Publishing Basics... for the self publisher

“Free” iBook Author Software?

Ed Matte — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 05:05:58 +0000

Apple recently released its much-anticipated iBooks Author software. This software is available free of charge and will give the would-be self publisher the necessary tools to output their own e-books. At face value this sounds like a good deal. Until you do a little more research on the subject. For one, you need a Mac to run the software and if you’re like me—and the majority of people who are using PCs to do the manuscripts for their e-books—this is a non-issue and may actually be a good thing once you read on.

5 Clues to Identify Your Ideal Reader

Phil Whitmarsh — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 05:05:39 +0000

I ask a lot of questions. Why did you write your book? For whom did you write your book? Who are your targeted readers? “Everyone who can read at an eighth grade reading level” is not the right answer. I will probably not read your fantasy book about vampire beavers attacking a muskrat kingdom. Who is your ideal reader? My what? Your “ideal reader?” If you can identify the primary and secondary audiences who will buy your book—and tell other ideal readers about it—you’ll have a much easier time marketing your book successfully and reaping profits as a result. Here are five clues to identifying your ideal reader.

10 Things I Learned Self-Publishing my First Book

JoAnn Collins — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 05:05:35 +0000

Each one of us is shaped by the experiences of our lives, which is what book writing is: sharing our experiences. In fiction, the writer is sharing a story, and in nonfiction, the writer is sharing information they have learned about a particular subject, to improve the reader’s life. In 2006, I began to consider writing a book about special education for parents, for three reasons ...

ASK RON: “Why should I buy from SelfPublishing.com?” – Part 3

Ron Pramschufer — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 05:05:25 +0000

Two words… Thor Distribution… Thor was started almost ten years ago as an entry level POD distribution method to pick up an odd sale or two that the author might not otherwise make out of his own inventory. Over time, it has grown from a few nickels and dimes to a great percentage of our authors being issued 1099’s, meaning they earned over $600 for the year with literally no out of pocket investment.

Cover Design and the Problem of Symbolism

Joel Friedlander — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 05:05:14 +0000

A couple of weeks ago the latest edition of my e-Book Cover Design Awards went live, and I once again had the pleasure—and the frustration—of judging a whole slew of covers. The problems come at the extremes. Commenting on the covers is fun, and selecting out the best ones is never difficult. But when it’s time to narrow it down to the final few and then, at the end, the winners, it can be excruciatingly hard, because saying “yes” to one means saying “no” to so many others. At the other end of the spectrum, the same errors happen repeatedly every month, which isn’t all that surprising.

Write a Blog Marketing Tip in 30 Minutes

Judy Cullins — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 05:05:12 +0000

Are you blog marketing with tips already? Do you fully realize the benefits of that? As you look for tips to help you in your business, millions of others do too. Your online audiences love tips because they don't want to spend a lot of time reading. They want the easy-to-read nuggets that pertain to their needs and interests so they can skim. Your potential buyers want solutions to their problems and concerns.

Tips for Creating Fiction that Ignites the Imagination

Carolyn Madison — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 05:05:06 +0000

A professional editor will seek fundamental elements of good fiction within your manuscript—and where necessary, suggest improvements to develop it so that it will “launch” and flow in a structured storyline to better engage readers. Have you ever wondered what goes through an editor’s mind when an author’s story concept falters? What follows is a fictionalized illustration of a possible “stream of consciousness” that an editor might experience while editing the initial part of a manuscript. Because the editor’s job is to step into the shoes of potential readers, it is likely that many of the same thoughts and questions will run through your readers’ minds.

ASK RON: “Why should I let SelfPublishing.com help me publish my book?” – Part 2

Ron Pramschufer — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 05:05:51 +0000

Affordable book cover design and text layout by qualified, experienced designers. I’ve written on this subject from time to time over the years and always end up with a small amount of heated emails from high priced designers but literally hundreds of emails, thanking me for removing the cloud that often surrounds this subject.

Creating a Manuscript that is “Designer/Layout Friendly”

Peri Poloni-Gabriel — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 05:05:50 +0000

As a book designer, when estimating an interior the first thing I do is look to see if the manuscript has been created with “style”. Not if it is fashionable, but if “style sheets” or “styles” were used for various kinds of text. When using a word processing program such as MS Word or Pages for Mac the default style is Normal. You can see this on your toolbar or in the format menu. If you manually highlight type and change the size, boldness, font, etc. the style will still be Normal but you will have overridden the typical normal formatting manually. A better and much more “designer friendly” way to get consistent, heading, text and other formats throughout your manuscript is to use “styles”.

The Best Advice I’ve Learned On Mastering a Concept Worthy of a Story

Rebecca Berto — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 05:05:29 +0000

Five words that will change your entire outlook (or freshen it up, even for seasoned authors) on crafting a novel or screenplay: "Story Engineering by Larry Brooks." I’m focusing on “Concept” today. And I’m lucky this was the first section in Story Engineering. Really. It seems so simple, right? A love story. Except that’s not a concept. It’s an idea. And this explanation is exactly what saved my story.