Giving Away Content
By Jerry D. Simmons | July 22nd, 2010 | No Comments » (Click to add yours!)
I’m in favor of an author offering free excerpts of their writing. This is especially important for eBooks and should be strongly considered with free chapters of their print book. Recently one of my newsletter readers asked the following.”Last month you convinced me that my self-published book should be available for Kindle. Now I’m wondering if I should make the first chapter available as a free download, in hopes of enticing people to read more. Is that the kind of question you might address in your newsletter? If so, I bet a lot of other writers would be interested in the answer as well! Not quite sure where the line falls between publishing and marketing.”
This is a great question and the answer is yes, every author with an eBook should consider offering as much as 20% of the content free. This coupled with a low price point makes the content more enticing to readers. The bottom line is you want to sell more eBooks and the best way is a (1) offer a free download for a portion of your book, and (2) set a low price point for novels, a bit higher for non-fiction.
In addition, marketing is always important. You are an author with a book and yet your audience doesn’t know you exist. How do you reach your audience? That is a question for the ages and there is no set formula. Successful marketing involves a number of components in the right combination based on the genre and distribution for each book. For independent authors it means lots of work via social networking and posting as much content free on the Internet as possible. Marketing is never easy nor quick; my suggestion is to always consult with a professional book marketer before you spend money and time. Let them help you establish a strategy and marketing plan. You save money by following their advice. It would be a wise investment.
Global Market
By Jerry D. Simmons | July 6th, 2010 | No Comments » (Click to add yours!)
There are a variety of stories circulating the Internet about authors who have suddenly become “successful” with eBooks and in most cases were virtual unknowns. Luck plays a small part since we all know that being in the right place at the right time always helps, but each author was also tenacious and a pretty darn good writer. There are thousands of writers with as much talent as the ones we have read about but each possessed a strong desire to be successful, worked extremely hard and marketed their socks off.
All of these success stories have been circulated by Amazon, where the majority has made their mark. However not everyone can depend on one web site for all their sales. The answer is a much wider, global distribution for your content, especially eBook. To improve your chances of success you must cast a wider net and reach a much larger audience, regardless of how much traffic one web site receives. Who can afford to ignore fifty percent of the market?
Access to the market and reaching readers through global distribution is important to improving your chances of selling more copies and becoming a successful author.
Your Publisher Defines You as an Author
By Jerry D. Simmons | July 1st, 2010 | No Comments » (Click to add yours!)
Writers who make a decision to publish independently in any format have plenty of choices. Since the eBook is a hot topic I receive lots of emails from companies touting their services. Recently I received a blind email from a consulting company offering to publish my book in an eBook format and offered me a whole list of added bonuses if I responded immediately. Obviously they purchased a mailing list and thought I would be a good candidate.
It seems the more that is written about the opportunities with digital publishing the more the competition for conversion from a vast array of people calling themselves publishers’ pops up in our inbox. The real decision for any writer is: who do you trust with your writing? Understand that your publisher is the one who defines you as a writer. Your publisher is someone you need to feel confident in their ability to maximize the potential for your writing.
Printing is not publishing, creating a Kindle edition and throwing it up on Amazon is not publishing. This is a business of creating content that offers the reader something special. Good publishing involves skills gained from years of experience in the business of making quality content better, more marketable and potentially bestselling. Publishers have experience with all types of genres, authors, marketing plans and distribution. They understand the nuances of the market for readers and books.
Today I’m fortunate to work with a group of editors, designers and marketers with unmatched experience and qualifications in New York publishing. The decision for writers is who do you place your trust in to make your writing the best it can be? Who do you want to be associated with as a publisher? Would you prefer working with a company who sends blind emails? Or do you think experience in publishing is a major factor? How successful do you want to be?
It boils down to choice and certainly who you decide to team up with regarding your writing is very important. If you feel you made a mistake with your print edition then correct that for the eBook and consider someone with experience. Publishing is perception and the logo on your published content sets the stage for much of what will follow. Publishing is about writing and selling quality content to share with the world.
