Self Published Authors

"Self Published Authors" Bi-Monthly Newsletter
Helping self-published authors promote and market their books and share information and resources.

December 1, 2008 Volume 4: Issue 15
Dan Shaurette
editor@selfpublishedauthors.com
http://www.SelfPublishedAuthors.com/

By Subscription Only! You are receiving this newsletter because you requested a subscription. Unsubscribe instructions are at the end of this newsletter.

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IN THIS ISSUE
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1. Editor's Notebook
2. Newsletter Submission Guidelines
3. Feature Article by Judy Cullins
4. Resource Links
5. Publicity Article by Dan Poynter
6. Free Products, Services, and Downloads
7. Classes, Workshops, and Groups
8. Commentary Article by Gail Pruszkowski
9. Reciprocal Links
10. Subscribe/Unsubscribe Information

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1: EDITOR'S NOTEBOOK
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Happy Holidays, and welcome to the December 2008 newsletter for SelfPublishedAuthors.com. For those of you who are new to the website and newsletter, I hope you will enjoy this issue. Thank you for visiting the website and subscribing to the list. To the regulars out there, I'm very glad to see you back for another issue.

I have a favor to ask of you all. I really want to know what you think of the website at http://www.SelfPublishedAuthors.com/. It has the potential to be SO much more than just the place that you can subscribe to and read this newsletter online. What kind of resource do YOU want from an authors' website? Did you know you can host your blog there? Did you know you can share events like classes, festivals, and author signings there? There's a forum where you can share your articles, ask questions, and make friends. But I can do even more with the site, if you have ideas that need a home.

If you have questions, comments, suggestions, or if you'd like to contribute, be interviewed, add an event or have a request, please reply to this email, or drop a line to me at: editor@selfpublishedauthors.com

Thanks for reading and enjoy the issue!

Dan Shaurette
editor@selfpublishedauthors.com
http://www.DanShaurette.com/

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2: NEWSLETTER SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
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The newsletter for SelfPublishedAuthors.com is here to provide a resource for all authors. Obviously, I want to help you succeed in your writing, self-publishing efforts, and self-promotion. I have received a few requests from fellow authors asking what they can do to promote their books in the newsletter.

I am always happy to help promote an author and their works in the newsletter. That's what we're here for. That being said, the best I can do is one of the following.

If you are interested in writing an article about your experiences as a self-published author, I would be more than happy to consider it for publication. If I publish the article, I will give you space for a signature box that you could use to promote yourself and your book.

If you would like to send me an ARC copy of your book, eBook format preferred, I would be happy to review it and interview you. The interview would most likely be what gets published in the newsletter, but reviews of recommended books may also be published. Please note, I have already been presented with some works to read, so please query me first before sending your books. I'd rather return a book than form a slush pile.

If you have a book signing coming up, we do try to list those when they are timely. Remember our newsletter is published in February, April, June, August, October, and December. If you host a class or workshop, or have a website that promotes a writer's resource, please let us know about it. All links about such events are provided free of charge. Your name, location, dates, and contact info. will be presented.

If instead you are just interested in placing an advertisement in the newsletter for your book or website, I'll ask for some patience. I am re-evaluating various plans for advertising in both the newsletter and the website.

Currently there are places for you to list your books, websites, and even join our banner ad exchange. You can also feel free to post in our forums and tell us about yourself and your books. As soon as I figure out a new model for classified ads in the newsletter, I will let you all know. Thank you for your patience.

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3: FEATURE ARTICLE by Judy Cullins
Self Publishing Authors Mistakes and How to Correct Them
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Writing a book? Every one of you wants to know how to write and sell a good book. And, if you compare self publishing with New York publishing, you already know that with a little help from a bookcoach or mentor you can create self publishing success.

Self publishing help is available to prevent author mistakes.

Here's five mistakes and how to correct them:

1. You write the wrong book first.

If you want to know how to write a business book, you know your audience is entrepreneurial and wants a problem solved. This is the audience that buys most books, so if you know a lot about a topic they want help on, write that book first. Then use that money to fund your fiction or other book. Write the book your audience wants and needs to read.This hints that knowing your target audience is a pre-hot selling point to know before you write a single chapter. Then, your book has an angle and is more likely to stand out from the crowd.

