Archive for the ‘Book publishing’ Category

Before you write even one word of your novel or nonfiction book, your first step should be to identify your target audience. Ask yourself, “Who will read my book?” (BTW, the answer is NOT “Anyone who can fog a mirror.”)

Marketing experts, literary agents and book editors all agree that the more specific you can be about your audience, the more likely that your work will be saleable. Guidelines for defining your readership include the answers to these basic questions:

What is their gender?
What is their age range?
What is their economic bracket?
What is their level of education?
Where do they live?
What do they want and need?
What do magazines/newspapers do they read?
What are their favorite TV shows and/or radio programs?
What Internet sites do they visit?
What social networking sites do they use?

Armed with this knowledge, you can target your writing by “talking” directly to your audience. For example, you would use different tone and words when writing to a senior audience than to teens; women rather than men; techno-savvy vs. computer newbies, etc. Highly targeted writing with idioms and phrases the audience wll recognize is far more effective than bland, “this has to appeal to everyone” writing.

In addition, knowing the habits and haunts of your readers enables you to find them and market your work! A previous post highlighted how one author googled three words that described his target audience, found and joined the discussion groups where his would-be readers chatted, and drove enough traffic to his website to secure a publishing contract for his novel. Other steps you might take include writing articles for the publications your audience reads, commenting on popular blogs about your topic or subject, speaking at professional associations or memberships groups where your readers are found, and so on.

A last, but not final, reason to know your readers is so you can position yourself and your work to provide new/different information, solution to a problem or entertaining material for their enjoyment. Writing that caters to the readers’ interests and needs is an almost sure winner in any market.

If you’re interested in making substantial and immediate headway into gaining exposure and what agents and publishers term a “platform,” then the Internet should be your weapon of choice.

Here are just two stories making headlines this week that illustrate the power of the Internet.

A recent commentary on Forbes.com by Sramana Mitra reported that Elle Newmark, 56, a former advertising professional who had gone through four different agents on four separate book projects, decided that she “didn’t have time for this anymore” and self-published her new book, a historical novel. Once the book came out, she “looked to the Internet to build a readership.” Newmark decided to throw a virtual book launch party and sent out 500,000 email invites to agents, editors and reviewers. (The article did not say how she did this without spamming, but that must be another story.) The result? Her book became an Amazon bestseller the day of the virtual book launch, and she secured a William Morris agent and a contract with Simon & Schuster within two weeks.

If you’re thinking that Newmark was an advertising exec who probably had a lot of insider friends and experience with Internet marketing, consider the story of Jeff Rivera, as told to Jim Kukral.com via a podcast on Kukral’s blog.

Rivera, with no writing or marketing experience, self-published his book and set his mind to building a readership via the Internet. He googled three words that described his target audience and discovered bulletin boards where his potential readers would talk to each other. He joined the discussion groups and with only an email signature, jpeg of his book cover and a link to his website, he was able to drive so much traffic to his site, he convinced an agent and publisher that he had a strong enough following (platform) to ensure a successful book.

A few years ago, I attended a Mystery Writers local chapter meeting and met MJ Rose, the first author to use the Internet to successfully market her self-published book and garner an agent and publisher. She used the same strategy, but she did it by chance. Shortly after she published her book, she adopted a puppy and was having difficulty housebreaking him. She joined an online group for new dog owners and used her name and book title in her email signature. One day, someone asked about it and the rest is history. Rose is considered the poster girl of Internet marketing. Check out her blog, too.

In her commentary for Forbes, Mitra observed, “The trend also tells me that in today’s world, aspiring authors stand a higher chance of success if they take more of their destiny in their own hands… Indeed, rules of engagement with agents and publishers are changing because of the power of print-on-demand and online marketing, and in that changing landscape, authors need to reinvent themselves as Internet entrepreneurs.”

But you read it here first.

Consider the following headlines from recent trade and consumer publications and see if you can spot the trend:

F+W Publications is Now F+W Media
Young Authors Turn Online Collaboration into Book Deal
Unbound: Publishers worry as new technologies transform their industry
Bowker Reports U.S. Book Production Flat in 2007: Traditional publishing steady, but “on demand” publishing soars as new technologies reduce barriers to entry
Authors Find Their Voice, and Audience, in Podcasts
Book Not Ready for Print? Whip Up an Audiobook for Now
Use Podcasts to Promote Your Books
Why Blog? Reason No. 92: Book Deal
Thumbs Race as Japan’s Best Sellers Go Cellular
Penguin Sees Major e-Book Sales Spike

I’m sure by now you get the gist. Technology advances have played havoc on the staid publishing industry and now even the most conservative of the big houses are shifting their focus to include ebooks, interactive media and audio-visual formats. Well, it’s about time, considering innovative authors and communicators have been doing it for years.

