Tips for Your Book: Writing, Publishing, Publicizing, and Selling It

Tips for your book: writing, publishing, publicizing, and selling it

Online discussion forums for authors 9 Understanding royalties (any book Aims and audience 9 format) 30 Scheduling 9 For related letters you must write 32 If you have to interview people 10 Self-publishing vs. traditional publishing Dates: publication, street, and release 10 35 Writing the outline and first draft 10 Self-publishing specifically 36 Hiring freelancers (for anything) 17 Traditional publishing houses specifically 68 Editing and proofreading 18 Publicity for both publishing options 100 Intellectual property issues 22 Sales for both publishing options 125 Releasing more books in the future 143 E-books 28 Bibliography 144

Table of Contents in depth

Online discussion forums for authors 9

Aims and audience 9

Scheduling 9

If you have to interview people 10

Dates: Publication, street, and release 10

Writing the outline and first draft 10

Make an outline 10

Writing your first draft 11 Formatting 11 Fonts and size for body and headings 11 Spacing, indenting, and margins 12 1 Opening and ending non-fiction chapters 12 The opening page of the book 12

Keep your points to nine 12

Punctuation and grammar 12 Emphasizing correctly 12 Gender pronoun issue 13 Verb tense for current events 13

Miscellaneous 13 Reviewing others’ scholarly research 13 Measurements 13 Sidebars 13

Front matter 13 Sample copyright page (recto verso) 15

Running heads and first pages of a chapter 15

Referencing 16 Endnotes versus in-text referencing 16 Reference style websites 16 A referencing software program 17 Rear matter 17 Appendices 17 Index 17 The “About the Author" section 17

Hiring freelancers (for anything) 17

What determines the fee 17 Websites for finding one (in general) 18

Editing and proofreading 18

The recommended manual 18 Self-editing checklist 18

Friends, family, and volunteers as editors 19 Taking criticism from them 20

Hiring freelance editors 20

2 Finding them 20 Questions for interviewing them 21 Price 21 Types of editing rounds and their costs 22

Need a technical editor too? 22 Proofread it aloud 22

Intellectual property issues 22

Finding a publishing lawyer 22

Copyright your book and website 23 Keep the copyright in your name 23 Don’t register it too soon 23 Copyrighting work done by freelancers 23 User-generated content on your website 23 Printing overseas for domestic markets? 24 Mention the copyright in your will 24 Copyright websites 24

Getting permission releases from others 24 Sample cover letter for such a release 25 Sample release 26 For photographs and artwork 27

Fair use 27 Websites 27

E-books 28

Creating it 28 Pricing it 28

Distributing and selling it through… 28 …an e-bookstore 28 …your publisher 29 …your own website 29

Reading it 29 An online forum for your e-book questions 29

Royalties (any book format) 30

3 Percentage depends on five factors 30 Mention them in your will 30 The impact of book returns 31

Review each statement 31 Requesting an audit 31

For related letters you must write 32

Paper quality and envelopes 32 Letterhead 32 Common mistakes in letters 33 E-mail etiquette specifically 34

Self-publishing vs traditional publishing 35

Upgrading later on from self-publishing to a traditional publishing house 35

Self-publishing specifically 36

Costs, cover prices, and royalties 37 Expenses unique to this route 37 Factors in setting a price for your book 37 Gauging the proposed royalty 38

Graphic design: Page layout and covers 38 Finding a designer 38 Consider existing covers that you like 38 Websites for finding a designer 38 Visit local art schools 39 Look at the prospects’ own websites 39 Questions for interviewing one 39 Setting a fair price 39

Information to give to your designer 40 Know the book printer’s specifications 40 Paper quality 41 Hardback or paperback 41 Binding the book 41 The spine 41

4 Trim size 41

Your book’s cover 42 Back covers in particular 42

Laying out the interior 43 A helpful website 43 Layout software accepted by printers 43 Using templates 44

Artwork issues 44 Avoid the use of color 44

Charts, diagrams, and other geometric drawings44

Helpful graphic icons 44 Acquiring or taking photographs 44

Stock library websites for photographs and illustrations 45

Pixels-per-inch (ppi) issues 45 File-type issues 45 Sizing and placement 45 Adding figure numbers and captions 45 E-mailing large files (high graphics) 45

Give feedback to the designer 46 Transferring galleys to the book printer 46

Proofing (not proofreading) 46 A checklist to follow 47

Indexing 47 Software versus the human indexer 47 Finding an indexer 47 Guidelines for pricing 48 Information the indexer needs from you 49 Evaluating it 50

Picking any self-publishing firm 50 The contract 51 Copyright 51 Time length 51

No right of first refusal on future books 51

5 Getting paid 51 Returns 51 Audit 52

Selling subsidiary, serial, or foreign rights 52

Termination 53

The identifiers (codes): ISBN, EAN/ UPC, LCCN, and CIP 53

International Standard Book # (ISBN) 53 R.R. Bowker’s Books in Print 54

LCCN (or PCN) number 54 Cataloging-in-Publication data (CIP) 54 EAN and UPC barcodes 55

What info to submit to self-publishing firm 55

Using distributors to get book into stores 56 Baker & Taylor 56 Greenleaf Book Group LLC 56 AtlasBooks Distribution Services 56 An e-book distributor 56 Lists of others 57

The two types of self-publishing 57 POD strengths 57 Offset strengths 57

POD (Print-on-Demand) 57 What an excellent POD company offers 58 Areas where rip-offs occur 58

POD company’s cost of making the book59 Be wary of shady add-on fees 59

Contract issues just for POD companies 60 In general 60 Buying copies to sell to readers 60 Return of your book's production files 60 The actual printing 60

Finding a good POD firm 61

6 Eight outstanding POD firms 61 Also: CreateSpace, Amazon’s POD 61

Online forums to ask POD questions 62 Websites for more info on POD 62

Offset printers 62 Finding reputable ones 62 Getting price quotes 63 Questions to ask 63

First print run 64 Order fulfillment 64 Done by you 64 Types of fulfillment paperwork 64 Taking customer orders 65 Charging sales tax 65 Accepting credit cards 65 PayPal 65 Money orders 65

Receiving the book cartons at home 66 Store the books safely 66

Shipping out the books 66

Done by your printer 67 Done by a third party 67 By Amazon 67 By other firms 67

Websites that define printing terminology 67

Traditional publishing specifically 68

Make a book proposal 68 Its contents 68 Table of contents 68 Overview (summary) 68 Bio 69 Audience 69 Competition 69 Publicity and marketing opportunities 69 Manuscript specifications 70 Chapter-by-chapter outline 70

7 Sample chapters 70

Five common mistakes 71

Your literary agent 71 How an agent helps you 71

If you self-published and are now switching over 72

Online forum for agent questions 72 Finding agents 72 Websites and books for this 73 Research the best matches 73

Contacting agents 73 Your query letter 73 The three parts 74 Online forum for getting feedback 74 Following up 75

Handling agent and editor rejection 75

Agent requests your manuscript and/or proposal75

Discussing the manuscript 76 Questions to ask 76

Questions to ask about his abilities 76 Questions for self-employed agents 76

Online videoconferencing websites (for talks with agent, editor, etc.) 77

Agreeing to a contract with an agent 77 Managing the relationship 77 Help find editors 77 Ways to express appreciation 78 Don’t look for affirmation from him 78 Interpersonal problems 78

Contacting publishing-house editors 79 Agent pitches your book 79

You pitch because you have no agent 79 First find the right publishing editor 79 Smaller, independent presses 79 University presses 79

8 Helpful websites and books 79

Send editor query letter & proposal 80 Three parts of this type of query 80 Forum for query-letter questions 80

Submissions – all-at-once or one-by-one 80 Waiting to hear back 81

Editor is interested 81 Interviewing editors and their teams 82 What makes a good publishing team? 82 Some questions to ask 82

Look at their publicity, marketing, and sales departments 82 If all publishers reject your manuscript 83

How you earn their money 83 Negotiating without an agent 83

4 scenarios (combo of sale or royalties) 84 Negotiating a sale 84 The preemptive offer 85 Auctions: the two types 85

Royalties 86 Advances 86 Bonuses 86 Royalty escalators 87 Escalators can also go down 87

The contract 87 If you have yet to write the manuscript 87 Review of your manuscript 87 Avoiding a rejection of the manuscript 88

Either way: already wrote it or not yet 88 Titles 88 The book’s cover 88 Copyright term 88 Deal memos 88 Securing permissions 89 The out-of-print clause 89

Royalties 89 Frequency of statements 89

9 The reserve for returns 89 Timely payment to you 90

Revenue splits besides royalties 90 Free books for publicity 91 Price of books that you buy to sell later91 Your right to audit them 91 Liability insurance 91 Not responsible for their legal fees 91 Avoiding a cancellation 91 First proceeds procedures 91

Option for next book 92

Have a pro review it before you sign 92 Manuscript discussions 92 Handling negative feedback 92 Its acceptance 93 Role of the copy editor 93 The book’s cover 93

Your relationship with your editor 93 Good relationship-building questions 94 Problems with someone on the team 94 Going above the editor to her boss 94 Having to switch publishers 95

Questions in their marketing questionnaire 95 Size of your first printing 96

The launch meeting 96 Attendees 96 Subsidiary rights department 97 Special sales department 97

Request a marketing budget 97 Argue for funds for a book tour 97

Share your pitch and sales tip sheets 97 Sales tip-sheet template 98

Book’s description in publisher catalog 99

The sales meeting 99

10 Publicity for both publishing options 100

Book publicity sites 100

Write a publicity and sales plan 100 Tasks to do on publication date itself 101 Webcasting (live online broadcast) 101

The two kinds of pitches 102 Answering, “What is your book about?”102

Write out your pitches 102 The 20 most persuasive words 102 Rehearse 102

Your book’s business card 103

Your book’s website 103 Pages to consider having 103

The shopping cart / checkout page 103 Taking credit cards 103 PayPal 104 For those who don’t buy online 104 Have friends test it out 104

Opt-in mailing lists and e-newsletters 104

Make online videos 105 A “book trailer” 105 Screencasts 105

Blog page with social media and social bookmarks 106

For your blog 106 Category for your book’s journey106 Comment on related blogs 106 BlogTalkRadio 106 Other blog websites 107

Use of social media 107 LinkedIn 107 Facebook 107 Twitter 107

Integrating and synchronizing your social-media content 108

11 RSS feeds 108

Consider social bookmarks too 109

Designing your website 109 Keywords 109 Website optimization 110

Free online tutorials 110

Site hosting & domain registration 110 Sites that review web-hosting sites 110 Info and sites for hiring a designer 110

Hiring a publicist 111

When to give your book away for free 112 In an e-book to friends 112

Printed copies to reviewers and blurbers112 Getting reviews 112 Sending bound galleys to reviewers113

Websites and books for getting book reviews 113

Have friend filter out bad reviews 114

Blog tours and getting blogger reviews 114

Getting blurbs 114 When blurbs or reviews come in 115

Getting media publicity 115 Learning who to pitch to 115 Or how to get a call as an expert 115

Lead times and when to pitch 115 Aim for government holidays 116

Lead times for each outlet 116 Newspapers 116 Magazines 116 Radio shows 116 Television shows 116 Blogs and other websites 116

12 Send a pitch letter 116 Who to pitch to 117

Shows: segment producer or talent booker 117

Print journalists 117 Have intermediary make the pitch 117

Format 117

Sample media pitch letter by your publicist (if you have one) 117

Good website for media pitch letters 118 E-mail your pitch letter 118

And send a press kit too 118 The press release 119 Free press-release distribution site 119

Using press releases to monitor your publicist 119

Format 119

Author bio (for the press kit) 120 Optional photo 121 Format 121

The Q&A section 121 Your publicity photo 122 The electronic press kit (EPK) 122

The interview itself 123 Preparing 123 Medium of the interview 123

During 124 Beware interviewer’s friendliness 124

Afterwards 124

Other ways to get publicity 124 Online chat groups (newsgroups) 124 Speak publicly 125 Book award contests 125

13 If your book is related to your job 125

Sales for both publishing options 125

Start local 125 Importance of preorders 126

Selling online 126 Your online listing 126

Generating excellent online reviews 127 Become a reviewer yourself 127

Specific online booksellers 127 Amazon 127 Advantage versus Marketplace 127 Being a Pro-Merchant subscriber 128

If using Amazon’s CreateSpace 128 Creating your author profile 129 Use the tags correctly 129 Sales ranks on Amazon 129 Use their Associates program too 129 The downside to Amazon 129

Barnes & Noble 130 Other online booksellers 130

Selling to stores 130 Approaching them 130 Strategies for any bookstore 131 Chains 131

Independent booksellers 131 Their trade associations’ websites 131

Sales tip-sheet template 132

Selling in person 133 Handling money and receipts 133 Taking care of the cash 133 For accepting credit cards 133

Hosting events 134 Work with the event coordinator 134

14 Work with your publicist and/or a traditional publisher 135

Publicize the event 135 Have enough books for sale 135

During the event (usually 30 minutes)135 Stall – don’t start on time 135 Have someone introduce you 136 A presentation template 136 The Q&A period 136 Leave them wanting more 137 When signing a book for a buyer 137

Multi-author events / panels 137

Types of events 137 Bookstore events 137 Living room tours 138 Libraries 138 Book clubs 138

Book trade conferences and expos, and subject-related conferences 138

Turn your book into another cool product 139

Business planning for selling your books 139 Filing as a business 139 Benefits 139

Develop a business plan 139 Forecast a budget 140 Register your business name 140 Record expenses 140 Other resources 140

Deductible expenses 141 Deductible self-publishing expenses 142

3 books for self-employed businesses 142

Releasing more books in the future 143

Releasing a new edition 143 Reissuing into paperback 143

15 Writing a different book completely 143

Bibliography 144

16 Online discussion forums for authors

 http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums (scroll down once you are on this site)  http://forums.nathanbransford.com/index.php

Aims and audience

 Why are you writing the book and what do you hope to accomplish with it?  Do you want to establish yourself as an expert in your field, make money, or both?  Are you looking to communicate specific knowledge to a group of interested readers?  What do you hope to gain from the investment of your time, effort, and money?  What new information do you offer?  How can you convey this new information?  Can you explain key concepts in a way that lay readers can understand?

Audience

 Who are your readers?  Why would the reader be interested?  How much does the reader already know about this topic?  What do you hope the reader does or thinks afterwards?

Scheduling

Lay out each task and its necessary completion date. What must be done and by when and by whom? Estimate how many hours each task needs. Then double it. Do you have enough time between sequential tasks? Assign a completion date and a person to each task, and print out these deadlines and interim dates for your office wall. Consider:

 conducting interviews or research  acquiring permissions for quotes or artwork  creating original graphics and photographs  timelines of others (proofreaders, agents, editors, graphic designers, indexers, printers, etc.)  your rewrite time

Several drafts will require significant editing before publication; it might take weeks or even months to edit your manuscript.

17 If you have to interview people

 If your book requires interviews, record them digitally if this is okay with the interviewee.  Test your equipment beforehand.  Let there be silent pauses. Silence brings extra insight as your subject fills up the space.  For group interviews, six or seven is an optimum size. Over-recruit by as much as 20%.

Gather the following information:

 the interviewee's name (including the correct spelling)  the source of statistics or research data that the interviewee provides during the interview  how the interviewee wants to be credited in your book, including their organization's name  a signed release stating that you have the interviewee's permission to record the interview and to include excerpts within your book

Dates: Publication, street, and release

Publication date is the date that a publication is available for retailer acquisition. Release date is a projected publication date. Street date is when customers can buy it. Discuss with your publisher and consider carefully when you want these dates to occur.

The media considers your book publicity-worthy for just the first three months after its publication date. After that, it's old. So, six months to a year before publication, devote 15 minutes per day to promoting your book and coordinating with appropriate media lead times. At the six-month date, up the ante to a half-hour. At the three-month date, go up to an hour.

If possible, avoid a publication date after October 1; booksellers like to focus on books with holiday themes in the final three months. Use the websites of Publishers Lunch (http://www.publishersmarketplace.com/lunch/free/) and Publishers Weekly (http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/home/index.html) to see when rival books come out. PW reviews books one to three months before their publication.

Also, position your publication date so that your book won't compete with your rivals.

Writing the outline and first draft

Make an outline

An outline for a book-length manuscript can be anywhere from 1 to 20 pages in length, depending on the level of detail. Making one helps you to focus on the individual twigs that you can easily gather in building the nest of your book. The more minutely detailed your outline, the easier it is to visualize and thus write your book. This phase of the writing process is so

18 important that most publishing houses require you to submit one for each book.

Ordering your topics

Write each idea, topic, or subtopic on a separate index card (or Microsoft PowerPoint slide). This way you can pinpoint essential information and cluster cards that contain supporting ideas, concepts, or information. Then place each card in an order that makes sense. Consider adding chapter titles, headings, sidebars, interviews (quotes), photographs, examples, references, statistics, illustrations, graphs, charts, and checklists. Lastly, find people who know your topic and have them review your outline.

When writing your manuscript, check off completed sections on your outline. Try to keep the chapters to roughly the same length.

Writing your first draft

Put "AWFUL FIRST DRAFT" in big letters at the beginning of everything you start. This will encourage you to write without worrying about perfection.

Never sit with a sentence longer than five minutes. Accept that you're stuck and come back later. You'll be amazed at how often the fix seems obvious. Along this line, once you've completed your first draft, let it sit for a week to a month. When you return, many of the remaining problems will be easy to solve, and you will have a fresh perspective for the editing stage.

Formatting

Fonts and size for the body and headings

There are two major families of font type: serifs and sans serifs. Serifs are easier to read for the body of your text because the little hooks on them hold the eye on the line. Garamond is a font recommended by many for body text. Sans serif fonts use less curves and embellishments and are great for headings. Georgia is a good choice.

Your fonts must be compatible with the technology of your book printer. Many printers don't accept manuscripts in Times New Roman or Arial.

For the body text, use 10 or 12 point. Chapter titles and headings should be larger and bolded or italicized. A good style hierarchy for headings: Level 1: bold, italics, 17 point; Level 2: bold, 15- point; Level 3: bold, 10-point.

19 Spacing, indenting, and margins

Spacing and indenting

 Between sentences, type one space only, never two.  Make your text justified, with even edges at the left and right margins.  Avoid widows and orphans - isolated lines at the top or bottom of the page.  Indent all paragraphs half an inch except the one below a heading or a list of items.

Margins

Most printers want 1/4" of white space inside your trim lines. If you go closer, it's called a bleed. This can get expensive on your interior pages. On your cover, you'll usually have a color or image bleed, but many printers require any text to be 1/4" away from the trim line there as well.

Opening and ending non-fiction chapters

Opening: Open with a high impact, such as a quotation, a vivid piece of evidence, a paradox, or a problem in clear terms. Follow with lead-in material to frame and situate the analysis to come. Then briefly mention the sequence of topics in the chapter.

Ending: Draw out the conclusions of your analysis and the implications. Then link back from this chapter to the opening one, and possibly to other preceding chapters, before connecting this chapter to the next one.

The opening page of the book

The very first sentence, paragraph, and page of your manuscript need to be spectacular to catch the attention of agents and editors. Count on having one minute to capture someone's attention.

Keep your points to nine

Keep your points to nine, either for body text or for items in a table. If the list has more than nine items, create sub-groups.

Punctuation and grammar

Emphasizing correctly

For words, use italics instead of underlining for words. For phrases use curly quotes and true dashes (-) instead of straight quotes (', ") and double hyphens (--).

20 Gender pronoun issue

State your intentions (and apologies) at the outset of your writing. Then alternate the use of “he” and “she.” To avoid awkwardness, make the subject and verb plural where possible.

Verb tense for discussing current events

Use the past tense so that you don’t have to correct the text when these events are in the past.

Miscellaneous

Reviewing others’ scholarly research

Categorize individual authors’ views by sub-themes. Doing so helps you to avoid the awkwardness of starting sentences with an author’s name.

Measurements

Use the metric form with American equivalents in parentheses.

Sidebars

A sidebar is a subsection of a chapter that allows you to go off on a tangent without interrupting the reader's train of thought. Use it in a non-fiction book to provide an example, short anecdote, short interview, or other information that doesn't flow with the main body but still relates to the topic at hand. Keep it to a page.

Front matter

(in order)

1. The half-title page consists only of the main title; omit the subtitle and your name.

If you can minimize the number of words in your title, you can then print your title in a larger size, which makes it easier for customers to see from far away in a bookstore. You can then have a lengthy subtitle that includes keywords for online booksellers. Amazon, for example, will accept a total of 200 characters for main title and subtitle combined. If you want to ask friends for their opinions on possible titles, type out the choices on a page for them to read.

2. The back (verso) of the half-title page is blank.

3. The second page on the right (recto) is the title page.

21 Include the title, subtitle if any, your full name, the publishing house name, and its address. Also include the names of the illustrator, editor, photographer, and foreword writer if any of these people are well-known or otherwise important to the book.

4. Copyright page (recto verso)

The copyright page is on the back of the title page. You must list the name and address of the publisher. If you are self-publishing, get a post office box or use the address of your book printer. Do not mention your home address.

5. Table of contents 6. List of figures 7. List of tables and checklists

A checklist helps readers follow a list of steps without forgetting anything. For tables, arrange data in numerical order when possible and use three or four “effective digits” for each entry. For example, with three effective numbers, the number 1,346,899 would become 1,350,000 or 1.35 million.

8. List of acronyms

Only use acronyms for specialized concepts that recur a lot (at least three or four times) and choose the simplest form possible.

9. Acknowledgements

One to two paragraphs is standard. Be nice in your acknowledgements. Critics look at these. Thanking the reader for buying your book is a nice touch but not required.

10. A dedication (optional)

11. Foreword (optional)

Someone else writes the foreword as an introduction to your book. It describes some of the reasons why the book may be of interest to the reader, and it is usually between one to five pages. Obtain written permission from the foreword writer.

12. Preface (optional)

A preface is similar to a foreword except that you write it. It sets the tone of the book and tells the reader what to expect. Your book can have both a preface and a foreword, but this is not common.

22 13. Introduction (optional)

The introduction you can write in the first person. Provide the reader with an overview of what the book is about, who's reading it, and what it contains. Include a summary of core knowledge that readers need before reading your book.

Sample copyright page (recto verso)

(Copyright symbol) (Year) (Your name). All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by an information storage and retrieval system - except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review to be printed in a magazine, newspaper, or on the Web - without permission in writing from the publisher. For information, please contact (Publishing company's address).

Cover design by (name) Interior design by (name) Author photo (copyright symbol) name

Although the author and publisher have made every effort to ensure the accuracy and completeness of information contained in this book, we assume no responsibility for errors, inaccuracies, omissions, or any inconsistency herein. Any slights of people, places, or organizations are unintentional.

Printed and bound in (country) (# of printing - First, Second, Third, etc.) printing (year)

ISBN: ______

LCCN: ______

ATTENTION CORPORATIONS, UNIVERSITIES, COLLEGES, AND PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONS: Discounts are available on bulk purchases of this book for educational, gift purposes, or as premiums for increasing magazine subscriptions or renewals. Special books or book excerpts can also be created to fit specific needs. For information please contact (Publishing company's address and phone).

(If there are a lot of trademarked names in the book, list them here alphabetically rather than have the symbol intrude on the reader's flow.)

Running heads and first pages of a chapter

Decide whether your book will have a running head across the top of each page. It can be the book's title, the chapter title, or your name. If you study other books, you will see that some display the book's title on the left pages and the chapter title on the right pages. Running heads

23 do not appear on the first page of a chapter, which is usually odd-numbered, on the right-hand side of the book.

You may want to alter the font and/or size of the first words or letters at the beginning of the first paragraph of each chapter. For non-fiction, you can also include a graphic and/or a short paragraph that explains what that chapter is about.

Referencing

Guard against a tendency towards over-referencing.

Do not use the automatic footnote function in Microsoft Word; that creates problems for your page-layout designer and book printer. Instead, label the footnote as such and type it in directly below the referring paragraph.

Endnotes versus in-text referencing

Endnotes have a superscript number in your main text that links to a corresponding citation in a list at the end of the chapter. The numbers restart at 1 with each new chapter. On the second or subsequent citation of the same source in that chapter, just use the author’s surname, a shortened form of the book title, and the page number.

In-text referencing, also known as Harvard referencing, is when you spell out in your main text the author’s surname, publication date, and the page number that contains the supporting information all in enclosed in brackets. It might look like this in one of your paragraphs (Jones, 1999, p. 17). The rest of the in-text citation is in a single bibliography in the back of the book.

For either type of citation, place the information at the end of the corresponding sentence and not in its middle.

The advantage of endnotes is that it creates a clean-looking main text with only relatively unobtrusive in-text numbers. In-text referencing, however, lets you economize on space, something to keep in mind if you are self-publishing and your printing costs depend on the page total.

Reference style websites

University of Chicago style  www.chicagomanualofstyle.org  www.press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/cmosfaq

APA style  http://www.apastyle.org  http://www.docstyles.com/apacrib.htm

24 MLA style  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_MLA_Style_Manual  http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01

A referencing software program http://www.endnote.com

Rear matter

Appendices

Keep each appendix short (no longer than two or three pages) and title them Appendix A, Appendix B, Appendix C, etc., although each can also have a short title.

See the indexing sub-section in the self-publishing section.

The “About the Author" section

The About the Author section provides more detail than the short paragraph that you include about yourself on your book's back cover. If you're publishing a hardcover book, the About the Author section can be placed on the book's jacket. Include detailed information about yourself, such as your picture, background, education, employer, credentials, or other personal details. You might want to mention your website or disclose a mailing or e-mail address for readers to contact you.

Hiring freelancers (for anything)

You may need to hire include a ghostwriter, an editor, a graphic designer for layout and/or cover design, a proofreader, salespeople, a publicist, and a website designer. When interviewing her, first ensure that your work schedules match. Review her portfolio and education, and see if she has worked on books similar to yours. If you can’t meet in person, ask if you can have a video chat at least once before working over just e-mail and the telephone.

What determines the fee

In a year, there are 365 days. Subtract 104 weekend days, 12 holidays, 10 vacation days and 10 sick days. That leaves 229 working days if all goes well. At 7 hours per day (don't forget that lunch hour), that's 1,603 hours. In order to maintain a business, the freelancer must spend 20% of her time on marketing, accounting, and other administrative duties. That leaves 1,283 hours. Take an additional 10% off for downtime. She now has 1,155 hours available.

25 Perhaps she wants to make $40,000 per year. She'd have to bill those 1,155 hours at $35/hr. in order to succeed at that. However, she still has to pay taxes, and as a freelancer, she must pay both the employee and employer shares of FICA.

Check references before negotiating the fee, which can be flat or by the hour. Get a written estimate about the time commitment necessary.

Websites for finding one (in general)

Post a listing describing your specific needs and budget. Within hours, you will receive emails from professionals interested in being hired. You can then evaluate their portfolios and negotiate fees.

 www.elance.com  www.freelanceworkexchange.com  www.guru.com

Editing and proofreading

The recommended manual

Look for The Chicago Manual of Style (University of Chicago Press); see www.chicagomanualofstyle.org or www.press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/cmosfaq.

Self-editing checklist

When editing your manuscript, read through it once for each of the following categories, ideally aloud. Create a double-spaced printout of each chapter and have a red pen available. After making your changes, create a new printout and review it again, this time reading upwards and from right to left. It’s easier to find errors this way.

 appropriate length of sentences and paragraphs  chapter titles and headings  consistency in abbreviations  consistency of verb tenses and subject number  consistency in terminology  correctness of facts  grammar  inclusion of necessary content  interesting openings  organization of arguments  page numbers  placement of figures

26  punctuation  references to specific page numbers, figures, or chapters  smooth transitions and flow  spelling  styles, especially of headings (keep a printout list next to your computer)  thorough conclusions  vocabulary  your voice, tone, and soul in the writing  worthiness of artwork and figures

Have a good laser printer for this. Try to get a laser printer capable of printing at least 8 to 15 pages per minute. You don’t want to wait forever when printing chapters at home or the entire manuscript. Look for one that has a wide-color option and that can handle 11-x-17-inch sheets of paper; this way if you're creating and reviewing your final page layout, you can view double- page spreads and view each page in its actual size. Go for a laser printer that includes a scanner, fax machine, and photocopier.

Your friends, family, and volunteers as editors

Ask friends, family members, and colleagues to read and mark up your manuscript. They may be excited to review it because they've never been asked to do this before. The best people are those who fit your audience profile, the ones who would actually buy your book and have read others like it. The more specific your audience, the more knowledgeable your volunteer editors should be.

Also look for other writers as readers, people with whom you can reciprocate. Check out literary events listed in the Events section of your local newspaper, at readings in bookstores, local writing groups, and cool websites and blogs for writers.

Give instructions and questions in advance. Let them know that you want the honest truth in their opinions. Ask that they underline any misspelled or questionable words, circle unclear passages, and note rough transitions with a question mark. Also encourage them to jot any suggestions in the margins. Good questions to ask:

 What did you like best?  What did you like least?  Did the book deliver on its promise?  Was anything confusing or awkward?  Was any information missing?  Did the arguments make sense?  Where is it choppy?

27 Taking criticism from them

Get comfortable now with harsh feedback from familiar faces so that you can more easily handle crippling criticism later on. Listen instead of defending yourself or your work. If you still have questions about their criticism, ask civilly for clarification after you have calmed down emotionally.

Hiring freelance editors

If you only spend money on one thing, spend it on an editor. An objective professional can really help your book. If you don't hire an editor, get at least several friends to read the manuscript before it goes to press. Show potential editors a chapter or two. See what kinds of comments you get back. Are they thorough, interesting, thoughtful, and knowledgeable about what you're trying to do?

Hire your editor in advance. It will be difficult to find one who can work on your manuscript right away. However, if you are confident in your writing ability and have friends as free editors, wait in hiring a professional until your manuscript is complete. If an editor tells you that he can edit your entire manuscript in a few days, find someone else.

After the manuscript is finished, allow several weeks for your editor to properly complete the editing process. Don’t be surprised if he comes back with many changes. You're probably extremely attached to your work, but you need to trust him enough to improve your text. The editor is simply transforming your manuscript into the most professionally written book possible.

