The publishing world is your oyster -- and your book could be the pearl.

Having trouble getting started on your non-fiction book?  Nearly 82 percent of the population say they "have a book in them," yet only about 2 percent ever put pen to paper and probably only half of those people finish their manuscript. There are multiple things at play here.  Lack of focus is one. Fear is another. Lack of time is definitely on the list.  With non-fiction -- lack of organization can be a biggie too.

You have a story in you. Should you look for a publisher or consider self publishing? Consider this: Writing a book doesn't necessarily mean you have to publish your book for a mass, national audience; but you sure as heck SHOULD put pen to paper. It's the most thoughtful legacy you can leave to your family. It's a dynamic and smart corporate gift. If it's something your target prospects will find valuable, then you have a foundation from which to showcase your expertise and build a platform for your ideas.  If you have a book that will benefit the masses, by all means, go for it and take the proper steps to publish it.

How do you start?  The next four blog posts will give you some expanded pointers on these steps:

1. Develop a Focus Statement - Make sure your book is Niche Rich -- focus on a topic and don't try to target too many people.  If the subject matter you want to put into your book doesn't quite fit your FS, put it aside for the next book.
2. Create a working title - This will help you set the tone and overall feel for your book.  Don't worry about it not being a compelling title for sales -- that will come.  Naming your book is the best way to see that it is real.
3. Purchase a 3-ring binder, 8 index tabs that you can write on, and 8 3-ring pocket folders. Making two of these books when you start can keep you focused. Stay tuned for details on how to use this tool.
4. Write your Table of Contents on sheets in the front of your binder and then start filling in the topics you want in those chapters. Don't try to organize chapters among themselves -- just get topics and supporting points organized.  Also - don't let a messy TOC stop you. Keep it all there, cross outs and all. (You may need them later). 

These steps will get you started.  Check back for an in-depth look at these individual steps.

Go for it!
Lisa K. Pelto, President
Concierge Marketing & Publishing Inc.

Print on demand: Good or Bad for the value of the Book?

Print-on-Demand certainly has changed the face of publishing today.  More authors are able to put their work in print and send it out to the marketplace. Problem is, many authors end up in Print-on-Demand strategies without having the benefit of a professional book editor's careful pen nor the experience and knowledge of a book designer.  Nearly every day, we hear authors tell us that their manuscript is ready to go -- and despite our assessment, they often refuse any editorial assistance. 

We won't publish a book that isn't professionally edited; but that isn't the policy of POD houses -- therein lies the problem. Sure they will upsell the service, but if an author doesn't want it, they will publish it anyway.  Bad idea! The industry and public see these ill-written and poorly produced books from POD authors and publishers, and it shores up their claims that all self publishing is bad.  It isn't.  There are a lot of professionals in the marketplace that can help create high quality products and, thankfully, lots of authors using them; but some authors cut costs where they shouldn't. Well, they shoot themselves and every other independent self publishing author in the foot because they contribute to the overall image of self publishing. It's a universe, not a microcosm.

We asked independent author/publishers what they thought about the trend.  Here's a response from publisher, author, and editor John Hlavacek. John was previously with a POD house and had hired his own professional book editor and submitted a clean manuscript.  When all was said and done, he was unhappy with the overall results of the POD experience because he was part of the same pool of so many authors who didn't have their book edited, and made everyone look bad to the industry.  He's now his own micro-publisher and hires professional services, controlling all aspects of his publishing:  Here's what he had to say:

Yes. Print on demand publishing loses the public's interest because they believe that the authors are amateurs. The reading public believes that only a book that has been publicized by an agent and a large book publisher with advertising money and an advance to the author can be worthwhile. In POD, only authors with a large network of family and friends who can "spread the word" can truly be successful. This perception has been perpetuated by the large publishing houses and those whose bread is buttered by the traditional publishing industry.

 John Hlavacek, Hlucky Books www.hluckybooks.com/

People DO Judge Your Book By Its Cover - So Choose Wisely

You have to love your cover. I don’t care how left-brained you are, work with your cover designer to absolutely love your cover. Sit down with a professional book cover designer and create your product. (Please, don't use just anyone who calls themselves a graphic artist but has no training in book cover design, and not your cousin's brother's best friend's wife who "has software on their computer")  This is a critical stage of your product development stages. It’s the packaging.

