Tag: Kelly Schuknecht

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

Self-Publishing News: 8.29.2016

And now for the news!

This week in the world of self-publishing:

“When former Farrar, Straus and Giroux editor Jesse Coleman was looking to get back into publishing after spending years building a freelance editorial business,” writes Rachel Deahl in this August 26th article for Publishers Weekly, “he found himself weighing opportunities at Big Five houses against a job at a software company.” Ultimately, it seems, he was able to create his own third way between the two and launched a publishing branch to the Los Angeles-based software company, NationBuilder.  “That a software company would be interested in a book division seems, as Coleman acknowledged, a bit odd,” writes Deahl. But neither Coleman nor NationBuilder were new to the notion of publishing–or self-publishing.  NationBuilder’s cofounder and CEO, Jim Gilliam, gave a viral speech to the Personal Democracy Forum in 2011, a speech he and his fellow cofounder Lea Endres later transformed into a manuscript that Coleman edited and they together self-published. The book’s success, according to Deahl, whetted their appetite and they noticed a distinct synergy between nontraditional publishing models and their own company’s mission. It seemed natural, then, to develop a publishing arm to their own company with the goal of creating “the kind of nonfiction books that have consumer appeal, and extend the company’s brand.” NationBuilder Books, says Deahl, launch this fall when The Internet Is My Religion is officially rereleased on September 13. Says Deahl, “NationBuilder’s titles will be available in both print and online, and Gilliam said he’s currently in negotiations with a major distributor. Veering from the traditional royalty model, Coleman is instead commissioning books as works for hire. In lieu of royalties, authors will be offered flat advances of $20,000 each.” This places NationBuilder somewhere in the grey zone just off center of the traditional publishing houses–albeit a grey zone that has its roots deep in the self-publishing movement. For the full story, follow the link!

A quick update on a story we first brought you news on back at the beginning of the month: FlipHTML5 is officially live and seeing its first users according to this press release published to Digital Journal on August 26th. The Hong-Kong based developer, FlipHTML5 Software Co. Ltd, promotes this software as “significantly useful for self publishers as it allows them to distribute their magazines everywhere in order to reach more people,” but the proof will remain in the pudding until more users have reported back their experiences with the software over time. The demos provided on the FlipHTML5 website, including one for “Dumb Starbucks,” demonstrate the interactivity and potential for the medium–albeit, for very corporate ends. (There are also demos for H&M, WeddingWire, Miss Dior, Apple, Hard Graft, Outside Magazine, Top Gear, GoToMeeting, and a number of others under the website’s “Case Studies” tab.) One could foresee this becoming a new and beautiful way to publish zines, for one. To read the rest of the press release, click here.

Here’s some good news to start your week off on a happy note: the Independent Publishing Resource Center, given notice of its upcoming ousting earlier this summer, is close to finding its next home according to Portland Business Journal staff reporter Ron Bell in this August 24th article. “The nonprofit, which has offered publishing tools, workshops and other resources to writers and self-publishers for nearly 20 years, got word of the increase in July and needs to find a new home to replace its Southeast Division Street location by April 2017,” says Bell, making it one of “handful of recent real estate transactions that have triggered the ousting of Portland artists — including the Towne Storage Building, the Troy Laundry Building and the impending sale of Imago Theatre’s home.” The rent hike of 300 percent may not be feasible for the Independent Publishing Resource Center, but its recent successes in providing support to the self-publishing industry … is. Writes Bell, the organization turned to its friends to help out with the costs associated with leaving its 20-year home and “launched a Kickstarter campaign with a goal of $20,000. As of this past Friday, the nonprofit had cleared that and then some. This morning, the total had hit $20,754, and the campaign still had another 10 days to go.” This is good news for everyone that the IPRC has helped over the years and will help in the years to come! For the rest of Bell’s coverage of the situation, read the original article here.

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.