True Value of Products and Services
By Jerry D. Simmons | June 18th, 2010 | 1 Comment » (Click to add yours!)
My goal with every newsletter, article and blog is to inform my audience. Certainly I hope to educate writers about the business of publishing but invariably the wave of “scams, charlatans, snake oil salespeople and thieves” have become a tsunami and can sometimes drown out the honest voices simply because we refuse to take advantage or rip off our clients.
Having served my entire adult life in publishing it still amazes me to this day how many companies operate under such outright deception and distortion of facts. The sad fact in the “independent or self-publishing” business is that too many people make a living off promoting, marketing and selling products and services that simply do not work or have value in the real world of book publishing, marketing, distributing and selling of books. Writers MUST protect themselves and their writing.
Here are some key points to keep in mind when trying to determine whether a product or service has real value: (1) Never commit to a long term agreement with anyone! (2) Never pay for a product or service without knowing who is behind the product and service, what their background in publishing is and knowing whether they offer testimonials from satisfied customers that you can contact and objectively verify. (3) Web sites or email blasts that sell and promote without offering a legitimate telephone number that someone can call and ask questions should be avoided. (4) Companies that take days to respond to emails sent through their web sites are also to be avoided. (5) If it sounds too good to be true or offers promises and guarantees, consider them companies to be avoided.
There are never any guarantees in publishing, even for the biggest of the bestselling New York Times authors, there are no guarantees. Anyone making claims that sound too good, too easy, or too quick to possibly be true, run the other way, save your money and send me an email. I’ll be happy to offer you honest advice and feedback on whether or not the offer is legitimate.
The eBook Market is NOW!
By Jerry D. Simmons | June 3rd, 2010 | 2 Comments » (Click to add yours!)
Digital publishing is emerging at an accelerated rate. The major companies are reluctant to publish in eBook format for many of their bestselling backlist (older titles) and the bulk of their catalogs for the simple fact they are concerned about taking away sales from the most established and successful print titles.
Yet this hesitation will not last long because it is well known and understood in publishing that different formats (hardcover, trade paper, mass market paper, audio and eBook) do not take away sales from other formats because the market is different and separate and readers who prefer a specific format seldom stray.
The primary reason for the reluctance on the part of the New York publishers to fully embrace the eBook is because digital is new and confusing to them and they are always slow to embrace change. At this time there is a massive desire for digital content in the form of eBooks and yet the biggest companies are not supplying what the market demands. Strange but this is exactly why print publishing has been in decline for years.
This is exactly why the time for the independent author to get into the digital market is now, today! The longer you wait the less likely you are to find a fan base and grow your audience. This market is not going away and it will only get bigger and better especially as the price for eReaders decline, the demand for product will grow. Do not hesitate!
E-publish or Perish
By Jerry D. Simmons | June 1st, 2010 | 1 Comment » (Click to add yours!)
Excerpts from an article in the Economist Magazine…
Price Waterhouse Coopers a consultancy reckons that eBooks will represent about 6% of consumer books sales in North America by 2013, up from 1.5% in 2009. Carolyn Reidy, the boss of Simon & Schuster, a major New York publisher, thinks they could account for 25% of the industry’s sales in America within three to five years. She may well be right if the prices of dedicated eReaders such as the iPad and Kindle keep falling and more consumers start reading on Smart Phones. The number of Apps for books on the iPhone recently surpassed that for games, previously the largest category.
Could it be any simplier? The time to publish your eBook is today!
Self-Publishing has Arrived
By Jerry D. Simmons | May 28th, 2010 | No Comments » (Click to add yours!)
Publishing circles in New York often proclaim, tongue in cheek “When it’s written about in the Times, it must be true!” This makes the fact that The New York Times has proclaimed that “self-publishing has arrived” a true statement. However, the fact still remains that to gain acceptance as an author you must have a professionally packaged, priced and produced book to get the attention of the media since that is the only way to truly sell books.
