Book Publishing Tips

3 Questions – Asked by Authors

Social-Media

I heard it too often: author-publishers want to “just write”.  Not even write a blog, guest blog, articles for newspapers or god-forbid “waste time on Social Media”.
However, in order to “just write”, and if no money comes in within days or weeks, then you will have to stay at the day job, all week long doing something other than writing.

You will only make money by selling books, and the first step in selling a book is to get in contact with potential readers and show that your book exists. For a self-published author, Social Media is the only gateway to a global audience that doesn’t cost money – only your time and a bit effort to social “network”.

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Question #1
I Follow People on Twitter – But They Don’t Follow Back

Did you just click on “Following” – and nothing else? Or did you frequently re-tweet or engage otherwise with them? They are certainly not obliged to follow, it’s voluntarily, but you have to give them a reason, other than just click on following. Think about your appearance or your tweets:

Do you have an appealing avatar (portrait) and introduction, so that people are enticed to follow you? What are you tweeting? Is it newsworthy, funny, useful? Or are you talking only about your book?
If you go to a party and, just say hello or nod to someone, and continue into the room to get a drink, do you expect people to run after you, trying to invite you into a conversation? Social Media is like a big party. As more interesting you are and as more friendly and social, and as more communicative you are, as more people will want to talk with you.

Replying to someone’s tweet is a great way to make friends and followers on Twitter. Asking them a question, sharing a success, or otherwise adding value to the conversation will most likely get you a response, and probably a follower.

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Question #2:
How Do I Get Followers on Google+

… and also: Why should I be on GooglePlus?  Answer: It is one of the most important Social Networks for authors – if not THE BEST in terms of your Google Search Engine ranking. Success.com sums it up in an article:
“Share good content, people will spread the word, and you’ll get more followers.  Add the Google+ badge to your website and blog, help people, make meaningful comments and invite people to join your circles.”

Authors can start the main page on GooglePlus and separate sites for each of their books. Google+ allows creating up to 50 pages.

http://www.wikihow.com/Create-Circles-in-Google%2B

http://websearch.about.com/od/web20/p/Google-Circles.htm

What are ‘Google Circles’? The Ultimate Guide!

For a FREE PDF book, how to use Google+ get the links here:

15 Top Reasons for Writers to Be on Google+

How to Make Use of Google+ as an Author

As an author you want to interact with potential readers, reviewers, book bloggers and book clubs – find these people by using the search function on top of your Google+ site.

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Question #3:
I Had a Radio/TV Interview – But Nothing Came Out of It …  When I hear this, my first reply is:
What did you do with the interview?
How did you promote this free promotion?
Did you promote your interview that you got on a blog website, podcast, TV show, or radio, before and after the event?
Much like other public appearances, radio interviews are a great way to get attention: AM/FM, satellite, internet, or even Blog Talk Radio, the interviews can be used to gain some positive and popular PR. There are lots of Possibilities to Promote Your Interview:

Before and after, on Social Media: Promote upcoming interviews –  “Looking forward to talking with radio host …at 10 a.m. Wednesday.  Love the show!”  “Like” the interview show on Facebook, follow the host on Twitter and look for other ways to cross promote.  Get busy tweeting after the interview: “Great conversation with …. on Wednesday!  If you missed the show, here’s a link.”
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Get a copy of the taped interview: Use the link to show the video on your sales pages, e.g. on your Amazon author page, your Goodreads page (or other book lovers sites) and on Google+, where you can post it as many times as you want in your timeline and on all your pages or communities.
Re-blog your interview on book blogger sites to your own blog, and promote it heavily on Social Media.
Write an article on your own blog about the experience of being interviewed on radio or TV, give fellow authors tips, and promote this blog post.
Last, but not least: Get the next interview booked.  Now that you know how it works, try to get as many interviews as possible – which means lots of exposure for your book.  An interview is not a book sales event, you cannot expect soaring sales after
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Read also:

How to Get Radio Interviews
http://www.radiopublicity.net/radiopublicitytips.htm

How to Promote Your Book During your Radio/TV interview
http://emsincorporated.com/promote-product-book-radio-interview/

Preparing for a TV/radio interview
http://www.nrcdv.org/dvam/themes/dvap/PDF/Preparingfor-TV-Radio-Interview.pdf
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Hope these tips will help you to successfully promote your book longterm.  They are small steps of building your author brand and reputation and to get your name out there – one step at a time.

