Author: selfpublishingadvisor

Self-Publishing

Kindle versus iPad. Or, not really at all…

At the recent Self-publishing Book Expo in New York City, Amazon’s Jason Kuykendall admitted to owning both a Kindle and an iPad.

(Don’t tell Jeff Bezos!) He already knows, and should because this is a good thing for Amazon, and for self-publishing authors. As Jason pointed out, the Kindle is more than a device among the various available – it is a distribution channel. As a reader, you may have a preference, or as can be the case with Apple an open prejudice. We’ll let Bezos and Jobs worry about those manufacturing and marketing details.

As an author, these devices are much more than readers, they are distribution channels from the Espresso Book Machine all the way up to Ingram. Instead of being readers, the Kindle and iPad are for authors important distribution channels.

Be sure to check with your publisher about options distributing through as many as possible.



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Social Media Marketing

Bing(go) goes social networking: Self-publishing authors prepare

Whether your a social media wiz or, as many to some extent (including myself), have some level of apprehension with this “change,” there is no question that self-publishing authors who tackle things head on generally experience much greater book sales.

Social Media is here to stay, and regardless of your industry, creates a platform where businesses and consumers can relate on an increasingly flat field in what is becoming known as the “Attention Age.”

News flash: Social Media is here to stay.

More relevant news flash: Kleiner’s Bing Gordon is set to launch a $250 M “social media’ effort. Yep, 250 million, to include Facebook, Zynga, Amazon, Comcast, Liberty Media and Allen & Company. Here are some more details about what each partner company will be doing, from the press release.

  • Amazon Web Services (AWS) will provide AWS Getting-Started Support for one year, priority access to worldwide Startup Events, and dedicated business and technical support.
  • Facebook will contribute access to its platform teams, beta APIs, and new programs, like Facebook Credits.
  • Zynga will host periodic sessions with sFund companies to focus on management and technical development, including open source collaboration.
  • Comcast Interactive Capital, Comcast’s venture fund, will provide access to Comcast’s resources, teams, and relationships.

Here is some social media fun for you as you prepare your book marketing campaign…

@scottymonte, social media strategist @Ford


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Self-Publishing Book Review of the Week

Self-published book review of the week



Top 5 Questions to Ask Your Doctor
Jim Sutton & Sagar Nigwekar
9781432758264, $12.95

It’s your body; you should know what’s going on. “Top 5 Questions to Ask Your Doctor” is a guide to five questions that should be asked of your doctor when you receive a diagnosis of a certain condition. Every person is different and every person has their own personal physician to help them face these problems, and knowing the right questions to ask is a key element in empowering one’s own health and taking charge. “Top 5 Questions to Ask Your Doctor” is a read that shouldn’t be missed.

Book Promotion

Using an Ebook Edition to Promote Your Self-published Book

Ebooks are bigger than ever, with recent news of Borders jumping into the mix this month. Aside from actually selling your ebook, did you know that an ebook edition of your self-published book can actually work into the promotion of your hard copy book.

Its no secret that the distribution of an ebook is quicker and more affordable. With your electronic ebook file, you can literally sell the same “thing” over and over again. By giving people a choice between your ebook and your paperback, you offer them two different price points. You can even publish portions of your ebook as a ‘teaser’ to promote your hardcopy book, selling one to literally sell the other.

If you don’t have an ebook edition, there is no better time than now to get one. If you have an ebook edition of your book, perhaps you are already using it to promote your hard copy version on places like Amazon’s Kindle Store, iPad, or any number of other new distribution options.



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Book Doctor, Self-Publishing

Guest Post: Ask the Book Doctor

Style advice for the self-publishing author…

Q: When mentioning an album name in my book, like song titles, do you lowercase conjunctions (and), prepositions (of, for), and articles (a, the), even when they appear capitalized on the album covers?

Actual cover: Wheels Of A Dream

In my book: Wheels of a Dream

A: You have hit on a style issue. Advertising, labels, and such often capitalize things at will. Advertising style is not the same as Chicago Style.

Chicago Style, the standard for the book publishing industry, has specific rules for when things should be capitalized, written out, abbreviated, or punctuated. It says, in part, the following: “In title capitalization, the first and last words and all nouns, pronouns, adjectives, verbs, adverbs, and subordinating conjunctions (if, because, as, that) are capitalized. Articles (a, an, the) and coordinating conjunctions (and, but, or, for, nor) are lowercased unless they are the first or last word.

What you have in your manuscript, Wheels of a Dream, is correct as far as capitalization goes, but I’m not sure if it is an album or a song title. Chicago Style calls for putting quotation marks around the title of a song, but it calls for italicizing the title of a long musical composition, such as an opera or an album.


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Bobbie Christmas, book editor, author of Write In Style (Union Square Publishing), and owner of Zebra Communications, will answer your questions, too. Send them to Bobbie@zebraeditor.com. Read more “Ask the Book Doctor” questions and answers at http://www.zebraeditor.com