Posts Tagged ‘Book’

by Bill Ruesch

Rosanne Dingli, a Chicken Scratchings reader wrote, “This is great Bill (referring to the previous post How to Lose a Book Sale in 2 Seconds Flat!) now tell us a bit about the actual graphics that go on the cover of a standard perfect bound.”

Good question.

You’ll think I’m copping out if I respond with, every publisher whether traditional or self wish they knew the answer to that. Wouldn’t it be great if there were an ABC design formula guaranteed to grab the reader’s attention? There isn’t one. At least not one that I know about. On the other hand, there are design faux pas that contribute to buyer indifference. Avoid them if you intend to sell books.

1.  They create cover art that misses the target. For example, and this would be an extreme example, you would not want a pulp romance style picture on the cover of your children’s book, nor would you want a children’s book illustration on a political expose’. The artist should be familiar enough with the content to design images that reflect the purpose of the book. To do otherwise is like dressing a member of the board of directors of a large financial firm in a clown costume and sending her into the most important meeting of the year.

2.  They attempt to design over their heads. A self-publishing author doesn’t have to spend top-dollar to hire the best graphic designer in the world, but employing anyone other than a professionally trained graphic designer is a mistake. Computers and design programs have come a long way. Owning a computer and buying a graphics program doesn’t make one a competent designer. Keep in mind that computers are just tools just the way a hammer and saw are tools. In the right hands, a hammer and saw can build the Empire State building. In the wrong hands, like mine, the best they can do is build an off-kilter birdhouse. Give your book a fighting chance by investing in a professional. It’s well worth the price.

3.  They play Hide and Seek with the title. Authors give a great deal of thought to their titles. The title is meant to reveal something about the book and intrigue the reader. If an artist, just to be artistic, buries the title in graphics, it is a big mistake.  What do I mean by bury it in graphics? If the title isn’t clearly visible because of poor font, graphics, or color choices then it is buried.For example, let’s say the cover has a beautiful but busy illustration. You can lose the title easily with a font that is too thin, the wrong color, or too small. Remember this rule–the title must be clearly readable from a distance of 10 feet.

Four examples of brilliant cover design.

4.  They practice TMI (too much information). Think of a book cover like a billboard. The most effective billboards are those who deliver their message to drivers going  freeway speeds. Books are just like that. Whether browsing at a bookstore, online, or looking through a catalog the buyer makes a decision based on precious little information. Do not ever try to give them more than they need to choose to buy the book. It won’t work.  The job of the cover is to attract attention and setup the sale. That’s all.

5. They capitulate to the author’s ego. Authors are proud of their accomplishment and they should be. They naturally want everyone to know that the book is theirs, but unless the author is a well-known celebrity, who cares what they look like? That sounds mean spirited, but really who cares, other than friends or family members? Do not put an author’s photo on the cover, front or back. Also, withhold most endorsements. Are you convinced to buy the  because a notable stranger is quoted as saying they like book? Either it stands on its own or it doesn’t. Now if someone you know, like a friend, or a teacher recommends the book, that’s an entirely different story.  What should go on the book besides the title, author’s name, ISBN and compelling graphics, maybe an excerpt from the book? That’s about it.

Before this post gets overly long, I think I’ll hold off on the other 5 Stupid Things and put them in my next post.

by Bill Ruesch

Maybe two seconds is generous. It’s really a second or less. No one will even pick up a book if it isn’t appealing. No one. A glance is all you will get–if that.

What is the first thing a reader sees when they decide to look at your book? Think about it. That’s right–the cover.

If your mind jumped to cover art–Stop!–and back-up. There are at least nine other things you need to consider before exploring cover art.

I’ve spelled out  nine basic cover and binding methods self-publishers  would be wise to consider before printing their books. Before choosing a binding method there are three basic questions to explore:

• Who will read this book? How old are they? Do they come from specific regions or have a common ethnicity? What is their level of education? Is it intended to be educational or entertaining?

• What do they expect to see in a book? If sitting on a bookstore rack what would attract the reader’s attention over your competition?

