By Jerry D. Simmons (used by permision)

Publishers often make mistakes and it is important that writers are aware of the problems that can occur before the process moves along to publication.

Writers who self publish should especially be aware of common mistakes when publishing their own manuscript. Regardless of whether the publisher produces hundreds of titles or one, awareness and avoidance of common mistakes should be practiced.

Here are the seven biggest mistakes that publishers and authors make.

[1] Rushing to Publication

The first is rushing a manuscript to publication before the editorial process is complete or when the manuscript doesn’t deliver. Editors working inhouse are under pressure to deliver on a very tight and strict deadline to meet a publication date. The problem is that the manuscript may not be ready and ultimately will fail because of that fact. With self-publishing the pressure is off and yet too often writers tend to proceed to release date rather than correct the editorial problems.

Nothing can kill a book’s potential faster than rushing to publish a manuscript that is not ready for release. That same principle holds for the self-published who have revised and rewritten their manuscript to death and it still doesn’t work. In that case, the best approach is to avoid publication. Simply place the writing on a shelf and start something new. Rather than make a publishing mistake of this magnitude, the best advice is to delay, not destroy.

[2] Improper Categorization

The second mistake is placing the wrong category on a book that ends up in a spot where readers are not able to locate the title. With big publishers, this happens more than you can imagine because their goal is to segment each category into as many subgenres as possible to gain a competitive advantage.

The problem with that thinking is retailers and online sellers have caught on and now refuse to separate general categories into several sub-categories, thus making it more difficult for consumers to find individual titles or authors.

The same problem holds true for online sales where they are not fighting shelf space but still hesitate to slice and dice too many mainstream categories. This is difficult to understand but the idea seems to be keep things as simple as possible so readers will be forced to browse rather than go directly to what they want. The web site search engines help but online booksellers are smarter than we give them credit for. They have learned to throw as many titles in the face of the searcher in hopes they will purchase more than one .

[3] Title Mistakes

Bestselling authors seldom worry about titles; their notoriety can withstand just about anything. Not so for relatively unknown writers searching to expand their audience.

For both fiction and nonfiction, titles must provide direction for the reader. Romance writers cannot get away with titling their love story The Amazing Race or Guns for Hire. These titles send the wrong message and savvy consumers will often rush right past, regardless of the quality of the manuscript.

Title problems are especially troublesome for nonfiction where subtitles play a major part in the success of the book. If the title does not imply an immediate position for the reader, then often the book gets passed over.

If you are writing a particularly narrow niche manuscript that screams, for example, business finance, then the title should hit that nail squarely on the head. In addition, the subtitle should bring the subject into focus, making selection quick and easy.

With titles, the publisher and author get only one chance, so a mistake in this area can be fatal.

[4] Package Mistakes

Once the title is secure, the package or cover must convey the same message. The best advice is to browse the aisles of a local bookstore for comparison packages of similar titles and take notice of the colors, font, placement of title, and author name, whether photos or illustrations are used as opposed to simple title design without illustrations.

In this case, following the lead of the major publishers is a good idea. If they do one thing well it is package books because they have a tremendous advantage when it comes to knowing what consumers want.

Never get sentimental about specific designs that your friend or relative created for you. While a sweet gesture, if the cover misses the mark, the publication may never recover. Once the title is out in the market, trying to recall for a new look is not only difficult but costly. Plus the issue with pulling one title from the market and eventually replacing with a new one is time consuming. Leave the packaging to the experts and allow them to create a unique design for you with your specific direction. This is the best approach to book packaging.

[5] Pricing Mistakes

Writers value their work at a much higher level than the average consumer.

While every work has value, the truth is that the market sets the price, not the publisher or author. If fiction titles in your category are generally priced in a range separated by four dollars, it is wise to stay from the middle to the bottom of that range. It’s especially true if you are relatively unknown and building a readership. Trying to price yourself at the high end means you will compete for the same dollars as bestselling or notable and more experienced writers.

