Debating Kindle Select with a Google + Follower

Debating KDP Select (Kindle’s Promo Track) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

QUESTION

Ester Benjamin Shifren is one of my Google + followers who tell me, "I'm debating whether to do KDP Select which requires exclusivity for six months, or put my book out there with all the other e-readers. I'm leaning towards the latter. I think some of the magic of Select is wearing off. What's your opinion or thinking on the subject."

 

ANSWER

I did just the opposite, Ester, though I do think some of the novelty is wearing off. I also see that there are many more support sites out there for e-book freebies and that’s a big plus. Also B&N has pulled support for the Nook and the other platforms require another kind of language/format from the one Kindle uses. That means Kindle will not have that competition in the future.

It does get to be quite a time-consuming project for indie authors to reformat for all the different e-reader platforms. I had begun to get ready to do it for Kindle and am kind of relieved I don’t have to do it now. And Smashwords only pays you through Paypal which I distrust. Other authors also say that their royalties with Smashwords is negligible.Thinking back to my marketing theory that even promotions have to be promoted, that sounds about right. People usually go to buy your book where you send them and none of us can promote six to a dozen different e-book sites. Focus. Focus! (A warning here. Don't focus on  paperbacks only.  We need to cater to readers who prefer digital, too.)

 

Of course, there's always an alternative. Use Kindle Select for six months. Promote it. Reap the benefits. And post on the other platforms once your commitment is up. 

 

-----
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 edition 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 .

Getting Top-of-the-Chart Ratings from Kindle

Many authors sigh and long to have their books qualify as a bestsellers. Pros know there are lots of ways to give a book a nudge along the path to that star status--ethically--but they don't know how. When I heard that Eileen Granfors had done something very similar, I asked her to share her secret with my SharingwithWriters blog readers.  What did she do? She elevated the Kindle edition of her Piñata-Maker's Daughter to a #1 position (top-of-the-chart) rating on Amazon using tags. And yes, "top-of-the-chart" can sound very sweet to readers--just as sweet as "bestseller."

 

PROPELLING YOUR BOOK TO #1 ON AMAZON'S KINDLE

 

Hello, fellow authors. Today, let me share a success story based on TAGS.

 

My new release, The Piñata -Maker’s Daughter, debuted at #1 in Hispanic Trilogy.

 

How did that happen?

 

TAGS.

 

First, let’s differentiate between categories and tags. Categories are required and set by Kindle's system--categories like science fiction/fantasy; literary fiction, women’s fiction, etc. These categories are filled with well-known authors’ books, pushing a new author out of sight until sales reach the top one hundred.

 

TAGS are different. Tags allow you to focus on your niche. And if your niche is specific enough, it will show up on Kindle.

 

Since The Piñata -Maker’s Daughter is part of a trilogy and because trilogies are popular, I made sure trilogy was a tag word. I also added Hispanic because the protagonist’s main struggle (and the title) reflect the Hispanic world. If you search for Hispanic trilogy, you will find my book at the top of the chart, #1 Hispanic trilogy.

 

Most people are not going to search for Hispanic trilogy, but it’s wonderful to have that ranking to use in guest blogs, interviews, and other parts of publicity. The Pinata-Maker’s Daughter is #1 in Amazon’s Kindle ranking of Hispanic Trilogies. Further, the title may appear in searches that use only the words "Hispanic" or "trilogy."

 

Next, I put in tag words that would appeal to any audience, Hispanic or not. Since my target audience is women, I used mothers, daughters, and relationships. I added tags for the college-bound, like roommate, protest, and sorority.

 

I am happy to say that by my fourth novel, I have found a logical way to tag that will appeal to the widest audience as well as to a narrow niche. Tag with specifics.

 

With the help of The Frugal Book Promoter, The Pinata-Maker’s Daughter is getting noticed and read. And that’s what I want for my books.

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

 

Eileen Granfors lives in Santa Clarita, California. Though born in New Orleans, Eileen grew up in her mother's hometown, Imperial Beach, California, the most southwesterly city in the U.S. Her mother’s love of Mexico and beaches influenced Eileen's strong ties with her Hispanic neighbors. When Eileen was a child, she and her brother could walk to Mexico down the beach, after crossing the Tijuana River mouth. Today, an iron fence extends out into the breakers at the border. Eileen is a proud UCLA alumna. She began writing after retiring from teaching high school literature and composition for thirty-four years. She enrolled in UCLA’s Extension Writers’ Program on the first day of her retirement.

 

MORE ABOUT THE MARISOL TRILOGY

 

Book 1, The Pinata-Maker’s Daughter

Scholarly Carmen Principia finds that she’s ready for everything at the university except Life 101.

 

Book trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQbpX5c8hbQ

 

 

 Book 2, Some Rivers End on the Day of the Dead

Marisol flees Tijuana, Mexico, with her mother after her journalist father is killed, probably by the drug lords. Living in a migrant camp under an oak tree in a posh suburb is not what Marisol had in mind for life in America.

