Print On Demand Publishers

Immortalize The Voice Of A Loved One. Hire A Ghostwriter.
Free the story trapped in a format indecipherable by most. Have the script rewritten into a manuscript, ready for self-publishing and self-promoting.

Imagine you’ve inherited the rights to a screenplay. You wouldn’t be alone. In fact, it’s trending -- understandable since forty thousand plus screenplays were written per year for the last twenty-five years. It was only a matter of time before they were resuscitated as last bequeaths.

Your imaginary benefactor’s eulogy glorified the dedication, the passion and the sacrifice with which words were capture to the page. Words, which in a unique style, voiced muses, meanderings and observations on life. Words which were this aspiring playwright’s most valued possession. Words which, for whatever reason, you now own!

Every writer has experienced the curse of an untold story. Haunted by one’s own ideas is aggravating enough. But to be reminded of a legacy-in-waiting at every family function is insufferable. What were once whispers of time ill-spent, have gossiped into a responsibility to the family name. ‘It’s a shame to think that the only credits her work earned were in her will’ will shadow you when all you want is more potato salad.

Whichever befits your character, a stoic answer to the call of duty or a dramatic capitulation with arms in the air, be prepared for the onset of reality. Your pen has just written promises it can’t keep. If you’re a writer, time is already rationed amongst personal projects. On the other hand, if you’re ‘narrative challenged’ (as she was) the task is a bit more foreboding.

So . . . who ‘ya gonna call? Ghostwriters!

Don’t dismiss the idea too fast. Appreciate that ghostwriting has been a guiltless yet respectable option for centuries. For as long as there have been speeches, memoirs or sequels, writing has been outsourced. The cultural handiwork of ghosts has not been limited to literature. Music and painting have a history of contributions by ghosts as well.

Does it honestly matter that ‘co-authored by’ or ‘as told to’ appears on the jacket, as long as the story is engaging? Odds are the book is better on account of it.

At the next visit to your favorite online bookstore, make a point to browse the memoirs. Much of the work has been penned on the condition of anonymity. Ask yourself these questions: ‘Do you really think as many were self-written as claimed?’ ‘Is it reasonable to assume that celebrities and sports figures whose success resulted from a lifetime of practice, were suddenly as equally adept at being proficient authors?’ Picking up a scalpel would be beyond belief, so why isn’t a pen?

In the publishing and film industries, ghostwriting is ubiquitous. The Development Editor identifies extensive revisions necessary to make a manuscript marketable. On a larger scale, teams of unnamed professional writers do the same to major Hollywood releases. A script reversed from the finished production would rarely resemble the original.

Don’t let partial notions prevent further consideration of ghostwriting when you cannot do it yourself. If a qualified writer can be found at an acceptable price, is it not worth it to break the curse and free the story?

Assuming the decision to proceed, the next step is to find one. Rather than searching ‘ghostwriter’, post the writing project on a freelance database. The first approach will list services charging $10K to $30K and the project will have to fit into their schedule. The second will return multiple bids ranging from $500 to $1000 from an international wealth of eager writers.

At these rates, your scribe will be scrambling. Consequently, even the most efficient writing can hide serious problems between the lines. It may be bland without inspiration. Characters may be stereotypical or weakly drawn. Backstory and exposition may be information dumps disrupting story flow. The style may be rift with distractions causing the reader to disengage. The potential for flaws is considerable. Therefore, expect to dedicate some time for editorial review. Lean on friends and family to critique it as if it were your own. Use a standardized critique from writing sites or an editorial filtering service.

Before posting a project description, understand the differences between a screenplay and a manuscript. Any screenplay, even one nominated by the Academy is not publishable as a novel. Few people would purchase a copy of a screenplay for a good read.

Other than the directing instructions, the story content of a screenplay is essentially a subset of a manuscript. Both have a hook, characters, dialogue, a problem, a goal, conflicts, a climax, character growth and an ending. In addition to this, the manuscript has narratives which elaborate on the setting, the backstory, the characterization, the action and the emotional depth. Without these, a screenplay is mostly dialogue. In a manuscript, dialogue typically comprises 40% to 60% of content.

Therefore, the project is basically to approach the dialogue of the screenplay like the plotting or the skeleton of the story. To this, narratives consisting of the missing elements are fleshed or layered in.

The project description also has evaluation and promotional components. It is appropriate to request a sample chapter on spec, as well as, a pitch, a synopsis, and a logline.

As the bids trickle in, the evaluation process resembles the role of an H.R. dept. Desirable skill-sets include the abilities to:

- make the author’s words jump off the page in their original voice and style rather than what they personally publish;
- experience and interest in the subject matter;
- package the concept so that an agent can sell it;
- proofread and polish their own work;
- collaborate;
- research;
and of course,
- write.

The ability to negotiate will depend totally on the number of the bids. Concerning quality, there are no guarantees at any price. One tactic, however, can hedge your investment. Try to negotiate a progressive payment agreement. Request to have performance advances released upon remittance of predetermined chapters/pages. If the writing does not meet expectations at pre-established milestones, no commitment to continue will exist.

A second tactic to enhance the caliber of writing is to fully disclose collaboration with the term ‘co-author’. With the ghost’s name on the jacket, more effort will probably be invested. The glory or celebrity given up in exchange is fleeting anyway.

Finally, offer splitting any proceeds 50/50. Few experienced writers will accept projects on spec. If a talented novice does, it may motivate writing as if it were for a bestseller.

