Writing and Publishing News from

April 6, 2011

An Author’s Blog Post for a Drizzly Wednesday

Filed under: Authorship — Patricia @ 4:20 am

Book Festivals and You
If you are planning to participate in a book festival this spring, be sure to read my article in the Book Promotion Newsletter this morning on “How to Work a Book Festival so it Works for You.” http://www.bookpromotionnewsletter.com

If you aren’t planning to take your book to a book festival, read it anyway and maybe you will be convinced to do so—it’s a great way to sell books and get exposure.


An Author With a Professional Attitude
Oh there is just so much going on here in the Patricia Fry and Matilija Press offices…

I am proud to say that I am working with a most savvy author. She is taking my book proposal course. Right off the bat—right out of the chute—she has recognized that the book she wanted to write may not be the most useful or potentially successful book she could write. Because of the material in the course, she realizes that her original idea isn’t such a good idea, after all. And she is now putting energies into researching the market to determine which direction she could and should take her book. Now this is a professional attitude.

No matter the direction she goes with her project, it is still going to be a niche book. But she now understands something about how to evaluate the potential for a book and is working hard to discover what is lacking in her niche and where she could bring the most value.

Patricia Fry’s Attitude About Editing
I’ve been asked to write something about how I got into editing for a book that will come out probably in the fall. I thought you might be interested in something I wrote for this piece. Here is one of my insights:

“I love editing. There’s a sense of satisfaction in calming chaotic sentences, creating a better flow in a story, giving thoughts and ideas more power, discovering the real meaning in a disorganized presentation and giving authors’ messages more clarity. I delight in helping the author shine.”

Learn more about me and my work here:
http://www.patriciafry.com

Check out my array of books and find tons of resources here:
http://www.matilijapress.com

April 5, 2011

The Little North Carolina Writers’ Club That Could

Filed under: Authorship — Patricia @ 4:46 am

I spent the weekend in North Carolina. I had the pleasure of attending the Carolinas Writers Conference in Wadesboro, which attracted somewhere around 150 writers.

Have members of your writers’ group ever thought about putting on something like this—an event that offers information for hopeful authors and supports literacy in your area? Maybe you don’t believe you could pull it off because you have no money in your treasury or because you lack wo/man power. Let me tell you that this successful, well-attended conference was organized by a writers group of ten members. They went out and got sponsors and were able to rent a conference hall, do some advertising, arrange for a little food, pay keynote speakers’ fees, compensate their workshop leaders and even take care of the cost of housing for out-of-town presenters.

Ten enthusiastic, hard-working men and women pulled off a highly successful program in a very small community and managed to help fellow writers to become more informed, meet other writers at all stages of their craft and, hopefully, make fewer mistakes along their publishing paths. And registration for these writers and hopeful authors was free.

It was a good group of people. The presentations and workshops were varied and valuable. There was even one young man of 16 who talked about his experiences as a published author. He published his first in a series of fantasy stories when he was 14.

Omar Tyree spoke eloquently about his publishing path and on behalf of literacy. Robert Macomber talked about authorship. There were workshop leaders speaking on how to become number one at Amazon, history writing, memoir writing and many other topics. I held the attention of a group totaling around 40 for nearly two hours as I spoke about steps to successful publishing. (By the time I had completed my talk, there were around 120 in the room.

Today, while sitting around at the court house with other members of the jury pool (yes, I’m doing jury duty today), among other things, I’ll be writing a note to the members of the small club who made a big difference for many hopeful authors in North Carolina over the weekend by providing them with the information, networking opportunities and resources they need in order to succeed. Thank you Karen, Beverly, Rufus, Sandy, Katherine, Dorothy and the other hard-working members.

If you would like to have a copy of the handout I present for my presentations, let me know: PLFry620@yahoo.com.

Also visit my websites, sign up for one of my online courses, buy a book (I wrote them for YOU), sign up for a FREE copy of 50 Reasons Why You Should Write That Book, check out my resources pages…

http://www.matilijapress.com
http://www.patriciafry.com

April 4, 2011

The Best Ways to Get Your Self-Published Book Into Print

Filed under: Publishing — Patricia @ 4:40 am

Good morning everyone. Today’s blog post is courtesy of Sue Collier. See her bio below.

You’ve written your manuscript and you’ve decided that self-publishing is your best option for getting into print. What’s your next step?

