Is It Self-Publishing or Vapor-Publishing?

 Posted by at 10:46 am  No Responses »
Nov 252009
 

With the onslaught of printers that will print one book at a time, there are hordes of opportunities for authors frustrated with the conventional publishing model to write checks in the misguided belief that they are actually being published in the same sense that, say, Stephen King, John Grisham, or David McCullough are.

Harlequin, the leading publisher of romance novels,  joined with Author Solutions, the leading online “self-publishing” press—we used to call them “vanity presses”—to harvest a cash crop from would-be romance writers with thin promises that maybe a book printed under a new “self-publishing” imprint program called Harlequin Horizons would enjoy enough sales to move over to Harlequin proper.

Here’s what Publishers Weekly had to say about the new deal:

The imprint will recruit writers in two ways: authors whose manuscripts have been rejected by Harlequin will be made aware of the Harlequin Horizons option and authors who sign with Author Solutions will be given the opportunity to be published under the Harlequin Horizons imprint. According to an Author Solutions spokesperson, the imprint will offer special services aimed at the romance market, including unique marketing and distribution services. All services are on a pay-for-service basis.

The outrage in the writer’s community was immediate and heartening. Romance Writers of America, understanding all the ramifications of this, quickly withdrew Harlequin’s right to enter any of its books in RWA’s influential contests. The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers called for Harlequin to sever all ties with this self-publishing program.

Harlequin, blinked but didn’t buckle. They renamed the ill-directed venture DellArte Press. Harlequin along with Author Solutions will still pursue the same plunder, continuing, I imagine, to inform authors Harlequin rejects of this other “opportunity.”

I guess we can chalk up half a point for writers, but there will still be plenty of chances for misguided authors to write checks for what I call “vapor publishing,” a term I coined from the tech industry term “vaporware,” meaning software in development that its promoters promise will have remarkable features but the software never  actually materializes.

 Just a Write Thought.

Smart, Aggressive Authors Leverage Costco

 Posted by at 11:01 am  No Responses »
Nov 102009
 

Book signings at Costco?

Most people aren’t aware that Costco encourages book signings at their warehouses—or that Costco is particularly happy to host local authors.

Now a group of Alaskan authors have taken this largesse a step further. Through a wholesaler, American West Books, they have arranged to sign books all day everyday until Christmas. They rotate the duty, each of them working a table of their and the other authors’ titles for a day.

Is it working? They often sell 75-100 books a day.

 Just a Write Thought.

IBPA Board Book Recommendations

 Posted by at 2:20 am  4 Responses »
Nov 062009
 

Just returned from a stimulating and productive Independent Book Publishers Association board meeting in foggy Redondo Beach.

 During dinner at the Fritto Misto in Hermosa Beach Tuesday, I passed around my iPhone and asked that each of the board members and staff add a note listing a book they thought I should read. This may have translated to their favorite book, the one that, in the words of an old friend “did them most” or it may be they listed the book they thought I would most enjoy or benefit from. Here’s the list:

It is interesting to note that all but one are fiction.

 * I’ve read it but probably should again.

** I’d never heard of it, but probably should have.

I just ordered the ones I don’t have.

The New Influencers Gets Late Praise

 Posted by at 4:30 pm  1 Response »
Oct 242009
 

Publishing is such a strange business.  The New Influencers by Paul Gillin, a ground-breaking book on social media that we (Quill Driver Books) published nearly 4 years ago just got a terrific review on the Fast Company blog.

Why is this strange? Because, while we garnnered great reviews from dozens of other venues including the Wall Street Journal, as far as I know, we never could get Fast Company to mention it. Now, 3 plus years later….

Not that I’m complaining too much. In the review, David Capece says “There are many books that have followed in Paul Gillin’s path; however, The New Influencer remains an essential tool for marketers and non-marketers alike.” We at publishing companies like reviewers to call our books “essential.”  Even years after they come out.

BTW, it is with the book The New Influencers that Gillin added the term “the new influencers” to the English lexicon, meaning the bloggers and others in social media who are replacing the old influencers such as the mavens on TV, radio, and in print and the ads companies run in those media.  Now you see the term used everywhere.

Your Chance for a Free Book

 Posted by at 2:08 pm  No Responses »
Oct 112009
 

A friend e-mailed me today amused about the title of a book he saw in a bookstore. The title has “the Sierras” in it. Why was my friend laughing?

The first one to e-mail me with the correct answer will get a free copy of my book The Fast Track Course on How to Write a Nonfiction Book Proposal.

Fair Use Abuse?

 Posted by at 10:25 am  No Responses »
Oct 052009
 

Here’s a twist. A copyright holder ends up as the one paying in a Fair Use dispute.

With the Fair Use doctrine—a part of the U.S. copyright law—an author is allowed to quote another’s copyrighted material for criticism, commenting, teaching, and other narrow uses. The actual limit on how much can be quoted isn’t defined by the law.

Disagreements are usually settled out of court, but, when a dispute goes to trial, the court generally looks at four things: the purpose of the use, the nature of the copyrighted material, the portion of the work used, and the effect of the use upon the market for the copyrighted material.

In this case, the Estate of James Joyce objected to Stanford University professor Carol Schloss’ use of copyrighted material in a book she was writing. Schloss claimed the material she wished to use fell under the doctrine of Fair Use but took the material out of her book when, she claimed, she was threatened with a copyright infringement lawsuit.

