December 1, 2003 Volume 3: Issue 1
"Self Published Authors" Bi-Monthly Newsletter
Helping self-published authors promote and market their books
and share information and resources.
December 1, 2003 Volume 3: Issue 1
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. Feature Article: How Three Publishing Myths Kill the Author by Judy Cullins
3. Resource links
4. Literary Article: Vital Verbs by Joseph E. Wright
5. Free Products, Services, Downloads
6. Publicity Article: What Makes a Guest GREAT? By Roberta Gale
7. Classes & Workshops
8. Announcements/Requests
9. Letters To The Editor
10. Classified Ads
11. Subscribe/Unsubscribe information
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1: EDITOR'S NOTEBOOK:
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Welcome to the December 2003 newsletter for SelfPublishedAuthors.com.
For those of you who are new to the subscription, I hope you will enjoy this
issue. It has three wonderful articles and some great resource links.
Thank you for visiting the website and subscribing to the list.
To the regulars out there, I hope you will join me in thanking Jennifer
Hollowell for creating some great newsletters for us to enjoy. Jenn had
recently decided that because of her other commitments she felt it was time to
pass on the baton as Editor of this newsletter.
I was very honored when she asked me if I would like to take over. I have
enjoyed helping in the past, contributing articles and interviews, and I look
forward to keeping this great newsletter alive. I hope you will all continue
to enjoy this resource.
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!
Dan Shaurette
editor@selfpublishedauthors.com
http://www.ShauretteNet.com
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2: FEATURE ARTICLE: How Three Publishing Myths Kill the Author
by Judy Cullins
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Agents and publishing houses have their best interests at heart, not the
author's. Save yourself from headaches, disappointments, and money down the
drain. Become your own independent publisher and produce your book faster and
cheaper. All you need is a little help from professionals.
Myth: You need an agent or big publishing house to market your book and make
big money.
Since big publishers don't look at unknown authors, now is the time to look
at what they can do for you. Dan Poynter, self-publishing guru, says that if
a publisher can't sell four times as many books as you can, you're better off
selling it yourself. Self-publish first because it acts as a test market for
your book. If it sells well (over 10,000 in a year), publishers may be
interested in your book.
Traditional publishers and agents accept only 1-2% of authors' submissions,
and even if you are one of the "chosen" you may not make much money after
printing, bookstore, distributor, wholesaler and other expenses--probably $2
on a $14 book. Yes, you get an advance, but your sales must meet that and
more. And after the initial book tour, the trainee marketing person is onto
the next new author. Then, your books disappear from the bookstore shelf
unless you, personally, devote a lot of time to marketing them.
Book Publishing is a new game today. Think self-publishing where the profits
are all yours. Thanks to Dan Poynter of the Self Pulsing Manual for giving us
permission to do part of the task ourselves. If you self-publish and decide
to print, you need to print only the copies you need (5-500) with the new
technology Print on Demand (POD). Even better is Print Quantity Needed (PQN)
such as Deharts.com. No more unsold cartons of books in your closets or
garage. You print as you go leaving enough cash flow to market your book
splendidly.
Myth: To be a respected author, you must invest thousands of hours of time on
your full-length book.
The reality is that people today want concise and useful information. You
don't have to write a 200-page book to be a real author. Remember The
One-Minute Manager and the One-Minute Salesperson? Around one hundred pages.
People want information fast and convenient. Create short information
products that are between 20 and 99 pages you can sell online, even if you
don't have your own Web site.
If you choose to print your book with Print Quantity Needed (PQN), your
perfect bound books will look as good as any book on the bookstore
shelves.
Myth: Authors must spend a lot of money to publish themselves.
The printing costs for 1500 copies of a 160-page book might cost $3000, about
$2 a unit. Small runs cost even more per unit. That's a lot of cash for
anyone to put out all at once, and it's not worth it to many of us to use our
home equity or life savings to finance our book. The answer is a small run
with Print on Demand (POD) where you can print from 100 to 500 for around
$2.40 for 160 pages. Without the high inventory, you can maintain a
comfortable cash flow to spend on promotion, the most important part of your
book adventure.
You save even more money if you don't print your book. Book publishing is
going Internet. You can write small books in less time, market them easily and
inexpensively on the Web and reap profits sooner. Try an e-book. It can be
downloaded, it takes no printing costs because your buyer prints or downloads
it. You don't even have to have the whole book finished to sell it. Just
include your table of contents at the end of each chapter and present it as
an e-serial book.
As a book coach, I am an authors' advocate and want you to make money. Going
traditional doesn't work. Give ePublishing a chance.
Copyright © 2003 Judy Cullins, Reprinted with permission.
Judy Cullins: 20-year author, speaker, book coach
Helps entrepreneurs manifest their book and web dreams
eBk: "Ten Non-techie Ways to Market Your Book Online"
http://www.bookcoaching.com/products.shtml
Send an email to Subscribe@bookcoaching.com
FREE eZine "The Book Coach Says..." includes 2 free eReports
http://www.bookcoaching.com/ezine.shtml
Judy@bookcoaching.com
Ph:619/466/0622
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3: RESOURCE LINKS:
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THE INTERNET AUTHORS NETWORK is a collection of resources intended to help
authors who have published on the Internet or who have self-published to
promote their books. Book lists, articles, forums and more all for free.
http://www.xenite.org/internet_authors
FANSTORY.COM: A plethora of qualified readers and writers exchanging writing
and useful feedback on one online community, which also provides news on the
book industry, book marketing and writing contests.
http://www.fanstory.com
THE VIRTUAL REFERENCE DESK is a project dedicated to the advancement of
digital reference and the successful creation and operation of human-mediated,
Internet-based information services. VRD is sponsored by the United States
Department of Education. This is an excellent online resource.
http://www.vrd.org
THE INTERNET PUBLIC LIBRARY is a learning and teaching public service of the
University of Michigan School of Information. This is another fine online
collection of reference materials and collections available to everyone.
http://www.ipl.org
