BP Wiz Blog

Sourcebooks Acquires Picture Book from Actress Jessica Lange

2012-09-20T15:57:00.002-04:00

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Sourcebooks has announced that the company has acquired a children’s picture book by Oscar-and-Emmy-winning actress Jessica Lange.

Actress Jessica Lange

The new book, IT IS ABOUT A LITTLE BIRD, is based on a book the renowned actress created for her grandchildren. It’s the charming, delightful story about two sisters, Ilse and Adah, and their grandmother, Mem, who lives on a quaint, rambling small farm. During the visit to the farm, the sisters sneak into the ramshackle barn they’re normally forbidden to play in, and stumble on all kinds of strange and fascinating treasures, including an antique birdcage. The discovery prompts Mem to reminisce, and to tell her granddaughters about time she spent in Paris and Rome as a young woman, where she adopted a pet canary named Uccellino—Italian for “little bird”—that she brought back with her to the United States. CLICK HERE FOR MORE

How to host an online book tour

2012-09-15T15:44:00.003-04:00

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Host Your Own Event: Host A Blog Tour
Author: Alyice Edrich

When an author writes a book, he or she needs to find a way to get the world to take notice and buy that book. Traditional means for generating buzz about their books work great for extroverts or authors without children at home, but what about authors who are too shy to stand up in public to discuss the topics of their books or don’t want to leave their children at home while they travel the globe promoting their books? How can they let others know about their books and still stay home—where they’re needed most?

In the past, I’ve used the Internet to promote my e-books by visiting forums, message boards, and chat rooms. I’d locate topics related to my e-book’s theme and then briefly answer the poster’s question and complete the post by leaving a two to three line sales pitch in my signature line about how my e-book could help answer that question in more detail. The only problem with this method is that it’s time consuming and there’s definitely a thin line between promoting your product and being helpful.

Interviews have also been a great way to promote my e-books and to build credibility, but trying to locate magazines willing to interview an unknown or up-and-coming author, let alone a self-published author can be daunting. Editors prefer to interview BIG name authors who can sell more copies of their magazine.

Then came the BLOG and a whole new world opened up! CLICK HERE FOR MORE

Amazon New York Signs deal to sell its ebooks through other retailers

2012-09-04T09:49:00.004-04:00

BY Laura Hazard Owen

CLICK HERE

Why Write Memoirs After Combat or Other Trauma

2012-09-02T14:02:00.001-04:00

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As I was searching the internet for good websites for our WAENet members I came across this one. Jerry Waxler, MS, has an interesting site about the benefits of memoir writing. Although many writers want to have their memoirs published, there is other value to the exercise to consider.

by Jerry Waxler

My friend Don mentioned that his writing group was thinking of offering fiction writing classes as a public service to veterans. The notion of serving those who serve their country inspired me and on an impulse I blurted out, “Maybe I could teach them memoir writing.” My offer caught me off guard. I had taught hundreds of civilians about memoir writing, but I had never taught a class full of veterans. Now that the thought was out in the open, I wondered how much I knew about teaching veterans to write, especially those who had been in combat.
Trauma debriefing

After the World Trade Center bombing, I wanted to help trauma survivors, so to supplement my master’s degree in counseling, I took a course offered by Pennsylvania’s department of emergency preparedness. The main technique they taught, called trauma debriefing, consisted of encouraging survivors to talk about their experience. The treatment seemed reasonable to me. Talking has always been the mainstay of counseling. CLICK HERE FOR MORE

How to Finish What You Start: A Five-Step Plan for Writers

2012-09-01T15:51:00.000-04:00

How to Finish What You Start: A Five-Step Plan for Writers

I am often overwhelmed by my freelance projects once I have taken them on. It is an art to balance your work so you not only accomplish the goals for your clients, you are also able to complete the goals you set for yourself. This is a blog that gives some very good suggestions.

A guest post by Ali Luke of Aliventures.

Do you have a bunch of first chapters tucked away in a drawer – for seven different novels?

Is there a folder full of abandoned short stories on your computer?

Have you left a trail of abandoned blogs around the internet?

Did your ebook fizzle out after a few pages?

Most writers have been there … again, and again, and again. When I began writing, I spent plenty of timestarting stories. The problem was, I pretty much never finished them.

Maybe it’s the same for you. You’ve got plenty of great ideas, and you just can’t resist throwing yourself into them. Unfortunately, your motivation seems to vanish … and you’re left with a bunch of notes, outlines and first drafts that aren’t going anywhere.

No-one’s going to buy a half-written novel. No-one’s going to read a blog post that stops short after two paragraphs. So whether your writing aspirations involve hitting the New York Times bestseller list or living from the passive income from your ebooks, you need to finish what you start.