Subsequently she wished to use some of the material in a website and she enlisted the Stanford Fair Use Project to go on the offensive to establish her right to use the Joyce material.

In the end the Estate agreed to pay her $240,000 to settle the case.

This is a reversal of what normally happens when copyright holders attempt to protect their copyrights, and is being hailed by some as better establishing the rights of authors to use copyrighted material in critical works without fear of being sued. In many cases simply the threat of a lawsuit is enough to stop an author from using copyrighted material in any manner, including what may actually constitute fair use.

How does this apply to us?

All of this is interesting, but may lack practical application to the average writer. If you wish to use a large portion of another’s copyrighted material it is still best to ask permission.

To read more on this check out the Stanford Law School Center for Internet and Society blog or this Publishers Weekly article.

For a good, simple explanation of United States copyright laws see the chapter on copyright by John Zelezny in The Portable Writer’s Conference. (Full disclosure: QDB is the publisher and I’m the editor of the Portable Writer’s Conference.)

More on Using Video to Promote Your Books

 Posted by at 2:39 pm  No Responses »
Sep 012009
 

Here are some strategies to consider when making your videos:

Plan. Simple storyboarding will keep you on track.

Keep it brief. Thirty seconds to two minutes is plenty. The longer your video, the smaller your audience.

Overlay titles and words. Words—note, I didn’t say “text”—add impact.

Use sound. Either background music or voice over.

Use strong, colorful images. Remember this is a visual media.

Can the pitch. Don’t make your video an obvious advertisement.

Avoid the “talking head” video. Boring.

Let’em know where to get more information. End each video with a five-second- to six-second-long image of your book’s cover and your website’s address.

Paul Gillin in Secrets of Social Media Marketing (Full disclosure: Quill Driver Books publishes this title.) says videos that go viral, such as Blendtec’s Will Blend It series,
have: “AEIO & U.”

This stands for:

Authentic: Online video producers intentionally make their programs with a bit of the home-video feel. High production value is perceived as being professional marketing and is often equated with oversell.

Entertaining: This means fun. Weighty videos do not usually go viral.

Intimate: Videos that satisfy peoples’ inner voyeur top the popularity charts. But don’t go overboard here. Leave the crass to Jerry Springer. Intimacy can be accomplished simply by showing real people doing real things.

Offbeat & Unusual: Surprise and delight with something unexpected, something a bit daring or a little risqué.

 There are at least three types of video to consider.

 Montage: Uses preexisting images usually with voice over and/or music added. This is the simplest and easiest to do without a camcorder or large budget.

Interview: An obvious choice here is to have someone interview your author. It wouldn’t be bad to insert appropriate images here and there—say of a location or an object being discussed—to spice up the oft boring “two talking heads” video.

Documentary: Uses filmed interviews, locations, events, and more. This takes more planning and time but may be worth the effort—but then again, it may not. If you make a huge production (pun intended) out of making yours, you may not actually get around to it. Simple is often elegant.

 You may be able to make the interview or documentary videos a bit longer and still keep your viewer’s interest but be careful.

Writers and Publishers Marketing Via Simple Videos

 Posted by at 12:30 pm  No Responses »
Aug 272009
 

Writers and publishers, picture this:

Today: Your website where you have your book’s cover, the back cover copy, endorsements, a photo of the author, and maybe a table of contents and an excerpt. Along side this you have a “Buy Now!” button.

Now picture this:

 Tomorrow: Your website again, but now you have a 60-second, full-color video complete with background music that draws your viewer into the book’s subject. Maybe the video is a demonstration of something mentioned in the book, or a travelogue showing the places mentioned in the book, or a dramatic reading of the poetry in the book.  Next to this is a 30-second video-profile of the author. And next to that is a short video of famous and every-day people endorsing the book. Each video ends with the book’s cover.

Alongside these videos is the same “Buy Now!” button. Which button, the first one or this one, is likely to get tapped more often?

Now imagine this:

These videos aren’t simply on your website, you’ve used a service that distributed them to a dozen sites simultaneously, you’ve e-mailed them to your subscriber’s list, linked them to your blog, included a live link to them in your press releases, and are using Google AdWords video ads to target your audience.

And the best part? These videos were either free or quite inexpensive to produce and distribute.

I think videos are likely to revolutionize on-line promotion and marketing. Soon your website will be judged by the value of your videos.

There is even a chance that your video will go virus with millions of people viewing it as did the “Will It Blend” video series by  Blendtec blenders blending everything from smoothies to iPhones. Sales for Blendtec blenders reportedly soared 700 percent because of their videos.

 I’ll expand on this and give you some strategies and resources to use in my next blog.

John Kremer’s Free Publishing Newsletter

 Posted by at 11:53 am  No Responses »
Aug 202009
 

Book publishing guru John Kremer (1001 Ways to Market Your Book) writes a free e-newsletter on book marketing that is beneficial to writers as well as publishers. For instance, in this week’s edition he offers a free guide to getting followers on Twitter, and links to three free books on writing (here, here and here) by playwright and novelist Michael Allen from the UK. I’m not familiar with Allen and haven’t reviewed any of these and so can’t address their merits, but the price is right and John’s stuff is always worth the time. (Full disclosure: John  is a friend of mine.)

The next court day concerning the Google rights settlement is coming up and the battle is heating up. This is history in the making. Be a shame for writers and publishers not to follow it.

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