Is self-publishing looked down upon?
Self-publishing does get a poor name, but if you do it right, people can’t tell unless they really look into it and research the imprint. If you have a beautiful book that has been professionally made, edited, and put out into the world, being made available through professional channels, people don’t know, and many bookstores do carry books such as these. Now, if you bring in a book that contains images that look like your granddaughter’s artwork with a lot of mistakes if it’s just not up to standard, it’s going to be highly unlikely that the bookstore owner will want to carry it.
While publishing and self-publishing has become easier and more mainstream, it also allows people to put out shoddy work. There are a lot of people out there putting out work that’s not proofread or edited correctly. That’s why self-publishing has gotten a bad name. When you’re working with bookstores and libraries, if you can show that you’ve had consistent sales, and big reviews from Kirkus or Library Journal, that gives your book credibility. You can absolutely self-publish and get into bookstores and libraries, but you must do it well.
Traditional publishing definitely has its perks. After all, when you get published in this way you have a whole team working for you, and you have people advertising or marketing for you. Many traditionally published authors still have to market their books. Although there are plenty of great aspects of traditional publishing, you do lose a certain amount of control over your work, but you have a team supporting you. Self-published authors and indie authors can make it, as long as they avail themselves of the tools and publish well.
If you are self-publishing, you want to get your book up on Amazon and on KDP, but your book does need to be put together professionally. A Library of Congress number is part of that. If you aren’t eligible because you don’t have enough authors or books in your imprint, you would go with a PCIP (Publisher’s Cataloging-In-Publication) block. We get ours from the Donohue Group.
Obtaining your own ISBN, making sure that your book has been edited and proofread, and having a professional cover created are all important aspects of self-publishing properly. People who have even a little experience in publishing can quickly scroll through Amazon and pick out the covers that were created at home. There is a huge difference between the ones that self-published authors have paid to have created, and the ones that were created by a professional designer. It’s critical that you find someone that knows about graphic design, not just art. They need to understand book cover design.
It’s so important that you stay up to date with the trends for up and coming book covers, and it’s also imperative that you create a book cover that looks like a book cover. It’s very hard to do that if you aren’t in that field already. Even if you are a graphic artist or an artist, it’s not the same thing. You can be sure that professionals in the industry can tell the difference. Your cover is so very vital.
You can publish with Amazon because they have a number of imprints. At the moment there are 16 of them so you can actually publish with Amazon as a traditional publisher. They have one of the largest and fastest-growing imprints out there. However, putting your book up on KDP doesn’t mean that you published with KDP. You published your book and put it up on KDP, which is a platform for selling your book.
When we talk about reputable and well done self-publishing, that means your book has a nice cover and it’s edited correctly throughout. Publishing is the act of getting your book all together and putting it up appropriately. You should have your book up on IngramSpark and offer the full market discount. On IngramSpark your discount should be set at 55%. A lot of people think, “Wow. How can I sell a book at that high of a discount?” By the time IngramSpark and Ingram take their cut, it’s only going to be a 40% discount for bookstores.
Bookstores have to buy their books, pay their overhead, pay their employees, and still make a profit. So your royalty on an Ingram book that is going to retailers like bookstores and gift shops, is only going to be about $1 when you use print-on-demand. That’s the standard, and that’s okay. It’s okay because they are marketing it for you, and they are spreading your name. Every time your book is on a shelf it’s an opportunity for new readers to find you.
Of course you want to upload your book to KDP for Amazon sales too. You’ll make more in royalties if you upload directly to KDP. Amazon sells just under half of all the books sold in the U.S. so it’s a great platform. Do you want to sell your books on Amazon, but you don’t want to only sell them on Amazon? To sell them elsewhere, like to libraries and bookstores, you must have a well-done book. That’s making sure your book meets professional standards.
Part of this is making sure your layout is correct. Recently we had an experience, here at New Shelves, with a book that had a beautiful cover and was well edited, but it did not have a professional layout. The page numbers were not where they were supposed to be, and the lines were not justified. The footnotes were not done right either. That sort of thing kills a book.
If you were to bring a book like that into a bookstore, and a bookstore owner flipped through the book and saw that, they would immediately say, “No, thank you.” They won’t give you a second chance after that either. It’s crucial that you pay attention to all of the details that the publishing industry expects to find in a book.
Guest post by Keri Barnum
Thankful
“At times, our own light
goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause
to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted
the flame within us.”
– Albert Schweitzer
2019 has been a year of growth and renewal for New Shelves. We have expanded our staff and services and Best Seller Builders, our partner company with Daniel Hall and John Rhodes has exploded. We have so much to be grateful for.
When thinking back over the past year, however, what tops our list of things we are thankful for wasn’t the success or the growth. What our team agrees we are most thankful for is our community. From co-workers and fellow industry professionals, to clients who trust us to market their books and those who join us on the New Shelves blog or follow along on social media – we are thankful for you. Your support and contribution to our community has “lighted the flame within us” and inspired passion, creativity and friendships within our business.
We didn’t know how we could properly thank you all for making 2019 an amazing year – so we turned to what we know best: books. As the smallest sign of our gratitude to you for being part of our community, we have lowered the price of The Bestselling Author as far as we could on all platforms – making it free on many sites. (Use this link to find your preferred retailer: http://books2read.com/u/bzvRgL.) This book was written by the Best Seller Builders team to help and support the writing community with a step-by-step plan to building a successful author platform. Our sincerest hope is that The Bestselling Author will be a valuable tool in guiding you to bestseller status. You are a Rock Star and you deserve to shine.
