Category self publishing

Jan 18 2014

What Does a Good Cover Do?

Cover designed by Melissa Stevens at http://www.theillustratedauthor.net

What a good book cover should do depends on your primary objective. For example,

  • If your main goal is to interest relevant readers in your book, then the cover is effective if it attracts your target audience.
  • If your main goal is to create fashion for your book, then the cover is effective if readers appreciate its style.
  • If your main goal is to please your family, then your cover should be geared to them.

I will focus on cover design geared toward attracting the target audience. This is what most authors and publishers strive to achieve.

The Importance of Cover Design

100% of readers see your book’s cover before they open the book. Some won’t open the book unless it looks inviting.

There are several ways that an effective cover may help to inspire interest or deter sales:

  • Customers see thumbnails in search results. Most covers have just a few seconds to catch the shopper’s attention and appeal to the shopper’s interests.
  • People see your cover in your various marketing endeavors. Your cover is a big part of your branding process.
  • Your cover makes the first impression on a buyer. You only get one chance to make a good first impression.
  • Books are read on airplanes, in trains, on park benches, and left on coffee tables. The cover is a marketing opportunity.
  • A readers will set the book down periodically. A good cover helps to renew interest in the story.

Designing the Cover

Focus on attracting the target audience:

  • It’s not just to grab attention. It needs to appeal to the specific target audience.
  • It needs to clearly signify the genre and content. Three seconds or no deal.
  • The cover must look professional. Buyers expect it to reflect the quality of the content.
  • The text must be easy to read. Key words should be especially clear.
  • The colors need to work well together.

How to Do It

Here are some tips:

  • Research and study the covers of top-selling books similar to yours, especially those which aren’t selling because of the author’s or publisher’s name recognition. This is what your target audience is accustomed to seeing. When they see covers like these, they ‘know’ (in three seconds) that these books are a good fit.
  • The main image (and cover as a whole) must attract the target audience and signify the genre and content. This image can make or break the sale. If your book has highly marketable content, it’s well worth the extra time or reasonable expense to find the ‘right’ image.
  • Don’t make the cover too busy. One central image sends a quicker, clearer signal.
  • Placing the main image according to the rule of thirds may attract more interest than placing it in the center of the front cover.
  • Many top covers follow the three-color rule: 60% primary, 30% secondary, 10% accent. Study color coordination (there are many free online resources) to find colors that work well together. If designing a paperback cover, note that colors often print much darker than they appear on the screen.
  • Select a font that fits the cover, genre, and content well. The font style plays a more pivotal role than most people realize. Buyers themselves often pass up a book based on font without even realizing it.
  • Get feedback from your target audience. This may also help you create a little buzz for your book.

When your cover is finished, remember your main objective. What matters most is whether or not it will attract the target audience.

Example

Look at the thumbnail that I included with this post. It’s for Cursive Handwriting Practice Workbook for Teens by Julie Harper; the cover was designed by Melissa Stevens (www.theillustratedauthor.net).

I’ll admit that when I first saw this book, I wondered if the artist and author had taken a risk with this cover. Then I realized that I’m not in the target audience. I think the art does appeal to teens. Especially, if you consider what typical educational resources look like, this might be a ‘cool’ alternative. The cursive element might be a little subtle: You see this with the first word in the title, a few words of the title written in cursive, and less obvious in the background. Most handwriting workbooks emphasize the handwriting element with a few very large handwritten letters or words. This cover went against the grain, which generally can be a risk. But the most important thing is if the book appeals to the specific target audience. This book does a good job of saying, effectively, “If you’re looking for a handwriting workbook that isn’t geared toward small children, check me out.”

Let me emphasize that this cover wasn’t designed (that’s my impression) to go against the grain. It was designed to attract the specific target audience. Focus on this element of cover design. It might also break a couple of the ‘rules’ of cover design. Remember, what matters most is how the cover appeals to the target audience and signifies the proper genre and content. Everything else is just a guideline.

Publishing Resources

I started this blog to provide free help with writing, publishing, and marketing. You can find many free articles on publishing and marketing by clicking one of the following links:

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

Follow me at WordPress, find my author page on Facebook, or connect with me through Twitter.

Jan 16 2014

Go, Indies, Go!

Three Cheers

Look at that indie author go!

She’s writing chapter thirty-four.

