The Savvy Self-Publisher is a free newsletter sent by e-mail, with tips and tricks to help the streetwise author publish a book quickly and economically -- and to promote it more effectively. It contains success stories of self-publishers in action, and a treasure trove of tools to help you reach more readers.
Below are EXCERPTS from the current issue. Click HERE to get the FULL newsletter by e-mail, free of charge. It includes live hypertext links (unlike the excerpts below) and additional stories of interest to authors and publishers not displayed here.
Please note: the excerpts below are intentionally formatted very simply, as they appear in our no-nonsense e-mail bulletins. For a more polished presentation, please visit our blog at http://www.u-publish.blogspot.com where you can also post your feedback, or share ideas with fellow authors and publishers.
*** THE SAVVY SELF-PUBLISHER: AUG 2009 - SEPT 2009 ***
Tip of the Month:
If you sell copy-protected e-Books, a good way to deter piracy
is to use the buyer's credit card number as the password or
watermark. This discourages unauthorized copying, since few
people want to give their credit card information to others.
A less aggressive alternative is to use the buyer's e-mail
address. In this case, if pirate copies are made, you can
at least identify the source.
There are no 100% effective solutions to prevent unauthorized
copying of e-Books. The ideas above are mentioned for those
who want to reduce (but not eliminate) the danger of piracy.
An update from last month's tip about title pages:
Veteran book reviewer Bob Spear ( http://www.sharpspear.com )
added the following item to our discussion:
"I thought you might like to know that one of the uses for the
half-title page is to use up two pages to help fill out a
signature. For example, let's say the printer wants the final
book layout's pages to be divisible by eight and the page count
is short by two pages (238) to have the divisibility by eight
requirement... the designer will put in a half title page on
the recto and a blank page on the back or verso side of the
paper. That will bring the count up to even eight-page signatures
with a total of 240 pages (divided by 8 is 30 signatures)."
Thanks Bob! We appreciate your input, and your tireless work
over the years in support of the small press and self-publishing
communities.
Lead Story:
Bookstores on the Chopping Block?
[August 7 - London] Auditors of Borders UK raised doubts about
the ability of the book retailer to continue as a going concern:
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/f0d14670-8297-11de-ab4a-00144feabdc0.html
Earlier in 2009, we reported that major US daily newspapers are
now dropping their print editions in favor of online distribution.
In a similar vein, brick-and-mortar bookstores are struggling,
while online booksellers grow.
In this story, the news applies not only to e-Books, but also to
traditionally printed books, POD books, etc. The message is not
about how the book is produced, but where it is sold.
If you have published a book, your future planning must weigh
online bookselling heavily. Whether on Amazon, your own Web
site or Blog, or other outlets, online book ordering is the
wave of the future.
Danny O. Snow wrote a four page paper, explaining the current
trend toward online bookselling, and related factors, in more
detail:
http://sncr.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/publishing-at-the-tipping-point.pdf
Those of us who love bookstores -- especially the little
independent stores in our local communities -- are still keeping
our fingers crossed for their survival. At the same time, the
streetwise author-publisher must take online bookselling more
seriously than ever in today's book world... and tomorrow's!
Publishing Matters:
Join the Midwest Independent Publishers Association in
Minneapolis on August 14-15. This is a "must-see" event for
area authors and publishers, due to dramatic changes in the
book world that are unfolding even as we speak:
http://www.mipa.org
Amusing but True:
Twitter has gained academic respectability with its inclusion
in the Collins English Dictionary:
http://www.booktrade.info/i.php/21991
Danny O. Snow adds, "Hmmm. I wonder what happened to the sound
of birds? Do they exceed 140 characters?"
IMPORTANT heads-up for subscribers:
Over the next few months, U-Publish.com will be moving to a new
Web address: WORDWIDEWEB.net (note: that's WORD not WORLD).
You will receive an e-mail notification when the move has been
completed.
We ask all subscribers to PLEASE add newsdesk@wordwideweb.net to
their lists of requested ("whitelisted") e-mail NOW, to insure
that you will continue to receive this newsletter. Thanks in
advance for your help!
The Write Stuff:
At the beginning of many books, readers find a "Foreword," that
is: words that appear beFORE the body of the book.
Unprofessional books sometimes misuse the word "Forward" instead.
U-Publish.com co-author Dan Poynter quips: "When the first word
of a book is wrong, the rest is immediately suspect."
Be sure to use "Foreword" rather than "Forward" in this context.
By popular demand, a new "The Write Stuff" tip now appears in
every issue of this newsletter. Got a pet peeve? A horror
story? Please share it at our Blog:
http://u-publish.blogspot.com
Please feel free to forward copies of this newsletter to your
fellow authors and publishers. This is a fre@ resource that is
available to anyone in the book world upon request. We don't
accept paid advertising, endorse or guarantee products or
services, nor accept fees for mentioning them without full
disclosure. See http://www.u-publish.com/monthly.htm to join.
Vegas Event for Aspiring Authors:
If you want to to be an author, attend "Author 101 University"
on Oct 30-31 in Las Vegas. Meet editors, agents, and authors
like Mark Victor Hansen of "Chicken Soup for the Soul" fame.
Learn how to promote your book and your business. FMI:
http://www.author101university.com/?u-pub
This event is not affiliated with IBPA's "Publishing University."
See http://www.thepublishinguniversity.com for the IBPA event.
News You Can Use:
At http://convertpdftoword.net you can convert PDF files to
Word format, HTML (Web) and other formats. It's fast and fr*e,
especially useful for authors and publishers who want to try
various e-Book platforms.
REMINDER:
The items above are EXCERPTS from our latest newsletter. Click HERE to get the FULL newsletter by e-mail, free of charge.
Comments are welcome at http://u-publish.blogspot.com where you can share your feedback with fellow authors and independent book publishers.
