Success as an author in the digital marketplace still boils down to finding an audience and marketing your writing. Niche musical groups have managed to find ways to promote their music and themselves via social networks and the Internet so it seems logical that writers will do the same. I don’t believe that publishing mirrors music but I do think that writers have some advantages over musicians and that has to do with the plethora of writing groups and forums.

Although it is frowned upon to join a group or forum and promote you’re writing there are free formats for promotion such as NothingBinding.com.

There are lessons to be learned and information to share but in the meantime, you have to be in the game to play and if you’ve ever considered an eBook, now is the time to move forward and explore your options.

Quality independently published books are having a difficult time finding adequate distribution for the print edition simply because the major houses continue to pour money into the retail sector. They will pay for anything from newsletter placement to author book tours and signings to advertising allowances for anything and everything. This has created a distribution system for print books that grossly limits quality small press titles from competing.

Retailers take a straight 50 percent off the top of every book they sell. Consider a $15.00 trade paperback, the bookstore will take $7.50, distributor will take another 30 percent or $4.50 leaving the independent author with 20 percent of $3.00. If you cannot print enough books to cover the cost of the $3.00 per copy printing then you will lose money on each copy sold. My best guess is that you would need to print roughly 3,000 copies to meet that threshold. The problem is that the quality independently published book rarely achieves a 3,000 copy advanced order.

Now consider the eBook market which is still so new that the major publishers haven’t figured out how to flex their muscles. The distributors for eBooks are not in bed with print publishers, they are digital companies who are willing to give quality small companies a fair chance to sell product. This favors the independent author over print in a number of ways. Plus, retailers for digital content have not set discounts that run standard like the print market because they are all still trying to find a competitive advantage. Another plus that favors the independent author and their eBooks.

Marketing and selling digital content is still faced with the massive problem of how to reach an audience and unfortunately there are no special formulas or secrets that will solve that issue. However, it appears that consumers or digital content are more likely to read about content via social networks, blogs and eBook reviews that are just starting to emerge. My prediction is that marketing for eBooks will start to shift from the traditional methods to more advanced ways of finding an audience through the Internet.

The cost of converting a word document original manuscript to an eBook that is compatible with all formats of eReading devices is a fraction of the cost to produce a quality print book. The eBook market is one where all sales are final which means no returns and no printing costs or warehousing, shipping and handling. Convert a manuscript to an eBook and concentrate on marketing, rather than reprinting and all that goes with that process.

As long as the major book publishers continue to focus on hardcover and trade paper print while delaying release of their eBooks the independent author has a clear advantage. By launching in eBook followed by print, after achieving a significant audience is the perfect strategy for the independent author. The low cost for entry into the marketplace allows more resources to be devoted to marketing which makes digital content the preferred choice over print editions for the independent author.

If you have a print edition and have been discouraged by the process and success, eBooks are not necessarily the answer. You should step back and look closely at your entire publishing program before deciding to move forward with an eBook edition. The emergence of eBooks and the growing market does not mean your content will suddenly find an audience it merely provides another opportunity for sales. In my thirty plus years of publishing experience, the emergence of the digital market is clearly one of the most exciting. If I can help answer your questions about eBooks, please send me an email jerry@writersreaders.com.

He has served in several facets of the publishing business for more than 25 years including: Executive Director of Marketing, Director of Sales and Merchandising, and Key Accounts Manager for publishing powerhouses, such as Simon and Schuster, Random House and the former book division at Warner Publisher Services.

Throughout his publishing career Barry has enjoyed developing and executing integrated marketing strategies specifically designed for distinguished authors including: John Grisham, Mary Higgins Clark, Stephen King, Vince Flynn, Danielle Steel, Sandra Brown, Tami Hoag, Iris Johansen, Kresley Cole, Jude Deveraux, Glenn Beck, Mark R. Levin, Dr. Mehmet Oz, and Paula Deen. He prided himself on the personal relationships that he developed with many of these authors while promoting their latest ventures through his marketing insights.

He successfully collaborated with high profile entertainment industry clients including: motion picture companies (Sony, Paramount, and Universal Pictures), gaming companies (Blizzard Entertainment, Ubisoft, Marvel Enterprises), television production companies (CBS, HBO, Lifetime, MTV, Showtime, USA Networks, TLC), and World Wrestling Entertainment.
Barry offers new and established authors comprehensive and strategic marketing plans that can help elevate the visibility of their published work. He can be retained to consult on your current marketing plan with your present publisher, or can develop an entirely new marketing campaign specifically designed for your book. You can choose to implement one of his marketing strategy plans yourself, or hire him to follow through with all aspects of your individualized plan.

Barry is one of New York’s foremost marketing experts in the publishing industry, he has built his reputation on conceiving profitable marketing and promotional programs across hardcover, trade paperback, premium, and mass market publishing formats. His successful marketing and cross-merchandising programs heightened brand awareness and developed strategies for increased sales and distribution.

He collaborated with online and corporate partners to help sell new and upcoming authors with cutting edge publishing programs. He devised online marketing plans, developed extensive blog outreach, created demographic lists, and developed customized marketing plans for a multitude of book genres. As a long time food aficionado and wine collector, Barry particularly enjoyed his chance to develop successful marketing campaigns for the Robert Parker Wine Library and the Williams-Sonoma cookbook line.

