Web Content and Social Networking Experts

Want to sell a million books?

So, you want to sell a million books. Here's how. Do your book project backwards. Yes, you read that right. Don't write the book and then try to sell it. Here's how it works. Well, in thumbnail anyway.

• Research the topics that sold a million books over he last five or ten years.
• Pick one you like and that has not been done lately.
• Create a new slant, a new opinion, something new and fresh is what you want on a proven theme.
• Research the market viability of the idea. If it looks good.
• Get a agent on-board and get the idea fine tuned. If this is to be un-agented get together people in the business you trust and do the same thing.
• Complete these profiles of your buyers:
  • Demographic
  • Psychographic
  • Geographic
  • Behavioral
  • and Preference Study
• Start researching the book.
• Start thinking about marketing and advertising.
• Fulfillment. How will you get the product to the customer if a paper book. If an eBook this is not a problem.
• Obtain testimonials and recommendation for the back cover, your Website, online, and inside the book as well. Get people known in the field directly related to your book or people known to the public.
• Start writing the book.
• Get going on prepublication publicity and marketing.  
• Finish the book and get it to the printer / agent / publisher.
• Publish the book.
• Ramp up your marketing efforts with
  • article marketing
  • online marketing
  • the book's Website
  • the book's Facebook page
  • socially networked press releases are ready. Send your press release to
    • bloggers
    • libraries
    • newspapers
    • television
    • radio
    • and other pertinent media outlets.
• Continue to market online, schedule personal appearances, put together a book marketing tour, and anything else you can dream up.

That should do it. We said this was done backwards. By starting with the end in mind, you create a book project with a high probability of achieving the one-million seller list. Which is the whole point.

GoodReads.com a fun social networking site for writers, agents, publishers, editors, and readers.

Our new and favorite social networking site is http://www.goodreads.com/. Here you can tell the world what you are reading and see what your friends are reading. We like it. We like it a lot.

This site offers some good thing to writers, agents, publishers, and readers.

• You can see what other people are reading, important for anyone in the writing business.
• Use GoodReads to separate the good titles from the not so good titles. Always a good thing.
• Do you need to do research, or find a good business book? Here you can see what others consider good and what's not so good.
• From a broader perspective, you can see what people are reading. Look for trends, maybe?

GoodReads for those of us in the writing business is a good place to have an account in our opinion. What do you think, post a reply.

EPUB an excellent book by Elizabeth Castro on writing ePublicatons for the Apple iPad and other eReaders

Elizabeth Castro has been my favorite author of books on HTML. Her book on ePublishing, EPUB Straight to the Point is for you.

Here you will find how to use Microsoft Word, InDesign, or your favorite HTML or text editor to create your ePublication files. 

If you're interested in ePublishing, this book is for you.

Want to sell a million books? Choose a topic that appeals to a million people.

Many writers have it all wrong. They write a book and then try to sell it. It is far better to look at your book as a project with definite parts.  Note some of these points will vary if you are publishing an eBook, or perhaps if self publishing.

• Market research. What is selling currently, and what do you expect to be selling when your book hits the market? Here is a clue. A glut of books on any particular subject tend to indicate that another book in that field will not be popular. After all the market is glutted.
• Research who your target buyer is, how you will notify your audience that the book exists, and where it can be purchased. Begin thinking marketing and advertising, agent, and publisher if going the traditional route.
• Chose your topic.
• If nonfiction do your book proposal before you write the entire book. Should no one want be interested in this project, cut your losses and move on to a project that is lucrative.
• Online and offline research and perhaps interviews.
• Collation of all your data.
• Make a rough outline that contains everything you want in the book. This will be cut down later as you see how much material you have and what does not fit or is not pertinent.
• Finalize the outline, including the timeline or sequence of events. Put everything into chapters, each with a working title.
• If you will use a quotation at the beginning of each chapter add them now.
• Get your graphics photographs lined up, edited and saved. Know where each will appear in the manuscript and how you will indicate such. 
• Begin writing.
• Get started on cover design.
• Finish the book. Send the manuscript, cover, graphics, photos to the publisher. 
• Market the book aggressively online, offline, write and send press releases, and line up an author speaking tour. Now its time to sell.

 

Want to get published? Here's how hot dogs and a song can help.

Here are a couple, strange but helpful, ideas that may assist you in getting published. The first relates to hot dogs, and the second to the song, The Gambler. An unlikely pair, but truly a couple none-the-less.  

Hot Dogs

Consider hot dogs. Specifically those sold at ball games across the country. They come steamed to perfection, in a wonderful bun, with mustard, relish, sauerkraut, and are absolutely delicious. These are sold by seller number one. They sell very, very well.

Seller number two trudges up and down selling hot dogs too, except his dogs are frozen solid, packed twelve dozen to a box. Who do you think will sell more woofers?