From the bottom of our hearts, THANK YOU for making 2019 a year worth writing about.
Guest post by Keri Barnum
Alan Gibson Shares Resources with New Shelves Authors!
Let me start with a confession: I’m weak. When I learn of a new software solution that promises to save me time and sounds easy to use, I can’t resist taking it for a spin. The industry attempts to dress up consumers like me, by calling us ‘early adopters,’ but I know what they mean. I am and always have been a technology junkie.
I’ll never forget my first dealer. In 1971, Texas Instruments introduced to the public a gadget so outlandish it could add, subtract, multiply AND divide. The hit to my ego from being the first in my neighborhood to own a personal electronic calculator was worth the hefty price of $149, and I still recall the faces of my incredulous colleagues in the Teachers’ Lounge, as they witnessed me effortlessly average my students’ semester grades.
Jumping in early isn’t always pretty. A decade later, I bought and quickly ditched one of IBM’s first personal computers (and its dot matrix printer!) after acknowledging I would not live long enough to learn DOS.
For the bulk of my adult career, I was an ad guy. It was a perfect fit for a tech junkie, because in every shop I worked, the digital toolboxes were arsenals of applications. While I still use Adobe Suite and a few of the other giants for projects that require heavy lifting, for my needs as an indie author, I prefer newer, less bulky applications for their simplicity and ease of use. I’d like to share a few with you here.
Novels aren’t normal documents.
I think it’s a given that most authors use Microsoft Word to compose their manuscripts. I use the application for my novels, too, but not in the way you may think. My manuscripts don’t go near Word until I’ve finished writing them. I’ll explain.
To pen anything other than an email, I’ve always used Word. But in spite of its staggering features, writing my first novel revealed its limitations, and along the way I hit a wall. As my manuscript approached twenty thousand words, navigating the document became cumbersome. At sixty thousand I was spending as much time scrolling as writing, and I grew weary of the inefficiencies of slogging back and forth to search for something I wanted to tweak or move. I’m convinced I could have finished The Dead of Winter in half the time had I known about Scrivener, the program I used for my next three novels.
Scrivener is designed specifically for long writing projects, such as books and screenplays, and its powerful organizational tools make it ideal for authors, no matter their writing style. Whether you fuss with details and structure or forge on ahead, Scrivener lets you write in any order and assemble later. My preference is to follow an outline, and with this program I can set up a three-act structure with twenty-seven chapters in minutes. Before I begin writing, I can sketch out and label the chapters to guide me through my planned story arc and remind me where I am. And, since characters often like to direct the action, Scrivener makes it simple to drag a scene that once worked in Chapter Seven and drop it in Chapter Twelve, where it makes more sense. Like many powerful programs, Scrivener is not easy to use without instruction, but video tutorials are plentiful and free. As of this writing, Scrivener at is still inexpensive at $49. Visit http://www.literatureandlatte.com/scrivener/overview to learn more.
When I’ve completed writing my novel in Scrivener, I export the manuscript to Word for robust editing, which I explain next.
It takes more than a spell checker to strengthen and polish a masterpiece.
I’m not here to dispute the value of a real live editor or proofreader. Instead, I encourage you to check out two reasonably priced editing applications that are easy to use and can make dramatic improvements to your manuscript, whether or not you later choose to send it to a human.
In addition to providing a comprehensive spelling and grammar check, AutoCrit and ProWritingAid scour your text and provide recommendations for strengthening and polishing your writing in over 20 areas, (ProWritingAid offers 25). Both identify repetitive words and phrases and call out overused dialogue tags and pesky adverbs, but they do much more. Each one tackles pacing and momentum by analyzing sentence and paragraph length to help keep you from boring your readers and pinpoints areas where you might be losing them. Both suggest areas where showing might be better than telling. As you might expect, the use of passive voice doesn’t stand a chance against these two.
It’s important to understand that you are still in charge of your work, and you’re not in danger of losing your voice. These programs simple highlight what they see as potential pitfalls. You decide how to use the information.
The brains behind AutoCrit designed their program specifically for fiction, and the analysis compares your work to other published works in your genre. ProWritingAid claims over a million authors, editors and other users, and is not limited to fiction. You have probably encountered the platform in the form of those edit suggestions you can’t avoid when filling out forms online, but don’t hold those annoying intrusions against them. The full program I advocate is enlightening.
At the time of this writing, ProWritingAid costs $50 per year. Autocrit has both an adequate free version, as well as paid premium versions which offer more thorough analyses and online courses.
It’s time for another confession: I use them both.
Help, I’m not a graphic artist!
For many indie authors the nightmare scenario begins like this. The process was daunting, but you’ve just published a book and you’re feeling accomplished, even euphoric. Before you’ve had time to bask in the glory, you learn that no one will see your masterpiece unless you have visibility on social media, and to achieve that presence, you need to run frequent posts and ads. Creating them sounds overwhelming, and then it gets worse. Facebook, Instagram and Twitter need you to upload something called a header for your page. Oh, and each platform requires a different format and size, both for the headers and for the posts. It’s enough to rethink your marketing strategy and ask your family and friends to buy a second or third book.
