Category: Uncategorized

from the archives, Kelly Speaks, Self-Publishing, Uncategorized

From the Archives: “Self-publishing’s Strongest According to Inc. Magazine”

Welcome back to our new 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.

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[ Originally posted: August 13th, 2009 ]

Inc500Cover2Inc. Magazine released its annual top 500 fastest growing US businesses yesterday. Outskirts Press, Inc ranked #268 on the list, and exclusive among full-service self publishing firms. With on-demand publications up 132% over the previous year, Outskirts Press finds itself the fastest growing provider in the fastest growing segment of the book publishing industry. Congratulations Outskirts Press.

Author Solutions – the only other self-publishing related provider recognized, came in at 3266 among the top 5000 companies.

Congratulations self-publishing.

– by Karl Schroeder

 

Six years later, Inc. 500 has morphed into the Inc. 5000 but the list remains a stellar launch point for discussions about what industries are seeing success in a mostly-post-recession USA––and not just for the men and women who walk Wall Street.  It remains a fantastic resource for indie and self-publishing authors, too.

Inc. 5000

But first, the bad news: This year, no self-publishing providers made the list.  The good news is that this is because the self-publishing industry has begun to stabilize, diversify, and revisit its offerings in order to better tailor them to the end user.  Because the Inc. 5000 only lists the fastest-growing companies, a stable market fast reaching its maturity just doesn’t quite fall within its purview.

And while indie, hybrid, and self-publishing companies may not have made it into last year’s list in the Inc. 5000, they continue to occupy headlines over at the Digital Book World (see here), Publisher’s Weekly (see here), and one of my personal favorites, Library Journal (see here).  We’ll be following the news within the industry as it emerges this year, and while indications seem to be present that e-book sales remain down from this time two years ago, it may very well be that Hachette’s battle with Amazon and the resulting price hike has driven readers back to print.  That’s a profitable (and surprisingly cheerful) piece of information, I think!  Watch our Monday morning posts for more statistics as companies head into their Spring quarter. ♠

KellyABOUT 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.
amazon, Kelly Speaks, news from the self publishing world, self publishing news, Uncategorized

Self-Publishing News: 1.11.2016

This week in the world of self-publishing:

Corine la Font, in this January 10th article for the Jamaican Gleaner, writes that “it is wise and cost-effective to just obtain the free assigned ISBNs from the platform you are using”–since most platforms provide ISBNs automatically–instead of buying them directly.  Since ISBNs are sold in batches of 10, you may end up with a whole lot more than you need, unless you use a third party service or hybrid publishing company.  ISBNs, for those who aspire to self-publish but have yet to do so, are numeric codes of either 10 or 13 digits that publishing companies, booksellers, readers, and others will use to identify your book as well as the format in which your book is published.  “Ideally,” says la Font, “each format should have its own ISBN, that is print, audio and Kindle/ebook, but what tends to happen is that Amazon, when publishing the ebook of the same title, assigns an ASIN (a topic for another article) to that specific format.”  ISBNs are a key element of the publication process; for more information, visit la Font’s original article here!

Under the “Booklife Report” heading in this week’s Publisher’s Weekly roundup–published on January 10th–-you’ll find a link to an earlier 2016 article by Leylha Ahuile on the explosion of opportunities for self-publishing authors in the Spanish language market.  While the article itself is only available to Publisher’s Weekly subscribers (leaving us with the tantalizing introductory sentence: “Self-publishing is a well-established part of the English-language book trade, but Spanish-language self-publishing is just starting to take off”), it reminds me of this 2013 article by Tina Folsom of the Indie Voice blog, titled “Exploring the Foreign Markets for Self-Publishing.”  Ahuile’s article may claim that opportunities in Spanish language markets have some element of newness to them, but Folsom’s piece and many other articles besides have long been touting the possible benefits of looking beyond the tangible boundaries of geographical divides and the abstract boundaries of language.  Whether you’re looking to self-publish in English and translate your book to Spanish, or publish directly in Spanish, don’t neglect to consider the fact there are more native Spanish speakers and Spanish-language readers in the world than there are native English speakers.  And this doesn’t even touch the percentage of global citizens who speak and read other languages, like Mandarin Chinese!  There has never been a better time to sell your book abroad.