See how wonderfully her words flow,

So motivated to write more.

.

Look at that indie author go!

His cover is quite fantastic.

He went the extra mile, you know,

To get a cover that would click.

.

Look at that indie author go!

Three editors have had a hand

In shaping her story just so.

Now her writing is truly grand.

.

Look at that indie author go!

This is the tenth book he’s published.

He has a lot of sales to show,

Approaching what he had once wished.

.

Look at that indie author go!

She has written a top seller.

Although things began very slow,

They turned into something stellar.

.

Look at that indie author go!

He wrote a book straight from his heart,

Not concerned about making dough.

Readers called it a piece of art.

.

Copyright © 2014 Chris McMullen

.

Afterword

Many indie authors are doing great things.

I’ve seen some of the most amazing covers on indie books. Those authors clearly believe in their books and have invested to give their books an edge. Not all indie books have great covers, but those with fantastic covers are worthy of our cheers.

I’ve had the pleasure of reading a few very well-written, well-edited, and well-formatted indie books. These authors didn’t have the benefit of a publisher’s editing team; they recruited several readers or hired editors. When the result shows high quality, the effort is quite commendable.

I see many diligent, self-motivated indie authors undertaking a wide variety of creative marketing strategies. Many of these authors show much passion for their books, and market their books to share their passion. It’s a wonderful sight to see.

I hear about indie authors with excellent sales ranks, hundreds of reviews, winning awards, and otherwise succeeding in the publishing business. Go, indies, go!

It’s quite a challenge to perfect every aspect of book publishing. When an indie author does something splendid, it merits our applause.

You can find books with lousy qualities and focus on those if that’s what you wish to look for. Or you can choose to find features that are remarkable; indie authors who made the right choices to do something above and beyond. Personally, I prefer to think of the positives.

Go, Authors, Go!

I have nothing against traditionally published authors. I support authorship, in general; I support good books. The indie author doesn’t have the benefit of a publishing team, but any author who achieves something great deserves recognition for it. Go, authors, go!

Publishing Resources

I started this blog to provide free help with writing, publishing, and marketing. You can find many free articles by clicking one of the following links:

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

Follow me at WordPress, find my author page on Facebook, or connect with me through Twitter.

Jan 14 2014

Why Don’t You Just Make Your Book Free?

Free

Has anyone ever asked you why you don’t just make your book free?

In a conversation, you might mention that you don’t write for money or that your main goal is to reach as many readers as possible. The intuitive response is, “Why don’t you just make it free?”

If you don’t write for money, you should be prepared for it (so you don’t sound silly or dumbfounded when this inevitable question comes up).

Here are a variety of ideas to consider:

  • Many customers believe that you get what you pay for. If a book is free, some shoppers will take this as a sign that the book lacks quality. An author who honestly doesn’t care about royalties might still prefer to have a fair list price that reinforces the perception that the book is of high quality.
  • Simply making your book free doesn’t get you instant readers. There are many books free every day that struggle to find readers. Even if the book is free, you still have the problem of your target audience discovering your book among millions. Also, it’s not really free for the reader: Time is money, and much time must be invested to read a book. So cover design, an effective blurb, and marketing are still important for free books. Therefore, making the book free may not be the answer to getting more readers.
  • There is a distinction between the author who is motivated by money, researching what kind of ideas and writing sell, and gearing the book around sales, and the author who writes as an artist without sales in mind. Most authors lie somewhere between these two extremes. But let’s look at the extreme author who writes as a pure artist: Just because this author didn’t write for money, this doesn’t mean that the author can’t accept royalties for any sales. For this author, the writing itself is sufficient reward, while the royalties are a pleasant bonus. (If you do good deeds all your life, and one grateful soul includes you in his will, should you decline the offer simply because you hadn’t done the good deeds with any intention of receiving money? Surely, this is a person most deserving of the proceeds.)
  • You put much time into writing the book. You put more time into cover design, editing, and formatting, and may even pour money into these services. You may put yet more time into marketing. Even if you don’t care about money, from all this work (and especially, any expense), you certainly deserve to earn something for your efforts.
  • Many people who download free books are just hoarding them, download more books than they will get around to reading, or don’t realize until later that the books weren’t really what they wanted. While making a book free may greatly increase the number of downloads, the number of actual readers may be much less than the number of downloads.
  • Readers are more likely to appreciate your book if they are in your target audience. Free books attract many readers from outside the target audience. Some of those readers may have unreasonable expectations because they aren’t familiar with similar books. Other readers don’t check a book out carefully when it’s free, and wind up getting something that isn’t a good fit for them. Authors may prefer to sell books, rather than give them away, in order to improve the chances that the readers will have reasonable expectations.

