Category authorship

Feb 16 2013

Those Silly Short Lines

A hyphen or a dash. Short dash, long dash. Those silly short lines.

We all know that the hyphen (-) is used to hy-phen-ate, and we all know that the short line is used to do this, so it should be easy to remember that the short line is a hyphen and the long line is a dash. Yet we sometimes forget. (It really doesn’t help that there are two types of dashes, each different from a hyphen.)

The keyboard just has a hyphen. No dash. You can easily make a dash in Microsoft Word. With Word’s AutoFormat as you type feature turned on, type two hyphens consecutively mid-sentence, like this – and they turn into a dash.

The better way to make the dash is to hold down the Alt button while typing 0150. Why does it matter? If you publish an e-book that you typed in Word, it might make a difference.

The downloadable Kindle previewer (said to be more reliable than the online previewer) with Device set to e-Ink device and Kindle Selected, for example, might show a box in place of a dash made from Word’s AutoFormat feature. Use the Alt method to produce the symbol without AutoFormat. (That’s for those of us who cling to the convenience of Word. The safer way is to learn how to properly modify the HTML.)

The en dash (–) is just one of two common dashes. The other is the em dash (—). Hold down Alt and type 0151 to make the em dash. It’s said to be good form to choose one dash or the other and be consistent.

Well, be as consistent as English allows. Use the en dash for a sequence, as in 42–81 (this time without the space). Give credit to the source of a quote with the em dash, as in the following (this time with the space).

Better to write for yourself and have no public, than to write for the public and have no self. — Cyril Connolly

Here, the em dash indicates a quote (in lieu of quotation marks) and also indicates the author to whom the quote is attributed. (If you want to use a horizontal bar instead of the em dash, you know too much for your own good. Or, at least, for my own good.)

We know that the letter ‘n’ is shorter than the letter ‘m,’ so this should help to remind us that the en dash is shorter than the em dash. We still sometimes forget.

The en dash is used with spaces – like so. The em dash is used without spaces—like this.

When reading e-books, we sometimes see the hyphen used in place of the dash. Was it a mistake? Or was the author playing it safe, worried that an e-reader might not recognize the dash? Or did the author see a box in place of the dash when carefully checking the previewer?

En–ie em—ie miney moe,

Pick a dash by its toe!

If it hyphen-ates,

Let it go!

This blog was brought to you by the following punctuation marks:

Hy-phen

en–dash

em—dash

Chris McMullen, self-published author of A Detailed Guide to Self-Publishing with Amazon and Other Online Booksellers (and Formatting Pages for Publishing on Amazon with CreateSpace – coming soon)

Feb 15 2013

The Self-Publishing Lottery

Millions of people buy lottery tickets every day. For every hundred dollars spent, very little – if any – will be returned unless… unless the ticket hits the jackpot. The odds of hitting the jackpot are astronomical. Yet millions of people continue to play the lottery. Why? Hope. As long as there is even the tiniest fraction of a chance of having the winning ticket, people will continue to feed this hope.

Hundreds of thousands of people are now writing and self-publishing books. There are millions of books available on Amazon. The top 5,000 sell several copies every day. The top 50,000 sell a few copies every day. The top 200,000 sell once every day or so. But 10,0000,000 sell a few copies per month or less.

Most of the books sell just sporadically. Yet hundreds of thousands of aspiring authors continue to self-publish. Thousands of new books are published every day. Why? Hope. There is a chance that the book will be successful.

A lottery ticket just costs a dollar. Writing a book takes a great deal of time and effort. But people believe that the chance of success is much greater with writing a book, and that even in the worst-case scenario, the book will still sell some copies.

Here’s the thing. A book isn’t just going to be a top seller because the author hopes it will sell well. Everyone who buys a lottery ticket has the same chance of winning. But not everyone who writes a book has the same chance of success.

Some book ideas are better than others. Some books are better written, edited, and formatted than others. Some books have better covers and blurbs. Some books evoke strong emotions and have memorable characters. Some books are marketed very well. Book success isn’t just left to chance.

Each book is competing for sales against millions of other books. Only a small percentage of books sell with high frequency. The author who sits back and hopes shouldn’t expect much to come of it. The author who makes every effort to put the odds in his/her favor is much more likely to taste the success.

Writing a book takes a great deal of time and effort. Why not take a break after the book is written, then put more time and effort toward improving the book’s chances of success before (and again after) publishing? The author who has the dream of success should strive to make the dream a reality.