Go to the health products aisle of the grocery store to see how much color, typeface, placement of photos, etc. affect your image of the product. It’s the same thing in book packaging. Try different photos. Try different fonts. Ask bookie people in your book's audience if they find the cover appealing. Talk to the booksellers. They are often quite truthful (caution:  Sometimes they are just employees that don’t really know anything about books – be sure you get someone who cares about books).

And be sure to stand in front of the section where your book would be shelved and compare your proposed cover to those already on the shelves.

Is yours appealing? Blah? Or does it pop? You want to pop.

We have done countless makeovers on books whose covers are embarrassing because the author’s photo is too large. Or the type font is hard to read. Or the spine type is too small. Some of these things can be fixed on a second print run, if you get that luxury.

TIP: Shrink down the cover on your computer screen. If the cover has a white background, you’ll have to put an edge on it for online catalogs like Amazon. Can you still read the title when the book cover is little? If you are in the newspaper, your book isn’t likely to be shown at 100%, so make sure you can read the title even if your book is an inch or so tall.

And remember, if you ask 10 different people for their opinion, you’ll get 10 different opinions. Learn how to weigh them to get the best results for yourself.

Lisa Pelto, President
Concierge Marketing and Publishing Services

Books as Marketing Tools? You Bet!

Many professionals are finding that by writing a book, they are looked upon with more respect as an expert, and they are able to use their book as a tool to market themselves to their target audiences. Ever get a look of awe from a prospect when you hand them a brochure? Probably not. Ever try to sell a brochure in the back of the room after presenting? I think not. It's a different story with a book for these and many other reasons. Below are two stories from authors using their books as marketing tools:

Use your book to establish your credibility...

Many professionals consider writing books as a calling card, and I do believe that is quite effective. However, that was not my motivation. I’m writing books, because I’m serious about a long-term career as an author. That said, being an author has been beneficial for my other professional pursuits because of the attention it brings.

Jeff Beals,
Author of Self Marketing Power: Branding Yourself as a Business of One
http://www.selfmarketingpower.com/

Use them as introductions...

I've been amazed at how many books we have given away as a way of promoting our nonprofit organization. Not only has the book given added credibility to what we are doing, it gives people a chance to get an in-depth picture of how our organization fits into the larger social structure within the community.

Donna Miesbach
Co-author of Coaching for a Bigger Win: A Playbook for Coaches
http://www.theplaymakers.org/

Handing a potential customer or client your own book solidifies your place in that person's mind as a recognized, knowledgeable expert... and a generous one at that.

Why Go Indie? Part 2

More authors tell us why they decided to go indie:

I wanted to go the indie route for a number of reasons. First of all, the indie author maintains control over his or her intellectual property. That means a great deal to me. The second reason was speed. I didn’t want to wait while I found a publisher. As an indie author, I can still go through all the necessary steps to position my work in the marketplace but still shave off a great deal of time.

Jeff Beals,
Author of Self Marketing Power: Branding Yourself as a Business of One
http://www.selfmarketingpower.com/

I decided to publish independently because I wanted total control of my product content and I was under too short a deadline to go the traditional route through a publisher. My book has been a great extended business card enabling me to expand into both radio and television appearances.

Larry Bradley,
Author of Neither Liberal Nor Conservative Be: An Action Plan for People Disgusted by Polarized Politics
http://www.thecenterstrikesback.com/

Why Go Indie?

Over the next few blog posts, we will be following a common theme: Why did our authors decide to go with us and publish their books independently?

The main reason we decided to publish independently was because we needed to have the book available within a specific time frame. That would not have been possible if we had tried to go through a "mainstream publisher," since that can be a very slow process. Not only that, we wanted to be sure the book would always be available, that it would not "go out of print." Also, we had a very clear idea of what we wanted the book to look like. Publishing independently allowed us to have the final say on how the cover design and contents would be set up.