Here’s how:
Step #1: Stop Starting New Projects

Believe me, I know how tempting it is to grab that new idea and run with it. But now’s the time to stop.Resist the urge to begin anything new – however cool it sounds right now. After a few days or weeks, that shiny new project is going to lose its appeal and end up in the unfinished heap along with everything else.
Do it:

Decide, right now, that you won’t start anything new until you’ve finished something off. Find a notebook, or create a document on your computer, to store any awesome ideas that crop up – you can always come back to them in the future.
Step #2: Assess Your Current Projects

Take a long, hard look at all your current works-in-progress. If your writing life looks anything like mine, you might well need to grab a sheet of paper and make a list – you may even want to hunt through your desk drawers or your computer’s folders.

Is there anything that’s just not worth completing? Maybe the novel you started ten years ago isn’t the one you want to write now. Maybe that blog post draft was never going to go anywhere.

Rather than keeping old projects hanging around, ditch any that have died on you:

As with all dead things, holding onto it won’t keep it alive or change the fact that it’s useful time has come and gone. Hanging onto dead stuff has a higher psychic cost than most of us realize; in time, dead stuff does what trash and dead things do – it stinks.

(Charlie Gilkey, Don’t Leave Your Trash On The Stairs, Productive Flourishing)
Do it:

Make three lists:
Active projects that still excite you and have a purpose
Dead projects that you’re ready to let go (even if you feel a little bit reluctant)
Dormant projects that you might come back to in the future
CLICK HERE FOR MORE

7 Reasons to Publish a Blog

2012-08-28T12:26:00.000-04:00

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by Mark Nichol

You still don’t have a blog? Below, check out seven arguments for writers joining the blogosphere.

Weblogs, universally referred to as blogs, are websites formatted as journals, with posts, or individual entries, that can be accessed in reverse chronological order. (Usually, a few of the most recent posts are visible on the home page, and site visitors can click through to pages featuring previous posts or to an archive page.) They range widely in tone from silly to sober and in topic from adorable cats to international politics and everything in between — but perhaps it hasn’t occurred to you how valuable they can be for your writing or editing business or for the company you work for.

If you don’t already have a blog, or your current one is about your personal life or a topic unrelated to your profession, consider creating one that serves as an extension of your work. Post news, information, and analysis about pertinent topics, trends, products, or events.

Content can take the form of news briefs, essays, reports, white papers, reviews, interviews, polls, surveys, and FAQs (a list of actual or prospective frequently asked questions about a topic), among other forms. Supplement written posts with photographs, graphics, video, and audio. Provide links to related websites and other blogs, and ask webmasters and bloggers to do the same for your blog. Whenever you quote from or refer to an online article or other document, link to it.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE

How to obtain an ISBN number

2012-08-26T19:17:00.003-04:00

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The book industry really only uses one metric to distinguish between publishers and non-publishers. If you own an ISBN block, you're a publisher. The ISBN number is the key value that identifies the publisher of a book in all of the online databases and inventory systems used world-wide. I've heard that in some countries you can obtain an ISBN number for free, but in the U.S., you have to deal with the Bowker agency, where "agency" has a special legal meaning, that they've been granted a monopoly franchise by the government. The last ISBN block I purchased consisted of 10 numbers (enough for ten titles) and cost around $250 with the additional publisher registration charge. They call it an "application process," but I've never heard of anybody failing.

All it takes to obtain an ISBN number is a credit card (or a check and a lot of patience), but it's only the first step in the process. Bowker will aggressively market add-on services to you that I've never seen any need for, they really stretch the use of statistics for sales pitches in strange, new ways. You cangenerate bar codes for your book covers for free with Bookland, and you can convert older 10-digit ISBN's to 13-digit ISBN's for free as well. Don't get panicked into thinking you need to change your existing book covers, the new system grandfathers in books published with the 10 digit ISBN's. CLICK HERE

The 10 Best Colleges for Writers

2012-08-24T10:24:00.002-04:00

The 10 Best Colleges for Writers

An aspiring writer choosing a college is a lot like a child trying to make a decision in a candy store. Cliched simile aside, the amount of colleges with utterly brilliant writing programs, both at the graduate and undergraduate level, is astounding. That being said, everyone has a different set of preferences for a writing class, and writing programs can vary quite significantly, making that meticulous search for the right school highly rewarding in the end. As with any college search, you should take into account school location, class size for your concentration, and faculty, among other factors, to ensure the right decision for your future. And, of course, always keep in mind what style or genre of writing you wish to pursue.

1. Emory University (Atlanta, Georgia): Ask anyone for the best schools for writers, and Emory will inevitably emerge. With a plethora of outstanding minds flocking to and from Emory every year (be it guest lecturers, students, or alumni), it is no wonder why Emory would be a prime place for a budding writer. Emory offers extraordinary flexibility to its students; the only required course of all English majors is Poetry. Emory also allows English majors to double major in creative writing through Emory's very own undergraduate Creative Writing program, which offers workshops spanning over several genres, including poetry, fiction, creative non-fiction, playwriting, and screenwriting. Students looking for more personal settings with professors will be happy to find that most English classes cap at 15 students, while the largest cap at 25.

