Advocacy in Self-Publishing, how do you self publish a book, Self-Publishing

The Art of Pseudonyms: How to Publish a Book Under a Pen Name

When it comes to self-publishing a book, authors have the option to embrace their true identity or venture into the realm of pseudonyms, alternate names, or pen names to publish a book anonymously. These literary disguises provide authors with a cloak of anonymity or a chance to explore different genres. In this article, we will delve into the world of pseudonyms and discuss the benefits and considerations of publishing a book under a different name.

The Power of Pseudonyms
Publishing a book under a pen name can offer numerous advantages. Let’s explore a few reasons why authors may choose this path:

a) Anonymity and Privacy

How to publish a book anonymously– Some authors desire privacy or wish to separate their personal life from their writing career for one reason or another. Publishing a book with a pseudonym allows them to shield their true identity and maintain a level of anonymity.

b) Genre Exploration

How to publish a book under a different genre– An established author may wish to explore a different genre without confusing their existing readership. Adopting a pen name to publish a book with a different name enables them to experiment with new writing styles and genres without the risk of alienating their current fans.

c) Market Appeal

Publishing a book under a pseudonym can also help authors appeal to a specific target audience. For instance, a well-known romance writer may choose to use to publish with a pen name for their foray into mystery novels, attracting a new set of readers.

The Process of Publishing with a Pseudonym
If you’re considering publishing a book under a pen name, here are some essential steps to follow:

a) Choosing the Perfect Pseudonym

Considerations when selecting a pen name– Brainstorm names that resonate with your book’s genre, themes, or target audience. Ensure the name is memorable and not already in use by another author (or, at least not a famous one).

b) Legal and Copyright Considerations

Copyright protection for pseudonyms– Check copyright laws in your country to understand if pseudonyms enjoy the same protection as legal names. In some cases, authors may need to register their pen names as trademarks to safeguard their rights. In all cases, your self-publishing company is going to need to know your real name (since fake people can’t cash royalty checks).

c) Informing Your Publisher

Communicate with your publisher– Once you’ve selected your self-publishing partner, discuss your intention to use a pseudonym. They will guide you through the necessary steps and ensure proper representation of your chosen pen name. In order for you to maintain your copyright, your copyright page may need to display your real name. If that’s a deal breaker, you will also need to secure an LLC or DBA so you can assign your copyright to that entity on the copyright page.

d) Marketing and Promotion Strategies

Establishing your author platform– Building an online presence and connecting with readers using your pen name is crucial. Create a separate website or social media accounts to engage with your audience while maintaining the mystique of your chosen identity.

While pseudonyms offer a host of benefits, authors should carefully consider the potential drawbacks:

a) Personal Connection

Building a connection with readers: Publishing under a pen name may limit personal connections with readers. If you’re comfortable revealing your true identity, your readers can better connect with you on a personal level.

b) Branding Challenges

Developing a consistent brand: Publishing books under different names may complicate branding efforts. It requires separate marketing strategies for each pen name, potentially dividing your audience.

c) Balancing Multiple Identities

Juggling multiple pen names: If you decide to write under multiple pseudonyms, managing various author personas can be challenging. It requires careful organization and an understanding of each pen name’s unique brand.

In conclusion, writing and publishing a book anonymously by using a pseudonym or penname has its advantages and disadvantages. Whether driven by privacy concerns, safety concerns, genre exploration, or market appeal, self-publishing authors have the opportunity to shape their literary personas.

elizabeth speaks

How to Write an Author’s Bio that Stands Out and Attracts Readers

It’s easy to overlook the author’s bio. Often, they’re tucked into the back of a book or at the bottom of an article. Yet, a bio is necessary if you’re publishing a book and want to make writing a career.

If you have no bio, readers may be puzzled by its absence. If your bio is bad, then your readers may put down your book. If you put in the work to craft a solid author bio that stands out, it will pique the interest of potential readers, and it may even help you sell more copies.

Thankfully, an author bio is way easier than writing a book. However, even with that in mind, there are some guidelines to follow if you want your bio to stand out in a good way rather than being forgettable or bewildering. In this post, I go into the essentials of a good author’s bio that hooks readers and sells books.