2. You write a second and third book before you market the first book.

Every author/client I know gets a lot of book ideas before their first effort is finished. STOP! Wait a year or two to create new print, ebooks, CD's or cassettes. Because you need to learn free book marketing and develop a book marketing plan that includes online book promotion before you write another book.

Unless you include a marketing strategy online with traditional marketing, your book will languish where you store it. Or, if an eBook, no one will see it because you didn't do self publishing distribution. Remember you can only market well one book at a time. You must make each promotion whether by email or by blog for only one thing at a time.

Just because your first book isn't selling well doesn't mean you should write another one--that if the new book doesn't get book promotion attention, it will not sell well either.

3. You don't get help on a WOW book cover.

Yes, we self publishers can't do it all well. Be sure to read informative free book coaching ezines that give top resources for this important hot-selling point. It's the number one reason people will buy your book. So, you need to know what colors, fonts and titles to use. If you want an eBook cover, as a bookcoach, I suggest maxcovers.com or if you want a quality print book cover, I suggest you check out georgefostercovers.com. Or, visit a Barnes and Noble bookstore and check out covers in your book section such as nonfiction, fiction and how to's. Invest some money into a four-color cover. This expense will pay off well.

4. You don't get editing or bookcoaching help at the front end.

If you want your book to attract long term customers, make each chapter title shine with keywords or strong verbs. Inside each chapter, use headings to compel your reader to keep reading and make your book easy to read. Long paragraphs turn your modern reader off. They are busy and want to skim nonfiction and how to books. At the end of your journey, you'll want some line editing to catch typos and simple grammar mistakes. Even professionals need editing because a pair of fresh eyes will see things you aren't aware of--those writing sins we all take with us from school or our profession.

5. You fear the internet and stick to old standard book promotion.

Maybe you use press releases and book signings or applied a $2000 guru's Amazon marketing techniques or other guru approach. That money may be well spent other ways. Unknown authors of mainstream books such as health and fitness, relationships, financial security have big competition from "Big Shots" or famous authors. You need an author advocate who will point you to a more independent path--the one of marketing on the internet. The simplest and most profitable approach is writing articles and submitting them (article marketing) to high traffic websites. You are writing a book, taking excerpts and turning them into short articles work so well.

Now you know you don't have to do it all yourself. Choose carefully--get advice from a full service professional book coach who knows the whole picture of self publishing pros and cons and hasn't just written a book or two, but has written how to books on book writing, book publishing and book marketing, especially online because it's so much easier and cheaper. You can save a lot of time and money mistakes and get self publishing help from an inexpensive author's advocate, not a big company guarding their self interests.
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Copyright © 2008 Judy Cullins. Reprinted with permission.
Book Coach Judy Cullins helps emerging and professional authors get started writing your book. Download the free ebook "20 High Octane Book Writing and Marketing Tips" available through The Book Coach Says at http://www.bookcoaching.com/.
Judy now enjoys networking on Linkedin, Facebook, & Twitter.

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4: RESOURCE LINKS
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FICTION-WRITERS-MENTOR.COM - Writers' Resource by author Tracy Culleton
This website is all about mentoring and helping you to become an author of fiction. Even more: it's a guide on your way to becoming a published author. The intention is that this will become one of the best creative writing websites in the whole internet, full of the highest quality free fiction writing advice, and free creative writing tips.
http://www.fiction-writers-mentor.com/

ARTISTFIRST.COM - Internet Radio showcasing authors
Self Published Authors looking for quality commercial free interviews are invited to call Tony Kay, President of ArtistFirst.com at 330-581-4588/cell or 330-823-2264/studio, to schedule a Radio Broadcast! During the last 11 years of 24/7 Internet Radio Broadcasting over 25,000 Guests have benefited from our services! With 1.2 Million Listeners each Month who enjoy our programming worldwide, this is great exposure for Authors! All shows are converted into MP3 format and used by Authors on websites!
http://www.ArtistFirst.com/authorswanted.htm

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5: PUBLICITY ARTICLE by Dan Poynter
Promoting Books @ The Speed of Thought
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Publishing is changing -- for the better. There is a New Model for book writing, producing, selling and promoting. One part of this revolutionary change is in book promoting.

