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Saturday, November 22, 2008
How to Publish a Book: How to Publish Memoir, True Crime, and Book TrailersHow to Publish a Book Readers, This week at How to Publish a Book, I've got several really cool videos that touch
on different aspects of how to publish a book. First up, this is an interview I did last Sunday at Quail Ridge Books in Raleigh,
NC with published memoir author Elaine N. Orr. If you are interested in learning how to write and how to publish a book that
is a memoir, I'd encourage you to watch the video. Elaine's insights are great, and I absolutely loved her reading
from her book. Next up today, I interviewed true crime author Amanda Lamb
last Friday about her book Deadly Dose. This How to Publish a Book discussion focuses primarily on the case behind the book,
the murder of Eric Miller by his wife Ann Miller. I think it's fascinating to consider this discussion in comparison to
Elaine Orr's (above) because both authors have published non-fiction books... but the types of non-fiction books that
they've published are at opposite ends of the book publishing spectrum. Additionally, their process for writing their
books is pretty different from one another, yet the end result (as with most of our how to publish a book discussions) is
that a book was published and that readers have enjoyed them. Amanda's How to Publish a Book discussion involves a lot
of her insights into marketing published books as well... she has been on the Today Show as well as featured on true crime
documentary TV shows like Snapped and Captured. Finally for today, I have created and uploaded my first
Book Trailer for CLAWS, a novel I plan to self publish next summer (2009). I think a book trailer is an essential part of
the total package of book marketing and book publishing. I'm planning to produce a series of these book trailers over
the next 6-9 months. It'll be interesting to see how this goes. Here is the book trailer for CLAWS: Thanks so much for checking out How to Publish a Book.
As always, if you have any questions feel free to drop me a line via the How to Publish a Book "Contact Us" link
on the left of the page. Thanks so much. Stacey
10:11 am est
Sunday, November 16, 2008
How to Publish a Book: Warp-Speed How to Publish a Book WeekendHow to Publish a Book Readers, It's 10:22 PM Sunday night following one of the busiest how to publish a book
weekends of my life. Thursday was my wife's birthday, and I took her out to eat at a great local restaurant. Friday,
I had two how to publish a book television interviews: one with WRAL reporter and author Amanda Lamb, and one with NPR radio personality Frank Stasio. Friday evening, I attended the North Carolina Writers Network Fall Conference opening ceremonies and met and talked
with a lot of folks about how to publish a book. Saturday started at 6:30 AM. I was on a panel at the North Carolina Writers Network Fall Conference at 8:00 AM where we talked about book marketing and how to publish a book, and I acted as videographer the
rest of the day. I did a reading from the book that is my current work in progress at 4:30 PM, and I acted as MC for the faculty
reading. I made it home Saturday night after the banquet around 10:30 PM. Today, I moderated a how to publish a book
panel discussion at Quail Ridge Books in Raleigh on the topic of Memoir Writing and Book Publishing for the Raleigh Write to Publish Group. We had over 85 folks in attendance with many questions regarding how to publish a
book, and I video-recorded the event as well. Then, this evening I met with one of my writing group critique partners
to workshop her current work-in-progress and to discuss how to publish a book. She has a book publisher for her current book,
and she's planning to publish another book in December. The video from this afternoon's discussion is currently
rendering on my MacBook, and I need to HandBrake the video of the how to publish a book interview from Friday with Amanda
Lamb. Overnight tonight, I'll upload the video from the NC Writers' Network Fall Conference... which brings us to
tonight's how to publish a book video. This is Frank Stasio, who you've probably heard on NPR. In North Carolina,
he hosts The State of Things, a daily ideas talkshow heard over most of our state. In this interview, I ask Frank about his
show, about his early career in radio, and about the state of radio today. I hope you enjoy it, and as always I thank
you for stopping by How to Publish a Book. Thanks so much. Stacey
10:35 pm est
Friday, October 24, 2008
How to Publish a Book: Michael ConnellyHow to Publish a Book Readers, I had the opportunity to interview #1 New York Times bestselling author Michael Connelly
today. This is one of the coolest interviews I've ever done and I am putting it up here online at How to Publish a Book. Enjoy
this one, folks. And thanks for checking out How to Publish a Book. Stacey
10:07 pm est
Thursday, October 16, 2008
How to Publish a Book: Bouchercon and the Small Press PublisherHow to Publish a Book Readers, This past weekend I was in Baltimore for the Bouchercon World Mystery Writers Convention.
