Your Book Should Be an Audio Book, Too!

I've been thinking about republishing my novel as an audio book. My first inclination came when my aunt became blind. I waited too long. She died a peaceful death with me at her side at the age of 82.  Then, when I was on a cruise recently I met a woman who wanted to read This Is the Place because of the them of tolerance, but used only audios for the blind. This, my friends is called procrastination. So here is an article for a long time writing pal, Aaron Lazar. I may get to it yet! There are some readers we just don't want to miss!

AUDIO BOOKS: HOW IT’S DONE THROUGH ACX.COM Part I

 By Aaron Paul Lazar

Have you ever wondered how to get your published book produced as an audio book?

If so, read on. I currently have five books in production with ACX, an Audible (Amazon) company. I’m going to document the process for you in a few articles so you can give it a try yourself.  You’ll need to know how to get started, how to get through the editing process, and what to do once your book is available for sale.

A little bit of history:

I’ve tried to record my own books. Lord knows, I’ve tried. I spent a week downloading various (free) audio programs, playing with the settings, recording just a few chapters over and over again every time I messed up a word, or a loud truck went by, or the dogs barked.

I drove myself nuts. Finally, after hours of labor, I created some audio files of me reading the first few chapters in TREMOLO: CRY OF THE LOON (http://www.legardemysteries.com/tremolocryoftheloon.htm), and posted them up on my website.

Don’t get me wrong. I enjoyed it. I really did. But while I was doing this, I wasn’t writing. And if I had ever hoped to get my complete set of sixteen books recorded as audio books, it would have taken months for each project. I’d never get my current book finished at that rate.

I sent off a few of the mp3 samples to my publisher. She had her “audio guy” listen to them, and he said they had too much “hiss,” that I’d need a different mike. Of course, I had used the simple microphone that comes with my MacBook Pro, and that naturally isn’t geared for serious recording.

For the time being, I let it go at that. After all, I had seven books to edit that were scheduled for 2012 release, and was working on the third book in my Tall Pines mystery series. With the full time day job, there wasn’t must time left for anything extra.

The tip:

The dream of getting my books into audio books didn’t die, it just simmered under the surface for a little while, until a good friend gave me a tip. Her Simon & Schuster book was going to audio book format through a company called ACX, part of Audible, which is owned by Amazon.

Excited, I started to investigate. ACX is a wonderful site where authors, producers, and actors can network and pair up. The nicest part of this is one available option called “Royalty Share” where the narrators/actors/producers and authors to do the recording work up front, put no money down, and then share the royalties when the sales start coming in. Of course you can also simply hire a narrator and his studio to do the recordings, and keep your share of the royalties for yourself, if you want.

Alternatively, you can record your own books, but you’d probably have to invest in a good mike, become well-versed in manipulating audio files, or have a an audio-techie colleague to help you.

Important stuff to know:

Now this part is really important. Please read this carefully:

You need to find out who owns the audio rights for your book(s).

Check your book contracts, and if you’re not sure, call your publisher.

I hadn’t really paid attention to that part of the contract(s) with my publisher, Twilight Times Books, but soon discovered that she hadn’t included audio rights in our contract, so the rights were mine.

For those whose publishers’ have retained the rights, don’t panic. Your publisher or agent can submit your books to ACX if he or she is so inclined, you’ll just have to share the royalties with her and your actor/narrator/producer.

If you establish that you own the audio rights, the next step is to register. Please note that I’m pretty sure you must already have books in the Amazon bookstore for all this to work.

I was surprised that Twilight Times Books wasn’t on the list (lots of companies weren’t, since this is a new program and they are still growing their lists), but didn’t let that stop me. I knew my publisher was highly-regarded in the industry, that she’d been interviewed by Publisher’s Weekly, and that our company was a member in good standing of Mystery Writers of America (MWA) and International Thriller Writers. These credentials were legit and impressive.

I was able to chat with Nicole O., one of the ACX customer support folks, who was extremely helpful. We talked on the phone several times about my publisher and my books, and I provided all the information needed. After a while, the books were listed on the site for actors to listen to and (hopefully) submit auditions. Of course, I had to upload all the details about the work – number of pages, genre, synopsis, and a short excerpt for the actors to use in their audition.

The first audition:

I was thrilled to receive an audition almost immediately for TREMOLO: CRY OF THE LOON. (http://www.legardemysteries.com/tremolocryoftheloon.htm)

The voice actor/narrator, Erik S, did a great job, creating a very young-sounding voice for my eleven-year-old Gus LeGarde. I was pleased with his accents for Gus’s grandparents who live in Maine, Oscar and Millie Stone (British transplants), Elsbeth and Siegfried (German twins, Gus’s friends,) etc. Each voice was consistent and unique, and wonderful rendered. 

You can hear a sample chapter HERE: http://www.legardemysteries.com/audiobooks.htm

The First Fifteen Minute Sample:

 After we started work on TREMOLO, Erik prepared the first fifteen-minute sample. I listened, made a few minor suggestions, and then approved the posted files. This is important for many reasons. For one thing, you need to confirm that the voices for each character are suitable and hopefully match the “voices in your head”.