As a marketing professional, Barry is a member of the Publishers Advertising and Marketing Association, the Tools of Change for Publishing, and the Author and Publisher Association. On a personal note, Barry resides in the suburbs just outside of New York City with his wife, two sons, and their Golden Retriever. For further information about how you can work with Barry contact him at: barrygporter@gmail.com, or you can visit his profile on http://www.linkedin.com.

But first, let me introduce you to the site: www.NothingBinding.com started in 2007 as a social networking site and has evolved into an online catalog where agents and editors can search for new talent, topics and product to publish. The site was originally owned by a group with some being non-publishers but recently ownership and control have changed. Expect a complete overhaul in the coming months. The important thing is the writer/author profile is free and is just another way to display writing and or books.

Now to the feedback: agents and editors are completely turned off when the profile is too clever or glib and photo is compromised by your pet or book cover in the place of a face. Agents and editors tend to back off when writers and authors display a personal image that signals anything beyond the norm. Cute, sweet or shy are not traits that publishers want today because they need to be able to promote authors and their books and the last thing they want are difficult creative people.

If your profile is glib, less than genuine or incomplete, agents and editors are again turned off. In addition they really want to hear your voice or see you speak via audio or video. It goes back to promotion and the need to hear and see the writer or author. If you fail in any of these areas then you may have missed the opportunity to raise your credibility as someone worth publishing. You need to capitalize on the one chance at making a positive impression because the time is short in which to catch someone’s eye.

NothingBinding.com will continue to provide free writer author personal profiles and drive traffic in the form of agents and editors interested in finding talent with new ideas. This free web site is what creates opportunities in today’s marketplace.

Book sales are cyclical. If you look at the past 30 years you’d see the highs and lows of category sales. What publishers try to do is catch the rise to the top and avoid the dip to the lows. As an author, there is no way you can try to match or write to that cycle.

Forget about market timing. It won’t work. Write the story you were destined to write and focus on making it entertaining, enlightening and informative. Consumers will always buy good books so make yours as good as possible.

The reading public is screaming for a new approach. This is my conclusion after seeing a decade long slide in single copy sales. How can an industry constantly fly in the face of the basic law of supply and demand? When demand goes down in publishing, the big companies increase supply by shipping more books and raise cover prices at the same time. This does not make sense.

The time is right for an entirely new approach, and it’s called the hybrid publishing model—combining the experience and vast knowledge of former New York publishing executives with top quality production to assist writers in publishing their own manuscript. In the end, the finished product is made available to booksellers via direct sales to book buyers at top retailers. The advantages are considerable.

Remember, publishing is about perception—publish with the wrong company and the quality of your writing will forever be judged before your title has a chance at success.

There are quality writers publishing independently and for consumers interested in reading books not typically found in bookstores may I suggest you visit the web site NothingBinding.com then tell your friends and colleagues to join and post their writing. The strength of independent publishing is in our combined numbers. If all 300,000 new authors each year would join forces there is no telling what kind of impact we could have on the marketplace. To capitalize on all the changes in the book business will take some huge effort. Let’s bind together to generate sales for our independent books. Now is the time.

It has been my experience that writers and authors tend to believe:
(1) friends, other authors, and colleagues within their own writing group or circle of friends,
(2) the best sales pitch with the least cost and biggest promises of success, and
(3) those offering facts and not promises which is the way I describe myself and other members of the INDI Publishing Group.

There is nothing wrong with believing whom you want to believe, however, if experience makes the difference, then you should be listening to those with the most experience with a solid background in New York publishing. I am not biased towards any form of publishing. For me and my clients, it depends on their personal goals, wants, hopes, and dreams. I pride myself on telling the truth and being honest to a fault. Sometimes writers don’t want to accept the facts.

My professional services and those of my group are not the least expensive and you shouldn’t expect that. Our combined experience is unparalleled in publishing. I don’t make wild promises or offer guarantees, I refuse to paint a rosy picture of the bookselling marketplace, and I absolutely will not associate myself or do business with anyone that is not above reproach. These are the rules I go by and if that fits your criteria then send me an email. I will do everything I can to offer you my expertise and guidance with the goal of making you a successful author.

Suggested retail pricing in publishing, especially the eBook is key to success. Unfortunately the print side of the business has such a rigid discount structure that under pricing the competition while covering the cost of printing low quantities of books makes profitability difficult, not so with eBooks. If a ground floor opportunity ever existed in publishing, this is it! Explore the possibilities; consider launching your publishing career in eBook format and wait for print. The cost of entry to the market is much lower and the possibilities are greater than print editions.

If you own the digital, electronic or audio rights to your print book you can create all sorts of products and set retail prices accordingly. The eBook market is small but growing and the marketing opportunities are endless compared to print.

There is more excitement among New York publishers about eBooks since Apple announced the iPad and I expect to see some innovative and impressive products coming from them in the very near future. Having the ability to slice a typical 50 or 60,000 word manuscript into several smaller eBooks is a marketers dream. This will change publishing as we know it. Print will not die, but the ability to download digital content onto an eReading device is nothing more than the goose that laid the golden egg for independent authors.