Have you ever visited a website and see near the bottom there is a graphic that is related to the content of the page and is inviting you to explore another website with similar content or information?
That is known as a webring. There are webrings for all subjects and interests.
A great way to promote your self published book to people who would be interested in it would be to join a webring on your book’s subject matter.
Once you join, you will get the “HTML CODE” to cut and paste into your website. Simply copy the entire snippet of code and paste the snippet of code where you want it to appear on your website.
Q: I have started to write a novel based on facts [that took place] in the 1865-1880 time frame [sic]. I have no experience writing anything, I just know I wish to write a story. Is there some where [sic] to send a few chapters to be read over to determine if there is hope in proceeding [with] it. [sic]
A: I am one of many editors who provide professional feedback for a fee, but if you want free feedback, join a critique group and get free feedback from peers, to see if fellow readers find the information captivating.
My strongest suggestion is to take a class or a course in creative writing before or while attempting to tackle writing a novel. Creative writing requires much more than simply owning a computer and knowing how to type, and novels require even more specialized knowledge, such as how to handle pace, point of view, dialogue, characterization, and plot, among other things. Any good creative writing teacher will also give you feedback on some of the writing, during the time you take a course.
Although I don’t believe e-mails have to be flawless, the errors in the one asking this question show me that the novel will need careful editing before it is ready to market.
If you want professional feedback, or if you do not want to take a class or join a critique circle, or if you can’t find anything suitable in your area, by all means go to my Web site at http://www.zebraeditor.com, click on “Editing Request Form,” and follow the prompts to learn now to submit work to me for a professional evaluation and/or editing.
Bobbie Christmas, book doctor, 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 www.zebraeditor.com.
Ask the Book Doctor: About Book Covers and Free Feedback
Q: My book is being edited and will be soon be ready to be printed. Being short on cash, how can I put a nice cover on it as cheaply as possible? I don’t expect it to be on a bestseller list, but I do want it to be more advanced than my first attempt.
A: You are wise to be concerned about the cover. The cover often is the only thing that sells a book. If the cover looks bad, few people will buy the book, no matter how well written the contents may be. As in editing, the cover is not a place where you want to scrimp.
If you don’t want the cover to look cheap, don’t be cheap. That is, pay someone, even if it is only a design student, to design a book cover properly and well. Don’t create your own artwork for it unless you’re an accomplished artist. Don’t use the artwork of one of your children unless the book is a children’s book.
Getting the front, back, and spine looking professional takes much more work and knowledge than most non-designers can imagine, plus the file must be compatible with the printer’s equipment. Unless you have a design program, know how to use it, and have studied design, I don’t recommend designing a book cover yourself. If you want the cover to look professional, hire a professional to do it.
Barring hiring a pro, you can use one of the self-publishing companies that offers cover design as part of a printing package. You can check the Internet for such companies and see if they offer any covers that appeal to you at a price that is satisfactory, or you can surf the Web for cover designers and pick one with the best price. Through the miracle of the Internet your designer can be anywhere in the world and send the files to you electronically. Be sure to check out some of the lower priced book design companies in India, too.
Yours in writing,
Bobbie Christmas, author Write In Style, the triple-award-winning textbook on creative writing
Since March is SMALL PRESS MONTH, this is the month to promote your self-published book! With that in mind, here are 31 ways you can market & promote your book during Small Press Month, one for each day of March. Time to get started!
Mar 1 – If you do not have enough author’s copies on hand, contact your publisher and order more so they arrive in enough time to pursue these other tips throughout the month.
Mar 2 – Contact other independent published authors in your area (through local associations you may belong to) and combine your resources to fully exploit the opportunities during this month. There’s a lot to do, and four hands are better than two. With the advent of social networking sites, this is easier than ever. In fact your publisher may already have a group on such sites as MySpace or FaceBook or a following on Twitter.
Mar 3 – Contact your local bookstores and suggest they offer discounts on Small Press books. Bring in yours and offer it to them at a discount to get them started. Show them the rest of this calendar as a way of indicating your commitment to making their event successful. Offer to leave a free copy with them along with a sales sheet.
Mar 4 – Contact your local newspapers and inform them of Small Press Month (in case they don’t know about it). Suggest they write a small article or events calendar for Small Press events in the area, specifically the ones you secured on March 3rd. Tell them you will be sending them a press release on the 5th.
Mar 5 – Send a press release to the local media (newspapers, radio, television) mentioning Small Press Month and your independently published book. (If you secured some events, mention them in the release.
Mar 6 – Follow-up on your press release from yesterday with the local media via telephone. Reiterate Small Press Month, your planned events in the community, and your Small Press book. Send them a review of your book that they can use as a foundation. (Less work for them).
Mar 7 – If you haven’t yet published your book, today is the day to start. Outskirts Press, the fastest-growing full service self-publishing and book marketing service is offering an instant 10% discount on all their book publishing services throughout March. Click here for the necessary promotion code.
Mar 8 – Contact your local libraries and suggest they feature Small Press titles, including yours. Offer to leave a free copy with them, along with a sales sheet. If you’re an Outskirts Press author, your free author’s center generates your sales sheet automatically. You can even change it and update it first through your Author Toolkit.
Mar 9 – If you haven’t yet sent out review copies for book, now is the time. The Book Review Starter Kit has many book reviewers listed in the Author Resources section, which is available at http://outskirtspress.com/authors.php no matter where you have published your book.
Mar 10 – Contact local schools in your area and tell them about Small Press Month. Mention that you are a local published author and offer to speak to their assembly about how to accomplish their dreams of being published. This is particularly effective if you have a children’s book you can then sell after the assembly.