The services of a ghostwriter is worth considering whenever a story is trapped in a screenplay and either time or ability is scarce. If the screenplay is your own, don’t leave it until the reading of your own will. Forget about naming beneficiaries because of interest once expressed in your writing. They’re family. They were just being polite. Do it yourself while you’re alive. Let them enjoy the potato salad!

Matthew Evans hosts www.changingmediums.com, a resource for playwrights interested in developing their screenplay further into a manuscript for the purposes of self publishing as a novel. Ghostwriting and freelance databases are examples of the topics discussed in more detail. Matthew reads for the editorial filtering service www.4gatekeepers.com. Copyright 2006

How To Sell Your Books On Radio
In October 2004 when my book “Your Retirement Masterplanâ€� (How To Books ISBN 1857039874) was published I participated in eleven 15-minute live interviews on local radio over a period of just five days. The results were highly encouraging; the book leapt from nowhere on Amazon.co.uk to position 194 out of 3123 competing titles and eventually grabbed the No.1 spot for its core keyword (retirement) where it remained for nine months. I am shortly to repeat the broadcast exercise for my newly published tome "How to Earn Money in Retirement" (How To Books ISBN 1845281128) but before doing so I am already off to a head start… Although this title does not hit the bookstores until Monday 8 May 2006 it already ranks at No.47 out of 3453 competing titles on Amazon.co.uk â€" which means of course that the book is already selling in big numbers online â€" thanks largely to the success of its predecessor and the initial boost it got from radio promotion. These promotional interviews are arranged by my publisher’s media consultancy and I do not require to visit a single studio to take part; they are all conducted over the telephone, sitting at my desk at home. So what if you self-publish your output and you don’t have a publicist to arrange radio interviews? Does that mean you are excluded? No way; I have self-published several books in the past and managed my own promotion. Wherever you live in the world you’ll find that the majority of local radio stations are banded together into a single network for cost-effectiveness. Here is what you do… 1. Identify the controlling network; 2. Visit the corporate website containing links to all subsidiaries; 3. Pick out those stations within a 500/1000 mile orbit; 4. Visit each local station website individually; 5. Scan the daily programming schedules; 6. Highlight those programs that might identify with the topic of your book; 7. Note the presenter’s name; 8. Email him/her with a well-couched request for a live interview; 9. Follow that up with an identical snail mail request; 10. Follow that up with a telephone call (you’ll get to speak to someone in authority). You know your topic inside out; speak up with confidence and you’ll get your interview; maybe not straightaway but, if you sell yourself and your project professionally, you’ll be logged into and up-and-coming slot in the station scheduling. Go for it…it’s free! I will be reporting in a subsequent article on the outcome of my latest batch of broadcasts. In truth though there is more to creating bestselling books than spieling about them on radio and if you’d like to learn how I manage to produce bestsellers consistently, visit the website featured in the resource box below. Jim Green is a bestselling author with an ever-growing string of niche non-fiction titles to his credit. http://1st-creative-writing-course.com

Jim Green is an online enthusiast and bestselling author with an ever-growing string of niche non-fiction hard copy titles to his credit. http://1st-creative-writing-course.com

Top 5 Shenanigans of 5 Print-on-Demand Publishers
5) Cosmetic corporate connections

Publisher B has a new corporate overlord in Amazon, but offers no carriage with Ingram, which means no order availability through many bookstores nor major website listings with competitors Barnes & Noble.com, Powells.com, Bamm.com, etc.

Hint: Find a publisher that offers wholesale distribution through Ingram (which includes listings on Amazon, too). Publishing is already competitive enough; your distribution channels shouldn't be.

4) Disavowing any knowledge

Publisher P calls itself a traditional publisher, even though it uses the same on-demand technology as other PODs. They require an exclusive 7 year contract (twice as long as most traditional agreements) and absorb all your rights before you discover the truth.

Publisher L doesn't call itself a publisher at all, but rather a conduit toward publication. It even features a picture of a machine "publishing" your book for you. Do you want a hot-water heater handling your pride and joy?

Hint: Sign a non-exclusive contract that you can cancel in 30 days written notice and pick a publisher that uses real live human beings to format your book.

3) “Free� on-demand publication

Free things require no commitment, which is a harsh finale for a book you labored to write. We have heard of authors who "published for free" and then the author forgot who published their book! As Vince Lombardi says, “The quality of a person's life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence, regardless of their chosen field of endeavor.� Getting what you pay for was never more appropriate, as authors of free services can attest.

Hint: You get out of something what you put into it; choose your publisher accordingly.

2.5) "Free" publishing that isn't actually free

I have to slip in this bonus shenanigan. Publisher T claims they will publish your book for free, yet require a $3,985 investment from the author. Last time I checked, that wasn't free. Their justification? They reimburse the payment to you once your book sells its 5000th copy.

Hint: Ask them the percentage of times they actually reimburse their authors. Ask for the titles of the books and author's names. Then get the contact informaton for every one of those authors and confirm it.

2) Traditional publisher affiliations

Traditional publishers make the lions share of profits because they take a gamble on every author. Publisher U has executives from the traditional publishing industry; which means they know how to take an author's money up-front AND in the long run on the back-end.

Hint: If you pay to be published, make sure you make a higher royalty than a traditional publisher pays. And make sure you don't confuse "20% net profit" with a "20% retail royalty".