Finding them

If you don't know any editors, consider these options:

 the editor of your local newspaper  members of a local writer's group  a co-author: www.asja.org  general freelance websites (see the aforementioned freelance section)  an online service (such as www.manuscriptediting.com)  websites focusing on freelance writers and editors (http://www.freelancewritersearch.com, http://www.the-efa.org)

 an online service that also offers help with designing, producing, and marketing your book (such as a POD company or www.SelfPublishingResources.com)

 classified ads in publications about writing (The Writer's Magazine, www.writermag.com/wrt; Writer's Digest, www.writersdigest.com; or Publisher's Weekly, www.publishersweekly.com)

28 Questions for interviewing them

In general:

 What type of experience do you have with editing full-length manuscripts?  What are some of these titles?  What is your approach to editing?  Do you review galleys too?  Do you edit book proposals?  Have you written and/or sold a book proposal?

Who they know:

 Have you worked with a major publisher? If so, which one(s)?  Do you have an agent? Do you know any agents, or anybody who knows any agents?  Do you have publishing contacts to share?

What they think of your book:

 Does the concept of my book make sense?  What changes do you foresee in the content or direction of my book?  What are the weak points, and how would you fix them?  What are the strong points?  What kind of publicity/marketing plan do you envision for my book?

Their preferred style of working:

 How do you like to work? Do you want a complete manuscript or several chapters at a time?  Do you review and edit the work multiple times?  Do you edit the manuscript sentence by sentence?  Do you prefer working with a printout or a Word document?  How soon would you be able to return the manuscript?

Plan on spending anywhere from $1,500 to $5,000 to have your book-length manuscript professionally edited. The price depends on many factors:

 your manuscript’s length  how much work the editor anticipates having to do  how closely you work with the editor  The editor's current workload  how quickly you need the work done  the type of editing needed

29 The types of editing rounds and their costs

1. Content editing ensures the accuracy and consistency of content and focuses on extensive restructuring of sentences, themes, and characters. A fair price is $.034 to $.044 per word.

2. Line editing is copyediting on steroids, a detailed line-by-line process to correct errors in spelling, grammar, and punctuation. The editor will also make suggestions to improve syntax and word choice. A fair price is between $.015 and $.020 per word.

3. Copyediting involves correcting basic errors in spelling, grammar, punctuation, and syntax. Don't pay more than $.01 per word.

Need a technical editor too?

A technical editor checks facts, including

 phone numbers  addresses  website URLs  names  facts  figures  statistics  research materials  cited works

When interviewing a potential technical editor, focus on their knowledge of the topic and their willingness to fact check and research the accuracy of the book’s information. The cost is considerably less than what it costs to hire a copy editor. Plan on spending anywhere from a few hundred dollars to $2,500, depending on your manuscript’s length and the type of work involved.

Proofread it aloud

By proofreading aloud, you'll discover sentences or passages that sound awkward, verbose, or unclear. Your voice will naturally find the points of emphasis.

Intellectual property issues

Finding a publishing lawyer

You might want a lawyer who specializes in the publishing industry, especially if you want to sign on with a traditional publishing house. A publishing lawyer knows how to protect your interests. See this website: www.midwestbookreview.com/bookbiz/advice/attorney.htm.

30 Copyright your book and website

File a copyright for your book with the U.S. Copyright Office. This establishes a public record of ownership and allows you to file a copyright infringement suit in federal court. If you register your copyright prior to infringement or within 3 months of publication of the work and this holds up in a suit in federal court, you can win statutory damages and attorneys’ fees without having to prove any monetary harm. The official Certificate of Registration form that the Copyright Office sends to you names the date when your ownership of the work began. Its duration is your life plus 70 years.

Only you, the author, can register the copyright with the U.S. Copyright Office. Do so by uploading through their online system (www.copyright.gov) the appropriate copyright form, an electronic copy of your book, and a payment of about $35. Your registration becomes effective the day that the Copyright Office receives your application. However, receiving the Certificate of Registration can take up to five months.

Put the copyright mark on your website as well as in your book.

Keep the copyright in your name

Some publishing companies write in their contracts that they may register your book. Some say that they own the copyright. Neither situation is acceptable. Under all circumstances you want it stated in your contract that the copyright will be registered in your name.

Don’t register it too soon

Don't register your copyright too soon, such as while in the writing stage. You want the maximum amount of time to promote your book, and it is hard to get publicity for a book that was published last year. Ideally, publish your book at the beginning of the calendar year so you have plenty of time to fully promote it as a new publication.

Copyrighting work done by freelancers

If you hire someone to design your website or write for you, use a work-for-hire agreement that states that you and not that person own all created content. A one-sentence example: “Specially commissioned works will be deemed to be works made for hire and owned by the commissioning party if there is a written agreement stating that the work is to be so treated and is signed by the creator of the work.”

User-generated content on your website

Does your website accept any user-generated content such as comments or uploaded videos or images? If yes, designate a registered agent under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) to benefit from the DMCA safe-harbor provision and to reduce the likelihood of liability for copyright infringement. Depending on the amount of user-generated content, a user- content submission form may be appropriate.

31 If your website has any social media functionality, such as the ability to “like” the content of the site through Facebook, or if it allows users to contribute their own content, this needs to be reflected in a privacy policy and terms-of-use statement. Warn users against making defamatory remarks on your site in the latter document.

Printing overseas for domestic markets?

Want to print overseas? You must state this on your copyright page. For full details, go to www.cbp.gov, click on "Find an Answer, Ask a Question," and search "books."

Mention the copyright in your will

Mention in your will any copyrights you have. Ownership of a copyright can be passed on to your heirs just like a piece of real estate. If your book is selling well, these funds can be a meaningful part of your estate. Be sure to spell out which heir will receive it.

Copyright websites

 United States Copyright Office - www.copyright.gov  Their FAQ section - http://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/faq-general.html#what  Copyright Basics - http://copyright.gov/circs/circ01.pdf  General info from a commercial website - http://www.clickandcopyright.com/copyright- resources/copyright-resources.aspx, http://www.clickandcopyright.com/what_copyright_protection_do_I_get.asp

 European Patent Office - www.european-patent-office.org  World Intellectual Property Organization - www.wipo.org/eng

Getting permission releases from others

If you wish to use excerpts from others’ works, or their artworks, you must receive permission from their publisher in writing. Occasionally, if the excerpt is small, it is considered “fair use” and thus you don’t have to receive permission. But to be safe, aim to get this written permission whenever you have someone else’s excerpt in your work. A publisher will likely refrain from publishing your book until they have all your permission forms.

Obtaining copyright permissions takes a long time, so do this early in the creation process. Repeated follow-up will probably be necessary. If you have a lot of permissions, log the status of each one. Code the letters in some way. Note in a separate log the manuscript page(s) on which each piece of material will appear and from whom the permission will come, with the date of your original request. Then you can integrate the material into your manuscript and check off the item as received when each form arrives. If too much time passes and one or another of the permissions still hasn't come in, you'll easily notice the fact and follow up.

32 Break the permissions you want into definites, maybes, and unlikelies. For the definites, get all sourcing, contact information, prices, and necessary forms as early as possible. This lets you estimate total costs and see how much you'll have left for the maybes and unlikelies.

Don't assume you will have to pay anything. Some kind souls will give you the piece of material you're seeking free of charge. But even if you get someone's permission for free, you still need his signature on your form. If you are asked to pay, don't do so until you're sure what's going in your book. This way, you won't pay for a definite inclusion that turns out to be an unlikely one.

Send permission forms to whoever owns the copyright. Some publishers do, and some authors do. Contacting a publisher is your best bet. As long as you document a "reasonable effort" to locate the copyright holder, then the piece in question can usually be printed. Just check with your publisher to ensure that they're okay with this risk. If you are contacted by a source once your book is published, you can negotiate a fee at that time.

When you've found your source, get a name and e-mail address as well as phone and fax numbers. If the material is in a paperback edition of a book, you may find that a different publisher did the hardcover; if so, you'll need to go to the publisher of the hardcover to secure permission. Send a letter in duplicate, be specific about what you want to use, and ask that they sign and return the original to you and keep the duplicate for their files. Include a stamped, self – addressed envelope.

Make copies of the signed permission forms you receive before you send these copies to your editor. Keep the originals in a safe place.

You will have to acknowledge all permissions somewhere in your book, usually in the Acknowledgements section.

Sample cover letter for permission release

Dear (their name):

I am writing a book titled ______, which ______(your publisher) plans to publish in ______(the season and year of publication). The book will retail for about _____ (price). I request your permission to include an excerpt/ excerpts of your book, (book title), and I am enclosing a form for it with all of the specifics. I can also send you a copy of the page of my text to show you the context of how I plan to use your material.

I look forward to receiving your permission and giving your material greater exposure. Please indicate the acknowledgement you wish printed in the book.

For your convenience I've enclosed a duplicate copy of the permission form itself, and a stamped, self-addressed envelope. Please sign one copy and return it in the stamped envelope, and keep the other copy for your records. I thank you in advance for your cooperation and prompt response.

33 Sincerely,

(your signature)

(your name printed)

Sample permission release

[Name of copyright holder] authorizes [your name] and his/her publisher, [name of your publisher], and its licensees, to use the following excerpt [photograph, article, poem, recipe, pages, lines, etc.] from [title of book, poem, song, article, etc.], published in [publication date of that book] to use in [title or tentative title of your book] by [your name] in all versions and media. [Name of copyright holder] waives any claim that [name of copyright holder] may have against the aforementioned parties and their licensees, based upon such use, for copyright infringement or violation of any right.

[Name of copyright holder] warrants that [name of copyright holder] has the right to grant the above rights in all languages for any and all editions of a book. [Name of copyright holder] agrees to indemnify [your name], [your publisher], and its distributors, customers and licensees against all costs and expenses, including reasonable attorney's fees, that may result from any alleged breach of the aforesaid warranty.

Title:

Author:

Copyright date & holder:

Excerpt to be reprinted:

Page _____, Line ______to Page _____, Line ______

The total number of lines:

The total number of words:

How the copyright holder would like the acknowledgement to read: ______

______Signature [Copyright holder] Typed or printed name [Copyright holder]

34 ______Date Your signature

For photographs and artwork

If you use someone else's photos, you need the photographer's permission, as well as permission from the people in the photo. Be prepared to pay a fee. To know the maximum to pay, look at comparable photos on Corbis’s website (www.corbis.com), an expensive stock library for photos, but aim to pay a much lower price. If the photo depicts someone's private property, secure permission from the property owner to use the photograph even if it was you who took the picture. If you use stock photos for a flat fee, don’t worry about permissions or copyright infringements.

Aside from photographs, you also need permission to use any type of copyrighted artwork. This includes drawings, graphics, logos, charts, illustrations, or icons created by someone else.

Fair use

Sometimes if you provide the right credit, you can use copyrighted content without having written permission. This is called fair use and applies when you use a small portion of another source. However, do not rely on this and instead get written permissions whenever possible. Whether the use is fair or not is determined on a case-by-case basis. The factors include

 the purpose of the use (more likely to be fair use when used for non-commercial purposes)  the nature of the copyright work (more likely to be fair when the copied work is factual),  the amount copied (more likely to be fair when the amount is small)  the effect on the potential market for the work (more likely to be fair when the new work doesn't substantially reduce the market for the copyrighted work)

Keep the quotation short enough so that it does not diminish the value of the work from which it was taken. Proportion is more important than absolute length: To quote 500 words from an essay of 5,000 is more serious than quoting 500 words from a work of 50,000.

Photographs, artwork, and cartoons always require the permission of the copyright holder.

Websites

 http://www.ithenticate.com  http:// www.creativecommons.org  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_use  http://www.plagiarism.org/plag_solutions.html  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creative_Commons

35 E-books

Have an e-book option available when your first edition comes out. E-books can be unlimited in length and contain any type of text, photographs, or graphics. They can also be modified quickly and cheaply. If your book is available electronically, it will never go out of print. Be forewarned however: E-book readers for smaller devices, such as smartphones, struggle to display detailed graphics, photos, and hyperlinks. Make sure each hyperlink is valid.

Some experts recommend launching with an e-book only and moving to paper later on. The e- book, however, still needs an ISBN. Let readers choose the e-book reader format they like best.

Creating it

Many e-book publishers design their pages just as they would for a traditional book before publishing and distributing it. Load your manuscript (Microsoft Word format) into a page layout and design program, like Microsoft Publisher or Adobe InDesign CS5, and then format each page so it takes on the appearance of a book. The formatted document can then be converted into a PDF file or another e-book format and distributed as an e-book. You can also take any MS Word document and use Adobe Acrobat to create a PDF file that can be read with either Adobe Reader or Adobe e-book Reader. The PDF file can then be distributed as an e-book.

A good e-book for formatting e-books: Smashwords Style Guide - How to Format Your Ebook (Smashwords Guides), by Mark Coker (2011)

Pricing it

An e-book is usually half the price of its printed equivalent. It is intangible and can be duplicated and delivered for free. Still, the price has to cover your cost of writing, marketing, and distributing it. E-bookstores will take a commission. If you plan to create a website to sell it, factor in that cost. Charge one price; don't offer the same book for vastly different prices from different websites.

If you're giving away your e-book for free to spread your ideas, have an e-book exclusive. If you give it away and your idea catches on, you can sell the souvenir edition, the printed book.

Distributing and selling it through…

… an e-bookstore

E-bookstores sell your e-book and pay you a preset licensing fee or royalty, which is typically 40-60% of the retail price. To have your e-book listed on their websites, contact each of them separately and fill out a publisher contract and agreement. Some e-bookstores:

 http://www.e-junkie.com/ej/pricing.htm  www.smashwords.com  www.ebooks.com

36  www.ereader.com  http://ebooks.palm.com  www.ubibooks.com  www.amazon.com  www.web-e-books.com  http://pubit.barnesandnoble.com/pubit_app/bn?t=pi_reg_home

Of these, only Smashwords, Web-e-Books, and PubIt are dedicated to just e-books. Use keyword tags on these websites so that readers can find, buy, and read your e-book.

… your publisher

Most major publishers pay e-book royalties that are 25% of the amount received by the publisher from the retailer, referred to as "net receipts." However, e-book pricing is very much in flux. It's reasonable to get it written into your contract that if the publisher's prevailing rate (the rate offered to most authors) changes in your favor, you will automatically be granted the higher rate.

… your own website

By creating your own website, you can sell your e-book online and have an automated revenue generator. After the website is set up and your e-book is ready for download, all you need to do is promote the website to potential readers. Visitors to your website can then find out more about your e-book, perhaps read an excerpt, purchase the e-book online using a major credit card or PayPal, and automatically download the book and start reading.

Reading it

To read an e-book, you must have e-book reading software on your computer or PDA device. This software is typically free of charge and allows e-book pages to appear as traditional book pages on a screen. The two most popular e-book readers are Microsoft Reader (www.microsoft.com/reader/default.asp) and Adobe Reader (www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html). Additional websites for Microsoft Reader are www.microsoft.com/reader/developers/downloads/layout.asp and www.microsoft.com/reader/developers/downloads/source.asp.

An online forum for your e-book questions http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=208

37 Understanding royalties (for any book format)

A royalty is your percentage of the sale of each copy of your book that is sold. In self-publishing at least, it is critical for you to understand the way the publisher calculates this royalty. Even half a percent can make a big difference if your book sells a lot of copies. Suppose your book retails for $20 and you sell 100,000 books. If your royalty is half a percent higher, this will mean $10,000 more in your pocket. If you sell a million copies, that's $100,000.

Royalties are paid by companies to the author on a quarterly basis.

Percentage depends on five factors

 Format of the book: Is it a hardcover, paperback, e-book, illustrated, or four-color? Anything special the publisher adds to your book will add to the production costs. This includes colored ink, glossy paper, a page that folds out, and stickers. To offset these higher costs, the publisher will want to negotiate a lower royalty. Four-color books (industry language for "full-color") or books with special features can have royalties half the size of their traditional brethren.

 Sellers of the book: You, a traditional publishing company, or the POD company

 Buyers of the book: Are they independent bookstores, book distributors, online retailers, mass merchandisers, special sales outlets, or individual customers you meet in person? Bookstores and online retailers demand a trade discount off of the cover price: typically 40% for bookstores and 50%-55% for online retailers. When calculating the royalties for sales made by third- party retailers, the trade discount will almost always be taken off the top first.

 Terms on which the book was bought: Did the bookseller buy the book from the publisher on credit? Are returns allowed?

 Whether your publisher calculates the royalty based on the retail price or the net-sales price (retail price minus the printing cost-per-copy): Say your royalty is based on the net-sales price. If your book sells for $15 through your publisher's website and the cost of printing the book is $6, you should make $4.50 on each book sale if you've negotiated a 50% royalty. If the publisher pays royalties based on the net-sales price of your book, closely examine how it's calculated. Net-sales figures can be manipulated by artificially inflating the printing cost, where the publisher then “double-dips” and takes a percentage of the net sales margin.

Mention them in your will

Any royalties you have should be mentioned in your will. They can be passed on to heirs just like real estate. If your book is selling well, these funds can be a big part of your estate. Spell out how proceeds are to be divided among the beneficiaries.

38 The impact of book returns

While the percentage returned is usually 10% to 25%, it can be as high as 75%. To see how many of yours are being returned, check your royalty statement, which lists sales, returns and reserves.

Review each statement

Your royalty statement will probably reflect sales from a few months ago. Check the end date so you know what period it covers. A good statement includes

 the number of copies sold, returned and held in reserve  sub-rights income (for foreign sales, book club, audio, serial rights, etc., and to whom)  sales made in the particular period of the statement as well as total sales to date  a reserve for returns  the number of copies sold as e-books, at a high discount, as exports, through mail order, and all the other types of sales detailed in your contract

If your statement doesn’t have this information, ask your publisher or agent. It's your right to know. Now check your statement’s accuracy:

1. Ask your editor or the appropriate person in your publisher's royalty/accounting department how many books were in print up to the end date of your royalty statement. Then add up the total number of books sold, returned and held in reserve. Is that number close to the in-print number?

2. Your contract probably stipulated a "reasonable" reserve for returns. Does the reserve seem reasonable? If your book has been out for several years, this number should be small.

3. Most contracts have escalating royalties. Publishers sometimes continue to calculate royalties at the original rate. Pull out your contract and make sure that if, for example, your royalty rate is supposed to go up after 5,000 copies, this is reflected in your statement.

Requesting an audit

Occasionally there will be a discrepancy between the number of copies you think were sold and the number of copies your publisher claims were sold. This is usually an accounting/mathematics problem; however, a few publishers have knowingly underreported sales of books. Should you find yourself in either situation, you have recourse. If your contract includes a stipulation that an accountant of your choice is allowed to examine the publisher's books, now is the time to ask for an audit. Hire an accountant who has experience with publisher audits. Contact The Authors Guild if you need a referral.

During this audit, your accountant will get to look at how many orders have been placed by bookstores, distributors, and other sales channels. By delving deep into the publisher's numbers, he'll be able to determine exactly how many books have sold and exactly how much money you're owed. While this may be a last resort and can result in strained relations with the

39 publisher, sometimes it's the only way to make sure your publisher shows you the money.

For related letters you must write

Use the Mail Merge tool in your word-processing program when sending many letters at once.

Paper quality and envelopes

For the quality of paper itself, consider weight, rag content, grain, and finish. The most common paper weight is 20- or 24-pound bond. The higher the number, the thicker the paper is. The most durable, best-looking, and most expensive stationery is cotton fiber. This is known as rag content. The most common finish is linen laid. It’s embossed with a linen design and has a fairly rough feel and appearance. As for grain, when it is obvious, it should be parallel to the direction of the writing – left to right.

Aim to have a watermark if you can have one. Feed the paper through your printer so that the watermark reads from left to right on the printed page.

The following printer processes run from the least to the most expensive: thermography, engraving, and embossing.

The most commonly used envelope is the No. 10, which measures 4 1/8 by 9 ½ inches.

Letterhead

When you have letterhead professionally printed, consider a lead time of up to three months, depending on the printer and what you select. When you’re ordering blank stationery, the lead time is substantially shorter. It may even be available off the shelf so you don’t have to wait. In addition to buying stationery with letterhead, purchase matching stationery without letterhead for those letters that go to additional pages.

If you want to save money, consider designing your own letterhead and running it through your laser or ink-jet printer. You can then scan in logos and other stuff. A logo isn’t necessary but can add visual interest. If used, have it reflect the nature of your company.

Don’t include Mr./Ms./Mrs./Dr. unless your first name could be either male or female. Don’t include your name on your letterhead if you want it to represent all of your staff members. Include phone and fax numbers, your e-mail address, and web address.

40 Common mistakes in letters

 Use Arabic numerals (2, 1, 8), not ordinal numerals (2nd, 1st, 8th).  Never abbreviate the month or use its numerical equivalent.  Format for Europe: Day, Month, Year  Format for Asia: Year, Month, Date

Addresses

Start the inside address at the left margin, four lines below the date line. If you're using a mailing notation or in-house notation, place the inside address two lines below the notation.

If the person's name and title are short, place both on one line. Separate the name and title with a comma. If the name and title are long, break them into two lines and ditch the comma. If you don't know whether the addressee is a male or female, use the complete name only.

After the name and title of the addressee, include the company name. Treat it the way the company does. For example, if the company writes out “corporation” or “company,” you should, too. If the company uses "The" as part of its name, you should too.

For building numbers on streets, use Arabic numbers other than One. If the address has a suite number, put it after the street address, and separate it with a comma.

Attention lines

Save this for when the addressee is a company or department and you want the letter directed to a specific person. Put ATTN: (name) one line under a blank line under the inside address.

Salutations

Put the salutation two blank lines under the inside address, or two lines under the attention line, if you use one. If you can't determine the sex of the person you're writing to, the salutation is Dear (first name) (last name). When you're writing to more than one person of the same sex, use the French plurals - Messrs. for males and Mmes. for females. If you are writing to many readers, rank them by seniority. Ask yourself, "Who is my primary reader and who will take action on the basis of this message?" Then write to that person.

End with a colon when you address the person by her last name; end with a comma when you know the reader well.

Write out titles. Once a person has the title of Honorable, she has it for her lifetime.

41 Subject line

If you use one, put it two lines below the salutation, capitalizing the first letter of each key word.

Closing and enclosures

Always type the closing two blank lines below the last line of the body. Capitalize only the first letter of the first word and end with a comma. For a formal closing, use “Respectfully,” and for an informal closing, use “Sincerely,” and if her native language is not English, you can say “good-bye” in that language. Leave four to five lines for your signature, depending on your handwriting.

When you're enclosing anything in the envelope, include an enclosure notation on the letter itself with a phrase describing the enclosure, two blank lines below the signature block, as in “Enc. Tax statement.”

For a letter that goes to a second page

If a letter is more than one page, use letterhead for the first page and matching plain paper for subsequent pages. If you have to divide a paragraph between pages, leave at least two lines on each page; never divide a three-line paragraph. Never carry a closing over to a separate page without having at least two lines above it.

At the top of the second page of a letter, have the following in the upper-left corner:

Ms./Mr. (Recipient's name) Page number Date

E-mail etiquette specifically

 Don't use it for emergency situations. The person may not see it in time.  The subject line should jump off the screen and shout "Read me!"  Use headlines to break up the text and tell your story.  Allow for ample white space by keeping each paragraph’s length to five and seven lines.  If the message is more than two or three screens, send it as an attachment.  Attach a signature of your name that includes your contact information.  Proofread the e-mail just as carefully as you proofread letters and memos.  If you have attachments, use the body of the message as your cover letter.

42 Self-publishing vs. traditional publishing houses

Advantages of self-publishing

 Publication is faster; it will take a matter of weeks, not months or years.  You will have your choice of printing specifications - trim size and paper stock.  Print books on demand – even just for one copy.  You can be 100% certain of publishing it and getting it up on Amazon.com.  Royalties will be much greater - from 20% to 80% (a few even offer 100%).  You have final say on the overall project, the content of the book, its interior layout and design, its cover, its marketing, and the amount of resources spent on it.

Advantages of traditional publishing houses (HarperCollins, Penguin, etc.)

 More credibility in the eyes of bookstore owners and readers

 A sales team that has multiple titles of other authors too to sell to bookstores: Bookstores usually do not want to work with someone who is just selling one title.

 Less of a time commitment: You do not have to worry about responsibilities that would otherwise be yours if you went the self-publishing route (editing, layout and design, printing, marketing, advertising, promoting, selling, and distributing the book).

 Less of a financial burden: When you self-publish, all the costs associated with the publishing process are your responsibility. If you are not equipped to handle each major task as both the author and the financial backer, your potential for achieving success diminishes dramatically.

 Acceptance of book returns from stores: Self-publishing companies usually do not accept returns from booksellers, retailers, and distributors.

 Offers of credit terms for your book and other books to established distributors, booksellers, libraries, and other retailers: These stores buy on credit, and won’t carry your book if you or the printer of your books – a self-publishing company or a traditional one - doesn’t offer credit terms. Most self-publishing companies don’t offer credit terms.

 Money up front for you: You can get an advance for your book.

Upgrading from self-publishing to traditional publishing

If you've sold 5,000 books in a year and don’t want to be the publisher, you may want to go to an agent or a larger publisher. Many major publishers have trouble selling 5,000 copies of their own books in a year, so you will impress them if you've done this all by yourself, especially if your book was not widely distributed. Hopefully, by the time you've sold this number of books, you've become an excellent pitchman, you've received some hot press, you've gotten yourself into some good stores, you've created your own social-media marketing platform, and you've got 43 a great web business going. All of these things will entice agents and publishers.

You give up a lot of control over your book working with a major publisher, and you earn a much lower royalty on every copy sold. But with a major publisher behind you, you can sell more copies of your book while the publisher takes on more of the responsibilities. With a traditional publisher, you can also sell your book in foreign countries or negotiate the subsidiary and serial rights for wider distribution.

Even though you already have copies of your self-published book, you still need to develop a detailed book proposal. If you're working with an agent, he helps you fine-tune your proposal and customize it for each publisher to whom you submit. This proposal should include a copy of your self-published book, along with copies of reviews and press coverage you've received.

You're going to have your best shot at smaller, independent houses.

Self-publishing specifically

The sequential steps

 Define your target audience.  Research the content.  Create a detailed outline.  Write the manuscript.  Establish your publishing company (if applicable).  Have the manuscript edited.  Choose offset printing or print-on-demand (POD), and then hire a printing/publishing firm.  Apply for an ISBN, LCCN, copyright, and other book-specific codes, if necessary. This step may be handled for you, depending on the publishing company with whom you work.

 Set the cover price for your book.  Select a publication date.  Create an index if it is a non-fiction book, or hire a professional indexer.  Have the manuscript's interior pages designed and laid out.  Hire a graphic designer and create your book's front and back covers.  Develop press materials for your book.  Plan and implement a comprehensive marketing, public relations, and advertising campaign.  Develop a website to promote your book.  Begin pre-selling your book, which includes putting together and sending out press materials, promoting the book to distributors, lining up booksellers to sell it, taking out ads, and so on.

 Have your book listed with online retailers.  Publish the book and ship it to consumers, retailers, and distributors, as appropriate.  Continue promoting and marketing your book while filling orders from customers.

44 Costs, cover prices, and royalties

Expenses unique to this route

 a flat fee for POD self-publishing companies on top of the per-book cost  editor/copy editor  indexer  cover designer  interior book designer for layout and editing of artwork (print books only)  photography/artwork  business-filing expenses for sending out books from your home (optional)  fees for copyright, ISBN, and related codes  author photo  marketing (business cards and keyword research)  publicity (hiring a publicist and paying for book tours or events)  website (architecture, design, and upkeep)  bookstore touring  merchant account fees for credit cards  printing (print books only)  warehousing (print books only)  shipping/handling (print books only)

Factors in setting a price for your book

 non-fiction or fiction: (lower price for latter)  competing book titles that are similar in size and format  printing costs o colors o number of copies in your print run o kind of paper o print-on-demand or offset printing (offset only for print runs of 750 or more at a time)

 distribution and shipping costs (including warehousing, marketing, and promoting)  unknown author to readers if this is your first book  presence of extra valuable information  sales commissions and royalties you may need to pay for distribution opportunities  avoidance of a low-quality perception by avoiding the cheapest price possible  method of selling the book

Booksellers may purchase your book in large quantities but at a discount of 40-60% off the cover price. Unless you're selling your book to readers via your website or at author appearances, plan on selling it at a significantly discounted price.

45 Gauging the proposed royalty

 Do you get to purchase the book at 60% off the cover price to then sell to others?  How does the company help you market, publicize, or sell the book other than printing it?  How much do you get of the royalty amount? If it is less than 50%, pick another publisher.  Does the publisher just use the actual production cost of the book when telling you the printing cost, or do they inflate it unfairly? Production costs should fall between $.013 and $.015 per page and $.90 to $1.00 per cover.

 How does the publisher calculate the royalty? Is it based on the retail price of the book or the net sales amount? If it's based on net sales, the calculation should rely on hard numbers, such as production costs and credit-card fees, and not on vague items such as administrative costs.

 Does the publisher deduct a credit-card processing charge incurred for each transaction (1.5%-2.9% average)? A small charge is acceptable because it's an actual cost incurred by the publisher in selling your book.

Graphic design: Page layout and covers

If you hire a designer, you may want to use the same person for both the cover and interior. Or you may want to have a flashy, expensive cover done by one person and a standard interior design done by a less expensive designer. This decision comes down to talent, money and the kind of book you want to make. Just remember that covers do sell books even if you can’t judge a book by its cover.

Finding a designer

Consider existing covers that you like

Go to the website of AIGA (http://www.aiga.org), the leading organization for graphic designers and look up the 50 Books/50 Covers Award for the year. Visit The Book Cover Archive (http://bookcoverarchive.com), which displays awesome covers, discusses all things related to book design, and which will lead you to top book designers' websites. Cover designers usually have their names printed on the back of a book, on the back flap, or on the copyright page. Find some covers that you like and show these to the designers that you interview. Their style may not match the style of that cover.

Websites for finding a designer

 www.creativehotlist.com  http://my.aiga.org/vango/custom/directory.aspx (from the www.aiga.org website)  www.designfirms.org  www.elance.com  www.guru.com  www.theispot.com

46  www.commarts.com  www.Project4Hire.com  www.mturk.com/mturk/welcome  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon_Mechanical_Turk  www.99designs.com

Visit local art schools

This is an inexpensive way to find a high-quality designer.

