#PublishABook4

Where does the time go when you are babysitting little grandchildren for a week? Preschool, grade one, dance class, play dates, park, meals, baths, stories .....   Whew! It's so  much fun but blogging time goes out the window. Anyway....

So, we were talking about knowing the components of a book - essential information if you want to publish a professional looking edition. 

Equally important is a clear understanding of why you are writing the book at all. If you just want to blow hot air, or you just want to make yourself feel better, or you think it would be cool to be a published author, stop now. Just write a journal and keep it to yourself.

However, if your goal is to sell lots and lots of books, identify who will buy the book. Your writing has to be meaningful to the audience. Entertain them, educate them, solve a problem for them, enlighten them. A good book grabs the readers, either to entertain them or to improve their lives in some practical way. 

A book with a purpose is much easier to sell than a vague rambling that is written for "everyone". Nothing is for everyone, not even the Bible, the Koran, you or anyone else.

Denise

www.inktreemarketing.com
www.publishacookbook.com

#PublishABook3

To continue: what attracts buyers to particular books? You must know the answer, because what you write, who you write for, how you design your book and from there targeting who will buy your book are crucial to the success of the book. 

Our job would have been so much easier if we had known to have a clear idea of the answers to the above questions before we were writing and while we were writing. 

When we wrote our book, we would constantly go two steps forward and one step back. We spent a lot of time undoing mistakes because we missed steps along the way. What a learning experience!

During an interview by a business writer, after we had sold many thousands of books, the interviewer told me that I had learned sto much about the publishing business just from doing it, and researching the process, that I had acquired a "Street M.B.A.". In other words, I had taught the entire publishing process to myself from a background of zero knowledge. 

So, we learned what the components of a good book are, how to put the book together and how to sell the book. It was far more work than it needs to be but there was no one like us at Ink Tree to ask.

Denise

www.inktreemarketing.com
www.publishacookbook.com

#WriteACookBook2

Busy weekend. No time to blog. Whew. Back to normal routine.

So to continue:

We began our research program, writing the book at the same time. It's important to write while you are in the book development phase. As you learn more about the writing/publishing process you can make amendments to the manuscript. A book is a work in progress until it goes to the printer.

There were so many things to learn about publishing that our heads were spinning but gradually, gradually the mist began to clear. Joining a publishers' group was great support. Having other publishers to watch and to listen to gave us clues about what we even needed to know. I had been a reader all of my life but had never paid attention to important issues like ISBN numbers, Cataloging in Publication data, bar codes, pricing, book design, graphics and photo placement, cover styles, types of bindings, types of paper, the importance of colors, graphic designers, kinds of printers, distribution, publicity, markets other than book stores and on and on.

There are also some publishers' chat groups that offer loads of advice. There you can ask questions and actually receive the benefit of the experience of live publishers.

Because there were very few other resources for publishers, we had no idea where to begin to widen our search for information. We found that libraries and book stores can tell you much more than you would suspect. Just learning about our competition in the cook book world was eye opening.

Another great source of help was the buyers at book stores. What attracts book buyers to certain books?

More later.

Denise

www.inktreemarketing.com
www.publishacookbook.com 

#WriteACookbook

I am going to do a series about cook books, since that is where I have the most expertise and many of the people on our mailing list sign up through our www.publishacookbook.com website. 

I co-authored Fit to Cook - Why 'Waist' Time in the Kitchen? with Chantal Jakel and Cynthia Kereluk. The book sold over 250,000 copies. Chantal and I were inspired to write the healthy recipe section by our experiences as nurses at a cancer clinic. Cynthia was an exercise guru with her own television show. It was a great collaboration.

None of us had experience with book publishing, so we thought that the book could be put together in about two months. Ignorance is bliss - sometimes. It took us over two years to get the book to the ready-to-print stage. There were very few resources for self publishers in the 1990's, so we stumbled along, discovering all of the things that we didn't know - and boy, were there ever many things to learn!!

Because Chantal and I have to get everything just right, we began our own extensive research program. Oh, my, the things we didn't know!

Stay tuned.

Denise

www.inktreemarketing.com
www.publishacookbook.com

#BlogsForBooks

There are many avenues to promote your books: blogs included. There are blogs for everything, now, so don't overlook them. As a matter of fact, start your own.

Everything from soup to nuts has a blog, even romance novels. You can find like-minded people on any subject so look up your genre and get involved. 

Every person with whom you connect has something to teach you, so get connected. Learn from others and they will learn from you. In the process, people will learn about your book. 

You simply cannot have too much publicity and funny enough, free publicity is far more effective than paid ads. People view book reviews as credible references whereas anyone can take out a paid ad to say anything that they want to say.

Consider a blog if you don't have one and ask people for reviews.

Denise


www.inktreemarketing.com
www.publishacookbook.com

#BuyingBookReviews

It seems that some people offer services to write book reviews for authors and post those reviews on popular websites such as Amazon.

Don't do it! Amazon, and other sites, are catching on to this tactic and are shutting down the book sellers.

Everyone wants book reviews, even the bad ones, but those reviews must be honest and spontaneous.

Do your home work. Get your book reviewed every place that you can, but do so honestly and you can sell your books with pride.