“Penguin Random House, the largest book publisher in the world, is chopping off its self-publishing arm,” writes Amy Wang of the Quartz blog in this January 7th article: “The company said Tuesday (Jan. 5) that it has sold Author Solutions—the self-publishing author-tools platform that it bought in 2012.”  Author Solutions has long been a mainstay of the self-publishing toolbox, but has struggled to emerge from its ownership transfer and other internal problems and to overcome significant obstacles to satisfying end-user demands.  While a sale does not necessarily spell the utter end for Author Solutions, it does seem to indicate a continued slide towards irrelevance as other, better, and easier-to-use options reach a mainstream audience.  Writes Wang, the sale is also an admission of defeat in the battle to stave off market dominance by Amazon, “which already churns out an estimated 85% of self-published titles via its various platforms.”  That’s a tough number to beat.  For more of Wang’s article, follow the link.

“There’s too much grumbling among authors,” says Carol Buchman in this January 7th contribution to The Bookseller.  But Buchman, a self-publishing author of Western fiction based out of Montana’s Flathead Valley, sees a lot of cause for hope: “some people seem to overlook the wonderful benefits of various publishing modes these days,” she says, citing the “freedom to publish and to read in the manner that suits [one] best,” the choice “among e-readers, audio devices, and paper—hardbound or paperback,” and the opportunity for authors to “publish their works in all three formats” as reasons not to despair for the world of words.  “As a storyteller,” she writes, “I’m enthralled by the possibilities in technological development for storytelling.”  She goes on to address “the innovative energy inherent in technology” as an empowering force, and to rally readers and authors alike to a more hopeful, optimistic outlook.  Her full “five-minute manifesto” is available, courtesy of The Bookseller, here!

 

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.

KellyABOUT 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.

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

Conversations: 1/8/2016

IT’S A NEW DAY! NEW MONTH! NEW YEAR!

FILLED with Expectations!

 

Way back in my memory files there is a quote I’ve preserved attributed to a fella named Aristotle. He wrote an essay titled Rhetoric examining the art of persuasion, which is (of course) every writer’s goal—to persuade every Reader that their book is a must-have. Aristotle says, “A good style is, first of all, clear. The proof is that language which does not convey a clear meaning fails to perform the very function of language.” Keeping the concept of clear language to convey clear meaning as a priority can be a challenge when a writer is FULL of excitement about the story that is bursting forth and demanding to be written.

aristotle

SO—after you’ve selected the book/story you’re going to complete this year (from last week’s exercise), here are a few thoughts to help you with the element that gives me the biggest headaches: PLOT. Logic is needed to develop an excellent plot! LOTS of LOGIC!

It is said that Aristotle was the founder of “formal logic.” Well, he may have used clear language to inform others of the (clear) meaning of logic, but he certainly wasn’t the “founder” of it. Logic was being used since the beginning of time and whether your characters are pre-historic, historic, modern or futuristic, then you must develop their story using the logic behind their actions and reactions to the conflict/events you’ve given them. Author Charles Swindoll says, “We are all faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly disguised as impossible situations.” Now, that is an excellent definition of utilizing multiple PLOT elements.

In our universities today, the Science and Psychology departments utilize two basic elements of logic: deduction and induction. With deduction a Writer begins with a characters beliefs about the world they live in—that they assume to be true—and creates their responses to plot conflicts based on those “logical” assumptions. With induction characters develop theories based on deductive data that could explain their actions/reactions. However they are walking on thin ice never really certain what might be the best course of action. Excellent writers will weave these two elements throughout the story leading Readers on a journey that offers them “opportunities” to resolve “impossible situations” in their own imaginations.