The good news for aspiring authors is that today you don’t need someone’s approval to present your message to your intended audience. I believe there will always be the place for the big publishing houses and literary agents, but it’s not the only game in town anymore. Please understand that this is not an invitation to put out poor quality work; doing so will result in failure in any market. What this means is that now your voice has a choice.

Don’t let age or lack of knowledge stop you. I wasn’t born cable-ready (like my children), either. It’s no harder to find out how to blog, build a website, start an ezine or create a podcast than it is to learn how to write a query letter, find and agent or prepare a book proposal. If you are open and receptive to the fabulous world that technology is making available to us, you can see your writing career soar.

If you’re still intent on securing a traditional publishing contract, remember that today’s big houses consider the value of a prospective author’s platform as a huge portion of the acceptance criteria. There’s no better and quicker way to build your platform than a blog, YouTube and social media. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, hire an intern or assistant from your local college, ask your kids or grandkids–but learn how to do it. Do it now.

You can start by subscribing to some of the print and online resources I used to get the headlines quoted in this article. Most of these publications offer free online versions or ezines. They are: The New York Times, Publishers Weekly [PW Daily], Booktrade.info, PublishersMarketplace.com, Communications Solutions, Globe and Mail, Economist.com, Bowker and Writer’s Digest.

Many of the articles I read come to my attention through the use of Google key word alerts. In an upcoming post, I’ll cover how I use this free service to track the industry trends and my own progress.

Do you have a publishing dream? Have you written it down? Articulated and visualized what publishing success means to you? Good! (I’m envisioning you all nodding your heads, “yes.”)

So, how’s it going? Are you closer than you were a year ago, or do you feel you’re spinning your wheels? (My guess is that my reading audience just split into two groups: one group is smiling, the other group is frowning.)

My “guess” is not a random supposition. After 30+ years of working with writers as an editor, consultant and publisher, I’ve seen many writers succeed while others fail. The difference between the groups is rarely due to talent alone. Successful authors share five traits that separate them from the wannabes. And, here they are:

The 5 Traits of All Successful Authors
1. Successful authors have a personal mission. Their writing stems from a deep need to share their personal passion with the world.

2. Successful authors are persistent. They do not let setbacks or rejection stop them. They develop an attitude of persistence rather than resistance.

3. Successful authors make educating themselves about their craft and the publishing industry part of their plan for success. They subscribe to trade magazines and ezines, attend writers’ conferences and workshops, and take writing classes or join writers’ critique groups.

4. Successful authors invest in coaching and other programs to get professional feedback on their work. They understand that critique is not criticism and are open to the feedback they receive.

5. Successful authors have an upbeat attitude. They don’t have a laundry list of excuses (circumstances) to explain why they are not successful. They understand they have to figure out a way around the obstacles and turn them into opportunities.

No one is born with these traits, but anyone can develop the characteristics of a successful author. It’s up to you to decide if you want to do the work. Choosing to put your efforts into other endeavors and enjoy your writing just for the pleasure of it is a perfectly acceptable decision. But, if you are driven to see your name in print or on a book cover, then start developing these traits and you will see your dreams come true.

Here are 6.5 Self-Publishing Myths that Need Busting:
(Read Myths 1-3 here. )

4. Self-published books look unprofessional and have many errors. This can easily be avoided by becoming knowledgeable about the publishing process, working with a professional editor and book designer on your own, or by working with a reputable POD provider who supplies these services. Many of today’s self-published books are indistinguishable from those published by the big publishing houses.
5. A self-published book will help you get a traditional publisher. Although many self-publishers have experienced this success, don’t self-publish for this reason alone. Many publishers won’t publish previously published material. And many agents advise writers not to even mention self-published works in their query letters unless thousands of copies have sold.
6. Self-published books don’t sell. Self-published books that are marketed properly sell as well as traditional books that are marketed properly. Do you know that most first-time authors published by a traditional company don’t make back their advances? Or that most titles by new authors don’t sell 5,000 copies, despite their New York publishing house labels? Having a traditional publisher is no guarantee of sales. And, if your book doesn’t sell enough copies to cover your advance, what do you think your chances of garnering another publishing contract will be?
6.5. You can’t make money self-publishing. In general, most authors, self-published or traditionally published, don’t support themselves on book sales alone. Unless your book is an Oprah Book Club selection (or picked for the Richard & Judy Book Club if you’re in the UK) or you have a long list of bestsellers like Steven King or JK Rowling, you will have to supplement your income from book sales. Many authors use their books as a stepping stone to consulting and speaking or sell rights to their work to be produced as movies or TV programs. Self-published authors have as much of a chance to these sources of income as traditionally published authors and many earn thousands of dollars each year from their self-published works.

