clients. So it is that I’ve given myself a brief bullet point outline and will share it with you today.

The Memoir:

  • Written in 1st person—the “I did this” perspective.
  • Uses less formal language/word choices.
  • Focuses on one (or two) main events/times in a person’s life, but can include birth date and short paragraphs of early memories.
  • Speaks from the more emotional perspective—how they felt when events occurred.
  • Dates/places may not be exact, such as: I was about 33 when I began this career.

The Autobiography:

  • Although “written by” the individual person(s), it often requires the assistance of a “collaborative writer.” Superb example: Having Our Say by Sarah and Elizabeth Delany with Amy Hill Hearth (Amazon lists this as a biography when it is clearly an autobiography. Grrr)
  • Offers their life history from birth to present day.
  • Written with detailed chronology facts of personal, political and/or world events, places, and the people they met and interacted with along the way.
  • Authors must also consider who they are writing this book for—their audience—and what aspect of their life is most useful to those Readers.

When I was teaching in a school setting (versus my workshops today), I loved to lunch with the teachers of World History and American History. These inspired people were always telling me about the latest autobiography (or biography) they’d discovered. Of course, the first autobiography they assign to students is Ann Frank, The Diary of a Young Girl. “These books not only reveal historic events,” one teacher told me, “they demonstrate the strength people have to survive great tribulations in life which shows our students that they, too, can survive life’s challenges.”

the diary of anne frank

SO…have you added a bunch of books to your resources bookshelves this month? I hope you’ve selected a few. The individuals you’ll be reading about will, indeed, enlighten you and the author’s writing techniques will be instructive, too. Take time to talk with your local librarian about these genres and the people (subjects) who might be most interesting to you—who have lived in a time period you’re intrigued by or succeeded in a career that is appealing to you.

Then…once you’re comfortable with the flow of these books, look around for potential clients. I’ve worked with a ninety-year-old who could tell me his life stories all day long and barely need a break for lunch. And, I’ve worked with a gentleman who gave me several pages he started writing “years ago,” then gave me additional outline points, but passed away before we could meet again. Yes, being the “writing assistant” to people seeking help with these genre categories of writing can be an emotional rollercoaster. Yet, I wouldn’t trade those days/months for anything. My writing skills and abilities have been sharpened by the experiences and so will yours. ⚓︎

 

Royalene

ABOUT ROYALENE DOYLE: Royalene has been writing something since before kindergarten days and continues to love the process. Through her small business—DOYLE WRITING SERVICES—she brings more than 40 years of writing experience to authors who need “just a little assistance” with completing their projects. This is a nice fit as she develops these blogs for Outskirts Press (OP) a leading self-publisher, and occasionally accepts a ghostwriting project from one of their clients. Her recent book release (with OP) titled FIREPROOF PROVERBS, A Writer’s Study of Words, is already receiving excellent reviews including several professional writer’s endorsements given on the book’s back cover.
Royalene’s writing experience grew through a wide variety of positions from Office Manager and Administrative Assistant to Teacher of Literature and Advanced Writing courses and editor/writer for an International Christian ministry. Her willingness to listen to struggling authors, learn their goals and expectations and discern their writing voice has brought many manuscripts into the published books arena.
elizabeth speaks, in your corner, Uncategorized

In Your Corner: The Benefit of Personal Service

personal service

Personal service. What does that even look like?

Consider where we are, in 2017: a world where one can order groceries off of the internet for home delivery, where autonomous cars are a real and actual thing and only a couple hundred rounds of safety testing from sitting in your garage, and where robots write blogs, and pretty well, too. (Don’t worry, there’s a person writing this blog. We promise. She just needs her morning coffee.) In fact, bots run quite a lot of what we do these days.

In the world of 2017, you can quite feasibly buy all the things a person needs to live–‘food, shelter, and safety’ echoing down from fifth grade science classes–online and without ever once leaving the house. And this is a potentially wonderful thing, especially for those with anxiety disorders and mobility problems. And while a lot has been made of the whole ‘bot stealing your job!’ meme, the facts do not (yet) bear that out. Most of the jobs being ‘taken’ by bots are more like gaps in the workforce that software designers and engineers are working to fill. (Most. That blog-writing bot still has me worried.)

The thing is, sometimes we really need personal service and help, and in a world so digitized and automated, it’s hard both to find it and even to figure out that you need it in the first place. After all, if no-one’s offering it as an option and recommending it in the various blogs and news articles you read, how are you going to know that personal service–particularly in self-publishing, our industry–is of benefit to you? How are you going to know where to get it?

It’s worth paying for someone to advise you, guide you, and to help you when it comes to something as important as publishing your book. Personal help from an expert that advises authors for a living is a valuable tool, not just some luxury, and should be perceived (and treated, and marketed) as such. Of all the self-published and self-publishing authors who I’ve worked with over the years, a grand total of zero (ZERO!) have commented that they “really didn’t need as much help” as they got through the company I work for (Outskirts Press). And since Outskirts consistently wins awards for its personal service … well, I guess it’s just proof that one can’t have too much of a good and useful thing.

It’s not just Outskirts Press who offers great personal customer support, but they are a great case study. When the company was founded all the way back in 2002, the world of self-publishing was a disorganized mess! There weren’t a lot of companies in the business yet, and there weren’t a lot of options available for the discerning author to allow for the flexibility which we so take for granted today. But it became a part of our founder’s operational framework that his company would focus on customer service and personal contact, starting with an author’s first expression of interest and continuing all the way through the publishing and marketing processes. This has since become our guiding star, and exerted an influence on other self-publishing companies, as well.