• Is the intended cover and binding method in harmony with the intention of the book? For example, I once saw a book that looked like a how to book. It’s cover announced that it would be informative. The title of the book was Everything Men Understand About Women. I opened the book and all of the text pages were blank. There wasn’t a line of type to be found. It was a joke, of course, and everything worked together perfectly to set the reader up for the humor.

The first two questions have to do with the demographics (external features) and psychographics (motivations and values) of the prospective reader. Once you understand who and why, it is vital to determine how. Give them what they expect. If you are too far afield of what they are looking for, they may not recognize it when they see it. For example, it would throw a reader off to discover an in-the-shop trade manual with a premium hard cover. Alternatively an autobiography of a respected person printed initially as a commodity paperback. It would be as discordant as seeing a well-heeled gentleman drive away from Beverly Hills mansion in a 20 year old beater with car cancer.

Elements of a Premium Hardcover

1. Premium Hardbound. Could include expensive features like leather, gilt edges, bookmark ribbon, foil stamping, printed end sheets, and premium text paper. Could be sewn as well as glued. May or may not have a dust jacket.

2. Good to Fine Hardbound will have features like cloth wrap, foil stamps, maybe PUR glue, burst bound. Almost always has a dust jacket.

3. Hardbound with a printed wrap. Children’s books are often printed this way with pictures or art on the cover. Some will have dust jackets, but it isn’t necessary.

4. Commodity hardbound. Most self-publishers will never order enough books to make this a viable option. These are the types of hardbound books sold by book clubs in mass. They are hardbound books but made with inexpensive materials.

5. Perfect bound Trade Paperback. The text pages are glued directly to the spine and the spine is squared. This method is highly favored by self-publishers. The book size is generally larger than paperbacks on the rack and the materials are of higher quality. Selling enhancements could include foil stamp, foil emboss, and high gloss cover coatings.

6. Standard perfect bound. This method is very similar to Trade Paperbacks but made with less costly paper and cover material to minimize cost.

7. Commodity or rack paper backs. These books are printed as cheaply as possible and generally in larger runs. When an author sells paperback rights to a publisher this is the production method utilized. These books romance novels, murder mysteries, sci-fi thrillers, are meant to be disposable.

8.  Plastic coil, wire-o, or comb binding are used for books that must stay open and flat. Cookbooks, repair manuals, and other how-to books may opt for these types of bindings. The drawback is that they don’t have a printed spine. When put on a bookshelf the reader has to pull the book out.

9. Saddle-stitched. Saddle stitching is printer talk for two staples in the backbone.  This can be found more commonly on thin catalogs, or magazines. Think TIME magazine. It is the least costly way to go but has several drawbacks, there isn’t a spine, it seems like the book is not a book but publication, and there is a limit to the number of pages.

Can You Spend More to Sell More?

Making a wrong choice will impact your sales, there is no doubt about that. The funny thing is you can’t hedge your bet with spending more. Not only could you be wasting money, but it might backfire and decrease rather than increase sales. The rule is make sure your book cover and binding method are in sync with the demographics, psychographics, and expectations of the reader.

IBM Selectric Typewriter

by Bill Ruesch

I nearly tripped over an IBM Selectric typewriter, once the King of all the offices,now leaning against a painted door, relegated  to a basement hallway’s supply closet, forever consigned to be a lowly doorstop.

My, how things have changed.  What was once considered swell was using the word my as an exclamation at the beginning of a sentence, or even using the word swell at all for that matter. I’m not really into archaic slang, it just seemed somehow appropriate to the topic.

Indexing somehow seems like a quaint idea, more fit for the 19th century than the present. After all aren’t there more and better solutions via the Internet and such? Tia Leschke contacted me to ask if an article on indexing would be of interest to Chicken Scratching readers. She sent the information below and we send to her our thanks.

Tia Leschke’s four very important things to consider when it comes to indexing

Tia Leschke -- Indexer

An Index? Why?

You’ve finally finished your book. It’s been edited and proofread and has a wonderful cover design. You’re looking forward to reading sales figures and doing signings. Wait a minute…if it’s a non-fiction book, it should have an index.