Donna Miesbach
Co-author of Coaching for a Bigger Win
Playmakers Press
http://www.theplaymakers.org/

Is it wise to blog by mobile devices? Which social media do you get real benefits from?

ALA 2009

It's just over a month since we got back from our trip to the American Library Association's Annual Conference. This year's show was held at McCormick Place in Chicago. While the number of exhibitors was down from 6,800 in 2008 to 6,000, attendance exceded expectations with around 27,000 people at the show. This may signify that many companies were cutting costs by simply attending the show, instead of exhibiting.

We made many great library contacts, from public, private, school, corporate and others. Authors who had signings in the CMI booth included J.P. Hansen, The Bliss List; April Kelly, Gratitude at Work; John Hlavacek, United Press Invades India and six others; Al Matheny, Baghdad FTU; Laura Reavis, An Angel to Watch Over, and Jeff Beals, Self Marketing Power. People were lining up around the corner for autographed copies of these authors' books!

During the show: To create a presence beyond our 10x10 booth, there was an article about Concierge Marketing's clients and the full page, full color ad in the Librarian News, and we created new full color 16 page catalog. Press, distributors and other publishers, who previously considered us just another author services company, commented on our high quality, relevant titles and were very impressed with our authors. They lined up to see what all the commotion was too! So kudos to all!

Follow-up: After the show, we immediately sent a Constant Contact e-blast to the leads that provided e-mails. We continue to enjoy increased traffic from that. We also mailed out our printed catalog with a thank you letter to them. We will continue to market to these buyers. In addition, we also invested in a webpage on the American Library Association's Buyer's Guides with links to all of your individual sites. Best of luck to you all with the libraries. We believe this is a market worth building.

Overall, we found the show to be extremely relevant and purposeful, coming away with many valuable leads for all of us. I have to admit, I thought the BookExpo, with its size and scope, would be the best for us for a long time; however, with the economy as it is, libraries are seeing a resurgence in patronage (and thus budgets) in most cities. It's positively a show we found worthwhile!

I would also like to publicly thank my staff who worked tirelessly to pull together a tremendous show and more books than ever! Erin, Ellie, and Gary...You all did an amazing job and I appreciate your mad skills, incredible knowledge, great tenacity and elbow grease!

Thank you!
Lisa Pelto, President
Concierge Marketing Inc.

When in Rome...

Does anyone else ever feel overwhelmed by the massive amount of opportunities there are online for free or cheap marketing? These sites are free in the sense that they don't cost money, but they can zap your time. I believe that many of the social networking sites are useful --when used correctly and for the right reasons. It's just like when every company thought they had to have their product on television to get anyone to notice it. Not true. If you are just jumping on the bandwagon because everyone else seems to be and you don't want to get left in the dust, take a step back and think about whether or not the people you are trying to reach can even be found on a site like Facebook or Twitter. Maybe they are on MySpace -- people have preferences and prejudices regarding these sites.

Don't get me wrong, I'm a strong advocate for online networking, but it seems like everyone is everywhere, with no real strategy. Maybe you're trying to get the attention of the 20-something crowd to come into your new salon -- Google AdWords might be the best. Or maybe you should be going with an old-school newsletter -- on actual "paper" if you want to tell local businesses about a sale you're having at the end of the week or a new service you're offering. Figure out where your time and money is best spent, and go from there.

Erin Pankowski
Marketing Manager
Concierge Marketing
and Publishing Services

Self Publishing Resources -- From Those Who Practice What They Preach

Purchase and READ these books while you are writing yours:

John Kremer – 1001 Ways to Market Your Books
Dan Poynter – The Self Publishing Manual
Judith Applebaum – How to Get Happily Published
Brian Jud – Beyond the Bookstore
Susan Friedman – Riches in Niches

If you are using a “Self Publishing” or “Print on Demand” company such as Author Solutions, LuLu, BookHouse, or any number of others, purchase this book:
Mark Levine – The Fine Print of Self Publishing for an unbiased comparison of all of these companies and how to choose one.