Some authors do use free book promotions effectively. For example, series authors often make the first book free, temporarily or even permanently, hoping that many readers who start the series will finish it.

My goal with this post isn’t to knock the free promotion. Rather, I’m thinking of the author who doesn’t want to give away free books, for whom this question comes up in a conversation.

Publishing Resources

I started this blog to provide free help with writing, publishing, and marketing. You can find many free articles by clicking one of the following links:

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

Follow me at WordPress, find my author page on Facebook, or connect with me through Twitter.

Jan 13 2014

Commuter Fiction—Making a Case for Short Kindle e-books?

Short

When I want to shop for something to read on my Kindle, I visit Amazon’s homepage on my PC and click on the Kindle books link. It’s called ‘Kindle books,’ so intuitively what you might expect to see are ‘books,’ right?

After a half hour of searching, I may finally find one that suits my mood. Then I examine the product page closely to learn that it’s 36 pages long. Wait a minute. Is that a book?

Sometimes, I check out the Look Inside of a prospective book. I see the cover, title, copyright notice… where’s the rest? Wow! How short must a book be not to show anything from the first chapter?

A Kindle e-book can have just 12 pages. It can have 6 pages. Is there a lower limit? At 6 pages, I hope there isn’t a title page, copyright page, about the author section, and free sample of another book taking up space inside… I also hope the ‘book’ is self-contained. It would be awfully frustrating to learn that it was really one chapter in a series, where you don’t get any sense of closure until the series is complete.

Of course, despite the fact that all of these ‘books’ are listed under ‘Kindle books,’ they aren’t all books. These Kindle e-books include short stories, booklets, presentations, and novellas, too.

Until recently, I was troubled by the growing number of short e-books. I was thinking, “Don’t customers want good value for their money?” “Are customers getting tricked, buying what they expect to be a book only to discover it’s really a short story?” “Are more authors getting lazier, writing and publishing shorter pieces?”

I understood reasons for the short e-books, but I was still troubled by it.

Customers can easily return e-books if they are dissatisfied. (Many do.) They can also check the page count before purchasing, and read the description carefully. If the Look Inside is brief, that’s a big hint. If they’re getting fooled by short books, they can get their money back or leave a review about it. The customer is certainly protected.

Writers are posting short e-books for a variety of reasons. Some don’t want to commit too much into their self-publishing endeavors, so a short piece is a way to experiment. Some are hoping to see what sort of customer feedback may come for short writing samples before laying their hearts on the line for full-length novels. Some plan to compile short works into an omnibus later on, such that the omnibus will look like a good value. There are other reasons, too. Not all of the reasons may be justified.

It’s not easy to get discovered as a new writer, whether writing full-length novels or short stories. Even 99 cents is a lot of money to invest in for one short story from a relatively unknown author; the story will be over quickly, so just imagine what you’ll spend for several hours of reading buying individual short stories. On the other hand, a full-length novel is a long commitment to make for a reader with a new author.

Is it easier to get readers to try out your short story, enjoy your book, and give your full-length novel a shot? Or is it easier to get new readers to appreciate the value of your full-length novel and commit to that as the first thing they read by you? Neither is ‘easy’ for most authors.

Commuter Fiction

I recently discovered this phrase in the KDP community forum. I like the concept. It’s changing my view of short e-books.

The idea behind commuter fiction is to write a short work that travelers can enjoy at a single sitting on an airplane or bus, for example. If you have a three-hour flight, for example, wouldn’t it be perfect to buy an e-book that you could read in three hours?

Authors and publishers have discovered that there is a market for short fiction, and they’ve responded with a way to make short fiction marketable.

You can call your short story a short story. You can call your novella a novella. You can list the word count. Kindle will estimate the page count. But that might not be the way to market your short e-book.

Consider selling it as commuter fiction. Maybe it would be handy to know approximately how many hours it would take the average reader to finish your e-book. A commuter might be interested in that figure.