Wouldn’t a key word search on an e-book be better?

You wonder, “Why would my book need an index?” If it’s an e-book, you might believe that a simple keyword search function will be sufficient, and maybe it will be. Your readers might get frustrated trying to find the right keyword, though. Let’s say she wonders whether there’s information about vaccines in the infant health book she’s browsing, so she searches on vaccines and finds nothing. The author used the word inoculations. A good index would have a see reference to guide her from vaccines to inoculations. She might also be guided through see also references to information about vaccine safety, as well as the various diseases for which vaccines are available.

Searching for information shouldn’t overwhelm one with a zillion barely connected hits.

We’ve all run Google searches that gave us thousands of hits. Most of us don’t go beyond the first page. In an e-book, the search will stop on every instance of word usage. Let’s say there’s a reader looking for information about using Twitter for business. A general book on social media will refer to Twitter probably hundreds of times, but how many mentions will be relevant to their particular search? Moreover, how much time is wasted by  readers checking every single reference?

Indexing is one of the least respected sales tools.

One more reason for having an index is that it can help a purchaser decide whether to buy your book. If she glances through the table of contents and doesn’t see anything about her particular interest, she might put it back on the shelf without realizing that there’s actually quite a bit there. A glance at the index would show her that, if there’s an index to peruse.

A quick off-the-shelf reference is not so easy to lose.

Whether your readers are wondering whether certain information is actually in your book, or whether they remember something that they want to refer to again, an index is the map for finding that information.

For more information, you can reach Tia at http://ca.linkedin.com/pub/tia-leschke/14/923/a09 or http://tia-leschke.ca

by Bill Ruesch

In many posts, I have been very vocal about the Internet Wolves and Knaves that lay in wait to snare self-publishers. I’ve witnessed what happens to authors hoodwinked into spending their savings with little or no results to show for it. I’ll continue to rant about those dirty rats. You can count on it. I’ve even advised self-publishers to visit Victoria Strauss’s Writer Beware web site because she is doing a reasonably credible job warning us about traps and dangers.

Who has bigger dreams and expectations for your book manuscript than you?

No one. What attracts those who prey on self-publishers, especially new ones, is the rookie author’s general lack of knowledge of the process and their wide-eyed belief in the value of their manuscripts. Getting a book published is a lifetime dream for most. When someone says you can have your dream come true for just (whatever the dollar figure is) you may feel you just won the lottery.

Knowing what to avoid is a good thing, but it doesn’t go far enough. Authors need to know where to find legitimate, competent, and cost effective assistance. I don’t care how brilliant you are, a first-time self-publisher isn’t likely to successfully negotiate the complexities and produce a commercially credible book on their own. Professional help is required.  After all, you wouldn’t set out on a safari through the darkest jungles without guides, would you?

BookWise & Company, BookWise Publishing, and WriteWise Mentoring

Recently I attended a self-publishing boot camp, known as a Book Camp, organized by BookWise Publishing. This isn’t the old BookWise & Company, founded by bestselling authors Richard Paul Evans and Robert G. Allen. BookWise & Company was a multi-level marketing enterprise.

It seemed like a great idea at the time.

The idea was to give 100 new authors the opportunity to learn how to publish or get their books published with the aid of two New York Times bestselling authors as mentors. For a reasonable flat fee, newbies could submit their manuscripts and have them edited by peers of published authors, designed by experienced and talented designers, printed by excellent presses, and marketed by the authors themselves, with hands-on coaching from Richard Paul Evans, Robert G. Allen and other experienced pros. What would it be worth to a green, untested author to be given the attention of people like these instead of just being dumped on some clerk’s desk, in a forest of cubicles, inside a cavernous room, deep in the basement of some publisher’s impenetrable fortress?

The thought was that if a book received very professional treatment from the outset it would garner greater attention should the author wish to go the traditional route, or give them an edge should they decide to self-publish.

No one can guarantee a book’s success. Some felt that their books deserved to be bestsellers because they paid for mentoring. It doesn’t work that way.

Victoria Strauss of Writer Beware panned the old BookWise & Company.