One Small Step for Self Publishers, One Giant Step for the Industry

Readers are not biased against self published books just because they are self published, but most will be turned off if your book looks amateurish. Self published books have had their ups and downs as far as consumer perception. Most of this is due to some authors not paying attention to details such as editing, design, and quality printing. The entire industry hinges on all books that are self published being of a quality that consumers will value so as not to diminish the entire lot.

How do you help the entire industry enhance their image?
- Write a good book (well researched and relevant -- and do you have credentials?)
- Hire a qualified editor and/or indexer (not your mom)
- Hire a trained and talented book designer (not your cousin Vinny)
- Make sure your book meets with publishing standards (ISBN, Library of Congress, etc.)

You will look more credible, and your book will, too. But you'll also be helping everyone else in the independent and self publishing industry. We all need that!

Lisa Pelto, President
Concierge Marketing
and Publishing Services

Your Title Can “Sizzle,” But Your Subtitle has to be the “Steak.”

Don’t expect would-be book buyers to understand what your book is about if you don’t tell them. “Don’t judge a book by its cover” is very bad advice for publishers, because something has to compel buyers to pick it up.

Design isn’t the only thing that makes a great cover; you have to have a great title too. An appropriate title. A unique title. Take your working titles, pick up the phone and call your voice mail. Say a few sentences about your book and then listen to your voicemail as if you were listening to a radio program. We often see people who can’t even remember their own book title because it’s a play on words, or is difficult to say, or is impossible to decipher over the airwaves. Does your title contain an acronym? Make sure the letters don’t rhyme with other letters that are close and might make another word when put together. Why? When you have taken the time and money to publish your book, people have to be able to find it! If they can’t understand you or they misunderstand you, you lost your precious marketing dollars.

Lisa Pelto, President
Concierge Marketing
and Publishing Services

"Put Your John Hancock Right Here"

When entering the vast world of publishing, know what you are getting into and don’t sign anything you don’t understand. Every week, we see eager authors who have signed contracts they didn’t really understand (sometimes with their attorneys who didn’t understand the terminology either). In particular, they get hooked up with agents who are not legitimately trying to place their book) or "self publishing" companies whose contracts are very confusing. So before you send anything to any publisher, editor, or book or literary agent, Google the name or visit a site called Preditors [sic] and Editors (www.anotherealm.com/prededitors/pubabout.htm). Find out what others say about them first and make sure they are who they say they are.

Remember one thing: With the print on demand/subsidy/vanity houses, their contracts say you retain the rights to your work. However, that doesn’t mean you own anything they have done with it—for example, you do not own the book they produced from your manuscript. Know what the terms mean, or ask a professional before you sign.

Don't pull a Sally Field at the first person who says they will publish your book ("They like me, they really, really like me!"). Know what you are signing. Know what kind of company you are dealing with. Understand their business before you give up any of your rights.

Lisa Pelto, President
Concierge Marketing
and Publishing Services

Link Baiting -- We've Been Hooked!

As you’re aware, we’ve recently jumped head-first into the world of online networking, and we are seeing vast benefits from it already in the first few weeks. The number of unique visitors to our site has way more than doubled daily, as well as the reach of our message. According to Alexa.com, the number of visitors our site receives has gone up 400% since March 31 of this year. We attribute this jump in visitors to our presence on sites such as Facebook and Twitter, as well as Google AdWords, and our own blog. We’ve been able to spread our message further, and we would like to help our clients do the same.

With that in mind, here’s another great way to drive traffic to your website: "link baiting." The strength of the links you have connected to your site will determine how high Google’s search engine algorithm will rank it. Your rank is also determined by the number of visitors your site receives, and the way the site is designed and written.

Link baiting is not a quick process – it involves things such as getting businesses and organizations to put a link on their site for you, without necessarily returning the favor. It takes time for the search engines to crawl through websites and register the new links. In the long term, however, the benefits will float to the surface, and we know your page ranking will as well.

Erin Pankowski
Marketing Manager
Concierge Marketing
and Publishing Services

We're Thinking of Starting Our Own Writer's Strike...

To begin my rant... last week I was in a music CD store where they sell used CDs. The clerk told me that they pay a royalty to the artist for the secondary market merchandise. Finding this unbelievable, I called around to other second hand intellectual property merchants and I couldn't find another one who does this. I even doubt that the first one was telling the truth, but who knows.