Hundreds of thousands of other authors want their book to be successful. But only a small percentage of books will sell with high frequency. It’s a competitive world. Most self-published authors won’t take the time to perfect every aspect of their book – storyline, cover, blurb, editing, formatting, marketing, etc. The author who does suddenly has a rare advantage.

The first step is to have a great idea. Sure, everyone already has a book idea – if not several – which they already believe is a great idea. But most books aren’t highly successful, so maybe they aren’t all that great after all. Which ideas are great? It’s not too hard to figure that out. Check out the bestselling books in a given genre. Study those books. They are the models of success. These books are presently attracting many readers.

What about creativity? Trying something new? Self-publishing offers freedom and independence. So why write material that is similar to what’s already out there?

Because those were proven to succeed. Those are concepts that readers are willing to invest in.

Write something new and hope for an audience. Or write for an existing audience, and then after establishing a reputation, write what truly interests you. This way, you can eventually write with the freedom and independence that you crave, while also having an audience for it once you do.

You can’t just copy the same concept. But you need to understand the readers’ expectations. Do the top-selling romance books all end with a happily-ever-after? What negative characteristics (if any) is the protagonist allowed to have in a mystery? How realistic does a sci-fi concept need to be? If you dream of a large audience, you must first understand the readers’ expectations. Upset your readers and you lose valuable word-of-mouth sales. (When you become an established author, then you can upset some readers in the name of artistic freedom. Nonetheless, you still have a great deal of freedom without upsetting a large number of readers in your genre.)

But just subscribing to traditional methods doesn’t guarantee success. Bestselling books have some common features. They have fantastic covers. (Study the covers in your genre. This is what readers expect to see when they browse for books.) They are well-edited. They are professionally formatted. They are well-written. They are effectively marketed. In fiction, they have very memorable characters and – in many genres – suspenseful plots, and they evoke strong emotions.

You might find an occasional exception. Don’t cling to the exception. You can find tens of thousands of books that could have been much more successful if only, if only, if only… Cling to the if only.

Too much time? Plenty of time. What’s the rush?

Too little money? There are affordable options. Save up. What’s the rush?

(There is a wealth of free help out there, too, often from knowledgeable, experienced small publishers. Check out blogs, self-publishing community forums, books. Find out how good your work is, get opinions, and exchange ideas with colleagues at writing venues or book clubs.)

Rush your book out to the wolves. Or do some research, polish it up as best you can, bring your best book to the market. Make your first book your best book – it’s the book you will establish your reputation with.

It’s a common mistake to think: I’ll just get my book out there and see what people think of it. If they complain about editing, I’ll get an editor later. If I sell enough copies now, I’ll hire an illustrator later. And so on and so forth. Give them your best work the first time. Don’t give them any reasons to complain.

There are many self-published authors who have experienced these publishing mistakes firsthand. If you haven’t published yet, there is still time to learn from and avoid these common mistakes.

(Don’t have the hope of selling many copies? Then be a true artist and do as you please. J)

Chris McMullen, self-published author of A Detailed Guide to Self-Publishing with Amazon and Other Online Booksellers

Feb 8 2013

Giving Birth to a Book

A book is the author’s baby from the moment of conception. It starts out as an idea, then a single uppercase letter. It grows into a sentence. Then a paragraph. A page. Chapter 1. Eventually, the structure is complete, but even then it continues to develop through formatting and revisions.

The author carries the baby book in a file for several months. The file is saved in multiple versions on the computer, email, and jump drives. The author is a parent who will do anything to protect the book baby.

A month or so prior to the due date, the author will have a book shower, where several of the author’s friends and family will provide valuable feedback that the book will need in its early development. The writer must also shop for the book’s clothes, like a cover and professional editing services.

After several months, the author gives birth to the book by publishing it. This is an excruciating process, which can take a very long period of time. The author may actually put more effort into the birthing process than was put into the writing itself. The writer may also become very moody during this period, with sudden emotional outbursts. Most modern authors prefer to take some medications to help ease the pain and steady their behavior.

Once the baby book is born, the author nurtures it through continued editing and provides for it through a serious marketing campaign. Since most writers serve as single parents for their books, they provide both the tender loving care and the financial support for the book.

Surprisingly, as long and arduous as book-birth and book-rearing are, most authors will provide several siblings to accompany their first-born books. A few writers, who are either sterile or just prefer not to have their own book babies, may become editors or publishers, serving as foster parents for books. Those who are ready for a bigger commitment may become librarians or start a bookstore.

