E-readers are coming down in price

On Monday, Amazon cut the price of their Kindle e-reader. Barnes & Noble had lowered the price of their Nook e-reader and Amazon is competing with that. On Wednesday, Sony slashed the price of its e-reader. What’s going on?



The impetus for all the price cutting is Apple’s new iPad. Besides being a computer, it is an e-reader. The tablet is a good size, weight and shape to be an e-reader, and users are really getting into it. Apple sold over two million units in the first 60 days it was on the market. That is serious competition.

This could be good news for self-publishers.

http://www.selfpublishing.ca/

Authors Den

At the suggestion of my distributor, Red Tuque Books, I posted my books and bio at Authors Den (www.authorsden.com). It took a little time, but was surprisingly easy. This is a user friendly website. They receive over one million hits per month, so it's worth a self-publisher's while to set it up. And it's FREE!

Make sure you have information handy such as both your 10-digit (if you have one) and 13-digit ISBN, number of pages, and a 20 word blurb about your book. You get a chance to write up more fully what your book is about, but you need the short blurb too.

You can upload your photo into the author bio section and your book cover(s) into the books section. Each section has a very clear form to fill out. In the book section, you can even post reviews you have received. That will help readers decide if they want to purchase your book. You can also set up book purchase through Amazon.com. I didn't do that because I have a distributor. Instead I posted his website and noted that he distributes my books.

You can post articles and blogs to your page. Something like this should drive more people to your website and Google likes that. It will help move you up the Google search listings.

And, like I said, it's FREE. How often do we find that?

http://www.selfpublishing.ca/

Publisher Beware!

Email has been landing in my Inbox from a Yahoo Group called Canadian Writers. They bill themselves as a discussion group for Canadian Writers and Publishers. I looked at the posts and they are all ads for one of those get rich quick schemes. They are posting three times a day trying to suck people in.

Unless you are interested in network marketing, I would advise you to stay away from this group. It has nothing to do with writing or publishing.

http://www.selfpublishing.ca/

FREE Self-Publishers Online Conference

Happy Mother's Day to all my reader's who have children, whether young or grown. Today my hubby, son-in-law and grandson are making breakfast for the Moms. What a nice treat on a warm, sunny BC day.

A reader sent me information about a FREE Self-Publishers Online Conference that I would like to share:

May 12, 13 and 14
The Self-Publishers Online Conference connects entrepreneurial authors and independent publishers with book publishing resources. The three-day virtual event features expert speakers and an online exhibit hall with book industry vendors. Fifteen publishing experts share tips and advice for both aspiring and veteran self-publishers. Basic attendance is FREE.

http://www.SelfPublishersOnlineConference.com 

I checked the site out and two speakers are Dan Poynter and John Kremer. They are two people who would be worth listening to.

http://www.selfpublishing.ca

Write an E-book also..

For a number of years I have subscribed to Quill & Quire, Canada's magazine of book news and reviews. The publication helps me stay current on what is going on in the Canadian publishing industry so I can pass this on to my readers and students.

Lately articles about e-books have been showing up regularly. Self-published authors know that an e-book version of your print book is a great addition to what you have to offer. An e-book can be used to test the market for your book. You can develop a fan base while you save up the funds to have a paper copy printed. You can make money selling e-books on your website along with print copies.

Now the trade publishers are "discovering" how valuable this format can be. They are using it to keep their back titles in print. HarperCollins announced they plan to convert them to e-books and add special features like you find on DVDs. Penguin Canada recently released e-book editions of four Canadian classics. They have "enriched" them with web links.

In order to compete with the trades, you need to think like they do. I'll be talking about e-books over the next few posts. If you have any questions, please leave a comment or email me directly through my website.


www.selfpublishing.ca

Should you quit your day job?

After months of talking about it, I finally quit my day job. I worked as an office manager and could not manage to fit all my writing and publishing into evenings and weekends. After a long day at the office, I often found my brain cells didn't want to absorb any more information. Makes is awfully hard to think. I was being torn and something had to give. For me, it could not be writing and so I gave up my day job.