Publishing is a business, and like any business, there’s no one right way to do it. When you keep an open mind to all possibilities, you will find the right answer for you.

“No army can stop an idea whose time has come.” –Victor Hugo

Despite naysayers and criticism from those entrenched in traditional publishing bureaucracy, self-publishing is here to stay as a viable publishing option. The technology is here, the desire is fueling the revolution and this industry is experiencing a wake-up call in a big way. Last year, 400,000 books were published (up from 300,000 in 2006). The industry saw approximately 195,000 new titles and between 8,000 and 11,000 new publishers, mostly self-publishers. Does this sound like a passing fancy to you?

My husband saw the same resistance in his photography business when digital technology started replacing film. Some photographers he knew dug in their heels and refused to learn about the new equipment. Most of them are out of business now, of course. I don’t understand why people are so resistant to change.

For those of us who write, the digital print-on-demand (POD) technology is like a birthday present. Don’t refuse the gift before you’ve had a chance to try it on for size. The beauty of POD printing is that you can economically print one book at a time, so now people who just want to publish a cookbook as a fundraiser for their organizations or a memoir for their families can do so and still have money left to donate to charity or leave to the grandkids.

On a larger scale, POD technology provides an opportunity for millions of people who feel they have an important message they want to share with the world to do it without waiting the two to four years it typically takes an author to move through idea to published book via traditional methods. This doesn’t mean self-publishers should run roughshod over all rules and practices that traditional publishing has forged in the process or–as the saying goes–throw the baby out with the bath water.

Success in any business requires an education. To help you learn more about your options, I’m going to be focusing on self-publishing and POD technology in upcoming weeks. I began last week with an article written to dispel some of the popular misconceptions about self-publishing. My next post will contain Part 2 of busting through the myths.

If you’re considering self-publishing, you are probably confused by the conflicting information that’s available to writers on the Internet, in newsletters, blogs, magazines and the general “word of mouth” that gets spread around at writers groups. There is no simple, right-or-wrong answer to the question, “Should I self-publish? ” However, the answer to your question lies in getting getting the facts straight before you make a decision.

Here are 6.5 Self-Publishing Myths that Need Busting:
1. You should self-publish if you keep getting rejections from agents and publishers. I have to say this the worst reason to self-publish and the best reason not to. This is advice is commonly seen on the websites of the less-scrupulous POD (print on demand) publishers who only want you to pay them to publish your work. The other place I see this reasoning is on the blogs of writers who act like 7th-graders with a substitute. (Yay, the teacher’s not here. Let’s do whatever we want!) Do not give up if you have received only a handful of rejections; every writer receives these. However, if you’ve been sending out the same manuscript to no avail for over a year, or have racked up over 100 rejections, it’s time to rethink the work. Bring it to a writer’s group or hire an editor to get some feedback. Take writing classes and attend conferences to find out how to improve your writing and package your work professionally in your submissions. After you have reviewed and improved the manuscript, then self-publish if you wish.

2. Self-publishing is vanity press. This is commonly espoused by smug literary snobs and people who haven’t paid attention to the technology boom of the past 10 years. In the past, “vanity press” was the term used to describe the subsidy publishers who would print anything anyone brought in. Despite the high price, the quality of the work and the book was typically poor, and unwitting authors would end up with a garage or storage room full of books that couldn’t be sold, not even to their mothers. With the advent of POD technology and more widely available publishing how-to information, however, self-publishing has become a more cost-effective and timely option for writers. The publishing industry is light-years behind other creative fields, such as film and music where indie performers are encouraged, praised and even revered. There are many reasons why an author might legitimately decide to self-publish that have everything to with talent and nothing to do with vanity.

3. You have to market yourself if you self-publish. Actually this is true. It’s the presumption that if you have a traditional publisher, you don’t have to market yourself that is the myth. People who give this as a reason not to self-publish have not read anything written by industry professionals or attended a writers’ conference in the last 20 years. Every agent, editor and publisher in the business advises writers to build a platform and be prepared to be actively involved in their own book promotion. The Hollywood-enhanced notion of the author spending long days writing, evenings drinking and editors cleaning up their work while publicists scrambled to arrange book tours died decades ago. Today’s successful authors treat their writing careers as a business that combines many talents and skills. And when did marketing become a four-letter word, anyway? Isn’t the point of writing to communicate with your audience? There’s no better way to do that than to talk about your book. So get into it, and spread your message!

Part 2 of this article busts through myths 4 through 6.5 and reveals the real information you need to know about self-publishing.

I congratulate all writers who submit their work to proofreaders and editors for a final polish before submitting. A review by a professional is especially important for book manuscripts. Yet, more often than not, when pressed as to who was the editor or proofreader, a writer will respond that the manuscript was read by a friend or relative who was an English teacher, majored in English in college, or got As in English while in school. I would bet the vast majority of literary agents and editors would back me up on this statement.