Well, that sounded a little weird, but if you’re like me and consider your stories like parallel universes, then you know exactly how your characters’ sound, and you often picture them in movies with actors you’ve already chosen for them.

Am I right?

Okay, so the whole idea of checking out the first fifteen minutes is so your British character doesn’t sound like he’s from the Bronx, or your plucky heroine doesn’t sound too frail. Also, it gives you a good chance to check the quality level of the recording facilities that your producer is using.

We didn’t have to do much adjusting, frankly, because Erik really nailed the accents without any coaching. He recorded the entire book over a period of a month, sending me batches of audio files to listen to, and when we were done catching any errors that might have crept into the files, he worked on the technical items that needed fixing.

I panicked!

Erik went back to working on the files, and it was at that point that I panicked. I was trying to upload my book cover art into the required field on my TREMOLO ACX page, when I discovered that the cover art needed to be a square image.

Square? All of my covers were rectangular, in roughly 5x8 inch format.

I tried to cut the book cover down by cropping it, but there was no way it was going to work and look proper in a square format.

Finally, like most guys, I finally looked at the directions. I studied the examples on the webpage of what was “acceptable” and what wasn’t. Right there in front of me was the botched up cover just like the one I’d attempted, with top and bottom cropped. Next to it was another stuck in a square with white borders.

Nope. The cropping or squeezing-it-all-into-a-little-box approach was not going to cut it!

The “acceptable” cover was designed from the beginning to fit in a square template.

It was at this point that I started to worry about my rights again. I would need the layered version of my covers so I could play with the original art and design it to fit in a square box.

Who owns your cover art?

Did I own the rights to my cover art? Would my publisher object to me using them, since she wasn’t involved in this venture? I helped with the designs, and yes, many of my own photos and concepts were used, but I soon discovered I didn’t own the designs. My publisher was very sweet about it, but she pointed out that she’d paid an artist to do the designs, and that they were legally hers. I love my publisher and would never try to cross the line. So, off I went to create new, square audio book covers.

Fortunately I have used Photoshop for years and knew how to go about it. I’ve been designing “place holder” covers for years, even before I submitted my manuscripts to my publisher, so I had lots of images to play with. I like having a colorful image in my head (and on my websites) that gives a feeling for what’s coming in the books. 

I set about creating new, square covers using my Photoshop Elements application.

There are specs you need to follow. For example, the cover must be over 1200 by 1200 pixels, etc.

Erik uploaded the final files to ACX, and I automatically approved them, since I’d already listened to each one so many times and felt comfortable that they’d be fine.

My first mistake:

I always say, “Double check! Triple check!” and am usually quite obsessed with being absolutely sure all is good.

Just recently, I received notification from ACX that some of the chapters were missing or repeated. Both Erik and I had missed the uploading errors. But thankfully, the Quality group at ACX does a screening up front, and the errors were quickly corrected.

We’re waiting now to see TREMOLO pop up on the Audible website. It’s supposed to take a few weeks after we approve the final version.

More auditions came in!

Meanwhile, in the midst of the TREMOLO efforts, I received and enthusiastically accepted an audition from a Canadian Recording Studio, (Agile Sound) for HEALEY’S CAVE (http://mooremysteries.com), book 1 in Moore Mysteries, otherwise known as “the green marble series.” The actor’s name is Dr. Tom Fraser, and he’s a genius. Really.

A true kindred spirit, I met Tom just in time to bring all of my characters and books to life. I was floored by the recordings, and even after I’d heard just a few chapters, I knew I wanted this actor to record as many of my books as possible. His mature, warm, earthy voice was perfect for my Sam Moore character (HEALEY’S CAVE), but he also would be a wonderful Gus LeGarde, hero of my first mystery series with six books in production and four more written and waiting to be submitted to my publisher.

Since I accepted his audition for HEALEY’S CAVE, he’s also auditioned for and been accepted to record MAZURKA (http://www.legardemysteries.com/mazurka.htm) and FIRESONG (http://www.legardemysteries.com/firesong.htm). We are working on them all, and HEALEY’S CAVE is now available on Audible.com, Amazon.com and iTunes. (http://tinyurl.com/cype3f2). What a whirlwind!  

Tom was born to be Sam Moore, and also fits perfectly for Gus LeGarde. He seemed to agree, and we decided that from now on, he would record all except the YA books.

If you’ve ever wanted to have your books recorded and available for folks to listen to, give it a try! 

www.ACX.com

 You can listen to some samples of my upcoming audio-books here: http://www.legardemysteries.com/audiobooks.htm

You can buy the TREMOLO: CRY OF THE LOON book here: http://tinyurl.com/84zupmt

And HEALEY’S CAVE audio book here: http://tinyurl.com/cype3f2

Part II will discuss what to do if you don’t get an audition right away, and will explain how to find the perfect narrator.  Contact Aaron at aaronlazar@yahoo.com.  