When it comes to pricing, it is easier to go up rather than go down. A reduction in price often indicates a fire sale when it comes to books and that screams failure. Special promotions with price reductions are fine but it still signals a potential problem. Consumers are smart when it comes to disposable income and they know the market when purchasing books. Price right from the beginning and avoid these issues.

[6] Format Mistakes

Not every manuscript should be published and not every format works for every publication.

Although this mistake is largely an issue for traditional publishers, there are mistakes that self-published authors make with regard to format. For example, print should not always be the first choice. Digital publishing makes a lot of sense when the budget is small and the readership is nonexistent. The question to ask is: why spend the majority of your budget on print when an eBook can produce the same result for much less?

Formats are the various designs for which a publication is produced. They include hardcover, trade paper, mass market paper, for the sake of the self-published a print-on-demand publication, audio and finally eBook. Publishers and authors need to consider the cost of producing each format versus the availability of distribution to reach the intended audience. Print distribution is costly and largely ineffective for the self-published. While eBook distribution is easy and open to all, print is not. Access to the marketplace combined with the marketing budget and intended audience should help to determine the format. Print often results in overprinting, which is one of the most costly format mistakes.

Publishing a paperback simultaneous with an eBook is almost standard for new writers and while both serve different markets, the marketing often cannot support both formats. The shotgun approach of publishing in many formats at once does not often work and failure in one format rarely ends in success in another. Each format requires a different marketing strategy, an approach that does not hold water for every format. Add the category and price into the thinking and it turns out not to be as simple as most think.

[7] Failure to Market

If a publisher or author makes mistakes in any of the six previous areas, then no amount of marketing will overcome the obvious errors in publication. If the publisher or author makes a serious mistake in any one of the six areas,  then the marketing task is made more difficult. In a marketplace that is highly competitive, publishers and authors cannot afford to make even one mistake and expect to overcome the problem with marketing.

For many publishers, the most common mistake is inadequate marketing; failing to provide the title with sufficient exposure to generate sales. In that case, the title is abandoned because the schedule means more new titles are coming quickly and there is not adequate time to recover.

For the self-published, failure to market means a re-start, pulling back and starting over. Books fail to sell copies for many reasons and here are the seven most common mistakes that result in failure.

Summary

Getting all seven points correct does not mean instant success because the competition is tremendous and the market is unforgiving.

Getting all seven points correct gives the publisher and author the best opportunity at achieving success in a very tough environment.

As a writer you cannot be discouraged but rather you need to be empowered with the knowledge that you know what it takes to be successful as an author.

Luck and timing always play a major role but the best chance at meeting your personal and professional goals is to put yourself and your publication in the right position to capitalize on what may happen in the market. Don’t be afraid and don’t give up! Writing and publishing is difficult but only those with industry knowledge, skill as a writer, and a strong temperament can make it as a successful author.

Jerry D. Simmons is a 35-year veteran of New York publishing with Random House and the former Time Warner Book Group. Over the years he has worked on thousands of New York Times bestselling titles and with hundreds of New York Times bestselling authors. Today he spends his time writing about the importance of understanding the marketplace and educating writers about publishing and book marketing. Jerry can be contacted at his web site www.WritersReaders.com

By W. Terry Whalin (used by permission)

I’ve read thousands of book proposals as an acquisitions editor and a former literary agent. I continually teach on the topic because I believe many writers don’t understand the critical nature of this specialized document called a book proposal.

On the traditional side of publishing, editors and agents read proposals. It doesn’t matter whether you’ve written nonfiction or fiction because this document includes information, which never appears in your manuscript yet is critical detail in the decisionmaking process.

As a book publisher at Intermedia Publishing Group, many of my authors have not written a book proposal because we work with full manuscripts. From my perspective of working in book publishing for over 20 years, every author should create a book proposal for their book–whether eventually they publish the book with a company where they pay to get it published (subsidy or self-publishing) or whether they find a traditional book publisher. In the proposal creation process, the author learns some critical elements about their book concept plus they are better positioned in the marketplace.