Denise

www.inktreemarketing.com
www.publishacookbook.com

#FollowUpOnNewsRelease

Today I was asked this question: "My publicist sent out my news release to 7,000 media sources. How do I follow up?

Answer: "How do you find a needle in a haystack?"

The danger of sending out masses of news releases without having specific names and email address is like trying to catch snowflakes. You use a net but the snowflakes melt as soon as you catch them. 

When you are contacting the media, or even corporate buyers, you need to be contacting SOMEONE - one person at one address or phone number. If you contacting ANYONE, NO ONE will respond because NO ONE is responsible for reading your news release and people are too busy to read through your information and direct it to the correct person.

So, spend a small sum of money, purchase a media list with the contact information of the specific editors and producers you are targeting and focus on them. Follow up is very, very important. 

Sending a news release out once without follow up is a waste of time.

Denise

www.inktreemarketing.com

www.publishacookbook.com

#BestsellerLists

Everyone wants to write a bestseller. Of course. You want your book to be so popular that it becomes a household word - such as Fifty Shades of Grey by British author by E.L. James, the current "hot" book. I'm sure that the author is more than happy with the sales of the book. Who wouldn't be?

But do you have to get onto the bestseller list to have a book that sells a makes your wildest dreams come true? Absolutely not. My book sold over 250,000 copies but it was never on anyone's list but mine. Why not? Only 15% of the sales occurred in book stores. It takes only 35,000 copies to make it to bestseller status in the United States (5,000 copies in Canada), which might or might not be exciting, depending on your goals. 

Never was I unhappy with my sales numbers. Most of the copies sold to the corporate market, which is even better than book store sales because they are guaranteed sales. When book stores order books any unsold copies are returned to you - the book market is strange indeed. The bottom line, however, is that books moved out of my warehouse. End of story (no pun intended).

Bestseller lists are arbitrary, anyway. The New York Times, for example, communicates with a select group of book stores and reports sales of their most popular books. What if you sold 50,000 copies of your book on Amazon, or you sold 100,000 copies to XYZ corporation? The New York Times would be none the wiser but how happy would you be? 

Your efforts must be focused on sales - wherever you can achieve them, whether in book stores, to the gift market, in catalog sales, via your website, to charities as fund raisers or wherever you can get them. 

Denise

www.inktreemarketing.com
www.publishacookbook.com

#BookCovers

Two clients recently sent me their proposed book covers for review. It feels so good to see that I have been of some help to them. They get it!! The book covers have that three dimensional feel - they draw you in. And - the message is clear, the colors are good and the graphics are excellent.

Furthermore, they chose exceptional titles.

I feel so good. Someone listened.  :-)

Denise

www.inktreemarketing.com
www.publishacookbook.com

#EditingMarks

Taken from: http://www.aaps.k12.mi.us/tappan.rothl/revising_and_editing with thanks.

One of the strongest pieces of advice that we give to our authors is to hire an editor. There is no way that a person can self-edit. The human brain works in mysterious ways, glossing over errors because it knows what it means to say even though it is not imparting a clear meaning to the reader. Hence, hire an editor.

Anyway, this morning I was doing a crossword puzzle in which one of the clues was  "editing mark" - 5 letters. The answer is "caret" (see above). So,  I was inspired to find a quick reference of editing marks for you so that the next time your editor returns your manuscript with red marks all over it, you will know where you went wrong.

Denise

www.inktreemarketing.com
www.publishacookbook.com

#RadioPublicity

There are many avenues to obtain publicity for your book, but have had a serious look at radio? You may have ignored radio in favor of print and television, but there are many radio stations that are hungry for great stories. You many be just what they are looking for.

Just like television, radio hosts need to find topics that attract listeners to their shows and stories that hold the listeners' attention. Not only do they want to attract new listeners, they want to stop audiences from changing stations by keeping the conversations interesting.

Radio interviews are a great way to draw attention to yourself as an expert in your genre. Whatever it is you plan to talk about during your time on air, do not just "sell" your book. Your job is to offer expert information or advice. Let the host mention your book but you can slip the title in or mention that more information is on your website, etc.

So, put together some great segment sheets that outline various ideas you can pass on to radio listeners. Paint stories in their minds to keep them enthralled and often to encourage them to phone you while you are live on air.

Get yourself on air. 

We can help with the segment sheets.

Denise

www.inktreemarketing.com
www.publishacookbook.com

#KidsNeedBooks

Summer is over and school is about to commence, much to the delight of some but much to the dismay of others. The beginning of the school season signals a return to early mornings, routines and responsibilities.

Part of the school routine - perhaps the most important part - is learning to read. Amazingly, some children make it to university without being good readers. How does that happen? 

I suspect it's simply a lack of practice. The more that one reads the easier reading becomes and the greater the vocabulary expands. Literacy just does not happen by staring at an electronic screen, which is such a passive experience. 

Reading, on the other hand, is an active exercise that works the brain and allows the reader to "see" movies in the mind. There is no other experience like it, in spite of special effects and wizardry of the technical world. 

So, parents, unplug your children and share some books with them. They will benefit for the rest of their lives from the experiences in their minds.

Denise

www.inktreemarketing.com
www.publishacookbook.com