Leaving a job is scary and you need to ensure you have a source of income. Fortunately, we are a two-income couple with no mortgage and we have planned for the loss of my income. You need to make a one-year budget and be prepared to live within it. We love to travel, but I can guarantee we're not going back to Europe this year. But that's okay. Now I can focus on writing and developing my publishing business.

I have already made progress. I have started to learn one of the software programs I need to know (there are three in total). I have put together a pitch for Camosun College in Victoria to put on my publishing workshops, and I applied to the local community newspaper as a casual freelance writer. I have even put together power point presentations for my workshops to jazz them up.

So where can you find me these days when I'm not in my home office?

Self Publishing in Canada workshop at Vancouver Island University Nanaimo Campus (there are still some seats available)  April 24, 9:00-4:00

You've Written a Book - Now What? workshop at Vancouver Island University Nanaimo Campus May 1, 9:00-4:00

Self Publishing in Canada workshop at Simon Fraser University
July 15, 9:00-5:00

Book signing at the Penticton Saturday Market July 17  8:00-12:30

http://www.selfpublishing.ca/

Editing can't be neglected

http://www.selfpublishing.ca/ After you have written your manuscript, it has to be edited. No one (not even Stephen King) is so good a writer that they can neglect having their work edited. There are basically two kinds of editing - content (or substantive) editing and copy editing.

Content editing is the process of finding ways to make what you have written better. The editor looks at the manuscript more as a whole and works with the writer to improve the telling of the story or the presentation of the material.

Copy editing is the line-by-line and word-by-word search for errors in the text. Grammar, punctuation and spelling are looked at critically in order to ensure there are no mistakes. In the newspaper business it's called proof reading.

Done correctly and methodically, editing will give your manuscript a polished professional look. Neglect the editing and your book will look amateurish. Professional editing will polish your book so it holds its own with other books in the field that have been published by established trade publishing houses.

There's nothing so invigorating as a workshop

On Saturday I put on a workshop at Vancouver Island University called "You've Written a Book - Now What?"  that I developed to reach a broader audience than those who were only interested in self-publishing. The workshop covers the four ways to be published - trade published, subsidy published, self-published, and e-published. It's a long and very informative workshop.

The students ages ranged from 15 up to grandmothers. Some have written a book and some haven't started yet. But they all bring a special energy to the class and are willing to talk about their writing projects. It's really invigorating.

Another writing workshop was being held the same day in another facility. I don't know how the response was, but I know that two people came into our classroom looking for it. We sent them on their way and got back to work. I think it is great that writers take workshops. That is the best way to improve your craft.

Sometimes, in the quest to publish our books, we forget that we are writers first. We become so focussed on the publishing that we don't continue to hone our craft. I can't stress enough the importance of keeping up with workshops, articles and courses to help you improve as a writer. You will appreciate that your writing will become better and your material will be more readily accepted. Writing is how you came to this point and you should not stop improving your ability just because one project is completed. You will find as a publisher that you will need to write all kinds of material and a good workshop can help you do it better. http://www.selfpublishing.ca/

Questions from my emails.

http://www.selfpublishing.ca/I was out of town and apologize for this blog getting behind. For those of you thinking about blogging, you need to post a minimum of once a week. I usually update on Sunday afternoon.

Nick Gretener of Qualitas Publishing asked why I am sending readers to the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDBC) to register their Copyright. The cost for a Basic Package is $120.  Apparently the Canadian Copyright Office in the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) is still registering copyrights directly - and for only $50. The website is http://www.cipo.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/cipointernet-internetopic.nsf/eng/wr00051.html. He wondered why we would go through a middleman like the BDBC. Thanks Nick! I will definitely change my tips page.