Bouchercon is one of my favorite writers convention. It convenes annually and includes a healthy balance of fans, writers,
and book publishing professionals (including literary agents, book editors, book publishers, and independent book store proprietors). I'm
often asked how to get a literary agent here at How to Publish a Book, and story after story seems to confirm that most writers
meet their agents at writers conventions. At Bouchercon this year, I met four literary agents, two of whom I've met and
spoken with previously (one of whom I've submitted work to before). Additionally, I met three book editors and two book
publishers, both publishers of small (but successful) indepedent presses. Two of the editors I met work for major book publishers,
and one had the good grace to follow up by sending me a cordial email on Monday after the convention. Additionally,
I hung out with many published writer friends and other publishing professionals. I was also asked to record the Guest of
Honor Interviews, which I'll be posting here at How to Publish a Book. The value of attending a writers conference
like this is difficult to assess. It accomplishes a number of things: 1) it brings people in book publishing together, 2)
it fosters a sense of community, 3) it presents the opportunity to pitch ideas or to talk about what works in publishing,
4) it gives writers opportunities to meet with editors, publishers, and literary agents. Most days of the scheduled
writers conference consist of panel discussions from 8 AM - 5 PM. The evenings are filled with parties, and the parties are
where you get the best opportunity to have face time. The panels are interesting, but they're not so much a dialogue as
a lecture. I definitely learned a few things through the panel discussions and had other ideas confirmed, but it's the
parties that offer the best opportunity for writers to speak with book editors, book publishers, and literary agents. I've
been to a lot of these over the last decade, and I've begun to view this "face time" as a kind of campaign.
For example, the two agents I had previously met remembered me, and one of them I hung out with (along with a group) for about
two hours at the hotel bar Saturday night. I've got to think this helps the cause the next time I have work to submit
to the agent, but this is difficult to quantify. Similarly, the two small press publishers that I met remembered me
from previous meetings. One of them makes for today's video and was the Lifetime Achievement Award Winner Guest of Honor
at this year's convention. Barbara Peters and Robert Rosenwald own the Poisoned Pen Press, one of the leading independent
mystery publishers in the U.S. Barbara also runs the Poisoned Pen Bookstore in Scottsdale, Arizona. This store was where I
did the second bookstore event of my life (back in 2006), and I revisited the store this summer (2008) to do a well-attended
event. I like Barbara. She probably knows more about the crime and mystery writing community than any other single person
I know. Additionally, she has successfully run an independent bookstore for almost twenty years, and the Poisoned Pen
Press has been in operation for over a decade. One of the biggest points that she made to stand out in my mind was something
I'd heard before by indepedent bookstore owners: Do not lease the property of your store. If you're going to try and
run an independent bookstore (God help you) buy the property, don't rent. Also, I found her and Robert's discussion
of book marketing, book sales, and how to publish a book particularly fascinating. I present it to you now, How to Publish
a Book Readers. Barbara Peters, Robert Rosenwald, and Twist Phelan on how to publish a book... Stacey
9:15 am est
Thursday, October 2, 2008
How to Publish a Book: Literary Agents, Book Marketing & PublishingHow to Publish a Book Readers, This past Sunday, I drove down to Wilmington, North Carolina to interview publishing
guru John Fuhrman on the topic of How to Publish a Book: Literary Agents, Book Marketing & Publishing. The result of the
trip is a 75-minute video of our discussion. In addition to talking about how to publish a book, John offers some incredible
tips on book marketing and publishing. If I've learned one thing about how to publish a book over the past couple of years,
it's that no two people have the exact same philosophies. I was most surprised to hear about John's experiences comparing
his publishing with small presses in contrast to major publishers. He's done both, and his insights on the subject
were unexpected. Also, he discusses how he landed over 300 radio interviews for his first book and how he found a literary
agent with a major New York literary agency. I had to press him a little bit for the specifics, and those are all included
in the video. I found it particularly interesting to hear him discuss how he and his literary agent actually went from
publisher to publisher in person when they were ready to sell his book to a major publisher. I have never heard of someone
else doing this before, but it makes a lot of sense to me... particularly if the author has a lot of personal charm and makes
good impressions on people when meeting in person. All of this is to say that this interview makes for one of the more
interesting and insightful discussions of late on the topic of how to publish a book. Enjoy! Stacey
2:40 pm est
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
How to Publish a Book; How to be a Television ProducerHow to Publish a Book Readers, A couple of weeks ago I had a very interesting how to publish a book discussion at
