Critical Questions to Ask Yourself -- And Answer Before Publishing

CRITICAL QUESTIONS

• Who cares?
• Who will READ this book?
• What commitment am I making to those readers?
• Who will BUY this book? (Are my reader and buyer the same person?)
• Can I reach them directly? 
• What commitment am I making to those buyers? 
• What special features can (must) I add that might help me sell better?
• What are my CRITICAL KEY WORDS in my message (the ones that are non-negotiable) 
• Are there significant dates and marketing opportunities that might affect my book's success? 
• How long and to what extent am I willing to support my book with my time and money? 
• What are my potential game changers? 

Have a good weekend.

Book Awards, Seals of Approval, and Shiny Things

Ok, admit it. You like shiny things. Things with bling stick out among the vast array of choices. We like shiny things too. Shiny things often come with someone else saying sparkling things about your book, and we like that too!

Are Awards Competitions and Seals of Approval Worth the Cost?

After decades of entering books, I have to say that experience with the award helps me make better decisions about them. If their Call for Entries says "Winners will be announced to the media in a National press release," I suggest Googling the award to see if they indeed did that last year!  If their Call for Entries says you'll get additional exposure from winning, Google that too.

We find there are many fantastic awards programs that we enter frequently because they do what they say they will do. Here are a few of my personal favorites (and yes, we know there are lots more!):

Once a year competitions with approaching deadlines:
Foreword Reviews IndieFab (formerly Book of the Year):  https://indiefab.forewordreviews.com

IBPA Ben Franklin Awards http://ibpabenjaminfranklinawards.com/

Eric Hoffer Awards http://www.hofferaward.com/

Next Gen Indie Book Awards http://www.indiebookawards.com/

IPPYs http://www.independentpublisher.com/ipland/ipawards.php

Global E-book Awards http://globalebookawards.com/

You can enter this one all year:

Mom's Choice Seal of Approval http://www.momschoiceawards.com/enter.php

Be aware that sometimes when you win, you have to purchase a license to use their seal -- they don't want just anyone saying they won their award, so they charge a fee to use it.  

It's very simple really. 

#1 Write a great manuscript

#2  Produce a great book

#3  Enter it and win lots of awards. 

See it's easy!  :)  Do it!  Enter something. You'll get good feedback on your book, and you just might win something shiny.  And here's proof that shiny things make a difference... 

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5 Easy Ways to Save Money in Book Publishing

The last 90 days have been jam-packed with authors who have come in with books that have been put together by their graphic-designer son, or a student, or themselves. There is an easier way to get the job done.

Do yourself a favor and take these 5 steps to save yourself time and money:

• Write your book in MicroSoft Word. If you write it in anything else, convert it to Word. One space after a period. Set up paragraph indents (do not tab over) and do not put two spaces between paragraphs unless you are putting in some sort of time delay in your story. Do not format with a bunch of fonts in Word. Do not use grammar checker as your editor.
• Use your own words. Words you actually might use. Don't pick a $10 word from the Thesaurus when a 10 cent word would be more understandable by more readers.
• Have beta readers read your book for critiques. Do they like your characters? Do they understand your story? Does it seem feasible or believable? When you are done telling your story and making changes suggested by your beta readers, have a professional book editor edit your book. Hire professionals and pay them.
• Have your book professionally designed. Do not ask anyone to lay out your book in InDesign if they have not used InDesign to layout a book before. Do not use Word to layout a book with lots of layout considerations, graphics, or other space-consuming formatting items UNLESS you are using a professional template. (See Joel Friedlander's Book Design Templates for Word if you are going to attempt this. http://www.bookdesigntemplates.com/).
• Proof your book in "pages" before you print -- that means when it is all laid out and pretty. Look at everything and spend the time to focus on it for the potential reader experience. 

Now. Write your book!

