Self Publishing Articles
Making Money Writing Self-Help / Spirituality Books
If you are a self-help expert and have been contemplating writing a book for some time, stop contemplating and start doing. Countless writers “plan” to write a book someday, but the key thing to remember is that sooner rather than later you will need to translate that thought into action. Publication isn’t just a sense of self-worth, it also brings with it admiration from perfect strangers.
Here are ten reasons why you should become an author today, particularly if you are in the self-help or spiritual areas:
1. You gain a sense of recognition by industry experts by having your name on the cover.
2. The media industry loves self-help experts and often uses them every chance it gets.
3. You are upping your chances for speaking engagements through being a published author.
4. Income generation. Sure you might not be a millionaire, but you’ll definitely be generating more income than you were when you were “planning”.
5. High school reunions! That’s right—you can finally flaunt your success over the “lesser mortals”.
The BIG eBook Problem
If you are still fixated on creating a paper based book - get over it ! This is the new millennium baby and things they are a changin'. It wasn't that long ago that I told a group of budding authors that "no problem ... paper based books will be around for many decades to come". Boy, am I eating my words now. In just the past couple of years we have seen "digital books" making huge leaps in the market in terms of sales and acceptability with readers.
Speaking of readers, from a couple of years ago when there were only a couple of, well ... not that great ... readers on the market, now we are being flooded with a vast array of dedicated readers and muliti-tasking reads, and of course there is still our computer screens that we can use to read books with too, but like paper based books, the computer screen based books are also slowly fading to more dedicated books like "How To" and instructional books.
Most authors have had visions of producing a wonderful, great quality, hard cover book. If you haven't produced one of these by now, you probably won't - period. The cost of these can be horrific and unless you have instant sales this form of book is quickly becoming lost and here's why. Book distributors and producers are finding it is just too expensive to warehouse "paper" which is precisely what they are doing by having a warehouse of books. What is slowly taking over are the book printers who can do short runs of books ... 15, 20, 50 and so on. Then the distributors don't have to warehouse the books, they can even have them shipped directly from the publishers shipping dock. This fact ALONE is changing how publishers are looking a new authors, and making decisions on whether or not they want to even publish their works.
The BIG eBook problem is ... ebooks are cheap to produce, easy to store, becoming VERY popular and they are like printing money. You have one file, you make 50 copies, send them out over the Internet ... get paid and ... Zip Bang! ... you are now in the eBook business.
The BIG eBook problem is ... what format do I choose? The answer of course is all of them because we know every format we have now will likely be around for a long time so you will need to accommodate everyone's reader.
The BIG eBook problem is ... how on earth do I sell my books? I can't just dump a bunch off at the bookstore and let them do all the work for me by selling my books ... now I have to do something. Yup, and that's the difference. With new markets come new ways of marketing, new ideas and new methodologies.
The BIG eBook problem is not the digital books, it's the authors and getting them to think "new" and "different". The day of paper are behind us. Each year digital books will take over more and more. Brick and mortar libraries, filled with paperback books will very quickly become empty tombs of knowledge that nobody attends (some are now at that stage) and with all of this the paper back book will substantially fade from use ... at least in the capacity we have become accustomed to it. Yes there will always be a need a use for paper based books, but anyone who wants to forge ahead as an author of the future is already thinking digital ... what are you thinking?
Copyright - Colin Knecht
bookmarkselfpublishing.com
The Book Trends to Watch in 2011
Social Reading
This is an online group discussion where everyone talks about the book and the circle is not limited to co-workers or friends and is like forums where everyone can see everyone else’s comments, questions, etc. and discuss them. This is the year when this concept will become widespread.
e-Book Clubs
Considering the number of books published in 2009 alone [1 million at the latest review], readers need to make sense of all that content and editors are stepping up to oblige. Editors are now working digitally to collect a best of the best list(s), with readers voting on how often they would like to receive new titles. Readers can opt for different e-book bundles with the commitment to purchase a set number of titles at a discounted price.
Ways To Help Self Published Books Not Look Like Self Published Books
The first step is having your manuscript edited by a professional editor. Most self-publishing outfits charge roughly $0.01 to $0.02 / word for editing services or you can hire your own professional editor to go through your work. You can find one for an affordable price at one of the many freelance sites like elance.com or freelancers.com.Finding A Publisher For Your Book
Although our site is dedicated to self-publishers, we are aware that many authors self publish with the intent of eventually finding a traditional publisher, to publish their books. With that in mind, we have provided a number of tips (below) for helping authors find a publisher for their books.
Research is incredibly important when you’re trying to find a traditional publisher—but, worry not, that’s exactly what this article’s here to help you with. That said, don’t depend solely on this piece for all your publishing homework. Do the research, based on the steps outlined below.
Tip #1
The first thing you might want to do is take a trip to your local library (or book store or even Amazon.com) and have a talk with the librarian (or bookseller or thumb through the popular books), mentioning your book and asking for recommendations for similar (and popular) picks. This will help you in two ways: a notification that books like yours are selling, and that libraries and bookstores are interested in stocking the genre.
You can also identify the publisher behind the genre book—the publisher is listed on the book’s spine or within the first 2-3 pages and is even easier to find on Amazon.com. But before you mail off that manuscript, take a look at the next tip.