Quail Ridge Books in Raleigh, North Carolina with a former E! Entertainment Network Executive Producer on the topic of how to be a television producer. Beyond how to publish a book and how to be a television
producer, we talked a lot about how to get into television as a career, how to be a television personality, and how executive
producers find and develop new on-air talent. If you've ever watched a TV show and thought I could do what he
does, this how to publish a book video will be very interesting to you. While not directly talking about how to publish
a book per se, this interview highlights a central point of my developing personal philosophy regarding how to publish a book
in the 21st Century. That how to publish a book philosophy goes something like this: It isn't enough to write and
publish a book anymore. Literally hundreds of thousands of people do that every year. To excel as a writer, I believe that
authors should be multi-media savvy and aggressively develop audiences through other channels beyond simply writing and publishing
a book. I think I first noticed this with a first-wave of internet authors about ten years ago. Dave Eggers built an
audience online with McSweeny's back in 2000 and 2001, which led to his bestselling memoir publication a couple years
later. Soon thereafter, a number of savvy Internet authors realized the power of creating an audience via the Internet, and
it became an integral part of how to publish a book. Similarly, I have developed this how to publish a book website
and media hub into a next-generation version of that. (Or at least I'm trying to.) We largely utilize video production
as a means of discussing how to publish a book. Many of you probably found your way to this site by searching for "How
to Publish a Book" in Google, Yahoo, or whatever search engine you use. I think online video media is going to
be the big thing for the next 3-5 years (at least), and I see a massive hole in book-related video content. On my television
at home, there is no single channel (out of like 500 channels) dedicated to book content. I see this as an opportunity to
develop video media related to books, authors, and topics like how to publish a book. At any rate, all of this kind
of leads back to this week's video for How to Publish a Book. My first question to Executive Producer Billy Warden goes
something like this: Is television going to be relevant in 10 or 20 years? Enjoy the discussion, and feel free to drop
me a line, folks. Thanks so much. Stacey
10:20 am est
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
How to Publish a Book: Lightning SourceDear How to Publish a Book Readers, Well, I've been keeping a low profile for a couple of weeks, and then this
weekend kind of exploded on me. On Friday, I had two in-studio TV interviews. On Saturday, I moderated a discussion at Quail
Ridge Books. On Sunday, I drove down to Wilmington and interviewed an author at Pomegranate Books. And on Monday, I met with
my critique group to workshop a section from my current novel. Nearly all of this I filmed and have uploaded to the
internet. I'm kind'a torn which video to put online first because they were all very good, but I think the one
that'll be most helpful to folks trying to decide how to publish a book is the the discussion from Wilmington on Sunday. In
Wilmington, I interviewed local bestselling author Jacqueline DeGroot. Jackie is something of a phenomenon. She is a true self-publishing success story and is the kind of person who re-defines
how to publish a book. She earns about 40,000 dollars per year purely from self-published novels, which she sells locally
up and down the Carolina coast. I was impressed with a number of her marketing strategies. More than any other self-published
author I've met, she understands how to self publish a book and make money from it. She understands the value of low printing
costs, and she understands the power of her local media. In the next week or so, I'll most likely put online the
other videos from the events mentioned above, but I think Jackie's discussion of how to publish a book with Lightning Source is pretty remarkable. Lightning Source was literally where Print-on-Demand began. Today, nearly every major publisher
from Simon & Schuster to Tor/Forge has embraced the power of print-on-demand and have incorporated it into their traditional
distribution models for books.
If you're considering how to publish a book, you could do far worse than to
explore Lightning Source, the lowest priced Print-on-Demand service in the United States. Enjoy the video, folks! Stacey
10:30 pm est
Sunday, August 17, 2008
How to Publish a Book: Online Audio Book, eBook, Online BookHow to Publish a Book Readers, I have a new video that I shot this weekend at Quail Ridge Books in Raleigh, North
Carolina. This "How to Publish a Book" discussion was on the topic of publishing an online audio book, how to publish
an eBook, and online book marketing. We had a turnout of about 25 folks, and they all asked excellent questions
about how to publish a book. Several folks were interested in publishing an audio book at Podiobooks.com, which is a type
of eBook. We also talked about more traditional eBook publishing and Amazon's Kindle. At the very end of the discussion,
we talked about how to use Google Adsense Video Units to generate revenue on your website... which reminds me, you probably
noticed the YouTube video screen at the top of the homepage here at How to Publish a Book. If you click on the video, we actually
make about a dollar per "view" here at How to Publish a Book. So please click on the video at the top of the
page. Thanks so much, everyone. Enjoy the site!
