Showing posts with label Reviews. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Reviews. Show all posts

Where Is The Easy Part of Publishing?


By Terry Whalin (@terrywhalin)

Like an imaginary airline named EasyJet, I meet many authors who are looking for the easy aspects of publishing. Im going to give you the truth upfront: it doesnt exist. After being in this business for years, each aspect of this work contains aspects where your book can crash and not succeed. The unfortunate fact is many of these details are outside of anything the author can control. But dont worry. In this article, Im going to give you some insights and resources for your publishing journey--in particular follow my links in my bio at the end.

In the last ten years, the publishing world has changed. In the past, self-publishing was the poor stepsister to traditional publishing. These self-made titles often looked poor and were not accepted in libraries or bookstores. As book production has improved, this attitude is shifting. There are still poorly made self-published books and the average self-published title sells less than 200 copies during the lifetime of the book.

My bent in this area is to get the largest distribution and produce the best book you can produce. It’s why I continue to encourage authors to create a book proposal and work with traditional publishers as well as explore other models like Morgan James Publishing (where I’ve worked for over ten years).

While there are many ways and companies to help you create your book, at the end of the day, the key question relates to sales of that book. Is it selling? Are people buying it on a consistent basis? Are you as the author promoting your book consistently? One of the best ways to learn about publishing is to consistently read how-to books about writing or marketing. As you read these books and take action from the information, you will grow as a writer. I’ve got stacks of these types of books that I read.

Books that last and continue to sell in the market are rare. Traditional publishers are known to be fickle in this area. I have seen it when I’ve worked inside publishing houses (not Morgan James). You work hard to get a book published and into the market, then for whatever reason it does not sell, then a publishing executive writes a letter to the author or literary agent and takes the book out of print.

New Books Need Reviews

Several weeks ago, I was skimming on Facebook and noticed one of my author friends was talking about a new book. I wrote this friend and offered to review her book. She was going to ask her publisher to send me a book. I promptly pressed on to something else and almost forgot about it. Then the review copy arrived this week. I’m eager to write a few words of review to help my friend.

The publisher launched this book on March 1st. As a part of my process of getting ready to review this book, I checked the book page on Amazon. Nine days after the launch, it looked like my review was going to be the first one. There were no reviews for this book. Reviews are important to every author because they are social proof that readers love your book. It’s why I work as an author to ask others to review my book and also review books for others on Amazon and Goodreads.

I emailed my author friend about her lack of reviews. Now this author has sold thousands of copies of some of her other books. She has a full-time job—not as an author. Despite her years in publishing, I found her response interesting. Her email blamed the lack of effort on the marketing department of her publisher.

One of the best ways for you to take responsibility is to create your own marketing plans. Whether you self-publish or have a traditional publisher to get your book into the bookstore, these plans are important. Whether your book is launching soon or has been out for a while, you need to be creating and executing your own marketing plans.

A marketing plan from the author is a key element in every book proposal. The proposal is your business plan. If you have such a plan, are you taking action to execute it? Does your plan need adjustment and updating?

It Takes Author Activity to Sell Books

Before I began working inside a book publishing house, I had written more than 50 nonfiction books, ranging from children to adult books. I have only self-published one book  and in general worked through traditional publishers.

However, I was unaware of the financial production numbers for nonfiction books and I found it shocking—and something critical for potential authors to understand. The author never sees these figures for their books as the publisher doesn’t reveal them throughout the contract negotiation process. A publisher will produce these financial calculations as simply a part of good business practices. As an author, understanding these numbers helped me see publishing as a business. Authors have huge amounts of time and emotional investment in their words. When I saw these production numbers, I understood that the publisher, not the author, has the largest out-of-pocket cash investment in a book.

Inside the publisher, the editor will gather a sales projection about how many copies the sales department believes they can sell of your title the first year. That sales figure will be used to calculate the production costs of ink, paper and binding for various amounts of printing (5,000, 10,000 or 15,000 copies). As the initial print number is raised, the cost per book decreases.

You may ask, “So why not print a large volume each time?” The answer is, if the publisher prints a large number of copies, then he has to store those copies in their warehouse (read cost and expense), plus make sure they actually sell those copies within a year’s time frame. The cost of tying up financial resources in storing and warehousing books that aren’t selling is large. Also the federal government taxes publishers on each copy in storage. These tax rules have forced publishers to think long and hard about how many copies of each book to print.

Inside my former publisher, we calculated the overall printing details of the book (paperback with general publishing look or hardcover with jacket) and the number of books to print before offering a book contract. In short, publishers pour a great deal of work into their books and financial projections before they call you and offer a book contract. Understanding this process helps you see some of the reasons it takes such a long time for an author to receive a publishing contract.