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How to Sign Up for LOOK INSIDE

BookStore2


When browsing in bookstores, potential buyers of your book do not only see the cover, but also editorial reviews on the book’s back matter and they can even read a bit to find out if the book is worthwhile to buy – unlike at some online bookstores.  However, to give online shoppers almost the same experience, Amazon Kindle titles are automatically added to the program within a week of the on-sale date and need no additional sign up or any content submission.

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Print Books are a Different Matter.
To submit books to be included into the LOOK INSIDE program, you must hold the merchandising rights for the book(s) you wish to submit in the region (country) you’re submitting for.

Amazon advices: 
“Sign up for Look Inside, go to Look Inside! Publisher Sign-up.
Look Inside will be activated on your book’s main detail page within 7 to 10 days if there are no errors in your files.”
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One More Reason to Have Your OWN ISBN.
“Any books you submit for LOOK INSIDE must have a valid ISBN and be listed in the Amazon catalog with that ISBN.  We cannot process books with an s(typically starting with a “B”).  If you have large files or if you submit high volumes of titles, we do offer an FTP upload option.  For details, contact your Look Inside representative or email insidethebook-submission@amazon.com.”

“Note: The files you submit must correspond to books already in the Amazon catalog, though you can submit the file before the publication or on-sale date and request the book to not go onsite prior to that on sale date.”

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LOOK INSIDE on Facebook.
Find a quick tutorial on how to add an Amazon Look-Inside for your book to your Facebook Author page using Static Html app.  This will allow people to read the first 10% of your book directly on your Facebook page and they can also click through to buy on Amazon.
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When it comes to book marketing, authors benefit from the Amazon program, due to the increased visibility of their books.  According to Amazon, books with the LOOK INSIDE feature sell seven! percent more in average than titles which are not in the program.  The more a potential buyer knows about a book, the more likely they are going to buy it and be happy with their purchase.

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5 Major Steps from Manuscript to Book Sales

5-Tips

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Just finished your manuscript and you are ready to sent it off to the editor?  It’s a great feeling of accomplishment, isn’t it?  You certainly would like to go on a month-long vacation – and you would have deserved this leisure time, for sure!
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But there is a lot more to do before book launch, in fact, it will be a busy time while your book is at the editor:

  • Get Your Book Copyrighted
  • The Editing Process
  • Cover Design / Book Layout / Formatting
  • Set Your Book up for Pre-Orders
  • Get Advanced Book Reviews

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Copyright Your Book.
Your first and most important task is to copyright your book, as you are most likely going to be sending your manuscript out to a lot of people.  While most people are honest, there are many of examples of book authors that have had their manuscript copied, stolen and copyrights disputed.  Get your book copyrighted before it leaves your hard drive and don’t worry if it is the final version or not, you can update the copyrighted version at a later date.
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I saw a brilliant poster at a print shop / book designer, which said: “Pick Any Two, I Pick One”.  It was a triangle and on each tip had these words: Money – Quality – Time/Speed.  When you hire freelancer / employees or subcontractors, such as editors, book and cover designers, always keep in mind: You get what you pay for…  Don’t shop for the cheapest, rather the best partners and freelancers.
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The Editing Process:
Even though many authors are talented writers and mostly very proficient at grammar, they should never be the book editor of their own project!  You might have logged long hours going through your manuscript with a fine-tooth comb, read, write, delete, re-write, re-read, delete…
Then, after carefully reviewing the spelling and grammar and fact-checking the document, you may have even handed the manuscript over to your your former English teacher and every member of your writing group, however none of this is equal to a professional edit.
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Contact editors whose sites inspire confidence and ask about their work process, rates, time frames, and any other information you need to know. Request a sample page edit from these respondents you like. Samples are often free, and around one to five 250-word pages.
The editing process is not meant to offend you or detract from all of the perfecting you have already done.  Rather, an edit is meant to increase the quality and success of your book, regardless of subject or genre.
Choose an editor on the basis of compatibility and how well the results of his or her editing appeals to you. ask for references, but learning about the editor’s background shows you how long he or she has been in the business. It also gives an idea of how many and which types of clients have actually trusted him or her to edit. There are several steps involved in editing and professional trade publishers often employ special editors for each of these steps:

  • Line editing
  • Content Editing
  • Copy Editing
  • Proof Reading
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The Book Cover and Title.
The correct title can really help to ensure the success of your project – or not…  A great cover will raise the attention of potential readers.  And yes, books are judged by their covers.

  • The title must be easy to understand and speak.
  • It should ideally be less than 32 characters.
  • You should be able to purchase the exact URL for the title.
  • The title should clearly demonstrate to readers what they will discover in this eBook.
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Cover Design
You never get a second chance to make a first great impression!

  • Keep the design clean.
  • Use a focal point to orient the user
  • Make sure people can read it without glasses.
  • Make the design match the content.

For Print:

  • Use the spine properly.
  • Include a photo of the author.
  • The largest font size is used on the information that is most important

Book Layout Designer Joel Friedlander has a great blog post series about book layout mistakes to avoid. You can learn almost everything about book design by following Joel Friedlander’s blogs and also by reading his books, to be found at www.TheBookDesigner.com.
Technical information can be obtained at Basic Book Design for the answers to your initial book design questions.  Find even more cover design inspiration:
http://faceoutbooks.com/ (print book covers)
http://causticcovercritic.blogspot.ca/
http://www.book-by-its-cover.com/
http://bookdesigner.com/53972/book-covers/
http://bookcovers.creativindie.com/cover-samples/
http://www.1stwebdesigner.com/inspiration/creative-book-cover-story/
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Print Book Layout.
Books Should Look Like from Traditional Publishers!  The best way to have a great book layout is through a professional.  However, some authors don’t want to use a book lay-outer, or don’t want to fork out the costs involved.  Another way to solve a lot of these print book formatting problems while also getting a well-designed, industry-standard book, is to use a book template.  Joel Friedlander created this fantastic solution. Find out more and see the available designs at:BookDesignTemplates.com.