Look at the prospects’ own websites

Once you have six prospects that you like, see if they have their own websites; even students have their work online these days. See as much of each artist's work as possible to make sure his style suits you. You might spot a single illustration or photograph that looks perfect, but upon glancing at the artist's site, realize that that piece was the exception to a style.

Questions for interviewing one

 Do you do both page layout and design, or do you just specialize in one area?  What software do you know for page layout and creating covers? Is this compatible with the requirements of the printer I have hired?

 Are you willing to make multiple versions of the page design and/or cover and then make changes as I fine-tune the design?

Setting a fair price

The cost of hiring a graphic designer can be anywhere from $500 to several thousand dollars, depending on their experience and the time they will spend on your book's layout and/or cover. If she needs to acquire artwork, such as photographs or illustrations, be prepared to pay separately for these extras. Ways to save money:

 Look for a designer who is interested in the ideas and aims of your project.  Go with an individual designer as opposed to a graphic design firm.  Negotiate a flat-rate for the project instead of an hourly rate.  Offer a student $250. Some students will even do it for free in exchange for getting published.

47 Information to give to your designer

 your contact information  the software format that it should be in for its transfer to the printer you hired

For your cover in particular

 a detailed description of the book and its audience  the exact information you want on the book's front and back cover  a rough sketch of what you want it to look like with as many specifics as possible  any graphics you've acquired for it, such as photographs, illustrations, or clip art  whether you're publishing a hardcover, trade paperback, or mass-market paperback  Existing book covers that you may want the designer to replicate  the title and subtitle (if applicable)  the title’s placement, size, color and overall appearance  your name and any credentials you want listed  number of colors to be used on the book's front and back cover  desired paper stock for the cover  desired trim size (the dimensions of your book)  desired binding

For the interior

 the book's length (the total number of pages)  desired paper stock and color  ink color  how you want color used  guidance about fonts and typestyle you want used  details about how you want artwork, graphics, and other visual elements to be incorporated  your preferences about the layout of the front and back matter  your preference regarding running heads  the type of binding desired  whether the book contains an insert, such as a CD, DVD, or CD-ROM  whether you've acquired your own ISBN, bar code, and copyright  other details of how you want the interior to look

Know your book printer’s specifications

Before you hand your material to the designer, know the format in which your book printer needs your galleys (the edited and laid-out interior pages) and cover artwork. This is especially important for the book's front and back cover and any photographs and illustrations for the interior.

48 Paper quality

The most common interior paper weight is 20- or 24-pound bond – 20 for paperbacks and 24 for hardcovers. The higher the number, the thicker the paper is, and the thicker the paper, the more expensive your printing will be. The preferred paper color is off-white, not stark white, with black ink. Off-white is easier on the eyes.

For the cover, you can add laminates or special coatings - glossy or matte finishes, but these will add to your costs. The most popular cover stocks are 10-point or a thicker 12-point, which is coated on one side in either a glossy or laminate finish. Choose some samples you like and ask your printer for a quote on creating a similar cover.

Hardback or paperback

While hardcover books may look more formal than paperbacks and feel more substantial, their covers are costlier, both to you and your readers.

There are two types of paperbacks. The ones you see on supermarket racks, with pages made from newsprint paper, are called mass-market paperbacks. The pricier, often larger ones, filled with nice paper, are called trade paperbacks. Not only do they look different and cost more, but they're sold differently. Mass-market paperbacks are often sold through special distributors, as a magazine would be, and trade paperbacks are generally sold through regular book channels.

Binding the book

Go for “perfect binding,” which uses glue to attach the pages to the book's cover. This is the binding type most commonly used. A "notch-bound" or “Smythe sewn” is a step up.

The spine

Your book’s title is the most important thing to display on the book’s spine, in the largest possible types and font. Also display your name and the publishing company, which can be printed in a much smaller type size. The font color and spine color should stand out to capture the attention of a casual browser. Even thin spines can have visual pizzazz, through color and typeface.

Go to any bookstore, stand in front of the section where you believe your book would be displayed, and examine the spines of competing titles. Which ones capture your attention and why?

Trim size

The trim size is the dimensions of your book. Decide on it before you begin page layout. To keep more money in your pocket, go with a standard-size book, the most common being 5.5" by 8.5" for a trade paperback and 6" by 9" for a hardcover.

49 Your book’s cover

If you decide to include a cover with a design, make it great or not at all. If it's not a fabulous cover, you will look like an amateur. If you know someone who can design a great cover, go for it.

Your main title should be displayed large enough on the front cover so it can be seen and easily read from up to six feet away.

After you capture someone's attention with your front cover, the back cover’s copy and design should sell the potential reader on actually buying the book.

Get others’ input. Form your own focus group from 10 to 20 people. Get feedback from strangers and managers at bookstores, as well as librarians. They need to fit your book's target audience. Ask what they think about your title and cover design, what the book might be about, and who it might target. Also ask other graphic designers who can give you feedback in design-speak.

Back covers in particular

Sales data

The back cover must have the barcode, ISBN, price, and publisher information.

The book description

The text on the back cover must convey all the information that a potential reader may want and need in order to decide whether to buy your book. In one or two short paragraphs, explain the book and what makes it unique. To save space, use a bulleted list when describing key features or content.

Information about the author and a photo

An About the Author section on the back cover is optional, but it can establish credibility with the reader by showing your primary qualifications, credentials, or educational background. If you have a website, mention it here. You may also want to include a small publicity photograph, a head shot. A great author photo can sell books.

The BISAC Subject and Audience code

The Book Industry Standards and Communications (BISAC) Subject and Audience code helps booksellers and libraries categorize and display a book in the appropriate section.

Reviews, quotes, and blurbs

Proudly display one or two excerpts of positive reviews of your book, if possible. These quotes enhance your credibility and show the potential reader that your book has already received praise

50 from others. Put a very important blurb on your front cover if space allows.

Laying out the interior

Before you begin the page-layout phase, make sure your text and graphics are as close to perfect as possible. After the pages are laid out, it is very costly and time-consuming to make changes.

To layout your pages, you will probably need special page-layout software. Book printers rarely accept Microsoft Word. If you're not proficient in using this type of software, hire a graphic designer to handle this aspect of the process for you. You'll need to spend $1,000 to $2,000, at least.

You can leave notes within the manuscript for the designer, such as formatting instructions and where you want the placement of headings, subheads, sidebars, photos, illustrations, and other elements. For example, you can add the line and to tell the designer where a sidebar begins and ends. For a level-one heading (the biggest heading you use), you can use the code [H1] following by the heading.

A helpful website www.helppublish.com/layout.html

Layout software accepted by printers

The most common software files that publishers accept are from Adobe InDesign CS5 or QuarkXPress. These programs may require an upgrade in your computer to one with a larger capacity hard drive, a faster processor, and more internal memory.

Adobe InDesign CS

InDesign is more user-friendly and has a shorter learning curve than QuarkXPress. InDesign CS replaced the popular PageMaker application and was created for professional designers. If you're a novice, expect a steep learning curve. Fortunately the software offers pre-created templates.

Microsoft Publisher

This is part of the Microsoft Office family and can be used for designing and laying out the interior of any book format. Its advantage is that it's very similar to the other Microsoft Office applications. While it’s easier to use than InDesign CS, it is neither as powerful nor functional.

Microsoft Word

It is very hard for printers to accept page layouts done in Microsoft Word, but it may be possible if you follow their guidelines. Three websites to guide you are http://word.mvps.org, http://www.word-videos.com, and http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/Word_DocDesign. Also,

51 a good book for this is Edward Scroggins’s How to Self-publish Your Book Using Microsoft Word 2010: A Step-by-Step Guide for Designing & Formatting Your Book's Manuscript & Cover to PDF & POD Press, Including Those of CreateSpace.

Using templates

Visit the website of the layout software you are using. Another source is www.stocklayouts.com. Choose a design template that resembles how you want your book to look, and then import your text and artwork into the template. Customize it to better meet your needs. Save each chapter of the book as a separate laid-out file. It's easier to manage smaller files until the layout is complete.

Artwork issues

Avoid the use of color

Many books use just black ink and black-and-white photos in the book's interior. Having other colors for photos or utilizing full-color printing throughout your book increases costs dramatically.

Charts, diagrams, and other geometric drawings

If your book needs these, you can create them right in your word processor or page layout program. If not, your best choice is a "draw program" like Microsoft Visio or Adobe Illustrator.

Helpful graphic icons

If you are explaining how a process works or could work, you may want to use graphic icons, such as those in the popular self-help books. Here are some examples:

 flying automobiles – something that could conceivably happen in the future  guns drawn – a contentious point between different groups of people  tassel - scholarly research from scientists or academics that supports the point  light bulb - an idea possibility

Acquiring or taking photographs

You can take photographs yourself, purchase images from a stock photo agency, or hire a professional photographer to create customized photos for you; each option depends on your budget. Aim to negotiate a flat fee for all the art you need than to pay for it piece by piece. If you're on a tight budget, use photographic images from a stock photo library. If you use these photos for a flat fee, you don’t have to worry about permissions or copyright infringements.

52 Stock library websites for photographs and illustrations

 Flickr - www.flickr.com (You’re likely to pay a very small price, if anything at all.)  Istockphoto - http://www.istockphoto.com  PhotoObjects.net - www.photoobjects.net  Photos.com - www.photos.com  ShutterStock - www.shutterstock.com  Theispot.com (for illustrations) - www.theispot.com  Corbis - www.corbis.com  AP Images - www.apimages.com  Getty Images - www.gettyimages.com

Pixels-per-inch (ppi) issues

Supply artwork to the printer in a format of at least 300 pixels per inch (ppi). 600 ppi is ideal however. If you are scanning your own photos or graphics, you'll need a good-quality scanner.

File-type issues

Avoid using GIFs or JPEGs, which tend to have degraded graphics and low resolution. Instead, work with TIFF or EPS files and a lossless compression method like LZW or Zip.

Sizing and placement

Depending on your book’s trim size, you may want to allocate at least a half-page per photograph, chart, or graphic. Give charts or graphs a full page if they have a lot of detailed information. Don't cluster too much artwork together or else the text will look messy.

Scan and adjust the size of your art before you put it in your page-layout program. If you adjust the size later, you will distort the pixels. A 300-ppi photo scanned at 2 inches wide, then enlarged to 4 inches wide, will end up being 150 ppi. To resize, use Adobe Photoshop Elements, which has fewer features than the professional Photoshop but has all of its quality. If you don’t know how to edit photos, a basic book can explain how to improve most images in a few steps.

Adding figure numbers and captions

Don’t forget to add a caption and a figure number under each artwork item. Refer to the figure number within the text to connect the text and the image. Figure numbers begin with the chapter number, followed by a dash or period and are in chronological order. The first image in Chapter 3, for example, is labeled Figure 3-l or Figure 3.1. The second is Figure 3-2 or Figure 3.2 and so on.

How to e-mail large files (high graphics)

The website, www.yousendit.com, lets you do this with ease. With a simple browser plug-in, you can upload a file to their server and then send a link for it via e-mail to specified recipients, who

53 may then download the file. The basic service is free but allows a maximum file size of just 100 MB and a limited number of downloads. There is a $9.99-per month" pro" package offering 2 GB of available long-term storage and five hundred downloads of your file. The next level up is $29.99 per month and offers unlimited downloads, password protection, branding on the download page, and advanced file tracking. There is also a pay-per-use option.

Give feedback to the designer

Leave time in your schedule for the designer to go back and revise the book based on your comments and new ideas. Be specific about what you don't like. You're paying for this. Show the designer’s work to others to get feedback. Your files, now called galleys, should either be in a PDF or Postscript PRN file. Each page hopefully appears exactly how you want it to be when printed.

Transferring your galleys to the book printer

When you send the files to the printer, include your cover design, all fonts and artwork you're using, and other relevant files. Not receiving everything is the biggest problem for them.

Proofing (not proofreading)

Just before many copies of your book are made, you will be provided with a proof. This is the very first copy of your book and your final chance to make last-minute edits and to ensure that the layout of the book is exactly as you envisioned it. If your book has multiple colors, ask to see a high-resolution full-color proof that accurately shows how the colors look.

Review the proof multiple times. After you are finished, instruct the printer on how to correct each error. This process is best done in writing to avoid miscommunication (not via e-mail). Mark up the pages of the proof with a blue or black pen, and fax or hand-deliver those edited pages to the printer. After the corrections are made, request a revised proof, even if you're charged extra for it, so you can ensure that all corrections were indeed made.

Making major changes on page proofs is a no-no for two reasons. First, making extensive insertions and deletions opens the possibility of introducing new errors, which may or may not be caught at subsequent stages in the process. Secondly, your publisher needs to start figuring out the number of pages for the entire book, including acknowledgments, index, and so on. If you feel compelled to change large sections after the type has been set, most publishers will charge you if the changes exceed 10-15% of the total manuscript, printer's errors aside. This is stipulated in almost every contract and can be expensive.

54 A checklist to follow

For each item here, review your proof by looking for a mistake from just that category. Then do it again for the next item on this list.

 spelling  grammar  missing text or content  missing characters at the end of headings, paragraphs, or sentences  correct placement, labeling, and referencing of figures and graphics  correct positioning of photos and artwork  correct captions  correct sequence and placement of page numbers  correct width of margins throughout the book  correct facts: names, phone numbers, website addresses, statistics, and figures  correct sequence and numbering of book’s front matter, chapters, and rear matter  correct page references to other sections of the book  correct fonts and typestyles for the body text, chapter titles, and headings  high-quality print: uniform, clear, and professional looking

Indexing

Before you worry about an index, are you sure that your book needs one? If the book will not be judged quickly by scholarly readers searching for an index, you might be able to skip it. For reference, see the indexing chapter of the Chicago Manual of Style (16th ed.) and that book’s index.

Software versus the human indexer

A good index directs you to important information and excludes irrelevant references containing the keyword. While indexing software aids the human indexer, it by no means creates indices automatically, any more than spell-checking software can edit a text on its own. Only a person can determine if a passage has useful information worthy of being extracted and referenced.

An indexer must analyze the information that he is referencing and determine the precise wording to most rapidly point the user to it. He must consider the synonymous terms (double- posting) and think of what other entries this one relates to and make cross-references to them.

Finding an indexer

Does your book cover a very esoteric subject? Do you feel that your indexer must know your field? These are important questions. If you're looking for an indexer in a special field, visit www.asindexing.org, the website for the American Society of Indexers. You can search by type of material indexed, location, or field of expertise. It's comprehensive and free.

55 You might also know of a book that has a great index. Maybe it is one in your field. Look in the book for the indexer’s name. If he's not listed, contact the press and ask who wrote the index.

Most companies that offer self-publishing services provide an indexer for an extra fee.

Scheduling

The best time to schedule an indexer is when you have finished substantive changes to the text. Then allow three to four weeks before the assignment. That’s soon enough that slippage will be unlikely and far away enough to let the indexer re-schedule some of his other commitments. The amount of time he will need with your manuscript depends on your book type.

Type of book Pages Business days Academic/Scholarly < 300 10-15 Academic/Scholarly 300+ 15-20 Trade books (Light) < 300 5-7 Trade books (Light) 300+ 7-10 Trade books (Dense) < 300 7-10 Trade books (Dense) 300+ 10-15 Technical/Business < 300 10-15 Technical/Business 300+ 15-20

Expect to pay a premium for requests that deviate substantially from this outline. Rush rates vary between 25 and 50 percent more than standard rates.

Guidelines for pricing

Negotiate with one indexer at a time. They usually charge by the project, not the hour. This takes the form of page rates, but it can also be based on the number of entries in the index or the number of lines. Balance the expertise you need, the price you’re willing to pay, and the immediacy of when you need it. If a prospect doesn't ask questions about the book’s topic, then find one who does.

Type of book Entries per page Pages/Hour Page rates Academic / Scholarly 7-10 7 $4.00 - $6.00 Textbooks 7-10 9 $3.50 - $5.50 Trade books (Light) 3-5 10 $3.00 - $4.00 Trade books (Dense) 6-19 7 $3.50 - $6.00 Technical / Business 7-12 7 $3.50 - $6.00

The more difficult, and more of, the text, the more you will pay. Expect to pay 50% more if your book is composed of two columns of text on each page, or if the format is particularly large.

When counting pages that need to be indexed, leave out those that the indexer can ignore, but include all pages that have text or illustrations, even if it's only one line of text under a picture. These "easy" pages balance out with the dense ones.

56 Sign a letter of agreement about the price and method of payment. Copyright is vested in the creator of the work, and transfer of the ownership of the index isn't complete until payment is made.

Expect to pay extra if you need any special indices in addition to a general subject index. While not intellectually difficult, these are time-consuming indices to write. Bibliographies and references are often full of unresolved differences in spellings. A textbook or scholarly book cites thousands of authors, and these require a huge effort from the indexer to find and include.

Deliver your manuscript to the indexer via email as a PDF file, whose “search” and “find” features allow the indexer to find all sorts of information. This includes bibliographic information for an “authors cited” index. The indexer will return the index via email attachment as an RTF (Rich Text Format) document, which maintains the structural integrity of the index's style, keeping typographic specs and indents in the appropriate places.

Information the indexer needs from you

Your indexer needs to know your preferences on

 alphabetization  format  subentry arrangement  number of entries  number of sub-levels  cross-reference format  punctuation  capitalization  scope

He also needs to know

 the type size of your book  the trim size  the number and type of indices needed  space constraints for index  the nature of the text  if illustrations will be indexed  if captions will be indexed  if you want an index for authors cited

Send the indexer your copyeditor's style sheet to promote consistency.

57 Evaluating it

Once you get the index back from the indexer, check it for accuracy and completeness. Does it seem comprehensive? Are the important topics covered adequately? Ask the indexer for the statistics, such as the number of entries or locators per page. If he doesn’t have this, count the number of index lines. The ratio of lines to indexable pages should range from 2 (light) to 10 (heavy).

Check the accuracy of the locators by doing a sampling. Look in the index for a page number under a topic. Go to that page and make sure that topic is mentioned there. You can do this in reverse as well. Notice important information in the text and go to the index to see if that information is referenced. Is it where you first looked? Is it in another location? Is it not there at all? Different people approach the text in different ways and this is what you paid the indexer to cover.

Check for spelling and grammatical errors.

Check for orphan subheadings, a single subheading in an index under a main heading. Delete these by moving the subheading up and modifying the main heading. Conversely, check for a long string of undifferentiated page references. Seven page references is the limit before it's necessary to break these down into subheadings.

Space limitations imposed on the indexer can cause problems. Consider this when assessing the index.

If you don't give a length limit but later have to cut material from the index, give the indexer a call. Compensation for this is up to the indexer, but it's a courtesy to ask his opinion on cuts.

Picking any self-publishing firm

The right option offers the best mix of price, low printing markups, high royalties, and favorable contract terms. There's no need for the printer to be located in your immediate geographic area since you can submit your book's galleys electronically to the printer, and since your negotiations with the printer can be done by phone, fax, mail, or e-mail. Keep in mind that marketing, advertising, and promoting your book also requires a significant investment. Relevant websites:

 the site for your local chapter of the Better Business Bureau  Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA) - www.pma-online.org  Small Publishers Association of North America (SPAN) - www.spannet.org

Talk to authors who’ve used that self-publishing company. Most company websites provide author pages or links to authors' websites, which provide contact information. Ignore authors who complain that one of these companies didn't help them sell books. Some of these people have done nothing to promote their own books, and their disappointment in their sales may get turned into disappointment in the publisher.

58 Also ask to see sample books with similar printing specifications to what you anticipate needing. The cover must be clear and not blurry or cheap looking. The book must withstand multiple reads. To gauge a publisher's production value, order one of their books before signing the contract.

The contract

Your contract should state that the publisher is not claiming an interest in any other rights other than those directly related to the publication of your book, and only those that allow them to print and distribute the book on your behalf. The goal is to always have the least number of restrictions on your rights, freeing you to search for a better publishing deal with a traditional publisher or other self-publishing company.

Copyright

Make sure you retain all rights to your book, including the copyright.

Time length

The contract terms should not lock you into a contract for a long period of time. Look for

 exclusive, but only for one year  exclusive for X years, but you can terminate it at any time by giving Y days written notice  nonexclusive for X years, and you can terminate it at any time

No right of first refusal on future books

Stay away from any self-publishing firm that demands an option or right of first refusal on any other books you may write. This is different than the traditional publishing world.

Getting paid

With some small self-publishing companies who have cash-flow troubles, you may wait much longer for a check than your contract stipulates. Ask to have it written into your contract that you must be paid within 30 days of each payment date. This way, if they don't pay you for months, they are in breach of contract; in a worst-case scenario, you can take your book elsewhere.

Returns

Find a publisher who accepts returns from bookstores. Some include bookstore returns as part of their packages, and others charge approximately $400 for this privilege.

The contract likely stipulates a "reasonable" reserve for returns. When your royalty statement comes in, look at it to see if the reserve for returns seems reasonable? If your book has been out for more than a couple of years, this number should be small.

59 Audit

Your contract should stipulate that an accountant of your choice can examine the publisher's books.

Selling the subsidiary, serial, or foreign rights

An experienced lawyer or a literary agent can best handle marketing, negotiating, and selling the subsidiary and/or serial rights to your work.

Subsidiary rights

Subsidiary rights refers to licensing or selling permission for other companies to rework your book into various other types of products, such as videos, movies, or television shows. The term can also technically refer to selling rights to an overseas publisher or book club interested in publishing its own version or edition of your book.

Depending on the topic, subsidiary sales and licensing can become extremely lucrative. Hollywood often pays hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars for the movie or television rights to a bestselling work of fiction or a true story. There's also money to be made selling instructional DVDs and videos based on successful how-to books. Also consider licensing your book to an established audiobook publisher.

Serial rights

Serial rights are the publishing rights that you sell to magazines, newspapers, or other publications. This sale allows them to publish large portions of your book, including excerpts, serializations, and condensations (an abridged version). When you sell the serial rights before your book is published and distributed in book form, this is referred to as selling the first serial rights. If you sell or license the rights after your book has been published, it's called selling the second serial rights. Many publications are willing to pay more for the first serial rights because these rights give them the ability to offer their readers an exclusive.

Foreign rights

Some books have sales potential not just in the United States but elsewhere too. Having your book sold overseas may require a translation into other languages. Many self-publishers contact overseas publishers and offer them an exclusive licensing arrangement. In exchange for licensing fees (or an advance, plus royalties), the overseas publisher obtains the rights to publish, market, and distribute your book in their territories. They incur the translation cost, if applicable. This method probably is the most cost-effective and easiest way to obtain international distribution for your book.

If you list your book on Amazon.com, try to get it listed on the sites that it has for various countries.

60 Termination

You should be able to terminate the contract easily and with no further obligation. The publisher shouldn't require payment from you in the event that you sign with a bigger publisher or sell your television or movie rights. Modify the language to permit the publisher to sell any inventory they have as of the termination date, but prohibit them from printing more copies and then selling them.

Remove the language that gives the publisher non-exclusive rights after contract termination. If you can’t do this, modify the language to give you the right to purchase the publisher's non- exclusive rights upon termination for an amount equal to the publisher's net profit from the sales it would have made during the non-exclusive period. This net profit should be based on the previous X months, equal to the remaining term of the non-exclusive period after termination. For example, if the publisher had a non-exclusive right to sell the book for a year after termination, then the buy-out price should be based on the net profit during the year that proceeded termination. Define the net profit as the retail price of the book less production costs, author royalties, and trade discounts.

Nonchalantly try to buy out your current publisher's non-exclusive right before signing the new contract with a bigger publisher.

The identifiers (codes): ISBN, EAN/ UPC, LCCN, and CIP

The book printer should provide these codes as part of its publishing package. Some companies provide these services a la carte, but be wary of the charges. An ISBN and a barcode is a must for every cover if you want a retailer to stock your book, even your e-book.

The International Standard Book Number (ISBN)

The International Standard Book Number (ISBN) is a 10- or 13-digit number that uniquely identifies books and book-like products. Eventually, the 10-digit ISBNs will be phased out, so when you get one for your book, you'll be assigned two (for now). The ISBN allows libraries and bookstores to find information about the author, the author's book, the book's price, ordering information, and other relevant data.

You'll need an ISBN to sell your book through any online or offline bookseller. Each edition of your book, whether in paperback, hardcover, e-book, audio, or other such form, requires a separate ISBN. You can't buy just one ISBN, though. They come in groups of 10 and currently cost $275 if you're not ordering through a rushed service. But if you do your research on the web, you may be able to buy them individually. Start by checking out www.isbn.org. If you're just publishing an e-book, you can buy ISBNs individually through sites such as Smashwords.

The publisher then assigns an ISBN to an author for each edition of the book the author has licensed them to publish. The ISBN attached to that edition lists the publisher as the party to contact for information.

61 If a publisher assesses part of its fee toward the ISBN, make sure that component isn't higher than $30 because the publisher is buying the block of ten for $275.

R.R. Bowker’s Books in Print

Once the ISBN has been assigned to a book, it should be reported to R.R. Bowker, the database of record for the ISBN agency. Bowker is also the author of Books In Print, which lists nearly all books that are currently available in English and in the United States from major publishers. A resource for bookstores, libraries, and publishers, it is available in a print version but is most often accessed electronically. Books in Print listings are in the millions, a number that is only exceeded by Amazon. Your book can be listed for free in the Bowker database as long as you submit your title’s information at www.bowker.com. If a book printer wants to charge you for submitting your book's information to Bowker, make sure the charge is reasonable since there is no fee to register there.

LCCN (or PCN) number

The Preassigned Control Number (PCN) program assigns a Library of Congress Control Number (LCCN) to titles most likely to be acquired by the Library of Congress. Librarians use this for finding, ordering, numbering, and cataloging books. The LCCN includes the year of publication and a unique number for each book title. Unlike an ISBN, the LCCN is assigned to the work itself and doesn't change with each new edition or version; e-books are ineligible for an LCCN. Strictly speaking the LCCN is the control number for the bibliographic record, not the book.

A Preassigned Control Number (PCN) is an LCCN that has been "preassigned" to a given work before the work’s publication date. The two acronyms are often used interchangeably, but they do not refer to the copyright registration that you must file with the Library of Congress nor the Dewey Decimal System number that you use to find a book on a library bookshelf.

Ask your book printer if it offers this service for free. If not, you yourself can obtain the PCN/LCCN. The first step is to get an ISBN, which you need to have before applying. Then complete the PCN/LCCN application and obtain an account number and password, which takes one to two weeks. The application is online at http://www.loc.gov/publish/pcn/. Mail it to: Library of Congress, Cataloging in Publication Division, 101 Independence Avenue, S.E., Washington, D.C. 20540-4320. Apply three months before your publication date so that the number can be printed on your copyright page. The process is free except for the copy of the retail version of the book that you required to send immediately upon publication to the Library of Congress.

Cataloging-in-Publication data (CIP)

On the copyright page of a book, you'll notice a list of categories filed with the Library of Congress. This is the cataloging-in-publication data, the categories that determine where libraries across the country will shelve your book. When you fill out the CIP forms, you have a chance to

62 sway catalogers. It is their first look at your book, which may include a proof or material such as title page, table of contents, preface, and samples. The CIP website is http://www.loc.gov/publish/cip.

EAN and UPC barcodes

The book printer should take care of the bar code without requiring you to pay any fees. On the ISBN website, they currently cost $25 each. The Bookland EAN bar code is what retailers scan when your book is taken to the register. If you are selling your book in drug stores, department stores and other non-bookstore retailers, you will need a UPC bar code since these retailers are not properly equipped to scan the Bookland EAN symbols

What to submit to the self-publishing company

 the book's complete title and subtitle  category or genre the book fits into, such as fiction, how-to, self-help, etc.  the book’s intended audience  a short description of the book - one or two sentences  a more in-depth description - a paragraph or two  type of book you want - hardcover, etc.  type of binding you prefer – perfect, sewn, etc.  trim size of your book – e.g., a maximum of 8 ¼” x 10 ¾” for ones with a perfect binding  a dozen keywords or phrases that a customer could use when searching for your book  your biographical information as the author  a photograph of you, the author  the completed author questionnaire, if requested by the company  the signed author's agreement  your payment  PDF files of your page layout and design that are ready to print.

If the company is a POD publisher and is doing your page layout and design and your front and back cover design, provide the following materials:

 a print out (hardcopy) of your entire edited manuscript  an electronic version of your manuscript (in Microsoft Word) format  copies of any graphics to be included, with figure reference numbers

Make sure each image is labeled and meets the printer’s technical specifications. The number of artwork pieces allowed depends on the publishing package you purchased.

 a sketch or draft of the book's front cover and/or info about the cover that you need designed

If you've had your cover designed by someone else or did it yourself, supply it in a format that meets their specifications.

63 Using distributors to get your book into stores

The easiest way to get your book into retail stores is to make it available through one or more of the major wholesalers and distributors that already have established relationships with retailers. These intermediaries do not market your book; they just fulfill orders if and when they come from bookstores. They buy your book at between 60% and 65% of the cover price and resell it to booksellers for around 50% off.

Distributors, wholesalers, and most bookstores work on a commission basis. They can return your books anytime they want. A sale isn't a sale until a reader buys it and doesn't return it. You may have to wait up to four months to get paid by a wholesaler or distributor.

If you're working with a well-established Print-On-Demand (POD) publisher, they may already have an established relationship with one or more of these intermediaries. If not, you need to contact them yourself.

For the most part, wholesalers and distributors are interchangeable. The exception is that wholesalers won't actively try to sell your book. They simply stock it so that booksellers nationwide have easy access. With either one, you need to have both the proper materials and pitch to make these companies believe they will make some money and won’t just be acting as a large storage unit.

Baker & Taylor

Virtually all bookstores, libraries, and other retail outlets that sell books have a relationship with Baker & Taylor. After your book is listed with them, booksellers can easily order your book. Visit Baker & Taylor online at www.btol.com or give them a call at (800) 775-1800.

Greenleaf Book Group LLC

Greenleaf Book Group is an independent publisher specializing in small presses and independent authors. Ideal candidates are those seeking national distribution alone, or in addition to marketing and production services. See www.greenleafbookgroup.com.

