You Wrote A Book! Now Where On Earth Do You Publish It?
Topics: writing, write your book, author, marketing, book marketing, target audience, promotion
If there’s a list of the “Ten most frequently asked questions about writing and publishing a book,” this question will be near the top:
“I want to write a book. Should I try to get a publisher, big (like Harpers) or niche (like New Harbinger)? Should I publish my own ebook? And if so, should I create an e-book to download? Or pay for hard copies?”
The answer (as usual): It depends. What do you hope to accomplish with your book?
Experienced authors will advise you, “Decide where to publish before you write the book.” Sales depend on choosing a title, topic, writing style and content strategy tailored to your publishing platform.
(1) Traditional publishers:
Cons:
Expect a long, arduous process to go from proposal to print. These days, most authors need an agent just to get past the mail room. Getting an agent will be just as tough as finding a publisher. Not all agents will be motivated to work to sell your book. I’ve heard many authors complain, “My agent just sat on the manuscript for 6 months.”
Once you sell to a publisher, your agent gets 15-20% of royalties plus expenses. You have little control over cover art and jacket copy. You create your own publicity and “buzz,” even if you just got a big advance. And unless you create a best-seller, you will not make a lot of money from the book.
Pros:
There is no better way to create credibility and even prestige. If your book is any good at all, you get media publicity and speaking opportunities. You probably will not make a lot of money from the book itself.
But you can enhance a coaching, consulting, speaking or therapy practice. I owe thousands of dollars to my own book, which is now available as a self-published download. I didn’t earn this revenue from the publisher but clients saw my book and called for consultations.
(2) Downloadable E-book
Cons:
Making money from e-books is more about marketing than about writing. You follow a formula. You need to identify a market, find a topic, write the book, and convert to pdf, the best cross-platform software for ebooks. You absolutely, positively need a hard-hitting sales letter, which means you learn copywriting or hire a pro. And you need to help buyers fix glitches when they try to download your book or pay with their credit cards. Software can do the work but it doesn’t come cheap.
Pros:
No delays! You are limited only by your writing time. Once you learn the system, you feel like you are counterfeiting money. Your ebook can enhance your other offerings as bonuses. Sure, you follow a formula. But if you follow the formula with care, you can earn a healthy income.
And, with a quality ebook and a well-designed business model, some of your readers will turn into clients.
(3) Hard copy self-publishing
Cons: This option can offer you the worst of both worlds. You pay and often warehouse the books in your garage. Yes, you can sign up for print on demand, but you pay considerably more for each book. Do not choose the cheapest package. Expect to pay hefty fees for cover art and design. Nearly everyone needs to hire an editor. Reviewers tend to regard self-publishers with suspicion, if not disdain.
Pros: This option can offer you the best of both worlds. If you regularly hold workshops or speak to large audiences, you can sell your book to your audience. This process is called “back of the room” or “from the platform,” even though you may not actually stand in the back of the room.
Coaching and consulting clients may not care who published your book: often they are impressed to see any book at all.
Which option is right for you? Review your goals and your business model. And most important: before you write even one line, plan how you will promote and distribute your book.
Regardless of your publishing path, you become a marketer rather than a writer as soon as you say, “I want to write a book.” By planning ahead for this role reversal, you can save considerably on your marketing investment and enjoy far greater success.
FREE 7 Best-Kept Secrets of Websites That Really Attract Clients: My Special Report gives you insider tips to convert tire-kickers to buyers and earn money while you sleep. From Cathy Goodwin, The Content Strategist, at www.copy-cat-copywriting.com.
Previous Articles Highlighter:
Extensible Markup Language Naming Conventions For Professional Web Design (1)
Each XML document must have only one root element and all the other elements are perfectly nested inside that element. Containers are those tags which hold or contain the text and other xml elements between the two tags.
What You Should Know Before Committing To A Web Hosting Company (2)
A website is considered as the virtual flag carrier of the company and this can reflect the companies image if this is poorly maintained. So security is the key.
Doing Research On Marketing (3)
For this, the best way to do this is to do Internet searches. If you type in the keywords "business marketing," you'll come up with a myriad of resources that can give you more information on this topic.
Understanding The Relationship Between Domain Names And Hosting (4)
Do you want another Web site? (A completely different site with different files.) For example, two separate URLs have two different domains, are located in different folders, and are made up of completely different files.