Truck drivers have been listening to audio books for years. They buy books by the hour. If a truck driver is going on an eight-hour drive, it would be ideal to have an audio book that lasts eight hours (or four audio books that last two hours each), for example.

The same concept applies to passengers of buses, airplanes, and trains who are reading e-books on Kindles, tablets, laptops, and cell phones. What they would really like to know is how long it will take to read the e-book. Of course, this varies from person to person because we all read at different rates. If they can deduce an average, though, that will help them judge this.

I’m not saying that you should write short e-books. It might be harder to sell than full-length books. (Who knows?) Personally, as a customer, I like to receive a good value for my money. However, there are many customers who behave differently than I do.

What I am saying is this: If you’re going to write a short book, maybe you can improve its marketability by selling it as commuter fiction.

Publishing Resources

I started this blog to provide free help with writing, publishing, and marketing. You can find many free articles by clicking one of the following links:

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

  • Volume 1 on formatting and publishing (236 pages, 8″ x 10″; it’s a real ‘book’)
  • Volume 2 on marketability and marketing (212 pages, 8″ x 10″; it’s a real ‘book’)

Follow me at WordPress, find my author page on Facebook, or connect with me through Twitter.

Jan 12 2014

Which Should Come First—Kindle or Paperback?

First

Unless you have a book where Kindle formatting is impractical, you should make both Kindle and paperback editions of your book.

Benefits of the Kindle Edition

  • You can make the Kindle edition much more affordable. If your price is $2.99 or higher, you can still draw a high royalty (70% minus delivery costs).
  • Many customers only read e-books.
  • It’s much cheaper for you to send out review copies.
  • There is no extra charge for color.

One reason not to create an e-book is if you have a book where this is impractical, such as a workbook where the reader needs to write down answers.

You should also consider publishing your e-book with Nook, Smashwords, Kobo, etc. The only reason not to do so if you feel that the benefits of enrolling in KDP Select outweigh the benefits of having your e-book available with several e-book retailers.

Benefits of the Paperback Edition

  • Some customers prefer to read print books.
  • Amazon will show your Kindle edition as a percentage off compared to the paperback edition (once the two editions are linked together).
  • Kindle’s new MatchBook program encourages the sale of both editions.
  • It’s convenient to edit your writing with the printed proof.
  • You get to experience the incredible joy of holding your baby in your hands.
  • Local bookstores and other retailers might be willing to stock your book. If nothing else, your friends and family will believe you really are an author.

Which Should You Publish First?

Once you decide to make both Kindle and paperback editions, you must decide which edition to publish first.

Most authors simply publish each edition as soon as it’s ready. Some authors prefer to format e-books and have the Kindle edition ready first; others love the art of formatting pages and have the paperback edition ready first.

That’s not necessarily the best course. Suppose you had both editions prepared, but neither was published yet. What’s the best thing to do? Should you release them simultaneously? Or is there a reason to publish one edition first?

Some authors who plan this—rather than simply first publish whatever happens to be ready first—choose to arrange preorders for the paperback edition using Amazon Advantage. They use preorders as part of their strategy for building buzz for the book’s release, and to help foster a strong sales rank and prospects for early reviews when the book is released. They then release the Kindle edition when the paperback goes live.

Once you have both Kindle and paperback editions available, you can have them linked. This creates an interesting possibility that was recently mentioned in the CreateSpace community forum: If your Kindle edition is available for sale now and linked to a paperback edition that’s on preorder, any reviews left by Kindle customers should, theoretically, show on your paperback’s product page, since the reviews are linked together. (Paperback customers can’t review the paperback edition until it goes live.)

There are two good reasons not to release both editions simultaneously:

  1. You gain visibility by having a book in the Last 30 Days and Last 90 Days categories on Amazon. This is based on your publication date. (Tip: Don’t enter any publication date at CreateSpace. That way, your book’s publication date will be the day you click Approve Proof. This maximizes your book’s visibility with the new release search filters.) Release one book 90 days prior to the other and you get 180 days of new release visibility out of one book.
  2. You have the opportunity to create double-buzz. Build buzz for one edition. Then a month after its debut, you have two months to build buzz for the other edition if it’s going live 90 days after the first.

