August 1, 2006 Volume 4: Issue 1
"Self Published Authors" Bi-Monthly Newsletter
Helping self-published authors promote and market their books and share information and resources.
August 1, 2006 Volume 4: 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. Newsletter Submission Guidelines
3. Feature Article By Judy Cullins
4. Resource Links
5. Publicity Article By Dan Shaurette
6. Free Products, Services, Downloads
7. Marketing Article By Gerri D Smith
8. In Other News
9. Events, Classes & Workshops
10. Reciprocal Links
11. Subscribe/Unsubscribe Information
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1: EDITOR'S NOTEBOOK
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Welcome to the August 2006 newsletter for SelfPublishedAuthors.com. The newsletter and website are going through some changes, and I hope you all like what you see.
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 hope the new mailing list and website are as easy to use, even through all of the changes.
This month we have three wonderful articles, one of which is quite a large one from yours truly. I decided not to split it up for a number of reasons -- the main being the lack of other articles this issue. Please keep sending in articles for consideration. We all want to hear from you!
I am starting a new section called IN OTHER NEWS, where I will reprint relevant press releases from the industry and our fellow authors. As usual, we have more resource links for you to take advantage of.
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
Selling Is Not A Dirty Word
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Selling--a word that strikes terror in writers and professionals. We love to write. We love our work. We love to speak. We hate to SELL.
Our print and eBooks may go unread because we don't get the word out. Our products and services don't sell because we don't include enough benefits to give our buyers a reason to buy. Maybe that's because we imagine the used car salesman or the vacuum sales person. They annoyed us because they didn't listen, they pushed, and we felt attacked. We defended our position, and that's what we think others do when we share our books or eBooks.
When you think of selling, think of sharing the love that went into your book, product, or service and the unique, important benefits it delivers. Think, "Now that I've planted this garden, I want to reap its harvest. If I don't share the word with others, my garden will die from lack of attention."
If you are like me, you will want to put both your attention and intention on your book, product, or service. Yes, use powerful words to describe your products. Follow my lead and let your audience know about your top product or service through an ezine, press release, writing and submitting free articles Online, sending email follow ups, giving freebies to attract folks to your site, or learning how to sell without a Web Site.
Book Example:
To raise your book "Selling" awareness, check out the acronym below:
S - Sharing my book; educating and entertaining people with my unique information
E - Expecting positive outcomes; knowing my book's value, living it, and offering it with my short blurb--the "30-60 Second Tell and Sell"
L - Listening to other professionals who have shared their books and created ongoing lifelong income, raised their credibility as a speaker, coach, or other professional, as well as living a grand adventure.
L - Listening to what my reader's problems and needs are, so I can serve them through the essential "7 Hot-Selling Points."
I - Involving people by sending them parts of the book, ask them to vote from 1-10 on each part. They could also add words or phrases that I didn't think of. Always thinking, "Does my book suit my audience's needs?"
N - Nurturing business relationships through networking as a savvy friend who follows up regularly.
G - Gaining enthusiasm from all the people who already love my book--enough to give me quality, specific testimonials.
Share your good feelings and good words about your eBook, products, or services with others. Show them how you can help them. It's OK to sell because your book or anything else because you offer value to help others.
___
Copyright © 2004 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
To receive FREE "The Book Coach Says..." or Business Tip of the Month go to
http://www.bookcoaching.com/opt-in.shtml
Judy@bookcoaching.com
Ph:619/466/0622
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4: RESOURCE LINKS
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THE ALL NEW SELFPUBLISHEDAUTHORS.COM
It may seem odd to pimp our own website in our newsletter. However, with the move that took place in July, all of the new features deserve to be mentioned, and I believe this is the best place.
* Community forum for discussing writing projects, marketing strategies, and sharing tips with your fellow authors.
* Post your articles for review and potential publication in the newsletter.
* Calendar of events, where you can list your books signings, local book fairs, interviews, and more.
* Create an Author's Profile with links to your website.
* List your books in our categorized database.
* List your service website in our Resource database.
* Join our banner ad exchange to help promote your book and/or website.
* Finally, subscribe to our bi-monthly newsletter as either a mailing list or an RSS feed, or read it online in our archives.
