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Just a few years ago, e-books arrived on the publishing scene. No one took them seriously in the early days. After all, who would want to read a book on an electronic device? Why should they pay the same price for an e-book as for the hard copy of a book? Where was the value?
As the years passed, increasing numbers of people purchased e-books. The publishing industry began to worry a bit, but still felt comfortable in its position as the only real way to publish books.
Time passed and e-book reading devices improved. More companies joined the "fad", setting up websites to sell e-books. More small publishers saw the opportunities. It became easy to publish an e-book, but still rather difficult to sell the book in electronic form.
But, consumers began to pay attention to e-books. Sales began to increase. More people began to publish e-books and the rest, as they say, is history.
Now, traditional publishing houses are buying the rights to successfully self-published e-books and successful authors who published with traditional publishing houses are branching out on their own to sell e-books.
The book industry is being turned upside-down.
Denise
www.inktreemarketing.com
www.publishacookbook.com 
To continue my thoughts on book design, I must not overlook the most important element of book design: the book cover.
The book cover is a book's silent sales force. The author is not physically present to sell a buyer on the benefits of a particular book, so the author must rely on the cover.
Each part of a book cover has an important role: front, back and spine.
A buyer's first point of contact with a book is the front cover. That front cover is crucial in enticing the buyer to initially reach out for the book. If the cover art is weak and "flat", i.e., it seems two dimensional, the potential buyer's eye will stray elsewhere. You want the buyer's eye to lock in on your book.
Now that you have his or her attention, the buyer's eye will immediately move to the title. If the title is boring or weak, again you lose the buyer's interest. Your goal is to have the buyer flip the book over to read the back cover. That's where salesmanship is vital. You, the author, are not there in person to convince the buyer that he/she just cannot live without that book. You need to sell them on the benefits of your book. Do you have information that is not available in other books or can you solve a problem(s) for the buyer or can you convince her that she will be thoroughly entertained by your book? Be sure that your back cover text is short, sweet and very convincing.
Lastly, don't forget the spine. Your book will not always be displayed face-out on book store or library shelves so the spine is what needs to catch the eye when books are shelved. The design of the spine, especially the colors, must have strong appeal. Try this: stand back from bookstore shelves and let your eye wander. Notice which book spines cause your eye to stop. Notice what caught your attention.
Design your book to be an attention grabber.
Denise
www.inktreemarketing.com
www.publishacookbook.com
Let's talk book design for a moment.
Before I published my book, the design of a book did not even enter my head. I just innocently thought that a manuscript was typed, the manuscript was handed to a printer and amazingly out came a book.
I knew absolutely nothing about types of paper, amounts of white space on pages, gutters, positions of page numbers, fonts, hyphens at the edges of pages, where chapters should begin and end, positioning of illustrations and photos, and a thousand other myriad details that concern only a graphic designer. Well, surprise, surprise, those details also have to be the concern of authors and publishers too.
Before a book is published, all of the details have to be ironed out and dealt with. The goal of book publishing is to sell books and nothing will do but excellence.
I want to stress to publishers that your book is not the only book in your genre. You have competitors. They are all seeking the same buyers that you are. Not only are you an author and/or a publisher, you are a sales person. You want the targeted buyers to buy YOUR book not someone else's book, but if you publish an inferior product you have just sold your competitor's book.
Welcome to the business of being an author.
Denise
www.inktreemarketing.com
www.publishacookbook.com
It's Sunday, a good day to write about something fun - like treasures buried in used book stores. You never know what you will find. There are some amazing books sitting waiting to be rediscovered.
Recently I found a book that was published in 1997 by Pan Macmillan Australia (ISBN 0 330 35981 9). The title of the book is Edge of Rain written by Beverley Harper. Please forgive me Ms. Harper but I had not heard of you before I flipped your book open to the first chapter, read the first sentence and immediately needed to keep reading. I am very happy to have discovered you.
It is so exciting to read books that are not on the current bestseller list, yet continue to have a life. Edge of Rain should remain in circulation. It's very good reading, unlike some of the "formula" books that I tired of long ago - crime stories or romance novels about gorgeous heroines and swashbuckling heroes. Once you have read one you have read them all. I like unique, well-written stories.
Edge of Rain is one of those and I look forward to finding more.
Go on your own treasure hunt. Look on the non-bestseller shelves in book stores, in libraries and in used book stores. You just might be surprised.
Denise
www.inktreemarketing.com
www.publishacookbook.com
One of my Twitter followers made a comment with which I am in complete agreement: authors are in business. And that's whether they like it or not.
So many authors think that they are artists. True. They are. But all successful artists must sell themselves and their art, unless they just want to fill their personal studio with their own creations and supply their friends and family with art. Perhaps that is what satisfies them.
However, if any artist, whatever the medium. wants to sell his or her art, the artist must WORK to sell the art. Sales places the artist into a business mode with all of the accompanying marketing and accounting issues of any other business. There is no way around it, and it needs to be hands-on business practice.