Fortunately, smart people had the good sense to invent BookBrush and Canva, two applications that help you design high quality ads, social media images and a lot more. You can believe Canva’s ‘Design Anything’ slogan. Need to make a postcard, flyer, poster or brochure? Canva has over 8,000 templates. As the name implies, BookBrush is geared for books and can generate things like 3-D book covers and boxed set images. Though I’ve not counted, BookBrush boasts over a million background images. You can incorporate video in your designs with BookBrush and not with Canva, but both are built for flexibility and allow you to upload your own images and start from scratch, if you choose.
Neither program comes with a sharp learning curve, so creating those headers or posts for specific social media platforms are as easy as selecting them from a drop-down menu. In Canva, once you’re happy with the header you made for one platform, you can convert your design to fit the specs of another platform with one click.
Unless you hire someone to do the work for you, creating ads and posts using either of these tools couldn’t be easier.
Both Canva and BookBrush are free to use with a basic account and are powerful enough to create anything required by social media in limited quantities. Upgraded subscriptions give you extras like increased storage for your work and abilities to upload custom fonts and collaborate with a team. Spoiler alert: I use both.
Alan Gibson, who writes as A. B. Gibson, is a frequent speaker at writers conferences, and is the director of Manuscript to Marketplace, the Writers Conference at Shepherd University. He’s a co-founder of a video chat technology company, OneClick.chat and a film producer. Oh, and still an ad guy.
Are Preorder Campaigns Still a Good Idea on Amazon?
While I used to suggest 30 day pre-order campaigns to my authors, I no longer suggest a preorder campaign for Amazon, and here’s why: It used to be that when you pre-ordered with Amazon, they would count all of your orders as sales on the release day. Your orders stacked up so that on the day it released, they counted all of these orders at once, and you could make bestseller lists. It was awesome! Unfortunately, that’s not how it works anymore.
Now, on Amazon, pre-orders count in the sales numbers as they come in.
If you set your book up for pre-order, and only get a few orders a week, then Amazon’s computer thinks no one wants that book. It starts dropping down in the pile in the search engines and gets harder to find. It’s no longer a good strategy for most authors to orchestrate a launch to do the preorder on Amazon. However, there are a few exceptions.
If you know that you can hit about 8,000-10,000 copies sold for preorder, that’s a smart move IF you get them all ordered in 30 days or less. If you’re doing a blog tour, and you want to get your book up for preorder because the blog tour starts three days before your actual launch date, you can either launch a little bit earlier or you can do a preorder for about three days. It’s not advisable to do it for a longer period of time, unless you’re trying to do preorders on Ingram because you know that bookstores will order it in advance.
If I decide to put the book up for preorder months in advance anyway, can I just put my book cover up on Amazon and pre-sell my book while I complete it, or does the full book need to be up before the pre-release date?
A lot of people do put their book on pre-sale months and months ahead of time, and it makes you wonder if they’ve really finished it yet. Most of the time, they haven’t. If it’s a book published by a big publishing house, sometimes the book has been finished way in advance because they are sending it out for reviews. The truth is, however, that a lot of people will put a book up on Amazon for pre-sale, and all they’re using is the front cover, especially if it’s an eBook. They upload the cover, or a working cover, and Amazon doesn’t know what files they’re using.
You can use dummy files, or ARC files, and upload them in place of the manuscript itself. You just have to make sure to change them out with the correct files before your book goes live.
But remember, if you want to do this, Amazon is going to think your book is “live” when it comes to sales and if you don’t get regular orders, it’s going to be pushed to the bottom.
The bottom line is this, it’s not like it used to be. You used to be able to put your book up on Amazon and work for your preorders. On your release day, your preorders would hit, and you’d get a big splash. Amazon caught on to this, and they didn’t like that. So, it changed its policies. I’d create a launch week/month campaign for Amazon and hit everyone that way. Put the book up on a particular date and announce the pub date for 3 days later. Then start marketing!
Setting up and Optimizing Your Author Pages on Amazon and Goodreads
There is a small piece of very valuable virtual real estate that you’re eligible to claim and develop if you have a book listed on Amazon. It is called your Amazon Author Central page and most authors ignore it. But then again, most authors are not committed to the idea of building a significant platform. And yes, optimizing your Amazon Author Page can help you do just that.
In fact, here’s what Amazon provides with regard to why you should have this page:
“The Author Page on Amazon.com provides a handy place for customers to learn about you. Helping customers get to know you is an effective way to introduce them to—or better educate them about—your books. On the Author Page, we display essential information about authors—including bibliographies, biographies, author photos, and even feeds to blog posts.”
And what’s so cool is that a link to your Author Central page appears in the listing for every book you claim as yours.
And here’s an example of Amy’s page…
For this tip, we need to accomplish these items: managing your biography; uploading photos; managing your blog feeds; uploading videos; managing your events; adding your book titles and creating your author page URL.
First, go to http://authorcentral.amazon.com/ and click Join Now. Follow the prompts to open you account and establish your page.
Let’s get started with…
Managing Your Biography: Once you’re logged into your Author Central page, you click on the menu item across the top and choose “Author Page.”
Then look for the “Biography” line item and then click “edit biography.”