* All of this is here for you, absolutely free.
http://www.SelfPublishedAuthors.com
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5: PUBLICITY ARTICLE by Dan Shaurette
Podcasting for Authors - Part 2: The tech of podcasting
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In our last issue, I wrote an article about podcasting, explaining that it is the next step above having your own blog. As an author, a blog is a great vehicle for sharing your thoughts with your readers, and since it is the written word, it shows off your talent as a writer. Even still, verbal communication is valuable and a podcast allows your fans to hear your wit as well.
On my podcast, I talk about everything and anything. I do talk about my writing and web projects, but it's more about sharing my interests than promotion. Yet, it is promotion, and that cannot be denied. It's one more medium where you have a chance to connect to a reader.
In this article, I want to talk about the technical side of podcasts and explain how you can create a podcast of your own. Please note that there is more than one way to make a podcast. If there is interest in this, I will devote future articles to different methods.
This is the process that I have used for nearly a year. Various things have changed in how I go about producing a podcast. The recommendations I give below for software, hardware, and websites are from my own experiences. Whichever products and services you choose to use instead is of little difference, but the steps involved are virtually the same.
High-level guts of a podcast
As I explained in the last article, a podcast is nothing more than a text file. For those of you that like acronyms, it is an XML marked up file (a cousin of HTML that you might have seen which make up websites). This file is usually in a format called RSS 2.0, aka Real Simple Syndication.
However, a podcast's RSS file needs one extra feature, called enclosures, which give direct links to audio files that live on a web server. Except for uber-geeks like me, most people do not want to create these RSS files from scratch, so they look for other ways to make them.
By far the easiest method is with a blog. Most blog servers and software today provide the ability to generate an RSS file from a blog. Some of the blogs have the ability built in to include enclosures in their RSS, but not all. There is a website known as Feedburner.com which comes to the rescue to help with enclosures. I'll discuss their website later.
If you have your own blog, you have discovered how easy it is to share your wit and wisdom with your fans. The savvy fans probably subscribe to your blog with an RSS aggregator. Turning your blog into a podcast is simple enough.
All you need to do is record yourself talking about various topics close to your heart, and then upload your audio file to a web server. Perhaps even the server your blog lives at. Then, you include a link in your next blog post to that audio file.
Technically, that now makes it an audioblog. However, if the RSS feed from your blog has enclosures, that feed is your podcast. If it doesn't link to enclosures directly, the free Feedburner service can repackage your RSS feed into a version with enclosures. Voila!
That sounds easy, right? Yes, in concept it is that easy. It's the execution of the steps that can get tricky. Especially if you don't have a blog. Or worse, if you don't know how to go about recording yourself.
What follows is a list of software and hardware and some high-level steps you could follow in order to bring your words to life as a podcast.
It is beyond the scope of this article to walk you through setting up accounts with these services or downloading and using the software. Future articles can delve deeper if interest warrants it.
Each of these services has excellent documentation and support. Everything listed below is free to use or download. Sure there are pay/pro versions of each. But as far as I'm concerned, the only thing you may need to buy in order to produce a podcast is a microphone.
Software and Services
Here are the websites you need accounts on, and software you should download and install.
1. You need audio editing software. I recommend Audacity, which you can download from: http://audacity.sourceforge.net
2. You need a blog with an RSS feed and enclosures support. I recommend WordPress. You can create a free blog at http://WordPress.com or, if you have your own website, you can download the WordPress software from http://WordPress.org and install it.
3. You need a server for your audio files, which 99% of the time should be different than your blog server. I recommend creating an account at http://archive.org and using it to host your audio.
4. Even with WordPress, or any blog that has enclosure support, you may want to create an account on http://FeedBurner.com as it can make the process easier, ensure widest compatibility for your listeners, let you see how many subscribers you have, and more.
Audio editing software
Audacity is a free, open-source program that will work on computers running Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux. It will record for you and save the audio for later editing. Yes, most computers come with software for recording audio, but they are very limited.
Audacity on the other hand is a fully featured, multi-track recording and editing program. It can do just about anything you need to do for mixing tracks, etc. Are there audio programs that are better? Yes, but they are expensive, and often, more complicated to use. Mac users who have worked with GarageBand swear by it, but it sells for $79 as part of iLife. Feel free to investigate different programs, but know podcasting can be done well even on a budget and with any computer.