1) Charging to be profitable

In this competitive publishing environment, publishing is hard enough without having your publisher charging you for things that should be free. Publisher X recently introduced an option for $249 that lets you set your own retail price. And when you see this bar graph comparison, you will understand why: http://outskirtspress.com/marketing/case-owp.gif

Hint: Having pricing flexibility is certainly better than not having it, but you shouldn't have to pay for it.

Learn more about publishing your own book with a free e-book at <a href="http://outskirtspress.com">www.outskirtspress.com</a>. Brent Sampson is the President & CEO of Outskirts Press and the award-winning author of "Self-Publishing Simplified". A free ebook edition is available at <a href="http://outskirtspress.com/publishing">http://outskirtspress.com/publishing</a>.

Another Million Dollar Dream
When the itch of literature comes upon a man, the only thing that will relieve it is the scratching of a pen. A Victorian vicar wrote that and he wasn’t wrong. I’d had the urge to write since I was a young man and I indulged myself from time to time. I scribbled the odd short story, I wrote pornographic letters for a couple of contact magazines, I sent ideas to TV stations, I wrote scripts and I collected a lot of rejections â€" as most writers do. One day I got a letter inviting me to visit a TV producer to discuss my work. I wept. The producer didn’t want to use my script; she liked it, but she was looking for writers for the revival of an old courtroom drama. Did I think I could write thirty episodes? Why not? I said. Go away and study the law, courts and court procedure, she said. As soon as the contracts are signed I’ll send you the story lines, she said. I read books. I spent my days in London’s famous courts. I made friends with people, on both sides of the law. I made lots of notes. A couple of months passed. We wrote to one another: I told her how much I had learned and how anxious I was to get started on the scripts; she repeatedly assured me that the contracts would soon be signed. I noticed, at the bottom of one of her letters, that her title had changed. She was no longer assistant producer of xxx, she was now producer of xyz. I congratulated her on her promotion. It was the last letter I ever received from her. I had not understood that the change of title meant she had been promoted out of the old job, with responsibility for the courtroom drama, and that she would have no more use for me. It took a few weeks, but I got the message. It was a blow. I probably wept. I promised myself, that I would not write anything speculative again for TV or anyone else, I would write a novel instead. And I wouldn’t send it to publishers; I’d publish it myself. I thought I may even give it away; hand copies to people on street corners; read passages to people on trains and, if they liked it offer a copy to them; or just leave copies in coffee shops and on park benches. I began writing The Workers, a sexy, violent, funny story from the London underworld. After writing about fifty-five thousand words, I allowed the son of a friend to borrow my laptop for a homework project. Don’t download anything and don’t add any programs, were my parting words. Two days later he brought the laptop back with a killer virus on it. Every word of The Workers was lost. I wept. Luckily I had a few chapters in hard copy and I tried to rewrite the rest, but it’s hard. I just didn’t seem to be able to get the scenes down. I had all but given up when I saw an article about Alex Tew and his Million Dollar Website. It was a great idea, Alex had sold a million pixels to fund a university education, I thought may be able to sell a few pixels to fund the writing and serialization of The Workers. I decided that, once I got going with a monthly deadline, I would be able to squeeze all the lost ideas out of their hiding places in the dark corners of my brain and onto the screen. I didn’t have any trouble finding a Million Dollar Script, a Google search produced plenty to choose from. I decided on a script offered by ozwebfx. The script was less than a hundred dollars and Ozwebfx uploaded it for a small fee. Within a few hours, on the 31st February 2006, chapter one of The Workers, Say Goodbye To The Monk was uploaded to my new site, http://YourBigHomepage.com.

Sam Nikolas is a Londoner now living and writing in rural England. All rights reserved.