Actors, as well as the writers who write for them, get royalties every time their ad is shown, or their tv program is broadcast, or their video is sold...this may bring to mind the writer's strike of 2007-2008, in which the Writer's Guild of America went on strike against major production companies to demand an increase in royalties from DVD and online downloads. Eventually they came to an agreement siding with the writers.

With this in mind, why doesn't an author get a portion of their secondary sales? Why does the bookstore get rewarded with a full refund for damaged, mistreated, mispackaged, over-ordered books?

Bookstores "display" rather than "stock" books in their stores (on consignment); thus meaning bookstores are allowed to make irresponsible buys or damage the merchandise with no repercussions (they can return overstock for full credit virtually forever). Bookstores get the largest percentage of the final take on a book sale no matter how it is published (traditional versus independent) -- 40% of the retail price. If they paid for merchandise they damaged, it wouldn't be so bad, but they don't.

And these bookstores that take trade-ins or buy backs -- wouldn't you think that on the second hand books they take in, (which I BET they return to publishers as damages on occasion), they would need to pay a royalty?

It's tough enough to be a small publisher, with all of that, but then have to deal with the wholesalers that require publishers to have an open return policy no matter who damages the books or how many they over-order.(Wholesaler takes 55% [and publisher pays shipping], wholesaler then sells to a bookstore at a 40% discount.) If you do the math here, you'll easily see that the big loser is the one who spent a large part of their life writing the property that is being juggled among the profit takers.

If the printed book is to survive, it should be a booklover's mission to make sure that the publishers and authors who create the masterpieces get paid their fair share -- just like actors do when some broadcast medium shows a movie or tv program (or ad) that includes them in it or a musician when they play a song on the radio.

Publishers and authors who foot the real bills in publishing could use some industry changes. Sooner rather than later.

End of rant, but frustration continues...

Lisa Pelto, President
Concierge Marketing
and Publishing Services

Don't Bite Off More Than You Can Chew...Or Sell

Why on earth would you want to fill your garage with cases of books? With technology today, you can order a few books, or even one – you can be your own “print-on-demand publisher”. And because digital technology is so cost effective, you can make modest changes or fix errors the second and third and fourth time around when you print your books.

Editor and publishing colleague Sandra Wendel explains, "Over the course of six printings, we have found a few tiny errors in a book on Las Vegas (actually readers have pointed them out). They were slight errors of fact in history, and we have corrected them easily on the second print run because we run short runs (although the runs are getting longer as the book progresses through maturity)."

You don’t have to broadcast to the whole world that your first run is very small—make sure you have a product that will sell before investing too much in huge inventories. Nearly 400,000 books are published each year—to get the attention of a buyer is tough. Start conservatively and react appropriately. This IS a business, after all!

Lisa Pelto, President
Concierge Marketing
and Publishing Services

Let an Editor be "The Samurai"

In Writing Down the Bones, Natalie Goldberg discusses the importance of editing. It's tough to edit yourself. And it's tough to have others edit your work. The truth hurts sometimes, but your book may have taken you 5, 10 or even 30 years to write. Why, like so many authors, do you want to skip the editing process or think you can do it all yourself? You can’t. Your mother, your sister’s aunt’s brother’s wife, who is a high school English teacher isn’t necessarily the professional book editor you need either.

In the words of Susan Driscoll, former CEO of iUniverse, “If you spoon with them or share DNA, do not ask them to edit your book.” Editing is a complex process involving much more than just making sure everything is spelled correctly and the commas are in the right place. If you believe that your mother would be totally frank and “brutally honest” with you about your book, you are not alone (and you are wrong - unless your mother is a book editor), and you could be jeopardizing your work. Editors will tell you if you need snappier chapter titles or should expand a point or develop a character.

Of 100 would-be authors I polled last year, 75% of them said that a relative would be a fantastic editor and that they would be honest about their book. In retrospect, 90% of them changed their tune after publishing about having their now ex-family member edit their cherished book.

...And that cousin who is an artist and volunteered to do your illustrations … don’t do that either! (What if you don’t like the pictures?)