2. Hamilton College (Clinton, New York): Hamilton College is known not only for its high quality coursework or wide breadth of options for English majors but also for its nationally renowned writing center. Like Emory, Hamilton College allows English majors to concentrate in either English literature or creative writing. Hamilton's creative writing program offers courses and workshops in poetry, fiction, creative non-fiction, and playwriting (in which students will write and stage a one-act play). Whether concentrating in English or creative writing, Hamilton strives to cultivate all its students into elegant writers and great thinkers. And with one of the greatest writing centers in the nation to boot, it is a challenge to find a better place to study the English language.CLICK HERE

How do you know if your agent is legitimate

2012-08-17T15:52:00.003-04:00

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y Deborah Herman

Aspiring writers hear all too many times that they need a literary agent to have a chance at a traditional publishing contract. This is actually true. Having a literary agent greatly increases your chances of landing a publishing contract and there are many reasons why traditional publishing is still the way to go. Self-publishing offers many opportunities for writers, but traditional publishing offers distribution and instant credibility.

Like many perceived glamour careers there are many more people wanting those coveted spots on the success charts that there are places for them. This makes the unaware, unprepared and unprotected writer the perfect target for unscrupulous people. Every one wants to make a buck and many people do not care how they do it. If they can behave close to the line of the lawless yet remain "legitimate enough," they succeed on the backs of other's dreams.

Beware of people who call themselves literary agents who do not have any presence. This does not mean that all new literary agents are unscrupulous. It does mean that if someone advertises that they are literary agents yet have no connection to the publishing industry at all you might want to question their legitimacy. If they ask for a fee to read your work as part of their consideration for representation run away quickly. It is part of the cost of doing business for a literary agent to read material in order to find the gems they want to represent to publishers. If you think about it logically, it would be a nice business for a so-called literary agent to charge a fee, read your work and then not offer representation by saying it isn't good enough or needs work. There is absolutely no incentive for them to do the work it takes to sell a book to a publisher that legitimate agents do every day.

This is not to be confused with agents or people in the publishing industry who do consultation with authors to make their work "submission ready." This is an agreement to provide services for a fee without expectation of representation and should be very clearly stated as such. With the changes in the industry such as ebooks and self-publishing, many agents moonlight as editors.

A legitimate literary agent will be paid for their time only when you are. When you are selected for representation your agent may give you suggestions on how to improve your product but that will be included in the services. If they recommend an outside editor that is strictly your choice to improve your chances of a sale. Agents are paid a standard commission which is typically 15% of the advance and royalties.

Legitimacy of an agent does not mean all agents are created equal. You can learn about agents, their personalities and track records by visiting their personal websites and by visiting their profiles on www.WAENet.com.

Deborah Herman is a literary agent specializing
in project development. She also moonlights as a writing coach
and editor. Herman is a co-founder of Writers, Agents and
Editors Network.

What not to do when seeking a Literary Agent

2012-08-15T11:27:00.001-04:00

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Before seeking that elusive animal called a literary agent you must determine if you are ready for one. The biggest error people make is when in a state of writing excitement or idea mania they want to test out whether or not a literary agent will be interested. I can not stress enough that we are very busy people and sometimes very grumpy. If you cause us to become caught up in your excitement we are very likely to ask: "when can I see the proposal?" If you respond with "I just wanted to see if you would be interested" we will put your name on our version of the post office wall reserved for America's Most wanted criminals. We want to like good material. That is how we earn money for what you all believe are our mansions and mazeratis. Our time is truly our money. If you have a great idea make sure you have fleshed it out and have followed all of the protocols before contacting us. Oh, by the way, do not call us. This was an example for the benefit of this blog. Unless you are truly a legend and not a legend in your own mind we will do everything to avoid your call. If we happen to answer the phone ourselves we will pretend to be our own assistants. When you are ready send a query letter by mail or email when appropriate. Before sending one please read our blog on "what not to do when writing a query."

You may have written a manuscript or book proposal and will still not be ready to contact a literary agent any more than you are truly ready to contact a publisher. The explosion of easy ebooks and self-publishing services where you pay to play has created a generation of very impatient writers. You are so eager to spread your message or to see yourself in print that you do not prepare yourselves properly. You will send out your material too soon because you have in the back of your mind that you will do it yourself if an arrogant literary agent does not see your potential. We are not looking for potential and you should not be satisfied with it unless you have reached it. There are many great books that will not find an agent or publisher. But there are many mediocre books that are in people's garages or in cyberspace that could have found a larger market if they had waited to be fully developed. If you are serious about your book or proposal there are many people who can give you a critique before you send it to a literary agent. It is a worthwhile investment.