Many writers focus only on the creative aspects of writing a book and getting it published, but the executives inside a publishing house are businesspeople who want to sell books and turn a profit at the end of the day. It’s a delicate balance between creating the best possible product and assuring that each product has the best opportunity to sell on the market and reach the target audience.

Tweetable:

Many authors on the publishing journey, wonder, “Where is the easy part of publishing?” This prolific writere and editor gives authors the honest answer and resources. (ClickToTweet) 


W. Terry Whalin, a writer and acquisitions editor lives in California. A former magazine editor and former literary agent, Terry is an acquisitions editor at Morgan James Publishing. He has written more than 60 nonfiction books including Jumpstart Your Publishing Dreams and Billy Graham. Get Terry’s recent book, 10 Publishing Myths for only $10, free shipping and bonuses worth over $200. To help writers catch the attention of editors and agents, Terry wrote his bestselling Book Proposals That $ell, 21 Secrets To Speed Your Success. Check out his free Ebook, Platform Building Ideas for Every Author. His website is located at: www.terrywhalin.com. Connect with Terry on TwitterFacebook and LinkedIn.

Gary S. Roen Book Critic Welcomes Books to Review


  Gary S. Roen, Nationally Syndicated Book Critic Welcomes Books to Review

Roen is a book reviewer with 47 years of experience in the publishing world. He began by working for a family-owned publishing company. He is an author of several books, including Cats Cats and More CatsJourneySlotski’s World, The Forgotten Father Coping with Grief, and Look at Me World. He writes short stories of science fiction that are receiving very positive feedback. He is always working on some new writing pieces and having fun with them. He has spoken at author and science fiction groups and conventions. He teaches authors as a consultant.

Be Professional Always: Roen’s General Advice for Working with Publishers and Reviewers

What is essential for authors to know when corresponding with publishers and reviewers?

How should a press person, an agent, bookseller, or anyone else you contact your book, no matter what genre, be approached? Roen states that often the writer does not treat this as a business and is too casual in email. He says several blunders can have an author’s email tossed into delete. Let’s say this is an article, book, or book review you are pitching to an editor, so use their name and their title. Then proceed with the body of your message. It amazes him that people do not take a second or two more to do this carefully. Writing is a profession that warrants that it be treated as such.

Each book shared with the press should also have press a release included. Contact information or a letter from someone representing the title introducing the media to someone affiliated with the sent material is required.

Self-published Books Should Appear Professional

Roen has witnessed many well-done self-published titles that were hard to tell if they were professional or not. Unfortunately, recently, others submitted to him he has deemed not worthy of his time because of their poor presentation.

Let’s begin with the cover. It has to grab your attention front, side and back. One book had a title almost the same color as the background, making it difficult to read. The side binding had no identification and was just black and, on the back, a confusing picture. It is annoying for any press person to have to figure out the price of the book if one is not displayed.

On the copyright page, the year of the work should be listed. Sometimes a book has no about the author page. There may be no contact information. People forget the press person has to have some way to let the person know there has been attention for the work in question. Be sure to include front and back matter pages if self-publishing.

What to Do When Asking Gary Roen for a Book Review (Please follow directions)

Roen does welcome authors to connect and submit books for his free reviews. He accepts all genres from publishers, authors, and PR firms. Meeting authors at events like Fandom Kissimmee, Oasis, and Necronomicon Science Fiction conventions, or library events to promote reading and authors are a few of the things he enjoys. He prefers not to review romance or religious books. He reviews most but not all of the books he receives. There may be a time lag, so be patient, and also realize he writes for newspapers and magazines. He does not review books on Amazon due to their continually changing rules.

Please do not go to Roen’s house and hand him a book. That gets an instant rejection. Surprisingly people have done so. Contact him and ask where to send a book for review. 

One particular thing to know if contacting Roen for a book review is that he loves the smell of a new book. Only hardcopies, meaning paperback or hardcover books, will do. He does not read on e-readers, so no PDFs or eBooks at all. They do not pass the new book “sniff” test! 

Where Are Some of Your Book Reviews Published?

“My reviews have been running for a long time in different publications throughout the nation, that includes Midwestbookreview.com, bUnike Magazine, Lake Legal NewsHernando StarVeterans Voice and Bivouac Magazine to name a few.”

Why Do You Review Books?


“I love reading and fell into it many years ago when I was on WPRK in Winter Park, Florida. I did the show with Patty Flanigan of WDBO. To expand the listenership, we branched out to include print as a way to promote the show. Later we dissolved everything, but I kept doing print reviews that have continued to this day.”

He may be contacted through Twitter at @bearbeatle or LinkedIn accounts or

www.legacypublishing.com 

Gary Roen’s books may be found at:

 Amazon

Barnes and Noble

Thank you for reading, and we hope you find many reviewers for your books!

Carolyn Wilhelm, Wise Owl Factory

Gary S. Roen, Nationally Syndicated Book Critic Welcomes Books to Review

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