Here are four benefits of proposal creation (and I’m certain there are many more):

1. You Define Your Target Market. Many authors believe their book will hit a broad target–everyone. No successful book is for everyone. Each book has a primary target audience and the proposal creation process helps you define, pinpoint and write about this audience. It is important in nonfiction but it is also important in fiction. For example, romance is the largest fiction genre yet there are many divisions within the romance genre. Every proposal needs a target which is defined– yet large enough to generate volume sales. You learn and achieve this balance when you create a page-turning book proposal.

2. You Understand Your Competition. While creating a proposal, the writer has to take a hard look at which books are competing with your idea. This process helps you understand the marketplace. Many new authors believe they are writing something unique with no competition. It’s not true.

Every book competes in the marketplace and you will be a better equipped author if you understand your competition.

3. You Create A Personal Plan For Marketing. Whether you like marketing or dislike it, the reality is every author has to market their own book. It doesn’t matter who publishes your book–whether you self-publish or go with a large traditional house. As you create a book proposal, you will be including practical, specific and measurable ideas that you can execute when your book enters the market. The proposal will be a valuable reference tool for you because you’ve done this important creation process.

4. You Possess A Valuable Tool To Pitch Agents and Editors at Traditional Houses. I’ve written it a number of times but it bears repeating here. Literary agents and editors do not read manuscripts. They read book proposals. Even novelists need a book proposal for their initial pitch to an editor or agent. And if you self-publish and are successful with selling your book, because you own everything, if you receive an attractive offer from a traditional house, then you can move the book. Without a proposal you can’t properly pitch the concept and you’ve eliminated this possibility.

I believe writers should explore every option and keep their possibilities open. You’ve narrowed the possibilities rather than expanded them if you don’t have a proposal.

If you make the effort to create an excellent book proposal, then you will be ready to pitch your book at any time and any place.

Editors and literary agents do not read manuscripts (a surprise to authors). They read book proposals. Learn more at: http://bit.ly/wbkpro

***

W. Terry Whalin, a writer and editor, lives in Scottsdale, Arizona. He has written more than 60 nonfiction books including Jumpstart Your Publishing Dreams. His website is located at: www.terrywhalin.com.

Terry’s  Book Proposals That Sell has over 100 Five Star Amazon reviews and continues to help many writers. His online course, Write A Book Proposal has helped writers around the world to learn the step-by-step techniques of creating a proposal.

by Carolyn Howard-Johnson

I’ve always said one of the best (and most frugal!) ways for an author to learn about book promotion is by reading books written by the pros. That’s why I wrote The Frugal Book Promoter (www.budurl.com/FrugalBkPromo and reviewed in this blog under Great Books).

Having said that, a new “Secrets of Book Promotion with Personal Guidance and Proven, Weekly Learning Opportunities” program from publishing expert Dan Poynter sounds like a perfect aid to any good book on book promotion. That’s because educators tell us we learn faster and retain better ideas we’ve already been introduced to.

Dan, author of more than 125 books, is often referred to as a “book futurist.” His new Para Promotion Program features a series of book promotion projects you can accomplish without leaving home. It’s is a collection of individual lessons with full instructions and personal guidance by successful industry experts. Its assignments show you what to do to reach your target audience—all over the world.

Each week, you’d receive a book promotion assignment from Dan. Each of the 42 book-promotion projects takes anywhere from five to 120 minutes to complete.

In effect, this program provides a crash course in book promotion that can be applied to both present and future books. Authors of one or more books may sign up for $497. Publishers may sign up several of their authors for just $397 each–less than $12 a week to reach buyers.

You can start the Para Promotion Program at any time. It runs for 42 weeks. For details, go to http://parapromotion.com and get started today.

***

Carolyn Howard-Johnson is author of 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.

Carolyn was named Woman of the Year in Arts and Entertainment by members of the California Legislature. She’s an instructor of UCLA Extension’s renowned Writers’ Program.

By Patrice Rhoades-Baum

On the surface, a book/author one-sheet appears simple. After all, it’s one page of sales copy that promotes your book. Toss in a graphic of the book cover, your bio, and photo, and you’re done, right? Wrong!