AtlasBooks Distribution Services

AtlasBooks markets and sells books to wholesalers, chains, independents, online retailers and other retail markets on a global basis. Its parent firm, BookMasters Group, can handle every step of the publishing process, from initial documentation and developmental editing to text and cover design, book printing, warehousing, fulfillment and distribution. See www.atlasbooksdistribution.com.

An e-book distributor

Smashwords is perhaps the best e-book distributor. See www.smashwords.com or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smashwords.

64 Lists of others

 http://www.midwestbookreview.com/bookbiz/distrib.htm  http://www.ibpa-online.org/pubresources/distribute.aspx

The two types of self-publishing

POD strengths

 faster for each printing run  cheaper for smaller book runs  easy access to online distribution channels  easy to keep the book updated  a supply of free copies of your book, based on the publishing package you buy  can handle everything from layout and design to distribution; you pay a fee based on your needs and worry less about things such as getting an ISBN, listings with online booksellers, and being the one to fill orders from customers.

 no warehousing fees; books are printed and mailed directly as the orders come in from customers, even just one. You’ll never have to figure out when to print more. With offset printing, you have to pay several thousand dollars upfront for printing and warehousing before a single copy is sold. You might not sell all your books if demand doesn't meet expectations.

Offset strengths

 more profit per copy in selling a high number of copies than with POD  lower per-book printing cost, resulting in lower cover price  high image quality; much better for color, embossing, books in unusual shapes, or hardcovers; no ink restrictions for your cover; much more professional-looking covers than POD covers

 high-quality freelancers

Editors, graphic designers, and indexers usually do a much better job than an in-house staff at a POD company, where you buy a price package for a lot of things that you might not need.

POD (Print-on-Demand)

Print on demand (POD), erroneously called publish on demand, is a printing process in which new copies of a book are only printed when a customer order has been received. It allows for a fixed cost per copy, regardless of the order’s size. While this price per copy is higher than with offset printing, the average cost is lower for very small print runs since setup costs are much higher for offset. 65 In addition to printing your book, POD companies can handle basic layout and design, cover design, ISBN number registration, and the hiring of a professional editor to review your manuscript. It’s a great way to have someone else worry about the details.

The self-publishing company that you hire usually provides both interior design and cover design services, included in the price you pay. If this is true, have them do the internal design but still hire a designer for the cover at an extra expense. Having two people work on these elements ensures that the cover looks its best.

Some POD customers like to remove the company’s branding from the finished book. However, this entails creating your own publishing company just so that you can have a different publishing name in the book. It’s probably not worth it.

Also, note that some POD companies have ink restrictions for your book cover. The result can lead to a cover that looks faded or partially bleached and thus cheaply made.

What an excellent POD company offers

 a good reputation among writers  fair publishing fees  generous royalties without any fuzzy math  low printing costs and high production value  favorable contract terms  fair policy about return of your book's original production files (at least a press-ready PDF)  fairly priced add-on services, such as marketing and copyright registration  can get your ISBN, UPC bar code, and LCCN (Library of Congress Control Number)  registration of book with R.R. Bowker - http://www.bowker.com/en-US/  availability through Baker & Taylor or Ingram or another book distributor  listing on Amazon.com, www.bn.com, and other online retailers  high-quality, custom-designed book cover that has no ink restrictions  professional layout of the book  page on their website where you can sell your book  a reasonable price for you to buy your own books to sell to others on your own  a contract that you can cancel anytime

Areas where rip-offs occur

 cover design  editing services  bogus fees for copyright registration services  printing of promotional material  inflated printing costs  unfair royalty rates

66 POD company’s cost of making the book

Every book has a cost-per-copy to print, based on the number of pages and its binding. Most POD companies provide you with the exact printing cost per copy and require that your book's retail price be at least double the printing cost. This ensures that both parties can make an ample profit on each copy sold. It also allows for a standard 15- 60 % discount off the cover price to be offered to book distributors, booksellers, and libraries that order it.

Most POD companies use the same printer and pay about $.013 to $0.15 per page and $.90 per cover for each paperback ordered. A 200-page paperback costs the publisher approximately $3.90. Anyone who tells you the per-book production costs are higher is gouging you. Thus, ask to have in writing what the company includes in printing costs and their cost to print a single copy. Trim size, page count, paper type, cover stock, and binding all impact the printing costs.

Be wary of shady add-on fees

When asking the company about royalty calculation, ask if they use the actual print cost or a higher cost. The net-sales price should be the difference between the actual printing cost and the retail price. Don’t let them include “administrative costs” or “marketing costs” in the printing cost. If the publisher marks up the cost of printing and then takes the profit differential after your royalty, they are wrongfully double-dipping.

An example

Take a 200-page paperback that costs $3.90 to print ($.015 per page and $.90 per cover) and sells for $15 from the POD company’s website. Assume a 50% royalty. If they are using the actual print cost in determining the royalty amount, the breakdown looks like this:

 $15.00 retail price - $3.90 actual printing cost = $11.10 profit to be split  $11.10 x 50% author royalty percentage = $5.55 author royalty (for you)  The publisher also makes a $5.55 royalty.

If they tell you the cost is $6.00 (after inflating it from the $3.90 cost to them), watch what happens:

 $15.00 retail price - $6.00 actual printing cost = $9.00 profit to be split  $9.00 profit x 50% author royalty percentage = $4.50 author royalty  The company makes a $4.50 royalty, plus the printing markup of $2.10, bringing its total profit to $6.60. That's double-dipping. They benefit on both ends of each sale.

67 Contract issues specific to POD companies

In general

 the initial cost of the publishing package being offered  the services included  how and when royalties are calculated and paid to you  the discount at which you can purchase copies  the time they need to publish your book from when they receive the manuscript  how much control, if any, you have over the book’s cover price  how much marketing, advertising, and public relations support you will get  the discount offered to bookstores, retailers, libraries, and book distributors  whether customer returns are accepted, for free, for a fee paid by you, or not at all  whether credit terms are offered to distributors, booksellers, libraries, and other retailers

Buying copies of your book to sell to readers directly

Avoid publishers that charge you a purchase price that is more than a 15% markup of printing costs.

Return of your book's original production files

A portion of the package fee that you pay goes into the creation of a cover design (assuming a custom cover not a template-based one) and the formatting of the interior of your book. You should therefore own those original production (or source files). You want these files because should you terminate your contract and publish the book with another company, you will have to pay for typesetting and a cover again. If you have the files, you can just swap out the old copyright page, bar code, and publisher's ISBN, etc., which will cost much less money. If all you can get are the press-ready PDF files, you may be able to get a designer to tweak the parts of the book that need it (copyright page, bar code and publisher logo). Cutting out the copyright page and inserting a new one in a press-ready PDF is easy, but depending on the cover design, covering up the bar code and replacing the publisher's logo, etc., could be trickier.

Relatively few publishers will give you the original production files even though they are useless to the company if you leave. They might make you pay for the files just to squeeze more money out of you when you’re leaving. Demand that a clause be inserted into the contract that gives you these files for free upon termination and any other material you paid to have created.

The actual printing

600 dpi (dots per-inch) laser printers print the books on 20-pound white bond paper with black toner, one copy at a time, or as needed. Some offer higher-quality, 24-pound white paper for an extra per-copy fee. A separate full-color machine prints each book's cover (reproduced at 300 dpi). Most POD books use a perfect bind. Request samples of books and discuss printing limitations with the company you choose to work with. If cost isn't an issue, the quality of offset printing is better.

68 Finding a good POD firm

Eight outstanding POD firms

Here are 8 POD firms described as “outstanding” in The Fine Print of Self-Publishing: The Contracts & Services of 45 Self-Publishing Companies - Analyzed, Ranked, & Exposed, by Mark Levine. He didn’t review his own firm, Mill City Press (http://www.millcitypress.net), for conflict-of-interest reasons.

 Aventine Press, www.aventinepress.com  BookLocker, http://publishing.booklocker.com  BookPros, http://www.bookpros.com  Cold Tree Press, http://www.coldtreepress.com  Dog Ear Publishing, http://www.dogearpublishing.net  Infinity Publishing, http://www.infinitypublishing.com  RJ Communications, www.rjcom.com, www.selfpublishing.com, or www.booksjustbooks.com  Xulon Press - www.xulonpress.com (strictly for Christian themes)

Also consider CreateSpace, Amazon’s POD service

Amazon has launched its own POD service called CreateSpace (www.createspace.com) that guarantees placement on Amazon.com and its worldwide affiliates. CreateSpace allows books to have full-color inserts and be printed in paperback or hard cover with a wide range of trim sizes and paper stocks. Beware that some customers in the past have complained about unfair printing mark-up costs; this may no longer be the case.

If you use CreateSpace, create a title listing through Amazon Advantage three months or so before the book is due to be published. This will help with pre-orders and pre-publication promotion for your book. With Advantage, you can upload more info onto your Amazon sales page, such as reviews, and your book becomes available for sale much quicker on Amazon after you approve your proof on CreateSpace.

As the publishing date approaches, Amazon will start ordering copies; tell them that copies aren't yet available. Two days before the publication date, tell Advantage that orders are now to be supplied by CreateSpace and that copies will not be shipped to their warehouse. Amazon then sources the copies from CreateSpace. You won't pay any fees, and Amazon only gets the 40% discount through CS. You are only using Amazon Advantage to get initial exposure for the book in the form of pre-orders and other pre-publication promotion (reviews, etc.), and not for selling it.

You don't want Advantage to handle your Amazon.com sales because there is little benefit in giving up an additional 15% of your list price if CreateSpace is your printer. But by using Advantage just at the very beginning, before your publication date, you can get publicity exposure on Amazon that you wouldn’t get if you were only using CreateSpace and weren’t using Advantage too.

69 Only use Advantage for actual sales if you are offset printing and need Amazon to store inventory.

Online forums for questions about POD books

 http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/pod_publishers/  http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=47

Websites for more info on POD

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Print-on-demand  http://www.writersweekly.com/selfpub.php  http://www.go-publish-yourself.com/  http://www.asiteaboutnothing.net/w_publishing.html

Offset printers

Offset printing looks beautiful and is what most major publishers use to print their books. An inked image is offset (transferred) from a plate to a rubber blanket and then to the printing surface (the paper). It's less expensive per copy than the POD option for large print runs of over 500 or 1,000 books, but it's much more expensive for small print runs. If you don't have a slew of buyers waiting, 500 books is a big risk. But if you're after quality and quantity, offset printing is for you.

Finding reputable ones

Offset printers specialize in the size of print runs and the number of colors used. Make a list of printers who do the book you want. Many of the best offset printers are in the Northern Midwest of the United States (especially Michigan and Ohio) because of their proximity to Canadian paper mills, meaning they have some of the lowest costs for paper. Get quotes from such standards in the industry as Thomson-Shore (www.thomsonshore.com), Data Reproductions (www.datarepro.com), and Bookmasters (www.bookmasters.com).

Other places to look

 Ads in Writer's Digest (www.writersdigest.com) or The Writer (www.writermag.com)  www.gain.net, a professional association for printers  If you belong to The Independent Book Publishers Association (PMA), check out the "Suppliers and Services" section on www.pma-online.org.

 www.doosan.com/en/services/book_publishing.page - A Korean printer that charges about $3 per book (be aware of added customs costs)

 an offset printer that is tied to Mill City Press, a good POD publisher owned by Mark Levine,

70 the author who compared and contrasted other POD companies: https://secure.bookprintingrevolution.com/default.aspx

Getting price quotes

For first-time orders, many printers require at least a 50% down payment with the balance due on shipment. Agree upfront to the terms and get them in writing. The offset printer should not make any royalties unless they help you sell the book, either by spending money on advertising or by marketing it.

Find books that you want yours to replicate, and have these ready to show to printers. Then solicit quotes that itemize the cost of each element (e.g., paper, binding, cover, illustrations), and negotiate the best price. Each quote should list the job-order's specifications exactly. If anything isn't listed, discuss it and the new quote before accepting it.

Before you accept this quote and sign, send your file to get a sample copy made. If you don't like it, find out if your disappointment is due to a limitation of the printing technology, a poor job on the printer's part, a problem with the file, or flaws in your design. Then either sign the agreement or find a new printer.

What to provide them to get a quote

 desired trim size (the book’s dimensions)  the length (total number of pages)  whether you're publishing a hardcover, trade paperback, or mass-market paperback  the cover stock  number of colors to be used on the front and back cover  the type of binding desired  the paper stock and color  ink color  the front and back cover art and how it will be supplied to the printer  whether color is used in the interior  whether there is an insert, such as a CD, DVD, or CD-ROM  your contact information  the book’s title  whether you've acquired your own ISBN, bar code, copyright, and other book-specific items  size of initial print run: the bigger the size, the cheaper the cost per copy  how quickly you need the printing job done  shipping (often your responsibility): what class of mail, address, and speed  possibly also a printed copy of the manuscript or galleys (the laid-out and designed pages)

Questions to ask

 What options can you offer in terms of cover and paper stock?  Do you need front and back cover artwork in advance?

71  What electronic format should I use for my book's cover design and internal pages?  Could you give me in writing the cost to print a single copy?  What price breaks can I receive for different quantities?  From what I understand, there are no royalties from you because only I sell the books, right?  Would you be able to print me a sample copy?  Have you printed books with specifications similar to mine? If so, can I see samples?  From the time I provide my manuscript, when will you get the books to me?  How about for subsequent print runs?  How will the books be shipped to me, my distributor, or warehouse after they're printed?

First print run

Before your first print run, ask for a proof copy so you can ensure all mistakes are fixed. Was the correct cover and paper stock used? Was the binding done correctly? Is the quality of the overall work up to par and of professional quality?

Then print as many as you think you can sell in the first year. A thousand copies may sound like very little until you try to sell them. Even though the unit cost is cheaper when you print more, you do not want to be stuck with boxes and boxes of unsold books. On the other hand, you need to account for books you're going to give away. Family, friends, booksellers, bloggers, reviewers and media will all want - even expect - a free book. Designate 10% of your print run to giveaways.

Have the printer keep copies of your files so you can order more books quickly. Reordering should just require a phone call. Keep an eye on stock and know how long it will take to reprint.

Order fulfillment

Done by you

Types of fulfillment paperwork

 Order forms: Keep a list of all orders in a database. Maintaining one is helpful if you plan to publish more books in the future or want to sell them additional products or services. For each customer, have a full name, address, phone number, ordering details, method of payment and its details, and the way you shipped the product.

 Sales receipts: Issue a receipt when you make a sale at any time. Keep a copy for your records.

 Returns: Keeping track of returns helps you manage your inventory records and finances. It's fast and easy with inventory-management or mail-order-management software. QuickBooks is a good option.

72 Taking customer orders

Charging sales tax

If you sell directly to others, you may need to charge sales tax. Every state is different.

Accepting credit cards

You first establish a merchant account through a financial institution or a specialized provider. It entails a one-time set-up fee, an ongoing monthly fee, and sometimes a transaction fee. In return, it should let you accept orders through your website and in person with a handheld device. You will probably pay a fee of 2% - 5% of each transaction. Non-swiped transactions, where you don’t see the card, cost extra. After the customer’s payments are authorized, the funds are transferred into your account within one to three business days.

Ask about rate-review policies. After you establish a working relationship with a merchant bank, request a reduction in your discount rate after several months. Even a small reduction saves you money in the long run.

Read all the contracts and agreements carefully. Know the terms, including how long the contract is in effect and what the fees are.

For advice on accepting credit cards and evaluations of merchant-account companies, see http://www.100best-merchant-accounts.com. For accepting Visa: http://usa.visa.com/business (see “accepting Visa”) or http://usa.visa.com/business/index.html?ep=v_sym_business#/page3. You will need a terminal or PC software. You can get a wireless terminal for use where there is no phone connection from http://www.merchantexpress.com. The company can even enable you to use a laptop for wireless authorizations. If you have a smartphone, you can use Square, a small card reader that has low fees. See http:///www.square.com.

If you need inventory-management or bookkeeping software and decide to go with QuickBooks, they have an integrated credit-care processing service. See http://payments.intuit.com.

PayPal

It’s also possible to process online payments through PayPal, and it may be less expensive than credit cards. Funds from sales are transmitted to your bank account instantly. The drawback is that for someone to make a payment, he must be a PayPal member unless you have a PayPal merchant account. Visit www.paypal.com and click the Merchant Tools tab at the top of the screen.

Money orders

Offer a printable order form on your website for people to mail in with a money order if they don’t want to buy online. Let them know that they can also fax or mail in their credit-card information.

73 Receiving the book cartons at home

The offset printer will ship the books to your warehouse, which might be your basement or garage. If this is the case, ask them to specify to the freight company that it will be a residential delivery. In addition, request “inside delivery” if you don't have a strong friend to help carry in the boxes, which will probably weigh about 35 to 40 pounds each. This “inside delivery” cost usually runs about $3.50 to $4.50 per 100 pounds. It may be worth it. Otherwise, the driver just unloads the skid off his truck.

Count the cartons, multiply that by the number of books per carton, and make sure the number matches that on the freight company's paperwork. Next, sample random cartons to ensure that the books are in fine condition and properly bound. If boxes are damaged, file a claim with the freight company. If books are wrongly printed, send a letter detailing the problem and a sample book to your printer.

If your production files were enclosed in the boxes, recover and store them in a safe, dry place. This includes your original artwork, cover art (with all materials and dies, if a hardcover), camera-ready copy or disks, and the negatives and halftones for your job.

Store the books safely

Store cartons on pallets a few inches above the ground, especially if it’s your basement and you have flooding issues. Keep the environment clean and dry; run a dehumidifier if the room is damp. Exposure to water or moisture quickly damages the books. You may want to pack them in large, sealable plastic containers to keep them airtight and waterproof until you ship or sell them. If you don't have a basement, attic, or garage available, you can rent space from a self-storage facility for about $30 to $50 per month.

Purchase additional insurance to protect your inventory against damage or theft, especially if you're storing a large quantity within your home. This inventory is for a business, so your homeowner's policy may not cover it. You may still want insurance if using a self-storage facility.

Shipping out the books

If you're doing your own shipping to customers, add a shipping & handling charge to all orders. But keep this to your true costs. Join the Independent Book Publishers Association (http://www.ibpa-online.org) and/or the Small Publishers Association of North America (www.spannet.org) to reduce your shipping costs.

You will need stamps, padded envelopes, packing tape, shipping labels, invoice forms, a postage machine, and space. Book Rate (or Media Mail) is the cheapest shipping method through USPS, but it can take up to ten days or longer for delivery; other options include FedEx, UPS, and DHL.

74 Supplier options include

 Boxes.com: www.boxes.com  Bubble Fast: www.bubblefast.com  Go Packaging: www.gopackaging.com  OfficeDepot: www.officedepot.com  OfficeMax: www.officemax.com  Packaging Supplies: www.packagingsupplies.com  PaperMart: www.papermart.com  Staples: www.staples.com  Uline: www.uline.com  VeriPack: www.veripack.com

Done by your printer

Some printers warehouse your books and handle order fulfillment on your behalf, for a fee of course. The storing of your books can ultimately save you money because you don't need to have the books shipped from the printer to your own warehouse at your expense and then from your warehouse to your customers. You can also save time and money by having your orders fulfilled directly by the printer, assuming the printer offers competitive rates for these services.

Done by a third party

Perhaps you want a company to handle everything for you. However, this can get expensive and eat into your profits. Do an online search for "order processing companies" or "order fulfillment companies" or obtain a referral from an industry association's website, such as PMA, the Independent Book Publishers Association (www.pma-online.org).

By Amazon

Amazon offers order fulfillment: www.amazonservices.com/content/fulfillment-by-amazon.htm

By other firms

 www.mfsanet.org  www.moultonfulfillment.com  www.innotrac.com  www.e-junkie.com/ej/pricing.htm (including e-books) (free to nonprofits and good causes)

Websites for graphic and printing terminology

 www.albionmich.com/cards/printingdef.htm  www.printindustry.com/glossary.htm

75 Traditional publishing houses specifically

Make a book proposal

You send a book proposal to prospective agents that you like, along with a cover letter, which is called a query letter. You also send the book proposal to editors, even if you already completed your manuscript.

Your proposal must stand out and demonstrate that there's a need and viable market for your book on a national scale. Each section should stand on its own, with its own heading at the top of its opening page. You don't want to begin a new section in the middle of a page. And no section - with the exception of marketing and promotion, the outline, and the sample chapters - should be longer than a few pages, double-spaced. It's best if you can keep the other sections under two pages. Sometimes a section may be only a paragraph. In other words, keep it short.

Don't refer to yourself as "the author." Keep it in the first person or use your name.

Format specifications are similar to the specifications for your manuscript: 1” margins, justified text, .5” indents for paragraphs, Times New Roman font, and 12-point size.

Its contents

Table of contents

Start with a table of contents and page numbers to give a snapshot of the proposal's organization. The table of contents goes in this order:

Title of Book / Overview / Bio / Audience / Competition / Special Marketing and Promotional Opportunities / Manuscript Specifications / Outline / Sample Chapters

Overview (summary)

This is an extended version of your pitch, about one or two pages. It's like what you read on the inside flaps of a hardcover and needs to be unique yet universal. It should cover every part of your proposal, including your audience and why your book will garner the nation's ovations.

Start with a big bang and then carry the momentum playfully. Mention that you have a huge base; a blog with a good number of readers is one example. Also point out previous media coverage. If you haven’t had that yet, explain why your book is both newsworthy and publicity- ripe. Let the reader know there's no other book like this one out there, without saying that directly.

76 Bio

This is an enthusiastic review of your accomplishments. If you've been published, trot out your personal bibliography. If you've won awards, include them. Elucidate on how you've got the savvy and the sass to publicize and market your book. Include interesting tidbits about yourself. What makes you an expert on this topic? Keep your bio to two pages.

Audience

Describe your audiences and their motivations to buy your book, as specifically as possible. Explain how you have been listening to them through your blog, social networks, workshops, or whatever other means you have. Use numbers if possible, such as from Google analytics. Show that your audience is worldwide and that you have an expanding number of groups that meet regularly in America and internationally.

Make the argument for a long shelf life by describing a continuous need for this book and why there will always be those seeking silver bullets for problems they have no time to solve.

Competition

Identify your competition to prove that no one has published the same book and to associate your book with successful ones. Aim for at least 5 books and stop at around 15. Even if your search leads you to dozens of books, you likely won’t come up with more than 15 that squarely compete with yours. Ask for assistance at your local bookstore or library; librarians and booksellers might point out obvious titles you've missed.

Lay out the list thoughtfully and carefully. State that you're well aware of the vast number of books on this subject. Then clearly differentiate your book from those that are most similar to it. How is your book unique? List each of the other titles (with author, publisher, publication date, and price) and within two sentences for each one, describe three of its weaknesses relative to your book. Show how yours reinvents the over-analyzed mousetrap in the best possible way.

Be careful not to trash the competition. If you send your proposal to the publisher of one of your competitive books and rudely slag their book, they will not want to work with you.

Publicity and marketing opportunities

Describe how you'll let the public know about your book. List the venues that you will use to make a speech or post an opinion. Show your ability to get pieces in little papers and on tiny radio stations, as well as on national television and NPR shows. State some spinoff products from your book that the publisher can profit off of through subsidiary sales. The more creative yet concrete your plan is, and the more you show what you will do, as opposed to the publisher doing it, the better.

77 Questions to answer in this section:

 Do you have a website with noteworthy traffic? Mention its address.  Can you get bloggers to write about you?  Can you write about other experts on your blog and get lots of people to pay attention?  Can you get your material into the hands of online reviewers?  Can you make a short movie that might go viral on the Internet?  Can you get yourself on radio and television and into magazines and newspapers?  Do you write a column for your local paper?  Do you have regular speaking engagements?  Are you affiliated with any large groups?  Any specific groups your book will speak to?  Do you belong to any trade organizations?  Do you have any blurbs about you from highly respected experts?  Do you have a press kit?  Do you have a great photo of yourself? This helps sell a lot of books.  Does your high school, college, or graduate school have an active alumni association with a newsletter or magazine?

Manuscript specifications

 What is the word count of your book?  Illustrations?  Trim size?  References?  Index?  Recurring special features or boxes in each chapter?

Chapter-by-chapter outline

Your outline should contain section and/or chapter headings. Beneath each heading, write a few paragraphs to explain that section and its relevance to the overall topic. The proposal’s overview can do this well, but go into more depth here. Include descriptions of supplemental boxed texts.

Sample chapters

You'll need one to three sample chapters, for a total of approximately 20 to 50 pages. Most writers start with the first chapter. Both chapter choice and page count are ultimately dependent on what you think will make the best case for your book.

78 Five common mistakes

1. Not being qualified to write the book you are proposing

Do you have enough experience to be a credible source of information? Will the media speak to you? On the flip side, do you have anything in your background that detracts from your credibility? To overcome a lack of qualifications, write the manuscript before you submit the proposal.

2. Exaggerating your social platform

Don’t claim a fabulous Twitter following if you have only 20 followers. Give a realistic impression of yourself and your reach.

3. Including only bestsellers as competition

Listing only bestsellers makes agents and editors wonder whether you have realistic expectations and know how your book fits into the market as a whole.

4. Claiming there are no competitive books

It only takes a minute to discover this is not true with a quick online search. Choose the most recent or bestselling titles from your search.

5. Forecasting audience size with deductive thinking

This argument goes something like this: “There are more than 500,000 certified computer programmers worldwide and thousands more who are not certified. If only two percent buy my book…” Just because they exist does not mean they will buy your book. Clearly identify your audience (computer programmers in this case) and show how you can reach this market.

Your literary agent

Most major publishing houses work only with authors represented by literary agents. A literary agent represents you and your book ideas to editors and publishers. He does not publish books and does not work for publishers. He works for himself or for a literary agency and earns between 15-20% of your earnings, based on the advance, royalties, and/or licensing fees paid by the publisher. Never pay a reading fee to an agent; that is a bogus fee.

How an agent helps you

 Gives you advice on all things related to the publishing of your book.  Reviews your manuscript and makes edits.  Reviews and edits your book proposal for an editor if you have yet to finish the manuscript.  Knows which publishing editors would be the perfect fit for your manuscript and knows

79 them personally: Good agents spend countless hours having lunches and sipping drinks with editors, getting to know their likes, dislikes and personal passions, so that when it comes time to submit your proposal they know just who to send it to.

 Contacts these editors on your behalf: A respected agent can usually get your proposal read by editors who would otherwise ignore your submission.

 Negotiates a deal and related contracts on your behalf.  Provides feedback about your publicity campaign.

If you self-published a book and are switching over

To an agent, a self-published book is an unpublished book. The agent takes it and follows the same steps that he would had you never self-published it.

Online forum for agent questions http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=58

Finding agents

It is important to find a successful agent, one who is selective about the authors and projects he chooses to represent.

1. Look at related books’ acknowledgments section using your library, Google, or the section on Amazon that says “People who bought this book also bought . . ."

2. Make three lists, one for agents, editors, and publishers. This way you can call the editor's office to get the name of the agent if none is listed. No agent or editor listed in the acknowledgments? Call the main number for the publisher and ask for the subsidiary rights department. Tell them you're interested in acquiring the film or television rights to the book and need to know who the author's agent is. No one will ask who you are or why you need to know. If on the off-chance they do, just make up a production company name.

3. You can also sign up for Publishers Marketplace (www.publishersmarketplace.com), which reports the deals of related books and identifies the agent who sold the book and the editor/publisher who bought it. Or buy an online subscription to Publishers Weekly (www.publishersweekly.com) and sign up for their free daily newsletter. Scan for agents and editors who are representing or buying material similar to yours. It's pricey, but this kind of insider info is invaluable. If you don't have the money, read Publishers Weekly at your local library and sign up online for Publishers Lunch, which is free but offers less information.

80 Websites and books for this

 www.literarymarketplace.com/lmp/us/index_us.asp  www.aaronline.org/Find  www.writersmarket.com/cms/open/agent  www.agentquery.com  www.agentresearch.com

 The 2012 Guide to Literary Agents (Writer's Digest Books, edited by Chuck Sambuchino); from the popular Writer’s Digest website, www.writersdigest.com, the book is an annual directory of more than 600 established literary agents. It includes detailed information about the types of clients each agency represents and how to make contact with them.

 A book by an agent: Jeff Herman's Guide to Book Editors, Publishers, and Literary Agents 2012 (by Jeff Herman); it lists personal and professional information for individual agents. See http://jeffherman.com.

 A book by an agent: The Essential Guide to Getting Your Book Published, by Arielle Eckstut and David Henry Starry; www.thebookdoctors.com

Research the best matches

Make a list of at least ten agents who are legitimate matches for your book, people who have done similar but not identical books. Then find out everything you can about them. Find out what other books they have represented, and figure out how your book relates to those ones and their authors. Find out if each of the agents has ever written a book, and if so, read it. Find out about his personal likes and dislikes. Use this to personalize your query letter. If you want to write for a niche audience, aim for an agent who knows that realm and the players.

When researching a larger agency, look for the newcomers who are just making their bones. They will be much easier to reach and much more likely to take on a newbie.

Contacting agents

Contact all the agents on your list at the same time but do not contact multiple agents within the same agency. Send your material the way that each one wants it; look this up in one of the aforementioned books on finding agents, or visit their websites. Some agents want proposals by e-mail, but others hate this. Some just want query letters, but others want your book proposal too.

Your query letter

The query letter is the one-page letter that you send to a prospective agent to see if he is interested in representing you to publishing houses. Use Times New Roman font, 12 point size, single-spaced paragraphs, no indent (block paragraphs), and a left alignment for the body of the text. If you send the letter via regular mail, make it classy with high-quality stationery. Include a

81 self-addressed stamped envelope (SASE), your e-mail and snail-mail addresses, and your phone number in case the agent wants to get hold of you as soon as possible or has lost your SASE. Have a friend proofread it, and be sure to spell the agent’s name right.

If you e-mail the query, get an automatic "confirmed receipt" if your Internet provider has this function. You won't have to call the agent, yet you'll know when he's opened the message. Every agency looks at query letters, whether they admit it or not.

The three parts

A query letter has three sections that should each be a paragraph.