A Google search on “self-publishing” or “POD self-publishing” will bring up ads and websites for companies like iUniverse, AuthorHouse, Trafford, Xlibris, and Outskirts Press. Unfortunately, not one of those companies will enable you to actually “self” publish. All are vanity presses masquerading as self-publishers. Most serious self-publishers who plan to make a profit should steer clear. Why?

The main reason is that these companies are simply a “middleman” between you and the print-on-demand printer they use (usually Lightning Source). These companies mark up their printing costs, then pay you a small percentage of sales (they call it a “royalty). This also usually inflates the price of the book, often so much so it’s impossible to be competitive with other books in the same genre.
Something else most authors don’t realize—often until it’s too late—is that these companies are the publisher of record on their books. Hence, the books are not self-published. And once you’ve got the Outskirts Press—or others of their ilk—imprint on your book, it’s like the kiss of death in the publishing world. The books are generally expected to be poorly edited and are usually badly designed. Sales are dismal—less than 50 copies might be sold (and usually those are sold to the author).

To truly self-publish and to make the most profit from your book, you need to be the publisher of record. You can do that by buying your own block of ISBN (International Standard Book Number) from Bowker. Having your own ISBNs now makes it possible for you to go to a POD (or offset) printer directly—no middleman required. You’ll need to start up a publishing company—not nearly as complicated as it sounds—because Bowker (as well as Lightning Source—more on that later) works with publishers not authors.

Once you’ve got your publishing company name and ISBNs, then what? Your best bet is to find professionals to help you with the book production process so you can take the book to a printer yourself. Ask around to other authors who have truly self-published to see who they’ve used. You’ll definitely want to hire an editor to edit your book and a graphic artist to design your book cover; skimping on these two areas may mean a significantly lower quality book. Outfits such as Outskirts, AuthorHouse, and the like offer these services, but they are almost always poorly done. Books are often full of errors and covers tend to be your choice of a picture and a font (so another book could have your exact same cover with a different title). These books are pretty much unmarketable; even worse, they may put the author’s reputation at risk.

Once your book is ready for print (either ebook or paper book) I recommend either CreateSpace (owned by Amazon.com) or Lightning Source (owned by wholesale giant Ingram). Many self-publishers think they need to work with an outfit such as Lulu or Fast Pencil in order to get their books printed digitally (POD); that’s not true. Both CreateSpace and Lightning Source work directly with self-publishers—no middleman required. A 200-page book would cost $9.30 to manufacture at Fast Pencil; the same book costs only $3.50 at Lightning Source. Why spend almost $6 more per book?
I’ll be self-publishing Jump Start Your Books Sales, 2nd Edition, this summer, and my plan is to go to Lightning Source. Although they have higher setup fees than CreateSpace, they offer better distribution to the trade. If you only want to sell your books through Amazon and you plan to release just one title, CreateSpace might be your best bet.

Educate yourself on exactly what you are getting into before you sign any dotted lines. Make sure you understand the difference between subsidy publishing and true self-publishing before deciding on your best way to get your book into print.

Self-publishing expert SUE COLLIER is coauthor of The Complete Guide to Self-Publishing,5th Edition (Writer’s Digest Books, 2010) and the forthcoming Jump Start Your Books Sales, 2nd Edition (Communication Creativity, 2011). She has been working with authors and small presses for nearly two decades, providing writing, editing, production, and promotions work for hundreds of book projects. Visit her self-publishing blog at Self-Publishing Resources.

April 1, 2011

An Author’s Responsibilities

Filed under: Authorship — Patricia @ 2:15 am

I’m flying out to North Carolina today to the Carolina’s Writers’ Conference in Wadesboro. I will luck out—the weather, it appears—is the same there as it will be here this week—mid to high 70s during the day. So there will be no need to carry a heavy coat. Of course, there is often a chill inside during these events because of the air conditioning. So a jacket or sweater will be part of my ensemble.

I’m speaking tomorrow on how to take charge of your book’s success. I hope to instill in attendees the importance of heads-up attention to their projects throughout the writing process and beyond. I will talk about how to produce a viable product rather than simply a nice little book. I will urge them to study the publishing industry and to learn more about their project and how it will fit in with the competition by writing a book proposal.

I can only hope that the authors and hopeful authors will hear me when I say that publishing is not an extension of their writing—it is a fiercely competitive business and should be approached as such.

Here is my tip list reflecting an author’s responsibilities. I recommend that you take time with each tip so that you fully understand their significance.

1: Write the right book for the right audience.