She had a point—when she was talking about the multi-level part of the company. BookWise Publishing is not BookWise & Company. BookWise Publishing owned and operated by Karen K. Christoffersen and Meagan Bunten is carrying on helping the authors and assisting their progress. Currently they have over 200 authors in the pipeline and have completed over 65 books over the last two years.

Despite Ms. Strauss’s good intentions…

the problem with the Internet is like the old story of the woman with a gossiping habit. As a lesson, her minister emptied a feather pillow into the wind. Her impossible task was to retrieve all the feathers. Once something hits the net it spreads like feathers in a breeze, probably further and even more impossible to call back. BookWise Publishing doesn’t deserve the stigma. It is not a multi-level enterprise.  It is a company with the same name but different owners and management.  Karen Christoffersen asked a brilliant young woman, Meagen Bunten, to be her partner in  the new BookWise. They have no relation to the old MLM and are building BookWise Publishing as an independent collaboration of top people in the publishing business who are dedicated to assisting authors with everything they need to effectively produce and market their books. Costs are contained and kept reasonable by the fact that all services are virtual. There is NO overhead and every associate is self-employed.

Experience matters.

The difference between what BookWise is doing and what hundreds, if not thousands of others are doing, is that they have collected many experienced associates with real life publishing skills. They didn’t  hire the brand-new-just-graduated-learn-on-the-job-beginners and let them loose on unknowing customers. They have real-honest-to-goodness experienced experts.

Am I prejudiced in my assessment? You bet.

I came across BookWise Publishing a couple of years ago, sort of. I had written a novel and even though with my print background I can produce a printed book in my sleep, I didn’t have the foggiest idea of how to sell it. I called Karen—and this is where the sort of comes in—because I knew that she had done a lot of marketing work for Richard Paul Evans and his books over the years, I figured that she could help me if I asked nicely. That’s when I learned about BookWise, the old BookWise. Karen was doing a lot of work preparing the books to go to print. She was burning the candle at three ends.

One thing she could sweep off her plate was the print production. Well hey, there I was, an expert print manager walking right through her door. Since that day I have helped her with the printing side, and she’s been helping me with my writing. I tell you this because I have a special interest in BookWise. BookWise sends me business and they like me so much that my bio appears on their website as the printing expert. I don’t mind. I am an expert and I do consult with them on their printing needs, but I am not an employee nor owner of the company.

The question you should be asking right now is, “Is Bill Ruesch’s opinion of BookWise tainted?” The answer is yes, but that doesn’t make it wrong.  I encourage any self-publishing authors reading this to contact BookWise Publishing, compare their expertise, check their prices, and be prepared to be very impressed. They will be happy to give you the names and contact info of some of their authors so you can hear their testimonials. These are real people and they won’t pull any punches. This is a relatively small, intimate group of new authors who love to get together 2 or 3 times a year at Book Camps in Salt Lake City (and once a year at Book Expo America) to rub shoulders with each other and perfect their craft.

Don’t believe everything you read on the Internet.

BookWise Publishing isn’t just another me-too author’s production resource group. It has the talent, connections, and brains to become a real force in the traditional and independent publishing worlds for years to come. Watch them and see for yourselves.

by Bill Ruesch

If you have the creative ability to write a book you already have the fundamental skills necessary to sell the book.

What you may not have is self-confidence.

Three book marketing truths worthy of careful consideration:

• Books don’t sell themselves. Despite what you may believe, books are sold by people not bookstores. Even the Bible, the best selling book in history, has to be sold. You don’t believe it? What are they doing in churches every week? Promoting the reading of the bible which increases sales. Think of divinity schools as bible sales training for ministers.

• Who has the most to gain and the most to lose if your book fails? Come on, if you don’t have the answer to this one, you probably believe that denial is a river in Africa (sorry, it’s an old joke and I just couldn’t resist tossing it in).

• Your book is your baby–who loves it the most? You gave birth to this book. You know what you had to go through to bring it into this world. Who, but you, will be its most powerful spokesman?

To Start You Don’t Have to Look Any Further than Your Own Backyard.