Blog services or software
WordPress blog software automatically generates the enclosure tags you need to create a podcast. So, if you have a blog hosted on WordPress.com, or if you download their software to run on your own web host, you will have the core foundation at your disposal. You can read more details at this link: http://codex.wordpress.org/Podcasting
If you are already using another blog, most offer plug-ins that can create the podcast enclosures from your posts. However, if you have a blog which can at least offer an RSS or Atom feed, you can still use the Feedburner.com service.
Burning your feed
Feedburner.com is a necessity if you use a blog other than WordPress. What their service does is search the posts of your RSS feed for regular HTML links to media files. When it finds them, it generates the enclosure tag for you.
Even if you do use WordPress and have the right links to your audio files (see below), you may still want to use Feedburner. Sure, it's an extra step, but one that puts a little bow onto the whole package. I highly recommend you check out the service to see everything they provide, all for free.
Audio file hosting
Besides recording your audio, another next tricky part is finding a web server to serve the audio from. You will probably not be able to host your audio files on the same server as your blog, so they will need to live somewhere else.
Why? Well, for one, they can be quite large. For an average hour long podcast you will have an MP3 file that is over 30 MB in size. If you post a new podcast regularly, you may fill up what server space you have fairly quickly.
Secondly, hopefully, your podcast will become quite popular, and when it does, the audio will be downloaded a lot. As such, your bandwidth usage may get maxed out. Some web hosts cap how much can be downloaded from your server, so you might get cut off at some point.
Finally, some hosts don't want the legal hassle with letting people host their audio files on their servers. For these three reasons, for example, you cannot upload your audio to your blog at WordPress.com. Even if you run the WordPress software on your own server, make sure they have no such restrictions.
So as an alternative, you can find a web host just for your audio content. One such host is archive.org. Archive.org is a free website whose sole purpose is to provide massive amounts of web space for archiving websites around the world. Recently, they began providing a service called OpenSource Audio. http://www.archive.org/details/opensource_audio
With this service, you can create a free account and upload your podcast audio files. There are no limits on size or bandwidth usage. They only ask that you set a Creative Commons License for your audio so that people know how they can listen and use your audio. For files of a large size (10 MB or larger, which most podcasts are often larger) they provide a program to run on your PC for uploading to their service.
After they are uploaded, you are given a web link to the audio file. That link is what you would paste in you blog entry to include your audio file. Well, almost.
Archive.org uses redirects to provide a nice URL that they can track downloads with. But WordPress doesn't like the redirect and won't make the enclosure with it. The easiest thing to do is open the URL that archive.org gives you then see what URL is redirected to. That URL will be a version that WordPress likes.
For example, for my podcast, the following URL:
http://www.archive.org/download/DanShauretteIsThisThingOn23/ison20060621...
Is redirected to:
http://ia301130.us.archive.org/0/items/DanShauretteIsThisThingOn23/ison2...
If you place that "uglier" link into your WordPress post, you will be all set for it to make the right enclosure for you. As mentioned before, if you use Feedburner, it will make the enclosure from either type of link.
Hardware Setup
On to the hardware side of things. You need a way to record audio and get it onto your computer to edit and upload to the web. If you have a computer that you can plug a microphone into, and speakers or headphones to listen, then you have all you need. Most of you should have this minimum equipment, and many podcasts use this very setup. I did for about nine months.
You can spend anywhere from $20 for a headset with a mic, to $100 for a quality microphone and even more for mixing boards and equipment. This all boils down to what level of quality and professional control you want over your podcast. Beginners should start simple. With enough demand, you can always improve.
What I can personally endorse is M-Audio's Podcast Factory setup which retails for $179.95 USD. This is what I have invested in within just the last couple months. This kit comes with a high-quality studio microphone, a small mic stand, a USB audio interface, and has all of the necessary software and cabling. It's the best deal for someone who wants the step above simple microphones, but does not have the resources or experience to get a professional studio setup.
http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/PodcastFactory-main.html
It should also be noted that you can certainly use a portable voice recorder. In fact, the iRiver media player has a good recorder for portable recording sessions. Myself, I have used the Voice Memo feature of my Palm Zire 72s PDA. As long as the quality is good and there is a conduit to your computer for later editing, then by all means give it a try.