Here are several ways to use new technology to promote your book faster, easier and cheaper.

Broadcast email, done properly, is not spam. Book announcements should only be sent to existing customers, potential customers on opt-in lists and targeted members of the press. Most of these people are in your personal address book. Match your offer to those who have already expressed an interest in this type of information.

Make your publishing company Web-site centric. Put your book and all your basic promotion documents on your site and print from the site when you need hard copies. Don't maintain a stock of dealer bulletins and news releases in your office. Keep the masters in your cyber pressroom and retrieve them when required. For an example of a pressroom, see http://parapub.com/getpage.cfm?file=pressroom/pressroom.html

If you speak on the subject of your book, set up a speaking sub-site with all the information on what you can do. Post your speech descriptions, client list, fee schedule, facilities forms, speaking calendar, audio/video clips, etc. Replace your press kits; avoid printing and mailing. For an example of a speaking sub-site, see http://parapub.com/getpage.cfm?file=/speaking/index.html

Help the information-seeking potential customer to make a buying decision. Give enough information on the book. Provide the same shopping experience they have in a store. If you are publishing fiction, put the first chapter on your site as a free read. The first chapter in a creative work will give the reader a taste and is designed to keep the buyer reading. If your work is nonfiction, provide the first page or so of each chapter to give the browser an idea of what is in the book. If you need help setting up your web site on this model, contact Mary Westheimer at http://www.BookZone.com. BookZone hosts the websites for some 3,500 book publishers.

For the media, put the entire book in a unique address section (URL) along with your promotional materials. Email a pitch letter to the editors and reviewers and invite them to your web site to see your book, and media kit: bio, testimonials, news releases, etc. Tell them what is in the "media kit" and remind them they will save time because they do not have to retype the material. Let them read the book free online. Capture the reviewer's address when they log on. Add the reviewer to your list and notify them directly when you are promoting your next book. The mission is to design an online media kit that is so useful, the reviewers will flock to use it. And, self-service will save you a lot of time and money.

Publishers Weekly and USA Today recently reviewed their first eGalleys. Invite reviewers to your site and offer to send an eGalley. Promotion @ the speed of email is the wave of the future.

Do the reviewers want eGalleys? PW, for example, receives over 100 galleys each day. They select a handful and the rest go to a holding room. Periodically, someone comes to clean out the room. EGalleys avoid this solid-waste disposal challenge.

Subsidiary rights. Send an email to editors of newsletters, magazines and ezines and offer them the opportunity to excerpt parts of your book free. Ask them to include source, copyright and ordering information at the end of the excerpt.

To find the email addresses for magazines and newsletters, see http://parapub.com/getpage.cfm?file=/bookprom.html and http://www.opinion-pages.org/.

Email promotions can result in slightly fewer responses than traditional mailings and follow-up telephone calls. But the costs in time and money are far less and the responses begin immediately.

Foreign Rights. Use email to ask foreign publishers if they would like to buy subsidiary rights and translate your book into their language. Send publishers directly to a rights section on your Web site. That section will provide a complete book, author bio, testimonials, cover image, news releases, back cover sales copy and other promotional materials. Capture their address when they log on. Then follow up with email.

For foreign publisher email addresses, see International Literary Market Place. It lists publishers outside North America by country. Start with the major language groups: Germany, France, Italy, Spain and Japan. Select publishers that publish in your subject area. If you can't find many, email the national publishing association for that particular country, describe your book and ask for suggested matching publishers. See the RightsCenter at http://www.rightscenter.com and PMA's Foreign Rights Virtual Book Fair at http://pma-online.org/pmafair/index.cfm. Use every means possible to send people to your site. List your URL in ads, your .sig, and anywhere you might ordinarily leave your telephone number.