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e-Book Formatting
It’s the digital version of a book layout, and an important step in creating an e-book – which should be done by professional too.  Author Guido Henkel wrote: “To me, one of the key elements that sets apart a professional e-book release from that of an amateur has always been the technical presentation of the book.  Sure, anyone can write a document in a word processor, run it through some export tool, use a fully automated conversion utility or peruse the services of an online service, but the sad fact of the matter is that none of these approaches typically results in, what I call, production-level digital books.”
Many authors simply don’t know any better.  They write their book, complete it and look for the fastest, cheapest and easiest way to deploy it.  Don’t be one of those authors!
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Set Your Book up for Pre-Orders.
If you plan the book launch within the next 3 to 12 months you can start right away to pre-sell your future book.  Apple iBooks can be set to pre-order twelve months before book launch and Amazon allows you to make your new books available for pre-order in Kindle Stores worldwide three months before launch date.  You need to send your book cover image and the manuscript – unedited, you will exchange it later with the final version, and the basic information for your book.
A great advantage of using pre-order is that you can start promoting your Kindle book pre-order page on Author Central, Goodreads, your personal website, and other places ahead of its release to help build excitement for your book. Also, pre-orders will contribute toward your sales rank, which can help more readers to discover your book.
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Get Advanced Book Reviews
Brand new books from trade publishers have almost always reviews and endorsement at the time of book launch. You might wonder: How is this possible? Publishing houses take lots of efforts to network with influential book reviewers / book bloggers, and bestseller writers as well as media book reviewers.  They start 6-8 months before book launch to send out advance copies of the book in order to get reviews ahead of the printing and formatting process.
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Check it Out!
New author-publishers can learn a lot in book stores and libraries: Check out how professionally published books look like: Many of these trade books have either on their back cover (paperback) or on the binding flap (hard cover) several snippets of the book reviews, as well as endorsements from bestselling writers or other professionals, that have been already written before the book was printed.
The more work you do to promote your book before the publication date the more people will already know about it, and that means more sales! Pre-editions include advance reader copies (ARC’s), Galleys, salesman’s editions, proofs and sometimes manuscripts, and nowadays often digital versions.
The key, and this is what traditional publishers do, is to have these ARC’s printed well in advance of your publication date in order to distribute it to book reviewers, at trade fairs, festivals, and at sites such as Goodreads approximately eight – six months! before publication date.  This gives reviewers enough time and you can add the reviews to the book layout, while the reviewer can add their writing to your book retail websites or author pages, and write an article about your book on their blog or website.  Additionally you can use their original comments for book fairs or book signings.  It is important to create a time frame and to plan the publishing endeavour well in advance!
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We give you here just an overview what’s involved in book production, there are many other tasks that are covered in a great blue print, compiled in Joel Friedlander’s really helpful blog articles
Start with his article: Why Self-Published Books look Self-Published
After going through the pre-production stages – the editorial and design part – your next step will be distribution of your new book.
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Actively Market Your Book Before Launch!
While your book is at the pre-publishing service providers, don’t forget to actively market your upcoming book!  Prepare your author pages on Goodreads and Amazon, starts Goodreads Giveaways, if you have an ISBN and planned a print book.  Get as many pre-orders and reviews as possible, plan and invite all your potential readers to your book launch – virtual and in person.

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Free Checklist for “Passive” Book Marketing

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Checklist

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No author wants (and needs) to spend hours and hours every day to promote their books via social media.  There are lots of small and (often) quick tasks to show your book to a target audience of potential readers. Best of all: these steps are free and require only a bit of research and brainstorming.
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The advice in our print and ebook:
111 Tips on How to Market Your Book for Free  

explains in detail how to implement these “passive” book promotion measures (including links).   Here is an excerpt of the most important steps that every author should plan before even sending the book to the editor:

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START WITH YOUR BOOK’S CONTENT:

  • Before you even write the first sentences in your book, research your “competition” and learn from them.
  • Find all the best-selling books in your genre/category.
    Make a list with possible keywords that readers can use to find a similar book.
  • Check out the complete categories/genres at Amazon, Kobo, Apple iBooks, Barnes & Noble, Google Books, Waterstone’s, and so forth.
  • Study all the books that could be similar to your future work.  Search in bookstores, libraries, and all online retailers.
  • Learn about the content of these books, the authors, how they represent themselves on- and off-line, what their writer’s platform is and how they market their books.

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Book Layout
“The first pages sell your book – the last pages sell all your other books – past and future”.  Show as much as possible from your book’s content to potential readers – especially for online sales:  Don’t clock the first pages with endless forewords and acknowledgments.  All you need is the title, author and publisher, the copyright page and the TOC’s (Table of Contents).
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Add this right after the last page:
Never print a book or format an e-book without a request for reviews (including a link to your online sales pages / Goodreads page, a listing of your website and blog or author pages, lists of all your social media sites and maybe even your contacts email.  Most important: list all your other book titles with sales links, so that readers can easily find more books written by you.