 

Book trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPTBpbAULhE

 

 

Book 3: So You, Solimar

Solimar’s sister has the perky attitude and good looks. Solimar has the athletic genes. A tragedy after Homecoming brings the sisters into a more conflicted relationship. (due out Spring 2014)-----

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 edition 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:

Getting "Top of the Chart" Ratings from Kindle

 

Many authors sigh and long to have their books qualify as a bestsellers. Pros know there are lots of ways to give a book a nudge along the path to that star status--ethically--but they don't know how. When I heard that Eileen Granfors had done something very similar, I asked her to share her secret with my SharingwithWriters blog readers.  What did she do? She elevated the Kindle edition of her Piñata-Maker's Daughter to a #1 position (top-of-the-chart) rating on Amazon using tags. And yes, "top-of-the-chart" can sound very sweet to readers--just as sweet as "bestseller."

 

PROPELLING YOUR BOOK TO #1 ON AMAZON'S KINDLE

 

Hello, fellow authors. Today, let me share a success story based on TAGS.

 

My new release, The Piñata -Maker’s Daughter, debuted at #1 in Hispanic Trilogy.

 

How did that happen?

 

TAGS.

 

First, let’s differentiate between categories and tags. Categories are required and set by Kindle's system--categories like science fiction/fantasy; literary fiction, women’s fiction, etc. These categories are filled with well-known authors’ books, pushing a new author out of sight until sales reach the top one hundred.

 

TAGS are different. Tags allow you to focus on your niche. And if your niche is specific enough, it will show up on Kindle.

 

Since The Piñata -Maker’s Daughter is part of a trilogy and because trilogies are popular, I made sure trilogy was a tag word. I also added Hispanic because the protagonist’s main struggle (and the title) reflect the Hispanic world. If you search for Hispanic trilogy, you will find my book at the top of the chart, #1 Hispanic trilogy.

 

Most people are not going to search for Hispanic trilogy, but it’s wonderful to have that ranking to use in guest blogs, interviews, and other parts of publicity. The Pinata-Maker’s Daughter is #1 in Amazon’s Kindle ranking of Hispanic Trilogies. Further, the title may appear in searches that use only the words "Hispanic" or "trilogy."

 

Next, I put in tag words that would appeal to any audience, Hispanic or not. Since my target audience is women, I used mothers, daughters, and relationships. I added tags for the college-bound, like roommate, protest, and sorority.

 

I am happy to say that by my fourth novel, I have found a logical way to tag that will appeal to the widest audience as well as to a narrow niche. Tag with specifics.

 

With the help of The Frugal Book Promoter, The Pinata-Maker’s Daughter is getting noticed and read. And that’s what I want for my books.

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

 

Eileen Granfors lives in Santa Clarita, California. Though born in New Orleans, Eileen grew up in her mother's hometown, Imperial Beach, California, the most southwesterly city in the U.S. Her mother’s love of Mexico and beaches influenced Eileen's strong ties with her Hispanic neighbors. When Eileen was a child, she and her brother could walk to Mexico down the beach, after crossing the Tijuana River mouth. Today, an iron fence extends out into the breakers at the border. Eileen is a proud UCLA alumna. She began writing after retiring from teaching high school literature and composition for thirty-four years. She enrolled in UCLA’s Extension Writers’ Program on the first day of her retirement.

 

MORE ABOUT THE MARISOL TRILOGY

 

Book 1, The Pinata-Maker’s Daughter

Scholarly Carmen Principia finds that she’s ready for everything at the university except Life 101.

 

Book trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQbpX5c8hbQ

 

 

 Book 2, Some Rivers End on the Day of the Dead

Marisol flees Tijuana, Mexico, with her mother after her journalist father is killed, probably by the drug lords. Living in a migrant camp under an oak tree in a posh suburb is not what Marisol had in mind for life in America.

 

Book trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPTBpbAULhE

 

 

Book 3: So You, Solimar

Solimar’s sister has the perky attitude and good looks. Solimar has the athletic genes. A tragedy after Homecoming brings the sisters into a more conflicted relationship. (due out Spring 2014)

-----
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 edition 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 . 

Beginner's Guide for Reading .PDF Files on Kindle

Kindle, PDF’s and Those Who Love Being Frugal of Time . .

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Note: The second edition of my The Frugal BookPromoter is now on Kindle and it wasn’t long ago I got a new Kindle.  It took me awhile to learn to download books’ pdf files on m own Kindle and, it dawned on me now is a good time to remind those of you who haven’t used your Kindles for this (and those of you who are IwannaKindle people) how to load the pdfs you want to carry with you--whether they are books or other documents you want to read.  So here are some instructions sent to me by Karen Cioffi. She said:

You can put the PDF of the book you won on your Kindle reader. Here’s how.

~Plug your Kindle into one of your USB ports, it'll bring it up as a new drive on your computer (it might show up as the F, K, J, or other Drive on your computer).

~Then just copy the PDF (from where you originally saved it) and paste it to the Kindle drive.

~Then you'll need to open the Kindle drive and move the PDF into the Kindle Doc file (you just click on the PDF file and drag it into the Kindle Doc file). [Note: I found saving it directly to the documents folder works better than saving it to the books folder or anywhere else. But this may be a feature available only on the newer Kindles.]

That's it. It'll then show up listed in your Kindle contents.

It's just like copying and pasting a file from your hard drive to a zip drive, or from one zip drive to another.

I load my Word files, too. I just turn my word docs into PDFs if I want to read them on Kindle.

 I do this with all the PDFs that I download.