About the Author

Aaron Paul Lazar www.legardemysteries.com  writes to soothe his soul. The award-winning and bestselling Kindle author of three addictive mystery series, Aaron enjoys the Genesee Valley countryside in upstate New York, where his characters embrace life, play with their dogs and grandkids, grow sumptuous gardens, and chase bad guys. Visit his website at www.legardemysteries.com and watch for his upcoming Twilight Times Books releases, ESSENTIALLY YOURS (MAR 2012), TERROR COMES KNOCKING (FEB 2011), FOR KEEPS (MAY 2012), DON’T LET THE WIND CATCH YOU (APRIL 2012), and the author’s preferred editions of DOUBLE FORTÉ (FEB 2012) and UPSTAGED (JUNE 2012).

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Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of This Is the Place; Harkening: A Collection of Stories Remembered; Tracings, a chapbook of poetry; and how to books for writers including the award-winning second ediction of, The Frugal Book Promoter: How to get nearly free publicity on your own or by partnering with your publisher; The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success; and Great Little Last Minute Editing Tips for Writers . The Great First Impression Book Proposal is her newest booklet for writers. She has three FRUGAL books for retailers including A Retailer’s Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotions: How To Increase Profits and Spit in the Eyes of Economic Downturns with Thrifty Events and Sales Techniques. Some of her other blogs are TheNewBookReview.blogspot.com, a blog where authors can recycle their favorite reviews. She also blogs at all things editing, grammar, formatting and more at The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor . If your followers at Twitter would benefit from this blog post, please use the little Green widget to let them know about this blog:

Should YOU Use a Pseudonyn: Is Nora Roberts a Good Reason Why You Shouldn't

Nora Roberts, the author of more than 150 romance novels, was asked why she writes romantic suspense novels under a pen name. Here is her answer:

"It's marketing."

She says because she writes quickly that makes it difficult for her publisher to publish all of her work with an appropriate amount of time between each of them. So she writes works which are “edgier” than her romance novels under the pseudonym J. D. Robb. She says. "Putting it under a pseudonym helps brand it for the reader."

Writers will find information on the concept of branding in the second edition of The Frugal Book Promoter (www.budurl.com/FrugalBkPromo) including some of the reasons why you shouldn’t use a pen name. You will, of course, have to weigh the pros and cons, but keep in mind that Ms. Roberts has a powerhouse publisher and its marketing department to help her navigate the difficulties inherent in using a pseudonym. If you are considering using a pen name, here's a taste of what you should know:

1. It is very hard to keep a pen name secret. Everyone knows who Kristie Leigh Maguire is, as an example, but most know that it is a pen name. If people didn't know before that Robb was Nora Roberts' pen name, most of them will know that Time magazine let the cat out of the bag. They also revealed (big time) that Nora Roberts is also a pen name!

2. It is very hard to promote a book in person when you use a pen name—especially if you choose an opposite-sex pen name. In fact, promotion of all kinds can become touchy if you use a pen name because you are intent upon keeping your real identity a secret.

3. Using a pen name isn't necessarily an effective barrier against law suits.

Read more about Roberts in Time magazine's "10 Questions" feature, page 6 of the Dec. 10, 2007, issue.

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Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of This Is the Place; Harkening: A Collection of Stories Remembered; Tracings, a chapbook of poetry; and how to books for writers including, The Frugal Book Promoter: How To Do What Your Publisher Won't; The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success; and Great Little Last Minute Editing Tips for Writers . The Great First Impression Book Proposal is her newest booklet for writers. She has three FRUGAL books for retailers including A Retailer’s Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotions: How To Increase Profits and Spit in the Eyes of Economic Downturns with Thrifty Events and Sales Techniques. Some of her other blogs are TheNewBookReview.blogspot.com, a blog where authors can recycle their favorite reviews. She also blogs at all things editing, grammar, formatting and more at The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor . If your followers at Twitter would benefit from this blog post, please use the little Green widget to let them know about this blog:

Newsletters: The New/Old Way to Market Books

The new year is almost upon us and I gleaned this editorial from one of my old SharingwithWriters newsletters. Because I believe old-fashioned newsletters delivered by e-mail are second only to social networking (and that includes blogs) for the marketing of a book. And because I believe in recycling the writing we do. Ahem! (-:  And because this is the time of the year to promise yourself you'll start a newsletter!

How many e-mail newsletters do you subscribe to? Do you put one out yourself? I think they’re very important! I recommended having one in the first edition of The Frugal Book Promoter and I continue to do so in the 2^nd edition (www.budurl.com/FrugalBkPromo)  (with new ideas for making them successful, of course!). And I’m not the only one who thinks newsletters are a good idea.

Noelle Skodzinski, editorial director of Book Business magazine thinks so, too. But she touts them for publishers. She says the best example of a good publisher newsletter is HarperCollins’ Author Tracker. You may want to subscribe to see what they’re doing that you can adapt to your letter and find new, great reading while you’re there.

Harper’s letter lets readers track their favorite authors. It lets them know when the author will be doing an event in their area. When their next book is being released. When it is being made into a film. But, hey! We authors can do that for ourselves!

She also suggests cross promoting other books with similarities. Themes. Genres. Historical periods. The list could be endless. So, I’m thinking why couldn’t authors do the same thing? They could partner with other authors to announce one another’s books. And if those authors write in the same genre so much the better. They aren’t competitors. They’re comrades. A reader who reads horror, as an example, probably reads more than one horror book a year. So why not promote your book and one written by a horror-writing friend?