Your Book is Not An Engagement Ring

After 30 years in marketing and publishing, I've learned a lot of things that fly in the face of conventional wisdom.  Like, for example, a line (surprisingly!) doesn't start forming at the bookstore with your first tap on the keyboard... Or "you're not legitimately published unless a New York house publishes your book." Or a mention in Redbook, complete with cover graphic of your book, will result in 1,000s of sales. Yes, these ideas tend to disappoint...

But the most insidious thinking in book marketing is the 

show-stopping, money-gobbling, time-wasting constant FEAR OF COMPETITION.  

In my experienced, but humble, opinion, the only real competition in publishing is SUBSTITUTION. Are your prospective readers buying something other than a book to fill whatever the need warrants?  Is Jane Doe buying a book to learn how to plant a garden or is she taking a class?  Is John buying a book for entertainment on his trip or is he buying new sunglasses and a travel Scrabble set? Substitution is the only insurmountable competition because it's virtually impossible to predict and market to.

What's the fix? You can sell a lot of books by looking at who bought another book like yours.  Think about it for a minute. What's your favorite kind of book to read?  Memoir? Romance? Self Help? Adventure? Parenting? Do you just have ONE book that fills all your entertainment, educational, information-gathering needs?  Hell no. You probably have dozens, if not hundreds in the same or a very close genre.  People tend to gravitate to a certain type of reading to fit their mood at that moment.  They get one nugget from a business book, or four days of entertainment from each novel, or one new strategy to try with their kids. Each book only has to offer that one nugget that brings value to the reader.  That leaves a lot of room for everyone else!

Now, if you were in the engagement ring business, you could only hope to sell one engagement ring to that one customer (except in Hollywood, of course).  That's cut-throat competition.  Which one retailer, which one ring will win the honor of residing on that bride's finger for the rest of her life.  Luckily, book marketing is the exact opposite.

What should you do now?  The first person I call when we get a book to market is another author marketing to the same type of reader. You can coop marketing with them to cut your costs in so many ways.  You can ask for endorsements. You can cross market.  Get to know other authors in your genre and I vow that it will benefit you!  

EVENT: If you are in or near Omaha and you would like to share marketing ideas with other published (or nearly published) authors, join us Wednesday, November 5th for the first monthly Book Marketing Summit.  It will be at Swanson Library from 6-8 pm.  Can't make this one?  We'll have one each month, so like my page on Facebook for notifications of times and places. 
https://www.facebook.com/events/760336264038625/

Focus Pocus!

There is an old saying that the urgent often wins over the important.  

Are you spending so much time flitting about chasing after every little thing that comes up that you are missing the biggest opportunities?  Your overriding goals in publishing should help you focus on the things that matter.  Set your goals realistically, measurably and reachable so you have a way to tell if your goals are being met.  

I recently helped an author retrieve her publishing rights from a POD "self publisher". There were some legal documents she had to sign and some files she needed to get from the publisher. There was also the not-so-small detail of being paid the royalties she was overdue prior to cancelling. Rather than waiting until all the "I"s were dotted and "T"s were crossed as I recommended, she proceeded to cancel the contract ahead of the other items. Suddenly there were no royalties for that whole quarter in question. Trouble was, I could see through my own channels that there indeed were over $10,000 in ebook sales for that quarter.  How much the royalty should have been was not clear in any of her paperwork, but I assure you that it was not "nothing." Now, with auditors, attorneys and accountants, everything is delayed for her, and her book is time sensitive.  

Another author told me that she had already printed 3,000 of her hardcover book through Lightning Source because she knew there would be sales. Now she was in my office requesting help to sell the six-month-old book.  So she has a garage full of books -- 2,920 of them!  She had concentrated on getting a low unit cost for a book that had no readers or buyers, no distribution, no customers, no website, no marketing materials, no nothing. The list in the prior sentence should illustrate a few things she should have done prior to printing all those books. 

Bottom line, really look at what you are doing now, what you are doing next, where you want to be a year or two from today, all while looking back at you did yesterday to see what worked. Are you focusing on the tasks that will bring you big sales today and in the future? Are you truly supporting your book? Are you focusing on building and strengthening the hive or just flitting around to smell the flower of the day?  