If you run into a problem, let me know and I'll walk you through it.

Karen Cioffi-Ventrice
Author, ghostwriter, freelance writer,
Editor for 4RV Publishing
http://karencioffiwritingandmarketing.com
http://karencioffi.com
http://dkvwriting4u.com
Linkedin: http://linkedin.com/in/karencioffiventrice
Twitter: http://twitter.com/KarenCV
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/kcioffiventrice

Note: Karen sent these instructions when I won an e-copy of one of her books in a contest she was using to promote her work. What a nice service to include as part of any winner package that includes e-books! -----

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:

New Flash: Kindle to Feature Special Indie Bookstore

In the News:  Kindle/Amazon announced its new Indie bookstores of Kindle books today.

They see it as a wonderful advantage of authors. I am reading between the lines but I see it as a way to separate the wheat (professionally produced indie books) from the chaff (indie books that leave something to be desired). That is a good thing for readers and may be good for writers, too, if it encourages them to take more care with their editing and formatting, etc. Learn more about it on this Amazon page:

https://kdp.amazon.com/self-publishing/help?moduleId=200734540

By the way, there is no way for authors to submit their books for this honor. Amazon is selecting entries using their algorithms.

-----
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:

Kindle and Authors Victimized by Spam Producers

This "In the News" post is from a feature that runs regularly in my Sharing with Writers newsletter. Writers can subscribe by sending me an e-mail with SUBSCRIBE in the subject line at HoJoNews (at) AOL (dot) com. 

In the News:  Oh, my gosh. Could authors be doing this? LA Times reports that spam is clogging Amazon’s Kindle. Here’s what is happening:

Amazon offers Kindle uploads f r ^ ^. That is a wonderful privilege. But it’s being abused. Books that “are not written in the traditional sense” are being uploaded to Kindle. The article from Reuters says they are “built using something known as Private Label Rights or PLR content, which is information that can be bought very cheaply [or stolen] online and then reformatted into a digital book.” There is even a DVD box set available that teaches people to do it so they can write/publish up to twenty books a day! Then they load these pseudo books onto Kindle for 99 cents and after they have enough of them up there, they sit back and reap the profits! It’s all about volume. Enough 99 cent books at 70% royalties equals a nice check each month. Some of these books seem to be copies of others’ work, too!

I just finished writing a piece on authors who take advantage of the benefits offered by certain online entities like Amazon. I’ve seen great benefits come, then get abused, then disappear because the online entities can’t continue to support bad behavior.

Here’s the thing. If something feels dishonest or destructive, it probably is. But new authors often don’t have the experience to effectively analyze a marketing or publishing idea that they read about so they get roped into destructive behavior. I hope my readers will be vigilant. Sometimes the line between ethical behavior and fraud or plagiarism is not as evident as one would like. Avoid anything that feels like ballot stuffing, paying for or demanding payment for services that should be free, or plagiarizing. And continue to do what you are doing—that is producing the best possible manuscripts you can. It’s best for you and best for the publishing industry as a whole. It’s also what will eventually give all self publishers a fighting chance against publishing prejudice.

-----
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:

E-BOOKS Vs. PHYSICAL BOOKS Vs USED BOOKS

Richard Bauman is a Sharing Writer today with an opinion on e-books. Before you hit him hard on buying mostly used books for which the author gets no royalties, please read this through. It may be just what you need to get you onto the e-book and e-reader track. And, shoot.  Leave a comment. Tell him what you think!  I mean, really. SHOOT.  He wants to know. I want to know!



By Richard Bauman



Have you read an ebook lately? Probably you have. Were you happy with the price you paid for that ebook? Chances are not so much. If you thought it was overpriced—it probably was—especially when you consider you probably could have bought a “used” copy of that book for a fraction of the price of either the ebook or a new print version of the book.


I’m an author, and of course I want people to buy my books. New books; freshly printed books, or ebooks. On the other hand, I rarely buy new books. I buy used books, even recently published and popular books, fiction and non-fiction, usually for no more than ten percent of their original selling price, very often a lot less than that. Places like half.com, amazon.com and numerous other websites make it easy to buy used books. But I haven’t yet found a website selling “used” ebooks.
The skyrocketing popularity of ebooks is well documented. There are a gazillion websites where you can gather all the glowing statistics about ebooks sales verses physical books. There’s a lot of flux, though, about the price of ebooks verses physical books. Some say ebooks and physical books should be priced the same, others (like me) believe ebooks should be lower priced since production costs, including shipping and handling, are lower for ebooks than traditional books.
In any discussion about ebooks pricing verses pricing for physical books, one part of the book market that seems to have been ignored by publishers, authors and even readers is used books. That is a mistake. By pricing ebooks at or near the price of physical books publishers/authors are losing sales. Because many book buyers will purchase used books rather than new books, regardless of format, and thus authors and publishers make zero dollars from the books (the used ones) we buy.
The author of a traditionally published book might get 20% of the book’s selling price in royalties. Often royalties are based on the book’s wholesale price, not its retail price. And bookstore shelf life of a new book is short. If it doesn’t sell quickly and sell well, it will probably be a remainder book in less than a year. Remainders and returns don’t put money in the author’s pocket.


