Royalene Speaks, Uncategorized

Conversations: 3/18/2016

WHAT IF…Reading Became a LOST Art?

Have you communicated with the 30-somethings (or younger) populous by TEXT or TWEET or INSTAGRAM lately? My teacher’s heart cringes and my writer’s heart cries. The art of communicating clearly is taking a big HIT in these times when people believe their time is so limited that they cannot take the time to express themselves well and write out full thoughts and/or sentences. While our (yours and my) children continue to be readers many hold a lukewarm attitude toward the value of reading. They seem to have lost the understanding that their reading abilities will gain them access to the whole world of knowledge. Too many of our grandchildren and great-grandchildren are leaving books on the shelves and accepting “sound-bite” information as the basis for life choices. I have no big answer to this problem other than to encourage excellent writers to KEEP WRITING and KEEP PUBLISHING. Someday, the next generations will return to “the books” to expand their knowledge base beyond song lyrics and media clips.

WAY back in the 1600s a French philosopher named Descartes wrote: “The reading of all good books is like conversation with the finest (people) of the past centuries.” And so it is! From his perspective only the “finest minds” wrote books, and he knew that from them we have the opportunity to learn great things on any subject! Plus he wrote with a passion “as if no one had written on these matters before,” and encouraged other writer/thinkers to do the same.

 rene descartes

IF YOU THINK that being a writer is just a job or a bit of a unique career let me share a few statistics with you…

  • There are almost half-a-million words in our English Language (the largest language on earth) and people (those folks who buy and read our books) really need to know them—their meanings—and usage which will improve their lives.
  • Just 15 minutes a day of reading can expose us to more than a million words in a year.
  • Teachers today can barely find 5 minutes a day to devote to reading with individual students—even those who need help.
  • For a person to participate fully in the world and workplace of 2020, they will need powerful literacy abilities that until now have been achieved by only a small percentage of the world’s population.
  • Currently, more than 20 percent of adults read at or below a fifth-grade level. This is far below the level needed to earn a living wage.
  • IF you’re thinking that the challenge of dyslexia is a major cause of the above statistic you’d be wrong! The majority of dyslexic individuals work harder and more creatively to “learn to read” and because of this have been noticed by some of the largest employers on the planet. At NASA, over 50% of their employees are dyslexic. They are deliberately sought after because they have superb problem solving skills and excellent 3D and spatial awareness.

So, HOW can writers make a difference in the midst of these facts? KEEP WRITING! Make each word you place on a manuscript page zing so that people will be drawn to it whether you’re creating Science Fiction adventures or developing a game to teach world history. With almost 50 percent of our Nation’s unemployed youth (ages 16-21) labeled as “functionally illiterate,” we need to write books (and blogs and vlogs and…) that interest them while teaching them the skills they need to obtain good jobs. AND…should a question about writing rules come up, we always have The Elements of Style by Strunk & White which will take us back to basics with the English language. Together we can save the arts of reading and writing! ⚓︎

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.
Advocacy in Self-Publishing, elizabeth speaks, in your corner, Uncategorized

In Your Corner : Celebrate National Reading Month With These Marketing Tips! (part three)

Two weeks ago, I started us off on a month-long exploration of one of my favorite subjects: the intersection of reading with writing and publishing, a journey that I continued last week in honor of National Reading Awareness Month.  I said it then but I think this bears repeating: here at Self-Publishing Advisor, we love the fact that there’s an entire month devoted to celebrating the written word–as well as the ways in which we can spread the joy of literacy–and so I would like to invite you to continue joining me in making reading a focus all month long, here in our Thursday blog post slot.  How am I going about that?  Well, for starters, I’m running down my go-to list of tips and tricks for the new and ingenue self-publishing author.  This week, I’ll be starting with …

 

