#SalesEBooks

This is just a short note, but I want to draw your attention to the sales of ebooks. While more and more people are purchasing their books in electronic format, the paper version of books is still alive and well.

You do need to pay attention to ebooks, though. Their sales have the world's biggest publishing houses on the run. Random House and Penguin are talking about merging which will lead to the mergers of other major publishing houses as well. Why? They need to cut costs. Sales of ebooks are cutting into their profits. By joining forces they can maintain their cheaper printing and distribution costs. It's a simple business decision. 

Just be sure that you make smart business decisions. Know your target market well before you decide on the best way to publish your book: ebook, paper book or both.

Denise

www.inktreemarketing.com
www.publishacookbook.com

#TheBookReview

The book review is a vital part of any publisher's marketing campaign. A book review tells thousands people about your book, and who doesn't want thousands of people to hear about their "baby"? 

Book reviews are third party, unbiased endorsements - and they're free. There is no advertising that can be bought that is as effective as a good book review. Which brings up the subject of bad book reviews. They are not what you want to hear but sometimes they work in your favor by piquing the curiosity of readers. There is a saying about no publicity being bad publicity. 

That may be but you do want a book review to be good, so it is up to you to provide a good media kit, otherwise known as a press kit,  to interested members of the media. You might as well stack the odds in your favor. 

Here is a funny quote from Will Ferguson, author of his latest book 419,  when asked if he reads reviews of his book:

"Of course I read reviews. Everyone does. The raves I take to heart (naturally); the nasty ones are clearly misguided."

I love his attitude.

Denise

www.inktreemarketing.com
www.publishacookbook.com

#MaximizingKeywords

Predicting Keyword Events

A keyword event can be loosely described as a spike in a particular keyword search. This is largely due to seasons, holidays, current events, or evolving trends.

Predicting a keyword event means you choose the keywords before they become popular to get ahead of your competition and get a running start in search engine rankings.

By carefully selecting keywords before they become popular and organically integrating those keywords into your articles, you can rank higher because there is little or no competition. After the trend hits the mainstream, those keywords will become popular and your ranking will stay high because you've established yourself as the leading authority - a trailblazer. Your article has been out there for weeks or months before your competitors even get started.

From: EzineArticles.com

Denise

www.inktreemarketing.com

www.publishacookbook.com

#TagYourBlog

Just a quick note about blogs. You want as many people as possible to find your blog when you post it. 

Search engines are always looking for new information.

Just be sure to tag your blog or label it - whatever the term is that is being used by your blog host before you publish the blog at each new posting.

Cheers,

Denise

www.inktreemarketing.com
www.publishacookbook.com

#LibraryDistributorsForE-Books

Have you completed your marketing plan? Do you have a library distributor? 

Even for e-books, libraries should not be overlooked. With about 125,000 libraries of all types in the United States, libraries are not a market to be overlooked. Do the math. If each library takes one copy...

Also, think about the free publicity that you generate as people read your book and talk about it to their friends and families. Think about that math equation.

There is no way that you can single handedly contact each library so having a distributor is an important partner in your marketing plan. Distributors have sales reps who present their catalogs to the book buyers in the library system.

There are distributors such as OverDrive, and Kindle also distributes to libraries. Check them out and do some searching of your own. Make sure that you understand their terms.

Get your book out there.

Best of luck.

Denise

www.inktreemarketing.com
www.publishacookbook.com

#WriteABookin90Days

Lately I have seen several companies offering to teach you how to write your book (some fiction, some non-fiction) in 90 days. 

You have heard the saying, "If it sounds too good to be true, it is."

That being said, there likely are some very good strategies to be learned in the speedy authoring courses, but please, be realistic. Ask best selling authors how long it takes them to write a book. The answer is that it often takes years. Why do you think that they don't pump out a book every 90 days?

Great writing, excellent writing, takes time. Your subconscious needs time to process your thoughts, organize them, revise them and rewrite them many times before they are crystal clear to you. After all that, your writing needs to be edited for accuracy and for flow. If your thoughts are not absolutely clear to you they will definitely be very muddy to your readers. If your book is not a great reading experience will the reader look for future works from you?

I wouldn't.

Denise


www.inktreemarketing.com
www.publishacookbook.com

#EditBook-Don'tDoIt

As I said, don't edit your own work - you won't see the mistakes.

Denise


www.inktreemarketing.com
www.publishacookbook.com

#EditBook-Don'tDiIt

Yesterday I received a phone call from a person who is writing and planning to self publish a book. Good for her.

But -- she is very intellectual. Good for her. But -- she stated that she does not need to have her book edited because she can do a better job herself. Yikes!!

OK. She says that she purchased some software to help. OK. But -- software can help only with the mechanics of grammar and spelling. Good. But that is not all there is to editing.