Once a book’s been read, it might get donated to a thrift store or library sale, or put up for sale on half.com or Amazon.com. The book might be given to a friend or relative. No matter where it goes, on the book’s second and subsequent change of hands the author and publisher get zilch. For authors and publishers of traditional books it’s a one copy, one sale, one money making opportunity.

Now, if publishers and authors produce ebook versions of physical books, there’s the potential for bigger sales, and more income for them, provided they sell the books in price range that entices frugal book buyers to shun secondhand books in favor of the ebook version.

Here’s an example of how wise pricing can mean more sales and more income for publisher and author. Gordon Kirkland is a humor writer. He’s a great wit, and I’ve read several of his books. As I’m writing this the print version of his book, I Think I’m Having one of Those Decades is for sale on Amazon.com for $17.95. Even though I really enjoy Kirkland’s sense of humor that’s way more than I’m willing to pay for his book. I checked half.com, and I can buy it used for 78-cents. A no-brainer, I’ll buy the used copy. But wait. On amazon.com there’s also the ebook version of the book—for just 99-cents. Only twenty one cents more for the ebook than for the used book. I’ll take it. Hold on, it gets even better. That seventy-eight cent book will actually cost me $4.27 thanks to $3.49 for shipping and handling. And I’ll have to wait a week or so for it to arrive in the mail. What should I do? Spend more than $4 for the used paperback, or 99-cents for the new ebook I can download and start reading instantly? Talk about a no-brainer.

If I buy either a new or used print version of the book I get a physical book that I can keep or give away, donate to thrift store or library sale, or even sell on Amazon or Half.com. I’ll take the 99-cent deal. The thrift store and friends lose out, but I make out, and so does Kirkland.

I can hear publishers and authors crying tears as big as light bulbs that they’ll make less money if they lower the price on ebooks into to the used book range. Will they?
I deliberately used Gordon Kirkland as an example, because he recently lowered the price of many of his ebooks on Amazon.com to 99-cents. According to his posting on his Facebook page, he’s not only making more sales, he’s making more money at 99-cents than he did when the ebooks were priced higher.


An example of a pricing strategy, in my opinion, that works against the author and publisher is for the book The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls. It’s a terrific memoir, one of the best I’ve read. Today, on the Barnes & Noble website, you can buy the new paperback version for $9.36 plus $3.99 shipping (total 13.35). The ebook version is $9.99. On the other hand, at half.com I can buy a used copy for $1, plus $3.49 shipping. If the ebook version was priced in the $4-$5 range, I believe the author and publisher could sell more ebooks, and make more money, and at the same time see fewer sales going to the used book marketers.


Ebooks are hot products right now. They aren’t a fad, and no doubt will be a major form of book sales going forward. The enthusiasm for them will be lessened, however, if publishers and authors don’t pay attention to the used books market and its impact on the sales of new books. When people like me, with a wide streak of frugality, see they can still buy used books cheaper than they can a new e-book, that’s what we will buy. On the other hand, if publishers and authors will price their e-books into the price range of used books and their inherent shipping costs, they probably can sell a lot more e-books to people like me.

~Writing opinion today is Richard J. Bauman. Author, Awe-Full Moments: Spirituality in the Commonplace, http://www.richardjbauman.com/

---- 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:

Kindle to Allow Owners to Borrow from Libraries

I don't want you to have to wait until the next issue of my Sharing with Writers newsletter to see this news.  Just like the old journalist I am, I like to be first (or close to first!) with the news! So her it is, just as it will appear in my newsletter in June.

In the News:  Coming from Kindle: A great benefit for writers who must do lots of research. Called “Kindle Library Lending” it will allow Kindle owners to access every e-book available in any library’s system and it should work just like other books on Kindle, that is allow Kindle to keep track of the last page a reader read and allow readers to highlight and make notes on text. The difference is, these are library books, so they may only be “checked out” for seven to fourteen days, depending on the specific library's policies. Reported by the LA Times.

By the way, anyone who would like to subscribe to Sharing with Writers need only send an e-mail to me with SUBSCRIBE in the subject line (HoJoNews@aol.com). I'm happy to do it for you. 

----- 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:

Opportunity and Idea for Financing Your Book

I have suggested using advertising in our books in past SharingwithWriters posts. Many books—especially free promotional booklets and e-books—are perfect for paid ads and ads-in-barter, especially when the ads are focused on the book’s target audience. I have a couple in my The Great First Impression Book Proposal booklet, and Great Little Last-Minute Editing Tips booklet.

 Now the LA Times reports that Amazon will sell ads and place them in some Kindle readers and that they will then sell those readers at 18% less than the ad-free device ($114.00).  So ads will help Amazon and help subsidize the cost of the Kindle for readers, too! And their customers will be able to choose frugality over valuable ads and offers--if they're that foolish. (I just bought a Kindle and wish I’d waited. You know how frugal I am. I want those deals!)

So, if you decide to put ads into your books, how would you do it?
~Put the ads in the backmatter of your book.

~Accept only professionally produced ads.

~Accept only ads that would interest your target audience. Be prepared to refuse some with the “not quite right” phrase that literary journals use to reject submissions.

~Limit the number of adds to just a few.

~Encourage ads that give discounts or freebies so that the ads are seen as an added value by your readers. When utilized, they may even end up making up for the cost of the book (yours!) the reader just bought.