The connection

Using your research, make your case for why a certain agent is the right person to represent your material. Mention any possible personal connections you may have discovered. Make specific references to books the agent has represented or written. Tell him what you liked about his book and why your book is similar to the successful books he has represented. If you are referred to an agent by a known writer, mention that in the subject line of the e-mail. Make the agent feel acknowledged, appreciated, acclaimed, affirmed, and special.

If you're writing just one agent because he's the one for you, say so in your letter, but mention that you will put a time limit on his exclusive look. Two weeks should be enough for him to read the manuscript unless he asks for more.

The pitch

Take the flap copy you have crafted, and condense your pitch to one paragraph. List the different types of audience that exist for your book. Who will buy it?

Your bio

Say what is interesting about you and why you're the person to write this book. Let the agent know how great and yet modest you are, and why you and you alone are capable of pulling this book off. Put in any information that shows you've got the savvy to publicize and market your book. Show the agent you'll be great to do business with.

Online forum for getting feedback on this http://forums.nathanbransford.com/viewforum.php?f=13

82 Following up

Once you've sent out your query letter and/or proposal, follow up. Just because he hasn't responded doesn't mean he's not interested. Sometimes he needs a few gentle reminders. E-mail is the least invasive and most effective way to do this, one week after you send the query letter.

If you don't have an agent's e-mail address, you must negotiate your way through the receptionist and/or the assistant. One week after sending your query letter, call the agent's assistant to make sure it was received. She might have been the first person who read your letter. Beware! She might say, "Oh, what's your book about?" Give your well-rehearsed pitch in under a minute. If the moment feels right, ask, "If you were me, how would you get my stuff on his desk?"

Offer to resend your query letter. Some agencies don't keep a log of them, and yours might have been lost. If you resend it, double-check that you're sending it in exactly the way they want it.

Note the time when you called. The one did-you-get-my-letter call to the assistant is enough. Reserve persistent calling for the months after the agent has received material he requested.

Handling rejection from agents and editors

With rejection comes perseverance. Submit your proposal to multiple targets and never take rejection personally. In most cases, you either never hear back or you receive a short rejection letter. Just keep saying to yourself: “They need me more than I need them!” No agent or editor wants to be the one who passed on Harry Potter or The Catcher in the Rye.

If you write something that you want someone else to publish, you will almost certainly be rejected. It's a question of when. If you aim for enough no’s, you will eventually get a yes.

The best advice on how to shape and rewrite your proposal or manuscript will come from rejection letters. Incorporate their advice and send it back. If you get a rejection over the phone, have a pen and paper handy before you ask a single question. Ask your rejecter how you can improve your work, as well as what he liked about it. Then write everything down and clearly state that you won't get back to him until you've addressed these concerns.

If you receive a rejection without feedback, write a short, friendly e-mail asking for constructive feedback. Don't use the phone; this could make you look desperate. If the rejection is from an editor and you have an agent, have the agent call the editor on your behalf.

Agent requests your manuscript and/or proposal

Have your materials ready before mailing your query letter. If you've got the money, send the requested material via overnight delivery. Or, if appropriate, ask if you can e-mail it. Whatever you do, get something off immediately so you're still on the agent's mind when he gets this material.

83 Now call every other agent you queried and let them know that you have interest elsewhere. Don’t specify that only one person called. However, if more than one person has called, trot this information out. This should vault your query to the top of their lists too.

Discussing the manuscript

Start with a conversation and take notes. If he can e-mail or send you an edited, marked-up copy of your manuscript, that is good, but go for a conversation because a marked-up submission won't reveal general concerns. Also, he may not have taken the time to tell you what he liked best about your work, which is just as important as what he didn't like.

Ask if he thinks you can get the job done in one more draft or if it's going to take a number of passes. Some agents will go back and forth on a proposal or manuscript numerous times. If you know early on that it's going to go back and forth for a few drafts, it's a lot easier to bear. If you do end up having to do a lot more work, consider yourself lucky to have a professional paying such close attention to your writing.

Questions to ask

 What specifically did you like about my material?  What specifically do I need to do to make the manuscript and proposal as great as it can be?  Is there anything that you feel should be added?  Is there anything else I need to do to make my material ready to sell?  Do you have the time to mark up my material so I can see exactly what you're talking about?

Questions to ask about his abilities

 What other books like mine have you sold?  How interested are you in the message of this book?  Will contact be primarily with you or your assistant?  Will you help me promote my book when it comes out?  Are you a member of the Association of Authors' Representatives?  Do you have client and editor references I can call?  What publishing houses do you work with on a regular basis?  How many books have you sold in the last year?  Do you have co-agents who help to sell your books overseas?  Do you have a co-agent in Hollywood?

Questions for self-employed agents

 Do you sell book rights around the world? If so, what is your commission?  Will you be able to sell serial rights to my book?  Do you have the ability to sell film and TV rights? If so, what is your commission?  When you're on vacation, are you available to take my calls if an emergency comes up? If

84 not, do you have an assistant who's capable of taking care of business?

Online videoconferencing websites (with agent, editor, etc.)

 Skype – video chat,  http://www.google.com/talk  https://join.me  http://www.apple.com/mac/facetime  http://lync.microsoft.com  www.webex.com/howto/index.html  www.blackboard.com/Platforms/Collaborate/Overview.aspx

Agreeing to a contract with an agent

If any part of the contract is confusing, ask if it can be eliminated or changed. If this is not possible, make sure you're satisfied with the agent's explanation of why it’s in the contract.

 The agency's commission on advances, royalties and sub-rights sales: Most agencies charge a 15% commission on advances, royalties and most subsidiary sales, except for foreign rights, where 20% is standard because the agent works with co-agents who split the commission. No agent should charge "development" or "reading" fees.

 A description of how the agency charges for out-of-pocket expenses: Some agencies charge for out-of-pocket expenses like postage, overnight delivery and messengers. Ask for a cap on expenses or request to be notified if expenses go beyond a certain point.

 The agency's obligations to you, and vice versa

 No statements about your next book (also known as an "option book"): You should be free to work with any agent you choose on your next book without having to pay a commission to the first agent.

 Conditions for termination: No contract should lock you in for a set amount of time and not allow you to leave. Either party should be able to walk away with 30 days' notice.

Managing the relationship

Discuss each one’s expectations of the other. The more you respect the agent's time and expertise, and the better you state what you want and need, the more you increase your book's chances of success. An agent who genuinely enjoys working with you will be a better salesperson for your book.

85 Help find editors

Gently pass the names of editors to your agent. It’s good for him to know which editor’s books you admire. Just like you used your agent’s books to gain his interest, your agent can do the same with editors’ books. See the book, 2012 Writer's Market, edited by R. L. Brewer; it’s an annual publication.

Ways to express appreciation

Make the agent feel appreciated, smart, and interesting. A lot of writers don't know what their agents do and thus don't know what to thank them for. Here's a list of comments:

 "I know how busy you are. Thanks for getting back to me."

 "I know how busy you are. Thanks for reading my material." Carefully reading material takes a long time and requires concentration. Even just skimming a proposal or a manuscript is an effort. Since agents are on the phone all day, they have to read at night and on the weekends when they'd rather be having a life.

 "I know how busy you are. Thanks for your thoughtful comments." Thoughtful comments take a lot of concentration and sensitivity and a long time to develop.

 "Thanks for taking the time to explain the process." Assume that most agents have at least 25 clients; many have 50 or more. Assume that at least half these clients are first-time authors. That's a lot of time spent explaining the ins and outs of the business and answering questions. If you and every other first-time author the agent represents ask half an hour's worth of questions a week, that's at least six hours total, almost a whole day per week.

Don’t look for affirmation from him

It's natural to want your agent to affirm the value of your project and talent, and a lot of agents are very good at doing this. But a lot don't have these skills or are uninterested in anything that smacks of cheerleading. Look for your affirmation elsewhere. An agent doesn't have to be warm and cuddly to sell a book. In some cases, a cold and prickly agent can get more money and make better deals. Don't let your emotional needs overcome your business savvy.

Interpersonal problems

If you've done all the asking you can do and you're still confused, unsure or disheartened about something, tell your agent how you feel, if you can do it without attacking. Examples:

 "I know you're busy, so please let me know the best way for us to communicate."  "I feel that I haven't edited my material enough, but I'm unsure what to do. Please let me know if I'm asking for too much help."

 "I feel that you've lost interest in this. I'd rather know now if that's true, so please tell me."

86 Contacting publishing-house editors

Agent pitches your book

Your agent has your completed proposal or manuscript and has made a submission list of editors whom he thinks will like it. He sends a cover letter with his version of your trusty old pitch. He might also call and pitch to them over the phone, or some combination of the two.

You pitch because you have no agent

First find the right publishing editor

You can contact publishing houses yourself without an agent, but first pinpoint those that specialize in the type of book you want published. Look at the publishing data of books similar to yours.

When approaching large publishers, contact their subsidiary or imprint that is the best match for your book. Many publishers have subsidiaries or imprints that specialize in specific types of books. Know the kinds of books that an imprint publishes and who to contact in the imprint itself. Many publish only one type (or one format) of book — Crown Business (Random House) and Portfolio (The Penguin Group) publish business books, Fireside (Simon & Schuster) publishes inspirational books, and HarperPerennial publishes paperbacks.

Smaller, independent presses

Your best shot will be with small, independent houses. A small press is defined as one that publishes fewer than 12 titles per year. Thus, you have a chance to get a lot of enthusiasm and attention, which can go a long way even if their resources may be limited. Since they publish fewer books than others, they usually try their hardest to keep each book alive for the long haul. Still, be skeptical about their promises. Look at their previous books and catalogues, their website, and facilities.

The size of the press doesn't matter as much as reputation. If prestige is a concern, look for the publisher's name in the chains and in your local independent bookstore. Track down reviews and stories on the publisher's books to ensure that major media outlets pay attention to their offerings.

University presses

University presses publish important books with little or no concern for marketplace demands. They are far better at getting their books into classrooms than a lot of the major trade houses.

Helpful websites and books

 www.publishersmarketplace.com  www.publishersweekly.com

87  www.writersmarket.com  2012 Writer's Market, edited by R. L. Brewer; (annual publication)  Jeff Herman's Guide to Book Editors, Publishers, and Literary Agents 2012, by Jeff Herman; http://jeffherman.com (annual publication)

Send that editor your query letter and proposal

A query letter has three sections that should each be a paragraph. Keep the letter to a page, have a friend proofread it, and correctly spell the editor’s name. The format should be Times New Roman font, 12 point size, single-spaced paragraphs, no indent (block paragraphs), and a left alignment for the body of the text. E-mail your query and attach your proposal. If you already finished the manuscript, say so in the query. Then follow up in two weeks.

Three parts of this type of query letter

1) why your book is right for that publisher's list

Talk about the books the editor herself has worked on or written and what you liked about them. Explain how yours is similar. Mention any other personal connections you may have discovered.

2) your book pitch

Study the copy on the back cover and jacket flaps of that editor’s books and write your pitch in that style. List the different types of audience that exist for your book. Who will buy it?

3) Your "me" pitch

Let her know why you're the perfect person to write this book and why you would be a smashing addition to her list. Add anything that shows you've got the savvy to publicize your book.

Online forum for questions about your query letter http://forums.nathanbransford.com/viewforum.php?f=13

Submissions – simultaneous versus one-by-one

Simultaneous and one-by-one submissions have their pluses and minuses. Exclusive submissions allow you to learn from editors who reject your proposal but still offer comments. You can make the changes and resubmit to other editors. With simultaneous submissions, if it turns out that your proposal/manuscript has unforeseen problems, you may come up with a fix afterwards only to find that you have no place left to go.

An exclusive can last from a day to a couple of weeks and can make an editor act fast. However, the process can feel like it is taking forever. Also, you can’t create a competitive environment

88 with it. If you accept an offer from an exclusive, you never know how much money you might have left on the table. Then again, you might get someone to give his maximum offer. Simultaneous submissions allow for maximum competition and can drive up the price for you.

Waiting to hear back

Of all the excruciating waiting you'll endure in the publishing business, the period between editorial submission and offer (or rejection) is most likely to make you feel like a pregnant woman who's three weeks overdue. Prepare yourself because this so-close-yet-so-far waiting can be brutal. If you haven't heard from your editor in more than two months, you may have a problem.

If you have an agent

Your agent can nudge in a way that you can't. If there's a problem, you want to know about it as soon as possible. If you can’t get a clear answer from him about when he sent your proposal to an editor, ask for copies of his cover letter for your files. This way, you can track how long your work has been out in the world. If, after a few weeks, you haven't heard anything, it's okay to send him an e-mail saying, "Any news?" If, after a few months, there's not a bite, talk with him. Ask him what he thinks isn't working. Is there any consistent feedback? Also ask if he's gotten any positive feedback and what it is. You don’t want to eliminate anything that editors liked.

If you don’t have an agent

The decision can take weeks or months. Don't disappear entirely. A friendly postcard or e-mail saying hello and detailing all the things you're doing for your book is perfect. Don't ask, "Have you read my manuscript?" It's implied, and your editor will certainly let you know when she has.

Editor is interested

If you have an agent

If the editor likes the project, her company's editorial board and sales department still must approve the idea. Your agent then e-mails your proposal or manuscript or sends it via overnight delivery. This can be pricey, and you'll have to reimburse your agent, but it’s worth it since it makes your work look urgent and important. The publisher may want to meet with you. You may then receive so much inconsistent feedback that your head will spin, and sadly this may not result in a sale, especially if you have yet to write the manuscript.

If you don’t have an agent

The second you get a nibble, contact all queried editors and let them know that someone is panting after your book. Since you don't have an agent to represent you, you have to leverage interest. Send your proposal/manuscript via e-mail or overnight if possible and keep the receipt. You'll get the top-priority factor, thus lessening your chances of it getting lost.

89 Interviewing editors and their teams

Once editors express interest in your book, you want to meet with their teams - the publicity people, the marketing and sales folks, and others. If you can, meet face to face with your agent present too. Otherwise, do a conference call with them and your agent on the line, or Skype with them.

Have your passionate pitch down stone-cold before you arrive. You want to excite the editor with it. Practice it with your agent in advance if possible. Perhaps a sample reading would dazzle the publishing team and then potential readers.

In addition to convincing an editor the value of your book, you want to see if they're the right match for you. The editor is like a parent to your project. Look her team square in the eyes, shake their hands, and get a good sense of them. Even if you don't get to choose your editor in the end, take notes on everyone. The information you gather can help you later on; you can often see what hesitations an editor has about your book or you. Address these early and you'll be better off. Then get a business card from everyone you meet so you can later send thank-you notes.

What makes for a good publishing team?

 track record in publishing your kind of book  enthusiasm from top to bottom, side to side, stem to stern, foot to mouth  an editor who loves your book  established edge in prestige, attention, design or anything else that's important to your book  desire and ability to go the extra mile to get your book into readers' hands

Some questions to ask

 What books have you edited? (Then check these out and read the acknowledgements.)  What other books have you published that are similar to mine? Have these been successful?  What changes do you foresee in the content or direction of my book?  What are the weak points in my proposal/manuscript, and how would you fix them?  What are the strong points in my proposal/manuscript, and can I improve them even more?  What kind of publicity/marketing plan do you envision for my book?  Do you prefer to receive a complete manuscript or to get several chapters at a time?  Are you as a group excited about my book?  When do you see my book coming out, and why?  How much say will I have in the cover choice?

Consider their publicity, marketing, and sales departments

 Did anyone from these departments show up?  Have you heard anything from them?  Do they have someone who knows what keywords are and how to market in cyberspace?

90  If you make a cool promotional video, will they know how to seed it all over the Internet?

If all publishers reject your manuscript

Do not count on much agent participation at this point. Once an agent has received a lot of rejections on a project, its luster can fade. You have several options:

 You can approach smaller publishers on your own. Ask your agent for suggestions about to whom you should submit. Ask if he knows any editors at these houses and if he'd be willing to negotiate the deal there if you get an offer.

 You can try to find another agent, but only do this if you've had a nightmare experience. It is difficult to find another agent unless your first one did a very small submission or is known as a loose cannon or an idiot. If you do decide to change, know exactly to whom your book was submitted; get copies of all submission and rejection letters. Don't drop your agent until you know someone else wants to represent you; already having one is a position of strength.

 You can ask your agent what you can do to improve your proposal/manuscript. A little bit of the right advice can sometimes fix your ship. Maybe your agent can suggest a book doctor or editor if the rejections you've received have to do with editorial problems.

 Ask your agent about his submission strategy. Are there divisions of the bigger houses that have yet to see your work? Second-tier publishers who pay less but still very good? Smaller houses or university presses might be a good fit. Re-express your appreciation of all that your agent has done thus far. He has been working for free up to this point and doesn't make a cent until you do.

 Wait six months. Even if a publisher rejects your book, you can still resubmit it six months (or more) later. Often, the publisher's focus changes, based on trends and how the publishing industry is doing. There's also a high rate of turnover among acquisitions editors and other decision makers at many publishing companies.

How you earn their money

If you get interest from multiple publishers, it's tempting to want your agent to make the decision. But ultimately you're driving the train. Your agent is there to present you with options and to get you the best possible deal.

Negotiating without an agent

 Research and know the terrain. Have you been reading the deal sections of Publishers Weekly and Publishers Lunch? Have you googled your prospective publisher's backlist to see if you can get some dirt on their deals? Do you have a sense of what books like yours are selling for? Amass as much info as you can.

91  Prepare a book-writing budget. Demonstrate your costs so that requests don't seem like they're coming out of thin air. Do you have research, travel, or permission costs? Be specific.

 Use your agentless-ness to your advantage. Sometimes the inappropriate questions can get you the unobtainable. "What are the highest royalties that you've given in a contract?" "What's the range in advances that you give?' "Will you have an advertising or publicity budget?" "Will you build a website for my book?" You may discover answers that an agent never would have, and if you don't ask, you will not receive.

 Let the publisher make an offer first and to name a price.

Four scenarios (combo of sale or royalties)

 The publisher pays a one-time, flat fee for the manuscript and becomes the sole copyright owner of the material; you provide the manuscript on a work-for-hire basis.

 The publisher pays a licensing fee to print copies of your self-published book.

 The publisher pays an advance, plus royalties on all copies sold. You receive money upfront and ongoing royalty payments. When you receive an advance, that money is deducted from your initial book sales. If, however, your book doesn't sell enough copies to pay back the advance, you don't have to pay back the money.

 The publisher pays royalties only, based on sales.

Negotiating a sale

Almost all offers come in one of three ways: preemptive offers, auctions (either round-robin or best-bid), or individual offers. Preempts and auctions occur only if there's competition. If you've submitted your book directly to publishers, you'll more than likely be dealing with individual offers.

If you accept a smaller advance from a better publisher who pushes your book the right way, to the right people, it could sell a lot more copies. Selling a lot more copies would ultimately put more money in your pocket, make you a hotter commodity, and help you sell your next book.

If the final offer doesn't meet your minimum, you or your agent can go back to the publisher and explain your situation. Sometimes seeing an actual budget will make publishers come up with a little more cabbage. Or you can apply for a grant or look for corporate sponsorship. But if your goal is to get a book actually published by a publisher, this might be your chance. A number of people turn down the only offer they receive and regret it later.

92 The preemptive offer

Preemptive offers are made to eliminate the competition. That's why most publishers will let a preempt sit on the table for only 24 hours. They don't want you shopping the offer around. If you're lucky enough to be on the receiving end of one, talk with the editor who's making the offer. If you're nearby, go meet her. Methodically compile an organized list of questions.

Sometimes an editor will make a preemptive offer that isn't as sumptuous as your agent would like. Your agent might ask this editor to "take a floor" in an auction. If you've ever been to a live auction, you may have noticed that someone had submitted a first offer prior to the start, below which no bids can go. This is a floor. In publishing, it has an additional significance. When a floor is accepted, the editor who holds it sits out of the auction. Once all bids have been made, the floor-holder gets an opportunity to make one final, topping bid, typically 10% higher than the last bid.

Pluses

 A publisher who preempts is a publisher who is really passionate about your book.  A preempt may be the best offer you get.  No matter how many birds are in how many bushes, this is a bird in hand.

Minuses

 If you accept the offer, you can't use it to breed other interest.  Another publisher might have given you more money.  Another publisher might have been a better match.

Auctions: the two types

There are two kinds of book auctions: round-robin and best-bid. Both occur by phone or e-mail at a preordained time and date. In a round-robin auction, people start low and end high, and with best-bids each editor has to pony up his one best bid. Only if two publishers make the same highest bid will they be given a chance to give another best bid.

In round-robin auctions, all editors make a first-round bid, with the exception of "floor-holders" (see preemptive offers above). Whoever has the lowest bid in the first round makes the first bid in the second round, and so on. Each offer has to top the previous bid by a minimum percentage, usually 10%. So, if someone offers $10,000, the next bidder has to bid $11,000, the next at $12,100, and so on. However, someone might make a bid that exceeds 10% above the current offer. This is a strategic move that editors make in order to try and knock out the competition.

One of the beauties of a round-robin auction is that in a short time you can watch your money grow by leaps and bounds. Another is that the initial lowest bidder can come out on top. However, one of the downsides is that money is the controlling factor. Sometimes the lower bidder may be your first choice, and this can lead to unpleasant feelings. Another downside is that one house may be willing to pay a lot more than the others. Let's say one house was willing

93 to pay as much as $100K whereas everyone else would not go above $50K; if everyone else's offers are low, your book could end up selling for $55K when it could have sold for double.

Sometimes an auction will reveal that an editor who makes the highest bid is not right for you. Another editor may write a passionate letter about why she's the right match. Another might make a marketing commitment in her contract. Another might give you a large first payment. Whatever the reason, if you feel that your book will fare better with a lower bidder, it is your right to choose that house instead. For understandable reasons this will likely anger the highest bidder.

If you're leaning toward one editor in particular or don't like another editor, let your agent know right away. He'll probably want to hold a best-bid auction, not a round-robin one.

Royalties

Advances

An advance is formally known as an advance against royalties. Say you receive a $20,000 advance and that your hardcover book sells for a retail price of $20. 10% of the cover price might go to you, which means you earn $2 for every book sold through regular retail channels. This 10% is your royalty. However, after you receive your advance check, you won't get another check until you earn out your advance. So, 10,000 copies will have to be sold at retail in order for you to receive your first royalty check, which comes after your advance check.

Advance money is yours to keep even if you end up selling just three books.

Advances are paid out in chunks. You get one chunk when you sign your contract, another when your manuscript is accepted, and the last one when your book is published. Two variations:

¼ on signing of contract ¼ on delivery and acceptance of manuscript ¼ on publication of hardcover ¼ on publication of paperback

½ on signing of contract ½ on delivery and acceptance of manuscript

Bonuses

Bonuses come in two forms: bestseller and earn-out. The earn-out bonus is given if your book earns out its advance or hits a milestone within a certain amount of time, usually a year. If you earn out your advance, there's likely to be a long lag time before you get your cut, sometimes a year.

94 Royalty escalators

Often a publisher will reward you with a higher royalty rate if you sell more than a specified number of books. The sale of large numbers of books means an increase in profit margins for them, who can pass some of this extra profit to you. Get royalty escalators written into your contract. They are crucial if your advance is small and you think you're going to sell a lot of books; you can make up for that small advance with more money from long-term sales.

Escalating royalties for one-color, standard-size books (applied to the cover price):

Hardcover Trade Paperback Mass-Market Paperback 10% to 5,000 copies 7.5% for all copies 8% to 150,000 copies 12.5% to 10,000 10% thereafter 15% thereafter

Escalators can also go down

Publishers commonly reduce the royalty on reprints of a limited number of copies, giving you what's called a small printings royalty. The smaller the print run, the higher the printing costs are for the publisher. Reducing the royalty is the only way they can keep the physical books in print.

If your contract stipulates such a reduction, make it for the smallest number of books possible; most publishers will agree to 2,500 copies or less. Be sure that it can occur only once a year so that if your publisher ends up doing multiple small printings each year, you get a reduced royalty for only one of these. Lastly, make sure this clause applies no earlier than two years after publication so you can get at least two years' worth of your full royalty.

The contract

The contract grants the rights to your work. Usually a publisher wants to claim as many of these rights as possible for as cheaply as possible. Pay extra attention to terms that automatically renew.

If you have yet to write the manuscript

Review of your manuscript

If you have yet to write the manuscript but are offered a contract, ask that the contract includes a clause stating that your editor must respond to your manuscript within 60 days of delivery. She doesn't have to accept the manuscript, but she has to give you feedback. If she doesn't, you and/or your agent can then force a response. Your contract should stipulate that you can write a letter to the publisher after 60 days of the delivery date, and the publisher must respond within two weeks of your letter. You will then inevitably have to wait a while longer, but it's better than having the editor sit on your manuscript indefinitely. It’s hard to get publishers to agree to this clause because most writers are late on their end in turning in the manuscript in the first place.

95 Avoiding a rejection of the manuscript

Your contract will likely stipulate the circumstances under which your work can be rejected. The publisher should only be able to reject your work for editorial or legal reasons and not because of changing market conditions, because they disagree with your politics, or because they don't like you.

Deliver your book by the delivery date, or it will get cancelled. If you get a substantial extension, get it written into your contract. This way, if your editor leaves or anything else untoward happens, your publisher will still have the contract.

Either way – you have yet to write the manuscript or already have

Titles

The contract should include either "author’s approval" or "mutual agreement" for the title.

The book’s cover

Get the "right of consultation" on your book's cover, as well as on your interior design, flap, and catalog copy. If you get to review these pieces, you will have the chance to ask and fight for changes.

Copyright term

Never sign a contract containing a term that equals the length of the copyright. A copyright term lasts for the duration of your life plus another 70 years. This allows your heirs to receive your copyright's benefit after you're gone. Once you sign a contract that has a term that extends for the life of your book's copyright, you've lost control over your work forever.

Deal memos

Getting the contract signed and executed can take months, so get the deal in writing immediately. This is done through what’s called a deal memo. It confirms the basic points of the offer you've accepted and should include the advance, royalties, territory, payout, rights, delivery date, bonuses (if any), option information, and every other pertinent part of your contract.

If your agent doesn’t do deal memos, just make sure you understand the basic points of the deal so that you can check that your contract jibes with the original offer. If you're negotiating a deal on your own, ask the publisher directly for a deal memo or draw one up yourself and send it via e-mail.

96 Sample deal memo:

 territory: North America  title: Mutual agreement on title  cover and jacket: Consultation on cover and jacket copy  advance: $75,000  payout: $37,500 on signing, $18,750 on delivery and acceptance, $18,750 on publication  bonus: $10,000 earn-out bonus if author earns it within one year of publication  Royalties: hardcover - 10% for 1st 5,000 copies, 12.5% for next 5,000 copies, 15% thereafter; paperback - 7.5% flat; e-books - 25% of net

 subsidiary rights: Publisher retains audio and first serial; 80/20 split on British rights, 75/25 on translation (first number in ratio represents author)

 option: 30-day option on next proposal, to begin after delivery and acceptance; no matching clause

Securing permissions

Are you using material that requires permissions? Have a clause in your contract stating that your publisher will provide official permission forms. Request these forms very early in the process; otherwise you may forget about them and end up having to create your own at the last minute.

The out-of-print clause

Include a performance standard clause that says that if the Work does not sell a certain number of copies (for example, 500) in any and all formats within a certain period (say, a year), then either the rights automatically revert to you, or, more typically, you can request a reversion of rights and the publisher has a certain period to reissue the book - or not. The crucial piece of the clause is "any and all formats."

Royalties

The contract should be clear on this. Are royalties based on a percentage of the retail price or the net price (retail price minus printing costs)? The levels of royalty escalators should be clear as well.

Frequency of statements

Royalty statements should be sent to you at specified intervals (at least twice a year) on specified dates. These statements should be sent whether or not a payment is due to you.

The reserve for returns

The publisher should not withhold more than 20% of your royalties against returns nor withhold

97 your money for more than one year.

Timely payment to you

Publishers sometimes have cash-flow troubles. Have it written into your contract that you must be paid within 30 days of each payment date. If they don't pay you for months, then they're in breach of contract and, worst-case scenario, you can cancel your deal and take your book elsewhere.

If you're being paid upon paperback publication, make sure it's spelled out in your contact that you receive the paperback portion of the advance either at that time or within 12 months of hardcover publication, whichever is earlier. This way, if your book never makes it to paperback, you ensure that you will be paid your full advance.

Revenue splits besides royalties

The typical revenue splits between you and your publisher are as follows (the first number represents your share of the pie, the second represents the publisher's):

 first serial (the appearance of an excerpt of your book in a magazine just before or coinciding with its publication): 90/10

 second serial (appearance of an excerpt of your book in a magazine after publication): 50/50  book club: 50/50  permissions (the use of part of your book by another author): 50/50  paperback: 50/50  special editions: 50/50  foreign-language translation: 75 /25 (50/50 for four-color illustrated books)  United Kingdom: 80/20 (50/50 for four-color illustrated books)  textbook: 50/50  large-type edition: 50/50  E-book: The current rate is 25% of net, but e-book pricing is very much in flux, and it's reasonable to get it written into your contract that if the publisher's prevailing rate - the rate offered to most authors - changes in your favor, you will be granted the higher rate.

 multimedia adaptation of the book, which may use some of the text and/or illustrations, or additional text or illustrations as well as video or sound added: 100/0

 audio recording: 50/50  commercial and merchandising: 100/0  performance (film, TV, stage): 100/0  storage and retrieval: 50/50  calendar: 50/50

98 Free books for publicity

The contract should allow you as many free books for publicity and marketing purposes as possible. To ensure this, provide your publisher a list of great contacts to whom you'll be sending your books. It's not unreasonable for a media maven to ask for as many as 250 copies.

Price of books that you buy to sell later

If you plan to sell copies of your book, negotiate for the right to buy copies for no more than 15% more than the printing costs. This allows you to earn a good margin on the books you sell yourself while the publisher does for you what you can’t do, which is to get the book into bookstores.

Your right to audit them

Your accountant should be allowed to examine the publisher's books at least once a year in case you feel there are errors in your statements. If the accountant finds errors greater than 5%, the publisher pays within 30 days for the examination as well as all monies owed. Keep an eye on Amazon.com to see how your book is selling; if you know you've sold books but your royalty statements show negligible sales, you may have a problem.