Here you will include a short bio. I would simply make a shorter version of the bio you used on your “about me” page that we discussed back in Tip #4: Establish Your Author’s Blog. But essentially, you’ll want to include relevant credentials, achievements, and background about yourself. Also, it’s a great idea to include a sentence or two of personal information about your passions, hobbies, and favorite charities. Don’t be afraid here to include something about your special brand of quirkiness. The idea behind a bio is that you want to give readers reasons to like and trust you. You can also include mentions of your blog or website, though you cannot include HTML, so it won’t be clickable. But those interested can still copy and paste the web address into another browser and check you out so it’s worth including. Try to keep your bio to 250 words or less. Next you’ll want to…
Manage Your Photographs: If you look over to the right (or somewhere down the page if they’ve moved it) you’ll see another line item “Photos,” “add photo,” and “manage.” While you can upload many photos, you can also designate the one you want to show on all of your book listings. The gold outlining around the photo below designates that shot as your official author photo.
Your author photos are pretty important so I would definitely suggest having professional shots done. Of course, you can and should include other photos such as you at a book signing event, speaking at an event, or hanging with a celebrity. Once you have your photos uploaded, choose the one that you want to show on all of your book listings. Next you’ll want to…
Manage Your Blog Feeds: This is one feature we really like about Amazon Author Central: You can keep it fresh and updated by including an RSS feed from your blog so that whenever you update your blog it automatically shows up as an announcement in your Author Central profile and provides a link directly to your blog. Yay! Amazon sending traffic!
It’s super easy to set up too. A bit further down in your Author Central dashboard, you’ll see a line item for “Blogs” and next to that a link to “add blog.” Click there and next you’ll be asked for the RSS feed for your blog. If you have set up a WordPress blog as we recommended way back in Tip #4, then finding you RSS feed is easy. Simply type /feed/ after your blog address (as shown here).
Amazon will then validate your feed to make sure it works and add it to your page. Plus, you can add more than one blog if you desire. If you have your blog on some other platform than WordPress, simply reach out to your service and ask what the RSS feed is for your blog.
Now each time you update your blog, you’re updating your Author Central page and as long as you’re making at least semi-frequent blog posts, it projects the appearance that you’re fresh and relevant. Both good things in platform building.
Moving down the page a bit further you’ll see an area to…
Manage Your Videos: That’s right, you can upload videos that can be viewed on your Author Central page. Find the “Videos” line item and click “add video.”
What videos should you add?
Here’s the partial list:
- Livestreams
- Tutorials
- You speaking at an event
- Television interviews
- Book trailers
- Reader testimonials
Basically, you’ll want to include any videos that your readers or potential readers might find informative and/or interesting. Additionally, you can designate which video you want to appear first on your page by clicking on it, after which a small gold box will appear around it. That alerts you to the fact that that is the video you’ve chosen.
Next, if it is applicable you’ll want to…
Manage Your Events: If you are currently speaking or intend to speak at events, this is where you’ll list them. In a later tip, I will recommend a way for you to start speaking at local MeetUps, etc. However, one thing to know about this feature is that it is not auto-updated.
You will need to manually keep it updated, which some authors fail to do. And let’s just say it does not look good for a potential reader to be checking out your Author Central page and see reference to an event you spoke at 5 years ago. That just screams that you’ve dropped out and are no longer relevant and probably not worth reading, much less following. So keep your events updated. I would suggest setting a quarterly reminder in your calendar to check it.
Next, you’ll want to…
Add Your Titles: One of the most important functions of the Author Central page is it gives readers a list of all of your books. But in order for them to appear there, you’ll need to claim them as yours and bring them into your account.
To do this you’ll need to click “Books” on the navigation menu across the top (as shown here).
Next, click “Add More Books.”
Finally, you’ll be able to search for your books by title, author name, or ISBN. So search and add all of your books.
You’ll need go through this process with every new book.
Got it all updated? Now you’re really cooking with gas!
Last, you’ll be able to…
Create Your Author Page Web Address: And according to Amazon, this is how you do it…
“On the Author Central Profile tab, click add link next to “Author Page URL.”
A URL will be suggested, however you may enter text that meets the following guidelines:
At least 1 character, no more than 30 characters
May use letters, numbers, dashes, periods and underscores
No spaces
No special characters other than dashes, periods and underscores
Profanity is not allowed
If the URL you input is available, click Save.
Your Author Page URL will go live in approximately 30 minutes.”
Now that your page is set up, you can start including a link to it in all of your bios, your blog, and your social media profiles.
Although it goes beyond the scope of this tip, I did want to make you aware that you can manage some of your individual book titles from your Author Central dashboard as well. For example, you’ll be to manage and add editorial reviews, update product descriptions, from the author, from the inside flap, from the back cover, and about the author. And from the dashboard, you can also monitor sales rank and customer reviews.
All in all, your Author Central page can really represent you well and help you to sell more books and grow your platform. What I like best about it, is once you set it up and optimize it as discussed here, there is very little that needs to be done to maintain it. Just add new titles when you have them and keep your events updated.
Goodreads Author Setup
Goodreads is another site where you will want to set up your author profile. The reason? It is a place where you can find new readers and continue to build your platform.
According to the site, “Goodreads is the world’s largest site for readers and book recommendations. Our mission is to help people find and share books they love.”
Essentially, it is another place where the site has put together an audience of people, some of whom could be a part of your platform. Remember our earlier discussion about finding someone else’s audience and then to the extent possible, co-opting it to build your own? This is another example of that.
Goodreads, an Amazon-owned site, has attracted an audience of avid readers. They also support and encourage author members to list their books and blogs and interact with members. They have also built in a number of other features that authors can use to promote themselves and their books.