Stacey
10:10 pm est
Thursday, August 14, 2008
How to Publish a Book: Mystery Suspense Author J.A. JanceHow to Publish a Book Readers, This week I interviewed New York Times bestselling mystery/suspense author
J.A. Jance. This was one of those interviews where I felt so prepared that I was able to be completely relaxed. Considering
that Jance probably has more books in print (and more books published) than any other author that I've ever interviewed
(somewhere in the 10 million+ books in print range), I was happy with how everything came together. Towards the second
half of the interview, we managed to discuss some emotionally-rich territory. It seems like with every studio interview,
I learn a little bit more. Enjoy. Stacey
10:48 am est
Friday, August 8, 2008
How to Publish a Book, WorldCon, Book EditorsHow to Publish a Book Readers, I am at the 2008 WorldCon in Denver, Colorado. For the past three days, I've been
sitting in on publishing panel discussions with all manner of book publishing professionals: editors, publishers, agents,
writers, etc. I'll be here until Sunday. This is my third WorldCon, and the first where I am actively not promoting
any of my own work. I decided to do this one in a sort of low-profile style. I just wanted to listen to other people
at this convention. I figure that if I spend more time listening rather than ramming my book down people's throats, I'll
get a lot more out of the experience. Take, for instance, this insight I gleaned from one of the publishing panels I've
just come from. Two of the panelists were executive editors, and I asked the question, "Are editors paid on salary or
do they receive a commission on the titles they acquire?" I was fairly well stunned to learn (at least at the house represented
on the panel) that they receive no commission. None. Zero. The panelist who responded clearly would have liked to have
been receiving at least, say, 10% commission, and said as much. To me, as I'm beginning to ferment the idea of starting
my own publishing company, it just makes total sense to be paying editors at least partly, if not totally, on a commission
basis. What incentive does "Editor A" have to find the hottest new writer on the block over "Editor B"
if they're both making about the same amount of money regardless of how well the book does? Other than helping out the
company and getting salary increases from time to time, there's no incentive. This is an astonishing insight. Do
you realize how attractive it would be to the best editors in the business if a publishing company paid them on commission?
And I'm not talking about the editors who are flailing around with authors who can't break even. I'm talking about
the editor whose recent acquisition just became a New York Times bestseller and sold 3 million copies last year. If
these panelists represent the publishing business as a whole (and I just can't believe that they could), the editor who
acquires the million copy bestseller has very little personal incentive (compared to if they were receiving 15% commission
on sales of the book) to find such hot new talent. No wonder the publishing business is completely stagnant. At
any rate, it was just one of those moments in a career, where suddenly the light bulb came on, and I realized, Holy shit, there's one major thing a publishing company could do to energize the acquisition of hot new
talent. Pay the editors for discovering that new talent. Even if it was only as part of a bonus, say, if a certain
book hit a threshold of sales that then the editor would receive 15% commission. That would so incentivize editors to really
get out there and find the best new talent for their publishing company. It could only help everything in the long run. Stacey
9:56 pm est
Monday, August 4, 2008
How to Publish a Book, Get a Literary Agent, and Market a BookHow to Publish a Book Readers, I have a new "How to Publish a Book" panel discussion video online. I interviewed
authors Martha Witt and Val Nieman on the subject of literary agents, how to publish a book, and how to market a book. We
were also joined by NC Arts Council Marketing Director Rebecca L. Moore. This is part of a monthly series I've been
doing at Quail Ridge Books on the subject of how to publish a book. This week, I'll be flying to Denver, Colorado
for the World Science Fiction Convention. I'm planning to bring my camera, so hopefully I'll have some good footage of that to put online here at How to Publish
a Book later this month. Take care, folks. Stacey
10:51 am est
Thursday, July 24, 2008
How to Publish a Book: Podcast Novel, Podiobooks, Online Community for WritersHow to Publish a Book Readers, I've got a new "How to Publish a Book" video online today. The following
was a how to publish a book discussion at Quail Ridge Books in Raleigh with Podcast Novel authors P.G. Holyfield, Mur Lafferty,
and Elisa Lorello. We discussed how to publish a book as a Podcast Novel (or "Podiobook") at Podiobooks.com and
how to develop a readership through an online community for writers. Enjoy... Stacey
2:41 pm est
Sunday, July 20, 2008
How to Publish a Book - Under Contract How to Publish a Book Readers, I am officially a writer under contract
with Bedford/St. Martin’s Press. Earlier this month, my wife and I received contracts on a textbook to be co-written with us and another colleague. I’ve
had years to think about how I would first announce my becoming a professional author, and have had many published authors’
experiences to learn from. I am both humbled and excited by the opportunity to co-write a book for a publisher like Bedford/St.
