Cheri Speaks

Some Reasons Why Authors Need to be Copyright-Savvy

As a copyright clearance professional and trainer in copyright basics for creatives in the publishing sector, the arts, the public speaking arena, and the music industry, I often see the consequences in the new self-publishing and independent-publishing paradigm of a lack of knowledge about even the basics of copyright. The Internet, for example, offers a wealth of content, some of it serving as a resource and some as material that we can directly incorporate to enhance our own work. In today’s global marketplace, it is important to know how to locate and use copyrighted content while keeping the risks of infringement to a minimum.

Authors who are unaware of the consequences of plagiarism and infringement may find themselves facing some unpleasant decisions regarding their work.  If they are accused of either activity, they may have to defend their reputation and struggle to diminish the damage such an accusation can make on their career. If they have to defend themselves in court, they may face costly attorney fees. If they lose, they may have to remove all their books from the sales mechanism they have chosen and discard them. They may have to pay damages of as much as $30,000 per work infringed and, if the infringement is found to be willful, they could have to pay damages of up to $150,000 per work infringed.

Three common misconceptions about using copyrighted content follow:

Misconception 1: A small amount of copying is always OK.

This is not true.  There is no law that states a specific amount of words or lines are a fair use. Even a line or two of lyrics or a line or two of poetry can be an infringement, for example.

Misconception 2: Giving credit for a quote excuses its use without permission.

This is not true. Giving credit for a copyrighted work only makes its use free of plagiarism. The use of a copyrighted work accompanied by a credit, but lacking a permission, may still be determined an infringement.

Misconception 3: It is always OK to publish a photograph if the physical copy is in possession of the user/publisher.

This is not true.  The possessor of a physical copy of an artwork or photograph is not necessarily the owner of its copyright.  Another consideration with the use of a photograph is the use of the images within the photograph. For example, there can be problems related to copyright ownership with publishing even a family photo if permission hasn’t been obtained from family members included in it and from the photographer who took the photograph.

 

Joyce Miller is co-founder and co-owner of Integrated Writer Services, LLC. She does manuscript assessments, copyright clearance, and advising on instances of plagiarism, infringement, misquoting, and improper citing. For more information about Joyce and the services she provides, go to www.permissionacquistion.com or contact her directly at joycem@writerservices.biz.

Wendy Speaks

How Should I Spend My Self Publishing Dollars?

Authors often want to know how to best invest the money they have set aside for self publishing their book. The answer is simple yet complex. It is simple because there are certain things that almost every book needs in order to reach a certain level of success (i.e. custom cover, professional interior layout and design, etc.). Then it’s also complex because every book is different and strategies that work well for some books don’t necessarily work well for others.

For instance, if you are an author who is writing a non-fiction book, editing is more important to your overall success. If you don’t edit your manuscript, you can be viewed as a poor resource. When you write a fiction book, editing is less essential (though still very important). Readers of fiction can be (not always) a bit more forgiving of grammatical mistakes as long as they don’t render the book illegible. Either way, I would recommend editing, but if you have to cut your budget somewhere, you can spend less on editing as a fiction author than we would recommend for a non-fiction author.

You also need to figure out where you want to sell your book. Do you want to reach an online only audience? If so, you may want to invest into things like Kindle eBook Formatting, Search Inside the Book, See Inside the Book, etc. If you’re going after an offline audience, you may want to invest a return program which makes your title more attractive to brick-and-mortar bookstores.

Lastly, you may consider the price of your publishing package (if you choose to go with a self publishing company like Outskirts Press). What bells and whistles are available? Does it include what you’re looking for? You have to make sure you are getting the best bang for your buck here. Evaluate cost carefully.

DISCUSSION: What are you spending your self publishing dollars on?

http://outskirtspress.com/p/kindle
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.
Book Marketing, Kelly Speaks

Amanda Hocking’s Road to Success with Indie Publishing

Today’s post is by book marketing industry expert, Kelly Schuknecht.

Amanda Hocking has become an indie and digital publishing super star.  The author of 17 books, she began self-publishing them as e-books in April 2010, and what a year it has been!  She has earned over a million dollars in royalties and landed a traditional publishing contract for her next series.

How did she do it?  Amanda writes young adult paranormal romance, and prices her books with a marketing strategy in mind.  She published the first book in each series with a price of just $.99 to encourage sales.  Once readers were hooked, the price of her second book in the series was just $2.99.  She would set the price of the final book in the series at about $8.99.  When readers would purchase all of the books in the series, Amanda would make “a pretty decent profit.”

Hear about Amanda’s road to success in her own words in this Associated Press video:

 

DISCUSSION: How do you use marketing strategy when you set your pricing?

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.
Uncategorized

Writing an “Elevator Speech” for Your Book

If you were asked to log on to Twitter and describe your book in 140 characters or less, could you do it?

It’s time that authors come up with quick descriptions for their book that can be used on social networks and in general conversation — think of it as your “elevator speech”.

The good thing about a well-crafted “elevator speech” is that you can easily hook your audience into wanting to know more about your book.

For example, budding author Cooper Gallegos uses the following to describe his book: “Road kill, arson, murder and abandonment. Welcome to Goat’s Corner where Velma, the waterhauler holds everyone hostage in a landscape of suspicion and resentment.” The words alone are strong enough to draw in potential readers.

According to the Indiana University Teaching Handbook, the average attention span of adults is 15 – 20 minutes. This refers to both forced attention and voluntary attention. If you are trying to capture an adult that has no reason to listen to you, you have much less time to keep them interested. Thus, the shorter time you spend describing your book, the greater the likelihood of reaching them.

Have you come up with your “elevator speech”? If not, keep your eyes peeled to our Facebook and Twitter pages to participate in our Weekly Writing Challenges. These can help you step out of your comfort zone and write brief useful descriptions for your book, main characters, etc.

Cheri Speaks

The Pros and Cons of Self-Publishing

There are pros and cons to any endeavor. Though we’d all like to say that our solution relieves the end user from making any of the wrong decisions, that’s simply not the case. However, there is a good and bad side of each coin. Here are a few related to self publishing:

Pros

  • Freedom of expression — you write your own words. You don’t have to change what you’ve written or even edit your manuscript.
  • You control how your book looks — everything from the cover to the interior formatting is in your hands.
  • You set your own price — it can be a low or high as you would like.
  • You receive 100% of your royalties — there’s no middleman stealing your profits.

Cons

  • No one critiques your manuscript — how can you be sure your story is “worth reading”?
  • You don’t have to edit your manuscript — a messy manuscript turns into a poorly-written book that very few people (if any) will want to read.
  • You control your book’s design — this is great if you’re a designer but not so great if you have limited graphic skills.

The best route to take is to choose a reputable self-publishing company. Interview several of them until you find the one that best suits your needs. That way, you can be given much of the same guidance you’d receive going with a “traditional” publisher, but you’ll enjoy many of the same freedoms that come along with self publishing.

What other pros/cons can you think come along with self publishing territory?

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.