Powerful Book Pricing Tips for Authors
First let's provide definitions for the 4 terms covered in this article: Retail margin is the difference between your book’s wholesale price and your book’s retail price. For example, a book with a cover price of $10 and a wholesale price of $5 has a 50% retail margin. This is the profit enjoyed by the retailer. Wholesale price is the cost of your book to a retailer. To use the same rudimentary example, a book with a cover price of $10 and a retail margin of 50% will be sold to a retailer for $5 wholesale price. Retail price is the same as cover price or selling price or list price. This is the cost of the book to the end consumer (the reader). The retail price is typically printed on the cover of the book and also “embedded� within the barcode on the back. For example, a book with a wholesale price of $5 and a retail margin of 50% will have a retail price of $10. Trade discount is the percentage off the retail price that a wholesaler (not a retailer) pays for your book. Since the retail margin is always a portion of the trade discount, the trade discount always exceeds the retail margin. Distributors typically expect between 50% - 70% in order to provide an acceptable margin to the retailer. A book with a retail price of $10 and a retail margin of 50% might have a trade discount of 60%, and therefore the wholesale price is $5 and the trade discounted price is $4. Confused yet? Don't be. Understanding book math is what separates successful authors from unsuccessful ones. As you can see, retail margin, wholesale price, the trade discount, and retail price are interconnected. MAKING DISTRIBUTION WORK FOR YOU The higher your trade discount, the greater your level of distribution. Think about it - distributors want to make money, too. While your book's trade discount is but a piece of your pie (albeit a big piece), it is the entire cake for distributors and retailers, who together must split the take. The greater the trade discount, the larger their piece of the pie, and the greater incentive they have to distribute your book, sell your book, and market your book, etc. The proper trade discount depends upon the author's goals, and can vary from author to author just as readily as from book to book. Typically, the higher the retail margin, the higher the cover price, so authors interested in maintaining the lowest cover price possible will often opt for a lower retail margin. This may be okay, and even preferred, if the book's largest market is through on-line sales. Conversely, those authors who long for the best distribution possible will elect a higher trade discount, even though their cover price will increase accordingly (or their profit will decrease accordingly). Non-fiction or niche-markets are less affected by higher retail prices. Additionally, greater distribution is often advantageous in finding those niche markets. Suffice it to say, a non-fiction book can almost always sustain a higher trade discount than a fiction book. Trade discounts can be as low as 20% to successfully get listed on Internet retailers like Amazon.com, who manage to make a profit with such low margins through EDI (electronic data interface) with distributors like Ingram and on-demand publishers like Outskirts Press. By comparison, trade discounts can be as high as 75% - 80% when dealing with a niche wholesaler, or when attempting distribution for a book that does not have a proven market. In these cases, the distributor may be padding the coffers a bit in anticipation for a "harder sell" and perhaps, also, in preparation for offering an increased retail margin to close the deal. INDUSTRY STANDARDS Industry standards for retail margins are difficult to define because, ultimately, it comes down to negotiation between all parties involved. Publishers have the power to negotiate with distributors, who have the power to negotiate with retailers, who have the ability to negotiate with the reader, but the typical trade discount is around 55%, which allows for a typical retail margin of 40%. Publishing-on-demand is removing some of the participants in this little dance, and as a result, the same piece of pie is being divided among fewer people, resulting in more money for the remaining players (especially the author). This is particularly true if the author is going after online sales exclusively, which allows the author to set a much lower trade discount with little to no repercussions when publishing via a flexible on-demand publisher such as Outskirts Press, who lets authors set their own pricing. Now you have the flexibility to do it and the knowledge to do it right.

Brent Sampson is the President & CEO of Outskirts Press at <a href="http://www.outskirtspress.com">www.outskirtspress.com</a>, where the future of publishing is here, today. He is the award-winning author of "Publishing Gems: Insider Information for the Self-Publishing Writer" and "Self-Publishing Simplified" which is available on Amazon for an unbelievably low $5.95 or for free in e-book form at <a href="http://outskirtspress.com/publishing">outskirtspress.com/publishing</a>

Looking to Sell Your Book for a Good Price?
Looking to Sell Your Book for a Good Price?
Marshall Masters

Many self-publishing authors plan on eventually selling their
book to a large publisher at a good price. The fast track way to
achieve this goal is to push up the market value of a book with a
push v. pull strategy. This article shows you how to do exactly
that, using a simple Internet strategy that any self-publisher
can afford.

PUSH v. PULL EXPLAINED

Books with push like Harry Potter push customers through the
doors, and the registers go kachink, kachink. With self-
published titles, booksellers must pull customers through the
door and that costs money. Put yourself in their shoes. Giving
preference to books with built-in push makes sense.

Remember this formula: push stacks chips on your side of the
bargaining table and pull sweeps them away. With a transferable
Internet presence strategy, you can stack chips to the ceiling
just like the big boys do.

WHAT THE BIG BOYS ARE DOING

The push is on with major publishers to build market value for
their intellectual properties with the Digital Object Identifier
(DOI) system.

A DOI is a permanent Internet address for your book. No matter
how many times ownership of a book changes hands, the DOI
Internet address is permanently bound to the book, just as
tightly as the binding. This is why hundreds of big publishers
have registered over 16 million intellectual properties with the
DOI system with millions more on the way.

Who fueled the creation of the DOI system? Computer experts?
No. From a market asset valuation standpoint, that makes as much
as sense as going to a Sushi Chef for a vasectomy. (Better idea
- get the Sushi afterwards!)

Rather, it was senior publishing executives and their financial
gurus who pushed for the creation of the DOI system. When you
sit down at the bargaining table with a DOI, you'll be talking
their language.

PLAYING WITH THE BIG BOYS

The Internet is like an elephant, it remembers everything and it
can remember a lot! You can always include your email address or
your web site address but these things point to a business
identity - not the work, itself.

Use the same DOI on every web page, ezine article, review, blog
post, etc. and it becomes a 24/7 market value builder that
follows the work. If something changes, like your email or web
site address, one simple update is all it takes. No more
annoying "page not found" or "no such e-mail recipient" errors.

Use your DOI the right way, and every little stitch of web
presence marketing you've done becomes one more chip on
bargaining table. Remember, the big guys speak DOI.

DOI BENEFITS ARE IMMEDIATE

Getting good book reviews is so miserably hard these days,
especially for self-published authors. What if your book finally
gets that fabulous review you've hoped for long after
publication? Will it be orphaned from the book marketing
information you've already published on the Internet? No.

One quick update of your DOI and everything that it references on
the Internet will immediately begin broadcasting your fabulous
review to the online world.

START ADDING MARKET VALUE TODAY

Each day, try to add more market value to your book. A blog post
here, an ezine article there. These things cost nothing, and yet
they can push huge amounts of sales-generating traffic at your
book.

As a self-published author, you've got to keep your eyes on what
the big guys are doing, and when you can emulate them on the
cheap, you do it!