Yes, authors’ books are their babies. They love them, they cherish them, they watch them grow, and they protect over them. If anyone says anything negative about one of their books, it’s no wonder that they become so emotional over it. It’s like saying something bad about one of their kids.

But authors must remember that all books seek independence. The books want to live their own lives, and want to stand up for themselves.

Chris McMullen, self-published author of A Detailed Guide to Self-Publishing with Amazon and Other Online Booksellers

Feb 7 2013

What Was that Indie Author Thinking?

1. “If anyone complains about the grammar, I can hire an editor later.”

– You can edit your work later, but you can’t remove the bad reviews.

2. “My cover might stink, but the content is good.”

– People won’t notice the content unless they first notice the book.

3. “Let me just publish the first chapter to get some feedback about my writing.”

– Would you go to the video store to rent just the first scene of a movie?

4. “Opinions from my friends and family aren’t biased.”

– Do you trust the views expressed in infomercials?

5. “I’ll respond to that review to show everyone how wrong it was.”

– You’ll be showing everyone how wrong it was, all right. Just the wrong ‘it.’

6. “People will judge my book for the ideas. Spelling and grammar don’t really matter.”

– There are over a million well-edited books to choose from. Why choose one that isn’t?

7. “It looks perfect on my screen so the ebook will look perfect, too.”

– Get ready for a big surprise!

8. “Where can I buy some reviews?”

– Did you just ask that out loud? Even worse, did you just type that on Amazon’s community forum?

9. “Why doesn’t Amazon market my book for me?”

– What about the other twenty million books? Should Amazon market all of them?

10. “Why were my reviews removed?”

– Did you write them yourself? Did your friends or family write them? Did you exchange reviews with another author?

(Note: These weren’t quoted from real people, but do simulate many opinions that hundreds of indie authors have expressed.)

It takes much time and effort to write a book. First, you need a great idea. Then you have to iron out the details. The writing itself is a monumental task.

Most indie authors do put much thought, time, and effort into their books. This blog wasn’t written to try to disparage the self-published author. Rather, it reflects how much more work is involved in publishing a book than just writing.

Traditional publishers have editors to improve and perfect the writing, graphic artists to design an attractive cover, and experience with marketing. The self-published author who has finally finished the time-consuming project of writing the book is suddenly faced with all of these responsibilities.

The indie author began his/her project because he/she loves to write. Someone who excels at writing often doesn’t also excel at editing, cover design, marketing, and – this is so important! – public relations. For the person who loves to write, writing is by far the easiest part of publishing.

We can understand the common mistakes that many indie authors make. Unfortunately, people tend to dwell on mistakes, and the mistakes help to give self-publishing a bad name.

There are many quality self-published books, though; and it’s natural for people to enjoy the exhilaration of discovering a gem. A significant percentage of book customers are themselves indie authors. If you add to this number their friends and family, there is a large population of potential customers who may be willing to support the self-publishing concept.

Although it is possible to understand the common mistakes that many indie authors make, the bottom line is that the customer expects a good product in return for his/her investment.

Chris McMullen, self-published author of A Detailed Guide to Self-Publishing with Amazon and Other Online Booksellers

Feb 4 2013

A Silly Little Space

One little press of the spacebar can make a huge difference.

One  teensy  weensy  little  extra  space  was  added  between  the  words  of  this  sentence.

See the difference?  It’s just a space.  What does it matter?

How many spaces do you use after a period before starting the next sentence?  A very common answer ─ even among well-educated people ─ is two.  Those same people tend to be very surprised to discover that publishers actually use just one space ─ not two ─ after periods.  That’s right, if you don’t believe it, you should start pulling traditionally published books from your bookshelves and inspecting them.  If you look closely, you’ll see that there is just once space there.

Most of us were taught that there should be two spaces after a period.  Historically, the reason for the extra space has to do with the typewriter.  The trend of adding this extra space continues today – as many teachers continue to teach what they were taught.  This extra space is actually a good idea for teachers:  Just like double spacing an essay, an extra space after the period leaves a little more room for annotations on students’ papers (specifically, a correction note for capitalization at the beginning of a sentence of punctuation at the end).  Teachers are also probably used to seeing this extra space, and so it may look strange to their eyes to suddenly see one space instead.