2: Keep your audience in mind as you write.

3: Study the publishing industry so you know how to approach it with your project.

4: Write a book proposal. This is your business plan for your book.

5: Study your publishing options and choose the one that is best for you and for your book.

6: Establish your author’s platform and continue building on it.

7: Understand that you are responsible for promoting your book no matter which publishing option you choose. And that your book will sell for as long as you continue promoting it.

Each of these ideas could be expanded into articles—in some cases, complete books. If you would like more information about any one of these 7 points, let me know and I’ll design a blog post around that topic.

In the meantime, there will be no blog post here for the next two days. I will resume my daily blogging on Monday, April 4.

March 31, 2011

How Does an Author Prepare for a Speech?

Filed under: Public Speaking — Patricia @ 5:12 am

I’ve been working on a speech that I’m presenting at the Carolinas Writers’ Conference this weekend. My method of practicing a speech is to recite it while I’m walking. So I walk more when I have a speech in the works. And the weather here in California is certainly cooperating. We’ve had gorgeous, warm days this week in which to walk.

I don’t memorize my speeches. My concern is with the timing and organization. I know the material. I want to be sure to deliver it in a logical manner within the time limit. I want to cover everything that I feel needs to be covered adequately. So I take my speech notes out walking.

The words might be different each time I go over the speech—and the actual presentation might not closely resemble the original walking speeches. But I manage to cover the important material and that’s what’s important.

How do you practice for your presentations? Do you have any quirky, unusual methods of remembering key points—of preparing to face an audience? Or do you speak off the cuff.

I might adlib when I’m scheduled to speak for half an hour or so. Then, I would probably be covering one topic, such as, “What are your publishing options?” “What are the 5 best book promotion activities?” “What are the steps to a successful book signing?” and so forth.

But when I am conducting a workshop or speaking for an hour or more, and I will be covering several topics—the basics of publishing, your publishing options, steps to successful publishing and book promotion—I need to organize the talk in my mind.

It’s actually similar to the way I write. When I write my daily blog, I might just start with a topic and run with it. If I’m going to write a long, more detailed article or a book, I feel a need to organize the material so I have a specific direction before I head out.

Did I tell you that I am writing a book for authors who want to go out and speak about the topic of their books? Let me know if you want to be notified when it is available. It will be an ebook—probably under thirty pages and the cost will be around $5.00. PLFry620@yahoo.com (if you want me to let you know when it is available).

March 30, 2011

Need Help Writing Your Book Proposal?

Filed under: Book Proposals — Patricia @ 5:17 am

I’ve started a new Book Proposal Course today. It will be held every Wednesday for 8 weeks and you don’t even have to get out of your jammies to attend. This is an online course on how to write a more successful book proposal. There is still time to sign up. Go to http://www.matilijapress.com/course_bookproposal.htm

Why write a book proposal? If you hope to land a traditional royalty publisher for your fiction or nonfiction book, it is likely that you will need a book proposal. But the main reason to write one BEFORE you write your nonfiction book and BEFORE you complete your novel or children’s book is for YOU. A book proposal will tell you whether or not you have a viable product as well as who your true audience is and how to reach them. You will learn something about your platform and how to build on it—strengthen it. You will be required to create a marketing plan, so you’ll know how to proceed with book promotion once your book is a book.

Let me walk you through the book proposal process. This could make the difference between success and failure.

One of my book proposal students discovered through the course that she was writing the wrong book for the wrong audience. She changed her focus in midstream and ended up landing a book contract with Houghton-Mifflin. Not too shabby, right?

If you’ve written a good book proposal, but you need help recognizing and building on your platform, sign up for my brand new course, “Establish Your Author’s Platform.” http://www.matilijapress.com/course_platform.htm

March 29, 2011

NEW Book—FREE E-Booklets for Authors

Filed under: Announcements,E-Books — Patricia @ 6:10 am

There’s lots popping in the offices of Matilija Press and Patricia Fry.

New Book on Public Speaking for Authors
For those of you who don’t know, Matilija Press is my publishing company which I formed in 1983. I’m getting ready to add book number 34 to my list of published books. This one is going to be for authors who want to go out and speak as a way to promote their books. Is there anyone out there who would appreciate some friendly support along these lines? Do you want to know how to conduct yourself while speaking, how to find venues where you can speak on behalf of your nonfiction or even fiction book, how to conduct an in-person interview, how to get involved in appropriate conferences related to the topic or genre of your book, the best way to rehearse your speech, how to create more interesting presentations, etc? What else would you like help with related to public speaking for authors? Let me know so I can include it. PLFry620@yahoo.com.