WHEN TO GET YOUR DOI

The best time to register your DOI is after your books are
available for purchase on Amazon.com and other online bookseller
sites. This way, you can create menu options in your DOI that
link to online bookseller pages for immediate sales results.

Be sure to ask your publisher or vanity press if they offer a DOI
service. One that does is Your Own World Books (Yowbooks.com).
Their Author Advantage program includes a transferable DOI.

If your publisher does not offer a DOI service, that's OK. As
the copyright holder, you can register your DOI with an
independent DOI hosting service like DOIeasylink.NET. The annual
cost of a DOI is comparable to one-month web site hosting fee.
Plus, you get a 1-page Internet response page and descriptive
menus with multiple Internet links.

USE A DOI TO HIT CRITICAL MASS

If you remember only one thing from this article, let it be this.
Think like the big boys. Use this strategy to add more market
value by continually broadcasting information on the Internet
with your DOI. Eventually, you'll hit critical mass. People
will buy your book, and large publishers will see this and be
impressed!

DOIeasylink.NET: We Add Value to Your Book Learn More: http://doieasylink.net http://dx.doi.org/10.2122/doieasylink Marshall Masters, President http://dx.doi.org/10.1572/marshall.masters Marshall Masters is a publisher, self-published author, radio personality and Internet technologist. His published titles include Godschild Covenant: Return of Nibiru, Gold Fever, Indigo- E.T. Connection, and Orange Blossom. He founded DOIeasylink.NET to make the DOI system available to self-publishers and small presses. Drawing upon his decades of consulting experience with notable firms such as AT&T, Oracle, HP, Lockheed and Sun Microsystems, he created a simple, affordable DOI solution self- publishers and small presses.

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Digital Poster Printing for Growing Business
With the modern complexities of life now days, it is but important to be abreast with the latest and the more effective ways of advertising and promoting your services and products to let your business grow and be wide known popular. That is why poster digital printing is recommended for a sure win advertisement for your growing business. It can be noticed that in poster digital printing the pictures, images and illustrations are clearer and sharper because of the modern way of doing it. Even the smallest detail in the poster could be understood by its viewer. Large format printing from your digital files, photo enlargement from your own slides and negatives are just some of our latest innovation to attain that effectual poster digital printing for your growing business. Poster digital printing is recommended for growing business that wants to be more known by its target customers, for their digital poster will already build good impression for their company. For the demand in continuous innovation of poster digital printing, commercial printing companies specially those that specialize in poster printing made sure that they are powered by creative team and skillful workers that conceptualizes and prints the digital posters for your growing business. Here are some of the choices in poster digital printing that you can choose from to have your goal attained for your growing business. We are offering pigment based inks for large format printing and glossy paper for heavy weight materials. Since it is not good to look at it on a matte paper for the density of black ink on it is not very high. Also, dye based inks for large printing is recommended for prints will be clearer and sharper with the use of glossy paper again. That is why if you want to have the advantages in poster printing, then it is the right time for you to try on poster digital printing afterwards access its results in your growing business. Our poster digital printing has an improved resolution that would impress your target clients and eventually would stop at your business. After all, that is the primary purpose of your poster to attract customers for your business to grow even more. It is true that poster digital printing costs a bit higher than the conventional posters that we have yet are we going to sacrifice the good quality that would ultimately draw-in customers for your growing business. More often quality really matters for it will be the first focus of the interested clients since just after the accepted invitation of the prospect clients would made their decision to go with the business or not. After all, if you will have poster digital printing it is guaranteed that your expenses will be given back to you by the customers that were hooked up and it can even be higher than that. Competitive price for your poster digital printing is what we’re offering and satisfaction guaranteed for your money spent will be regain.

With the modern complexities of life now days, it is but important to be abreast with the latest and the more effective ways of advertising and promoting your services and products to let your business grow and be wide known popular. That is why poster digital printing is recommended for a sure win advertisement for your growing business.