In our publishing world today, the savvy Readers who purchase our books are demanding more clearly defined pieces to the story-puzzle. They want to be challenged!  SO…

  • DO YOUR RESEARCH! Discover the technical aspects of the plot/conflict piece you want to use and portray them accurately.
  • BE WILLING to create the conflict “simply.” But don’t over-simplify. Your characters must face a realistic “opportunity” to resolve the “impossible situation.”
  • Your characters must BE “real people” acting and reacting to these events. IF your imagination is operating in slow-motion, google key words from your conflict scene and see what appears in the “real” world. Learning how real people deal with events gives clear and authentic language you can use to portray most any event.
  • The conflict/plot situation must trigger motivation from within your characters. If they could care less about what happened, so will the Reader.

Bottom line, the writing skills and abilities that you’re developing today will GROW as you use your own LOGIC—satisfy your own EXPECTATIONS—and write the WHOLE story that resides within you. KEEP WRITING and be ready to PUBLISH by year’s end. ⚓︎

 

RoyaleneABOUT 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, Goals, Holidays, in your corner, Uncategorized

In Your Corner : Resolutions for 2016 That Every Aspiring Author Should Make (pt 1)

What’s your goal for 2016?  New Year’s provides an opportunity to assess what has and has not worked in 2015 and resolve to make 2016 the best year yet, and for writers this opportunity is especially important.  To that end, over the coming weeks I would like to focus on a number of ways in which authors can meet their New Year’s resolutions for and through self-publishing.

writing goals

 

This week, I’d like to examine four goals.  I’m going to list them here, and then break them down individually–because let’s face it, nothing’s quite so simple as a list of neat bullet points when we’re talking about real life and especially real life for an author!

  1. Set goals.
  2. Facilitate goals.
  3. Make writing a priority.
  4. Read, read, read.

 

So, what does it mean to set goals?  What are the implications of a goal-driven self-publishing experience?  I have to admit, I find it nearly impossible to keep even a modest resolution–much less a lofty one–without clearly defined benchmarks to reach and methods to follow.  My first recommendation for you, the aspiring author, is this: If your resolution is to finish your memoir in 2016, make sure you break that resolution down into concrete, manageable steps.  If it’s to publish a cookbook, chart out the steps to making that happen.  If it’s to pen a romance novella, be sure to go about it in a structured way.  Leaving room for creativity in your writing doesn’t mean leaving room for things to fall apart in terms of planning and organization–and in fact, many of the authors I work with find that tangible, manageable goals help rather than hinder the creative process.

On to the second point.  What does it mean to facilitate goals.  To facilitate something means, loosely, “to make (something) easier : to help cause (something)” to happen, and to remove any hurdles that might prevent you from keeping your resolutions.  My job description boils down to facilitation, to helping authors get from point A to point B with the greatest ease and the least inconvenience possible.  Your job, as an author, is to make sure nothing gets in the way of your writing–and in the way of your writing reaching your readers.  I recommend reconsidering, if time is an issue, the number of hours that you work or your social commitments.  You need both time and energy to meet your goals, and those resources don’t just manifest out of thin air.  Someone once told me: “I think every person has a kind of emotional budget for the day.  You wake up, and you have a certain amount of energy, and you have exactly 24 hours.  You have to balance that budget by the end of the day and set up your budget for the next day.”  If you spend all of your time and energy on other things, you’ll have–literally–nothing to spare for the writing and publishing processes.

And that third step you already know to be non-negotiable: Make writing a priority.  You’ve heard all the tips and tricks before, some of them here on Self-Publishing Advisor: Take a break from TV and social media, and set aside a time to write every day.  Whether you post creatively on Twitter or write your spouse a juicy love letter, regular writing is guaranteed to feed your creative side and improve your craft.  There are loads of online writing courses and how-to guides to self-publishing available for free these days, and there are online communities and forums dedicated to providing support and encouragement to aspiring authors.  Every person will find help from different sources–there’s no one-size-fits-all when it comes to writing and publishing–but one fact remains true for everyone.  There is no cheating when it comes to writing original content; it all has to come from somewhere.  And if you don’t carve out room for writing to be a priority … it won’t happen.