You could release the Kindle edition first. At the same time, setup preorders for the paperback edition. Arrange the paperback edition to go live 90 days after the release of the Kindle edition. Make the publication date of the paperback edition when it goes live, so you get a total of 180 days visibility in the Last 90 Days category.

If you’re one of those authors who can publish two books per year, you can use this method to always have a book listed under Last 90 Days.

Publishing Resources

I started this blog to provide free help with writing, publishing, and marketing. You can find many free articles by clicking one of the following links:

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

Follow me at WordPress, find my author page on Facebook, or connect with me through Twitter.

Jan 11 2014

About the Author Section—What It Needs

Reason

You probably have an about the author section in the back of your book with your photo, biography, and links to your online sites.

Do you just have a list of websites, including your blog, Facebook page, Twitter, fan page, email newsletter, or other websites? Or do you also include a little more.

Here’s what you should consider adding, if you don’t already have it: a reason.

Why should the reader or fan visit the page?

If you can concisely provide a compelling reason for people to visit your sites, this can improve the chances that they will check them out.

Compare these examples.

Versus

If I include the latter in a book related to self-publishing, it’s more likely to stimulate interest in my blog.

Here are some more examples:

  • Visit my fan page at ___ to view maps and to read bonus material.
  • Sign up for my email newsletter at ___ to learn about new releases and special sale prices.
  • Check out my author website at ___ to see character sketches and learn how the book came about.
  • Read poetry and romantic short stories on my blog at ___.
  • Download a free PDF booklet with 100 book marketing ideas from my website, ___.

Of course, instead of ‘my’ you can write your name (with the apostrophe and s).

Think beyond the about the author section of your books. Anywhere you provide a link to one of your sites, consider including a concise note of what to expect.

On the other hand, if there isn’t likely to be anything of interest, don’t add a reason. For example, if your Twitter page is identical to your blog posts, provide a reason to visit your blog, but simply say, “or follow me at Twitter at ___.”

Also, don’t hype it up to make it sound better than it is. If people make a trip to your site and see something different from what they were expecting, probably all you did was waste their time and cause some frustration.

Publishing Resources

I started this blog to provide free help with writing, publishing, and marketing. You can find many free articles by clicking one of the following links:

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

Follow me at WordPress, find my author page on Facebook, or connect with me through Twitter.

Jan 10 2014

Marketing Books around Strengths and Weaknesses

Strengths

More than just marketing your book, you have the opportunity to paint a perception. That perception could attract readers who may appreciate the strengths of your book; it may even downplay your book’s weaknesses.

Marketing a perception may even help to create more indirect interest in your book than marketing your book directly.

Examples

(1) Strength = storyline; weakness = writing.

It’s in your best interest to shore up your weakness as much as possible, e.g. improving your writing skills (reading classics can help with that) and seeking editing help. But let’s say that, for whatever reason, you have a book on the market where you know the writing is okay, though not as good as it could be, but you feel that the storyline more than compensates for this.

In this case, you want to paint the perception that the storyline is more important than the writing. Be careful: You don’t want to say that writing doesn’t matter; you don’t want to create the misperception that you didn’t care about the writing at all. Rather, you want to stress how great ideas for plot and characterization are the best part of the book; that you would rather read a book with great ideas, but just okay writing, than a book with just okay ideas, but extraordinary writing.

Not everyone will agree with you, but that’s okay. In fact, this will help you target your audience. You don’t want people who weigh the writing aspect of the book heavily to be dissatisfied with their purchases. At the same time, your marketing will help to attract people looking for a great storyline. “I love a great story. I might just check that out.”

(2) Strength = writing; weakness = great story ideas.

This is just the opposite. Here, you want to stress the wonders of writing, how it helps the story flow, etc. You want to emphasize the importance of scrutinizing the blurb and Look Inside for possible mistakes.

Many other people are already selling a similar perception. For example, editors and traditional publishers want to highlight the importance of editing because this is one of their strengths. It’s okay that different people are painting contradictory perceptions. This helps to filter the audience, creating a more positive reading experience.

But if you’re an indie author with a writing/editing strength, you want to market the reality that some indie books are very well-written, too. You don’t want all the traffic looking for quality writing to read exclusively traditionally published books. Stress some examples of indie books with quality writing (and not just your own; people will find your books when they discover your articles and posts).

(3) Strength = content; weakness = cover.