Take some advice from Oprah Winfrey. She is in control of every aspect of her business. She does not turn all matters over to others and expect success. She is wise. Learn from her.
Denise
www.inktreemarketing.com
www.publishacookbook.com
OK. The rant continues. I am tired of people telling me that the link to my website does not work when in fact it is their own computer's security settings that has blocked the link.
I resent nasty emails from people who assume that I have done something wrong. A polite note would be far more effective. I would then send a polite reply requesting that the person check the computer's security settings and/or junk mail inbox. That solves the issue 99.9% of the time.
Because I believe in maintaining good public relations, I politely reply to nasty emails with an apology and then suggest the security system check.
The result is the same but my respect for the accuser certainly is diminished.
All that anyone ever needs to do is be nice. Let's all take a deep breath when something doesn't work perfectly the first time and just work to resolve the problem. We'll all be happier. :-)
Denise
www.inktreemarketing.com
www.publishacookbook.com
Isn't it interesting that so many people who write books do not actually read instructions and/or information that is sent to them? It seems to me that writers should be good readers... Apparently reading is not a criteria for writing. Who would have guessed?
Perhaps not following instructions has become a side-effect of our busy lifestyle. We are so deluged with information that we have all become skimmers who just glance over information without properly absorbing what we read in an effort to save time.
What actually happens is that time is wasted as more information has to go back and forth between the correspondents in order to clarify misunderstandings. So, I'm reminding everyone, please read information and instructions carefully before you assume that the incompetence lies with someone else. :-)
Denise
www.inktreemarketing.com
www.publishacookbook.com
Seeing your book published in a foreign language is a pleasing but weird experience. You see the book and it makes you smile. You see the book but it looks odd.
Why would you want your book published in other languages? The reasons are many, but some of the obvious benefits are:
- extra money is great
- adds credibility to your reputation as an author
- impresses the media to know that other countries value your book
- impresses buyers, both individual and corporate
- gives you a way to plug your book during interviews
- encourages other foreign publishers to buy your book
- adds bragging rights in your media kit
- extra money is great!!
Why would you not want to have your book published in foreign languages? I don't know. It just seems like a no-brainer. Everyone can use a bit of extra money, credibility and publicity so go for it.
Send us an email to info@inktreemarketing.com if you want information on how to get your book represented by a leading agent to foreign publishers.
Denise
www.inktreemarketing.com
www.publishacookbook.com
I'm now back from the vacation with my three brothers and their wives. Family gatherings are the best!!
While away, I was cut off from the world - no computer.It was good and it was bad.
The good part: I was out of touch with the world.
The bad part: I was out of touch with the world.
Electronics are fabulous but they can also be a ball-and-chain that keeps us attached to time wasters, which, by the way, have many great benefits. We just need to learn to manage our devices, I guess.
At this time I still have not purchased an ebook reader and I don't know why. Perhaps I am resisting another electronic device. Once I succumb, I may wonder why I resisted but at this point I do not feel like I am missing anything.
Here is a case for paper books: while on vacation I found a small used-book library where I found a fabulous book which no amount of searching on websites would have led me to.
However, if I had an ebook reader I might also stumble upon more current books that intrigue me. It's just that for me, it's not as much fun browsing on a website as in a physical store or library.
I guess that I am building a case for both sides. I just hope that publishers don't stop producing paper books. I love them.
Denise
www.inktreemarketing.com
www.publishacookbook.com
The time has come for a short vacation. The lure of spending a week with all of my brothers and their wives in a warm location is just too great to resist.We always have so much fun together and as my husband says, "You can't beat fun."
So I'm signing off until at least the 16th but you will be in good hands. Debbie and Linda, two of the Ink Tree partners, plan to become more active on the blog. Debbie is a #publicist extraordinaire and Linda is the #author and #publisher of three #bestselling cookbooks. Between them they have covered most publishing situations, issues and experiences.
On that note I will say au revoir for a while. Don't forget that we offer FREE email publishing coaching for your #book projects at www.inktreemarketing.com.
Denise
www.publishacookbook.com
I was looking for ways to amuse my grandchildren, who are avid book lovers. Today our adventure was a trip to a used book store to search for treasures - but I digress.
Back to keeping them amused the previous day. What could we do that would be interesting and different? Hmmm... I went into my office and rummaged through my storage area where I spotted some book report covers. Aha! A light bulb moment.
"Kids, how would you like to make your own book?"
They loved the idea. We found some plain paper, inserted the paper into the report covers and voila, instant books. With the addition of some felt pens, crayons and glitter glue they were off and running - I mean publishing.
Kids are so creative. They are not inhibitied by rules and worries of other peoples' opinions, so the results were amazing.
I know that creating books will be something that we will do again in the future.
Can't wait to see the results.
Denise
www.inktreemarketing.com
www.publishacookbook.com