The most important rule is to keep your bio brief. You will use your bio in several places (more on that later) and want your readers to read the entire paragraph without trailing off. Bio may be short for “biography,” but you should save the long-form essay for other places. The word count varies, but 100–150 words are a good ballpark for most places.

Another important convention is to write your bio in the 3rd person point-of-view, not in the 1st person “I” voice. While you want your writer’s voice to shine through, the 3rd person grants your bio an air of professionalism.

Bio openings vary, but a safe go-to is to put in the first sentence a) your name, b) your profession, and c) the name of the book you’re writing the bio for.

Just for fun, imagine if I’m writing a book based on this blog. By using the above template, my opener may be, “Elizabeth Javor is the sales and marketing director of Outskirts Press and the author of the book Elizabeth Speaks.” (That’s a working title.)

Within your bio, you should hint at the subject matter or themes in your writing. Ideally, you should be hinting at the unifying principle of your work. If you’re a novelist, mention the subgenre and the important themes you aim for in your stories. If you’re a nonfiction writer, focus on your niche.

Especially in nonfiction, you want your bio to show off your expertise. When your readers want to be informed or persuaded or at least believe in what you’re writing, showing them your credentials and accomplishments does the job. If you’re publishing an academic book, your educational history is a must-have. Even outside of academia, it’s nifty to show off any higher degree you have, such as an MFA. If you’re writing about how to run a business, your audience will want to know your companies and if they’re successful.

Even in fiction, mentioning your experience in your bio is useful. For example, if you’re writing a novel about running, readers will buy into your story more if you’re a runner yourself.

A common way to add a personal touch to the bio is to share your geography and your family. For this, avoid charting out your entire life story. Instead, stick to where you’re currently living unless a previous residence pertains to your book’s subject. With your family, only mention what you’re comfortable with. For example, some authors are happy to say they have a husband, a bunch of kids, and a cat. Other authors will omit that personal information altogether.

If you want to stand out, you can opt for something unusual about your life. For example, some readers may be interested if you’re a fire dancer or an exotic animal trainer, even if these identities don’t relate to your book. In these cases, do keep it to one sentence.

When ending your bio, a reliable closer states what else you’ve written. If you’ve already written books and you’re reading this article as a refresher, this is the opportunity to plug your previous titles. If this is your first book, you can state that you’re a debut author. Even if it’s your debut, you should bring up relevant publications you’ve contributed pieces to, such as journals and blogs.

Once you have your author bio, the fun starts! Your bio doesn’t just exist in the back of your book. You can take the same blurb and reuse it, with some tweaks, in your marketing.

Put your bio on the product page for your books and your author page on a storefront like Amazon. Then, you can put it on your website by extending it into a full “about” page. Next, trim it up for your social platforms, such as Instagram, and send it to your hosts for guest blog posts, podcast appearances, and book signings. You can even use it as an outline for a longer blog post or a Twitter thread pitching your book.

With all this advice in mind, start drafting your bio. If you’re stuck on how to write it, open some books in the genre you’re writing in and study how their authors structure their spiels. You can even look at the contributor bios on this very blog.

The author bio is rarely the one factor that sells your book. Nevertheless, it’s integral to pitching your book and getting your next reader.

Over to YOU: If you have an author’s bio, put it in the comments! If you don’t have one, create a draft and share it. Add any additional tips and advice for writing great author bios.

Elizabeth Javor Outskirts Press

ABOUT ELIZABETH JAVOR: With over 20 years of experience in sales and management, Elizabeth Javor works as the Director of Sales and Marketing for Outskirts Press. The Sales and Marketing departments are composed of knowledgeable publishing consultants, 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.

elizabeth speaks

What Is a Creative Commons License, and if It’s Right for Your Book

If you have researched options for publishing licenses, you might’ve run into Creative Commons and wondered if it was right for you.

A Creative Commons (CC) license is a free licensing scheme from a nonprofit organization of the same name. It gives creators an easy, configurable option for reserving and waiving their works’ rights.

Depending on your CC license, you can make it easier for other creators to build off your work. For instance, you can use a CC license to enable other creators to publish adaptations and modifications of your writing without negotiating with you over a license.