The problem is that so many people who were taught to use two spaces in school are now self-publishing books.  Thus, the two-space trend has entered into the publishing industry.  Here’s the thing:  Traditional publishers use one space, not two.  If you want your book to look like a traditionally published book, then one space following a period is the correct answer.

Look, I’m a two-spacer myself. I have used two spaces in every paragraph of this blog, until now. This paragraph just has one space after the period. The paragraphs that follow also just feature one space. Compare the paragraphs to see the difference.

Which do you prefer? You could say that it’s just a matter of style. It’s an aesthetic quality. Right?

Wrong! If you publish ebooks, the correct answer is to use just one space after the period – not two. Why? Because the text displayed on ereaders may occasionally show a formatting issue when two spaces are used instead of one.

Word processors, such as Word, accommodate the extra space nicely. If a sentence happens to end at the end of a line, Word will hide the extra space. This is convenient because many teachers require this extra space on essays or lab reports.

However, ereaders often do not hide this extra space. When a sentence ends at the end of a line and a new sentence begins on the next line, the extra space either appears at the end of the first line (making it appear to end short compared to the other lines) or at the beginning of the next line (making it appear to start late compared to the other lines). So if you want even margins in your ebook, use one space instead of two after periods.

Stuck in the old ways? So am I. Here’s what you do: When your manuscript is finished, use the Replace tool to collapse two consecutive spaces down to one. (And if you can retrain yourself to use one space instead of two, your thumbs won’t have to work quite as hard to type a book.)

You may be interested in an article called “Space Invaders.” It’s the resource that enlightened me. Here’s the link:

http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technology/2011/01/space_invaders.html

Chris McMullen, self-published author of A Detailed Guide to Self-Publishing with Amazon and Other Online Booksellers

Jan 13 2013

Attention All Book Zombies: Time to Snap out of It!

You could be a book zombie without realizing it.  Maybe you didn’t know there was such a thing.  How do you know if you are one?  Is it bad?  If so, is there a cure for it?

If you find yourself wondering about these questions, then you’ve come to the right place.  This article will help you determine if you’re a book zombie, and, if you are, how to return to the world of the book living.

It’s time to take the book zombie quiz.  (What?  Nobody told me there would be a quiz!)  Relax:  You don’t have to study for it.

(1) When you see a list of search results, do you prefer a book with a title that is short and catchy or long and detailed?

(2) Which color combination do you think would look nicer on a book cover:  navy blue, baby blue, and plain white or dark purple, dark red, and bright orange?

(3) Would you rather have the book description be short and sound very interesting or be long and highly informative?

(4) Do you want the beginning of a story to invoke emotions within you or to let you read passively?

(5) After you finish reading a book that you like, would you like to see recommendations of other books from others who enjoyed that book?

Time’s up.  Make sure that your name is at the top of the page and pass it forward.

You’re probably ready to go over the answers now.  But the book zombie quiz isn’t about the answers; it’s about the questions.  (Aren’t you glad that you didn’t study for it?)

Most people don’t like it when a telemarketer calls during dinner, when a salesman interrupts a walk through the park, or when a commercial comes on just before the good part of a movie.  As such, most people would say that they don’t like advertisements.  On the other hand, many people wear t-shirts or hats with their favorite brand names written across them, and when deciding which detergent to buy in the grocery store often select the brand that they have heard before.  There are many subtle forms of marketing employed in the sale of commercial products.  A customer who chooses one product over another ─ or impulsively purchases something that he or she really doesn’t need ─ without realizing that the choice was due to subtle marketing schemes is a shopping zombie.

Similar subtle schemes are applied in book marketing.  A book zombie chooses one book over another ─ or impulsively buys a book that he or she really doesn’t need ─ without being conscious of the marketing that affected the decision.

Have you ever purchased a book that looked nice or seemed interesting, but where you still haven’t gotten around to reading it?  Have you ever bought a book that you were convinced would be very good ─ because you trusted the brand of the publisher, believed the testimonials on the first page, or the blurb sounded great ─ only to be disappointed later?  If you consider your past book-buying decisions carefully, you might find that you have occasionally exhibited some book zombie symptoms.

The big publishing houses take advantage of much marketing and psychological research that has gone into cover design, word selection, and blurb preparation.  Many adept small publishers and indie authors also take time to learn about and apply these marketing secrets.