By the way, I also think authors should read more than one book on marketing. Each book we read offers new inspiration, new ideas, new approaches or techniques for old ideas.

Noelle says that to convince yourself that this is effective, “Think of Amazon’s ‘others who ordered [this book] also ordered [this other book]’” feature.

She also suggests embedding video in the e-mail. That gives readers a personal connection to the author!

She suggests some of the same things I do in the second edition of The Frugal Book Promoter. How can you get subscribers to your letter to sign up for something? What can you give them free? What about a quote of the day or week? How about using QR (quick response) codes I’ve been talking about for the last few issues of this newsletter? Look on the back of the new Frugal Book Promoter to see one, or check the index for one I used inside the book.

Noelle reminds us, “Books have power. Authors have power. That power can be used to benefit the reader—who craves more content that will impact their lives…”

Oh, while we’re at it. You have in your power to share newsletters with valuable information with others. Your newsletter readers have the power to do the same. Have you asked them to share? I’m asking now. Send the link for this newsletter with a personal recommendation and invitation to subscribe. http://www.AuthorsDen.com/adstorage/1713/SharingwithWriters_Nov5_2011.pdf

All they need do is send me an e-mail with SUBSCRIBE in the subject line and I’ll do it for them!

See how easy that is? See how important a newsletter can be?

 (And, in this case, how important a blog can be?)

----- Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of This Is the Place; Harkening: A Collection of Stories Remembered; Tracings, a chapbook of poetry; and how to books for writers including, The Frugal Book Promoter: How To Do What Your Publisher Won't; The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success; and Great Little Last Minute Editing Tips for Writers . The Great First Impression Book Proposal is her newest booklet for writers. She has three FRUGAL books for retailers including A Retailer’s Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotions: How To Increase Profits and Spit in the Eyes of Economic Downturns with Thrifty Events and Sales Techniques. Some of her other blogs are TheNewBookReview.blogspot.com, a blog where authors can recycle their favorite reviews. She also blogs at all things editing, grammar, formatting and more at The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor . If your followers at Twitter would benefit from this blog post, please use the little Green widget to let them know about this blog:

Those Who Love Language Improve Their Writing

I very occasionally run reviews for books I think will help writers on Sharing with Writers. Hope you'll consider this one. An explanation is contained within. (-:

Euphemania

Subtitle: Our love affair with euphemisms
By Ralph Keyes
Little Brown and Co.
ISBN: 9780316056564
Nonfiction/ (Writing/Language)
Contact Reviewer: hojoreviews@aol.com

Reviewed by Carolyn Howard-Johnson originally for MyShelf.com

.

If you don’t love language, it’s a good bet you aren’t a writer. But if you’re a writer, reading more about language (linguistics (?)) may not be high on your list of priorities. It’s so integral to the way you think, you believe you don’t need it.

I believe that Euphemania by Ralph Keyes will change your mind. Written with humor (because euphemisms are just naturally funny?) this book will certainly entertain. If you’ve ever wondered about the intricacies of our euphemisms—the origins as an example—this is the book for you. But who would have guessed that it also might be the perfect book to hone the skills of writers of dialogue and humor? 

Academic writers?  Use it as a quick-study on how to write a book that will sell to a wide market. The secret?  Voice. Humor. Colloquialisms. Yep, and euphemisms.  A book does not have to have the lack of moisture content (dry!) of a text book to be a textbook.  I know about academic expectations. My daughter is a Ph.D. candidate. She explains it to me all the time. Having said that, if you’d like to actually sell something rather than giving everything away to unappreciative academic journals, try rewriting your brilliant theory for the general public!

Anthropologists and linguists will love this book, too. But mostly, it’s just fun learning why we use asterisks for words like sh*t and the euphemisms like the f-word. It’s also tons of fun to identify phrases we’ve stopped thinking of as euphemisms (love handles, anyone?), just because they are so part of our everyday language.

If I were rating this book for an Amazon review, it would give it a true (not a fake) five-star rating. For usefulness. For fun. For the love of language.

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Carolyn Howard-Johnson’s  The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success covers writing successful query letters and includes helpful hints from twenty of the nation's top agents. Purchased it at Amazon, www.budurl.com/TheFrugalEditor.  Learn more at her Web site http://HowToDoItFrugally.com.

If your followers at Twitter would benefit from this blog post, please use the little Green widget to let them know about this blog:

Ten Reasons Why Your Book Should Be an E-Book, Too

I love, love, love e-books. It took me a long time to get a Kindle but the potential for book promotion using e-books got me busy promoting that way when e-books were still controversial.

In fact, there is an anatomy of how some twenty-six fiction writers and I cross-promoted our way to marketing heaven in the new edition of my Frugal Book Promoter (www.budurl.com/FrugalBkPromo). I hope you’ll grab the opportunity to learn from the case study to learn what cross-promotion and promotional e-books can be at their best.

Still, I worry because I keep hearing (especially from novelists) that they love real books and don’t want to support e-books. Freya at the great BookBuzzr.com blog recently ran a little post I wrote on “Ten Reasons Your Book Should Be an E-Book, Too!” It’s my answer to any author who is reluctant to have their book out there for e-readers. Especially notice the "too." I suppose there are a few books that would prosper as e-books only, but why limit the way your readers can read your work. Let them do it the way they want. It's a basic tenet of book marketing.