Are You Publishing or Just Printing?

Publishing is a business. and you need to think of it that way. Begin with a business plan, not just a marketing plan.  You'll need to consider a lot of things when entering the publishing business, not the least of which is "Why am I Publishing".  If you are taking your Word doc over to your neighborhood copy shop and having them print a few, that's just "Printing," it is not "Publishing." Publishing is the entire process of developing a product that can be marketed to an audience -- from writing something someone will want or need, to manufacturing, distributing, marketing, supporting.  Printing is just a part of it -- but if that is all you need, that is all you need! (i.e. Your family's genealogy or your church's cookbook.) So, what do you need?

Over the next month, we'll help you answer these questions,

Forget for a moment that your own writing is involved -- I know it's your baby that you have slaved over for 10 years or 10 months or 10 weeks or whatever -- and think of it like you have invented a new flashlight. You would have to consider:

• How you are going to develop it into a marketable AND manufacture-ready product? (Hint: editing, design, production --- printing is just a small part of this section)
• How much it will cost to manufacture it and how does that affect my retail price? Is it feasible in my market to allow my costs to dictate the retail price at all?
• Where and when in your consumers' "need cycles" are they most likely to seek information that might be offered in your book and where and how might they find you in the process? i.e., Do they need something to entertain themselves at the beach or are they trying to cook healthy or are they thinking about going to back to school? Each consumer goes through a decision-making process prior to deciding HOW they will inform themselves (or entertain or educate) before they go through the decision-making process of WHAT to buy to fulfill their needs.
• How much will it cost to develop a distribution channel for it and how do I do that?
• How will I handle the daily operations of my business? How will I actually take the orders, process the credit cards, invoice retailers, pack the orders, ship the orders, process returns, store inventory? Do I need envelopes/boxes/tape/labels?  Will I maintain inventory? Do I need a fulfillment partner?
• What kind of taxes do I have to collect and pay? What if I have an event in another state -- do I need to have a temporary tax license there?
• How will I promote my product? Marketing, Advertising, Publicity and Visibility... Writing a business plan with a marketing budget is critical... and that's a blog in itself.

If you answer the questions above, you'll gain valuable information about the industry, because to publish a book requires that you:

1. Understand your options and what publishing entails
2. Are familiar with the terminology, and you understand what you are getting into
3. Develop a realistic budget -- budget your money and your time -- make sure you have both
4. Make a decision to either be a publisher, find a publisher, or just find a printer -- they aren't apples and apples or even apples and oranges. More like apples and flashlights.

You have a story to share -- be smart about it so it reaches its potential.  Keep the ink flowing.

November - It must be time for writing something

While writers everywhere are participating in NaNoWriMo, I decided I wanted to participate in a writing exercise of a different sort -- NaBloPoMo, a program run by Blogher.com (National Blog Posting Month) -- With it, I vow to blog each day in November with ideas for publishing, writing and marketing. Thank you for spending your time on my blog; I hope you find it useful.

Since November 17, 2014 marks the 10th year my company has been in business, it seemed like as good a time as any to get back to blogging.  

I looked back at some of my previous blog entries about publishing, writing, marketing and running a business to decide what might be missing, or changed, since then. I decided that if a new author spent some time on my blog, they might find ideas that would help them make better decisions about publishing and marketing.  Not bad, but I have more to say.  

My goal this month is to provide marketing ideas for authors.  Yes, some of them cost money. Yes, some of them require some effort besides signing up. And yes, some of them are bigger and better than others.  However, my goal is to get you doing at least one thing each day to market your own book(s).  

You might think my November 1 entry about future entries is kind of a cop out, and in a way it is.  I always tell writers to just sit down and write something to get them started.  I'm no different.  

No matter what you are writing this month, remember that there are others exposing their thoughts, vulnerabilities, dreams, stories and lives. That should make it a little easier to share your own.

See you tomorrow.