Successful Self-Publishing
Successful Self-Publishing Terence Tam Issue 1: January 2007 Inside this issue: Developing a marketing plan for your book. Discover how a carefully structured marketing plan can make the world of difference to the commercial viability and success of your book project. Read more. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Developing a Marketing Plan for your Book A marketing plan is a business development document designed to help you identify and plan out the actual activities that will promote and sell a product or service. It is a crucial planning tool that provides focus and check-list type clarity. Marketing programmes attempted without the backup of a proper plan, often fall victim to an unstructured, ad-hoc approach and money down the drain. Why should you develop a marketing plan for your book? A book may not seem like the kind of item relevant for the development of a marketing plan. This is definitely wrong. Your book is ultimately a product. It is a commercial item that must be promoted and distributed to a pre- targeted marketplace. Approaching the sale of your book in this professional and business-like manner is the best platform to realise any kind of commercial success. Core components of your marketing plan The marketing plan for your book does not need to be an elaborate, 20+ page document full of graphs and market research analysis. This will be your marketing plan, for your book. It does need to be a clearly written and sharply presented professional document, suitable for bookstore buyers/managers, publishers and distributors to review. However, it only needs to reflect the fundamental essentials that will influence the potential commercial success of your ‘product.’ Goals and Objectives Establishing clear goals and objectives for the commercial success that you would like to achieve from your book is the first step in the development of the overall marketing plan. Think of these goals in terms of numbers. How many units of the book do you aim to sell and over what period of time? Taking into account your estimated retail price per book, how much revenue (money made before costs and tax) and profit (money left after costs and tax) do you anticipate from your unit target? Target Audience: Who exactly are the people most likely to be interested in reading your book? Create a picture of this person in your minds eye, and describe this profile within the plan. Are they male or female readers? What age? What kind of social or economic background do they come from? What level of education are they likely to have? Unique selling proposition (USP): You now have a profile picture of the type of person most likely to read your book. Now, clearly define this next essential question â€" why would this person want to read your book? Does the book address important social issues such as politics, economy, health, war or religion? Is it going to evoke strong emotive response? Will it capture the minds and hearts of the audience? How? In what way will it strive to achieve this? The qualities that will entice your target audience are the qualities that make your book unique. These unique characteristics form the foundation of your USP. They are the core messages that should be openly and clearly emphasised in all your promotional and selling activity for the book. Study the back covers of books in your local store. How does the text describe the book? What unique statements does it emphasise to capture and hook your attention? These back covers may appear to be simple synopses, but they use the essential principles of a USP. Promotional Activities: What promotional activities will you implement to generate publicity and public awareness of your book â€" especially among your selected target audience? Will you use media, through public relations or press advertisements? Will you look for speaking or networking events relevant to your book topic? How much of a role will the internet play? Do you plan to host a book launch event? Developing a marketing plan is your opportunity to think precisely about what strategies and activities you will engage in, and structure them in a tangible form. A marketing plan also gives you the best forum to plan out the specific details for each individual activity - such as timeframes and dates, costs, essential contacts and suppliers. In summary, a marketing plan is not a ‘quick and easy’ document. It requires thought, research and planning. Developing one really should be approached as a project in its own right. I guarantee however, that the time spent will be a worthwhile investment in the commercial success of your book. It will represent all your hard work in a professional fashion, and create a strong business impression. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Terence Tam is the CEO of Book Pal and is a self publisher himself. His vision is to help both experienced and budding authors self publish their books. Book Pal also prints print on demand books to help the author print the number of books they require. Please visit www.bookpal.com.au ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Terence Tam is CEO of Book Pal, a company specialising in self publishing and book printing Australia wide. He is a self publisher himself. His company also excels in printing print on demand books.

How to Break into Print Publishing
How To Break Into Print Publishing
Copyright 2005, Michael LaRocca


The big question. Do you submit directly to the publishers, or do
you find an agent who will do that for you? Based on anecdotal
evidence I've heard, it can work either way. The bottom line is,
if a publisher reads what he can sell, he'll buy it. It doesn't
matter if it comes from an author or an agent. The trick is
getting him to read it. That's always your focus.

Some people swear by agents because they're the ones who will get
you larger percentages and advances. I've decided I don't care
quite so much about that. In the case of a new author, I
sincerely doubt that'll happen anyway. I'd hate to lose my first
sale because some greedy agent asked for too much money. Not that
I believe that'll happen either.

There are also those who swear by agents because many publishers
won't look at an "unsolicited manuscript." That's true enough.
They ain't got time. They're using agents as a preliminary
screening process.

Someone recommended that once you've selected some potential
publishers, phone each one and ask how they would like to be
approached. Ask whom specifically you should address your work
to. Then you can honestly call it a "solicited manuscript."
(Always be honest in your correspondence.)

If this doesn't work, because you can't call or the secretary
refuses to cooperate and tells you things like "we only accept
material from reputable literary agents," then mail your query
letter, bio, synopsis, and sample chapter(s). They can only say
no, or they can say your query looks interesting and they want to
see the rest of the manuscript.

If you hook a publisher this way, odds are the publisher will
like for you to have an agent. So this is when you call one,
after you've hooked the publisher. The agent gets 15% for doing
practically nothing, so he'll take the job. The publisher will
become more interested when your agent phones saying he's (or
she's) looking after your interests in this matter.

The most important step is to get your presentation looking as
professional as possible. No mistakes. None. Zero. Nada. The vast
majority of rejections aren't because the story is bad, but
because the Acquisitions Editor concludes that it'll be too much
work to make it "ready to read." With new authors, publishers
usually lose money. Advertising, print inventory... don't ask
them to invest a great deal of editing time as well. They won't
do it. It's just that simple.

** THE SELECTION PROCESS **

The most important part of getting your error-free manuscript
published is choosing the right market. The best way to do this
is to read books that are aimed at the same target audience as
your own. If you want to approach publishers directly, look at
who published those books. Preferably one who publishes lots of
books in that genre, not just one or two authors. Their marketing
machine is already positioned to announce your manuscript to your
target audience, and they want more books of the type that you
write. They are your best bet.

(HOWEVER, keep in mind that you don't want to be exactly like those
authors. Then you're competition. You want to target the same
readers but with something different than those currently targeting
them. Does that make sense? No? Then we understand each other.)

Some authors thank their editors. If you're going straight to the
publishers, note the editors' names and use those, preferably
after a phone call to ensure the editor still works there. If you
can, just phone the publisher and tell whoever answers the phone
something like "I'm writing a letter to so-and-so, and I want to
be sure I'm spelling the name correctly."

If you want to approach an agent first, look in the
acknowledgements sections of those books. Some authors thank
their agents. Look up those agents and start with them. Tell them
how you found them. This might impress them by making you seem
professional, or it might not, but it can't hurt. You know they've
got a track record in your genre. They know how to sell to
publishers who are aimed at your target audience, so let them do
it.

http://www.allaboutliteraryagents.com/articlep1003.html offers
some additional advice on selecting an agent.

