Authors On The Net

Today we have the pleasure of speaking with Richard S. Todd, author of Raincloud. A magazine writer and pop composer living near Toronto, Canada, Richard is a fervent champion for those fighting to overcome personal struggles and making choices to resist the perpetuation of racial isolation. Richard blogs frequently about his experiences self-publishing and in today’s interview, he shares his experiences and gives some good street-smart advice for authors.

Note: this is part II of a two-part podcast. In part I, Richard introduces us to his new book, Raincloud.

To buy a copy of Raincloud, click here.

Click here to download and listen to the podcast. Listen to Author Blasts show now.

http://authorsonthenet.com/audio/RichardToddonpublishingfinal.mp3

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Author Blasts is the Authors On The Net Podcast. If you are a member of AON and you have a book, we would like to interview you. Simply send us an email at info@authorsonthenet.com.This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it We are also interested in speaking with publishers, distributors, book designers, editors and other people who have a publishing or book promotion message.

Here’s a message I received from novelist Tracy Cooper-Posey about how she is challenging the status quo of publishing:

I’m a novelist, which means I always have a lot to say. In this instance, I’ve been challenging the status quo about the publishing industry for exactly a year, in particular about the hidden niche of authors that I’ve dubbed “anchored authors” – the huge slice of published fiction authors who can’t earn enough from their fiction and have to keep a day job to survive. (http://www.anchoredauthors.com). Lately, my challenge has been that fiction authors shouldn’t be aiming for New York publication, and the best sellers lists. Nor should they be aiming for Kevin Kelly’s “1,000 True Fans” model. Instead, they should be carving their own niche out of the long tail – one that suits their brand of fiction, and provides them with a comfortable income. It’s the only way fiction authors in particular are going to survive the fracturing of the publishing industry.

I’ve been hammering this message for a while now (as the archives on the blog will testify). On the 20th I will be posting a long summary/overview on this theme that rounds up the year on Anchored Authors (yesterday was the anniversary).

Also as part of the anniversary, I’m running a survey to try and collect some demographic data about anchored authors. Everyone who completes the survey goes into the draw for a $100 Amazon gift certificate. Everyone who encourages another anchored author to complete the survey also goes into the draw for the gift certificate. So yes, you can have multiple entries in the draw, and you can be in the draw even if you’re not an anchored author.

Every author who completes the survey will also get a copy of the final results. The survey is here: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=mwYdPhyh_2blzZ3jFqipx77w_3d_3d. Perhaps you would be kind enough to let your readers know? The more solid data we get about anchored authors, the more relevant the survey will be.

What are you doing to transform the publishing industry?

As we think about the publishing status quo and how it might be changing, think about the following statements and see if they ring true. I’ll be taking each paradigm set on in future posts:

Old Paradigm: Authors are artists, publishers are entrepreneurs/business owners/venture capitalists

New Paradigm: Authors are both artists and entrepreneurs.

I’ll be discussing a recent report I heard about Pirate Bay. I couldn’t believe the mindset of the operators of this site.

Old Paradigm: Information comes as hardcopy media.

Current and New Paradigm: Information comes as hardcopy media AND all forms of digital media: ebooks, audio books, Blog posts, ezines, Facebook, Twitter, Podcasts, Internet Radio and who knows what’s coming next.

I’ll be discussing a recent Wall Street Journal feature (among other things) on how ebooks will change the way we read and write.

Old Paradigm: Customers have longer attention spans, can read longer articles and books.

New Paradigm: Customers get information in snippets – i.e. Twitter, short articles, Blog posts and shorter books.

I’ll be searching for research to back this up so if anyone has any information on this apparent trend I’d love to hear it.

Old and Still Current Paradigm: Majority of authors write the book inside them and then look for a market to sell to.

New Paradigm: Authors will be plugged into their target audience before, during and after writing their book and they will write books that fit their target audience.

Successful publishers look for books to fit a “buying” audience. Authors will need to be just as market savvy to compete.

Old Paradigm: Authors need to write the right book at the right time for the right audience.

New Paradigm: Authors need to be leaders of a tribe they create around their book; they pull people into their cause rather than pushing their book onto an audience.

Maybe the whole idea of a target audience will change . . .

Old Paradigm: A published author is someone who receives money from a Royalty publisher like Random House and signs a standard royalty contract.

New Paradigm 1: A published author is any author who has an ISBN and a bound book, an ebook, an audio book or any other version of a book.