Furthermore, CC gives you options to control how others use your work. Are you not comfortable with others selling derivations of your work? Then go for a Noncommercial license. Do you want others to remain within the Creative Commons ecosystem? Opt for the ShareAlike option.

In all cases, you’ll retain the right to attribution, which means any derivative works will have to state that you and your work are the original source. But, more importantly, you’ll retain your work’s copyright and all the benefits that come with it.

So, if you’re self-publishing, should you put your next book under a Creative Commons license? It depends. For some writers, Creative Commons empower their goals. For others, it could impede the ability to profit from your products.

Keeping in mind that I’m not your lawyer, here are some factors I recommend considering when contemplating a Creative Commons license.

When should you use Creative Commons?

First off, Creative Commons has a license to place your work into the public domain. If you want to waive copyright entirely, put your words under the CO license. However, this isn’t an ideal path for any writer looking to make money off books.

One feature of a CC license is that it’s easy to apply for. To apply for a license, you just need to go to the Creative Commons website, use their chooser to pick which specific license you desire, then copy and paste the license’s wording onto your book’s copyright page.

Voilà, you’re done. There is no need to pay for a CC license or register it in a database. (Although I still recommend registering for copyright if you want to enforce it.) Anyone who wants to share or build upon your work must just read the terms of your CC license and follow them without you being required to talk with licensees.

A CC license is an excellent option if you want to freely encourage collaboration and derivation of your work, especially if you’re writing nonfiction.

For example, a teacher or professor may want to publish a paper or pamphlet and want other educators to incorporate those words into their classrooms or course materials. In these cases, the creator hopes to spread knowledge while retaining attribution for one’s work. If that’s your aim, CC is a good option.

Another approach is to place one work in the Creative Commons to promote another work that has all rights reserved. That way, you can have a CC product—like a freebie or a white paper—that readers can freely share while you can maintain commercial viability for your main book.

Even some fiction writers may see the use of the Creative Commons. For example, many novels have a CC license. Creative Commons is also common in other creative mediums like video games and tabletop role-playing games, where creators want others to release freely remixes of their games.

When isn’t Creative Commons the right choice?

Frankly, unless you have a good reason to adopt a CC license, I recommend you go with the default option of “all rights reserved,” a familiar phrase on most published books’ copyright pages.

A critical feature of a CC license is that it is irrevocable. This means that it applies forever once you put your work under a CC license. Therefore, if you want to change how your work’s material is used, then CC isn’t for you.

Creative Commons may also not make sense with your particular medium. For example, if you’re a novelist, you may not see a reason to license out derivations freely of your books.

You may also not be comfortable with adaptations of your work, especially if the adapters charge money. For instance, you may not want other writers using your characters, setting, or even words—even if they’re crediting you as the original creator.

A CC license also makes it so licensees are not obligated to contact you before sharing or remixing. If that arrangement makes you uncomfortable, that’s another point against CC.

And ultimately, if you don’t understand what a CC license does, it’s better to go with all rights reserved. Since CC is irrevocable, you should fully understand which rights you’re giving away before opting to do so.

So that’s the rundown of what constitutes Creative Commons and the factors to consider. Even if you have zero interest in applying for a CC license, learning the ins and outs will help you build your knowledge of licensing and how to protect better your book’s copyright.

Over to YOU: What experience do you have with Creative Commons licensing? What other questions do you have about copyright and licensing?

Elizabeth Javor Outskirts Press

ABOUT ELIZABETH JAVOR: With over 20 years of experience in sales and management, Elizabeth Javor works as the Director of Sales and Marketing for Outskirts Press. The Sales and Marketing departments are composed of knowledgeable publishing consultants, 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.

elizabeth speaks

Why Self-Publishing Writers Need a Style Sheet

Professionally published books are edited with a document little known to the public: the style sheet.

A style sheet is a list of terms, rules, and preferences used for editing. This sheet helps with correctness and consistency, as grammatically correct yet inconsistent writing can distract readers.

All traditional publishers create style sheets with their authors at the beginning of the editorial process and pass it down to copyeditors and proofreaders.

But many self-publishing writers neglect the style sheet. Either they self-edit without any outside help or hire an editor who doesn’t use this industry practice.