Things not to do when seeking a literary Agent:

Do not phone us with an idea especially if you do not have a manuscript or proposal ready.
Do not phone us to find out if we have read your query. A query has no obligation attached to it. We know you are excited. We will contact you if we want to see more.
Do not send a letter to a literary agent addressed to "Dear Agent." There are so many directories including www.WAENet.com where you can get the names and addresses of agents that there is no excuse for this.
Do not send a letter to an agent that is meant for another agent. This happens more than you know.
Do not send an email submission of a query letter with the other agents to whom you are sending it in your email list. This also happens more than you know. Take the time to send separate submissions.
Do not send a query or email submission with your proposal and/or manuscript. We have too much to read as it is. We will request what we would like to see.
Do not behave in a hostile manner toward a literary agent for rejecting your work. You may see them at a conference and who knows they may remember you and your work. Could happen.
Do not stalk your potential literary agent or your actual literary agent who then has to drop you as a client because your behavior is so bizarre at a writer's conference that you are freaking out all the attendees. You know who you are.
Do not call a literary agent and bully the receptionist so you can talk to the literary agent. At least at our literary agency it is often I, the partner and fellow literary agent answering our phone in my receptionist voice. Do you really think we want a client who does not respect the support staff?
When given an offer of representation do not immediately go Hollywood. While we are hard at work trying to sell your project you are welcome to tell people you have a literary agent. Just do not expect us to be available to now read all of your friend's work so you can show off how important you are.

Deborah Herman is a veteran literary agent,
book doctor and author of ten non-fiction books.
Herman is a co-founder of Writers, Agents and Editors Network

What not to do when seeking a Literary Agent

2012-08-15T11:24:00.001-04:00

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By Deborah Herman

Before seeking that elusive animal called a literary agent you must determine if you are ready for one. The biggest error people make is when in a state of writing excitement or idea mania they want to test out whether or not a literary agent will be interested. I can not stress enough that we are very busy people and sometimes very grumpy. If you cause us to become caught up in your excitement we are very likely to ask: "when can I see the proposal?" If you respond with "I just wanted to see if you would be interested" we will put your name on our version of the post office wall reserved for America's Most wanted criminals. We want to like good material. That is how we earn money for what you all believe are our mansions and mazeratis. Our time is truly our money. If you have a great idea make sure you have fleshed it out and have followed all of the protocols before contacting us. Oh, by the way, do not call us. This was an example for the benefit of this blog. Unless you are truly a legend and not a legend in your own mind we will do everything to avoid your call. If we happen to answer the phone ourselves we will pretend to be our own assistants. When you are ready send a query letter by mail or email when appropriate. Before sending one please read our blog on "what not to do when writing a query."

You may have written a manuscript or book proposal and will still not be ready to contact a literary agent any more than you are truly ready to contact a publisher. The explosion of easy ebooks and self-publishing services where you pay to play has created a generation of very impatient writers. You are so eager to spread your message or to see yourself in print that you do not prepare yourselves properly. You will send out your material too soon because you have in the back of your mind that you will do it yourself if an arrogant literary agent does not see your potential. We are not looking for potential and you should not be satisfied with it unless you have reached it. There are many great books that will not find an agent or publisher. But there are many mediocre books that are in people's garages or in cyberspace that could have found a larger market if they had waited to be fully developed. If you are serious about your book or proposal there are many people who can give you a critique before you send it to a literary agent. It is a worthwhile investment.

Things not to do when seeking a literary Agent:

Do not phone us with an idea especially if you do not have a manuscript or proposal ready.
Do not phone us to find out if we have read your query. A query has no obligation attached to it. We know you are excited. We will contact you if we want to see more.
Do not send a letter to a literary agent addressed to "Dear Agent." There are so many directories including www.WAENet.com where you can get the names and addresses of agents that there is no excuse for this.
Do not send a letter to an agent that is meant for another agent. This happens more than you know.
Do not send an email submission of a query letter with the other agents to whom you are sending it in your email list. This also happens more than you know. Take the time to send separate submissions.
Do not send a query or email submission with your proposal and/or manuscript. We have too much to read as it is. We will request what we would like to see.
Do not behave in a hostile manner toward a literary agent for rejecting your work. You may see them at a conference and who knows they may remember you and your work. Could happen.
Do not stalk your potential literary agent or your actual literary agent who then has to drop you as a client because your behavior is so bizarre at a writer's conference that you are freaking out all the attendees. You know who you are.
Do not call a literary agent and bully the receptionist so you can talk to the literary agent. At least at our literary agency it is often I, the partner and fellow literary agent answering our phone in my receptionist voice. Do you really think we want a client who does not respect the support staff?
When given an offer of representation do not immediately go Hollywood. While we are hard at work trying to sell your project you are welcome to tell people you have a literary agent. Just do not expect us to be available to now read all of your friend's work so you can show off how important you are.