Kelly

ABOUT 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
Conversations with a Self-Publishing Writer, Kelly Speaks, news from the editorial desk, Uncategorized

Conversations: Royalene Returns!

It has been a long month without Royalene here to anchor the blog on Fridays–she’ll be back next week!–and it turns out her absence has given me a lot to think about in terms of the importance of personal witness and testimony within the modern self-publishing tradition.

It’s vital.

I think it’s more vital than, say, something similar within the traditional publishing industry.  Authors who pursue a traditional publication route face many challenges, there’s no denying it, but their challenges take place within the protective sphere of a guaranteed team of editors, designers, publishers, marketers, and other experts who happen to have a stake in making sure any given author they publish sells a lot of books.  Their challenges also take place within a massive literary tradition that has been defended–and eloquently, at that–by other authors for centuries, and will continue to be defended by other authors for as long as the institution lasts.

conversation illustration

Self-publishers don’t have this tradition at their backs, and they certainly don’t have teams of assistants on hand to make sure they’re striking the right tone at this or that interview or that they’re appearing at the right venues for maximum impact. Self-publishers may opt to pay for some of these services, now that the market has diversified, but their default experience takes place in a vacuum.  If they’re very lucky, they’ll have access to other indie authors who have gone before or are coming up alongside them, but they don’t have centuries and centuries of precedents to follow.  When it comes to modern self-publishing, they may have a couple of decades’ worth of a pattern to analyze, but few enough of those who went before had voices that resonate the same way that, say, traditionally published authors like F. Scott Fitzgerald or John Krakauer (to name two random names in a million) have.

This is why conversations with other self-publishing authors, like Royalene, are so important. Each conversation serves to chip away at the wall between an indie author and the comforts of community and tradition.  Conversations are what set us apart from traditionally published authors–we have the option to speak for ourselves, unfiltered and in perfect honesty, about whatever we please without repercussions or sanctions–and what unite us.

I, for one, can’t wait for September and Royalene’s return.  She and other voices like her make our lives–and our work–better.♠

Kelly

ABOUT 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

 

 

Book Design, Kelly Speaks, Uncategorized

The Book Beautiful: Formatting the Masterpiece

As you finish your manuscript and move toward the stage of publishing, the layout of the inside of your book (such as formatting, font choice, etc.) must come into serious consideration. The formatting of your book transforms your word document into a book, it brings your manuscript to life.

Now while many readers won’t spend much time musing over the careful ruminations that went into the formatting of a book, they will notice if that care hasn’t gone into your formatting. The formatting style you choose should not only reflect, but also enhance the overall feel and mood of your story. Even if the careful decisions you spend hours vacillating over are never consciously acknowledged by your reader, those decisions absolutely affect the reader’s subconscious perceptions and preconceptions of your book. For example, merely picking up a book and scanning through the pages will immediately tell a reader whether or not your book is professional, before they’ve even read a sentence. Among readers there is a certain unspoken, but expected standard for how a book should appear, thus, when a book falls short of that expectation it acts as a giant red flag that your title might not be worth purchasing. You want your book to ‘fit in’ with the other books on the shelf, you want it to look polished, legitimate, and professional.

open book formatting

Once you’ve caught the reader’s eye with a sleek, professional cover and they’ve started thumbing through the pages, something they will take subconscious note of is the font you’ve selected. Note that every time someone opens a word processor that Times New Roman is probably the pre-set font, meaning that if your book is in TNR, it won’t seem special or really pop before the reader’s eyes. There are thousands of appropriate fonts that will help your book stand out, so don’t be afraid to try something new; that being said, avoid over-the-top or childish looking fonts as well.