Let’s get started…
First, if you are not yet a Goodreads member you will need to sign up (it’s free). Sign up here: http://www.goodreads.com/
Next, you will then need to add yourself as an author-member. The steps to that are here: http://www.goodreads.com/help#join_authorprogram
That is where you will “[s]earch for yourself and click on your published author name. The author name is listed below the title of your book in the search results.”
Next, “[c]licking on your name takes you to your basic author profile page. This page has your name at the top and “author profile” to the right of your name. This page is part of our database of books and authors and is separate from your member profile page (which lists your bookshelves and friends).”
Now “[s]croll down to the bottom of the page. Click “Is this you? Let us know.” to send a request to join the Author Program.”
Then you’ll be asked whether the titles listed as your books are, in fact, accurate.
In the case above, only the first book listed is Amy’s. You can ask for your book list to be corrected by joining the Goodreads Librarians Group on the site and posting a request. Once they clean up your list, you can then apply for Author membership.
That’s it! You’re in…
Now you can continue the setup of your Author profile.
There are three promotional tools you should consider using on Goodreads: the ask the author feature; connect the RSS feed for your author blog; and pursue getting into the Goodreads Spotlight…
Let’s start with…
Using the Ask the Author Feature: The “Ask the Author” feature comes automatically with your Goodreads Author Program. The best part is that it’s completely free. Here’s how one author has taken advantage of this feature…
This feature truly can be powerful because, as we have said all along, one of the best ways to build a platform is by engaging and building bonds with readers. This feature encourages just this sort of interaction and, because it is publicly viewable, other potential readers will be able to read your answers, which in turn alerts potential readers to your openness to answering questions. This will encourage more readers to post questions for you. This is platform-building goodness incarnate!
From your Author Dashboard it is as easy as click the “on” radio button under the “Ask the Author” line item.
You may want to seed your responses by answering the automatic questions suggested by Goodreads like…
Next, you’ll want to…
Connect the RSS Feed for Your Author Blog: Here’s yet another place where having your WordPress author blog set up is useful. That is, you can connect your RSS feed from your blog so that it syncs, allowing your blog posts to also appear on Goodreads.
This is also done from your Author Dashboard under the line item “Your Blog.” You will want to choose the “Already Have a Blog?” heading, then add your RSS feed, and select “show full post.”
Now your entire blog contents will be available on Goodreads. And every time you post to your blog it will auto-update on Goodreads. Lovely!
Now that you have your blog synced, the next thing you may want to do is…
Pursue Getting into the Goodreads Spotlight: Goodreads interviews authors, then features these interviews on their site and in their newsletters. They also feature new author debuts in their newsletter.
To be featured, Goodreads instructs authors to reach out to their staff. And since you’re a new book author, you have an edge!
Goodreads explains that they usually promote authors with recently released books.
To increase your chances of being featured, I’d encourage you to…
- Determine how your book or background is unique (e.g., your story is based on your family history).
- Pinpoint what readers will gain from your book (e.g., productivity tips).
- Do a draft of your pitch that includes these details and make sure the pitch is well edited.
Of course, there are no guarantees that you’ll be featured. But the site is going to feature some authors. Why not you?
Additionally, within your Author Dashboard, and similar to Amazon Author Central, you can add videos (as long as they are on YouTube) and your events.
A new addition to these cool free features is that you can also use Goodreads to set up powerful paid giveaways.
Goodreads Giveaways: For a fee, you can set up “standard” and “premium” giveaways. There are some conditions to the giveaway such as: Giveaways are for U.S. entrants only unless it is a print book giveaway, which then can include U.S. and Canadian entrants.
Also, your book must be a print or Kindle version and available on Amazon. The max number of books you can give away is 100 copies. The difference between standard and premium is that premium gives you better placement on the Giveaways page and lets you send a message to those who didn’t win. The fees are little pricey, but the exposure you can get can be enormous.
As we hope you can tell, Goodreads can be a very powerful tool in your platform-building journey. With Goodreads under our belt, it’s time to move on to adding some increased functionality to your blog in…
http://authorcentral.amazon.com/gp/help?topicID=200497410
http://authorcentral.amazon.com/gp/help?ie=UTF8&pn=irid8923953&topicID=200799660
You can check current fees for a Goodreads giveaway here: http://www.goodreads.com/help/list/giveaways
Rising Tide of Authors Complain of Long Wait Times for Author Copies From KDP
By Keri Rae Barnum
Most authors have started to settle into the changes brought on by the Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) and Create Space merge that took place in 2018. However, one issue seems to remain as a point of contention. KDP print and ship times for proof and author copies is consistently slower than what authors had become used to from Create Space.
One author said, “I recently placed an order for my own books, and the date of shipment was 11 days from the date of my order. That doesn’t include shipping speed, that’s just how long it took for KDP to print the books and get them out the door.”
Another author wrote in to say that not only had his author copies not printed for several weeks after his order was placed, but after Amazon had reported the books shipped, they were unable to provide a tracking number.
“I ordered author copies after the book was in print. After three weeks they still hadn’t been printed. Others on KDP Community have said 3-4 weeks is the norm!”
After weeks of waiting and several additional inquiries, the author was told his books were lost in transit. His order was canceled, and he had to begin the long process of ordering author copies all over again.
Far from an isolated incident, online author forums are teeming with similar complaints.
What Gives?