Replace expensive four-color brochures with less expensive business cards. Your card should have a photograph of the book's cover, your usual contact information and a list of all the resources that can be found on your Web site. Use the cards to drive traffic to your web site. For great prices on cards, see http://www.MWMdexter.com/.

Related Web Sites. Surf the Web for sites related to the subject of your book. When you find one that matches, contact the owner and suggest a dealership. Get as many outlets as possible to sell your book. Newsgroups. Take part in newsgroups related to your book's subject. Answer questions and become known as an expert on your subject. For a list of newsgroups, see Groups at http://www.excite.com, http://www.YahooGroups.com and http://www.deja.com/.

Promotion services. Do not hire the spammers who flood your email box with offers to promote your site or product. Doing so will cost you a lot of money, incur the wrath of potential customers and will encourage more spam.

Direct Contact Media Services will send out your news release to carefully selected media via fax and email. Paul Krupin will rewrite your news release to make it more useful to the media. He will send the announcement to 1,500 to 2,500 targeted print, radio and TV outlets. 1500 one-page releases cost $300. Contact him at dircon@owt.com and see http://www.book-publicity.com/.

For more ideas on promoting books online, see U-Publish.com by Dan Poynter and Danny O. Snow. See http://www.u-publish.com/. New computer programs, new printing processes and the Web are transforming the writing, producing, disseminating and promoting of information. Books will never be the same. The winners are author, publishers and readers.

In the future, nonfiction book publishing will see minimized inventories and maximized relationships between authors and customers (readers). Publishing will become customer-centric and "books" will thrive on uniqueness, customization and variety. Book writing, publishing, selling and promoting are changing -- for the better.
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Copyright © 2003 Dan Poynter. Reprinted with permission.
Dan Poynter does not want you to die with a book still inside you. You have the ingredients and he has your recipe. Dan has written more than 100 books since 1969 including WRITING NONFICTION and THE SELF-PUBLISHING MANUAL. For more help on book writing, see http://ParaPub.com/.

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6: FREE PRODUCTS, SERVICES, and DOWNLOADS
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LIQUID STORY BINDER XE - Word Processing, Outlining, Organizing Software for WinXP/Vista (30-Day Free Trial Shareware)
Liquid Story Binder XE is a uniquely designed word processor for professional and aspiring authors, poets, and novelists. Writing software for those who require the editing ability of a commercial text editor as well as a document tracking system. It is for those who want the freedom to create, outline and revise but are tired of losing track of their work

Liquid Story Binder XE is specifically designed for fiction writing. XE includes all the standard features such as spell-checking, thesaurus, smart quotes, templates, font and paragraph styles -- everything you need to write your next great novel. It also includes tools for Timelines, Outlines, Dossiers, Sequences and Storyboards.

Download Liquid Story Binder XE and test out its features before buying. The download includes the entire XE package without limitations. If you like what you see, return to our website and purchase your $45.95 registration key. The code will be sent to you by email.
http://www.BlackObeliskSoftware.com/

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7: CLASSES, WORKSHOPS, and GROUPS
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PATRICIA FRY ONLINE COURSES FOR WRITERS/AUTHORS
Author and writing guru Patricia Fry has created four courses which are available on demand from her website.

* How to Write and Sell Magazine Articles
This is a good course for anyone who wants to earn money writing articles or who wants to learn how to promote his or her book through magazine articles. The freelance writing business is as competitive as the publishing business and it's important that you know how to break in. 6 weeks, $125.
http://www.matilijapress.com/course_magarticles.htm

* Self-Publishing Workshop
I'll walk you through the steps to self-publishing. At the end of the course, you should have your own publishing company up and running. 8 weeks, $160.
http://www.matilijapress.com/course_selfpub.htm

* Book Promotion Workshop
If you have a book to promote, but you haven't, yet, established the discipline and organization needed to successfully promote your book, this course might help. It's intensive and demanding, and you will sell books! 6 weeks, $200.
http://www.matilijapress.com/course_bookpromotion.htm