PS: Anyone with a product (yes, we hate to think of them that way but books are products!) or a service that would appeal to readers of The Frugal Book Promoter may e-mail me for details of how we might partner on something like this in the future. There are more books in HowToDoItFrugally series coming. Spaces are limited.

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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:

Amazon Kindle Lets Book Buyers Lend Books!

Based in past experience, I can hear some of my subscribers virtually groaning. Many will see this as a way to sidestep their chance to collect more royalties!

Stop it! Right now!

This is a program designed to help you sell more books, not fewer! Amazon is letting your readers recommend your book—easily! By keeping the loan period short,  Amazon has actually rigged the program for authors so that many who get a book loaned to them will go back and buy it for themselves . I mean, Kindle editions aren’t expensive, right? And we all know that word-of-mouth sells books. Now, if a reader of your Kindle edition lends your book, you’ll have two mouths out there working for you.


Here’s the announcement directly from Amazon:

“We are excited to announce Kindle book lending (http://www.amazon.com/kindle-lending). The Kindle Book Lending feature allows users to lend digital books they have purchased through the Kindle Store to their friends and family. Each book may be lent once for a duration of 14 days and will not be readable by the lender during the loan period.

“All DTP titles are enrolled in lending by default. For titles in the 35% royalty option, you may choose to opt out of lending by deselecting the checkbox under "Kindle Book Lending," in the "Rights and Pricing" section of the title upload/edit process. You may not choose to opt out a title if it is included in the lending program of another sales or distribution channel. For more details, see section 5.2.2 of the Term and Conditions.

“For more info on how Kindle Book Lending works, see our FAQ here: http://forums.digitaltextplatform.com/dtpforums/entry.jspa?externalID=581

Sincerely,
Amazon Digital Text Platform”



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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:

Barnes and Noble, E-Books, Readers and Making Life Easy on Customers

Promises, promises.

Barnes & Noble said it would have an e-book store in 2006.

Then it backed off from the idea. But it’s b-a-a-a-ck! It’s talking e-books again, probably because it acquired digital-minded Fictionwise for--are you ready for this? $15.7 million. And probably because competitor Amazon is going after e-book sales.

The bad news is that B&N says their downloads won’t be compatible with either Kindle or Sony. In fact, downloads from some devices won’t work with Blackberries and iPhones (though B&N promises theirs will!)

B&N says they are working with another handheld called Plastic Logic. So that’s one more handheld device publishers and self-published authors will have to deal with.

Except for the e-book part, they’re all on the wrong track. Readers are customers. They just want access and they want it easily. They aren’t much interested in the petty competitions between giants. That’s what made the Net great. Access by all. Shouldn’t we be able to count on the smart guys to care about the end customer? Especially with one of the most successful models in all of history as a model?

Go figure.


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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 two how to books for writers, The Frugal Book Promoter: How To Do What Your Publisher Won't and The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success. Her FRUGAL book for retailers is 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. She is also the author of the Amazon Short, "The Great First Impression Book Proposal". 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 blog.

My Take on the B&N E-Book Foray

Promises, promises.

Once upon a time Barnes & Noble said it would have an e-book store. Then, in 2006, it backed off from the idea. But it’s b-a-a-a-ck!

It’s talking e-books again, probably because it acquired digital-minded Fictionwise for--are you ready for this? 15.7 million. And probably because competitior Amazon is going after e-book sales. The bad news is that B&N says their downloads won’t be compatible with either Kindle or Sony. And downloads from some other devices won’t work with Blackberries and iPhones (though B&N promises theirs will!).

B&N says they are working with another handheld called Plastic Logic. So that’s one more handheld device publishers and self-published authors will have to deal with.

Except for the e-book part, they’re all on the wrong track. Readers are customers. They just want access and they want it easy. They aren’t much interested in the petty competitions between giants. That’s what made the Net great. Access by all. Shouldn’t we be able to count on the smart guys to care about the end customer? Especially with one of the most successful models in all of history as a model?

Go figure.

PS: All my HowToDoItFrugally books are available on Kindle. (See www.budurl.com/FrugalEditorKindle.)I'm struggling to find time to get them ready for Sony and may never do it (I'm not that techy!). And now this. It's the cell phone snafu all over again. That's another column, but Europe's cell phone system beats ours by a long shot. Looks as if they'll have to take the lead in regularizing the e-book phenomenon, 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 two how to books for writers, The Frugal Book Promoter: How To Do What Your Publisher Won't and The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success. Her FRUGAL book for retailers is 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. She is also the author of the Amazon Short, "The Great First Impression Book Proposal". 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 blog.

"THE MIDDLE-AGED MAN AND THE SEA" SERVES AS EXAMPLE FOR SELLING BOOKS IN A TOUGH ECONOMY

My friend and fellow UCLA Writers' Program instructor, Chris Meeks, is looking to selling books even in a rough economy. As per my advice in The Frugal Book Promoter, he posted an educational kind of release on one of my favorite media release disseminators, PRLeap.com. You'll find a list of others along with mini reviews of each at www.howtodoitfrugally.com. First click on "Resources for Writers" tab at the top of the page. Then find the media disseminators link under the title on that link. Lots of other resources, too! And here's what Chris is doing to beat the economy odds:


(PRLEAP.COM) There’s an old saying that in a tough economy, books and booze continue to sell. The booze is because people don’t stop drinking, no matter what, and the books are because people don’t stop thinking, no matter what.