Martin’s. Susan and I met with the acquisition editor at a conference in Denver, and she
(the editor) treated us to a wonderful dinner. I’m reluctant to talk too much about this because the book has yet to
be written. It’ll be a textbook on writing for use in college programs around the country. We sold the book largely
on the table of contents and on the good word of mouth regarding Susan’s first book. At any rate, this is an exciting project. I’ll be spearheading an audio-visual component
to be produced online in conjunction with the textbook, and it’ll be fun to co-write much of the project with my wife
and with our friend and colleague Roy. I submitted my very first work to a publisher in 1989.
It’s been nearly twenty years, and I have received over 2000 rejections over that time. But it looks like I will finally
be working as a writer on a book for an established traditional publisher. Stacey
12:29 pm est
Monday, June 30, 2008
How to Publish a Book - Gene HackmanHow to Publish a Book Readers, The last four days have been extremely "How to Publish a Book" busy, and
I've got some really cool stuff to get up here on the blog. Last Thursday night, I held the first How to Publish
a Book and Write to Publish Organizational & Planning Meeting in Raleigh, North Carolina at Cameron Village Public Library.
Fifteen folks came to the meeting, and the major issues to come out of the discussion were: - Filing for Non-Profit
501 (c) (3) status for How to Publish a Book and/or Write to Publish;
- Organizing workgroups with independent
leaders for a:
- critique group open to the public,
- an organizational and steering
committee open to the public,
- a marketing group for writers
Friday night, I was asked to help set up and film an event at Quail Ridge Books in Raleigh
for two-time Academy Award Winner GENE HACKMAN. Mr. Hackman is on tour for his latest book Escape from Andersonville, co-written with Daniel Lenihan and published with
St. Martin's Press. On
Saturday night, I administered an Open Mic Night Contest for the Raleigh Write to Publish Group at Quail Ridge Books. We had
38 attendees, and seven folks were chosen randomly to read. The best reading was decided by audience vote, and she received
about 30 bucks for her winning reading. That author was Ashley Steineger, and here is her reading... Then on Sunday, I drove down to Wilmington, North Carolina and led a
discussion at Pomegranate Books on How to Publish a Book as a Podiobook. We had about 15 folks who came to the discussion,
and there were many excellent questions. I hope to have the video of that discussion online in the next day or so. Thanks
so much for checking out the blog this week, and I hope you enjoy the videos! Stacey
10:50 am est
Saturday, June 14, 2008
How to Publish a Book as an Online Audio Book at Podiobooks.com How to Publish a Book Readers, On May 9, 2008, I began serializing my book
THE COLORADO SEQUENCE as an online Audio Book at Podiobooks.com. The way this works is that a writer publishes his/her book chapter-by-chapter
in a serialized format, basically publishing about 30 minutes per week online. Listeners at Podiobooks.com “subscribe”
to your serialized book, and are notified when a new episode becomes available. They can listen to it on their computers,
and they can download it to their iPods. They could even burn CDs of it in iTunes to listen on a CD player. Podiobooks.com
has a liberal acceptance policy and a low rejection rate, and in four years, they’ve built an audience of close to 50,000
registered members. Since THE COLORADO SEQUENCE started to be published online on May 9, I’ve received close to 4,000 total downloads and now have 436 registered subscribers
to the book. These numbers grow daily, and it’s possible that by the end of publishing the serialized Audio Book (probably
sometime in December), I may have somewhere around 30,000 downloads and a couple thousand subscribers. A
Podiobook.com listener can start subscribing at any time and so as a producer, you’ll constantly be gaining new subscribers
as episodes are published online (not unlike how a TV show gains new viewers as it increases in popularity). Without
getting too technical, I wanted to write a blog post here at How to Publish a Book regarding how to publish a book at Podiobooks.com
- You’ll need some sort of microphone to record your reading. I actually have an actor-friend doing the narration
for the book, and I loaned him one of my SAMSON CO1U mics and a pop-stopper.