Editors check for organization, flow, consistency, accuracy and much more. Editors also must have a good understanding of your message. Software can't do that. Editors must ensure that the book remains in your "voice". Software can't do that. Editors must consult with you frequently to make sure that your message is being projected as you want it to. Software can't do that.

What can the author do? The author can mess it all up unless an unbiased party edits the manuscript. Why? The author's brain fills in any gaps or any unclear projections of ideas. 

There is no way that you can edit your own work. Your brain will gloss over errors because it knows the subject matter inside-out, so it just skims over mistakes without even being aware of doing so.

Don't edit your own work.

Denise

www.inktreemarketing.com
www.publishacookbook.com

#SelfPublishing-MoreImportantThanEver

Another large publishing house has declared bankruptcy. Yet another large publishing house has laid off executive editorial staff. These are signs of the times. The world of publishing houses is shrinking.

When life closes one door, another door opens. So it is for self publishers. Opportunities for individuals to enter the publishing world abound. 

You can now certainly be a publisher, but you must be smart. Just because you can, doesn't mean you should. As with any other business, publishing requires business smarts. There are opportunities for people to self publish really, really good books. There are opportunities to publish crap as well. Which do you think will succeed?

More than ever, the buying public can "let their fingers do the walking". Instead of browsing a book store, buyers browse the internet. They can even more easily than ever access reviews of your books. You can't hide the truth.

More than ever, you must strive for excellence and you absolutely need to have a business plan. Not only do you need to publish a superior book, you have to know who will buy your book and how you will find those potential buyers.

We can help.

Denise

www.inktreemarketing.com
www.publishacookbook.com

#GoodWriting - WhatMakesExcellentWriting?

The more books that I read, the more quickly the writing style compels me to either continue reading with great enjoyment or compels me to discard the book after a very brief time. Life is too short to waste time reading inferior drivel.

As in anything else in life, writing can be graded on a curve: a small percentage of writing is great, most writing is somewhere in the center of the curve (varying from good to better to excellent) and another small percentage is awful. I cannot waste more than a few minutes on awful but the search for excellent is a lot of fun. 

It's so hard to tell what impresses me as excellent writing. Apart from good grammar and good sentence structure, the impression of excellent writing is a feeling. Either a book draws me in or it does not. It's quite simple. Excellent writing is absorbing. It blocks out the world as I forget about time and just keep reading and turning pages. I can't wait to read more.

Amazingly, not all excellent writers are just born that way. Writing is a craft that can be honed and perfected with practice and with a willingness to accept criticism. Arrogance has no place here. No one can be an excellent surgeon, or an excellent lawyer, or an excellent electrician or an excellent anything else without training and practice.

Very rarely, of course, does one encounter great writing (or a great surgeon) but excellent writing (and any other amazing profession) does happen and it's such a joy to find that special one. 

I'm always on the hunt for fabulous books.

Maybe one day you will be that next amazing author.

Denise

www.inktreemarketing.com
www.publishacookbook.com

#SnowySaturdayNight-ReadABook

It's a cold, wet, snowy Saturday evening.

I'm going to cozy up with a good book.

Is there a better way to wait for good weather?

Denise

www.inktreemarketing.com
www.publishacookbook.com

#BookAwards

Our next newsletter will be about entering the competition for book awards. Here is what we have to say on the subject:

“Should I enter my book?

By the end of this course you’ll have such an amazing book that you’ll be a shoe-in – RIGHT? Yes!

Many publishers wonder whether applying for awards is worthwhile. It is. Absolutely. There is frequently little financial gain from the award itself, but an award obtained is worth its weight in gold for status, credibility and media attention. In the long term, awards do translate into sales, which is the true reward.

Check the application criteria, and make sure that you are applying for an award in your genre. For instance, don’t apply for a literary award if you are writing a cookbook or a self-help book, or for an award that requires specific citizenship or residency. Some awards require you to submit your manuscript or a galley copy, while others want to see the finished book.

When you win, add a medallion to the front cover of your next printing, or purchase stickers that you can place on the cover of existing books. The stickers attract attention from book reviewers when you send out media kits, and they draw buyers to your book in the book stores."

If you believe in your book and if you have a book that has been professionally designed and edited, apply. What do you have to lose when you have much to gain?

Denise

www.inktreemarketing.com

www.publishacookbook.com

#PublishABook10

Publishing a book is a huge job, but a very rewarding job. There is so very much work to do and much more work than what meets the eye. You, the author, must be the creative genius and the manufacturing executive at the same time. It's no small task. 

But, just when you think the job is done, you discover that it's really just beginning. There is not much point in writing and publishing a fabulous book only to see it sit on the shelf of to trip over the stacks of boxes in your garage.

For a book to be a success, it must sell. Many publishers naively think that as long as their book makes it to the book store shelves it's a sure seller. Not so. If that book sits too long on the book store shelves the book store will return it to you - sometimes in less than mint condition.