Deborah Herman is a veteran literary agent,
book doctor and author of ten non-fiction books.
Herman is a co-founder of Writers, Agents and Editors Network

What not to do when Writing a Query Letter

2012-08-14T14:04:00.000-04:00

What not to do when Writing a Query Letter

By Deborah Herman

As a twenty year veteran literary agent I always need to remind myself that a new writer is a new writer. There are so many good resources for writers that some of the common errors that come up time and again in query letters should have gone the way of the typewriter. I live in the world of literary agents and publishing. It is easy for me to forget that not everyone knows the etiquette and protocols of an industry that may seem to keep people out, but that really just wants people to know how to get in. Agents and publishers are always looking for good material. Even though people lament that publishing is changing so rapidly, it is the delivery systems that are changing, not the processes of traditional publishing. Although it is similar for fiction we will focus on non-fiction for this explanation. You as the writer choose a subject, you write a book proposal if you do not want to write an entire manuscript, then you look for a literary agent. You look for the agent first because you know that you will gain better access to the publishing houses if you have an agent. That is how the game is still played. That is why you need to know what not to do.

Literary Agents are the first screen for the publishing houses. We build our reputations on choosing projects we know we can sell. We may take a chance on some long shots, but these projects must at least have something that piques our interest for us to spend time on it. Writers do not understand the behind the scenes of most literary agencies. We, the Jeff Herman Agency, are a boutique agency. This means that we do not have eager associate agents doing our screening and pitching. We do it ourselves. We, like most legitimate agencies receive commission for what we sell. We receive nothing for what we do not sell. So if we do not choose your work it may not be personal. This is truly business. You want us to invite you to the party from your query letter. You want us to request your work so we at least have more invested than through an anonymous submission. You know who you are and how wonderful your potential is but to us you are a complete stranger. Here are some things to avoid when writing to us:

1. Never start your letter with a derogatory comment about yourself. If you tell us you have been rejected by 10 agencies but know that we will be the ones to see how great you are we will not want to request your work. It is basic psychology. We all want what we think other people want.

2. Never start your letter with a derogatory comment about the literary agency. "I heard you used to be really something," is not going to win you any points. We have seen people do this. Use your mental gatekeeper.

3. Do not write so much fluff about the book that you forget to explain what the book is about. We don't care if you think it will be a bestseller. That is like a grandmother saying her grandchild is the cutest ever.

4. Do not write so much fluff about yourself that we do not see the relevance to why you are writing the book. And do not forget to tell us what the book is about.

5. Do not send us a query letter about a subject if you should have known we do not represent this kind of material. We are a non-fiction agency. If you were to read anything about us in the resources we provide through our website, books and in anything we ever write about ourselves we tell you that. You can find out that same information about any agency. Just look through the Agency profiles on www.WAENet.com to find out who represents what.

6. Do not forget to spell and grammar check your query. Some of us will overlook errors but many of us will not.

7. Do not rely on spell check and grammar check for your query or any document. There are nuances in the English language that you can't expect a computer to understand.

8. Do not write an exceedingly long letter. We are very busy people and prefer that you get right to the point.

9. Do not allow your letter to smell like smoke of any kind.

10. Do not forget to put your contact information on your letter including phone. Some of us still use it.

Deborah Herman is Editorial Director of
The Jeff Herman Agency, LLC and is
a co-founder of Writers, Agents and Editors Network

Promote Your Book with Video

2012-08-13T11:55:00.000-04:00

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7 Ways to Promote Your Book With Video

Video is one of the hottest online promotional tools these days, and with good reason. People watch hundreds of millions of videos a day on YouTube, and folks who enjoy videos often forward the link to someone else, creating viral marketing opportunities.

Google includes videos in search results, and people also search Google and video sites for videos on a particular topic. So, how can authors take advantage of the power of video to promote themselves and their books? Here are some ideas:

Add a video greeting to your website, to get up close and personal with your audience.
Record a brief video promoting yourself as an author, expert, speaker, and/or consultant.
Create a video book promo (similar to a movie trailer, combining graphics, words, and music).
Offer free video tutorials.
Make video posts to your blog (known as vlogging).
Post video testimonials from customers on your website.
Create a video bio for your online media room or post clips of live speaking events or television interviews. CLICK HERE FOR MORE

Amazon Self-Published Bestsellers for Week of August 6, 2012

2012-08-08T10:01:00.001-04:00

1. Slammed by Colleen Hoover: “Following the unexpected death of her father, 18-year-old Layken is forced to be the rock for both her mother and younger brother. Outwardly, she appears resilient and tenacious, but inwardly, she’s losing hope.”

