Self Publishing Saturday, Uncategorized

Self Publishing Saturday: What Happened this Week?

On weekend mornings, I enjoy nothing more than reading the paper to find out what has happened this week (now I primarily read the news online) in one place without searching many places. With many “tweeps” (Twitter slang for “people”) using paper.li to put together information, you can keep track of things pretty easily. What if you don’t have a Twitter account? What about the sources the things that weren’t mentioned?

Here we aim to feature things that are going on in self publishing so that you don’t have to find out on your own. Plus, we want to share other resource with you so that you can be well-advised on the publishing process.

So, sit back, relax, and enjoy this week’s digest.

Have you written something our readers can benefit from this week? Post a link in the comments.

Book Marketing, Kelly Speaks

5 Ways to Promote Your Book in May

May is almost here, so it’s time to start thinking about the opportunities this new month brings for you to promote your book.  Here are five ideas for promoting a book in May:

  1. Mother’s Day is May 8th.  If your book is about parenting, motherhood, family or a related topic, now is a good time to promote your book as a Mother’s Day gift idea.
  2. If you only have a hard copy format of your book, consider adding an ebook, Kindle, Nook  and/or Apple (iBook) edition. Additional formats help increase the exposure for your book.
  3. The Book Expo America (BEA) is taking place May 26th – 28th.  Even if you can’t make it to New York to attend the book fair this year, get involved in online discussions about the events.  Keep yourself informed about what’s going on and the major topics being discussed in the industry.
  4. Memorial Day is May 30th.  How can you promote your book for Memorial Day?  Don’t…well, not directly.  While you’re relaxing with your family and enjoying some time off, read a book.  When you’re done, write a review for that book on Amazon.  Make sure your Amazon account includes a bio mentioning your book and a link to your website or blog.
  5. Plan ahead for summer.  With school letting out and many people taking advantage of the weather for much needed vacation time, you may be tempted to put your book marketing efforts on hold.  Because your book marketing efforts are so important to the success of your book sales, set goals for yourself now to keep yourself on task over the summer months.  Plan to do something to promote your book every day, each week or each month.

DISCUSSION: How are you planning to promote YOUR book in May?

ABOUT KELLY SCHUKNECHT:
Kelly Schuknecht works as the Director of Author Support for 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 at http://kellyschuknecht.com.
Self-Publishing Book Review of the Week

Self-Publishing Book Review of the Week: He Kan’t Kill Your Future by: Sharquent Webster

Book reviews are a great way for self-publishing authors to gain exposure. After all, how can someone buy your book if they don’t know about it? Paired with other elements of your book promotion strategy, requesting reviews is a great way to get people talking about what you’ve written.

When we read good reviews, we definitely like to share them. It gives the author a few (permanent) moments of fame and allows us let the community know about a great book. So, without further adieu, here’s this week’s book review:

Pearl book cover

He Kan’t Kill Your Future

Sharquent Webster

Publisher: Outskirts Press, Inc.

ISBN 9781432764456

Reviewed by: Carol Hoyer, PhD, for Reader Views

“The author has written an excellent book that tells the journey of her life while growing up in South Central Los Angeles. This is not a story that is filled with happiness or love, but one that tells what it is like to grow up in a large family where no one really cares. It is Sharquent’s own story of being abused, neglected, beaten, and living on the streets. Many readers will never know this type of life, but for thousands this is what is normal to them. Did they choose this life? Many will prejudge and say yes. But who among us want to be unloved, neglected, abused and raped?

Sharquent’s father disappeared when she was young. She lived with her mother and nine siblings in a dilapidated house filled with strange people, an older brother who took pleasure in sexually abusing her and her sister and a mother who lived for finding things in the dumpster, including food. When someone you love or think you love leaves you suddenly it seems as if there is no hope. However, with all things that happened to Sharquent and her siblings, their mother continued to believe.

Not doing well in school or even liking it, Sharquent finds fulfillment in other areas: drugs, unsafe sex, stealing and calling jail her home. In addition, she had two children and after they were born she was ready to run back again to the streets to get her high. Even though she found Phillip who actually cared about her, the streets loved her more.

Through watching others hustle, she learned various ways to earn money to get drugs. Mind you now, she had two young children, but really they were a problem. After spending time in jail she was sent to an in-patient program to clean up and learn new skills. But often you can’t teach someone from the streets new skills; they are often very mistrustful and feel they know more than anyone else.