Find the article at http://www.bookbuzzr.com/blog/book-marketing/ten-reasons-your-book-should-be-an-e-book-too/

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Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of This Is the Place; Harkening: A Collection of Stories Remembered; Tracings, a chapbook of poetry; and how to books for writers including, The Frugal Book Promoter: How To Do What Your Publisher Won't; The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success; and Great Little Last Minute Editing Tips for Writers . The Great First Impression Book Proposal is her newest booklet for writers. She has three FRUGAL books for retailers including A Retailer’s Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotions: How To Increase Profits and Spit in the Eyes of Economic Downturns with Thrifty Events and Sales Techniques. Some of her other blogs are TheNewBookReview.blogspot.com, a blog where authors can recycle their favorite reviews. She also blogs at all things editing, grammar, formatting and more at The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor . If your followers at Twitter would benefit from this blog post, please use the little Green widget to let them know about this blog:

Anthology Scams: Authors Beware

In a newsletter on marketing, I read a call for help from one of that letter’s subscribers. I was appalled because it sounded as if someone had decided to charge authors $595 to contribute their work (what amounts to a freelance article) and their videos (what amounts to a freelance production) to what amounted to a self-published e-book. The would-be author/editor of this book needed help in roping in more authors to pay that hefty fee and admits that the "media typically aren't interested [in contributing]."

Well, if the media aren’t interested in contributing, there may be a reason beyond the fact that this "anthology"  is self-published. What would that be? Here it is: The chapters are paid-for advertorials. That means editors would be complicit in getting their readers to pay to participate in what feels, well, a bit shady to them. At least newspapers’ advertorials are labeled as “advertisements.”

Hint: If you don’t know what an advertorial is, please look it up in your copy of the second edition of The Frugal Book Promoter (http://budurl.com/FrugalBkPromo). It’s in the chapter on why you generally shouldn’t pay for advertising, anyway.

And if the media aren't interested in contributing to this project, will they be any more interested in covering the book with features, reviews or other kinds of exposure for the book when it comes out? I'm afraid I don't see the benefit to the author of a project like this. Sure, they’ll get a credit line and a byline but without much exposure in the media, who will read it?

Giving away free articles in trade for a byline/nice credit/and links is one thing. Paying to have someone to put together a book that may sell very few copies anyway is entirely something else. In fact, if feels scammy to me.

The help I would give the subscriber to this newsletter is: Please find another way to involve experts and cross promote with them. There are ways to do that where everyone benefits and participants don't have to pay more than they'll ever get back in royalties--or prestige.

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Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of This Is the Place; Harkening: A Collection of Stories Remembered; Tracings, a chapbook of poetry; and how to books for writers including, The Frugal Book Promoter: How To Do What Your Publisher Won't; The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success; and Great Little Last Minute Editing Tips for Writers . The Great First Impression Book Proposal is her newest booklet for writers. She has three FRUGAL books for retailers including A Retailer’s Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotions: How To Increase Profits and Spit in the Eyes of Economic Downturns with Thrifty Events and Sales Techniques. Some of her other blogs are TheNewBookReview.blogspot.com, a blog where authors can recycle their favorite reviews. She also blogs at all things editing, grammar, formatting and more at The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor . If your followers at Twitter would benefit from this blog post, please use the little Green widget to let them know about this blog:

Still Debating Self-Publishing?

I have had two letters this week from SWW readers who believe that because I publish some of my books myself that I endorse self-publishing for all books. Well, yes and no. I believe that there is a right way to publish any given title but not only one right way. And I think that an author needs to carefully weigh her dreams for publishing, the capacity of her pocketbook, the time and willingness she has to promote, and her skill set before deciding. Oh, yeah, and her personality. Think of that last part as a zodiac check.

And I believe that we should give readers the opportunity to read our books any old way they prefer (which means, yes, that all books should eventually be rendered as an e-book—by the publisher or by the author—for those who want to read it that way.)

But what prompted me to talk about self-publishing here is that a student at Rutgers University journalism department contacted me. Her professor said that I was the definitive person to talk to about publishing. I am flattered, but there are others who know a whole lot more about publishing than I do. Having said that, I think I am darn good at consulting with authors about their paths to publishing if only because I have personally done it every which way, including some combinations of ways.

Here is a bit of what I told her about my own paths to publishing:

My novel, This Is the Place, was published by a now-defunct subsidiary of a large publisher that specialized in literary novels and, back then, that subsidiary was more or less traditional. The year was 2001 and they gave their authors an advance (like traditional publishers), did the editing for them (like traditional publishers), and a little marketing for them (which I quickly became disillusioned with). But they published digitally (sometimes called POD), and that was something I was unfamiliar with at the time. I quickly learned there is something out there that I called "publisher prejudice."

I am happy to report that publisher prejudice is diminishing, but it still exists. Later my first chapbook of poetry was also published traditionally by Finishing Line Press, a press well-respected in poetry circles. Still I found little difference in terms of what they did in terms of marketing my books.