Traditional publishers often pour a significant amount of money into cover design because it is so important in catching your attention.  Their covers often use just two or three main colors, just one font style, and one to three striking images that relate to the theme of the book.  Color theory tells them which colors work best together.  Color psychology dictates which colors to use to evoke which types of emotions or to suit which audience.  Even the style of font is very important.  Not only must the key words from the title be legible in a thumbnail, research actually shows that people are more likely to feel agreeable when reading some fonts and disagreeable when reading others.  Careful word selection also plays a critical role.

Many marketing strategies are geared around a five-second rule.  First, the cover has to catch your eye.  You probably notice a particular image or contrasting colors initially.  Five seconds later, if you like the cover, you read the title and inspect the cover more closely.  A short, catchy title helps to get you to click on the book to learn more about it.  Five more seconds pass as you begin to read the blurb.  The description has to grab your attention immediately to keep from losing a potential sale.  Every five seconds through the blurb, your attention must be held.  The blurb’s job is to touch you emotionally because emotional buyers are more impulsive.  The description closes by trying to pique your curiosity so that you will want to read the book.  When you look inside the book, you may find testimonials telling you just how awesome the book is.  Like the blurb, the beginning of the book must catch your interest and stir emotions within you.

Research shows that many people are book zombies to some extent.  Publishers’ tactics are geared toward our natural tendencies.

Snapping out of it doesn’t mean to look for ugly covers and horrible blurbs.  Rather, a lousy cover may be an indication that the content of the book didn’t merit much effort.  Similarly, if one or two paragraphs of a book’s description include mistakes, are not clear, or don’t hold your interest, that doesn’t bode well for a few hundred pages of writing.

You can wake up from being a book zombie and return to the world of the book living with less drastic measures.  You can be mindful of the various marketing tactics that may be used to try to influence you to make emotional or impulsive decisions.  When you discover a new book, you can make a conscious effort to wait until you’ve had a good night’s sleep before you buy it.  This provides an opportunity for your emotions to settle down and for logic to kick in.  You can invest a little more time toward learning more about a book in order to help you judge whether or not it will be a good fit for you.  A few more minutes now might prevent you from regretting your decision many hours later.  When available, you can read a longer sample of the book before you commit to purchasing it.  Very often, you might still wind up reading the same book, but you’ll have the satisfaction of knowing that you did so consciously with careful consideration.

Keep in mind that just drawing you into the book isn’t satisfactory from the publisher’s or author’s standpoint.  The book also has to be good enough for you to read it all the way through, and must be very good in order to get you to spread word of it to your friends and acquaintances.  Wise publishers and authors aren’t trying to sucker you into buying lousy books; but they are using marketing techniques to entice you into buying more of their books (which they believe not to be lousy).

Now take the book zombie quiz a second time.  See if you can understand each question and how it relates to the theme of this article.

Why did you read this blog?  Did the title catch your interest?  Did the beginning sound interesting?  I would also ask if the blog was good enough for you to reach the end, but it seems like kind of a moot point now.  But I do hope that you enjoyed it.  🙂

Chris McMullen, self-published author of A Detailed Guide to Self-Publishing with Amazon and Other Online Booksellers

Jan 5 2013

Reading & Writing with Passion

A bookstore is like a bar where you go to pick up books; internet bookstores are like online dating services.  You browse through the books to find one that catches your eye.  When you see one you like, you look at it more closely.  You scan it up and down, turn it over and examine its rear.  The book doesn’t mind.  In fact, the book is yearning for more.  This is what it was written for.  It is begging, “Pick me!  Pick me!”

Satisfied with what you see so far, you look inside.  You judge its appearance inside and out.  Then you decide to get to know it better.  You read the cover blurbs.  You check out the contents, browse through the introduction.  You’re measuring its personality, knowledge, and communication skills; judging its potential.

If the book passes your examination, you take it out on a date.  You begin reading the first chapter.  The whole time the book is anticipating that first kiss, wondering if you will take it home with you.  Meanwhile, you are analyzing the book’s every move.  Going steady with a book is a big commitment.  You don’t want to be disappointed.

How do you know if the relationship will work out?  Curling up by the fireplace, snuggling in warm covers in bed with a booklight, sneaking a quick page or two in the bathroom.  You will share these intimate times with your book.  You want to know that the book is Mr. or Mrs. Right for you.