Finally, after many crises, mistrust and just pain, she found people who actually cared about and loved her regardless. The most important thing she found in her life was Jesus. It took some time but she finally surrendered all her anger, drug abuse and revenge and left it in his hands.

From a psychological point of view, this book is many things.

For those in the helping field it gives a clear, unbiased view of what it is like to live a life like this. She is not a flowery writer, just tells it like it is. For those who are at risk or already living this life it is a story of hope. She is my kind of woman.

This is a must read for all those who try to help others in her situation- we will never know all the details but what we do know is that it can happen. It is also for those who want to know how one gets in this type of situation and for those who feel they are better than anyone else.

I would love to use He Kan’t Kill Your Future in my Psychology college classes that I teach and have the students put themselves in the role of Sharquent and then in the role of a helper.”

Wendy Speaks

Self-Publishing Authors Can Get Their Books on the Shelves of “Traditional” Bookstores

Even with the recent changes in the book publishing industry, a “traditional” bookstore presence should still be a goal for authors who want this. Why? Well, with this presence, authors are able to target an audience that is passionate about books. Think about it — people have to leave behind the comforts of their own home to go into a bookstore. Most likely they are there to purchase a book. If your book is on the shelf, yours may just have a chance at being the book they buy.

How can you work toward getting your book into that bookstore, though? Is it a matter of luck? Can self-publishing authors make the cut? The good news is that even if you’re not necessarily on a “lucky streak”, it’s still possible to successfully target placement in “traditional” bookstores. However, you must have a solid plan in place for doing so. Here are a few action items to put on your list as you get started:

  • Make sure your book is fully returnable. If your book cannot be returned, there is great risk involved for the bookstore. For example, if they stock 10 copies of your book and only 4 sell over the course of a year, they are losing money. If the book is returnable, though, the store can simply send the book back that doesn’t sell. Think of this return-ability as a type of “insurance” for your book.
  • Offer a sufficient trade discount. What’s sufficient? Typically that will be around 50-55% (or higher). Of course this does cut into your profits, but a higher retail margin gives the bookstore more incentive to stock your book on their shelves. No incentive? No cigar.
  • Build proof that your book is desirable. This is probably the most difficult (though not insurmountable) part of it all because authors often have a bias view of their book. However, the best indicator of a desirable book is exponential sales figures. If the amount of books you sale doubles, triples, quadruples, etc. month-after-month, that is something that can work in your favor. If you aren’t a professional marketer, you may want to seek the services of a book marketing consultant. Make sure they are able to help you draft a marketing plan and go forth on planning your publicity.

After you’ve done all of the above, you must put together a proposal to submit to bookstore contacts. You can find others specifically on their websites, but Barnes & Noble can be reached here:

The Small Press Department
Barnes & Noble
122 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10011

Other bookstores can be found through Google. Another popular site for locating independent bookstores is Indie Bound.

Do you know of any other bookstores that are small press/self-published friendly?

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.
Cheri Speaks

Avoid Using “Hard Returns” in your Manuscript

A few weeks ago, we told you to why you shouldn’t allow your publisher to format your book. As a matter of fact, we gave you 3 good reasons for this. However, neither of those reasons were relevant for you, so you decided to forgo formatting the book yourself.

Formatting a book is not a task to be taken lightly. If your book is poorly formatted, it can mean that you aren’t taken seriously. That’s why most self-publishing companies include interior formatting services in their fee. It is understood and accepted that authors usually don’t have time to learn the nuances of interior layout. When you allow your publisher to format your manuscript, there is one piece of advice you should keep in mind:

Don’t use hard returns.

A hard return occurs when you use the “Enter” key to break the line instead of letting it wrap naturally. Most word processing programs automatically take text that won’t fit on the current line to the next line.  Because your publisher will most likely be copying/pasting the text of your manuscript into their book design program, those hard returns can often throw off the formatting considerably. Because of this, publishers normally don’t accept manuscripts with hard returns. The only exception here is poetry books and using the “enter” key to go to the next paragraph.

Other than hard returns, can you think of any other things you had to change in order for your publisher to accept your manuscript?

Cheri Breeding ABOUT CHERI BREEDING:
Since 2005 Cheri Breeding has been working as the Director of Production for Outskirts Press. In that time, she has been an instrumental component of every aspect of the Production Department, performing the roles of an Author Representative, Book Designer, Customer Service Representative, Title Production Supervisor, Production Manager and, Director of Production. She brings all that experience and knowledge, along with an unparalleled customer-service focus, to help self-publishing authors reach high-quality book publication more efficiently, professionally, and affordably.