{"id":724,"date":"2010-02-08T05:24:58","date_gmt":"2010-02-08T13:24:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/publishingblog\/?p=724"},"modified":"2010-02-08T05:24:58","modified_gmt":"2010-02-08T13:24:58","slug":"the-successful-authors-handbook","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/publishingblog\/?p=724","title":{"rendered":"The Successful Author’s Handbook"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today\u2019s blog entry is excerpted from my latest book\u2014an ebook: The Successful Author\u2019s Handbook<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Do you have an amazing life story that\u2019s just burning to be told? Did you overcome a major obstacle and hope to share it with the world? Are you an expert in your field and you want to educate others? Or have you always dreamed of writing a novel? <\/p>\n

According to a Jenkins Group 2002 survey, eighty-one percent of Americans believe they have a book in them. And technology has made it possible for more of us to actually write and produce our books. Sadly, most authors fail. Why? They approach the publishing industry all wrong.<\/p>\n

Few first-time authors understand that while writing is a craft, publishing is a business and a published book is a product. As an author in today\u2019s highly competitive publishing climate, it is imperative that you follow some measure of publishing protocol. What if you disregard this advice and bring your book out on a whim, hoping for bestseller status? It could happen. But it is highly unlikely. Here are some statistics to help you see the bigger picture: <\/p>\n

In 2006, RR Bowker, the keeper of publishing data, recorded 291,290 new books published that year. There were around 1.5 million books in print. Ten of those titles in print sold a million or more copies in 2006. A whopping 948,000 of them (or over seventy-six percent) sold fewer than 100 copies. (As I understand it, these figures exclude self-published books, those published through \u201cpay-to-publish\u201d companies, text books and other books that are not in the mainstream.) <\/p>\n

For the 2008 tally, Bowker announced that there were 560,026 books produced. This includes self-published and pay-to-publish books. Only 275,232 of those books were from traditional royalty publishing houses.<\/p>\n

The sad truth is that, while technology makes it easier for ordinary citizens to become published authors, it has created an arena of failure for most of them. <\/p>\n

A typical hopeful author will spend months and sometimes years writing his memoir or the novel of his dreams. He lovingly completes it and then turns it over to the best editor he knows\u2014a high school PE teacher, a 1957 college graduate or a neighbor with a large vocabulary. He then jumps on the Internet in search of a publisher. Bingo! Google brings up a whole list of publishers seeking manuscripts\u2014any manuscript. These publishers offer to help authors \u201cself-publish\u201d their books. His is accepted right away. All he has to do is send money\u2014in some cases, lots of it. And when the book is finally published, the author is invited to purchase as many copies as he wants. I refer to these as \u201cpay-to-publish\u201d companies. You might know them by names such as iUniverse, AuthorHouse, Xlibris and Infinity. (This list represents just a fraction of all pay-to-publish companies.) <\/p>\n

It doesn\u2019t take this disillusioned author long to discover that, contrary to what he remembers reading in the publishing contract, his book will not be sold through bookstores. In fact, the only books that sell from this point on, are those that he hand-sells to family, friends and a few neighbors. If he\u2019s lucky, sales will number around 200, or so\u2014maybe generating enough revenue to pay the publishing bill. Most are not that fortunate.<\/p>\n

This example, fellow authors, is a good representation of the thousands of authors who fail every year.<\/p>\n

So how does one experience success as an author? There are two simple steps. <\/p>\n

Step Number One: Study the Publishing Industry.
\n\u2022\tRead books by publishing professionals such as Patricia Fry, Dan Poynter, Brian Jud and Marilyn Ross.
\n\u2022\tRead magazines about the industry, in particular, Publisher\u2019s Weekly, (subscribe to their free ezine, www.publishersweekly.com) and SPAWN Market Update (for members of Small Publishers, Artists and Writers Network, www.spawn.org.)
\n\u2022\t Attend writing and publishing conferences. Locate conferences at http:\/\/shawguides.com or do a Google search to find conferences near you.
\n\u2022\tJoin publishers\u2019 organizations, such as SPAWN (Small Publishers, Artists and Writers Network) www.spawn.org; IBPA (The Independent Book Publishers Association) www.ibpa-online.org and SPAN (Small Publishers of North America) www.spannet.org. <\/p>\n

There\u2019s much more where this came from. Let me know if you\u2019d like to see more excerpts. And keep in mind that, while this news seems a little disheartening, it is nothing compared to how disheartened you will feel if you take your book project down the wrong publishing road without a reliable map.<\/p>\n

Order your copy of The Successful Author\u2019s Handbook <\/em><\/strong>(an ebook) here:
\n http:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/successful_author_handbook.html<\/a><\/p>\n

Leave your comments or questions here.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today\u2019s blog entry is excerpted from my latest book\u2014an ebook: The Successful Author\u2019s Handbook Do you have an amazing life story that\u2019s just burning to be told? Did you overcome a major obstacle and hope to share it with the world? Are you an expert in your field and you want to educate others? Or […]<\/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