Lisa Pelto, President
Concierge Marketing
and Publishing Services

When Publishing, If You Fail To Plan, You Might As Well Plan To Fail

A Few Suggestions for Self Publishing from Tom Becka, Radio Host and President of Orpheum Brothers Press

1. Get your marketing strategy put together. The book means nothing if people don't know about it and know how to buy it.
2. Understand it's a lot more work than you think. Writing the book is only the first part. You've got to edit, re-edit, approve the art work, edit some more, plan your marketing strategy, get into the book stores, proof read, and approve the final edit.
3. Have realistic expectations. Only Harry Potter and the Bible sell millions of copies. Most books are lucky if they sell a couple hundred.
4. Know your market. Who will want to buy your book and how do you reach them?
5. Repeat the previous 4 items until exhausted.

Our response: Yeah, what Tom said! Plus, schedule time for editing, layout, indexing, printing, and all the other production details. But don’t fail to set realistic landmark dates that will allow you time to market before your book is set to publish. Lots of people talk about the writing and publishing of a book, and then they wait to start marketing. Don't do that! Start marketing the minute you settle on a book concept. Talk about it, Twitter about it, blog about it during the writing process to help you build your following. You don't invite someone to dinner after you set a place for them (most of you anyway).

Prepare formal, written marketing and publicity plans ahead of time. For goodness sake, don’t wait until you have books in hand. Are you hoping for critical reviews like Publishers Weekly or Library Journal? Don’t try to send it to them once it’s published. They want your book four months ahead of your publication date. Don’t wait to send your book to Parents Magazine after it’s published either; most magazines want to have books six months in advance. It is possible to get reviews and other publicity, but don’t forget to plan that into the release date of your book.

Plan ahead, plan well, plan realistically. Your investment in planning on the front end will pay off for you many times over.

Lisa Pelto, President
Concierge Marketing
and Publishing Services

David DeFord's Take on Social Networking

David DeFord, President of Ordinary People Can Win Publishing
Company, and Author of I Wish to be Useful: A Guide for a More Meaningful Life

I've seen a recent upturn in sales of my books on Amazon and on my own website.
I attribute the increased sales to my Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn strategy.

Rather than tell every one of my Facebook friends, LinkedIn connections, and Twitter followers when I go to the bathroom or what I'm having for dinner, I keep it professional. Here are a few things I've been doing:
1. Posting motivational quotes that relate to my books
2. Telling everyone when I post a new episode of my podcast, I Wish to Be Useful, on iTunes.

These actions keep me on their minds in a positive light, and prompt some of them to check my podcast.

We’ve recently delved into the social networking world ourselves here at Concierge Marketing – and that’s just what it is – another world. There are so many aspects to social networking, but the good thing is that everything you post can be connected. That’s the trick; to get all of the parts to function as one creature and get your message out there to the right people.

For instance, when we post a new blog entry, we include a link on Twitter to let people know, so that hopefully they’ll click on the link to read it. Or if we find an article we think our friends and followers online would be interested in, we link to it. We are trying to drive traffic to our sites to give ourselves more name recognition, and also to better associate ourselves with others in our field.

Information is found and disseminated so quickly, it’s important to keep your message at the forefront of your tweets, Facebook posts, etc…Otherwise you’ll just get passed up for the next best thing. That’s something I’ve mentioned before, relevancy. So again, make sure that the things you are posting will be of value to potential or current customers.

Erin Pankowski
Marketing Manager
Concierge Marketing
and Publishing Services

First, a Thought from Tom Becka on Social Networking

“I think social networking is just another tool in the arsenal. With a Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, or LinkedIn account, you can be in control of your message and help generate sales. The trick is to branch out and generate new leads and new "friends" But with some work, you can have a site that will be a resource and keep reminding people about your product. You won't sell a million books off these sites but combined with all your other media it definitely helps.”

Social networking is a buzz word right now, and has been for awhile. I hear about Facebook and LinkedIn several times a day from different media outlets – local and national. Everyone is trying to get you to visit their page, some for personal reasons, and others for business.