Ah, but how does an author or small publisher get more sales when sales outlets become tighter, and customers are more discerning with their dollars? Here are six tips based on what "The Middle-Aged Man and the Sea" by Christopher Meeks has done to stand out. The collection of short fiction has garnered many great reviews, including one in the Los Angeles Times and a selection in Entertainment Weekly.

1) MAKE BOOKS "BOOKSTORE FRIENDLY" I.E. RETURNABLE AND RETAIL DISCOUNTED.

A number of small publishers have embraced the new print-on-demand (POD) technology, which heralded a green revolution for the publishing industry. Only books that book buyers ordered were to be printed—and printed quickly like a high-end one-hour photo. Most POD books, however, are not returnable, which means bookstores have stayed away in droves, not ordering anything POD.

Additionally, most POD titles are not discounted enough for bookstores. Barnes and Noble executive Diane Simowski in the Small Press Department says that only books that receive at least a 40% discount on will be labeled as a "retail discount" versus a "short discount." If a book shows up as the latter, individual Barnes stores can only order them if a customer prepays for the book.

Thus, if one is using print-on-demand, it’s best to use a printer that can print inexpensively, guarantee discounts to bookstores, and the books can be returned.

"The Middle-Aged Man and the Sea," first produced by Lulu Press, was not returnable and it had a short discount. Now with a new ISBN number, it’s published by White Whisker Books, printed though Lightning Source, and it’s bookstore friendly: retail discounted and returnable.

So is Meeks’s new book, "Months and Seasons," and his upcoming novel, "The Brightest Moon of the Century," out March 7.

2) ENABLE GOOGLE BOOK SEARCH.

Rhonda Herman, executive VP at publisher McFarland & Company, based in Jefferson, NC, has characterized the recent market for reference books as a "slow but steady decline." One of her company’s tips is to participate in Google Book Search. The full-text of their books are fully searchable on Google, resulting in a 1.5 percent click-through on a link to buy a book. Herman feels Google Book Search to be more effective than online advertising. "The Middle-Aged Man and the Sea" is fully Google searchable.

3) GO DIGITAL. GO KINDLE.

Books are not just in paper anymore. Books are now downloadable to computers and, thanks to Amazon, to a wireless reading device, the Kindle. The $359 Kindle is lightweight and can be used in daylight. It doesn’t cost publishers anything to make their books digitized for Kindle, and the growing market is thus worth pursing. For consumers, a downloadable book is much less expensive. Michael Connelly’s #1 bestseller, The Brass Verdict, retails for $26.99, sells on Amazon in hardcover for $16. 19, and for Kindle, just $9.99. "The Middle-Aged Man and the Sea" will soon be on Kindle.

4) TAKE ADVANTAGE OF LITERARY BLOGS.

Send your books to the best sites for review. A broad decline in newspaper circulation sales that began early this decade has worsened recently, according to figures released by the Audit Bureau of Circulations. That means even worse news for space allotted to book reviews in newspapers. Witness the recent downsizing of the Los Angeles Times’ Sunday book review section.

What the newspapers are losing, the Internet is gaining. Such huge sites as Salon.com, the Huffington Post, and Rebeccas Reads, review books regularly, but so do smaller sites known as literary blogs. These are often individuals with a passion for reading and reviewing. Meeks’s books have appeared on more than two dozen of these sites, such as Dawn Rennert’s She’s Too Fond of Books, Rebecca Schinsky’s Book Lady’s Blog, Marc Schuster’s Small Press Reviews, and Sam Sattler’s Book Chase.

Literary blogger Wendy Robards, whose website Caribousmom recently won a BBAW Award for Best Literary Blog and has reviewed Meeks’s work well, wrote recently that "Authors and publishers are not sending their books to bloggers simply to be kind. It is becoming more and more apparent that book bloggers are impacting sales, and for the cost of mailing a book, an author gets marketing, which travels around the world." As author Elizabeth Emerson Hancock adds, "The worst review is no review." Get your books reviewed.

Meeks says to find some great literary blogs, go to Google, click on "more" then on "blogs" then type "Christopher Meeks" and you’ll see. He also recommends using the book "The Frugal Book Promoter" by Carolyn Howard-Johnson.

5) TAKE ADVANTAGE OF INTERNET RADIO SHOWS.

With the airwaves finite, and the number of talk shows limited, the Internet is also becoming host to a legion of radio bloggers. Meeks is interviewed on http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Jordana-Ryan/2008/08/22/Chris-Meeks.

6) MAKE A VIDEO FOR YOUTUBE.

An author on YouTube is akin to a rock band on MTV - a growing necessity. Go to YouTube and type in your favorite author. You’ll see. The best videos are not mere authors talking to a hand-held camcorder, but they are made professionally with music and imagery, created by specialists such as the one for "The Middle-Aged Man and the Sea" produced by Expanded Books. You can see it at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hgq5N-Me7j4.