My advice is to get a better cover. It’s a very important part of marketing. If your content is very good and there is a significant audience for your book, a great cover that attracts the target audience can make a big difference. But let’s say that, for whatever reason, your cover isn’t as good as it could be, but you believe that the content compensates for it.

You want to stress the old adage about not judging a book by its cover, that you’d rather read a great book with a lousy cover than a lousy book with a magnificent cover.

(4) Strength = fantastic cover; weakness = novelty.

If your cover is amazing and the content is also appealing, but maybe your weakness is that the book doesn’t show as much imagination as it could, then you want to emphasize the importance of cover design; that if much effort is put into the content, the cover should also reflect this effort.

You

List your strengths and weaknesses. Get feedback to see if others agree with your list. Think about what perception you could strive to pain that may help to attract your target audience.

It’s foolish to think you can write a book that will appeal to everyone. You can’t. Just look at the reviews of any highly esteemed book, and you’ll see that book wasn’t for everybody.

What you want to do is filter the audience, trying attract people for whom your book will provide a positive reading experience. In fact, if people realize that your book may be a good fit for them through your marketing, they are more likely to check it out. The better you succeed in filtering your audience, the more likely readers will leave positive reviews or recommend your book to others.

Tact

Don’t slam the opposite perception. For example, suppose that you’re selling the perception that cover design is highly important. Be careful not to slam books with lousy covers. Some of those might actually be great books. Potential readers may have author friends with not-so-good covers; you don’t want to insult friends of your potential readers. You also don’t want to attract negativity.

In this case, focus on the merits of a great cover, without saying rude things about books with lousy covers.

Whatever perception you’re trying to paint, take care not to insult authors who are trying to paint the opposite perception.

Maintain a professional image as an author. Marketing books is not like politics.

Credibility

You want to emphasize the importance of your book’s strengths while downplaying your book’s weaknesses, but you don’t want to advertise the weaknesses. For example, if writing is your weakness, you don’t want to say something crazy like, “The writing stinks, but the story is awesome.” Improve your weaknesses as well as you can, then play to your strengths without calling undue attention to your weaknesses. You might say something to the effect that the story ideas are far more important than the writing is to you, that for you the writing doesn’t come as easily as the ideas, but demonstrate how you’re working to master the writing (e.g. you’ve taken a writing course or how you’re working with an editor).

Frequency

You don’t want to write one article after another painting your perception; you’ll get tuned out, readers will get annoyed. You have to find the magic frequency, and you need to mix up your posts.

A perception may have different aspects, giving you more topics to work with. For example, if you’re marketing the importance of good writing, there are a host of ideas that you can write about, such as the effect of word flow, passive versus active storytelling, and the art of subplots.

If you can find a concise way to get your point across, you can include it with your signature. “I’ll take a great story over a great cover any day.”

My Example

With my Improve Your Math Fluency series of workbooks, my strength is my background (Ph.D. in physics and experience teaching at the university). One weakness, for some teachers and parents, is that I favor the old-fashioned technique of ample practice of fundamental skills, whereas a new trend is fewer drills, more pictures, more group activities, and more engagement.

One reason for the new trend is that some students in a classroom get bored by the drills: As soon as the top students master it, they’ve had enough, and many of the struggling students would rather do something else. However, many motivated students who are working on problems that match their level greatly benefit from practicing fundamental math skills. In fact, no matter how you teach, if you want the students to be fluent in the subject, at some point they will have to practice it.

As a physics teacher, I see many university students who are quite rusty with their arithmetic, algebra, and trigonometry skills, which is even more amazing when you consider that many of the students who sign up for physics tend to have stronger backgrounds in math compared to other students. Students simply aren’t required to practice the fundamental math skills as often as we did when I was in school.

Many parents want their children to benefit from additional practice. Sometimes this is to help good students who are bored with the curriculum; they use workbooks to learn higher-level skills. Sometimes it’s to give a student who is struggling in school extra practice.

I emphasize the benefits of practicing fundamental math skills to improve math fluency. I have nothing against the modern workbooks that have different objectives. Parents and teachers who want to engage or entertain bored kids should favor the modern approaches. Rather, my goal is to reach parents, home-school teachers, independent students, and teachers who see the benefits of building fluency in basic math skills through ample practice.

If you’d like to check out my Improve Your Math Fluency series, please click here.