In addition to confidence, what is the single most important ability you as writer already possess to move your book?

Creativity

I read a story some years ago about a young copywriter applying for a job at an advertising agency. The competition for the position was brisk and he knew it, so instead of mailing in the typical resume he boxed up a can of dog food with a note attached that read, “Please hire me so I don’t have to eat any more of this.”

He got the job.

You can tap the creative marvel inside of you. You proved that by producing a book. Now is the time to dig deep into that same genius that spawned the book and create a way to promote it. The competition is brisk (see blog post, 15 Stacks of Books Taller than the Empire State Building, what can you do to rise above the pack and get noticed?

Remember from the last post that enough books are published in the US every year to build 15 stacks of books taller than the Empire State Building. Where will your book be in a stack if you don’t noticed? If you sit by the phone waiting for Oprah to call–forget about it!

Being creative DOES NOT mean to disregard the usual book marketing methods like arranging book signing events, getting yourself on TV and/or radio, utilizing social networking avenues, selling your book to family and friends. Don’t dismiss selling to family and friends. It may feel awkward or uncomfortable, but I figured out that if I could pre-sell 100 copies of my upcoming book, Whistlin’ Salamander, it would just about cover my upfront expenses. I have enough personal associations to accomplish this first goal. What about you?

We at The Red Hen Association would love to hear from you about your personal experiences. What unusual methods have you employed to bring your book to the forefront? How successful was it? You can add your comments to the comment section at the end of this post, or email me at bill@redhenassociation.com.

A Chicken Scratchings reader expressed frustration over hiring a professional editor to fix the problems with his manuscript before self-publishing the book. When the book was printed the author found several typos that he thought the editor should have caught. Was he right or wrong?

I can shed some light on the subject; after all I’ve been in printing and publishing for 35+ years.

1.  Typos are like car accidents – no matter what you do to prevent them they still happen. The first car accident on record happened in Ohio in 1891. Since there probably wasn’t another automobile in sight the driver hit a hitching post (no one knows if alcohol was involved). Even though there weren’t enough cars in existence to have a crash, a crash still occurred. Typos will happen. That doesn’t mean you should ignore them. No. You should make every effort to find and crush them, but to save yourself some grief, just remember, you probably won’t succeed.

I read a blurb in a trade magazine years ago where one of the major dictionary publishers said that they go through  132 proofing steps every time there is a new edition, and they still find errors. That doesn’t mean authors should slough off grammar mistakes and typos, but they shouldn’t beat themselves up over it either. Just be sure to fix it before the next printing.

2.  What you need is a divided personality. Except for a professional athlete perhaps, does anyone have a bigger ego than an author? If we didn’t believe in the value of what we write we wouldn’t write at all. We’ve worked hard to hone our skills and we believe that our book is a jewel just waiting to be discovered. Self-confidence is not a bad thing until it gets in our way. It is hard to see a dangerous pothole in the road when we are blinded by the headlights of our own egos. How many people try out for American Idol believing that they can sing and go away defeated and insulted when faced with the truth. We’ve all picked up books that are so bad we wonder how they ever got published. Before you trick yourself into believing something untrue, seek professional input.

3.  Never, never, never send your book off to print without professional editing. I don’t care how good you are, no one, and I mean no one, should try to edit their own book. As human beings we all have a kind of blindness associated with our writing. Our wonderful, creative minds generate the words we put on the page. This same mind can look at a sentence we’ve written with an error in it and we will mentally correct the mistake so that it passes by totally unseen by us.

A writer who deems himself/herself able to edit his/her own book is like the attorney who represents himself in court. The attorney has a fool for a client and so does the author. I know, it isn’t easy to let someone tamper with your baby. Carefully consider your choice of editors. Select one you respect enough so that if they call your baby ugly, you may not agree, but you’ll be inclined to listen.