An English teacher or major is not a professional editor nor a proofreader. I was an English major who got As in English. That gave me the natural inclination to seek employment in the publishing industry. My first job was editorial assistant. My first day I was given a sheet with proofreader’s marks to learn and a style book, Words Into Type. I spent one year learning the basics of copy editing before becoming an assistant editor, at which point I was assigned a few minor titles to work on under the supervision of another more experienced staff member. I learned how to move a book through the various stages of the publishing process from manuscript to bound book. After another year, I was promoted to associate editor and became responsible for more titles and more in-depth analysis of what it takes to create a successful book in terms of content, organization, ancillary products and marketing. Then I became an editor and my last position at that publishing house (after 5 years) was senior editor and I supervised 16 titles, 2 staff editors and a host of freelance editors.

I’m bringing this up to point out the difference between an editor and an English teacher or someone who is gifted with language. We have the same basic talents, but very different training. There is much more to fine tuning a manuscript than finding spelling and grammatical errors. I have reviewed manuscripts submitted to me that were edited by English teachers. I find errors. It’s not that the teachers are not good in the classroom, but they are not trained in print production. I have a two-page checklist of things to review in a manuscript. An English teacher who is editing your work is looking for spelling and grammatical errors, which is last on my list–not unimportant, but it’s the final step, not the only one.

An editor’s job isn’t limited to finding errors; an editor can make suggestions for better organization, presentation and flow. Everyone needs an editor, including editors. Two pairs of eyes are a must [period]. Make your second pair of eyes a professional editor. Yes, it is an expense. Publishing is a business. If you’re serious about seeing work published, then investing in a good editor is a cost of doing business.

In the Boston Globe article, “Liar, liar, bestseller on fire,” author Steve Almond examines the possible reasoning behind the recent “I made it up” memoir confessions of Margaret Seltzer (Love and Consequences) and Misha Defonseca (Misa: A Memoire of the Haulocaust Years). Almond examines the validity behind Seltzer’s statement to The New York Times that she was driven to deceit. She said, “I just felt that there was good that I could do and there was no other way that someone would listen to it.”

Almond suggests there’s truth to Seltzer’s seemingly ridiculous statement because today’s declining book readership demands “ripped from the headlines” memoirs and editors are pressured to respond by supplying readers with what they want. According to Almond, editors don’t believe fiction can supply the sensationalism of a “true” story, hence they jump to print author survival stories because “such books are 100 times more likely to get reviewed and featured on National Public Radio and anoited by Oprah.”

Was nothing learned when thousands of readers returned their copies of “A Million Little Pieces,” after author James Frey admitted that he made up portions of his bestselling memoir. Some readers went as far as to initiate legal action. Doesn’t that tell the publishing community and memoir fakers that people want to support a tragic hero, not a liar?

I don’t buy into the rationale that it’s necessary to turn fiction into fact in order to get noticed or as Ms. Seltzer said, “do good.” (The irony of that statement could launch a novel itself.) I also don’t buy into the popular notion that sensationalism for profit is an excuse to tolerate subterfuge and downright dishonesty. The publishers get little sympathy from me for not checking facts before racing to get the next bestselling survival story on shelves.

My previous post discussed the power we hold as writers. With that power comes responsibility. In 4Ps to Publishing Success, I devote an entire chapter to developing an authentic voice and establishing a bond of trust with the audience. Authentic writing stems from the desire to share the insights we’ve gleaned with others and leave the world a slightly better place for our efforts.

Let’s wield the power of the pen, but do it responsibly. Our purpose is connect and make a difference, not just a profit at any cost.

I’ve been intending to get back to blogging and make it part of my writing life for weeks. I advise others to blog when they consult with me. So why haven’t I done it? Poor excuses mostly and I won’t bore you with them.

I read some incredible statistics on Friday in Publisher’s Lunch about what has happened to A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose by Eckhart Tolle since being selected as an Oprah Book Club title. In advance of the announcement, the publisher, Penguin, shipped an initial order of 775,000 books. Then, Oprah and Tolle announced a free 10-week online webinar for readers. In the past four weeks, Penguin has shipped an additional 3.34 million books, “the record for the most copies ever shipped by Penguin Group USA in a four-week period.”

Four million books in slightly over a month. Because Oprah endorsed it. That’s power. Not only of the woman, but of her words. Now millions of people are reading Tolle that never read him before and never would have. (Think some of them might even buy his previous titles?) Do you think he will influence lives?

You and I have the same power. Every time we speak or write, we send out messages. As writers, our words have lasting power. And so, I am once again inspired to write in my blog as well as in my weekly newsletter The Wordy Woman because I, too, have a mission and I believe in the power of the pen.