Whichever method you use, go in fully prepared. Meaning, work
through all the steps below before you submit anything.

** OVERVIEW **

Your aim is to convince someone who not only does not know you,
but does not want to know you, and has read too many bad books,
that your book is different. For this you need a cover letter,
bio, synopsis, and sample chapter(s) of such sublime wit, wisdom
and genius that even the most jaded and cynical editor can take
pleasure in it.

Take your time. Don't just whip up something in a day and send it
out. You're probably looking at a one or two year gap between
acceptance and publication. So in the grand scheme of things,
taking the time to make your presentation really shine won't
matter. EXCEPT, that it'll ensure you get published in the first
place.

Every publisher has "writer guidelines." Get them. Read them.
Follow them. They're using the process of elimination to get out
of reading these submissions. The first step in that process is
to bump off everyone who can't follow the guidelines. Don't be
one of them.

** PREPARING YOUR QUERY LETTER **

This will be the first impression they get of you. Make it a good
one! Edit that letter as hard as you would a manuscript, and make
it perfect. Make it good writing. Sum up your book in such a way
as to make the recipient of the letter say, "Wow, I want to read
this."

The first page of your book, along with the jacket text, are what
usually determine whether a browser buys your book or puts it
back on the shelf. As you write your query letter, think of what
you'd put on that book jacket, and work that concept into your
letter.

Never address your query letter To Whom It May Concern, Dear
Editor, or any of that. Get a name. When you find the books that
you really like, and are searching them for potential publishers,
call those publishers. Ask who edited those books. If you want to
approach the publishers directly, write to those editors.

You can find advice on writing your query letters etc. at:

www.adlerbooks.com/
www.allaboutliteraryagents.com/article1002.html
www.fearlessbooks.com/PublishingGuide.html
www.suite101.com/welcome.cfm/writing_marketing_fiction
www.wga.org/craft/queryletter.html
www.writergazette.com/articles/article299.shtml
www.writing-world.com/query/query.html

The "query letter clinic" in the 2001 WRITERS MARKET is well
worth reading. If you're not going to buy the book, go to the
library and read that section of it.

(I don't know if it's in subsequent editions, since I live in
China, but I hope it is.)

With a simple bit of good writing, and we all know you can do
that since you've already written and polished your manuscript,
you'll make it past this first hurdle. The editor reads your
letter, sees nothing in it to stop him from continuing, and has
no choice.

What would stop him? Typos. Grammar. Spelling. Boredom. Or
anything that says "I write so much better than Stephen King that
he's not fit to hold my jock strap. Buy my book and we'll both
get rich."

** WRITING YOUR BIO **

Don't lie. That's the first rule. The second rule is, don't
forget any writing credits. List everything relevant you've got.
Publications in decent magazines or newspapers. Credits in TV,
films, theaters. Any literary prize you've managed to get in
adulthood. The fact that you're a Professor of English or an
editor on a sports journal.

If you have no literary background, no education, or no
respectable publications, but you spent fifteen years in solitary
confinement in a Siberian Work Camp, that might indicate that you
have a story to tell. But if you're writing about cuddly koalas
to entertain the under-five crowd, this piece of information may
be more than anyone needs to know.

You can list your credits either chronologically or from most
impressive to least impressive. Just whichever puts you in the
best light. You want to look like you're already a successful
author. You don't want to sound arrogant, but you do want to
sound confident. Keep it to a single page. You don't want to
waste anybody's time. They don't have enough. (Who does?)

If your bio is so bare of details that it's more of a liability
than an asset, forget about it. Maybe your "bio" equals only a
sentence or two, in which case you can work it into your query
letter instead of a separate document.

Your goal, remember, is to get that editor to read your synopsis
or manuscript. To judge it on its own merits. If he reads your
writing and rejects it, you gave it your best shot. Try a few
more, and if they all reject it, then think about improving your
writing. But you don't want that editor to stop reading your
submission before he gets to your writing. So, take the time to
do the query letter and bio correctly.

** WRITING YOUR SYNOPSIS **

To quote one agent, "There is no such thing as a good synopsis."
And how can there be? How do you sum up 50,000 or 100,000 words
in a page or two? I'll tell you how I do it. Very badly.

Having said that, this is your first chance to show the publisher
that you can write. Some publishers want a minimal amount of
information on first contact (query letter, bio, synopsis).
Others want to see the first chapter or two as well. Nobody wants
to see the whole manuscript at first, except those who say so in
their writers' guidelines. If you include sample chapters, the
chance of them being read depends largely on the quality of your
query letter and synopsis.

Keep your synopsis short, two pages maximum unless the writers'
guidelines say differently. Shorter is better. Pick out the theme
and the strengths of your book and, in as clever a fashion as
possible, relay these qualities in a brief chronology. The
chronology is less important than the theme because, in truth,
your only hope with a synopsis is that your theme or concept will
strike a chord with the editor or agent reading it.

If your story is funny, your synopsis should be funny. If it's a
romantic story, then your synopsis should be a romantic synopsis.
You're a writer, and here's where you can be creative.

A lot of the great works of literature do not have easily defined
stories, just fine writing and good characters. If you have no
story, then you have to sell your idea. The synopsis must have
fine, clear writing. Say how your book starts, how it ends, and
what's interesting in the middle. This isn't the time for cliffhangers.