With backgrounds in journalism, publicity, marketing, and retailing (authors are in fact retailers by virtue of the fact that they at least occasionally need to sell their books directly to consumers at book signings, speaking engagements and writers' conferences), I quickly realized that I must do the marketing for my books no matter how I published. I eventually also realized that as long as I was doing all the work of publishing (true publishing includes the marketing of a book), I might as well do it all myself and reap all the profit and all the satisfaction.

The poetry chapbooks Magdalena Ball and I chose to publish ourselves are a little on the commercial side of poetry--not the poetry itself, but the concept of having a combination of greeting card and chapbooks for people to give away at holidays. That concept seemed only suitable for self-publishing because most traditional publishers interested in poetry are quite literary and most likely would not have been at all interested in selling Christmas chapbooks as holiday cards (see www.howtodoitfrugally.com/more_on_blooming_red.htm )! Further, with our two heads, we are a publishing/marketing whiz-kid team.

I do want to clarify, though. I think there is a right way to publish for every author, every genre. No two books or authors are alike. So what is right for me today may not be right tomorrow. What is right for one book may not be right for the next.

So, what is your publishing path? I’d be interested to know what you’ve done, how you’ve done it and what you learned from the path (or paths) you chose. 

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Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of This Is the Place; Harkening: A Collection of Stories Remembered; Tracings, a chapbook of poetry; and how to books for writers including, The Frugal Book Promoter: How To Do What Your Publisher Won't; The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success; and Great Little Last Minute Editing Tips for Writers . The Great First Impression Book Proposal is her newest booklet for writers. She has three FRUGAL books for retailers including A Retailer’s Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotions: How To Increase Profits and Spit in the Eyes of Economic Downturns with Thrifty Events and Sales Techniques. Some of her other blogs are TheNewBookReview.blogspot.com, a blog where authors can recycle their favorite reviews. She also blogs at all things editing, grammar, formatting and more at The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor . If your followers at Twitter would benefit from this blog post, please use the little Green widget to let them know about this blog:

Review of Must-Have Book on Publishing

Get Published Today

Subtitle: An Insider’s Guide to Publishing Success

By Penny C. Sansevieri

Publisher: Wheatmark 2011

ISBN: 9781604945591

Nonfiction/ (Writing/Publishing)

Contact Reviewer: hojonews@aol.com

               Let the Expert Make an Expert of You

Marketing Guru Shares Publishing Secrets

Reviewed by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, award-winning author of This Is the Place and Harkening: A Collection of Stories Remembered, Tracings, a chapbook of poetry and the How To Do It Frugally Series of books for writers and retailers.

Many of my consulting clients first come to me because they’ve self-published or used a partner publisher and run into some serious mistakes (and misunderstandings) along the way. When Dan Poynter endorsed the second edition of my Frugal Book Promoter (http://budurl.com/FrugalBkPromo) he noted that “The most expensive parts of book promotion are the mistakes.” That’s true of publishing a book, too.

In Get Published Today, Penny C. Sansevieri has written a definitive book on self-publishing. One glance at the Contents (a reliable resource for being reasonably sure a book will give us the information we need), tells us this book will do the job for any author who has chosen the self-publishing route because they don’t want to bide their time during the long and emotionally strenuous agent/traditional publishing route. Or they know that self-publishing is the best way to make more money for their particular title.

Sansevieri covers the basics in the first section, “Let’s Get Published.” In fact she even covers the different publishing models that will help a writer make the best choice. She doesn’t neglect the publishing process, discussions of where you can get help and what you’re likely to need help with.

The third section works at convincing authors that marketing is indeed part of publishing—an essential part. Thank heaven for that! After the thorough job she does of helping a writer bring their book to market, what would be the point of letting it languish!

I am a big proponent of learning by reading. Any author considering the self-publishing route should have a go at this book. The information in it will stand them in good stead no matter what publishing decisions they finally make. The more any writer knows about the publishing world, the less chance there is of having unrealistic expectations, the less chance of making those expensive mistakes.

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Carolyn Howard-Johnson’s first novel, This is the Place, has won eight awards. Her book of creative nonfiction Harkening, won three. A UCLA Writers' Program instructor, she also is the author of another book essential for writers, USA Book News' Best Professional Book , The Frugal Book Promoter: How to get nearly free publicity on your own or partnering with your publisher to get nearly free publicity on your own or by partnering with your publisher (http://budurl.com/FrugalBkPromo). The second in the HowToDoItFrugally series, The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success (also a multi award-winner) covers writing successful query letters and includes helpful hints from twenty of the nation's top agents. Purchase it at Amazon, http://budurl.com/TheFrugalEditor.  Learn more at her Web site http://HowToDoItFrugally.com.

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Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of This Is the Place; Harkening: A Collection of Stories Remembered; Tracings, a chapbook of poetry; and how to books for writers including, The Frugal Book Promoter: How To Do What Your Publisher Won't; The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success; and Great Little Last Minute Editing Tips for Writers . The Great First Impression Book Proposal is her newest booklet for writers. She has three FRUGAL books for retailers including A Retailer’s Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotions: How To Increase Profits and Spit in the Eyes of Economic Downturns with Thrifty Events and Sales Techniques. Some of her other blogs are TheNewBookReview.blogspot.com, a blog where authors can recycle their favorite reviews. She also blogs at all things editing, grammar, formatting and more at The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor . If your followers at Twitter would benefit from this blog post, please use the little Green widget to let them know about this blog:

The Big Virtual Book Tour Question: Dana Lynn Smith Give You the Answer!