Liability insurance

Most publishers will include you in their liability insurance policies if you ask.

Not responsible for their legal fees

You should not be required to pay the publisher's attorneys fees in the event of a dispute, except for defamation or your misrepresentation as to ownership of rights. Clauses that require the non- prevailing party in a lawsuit to pay the prevailing party's legal fees are equitable.

Avoiding a cancellation

If the cancellation clause in your contract isn't specific enough, a publisher can cancel your book on the slightest of whims.

First proceeds procedures

If your book is canceled for legitimate reasons and you've already been paid some money, the "first proceeds clause" stipulates not only that you must repay the money, but also when. Your contract should say that you only need to repay out of the proceeds of a sale to another publisher. Many contracts, however, now state that you have to repay all monies within 12 to 18 months regardless of whether you're able to resell your book. You might not be able to publish a book again anywhere until you pay them back. So, if you're unable to secure a first proceeds clause that's only enforceable if your book sells elsewhere, try to make your time span for payback as long as possible.

99 Option for next book

Most publishers want first dibs on your next proposal or manuscript. This is called an option. It allows your current publisher to have an exclusive time period to decide whether or not to pursue your next project. Ensure that the language includes these limits:

 only your next book of nonfiction or fiction  a book written solely by you, or a book written solely by you and your coauthor, if you co- wrote your current book

 a detailed proposal only, if you're writing nonfiction  an option period that begins as close to the delivery and acceptance of your first book as possible

Some publishers will make you wait until your book comes out before you can show them a new proposal because they want to see the response to your first book.

 A period of 30 to 45 days for an exclusive look

 No matching clause, one that stipulates that you cannot enter into an agreement with another publisher for your option book if your current publisher matches their offer

 Only a 30-day window to agree on publisher’s offer before you are free to move on

Have a pro review it before you sign

Have your agent or a lawyer review the contract before you sign it.

Manuscript discussions

Handling negative feedback

You will receive a letter stipulating the overall changes your editor would like you to make, in addition to line-by-line edits. Your editor will have objectivity and insight about the book business that you do not possess. Be thankful. On the other hand, you have a depth of insight into your material that your editor does not have. Do not automatically agree or disagree with your editor.

Take a few days to respond. Read the feedback several times so that defensiveness isn't your first reaction. The editor represents the reader and is saying a few things that the reader might say. Calmly and carefully formulate your response. Explain where you agree and disagree, and why. If you just say "yes" or "no," you deprive yourself of going through the process of exchanging ideas.

100 Use your agent and allies to clarify and refine your questions before you address your editor. They may see things you don't. A reader or agent may confirm an observation of your editor's and illuminate the point in different words. Carefully lay out your ideas to someone else before you have a conversation with your editor. Ideally meet with your editor face to face and maximize her time. At least use the phone and not e-mail.

Its acceptance

You and your editor will go through at least one round of revisions before your manuscript is accepted. It is considered officially accepted when it is handed off to the copy editor, barring any red flags from your publisher's lawyer. This stage is known as “entering production.” While your book is being groomed, your editor will be discussing it with other members of her team. If you've produced a great book and you've been a joy to work with, the good word will spread across the departments.

At this point you receive your "delivery and acceptance" check, known as your D&A check.

Role of the copy editor

The next stop is your copy editor. Depending on your manuscript’s complexity, this phase can take from a week to a month or more. You will then receive a copy of your copy-edited manuscript, which you will need to go through carefully, approving or disapproving every comment and correction. You will have a week or two to do so, more for a longer book. Don't leave this to the last minute; reviewing your copy-edited manuscript is painstaking work and can take many, many hours. You may disagree with a whole host of changes, which may require some back and forth with your editor. You almost never have direct access to your copy editor.

The book’s cover

Be prepared for the fact that your publisher will most likely want to minimize your involvement in the cover design. Do not wait to receive a cover before you state your ideas. Ask your editor from the beginning to let you know one month before work begins on it. Make it clear to her that you would like to communicate with the designer and will keep her, the editor, in the loop as well.

Your relationship with your editor

The editor who acquires your book has made a big commitment to you. She has already put a lot of trust in you, and now you have to return the trust. Assume that she believes in you and your book and wants you to be as successful as possible. This is why you need to nurture the relationship. Set up a call so that the two of you can be on the same page and so that you can ask these questions:

101 Good relationship-building questions

 What would you like me to know about you and this process before we begin?  What’s your communication preference: e-mail or the telephone?  Do you have any general or specific editorial suggestions at the moment?  Is there anything in my information that needs work?  How about the tone?  What is our ideal publication date? What events or holidays should we work around?  When will the launch meeting and sales conference be?  What are some other key dates in this process?  Which people in your office should I know?

If you have yet to write the manuscript

 Do you want to see chapters as I finish them? Or would you prefer a completed manuscript?  Did you see any stylistic problems in my sample writing/manuscript that I should work on?  How closely should I stick to my outline? If I change it, do you want to stay in the loop?

When it comes to the details, most editors will bow to the author, but an editor who sees fundamental problems is likely to hold fast. Try to be open to suggestions even as you stick to your guns. It's almost impossible not to react emotionally and to feel that your editor is a dummy who's totally missed the point. However, do remember that it will be your name on the cover.

If you have an agent, let him be your sounding board in terms of figuring out which issues are important and which ones aren’t. Let him be the bad cop. Sometimes it's better for the editor and agent to duke it out and reserve the author/editor relationship for less contentious issues. A good agent can get what a client needs without alienating the publishing team. He may already have a relationship with your editor and can speak the language of publishing, articulating what you want better than you can. In addition, most editors don't want to anger agents. Either let your agent handle the situation or speak up and say what you really think.

Problems with someone on your publishing team

Write a letter to the editor outlining specifics and asking for help. Follow up with concerned calls and e-mails and ask your agent to act on your behalf. Only then should you go to your editor's office and ask to speak in person to her or her superior.

Going above the editor to her boss

There are times when you need the aid of a more senior person. You may have an editor who's young and inexperienced. Build a concrete case with specific examples of how you need help. This way, if you do need to go over your editor’s head to her boss, it'll be clear why you're doing so. When you do this, express to her boss her positive qualities. This will soften the blow and make it clear that you're a reasonable, thoughtful person.

102 Having to switch publishers

If editorial differences cannot be resolved, consider taking your book to a new publisher. That means returning the money to your current one. If you sense that your publisher might be getting ready to reject your manuscript, your preemptive move will make it easier for you to resell your work. Once a manuscript has been rejected, it's perceived as tainted. However, you run the risk of being perceived as "difficult." That's why you need to have a good answer to the question: "What happened with your last publisher?" The most popular reason seems to be "creative differences."

Discuss this with your agent before making the move. If you don't have one, talk to other writers to help you make the best decision. Leaving your publisher should be like removing a bandage. Do it quickly and cleanly, and spend as little time as possible in publishing limbo. The sooner you can find your book a new home, the better.

Questions in their marketing questionnaire

 What is the summary of your book?  Who are you? Provide a one-paragraph bio and one-page bio.  What current books directly compete with yours?  What well-known people might provide blurbs? Make your list an exhaustive one. On top of the people you will track down yourself, add a wish list of people that your editor, publisher and/or someone in publicity or marketing just might know. If you have a Top 5 list, mark those names with asterisks so your publisher will pay special attention to them. Also, make it clear that you have other important contacts.

 Who is your audience? If you've been building your platform via your blog, website, or social networking, do you have new information about your audience that you'd like to add as well?

 Where have you appeared in the media?  What is your presence on the Internet? They need to know if you have a website, a blog, a Twitter/Facebook or other social network following, and/or a large e-mail list. The more info you give to the marketing, publicity, and sales staff, the more chance you have of getting them excited and also getting them to get others excited.

 Are there publicity angles for your book that we might not know about? What inspired you? What interesting things happened during the writing of your book?

 What publications and bloggers should receive a free copy of your book? List the newspapers, magazines, associations, and organizations whose publications will help get the word out. Also point out the outlets where you yourself have been published and/or featured. Include the information of any contacts you have at these publications.

103  Where have you lived? The more places you've lived, the more places you can "go local." Local connections generate marketing, publicity and sales. It's easier to get a story in the local media than in the national media.

 Do you have lecture or seminar experience? If you have already given lectures on the subject of your book, supply a list of the places.

 Are there any special sales opportunities?

 Do you have any other comments or suggestions? Explain how motivated you are, how much you want to help, and what you've done so far that didn't make it into the rest of your questionnaire, and any other additional plans. Maybe write something like this: "I've already contacted 500 organizations by e-mail and letter and have gotten a significantly positive response. I recognize that your publicity people are champions at garnering major media attention. I hereby volunteer to draw in the smaller but highly motivated audiences that you realistically don't have the time to chase down. I see it as my job and responsibility to support your publicity department in generating interest and following through on this."

Size of your first printing

Find out how many copies of your publisher is going to print initially. If you feel that they aren’t paying enough attention to the demand, speak up loudly and give statistics to support your claim. The number of preorders can affect the size. Make some early sales action happen on Amazon to get people's attention. Preorders on sites like Amazon and B&N can prompt these booksellers to double their initial orders. Start trying to move the needle a few months out. If once a month, for the three months prior to publication, you can sell 50 to 100 books on a single day, you're not only going to get these booksellers' attention, but you may get your overall print run significantly upped.

The launch meeting

This is where your editor formally pitches your book to key members of her team. If she can come into the meeting with good blurbs or reviews that you give her in advance, you will go from an unknown quantity to bona fide author. In addition, she should have your Top 10 list of potential endorsers to see if anyone in the room is connected to them.

Attendees

You likely won’t be invited. Thus, promote your abilities to them in advance. If your book is with a larger publisher, this meeting will probably include your editor; publicist; the head of publicity; the head of marketing; a representative from online marketing; the head of sales; divisional sales heads who sell to chains, independents, and online bookstores; a representative from special sales; a subsidiary rights representative for first serial and foreign sales; and perhaps your editor’s boss.

104 Subsidiary rights department

This department sells secondary rights to your book. The two sub rights most likely to be discussed at the launch meeting are first serial and foreign rights. If you yourself have retained foreign rights, then only serial rights are relevant. First serial rights refer to the possibility that a portion of your book will be printed in a magazine or newspaper before the publication of your book itself.

As for foreign rights, in all midsize to major publishing houses there are people who will try to sell your book overseas. They will usually sell your book through subagents rather than directly to foreign publishers. Many small publishers also use subagents. For these people, supply your editor with supportable information as to why your book might sell in specific countries.

Special sales department

This department makes deals with corporations and other non-bookselling retailers. Provide your editor with a list of places or companies apart from bookstores where your book has a reasonable chance of selling. Take a look back at your proposal, where you may have listed such companies.

Request a marketing budget

Do you need extra dollars to make a cool promotional video? Can your publisher help your video go viral by hiring a company that specializes in seeding short movies on influential websites? Lay out some creative marketing techniques that suit your book, and frame things in terms of a return on investment. Without numbers to back you up, your requests will go unheard.

Argue for funds for a book tour

If you think that a book tour would be a boon to sales, explain to your editor’s team why such a tour would succeed. Show them through the sheer force of your personality and your expertise that they would be crazy not to send you on a tour. Concretely, let them know what each engagement would be and your ideas for getting lots of people to show up, which is the most difficult hurdle of a tour. If you're already speaking around the country or you've got good friends all over the blogosphere, this will make their decision that much easier. Specifically track who you're reaching and then use these statistics to pry some money, or least some enthusiasm and expertise, out of your publisher.

Share your pitch and sales tip sheets

Your sales reps have only 30 to 60 seconds to explain to others the promise of your book and how it delivers. So, your book’s success depends on how well your sales reps pitch, a pitch based on your own pitch. The results of these pitches - especially the early ones to places like Barnes & Noble, and Target or Costco if appropriate - will determine your publicity and marketing budget and the size of your first print run. Send your editor your pitch in written form so that she can

105 give this to the sales team, or make your presentation via video. Post it on YouTube and send the link to your editor.

They will also need a sales tip sheet from you.

Sales tip-sheet template

 your name:  publisher/imprint (How the name will appear on the spine of book):  book title:  subtitle:  series:  co-author if there is one:  illustrator(s):  if non-fiction, your credentials:  publication month:  publication year:  ships from:  distributor/wholesaler:  Does this tip sheet replace an earlier submission?  keynote (one sentence description of book):  description (your pitch) (limit to 75 words):  ISBN 10 or 13 with or w/o dashes:  ISBN 10:  ISBN 13:  subject shelving category:  BISAC 1:  BISAC 2:  BISAC 3:  children's book (yes/no):  Price (US$):  discount:  format (hardcover/trade paperback/mass market paperback/e-book):  foreign rights:  trim size (in inches, width by height—not metric):  page count:  # B&W photos:  # B&W illustrations:  # Color photos:  # Color illustrations:  other: (include number and description) (example: 17 recipes):  carton quantity:  brief author bio (include city and state):  your previous books (title & ISBN) separated by semicolon; list up to 3 with sales figures:

106  illustrator bio (include city and state):  illustrator's previous books (title & ISBN) separated by semicolon; list 3 with sales figures:  ISBN of previous edition (with dashes):  date of first printing:  sales points (features and benefits of your book):  endorsements/blurbs:  reviews:  audience/positioning:  competition/comparisons - title of book, publisher, price, ISBN, publication date, in-print quantity (if possible); separated by semicolon; list up to 3 with their sales figures:

 extra sales materials to support the book:  How will people know about the book?  other aspects of your marketing plan:  if audio, # of minutes (total):  if audio, # of CD's in set:  if audio, read by / performed by:  if audio, abridged / unabridged:

Book’s description for the publisher’s catalog

Ask for consultation on your book’s description in the publisher’s catalog before it goes to press. A great catalogue description can be the difference between minimal orders and big piles of them. Your entry should include eight or nine nuggets of information, from publication date and price to cover image and author photo.

The sales meeting

This meeting with the publishing team usually occurs six months before publication, after the launch meeting. If your agent can make it, bring him. He knows the questions to ask. The two of you can work with the editor in advance on the agenda. Bring in some baked goods to share. Then ask everyone for a card so you can refer to them by name and then follow up with them later.

Everyone who has anything to do with the selling, marketing and promoting of your book will attend. Your editor will pitch your book to the sales force, usually in under three minutes. This is where the sales force can gauge the enthusiasm for the book and become passionate about it. For every book, they have to think: "How do I sell this?"

Show off your pitch, your publicity and marketing ideas, and your all-out attitude. Everyone should see how well you deliver your pitch. Let them know what marketing and publicity you've done for the book and what you plan to do. If you wrote a proposal, review your competition, publicity, and marketing sections. Have you set up speaking engagements? Have you contacted

107 journalists? Written magazine pitches? Built a great website? Connected with communities of people who love what you’re doing? Amassed a huge Twitter following? Make the others see how organized, driven, and articulate you are.

Now discuss what you would like to happen. Maybe go through a Top 10 wish list of blurbers, media coverage, bookstores, bookselling events, or sales opportunities. Every option should be appealing, but have some that are easily doable and some that would be extremely desirable but hard to get; every one has to make sense.

If your agent comes with you, talk together afterwards. Review what was accomplished and what needs to be done. Ask for performance feedback. What are your strengths and weaknesses? Ask your agent to send a follow-up note that requests in writing what your publisher has committed to doing; refer to this later if your publisher doesn't come through on some of their promises. When you get home, send thank-you notes to everyone who was at the meeting.

Publicity: Same for both publishing options

Book publicity sites

 www.bookmarket.com - marketing and publicity  www.thebookdoctors.com – publicity tips  http://www.midwestbookreview.com/bookbiz/pub_mkt.htm - book publicity  http://yodiwan.com – a good blog

Write a publicity and sales plan

If you are using a traditional publisher, assume that you won’t get help with making and executing a sales and publicity plan.

1. Perfect your pitch.

2. Summarize your strategy and goals. For example: "Connect with a variety of bloggers (include names and URLs); do in-person appearances at ___ (#) bookstores, ___ universities, and ___ organizations (list names); create virtual presentations consisting of podcasts, videos or webinars (each with their own mini pitches); target mainstream media outlets (list names)."

3. Summarize your efforts to date. Include the web presence you've built; the online communities you’re in; any early media coverage; links to workshops, presentations, readings, or other videos that could promote your book. Include numbers (site visitors, mentions, etc.) wherever possible.

4. Make a local and national TV/radio media wish list. Ensure the list balances long shots, realistic choices, and safeties. Especially helpful are specialized media outlets that your

108 publicist – if you have one - might not know. These outlets can include news programs where you're interviewed as an expert on a topic related to your book. Explain how you will approach them.

5. Explain how you will get reviews of your book in newspapers, magazines, and on websites.

6. Name the websites, online communities and bloggers that you know will be good. How do these people handle book launches? Some like to serialize a piece of the book, some like to bundle several similarly themed books together, some prefer interviews, editorials, or regular reviews.

7. List all public events where you’ll appear leading up to and past your publication date. Then make a list of places you'd like to be booked. Which of these places can you approach on your own and for which ones do you need help?

8. List cross-promotional opportunities. What other authors speak to your audience? Suggest events and panels with like-minded authors, or guest posting on their website.

9. Explain how you will get booksellers to sell your book, how you will sell it on your website, and the options that you will be using with the online booksellers.

10. Explain how you will schedule author appearances and book signings in bookstores, libraries, and other places.

11. List products related to your book that might sell well.

Tasks to do on the publication date itself

Make plans for these efforts far in advance.

 Use your contact to direct every person you know to your website, asking them to tell everyone they know about the book’s publication and encouraging them to write reviews on Amazon, the Barnes & Noble website, Facebook, Twitter or wherever their friends may congregate.

 See if your book can be featured on your publisher’s website today. Can you guest-blog?  Put a special post on your blog.  Arrange for interviews to be posted on this date on bookstores' and fellow bloggers' websites.  Send messages over Twitter and on your book’s Facebook page.  Conduct a live eight-hour webcast where you can answer questions all day.

Doing a webcast (live online broadcast)

A webcast streams live video over the Internet, a live broadcast essentially. It can be produced shortly beforehand and subsequently uploaded, but it is usually very time-sensitive. A chat session can be included so you can field questions from the online audience. Speak loudly and

109 project more energy than you would normally; on a screen you are only two-dimensional.

Webcast websites:  www.ustream.tv  www.ehow.com/how_5954793_do-create-webcast_.html  www.ehow.com/how_2141236_do-live-webcast.html  www.ehow.com/how_6546434_webcast-home.html  www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpqAO4XfK2k&lr=1

The two kinds of pitches

There are two types of pitches, the 15-second pitch and the minute-long pitch, which can usually be done within 30 seconds. Your 15-second pitch often makes a great first or last line to your minute-long pitch, which is usually a paragraph or two. Because the shorter one is a few sentences long, it has to be tightly written. If your reader forgets everything else, what one point should he remember?

Answering the question, “What is your book about?”

"What's your book about?" You’ll hear this repeatedly from reviewers, booksellers, consumers, friends, and the media. Use your 15-second pitch to elicit intrigue and appeal. Your response only needs to be 20-30 words, but it must capture the book’s essence and make people think, "I want to read that!" For nonfiction books, your subtitle makes for a great response.

Write out your pitches

Describe the benefits that make your book attractive and explain how they will help your listener. Use a lot of “you” and “your.” Include all “5W’s and how” in your wording.

The 20 most persuasive words

Save, discover, safety, health, you, guarantee, love, easy, money, proven, results, new, your, who, now, people, want, how to, why, and free.

Integrate these words with action verbs to create motivating sentences.

Rehearse

Once you've figured out the words, practice your delivery. Rehearse on your own, and then pitch to everybody, everywhere. The more you pitch, the sooner you'll know what works and what doesn't.

110 Your book’s business card

Make one with your contact info on one side and the pertinent book info on the other side: title, author, ISBN, publisher, publication year, publisher’s contact info, artwork, and your website.

Your book’s website

Pages to consider having

 homepage (maybe include the info on the line immediately below)  book photo/description of the book (include price, audience & competition)  blog page with social media links and social bookmarks  a list of interesting statistics or interesting facts that relate to your topic  PDF excerpt, including the intro (up to 5,000 words, or whatever your publisher will allow)  contact information and embedded e-mail (see www.mailchimp.com)  Photo and bio that describes your experience and how you gained your expertise  videos of yourself talking about your book and the concept (or your book trailer)  media section: press kit and electronic press kit (including a press release)  FAQ about you, your book, and your book’s topic  your e-commerce store for buying the book and related items (t-shirts, etc.)  photos and contact info of endorsers  reviews and interviews about the book and you (and readers’ comments)  FAQ & resource section for readers – FAQ about you, your book, the topic, and other info  a calendar of events, lectures, workshops, or appearances (only if you have a lot of events)  a book guide in PDF format for book groups – 10-15 questions per chapter  a page for hosting chats; (include all of your transcripts from shows thus far)

The shopping cart / checkout page

Allow readers to pre-order or order your book online, either directly from your website or from an online bookseller, like Amazon.com or Barnes&Noble.com. For those who want to buy from your website, make sure they can do so with ease. Make the buying option visible on every page that they visit, such as on the top or left side of the screen. Have a box that users can click if their shipping address is the same as their billing so that they don't have to enter their information twice.

Taking credit cards

Establish a merchant account through a financial institution or a specialized provider. It entails a one-time set-up fee, an ongoing monthly fee, and sometimes a transaction fee (2-5%). It should let you accept orders on your website and in person with a handheld device. Non-swiped transactions, where you don’t see the card, cost extra. After customers’ payments are authorized, the funds are transferred into your account within three business days.

Know the contract terms, including the fees and length of the contract. Ask about rate-review

111 policies. After you establish a working relationship with a merchant bank, request a reduction in your discount rate after several months. Even a small reduction saves you money in the long run.

For advice on accepting credit cards and evaluations of merchant-account companies, see http://www.100best-merchant-accounts.com. For accepting Visa: http://usa.visa.com/business (see “accepting Visa”) or http://usa.visa.com/business/index.html?ep=v_sym_business#/page3. You will need a terminal or PC software. You can get a wireless terminal for use where there is no phone connection from http://www.merchantexpress.com. The company can even enable you to use a laptop for wireless authorizations. If you have a smartphone, you can use Square, a small card reader that has low fees. See http:///www.square.com.

PayPal

It’s also possible to process online payments through PayPal, and it may be less expensive than credit cards. Funds from sales are transmitted to your bank account instantly. The drawback is that for someone to make a payment, he must be a PayPal member unless you have a PayPal merchant account. Visit www.paypal.com and click the Merchant Tools tab at the top of the screen.

For those who don’t want to buy online

List on your site your phone number, fax number, and regular address, and a printable form. They can call or fax their credit-card info, or they can send in a money order with the printable form.

Have friends test it out

Once your site is set to sell, get some friends to go through the process. Have them note anything that was annoying, difficult or even mildly confusing.

Opt-in mailing lists and electronic newsletters

Allow your visitors to opt in or subscribe to a mailing list so you can stay in touch with them through e-mail, perhaps on a weekly or monthly basis. You can remind them about your book's existence and give updates. The company that develops or hosts your website can help you make an online mailing list and related database. A good third-party website for this is www.mailchimp.com.

112 Make online videos

50% of people who watch a video will do whatever is asked of them. 65% will watch the video to completion, whereas less than 10% will completely read a text-only site. To increase the chances of your video going viral, keep it under two minutes, and then post it to your site and social-media sites such as www.youtube.com, www.vimeo.com, or www.dailymotion.com/us. Be sure to tag it correctly. On two other sites, www.oneload.com and www.trafficgeyser.com, you can send your videos to up to thirteen video sites simultaneously.

A “book trailer”

You might want to make a video trailer for your book, like a movie trailer (a movie preview). If you can make a short movie showing you or your book, this can be a great selling tool. It might be a dramatic live reading, a how-to demonstration, or highly artistic creations that have very little to do with your actual book. Keep it under 2-3 minutes. Nonfiction books easily lend themselves to book trailers. Maybe ask film students to help you make one. See http://bookscreening.com.

You can also use www.sliderocket.com to turn a presentation into a book trailer.

Screencasts

Screencasting is the capturing of what happens on a computer screen, adding a bit of audio narrative, and publishing it online as a video. This works for your book if the topic is about a complex process for which you want to make a short video overview. Without a camcorder, your computer can make a screen-shot video of sequential webpages you visit.

Prepare what you want to show and create at least an outline of a script. You might want to create a storyboard that sketches out the visual and the audio together. Then run through it a couple of times before creating the screencast.

Here is an example of a screencast: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5e5oO1zAPw

Other websites for screencasts:

 http://camstudio.org  www.screencast.com  www.camtasia.com  www.techsmith.com/jing.html  www.screencast-o-matic.com  www.debugmode.com/wink  www.jingproject.com  www.allcapture.com/eng/index.php  www.hyperionics.com/hc/index.asp  www.shinywhitebox.com/ishowu-v1  www.ambrosiasw.com/utilities/snapzprox

113  www.miensoftware.com/screenrecord.html  www.adobe.com/products/captivate.html (pricey but highly recommended)

Blog page with social media and social bookmarks

On your blog you can interview people in your industry, answer FAQs about your book's subject, make a checklist, or let someone else post as a guest. Tips to remember:

 Post regularly; no less than weekly.  Make sure your blog's categories make sense; keep these to under ten.  Make sure each individual post is tagged accurately.  Link to others in your posts, particularly to others who might send traffic back to you.  Link back to prior posts of yours when they are relevant to what you're discussing.  Respond promptly, politely and concisely.  Quickly delete spam and abusive comments.  Install Google Analytics (http://www.google.com/analytics) so you can watch your traffic.  Promote each post through your website, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter by using shortened and trackable links.

For your blog

A category for your book’s journey

If done with style, wit, and intelligence, a chronicle of your book's journey to publication can delight your audience. Why not create a weekly post about your bookish trials, tribulations, and success? Create a buildup to your book release so that when the big day arrives, your following will joyously click their way through to purchase. Queries and updates will also help you gauge public opinion on what aspects of your book are most interesting and what needs work. Keep your followers involved by asking for feedback.

Comment on related blogs

Comment on other blogs too. Use one of the blog search engines (http://technorati.com or http://blogsearch.google.com) to find good ones. Be genuine in your post and don’t just plug your book; however, you can have a link to it in your signature. Technorati keeps track of blogs, ranks them, and collects the reactions of other bloggers. Your blog may be listed there, and if not, add it.

BlogTalkRadio

Connect with your blog audience on BlogTalkRadio. If you have a telephone, you can host a live, Internet talk-radio show. Some of its features include live two-way conversations, live streaming, archived podcasts, and a browser-based switchboard where you can play music and conduct interviews with multiple callers. It is integrated with Facebook, Twitter, and iTunes, and

114 it has an RSS option. Go to www.blogtalkradio.com to download their press kit.

Other blog websites

 www.blogger.com  www.blog.com  www.wordpress.com  www.tumblr.com

Use of social media

Write your LinkedIn summary and descriptions with your reader in mind. Use keywords that will make it easy to search for you. Add recommendations from colleagues. Make sure your profile is public if you intend to use it for networking, and use a professional photo. Consider adding your blog streams and books you are currently reading.

Use the LinkedIn groups to connect with like-minded professionals. Membership in a group gives you access to the profiles of the other group members, free communication with them, and a display of your group’s name on your own page. Find groups through LinkedIn's search function using keywords appropriate for your industry or book's genre. Or create your own group.

LinkedIn Answers will let you ask questions to others, such as for market research or for answering questions such as "Where can I find a good copyright attorney?" If you can answer questions that are posted, you can earn credibility and position yourself as "the" expert and become well-known very quickly in your niche market.

Facebook

Make a separate Facebook page for your book. This way, you can keep your profile page personal and your book page public, open to anyone who wants to join. If you've built up a following on your own page, ask fans to migrate over to your book page, where you can use the "events" tab to promote or celebrate any kind of event, including those that are virtual. Facebook also allows indexing of events, which will be a search-engine optimization (SEO) advantage for you.

Twitter

Set up your profile. Include a headshot, bio, design choice, URL, and a brief description. Then start following people. Find those in your industry by the search function and see who they follow. Watch conversations, and follow the interesting people.

With your messages, focus on quality, not quantity. Follow the 60/30/10 rule: 60% helpful

115 content, 30% engagement with followers sharing insights and opinions, and 10% personal posts.

Allow time for retweeting, commenting, and following others. "Retweeted" means that one of your followers reposts your tweet to their followers. This is a useful way of reaching a larger audience in the Twitter realm. Retweeted posts are indicated by adding "RT@(username)" in front of the original tweet. Schedule this as part of your daily routine.

When new people follow you, follow them back. Ask them a question about their business. You can follow thousands of people, but mark only your favorites. If you don't know something about a topic, ask.

Use "hashtags" to add additional context and metadata (information about a particular item's content) to your tweets. A hashtag is much like adding a metatag keyword to your website. But unlike a Website, where your keywords are kept behind the scenes, the hashtag is part of your tweet. Simply put a # symbol before the word: #selfpublishing, for instance. Go to www.hashtags.org for more information or to have your personal hashtags tracked.

Twellow, the Twitter directory, lets you find users who have the same interests as yours.

Twitter Grader (http://twitter.grader.com) lets you rate your Twitter reach. It will suggest people for you to follow, based on keywords in your bio and your location.

TweetDeck (www.tweetdeck.com) lets you categorize your posts and makes it easier to follow the tweets of people you don't want to miss. Use one column for friends and colleagues you know well, one column for the entire Twitter stream of updates, one column for tweets where you are mentioned, and one for direct (private) messages. Also use columns to search specific keywords.

Socialoomph (www.socialoomph.com) lets you tweet now and have it sent in the future.

Integrating and synchronizing your social-media content

Set up your website so that when you post something, it automatically goes onto Facebook and Twitter simultaneously. Tweetdeck, Hootsuite (www.hootsuite.com), and OnlyWire (www.onlywire.com) allow you to do this.

Really Simple Syndication (RSS feeds)

Every time you publish something online, a notification goes out to everyone who has asked to be updated, through something called a RSS feed. They are alerted via e-mail, mobile texting, or tweet. As an author, you might want to sign up to the RSS feeds of marketing and publicity blogs. Technorati keeps track of and ranks RSS feeds in addition to blogs. Page readers, also called aggregators, are free.