Audio Quality
The only major requirement is that your audio be saved into MP3 format, or be saved and then converted into MP3 format. The MP3 format allows for high quality even with a high compression of the audio data.
When it comes to a podcast, since the audio will predominately be voice and not hi-fi music, you can even tweak the quality levels down to make the audio files even smaller. Here are what I have found to be the "magic numbers" of podcasting.
Sample rate/Frequency: 22050 Hz (AM radio quality)
Bit rate: 64 Kbps (in between the quality of AM and FM radio)
This combination yields a compression of roughly 2 minutes of audio saved as 1 MB of data.
What do these numbers mean? The sample rate is how often your voice will be sampled to record digitally. 22050 Hz is literally sampled 22,050 times per second! As impressive as that is, that is "only" AM radio quality of audio. Double that at 44100 Hz is audio CD quality. So while you might be tempted to record your podcast at that level of quality, remember it is sampled twice as much data and therefore the file size will double, bringing you to one minute of audio being 1 MB of data.
Bit rate is a similar metric. This is the measure of the amount of data it samples per second. Kbps is kilobits per second. Again, the more data it records, the higher the quality, and larger the resulting file.
It took me a while with some trial and error to find these magic numbers, including some wisdom from Evo Terra (co-author of PODCASTING FOR DUMMIES) about ensuring all of my samples were at 64 Kbps, lest I discover my audio sounds like the latest Chipmunks album. You can feel free to experiment as well. But I have found that even music sounds good at these levels.
So, in the end, this means that an hour-long podcast becomes a 30 MB file for you to upload, and your listeners to download. That's not a tiny file by any means, but one that most listeners seem to be willing to handle. As mentioned before, the brilliance of podcasting is in the catching of files, which can be done in the background. Yet as cable modems and DSL become the more common form of internet connection, a 30 MB file downloads very swiftly.
Besides MP3, there are many other formats, Ogg Vorbis and MP4 files being then next popular. Some podcasts carry more than one format, and a few carry Hi-fi and Lo-fi versions of their podcasts, for users of different bandwidths of download. However, MP3 is the de facto podcast audio standard.
Having said that, you may find MP4 files are relatively common. These may alternatively have an M4A extension. These are MPEG-4 files with audio encoded in AAC format, which provides digital rights management favored by iTunes. This is a format made popular by Apple, and these files cannot be played without iTunes, an iPod, or Apple QuickTime on your computer.
Why use them then? They offer a certain level of copy protection in some cases. It is the format used by audio for sale on iTunes. If you intend to sell your podcasts, this is the media for you. For example, you might prefer to record a podcast of your novel and provide it in the MP4/AAC format. Just remember, the software to make them is not free and it may cost more for the rights to sell them.
My advice is to stick with MP3. It's free for you to create and can be played by everyone. After your podcast becomes popular, you might consider switching to a secured format.
The Politics of Dancing
Speaking of copy protection, what devices can play what audio, and who owns rights to do what, let's discuss copyrights. There is a term that you may have heard regarding podcasts, music primarily, known as "podsafe".
Podsafe music refers to the license under which the music was released. If a song is podsafe, then anyone is free to include that song on a podcast without paying a royalty.
This does not mean the music is in the public domain, however. It means that the copyright owner has granted the public specific permissions to use it.
To make this easier for the legal playing of such audio, some artists use a Creative Commons license with explicit permission to share the music.
Even if you don't intend your podcast to showcase podsafe music, if you want to have theme music, segment bridge music, sound clips, etc., you need to know what rights you have for using it.
Ultimately, I mention this because, even if you have no intention to use music of any kind, you need to decide what kind of license you intend to release your podcast under. As the creator of your podcast, you do own the copyright to it. Yet, because of the inherent nature to share your audio with others, the license with which you podcast it will determine how broadly it can be distributed. For example, here is a link to the license that I use for my podcast: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/2.5/
Visit CreativeCommons.org for more details about their licenses, and for more about podsafe audio and music, read more at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podsafe
Recap of Producing a Typical Podcast
1. Record your audio.
2. Edit and mix your audio.
3. Upload to your web server.
4. Post an entry in your blog with a link to your audio file.
I know this was a very long article, but I hope you have found it worth reading through. If you have any specific questions, I'm happy to answer them. Send them either to podcast@Shaurette.net, or to my editor@selfpublishedauthors.com inbox here.