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Your AMAZON / KOBO / iBooks / B&N Presence

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Create a Perfect Author Page
Use all the space Amazon and other online retailers and book communities give you:

  • Add a professional author photo & biography.
  • Add all your books.
  • Add videos (e.g. trailers for your books).
  • Add up to seven additional photos (e.g. you at your desk while writing, all of your books, or scenes from your books).
  • Add images or graphics from your book’s content.
  • Add a biography, and make sure to update it frequently.
  • List events, such as book readings, or book launches.
  • Add your Twitter handle, so people can see your latest Tweet and easily follow
  • Set up the “Search Inside/Look Inside” feature.
  • Add an RSS feed linking to your blog–a great way to get your blog in front of new people and encourage them to follow you.
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Amount of Reviews Plays a Role
As a member of Goodreads, Wattpad, LibraryThing, Bibliophile etc., and to benefit especially from reviews, you must be a bit more active on these sites.  For example, when you shelve the books of other writers, recommend their books too.  Also, participate from time to time in forums, read and rate books, and (most important) review them.  How could someone expect to receive reviews if they are not writing any?  Be a good pal in this book community!
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Choose the Right Categories / Genres for Your Book
In what categories/genres are these books that are competitive with yours listed?  When you are picking a category you don’t want one with a broad, busy market, you want a category that’s narrow.  Of all the work you do to place your book on Amazon, this might be the most important piece of marketing.  Use all of the categories that are available to you: two for print books and two for e-books.  If your book is in print and digital, you have FOUR categories you can use!
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Place Editorial Reviews on Your Amazon Sales Page
Did you know, you can add all this content under “editorial reviews” on your sales page?

  • Product Detail Page
  • Updated Book Description
  • Author Message
  • From the Inside Flap
  • From the Back Cover
  • Magazine/Newspaper Reviews – and other reviews you received before your book’s launch

You can add several “Editorial Reviews”, and each one is important for confirming the quality of your book.  Read more about editorial reviews.
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Use Best-Ranking Keywords in Amazon
Amazon has a built-in keyword search, or long-tail keyword-phrase finder, in their search field. Use Amazon’s help page: Selecting Browse Categories.
There are many tools on the web to help with basic keyword research, including the Google Keyword Planner tool and googling“Best SEO Tools“.  Google’s Keyword Planner is for building new Search Network campaigns or expanding existing ones.  You can search for keyword and ad group ideas, see how a list of keywords might perform, and even create a new keyword list by adding several lists of keywords together. Use those keywords in specific places throughout your video page.

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ISBN
Always Get Your Own ISBN
!  Self-publishing authors can list their books worldwide in official databases for book retailers only if they are considered the publisher and have purchased their ISBN at their countries official agency, such as R.R. Bowker in the USA.  If you are not buying it from Bowker, getting it cheaper, or for free, from vanity printers (everyone who poses as a “publisher”, taking money from writers for “services” that authors could get much cheaper elsewhere), or POD printers (CreateSpace for example or Smashwords).  Never, ever exchange your publisher status for saving a couple of dollars.  Where to find the official sellers of ISBN’s in other English-speaking countries is listed in a SavvyBookWriters article.

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Bowker’s Worldwide Listing
You may know Bowker from ordering your ISBN numbers, but they are also the provider for “Books In Print and Global Books In Print” that contain listings of bibliographical information for international book titles available in the USA or any other part of the world, in bookstores and libraries.  Setting up a new book on Bowkerlink is easy and FREE.  Read more in this blog post.

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GOODREADS / LIBRARYTHING / WATTPAD

Reader Communities
Join at least a handful of book communities in your genre on sites such as BookTalk, Wattpad, KindleBoards, BiblioPhil, KindleMojo, etc. – NOT to sell your book there, but to have an author presence at book lover communities, and to make contacts to future readers.  Find all the links to these communities here.
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YOUR WEB PRESENCE
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Sharing and Follow Buttons on Your Website / Blog
Make it easy for them to share what you have written with their social networks – and forward it to their followers and friends, and these also forward it to their friends and followers …. You get the idea!
The best way to start this process is to include clickable buttons to offer the idea of sharing front and center, and make it simple for your readers to post your link to LinkedIn, Pinterest, Twitter, and most important: to Google+ and many other social networks.