Use www.bloglines.com to collect RSS feeds. You can then access your feeds from anywhere

116 with an Internet connection. A feed address is really a URL. To subscribe to a feed in Bloglines, paste the address of the feed into the subscribe form.

Use social bookmarks

Social bookmarking sites allow you to build subject-specific resource lists that you can then share with others through RSS. One can subscribe through RSS to another person’s folder on a certain topic. Just open it up, click on the little RSS icon at the top of the search box, take the address of the page that comes up and add it to your Bloglines account. Then, any time that person bookmarks a website about the topic, you’ll be notified. Consider sites such as Delicious (www.delicious.com), StumbleUpon (www.stumbleupon.com), Diigo (www.diigo.com) and BlogMarks (http://blogmarks.net).

Designing your website

First visit several other websites of authors and publishers. See what you like and don’t like. Then write a table of contents or outline for your site and create a logical navigation path. Put important stuff at the top of each page; 90% of people don't scroll down. Keep paragraphs short and use subheads and bullets. You can probably do an okay with Adobe Dreamweaver. If you don't know HTML, use a program such as Joomla or Wordpress.

Silent and speedy

Stay away from sound or audio files that load automatically. Also avoid anything that requires a plug-in or third-party download to work. It’s important that your pages load quickly. Otherwise visitors will get edgy and leave.

Get others to link to it

Make sure there is a link to your site in all articles about you, in all e-mails you send, and on your publisher’s website. Get your site as a link on other people's sites; first link to their site and then ask for them to link back. Also use a blog to link to relevant pages on your site using your keywords.

Keywords

Make your site easy for both search engines and visitors by using keywords in your navigational links as well as in your domain name, page names, titles, headings, and other content. Research keywords by selecting phrases that are relevant to what you are trying to sell. To find the right keywords, see www.wordTracker.com and Google Insights for Search, www.google.com/insights/search.

117 Website optimization

Optimizing a website for search engines involves editing its content and HTML coding so that you can increase its relevance to specific keywords and thus to search engines. Two good webpages for this are www.google.com/websiteoptimizer and www.google.com/analytics. A decent book is Search Engine Optimization All-in-One Desk Reference for Dummies, by Bruce Clay and Susan Esparza (2012).

You must submit your site with the major search engines. You can find specific submission guidelines for most engines on their home pages. Sometimes doing individual submissions makes a big difference, rather than depending on mass-production techniques. Resubmit your URL every couple of months to keep the listings fresh. This also helps improve your ranking in the search results. You can get your site listed for free with the top twenty search engines by going to www.addme.com. Also check out www.freewebsubmission.com.

Free online tutorials

 www.internet4classrooms.com/on-line2.htm  www.trainingtools.com  www.webmonkey.com/tutorials

Website hosting and domain registration

Free or cheap services  www.freeservers.com  www.homestead.com  www.godaddy.com

A pricier but well-regarded site

 Network Solutions – www.networksolutions.com

Websites that review web-hosting websites

 www.100webhosting.com  www.hosting-review.com  http://webhostinggeeks.com

Info and websites for hiring a designer

First know what you want. Look around for websites you like for both design and functionality. Sketch out ideas for your site on your own. The more you can provide to a designer, including other sites you like, the easier it will be for her to create yours and the cheaper it will be for you. Look at the bottom of the sites you like to see who designed them; perhaps you can hire that

118 person. Otherwise, here are some sites for finding designers:

 www.guru.com  www.99designs.com  www.odesk.com  www.Project4Hire.com  www.elance.com  www.designfirms.org  http://freelanceswitch.com  www.freelancer.com  www.getacoder.com  www.mturk.com/mturk/welcome  www.crowdspring.com  www.creativehotlist.com  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon_Mechanical_Turk

When you interview a prospect, evaluate her portfolio and ensure that she can develop a site that meets your needs. Consider who will maintain the site. Ideally you will handle the maintenance, such as changing text, including a picture, and adding a new page.

Hiring a publicist

A good publicist can

 create your entire press kit or just write your press release and author bio;  provide intensive media training for you;  help you define and establish your image as a published author and expert in your field;  access her pool of media contacts for you;  handle all media contact on your behalf, including sending out review copies of your book;  decide on the perfect show or publication for a piece about you and your book;  use your press kit to pitch different stories to specialized media outlets;  line up print, TV, radio, and online media interviews and bookstore events;  schedule paid appearances, lectures, and appearances on your behalf; and  assist you in planning a multiple-city book tour.

Hire a publicist about four months before your book's publication date. Make sure she has a background and expertise in your subject; ask her for the names of media contacts that are good for your book and be wary if these aren't forthcoming. Book publicists aren't always the best choice, especially for authors with nonfiction titles. General publicists specializing in particular areas may better understand your book, your audience and the right people to slip it to.

To find a publicist, contact the Public Relations Society of America (www.prsa.org) and ask for a referral. You can also visit www.elance.com or check out publishing industry magazines, such as Publishers Weekly (www.publishersweekly.com) or Writer's Digest (www.writersdigest.com).

119 Split the payments so you can be sure she does the job that she said she would do. Some get paid by the hour, some by the job, and some by the market. Get a lot of quotes, do some haggling, ask for references, and strike the best deal you can. Then at the end of each month, get an activity report, showing all communications up to that time. If you part ways after a couple of months, you'll know when and to whom your book was pitched.

Your publicist needs between one and three months to properly make contact with each media outlet, due to the different lead times of the outlets. Ask her for a list of possible initiatives.

Give regular status updates to both your own publicist and your publisher’s publicist, if you have either one or both. They won't be happy if you and the other publicist are simultaneously pitching the same places that they are. This can be done primarily via e-mail and the occasional phone call. No publicist can control whether or not you get reviews.

When to give your book away for free

The reason to write a book is to spread ideas. If your ideas spread, you can do so many things.

In an e-book to friends

The quest for readers is a good reason to give e-books away for free. An e-book is free to produce and easy to distribute. If you dangle it for free for a limited time, you might entice thousands to buy your printed book. Sites like Scribd (www.scribd.com), Google Books (http://books.google.com), and Amazon (www.amazon.com) are excellent platforms for free e- books. Send out an e-mail with the offer of your free e-book, and try to get your friends talking to their friends about it. Free books generate reader reviews on the online bookselling sites, and reader reviews draw in new buyers. Perhaps have a link on your website for a free e-book download.

Printed copies to reviewers and blurbers

If you have a publisher, your contract should allow you as many free books for publicity and marketing purposes as possible. Now is the time to use them. While you want your publisher to send your book and publicity package to many people, it helps if the book comes directly from you (or ideally your publicist). The following people are deserving of free copies along with personalized notes: bloggers, online columnists, tweeters, blurbers, newspaper and magazine writers, radio and TV journalists, booksellers for themselves, and librarians.

Getting reviews

Make a mailing list of the reviewers you want. Tailor it to those whose editorial slant matches your book. This lets you avoid those who wouldn't seriously consider reviewing it but who would request a free copy. Your list might include national book reviewers, syndicated columnists, newsletter editors, book club editors, excerpt rights buyers, and any other publication targeted to your audience. It will also pinpoint selected distributors, wholesalers, bookstores, libraries, radio and TV programs, associations that may buy in bulk, and alternative newspapers

120 around the country.

When sending out review copies, include a complete press kit and cover letter. Even if you already sent a press kit and you're following up with a review copy of the book, send another press kit. Don't assume the original material you sent was kept and is readily available.

A number of newspapers, including The New York Times, don’t review self-published books. They will, however, mention self-published books in the body of an article. So don't send books to the book review sections at major papers, but do try to spin a news angle or hook through which your book can be cited or about which a feature article can be written.

Sending bound galleys to reviewers

While you're checking your page proofs, the printer may be turning them into bound galleys with pages cut to size. Bound galleys do not include any of the changes you make to your proofs, but it is okay to send these bound galleys to book reviewers. They should have a prominent label instructing reviewers not to quote anything from the text without checking it against the finished book, which will contain all revisions. Reviewers are aware that bound galleys are uncorrected proofs and that they should check all quotes and facts in their reviews against the finished book.

Websites and books for getting book reviews

 BlueInk Reviews ( www.blueinkreviews.com )

BlueInk offers professional reviews of self-published books, using the same standards that Publisher's Weekly uses when they review traditionally published books. Reviewers are experienced writers, and all reviews are completely impartial. The books that BlueInk likes are featured on the site's homepage, in its targeted newsletter, and on distributors’ websites. All reviews appear with social media links.

 BookReporter (www.bookreporter.com) hosts short reviews about five hundred words, as well as polls, blogs, and contests.

 The New Book Review (www.thenewbookreview.blogspot.com) posts reviews from authors, reviewers, and readers.

 Indiebound (www.indiebound.com)

Indiebound solicits recommendations from independent booksellers nationwide. Its "Indie's Next List" picks of the month are front and center in hundreds of bookstores. To get on this list, ask independent booksellers to send in a recommendation for your book, or have your friends and colleagues ask. The more you get, the better your chances.

 http://www.forewordreviews.com  http://www.kirkusreviews.com  http://www.midwestbookreview.com

121  The Indie Book Reviewer Yellow Pages: A Reference Guide for Self-Published Authors and Small Publishers, by Christine Pinheiro (2011)

You may want to filter reviews through a friend

If you're worried about bad reviews, have a trusted friend, family member, or colleague read the reviews first and just pass on the nice and/or constructive bits. But know this: If you write a book, you will get bad reviews, just like every great writer before you. The only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about. Be emotionally prepared for harshness.

Blog tours and getting reviews from bloggers

Target the 100 most popular, influential blogs related to your book's audience. In the year before your book comes out, see if these bloggers have books of their own coming out. If so, review them on your blog. Conduct interviews and talk up their sites. Share or retweet a particular posting. In short, send some goodwill their way.

Once you've given all you've got, call on these e-friends to help you spread your message. This can be in the form of reviews, links to your site, tweets, mentions, and more. If you've become friends with bloggers who have large followings, ask if you can do a guest post or if they could interview you for their site. Bloggers with big audiences tend to be generous because they can be.

A blog tour starts with a description and excerpt of your book on someone else’s blog. Then you'll "appear" and submit a commentary on the topic of your book, thus opening a discussion. Over the next week you then visit the blog to answer questions and comments from the audience.

Offer a review copy of your book to influential bloggers in exchange for an introduction from them on their blog or for an entry that reviews your book. Schedule the tour shortly after your book is published, with as many stops as possible. Send out news releases to 20 bloggers; be sure that their blog is a good fit. E-mail each one, address him by name and say in one paragraph why your book fits his blog. Include a link to your site. Do not send a form letter.

If a blogger doesn't respond, wait 10 days before e-mailing again and mentioning that you sent something back on whatever date. If he responds, ask if he would prefer a hard copy or an MS Word file, and send it out right away. Thank him after your appearance on his blog or after his review is posted. Then post the link from his blog on your website, blog, Twitter, and Facebook.

Getting blurbs

A blurb is an endorsement or quote from a well-known person. It goes on either your front or back cover. An advance blurb is a blurb used to sell your proposal and win over agents and editors. Tracking down these blurbs should be a high priority. They are hugely important to critics and to readers who haven't heard of you but who have heard of the person giving the blurb.

122 If you have a traditional publisher, ask for bound manuscripts. Otherwise, go to a copy shop and bind your manuscript yourself. Hopefully your editor will help you get blurbs. She can mine her own contacts and those of colleagues and can open doors by introducing you as the next big thing.

When blurbs or reviews come in

As soon as a blurb or review comes in, write a thank-you note. Then include it in your future pitch letters and press kit. When you get finished copies of your book, send a personalized, signed copy to each person who only received an unfinished copy the first time.

Getting media publicity

Learning who to pitch to

Keep a running list of journalists and bloggers who report on subjects similar to yours. Spin your story in such a way that it becomes an inspired editorial fit for their publication. Bulldog Reporter's Media List Builder helps create a targeted media list based on your needs; they have a great site: http://listbuilder.bulldogreporter.com. You can also peruse these media directories at your library:

 Literary Market Place 2012 - www.literarymarketplace.com (updated annually)  The Gale Directory of Publications and Broadcast Media - revised annually  The Standard Periodical Directory lists more than 60,000 North American periodicals.  The Radio Mall for radio stations - http://radio-mall.com/radiomal.htm  Ulrich's International Periodical Directory - magazines of the world  SRDS Directory has contact info for reporters, journalists, editors, producers, and talent bookers - http://next.srds.com

Or how to get called to appear as an expert

 www.prleads.com; they may still have this special offer: www.prleads.com/tim-ferriss-offer  www.expertclick.com/Expert/JoinAsAnExpertStep1.aspx

Lead times and when to pitch

Media lead time is the gap of time between the writing of an article and its appearance on the newsstand. Even after a media outlet expresses an interest in reviewing your book, an appearance of the review can take up to three months. So, for example, if you know that a lead time for a magazine is three months, contact the appropriate writer four months before your book’s publication. Her team needs time to discuss it internally before deciding. Editors like to time the publication of book reviews with the publication date, so plan accordingly. If the outlet has a long lead time, send galleys.

123 Aim for government holidays

Government holidays are the slowest news days, so use this to your advantage. If you pitch on a day when the media is starving for news, you're much more likely to get coverage.

Lead times for each outlet

Newspapers

 daily: between a few hours and two weeks, depending on the section  weekly: two to four weeks

Magazines

 weekly: two to four weeks, unless the topic is extremely timely and newsworthy  monthly: three months  quarterly: four to six months

Radio shows

Most shows book guests between a day and several weeks in advance, depending on the topic. It helps if you can fill in on a last-minute basis in case another guest cancels at the last minute.

Television shows

Depending on the show’s type, guests are booked from a few hours to a month before airtime. News shows, like the local nightly news, may book guests a few hours before the broadcast while a national show may book several weeks in advance unless the topic is extremely newsworthy.

Blogs and other websites

Website operators can post information about your book within minutes of receiving your press kit.

Send a pitch letter

A pitch letter is a cover letter for your press kit and is targeted to a specific person. It introduces you and states why you're sending the press kit and what it contains. Either you or your publicist can write and sign it, preferably your publicist. Thus, if you do it, it’s okay to refer to yourself in the 3rd person. You need a good journalistic lead for your letter, preferably about current events.

124 Who to pitch to

After you gather your list of outlets to target, call and verify the name of the person at each outlet who is responsible for covering the topic you're pitching.

Shows: segment producer or talent booker

For shows, pinpoint the exact ones that interest you. Call their production office show and ask for the name of the segment producer or talent booker who is responsible for booking guests. Don't pitch directly to the executive producer or host. At smaller shows, especially at local stations, you may discover that the right person is the show's executive producer or host; first contact a segment producer or talent booker unless you know that this is true.

Print journalists

If you're pitching a print journalist directly because you saw something that she wrote, let her know what you liked about it and then show how your book is appropriate for her readers.

Ideally have an intermediary make the pitch

Imply or state that you're not self-published. If you have a publicist, have her sign your pitch letter on your behalf and then record a voice-mail message for your business phone line.

Format

Keep the length to a page. If you write it yourself, use the 1st person. If your publicist writes it, she refers to you in the 3rd person. In the first paragraph, introduce your book; in the second, talk about why you are credible; in the third, explain why that outlet’s audience would be interested in your book and what you have to say; and in the final paragraph, invite the journalist, editor, or producer to review your press kit, to request a review copy of your book, and to contact you if she’s interested in booking an interview or receiving more information.

Sample media pitch letter by a publicist

[Company or personal letterhead]

[Date] [Recipient's name] [Title] [Media outlet] [Address] [City, state, zip]

Dear [Mr./Mrs./Ms.]:

125 I am pleased to inform you about [book title], an exciting, new book targeted to [brief description of the book's target audience]. [Publishing company] is publishing this title on [publication date]. Priced at $[price], [book title] will be available starting [publication date] through Amazon.com, BN.com, and bookstores nationwide. This [number of pages]-page book's timely approach to [topic] will definitely be of interest to your demanding audience [readers, listeners, or viewers, as appropriate]. For the downloadable press kit, please visit [Web site URL].

[Book title] was written by [author's name], a leading expert in [his/her] field, with [number] years of experience. He's/she's currently a [job title] with [employer]. In this book, [he/she] shares [his/her] unique perspective and advice, plus offers detailed and easy- to-understand strategies relating to [topic].

[Author's name] is currently available for interviews. [Reasons why author is an excellent person to interview for media outlet's audience]

Review copies are now available on request. If you have any questions about the press kit, wish to receive a review copy, or would like to set up an interview, please call [author’s name] at [phone number] or e-mail your request to [e-mail address].

Thank you in advance for your interest.

Respectfully,

(Publicist's name)

A good website for media pitch letters http://pitchengine.com/Home/HowItWorks

E-mail your pitch letter

Pitching a story to a media outlet via e-mail is convenient and inexpensive. If you do this, invite the recipient to visit your website to download your press kit and to ask for a review copy of your book.

And a press kit

Put as much of your press kit on your website as possible. Then include a link to it when you e- mail your pitch letter and customized press release to each media contact. If you have a publicist, show her your kit to get feedback. Put the following in it:

 a one- or two-page general press release about your book  your bio (2-3 paragraphs)

126  Q&A with one-paragraph answers for each  your publicity photo  reviews/blurbs: cleanly reproduced, with the publication name and the date visible  articles about you: cleanly reproduced, with the publication name and the date visible  topics for discussion, articles, shows, workshops, and lectures  a list of the media shows and publications in which your book has been featured  the files comprising your electronic press kit  a copy of the book’s front cover  your contact information and an offer to send a review copy of your book

The press release

The release must convince the journalist that you are newsworthy. You might have to write many of these while publicizing your book, customizing it for different publications or events. For example, the release for bookstores should emphasize sales potential while the release for book reviewers should emphasize the article-worthiness of the book or author. Visit www.PRNewswire.com to see what you want in your message; also see http://communitymediaworkshop.org/resources. Then keep it updated with new reviews and media appearances.

If someone requests material directly from you and if you have a publicist, follow up to make sure your publicist sent it to them.

A free press-release distribution service http://www.prlog.org

Using press releases to monitor your publicist

If you gave your publicist a list of media contacts you don't know and who don't know you, add the name of a good friend to your list and see how long it takes for him to receive something. If he doesn't get it, ask your editor and agent for advice on how to rectify the situation.

Format

Print on 8 ½”-by-11” white paper. Have 1” top and bottom margins and 1- ½” side margins. Use Times New Roman, Helvetica, or Arial font. Double-space the body with justified text; use 1-1/2 line spacing to fit the text on one page. If you go to a second page, put More. . . at the bottom- right corner of the first page and at the top center of the second page, display a phrase like "Page 2 of 2." Ideally the contact person is not the author.

Letterhead: The name and address (and perhaps the logo) of your traditional publisher, or if you’re self-publishing, your “doing business as (DBA)” name

The catchy headline: Use one or two lines (no more than ten words) to attract the reader's attention. Format the headline in bold 14-16 point size. 127 Contact: PR person's name (10 pt., no bold) Phone number: align right E-mail: align right

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (12 point)

City, State -- Date with year - First paragraph includes author's name, book title, price, publisher, audience, ISBN, page count, one sentence theme, and where it is available (justified). Who? What? Where? When? Why? How?

Second paragraph (justified): The next 1-2 paragraphs have details about the new book - what sets it apart, who it targets, and why people may be interested in it. If your first paragraph doesn't fully answer the "w" questions, then convey that information here. If you have a great blurb from a well-known person who can really speak to your subject, include it here and edit it down if necessary. The same goes for great reviews; include excerpts from them, a few short quotes that show you off to your best advantage and make the reader excited about your book. Also include relevant information about upcoming events of yours, such as speaking engagements, workshops, or lectures.

Third paragraph…

About (Your Name): Here is your bio. Describe your credentials, establish yourself as an expert, include reasons why you make for an interesting guest, and list your website address. The final sentence of this paragraph states, "For more information, or to schedule an interview with [insert author's name], please call [publicist’s phone number], visit [website], or send an e-mail to [publicist’s e-mail address]. Review copies are available to the media by request." Even if contact information is already on the letterhead, repeat it here – full name, title, address, phone #, fax #, e-mail address, and website.

# # # (centered at bottom of page)

Author bio (for the press kit)

If you want a booking as a guest on a radio or television program, the bio is the best way to persuade producers and talent bookers that you'd be an ideal guest. Describe yourself and your experience, and position yourself as an expert. Showcase your personality. After reading your bio, the media contact will hopefully want to meet, interview, and feature you in her coverage.

Include a list at the end of the bio of five to ten sample questions for the host to ask. By offering these questions, along with background info about you and your book, you'll be providing the information interviewers need without making them do too much pre-interview preparation.

128 Optional photo

Some authors have a small, black-and-white photo in the upper-right corner of their bio page. It helps readers see who they're reading about and helps them to better relate to that person. For radio and TV appearances, press kits that contain an author photo generate more requests for interviews.

Format

One, 8 ½” by 11”-inch page; 1 ½ or double-spacing, justified text, and 12-point font

The heading

Write your full name in centered, bold, and 16- to l8-point lettering. Directly underneath, type your title or main credential - "Author, [Book Title]" or "President and CEO of [Company Name]" – in bold and l4-point font. Then skip a line, and add your contact info, including your mailing address, phone number(s), fax number, e-mail address, and website, in a normal font and 12-point size.

The body

Have 3-4 paragraphs that describe you, your credentials, your background, and your story.

 What makes you the ideal person to write the book?  Why should the media outlet you're pitching interview you?  Address topics such as o your professional background o your educational background o information about your book o why you wrote it o how and why you became an expert in your field o interesting, newsworthy, or unusual info about yourself o 1-2 sentences of personal info about your family, interests, and/or where you live

Keep the topic of your book and your target audience in mind. The first paragraph needs to grab the reader's attention, summarize who you are and why you're an expert, and mention your book.

After the body, skip 2-3 lines and type # # #. This means that no text follows.

The Q&A section

This is a terrific place for the media to pull out ideas for an interview or article. They are looking for someone who will say something important. Create a list of 10 to 20 questions you think they will ask you, write out your answers, and include both in the Q&A section. Sample questions:

129  Tell me about your book. What's it about?  What inspired you to write your book?  What initially got you interested in this topic?  Who would be interested in reading your book?  When is your book being released, and how can someone obtain a copy?  What was the most interesting or unusual thing you learned when researching your book?  How much research went into the writing of your book? What type of research did you do?  What sets your book apart from others?  What are three things that someone can learn from reading your book?

Your publicity photo

Good photos are important. Reviewers ask about this on the sly. Have a photographer with a studio and lights take many shots of you in which you show a variety of facial expressions and poses in both headshots and full-body shots. Go from serious to goofy, sexy to thoughtful. This way, you have a number of choices for the media. Your tone will convey a message about your personality and the tone of the book itself. If you get nervous in front of cameras, bring a friend to loosen you up or have a glass of wine to relax. Try to engage in a conversation while you're being photographed.

Ask that your photos be either a 5-x-7- or 8-x-10-inch, and shoot both black-and-whites and full- color ones; newspapers prefer the former and magazines the latter.

Allow a week for them to be developed. Make sure you and/or your publicist get digital copies so you can e-mail them along with your press release. Put your full name, title (Author, [book title]), and contact info (at least your phone number and e-mail address) at the bottom of the photos you like. Then load the best ones onto your website; use high-resolution files and mark them as such. That way journalists or fans can download them to help promote you and your book.

If you're super photogenic, send your picture out with all promotional materials. If you have several different and fun shots, go ahead and include more than one.

The electronic press kit (EPK)

This is a compilation of various clips of you discussing your book on radio or television programs. The footage allows others to see whether you'd be a good guest on their show. They want to see exactly who you are, what you look like, and how well you speak. You don't need an EPK right away. Wait until you have several great interviews on file, ones that portray you and your book in the best possible way, highlight your PR message, and show how scintillating, deep, funny, and/or brilliant you are. Keep the length under five minutes.

Begin the clip with you and not a long lead-in from the show you were on. However, if you were on a national show, it's good to start with its logo or a few seconds of the host saying, "In the next half-hour, we'll be talking to (your name) about his fabulous new book." At the end of the clip, include a still shot of your book cover with your website's URL.

130 If you need help with editing or producing an EPK, call a local video or audio production company. The production costs can be anywhere from $200-$3000, depending on its complexity, length and what's involved in the actual filming. Then post the video compilation on your website.

The interview itself

Preparing

You must convey a lot of info while speaking slowly and clearly. Do this in 15-second sound bites (less than 50 words). Create a list of 20 questions you think they will ask, and write out your answers. Focus on what's funny, special, and interesting about your book, and establish yourself as an expert. Add anecdotes about the writing process. Include both your questions and answers in your press kit’s Q&A section.

Record the sound bites in advance and play them back. Keep doing this until you sound authentic, as if it's the first time you've ever been asked that question. Take a second to think about your response even though you know exactly what it is. Then videotape a mock interview with a friend. Have her ask you questions that you fear the most or do other things to unnerve you.

Research the specific show or publication and demonstrate that you know it. Past interviews are available online. Study the guests and find out what the interviewer likes or dislikes.

On the big day, breathe deeply. Know that you look great and that you're prepared. Pause for a silent breath before answering each question. Keep good posture, make eye contact, and keep your hands at your sides.

Medium of the interview

For radio interviews, speak in simple sentences. Listeners can’t see you speaking.

For phone interviews, be warmed up both physically and vocally. Use a land line and suspend your call-waiting.

For print interviews, have it be someplace quiet where you're comfortable. Look good even if there won’t be a camera. Ask for your website to be in the article and for either a link to it or a hard copy. If you are misquoted, only contact the editor if what was written will cause physical harm. Be prepared to be misquoted and accept that there's nothing you can do about it. Don’t trust him when he says it’s "off the record."

Finally, for television interviews, watch the show for several days before your appearance. See what everyone is wearing and dress accordingly. Try out your outfit the day before the interview. Then get ready several hours early in case you have last-minute adjustments. Confidently enter the studio. If it is a low-budget show that doesn't have a makeup artist, at the very least apply a

131 thin layer of powder to get rid of the shine.

Ask in advance where the producers want you to look, probably directly at the host and not at the camera. Also ask how long the interview will be and what the signal is for wrapping it up.

If you are in front of a live studio audience, include them from time to time with eye contact and gestures. If it's a show that has a Q&A, refer back to a previous question an audience member asked. This helps to gain their support.

During

Your passion will sell your book. Just focus on talking to that one person, the interviewer. If you can, chat beforehand and ask for a mention of your book, where it is available, your website, and upcoming events. Have a sentence that he can use to introduce you and your book. You yourself should plug your book title at least three times. One easy way to do so is to begin your answers with it. Examples:

- "In [insert title], I wrote about ..." - "That's a great question. In chapter [#] of [insert title], I discussed that exact topic ..." - "To answer that question, I'll share a story from [insert title]..."

If you have any events lined up, slip them in as well.

Beware the interviewer’s friendliness

If he is friendly beforehand, don’t assume he’ll be friendly during the interview, or vice versa. Assume that he is just trying to get you to say something you'll regret. It will be carried all over the internet against your will.

Afterwards

Get business cards for sending thank-you notes and stay in touch. If the moment feels right, ask if you may add their name to your e-mail list. You never know when one of them might need a story and be reminded to call you after seeing your update. Once you leave, write up the events while they're fresh in your mind and post them on your site.

Other ways to get publicity

Online chat groups (newsgroups)

Participate in chat groups, also called forums, newsgroups, LISTSERV e-mail lists, and bulletin boards. There are internet groups that care about your subject, and you should be part of them. By answering relevant questions and showing your expertise, you build a real presence. To find

132 out what is available, go to www.big-boards.com or https://groups.google.com/forum. While overt advertising is frowned upon, you should have the title of your book as part of your signature.

Speak publicly

Include public speaking in your marketing strategy. Once you have spoken at several places, approach a public-speaking agent. If you speak or hold workshops regularly, include in your proposals and press kits a list of select speaking engagements for previous and upcoming years. If you speak in front of large audiences (500 or more), include those numbers. If you go out on a book tour, offer to speak at schools, universities, or other organizations, even for free.

Book award contests

Enter your book for as many awards as you can afford. For some awards, you can be nominated in more than one category. Awards typically have "reading fees," application costs from $10 to $50. Poets & Writers Magazine is a great place for prize listings. Ask your publisher to enter your book in contests for you. Don't assume they will automatically do so.

If your book is related to your job

Go to as many conferences and trade meetings as you can in the months before the publication date. Ask colleagues to talk up your book. Trade-industry newsletters are a great way to reach a targeted audience. Can you get one to do a Q&A?

Sales: Same for both publishing options

Start local

The key to making your book a national bestseller is to first make it a local bestseller. Start by booking appearances and author signings in your local area. Contact the managers of local bookstores and local authors. Make it known that you'd love to speak at local book clubs, conferences or events. Ask about any local critic or reviewer to whom you can send a book, a local journalist who might do a story about your book, a radio show that might have you on, or other bookstores that might be interested in hosting you.

Many bookstores now have blogs. If your local bookseller does, ask if you can guest-post on a semi-regular basis. Pitch the local angle!

Don't stop with book people. Tell your letter carrier, your hairdresser, and other people who know lots of other people. And definitely tell anyone who's connected to the media.

133 Importance of preorders

You can accumulate massive preorders that will be tabulated as part of the first week of sales, regardless of when, prior to publication, they were placed. Preorders get your publisher and major booksellers excited and prompt the booksellers to double their initial orders. When preorders occur all at once, on that first day your book goes on sale, they can mean the difference between success and oblivion. You can do this to launch yourself onto bestseller lists or Amazon’s Top 100 list.

Start moving the needle a few months out. If once a month, for the three months prior to publication, you can sell 50 to 100 books on a single day, you can get the online booksellers' attention and get your overall print run significantly upped.

If your publisher sells your book directly to customers from their website, try to work out a promotion strategy with them. Readers get, say, 20% off any orders placed on the publisher's site during the first day or week of publication. Discounts are great incentives.

Selling online

Once you get an ISBN for your book, register it with the Bowker's Books In Print directory, and make it available through a major book distributor (such as Ingram or Baker & Taylor), you will find it easy to get a listing on Amazon.com and Barnes&Noble.com.