When you look at the cover, you see the book’s handsome or pretty face and stylish suit or dress.  As you read, the plot unfolds.  The plot is like the book’s body.  A great plot is like an attractive body.  But is that enough to satisfy your needs?  Suspense, engaging and captivating text, these are the hormones that the book sends out to arouse and sustain interest.  But will your attraction to the book be purely physical?  When the style of the writing shows personality, when the ideas massage your mind, when the writing exudes with passion… are these not the romantic elements that you are looking for in your relationship with your book?  Even if the book is not a romance novel ─ even if it is nonfiction ─ would you not prefer a book that was written by an author who was extremely passionate in his or her work?

If the book captures your interest, you read on.  If it is suspenseful, you turn the pages rapidly.  If the plot thickens, your intrigue builds.  And then… eventually… the book reaches its climax.  The story ties its loose ends.  Your physical attraction to the book wears off.  And what remains?  If the ideas of the book appealed to you, if the writing evoked passionate emotions from within you, if the book did more than just satisfy your curiosity to end the suspense, then the book leaves an everlasting impression upon you.  It changes you.  It becomes part of you.  Forever.

Yes, the writing can have passion.  It can entertain.  It can wine and dine you.  But the reader can add passion, too.  You control the voice you hear in your head, the pace of the read.  You can read it with style and zest.  You can build your own interest.  You can even insert your own ideas between the lines.  Yes, the reader can reciprocate the passion that the author put into the book.

A blog, on the other hand, is not a book.  It’s more of a tease.  As soon as you get into the blog, it’s already over.

Chris McMullen, author of the fictional work, Why Do We Have to Go to School?

Jan 1 2013

Judging a Book by Its Cover

The saying tells us, “Don’t judge a book by its cover.”  Is this really sound advice?

Sherlock Holmes would tell you that you can learn much from appearances.  For example, little details like style of clothing and marks on the hands may provide clues to a person’s occupation and natural habitat.  Maybe we can similarly deduce some information about the content and quality of a book just from its cover.

A poor cover may be quite suggestive.  The reader may naturally wonder, “If the publisher didn’t put any effort into the cover, perhaps the content is also lacking in quality.”

An eye-catching cover tends to draw interest.  This is true whether you’re browsing for books in a store or on the internet.  You can’t help it; your mind simply notices images that stand out visually.

Do you have any books lying around the house that you haven’t read?  How about ebooks that you’ve downloaded, but never opened?  Why did you buy those books if you haven’t read them yet?  Could it be that they looked interesting?  If a cover impresses us and the text on the cover fascinates us, we become magnetized to the book.

Let’s face it.  We’re all fashionable – even if our style is plain, we all have some sense of style that we feel comfortable with.  We buy shirts and sunglasses that we feel comfortable wearing.  Don’t we also consider how a cover and title fit in with our sense of style before we dare to read it on an airplane or a subway?

You can’t truly judge the quality of a book until you’ve read the content, but the cover does plays a pivotal role in whether or not you may ever read the book in the first place.

The book industry is evolving.  We purchase books online, and read ebooks on cell phones and tablets.  An increasing number of books are self-published.  There are more and more books to choose from, and we strive to find the few books that are the best fit for us.  Occasionally, we purchase a book where the formatting or editing is poor.  We even find formatting issues with ebooks from major publishing houses.

So when we search for books, we try to filter out those that appear most professional.  This begins with the cover.  We look for a professional cover.  Not just its visual appearance; any formatting or editing issues with the text on the cover quickly place the book in the unprofessional category.

If the cover passes our initial inspection, we may read the description, check the reviews, learn more about the author, and read the sample.  But our judgment begins with the cover.

Hence, for the publisher, designing a professional-looking, eye-catching cover that the intended audience will feel comfortable holding is all-so important.

Please don’t judge this blog by its cover.  🙂

Chris McMullen, self-published author of A Detailed Guide to Self-Publishing with Amazon and Other Online Booksellers

Dec 18 2012

Writing & Publishing Aren’t as Scary as They Seem

Zap!  Suddenly, it strikes you like a bolt of lightning.  You have a great idea for a book.  You’re so excited!  At first, your idea is a sentence.  Then it grows into a summary for a plot.  You enjoy your idea for quite a while… but…

Eventually, uncertainty creeps in.  What do you do with your idea?

Write a book, of course!  Wait a minute…  That’s going to be a few hundred pages.  If you sit down right now, you could type a page.  Let’s see.  If you type one page a day, how long will it take to write the book?  Hmm, that’s about a year.  That’s a lot of work!