- You’ll need some sort of digital recording software program. I recommend AUDACITY because it’s free, and it's user-friendly.
And that’s basically it.
Once you learn how to record yourself reading, there are specific digital formats that Podiobooks.com
requires producers to use in publishing their books at Podiobooks.com. You’ll want to spend some time reading all of
the details at their site. Podiobooks.com does have a community mentoring forum, where you can ask questions online and get
advice from more experienced book publishers. What are the PROS
and CONS? The advantage of publishing
a book via Podiobooks.com is that you can reach a whole other audience that you wouldn’t reach otherwise. In terms of
building a readership and in terms of publicizing a book, I haven’t seen a better vehicle on the Internet in the past
five years. If you published 2-3 novels at Podiobooks.com and built
your subscriber list up to 5,000, that’s solid SOCIAL CAPITAL for an up-and-coming writer. The downside is that there’s
very little money (read “no money”) to be made directly from publishing a book at Podiobooks.com. There is no
charge to listeners to subscribe to books published at Podiobooks.com. Any money earned is based on donations, and I haven’t
received a single donation to date. That said, if you’re stuck with a book (or books)
that can’t find a home at a traditional publisher, publishing your book as an online Audio Book at Podiobooks.com might
be worth considering. Thanks so much for reading this week’s installment of How to Publish
a Book. Sincerely, Stacey Cochran
10:49 am est
Saturday, May 24, 2008
Garth Stein How to Publish a BookHow to Publish a Book Readers, Every once in a while, I get a really, really awesome interview subject, and everything
comes together just right. My how to publish a book interview yesterday with Garth Stein was one of those. You folks
will really get a kick out of this one because Garth's novel The Art of Racing in the Rain was just published last week with Harper-Collins. It's his first major book deal, and so he's able to relate to where we're coming from as aspiring writers. Two
days ago, The Art of Racing in the Rain hit #22 on the New York Times bestseller list. One of the most interesting questions in the interview was my last; I asked Garth how he landed his literary agent. His response was so insightful I haven't been able to stop thinking about it since. Additionally, in this interview,
he discusses the craft of writing, and he defines a category difference between the craft (which he states can be learned)
and the art (which he says can't be learned). If you're an aspiring writer, or if you wonder what it takes to
get your first book published with a major publisher like Harper-Collins, you won't want to miss this interview. Enjoy! Stacey
12:22 am est
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
How to Publish a Book North Carolina Writers NetworkHow to Publish a Book Readers, A couple weeks ago, I had the opportunity to interview the new Executive Director
of the North Carolina Writers Network, Ed Southern. We talked about how to publish a book, how to find literary agents, and
how the North Carolina Writers Network serves the writers in its community. Ed was also able to talk about his work for the
Book Publisher John F. Blair Publishers. This interview also includes a Book Report segment by Natasha Gilliam on Brett Battles's upcoming book The Deceived to be published by Delacorte Press, a division of Random House, Inc.
Stacey
6:11 pm est
Sunday, May 11, 2008
How to Publish a Book: Self Publish vs. Traditional PublishI was asked yesterday on another forum about my experiences self-publishing my books.
The decision to self-publish
a book is one that all of us have to face at one time or another. This was how I responded on the other forum:
Regarding
your question about self-publishing, I've been extremely happy with everything I've managed to accomplish with a self-published
book.
To date, I've sold around 500 books total, done more than 100 bookstore and library events, now have
an author-interview TV show, am currently putting together a mini-national workshop tour in conjunction with Lulu and Borders,
and have a major publisher contracting me to lead workshops at colleges this fall. I have two audiobooks, know how books sell
and are distributed, know how to design an online marketing campaign, know how to speak at writers conferences, etc.
None of this would have gotten going had I not originally self-published my books.
I do recommend trying extremely
hard to find a traditional publisher first, but if that fails, don't do nothing with your book. Get it out there and learn
as much as you can from the experience! A lot of this holds true. The fact remains that the business of publishing,
marketing, and selling books is not an easy one to learn. There really is no way to learn how books are produced, distributed,
marketed, and sold unless you jump right into it.