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Add Email Newsletter Sign-Up and Contact Forms
Getting started with an email newsletter is simple and also free.  Keep your newsletter short, useful, and structured.  Always remember that people don’t read on the internet, they just scan the text.  Provide value and interesting content that your readers are looking forward to receiving.  Don’t spam them with daily newsletters that are reading like sales pitches.  Emails can’t be missed like a social media post that disappears in readers’ feeds within seconds.

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EVEN MORE BOOK PROMOTION AND SALES

Get a Writer Buddy – or a Whole Group
Place chapters of your manuscript to Wattpad and other reader communities.  Join Meet-Up groups (in all cities worldwide) to find other writers, critique groups and often future beta-readers and reviewers of your titles.
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Write More!
Present readers with samples of your craft: write short stories, prequels for your next book, blogs, guest blog, magazine and newspaper articles.
Your novel or your non-fiction book is full of keywords and ideas for blogs, guest blogs and newspaper or magazines.  While it takes a long time until you can make money with your books, while you might be paid for your writing within a few weeks or months, and it might turn into a long-term business relationship with the editors.
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Publish Articles on LinkedIn
LinkedIn allows their members to publish articles on their site; completely new ones, or former blog articles slightly re-written.  It gives you credibility, shows your expertise, and gives you more exposure on their site–thus more potential book readers.  And if you have lots of followers, they all will read your posts because LinkedIn sends them your content via e-mail!
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Bundle Your Books
You don’t have to be a multi-book author before you can start “bundling” your book.  One book needs only to be in print and digital format – and voilà! you have a bundle.  At Amazon, it’s called “Kindle MatchBook”.  Customers will also be able to buy inexpensive e-copies of books they have previously bought in hardcover or paperback.  Benefits of Bundles and Box Sets:
Bundling your books is a great way of creating a higher-priced product, a bulk-purchase – and at the same time offering your readers an attractive deal.
Another benefit for you as the author: increased visibility – readers have at least one more way to find you with every bundle you create.  For example, if you wrote four books – people have four possibilities to discover your books.  If you create two bundles of two books each, suddenly readers get six ways to discover your books – without you writing anything new.  More details can be found in this blog article at SavvyBookWriters.

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Create a Bookstore on Your own Website
Sell your books from your own website too.  Install either Gumroad, Shopify, E-Junkie or Ecwid e-stores on your blog or website.  What are your benefits?

  • It drives more traffic to your website
  • Immediate payments
  • You earn 100% of your sales price
  • You will have higher revenues
  • You will know who are your readers

There are dozens of ready-to-go online stores available, called “e-commerce” which can be installed in your existing website or blog – relatively easy and quick.  You have to have your own (hosted) website or blog, the paid versions – not a free website.
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Sell From all Major Online Retailers
Sell your books, e-books, and audio-books not only through Amazon but as well on Barnes&Noble, Apple and Kobo websites, to have your “eggs in more than one basket”.  And don’t forget the potentially huge potential market for hardcover books, selling them to libraries all over the country!
If you don’t want to upload your book yourself, get help from this aggregator for one yearly fee and reap 100% of your books revenue: eBookPartnership.com.  Aggregators will handle distribution, sales, accepting payments, and are managing your account with the online retailers.  Avoid aggregators who take a 10 or even 15% commission for every book sold. Get more tips here.

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There are many more steps you can do as an author to promote your book.  Get all the latest info here on this blog and on the upcoming book:  111 Tips on How to Market Your Book for Free.