Further typography considerations to make are the number of characters per line, lines per page, spacing between words, etc. Think of those books you’ve read that have too many characters per line, the kind where you feel like the page or chapter is never ending. The satisfaction of turning pages and progressing to the next chapter is a thing a lot of readers enjoy–not to say you should have

HUGE FONT WITH HUGE SPACING …

… but tiny font with small spacing

isn’t great either. Find a happy middle ground. A further consideration, when there is little spacing between lines, the reader’s eye will often skip a line and they will then have to readjust and thus lose their engagement with your story. It’s a small detail, but it affects the reader’s experience which means that it’s not a trivial detail.

open book formatting

Another thing to consider: how far your text goes in toward the spine of the book. Paperback book readers know how frustrating it is when the text of the book they’re reading goes nearly all the way to the spine so they nearly have to crack it to see what you’ve written–don’t make your readers ruin your beautiful book!

The moral of the story is: don’t just settle for the bare minimum requirements of your publishing company. Treat the formatting process of the interior of your book with the same kind of tender love and care that you treated the writing and editing process with–your readers will notice, and you can rest confidently knowing that you’ve produced a well-thought out, professional book.

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. ♠

Kelly

ABOUT 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
Book Design, Book Marketing, Cover Design, Kelly Speaks, Marketing Your Self-Published Book, Uncategorized

The Book Beautiful: Hard vs. Soft Cover

When self-publishing, one of the aesthetic decisions you’ll have to make is whether or not to publish your book as a hard or soft cover. The decision is one that will mainly affect your readers, so when exploring the pros and cons of this decision, we will be considering the experience and opinions of your potential readers.

books on display India

First let’s consider what the pros are to publishing a hardcover title?

  1. Hardcovers are just plain nice to look at. They are sleek.
  2. You don’t have to worry about the pages getting ‘flappy’ or folded at the edges.
  3. They absolutely last longer–I can’t tell you how many paperback books I have with torn off or taped on covers.
  4. No need for a bookmark, just use the handy-dandy book jacket!
  5. Look great as additions to a bookshelf or coffee table.

And the cons to publishing a hardcover title?

  1. They are heavy as can be; i.e. not ideal for travel.
  2. They are undoubtedly more expensive which will deter a lot of potential readers. This also means a higher publishing expense which is important to those of us self-publishing authors.
  3. A lot of readers find book jackets annoying and simply remove them, which means all that time you spent designing a cover may go to waste.
  4. It can certainly be more awkward to handle and read a hardcover; they are bulky and not easily wielded with one hand.
  5. Readers tend to only buy hardcover books of authors they are already die-hard fans of, so if you don’t already have a fan base, it may be more difficult to create one if your book is only available in hardcover.

Now to consider to pros of publishing a softcover title:

  1. Relatively speaking, softcover books are cheaper, both to print and to purchase.
  2. Softcovers are easier to travel with, they are also easier to read on the go.
  3. They are more widely purchased, so you have a better chance of people buying your book, especially first time readers of yours.

And then cons of publishing a softcover title?

  1. They are semi-easy to tear; the cover may fall off.
  2. Not long lasting, especially if you travel with them.
  3. Depending on printing costs, they may not have as high of a profit margin.

With those things in mind, the decision is now yours! (I won’t further complicate things by discussing the pros and cons of adding an ebook to your publication artillery. 🙂 )

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. ♠

Kelly

ABOUT 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
from the archives, Jodee Speaks, Kelly Speaks, Uncategorized

From the Archives: “Self Publishing Authors Beware: Cheaper isn’t Always Better”

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.

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[ Originally posted: February 25th, 2015 ]

I recently saw a commercial with the message “cheaper isn’t always better.” The advertisement illustrates that cheap is good and sushi is good, but cheap gas station sushi isn’t good (or something like that, I’m sure you’ve seen it).  This analogy immediately made me think of self publishing. For authors considering self publishing, it is important to remember that cheaper isn’t always better. When choosing a self publishing company, consider these two questions.