2. Our Husband by Stephanie Bond: “Three women from different walks of life–a doctor, a socialite, and a stripper–find out they have one thing in common: a husband!”

3. Point of Retreat by Colleen Hoover: “Layken and Will’s relationship persevered through hardships, heartache and a cruel twist of fate, further solidifying the fact that they belong together.”

4. Finding Emma by Steena Holmes: “When Megan takes a photo of a little girl with an elderly couple at the town fair, she believes it to be her missing daughter. Unable to let go, she sets in motion a sequence of events that could destroy both families lives.”

5. Love Unscripted by Tina Reber: “Ryan Christensen [is] the most sought after film star on the planet. Taryn Mitchell has been feigning contentment while running the family pub. Her peaceful life is tossed upside down when Ryan [takes] a shortcut through Mitchell’s Pub.”

6. Anything He Wants by Sara Fawkes: “Lucy Delacourt’s temp position isn’t quite her dream job but it pays the bills…barely. The highlight of her day is riding the elevator in the mornings: she always manages to time it so that she sees the handsome stranger every day.”

7. Easy by Tammara Webber: “A girl who believes trust can be misplaced, promises are made to be broken, and loyalty is an illusion. A boy who believes truth is relative, lies can mask unbearable pain, and guilt is eternal. Will what they find in each other validate their conclusions, or disprove them all?”

8. While It Lasts by Abbi Glines: “Cage has to decide: does he drop out and give up his dream of getting noticed by a college in the SEC, and possibly making it into the Major Leagues — or does he give in to his coach’s demands and spend his summer baling hay?”

9. Anything He Wants 4: Collateral Damage by Sara Fawkes: “When Lucy Delacourt signed a contract with Jeremiah Hamilton, she had no idea she’d be caught up in an assassination plot against the billionaire.”

10. A Deadly Blessing by Kathy Bennett: “The critically ill daughter of the governor of California has been kidnapped. LAPD Detective Maddie Divine is assigned to find her before it’s too late. But this high-profile case comes with secrets on every side: cops, politicians, even the innocent.”

Mark Coker: Indie Authors Are Underpricing Their Books

2012-08-06T11:34:00.004-04:00

Suw Charman-Anderson, Forbes Contributor

In this, the third part of my interview with Smashwords founder Mark Coker, we talk about how ebook price and word count affect sales.

Back in June, author Edward Robertson became curious about changes he saw in Amazon’s ‘most popular’ and ‘bestseller’ lists, with previously high-ranking books dropping rapidly into obscurity. After a bit of digging, Robertsonconcluded that Amazon had changed its algorithm, demoting cheap ebooks. I asked Mark Coker if he had any insights into Amazon’s new algorithm and how price affects sales.

We did a study looking at what impact price has on sales, using approximately six months of Smashwords sales data for a collection of over 50,000 books, across all of our retailers, including Apple, Barnes & Noble, Sony, Kobo, Diesel, and also the Smashwords store.

First, we wanted to understand at what price authors move the most units and it’s not a surprise: that price is free. At the Apple iBook store, for example, free books are downloaded about 100 times more than paid books. The lesson for authors who want to rapidly build their platform is that free books are a very powerful tool.

We then looked at the other prices: 99¢, of course, moved more copies than $1.99, which moved more than $2,99. As price increased there were fewer sales. But what price yields the greatest income? And that was really interesting: We found that the $2.99 to $5.99 price band appears to be the sweet spot for indie authors, those prices over-performed the average in terms of income for the author. But 99¢ and $1.99 under-performed. CLICK HERE to read the full story.

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Self-Published Authors Make NY Times Best Sellers List

2012-08-03T10:41:00.002-04:00

Four Smashwords authors made The New York Times Best Sellers list for eBook fiction this week. Many of these authors have also topped our Self-Published Bestsellers List.

AppNewser has more: “Author Colleen Hoover‘s bookSlammed is No. 8 on the list and her title Point of Retreat hit No. 18). Author R.L. Mathewson‘s book Playing for Keepsranked at No. 16 on the list and author Lyla Sinclair‘s bookTraining Tessa hit the No. 17 position and Bella Andre had three titles on the list If You Were Mine at No. 22, Can’t Help Falling in Love at No. 23, and I Only Have Eyes for You at No. 24.” CLICK HERE to read the full story.

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Add a "Buy This Book" Widget to Your Website

2012-08-01T10:48:00.000-04:00

Our friend and colleague Laurie Abkemeier has been a vocal advocate of the idea that everyone in publishing with a website should link to all the major book retailers, not just one. So to make this as easy as possible, the web gurus at Diverse Designbuilt us a small "Buy this book" widget and we are pleased to make it available for anyone to use. CLICK HERE to get the code and see the widget in action.