Web Design Basics You Want To Know (5)
Slow pages are always annoying, and no doubt your web design company will agree with this. 2. Use graphics that are suitable to the page content. Adorable pictures should not be posted on the page just because they are adorable.
Web Design Vs. Print Design: How To Find The Middle Ground (6)
Never forget about resolution. Although browsers and operating systems are both important, there is one other factor that you need to consider in site web design. Keep in mind that if your client as well as their target audience will browse your final page on a browser than is smaller than you have designed on, there is a good possibility that they will be unpleasantly surprised.
How To Buy A Top Ten Search Engine Rank (7)
It is advisable to monitor your keywords on at least a monthly basis. Not only is careful monitoring important, but the analysis of visitor behavior can produce invaluable knowledge about consumer motivation, habits, and trends.
Four Criteria That Every Online Home Business Involves (8)
You do not want to choose a product that will be hard to market because then you will only make your work much harder. The most lucrative online home business products are digital, such as software, because the customer often buys it on impulse since they can get it immediately on just click of a button.
Sly Keyword Selection For SEO Domination (9)
The consumer is an invaluable resource. You will find the words you accumulate from them are words and phrases you probably never would have considered from deep inside the trenches of your business.
Watch Your Search Engine Positions Like A Hawk (10)
This is the way you must consider your search engines positions. Be aware that at first, after you have launched your search engine campaign and done all the right things to increase your rankings, you will most likely see a continual upward climb.
Business Tips - Performance Based Payment Schemes And 1 Customer = Unlimited Potential Customers (11)
Maybe it's time to look at a uniform performance based payment schemes for all our managers and workers. Be aware that 1 customer =? potential customers Another common problem or misconception in the retail/service industry is that one customer is equivalent to one product/service.
A Few Suggestions For Email Marketing With E Newsletters (12)
The e-newsletter should also contain at least some subtle advertising for the products and services offered by the producer of the e-newsletter. These pieces of advertising should not be blatant and should allow readers of the e-newsletter to formulate their own opinions regarding the products or services.
Online Auto Insurance Quotes: The Good, The Bad And The Ugly (13)
In recent years it has been made a lot eaiser for consumers to find the best rates through the use of free online quotes. So take advantage and find the right auto insurance for you.
Considering Give Away Ventures To Build Your List (14)
This strategy is fueled by the awareness of the significance of mailing list building. This is called give away venture--a strategy to build list- but this technique is better recognized as a ' starting a give away venture'.
Increasing Link Popularity The Sure Way (15)
Since this is almost always done by email, you want to make sure it is immediately clear that your message is not junk mail. This requires that you tell them right off the bat that you have added a link to their page on your site.
A Few Email Marketing Strategies (16)
However, selecting a consultant from the many options available can be downright overwhelming. In general you should look for a consultant who has a great deal of experience, a proven track record, listens to your questions carefully, explains concepts simply and makes your project a priority.
Email Marketing - Quick Tips (17)
Call to actions should be simple as "Click here - special offers for cardholders only". If required, create specific landing pages according the requirements of the email marketing campaign.
Getting Help With Your Next Email Marketing Campaign (18)
You should not only request these references but also contact each of the past clients provided and question them about their experiences with the consultant. It is important to keep in mind the consultant will likely only provide reference he is confident will offer a positive opinion of his services.
Effective Way To Evaluate Your Email Marketing (19)
Consider an email campaign which is not effective because it does not reach the members of the target audience. Some business owners make the fatal mistake of not taking care to ensure their email distribution list features recipients who are extremely interested in the products or services you offer.
How To Get High Rankings On Google And Yahoo Search Engines (20)
You may have all your main keywords and terms figured out but ultimately we have no idea what phrase someone will actually search under using these keywords. It could be for example if they are searching for "health insurance" they may well just type in "health insurance" or they may type in "health insurance in the uk for a family".
Newer Articles Highlighter:
Tips For Affiliate Success (1)
If you run your affiliate program online, you can use online chat software or conference calls to get your affiliates together "virtually." Although it's not likely you'd want to have your affiliates meet in person, it's very effective to have a gathering of everyone together online.