Arayna wants to know if she should let her printer produce the barcode for her book or should she do it herself. Do what ever is convenient. The cost is not very high to have it done. You either have to order software or pay for someone else to make the barcode up. I prefer to have it done. It's cheap enough and one less hassle for me to deal with. I have enough software to learn how to use.

The deadline for the Independent Publishers Book Award (IPPY) is March 20. It is the longest-running unaffiliated contest open exclusively to independent publishers. The cost to submit a book is $85 (US) per category.

More and more emails ask "When are you writing a new book?" I am currently working on the Second Edition of Self Publishing in Canada: A complete guide to designing, printing and selling your book. It will be full of updated material and give more information on e-publishing than in the first edition. It will be available in the fall of 2010.

I am teaching a workshop called "You've Written a Book, Now What?" at Vancouver Island University, Cowichan Campus on March 20 from 9:00-4:00. If you live on south Island, sign up. It's a worthwhile course.

I will be teaching this workshop at the VIU Nanaimo campus on May 1, and a Self-publishing workshop at Nanaimo campus on April 24.

I am again teaching Self Publishing in Canada as part of the Simon Fraser University summer publishing workshop series in Vancouver on July 15.

But subsidy publishing isn't all bad

While subsidy publishing is not something I recommend for anyone who is publishing on a large scale, it is the solution for certain kinds of projects. I believe it is the best option for any book that is a personal project that is not intended for large distribution. It can also be used to test out a book and the market for it.

An example of a personal project would be a family history. You can control the costs by purchasing a one of the plans available. Then you divide that by the number of people who will receive a book to get the amount that each person will pay toward publishing. The book will belong to family members who want a copy and they should be willing to pay a higher price. The unit cost would normally be too high for commercial value, but not for personal value.

Another example would be a personal poetry chapbook. You purchase a package that you know the exact cost of and you would have some chapbooks for friends and family. A chapbook would not be viable as a commercial project at a high unit cost, but again personal value would be placed on it.

Using a subsidy press to test out a book gives you the same control over cost that the personal project does. It gives you an opportunity to find out if there is a market for your book. If so, you can then have your book printed yourself. If you intend to do that you will need to send out Request For Quotation (RFQ) forms to at least 3 book printers. Ensure you ask for exactly the same information so you can make an accurate comparison. All you need to do is send the PDF file of your book to the printer you choose and in a timely fashion you will have boxes and boxes of books to sell. You can learn more about printing by downloading the Free Report at http://www.selfpublishing.ca/ or from purchasing Self Publishing in Canada:A complete guide to designing, printing and selling your book. Both publications include a sample of an RFQ form.

How good are these subsidy publishers?

I am sitting here looking at two books published by Trafford Publishing, a formerly large subsidy company that now belongs to Author Solutions. My readers and those I teach know that I go into a lot of detail about book design because your book is your best marketing tool. And it has to be perfectly designed, or as near as perfect as you can get it. There are industry standards about book design. It isn't something I just made up.

The first thing I notice is that neither of these books have laminated covers. Scuffing is starting along the edges and spine of both books. Libraries won't purchase books unless they are laminated, which is sad because one book in particular is a great read. Book covers need to be protected, particularly any dark colour because is scuffs too easily.

The interiors of both books are insipid and uninspiring. Gutters are too small, typeface looks like Times New Roman (which is a computer font), running heads are dull, and pagination is inconsistent. But they look "okay" and you could sell them at booths and book events. Just don't fool yourself that the booksellers and librarians don't know what a properly designed book should look like. They tend to pass up "okay."  Both books are non-fiction but neither one has an index, which is a big selling feature for booksellers and librarians.

The big subsidy companies have templates that they use. Their design, while "cookie cutter" is decent enough. But they are not the only ones out there offering to publish your book. There are smaller outfits, usually connected to a printing company, that offer the same services. Well... sort of. I have seen some very badly designed books done by these little companies - unsaleable books. I don't think they mean to produce such poorly put together books. Most of them just don't know better. I have met with upset authors who have a product no one wants to purchase. It's sad that someone has poured their labour and money into a book no one wants to buy.