On these sites, look at the listings for current bestsellers as well as for books more directly related to your subject matter. Determine what “tags” work best for your book. Once you tag your book properly and set up your profile on the author page, add any new information as it comes in.

Your online listing

When submitting information about a new book, you must include the following information:

 title  author’s name  the book's ISBN  price  publication date  BISAC Audience  BISAC Subject  publisher (If you used an offset printer, your own publishing company is the publisher)  format (hardcover, trade paperback, e-book, etc.)

More information you should try to include:

 book's front and back cover images  page count

134  trim size (dimensions)  table of contents  index  your bio (including your website)  your photo  a link to your press kit  upcoming events of yours  your recommendations for other books  a sample chapter from your book (or at least six to ten pages)  additional images or graphics from inside the book  a video clip of you explaining the book (or your book trailer)  excerpts of published reviews about your book from book reviewers and journalists  a detailed description of your book that’s sales-oriented

Focus on what’s new and innovative and how the reader benefits. It should have all the info someone wants to know about the book.

 "Message from the Author" and/or "Message from the Publisher" that allows you and/or the publisher to post info within the listing directly to potential readers

Generating excellent online reviews

Good reader reviews on Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.com help. As soon as your listing appears, ask a few close friends, relatives, or coworkers who've read your book to post a positive review with both online booksellers. Make sure that the reviews are believable and not too over- the-top. Relying on strangers to do this is honorable, but most readers are more apt to invest their time in writing bad reviews about how they feel ripped off. Motivating people to write about books they enjoyed is harder.

Become a reviewer yourself

Within your reviews for other books, position yourself as an expert in your field and as an author, and mention the title of your book. For example, say, "As the author of [insert book title], I've read and reviewed many books on this topic. This one offers..."

Specific online booksellers

Amazon

Amazon Advantage versus Amazon Marketplace

Amazon Advantage is where Amazon acts as the seller of your book, unlike their Amazon Marketplace where you can be the seller of your own book and Amazon is simply the broker. When a reader searches for your title on Amazon and comes to the book’s profile page and clicks on the primary “1-click ordering” button to buy your book, they are buying it through your 135 Amazon Advantage account. If they were to click on the “(a number) new from $....” in smaller letters and then bought your book from you as one of the booksellers there, they would be buying it through your Amazon Marketplace profile.

With Amazon Advantage, Amazon handles the shipping of your book automatically. You or your publisher sends your book to Amazon, and they ship it onwards. They will order two to five books at first. Amazon Advantage demands a steep discount of 55% off the cover price from your publisher and then sells that book at the cover price to its customers. There is also a $20 annual fee for this service.

With Amazon Marketplace, you are the seller, and Amazon is the broker. You have to deal with people giving you ratings and reviews, and shipping (order fulfillment) is your responsibility. Most customers prefer buying directly from Amazon (your Amazon Advantage account) and not through Marketplace because this allows them to qualify for the Super-Saver Shipping. They also likely think that Amazon is more likely to deliver the book to them correctly than a small third-party vendor might (you yourself). So, if you use Amazon Marketplace to sell your book and also have book listed on Amazon itself (Amazon Advantage), your Marketplace price will have to undercut the primary Amazon option by a few dollars, at least if you want to get significant sales.

The difference can be very confusing. You will have a higher sales volume with Amazon Advantage than with Amazon Marketplace, but with Marketplace you can get more money per book sold, even if you outsource your order fulfillment-responsibility to Amazon. With Amazon Marketplace, Amazon charges you 15% of the book’s price as a trade commission, plus a standard $1.35 book-product fee and a $.99 closing fee (on each sale).

Being a Pro-Merchant subscriber

The 99-cent per-book closing fee is waived if you become an Amazon Pro-Merchant subscriber. If you sell more than 40 books per month on Amazon Marketplace, the Pro-Merchant subscription will pay for itself. Having this subscription also provides access to bulk sales and inventory tools that can help automate your bookkeeping. It also enables you to enter your book into Amazon’s catalog by creating a product detail page, a handy option if you are the sole distributor of your book.

If using Amazon’s CreateSpace

If you are using CreateSpace to publish your book, Amazon’s POD service, create a title listing through Amazon Advantage three months or so before the book is due to be published. This will help with pre-orders and pre-publication promotion. With Advantage, you can upload more info onto your Amazon sales page, such as reviews, and your book becomes available for sale much quicker on Amazon after you approve your proof on CreateSpace.

As the publishing date approaches, Amazon will start ordering copies; tell them that copies aren't yet available. Two days before the publication date, tell Advantage that CreateSpace will supply

136 the orders and that copies will not be shipped to their warehouse. Amazon then sources the copies from CreateSpace. You won't pay any fees, and Amazon only gets the 40% discount through CS. You are only using Amazon Advantage to get initial exposure for the book in the form of pre-orders and other pre-publication promotion (reviews, etc.), and not for selling it.

You don't want Advantage to handle your sales because there is little benefit in giving up an additional 15% of your list price if CreateSpace is your printer. But by using Advantage just at the very beginning, before your publication date, you can get publicity exposure on Amazon that you wouldn’t get if you were only using CreateSpace and weren’t using Advantage too.

Creating your author profile

Once your book is up on Amazon, sign up for their Author Central service to build up your profile. This lets you e-mail directly with your readers and upload photos, videos, and anything else. Messages from you to your readers (in blog-like format) are also displayed as part of the book's listing. Use this free service to add info about your book, yourself, and future projects. You can also add a link back to your own website. See https://authorcentral.amazon.com.

Use the tags correctly

Amazon allows authors to tag their books. Check out the tags to make sure they reflect the findings of your keyword research. If not, add appropriate tags.

Sales ranks on Amazon

A sales rank of 100,000 or less is fantastic. If your book has a sales rank of 50,000 that means that it is the 50,000th best-selling item on Amazon on that day.

Use their Associates program too

The Amazon Associates program lets you link your own website to your book's page on Amazon. For each sale that comes through the link on your site, you make a small percentage. They send your book out for you, and each sale counts on your royalty statement and toward bestseller lists. See https://affiliate-program.amazon.com.

The downside to Amazon

The downside of selling only on Amazon is that you will make considerably less in royalties per book than you would from sales otherwise. This is because of the large trade discount that they take off your book’s cover price for their profit.

137 Barnes & Noble

Having your book distributed through www.bn.com isn't the same as having it sold through their retail stores. If you're interested in the latter, visit www.barnesandnobleinc.com.

B&N's program has no annual fee and lets you pick the discount and the cover price, which has to be over $1. But the better the deal you give, the better your chances of having your book carried. All books sold to them are on a returnable basis. At the bottom of the www.bn.com main page, click "Publisher and Author Guidelines" to access information about getting your book listed.

Start nine months before your publication date. It takes two to four months to find out if you're accepted. You first become a Vendor of Record and then submit content about your book electronically. Becoming a vendor involves completing an extensive online questionnaire. If your book is approved, you receive an order for two copies and submit bibliographic and merchandising info via e-mail to [email protected]. More orders are then placed, based on demand. In the info that you send, include an image of your book's cover, in a TIFF or JPEG file, at 100 to 150 ppi resolution, with the longer side of the image being between 75 and 2,000 pixels.

If you have questions about submitting a new book listing, send them via e-mail to [email protected]. To update your listing after it is online, e-mail changes to [email protected], and be sure to reference the book's title and ISBN.

Apply for “Meet the Writers”

B&N has a feature called “Meet the Writers” that profiles authors. To apply, send an e-mail, with info about you and your book, to [email protected].

Other online booksellers

 www.Powells.com  www.zooba.com  www.booksamillion.com

Selling to stores

Approaching them

Bookstores buy books at a standard 40-50% discount. When you call them with your pitch, mention that they can download your sales tip sheet and press kit from your website. The tip sheet explains why your book is worth selling. If they are interested, follow up a week later and suggest an event if it seems doable.

138 Strategies for any bookstore

 If you have a friend who is a successful author, have her introduce your book.  Call and set up an appointment.  Make sure you're talking to the right employee.  Bring a press release and sales tip sheet that has your contact info on it.  Be sensitive to what's going on in the store when you come in.  Soft sell a pitch that’s content-oriented. The more articulate you are, the better.  Get to the point.

Chains

For chains, both bookstores and other places that might sell it, you will have to go through the head office to reach the person in charge of buying. Call and be prepared to send a printed copy and your marketing plan - along with the info listed above - so that the buyer can review it.

Independent booksellers

Compared to chains, independent bookstores are easier to approach, more likely to stock your book, and likely to ask for a lower discount, around 40%. The problem is that unless you have a distributor, you'll have to call each bookstore individually. This could take over a thousand calls.

Start local. Most independents want to help local authors and are willing to take at least one copy of your book if it fits with what they sell. Local authors are great PR because they bring in many people from the community. If you are a local author, say, "I'm a local author and have written a book; I'd love for you to sell it here. What is the best way for me to follow up?"

Encourage them to read your book. At many independent stores, employees are encouraged to write reviews of books they like and to make picks of their favorite new releases. This means that individual opinion, and, by proxy, your connections with individual booksellers, can lead to a quantifiable result: prominent placement in their stores.

Don’t overlook small towns. Bookstores here can put on great events and sell lots of books.

Independent booksellers' associations

 American Booksellers Association - www.bookweb.org (sellers listed by state)  Indiebound - www.indiebound.org – for independent booksellers  Great Lakes Book Association - www.books-glba.org  Mid-South Independent BA - www.msiba.org  Mountains & Plains Independent BA - www.mountainsplains.org  Pacific Northwest BA - www.pnba.org  New Atlantic Independent BA - www.naiba.com  New England Independent BA - www.newenglandbooks.org  Southeast BA - www.sibaweb.com

139  Southern California BA - www.scibabooks.org  Northern California Independent BA - www.nciba.com  Upper Midwest BA - http://midwestbooksellers.org

Sales tip-sheet template

 your name:  publisher/imprint (how the name will appear on the spine of book):  book title:  subtitle:  series:  co-author if there is one:  illustrator(s):  if non-fiction, your credentials:  publication month:  publication year:  ships from:  distributor/wholesaler:  Does this tip sheet replace an earlier submission?  keynote (one sentence description of book):  description (your pitch) (limit to 75 words):  ISBN 10 or 13 with or w/o dashes:  ISBN 10:  ISBN 13:  subject shelving category:  BISAC 1:  BISAC 2:  BISAC 3:  children's book (yes/no):  price (US$):  discount:  format (hardcover/trade paperback/mass market paperback/e-book):  foreign rights:  trim size (in inches, width by height—not metric):  page count:  # B&W photos:  # B&W illustrations:  # color photos:  # color illustrations:  other: (include number and description) (Example: 17 recipes):  carton quantity:  brief author bio (include city and state):  your previous books (Title & ISBN) separated by semicolon; list up to 3 with sales figures:

140  illustrator bio (include city and state):  illustrator's previous books (title & ISBN) separated by semicolon; up to 3 with sales figures:  ISBN of previous edition (with dashes):  date of first printing:  sales points (features and benefits):  endorsements/blurbs:  reviews:  audience/positioning:  competition/comparisons - title of book, publisher, price, ISBN, publication date, in-print quantity (if possible); separated by semicolon; list up to 3 with their sales figures :

 extra sales materials to support the book:  How will people know about the book?  other aspects of your marketing plan:  if audio, # of minutes (total):  if audio, # of CD's in set:  if audio, read by / performed by:  if audio, abridged / unabridged:

Selling in person

Handling money and receipts

Wherever you may be selling, bring a generous supply of books and a small table from which to sell the books. Be ready to accept cash or credit card payment, and collect sales tax. Along with the payments, make simple receipts for customers with a duplicate copy for your own records. If customers have questions or complaints later, you have a copy of the receipt to settle disputes.

Taking care of the cash

If you're going to accept it, especially at busy events, have a register or cash box that remains safe, especially if you get distracted. If you're interacting with readers, signing books, and answering questions, have a friend handle the money and sell your books for you.

For accepting credit cards

You first establish a merchant account through a financial institution or a specialized provider. It entails a one-time set-up fee, an ongoing monthly fee, and sometimes a transaction fee. In return, it should let you accept orders through your website and in person with a handheld device. You will probably pay a fee of 2% - 5% of each transaction. Non-swiped transactions, where you don’t see the card, cost extra. After the customer’s payments are authorized, the funds are transferred into your account within one to three business days.

Read all the contracts and agreements carefully. Know the terms, including how long the

141 contract is in effect and what the fees are. Ask about rate-review policies. After you establish a working relationship with a merchant bank, request a reduction in your discount rate after several months. Even a small reduction saves you money in the long run.

For advice on accepting credit cards and evaluations of merchant-account companies, see http://www.100best-merchant-accounts.com. For accepting Visa: http://usa.visa.com/business (see “accepting Visa”) or http://usa.visa.com/business/index.html?ep=v_sym_business#/page3. you will need a terminal or PC software. You can get a wireless terminal for use where there is no phone connection from http://www.merchantexpress.com. The company can even enable you to use a laptop for wireless authorizations. If you have a smartphone, you can use Square, a small card reader that has low fees. See http:///www.square.com.

Hosting events

Events might not lead to a ton of money, and sometimes no one will come, but you can use them to get local publicity. Newspapers might run articles announcing them, and each article will help you get more readers than the event itself.

Don’t schedule events that occur before your release date. Most people have short attention spans and want to buy on the spot. If your book's not there, it's out of sight, out of mind. Schedule the events for the first three months after the book is available to readers.

Before contacting each place, visit its website to see what events it has hosted. Have your pitch down cold so that you can tell the person on the phone in a minute who you are, what your book is, and why he should have you. Then follow up by e-mailing your press release and also your cover letter if you didn’t get through on the phone.

Work with the event coordinator

Supply the coordinator with fliers to promote the event. If you have a traditional publisher, they should give you nice posters for occasions like this. Ask the coordinator these questions:

 What successful events have other authors done?  Should I write and send out the press releases and flyers, or do you do that?  Will you be sending information to calendar listings? If not, can you suggest some for me?  Which local media members should I contact?  Any other organizations that I should include in my mailing?  How do you want me to get books to the event?  Are there any local book groups?  Do I need to bring my own table for signing books?  Is there anything else that I need to bring?  Will I be selling the books myself, or does someone else do that?

142 Work with your publicist and/or a traditional publisher

If you have a publicist and/or a traditional publisher, check with them before you set up any events. They will also be setting up events for you, and you don’t want to overlap locales. As you book new events, keep them updated. Ask the publisher to pay your travel costs if you are on a book tour.

Publicize the event

Get on the events calendar for the venue and send your press release to the local media to get on their calendars. Do this a month before the event. Send out another release two weeks later and then a final notice three days beforehand. If you can, get the local media on the phone and pitch to them.

Use social media to spread the word. Mention it in your online communities, and afterwards, share pictures or video, which should also be put on your website and on your author profile page on the online bookseller sites. Slice long videos into five-minute clips.

Have enough books for sale

Don't assume your books will magically show up. Publishers need a couple of weeks to get them to the venue. You can also bring back-up copies you bought at your discounted author rate to resell, so bring your cash box and credit-card processing paperwork.

It's tempting to buy all the books you need at your discounted author rate and then resell them at full price, but you're better off bringing in a local bookseller. Most publisher contracts bar you from reselling books you buy at your discounted rate, but this is rarely enforced unless you do this in large numbers. However, if you sell through a bookseller, all sales count for bestseller lists; they won't if you buy the books and resell them. So, if the event is at a bookstore, ask them to order and sell copies. If the event is elsewhere, ask a bookseller to come and sell books. Overestimate how many books will be sold without being too unrealistic. You don’t want buyers leaving empty-handed.

During the event (usually 30 minutes)

Your event is a show, and you are the passionate entertainer. Dress well and arrive early.

Stall – don’t start on time

Start five minutes late. Lots of people show up late, and by waiting, you give the audience time to bond in their admiration for you. Sometimes you will be asked to start right away; ask nicely if you can wait a couple of minutes.

143 Have someone introduce you

Make plans for someone to introduce you to the audience, and have her mention that you'll be signing books afterwards. Also ask her to come on afterwards to thank everyone and to remind them that you'll be signing books. Here is a generic introduction you can give to her to use:

"(Your name)" has been a (relevant work info) for many years and has written (your writing credits if you have any). This is his/her first/second/whatever book. (Title of book) has been called (short, pithy quote from a review or endorsement). She/he has also (any additional interesting info-awards, colorful jobs, etc.). There will be a brief question-and-answer period, and the author will sign books afterwards. And now ladies and gentlemen, please welcome (your name)."

A presentation template

Connect with your audience by beginning with a story. It could be about how you came to write your book and got it published, about the subject, or something completely different. But it must be entertaining, inspirational, honest, or deep. Have a couple stories prepared, written, and rehearsed. Write them out longhand on index cards; this will help you remember each word.

Then share a spontaneous anecdote, such as what happened to you on the way to the event or what you read in the paper that day. Or perhaps show a short five-minute video clip, perhaps something from YouTube related to your topic.

Next, read a little from the beginning, unless you have a compelling reason not to. This will give people a context. Also read a couple of passages that do not need a lot of setting up. Read for only 10 minutes unless you're doing a workshop. Memorize in advance as much of these excerpts as you can. This will let you make periodic eye contact with the audience when reading to them.

If you have a book that can’t be read, arrange a debate with someone whose views oppose yours. Ask a local luminary or journalist to interview you, which is another way to get journalists interested in your book. Or give a charming, well-rehearsed, informative, and passionate lecture.

End with a big finish, a bang. It should be you at your best.

The Q&A period

To avoid the awkward silence after you ask, "Does anyone have any questions?" ask the audience what they'd like to hear about. If silence reigns, present a handout of 20 frequently asked questions. Many people at book events are aspiring authors; therefore include the question of how you wrote your book and got published. Then stop after five questions to let people escape.

144 Leave them wanting more

Your whole event, including Q&A, should last approximately half an hour, even if people are having fun. After a certain point, they will drift away and won’t buy books. You can always hang around afterward and chat. If you do, get suggestions from these audience members for additional venues.

Afterwards, thank the employees at the event and get business cards so you can send a note.

When signing a book for a buyer

Find out if your buyer wants a short message (two-sentence maximum), a dedication to that person or to someone else, or just your signature. Book collectors often want only your signature because it increases the value of your book. If a dedication is requested, be sure to spell the name right.

Have a sign-up sheet for your mailing list by your side. Ask people if they want to sign your list while you sign their book. On the list ask how they found out about the event and your book. It's always helpful to know what's working in terms of publicity and marketing.

Multi-author events / panels

You've probably already amassed a list of authors who have written books complementary to yours. Hopefully you have read these books, are signed up to their blogs, and are e-friends with some of them. If you approach an author as a fan and now a colleague about teaming up for an event, you could end up with not only an advocate but a real friend as well. Each of you can speak on your own at the event or as parts of a panel.

Multi-author events tend to be more exciting than readings. They allow you to connect with well- known authors and raise your own profile as a result. Multi-author events also mean bigger crowds because each author brings her own friends. The media likes them, especially when the issue is newsworthy. Booksellers like them because they sell more books than events with just one author.

Types of events

Bookstore events

For bookstores, book six months ahead. Many venues book a minimum of six months ahead. The more popular the store, allow for a longer lead time to give yourself plenty of time to promote the event, which stores will not do for you. There are strict but unwritten rules about how many venues you can do in one city, as well as how to set up events with the chains. If you do events at two different stores in the same city in the same month, you'll likely make both of them unhappy.

145 Explain why your event will sell books. Is a book group coming? Do you have local media contacts? Assert that you will be very active in promoting, getting press, and getting people to come.

After the bookstore event, when you're finished signing books for attendees, sign as much stock as you can. Signed books on shelves often get a little sticker that says "autographed copy." It raises the value of the book and draws people's attention. There's a good chance the booksellers will display your signed books in some nice spot and will be less likely to return your books.

While at the shelf for your book, rearrange the copies so that your cover is facing out. Also politely ask the bookseller if your book can be placed in a more prominent position and if they can confirm that the number of copies on the shelves matches the number in the store's computer. They will not reorder your book if they think they have copies on hand. If they are low on copies, ask if they'd be willing to order more.

Living room tours

If strapped for travel dollars, consider a living-room tour. Call on friends and family around the country to host you for a night and an event in their home to which they invite other friends and family. You're guaranteed both a captive audience and people who want to see you succeed. It is so much more intimate than a bookstore event because it is in someone's living room, with all their friends. You might sell a lot more books here than you ever will in bookstores. Three stipulations:

1) The hosts try to get 15-20 friends to show up, each of whom bring a snack to share. 2) The hosts get a free signed copy of your book. 3) The hosts agree to let you sleep on a spare bed or couch if your home is in another city.

Libraries

Libraries host author events and are great buyers of regional books. Look for your local Friends of Libraries group and visit your library’s website as well as www.ala.org, the site for the American Library Association (ALA).

Book clubs

Find book groups on the web, in chat rooms, through bookstores, and elsewhere. Note that they rarely buy hardbacks. To make it easy for them to say yes to you, put a reading guide in the back of your book, post discussion questions on your website, and offer video chats so they can meet you.

Book trade conferences, book expos, and subject-related conferences

Many trade associations, special interest groups, and trade-show conference planners sell books and educational materials to their members. Contact those associations who may be interested in selling your book; offer a discount to members. Allow them to publish excerpts from your book

146 for free on their website in order to generate interest and sales. In particular, try to attend the Book Expo of America, a.k.a. BEA, so you can collect catalogs from publishers to see what books will be released in the upcoming year. See www.biztradeshows.com and www.bookexpoamerica.com.

Turn your book into some other cool thing

Make it into something else to expand your audience and earn more profits. Examples include one-person shows and a line of t-shirts. An unknown play by an unknown writer, put on at a small but respected theater, is more likely to get reviewed than an unknown book by an unknown writer from the biggest publisher. It could also help raise your book's profile as a possible movie or TV project.

Just as you looked for agents, editors and publishers, look for licensees, manufacturers or whoever else makes the stuff you'd like to sell. Use the same sales methods as you have all along to approach these companies. If you succeed, you may be able to develop a whole line of products, each of which will raise your visibility another notch and hopefully put some gold in your pot.

Business planning for selling your own books

Filing as a business

If you want to sell your own books to customers, booksellers, or retailers, you need to establish a formal business, mainly for tax purposes, and then do bookkeeping and tax filing. You might not have to do this for very long; sales will eventually fizzle out. Plan on spending at least several hundred dollars to complete and file the necessary paperwork to establish your business.

Benefits

 more credibility when selling books, obtaining publicity, and coordinating distribution  location (ease of operating from home, a tax deduction)  tax deductions  fewer middlemen taking a cut

Develop a business plan

Will your company simply sell books or do other things too? Your plan should define your business, identify its goals, and describe how the business operates. Include a balance-statement and cash-flow analysis, and a method to monitor, control, and give feedback on your performance.

147 Forecast a budget

Analyze your costs and not just the per-book cost. Include the costs of writing, editing, printing, promoting, selling, and distributing your book. Once you have figured out your monthly operating expenses, plan a budget for the first six months, then for one year of operation that includes the six-month budget, and then a two-year budget that includes the one-year budget. Allow for unexpected expenses, and launch with enough money to operate for at least six months without any revenue.

Register your business name

Think of a credible company name and even a logo perhaps. Register this name as a DBA (doing business as). You need to ensure that no one else is already using it. Contact your local County Clerk or Recorder’s Office for details. You need a DBA to establish a bank account or a P.O. Box. If you have to give yourself a title, make it Director, not Founder. The latter sounds too blusterous.

Record expenses

Invest in accounting software and keep at least a monthly current balance sheet and an income statement (a profit-and-loss statement) along with your banking records. QuickBooks Premier is the best software program. It has more than an 85% market share and the largest selection of how-to books available. It offers optional services for payroll, integrated credit-card processing (http://payments.intuit.com), and an e-commerce store.

Quicken Premiere Home and Business is another good option.

You can become an adequate bookkeeper. The most difficult thing is the discipline to make entries daily, but doing so eases the task greatly. When entries are up-to-date, it's easy to complete the monthly summary that shows what happened in relation to what you planned. Or, you can hire a bookkeeper to do this and an accountant to set up a good model for the bookkeeper to follow.

Other resources

 your lawyer  your accountant  websites for creating a legal business entity: www.corporatecreations.com, www.legalzoom.com, or www.nolo.com

 trade associations: Independent Book Publishers Association (http://www.ibpa-online.org), the Small Publishers of North America (http://www.spannet.org), and local self-publishing associations

They will offer all kinds of help and will set you up so you can take credit cards.

148 Deductible expenses

Save receipts and keep good records. Each deduction is restricted to the amount of taxable income your business would have had if this deduction were not taken. You can’t expense any fixtures, equipment, or furnishings that cost more than the profits. This is especially true if the business is showing a paper loss. Check with your tax consultant to be sure each deduction is okay.

Money you draw from the business and payments for capital equipment purchased on credit are not deductible. Still, include them as part of your outlay.

Get receipts for all supplies you buy. Don't forget the costs of duplicating. For postage, get a receipt at the post office or write a check, or better yet, use a program such as Stamps.com, which lets you calculate and print postage right from your computer.

For your company phone line, keep it separate from your personal line. It should be able to handle at least two calls at once and have a hold feature. Consider a Voice-Over-IP service, which is cheaper than a regular phone line. Vonage (www.vonage.com) is one service you can use.

For a fax, try faxing to and from your computer with eFax, for about $13 per month. eFax gives you a unique fax number in your local area code. Incoming faxes arrive as e-mail messages in your normal e-mail account. You can then view and print them as PDF files. If you have a laptop, you can send and receive faxes from anywhere that has an Internet connection.

If you work from home, you can deduct a portion of your housing expenses. Measure the workspace square footage and divide by the square footage of livable space. An easier option, if room size is relatively equal, is to divide the number of rooms used for business by the total rooms. For instance, one work room out of five household rooms equals 20%. Either method results in the proportion of the expenses that may be deducted. That includes a percentage of the cost of your home, utilities, and insurance.

For major purchases, capitalize and depreciate them as five-year property, defined by the IRS as property that has a useful life of more than four years and less than ten.

Recurring monthly expenses:

 rent  interest  marketing expenses  photocopying and printing  telecom machines  P.O. box  banking fees  merchant account fees  mailing supplies

149  warehouse (storage) fees  postage  postage meter rental (if you fulfill book orders)  utilities, including telephone and Internet  payroll if you have employees (at the onset, this will probably be zero)  auto expenses (gas, repairs, tires, insurance, parking fees)  correspondence, marketing, and public relations o stationery o postage o letterhead, business card, and press-release printing o trade show expenses o review copy expenses o website development and maintenance

Annual or non-recurring expenses:

 taxes  accounting services  insurance (umbrella liability)  legal services  travel expenses  business licenses and filing fees (including fees for incorporating)  office equipment and furniture, including computers and software  association membership fees and dues

Deductible self-publishing expenses

 ghostwriting  editing (copy, technical, general)  photography/artwork  page layout and design  front and back cover design  printing  obtaining the copyright, ISBN#, LCCN, and barcode for your book  the flat fee for POD self-publishing companies on top of the per-book cost  indexer  author photo  publicity (hiring a publicist and paying for book tours or events)

Three books for self-employed businesses

 Business Plans for Dummies, by Paul Tiffany and Steven D. Peterson  422 Tax Deductions-for Businesses and Self-Employed Individuals, by Bernard Kamoroff

150  Small Business Operator: How to Start Your Own Business, Keep Your Books, Pay Your Taxes, and Stay Out of Trouble!, by Bernard Kamoroff

Releasing more books in the future

Releasing a new edition

Perhaps the world changes and makes your book more relevant than ever but in need of a new chapter or two. Perhaps your book is popular with book groups, and a reader's guide would be a great addition. Perhaps a movie is being made of your book, necessitating a new cover featuring movie stars. These scenarios give your book fresh legs; use this chance to do some more editing.

Reissuing into paperback

Your publisher might print your book in hardcover and then, perhaps a year later, print it in paperback or sell these rights. Many books have a much richer life in paperback than in hardcover. If your publisher tells you that the hardcover copies are going to be remaindered and that what doesn't sell will be shredded, ask if you can use the hardbacks to promote the paperback edition.

To the media and customers, this is a fresh start. Use all the contacts and knowledge you've gained since the hardcover came out. Set up events at places you couldn't get to the first time around; it’s a great time for events at colleges, libraries and community centers because students and readers who frequent these places usually only buy paperbacks. Notify the interviewers that you know about this release, and do the same with the bloggers and tweeters who helped you, or didn't. Reviewers who didn’t review your hardcover edition might do so now. Pursue newspapers, magazines, and radio/TV shows that might be interested.

Writing a different book completely

If you decide to write another book, make two lists, the “right” list and the “wrong” list. Evaluate your choice of agent, publisher, editor, and your relationship with each. Review how you handled publicity, marketing, and sales. Look at how well your book has sold. This can be a depressing task, which is why many authors don't do it. Have you earned out your advance? Was your publisher happy with your sales? Has your book gone through multiple printings?

If your first book didn't sell that many copies, your publisher will be less inclined to do your next book. Also, retail stores will likely order no more copies (and maybe fewer) than they sold your first time out. This can be a drag, especially if you think that your new book can do much better.

If you had success with your first book, your publisher will want to sign you for another sooner rather than later. Strike while the iron is hot.

If you plan on writing a different kind of second book and are still in the planning stage for your

151 first book with your agent, discuss this second one too. Bibliography

The Essential Guide to Getting Your Book Published, by Arielle Eckstut and David Henry Sterry (2010)

Self-publishing for Dummies, by Jason Rich (2006)

The Complete Guide to Self-Publishing: Everything You Need to Know to Write, Publish, Promote and Sell Your Own Book, by Marilyn Heimberg Ross, Tom Ross and Sue Collier (2010)

The Fine Print of Self-Publishing, Fourth Edition - Everything You Need to Know About the Costs, Contracts, and Process of Self-Publishing. By Mark Levine (2011)

POD for Profit: More on the NEW Business of Self Publishing, or How to Publish Your Books With Online Book Marketing and Print on Demand by Lightning Source, by Aaron Shepard (2010)

Smashwords Style Guide - How to Format Your Ebook (Smashwords Guides), by Mark Coker (2011)

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