The Offer Is The Key! (2)
If you want to increase sales, an attractive offer can be the thing that turns a looker into a buyer. Use an offer to encourage a larger quantity purchase, or increase the frequency.
Affiliate Internet Marketing: Where Are They Coming From? (3)
However there is one question that many affiliate businesses have failed to address: "Where is their internet traffic coming from?" By not doing so, they are leaving money on the table.
Maximizing The Performance Of Landing Pages For Your Success (4)
Tips presented to you, if followed, will surely give a chance for your business to be of great success. It is important to maximize the performance of landing page for your success.
Winning The Affiliate Marketing War Game (5)
Do not go in with guns blazing posting blatant advertisements. The idea here is to build visibility and credibility. Introduce yourself and behave as though you had just moved into a new neighborhood.
Free And Effective Online Traffic Generation Techniques (6)
Generally, Internet users use search engines to find what they are looking for. Search Engines in return use keyword searching in aiding their search results. With the right keywords, you could get high rankings in search engine results without the costs and this is priceless when you do it right.
Corporate Gift Idea - Building Better Rapport With Companies For Greater Success (7)
One of the best ways to maintain a good rapport with your business associates is to use corporate gifts. By sending them unique gifts that they can use or keep, you will be able to make them remember your company, as well as a creating a better rapport between you and the recipient.
The Value Of Unlimited Distribution (8)
You can get noticed by writing tightly focused articles and distributing them to as many different sites as you can. Inform Your Readers Articles you distribute are not meant to be sales pitches, but should offer readers new information related to the topic of your website.
Corporate Gift Brand Marketing - Why Do You Need It? (9)
In this case, they will be able to touch and feel the representation of a company. This will deeply leave your marketing message in their minds and result in a better overall marketing campaign in the long run.
Does Your Website Turn People On Or Turn Them Away? (10)
Don't load your site down (especially the front page) with large images, Flash animations, or anything else that cause a delay on the user's end. Think of Google's front page as an example-it's just a logo, a search tool, and a bunch of white space, and it opens instantly.
Features Of Extensible Markup Language Used In Professional Web Design (11)
Both hypertext mark up language and standard generalized markup language sing foreign characters whereas xml is based on Unicode and requires all xml software to support Unicode as well, Unicode enables xml to handle not just western accented characters but also Asian languages.
How To Choose An Ecommerce Storefront For Your Business (12)
Look for any complaints filed with the online better business bureau. Customer service is important when deciding on this storefront service. If the company is in a different time zone, check to see that they have adequate customer service representatives available to assist you during your regular business hours.
How Good Is Your Website? (13)
This campaign is targeted at increasing your position in search engine results so that consumers can find your pages faster and easier. You can either research the steps you need to take to improve your search engine rankings, or employ a search engine optimization company to do the work for you.
Is Your Website Making An Indecent Proposal? (14)
First impressions are just as important on websites as anywhere else. Your site needs to tell the customer right away what business you're in. You need to assure the customer that you do in fact provide the product or service they're looking for, and that you can do it in a professional manner.
Participating In Banner Exchanges (15)
In this case, banner exchanges are affordable even for those on modest budgets. What is perhaps most appealing is that they're cost-effective and efficient. Most banner exchanges are free to those who participate.
Make Use Of The Best Opportunities On Home Based Business Here (16)
Select Reputed Company: Research the company. Look at information for the company such as when were they started and where are they situated. Go to various message boards and do a search with the company name to get feedback from different people on what they think of the company.
What's An Online Directory Anyway? (17)
This makes it easier for you to find what you want at the click of a button. There are three types of these directories and they serve very similar purposes in being able to deliver information on an abundance of different companies, events and more websites over the World Wide Web.
Everything You Wanted To Know About Expired Domain (18)
4) It could have also been actively linked to different web sites and directories. 5) It could have also been associated with a number of business deals and partnerships.
Branding And Private Label Rights Products (19)
The process of doing this is known as branding. How you brand depends on what it is. Many pieces of content come in the form of Microsoft Word documents.
No Website - That Doesn't Have To Stop You Making Money On Line (20)
Of course it isn't, anyone can do it! There are numerous on line methods of making money without actually having your own website. You can, for example, discover how to blog the way to your small fortune.
Permalink to You Wrote A Book! Now Where On Earth Do You Publish It?