Publishing Resources

I started this blog to provide free help with writing, publishing, and marketing. You can find many free articles by clicking one of the following links:

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

Follow me at WordPress, find my author page on Facebook, or connect with me through Twitter.

Jan 9 2014

Which Part of Publishing Do You Enjoy Most?

joy

Here are some choices to consider:

  • That magical feeling when you get a book idea that seems like it could be the one. What a thrill!
  • When you’re on a roll with your writing, the ideas are just sliding off your fingertips, and the manuscript feels like an extension of yourself. Go, go, go.
  • You’re stuck on the storyline and you suddenly experience an epiphany. Aha!
  • A stranger offers free help or advice when you’re incredibly stressed over some formatting or other publishing issue. Thank you!
  • You press the magic button to publish your book. Presto!
  • The first time you see your book in print. Treasure it.
  • A fan asks you to autograph your book. So cool!
  • Someone you don’t know leaves a good review. Validation.
  • You meet a stranger who not only recognizes you as an author, but thanks you for writing your book. Prepare for tears.
  • One of those milestone moments: X sales, $Y royalties, Z sales rank. Pinch me.
  • When a fan asks you when your next book is coming out. You’re in demand.
  • Just the creative process itself. This lasts much longer, too.

The bottom line is that there is much to enjoy about publishing. So when editing, formatting, writer’s block, reviews, sales, or anything else gets you down, stop focusing on that little aspect and remember several good reasons to enjoy the book you’ve published. 🙂

Publishing Resources

I started this blog to provide free help with writing, publishing, and marketing. You can find many free articles by clicking one of the following links:

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

Follow me at WordPress, find my author page on Facebook, or connect with me through Twitter.

Jan 8 2014

The Other Side of Taking Your Time with Your Book

Fast SlowI’ve been a recent advocate of taking your time with your book: showing patience, getting help as needed, perfecting your work, doing pre-marketing, etc.

Let me balance this by referencing an article in the Wall Street Journal regarding self-publishing at a fast pace:

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303640604579298604044404682

I have some trepidation that authors might read this article, especially given where it was published, and interpret that to mean that writing and publishing as quickly as possible is a successful business model.

No matter how you publish, it will take a special brand of content and packaging to attract a large readership, and discoverability is only becoming more challenging each year.

If the book isn’t attracting readers, having thirty such books probably won’t help.

But if you have a special book that’s just a magnet for readers, those readers will crave more, and the faster they can get it, the better.

The getting-more-books-out-there-quickly plan may have some merit.

Let me emphasize that there is more to it than just a large number of books; content is especially important, and so are packaging and discoverability.

I’ve mentioned previously the power of a backlist: Most authors who put out many titles in a few years already had much of the work done before publishing.

I benefited from a backlist, a coauthor, and publishing many workbooks that don’t compare to writing a novel. I know that it can help to have several books out. The more marketable books, the better. Having a large number of books that aren’t too marketable won’t help much.

What’s right for you? That’s the million-dollar question you’ll have to figure out. 🙂

Publishing Resources

I started this blog to provide free help with writing, publishing, and marketing. You can find many free articles by clicking one of the following links:

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

Follow me at WordPress, find my author page on Facebook, or connect with me through Twitter.

Jan 8 2014

Building Credibility as an Author

Trust 2

Have you heard stories about plagiarism, authors behaving badly, review abuse, major formatting problems, or books with spurious typos?

If such stories are circulating, readers may be aware of them, too.

Would those readers grant you credibility simply because your name is in the author field? Or would credibility be something that you must earn?

Let’s imagine that we’re shopping for a book and consider some ways that we might assess an author’s credibility.

Packaging Display

We see the cover, blurb, and Look Inside on the book’s product page.

What does the cover say about the author?

  • Is an appealing cover a sign of an author who likes to do everything right? Does it show that the author believes in the book? Is it a symbol of professionalism?
  • If the cover seems to lack effort, is it a sign that the book is similarly lacking effort?

The answers to these questions are not necessarily, “Yes.” For example, the author might believe the adage that one shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, or might have The Catcher in the Rye in mind as inspiration.

However, the shopper doesn’t know the author’s true motivation; the shopper only sees the result. Cover appeal does make an impression.

What can we learn about the author from reading the blurb and Look Inside?