TIP EIGHT : Craft a “keep in touch” plan

Last week, we examined the benefits to putting together an active mailing list and/or using a Facebook group to keep in touch with your readers through direct messaging.  But what’s next?  Once you have put together your active mailing list, you’ll need to decide how you want to keep in touch.  And by “how,” I’m talking about the content and quality of your communication, not just the platform.  One thing is absolutely, unarguably true: over-sharing can prove more toxic to your message than bad grammar and condescension put together.  I highly recommend that you find a reasonable frequency–for example, a monthly newsletter–to touch base with your readers.  You can write about topics related to the genre of your book or other similar books that you think your readers would enjoy, or you can stick to more of a “behind-the-scenes” glimpse into your writing process, if you feel like you have enough to share without spoiling the reading experience itself.  If you plan on publishing multiple books–say, in a series–your followers would no doubt love updates on the status of each upcoming book, the research you’re doing or interesting things you’ve discovered during the writing process.  Give them just enough to whet their appetite, but not so much that they feel like they have to sift through an essay to find the important facts!

keep in touch

TIP NINE : Go to the Press

And by that, I mean: It’s time to start thinking about putting out a press release.  Any time you have important news to share about your book–such as announcing its publication, the advent of a book signing event, or spreading the news about an award it has won– you should definitely look to your local newspapers, radio stations, and other media sources … but this shouldn’t preclude you from looking further afield, to national media outlets and popular blog sites, for example.  You can use online press release distribution sites or try contacting your local newspaper as a first step, and if you’re working with a hybrid or full-service self-publishing company you should definitely check out their list of marketing options.

press release

TIP TEN : Get your next manuscript off the drawing board

Hollywood scriptwriters and directors often talk about “development hell,” but this term isn’t the exclusive property of the rich and/or famous: it applies to authors of all kinds, too!  We all know the dangers and struggles facing us in the form of the dreaded Writer’s Block, so if you’re ready to start publishing–or you’re getting close–you should definitely try to give yourself the necessary kick in the pants necessary to put the finishing touches on your manuscript and start the publication process today.  Delay hurts no one more than you, and that’s the truth!  Many companies offer publishing packages or offer the services of a Publishing Consultant to assist with this process, and sometimes a little help really is necessary.  There’s no shame in turning to a professional for help if it means your book gets off of the drawing board and into the hands of your readers!

drawing board

TIP ELEVEN : The book must be blogged!

An oft-overlooked component of a successful marketing strategy is the beloved book blogger.  We love them, we read their posts, but we don’t often think of them as partners in our journey to publication.  But they are!  They really, most definitely, can give your book a boost in visibility.  So, my last tip is more of a suggestion, really: Find those book bloggers you need to increase the exposure to your book.  Check out websites such as BookBloggerList.com to find bloggers interested in the genre of your book, and look to the book bloggers you personally admire and find readable.  Find out which bloggers would be open to reading and reviewing your book and contact them–or vice versa.  You might even get a link to your website or your Amazon book page out of it!

I’ll be back next week with some more tips!  And …

… 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, outskirts press, Uncategorized

Marketing in the Hybrid Publishing World

Two weeks ago, after much consideration, we settled on a simple and straightforward definition for hybrid publishing:

Hybrid publishing is any publishing model that allows authors to enter into direct, flexible, contractual collaborations with industry professionals that in traditional publishing would be indirect (they would be paid by the publishing house, not the author) and are not traditionally available to self-publishing authors.  This includes companies like Outskirts Press, which offers a range of collaborative services, and excludes the so-called “hybrid author,” or someone who has moved from traditional publishing into self-publishing or vice versa.

And last week, in hopes of getting a glimpse into the actual experience, I dove into the stories of two self-publishing authors who have chosen the hybrid publishing track: Norman Smith  of Dog Ear Publishing, and Mirtha Michelle Castro Mármol of Outskirts Press fame.  Smith’s review spoke to what I consider the real strengths of the hybrid publishing experience: constant communication, flexibility, and a real willingness to put the author’s vision at the forefront of the publishing process.  Meanwhile, Mirtha Michelle’s interview highlighted the collaborative nature of hybrid publishing––from writing her book, to finding the company she wanted to go with, to finding a designer for her book’s cover, to connecting with her readers after the fact.