And last but not least: Read, read, read.  The number one piece of advice best-selling authors offer to other writers is to read as much and as widely as possible:

“If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot.”
— Stephen King

and:

“If you want to write, if you want to create, you must be the most sublime fool that God ever turned out and sent rambling. You must write every single day of your life. You must read dreadful dumb books and glorious books, and let them wrestle in beautiful fights inside your head, vulgar one moment, brilliant the next. You must lurk in libraries and climb the stacks like ladders to sniff books like perfumes and wear books like hats upon your crazy heads. I wish you a wrestling match with your Creative Muse that will last a lifetime. I wish craziness and foolishness and madness upon you. May you live with hysteria, and out of it make fine stories — science fiction or otherwise. Which finally means, may you be in love every day for the next 20,000 days. And out of that love, remake a world.”

— Ray Bradbury

and last but not least:

“Be awesome! Be a book nut!”

— Dr. Seuss

See what I mean?  Reading may be the last item on today’s list of resolutions, but it’s by far the most foundational practice for you to succeed as a writer.  Books are your friends, both the ones that you write and the ones that you read, and your fellow book-lovers make the staunchest of allies in a world that can sometimes make it difficult to get out of bed in the morning, much less check items off the to-do list and meet your New Year’s resolutions.

But always remember: you are not alone. ♣︎

ElizabethABOUT 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.
Alternative Marketing Methods, Book Marketing, Kelly Speaks, Marketing Your Self-Published Book, Uncategorized

Back to the Basics of Marketing

Over the last couple of months, I’ve used this Wednesday blog slot to talk about a lot of different things.  Many of them have been marketing related, and many of them have been inspired by topics that self-publishing authors may find useful before the marketing process begins––for example, my series on e-readers––but I’d like to step back, if you will join me, and refocus on what has traditionally made Wednesdays on Self-Publishing Advisor unique.

earlobe

I’d like to take us back to the basics of marketing for self-publishing authors.  Where does an author new to self-publishing get started?  How might an experienced indie author re-infuse a lackluster marketing campaign with new energy and more effective strategies for self-promotion?  This is the heart and soul, the real meat, of what I want to get at here.

The first order of business is, of course, to listen:

  • What topics would you like me to cover here?

  • Where are your marketing methods running into trouble, and …

  • Where are they succeeding?

  • Where do you turn for advice and resources for self-promotion?

My first instinct is, of course, to launch us back into this subject with a defense of marketing for self-publishing authors, but … let’s face it: we’re already here.  We’re already convinced that we need to sell our books, and we’re already fully aware that the heavy lifting falls on us as authors to make that happen.  What’s useful––what’s really useful––is information on how to make marketing better, or more effective.  Easier.  We want, and need, the tips and tricks of the trade, without having to waste time on trial and error in a world (and a market) that waits for no man or woman.

And no, there’s never going to be a day when publishing and selling a book is as easy as clicking a button and sending it into the aether––for indie authors as well as traditionally-published authors––despite what all of the corporate jingles and advertisements would have us believe.  There’s never going to be a day where we don’t have to pay for publication, whether we’re talking about sacrificing years of our time before release as well as our rights and royalties (as with traditional publishing), or whether we’re talking about sacrificing years of our time and energy after release to marketing and self-promotion (as with self-publishing), or whether we’re talking about sacrificing money to skip the lines but retain the professional marketing campaign (as with hybrid publishing).

There’s always a cost … but the payoff is worth it.  We have to remember that.  You have to remember the fact that there’s a book inside of you that needs to be read, that could indeed change someone’s life.  And it will change your life, too, to know that your book is out there in the world and exists in a universe outside of your own mind.  And that book is worth reading.  It’s worth buying.

The trick is in getting the word out there.  The trick is to raise awareness.  And that is exactly what I’m going to help you do in the coming weeks as we dive back into the deep end of the Marketing Maelstrom that is … your life as a newly minted self-published author!

 

Thank you for reading!  If you have any questions, comments, suggestions, or contributions, please use the comment field below or drop us a line at selfpublishingadvice@gmail.com.  And remember to check back each Wednesday for your weekly dose of marketing musings from one indie, hybrid, and self-published author to another. ♠

KellyABOUT 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.