When KDP took over Create Space, all author proofs and discounted author copies of books began processing through Amazon’s retail outlets. While this streamlined the checkout process for ordering, the new sales and production flow also resulted in backend issues. Rather than ordering from a separate platform, authors are now competing with retail customers for order placement and shipping. And, as we all know, customers who make a company money tend to be bumped to the front of the line. Meanwhile, authors ordering copies of their own book(s) at a steeply discounted rate are being moved to the back of the que.
KDP isn’t completely unaware that this could cause issues and they do address production and ship times on their website. The quote below was pulled directly from the KDP Help Topics under Author Copies.
“Our manufacturing and delivery estimates are based on the quantity ordered and selected delivery speed. The most up-to-date delivery estimate will display during checkout.
Actual production times fluctuate according to total order volume. There may be times that your order is manufactured faster than expected, but faster delivery isn’t guaranteed. We recommend noting the Expected Delivery Date you’re given when placing the order. This date takes production time into consideration.”
What’s an Author to Do?
While frustrating, most authors will understand the reasoning and motivation behind Amazon placing priority on customer orders who are paying full retail for books. There isn’t much to be done that will change that policy. However, there are some things authors can do to avoid setbacks and frustration as they move forward with their publishing and marketing plans.
- Be Proactive: If you intend to order a printed proof, add in a two-week cushion for print and wait times.
- Take Advantage of Technology: View the online proof from KDP and approve the book based on that. Meanwhile, you may also choose to order a printed author copy as a back-up proof. This option provides the opportunity to view your printed book without the stress of holding back your publishing plans.
- Cushion Your Timeline: If you are planning an event and you know you will need multiple author copies of your book, order well in advance. Not only will this save you stress, but you will also have the time to receive and inspect your books before your event.
- Use Your Resources: While we love KDP for distribution and sales on Amazon, we highly recommend that authors also upload their book to Ingram Spark. Authors who chose to do this have another option for ordering author copies, as Ingram Spark offers this service as well. It might be wise to try ordering author copies from each platform to compare, price, quality, service and production and delivery speed.
A Word to the Wise
Keep in mind that the holidays are quickly approaching. Both Ingram Spark and KDP will be inundated with orders to fulfil between October and January that will affect production and shipping times. If you plan to order author copies between now and the end of the year, do yourself a favor and order early. Or, if you must order during the holiday months, be sure to factor delays in to your schedule.
The Slimy Side of the Speaking Industry
Guest Post by Kathleen Gage
| Last week I had the opportunity to see the ethical side of the speaking industry and the slimy side. The ethical side was hearing Debbie Allen at the Oregon Chapter of National Speakers Association September meeting. A total class act. Gave great content, made it clear what needed to be done to succeed as a speaker and that you have to work for your success. It was totally worth the 100 mile drive (each way) to see her. That was on Monday. On Thursday, I went to an event in Portland that was promoted as an event for those wanting to succeed as a speaker on massive stages. In that I love speaking in front of big crowds, I thought I might learn something valuable. This one, also a 100 mile drive each way, was a total pitch fest from the minute the first presenter began. I wanted to see what these folks were going to offer to those in attendance. Sadly, I didn’t have to wait long. I knew they would make offers, but not so soon in the day. Because they started pitching so early in the day, within minutes, several people got up and left. By lunch, at least 10 of 85 left. After lunch, 45 remained. That’s a huge drop in numbers. What was really sad was the BS they were promising people about “buy our program for $10,000 – $20,000 and you will skyrocket to fame because we put you in a room with celebrities and you can take a picture with these celebrities and you have social proof you are a rock star.” There was a lot of the, “The people who left are losers. They don’t realize they are the reason they are such failures. Those of you who stayed are the smart ones and you know how to make smart decisions.” It is appalling that this kind of stuff goes on. Debbie Allen is the epitome of being a professional and gave massive value to everyone in the room. This other group was the epitome of slime bags. When they kept saying, “We normally don’t make this kind of offer to other groups so you have to promise to keep it a secret,” I wanted to barf. Literally, it turned my stomach because is was so much snake oil from them, it dripped from their mouths. I have no problem with programs that are $20,000 or more. I’ve invested in a few of those on more than one occasion and received tons of value. But these people were preying on the desperation of quite a few people in attendance. People who had never been on the platform, never spoken to groups of any size, and yet, they made it sound like any one of the people in the room would instantly enjoy success by investing in their program… and having pictures taken with celebrities. Oh please! It takes more than a picture with Sylvester Stallone to succeed. A lot more. Again, there’s nothing wrong with high price programs. What I do find wrong is the way these people sold. It was sickening. Folks, don’t buy the BS that some companies are peddling that all you have to do is pay tens of thousands of dollars to them, get your photo with a few celebrities and you will be successful. Do it the right way. Do it the ethical way. Put your time in. Invest as needed, but make investments based on a good business decision, not desperation. For more information about Kathleen, go to http://www.powerupforprofits.com/ Kathleen Gage is a marketing strategist and business consultant who works with consciously aware entrepreneurs who are experts in their field. We work with our clients to help them fully identify their expertise, their market (tribe), gain massive visibility, and package their knowledge into various information products and services. P.O. Box 551 Pleasant Hill, OR 97455 1.541.746.5551 PDT M-Thurs 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. http://www.kathleengage.com http://www.themarketingmindset.com |
Your Spine IS Your Cover
Here’s one of the dirty little secrets in book publishing. Publishers spend countless hours and dollars working on their covers, but they often miss the point. With the exception of online retailers, your book spine is your cover.