Your book/author one-sheet is a hardworking marketing and sales tool. As such, it must—

• help you meet your business objectives to promote and sell your book
• clearly state the top benefit message for your target audience
• be professional, both in content and design.

Transforming your one-sheet from a shallow list of information into a strategic tool requires putting on your marketing hat. Use the following 7 steps to guide you.

Take these 7 steps

1. Write down the business objectives for your one-sheet. What do you want this marketing tool to accomplish? Here are some example objectives:

• “Create a professional-quality one-sheet that makes me shine as a professional.”
• “Use as a talking guide (like a script) to support my sales calls and visits with buyers.”
• “Leave with (or mail to) prospective book buyers as a reference sheet, so they have all the information to make a purchase decision, contact me, and buy my book.”
• “Give to bookstore managers, so they have all info to promote book-signing events.”
• “Give to media reps, so they have all info when deciding to schedule an interview.”
• “Position myself as a subject-matter expert who is available for speaking opportunities.”

2. Write down a description of your target audience:

• Clarify their demographics, needs/wants, and challenges/frustrations.

3. Identify and write down the top benefit your book delivers to your target audience:

• The buyer must clearly understand how your book will help or educate someone.

4. Identify the target audience who will be using your one-sheet (e.g., owners/managers at local bookstores, buyers at national chain bookstores, buyers for library districts, media reps, etc.).

5. Clarify the call-to-action for your one-sheet recipients. What action do you want them to take?

6. Write professional copy for your one-sheet:

• Select and hire an experienced copywriter.
• If you decide to write the one-sheet copy yourself, then hire a marketing copywriter to edit and finalize the copy.
• Start with writing the copy first, then meet with your designer to give it a professional design.

7. Select and hire a professional designer with one-sheet experience:

• Book buyers are professionals who expect to see professional-quality materials – both in design and content.

 Write or gather the following content

1. Brief introductory paragraph introducing the book topic and delivering a strong benefit message for the target audience (be clear, concise, and compelling!)

2. Your brief bio, written specifically for this marketing tool

3. Snippets of 2 to 3 book reviews

4. Contact information

• Publishing company, contact name, and title
• Phone number
• Website address (you should have a landing page, at minimum)
• Email address that corresponds with website address (not gmail or yahoo)

5. Specific book information

• Retail price for hard cover, soft cover, e-book
• Bulk discounts, if available
• ISBN number
• Book description (example: Business)
• Page count

6. Include a bold, compelling call-to-action that encourages the buyer to purchase your book!

Graphic elements to create or gather

• High-resolution image of book cover
• Thumbnail images of other books you have written, if applicable
• Your logo, if you have one
• Your brand colors, if you have them
• Your professional photo

Don’t cut corners with your one-sheet.  Make it a hardworking marketing and sales tool that shows you off as a pro!

Patrice Rhoades-Baum specializes in branding and copywriting for websites and one-sheets. Backed by 30 years of strategic marketing communications, Patrice teams with authors, speakers, and consultants to clarify their brand, write copy for their websites and one-sheets, and facilitate their logo, website, and one-sheet design/development. Learn more at www.BrandingAndWebsites.com.

by Bobbi Linkemer (used by permission)

Start promoting your book or ebook with the three most important questions:

1. What is your book about—its core message?
2. What is its “mission”—how it will benefit the reader?
3. Who is your ideal reader—the person you are writing for?

The answers to the questions are the heart of book promotion, which is all geared to getting your message across, achieving the book’s purpose, and reaching that ideal reader.

Strategies and Tactics
What are the three results you want from promoting your book? These are big-picture results—strategies. Do you want to position yourself as an expert in your subject area? Gain name recognition on the web? Sell books? Drive traffic to your website? Help you secure speaking engagements?

OK, now, what specific actions are you going to take to achieve those results? These are called tactics. Let’s look at the first strategy: to position yourself as an expert in your subject area. Here are some tactics you might consider:

1. Write articles on your subject and submit them to online article sites, e.g., http://www.ezinearticles.com.
2. Start a blog, write regularly, stick to your topic, provide useful information, respond to comments.
3. Put your book on Amazon and take advantage of all the promotional opportunities this very powerful site has to offer.
4. Start a newsletter, provide a way for people to subscribe on your Website, look for valuable information to pass along to subscribers, be generous, give away whatever you can share.