Who speaks for publishing policy?

2012-07-31T19:56:00.000-04:00

Peter Brantley -- July 26th, 2012

The Chronicle of Higher Education has released its first ebook, appropriately enough an expanded version of its Rebooting the Academy series, which examines changes in the practice of research, teaching, and institutional management in the midst of technological change. Nearly simultaneously, on the occasion of John Siracusa’s exhaustive review of the new Apple operating system Mountain Lion, Condé Nast’s Ars Technica will soon make available a Kindle ebook for those wishing to absorb all 26,000 words in a digestible format. And, in September, the New York Review of Books will release their first title in their new ebook only imprint, NYRB-Lit.

That digitally facile publishers such as the Chronicle and Condé Nast are able to quickly produce and sell ebooks is simultaneously exceptional, and increasingly mundane. Ten years ago, publishing an ebook from a lengthy periodical series would have taken months of preparation; today, as the tools for publishing on the internet enter the mainstream book trade, anyone who can run a blog can produce an ebook. That’s not necessarily terrific news if you are an established publisher; with each news release about self- and independently-published ebooks, the value proposition of large, integrated publishing firms seems less obvious. When Los Angeles media entrepreneurs like Barry Diller and Scott Rudin see the virtue of starting up their own high-brow literary publishing endeavors, midtown real estate in Manhattan starts looking particularly expensive. CLICK HERE to read the full story.

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eBooks Now ‘Dominant Single Format’ in Adult Fiction Sales

2012-07-27T12:18:00.000-04:00

By Jason Boog

Digital books are now “the dominant single format” in the adult fiction category, according to a new BookStats joint report from theAssociation of American Publishersand the Book Industry Study Group. eBooks exploded in the adult fiction category last year, accounting for 30 percent of net publisher sales in 2011–up from 13 percent the year before.

At the same time, net sales revenue from eBooks increased from from $869 million in 2010 to $2.074 billion in 2011. That’s 15 percent of net revenues for publishers. AppNewser has more about how these numbers have affected the total US book market.

Here’s more about those eye-popping figures, from the report: “Adult Fiction eBooks revenue for 2011 was $1.27 billion, growing by 117% from $585 million in 2010. This translated to 203 million units, up 238% from 85 million in 2010. Similar to the broader overall Trade sector, the combined print formats also represented the majority of publishers’ revenue in the Adult Fiction category, at $2.84 billion.CLICK HERE to read the full article.

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Mark Coker: Significant Disruption For Traditional Publishers Still To Come

2012-07-25T08:13:00.002-04:00

Suw Charman-Anderson, Forbes Contributor

Smashwords, the self-publishing platform that allows authors to reach all the major ebook retailers except Amazon, recently published its 5 billionth word and continues to grow hand over fist. Launched four years ago, after founder Mark Coker and his wife Lesleyann found it difficult to gain traction for their novel, Boob Tube, Smashwords has been steadily expanding its stable of independent authors. In its first year, 2008, it published 140 books, and growth since then has been astonishing. Last year Smashwords helped authors publish more than 92,000 books, and in 2012 the running total is already at 130,000.

I recently had a chat with Coker and in this, the first part of our interview, we talked about trends in the self-publishing industry and the disruption still to come for traditional publishers.

Mark, how has the self-publishing industry developed over the last few years? CLICK HERE to read the full article.

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Using Social Media to Promote Your Book

2012-07-20T08:32:00.003-04:00

By Nina Perez, author and digital strategist for Convertiv a Boston based social media agency helping brands foster influential relationships through engaging online experiences.

A few months ago I made the decision to jump into the treacherous waters of independent publishing. After shopping my novel around and being told that the YA (young adult) market had moved beyond fantasy novels, but noticing that the top selling YA books on Amazon said otherwise, it seemed like the right move.

The moment you decide to independently publish you become more than a writer. You’re a publicist and marketing specialist and it’s up to you to devise ways to get your book noticed and purchased. Of course, the biggest and most beneficial tool available is the internet. Over the next few posts I’ll share some of the social media tools I’ve used to promote my book.

So, I’m assuming your book is either already available in paperback and/or e-format via Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Smashwords, Apple iBooks, Goodreads, etc., or you’re approaching your release date. How do you spread the word?

Website – This may seem like a no-brainer, but you need to decide what kind of site you’re going to have. Do you want to showcase yourself as an author and all the works you have/will have published? Or do you need a site that focuses solely on a single title? My novel is the first in a series so it made more sense to register a domain name that matches the series and then at any given time it could focus on the current/most recent book available and keep a sense of continuity. CLICK HERE FOR MORE

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50 Shades of Grey Breaks New Ground… in successful digital parodies

2012-07-19T09:51:00.003-04:00

BY: GRAEME MCMILLAN

It's not just 50 Shades of Grey itself that's benefited from the buzz around the series of former Twilight fanfiction books; parodies of the series are making their way up digital sales charts.

