Posts tagged Self Publishing

Part #4 Blogging in 20 minutes or less

Aug05
2010 Leave a Comment Written by Mike Webb

Step 4: Give yourself a time limit 

As I said before, you will see on my blog that there has been quite a bit of time elapse between some of my blog posts. This is because I would sometimes sit down and start writing and I would find myself taking hours to get something written. So the next time I needed to write a post I would remember how long it took the last time and I would tell myself that I didn’t have time to do it. This would go on for several days or even weeks before I felt I had the time to do it again. What a waste of a good blog and several ideas that I had failed to write down. 

And then there were times when I would start writing and not be completely satisfied with what I had come up with and so rather than the post not be “perfect” I would post nothing at all. We are all human and frankly I would rather spend my time reading from or listening to or watching a video from someone who is real and that has great information than I would trying to pick out some imperfection on their blog. Now mind you as a publisher I have a tendency to notice misspelled words so I am not suggesting that you just type something out and post it. It should be proofed and any obvious changes made but don’t kill your brain cells trying to create the perfect post.

Part #5 is the last in this series and it is coming soon. Just sign up for my RSS and you will be notified when it is posted.

Posted in Authority Status, Blogging, Brand Strategy - Tagged , , , , , , ,

How to create the layout of your book

Apr18
2010 Leave a Comment Written by Mike Webb

The layout or format of your book is just as important as the cover in order for it to be visually pleasing to your reader. Your font should be easy on the eyes and pretty plain and the spacing should not be to close. Your readers will enjoy what you have written much more when they don’t have to exert themselves trying to follow jumbled up sentences. Unless you are writing a fiction novel I would suggest using pop out boxes with key phrases from your book throughout your layout. This gives the eyes a break and takes out some of the monotony of seeing page after page of words. Make sure you have plenty of space for your margins as well. You will be surprised at how many pages can be added to your books layout by simply having a slightly larger margin around your text. More pages will make your book more substantial to your reader and more likely to buy it rather than a smaller book next to it on the shelf due to the simple fact that more pages must mean more information or story and they want the most bang for their buck. Of course you will want to check with your printer and see where their price breaks are and then judge whether you want to have fewer pages or a lower cost for your book.

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Posted in Book Format, Book Layout, Publishers, Publishing, Retailing Books, Selling Books, Writing, Writing a book - Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

What Retailers Want

Apr03
2010 Leave a Comment Written by Mike Webb

Retail Bookstores are more likely to carry a book that has proven its ability to sell, with pre sales and a good marketing plan being a big factor in their decision. Retailers almost always want the right to return books that are not selling, which can cause a huge problem for the author. Imagine, getting a large order through your distributor for several hundred books from a national retail bookstore and then having to take them back. This will be very costly and you may end up with a ton of books that you can’t move fast enough. Then you have to provide storage for the books, labor for moving them and restocking them. In fact even if a retailer accepts the book it must sell through the author and distributors efforts or it may very well be removed from the retailer’s shelf.

So it is crucial that you as the author are willing to work, work, work, at getting exposure for you and your book and create sales in order to make everyone happy and of course make any money.

Posted in Book Marketing, Retailing Books, Selling Books - Tagged , , ,

What Distributors Want

Mar31
2010 Leave a Comment Written by Mike Webb

Distributors want many of the same things that publishers want. A book that is well written, good looking and that has something going for it and an author behind it that is willing to run the race.

Distributors are the middle men between publishers and retailers. Retailers will not buy your book directly from you. They don’t have the time to order 50,000 different books from 50,000 different places. Makes sense doesn’t it?

Distributors typically have a catalog of books that they present to retail buyers. These are the guys who know how to get the books from the publisher’s warehouse to the bookstore shelves. One problem you may run into using a typical distributor is that they usually have so many books that it is hard to get them to focus on your book. This is why it is important for YOUR marketing efforts to be top notch and create a demand for your book.

Smaller less known distributors may have more time to concentrate on your book but they get less time in front of retail buyers. You will want to make sure that wither you or your distributor has made your title available on Amazon.com and other online retailers. It is not an expensive thing to do and is crucial to making your title available to the masses.

Posted in Book Marketing, Publishing, Retailing Books, Sales, Uncategorized, Writing - Tagged , , ,

Mike Webb

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