Do you really want to invest a year writing a book?  Hmm…

It sure would stink to do all of that work and then not get the book published.  Maybe you should write a book proposal first.  That way, if a publisher agrees to publish your book, you will surely be motivated to write it.

How do you write a book proposal?  Gradually, you learn more and more about the process of writing a book proposal.  It takes a lot of research just to find potential publishers willing to accept work by a first-time author in your specific genre.  Then you must master the art of writing an effective query letter.  If your query letter sparks the editor’s interest, then you must prepare a lengthy book proposal.  Your proposal doesn’t just describe the book, so you must also describe your qualifications and even develop a marketing strategy?  It might take months just to get a response.  Ugh!

Why won’t the publisher market the book for you?  Why should you have to do that yourself?  You’re  an aspiring writer, after all – not a salesperson.  And why is there such a bureaucratic process just to see if the publisher is interested in your book?  All you wanted to do is run a simple idea by some publishers to see if it’s worthwhile to write your book before you get started.  Writing all of these query letters, researching to get the names of the specific editors for your genre, and preparing a lengthy book proposal sure seems like a lot of work.

So maybe it would be better to write the book instead?  At least that will result in a finished product.  Writing query letters and a book proposal might turn out to be a waste of time.  What will you do with those if your book doesn’t get published?  If you write the book and nobody wants to publish it, at least you can self-publish it.

Now you need to read up on self-publishing.  Will you write a paperback book or an e-book?  Why not both – you can reach more customers that way.  Where will you publish?  Now you need to research that.  Oh boy!  Now you don’t just write your book, you must also format your book, edit your manuscript, draw your own artwork, and even convert files to PDF format.

Maybe you could hire someone to do the formatting and do the artwork?  How much will that cost?  Will they do a good job?  Will you sell enough copies to make it worthwhile?

Hmm…  How about an agent?  More query letters and proposals.  That’s just like finding a publisher…

Boo!  The publishers are scary ghosts.  They hide under your bed when you sleep.  Muhahaha!  The self-publishing industry is a witch flying across the sky on a broomstick, looking for unsuspecting indie authors.  Aaaooowww!  Literary agents are werewolves, haunting writers during full moons.

It’s so scary!  How will you ever escape from this nightmare?  Why were you cursed with this book idea?

And then…  Dun dun dun dunnn!  It’s your fairy godmother to the rescue!  She advises you that it’s not as scary as it seems.

Your fairy godmother sprinkles some confidence over your head.  That’s right!  You can do it!  You had this great book idea for a reason.  Carry it out and see where it leads.

But you don’t know where to begin, you plead.  Your fairy godmother reminds you that your idea was to write.  So start writing.  Publishers and agents will want sample chapters.  Whether you publish it yourself, try to find a traditional publisher, or search for an agent – in any case, you will need to write.  As you make more and more progress writing your book, you’ll become increasingly motivated to learn how to publish your work.

Gosh!  That’s a lot of writing.  You’re not sure you can do it.

Your fairy godmother uses her magic wand to sign you up for your very own blog.  Just write a little bit here and there, she tells you.  Develop a character.  Write a short story.  Start out with small things that will help you with your book.  If you get a few followers to express interest in your blog, that will help motivate you to work on your book.  Who knows?  By the time you complete your book, you might even have a small fan base already interested in it.

Your fairy godmother is right.  It’s not as scary as it seems.  Just get started.  The more you write, the more you will get into it.

Good luck with your writing and publishing!

Chris McMullen, self-published author of A Detailed Guide to Self-Publishing with Amazon and Other Online Booksellers

Dec 14 2012

Customer Book Reviews – Can’t Live With ’em, Can’t Live Without ’em

Twenty years ago, we would stand in our favorite aisle in the bookstore, hoping to select a few good books.  There weren’t nearly as many books to choose from back then – we only had to choose from the limited selection of books that the publishing houses deemed fit for us to read.  If there were any reviews to guide us, they were printed in newspapers and magazines.  We didn’t have customer opinions to help impact our buying decision – unless friends or family happened to have read the book.  The only customer reviews that we saw in the bookstore were the biased quotes and testimonials that appeared on the cover and on the first pages.  If you wanted to express your opinion, you had to have your own printed article.