4.  What is the editor’s job? That’s a good question and the answer is — it depends. Don’t ask for a light edit or proofreading only unless you have had a heavy edit first. Proofreaders check for punctuation, spelling errors, and standard grammar usage. Heavy Editing or Copy editing involve such things as checking sentence structure, diction, sense (vagueness), mixed metaphors, use of passive voice, and flow.  Ghost Writing and Book Doctoring involve something more intense. This type of editor will analyze the book and make the changes or write the copy if the author isn’t skilled. When should you call in a Book Doctor? If you know your skills are weak call one in at the very beginning, or if during heavy editing it becomes obvious that major structural changes need to take place.

Is that all? Not hardly, there are technical editors, indexers, photo editors, acquisition editors, etc. What an author needs to take into consideration is that publishing a book is a complicated and difficult task. No matter how professional the editorial team is, no one is perfect. Mistakes will be made, but everything is correctable. After all, printing is just ink on paper.

5.  You have only yourself to blame if you don’t carefully select your editors. If you are being traditionally published you don’t have a choice. Self-publishers on the other hand are required to choose unless they go to one of those Internet book mills. You know the places who advertise low prices, speedy production, and quality work? If they can put their services on sale you can bet that their services are bottom of the barrel. Don’t let your precious baby toddle off into the lackadaisical arms of strangers. They may seem very nice, but if your book never gets a chance because it is sub-standard it doesn’t matter how nice the people were, or how low the price was, does it? Don’t cut yourself short.

The God’s-honest-truth is that most self-published books are sub-standard. The Red Hen Association has been formed in part to help and encourage authors improve their quality. If self-publishing is ever going to break into the mainstream we will have to overwhelm it with quality books. Otherwise, we self-publishers will be forever viewed as second rate.

Yesteryear's Posse

It may seem odd to use a word like posse in connection with self-publishing a book especially since in today’s parlance it has come to mean a group of sycophants following the latest glistening celebrity. He who has the most toadies wins. No, I’m thinking more in terms of the Old West when the Sheriff sent out a call for citizen help and good, qualified people gathered to track down and capture the bad guy. They formed a team–a team on a mission–a mission to save the town and protect the womenfolk.

There will be some that disagree with me, and they will have a point, but trying to be the Lone Ranger when self-publishing is a hard road, even still, with the  exception of ePublishing, at the very least a self-publisher will need a printer. How many authors, besides Benjamin Franklin, are able to write and print books? Your desktop printer doesn’t count.

The typical self-publishers book posse consists of these:

• Content Editor (checks for plot flow, and sense–also accuracy of detail)
• Grammatical Editor (looks for typos, grammatical errors, etc.)
• Permissions Editor (checks the author’s right to use quoted or other material)
• Technical Editor (generally for non-fiction works to make sure the technical details are correct)
• Proofreader (proofreading is a skill that requires extraordinary attention to detail. The more eyes on it, the better.)
• Layout artist (takes raw copy and shapes it by selecting fonts, watching for functionality and ease of reading, margins, headers, pagination, etc.)
• Graphic Designer (Primarily for cover design. The objective a great book with a great cover.)
• Production Coordinator/Manager (This person brings it all together. They are the deputy in your posse. They assist in gathering the posse, getting pricing, arranging for shipping, etc.)
• Printing Broker (Serves as the posse’s guide seeking printers who provide the best value. Brokers, unlike company employees, have no self-interest in the transaction, and should there be problems can intercede in your behalf.)
• Printer (A good printer is GOLD, but you need to be careful, especially in this economic climate. Printers are hungry and as a result are going after any work they can get. Just because a printer can do, a job doesn’t mean that they are the best choice.)

After the book has been produced, you’ll need these for your posse:

• Distributor (makes sure book orders are shipped on time and at minimal cost)
• Warehouse/Storage (Where will the books be housed?)
• Marketing (Book sales don’t happen by themselves. What plans do you have to market the book? Who will help? What will you do?)
• Public Relations (includes press releases, interviews, book reviews, etc.)
• Travel Assistant (someone to help you coordinate speaking trips)
• Information Technology ( the Internet is critical–good IT people are a necessity)

Many of these people can serve in multiple ways. You, as the author, will take on many of the roles, and some will be filled family members or close friends, but be careful in your choices. Just because you have a nephew who can draw pretty well, doesn’t mean he has the skill to layout your book or create a K.O. cover. Here is where it gets tricky–be honest with yourself, are you knowledgeable enough to judge? Some of the worst books out there, the kind traditional publishers despise, come from potentially good authors who didn’t have the sense to hire experts. To them the book is incredible, but to a trained eye, it may be a wreck. Pay for professional advice and follow it, even if it takes you out of your comfort zone.