1. What are the upfront costs, the per book cost and royalties?

You may find a company that has incredibly low per book author costs, but don’t let that govern your decision.  Just because a company promotes a low per book cost doesn’t mean they are the best bargain — they may have high upfront costs and low royalties.  And just because a company offers low upfront costs doesn’t mean they are the best bargain — they may have high per book costs, low royalties and even requirements for you to purchase hundreds of books yourself.  You must find a good balance of upfront costs, per book cost and royalties.  Consider all of this when self publishing.

2. What services are available?

In many cases, the cliché “you get what you pay for” is true, and self publishing is often one of those cases. Not all self publishing companies are created equal, and you need to consider your professional goals and needs when choosing a company. A cheaper company often does not offer all the services and support needed to create a quality book, and if you want to be respected as an author and sell books, you need to offer your readers a quality product.

Ultimately, the self publishing company you choose depends on your goals and needs as an author. Some people can go with the cheapest option and be completely satisfied, but many serious authors find that spending a little more is worth the extra expense.  You want to find a company that will produce a top-quality product, offer you plenty of options such as professional editing and custom covers, and a variety of options for marketing and promoting your book.  As you research self publishing companies, be sure to consider all the costs as well as the value of the services offered. You may just find that “cheaper isn’t always better.”

– by Jodee Thayer

You know all about hidden fees and the small print, don’t you?  At some point or another, we’ve all fallen victim to it: in paying off student loans, in signing a work contract, in paying for that one trip to the emergency room six years back, in getting called up for jury duty–and of course, in selecting a company to self-publish your book.  Back in the early age of the internet, when everything was wild and self-publishing was as yet an unformed and unregulated process, lots of people were straight-up swindled out of their money by scam websites advertising cheap publication, no problem, no questions asked.

These days, you’re a lot less likely to run across a mustache-twirling self-aware villain than you are to be taken advantage of by a legitimate, if soulless and heartless, company.  These companies offer–you guessed it–real and legitimate services, but they do so in a way that deliberately obscures the real costs beneath layers and layers of fine print.  The only way to really know what you’re getting when it comes to a self-publishing company is to read every line of the original agreement as well as every line of every product bundle–and to verify with past customers that they got exactly what they paid for in addition to quality customer service, and that they were never strong-armed into paying for services they didn’t want or need, used-car-salesmanlike.

sale

The first step to a successful (and enjoyable) self-publishing experience is to shop wisely, and only go into business with a company you trust.  Can you trust Amazon to put your needs–one customer in a billion–first?  Probably not.  How about a smaller family-run company or passion project?  You’re probably on the right track there.  The second step is not to equate cost with quality–to recognize that hidden fees are reprehensible, yes, but that there are also delayed costs in publishing.  A cheaper cover design option now might cost less now, but the cost is simply delayed–a few months down the road, it becomes clear that a cheap and unattractive book cover is, yes, costing you.  Costing you customers!  The same goes for poor interior design, and poor marketing.  You might have savvy in some of these areas, but it’s rare for an author to have a deft hand with both Photoshop and listserv blasts.  The key is in knowing your strengths and taking advantage of them, and knowing the strengths of your publishing platform–and being willing to pay for the ones you need.

Because, ultimately, the truth of the matter is that pretty much every product on the planet, including your self-published book, is inevitably shaped by one simple formula, and it’s not “lower cost = better service.”  Rather, the formula that shapes your book’s destiny is instead:

quality of service × expense of production = quality of product

And the thing about a formula like this is that if you reduce either of the terms, service or cost, the quality of the product can only go down.  Now, every company starts at a different point; some self-publishing and hybrid service really do offer better offerings for the same price as others.  That has to be researched, and can only truly be verified by checking in with the experts and with past customers of all of the different companies you have an eye on.  (Research is never a bad idea.)  As long as you are looking for balance in all things–between costs now and later, between time and energy and skill set and the challenges before you, I’m confident you’ll make the best choice in what services you pay for!

better service lower cost balance

 

Thanks for reading.  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.  ♠

Kelly

ABOUT 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