The problem with traditional publishing is that it may take years
(even decades) to get your first book published (if ever). I guess the way I looked at it was that I didn't want to waste
my life (professionally speaking) waiting for a traditional publisher to see the value in my writing. I took the approach
that I would enter into self-publishing to learn everything that I could about the publishing process.
And I guess,
now that I'm on the other side of four years after having decided to do it the first time, I have learned so much about
how books are published, distributed, marketed, and sold that I'm amazed.
What I think happens to some writers,
though, is that they are forced to self-publish. When they do so, they run into the harsh reality that may come with only
selling a few dozen books. Then, discouraged that their book didn't become a bestseller, they give up.
A better
approach to take, I feel, is that of realizing that with every book, you learn a little bit more and a little bit more. By
staying in the game, keeping a positive attitude, and sincerely trying to learn as much as you possibly can about this business,
you really can carve out a career for yourself as a writer.
It just takes a tremendous amount of self discipline
to hang in there when the times are tough.
Stacey
10:17 pm est
Saturday, May 3, 2008
How to Publish a Book Bart Ehrman InterviewHow to Publish a Book Readers, This week I interviewed New York Times bestselling author Bart Ehrman about his books God's Problem and Misquoting Jesus. Bart has published nineteen books, and he makes an interesting distinction between his scholarly books
published and his more mainstream books published with Harper One. Dr. Ehrman has been on The Colbert Report and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and has been featured on The History Channel, CNN, NPR, and other top media outlets. In addition to publishing his books,
Dr. Ehmran is the James A. Gray distinguished professor of Religious Studies at UNC Chapel Hill. His scholarly research focuses
on early Christianity and the life of Jesus Christ. More specifically, he has focused on Proto-Orthodox Christianity, turning
textual criticism around to show how the early scribes altered the Bible. On a personal level, this was one of the most
interesting interviews I've ever done. I found it completely fascinating, and I highly recommend God's Problem.
Stacey
10:46 am est
Monday, April 28, 2008
How to Publish a Book and Open Mic Night ContestsHow to Publish a Book Readers, Yesterday, I drove down to Wilmington, North Carolina where I organize a monthly How
to Publish a Book Writers Group at Pomegranate Bookstore. Usually, we feature a speaker on the subject of books and how to
publish a book, but yesterday, we held an Open Mic Contest with the winner determined by audience vote. It was like
a literary American Idol, but with an audience of about 25 people (instead of 25 million). This is how it worked: 1)
attendees brought a ten-minute sample of their writing; 2) each participant could purchase a "raffle ticket" for
one dollar to enter into the reader drawing; 3) six readers were drawn from all the tickets entered into the pot; 4)
each reader read a ten-minute sample of his/her writing; 5) after all six readers read, the audience participated in a write-in
vote, selecting their favorite of the six readers; 6) the votes were tallied and the winner received a portion of all monies
collected for entries. One twist to this included that each participant could purchase as many one-dollar raffle tickets
to enter into the drawing as he/she desired. So, to increase your odds of being one of the six selected readers, you could
purchase five tickets (or more). This generated quite a good deal of money with about 25 folks entering (and many of them
purchasing five or more raffle tickets) . It's really quite a clever idea, and it's a ton of fun. It's kind
of a twist on the standard Open Mic Night, with the audience voting at the end and the winner receiving cash money. We've
done it twice now in Wilmington, and the readings have gotten tremendously better. And, of course, I filmed the
whole thing.... so you can see the winning reader here at How to Publish a Book. When I got home late last night, my
wife and I watched the winning entry on our TV, and we brainstormed ideas for televising this kind of audience-vote-selected
Open Mic Contest on a national scale.... with the idea in mind that the winning reader would receive a publishing contract. I
think it's a hell of an interesting idea, but it would take a little bit of money and quite a lot of logistics to work
everything out. The most innovative thing about this is that the audience is selecting their favorite reading. I'd
love to figure out a way to do this on a national scale (or international scale), televise it, have the audience vote on the
best writer/reader, and give the winner a publishing contract. At any rate, the winning entry won unanimously yesterday.
Though there were six readers to choose from, the audience voted overwhelming for one reader. Here is that entry. Enjoy! Stacey
11:07 am est
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