This week, I want to answer a different set of questions, and I want to take us back to marketing, our focus for our Wednesday posts here on Self-Publishing Advisor.  How does hybrid publishing assist an indie author in the realm of marketing a book, for example?  Does it offer tangible benefits?  How can an author know when the expense is paying off?

 

Value vs. Expense:

As hybrid self-publishing superstar CJ Lyons puts it, “If you are spending more time marketing than you writing a book, then you are probably doing a disservice to your readers by not writing the best book that you can. You can trust your readers and if you are writing a book they love then they will do the marketing for you.”  And it’s true: your readers are the greatest force for influence that you have!  When readers fall in love with a new world or a new book, as you are probably already well aware, they can’t help but want to share the thrill of discovery with their friends, families, and other social connections.

marketing hybrid publishing

Connecting with your readers is, of course, a matter requiring some delicacy in and of itself.  Marketing doesn’t happen by itself; your social media presence, whether you’re a solo act or working with a hybrid self-publishing company, will require work.  You have to balance your personal time and energy budget without falling behind on either sleep or sacrificing valuable time you might spend writing that next book (and that next book is a powerful marketing tool in and of itself, so you don’t want to sacrifice it).  The difference between being a “regular” self-publishing author–assuming, for the moment, that we set aside the massive range of experiences that fall into that category–and being a self-publishing author who chooses to work within the hybrid model boils down to resources.  A good hybrid publishing company will reduce the amount of time and energy and expertise required to keep up a vigorous social media campaign as well as a nationwide marketing plan to something more like light maintenance than heavy work.

marketing hybrid publishing

Within the hybrid model, you the self-publishing author don’t have to be the one running down to Kinkos to print out a massive pile of fliers that you spent weeks designing yourself, or staying up late squinting at a dim computer screen scrolling through tweets about your book.  You pay to let the professionals assist you with that.  Most companies offer a range of marketing products  (like this one from Outskirts Press) and bundles so that you can choose to pay for only the services you need or that you don’t know how to manage yourself, and which allows you to only spend money on truly necessary expenses.  An easy way to know if a product is worth spending money on is to hop on a web forum and ask around after authors of equal expertise in, say, book trailer creation–and see how long it took them to design one.  Multiply the hours they spent by the average going wage for freelance videographers (anywhere between $20 and $50 an hour in USD) and compare against the price for that product.  Run the numbers for each product you’re thinking about purchasing, and make your decisions accordingly.  These figures don’t allow for the expertise you’ll have access to by paying a professional to do them for you, but they do give you a starting point–and we all need one of those!

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. 10:00 AM
from the archives, Kelly Speaks, self publishing news, Uncategorized

From the Archives: “Statistics Suggest Good News for the Self-Publishing Author”

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: December 17th, 2008 ]

Bowker, the global leader in bibliographic information management, recently released 2007 book publishing statistics compiled from its Books In Print database. Based on figures from U.S. publishers, Bowker is projecting that U.S. title output  last year increased slightly from 2006 to almost 300,000 books. That’s over a quarter of a million books published in one year alone.

Here’s another interesting statistic, while traditional book publishing was basically flat last year, there was a staggering rise in the reported number of on-demand and short-run books to 134,773, pushing the grand total for projected 2007 U.S. book output to 411,422 books. In fact, Bowker has planned to separate this particular output from its traditional reporting and has begun tracking the On Demand industry segment separately.

What does this mean for you? To begin, your book may not stock in every bookstore. Or any bookstore. And it’s entirely possible that you may not want it to.

As a self-publishing author, these statistics undoubtedly suggest your sales opportunities will continue to grow and become more profitable. Sales are shifting from offline to online. More and more people are becoming comfortable with (and even accustomed to) shopping online. Selling books online is more cost-effective than selling through a typical bookstore, and that means more money in your pocket. It’s no coincidence that Amazon’s book sales numbers mirror the same increases on an annual bases. That’s good news.

It’s been said before on this blog, make sure your self-publishing choice lets you set your own retail price, royalty, and discount to take maximum advantage of shifting consumer trends.

Something to keep in mind as you wrap up your writing and begin the publishing process.

Have fun and keep writing.