Your sample chapter should do the main talking, but your synopsis
should offer up those clever memorable sound bites that will
linger in the editor's mind and convince him to read the sample
chapter.

** PREPARING YOUR MANUSCRIPT **

Did I mention that your manuscript must be flawless? I'll mention
it again. Your manuscript must be flawless. Especially be sure
that the first chapters, the "hook" which you will submit, will
be the type that grabs the reader and makes him/her/it wonder
what happens next.

Beyond that, some mechanics:

If the publisher you're submitting to lists all this information
in its guidelines, you're in luck. Do what they say and they'll
read your manuscript. Fail to do so and they'll set it down
unread, even if you're the next John Grisham.

Remember, they're budgeting their time and trying to get out of
reading this stuff. Once they read it, they'll be fair. (If not,
you don't want them.) If it's good solid writing, you're in. But
until they get to the writing, they expect the worst. If you'd
seen some of the crap that comes their way, you'd be just as
pessimistic. But in the end they do love good writing or else
they'd quit that job.

If the guidelines don't tell you how to prepare the manuscript,
consider the information below as a "generic template."
Otherwise, ignore my guidelines and use theirs.

Fonts - UK publishers prefer Courier New 10pt, US publishers
prefer Times New Roman 12pt. Both are trying to ease their
eyestrain, so don't be fancy.

Paper sizes - This one's easy. Letter (8 1/2" by 11") in the US,
A4 in the rest of the world.

Binding - US publishers prefer none at all. UK publishers prefer
that you punch two holes in the side and use simple brass
fasteners to hold it all together -- ugly but effective.

Use one type of paper throughout your presentation, preferably
plain white. (If you have personal stationery that's not too
funky, you can use that for your query letter.)

The title need not appear on the beginning of every chapter, but
it's a good idea to put it on each page, along with your name and
the page number, in case the manuscript is separated or mislaid
at the publisher's.

Double-spaced text, unjustified right margins, one-inch margins
all around. Include a stamped, self-addressed envelope (or self
addressed envelope with IRCs) of the appropriate size if you want
your manuscript back.

Package it so it's easy to open but not all wrinkled and nasty
when it arrives at your publisher's office. No folded manuscripts
hastily stuffed into a manila envelope. No envelopes that scatter
hundreds of little brown paper shavings all over the desk.
They're opening far too many of these things, and anything that
looks "amateur" gets bumped unread.

** PUBLISHER LIST **

http://www.chinarice.org/howtogetpublished.html contains the
websites of almost 100 publishers. I recommend visiting this after
you've gone through the selection process, from books you read
and/or from a book such as WRITERS MARKET.

** AGENT LIST **

Here's some advice from the Agent Research and Evaluation
website. They define an agent as:

"...someone who makes a living selling real books to real
publishers. No one representing himself as an agent should also
claim to be a book doctor, an editor-for-hire, a book
'consultant' of any kind. They shouldn't charge any type of
'upfront' reading fee, marketing fee, evaluation fee or any other
fee apart from a commission on work sold.

"With the possible exception of certain MINIMAL office expenses,
legitimate agents NEVER handle [the expenses connected with
submitting manuscripts] as an upfront cost. Only as a billable
expense after being shown to have been incurred.

"Remember, real agents live off the commissions they make from
selling their clients' projects. Scammers live off up-front fees
for unnecessary, inadequate, or non-existent services."

This is excellent advice. Anyone can call himself an agent, get
himself listed somewhere, and tell every author who sends him a
manuscript "This is excellent. Send me some money and I'll sell
it." Then he can pocket the author's money and do absolutely
nothing.

Agents work for a percentage of your sales. It's usually 10%-20%.
An agent's source of income must be the books he sells. If the
author pays him before he closes a sale, where is his incentive
to close the sale?

Insist that your agent send you copies of all rejection letters.
A great agent should offer this without you asking, and those
rejection letters shouldn't all be undated "Dear author" or "Dear
agent" letters that don't mention you or your agent or your
manuscript by name.

Your agent should also involve you in the selection process
without you asking, even if that just means telling you "I'm
sending to this, that, and the other place." Don't let him/her
send your gothic romance to a children's publisher, etc.

If your agent is sending your stuff to the right places and it's
still getting rejected, you've done all you can do, except write
better.

http://www.chinarice.org/howtogetpublished.html contains my
resources for finding an agent in the US or the UK. If you've
been reading my other advice, you're already talking to other
authors. If you know one who's made it into print, especially
one who writes in your genre, ask which agent (and which
publisher and editor) he or she used.

** WARNINGS **

Once you have narrowed down your list of prospects, visit the
following sites to learn about the latest scams and such:

Bewares Board
http://www.absolutewrite.com/forum/index.html

Editor Report
http://www.geocities.com/editorreport/

National Writers Union
http://www.nwu.org/nwuhome.htm
Be sure to look at "Writer Alerts"

Preditors and Editors
http://www.anotherealm.com/prededitors

Writer Beware
http://www.sfwa.org/Beware/

Michael LaRocca's website at http://www.chinarice.org was chosen by WRITER'S DIGEST as one of The 101 Best Websites For Writers in 2001 and 2002. His response was to throw it out and start over again because he's insane. He teaches English at a university in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China, and publishes the free weekly newsletter WHO MOVED MY RICE?