It’s important to keep your content relevant for your audience, so that the right people will be interested in reading what you have to say. It’s also important to keep business and personal networking sites separate. Not everyone cares that you went out and had a few drinks Friday night. It’s not a bad idea to have separate pages for both, and different friends to go along with those pages.

If you do these things, you’ll keep yourself from getting into sticky situations between work and play, and you may find that you have new followers by keeping the content relevant.

Erin Pankowski
Marketing Manager
Concierge Marketing
and Publishing Services

Find Your Niche Market Before Publishingby Lisa Pelto

“Everybody” is not a niche. When I speak to the author of a new book, I always ask them “Who Cares”? It’s not meant to be a rude question. If you can’t identify WHO your book will appeal to, don't waste your time and money publishing it. (Note: I didn’t say you shouldn’t write your book, you should; I mean you may not want to spend the money publishing it. That's the BIG question, kids.)

Be able to identify who your book buyer is (not necessarily who the reader is). Frankly, as a micropublisher, the buyer is more important than the reader. Why? One of the best markets for independently published books is actually the person who is buying a book for someone else. Steve Farner, author of Hey! I'm the Manager...Why Aren't You Listening to Me? describes how he found his niche:

"My book evolved from my management seminars and keynote talks. I had key stories, theories and concepts that I used in my speeches. Writing my book allowed me to hone my speaking skills by clarifying details of my stories. By putting things in writing, I was able to find clearer, more succinct ways to tell my story, and thus improve my entire product set. Now my major audience is corporations who are training their managers."

More questions you must ask yourself:

• Are you willing to share your expertise with enough detail and
  clarity to make the product valuable to your buyer?
• Are your target buyers willing to see you as the expert in whatever
  field you choose to write?
• Are your target buyers willing to shell out $20 for it?
• Does it fill a need currently not filled in the genre?
• What features can you add to make it fit the niche?
• How will you reach buyers once identified?

Lisa Pelto, President
Concierge Marketing
and Publishing Services

Advantages to Being an Independent Publisher, by Donna Miesbach

I always thought that to be published with any amount of credibility you had to go through a "mainstream" publisher, but I've changed my mind. I'm finding that the advantages of being an "independent" publisher far outweigh having the name of a "big" publisher on your book, at least when it comes to what we've published so far.

Working as an independent publisher guarantees that your book will be available as long as you feel there is a market for it. You also have the freedom to make sure that the book is produced in a manner that truly portrays what you are trying to say. Being able to have a voice in all the many details, such as how the cover is designed, and how the pages are set up, is important to me. In other words, I can move forward knowing that the finished product will be a clear reflection of the book's message.

This is not to say I would not ever work with a "big name" publisher, but right now, with the longevity I feel our book is going to require, being an independent is definitely the way to go.
I feel truly blessed to have found people to guide me through the process, people who truly excel at what they do. Together we are making a difference.

Donna Miesbach
Co-author, Coaching for a Bigger Win, A Playbook for Coaches
www.donnamiesbach.com

When it comes to publishing, do it yourself (or at least keep control of your project).

Why do it yourself? I’ll let one of my colleagues make this point: “I should have remembered the horrible experience with John Wiley publishers 20 years earlier, long before self-publishing was even an acceptable option. I ghost wrote a business and health book. We fought with the editors about the title (they won). We fought with the designers about the cover design (it’s still ugly). And we were disappointed when the book didn’t sell. Nobody told us the publisher does so very little to promote it. We were our own best customers. It was ridiculous. We were paying for our books, and the publisher was returning a small share of that back to us in royalties. Dumb me. I was a ‘with’ author on another book 20 years later and ended up on the same path with that publisher.”

In the past decade, the DIY (do it yourself) publishing industry has added Print on Demand (POD) or "Self Publishing" houses to the model of self publishing. You add your book to their listings, you pay them to publish it, and they bring it into their distribution set up. This publishing method is not addressed at length here, but please understand what these companies are and how they work before getting into a deal with them. This type of publishing is a good deal for poetry, memoirs, and fiction, but NOT the best model for nonfiction with authors who have a “platform” on which to speak outside of book signings and other events related to the book alone.

Do it yourself, but hire qualified professionals to help you along the way.