If you’re entering self-publishing as a career, I recommend that you keep a style sheet for every book. Whether you create one during the revision process or collaborate with a hired editor, the style sheet will be an invaluable tool that will only strengthen your books, especially if you’re a series author.

What does a style sheet look like?

Publishers all have different conventions for how they construct a style sheet. What’s important is that you include notes that will help you edit the best.

With that in mind, there are common elements for a style sheet.

Basic information and reference materials

At the top of the sheet, put down your book’s title and author’s name. From there, note what style manual and dictionary you’re using.

Style manuals and dictionaries vary wildly based on country and category. However, with U.S. trade publishing, The Chicago Manual of Style (CMOS) is the industry standard, with Merriam-Webster being the recommended dictionary for CMOS.

If you’re a self-publisher, you can choose whichever resources you prefer, but consider the industry standard first.

If you want professional-level editing, you need to choose specific references so that all project editors follow the same rules. Otherwise, you may have editors reversing each other’s changes due to using different dictionaries!

The alpha list

The most common section is the alpha list, also called a list of terms and names. This list orders the important words and phrases in your book alphabetically and is often subdivided by starting letter.

The most common listed terms are unique words, phrases, and proper names. If a word isn’t in your designated dictionary, include it on the style sheet. Proper names should also be included, especially if they’re names of real-life people. One of the most embarrassing editing blunders you can make is misspelling a real person’s name!

Beyond that, it’s also helpful to list common, distinctive terms in your work or the words you anticipate tripping over. Many words have variant spellings, and choosing one is ideal, so you aren’t flipping between, say, disk and disc.

Frequently, term entries will include additional information like a term’s part of speech or definition for unique words. For instance, you may put the label “(n)” for “noun” after a word.

You can even include nonalphabetical sections in your alpha list. For example, many novelists keep separate sections for character names, places, timelines, and word-building concepts.

Style rules and preferences

To the anguish of many an editor, grammar and style rules can vary greatly between style guides.

For the most part, an editor will follow the rules of one specific style guide in tandem with a publisher’s house style. However, it’s useful to note the most common rules and any digressions from the reference materials.

Practically all style sheets mention whether a book uses the serial comma. Also called the Oxford comma, it’s the comma before the coordinating conjunction in a list of three or more items, such as “x, y, and z.”

The serial comma’s a sore point among editors, with CMOS abiding by it but AP Style (for U.S. newspapers) mostly leaving it out. Even with the style manual listed, style sheets note if the serial comma is in place or not. That’s for cases when the author is inconsistent or typically works under a different style, such as a journalist writing a memoir.

As with the alpha list, sections vary, but the most common ones are:

  • punctuation & hyphenation
  • capitalization
  • abbreviations and acronyms
  • numbers and dates
  • treatment of foreign words and phrases
  • craft elements (point-of-view, verb tense)
  • captions (for books with graphical elements)
  • references, citations, bibliography
  • copyright and licensing permissions

If you have any style rules you’d die on a hill for, staying involved with the style sheet will help you retain these rules, even when your editors have different preferences. Ideally, these should be

marked as “author’s preference” when it deviates from your style manual. Remember that if you’re deviating from a standard rule, ask yourself why that rule is in place. Break the rules purposely—not carelessly.

Beyond the first book

Again, a style sheet varies by the book. Include whatever will help you and your editors.

If you’re writing a series, definitely keep the style sheet and pass it on to editors of subsequent entries. The longer the series, the more opportunities for introducing mistakes, and keeping a folder of style sheets will mitigate those mistakes and even provide a template for the sequel’s style sheet.

(And if it’s helpful, you can create an entire series bible—but that’s a matter for a different post.)

If you want to go seriously into style sheets, look up examples of style sheets online or ask your author and editor friends for copies of their sheets. With practice, your editing will improve, and so will your book!

Over to you: Do YOU use style sheets? If so, what sections and rules do YOU tend to include?

Elizabeth Javor Outskirts Press

ABOUT ELIZABETH JAVOR: With over 20 years of experience in sales and management, Elizabeth Javor works as the Director of Sales and Marketing for Outskirts Press. The Sales and Marketing departments are composed of knowledgeable publishing consultants, 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.