Are You a Real Author?

A book is a book and an author is an author, right?

Well in the not so distant past an author would write a book or proposal, submit it to one or more publishing houses and wait for weeks or months to hear back. After a decent amount of time, around six months, said aspiring author would send out the manuscript, making copies and mailing the documents of course, to another round of publishers and the waiting process would happen all over again.

Flash-forward to the present.

Now, if someone wants to write a book... anyone, even a child, can. All you have to do is create the file and upload it on one of the many services, such as Amazon's "Create Space," and voila! An author is born. Or is an author really born?

What is the definition of an author?

A. One who writes?
B. One is is published by the traditional means...publisher with a print product.
C. One who is self published with a print product?
D. One who is self published with a print and/or digital product?

Confusing right?

To add to the confusion we can include the caveat the author needs to sell books to be considered a published author. By selling I don't mean to 100 of your best friends or manipulate the system, such as Amazon to spike sales at 3 PM in the morning, or offer the book for free on a slow day to become an Amazon best seller.

This is a hotly contested subject and I know many of my readers are self-published authors or those who aspire to be traditionally published at some point in their writing careers. I turned down a 4-book publishing contract in 1996 after I had successfully self-published said books and was happy not having to make 15% commission when I was making 100%. However, does that still make me a published author if I self-publish? I can't join many of the professional associations because I am self-published however several of my authors, Susan K. Marlow is one, is part of these associations because I publish one of her books!

And so we go round and round and I'm sure you have an opinion, so let's hear it!

Book Business ~ Terry Whalin

Shocking News To Authors: The Book Business Is A Business First

By W. Terry Whalin

            Before I began working inside a book publishing house, I had written more than 50 nonfiction books, ranging from children’s to adult books. I have never self-published a book and always 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 this 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 timeframe. 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 nonfiction 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…

            Often the publisher returns to an author with whom they have already published a book. If the publisher takes a second or third book from the same author, they are investing in that author’s career and trying to build that author’s audience and market. If the author’s books are selling well, then the publisher will be eager for another project. Each week, publishers monitor sales numbers on their books to see if particular authors merit another book 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 business people 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 into the market and reach the target audience.

________________________________________

W. Terry Whalin, a writer and publisher lives in Scottsdale, Arizona. A former acquisitions editor, former magazine editor and former literary agent, Terry has written more than 60 nonfiction books including Jumpstart Your Publishing Dreams. To help writers, he has created 12-lesson online course called Write A Book Proposal. His website is located at: www.terrywhalin.com.

Stepping Out of Your Comfort Zone

Publicity makes an author smile. In fact good publicity is a bonus and a sought after commodity by anyone in the public eye. Some authors are very good public speakers, can excel at book readings, or explain their book succinctly to anyone standing still long enough to listen.

Yet, no matter who you are there are different levels of your comfort zone. I know where I'm very comfortable and that is behind a keyboard, preferably attached to a computer screen. I am comfortable in front of an audience, especially if it is a topic I am passionate (or knowledgeable) about...and no, those are not synonymous! I am also comfortable before a group of students, I enjoy teaching.

The place I am the least comfortable is before a movie camera or still camera for that matter. At that point I think of all the places I'd rather be and it takes an extreme amount of effort to hold my thoughts captive. I'd rather be taking the picture or the movie, and this is something I enjoy. It is self preservation, if you are behind the camera it is difficult to be in front of it! I always marvel at those who love having their picture taken, and unfortunately my children have picked up my phobia.

Photo-ops are a must for any author, even those who feel that the years and the pounds are creeping up (at least my fingers get a very good, daily work out!). It is an important part of the profession and something that is a must for any author trying to sell their product. While the camera isn't always kind, a good photographer and photo enhancing computer software can definitely be a benefit.

Conversely, video does not lie! It is you and those lenses, sometimes many video camera lenses pointing and following you unrelentingly as you move upon the stage wishing you could climb off or hide under the nearest bush. As an author I know the importance of a speaking platform, so when I came up with the idea of Scholar Square and found a programmer who could bring my idea to fruition,  I considered it the best of both worlds. A video website with a twist. A place that an author, an educator, or a business person could put up a video, teach a topic, charge for it . . . and sell their books, products or services.

I still think it is a great idea, but I have yet to watch any of my video presentations all the way through. When the DVDs of my taped events arrived at my home, they sat unopened until my daughter came to watch them with me, in fact she insisted. We laughed at the number of times I blinked my eyes, and how the "Italian" in me came out as I often gestured with my hands. At least my voice didn't shake!

And, then came another opportunity. To be interviewed using streaming video online that was thankfully pre-recorded using Skpe. I had to smile while looking into the tiny hole in my computer screen, containing the webcam, as my kind host introduced me. Once the introduction was over it was much easier to handle the interview. I couldn't see her at all and I definitely CAN wait for that video to post on the website. I am sure I'll blog about that when it is launched.