For the next article in this series, I will focus on recording interviews with Skype and HotRecorder. Not only will this help you if you plan to conduct phone interviews of other authors, for example, but if you simply want to be able to do a podcast with a co-host and don't have the resources to buy a mixing board.
___
Copyright © 2006 Dan Shaurette. Reprinted with permission.
Besides being the editor of this newsletter, Dan is the author of LILITH'S LOVE, a modern vampire romance novel, which you can learn more about at http://www.Liliths-Love.com. He also hosts "Is This Thing On?", an eclectic podcast featuring chat, interviews, and independent music at http://is-this-thing-on.net
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6: FREE Products, Services, Downloads
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PDF ONLINE - Free Online Document Conversion to PDF
I've recommended other PDF utilities before, most of them as printer drivers you install on your PC. However, I just found PDFonline.com, where you can upload a document to their server, and they will email it to you converted to PDF.
The process is fast and does a great job. It's also free! So, for those of you who might be using a different PC and you need a PDF right away, this service may be a life saver.
As a web based service, PDF Online allows you to quickly generate PDF from your PC, Mac, or Linux, from your home, your office or anywhere in the world.
PDF Online supports MSWord DOC, Excel, Powerpoint, Plain text, HTML, and most image formats (JPG, GIF, BMP, TIFF, etc) to PDF, and much more.
http://www.pdfonline.com
FREE MP3 OF JUDY CULLINS' TELECLASS
Judy Cullins, 23 yr. book coach gave her Advanced Article Teleclass with Annie Jennings. Get your free MP3 recording that shares both the nine mistakes marketers make and Judy's many solutions. Replicate Judy's success. 3500+ targeted visitors a day to her site.
Based on Judy's three books: The Fast and Cheap Way to Explode Targeted Web Traffic, How to Submit to Top Web Sites and Article Directions with 100 URLs (save 60 hrs research) and Advanced Article Marketing. No fluff, all useful information.
Reward for listening? Free report and Annie's specials when you email Judy@bookcoaching.com
http://www.anniejenningspr.com/publicity-judycullins.htm
Have you used these services? Tell us about them, or recommend
another! Send an email to editor@selfpublishedauthors.com and
let us know.
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7: MARKETING ARTICLE by Gerri D Smith
Online Viral Marketing: Is Your Business Worthy?
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"There is little difference in people, but that little difference
makes a big difference. That little difference is attitude.
The big difference is whether it is positive or negative."
- W. Clement Stone
Viral marketing works on the premise that your service or product is popular enough to advance through a word-of-mouth process. Whether this gets done in the real word by physical means, or whether it is done online, the method is usually the same. Viral marketing happens when word of your business or product is able to move through a "grapevine" without you having to do any paid or "free" advertising to spread the word about its benefits.
The word spreads more quickly from person-to-person-to-person when it is done via the internet. This happens quite frequently when your clients find worthy benefits from using your products or services and tells the world about them. Using the internet is one way of getting the word spread out to a global market. One email message sent to thousands upon thousands of people at a time with just one click of a button is awesome. Now the internet is the newest and quickest way to introduce viral marketing about up your business products and services.
The internet has many, many sites and forums available for posting new ideas and services. A new product can become enormously popular when endorsed by others who spread the word on your behalf. When you offer freebies that can be immediately downloaded online, like a special report or an ebook, give them permission to forward your ebook or report to others. Make sure it is of value or has quality content so they will want to forward it to others and they forward to others and on and on. In the ebook or special report your business resource information stays intact and gets passed around.
When someone voices their opinion, whether it is positive or negative, about a product, business, or service to others, and they pass it along to others, that is an endorsement and viral marketing in action. This happens all the time with a movie. One person goes to see it, tells another about it, they go to see, and tells more people about it, the word gets spread around and builds the popularity of the movie resulting in more ticket sales.
The important goal of viral marketing is to promote your idea, business, product or service over and over until it reaches thousands of people. The same with any free samples you offer. Set a goal and do it over and over again with a free quality sample until it reaches a maximum number of people. Then offer a second item to sell to those same persons. If a small percentage of the ones who liked the free sample purchases the second item, you will have a good number of sales from the free endorsement.