In coming posts I intend to describe the jobs of each of the posse members in greater detail and provide tips on finding and selecting the best ones.

A book that doesn’t sell is  landfill. We don’t need more landfill–what we need are books that get into the hands of readers. Social networking has proven to be an excellent way to reach possible readers and buyers, and The Author Platform (TAP) has developed a step-by-step program for authors to learn the ropes. Just click here to go to TAP and check it out for yourself.

1. Vanity Publishing

In my last post, I tried to make a distinction between vanity publishing and self-publishing. I also tried, with limited success, to convince the readers that the very word vanity is insulting. What I don’t understand and I hope someone will explain it to me, is why authors, particularly those who paid their dues and know how difficult it is to succeed in publishing, would want to continue labeling other authors with the demeaning term vanity.

Just because an author wants to print and distribute a book to a limited audience doesn’t make them vain.  Family histories, poetry, even cookbooks usually come about as a labor of love. I thought about Love Publishing as a possibility and then decided it would probably be misinterpreted as an euphemism for romance or sex.

Instead I suggest that we re-name this type of publishing as limited. Limited Publishing instead of vanity is kinder, and really more accurate, don’t you agree?

2. Self-Publishing

New authors are vulnerable and there are plenty of people just waiting to fleece them. Whether they are wolves or knaves doesn’t really matter–the point is RUN away from them as fast as you can.

I have nothing but scorn for those publishing businesses that prey on the dreams of new authors to tap their wallets and bleed them dry. There is an abundance of trip-ups and traps in alternative publishing. One tip-off is praise that is too lavish. Once they say the book will only need light editing–watch out.  Stephen King in his Author’s Note at the end of his recent book Dome, wrote “Nan Graham edited the book down from the original dinosaur to a beast of slightly more manageable size; every page of the manuscript was marked with her changes.”  If Stephen King requires heavy editing, what do you suppose a fledgling author might need?

Many claim that they will produce your book and market it through catalogs or other means.  Authors write to me about using these services and discovering, too late, that they are just a number, a notch in the publisher’s belt. After signing on the dotted line and paying their fees they were turned over to employees with questionable skills.  One author told me that when speaking with a graphic designer she was told to peruse clip art and select her own graphic for the cover.

This author sent me a copy of her book. I read it cover-to-cover because I wanted to know for myself if it was a worthy book. It was. It was an excellent book. The cover art, however, violated all of the basic rules of good graphic design. It utilized four different type fonts, and the graphic was a small smiley face. The design fought the intention of the book. The book’s message was serious and the cover was silly. There were other problems with the inside layout too. So the author paid good money to get her book produced and she should have kept it in the bank instead. Remember no one will buy your book if they can’t get past the cover.

Don’t, please don’t, place your precious manuscript into the hands of publishing grist mills who hire the incompetent, the unknowledgeable, or inexperienced just to keep their costs down.

A bargain price should be your first tip-off. When they offer you a special deal or are having a sale, run the other way. These companies do not care about you or your book, their only concern is that you give them money and they produce it as cheaply as possible so they can maximize their profits.

If your ultimate goal is to someday sell your self-published book to a traditional publisher, you won’t impress anyone if your book appears to be sub-par. Doesn’t your book deserve the best chance of success you can give it?

Last Saturday I presented a workshop at the Toastmasters District 15 fall convention. I called it Every Speaker Needs a Book. It is the truth; every speaker does need a book. If someone is going to stand before you in the capacity of “expert,” don’t you have the right to know that they are qualified?