All this being said, subsidies do work for some projects. I will go into that in the next post.  Meanwhile, if you want to know how to design a book properly, go to http://www.selfpublishing.ca/ and order Self Publishing in Canada: A complete guide to designing, printing and selling your book.

What exactly is subsidy publishing?

You can detect a subsidy publisher by the very fact that you are expected to pay to have your book "published." You pay to have the PDF of your manuscript printed on a digital printer, bound, and placed for sale on the subsidy's online bookstore. If you want editing or design services, that will cost you extra. You can put out as much as $1200-1500 for as few as 20 books. That works out to a unit price of at least $60 per book. How on earth can you sell your book and make some money? Simply put, you can't.

Subsidies make their money on the front end. For them, there is little or no money to be made by authors reordering books to sell. They are constantly on the lookout for fresh "meat" so to speak. If they are not constantly bringing in new clients and new books, they would not be a profitable business. That is the harsh reality of subsidy publishing. Over two years ago I sent for one of those How To Get Published e-books put out by one subsity and they have been phoning and emailing me since. I have given up pointing out that I do it myself and am not interested. I am in their data base for life.

The current trend has been for one large subsidy, Author Solutions, to buy up their competition. They now own well known subsidies AuthorHouse, Trafford, Xlibris, WordClay and iUniverse. These branches of Author Solutions still operate under their original name and novices will have the impression they are separate businesses, which they aren't. Author Solutions needs a larger piece of the pie in order to find authors so they can be profitable. The unfortunate part is that the authors themselves are not profitable.

Next post I will talk about the quality - or lack of - that you will find with most subsidies.

http://www.selfpublishing.ca/

Let's talk about subsidy publishers...

If I never hear the term vanity publisher again, I will be a happy writer. It's an archaic term left over from the early late 19th and 20th centuries before we had home computers. They way it worked was if you had enough money, you could pay someone to "publish" your book without benefit of editing, decent design, or even a good product. One was considered vain to have "just anything" published rather than having it done by a reputable established publisher. A writer who paid to have their book published wasn't viewed as a "real" writer. They were desperate, they were shunned, their book was of inferior quality and their vanity knew no bounds.

Turn the world ahead to the online, internet connected, blogging, twittering, keyboarding late 20th century and you will notice that the everyday use of computers has produced generations of people who write. Because we have programs like Word, WordPerfect, MacWrite and others, we can write, edit and publish to our heart's content. That's not saying that it is good writing or editing, but that is not stopping us. To post a blog such as this or a tweet or have your own website is commonplace today and does not make us vain. We simply have something to say and better communication venues in which to share our comments.

My point is that companies like Lulu, iUniverse, Xlibris, Wordclay and Trafford are not vanity presses. They are in fact Subsidy Publishers whom you pay to publish your book. You are subsidizing the publication of your book. It's legal, socially accepted and can be affordable. It does not make you vain.

I'll be exploring subsidy publishing over the next few posts. If you have any questions, post a comment here or at http://www.selfpublishing.ca/.

Should I use a pen name?

A pen name, or nom de plume, is the pseudonym an author uses to conceal his or her true identity. Often famous authors will use a pen name when writing in another genre than that which they are known for. Sometimes famous people use a pen name because they do not want the book to be associated with what they do, or they do not want to use their fame to sell the book (which begs the question, "Why not?"). Should the average self-publisher use a pseudonym? Probably not.

When you are an unknown author, you will only mask your identity by using a pen name. How do you expect to sell books if you do not give your real name? You want to garner fame...and that won't be possible if no one knows who you really are. In my experience self-published authors tend to use odd pen names anyway. One fellow used his high school nickname and it really wasn't very flattering. My advice is that unless you are already well known for something else and don't want your real name known, do not use a pseudonym. It is not helpful when you market your book.