Who is going to convince buyers to go to the book store and choose your book from the thousands of titles available? You! Even if you have your book published by someone else, you, yes you, must convince the world to buy your book. 

But it doesn't end there. You have to find non-book store buyers for your book. It's a rarity to have a book sell in the many thousands just from book store sales. Therefore, you must put your sales hat on and sell that book to as many outlets as you possible can.

That's where the real work begins. Don't feel overwhelmed, though. We can help.

Denise

www.inktreemarketing.com
www.publishacookbook.com

#PublishABook9

It was a relief to have the book's contents under control and the design of the pages and of the cover in order. The type of paper was decided upon, the hidden coil binding was a certainty, the page design was looking great, we had our copyright and book publishing data organized, the price was set and we were ready to go.

The next big step was to decide upon a printer. Again, research was necessary. Who? Where? When? How many copies? ... and so on.

We were very lucky to find a great printer with a wonderful sales rep, Andy, who babied us along, because we really were babes-in-the-woods. It was obvious but we were not afraid to ask questions, even if they sounded silly to Andy. 

Andy taught us all of the printing terms and Sherry, our graphic designer, babysat us as well.

It is very important to have people whom you trust implicitly because a great deal of money is at stake. 

Our file went to the printer and we were there to check the blue lines as they rolled off the press. It was like having another child - exciting and terrifying all at once.

And it was worth it.

Denise

www.inktreemarketing.com
www.publishacookbook.com

#PublishABook8

So, we researched the criteria for putting the physical book together, but what about other necessary components of the book? 

I had never paid attention to the Cataloging in Publication page in my entire life!! What did it all mean? More research to do - or, if you are our client, we will tell you how. We can make your life so much easier. I now say, "I wish that I had me to help me when I was learning about publishing." The process would have been so much easier.

We also had to learn about pricing and bar codes. Help! We can help you there, also. 

Publishing a book means that you are producing a "product" that you plan to sell to many people. Just like any other product, your book must have all of the components that buyers require. If you want your book to sell, it must look professional.

During our publishing process, we saw many books that just screamed "amateur" and we knew that such a product would not sell. People look for value before they hand over money for something, so make sure that the perceived value of your book is excellent.

Denise

www.inktreemarketing.com
www.publishacookbook.com

#PublishABook7

I have not been able to access this blog for a while as the writer. I was locked out, but just by fluke I happened upon the solution. Whew!

However, publishing a book cannot happen by fluke or happenstance. Planning is of the essence in publishing. 

So far, we have talked about the steps that I discovered are crucial in the publishing process, but we are not finished. Your book needs to be printed.

Now you encounter a whole bunch of new things to know: 

• kind of paper to use
• type of binding
• amount of colour
• number of scans that are affordable
• hard cover, soft cover, digital
• type of font
• price to charge
• digital print or offset
• reliable printer

Now you have some serious research to do.

Denise

www.inktreemarketing.com

www.publishacookbook.com

#PublishABook6-BookTitles

We talked about the importance of the cover in the last blog, and important it is. You want hands to reach out for your book on the shelf. 

The title is so very important. So many authors think that the title should spell out the message like the thesis for a doctorial degree. Boring!

Think of some good book titles:

One Smart Cookie
The Wealthy Barber
Rich Dad, Poor Dad
Gone with the Wind
The Secret
Fit to Cook
Fire 'n Ice


Good titles suggest the book's contents but use intrigue to pique curiosity. You don't have to do a synopsis of the book on the front cover. Give a good clue to the book's contents but don't use the cover to give the entire message. 

The title catches the reader's interest - the subtitle provides a bit more into. Go to book stores and do your research. Find attractive book covers, search for good titles and read subtitles. You don't have to re-invent the wheel. Just make your book cover better.

Denise

www.inktreemarketing.com
www.publishacookbook.com

#PublishABook5

So, we learned about the components of a good book. We knew what should go into every book and how a professional book should look.

The next step was to find someone who could design such a book and who would get into our heads with us. It's interesting, isn't it? Some people say that there is an energy in the universe that responds to the energy that you put out and what you need will come to you. It did!

By "coincidence", if you believe in coincidence, or by design if you believe in the energy of the universe, a most wonderful designer named Sherry came into our lives. To use a common phrase, what a god-send she was. 

We worked for a year with Sherry to get the pages designed just right, to get the graphics just right, to create our logo, to put together a fabulous cover and to get the manuscript perfectly print ready. And it was. There was not a glitch when the file went to the printer. 

I say it over and over: do not try to design your own book, or edit it yourself either. It just will not be what it could be if you have good professionals on your team. After all, you want people to like the appearance of your book. Do people judge a book by its cover? Yes. Yes. Yes.

Fit to Cook won an international award.

That says it all.

Denise

www.inktreemarketing.com
www.publishacookbook.com