Seller number one, of course. Why is that? Well, he or she, has brought the product that the market wants to market.

Stay with me here. This ain’t fluff.

The Gambler

In the song, The Gambler, by Kenny Rogers there is a line something like this, “... every hand’s a winner and every hand’s a loser....”

When you have an idea for an article, or book, it's meaningless without a market. to write and try to sell your work can result in frustration and wasted time. Every idea is a winner and every idea is a loser. The deciding factor may not be the material, but where, and when you send it.

So, if you’re trying to publish articles be sensitive to who you are querying. You are querying, aren't you? To blindly send articles is a waste of time. First, get a willingness to read your material from the editor, then send the article. Once published, you can send the article to other appropriate magazines, blogs, and Web sites because it is then re-printable work.

And you thought that hot dogs and music had nothing in common.

Part 3 Traditional publishing, self publishing, eBook publishing, or PDF.

Self publishing means to hire a company to publisher your book. This method has a long and distinguished history. Benjamin Franklin published his work, and indeed many fine books are and will continue to be self published. Here you are responsible for the entire project. Literally for everything.

• The idea.
• Research and writing.
• Hiring a publicist.
• Marketing, sales, and publicity.

Advantages

• Book distribution services. Distribution is not trivial. Some self publishing houses have distribution channels that can be of great assistance to you.
• You have total control of the project, whether you want it or not.
• You choose the publisher.
• This is what called Printing On Demand (POD) publishing. Most POD publishers can offer volume discounts to authors, retailers, distributors, and wholesalers. This from Angela Hoy at BookLocker.com
• Your manuscript must be submitted for approval. You just can't publish anything. This is a good thing.
• Look for your publisher to take care of the e-publishing rights and to place your book in e-publishing format for you.

Disadvantages

    Please understand that what you see below may, or may not, apply to your situation depending on the self publishing company you choose to go with.

• If you are responsible for distribution, you may want to hire a fulfillment house to do the book mailing. This reduces your profit.
• Some self publishing houses will outsource your book to third world countries. Also commissions, charges, and fees vary.
• You may be required to obtain an International Standard Book Number (ISBN).
• You must be careful that your publisher does not take your book's rights.  
• Some publishers advertise their company on your book.
• As with any business deal, you must read and understand the contract. If you have questions, see a lawyer. Many agents will help you with this. 

Like everything else, whatever route you take will have advantages and disadvantages. You will be signing a contract with whoever you choose to deal with, so there is no reason to have this get out of control. Look for others who have self published and interview them.   

The Connecticut Authors and Publishers Association

If you are in Connecticut, or reasonably close, join or visit the Connecticut Authors and Publishers Association (CAPA). Here you will find people who have done it all. CAPA's yearly conference CAPA-University, takes place on May 12, 2012 at the Hartford Steam Boiler Convention Center, in Hartford, Connecticut from 8:30 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. The food and the conference great. I'm presenting again this year, so be sure to say, "Hello." Download the brochure and application.

I've said good things about CAPA before in this blog. I believe and promote them because they're an excellent group, not because I'm one of their speakers.

Part 2 Publishing in 2012 Traditional Publishing

Traditional Publishing

This is the way publishing has been done for decades. It is the writer - agent - publisher route to having your book printed, bound, and sold. There are many advantages and disadvantages to this way of doing things. Note: many writers do not use an agent.

Advantages

• You gain access to a country, or worldwide, marketing and distribution system.
• Your book can be translated into other languages for you. At no charge to you.
• Your book can be sold as an eBook. Your publisher will take care of this for you.
• All distribution, shipping, and returns are taken care of without your involvement. This is a real advantage as it frees you to work on publicity and your next project.
• You gain access to professional editors and cover designers at no charge to you.
• You, as an author, get the accolades. Publishing this way is great for your career.
• You pay no up front fees to the publisher. The publisher pays you.

Disadvantages

Traditional hardcover publishing is declining in the face of ePublishing. Take a good look at these numbers.

• This data is from How Many e-Books (September 2011)
  • An increase of 167% in ebook sales (June 2011).
  • In dollars, $84.9 million for hardcover, and $80.2 million in ebook sales.
  • Trade and mass-market (combined) paperbacks (versus ePublisheing) are still on top with $95.8 million.
  • Trade paperback sales are reported down 64%.
• You, the author, are at the mercy of what those in publishing think of your book. And what they think is this, "Can we make money publishing this?" If the answer is yes. You're published. If it is anything other than yes, you're not published.
• You receive checks twice a year, or some other schedule not determined by you.
• Plan on doing as much speaking, promotion, sending media releases, writing a blog, using Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and any other online and offline activities that you can think of.

You can see for yourself, the numbers for traditional publishing in hardcover are almost parity with eBooks. Should this trend continue, and it is expected to, traditional publishing may very well  decline as the venue of choice for authors, agents, and publishers.We'll have to wait and see.