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Books by Doris-Maria Heilmann:

111 Tips to Create Impressive Videos:
How to Plan, Create, Upload and Market Videos
https://www.books2read.com/u/3GYnpa

111 Tips To Make Money With Writing
The Art of Making a Living Full-time Writing
An Essential Guide for More Income as Freelancer
https://books2read.com/u/bWZMjz

111 Tips on How to Market Your Book for Free:
Detailed Plans and Smart Strategies for Your Book’s Success
https://books2read.com/u/bMre1a

111 Tips to Get Free Book Reviews:
Best Strategies for Getting Lots of Great Reviews
plus 1,200+ reviewer contact links
https://books2read.com/u/mZ5nx5

111 Tips to Create Your Book Trailer
How to Create, Where to Upload and How to Market Your Videos
https://books2read.com/u/mVZkjr

Book Marketing on a Shoestring:
How Authors Can Promote their Books Without Spending a Lot of Money 
https://books2read.com/u/mZ5gdp

 

How to Prepare Your Book for Publishing

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Book-Publishing-Preparation

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A brilliant poster at a print shop / book designer offered: “Pick Any Two, I Pick One”
It showed a triangle and on each tip had one of these words: Money – Quality – Time/Speed
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The Unattainable Triangle – Speed, Quality and Price.
Branding experts refer to the “unattainable triangle” as composed of quality, price, and speed.  All products or services have two out of the three sides of the triangle. That is to say, high-quality and fast turn-around but high-price or low-price, fast-turnaround but low-quality and so on.
The triangle is unattainable for two reasons. The first is logistical.  Providing high-quality service with faster-than-average turn-around time is going to cost you more money than your competitor who can do the same level of quality at a lower price with slightly slower turnaround.  It’s pretty much logistically impossible to maintain a profitable business that has somehow “attained the triangle.”
Always keep this in mind when you hire freelancer / employees or subcontractors, such as editors, book and cover designers. You get what you pay for… Don’t shop for the cheapest, rather the best partners, says book layout guru Joel Friedlander.
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Among others he explains:

  • An Unabridged List of the Parts of a Book
  • Book Pagination For Fun and Profit
  • Why You Need a Category on the Back Cover of Your Book
  • Book Chapters and Subheads
  • Deciphering the Bookland EAN Bar Code
  • The Elements of the Book Page
  • Self-Publisher’s 5-Minute Guide to Book Printing Processes

Start with his article: Why Self-Published Books Look Self-Published.
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The Editing Process:
Even though many authors are talented writers and even spectacular at grammar, they should never be the book editor of their own project. You might have logged long hours going through your manuscript with a fine-tooth comb, read, write, delete, re-write, re-read, delete… Then, after carefully reviewing the spelling and grammar and fact-checking the document, you may have even handed the manuscript over to every member of your writing group, however none of this is equal to a professional final edit.

Contact editors who’s work you have seen or who have been recommended by other writers and ask about their work process, rates, time frames, and any other information you need to know. Request a sample edit from the respondents you like. Samples are often free, and around one to three, sometimes even five 250-word pages.
The editing process is not meant to offend you, or detract from all of the perfecting you have already done. Rather, an edit is meant to increase the quality and success of your book, regardless of subject or genre.
Choose an editor on the basis of compatibility and how well the results of his or her editing appeals to you.  Ask for references, but learning about the editor’s background shows you how long he or she has been doing edits.  It also gives an idea of how many and which types of clients have actually trusted him or her to edit. There are several steps involved in editing and professional trade publishers often employ special editors for each of these steps (or did at least in the past):

  • Line editing
  • Content Editing
  • Copy Editing
  • Proof Reading

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The Book Cover and Title.
The correct title can enormously help to ensure the success of your book. And a great cover will raise the attention of potential readers. And yes, books are judged by their covers.

  • It must be easy to understand and speak.
  • It should ideally be less than 32 characters.
  • You must be able to purchase the exact URL for the title.
  • Buy your Author name domain also.
  • The title should clearly demonstrate to readers what they will discover in this eBook.
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Important for Your Book’s Cover Design

  • Keep the design clean.
  • Use a focal point to orient the user
  • Make sure people can read it without glasses.
  • Make the design match the content.
  • Remember: All online retailers show books only in stamp-size!

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For Print:

  • Use the spine properly.
  • Include a photo of the author.
  • The largest font size is used on the information that is most important.