Develop a Marketing Mindset
The heart of marketing is identifying a need in the marketplace and finding a way to fill it with your product or service. The question is what does your ideal reader need and how can you provide it? If you have written a nonfiction book, your reader needs information or inspiration. If you know your subject, you should be an endless source of information.

Go beyond what you already know, and keep learning. The more you learn, the more you can share. If you have overcome a difficult situation or survived a tragedy, you are in a perfect position to provide encouragement and motivation. The point here is not to sell your book; it is to fill a need.

Tap Into the Power of the World Wide Web
The Internet has changed the world—certainly the world of book promotion. You must have a presence on the Web. It’s a non-negotiable reality. Your readers are everywhere, which is exactly where the Web reaches them. The flip side of that statement is if you do have a presence (a Website, for starters) and no one knows about it, it’s like having a billboard in the middle of the Sahara desert. Here are some ways to let people know about your Website and your book.

1. If you can afford it, hire a Website and Web-marketing consultant; it will save you loads of time and cut down on your learning curve.
2. Research and register with directories; learn about search engines; educate yourself about key words and search engine optimization (SEO).
3. Describe your book’s contents in short phrases or bullet points; explain your qualifications to write it; and display the cover and your photograph on your site.
4. Create name recognition by submitting articles on your subject to multiple article sites and starting a blog. Make sure your content is high quality and provides a benefit to readers. Inform, educate, inspire, motivate. Don’t lecture or proselytize.
5. Keep adding new content. Remember, search engines find your site by new material. Demonstrate your expertise. Show, don’t tell, that you know your subject.
6. Make your contact information obvious. People must be able to find you easily. Include your name, e-mail address, and phone number at the very least.
7. Join social networking groups—Twitter, Yahoo, Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, YouTube, Flickr—fill in your profile information, make friends and contacts, check in frequently.
8. Make it easy for people to buy and pay for your book. Set up a store through Shopsite.com or some other shopping cart service; sign up for PayPal or get a merchant’s account.
9. Set up a media page. Include a press release that announces your book in a copyable format (Word or a text file), links to previous interviews in print, and future commitments for book signings or presentations.

Is that it? Well, no, but it’s a very good beginning. If you do everything I have suggested, you are well on your way to a successful book launch. Then, if you want to do more, there are books and blogs and newsletters and courses out there to teach you every possible tactic. Good luck.

Bobbi Linkemer is a book coach, ghostwriter, editor, and the author of 16 books under her own name. She has been a professional writer for more than 40 years, a magazine editor, and a book-writing teacher. Her clients include Fortune 100 companies, entrepreneurs, and individuals who want to write books in order to enhance their credibility or build their businesses. Visit her website at: http://www.WriteANonfictionBook.com.

Please share your best ideas for book marketing here.

by Lynne Klippel (used with permission)There is a dirty little secret in the publishing industry. That secret is that the vast majority of authors don’t make enough money from their book sales and royalty payments to live on. Unless you write a string of smashing best-sellers like J.K. Rowling or Nora Roberts, you are going to need to supplement your income from your books, especially in the nonfiction genres.

However, this is actually really great news! When you write a nonfiction book, you are writing to entertain or educate your readers. You want to help them learn something, solve a problem, or transform their lives in some fashion. It often takes more than just reading a book to fully transform a life. Just think about all the books that have been written on money management, parenting, or weight loss: there are millions of pages written on those topics but many people are still struggling in those areas.

So how can you use your book to create a sustainable living for yourself and help your readers on an even deeper level?