– by Karl Schroeder

While in many ways the e-book and digital book industries have stabilized, reaching a kind of balance with print publishing in the wake of Hachette’s price-fixing settlement with Amazon, much has changed.  Nielson, for example, is reporting that “in 2014, US publishers sold almost 142.5 million adult fiction titles in the three major print formats (hardback, trade paperback and mass market paperback) and 132 million ebooks (across all platforms).”  To put that in the context of Karl’s original statistics, Publisher’s Weekly and Bowker both reported that earlier, in 2013, “the number of self-published titles rose [by] 16.5%, to 458,564. The increase was due entirely to the release of new print books which rose 28.8% to 302,622 offsetting a decline in self-published e-books which fell 1.6%, to 155,942.”  In less than a decade, then, the number of self-published books outpaced the total number of books of ALL kinds published in the United States in 2007.  Not only that, but there are now more self-published print books alone being published each yer than there were traditionally published books in 2007.
bowker

But what does this mean for you, the indie author, in 2016?

First of all, it means you’re not just on the cutting edge any more–you’re part of a phenomenon.  And because self-publishing is in some ways the new normal, that presents both some very good and some very hard news.  Good news first: there are loads more resources out there and available to you now than there were a decade ago.  You can probably find a “how-to” step-by-step guide for each and every aspect of self-publishing just by hopping on Google and typing in a few keywords.  Need to convert your book to a new format or launch a fresh marketing campaign?  There are entire companies out there that specialize in such things, now.

The hard news is this: self-publishing has more or less lost its novelty.  It’s a stable market niche that has gained a lot of attention and a fair bit of respect over the years, and it’s clearly not going anywhere.  Libraries have policies in place as to whether they can add self-published books to their collections, and bookstores like the Tattered Cover in Denver and the Amazon Bookstores now dedicate entire shelves to self-published titles.  Algorithms have been tweaked.  News has been made.  And all of this presents a bit of a challenge to you, the indie author.  How to stand out in such a crowded marketplace–and for the right reasons?

Luckily, I have one last bit of good news.  Well, I guess it’s more a statement that comes full circle.  If you take care with your book, and give it the time and energy and focused attention that it deserves–or rely upon the assistance and advice of paid professionals to do so–then your book will stand out.  It has always been the case that readers can recognize a well put-together title from across the bookstore, library, and even airport.  A beautiful cover, a polished jacket, a carefully managed marketing campaign: all of these things are within your reach, thanks to the hard work of many who have gone before.  And if you stick around on Self-Publishing Advisor, you just might stumble across the exact insight you need in my Wednesday marketing strategies posts, Elizabeth’s Thursday reflections as a longtime industry expert, Royalene’s Friday perspectives as a successful self-publishing author, and our other posts throughout the week.

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.  ♠

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.

 

 

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

Self-Publishing News: 3.14.2016

This week in the world of self-publishing:

It’s not often that self-publishing makes a mark on a major East Coast newspaper, especially one known for covering international politics and economic affairs, but this week self-publishing is the byword everywhere, including this March 10 article by Jeffrey Trachtenberg and Felicia Schwartz that appeared in the Wall Street Journal.  Why the big fuss?  Well: “Three major U.S. book publishers, several trade groups and others in the publishing industry have signed a petition urging the White House and Congress to end the Cuba trade embargo for books and educational materials.”  So far you might be forgiven for thinking that the Big Five were the driving force behind this petition, but bear with me for a minute.  “The petition,” write Trachtenberg and Schwartz, “argues that the embargo ‘runs counter to American ideals of free expression’ and lifting it would be ‘consistent with the will of the American people.'”  This, of course, is fully in line with the independent streak so fiercely guarded by the anti-gatekeeping indie publishing movement, and as it turns out, self-publishing authors have come out in force to support the petition.