This method is done often by businesses both on the internet and offline with retail businesses. Even though this form of marketing takes a bit of effort, it can work wonders when you introduce your new ideas and products to the public. Is your business, idea, service or product worthy of the test?
___
Copyright © 2006 Gerri D Smith. Reprinted with permission.
Gerri D Smith publishes and hosts an inspirational newsletter for women business owners, individuals eager to improve, and entrepreneurs willing to learn more. And its Free! Subscribers to her newsletter receive many of her well-written articles, special reports, books, offers, and resources that are filled with motivational support, business and personal image improvement, and supportive ideas to help you reach your goals. To sign up, go now to:
http://www.distinctivebusinesswomen.com
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8: IN OTHER NEWS
2006 DIY Book Festival Adds Categories
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LOS ANGELES (July 20, 2006) _ The 2006 DIY Book Festival has added two new categories to its fifth annual awards celebrating the success of independent authors and publishers.
The DIY Book Festival will now consider entries for cookbooks and science fiction books. They join the previous entry categories of non-fiction, fiction, biography/autobiography, children's books, teenage, how-to, audio/spoken word, photography, art, comics, 'zines, fan fiction, poetry and e-books published on or after Jan. 1, 2004.
All entries must be in English and have been self-published or issued by an independent publishing house that has published less than 50 works since the entry cut-off point.
*** Please note that authors with iUniverse, Infinity Publishing and other print-on-demand outlets are eligible for the DIY competition.
Entry forms are available online at http://www.diyconvention.com or can be faxed on request.
Our grand prize for the 2006 DIYBF Author of the Year is $1500 cash and a flight to Los Angeles for our gala awards ceremony in October.
Submitted works will be judged by a panel of publishing industry experts using the following criteria:
1) General excellence and the author's passion for telling a good story.
2) The unique use of guerilla marketing tactics to reach a wider audience. This includes innovative marketing, merchandising, publicity tactics and other unique methods of reaching an independent audience.
ENTRIES: Please classify your book and enter it in the following categories. Multiple entries must be accompanied by a separate fee for each book.
1) General Non-fiction
2) General Fiction
3) Children's books
4) How-to
5) E-books (word or .pdf file acceptable)
6) Comics
7) 'zines
8) Photography
9) Fan Fiction
10) Poetry
11) Art
12) Teenage
13) Biography/Autobiography
14) Audio/spoken word
15) Best Published/Unpublished Short Story (all manuscripts welcome)
16) Cookbooks
17) Science Fiction
In addition to honoring the top selections in the above categories, The DIY Book Festival will award the following chosen from submissions:
1) DIY Author of the Year-Honors the outstanding book of the competition.
2) DIY Book Design of the Year - Honors outstanding and innovative design.
3) DIY Independent Publisher of the Year - Honors the top publisher based on materials displaying excellence in marketing and promotional materials, as determined by our judges.
FESTIVAL RULES: DIY Book Festival submissions cannot be returned. Each entry must contain the official entry form, including your e-mail address and contact telephone number. All shipping and handling costs must be borne by entrants.
NOTIFICATION AND DEADLINES: We will notify each entry of the receipt of their package via e-mail and will announce the winning entries on our web site (www.diyconvention. com). Because of the anticipated high volume of entries, we can only respond to e-mail inquiries.
Deadline submissions in each category must be postmarked by the close of business on Sept. 25, 2006. Winners in each category will be notified by e-mail shortly after the final entry deadline. Please note that judges read and consider submissions on an ongoing basis, comparing early entries with later submissions at our meetings.
TO ENTER: Entry forms are available online at www.diyconvention. com or may be faxed/e-mailed to you. Look on the right hand side of this page and click on the red "register" button underneath "2006 DIY Book Festival." Please contact our office for fax requests. Applications must be accompanied by a non-refundable entry fee via check, money order or PayPal online payment of $50 in U.S. dollars for each submission. Multiple submissions are permitted but each entry must be accompanied by a separate form and entry fee.
You can also enter the contest by phone by calling 323-665-8080 between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. Pacific time. Please have your credit card handy.