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Technical information can also be obtained at Basic Book Design for answers to your basic book design questions.  Joel Friedlander has a great blog post series about book layout mistakes to avoid.
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Pre-Publishing Services:

EDITING:
Traci Lawrence  http://tracisebook.blogspot.com/2015/02/freelance.html
Susan Uttendorfsky  http://www.adirondackediting.com

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BOOK COVER DESIGNERS:
Anitra Jay  http://www.anitrajay.com/page:designs
Laura Wright LaRoche  http://www.llpix.com
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e-BOOK FORMATTING:
Another important step in creating an e-book that should be done by real professionals, for example Deena Rae Schoenfeldt  http://e-bookbuilders.com
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However, while your book is at the pre-publishing service providers, don’t forget to actively market your upcoming book! Prepare your author pages on Goodreads and Amazon, start with Goodreads Giveaways, if you have an ISBN and planned a print book. For e-book Giveaways use LibraryThing.com.  Get as many pre-orders and pre-launch reviews as possible, plan and invite all your potential readers to your book launch – virtual and in person.

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If you would like to get a mentor and our support in all things publishing, have your book intensively promoted and learn how to navigate social media sites – or learn how you can make yourself a name as an author through content writing: We offer for three months all this and more for only $179 – or less than $2 per day!  Learn more about this customized Online Seminar / Consulting for writers: http://www.111Publishing.com/Seminars

To learn more about professional book marketing and publishing, please read also  “Book Marketing on a Shoestring”  http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00UAVL3LE

Our email newsletters with free insider tips are sent out once a month. To sign up, just go to the form on the right site of each blog post.
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Early-Bird Discount for Writers Seminar til Feb 26

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Cash-Register
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Signing up before February 26 for the Writer’s Seminar in Atlanta, Georgia, saves you $20 

Receive lots of useful information for your further literary career in this workshop. Find out how to navigate the modern publishing world, get hundreds of valuable marketing tips during this seminar while in the relaxed atmosphere of a group of writers. Learn how to promote your book without even spending money for it. Get practical hands-on tips to market your book and earn more money with leveraging your manuscript.

http://www.111publishing.com/publishing-seminar-in-decatur-atlanta-ga/
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These are the WRITERS SEMINAR’S main topics:

  • Learn about the new publishing & pre-publishing process
  • Identify your target readers and their demographic
  • Find out how to reach these readers online and off-line
  • Create your own brand and your platform
  • Choose the type of publishing that is right for you
  • Market and publicize your book successfully on a budged
  • Prepare your next bestseller & find free book publishing funding sources
  • Leverage the content of your book into other markets & earn more with your writing

Read more details and sign up here before Feb 26 for this one-day-seminar for only $59:

http://www.111publishing.com/publishing-seminar-in-decatur-atlanta-ga/

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If you live further down south:
On Saturday, March 22 we offer the same seminar in Sarasota, Florida! 

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If you would like to get more support in all things publishing, have your book intensively promoted and learn how to navigate social media sites – or to learn how you can make yourself a name as an author through content writing: We offer all this and more for only $179 for three months – or less than $2 per day! Learn more about this customized Online Seminar / Consulting for writers: http://www.111Publishing.com/Seminars  Or visit http://www.e-book-pr.com/book-promo/
to advertise your new book, specials, your KDP Select Free Days or the new Kindle Countdown Deals.

Please check out all previous posts of this blog (there are more than 1,020 of them : ) if you haven’t already. Why not sign up to receive them regularly by email? Just click on “Follow” in the upper line on each page – and then on “LIKE” next to it. There is also the “SHARE” button underneath each article where you can submit the article to Pinterest, Google+, Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr and StumpleUpon.
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Tagged: Atlanta Georgia, book marketing on a budget, Book Publishing Tips, Decatur GA, Decatur-Atlanta, Early-Bird-Discount, how to publish a book, Writer Club Atlanta, Writer Seminar