While only WSJ subscribers can read the full article, the story has been picked up by a variety of other news outlets, including the Huffington Post, specifically this HuffPost Books article by Mark Coker, the founder of SmashWords––a distributer of independently published ebooks––and a driving force behind the petition.  As he earlier wrote on the SmashWords blog, Coker says the petition was inspired by a visit to Cuba, where he discovered that “it’s extraordinarily expensive and difficult for Cuban publishers to gain access to even the simplest raw materials of bookmaking, such as paper and ink. And for self-published authors, even if they had access to self-publishing services or book printers, the set-up fees of such print services would be prohibitively expensive.”  Says Coker, “Cuba has an adult literacy rate that is nearly 100%. Compare that to the the US where adult literacy is only about 80%. Cuba has a rich literary heritage. They value books.”  To deliberately quash literary entrepreneurship in Cuba is to suppress a priceless literary heritage––as well as future potential.  To read more about the petition, you can visit the WSJ article here, the HuffPost Books article here, the SmashWords blog here, and the corresponding public White House petition here.

“Independent publishing doesn’t mean what it used to,” writes Brooke Warner in this March 11 for Publisher’s Weekly.  She goes on to explain that today, “when people talk about ‘indie’ authors, they’re talking not about authors published on small presses but about a thriving movement of self-published authors who are green-lighting their own work and riding the wave of a movement that’s far from peaking.”  This movement is so distinct, she argues, that it well deserves the title of “revolution”!  “Self-published authors have been working for years to improve their own standards, and the results are impressive,” writes Warner, who publishes via She Writes Press and SparkPress, is president of Warner Coaching Inc., as well as an independently published author herself.  As such, she’s perfectly positioned to declare with authority: “If the past 16 years are any indicator of what’s to come, we better hold on. We’re in the middle of a sea change, and indie authors and publishers are not only forging new territory, they’re leading the way.”  For the rest of her piece, visit the original article here.

You might have heard the name “Data Guy” floating around during conversations about the digital book market, particularly in the context of Author Earnings, an annual report and nonprofit organization run by said Data Guy.  Well, in this March 13th article by Michael Kozlowski for the Good e-Reader, Kozlowski records the keynote presentation to the 2016 Digital Book World conference as given by the heretofore anonymous Data Guy, including screenshots of each slide.  (You can also view the original presentation on the Author Earnings webpage.)  Aside from some necessary boilerplate material and a couple of unabashed slides dedicated to justifying the work done by AE, Data Guy spent the vast majority of the presentation focusing on how the current market statistics on ebook sales as given by Amazon and other retailers skew indie authors’ expectations and, possibly, undercuts their ability to contextualize their experiences within the framework of a larger, more realistic, picture.  As it turns out, the shift from print to digital poses a significant challenge to data collection, given that sales have largely shifted from the Big Five traditional publishing houses to a new monopoly held by Amazon, Barnes & Noble, the Apple Store, and Kobo … or so they would have us think.  As it turns out, a large proportion of ebook sales and distribution is now happening independently of these sites, and these sites are famous for underreporting relevant information to begin with.  Data Guy demonstrated how greater transparency and advocacy can do a world of good for indie authors, and I highly recommend reading his full keynote at the link!

As a counterpoint to certain points made by Data Guy in his keynote presentation as reported above, Ángel González of the Seattle Times reports in this March 9th article that “Sales of e-books from major publishers have waned since 2014, the year in which many of them gained the right to price their digital titles sold through Amazon—and jacked up prices.”  Says González, “Those moves suddenly made books printed on dead trees a better deal. But that doesn’t mean the e-book market is stagnant. Far from it.”  As González goes on to say, many of the Big Five traditional publishers are publishing their quarterly sales figures along with announcements that they are seeing a drop in digital sales after Amazon and Hachette resolved their price-fixing dispute last year, and as a result print sales are up.  The general consensus seems to be that if you can buy a book in physical form off of a bookstore shelf for roughly the same price as purchasing an ebook online, why not cave to the superior attractions of a full bookshelf over a full iPad?  And while many indie authors do sell their books in multiple formats, including print, many focus their efforts on the digital market for obvious reasons of economy of launch funds and ease of distribution.  In short, these sales figures have great significance for many indie authors.  Somewhere between the Data Guy’s optimistic keynote and González’s report on the dire predictions out of the traditional sector, we must be able to find a balance.

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.