Brick and mortar stores are packed with books. New releases. Backlist books. Series. Gift books.
Walk to any category (perhaps your own) and take a look at how many books are crammed on to the shelves.
What do you see? The spine, if you’re lucky.
All to often publishers make the mistake of not focusing at all on the spine of their book, not realizing that this is their number one marketing tool in brick and mortar stores.
What does this mean for you?
Spend some time on your spine.
Spine Size
Think about bulking your page count to make sure that your spine has presence. We’re not recommending that you fluff your book with overblown margins or blank pages. But we are recommending that you don’t cram in your text so tight to save a few cents on your printing prices.
Push it out a signature or two. It might make all the difference between getting lost on the shelf and standing out because you’re 1/8 of an inch bigger. Choose paper that bulks. You might be surprised at how easy it is to snag an extra 1/16 of an inch through paperweight alone.
Spine Color
Spend some time analyzing what the spine colors are in your category. This is extremely important. If every spine in your category is white, choose a vibrant color. Choose something that stands out. Choose something that practically leaps of the shelf and screams “pick me!” This is the time to buck the trends and be a little different. If you’re not sure what will work, grab some books that have different spine colors and stick them on the shelf where your book will go. Which colors pop to you? What do you see first?
Spine Text
Make it readable! Make it bold! Make it big! Make sure that the reader sees your spine and your text right away. If you’re standing 3 feet away from your spine, you need to be able to read what it says (see above about spine width – the bigger the spine the more room for bold text).
Take it to the Bookstore
Let’s keep this next bit between us…
The best way to really know if your spine works is to print out several versions, colors, and copies true to size. Cut the spine out, getting rid of excess paper so you’re literally holding your book spine in your hands. Put a tiny piece of tape on the end of each option. Take your spine options to the bookstore and visit your category. Stick the various spines on the books that will sit next to you (usually alphabetical by author’s last name within category or subcategory). Which one works? Do any? What do you see? Can you read your title? Do you get lost on the shelf because you’re too tiny or you blend in too much?
Lack of attention to your spine can kill your book in the marketplace. Once you get into stores, your spine really is your cover. When you consider the time, money and energy that you spend getting your cover right, promise us, do the same with your book spine.
P.S. Remember, be polite during any bookstore research. Bring your spines with you when you go and don’t interfere with bookstore customers!
A Powerful Way to Increase Your Credibility Grow Your Business and Sell More Books
D’vorah Lansky is a colleague of mine in the book world. I have followed her and been a fan for a long time. I recently discovered that she has been helping authors and content creators to easily design and publish actionable guides that help them grow their business and their reach. I asked D’vorah to answer key questions on this topic.Be sure to check out D’vorah’s full course, which has helped many new and existing authors to publish their first or next book. To check out D’vorah’s course (and the special offer she is making available to New Shelves Book followers) go to www.ShareYourBrilliance.com/amy
Q: D’vorah, what exactly is a take-action journal?
A: Traditional journals typically have lined or blank pages for people to write on. A take-action journal is much more. In essence, it’s a cross between a journal and a workbook.
Your take-action journal can guide people through a process and provide them with a way to track activity and results. This will allow them to accomplish a great deal while positioning you as an expert in your field.
They are quick and easy to create!
Your journal can become a companion to your products and services, providing people with a blueprint to help them overcome challenges they are seeking solutions to. This can increase customer testimonials and lead to future sales.
A take-action can also provide people with step-by-step activities and gives them a way to journal about their experience and results. Your take action journal can also serve as a “big business card” that can help you grow your credibility, visibility and business.
Your take-action journal can become a companion to your products and services, providing people with a blueprint to help them overcome challenges they’re seeking solutions to. What you take as second nature, other people are thirsting to know, and you can help them in the process.
Q: How can readers benefit by using a take-action journal?
A: Readers can benefit from take-action journals in many ways. Here are a few examples:
- It can help students and clients document their progress and experiences.
- It will help people take daily steps towards their goals.
- It can encourage people to put into practice what they are learning.
- It can give them a place to record their answers, thoughts and results.
- It can help readers get more out of your books or programs.
Having a way to track activity and results, by following a step-by-step process, can create a winning formula and allow your students and clients to accomplish a great deal. Your guidance, in the form of your take-action journal can inspire action and help create positive transformations. This will reflect positively in your favor and in addition to helping your readers, can have positive benefits for you.
Q: How can authors benefit by publishing a take-action journal?
A: Having a published take-action journal can increase your visibility and credibility. It can also boost the sales of your other books or services, as it can serve as a companion to existing content. In your take-action journal you can promote your book (or course) and in your book (or course) you can promote your take-action journal.
Your take-action journal can introduce people to your services, or it can give you a product to refer people to as a way of getting started with you. It can also serve as a companion to or the foundation of an online course or challenge experience.
If you are already a published author, publishing a take-action journal will help to increase your book sales. If you are not yet a published author, publishing your take-action journal will qualify you to be able to set up an author page on Amazon. This can provide you with another way for clients and readers to find you.
Having a take-action journal positions you for your expertise and this can lead to online and in-person speaking opportunities.
Q: What action steps can our readers take, to get started with developing their ideas for a take-action journal for their clients or business?
A: Readers of this blog, here’s an exercise which I believe you’ll find helpful. The first step is to get a pen and paper and jot down your answers to the following questions. By doing this you’ll develop the foundation for your publication.