Mar 11 – Contact local universities and colleges. Same concept as yesterday — promote yourself and your book by sharing your knowledge of how to write a book and get it published. Sell copies of your book in the back of the room.
Mar 12 – Schedule a seminar or tele-seminar on “How to Write and Publish a Book” and offer a “Small Press Month” discount on the registration fee. Send out a local news release about your class.
Mar 13 – Contact other sales channels outside of the bookstore that may be likely to sell your book. This may include websites related to your book’s topic, gift stores, hardware stores, grocery stores, boutiques, etc. Look at your book and ask yourself where your readers may be shopping.
Mar 14 – Contact local art studios, design boutiques, or other small independent businesses in your area. Give them the opportunity to share in co-op on some advertising initiatives (plus, if applicable, offer to conduct some events in their venues).
Mar 15 – Join with other independently published authors and arrange a co-op advertisement in the local media, using any dollars secured from local businesses you spoke with on the 14th. In addition to simply promoting your book, promote your upcoming events, so people show up at them. The other authors can join in the events, which may lead the bookstores to be more interested in scheduling it (even on such short notice).
Mar 16 – Contact all the local radio producers in your area and pitch them on Small Press Month. The Radio Interview Starter Kit within the Outskirts Press author’s center makes it easy, with free contact information in your local area, available to everyone regardless of where you published your book.
Mar 17 – Think St. Patrcik’s day thoughts. Then make sure your online Amazon.com listing is all it can be. Do you have a Kindle Edition for your book? Is your book participating in Search Inside the Book? Do you have your Book Video trailer playing from your Amazon blog?
Mar 18 – Contact the major newspapers about Small Press Month. They’re likely to write up something if enough authors contact them, and you will want to be among the piles of information they have received:
THE NEW YORK TIMES: 229 W 43rd Street, New York NY 10036-3959 (212) 556-1234
USA TODAY: 1000 Wilson Blvd, Arlington VA 22209-3901 (703) 276-3400 and 535 Madison Avenue, 20th Fl, New York NY 10022-4212 (212) 715-5410
WALL STREET JOURNAL: 200 Liberty Street, New York NY 10281-1003 (212) 416-2000
WASHINGTON POST: 1150 15th Street NW, Washington DC 20071-0002 (202) 334-6000
Mar 19 – Contact your local community center and inform them of Small Press Month. If you have gathered a band of local authors, this will be more affective. Schedule an impromptu event, celebrating Small Press books.
Mar 20 – This may be the month to switch publishers if you have published elsewhere. Look at the publisher you chose and ask yourself: Is your retail price too high? Is your profit too low? Is your author’s copy price too high? Are your marketing options too costly? Compare the top 4 publishers here and save potentially thousands of dollars.
Mar 21 – Small Press Month is just one month out of 12. Prepare for other book events, like the London Book Fair, Book Expo of America, Beijing, and Frankfurt. Or make it easy on yourself with the Global Book Tour marketing package.
Mar 22 – Create a social networking account on Twitter, FaceBook, MySpace, and LinkedIn.
Mar 23 – Contact the Learning Annex (or similarly themed Adult Education Program) in your area and offer to teach a class on the subject of your book. As a published author, you are qualified to teach on your subject since you are an expert. Your book may even be required reading for each student! Cha-ching!
Mar 24 – Start writing online reviews through Amazon. Write reviews for every book you have ever read. Mention that you are the author of your book at the bottom of each posted review. If people like the writing style of your review, they may investigate your book, especially if you write reviews for books within the same genre as yours.
Mar 25 – Contact the public libraries in each state and mention your involvement with Small Press Month. Send them information about your book. Here’s a link that will get you started: http://www.publiclibraries.com/
Mar 26 – Start preparing for April (National Poetry Month), especially if you have a volume of poetry you have published.
Mar 27 – Help other writers you know get published and earn a 10% commission for the referral after their book is published. Register for the exciting Outskirts Press affiliate program at http://outskirtspress.com/affiliates.php
Mar 28 – Start a blog and keep it active and up-to-date. Register it with blog directories so others start reading it and participating. There are many blog programs to help you get started. Conduct a search on Google for the one that works for you.
Mar 29 – Submit your published book to the Google Base listings. It’s free. http://base.google.com
Mar 30 – Publish a “Large Print” edition of your book. With the world’s demographics growing older, “large print” editions are becoming more and more popular. Featuring 14 or 16 point fonts, these editions appeal to the aging community because they are easier to read. You’ve already written the book, now re-publish a new “Large Print” edition to increase your revenue and double the effectiveness of your marketing initiatives. It’s easy to get published here.
Mar 31 – Take a breath. It’s been a busy, productive month.
I read a recent article in the San Francisco Chronicle entitled something including the words “Publishers” and “R.I.P.” The article went on to lament the status of book sales and dwindling employment in the traditional book sector. It was the subtitle that caught me, which mentioned the current economic status making it tougher than ever to sell books.
It is true that book sales are down. In the traditional sector. But numbers show that book sales are weathering the economy quite well. Forbes magazine published an article a few months ago noting Amazon’s whopping 38% growth over the past year. It is simply that the economy in this case is shifting. Readers are finding books in new and non-traditional places like Amazon where reader reviews, Kindle editions, and discounted prices help engage readers in a real-time review dialogue along with various options to dig into good material. The cool thing is that self-publishing offers the flexibility, control, and support to meet that changing wave in the market.
Self Publishing Advisor 