* Write a Successful Book Proposal
Every author needs a book proposal. Let me successfully walk you through the often intimidating process of writing one. 8 weeks, $200.
http://www.matilijapress.com/course_bookproposal.htm

To learn more about Patricia Fry, go to: http://www.matilijapress.com/courses.htm
Click on "How does an online course work," for additional information. And if you have any questions, contact her at: PLFry620@yahoo.com

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8: COMMENTARY ARTICLE by Gail Pruszkowski
The Elements of Style - Is it Relevant Today?
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Although THE ELEMENTS OF STYLE has been around even longer than I have its just as relevant today as it was almost ninety years ago. Every English major and writer is familiar with this little gem privately published by William Strunk, Jr. in 1919 for his students at Cornell. Although it's been revised several times it remains pretty close to the original. It's hard to improve on perfection.

Few books come close to emulating this one. Several dictionaries and a five hundred page college handbook on grammar, punctuation, mechanics and spelling sit next to my computer but THE ELEMENTS OF STYLE is the one I reach for most often. It addresses the most common problems a writer encounters.

When I'm writing my ideas spew like lava. What's left is a hodgepodge of word soup in desperate need of editing. The most obvious problem is misuse of punctuation. It's either in the wrong place or non-existent. A quick read of the first chapter, "Elementary Rules of Usage," tells me where to put those pesky periods, commas, colons and semicolons.

Also invaluable is the advice offered on colloquialisms, exclamations, hyphens, headings, margins, numerals and titles which are addressed in "A Few Matters of Form."

The technical aspects of composition are important, but clear and concise presentation of content is essential. More and more web writers are creating blogs and web sites and the competition is fierce. Readers don't have the time or patience to slog through sloppy or bloated posts. You want to keep the web surfers reading because jumping to another site is just a mouse click away.

The chapter on "An Approach to Style" has helped me energize my own blog posts and web site. "Write with nouns and verbs," "do not overwrite" and "avoid the pretentious, the coy, and the cute" is timeless advice that will help anyone who writes understand how to make the words flow. And stressed above all is - "clarity, clarity, clarity."

THE ELEMENTS OF STYLE is not meant to be a complete guide to grammar and writing, but a compact reference filled with common sense and the basics. In that regard it succeeds admirably.

William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White with a foreword by Roger Angell Illustrated by Maira Kalman, whose whimsical drawings give the book a fresh and updated look.

Publisher: Penguin Group (USA)
Pub. Date: October 2005
ISBN-13: 978-1-59420-069-4
Pages: 145 pp
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Copyright © 2008 Gail Pruszkowski. Reprinted with permission.
Gail Pruszkowski reviews for "Romantic Times BOOKreviews" magazine and her work has been published in the "Cup of Comfort" Anthologies.
Find out more by visiting http://mysite.verizon.net/bookworm.gp/ and http://write-juncture.blogspot.com/.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/

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9: RECIPROCAL LINKS
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LISTINGS:

ADD YOUR BOOK LISTING & AUTHOR BIO:
This is a marketing feature you don't want to miss:
http://www.selfpublishedauthors.com/books

THE POST-PUBLICATION BOOK PROPOSAL
If you didn't write a book proposal before writing your book, you missed a vital step in the process of successfully producing and marketing a book. Don't let sagging sales determine your grim future in publishing. Write a post-publication book proposal and get back on track. Order Patricia Fry's FREE report, The Post-Publication Book Proposal. PLFry620@yahoo.com.

SHAURETTE.NET: The Home Page of Dan Shaurette
- His Novel, LILITH'S LOVE - http://www.Liliths-Love.com
- The Lurkers' Domain (creative writing forum) - http://lurk.us
- Out Of The Coffin Podcast - http://www.OutOfTheCoffin.com
All of this and more at: http://www.DanShaurette.com

YOUR ADVERTISEMENT COULD BE HERE!
Contact Dan Shaurette for more information at editor@selfpublishedauthors.com

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10: Subscriber Management / Contact Information
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