  • Are typos, formatting issues, or writing mistakes a sign that the author didn’t take the work seriously? If these short writing samples have problems, how does that bode for hundreds of pages?

There may be a reason for it. For example, the author might be a gifted storyteller who just doesn’t have the gift of grammar. Regardless of the reason, doesn’t this impact the author’s credibility?

Contributors

I read a thought-provoking article1 by former publicist Sandra Beckwith last night, which inspired this point.

If the author receives help from an editor or a cover designer, does this lend credibility to the book?

  • Does the presence of an editor suggest higher quality?
  • Do other contributors show that the author is willing to work with others, recognizes his or her limitations, and is serious about perfecting the book?
  • When the author does everything alone, does this suggest that there may be some aspects that are lacking, that the book could be better?

These are all tough questions. I’m not suggesting that the correct answer to each question is necessarily, “Yes.” What I’m wondering is how such things may impact readers.

Public Relations

What can we learn from how an author handles criticism?

  • Does an author lose credibility when he or she comments on a review? I’ve heard from several reviewers who say that they strongly dislike it when an author invades this space. So even if you comment tactfully, this may lose credibility with some shoppers.
  • Let’s go a step further. Suppose that the author comments, sounding defensive. Does this make the author seem needy, immature, or unprofessional?
  • What if you check out an author’s blog, and the author is lashing out at a reviewer there? Although the blog is the author’s own site, it is in the public eye. How does this look to a prospective reader?

The toughest public relations challenge may be cyber-bullying, which poses a serious threat to authors, both indie and traditional. Ionia Martin, an avid book reviewer who often provides helpful advice for authors, suggested in a recent article2 that authors who are unfortunate enough to encounter this should deal with it using intelligence, honesty, and tact.

Perhaps intelligence, honesty, and tact, would go a long way toward building credibility in all of an author’s public relations.

Author Photo

Assuming you’re looking for a book you’d like to read and not for an author you’d like to date, does the author photo matter?

  • Do you need to look like an author in order to be a great writer? Or do you just need to look professional?
  • Or is it the quality of the photo that matters, not so much how the author looks? Do things like lighting, red-eye, blurriness, and pixilation impact the author’s credibility?
  • Does a touch of personality appeal to you? Does too much personality put you off?

These questions might be worth considering, even if they aren’t easy to answer.

Author Biography

What do you look for in an author’s biography?

  • For nonfiction, do you want to see the author’s relevant qualification?
  • For fiction, does it matter to you if the author has a writing degree? Should the author have taken a writing class? Should the author belong to a writing group? Do you want some sign that the author has received feedback or help from others?
  • Perhaps, for fiction, you don’t want to see a resume, but want to learn something about the writer’s relevant life experience or personality.

Not all of these questions may be straightforward. For example, some people have strong opinions about writing classes. I don’t want to open that can of worms, but would rather simply state that opinions on this differ. My concern here is just whether or not this impacts an author’s credibility with some prospective readers.

We probably have different expectations for what should be in a biography, especially for fiction. An effective biography will lend the author credibility with the target audience.

Did you know that CreateSpace has free marketing resources? One of these includes tips for writing an author biography.3

Marketing

When the author interacts with the target audience, both online and in person, the author has a chance to build credibility with prospective readers, but the author also has the opportunity to detract from it.

What do you look for when you meet an author?

  • Do you like to see signs of professionalism? Suppose you visit an author’s blog. Your first impression could be, “Wow, this author really knows what she is doing,” or it could be, “Umm, uh, well…”
  • If the author’s writing samples in a casual setting appeal to you, does that help to create interest in the author’s book? If there are frequent writing mistakes, is that a red flag?
  • Does the author’s character impact your buying decision? How about the author’s personality? Or the author’s writing persona? After all, you’re going to read the book, not go on a date with the author.
  • Do you like to see a few signs of the author’s humanity? Do you want to learn more about the author as a person?

References

1. http://buildbookbuzz.com/author-social-media-persona

2. http://readfulthingsblog.com/2014/01/07/the-legacy-you-leave-a-few-thoughts-on-literary-hate-packs/

3. https://www.createspace.com/en/community/docs/DOC-1871

Resources

I started this blog to provide free help with writing, publishing, and marketing. You can find many free articles by clicking one of the following links:

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

Follow me at WordPress, find my author page on Facebook, or connect with me through Twitter.