These three mindset shifts will help you begin the process:

1. See your book as a first date. When a reader finishes your nonfiction book, she will want more from you if she loved your book.  Your book is just the beginning of a long-term relationship with your readers.  When you create additional opportunities for your readers to connect with you on your website, blog, social media presence, and through products and services, your readers have a reason to stay in your world after turning the final page of your book.
2. See your book as Step 1 in a transformational process. If you are helping your readers solve a problem in your book, they will most generally need additional support implementing all the things you taught them in your book.  Even readers with the best of intentions encounter obstacles, brush up against fears, and struggle with procrastination.  It can be challenging to change.
3. See your book as your curriculum. Nonfiction writers are teachers, using books to teach new concepts and ideas.  Your book holds many opportunities to expand on the concepts it contains when you view it as a textbook.  If you were sitting down with your perfect reader and teaching him the methods in your book, where would you begin?

Once you shift your mindset and open to the idea that your book is more than just a book, you can begin to create opportunities for your readers to learn from you in other ways, and opportunities to earn additional income from coaching programs, workshops, audios, courses, and presentations.

Then, you’ll have discovered the real gold in your book.

So, how does this information inspire you? Share your comments below. 

Lynne Klippel is a best-selling author, publisher, and book coach who specializes in helping non-fiction authors write books that build their business and transform the world. For a f.r.e.e. assessment that will help you see your author strengths and opportunities, visit http://www.BusinessBuildingBooks.com

I invited this person to go see my write-up on typos at  www.yudkin.com/typos.htm, which happens to be one of my more popular pages. The subject comes to life through true tales collected from the news and from clients.

So method #1 for enlivening dull topics is to search for news stories, legal cases and anecdotes involving the subject. Select stories containing surprises or high stakes.

Method #2: Unearth little-known facts about the topic from other cultures. For example, “If you think typos are pesky in English, imagine being a Torah scribe. One missing letter makes the entire Torah unusable. Let’s see how scribes attain 100 percent correctness.” 

Method #3: Find (or create) jokes related to the topic. A few typo jokes appear at http://jokediary.com/2009/08/typo-mistake.html, for instance.

Method #4: Collect humorous illustrations of the subject matter, like kookily misspelled road signs. 

Method #5: Create a quiz. Challenge your audience members to test their knowledge. Involvement triggers interest.

Excellent advice, reprinted with permission from Marcia Yudkin’s free weekly Marketing Minute newsletter. I encourage you to sign up at www.yudkin.com/markmin.htm

What methods do you advocate for spicing up boring subjects? Leave your comments here.

Platform Building Webinar – Update

from Wendy Keller, Literary Agent www.KellerMedia.com

To jump on the platform-building bandwagon 

http://wkeller.c.topica.com/maaowd2ab2Knga3GfFib/ 

by Wendy Keller  

How would you like to be getting media, growing your audience, selling products (or your self-published book), and creating the kind of buzz your content deserves – in just six weeks? 

For the first time ever, I’m about to offer a “build your platform” webinar series designed to help you conceptualize greater success for yourself and your content, and turn it into a REAL audience. 

This class is right for you if: 

* You can’t get an agent for your FICTION or NONFICTION book 

* You self-published and your book isn’t selling well 

* You aren’t sure if you have the kind of message that would be a good book, so you want to test it. 

* Your book was published by a real publisher in the last five years and you’d like to leverage it into more book sales, paid speaking, more of a media presence, etc. 

If any of those apply to you, please click the link below to find out about this exciting course. We’ll work together, you’ll have a chance to ask me questions and get personalized answers. 

Best of all, the course starts on February 1 and is ONLY $79! That’s right. This is my inaugural class, so you can be part of the first-ever platform building coaching series for almost nothing! 

If you get even one idea, you’ll be miles ahead of where you are now! You deserve a lucky break this year. I’d like to help you get it. 

Click below to read more or register for the course  starting Feb 1: 

http://wkeller.c.topica.com/maaoux3ab2iKUa3GfFibaeQx4Y/ 

If it’s too late for you to register for this webinar, please contact Wendy about future webinars at wkeller@kellermedia.com.  

by Sam Henrie (used with permission)

People no longer respond to advertising the way they used to, especially the usual “interruption-based” advertising. You’re watching a program and you’re interrupted by a commercial. The ad itself isn’t relevant to you—you didn’t ask or look for it. You’re annoyed and can’t wait to get back to the program. It’s similar with magazine and newspaper ads. However, your book can be an effective ad without interrupting your prospects; in fact, they won’t even view it as advertising!