New Paradigm 2: A professional author is a published author who earns his or her primary living by writing and selling books.

We’re decades into the self-publishing revolution. I think it’s time to discard the whole discussion on what it means to be a published author. The question is whether or not you make a living as a published author.

So these are a few of the paradigms I’ve identified. If you have others, please share.

An article I read today makes a case that Self-Publishing is not a last resort for authors. I absolutely agree. Landing a contract with a royalty publisher like Random House is a great ambition for many authors, but it may not be the best option for every author.

Every author and every book is unique and authors today have many options to choose from, from POD publishing to self-publishing (starting your own publishing company) to royalty publishing. The key is getting people to read your book and as Adam Balkin says in his article, if your book is good, people will read it. I will add that you also need to know who your primary audience is and how to reach them.

Social Media is, in my opinion, the key to connecting with your target audience and getting people to read. Check out Adam’s article by clicking here.

To learn more about social media check out our new on-demand coaching program at The Author Platform.

My Google Alerts took me to an interesting article today posted on Stacy Whitman’s blog. In the article, Stacy interviews author Sandra Tayler who, together with her husband, have sold over 10,000 books out of their home. Sandra gives authors great insight into what it takes to run a self-publishing company.

http://slwhitman.livejournal.com/115856.html

The prevailing feeling I get when I speak with authors and surf the web is that book promotion is a necessary evil. Many people, myself included, are trying to take the pain out of book promotion. This morning I woke up and wanted to know if any author out there is having any fun promoting his or her book.

Personally, I like selling. Selling my business, my book and my kit, Self-Publishing in a Box is fun for me. I like having a goal and working to attain that goal. But what about authors in general? Are you having fun promoting your books? If so, let us hear what you are doing. Promoting your book should be as fun as writing your book. Is it?

Every month I attend the Utah chapter of the National Speakers Association and each month we spend about 3 hours learning how to build a solid speaking business. I’m not a public speaker by trade, but as a preferred guest I get to attend these meetings and mingle with some of my perfect profile customers. Last month we learned how to come up with titles that sell.

You may find this advice a little strange but that’s okay because most of us attendees did too. The speaker, Sarah Victory (http://www.thevictorycompany.com/index.htm) told us to buy all the tabloid magazines in our neighborhood grocery store. Tabloids like The National Enquirer, she said, are full of examples of great headlines, like this one: Read the rest of this entry »

In my last entry, I compared “Mainstream” Publishing with Self-Publishing. In this entry, I’ll be comparing Vanity or Subsidy publishing with Self-Publishing. There is quite a bit of bad press out there regarding Vanity publishing. It’s not my place to criticize the Vanity press business model and therefore I will not be mentioning names in this article.

My understanding of a Vanity press is these companies sell themselves as a publishing company to authors. As a publishing company, they own the ISBN number which means they own the rights to the book. While this may not be the case with all Vanity Publishers, who owns the ISBN is a major red flag I think the self-publishing author needs to watch out for.

The second red flag is that when you are working with a Vanity press, you, the author, are still paying the bills as you will with a self-publishing company like ZDocs. So I guess my point here is, why would you pay all the up-front costs for a book you don’t own. Many authors choose this method because they believe the Vanity press will be able to sell their book. This is why Vanity presses get the bad press.

In my earlier entry, I produced a laundry list of what the author pays for and what the “Mainstream” Publisher pays for. Below is the same type of list if you choose to use a Vanity press.

1. The Author writes the book
2. The Vanity Publisher may own the ISBN number
3. The Author pays the Vanity Publisher to design the cover and the inside pages
4. The Author pays the Vanity Publisher to edit the book
5. The Author pays the Vanity Publisher to print the book
6. The Author builds his/her own website or pays for someone else to do so
7. The Author and the Vanity Publisher jointly promotes the book
8. The Vanity publisher takes a large portion of the profit

If you compare the laundry list above to the laundry list if you decided to self-publish (reprinted below) or to publish, then you can begin to see why using a Vanity Publisher may not be a good choice. Or if you do decide to go with a Vanity Publisher, at least you should do so with your eyes wide open.

(The self-publishing laundry list reprinted from earlier entry)

1. The Author writes the book
2. The Author gets his/her own ISBN number
3. The Author designs the cover and the inside pages - or pays someone to do so
4. The Author pays someone to edit the book
5. The Author pays someone to print the book
6. The Author builds his/her own website or pays for someone else to do so
7. The Author does his/her own promotions
8. The Author takes home most of the profit

To summarize the last two entries, you have three basic ways to publish your book.