A good sign of the size of the 50 Shades of Grey phenomenon comes not in the mainstream publication of the BDSM-themed one-time Twilight fanfic, nor in the plans for a movie version that have been floating around since the book got big in the sales charts. It isn’t even the book’s sales success, but instead the sales success of something else altogether: The books parodying the series.

PaidContent points out that two separate 50 Shades of Grey parody books have, somewhat surprisingly, hit the charts in their own right, noting that “a would-be parody of 50 Shades of Grey called 50 Shades of Black & Blue by I B Naughtie (ha ha) has risen to #41 on the Amazon Kindle Store’s UK Bestseller list despite terrible reviews,” adding that “Not far behind it is another “parody” called 50 Shades of Red, White & Blue by Maggie Muff (again, ha ha).”

Ignoring the fact that the two books somehow made it into the top 50 Kindle charts despite truly scathing reviews – although many, apparently, seem to comment that they bought the book accidentally, believing that it actually was part of the 50 Shades of Grey series; something that either speaks to the gullibility of fans, the spot-on work of the parody writers, or the “Telephone” qualities of Internet phenomenons turned “real life” hits – what’s interesting about this is the ease of parody work to reach a mass audience online. Previously, parodies such as these were the works of small presses, with books published in such small numbers – and distributed in such a spotty manner – that they were, essentially unseen by the mass public. With the advent of digital, however, and the democratizing effects that has on media publishing, that’s clearly no longer the case. CLICK HERE to read the full story.

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QUICK UPDATE FROM BP WIZ!

2012-07-18T12:29:00.002-04:00

The BP Wiz team would first like to Thank You for making BP Wiz a success! We launched BP Wiz a little over a year ago and the response has been more than overwhelming. Some users have reported they were recently having problems logging in while were making some changes to the BP Wiz site. If you are still having problems logging in towww.bpwiz.biz on your browser, try clearing your browser's cache. If you still experience difficulties, please email admin@bpwiz.biz

As most of you know, late last year we also launched www.waenet.com. WAENet is the first social network to successfully bring together writers, agents and editors into one network. Thanks to our dedicated users, WAENet has quickly become one of the leading social networks in the publishing industry.

Stay Tuned! Some exciting news and updates about BP Wiz is headed your way in the next couple of weeks.

Barnes & Noble brings Nook e-books to the Web

2012-07-17T13:57:00.003-04:00

BY SIMON HILL

Barnes & Noble has announced Nook for Web, a way to read Nook books on your home computer or any Internet-enabled device.

Barnes & Noble just fired the latest salvo in the e-book war with the announcement of Nook for Web. So what is it? Basically it’s an e-reader experience in a web browser. You can sample and read Nook books on any PC or Mac without the need to sign in or download any software — you don’t even need a Nook account.

If you already have a Nook device then you can access your collection and pick up where you left off with a book in your browser, although you will have to sign in to My Nook if you want to do that.

It works with Internet Explorer, Chrome, Firefox and Safari but there’s one glaring omission — no support for tablets or smartphones just yet. CLICK HERE to read the full article.

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The Unanswered Query Letter & Other Mysteries

2012-07-16T09:23:00.003-04:00

By: Jeff Herman

Dear Agent (not jeff herman, though it could have been): Five-years, three-months, and 19-days ago, upon this very computer I printed and mailed you my query letter to welcome your interest in a completed work of fiction. As of this writing I have never heard from you, though a SASE with extra postage was included. In the interim, my suffering and alienation from the process by which you earn the benefits of your labor has eroded my will to care. It is not for me, or for even the countless masses who stand with me, to judge why you never responded to my query letter. This circumstance in itself will be of no consequence beyond my wounded soul and their wounded souls. But the world cannot forever deny this growing vortex of uncultivated creation by the writers for the readers. You and your kind owe me my history and due destiny, and you owe those who have been denied the chance to share my abundance. However, if you choose to respond affirmatively to my query letter, please disregard everything that precedes this sentence. Regards, Lou V. Ma

Dear XX, I read your letter with a mixture of awe and indigestion. My unpaid interns went through 19 boxes of unsolicited queries before they located yours. I read with total focus and open mindedness. I then put it aside for a full 24-hours to ensure that I maintained no impulsivity in my response. I cannot deny that it is the most brilliant query letter I have ever read, it brought tears to me eyes and a near fatal fluttering to my heart. Sadly, we don't and never have represented fiction and must therefore pass. I encourage you to keep trying and hope that your next experience brings a more speedy and satisfying resolution. Yours, Headly Upton Ash

I believe that irreverence and levity are good ways to learn something, or at least a more interesting way to teach something. What does the above correspondence suggest to you? What if anything can you learn from it?
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