Let me explain. The most frequently visited site for researching a product is Google and the most frequently visited site for shopping for a product is Amazon. If I’m interested in getting the air inside my house or office cleaner and greener, I may go to Google and type in cleaner greener indoor air to find out how. (If I’m interested in finding more in-depth information, especially information I can purchase, I type those same words into Amazon.)

Want to be found on Google without having to advertise or spend a lot of time and/or money on search engine optimization? Have a book listed on Amazon. Of all the websites out there, Amazon is the largest single source of information indexed on Google. What this means is that Google respects your book’s page on Amazon more than some other page someone put together on the same topic. You’ll rank higher in the search results because of your book’s listing on Amazon.

I’ll prove it to you. Type cleaner greener indoor air into Google and see what you get. The very first search result is a link to a book on Amazon, above even the website dedicated to that very topic. Because I’m looking for information on this subject, this link is a free ad for the author, Mark R. Sneller, and his book. I have the opportunity to buy it, but, perhaps more importantly, I now view Dr. Sneller as an authority on the subject.

When have your book on Amazon you get, in essence, a free and permanent ad for you and your goods or services. It’s the best kind of ad because it isn’t perceived as advertising. Your audience doesn’t feel like they’re being sold to. And every time someone buys your book, you get a royalty, but more importantly, you begin the process of convincing potential customers of your expertise, authority, and credibility … the first step toward making more sales.

In this digital age, a book on Amazon is the most effective ad you can have.

Sam Henrie is president and founder of Wheatmark, Inc., an author service firm focused on helping authors achieve publishing success. A frequent speaker on the subjects of book marketing, book publicity, and independent publishing, Sam’s expertise includes new directions in production, distribution, publicity, and marketing in the world of book publishing. Sam is past president of the Arizona Book Publishing Association.

By Jerry D. Simmons (used by permission)

Ask anyone and that person will tell you book publishing is about printed copies. It has been the standard for decades and even though eBooks have been around for more than ten years, they only represent two percent of total book sales.

So why should authors seriously consider having an eBook version of their work?

The print book business is handicapped for the small publisher and independent author. The marketplace is not equal competitively because the largest companies have all the advantages and will continue to dominate as long as they can afford to subsidize falling unit sales. In addition, most small publishers and independent authors do not have direct access to booksellers and even when they do, placement fees are prohibitive. These are the key problems with the print book business. 

The digital or eBook market is a different. Here are the seven reasons why every author should have an eBook edition.  

(1)  The biggest hurdle for the burgeoning digital market is lack of availability of titles. The largest publishers have decided to delay release of major books from bestselling authors to avoid damaging sales of their hardcover editions. They also have refused to release their entire backlist catalog of older titles for fear the lower-priced eBook will cut sales of the printed versions. These are reasons for eBook market placement by small publishers and independent authors as quickly as possible. It’s not always best to be the first to market, but it’s best to get in when the opportunity exists, and that is now.

(2) The cost of an eBook’s entry into the market is a fraction of the cost for a printed book. Industry analysts have said that the average cost of getting a manuscript printed from one of the large print-on-demand (POD) companies is $2,300. That includes all fees, services, products, marketing packages, and any other item they can sell the author. To avoid print and “go digital,” you can convert a Word document with a manuscript into eBook format, compatible with all major eReading devices for a fraction of the cost of print. This includes any necessary changes from a printed to digital cover. 

(3) In the print business, merchandising a book within a retail book setting is key to sales. Publishers know that placement in key areas within a store is critical to success. However, the placement fee for prime space within a store is astronomical and well beyond the capability of the average small publisher. For eBooks, merchandising consists of titles being grouped within categories beside all other titles published within the same genre. There are no current merchandising or placement fees associated with eBooks. That doesn’t mean there won’t be such fees in the future. Right now, the print industry grandfathers titles already on the market, which would exempt titles placed in eBook online catalogs from having to pay any possible future placement fee. That’s another reason to get into the market quickly.

