When should you start learning something about the publishing industry? At what point do you need to educate yourself?<\/p>\n
Typically, a hopeful author will write a book\u2014complete a manuscript\u2014and then try to figure out how to get it published. They use what little knowledge they\u2019ve gathered to that point and make important decisions that sometimes cost them quite a bit of money.<\/p>\n
What comes next? For most of these authors, failure. Why? Because they didn\u2019t take the time to learn enough about the industry and their options to make an educated decision. Many new authors go with the first company whose reps express an interest in their novel, memoir, or nonfiction book.<\/p>\n
Some of them pay exorbitant amounts of money for marketing packages and are left wondering what happened\u2014why they aren\u2019t selling books. Here\u2019s one such scam that at least one pay-to-publish company runs. They charge their authors something like $3,000 to sit for an hour at a book festival and give their books away\u2014FREE.<\/p>\n
The fact is, that most marketing packages offered by pay-to-publish companies are not worth much. You might pay for a mass mailing that isn\u2019t exactly targeted. Hundreds or thousands of people might receive an email promoting your book, but only a fraction of them might be even remotely interested in your book\u2019s topic or genre.<\/p>\n
Before signing with any publishing company, do your homework. First, educate yourself about the industry and book marketing. Once you understand that you will be responsible for promoting your book no matter what publishing option you choose, you may look at your options differently. Once you understand the concept of book promotion, you will definitely make different choices.<\/p>\n
There are many ways to learn about the publishing industry. Here\u2019s what I recommend: Read my book, Publish Your Book, available at amazon.com in print, audio, and for your Kindle. Or order it here: http:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/PublishYourBook.html<\/a> Also join writers and authors groups, attend lectures, sign up for a writers conference near you and attend all of the workshops. Listen with an open mind.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When should you start learning something about the publishing industry? At what point do you need to educate yourself? Typically, a hopeful author will write a book\u2014complete a manuscript\u2014and then try to figure out how to get it published. They use what little knowledge they\u2019ve gathered to that point and make important decisions that sometimes […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t