How times have changed!  Now we can sit in our PJ’s and sip coffee while browsing for books online.  Customers express their opinions and even rate the books on a scale of one (*) to five (*****) stars in customer book reviews.  Everyone has an opinion, and anyone is free to share it.  You don’t have to be an expert to be a critic.  In fact, experts are often ineligible – since other authors who have expertise writing in the same genre are not allowed to review books in that genre.  For example, who would be better qualified to review a sci-fi book than someone who has been both reading and writing sci-for for thirty years?

But that’s okay.  We’re not really looking for experts to tell us what we should or shouldn’t read.  We want to know if we will enjoy the book or not, so we look at the opinions of other customers like ourselves.  So when we pull up a few pages of search results, we look at two things – price and rating.  Naively, we expect five star (*****) books to be awesome and one star (*) books to be awful.  After all, five stars (*****) means you love it, three stars (***) is neutral, and one star (*) means you hate it.

Then we find some of our favorite books online and see that they have three stars (***).  Why don’t the books we used to love have rave reviews?  Then we buy some five star (*****) books and learn that some don’t live up to our expectations.  Experience tells us not to rely solely on the rating.

Next we start reading the reviews.  This is when it really gets interesting.  Five people can say, “It’s the best book ever,” while three others can say, “Don’t buy it.  It stinks,” and yet everyone is talking about the same book.  This is characteristic of most books that have dozens of reviews.  Best-selling established writers who have hundreds of reviews often have a rating from three (***) to four (****) stars, including several customers who hate it and love it.  People form a wide variety of opinions, and some people like to disagree.  This is definitely reflected in the reviews.

So how do you know whom to believe?  You can discount any review that doesn’t provide a good reason for why they love it or hate it.  You can also discount anything that isn’t useful.  But you may still be left with plenty of reasons to read it or pass on it.  These days we can make well-informed buying decisions.  Too bad so much of the information is conflicting!

If you appreciate the struggle of sorting through these conflicting reviews as a customer, just imagine the emotional state of the author who only has a few customer reviews.  The fate of the self-published author, especially, often hinges upon every review.  If one of the first reviewers leaves one star (*), the poor author feels crushed.  This must be a tough blow after putting so much time, effort, and thought into a book to be shared with the rest of the world.  If you come across a book that has a single one star (*) review, would you buy it?  If a book has 100 reviews, we know that we will personally disagree with many of them; but for some reason, if a book has a single one star (*) review, instinctively we trust that review and avoid that book.

The books with just a few reviews are tough for both customers and authors.  The authors need more reviews to help customers judge whether or not the book suits them.  Potential customers also want more reviews for the same reason.  If a book has three reviews, it pretty much doesn’t matter what the rating is, it will be difficult to judge the reliability of the reviews.  For example, some customers shy away from a book that has three five star (*****) reviews because it seems suspicious.  Maybe these were all friends of the author..?

Unfortunately, only a tiny percentage of books are actually reviewed.  Just look at the bestsellers.  A book that has sold tens of thousands of copies may only have hundreds of reviews.  Very often, one out of a few hundred customers will actually take a few moments to express his or her opinion.  That’s fine for popular books.  Once a book has a hundred reviews, another review isn’t going to matter much.  But when a book only has a few reviews, every review is critical – for both the author and for other customers.

If a book has dozens of reviews, that’s a sign that the book has been purchased frequently – at least, it appears to have been good enough for several other customers to try.  As long as the system hasn’t been abused.  The idea behind the customer review process is to provide an assortment of honest feedback about the book in order to help other potential customers make more informed purchasing decisions.  Unfortunately, the system can also be abused in a variety of ways, such as shill, sham, and paid reviews.  A small percentage of authors have created multiple accounts to leave themselves reviews, get family members and other parties who have a financial interest in the book to leave reviews, or even pay others to leave book reviews.  This practice hurts customers and all of the scrupulous authors.  Customers and authors alike need for the customers to be able to trust the system.

Personally, I’ll take the many conflicting reviews – which often times are entertaining to read – and occasional abuse of the system – versus sitting in the bookstore aisle completely uninformed about the books.  If you want to improve the system, the answer is pretty obvious:  If you happen to read a book that doesn’t have hundreds of reviews, take a moment to voice your opinion.  But beware!  If someone doesn’t like your opinion, you may get a No vote under, “Was this review helpful to you?”  We not only express our opinions on the book itself, but we even express our opinions on the opinions!  Have an opinion on that?

– Chris McMullen, self-published author of A Detailed Guide to Self-Publishing with Amazon and Other Online Booksellers