Entry fee checks should be made payable to JM Northern Media LLC. We're sorry, but entries must be mailed and cannot be delivered in person or by messenger services to the JM Northern Media offices.
Entry packages should include one copy of the book; any relevant marketing material; your official entry form or a copy; and the entry fee or receipt. Entries should be mailed to:
JM Northern Media LLC
attn: DIY Book Festival
7095 Hollywood Boulevard Suite 864
Hollywood, CA 90028-0893
Phone: 323-665-8080
AWARDS: Winners of the 2006 DIY Book Festival will be honored at a gala ceremony held in October in Los Angeles. You do not need to be present to accept your award or accompanying prizes.
The 2006 DIY Book Festival is part of the DIY Convention: Do It Yourself in Film, Music & Books, which also produces the DIY Film Festival and the DIY Music Festival. The 2006 DIY Book Festival is sponsored by Final Draft Screenplay Software; Imagic; The Hollywood Creative Directory; Westside Websites and the DIY Reporter.com.
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9: EVENTS, CLASSES & WORKSHOPS
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GOOD LIFE AUTHOR'S BOOK FAIR
August 19, 2006, 10 A.M. to 6 P.M. - Phoenix, AZ
AzGoodlife.com, dedicated to supporting Writers & Authors, is proud to present the Good Life Author's Book Fair.
This unique Authors Book Fair will be held at the Hilton Phoenix Airport Hotel, 2435 S. 47th St., Phoenix, AZ.
http://www.AzGoodLife.com
LA BAL MASQUÉ NOCTURNE - Looking for Authors and Vendors
October 28, 2006, 8 P.M. to Midnight - Phoenix, AZ
The First Annual La Bal Masqué Nocturne will be an event like none other. This is will be a Gothic & Vampire-themed Masquerade Ball, with a portion of the proceeds to benefit the American Cancer Society. Currently, we are looking for authors of gothic, horror, and vampire genre novels and non-fictional works, to be vendors at this unique event. Registration fees for tables will include an event ticket for the author and discounted tickets for additional guests. We are also taking donations of books to give as door prizes. Contact vendors@masquenocturne.com by Sept. 30, 2006 to register or for more information.
http://www.MasqueNocturne.com
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10: RECIPROCAL LINKS
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WRITE, SELF-PUBLISH, AND PROMOTE YOUR PRINT OR EBOOK
Judy Cullins shares up-to-the-minute information on book writing, publishing and marketing the easiest and cheapest ways--the Internet. Tips, Recommendations, and great resources to help grow your book.
To receive this monthly no charge "The Book Coach Says..." or "Business Tip of the Month" ezine by Judy Cullins, 20-year book and internet marketing coach, go to http://www.bookcoaching.com/opt-in.shtml or put "subscribe" into an email to judy@bookcoaching.com. Dan Poynter says, "It's totally worth your time."
http://www.bookcoaching.com
SOULENGRAVINGS.COM - Horror Fiction and Poetry Ezine
A Tangled Script of Intangible Soul Engravings
This Ezine is constantly evolving and is seeking submissions of horror or dark fantasy fiction and poetry (preferably 3,000 words or less). Multiple poetry submissions are accepted. They pay $20 USD for fiction and $10 USD for poetry via PayPal.
Send your submission to masterengraver@soulengravings.com with the subject of "submission". Visit the website for more details.
http://www.soulengravings.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
- Is This Thing On? Podcast - http://is-this-thing-on.net
All of this and more at: http://www.Shaurette.net
YOUR LINK COULD BE HERE!
Contact Dan Shaurette for more information at editor@selfpublishedauthors.com
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11: Subscriber Management / Contact Information
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© 2002-2006 Self Published Authors All Rights Reserved
http://www.selfpublishedauthors.com
Archived issues of this newsletter can be found at
http://www.selfpublishedauthors.com/newsletter.html
To subscribe, also visit:
http://www.selfpublishedauthors.com/newsletter.html
To unsubscribe from the newsletter mailing list, send an email to: unsubscribe@selfpublishedauthors.com with 'Unsubscribe Newsletter' as the subject line. Or you can follow the link at the very bottom of this email.
To contact us offline, send your correspondence to:
Dan Shaurette
Self-Published Authors
P.O. Box 3426
Scottsdale, AZ
USA 85271-3426