In order to accomplish we often need to climb out from behind the computer and into the limelight. And, I've come up with a list of ways to do this. It began as a list of excuses for why I could not (or should not) venture out of my comfort-zone and quickly took on a life of its own. This happens often to the words I pen.

Reasons to step out of your comfort zone:

1. If you don't who will.
2. You can't take a picture of your cat and expect people to think it is you.
3. I want to sell books.
4. I can't hire anyone else to do it for me.
5. The time will pass quickly.

And who knows, you may actually enjoy the venture and find that it becomes your comfort zone! It is easier to accomplish a little in a day than nothing at all. Take a chance and try to stretch your reach, the worse that can happen is you may sell a few books!

John Kremer : 1001 Ways to Market Your Books

Okay, I admit it I'm a fan. When I interviewed John Kremer on my blog talk radio show, for authors I confessed, and he took the complement graciously. I explained that it was due to his book that I attribute much of my success. I have successfully self-published since 1994, and now work with many authors publishing their books under the Media Angels®, Inc., imprint.

I first read the sixth edition of John's book, "1001 Ways to Market Your Books" on a family reunion in North Carolina.

Everyone else was on a trek to view the mountain falls close up, while I was very happy to view the lake, and mountain view comfortably from the deck of our hotel. There I was, with my littlest son, and my book on marketing. I had been writing and publishing for a few years at this point, in a niche market, and the thought crossed my mind to expand this market into the schools and libraries. I had no idea where to begin and this book, this great resource, was able to answer all of my questions and all the others I didn't know I had!

I am a book purest. I’m coming alongside the eBook revolution very quietly although I am kicking and screaming inside. The idea of a wonderful book in my hands brings a smile to my lips. And, I would never in one-hundred years even contemplate turning down the page corners of any books in my personal library, which easily numbers over a thousand titles. Yet, John’s book broke all my carefully laid guidelines.

In fact I had to take some pictures of his book to show you.

You can see the pages are somewhat faded with age, written upon…

And, the corners are well… I really don’t know what I was thinking at the time. Was the kite-fold really necessary?

When an author begins writing, very few have a mind for marketing. Of course there are the exceptions, such as a friend, Eric Reinhold, author of the Ryann Watters fantasy series for children. Eric is a business man, a financial planner, and knows how to market. Not only does he have three books planned for the series, he has hopes for a movie to tie in with Mount Dora's 100 year anniversary. Mount Dora is the location of the book, a real place in Florida.

For the rest of us, just getting the book written is a huge undertaking. Many of the aspiring authors I work with begin to panic when I outline an underlying marketing plan to work toward, as they finish their manuscript. There are several choices according to John, one is to hire someone to market and publicize for you and the other is to do it yourself. I opted to do it myself and found the information I needed in John's "1001 Ways to Market Your Books".

What kind of information? Let me recount what this book did for me, personally:

1. I saved over $1000.00 on the print run of my book Information in a Nutshell: "Writing and Publishing" by using the printer information in John's book and website. I was able to obtain printing proposals; comparison shopped and asked my local printer if they could match the price. In this case the print run was large enough that they said, "Yes!"

2. Learned innovative ways to market, by including specific information that helped with sales. For example, the authors of book titles I mentioned in my book, mentioned my book to others. In one case the self-published author with a typical print run of 10,000 books, mentioned me in her “Digging Deeper” section. My sales soared.

3. Learned more about niche marketing, in my case the focus was on a particular group, and using my educational skills. I offered to speak to small groups, parent groups and state conventions. I taught workshops to adults and hands-on science workshops to children.

4. Marketing seasons: I found information about the best times to release books and tying this into what his happening locally. A great example is the one by Eric, mentioned above. John gives the author many ideas about how to tie this into your overall marketing campaign.

5. A book promotion time-line that is second to none. In this list, the author knows when to market and publicize and the order that it becomes the most effective. This is worth the ticket price of the book, in my opinion.

For the rest of the points you will need to listen to the radio interview I conducted with John. I am embarrassed to say that the interview went over the prescribed one hour. We clocked in at 90 minutes of excellent information! He was unselfish and generous as he continued to answer without an eye for the clock, and explained such marketing gems as the importance of a good front cover, testing the market, and building relationships.

You can learn more about John Kremer from:
Website: http://www.bookmarket.com
Group Discussion on his “Ning”: http://bookmarket.ning.com/
He has over 5,000 members, and I am one.

Happily, Blog Talk Radio selected this show as one of  Today's Top Picks!

The link for the radio show interview is: http://www.writingandpublishingradio.com.

You are always welcome to join the live event; every Monday at 3:30 ET, in order to ask the guest questions in “real time”… this interview was as much for my listening audience as it was for me. John has the experience of over 25+ years in the industry, and this interview reflected just the tip of his knowledge. Thanks John, from all of us who have profited from your research, time, energy and knowledge. I thank you for writing your book.