Dana Lynn Smith is the amazing possessor of two related skills, marketing and Internet know how of the tech dimension.  Today she is my guest in honor of her own book tour for her new book on, yep! Book Tour Magic!

Should You Hire Someone to Organize Your Virtual Book Tour?

Today's guest post from Dana Lynn Smith, The Savvy Book Marketer, is part of the virtual book tour for her newest book marketing guide, Virtual Book Tour Magic.

The beauty of a virtual book tour is that you can reach a large audience of targeted book buyers by appearing on blogs, podcasts, social networks and other venues, all from the comfort of home.

Organizing a virtual book tour isn't difficult, but it does require good planning and organization, along with an investment of time. Some authors plan their own tours, while others turn to outside help. Here are three ways to organize your virtual book tour:

Do It Yourself

The main advantages of organizing your own virtual book tour are that you will save money and you'll have complete control over the entire process. As the author, you're in the best position to understand your audience and who would make ideal tour hosts. You'll also have more opportunity to develop relationships with your tour hosts, who may be valuable contacts in the future. The disadvantage of the DIY approach is the investment of time.

Hire Assistance

Another option is to use an assistant to help you. You'll need to consider all of the tasks involved in planning and executing the virtual book tour and decide which ones can be delegated. Researching tour hosts is one task that's commonly delegated.

Hiring help will save you time, but you'll still need to do some of the planning yourself and you'll probably need to write all or most of the content for the tour.  If the person you're working with isn't familiar with researching venues and organizing virtual book tours, you'll need to educate them.

If you don't already have an assistant, you can search online for an "author assistant" or "virtual assistant" or hire someone from a freelance service such as Elance or Odesk. 

Hire a Tour Manager

If you don't have time to organize everything yourself, or you'd just prefer to have someone else handle the details, you can hire a virtual book tour manager. But keep in mind that you will still need to devote time to creating content and promoting the tour.

One advantage of hiring a tour manager is that someone who specializes in doing tours in your book genre may have valuable contacts with bloggers who would be good tour hosts.  The disadvantage is the cost and the lack of control over details.

Some book publicity and promotion firms offer virtual book tour management as part of their services, and there are also individuals and companies that specialize in organizing virtual book tours.

Tour services and prices vary widely, so be sure to compare services and be clear about exactly what you're getting. Also, find out if the company specializes in any particular type of book and how much experience they have.

Regardless of which method you choose, you'll still benefit from a thorough understanding of virtual book tours and how to produce compelling content to showcase you and your book.

If you're organizing your own tour, you'll find everything you need to know about planning and creating tour content in my new Virtual Book Tour Magic guidebook. It's also a good tool to educate your assistant in how to help you.

If you hire a tour manager, the information in this book will give you a thorough understand of the process, help you find the best tour manager and work effectively with them, and guide you in choosing the style of tour and creating great content.

About the Author

Dana Lynn Smith, The Savvy Book Marketer, helps authors and indie publishers learn how to sell more books through her how-to guides, blog, newsletter, and private coaching. For more book promotion tips, get her free Top Book Marketing Tips ebooks at www.TheSavvyBookMarketer.com 

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  Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of This Is the Place; Harkening: A Collection of Stories Remembered; Tracings, a chapbook of poetry; and how to books for writers including, The Frugal Book Promoter: How To Do What Your Publisher Won't; The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success; and Great Little Last Minute Editing Tips for Writers . The Great First Impression Book Proposal is her newest booklet for writers. She has three FRUGAL books for retailers including A Retailer’s Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotions: How To Increase Profits and Spit in the Eyes of Economic Downturns with Thrifty Events and Sales Techniques. Some of her other blogs are TheNewBookReview.blogspot.com, a blog where authors can recycle their favorite reviews. She also blogs at all things editing, grammar, formatting and more at The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor . If your followers at Twitter would benefit from this blog post, please use the little Green widget to let them know about this blog:

Author Privacy: Some Want It, Others Don't. . .

...but most of us want to stay in control of what is out there.  This is a reprint from my Sharing with Writers newsletter that will help you do that.  To get the whole letter once a month in your e-mail box (free!), send an e-mail post with SUBSCRIBE in the subject box to HoJoNews  @  AOL.   com.

Keep Facebook from Automatically Identifying Your Photo… ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You’ve heard the old story. Some classmate from the 1970s dug up a photo of you and him at the local pub looking slightly pie-eyed. Facebook’s magic face recognition software identifies you by name and now everyone knows it’s you and—worse—can find this picture of you with hardly any effort. You’d like to avoid that kind of thing? Here’s how to opt out:

1. Go to your “Account” link. Click
2. Find the “Privacy Settings” in the drop down menu. Click
3. Now find the ”Sharing on Facebook” section. Click.
4. Find “Customize Settings. ”Click.
5. Scroll to find “Suggested Photos of Me to Friends.” Click.
6. Next click on “Edit Settings.”
7. You then find “Disable.” Click.

