Choosing a Publisher, Self-Publishing

Writing for Self-Publishing: Ask the Book Doctor

E-Books

Q: I am working on formatting and editing a nonfiction book designed to be both an e-book and a published hard-copy book. I will also likely end up doing the work to get this work accepted by a publisher. Can you tell me, have e-books become popular yet, or is the core of publishing still in paper and not looking to move forward?

 

A: Most publishers I know that help authors produce e-books and printed books are not traditional publishers; that is, they produce print-on-demand books and do not stockpile books or distribute them to stores. They simply print one at a time when they are ordered, so there’s no major investment on their part and no advance on royalties to you. Basically if you sell a book, you get a percentage of the profit, but if you yourself don’t sell it, the printer won’t go to any trouble to sell it for you.

 

As far as the popularity of e-books, several companies have tried to produce machines (Kindle and others) to make e-books more attractive to readers, but still e-books lag far behind printed books when it comes to sales. Still, after an e-book is created, you incur no further cost to reproduce and distribute it when sold, so e-books can provide one-hundred percent profit to authors who have a client base and can promote their own books or sell them through their own Web sites. 

What would you like to ask a book doctor? Send your questions to Bobbie Christmas at Bobbie@zebraeditor.com. 

Book Promotion

Free Promotion for your Self-Published Book

When it comes to promoting your self-published book, nothing beats free! Here’s a quick little site where you can submit your book information for a free listing. There are a lot of these types of sites out there, but this one belongs to Dan Poynter, who promotes endlessly and drives many, many people to his website all the time. It will take about 5 minutes of your time. While you are on his site, I recommend exploring other options and opportunities he has available.

http://parapublishing.com/sites/para/resources/successstories.cfm

Good luck and have fun!
Kelly Schuknecht
selfpublishingadvice.wordpress.com

Self-Publishing Book Review of the Week

Self Published Book Review of the Week: Sammy the Panda’s World of Colors and Shapes

spwcs_coverSammy the Panda’s World of Colors and Shapes
by Haliyma Barrow
Illustrated by Danielle MacIndoe

READING LEVEL: ages 4-6

RATING: 5 stars

REVIEWED BY: Wayne Walker

Little Sammy Panda is sad. His cousins Milly and Tilly have misplaced the different colored shapes of his favorite toy set, “The Ship of Shapes.” His Mommy seems to know what will cheer him up, so she helps him look for the one gold star, the two green triangles, the three orange circles, and so forth. Will they find them all? And will Sammy be happy again?

What a neat idea! My wife and I homeschooled our children, and when they were little we were always looking for fun and colorful tools to help them learn their numbers, colors, and shapes. Whether you plan to homeschool your toddlers or prepare them for traditional school, this book is a great resource for accomplishing that very purpose. With striking full-color illustrations on every page that youngsters should find appealing, this is probably one of those books that they will ask to be read to them over and over. Parents who are interested in developing bilingualism will appreciate the added benefit that the text at each opening is in both English and Spanish. I give this book two thumbs up!

Visit the author’s website: www.sammythepanda.com

Book Promotion

Pitching your Self-Published Book to NewsHour

The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer attracts over 3 million viewers each night to PBS and most of them are avid readers.

The arts and culture producers are your best bets for pitching your self-published book if you cannot find a more specific producer based upon your subject matter. (I have included additional producers, their contact information, and their subjects of specialization below).

Email the producer in advance and mention that you will be sending them a copy of your book. Then, mail them a copy along with your press release, sales sheet (if you have one) and any additional information that would be helpful.  Then, about 2 weeks later, follow-up via email again and inquire about the book.

Media, Arts and Culture
Anne Davenport
annedavenport@newshour.org
Jeff Brown
jbrown@newshour.org

International Affairs
Mike Mosettig
mmosettig@newshour.org

National Affairs (including economics, finance, science, and sports)
Murray Jacobson
mjacobson@newshour.org

Congressional Affairs
Jim Trengrove
jtrengrove@newshour.org

Education, law, politics
Linda Winslow
lwinslow@newshour.org

Send your book to the appropriate producer’s attention at:
The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer
3620 27th St. South
Arlington, VA 22206

Good luck and have fun!
Kelly Schuknecht
selfpublishingadvice.wordpress.com

Editing Your Self-Published Book, Self-Publishing

Writing for Self-Publishing: Ask the Book Doctor

Commas

Q: How would you punctuate the following sentence? Would you delete the comma after the first “that?” Would you delete both commas?

Mr. Smith concluded with the vague assertion that, if he ever gets a handle on the IRS situation, he will attempt to pay the client and asked that we call him in ninety days.

A: I would delete the first comma and let the first part of the sentence act as a single introductory phrase. I would also separate his conclusion from his request, so I would write it this way: Mr. Smith concluded with the vague assertion that if he ever gets a handle on the IRS situation, he will attempt to pay the client. He asked that we call him in ninety days.

You could argue that both commas could be left, thereby setting aside the nonessential phrase, “if he ever gets a handle on the IRS situation.” I stand by the fact that what he concluded and what he asked should appear in separate sentences. 

 

What would you like to ask a book doctor? Send your questions to Bobbie Christmas at Bobbie@zebraeditor.com.