(4) Content size is meaningless in eBooks that are viable as a product with as few as 5,000 words. Such short manuscripts are absolutely not possible in print. This opens up all kinds of possibilities for short fiction, such as short stories and quality content in non-fiction from individuals not inclined to write a 50,000-word manuscript. Anthologies were never popular in printed editions for a variety of reasons, yet today with an eBook, the market for anthologies is wide open. Another soft category for sales was poetry, yet with eBooks, the length of the content is not important; it’s the quality of the writing. Poetry is now seen as another possibility within the wide range of content applicable on an eBook.

(5) Pricing of eBooks provides the small publisher and independent author with advantages over their larger New York competitors. That’s because the big houses have tremendous overhead that has to be accounted for, in addition to healthy royalties for digital editions, to authors and agents. Not so in the eBook market where small companies can price aggressively and undercut major competitors without impacting margins like those found in print editions. It’s virtually impossible to price well under competitive titles in print, but eBooks are like unchartered territory where you can do what you want with pricing and make up for it in volume.

(6) Access to sellers of eBooks is open to any small publisher on equal terms with all other publishing companies. In a nutshell, distribution for the printed book is controlled by distribution companies who work almost exclusively with the large New York publishers. This is not so with eBooks where most of the distributors are “‘tech people” interested in distributing a product that has the potential to sell. Certainly Amazon is grounded in the print side of publishing and will continue to make it difficult for small publishers. Barnes & Noble is struggling and Borders Bookstores is strapped for cash and sales. The bookstore experience is fading much the same way of the eight-track tape and Beta for videos. As the market changes, so must we. Right now, the eBook is the most attractive way to publish.

And finally…

(7) It’s the right way to launch new material into the marketplace for consumers of reading material. For writers who are still deciding how to publish or launch their careers, consider this fact: there were more than 760,000 new titles being published in print last year. The best guess on new eBooks is only about 50,000. Now go back and read again all previous six reasons why you should publish an eBook and I’ll even add this one: in publishing, the more you can blaze your own trail and separate yourself as a writer from all the other writers in the world, the better chance you have of finding an audience and making a name for yourself as an author. Even though the market for the eBook is still small, I’d much rather take my chances against 49,999 other eBooks than I would against 759,999 other print books especially when I cannot price aggressively, gain access to booksellers, and pay 75 percent more for a print book than an eBook.  

It would be unfair to make you think that an eBook edition of your writing is suddenly going to be a huge success and sell tens of thousands of copies. However, you have a much better chance of that happening in an eBook than you do a printed version for all the reasons mentioned above.

This digital market is just getting started; there will be nothing but more opportunities ahead. Recently an author asked me for the negative side of publishing an eBook and, to be honest, I couldn’t think of one disadvantage!

Writers need to find a market for their writing, a place to share their story or message with readers. The digital market is not the perfect answer to the dilemma of selling books, but it provides a legitimate opportunity not available in the print side of publishing.

As eReading devices with new and enhanced technology enter the market, the number of eBook readers will grow. It’s predicted that by the end of 2010 with the launch of the iPad, there will be more than 15 million consumers of eBooks. That represents a three-fold increase over 2009.

Make no mistake, this is a profound event in publishing. The big companies are going through major internal changes that quite possibly will shake them to their foundations and change the way they publish books forever.

We are entering a new phase in the history of the printed word, one that may start the demise of the printed book. Not the total elimination of printed books but the continual decline of the print side of publishing.

The future is digital in the form of eBooks. Print will remain a part of, but will not be in the dominant position it has held up to now. This change will take years but it is coming. The time to capitalize on the opportunity is now—today.

Jerry D. Simmons is a 32-year veteran of publishing, 25 in New York with Random House and the former Time Warner Book Group as Vice President, Director Field Sales. His sales division generated hundreds of millions of dollars in book sales across the United States and Canada.

Jerry is the founder of www.WritersReaders.com, a resource for information about publishing. His eNewsletter TIPS for WRITERS from the PUBLISHING INSIDER is read by writers in over 24 foreign countries. He can be reached at Jerry@WritersReaders.com