"The Middle-Aged Man and the Sea"
Published by White Whisker Books
ISBN: 978-0-615-24917-9
List price: $14.95; retail discount through Ingram

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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 two how to books, The Frugal Book Promoter: How To Do What Your Publisher Won't and The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success. She is also the author of the Amazon Short, "The Great First Impression Book Proposal." Some of her other blogs are TheNewBookReview.blogspot.com and AuthorsCoalition.blogspot.com, a blog that helps writers and publishers turn a ho-hum book fair booth into a sizzler.

Q&A: So Why Bother with Kindle?

Question:
One of my Yahoogroups.com friends asked if Kindle was worth the time it takes.

Answer: Monica, I have a retailing background (owner of a small chain of gift stores) as well as a publishing one. And we who are interested in selling books are also intrinsically retailers.

As a retailer I believed that one should offer a product in ways that your customer wanted to buy them. Thus we took credit cards even though it cost us money (4% of every sale or some such!) back in the days when other retailers fought the idea of catering to customers that way.

So, is Kindle important? I don't think you'll sell tons of books with Kindle but you might sell a few to people who really, really want a book like yours but want to read it on Kindle. If your book isn't a Kindle book, they'll find a similar one to yours. You lost a sale. That one sale could be your most important of the year. A director? A TV host? Someone who loves to pass around the good word about books he or she loves? Besides, last I looked, there was no charge to get your book Kindled, so why not?
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Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author THIS IS THE PLACE; HARKENING: A COLLECTION OF STORIES REMEMBERED; TRACINGS, a chapbook of poetry; and two how to books, THE FRUGAL BOOK PROMOTER: HOW TO DO WHAT YOUR PUBLISHER WON'T; and THE FRUGAL EDITOR: PUT YOUR BEST BOOK FORWARD TO AVOID HUMILIATION AND ENSURE SUCCESS.
Her other blogs include TheNewBookReview.blogspot.com and AuthorsCoalition.blogspot.com, a blog that helps writers and publishers turn a ho-hum book fair booth into a sizzler.

So What's With All the Online Marketing Talk?

Learning from the Big Boys and Girls and Vice Versa

In my AllMarketing edition of Sharing with Writers* you saw lots of talk about e-books and online marketing. I hope you aren't still giving e-books the squint-eye. I'm pretty sure I've convinced you that online marketing is as important, if not more important (because of its reach and because of its no-cost or low cost)) and if I haven't, all this news from the likes of Borders, HarperCollins,in that issue should have convinced you. These big guys (gals?) should have been the leaders. Instead books like The Frugal Book Promoter (first published in 2004) have been. That's OK. At least we're all getting onto the same page!

So, even if you're not convinced yet that you should publish your book as an e-book if for no other reason than that some people WANT to buy it that way and that one person who passes your book because it's not available on Sony Reader or Kindle or just as a plain old .pdf on your publisher's website, might be a director or producer who would have read your book on a plane, fallen in love with it and decided to offer you a contract. If that doesn't sound good to you, far be it from me to try to convince you -- even those of you who write literary novels or short stories.

Still, here are some other e-adventures you could take with your book.

1 Publish it as a .pdf to be given as a small add-on purchase with that bouquet of roses florists' (or some other commercial) sites at Mothers Day or Valentines. That's what Magdalena Ball and I did with Cherished Pulse, our book of unsyrupy love poetry. Find it now free at www.authorscoalitionandredenginepress.com/free_ebooks.htm.

2. Use a small e-book as a promotion device. Soon to come is my The Ultimate Frugal (FREE) Booklet on Editing: Get Zero-Tolerance Editors to Look at Your Manuscript, a list of common and errors easily overlooked during the editing process. It's sort of an addendum to The Frugal Editor: Put YOur Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success. I haven't decided how to get this booklet to you. Free with purchase? An under $5. retail? A gift-with-purchase using a code when people buy my books at fairs and speaking venues? All of the above? Stephen King tried it a couple of years ago and gave up. He was to far ahead of the curve, I guess.

3. E-publish your book chapter-by-chapter on your site or as a blog. No ch ^ rge or a small charge. To build loyalty and interest in your other books. This is especially a good idea if you have an early novel that hasn't been published and needs some sprucing up.

4. E-publish excerpts from your book on your blog or on your website -- free. One chapter at a time. When you try this idea (I've not tested it), remove the former chapter when you put up the next. I think this might work especially well for a book that has been out there awhile and is losing steam. Or as prepublicity for a book that won't be out for some time. Those who come in late will buy your book to get the early chapters. Those who come in late will visit your site every single time a new chapter is posted and become loyal fans. You know they will!

Read Kathe Goglewski's free e-book that will soon be released at www.tri-studio.com. It's full of Out of the Box promotion deas including some e-ideas. All the ideas in it were winners of her first annual Out of the Box promotion ideas contest.

*Subscribe with the automatic signup window in the left column of this blog or send me an e-mail at HoJoNews@aol.com with "SUBSCRIBE" in the subject line.

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Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author THIS IS THE PLACE; HARKENING: A COLLECTION OF STORIES REMEMBERED; TRACINGS, a chapbook of poetry; and two how to books, THE FRUGAL BOOK PROMOTER: HOW TO DO WHAT YOUR PUBLISHER WON'T; and THE FRUGAL EDITOR: PUT YOUR BEST BOOK FORWARD TO AVOID HUMILIATION AND ENSURE SUCCESS.
Her other blogs include TheNewBookReview.blogspot.com and AuthorsCoalition.blogspot.com, a blog that helps writers and publishers turn a ho-hum book fair booth into a sizzler.