If a book looks self-published, the immediate reaction and perception is bad and that will not set the tone for what you hope to achieve as an author. On the other hand, if you produce your book to fit your category and look similar to other titles in a bookstore, you will have made the right production decisions. Readers and book buyers do judge a book by its cover, price, back cover blurb, book reviews and production quality. Mistakes will haunt you, utilize the skills of a professional publisher and you will not have to worry about making publishing mistakes.
Publishing Mistakes
By Jerry D. Simmons | May 26th, 2010 | 2 Comments » (Click to add yours!)
Some of the biggest publishers make mistakes. Trying to capitalize on a celebrity book when their star is rising is a possibility, launching a new title when their star is falling can cost a publisher his or her shirt. This is the problem with the Kate Gosselin book from yesterday’s TIPS for WRITERS, click here to read.
The most curious thing about her new book was the fact that selling a little more than 10,000 copies could make it all the way to the #11 spot on The New York Times bestseller list, #103 on the USA Today list and ranked #862 on Amazon. Just goes to show how much publishing is based on “perception.” The book was sold based on previous sales, there were tons of copies stacked high in stores and even though it had very poor sales the first two weeks, the bestselling “perception” was created before anyone knew the truth.
This simple principle holds for any book: IF you are successful at creating buzz around the launch of your new book, get enough copies stacked into stores, create a false impression that the book will be a bestseller, anything is possible. In the end it may come back to bite you and cost lots of money, but perception in publishing is still a very strong strategy for success.
Bestselling Books and Bestseller Lists
By Jerry D. Simmons | May 25th, 2010 | 2 Comments » (Click to add yours!)
Kate Gosselin is an author and star of a cable TV series Kate Plus Eight. She has used her stardom to become a bestselling author. The 35-year-old mom’s first two books, “Multiple Blessings” and “Eight Little Faces,” both climbed to number five on the New York Times’ list; “Multiple Blessings” sold 523,000 copies in 2009.
Her latest book isn’t exactly flying off the shelves. Since its release, “I Just Want You to Know: Letters to My Kids on Love, Faith, and Family” has sold just over 10,000 copies, according to national book sales tracker Bookscan. The non-fiction title debuted at #11 on the New York Times’ non-fiction bestseller list, and at #103 on USA Today’s bestsellers chart. Its Amazon.com rank was #862. This is in spite of Gosselin’s relentless promotion on TV and radio.
Jim Milliot, business and news director of book-industry magazine Publishers Weekly, tells UsMagazine.com that the numbers “nowhere near a blockbuster” and “not that impressive.” Could “I Just Want You to Know” end up selling 500,000 copies in the long run? Not likely, Milliot tells UsMagazine.com, explaining that the lion’s share of book sales typically occur “in the first month or two of publication.” He adds that Gosselin will have “a very tough time getting to 50,000, let alone 100,000…I think it will be a disappointment in the end.”
The real question for authors and book lovers alike is: how does a book that sold only “a little more than 10,000 copies,” end up on national bestseller lists? For information on how a book becomes a bestselling title, read my article explaining how the system works. Click here.
New Face of Publishing
By Jerry D. Simmons | May 14th, 2010 | No Comments » (Click to add yours!)
Once the current top management of the major publishers move on and out, younger executives with new ideas that fully embrace the digital technology will take over and more emphasis will be placed on eBooks. For the independent author the delay from old to new provides a window of opportunity to be among the first to gain a footing in the digital world before the majors take over and attempt to dominate like they do with print.
Every author with a print title should not hesitate getting into the eBook market—AS LONG AS—they do it the right way with the correct brand and global distribution. The major publishers will eventually attempt to influence the market as they do with print titles and will do everything they can to dominate and eliminate competition. Small category publishers who have been around for fifty years are still holding space on shelves due to their longevity and ability to hang on. If they were new publishers today trying to gain a foothold in the market with print books their chances of survival would be slim at best.
Don’t make a digital mistake that you may have made in print, select your publisher wisely, be concerned about the level of production, become part of a quality group of authors and not just another name on a list. Digital publishing will eventually focus on the “perception” of the product and the independent author will improve their chances at success by making wise decisions today. If you have questions about digital product or the market for eBooks, please send an email Jerry@WritersReaders.com and let me help you navigate the process.