When you see the benefits of personal service, there’s no going back to simple templates and click-and-paste solutions.

But what about the cost?

One of the things you’re paying for at a self-publishing company is its personal service, and the more people working on your book–a Personal Marketing Assistant, a Graphic Designer, a Copywriter–the more you can expect to pay. But once you do pay for them, whether up-front or in installments, the benefits you unlock will last for years. You’ll have a cover design of which you can be proud and which will reel new readers in. You’ll have a marketing plan laid out from start to finish, and next steps for when you’re ready to publish your next book. You’ll have promotion on a variety of platforms, perhaps a book trailer on YouTube and a press release sent to various reviewers’ inboxes. This costs money, yes, but it pays its dividends.

And there are costs to doing it the other way, too–to going people-free in self-publishing. Although some publishers offer free digital services, when you need help, no one is there to guide you through the process. And it’s an incontestable fact that books with generic, template-based covers don’t catch customers’ eyes all too often. That their interior formatting is often a mess because there was no one there to make sure it copied over cleanly. That there’s no fanfare, no publicity, no social media optimization–unless you know how to do it yourself and are willing to pay the price in time and energy to make it work.

It’s worth the cost to have someone in your court, ready to help you when you need it.

You are not alone. ♣︎

Elizabeth

ABOUT ELIZABETH JAVOR: With over 18 years of experience in sales and management, Elizabeth Javor works as the Manager of Author Services for Outskirts Press. The Author Services Department is composed of knowledgeable publishing consultants, pre-production specialists, customer service reps and book marketing specialists; together, they all focus on educating authors on the self-publishing process to help them publish the book of their dreams. Whether you are a professional looking to take your career to the next level with platform-driven non-fiction or a novelist seeking fame, fortune, and/or personal fulfillment, Elizabeth Javor can put you on the right path.
amazon, from the archives, goodreads, Kelly Speaks, Uncategorized

From the Archives: Creating a “So you’d like to…” Guide for your Self Published Book

Welcome back to our Tuesday segment, where we’ll be revisiting some of our most popular posts from the last few years.  What’s stayed the same?  And what’s changed?  We’ll be updating you on the facts, and taking a new (and hopefully refreshing) angle on a few timeless classics of Self Publishing Advisor.

∗∗∗∗∗

[ Originally posted: September 1, 2008 ]

If you are promoting your self-published book, hopefully by now you have created a few “listmania” lists. If you were poking around your Amazon “Profile” page, you may have also seen the “So you’d like to….” guide section.

Writing a “So you’d like to…” guide is nearly as easy as creating a listmania list and will probably yield even better results, simply because the number of guides on Amazon is less than the number of lists. Why? Because guides are more work to create. But not for you! You’ve already written a book, and you can turn excerpts of your book into guides.

In fact, you can basically cut and paste a selected section from your published book and create a guide out of it. Just follow the steps on Amazon.com by clicking on the “Create a So you’d like to… guide” link in the “So You’d Like to” section of your profile page.

To get there, sign in to your Amazon.com account from http://amazon.com/connect then click on your personalized “Store” tab the top, and then click on “Your Profile” from tab menu.  If you have not set up an Amazon Connect account yet, you can read more about doing this here: Using Listmania to Promote your Self-Published Book

Again, like with the “listmania” lists, the real power of the guide is adding OTHER books that will spark people’s interest in reading your guide.

Good luck and have fun!

As we’ve mentioned in the intervening years since my first post, Listmania has … gone to list heaven. But it hasn’t left a giant gap in our normal ways and means of doing things, as by and large its primary functions were usurped by Goodreads’ superior tools.

And boy, do we love Goodreads. I mean, I. I love Goodreads. A lot.

So what if it’s been bought by Amazon? Goodreads has Listopia. Goodreads has “best of” lists. Goodreads has twenty different functions that I haven’t even begun to explore, but love the idea of. (Giveaways! Recommendations! Blogs! News & Interviews! It seems endless.) Just so long as Amazon resists the urge to do more than place banner ads on every page (which we’re more than used to with Facebook, anyway) I will love the gift that is Goodreads.

It’s not just good for readers (and it is good for readers). It’s good for authors, too. Reviews on Goodreads consistently show up in the first three or four items indexed in any given Google search for a book. They probably shook hands under the table somewhere, but it certainly benefits self-publishing authors.

Get yourself on Goodreads. Explore Listopia. Explore the relics of Amazon’s “So You Want To…” guides, but be aware: a lot has changed in the past eight or nine years, and a lot will continue to change as we adapt to an ever-changing digital future. The key is not to hold on tightly to any one tool or service (I know, I know, I need to lighten up on my love for Goodreads then!). The key is to be willing to pick up new ones when they become useful, and to let the old (and beloved) ones fade away into obscurity.

Sometimes, self-publishing is about saying good-bye.

RIP, Listmania.

rip listmania

Thanks for reading.  If you have any other ideas, I’d love to hear them.  Drop me a line in the comments section below and I’ll respond as quickly as I can.  ♠

Kelly

ABOUT KELLY SCHUKNECHT: Kelly Schuknecht is the Executive Vice President of Outskirts Press. In addition to her contributions to the Outskirts Press blog at blog.outskirtspress.com, Kelly and a group of talented marketing experts offer book marketing services, support, and products to not only published Outskirts Press authors, but to all authors and professionals who are interested in marketing their books and/or careers. Learn more about Kelly on her blog, kellyschuknecht.com.