We are living in a new age of publishing. We are seeing the rapid rise of the self-publisher. I liken it to the changes in the music business during the 1960’s. It started with Rock and Roll. This new music hit the music industry so quickly and so hard that the entrenched establishment couldn’t wrap their minds around it. Then came the Beatles, and the British Invasion. Every album the Beatles cut redefined the genre. Music experienced an era of creativity pushing up from the grassroots (no pun intended for the band called Grassroots). Every high school in the country had at least two or three starry eyed groups practicing in their parent’s basements or garages.

60's World Shakers

I try to imagine myself in the position of a record executive. Music is flooding in from everywhere. Groups with strange names, strange sounds, and strange behaviors are climbing the charts. What do I do? I can get on-board or try to wait out the insanity. The problem is that I don’t have any point of reference. There isn’t a definition of Rock and Roll. Almost anything goes. So, what do I do? I shrug and open the studios to just about everyone, hoping to find something the boomer kids will buy.

Today the floodgates are open in publishing. Why? Big changes in book print production have created this new era. In the past traditional publishers held all the strings. The cost for an author to go it alone was prohibitive to anyone but the rich. If someone decided to self-publish, their efforts were tagged  with the derogatory title of vanity publishing.

The rise of computer’s word processors and the development of digital printing have made it so reasonably priced that almost anyone could get in the game. Furthermore, there are e-books, and audio books. Finally, the Boomer Generation has grown up and there are millions, upon millions of people that think it would be groovy to write a book. As a boomer myself, I can tell you that our generation loved the spotlight. We marched, we rallied, we protested. We got our pictures in the paper when we did something completely egregious. Boomer was probably the right name because we were loud, intrusive, and obnoxious.

The boomers are the right people to lead the publishing revolution. We have never been satisfied with status quo. We are self-reliant, and don’t really trust the establishment. We know how to organize. The tribe of boomers is enormous and powerful.

If you get the idea that I am in favor of this revolution, you are right. I am in awe of what is transpiring. The Internet, Computers, Alternative Publishing methods, have breached the dam and I’m sure this is just the beginning.

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breathe in the ancient wisdom

I stirred up a lot of conversation with my blog post titled, “How Can You Call an eBook a Real Book?” Most of the chatter was on LinkedIn through the writing and publishing groups I belong to. I was very surprised to read comments from  self-confessed, dyed-in-the-wool printed book advocates who are becoming wobbly on the issue. Don’t throw in the towel yet.

eBooks have already seized our minds and our imaginations. The possibilities are incredible, all except one. Yesterday I tried to pull up a document on my computer. A dialogue box popped up that said the file had become corrupted. It suggested some ways to fix the file–none of them worked–so, I’m left with reconstructing the document. If I can.

What was here one moment is, whoosh, gone the next. I’m sure if I call my service tech at the Bomb Squad he could find it by going through the mysterious back doors. These are the places us mere mortals dare not tread. To go in there, even for a peek, could set up a chain reaction that might destroy the entire planet. It is not worth the risk. I have to weigh my options carefully, do I bring in the Bomb Squad and spend money I don’t have, or try to reconstruct the document, or let it go, like a loose kite floating endlessly and aimlessly through cyberspace?

Do you understand where I am going with this? Permanence is the question. Books whether written on stone tablets, sheepskin, papyrus, cotton paper, or wood pulp stock have passed the test of time. Doggone it–they last. They may not stay in tip-top condition, but they have longevity.

How long will your computer hold files intact until they start getting iffy, weeks, months, or years?  I expect to see eBooks purchased by the average buyer as having a comparable short shelf life. If the computer gremlins don’t get them, technology changes will. I have a book of poetry by Ralph Waldo Emerson in my library which must be at least 125 years old. The paper is brittle, and the binding is weak, but I can pick it up and read it anytime I want. No dialogue box will appear in my hand saying sorry the file is corrupt. Many of my other books are older than 40 years, even the cheap paperbacks. In a world where the average computer is ancient in five years, the possibility of a file hanging around for even 20 years is ludicrous.

The bottom line is electronic books are risky. You will have to replace them regularly if you want to keep them viable, or just get used to losing much of your collection each and every year. Now you see it–now you don’t. Paper to the people!