This will be a rather compact, no hassle ebook. I’ll make an announcement when it is completed.

Kudos for Patricia Fry
While dining with authors Sunday, I sat next to someone who said, “I heard people talking about the presentation you gave at the library Tuesday.” Of course, this statement piqued my interest. I said, “Pray tell—what were they saying?” She said, “All good. They said they could have sat and listened to you for hours—you were such a wealth of information.”

Good to know. Good to hear. Isn’t it heartening to know that you are helping the very group of people you hope to influence with the information and perspective you share? This is satisfying.

If any of you will be near Wadesboro, NC Saturday, I will be speaking at the Carolina’s Writers’ Conference there that afternoon. http://www.ansoncountywritersclub.org
FREE Booklets for Authors
There has been a flurry of interest in my FREE ebooklet, 50 Reasons Why You Should Write That Book. If you’d like a copy, go to http://www.patriciafry.com and click on the link to this ebooklet.

Another FREE ebooklet you might appreciate comes FREE with your SPAWN enewsletter subscription (which is also FREE). Go to http://www.spawn.org and click where it says, “Click here.” You’ll get a FREE monthly enewsletter brimming with information for authors and freelance writers as well as a FREE ebooklet called, Promote Yourself: 25 Ways to Promote Your Work Whether You’re an Artist, Author or Small Publisher.

http://www.matilijapress.com
http://www.patriciafry.com

March 28, 2011

Sample of a Tip List for Authors

Filed under: Article-Writing,Book Promotion — Patricia @ 4:22 am

Do you attend local author events? You really should, when you get the chance. I heard three authors who are on totally different paths speak at a luncheon yesterday. It is always inspiring and interesting to hear how others approach writing—how their journey to authorship began, where it has led them and where it is likely to take them in the future.

I am reminded that there is no one off-ramp for everyone. And, while professionals like me try to teach hopeful authors the right way to discover publishing success, there are those who are living that success without having experienced the hardships and the disappointments. Are these people simply more patient, more tenacious and, perhaps, lucky?

I invite your take on this subject—post your views in the comments section here:

In the meantime, I promised you an example of a tip list. Here it is? I might send this to magazines for corporate managers, business owners or college students, for example.

Do you dread standing up before your peers? Are you timid about speaking in front of a group Do your presentations lack luster? Here are seven tips that will help you be a better speaker:

1: Be prepared. Know your subject and spend time organizing it so it flows.

2: Develop a strong and pleasant speaking voice. If you need to, hire a voice coach. You can retrain your voice.

3: Learn to speak up so you can be heard. Mumbling isn’t cool.

4: Use vocal variety. Hone this skill by reading to children—use your voice in all of its ranges. Another effective and fun way to develop vocal variety is by joining a storytelling group .

5: Eliminate filler words and phrase such as “uhm,” “er,” “you know,” etc. Avoid connecting sentence after sentence using “and.” It takes practice to change these bad habits, but you can do it. Start by eliminating them from your everyday conversations. Practice, practice.

6: If you are required to read something in public, practice reading it over and over again. Most of us do not come across as natural when we read before a group. This is a skill that needs to be honed.

7: Join a local Toastmasters Club and participate often in order to improve upon your public speaking and communication skills.

That’s the long and the short of a tip list. The point is to offer something of use in a brief list of tips to a segment of people—most often, it is the audience for your book. At the end of the tip list, you would type a brief bio. For this tip list, I might write, “Patricia Fry is the author of several books related to publishing and book promotion. She often speaks to large audiences on these topics. http://www.matilijapress.com

Also visit me at http://www.patriciafry.com

March 27, 2011

Promote Your Book Using Tips Sheets

Filed under: Book Promotion — Patricia @ 4:56 am

Do you recall my blog posts related to the tip sheet? I posted one in June of last year and one in October. Maybe you recall that a tip sheet is a short list of tips that you create on practically any topic for editors of print or online publications.

It’s similar to an article, only it’s brief and succinct. And it is another good way to promote your nonfiction book to your audience while continuing to position yourself as an expert.

Instead of writing in detail about your topic, you simply offer a short list of tips.

Whether you write on weight loss, pet care, volunteering, health issues, fitness, showing rabbits, traveling, how to write poetry, sibling rivalry or hoarding, you should be able to come up with many different tip sheets.