Selling Your Book The Way People Want to Buy It

Or Your Per Book Net Profit and What You Can Do About It

Stop Whining!

You know, about how much money you make per book.

If you self-published and your margin is too small to accommodate the profit margins of bookstore or Amazon sales it's your own fault. You didn't do your homework upfront. So swallow hard and console yourself. You've learned a valuable lesson for the next time you publish.

Ditto for subsidy- or partner-published books. Your publisher doesn't give you enough royalties? Next time negotiate better or choose another publisher or, better still, self-publish (yes, a new learning curve for you but you'll have more control over your profitability).

If you're traditionally published, you made the tradeoff! You hoped for fame. And you hoped for big sales. You may have gotten one, both or neither. You knew there were no guarantees. And didn't you know, too, that the publisher was taking the financial risks and therefore needed to take a bigger share of the pie to pay for his or her expenses and to make a profit to stay in business? If you didn't, maybe you should have taken a Business 101, Basic Economics or The Essentials of Capitalism course before you embarked on what, after all, is a business. In fact, an industry!

So the fact remains, you're boo-hooing because you don't make enough per book, right? Well be comforted because volume counts for something, too. So, roll up your sleeves and go for more sales. Promote like crazy. To do that, you'll want to be able to write a picture-perfect query letter so you can:

 Pitch your next book to a publisher or agent who can be a partner in increasing your profits.

 You'll want to know how to query appropriately for feature stories on you or the content of your book.

 You'll want to know how to write a presentable cover letter to contest judges so you can win some awards to make your book stand out.

 You'll want your query to entice radio and TV producers so they'll want you on their show. To do that, get controversial -- yes, even in the query!

 You'll want to query magazine and e-zine editors to publish your articles and/or excerpts so you can build credibility for your book and more easily sell the next one. And you do that by -- you guessed it -- doing your homework. Buy a book that tells you how to do that.

By the way, The Frugal Editor is a good start on all of the above!)

And then get a few good books on promotion. You need to understand what the different kinds of editors need. And you need to know how to offer them what they want in a way that makes it supremely easy for them to pick you.

You want to sell your book any old way your customer wants to buy them. Many people prefer to buy from Amazon so why would you try to force them to buy direct from your site? What if it doesn't work and they buy somebody else's book from Amazon instead. You know, they may be at Amazon spending their money and be interested in a book like yours. Lots of people are. They may need one more book to make the minimum to get free shipping. Or they may not want to pay sales tax. Or they may not want to take the time to make two purchases, one with credit card, one with Paypal. Or they may just get ticked because you're trying to make them buy your book YOUR way, they won't buy your book regardless.

What if they like to read e-books or need a book instantly and your book isn't available that way? Yep, they'll buy somebody else's! Loyalty only extends so far.

Ditto for Kindle!

What if they long for a signed book? Do you offer a way for them to get your treasured signature? With a label sent directly to them. Your autograph is one way to entice readers to buy directly from you if you prefer that.

Many authors rely solely on online bookstore sales. Authors can avoid some or our industry problems by selling their books that way. But what about customers who prefer to buy from bookstores? You should have at least made the effort to assure that your book can be ordered for customers who request them at B&N and Borders or at your local independents.

And here's a last idea for boosting your profitability. It's especially useful for authors who have only one book. Sell another book with yours at book fairs and your speaking engagements. It helps if the second or third books are related to yours but don't duplicate it so closely that a reader wouldn't need or want both. You can offer a little gift with purchase if a customer buys both. Authors' Coalition does that at their booth at the LA Times Festival of Books.

To make something like this work, of course, the second book must be purchased in quantity and marked up. Here are some ways to do that:
 You can cross-promote with an author friend.
 Or you can contact an author, tell them your plans and ask for a bookstore discount if you buy, say, six of his or her books.
 Or you can sell The Complete Writers' Journal which was designed with this purposed in mind and is available at discounts in quantity. Find it at www.redenginepress.com.

I guess it comes down to this. We all make mistakes. But we don't benefit from them if we don't own up. Hoist up your panties, do what you can to rectify the mistake this time around and avoid making it again.

And keep learning. You do that by reading, reading, reading. Add evaluating to that list. Not all resources are born equal. Listen but don't swallow whole anything you hear or read. (I'm sure you've noticed that there is a lot of griping-to-no-purpose going around the Web!)

Once you've been around the industry a little while, it will be easier to tell if what you hear is right for you. You'll know what to adopt and what to discard. Hooray for you. Now you're a real author. An author who knows the industry you're in and how to make it work for you. The school of hard knocks isn't all bad.

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Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author THIS IS THE PLACE; HARKENING: A COLLECTION OF STORIES REMEMBERED; TRACINGS, a chapbook of poetry; and two how to books, THE FRUGAL BOOK PROMOTER: HOW TO DO WHAT YOUR PUBLISHER WON'T; and THE FRUGAL EDITOR: PUT YOUR BEST BOOK FORWARD TO AVOID HUMILIATION AND ENSURE SUCCESS.
Her other blogs include TheNewBookReview.blogspot.com and AuthorsCoalition.blogspot.com, a blog that helps writers and publishers turn a ho-hum book fair booth into a sizzler.