- What is the topic of your book or area of expertise?
- What would your audience love to achieve or overcome?
- What topic would you love to have your take-action journal on, that would help your audience?
- What could having a take-action journal do for your audience and for your business?
Q: Can creating and publishing a take-action journal lead to the creation of related products or programs?
A: Yes! Your take-action journal can form the foundation for an online course, a 30-day challenge, blog posts, image graphics, a top-tips series, worksheets, and more. Having a take-action journal can also pave the way to online interviews and guest appearances on podcasts.
Your take-action journal provides your readers with a roadmap to help them achieve their goals, overcome challenges they face, and more. If you were someone who could benefit from a take-action journal on your topic, what other types of support materials or training would you find useful?
Q: How can we find out more about your course on this topic – and what does your course cover?
A: I’ve developed a course which has helped many established and brand-new authors to get published. A take-action journal is one of the easiest types of publications to create and can lead to many opportunities.
The course is called: Create and Publish a Take-Action Journal for Your Audience. It is a comprehensive, self-paced program that walks you through the process of developing your idea, creating the content, preparing for publication and publishing your masterpiece.
In this guided, take-action program, you’ll get step-by-step training, time-tested, fill-in-the-blanks templates and writing prompts to help you create the ideal publication for your niche. This program is designed to help busy authors and entrepreneurs create and publish a take-action journal for their niche.
To get started or find out more – Here’s a special link for New Shelves Readers
www.ShareYourBrilliance.com/amy
D’vorah Lansky, M.Ed. is the bestselling author of over 20 published books and 40+ online training programs. She has been marketing online since 1994 and teaching book marketing, journal publication and course creation to thousands of authors across the globe, full-time, since 2007.
Here’s a photo of some of the latest course graduates, alongside photos of their publications.
Walmart Discount Pricing Sparks Threatening Letters from KDP
Written by Keri-Rae Barnum
Threatening emails from Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) have the author community abuzz with talk of how Walmart pricing is ruining indie authors. But, is it really?
Lately, New Shelves is getting questions and notes like this every week.
“Walmart discount pricing is killing me.”
“How can I possibly control what other people are selling my book for?”
“Do I have to choose between Amazon and Ingram Spark?”
While many authors have received these emails from KDP within the last 3-4 weeks, this isn’t a new issue. In fact, I’ve been seeing these emails for months and they always seem to go out in clusters. (I would guess we have Amazon bots to thank for that.) A rash of emails go out and suddenly writing communities are flooded with panicked authors who think they need to raise their price on Ingram Spark or, even worse, remove their books from Ingram Spark all together. After all, wholesale opportunities are great, but the average indie author makes the majority of their sales on Amazon.com via KDP.
If you receive an email from KDP questioning your distribution through other channels, don’t panic.
Below is an email received by a New Shelves Client in January 2019. The email specifies that the author’s book was being offered for a lower price through a third-party distributor – specifically Walmart.
The immediate fear, of course, is that KDP is going to pull your book from distribution on Amazon. However, if you take a closer look at the wording of the letter, nowhere does it actually say that. They do say, “Our Member Agreement requires the Amazon list price to be equal to or less than prices provided to other distributors.”
The question authors need to ask themselves if they receive this letter is, “Is my book set at the same retail price across the board?”
For example, if your retail price on Ingram Spark is set at $14.99 with a 55% discount but you sell your book on Amazon for $16.99, you are in violation of the KDP Member Agreement. However, if your retail price is $14.99 on Ingram Spark and KDP you aren’t violating the terms of your agreement.
So, what gives? Why is KDP sending these emails out and why does Walmart always seem to be the third-party causing problems?
Any store or retailer can choose to discount your book at their own discretion.
For example, it’s common for a book on Amazon to be offered for slightly less than the retail price. Generally, this is made known with the price being marked through and the sale price being shown in red.
Walmart, on the other hand, does things differently. Rather than showing the retail and sale price, Walmart only shows the sale price of the book.
Can you do anything to avoid this issue? Not really. After hours spent on the phone with Walmart customer service and multiple email request, I can confidently say they have no plans to change the way they present pricing on their website. To call this an inconvenience for authors is an understatement but, unfortunately, it’s an inconvenience we’re going to have to live with.
Could KDP cease distribution of your book? Yes. Although, technically speaking and according to their terms of service, KDP is “entitled to terminate” your agreement and access to your KDP account at any time. They also reserve the right to “suspend your Program account at any time with or without notice to you, for any reason” in their discretion.
Will KDP cease distribution of your account? Probably not. As one author aptly noted, “They [KDP] would be cutting off their nose to spite their face.”
What should you do if you receive a compliance email from KDP? Fred Stuvek, the author in my example who received an email in January 2019, chose to respond with a snapshot of his retail price on Ingram and a letter stating that he was in compliance with the KDP terms of agreement to the best of his knowledge and ability. His KDP account was not suspended and his book, It Starts With You, is still being distributed to Amazon by KDP.
If you received a similar email, I would encourage you to take Fred’s lead.
- Ensure you have set the retail price of your book(s) the same for every distributor.
- Send a nice note back to KDP confirming that you are following their terms of service.
- Go about your merry way.
Don’t let these emails keep you up at night and don’t be bullied into removing distribution via Ingram Spark. As the British would say, “Keep calm and carry on.”
D5 Creation