What are the types of tips you could list on a tip sheet? Let’s use volunteering in our example. You could list:

• 10 resources for finding volunteer opportunities
• 5 types of volunteering people do
• 7 attributes of the best volunteers
• 15 types of volunteer opportunities
• 8 ways to choose your volunteering match
• 10 of the best ways to help your community

For the traveling topic you might create tip sheets on the following:

• 10 popular destinations
• 7 packing tips
• 20 tips for traveling with kids
• 10 ways to entertain kids on a plane
• 5 tips for choosing the right luggage
• 15 RV travel tips

Sell your tip sheets (with your brief bio attached) to publications related to the topic of your tips and tweak them to fit regional (they relate to a specific geographic area), general (write them for a more general audience), religious (give them a spiritual edge), senior, parenting and other types of magazines.

Here are a few examples of how to tweak your tip sheets: volunteering for seniors, volunteering for residents of the Midwest states, tips for traveling with your pet, tips for keeping the faith while traveling, how to get a teaching job on a cruise ship and so forth.

Contact me if you need help getting your freelance article-writing business started, writing your book proposal, promoting your book, building your platform or if you are looking for a book editor. I just learned that a client whose query letter I edited and helped her rewrite, has caught the attention of a major publisher. Another client emailed me last week and said that she has now sold over 50,000 copies of her book.

Tomorrow I will post a sample tip sheet.

PLFry620@yahoo.com
Visit my websites: http://www.matilijapress.com
http://www.patriciafry.com

March 26, 2011

Common Publishing Mistakes You Do NOT Want to Make: Part II

Filed under: Publishing — Patricia @ 4:43 am

Today we’re continuing with the seven common mistakes authors make. Here are the last four.

4: Many authors don’t understand publishing terms. Authors will say to me, “I’m self-publishing with ABC Publishing Company.” What they are actually doing is going with a pay-to-publish company. What are your primary publishing options?

Royalty Publisher
A traditional royalty publisher puts up the money for the production of your book and pays you royalties on books sold. These publishers are generally very selective in the books they publish and the authors they sign.

Self-Publishing
Self-publishing means that you establish a publishing company (get a fictitious business name, purchase your own block of ISBNs, etc.). You get your book ready for publication, you hire a printing company, you are responsible for distribution and shipping and you reap all of the profits.

Pay-to-Publish Company
You pay the company to produce your book. Most of these companies will accept any manuscript—they are not generally discriminating. They each enter the publishing arena with very different publishing contracts. It pays to do plenty of research so you know exactly what you’re signing.

5: Newby authors don’t generally solicit advice from professionals until it is too late. Do NOT sign a contract with any publisher or purveyor of publishing services without hiring a literary or intellectual properties attorney. This should go without saying, yet thousands of authors each year bypass this important step.

I also recommend that inexperienced authors talk to other authors who have used the services they are considering. Contact organizations such as SPAWN (Small Publishers, Artists and Writers Network) http://www.spawn.org Ask questions.

6: Uninformed authors blindly sign up for unnecessary services. Some pay-to-publish companies state that they will get your books into bookstore databases and provide a return policy on your books for a fee of around $700-$800.

I have two things to say about that. First, you can get your books listed in bookstore databases nationwide for free. All you have to do is fill out an Advance Book Information (ABI) form. And the listing in Books In Print is free.

Secondly, the return policy that some publishing services are selling their authors is, in my opinion, a huge waste of money. This policy is no more a guarantee that booksellers will carry your book than a nickel guarantees the purchase of a candy bar.

7: Authors neglect to hire an editor.
Many authors, by the time they complete their manuscripts and self-edit it, are more than ready to get it published. Some of them don’t feel they have the money to spend on a professional editor. Some expect to get a good enough editing job through their pay-to-publish company. Still others believe that they don’t need to hire an editor because traditional publishers have editors on staff.

One of the biggest mistakes a hopeful author can make is neglecting to hire a professional editor before approaching publishers of any type. News flash: publishers want to see professionally edited manuscripts and so, by the way, do readers.

If you want to enter into the world of publishing, learn something about the business. Study your options and the ramifications of your choices. Define your responsibilities as a published author. You may still make a few mistakes along the way—we all do, but knowledge will definitely save you money and heartache.

Learn more about Patricia Fry here:
http://www.patriciafry.com
http://www.matilijapress.com

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