Get accepted by a “Mainstream” Publisher like Random House

Use a Vanity or Subsidy Publisher

Use a Self-Publishing company (like zdocs)

There are pros and cons to each method and my intent with these two entries is to simply layout the different options. While I would love every author to print with ZDocs, more importantly I hope authors will find the right place to publish their works and find the success they are looking for.

PS I should mention that places like Kinko’s and Alphagraphics and just about any other print shop can help you print your books and these places are not a bad choice at all. You will get the books you pay for, which is half the battle and usually a better option than the Vanity press in my opinion. The downside of working with a Kinko’s-type place is the staff will have little knowledge about self-publishing or even the best way to print your books and as far as I know these places do not offer marketing services.

The next few entries will evaluate the different options authors have to publish their books. This entry will compare “mainstream” publishing, i.e. Ballantine Books, with self-publishing. Later entries will compare the different types of self-publishing.

Mainstream publishers are like venture capitalists. These publishers are going to take on several books each year, invest money into the production and promotion of the book and in return take most of the profit from the book. That is, if the book is successful, which many are not, so the publisher is taking on a lot of risk.

For the author, going with a mainstream publisher is usually a love/hate experience. I was having dinner with an author last Friday and she showed me a book she published years ago. She seemed a little sad when she explained she had to sell her book (and all the rights to it) to a publisher because she needed the cash. Read the rest of this entry »

While there are many reasons why authors self-publish, I break down self-publishing authors into two main categories:

1. The Cultural Author, and
2. The Commercial Author

A Cultural Author is someone who has written a family history, a memoir, a collection of poems, a scrapbook, a children’s book or some other book that has significant personal and family value, but probably little commercial value. The Cultural author seeks to preserve his or her heritage, or that of a community or club in the form of a professionally printed book.

A Commercial Author is someone who has written a book with the intent to sell as many copies as possible. These authors include novelists, non-fiction writers and national public speakers who may not sell a lot of books, but the books help them sell their consulting services.

Before continuing, I should mention a third category: the Cultural author who becomes a Commercial author. To see a great example of such a writer, go to http://www.richardpaulevans.com/biography.html to read Richard Paul Evans story, one of the most successful authors who began by writing a story for his daughters and then one day he decided to self-publish 20 copies to give to friends. Eventually his book, The Christmas Box, sold over 8 million copies and Mr. Evans is now a huge commercial author with several best-sellers.

For the Cultural author, the most costly part of the self-publishing process will most likely be the printing and binding costs. Usually family and friends will help offset these expenses by buying the books or the Cultural author will present the books as gifts. Finding a trustworthy printer is critical to the Cultural author. You will want someone who can give you ideas on the proper size of the book, the type of paper, the best way to bind and so forth. As the owner of ZDocs, I can assure you you will receive this kind of consultation. But of course there are many on-demand printers and I would encourage you to look into several companies to test their prices and their approach to helping you print the best book possible.

For the Commercial author, the goal is to sell as many books as possible and make the best return on the hard work they’ve put into their book; not to mention the out-of-pocket expenses to design, edit and print the book. A Commercial author’s plan may be to find an agent and submit his/her manuscript to mainstream publishers. But only 1 to 2% of all titles are accepted by publishers and the author may spend months or years getting a publisher to accept and sell his/her book. And if the book does get accepted, the author may get a small advance and then receive a 5 to 15% royalty on the sales of the book.

Self-publishing does a few things for a Commercial author. If you plan to just self-publish, you can earn 40 to 80% of your sales price. A general rule of thumb I use is you’ll need to sell about 800 books to break-even. The actual number will depend on many variables that I walk authors through once we know more about the book’s specifications.

Now if your main goal is to get your book published by a mainstream publisher, self-publishing is still a good investment for you. First of all, you’ll have time to self-promote your book while you wait for the agents and publishers to respond to you. Second, if a publisher does show interest in your book, you will be able to negotiate a better deal if you can show the publisher you’ve already sold several thousand books on your own. By the way, a great website to visit if you are interested in mainstream publishing is www.writersmarket.com.

The primary key I stress with our authors at ZDocs is minimize your initial investment and get your book to a break-even position as quickly as possible. I’ll write more about this topic in a later blog.