Wendy Stetina

Top 5 Tips for Reducing Your Carbon Footprint (Including Print on Demand Self-Publishing)

Before you published your book (or while you’re in the process of doing so), did/have you ever considered the negative impact that the printing of your book could have on the environment? Have you ever thought of how many trees die for the sake of unsold books that clutter your house or valuable shelf space in your local bookstore? As an author in times with so many technological advances, print-on-demand self-publishing is quite possibly the route you’ve taken/will be taking. Because of this, you don’t have to worry so much with the negative affects that your book can have on the environment.

With Earth Day right around the corner (April 22), now is the time to re-evaluate your regular activities to determine where you can cut back to reduce your carbon footprint. Here are a few tips to get you started:

1. Publish your book to be printed/distributed using Print-on-Demand technology.

2. Recycle paper, plastic, and aluminum. You can find your local recycling center HERE.

3. Support companies that have “Gone Green”. Usually they will use more energy efficient lighting, print less documents (i.e. paperless systems), and have recycling bins on campus.

4. Use public transportation or walk. Instead of damaging the environment with gases from your vehicle, walk to your destination (when possible) and/or catch the bus/subway.

5. Sign up for e-billing/paperless statements through your bank or credit union. You can call your local branch to see if this is offered.

6. Visit the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) website to learn more about reducing your carbon footprint.

What things are you doing to be more environmentally-conscious (not just on Earth Day — but everyday)?

ABOUT WENDY STETINA:
Wendy Stetina is a sales and marketing professional with over 30 years experience in the printing and publishing industry. Wendy works as the Director of Author Services for Outskirts Press. The Author Services Department is composed of knowledgeable customer service reps and publishing consultants; and together, they all focus on educating authors on the self-publishing process in order 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, Wendy Stetina can put you on the right path.

Wendy Speaks

How Should I Spend My Self Publishing Dollars?

Authors often want to know how to best invest the money they have set aside for self publishing their book. The answer is simple yet complex. It is simple because there are certain things that almost every book needs in order to reach a certain level of success (i.e. custom cover, professional interior layout and design, etc.). Then it’s also complex because every book is different and strategies that work well for some books don’t necessarily work well for others.

For instance, if you are an author who is writing a non-fiction book, editing is more important to your overall success. If you don’t edit your manuscript, you can be viewed as a poor resource. When you write a fiction book, editing is less essential (though still very important). Readers of fiction can be (not always) a bit more forgiving of grammatical mistakes as long as they don’t render the book illegible. Either way, I would recommend editing, but if you have to cut your budget somewhere, you can spend less on editing as a fiction author than we would recommend for a non-fiction author.

You also need to figure out where you want to sell your book. Do you want to reach an online only audience? If so, you may want to invest into things like Kindle eBook Formatting, Search Inside the Book, See Inside the Book, etc. If you’re going after an offline audience, you may want to invest a return program which makes your title more attractive to brick-and-mortar bookstores.

Lastly, you may consider the price of your publishing package (if you choose to go with a self publishing company like Outskirts Press). What bells and whistles are available? Does it include what you’re looking for? You have to make sure you are getting the best bang for your buck here. Evaluate cost carefully.

DISCUSSION: What are you spending your self publishing dollars on?

http://outskirtspress.com/p/kindle

Wendy Speaks

2 Things that Can REALLY Crush Your Book

If your sales figures are low many times it can be due to faulty or inconsistent marketing. Sometimes you just can’t get the word out to your audience. People are ready to read your book, but they have to know it exists. Ideally, you hire a book marketing consultant or try to “go it alone” and hope that book sales are the result of your efforts.

What happens when you’ve come up with the perfect book promotion strategy but no one is buying the book? Many times you just need to change gears. Maybe the activities you have invested your time into aren’t really reaching your target market. You have to figure out where your target market is “hanging out”, go there, and mingle with them. But, that’s not the purpose of today’s post. Today, we are aiming to reveal the two biggest book crushers. If you feel like you’ve tried everything to get people to purchase your book to no avail, you may need to re-evaluate your book and make sure that you’re not committing either of the following critical errors:

A boring cover. Books really are judged by their cover. It’s a cliché we use very often here. However, we can’t stress the importance of that statement enough. A professionally-designed book cover can make you stand heads and shoulders above other books on the market (all other things being equal). A boring (read: template) book cover could mean that your book won’t be seen. In a sea filled with many fishes, you have to stand out. If you don’t, no worm for you!
Lack of editing. Have you ever read a book that is filled with errors? Doesn’t it make it much harder to not only read the book but also take the author seriously? That book = your book if you choose not to hire an editor.

Either or both of these can kill your book very early in the game.

What other “book crushers” can you think of?

Book Design, Wendy Speaks

3 Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Let Your Publisher Format Your Book

Your book’s format is important to its overall success. It’s so important that authors often outsource their book’s design to get the best possible results. While there are some authors who are skilled in graphic design, many authors are mainly talented in their own area of expertise — writing.

Authors that decide to publish their book using a self-publishing company, such as Outskirts Press, typically choose to allow the publisher to format their book for them. However, there are some authors who opt to either format the book themselves or hire a graphic designer. If you’re using a self-publishing company, you should not let them format your book if:

You don’t mind a poorly-designed book. The best writers can also be the most amateur book designers. If you aren’t experienced in graphic design, you should have someone else do this for you.
You want to pay more money — on top of your publishing package cost. In most cases, your publishing package has the fees for book design already built into the cost. Publishers typically don’t reduce the cost of your package even if you submit a “print-ready” manuscript. On top of that, graphic designers are in demand and charge premium fees. This can add a hefty amount to your publishing costs.
You want to have “more control” over your book’s formatting. One of the biggest benefits of self-publishing is maintaining creative control over your book. The importance of this benefit cannot be overlooked. So, while this may initially seem like a good reason to design your own book, you can achieve the same result by allowing your publisher to design it for you.

Did you let your publisher design your book for you?

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