They don’t make this process easy, so while you’re there you can check your other privacy settings. You can do the same kind of thing with your phone number, your e-mail address, etc.

Here’s a caveat, though. Because you are an author, you want people to find you, recognize pictures of your book covers, even send you fan mail, etc. If you use your account to reach readers as well as your old high school buds (and they are readers—well, they could be readers, no?) you may not want to get too private or you’ll lose some of the things Facebook does to benefit your marketing campaign.

This may be one reason that many authors keep their Facebook accounts and “Like” or “Fan” pages separate. I don’t. I like to communicate with my readers and I don’t like to two jobs when one will do. But “like” pages are another way—other than using stringent privacy measure—to keep your private life private and your growing fame no secret.

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Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of This Is the Place; Harkening: A Collection of Stories Remembered; Tracings, a chapbook of poetry; and how to books for writers including, The Frugal Book Promoter: How To Do What Your Publisher Won't; The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success; and Great Little Last Minute Editing Tips for Writers . The Great First Impression Book Proposal is her newest booklet for writers. She has three FRUGAL books for retailers including A Retailer’s Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotions: How To Increase Profits and Spit in the Eyes of Economic Downturns with Thrifty Events and Sales Techniques. Some of her other blogs are TheNewBookReview.blogspot.com, a blog where authors can recycle their favorite reviews. She also blogs at all things editing, grammar, formatting and more at The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor . If your followers at Twitter would benefit from this blog post, please use the little Green widget to let them know about this blog:

Still Time to Give Multi Award-Winning Author's Pick to Your Fave Author for Holidays

 

 

I thought you'd like to see this great, practical review of the second edition of my Frugal Book Promoter, updated and expanded. Especially with Christmas around the corner. Amazon still promises delivery by Christmas. The author in your life needs this holiday gift. (-:

 

The Frugal Book Promoter
By Carolyn Howard-Johnson416 pages
ISBN: 9781463743291
Available in paperback or for Kindle
Also available as an e-book at http://createspace.com/3656422
Author's Web site: http://www.howtodoitfrugally.com

Everything you wanted to know about book promoting and much

much more., September 25, 2011

Reviewed by

mary greenwood

originally for Amazon

This review is from: The Frugal Book Promoter: Second Edition: How to get nearly free publicity on your own or by partnering with your publisher. (Paperback)

When I saw the Table of Contents for this promoting bible, I was hooked. There was a chapter on everything I wanted or needed to know. I have written three "How To" books and have had a number of reviews and awards, but I am looking to go to the next level with some fresh new ideas. In other words, I had reached a plateau and did not want to repeat the same old methods.

When I first started reading the book I immediately liked the tone. It was as though the author was in my living room saying: Mary, why don't you try this and maybe you don't want to do this." Her books, like mine, are based on her personal experience. She has done book fairs; she has taught classes and consulted with authors; she has written award-winning books. She is an expert. That is what makes the book so powerful. I have read books that make me feel guilty if I haven't done ten things for my book that day.

Yesterday, I exhibited at a book festival and most of the authors were complaining that they had few sales. I looked up the topic in my new book. The author says "Book festivals are for readers." I knew intuitively that she was right. She goes on to say that these are really networking opportunities for the writers and not that many books are sold. That shift made me feel encouraged rather than discouraged at the book festival's results. Even though I did not sell tons of books, I did meet a lot of people: readers, writers and bookstore owners. I got a few tips and gave a few tips. I reconnected with people I had seen at previous events and got some recommendations for the best venues for future events. The author was spot on.

I also checked the chapter on book awards. I have won a total of 28 book awards for my three books and thought I knew all there was to know about awards and have spoken on the subject. However, after reading that section on book awards, I realized that I was not doing enough publicizing after I won the book awards and I am going to remedy that situation. Another tip I picked up. I am now going to say Mary Greenwood, multi-award winning author, instead of award-winning author.

Of course, I wished I had seen this book when my first book came out, but I can see that this book is useful for all authors, those working on their first book and authors who already have published several books and need some new ideas. I know I will go back and reread a chapter when I am starting a new task such as a press release or am thinking about doing a new blog or sprucing up my website.

I am just starting on my new book about "How to Negotiate With Your Dog" (hint: you don't.) I am going to use The Frugal Book Promoter Second Edition, the whole way. I can't wait to get started!
~Reviewer Green is author of How to Interview Like A Pro: Forty-Three Rules for Getting Your Next Job

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Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of This Is the Place; Harkening: A Collection of Stories Remembered; Tracings, a chapbook of poetry; and how to books for writers including, The Frugal Book Promoter: How To Do What Your Publisher Won't; The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success; and Great Little Last Minute Editing Tips for Writers . The Great First Impression Book Proposal is her newest booklet for writers. She has three FRUGAL books for retailers including A Retailer’s Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotions: How To Increase Profits and Spit in the Eyes of Economic Downturns with Thrifty Events and Sales Techniques. Some of her other blogs are TheNewBookReview.blogspot.com, a blog where authors can recycle their favorite reviews. She also blogs at all things editing, grammar, formatting and more at The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor . If your followers at Twitter would benefit from this blog post, please use the little Green widget to let them know about this blog: