What options are available to first-time authors?

 

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Lesson #4
What options are available to first-time authors?

 

12 other ways to get your message out:
A book is one way to get your message to your world. But it’s not the only way. Many other options exist including:

1. a blog
2. a mentoring relationship
3. a screenplay
4. a documentary
5. a course, workshop, or seminar
6. a speaking engagement
7. an email series
8. a newsletter
9. joining (or starting) a movement or a cause
10. running for office
11. raising awareness
12. a social media campaign

However, a book offers you several advantages:
• Your book allows you to tell your entire story; you aren’t limited to sound bites.
• Your book may endure long after you have passed on.
• Your book speaks for you 24/7.
• Your book gives you an intimate connection with your audience.
• Your book may find its way into the hands (and minds) of people with power to change the world.

 

Fiction or nonfiction?
While the choice is usually clear, sometimes the best way to convey a nonfiction message is with fiction. For example, Harriet Beecher Stowe could have written a book denouncing the evils of slavery. Instead she wrote the novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin, which became the second best selling book of the 19th century (after the Bible) and fueled the abolitionist movement that eventually brought an end to slavery in the United States.

 

Writing your book yourself vs. hiring a ghostwriter to write it for you
Some people love to write. They’re gifted at it. That’s what they really want to do. If that’s you, write your book yourself.
Consider hiring a ghostwriter, however, if any of the following apply:

• You’re too close to your story to write objectively about it.
• You care more about getting the book done than you do about doing it yourself.
• You’re too busy to write.
• You don’t enjoy writing, or don’t write well.
• You’re stuck, and can’t seem to move forward.

 

Editing your book yourself vs. hiring someone to edit, proof, or rewrite
Every manuscript should go through an editing process before publication. Some book manuscripts need major surgery—a complete rewrite is called for. Some need less major revision. Some just need a second and third set of eyes to look over it for consistency, fact checking, and typos.

These are different skills. I specialize in minor to major surgery on book manuscripts. Other professionals are better at polishing. If you’re working with a traditional publisher, you will want to deliver a manuscript that is as clean as possible to your editor, who will then go back through it with a fine tooth comb.

If you have strong editing skills, then you may want to edit the manuscript yourself. Otherwise, you may want to hire out.

Other DIY vs. hire-out options

• Planning a strategy for your book
• Writing your book
• Rewriting, revising, editing, proofreading your book
• Creating a book proposal for an agent or publisher
• Formatting your manuscript for your traditional publisher
• Designing / formatting a book interior for self publication
• Designing a cover for your book
• Working with a conventional printer to self publish your book
• Working with a publish-on-demand service to publish your book
• Converting your book to Kindle or other e-book formats
• On all of these processes, you can do it yourself, or you can hire help:
• Creating an elevator speech for your book
• Creating a media kit for your book
• Creating a website or blog for your book
• Creating a landing page or sales literature for your book

You can do all of these things yourself, or you can hire people to help at various stages of your book project. Sometimes it makes sense to do it yourself. Sometimes it makes sense to hire out.

 

Self publishing vs. traditional publishing
Traditional publishing If you’re a busy person with a great deal of influence, or a recognized expert with a textbook or academic book, a traditional publisher is probably best for you. If you’re prepared to demonstrate that thousands of people will buy and read your book, then you may be best served by preparing a book proposal and going to an agent. But understand that there’s a huge difference between, “I just know that thousands of people will love my book,” and, “I publish a blog that gets 5,000 unique visitors every day.” Authors with a solid track record of book sales and a defined target market can partner with a traditional publisher to reach more readers. When you work with a traditional publisher, you get a smaller slice of the pie—you earn less money per book, but will probably reach far more people with your book. In addition, you don’t have to deal with the headaches of manufacturing and distributing your book. You still need to promote your book, but you will have at least some help.

Vanity publishing Don’t confuse traditional publishers with vanity or subsidy publishers. Traditional publishers pay you; you don’t pay them for the privilege of getting published. Vanity publishing is an okay choice for someone with limited time and lots of money—if you care more about seeing your book in print than you do about a publisher keeping his promise to market your books effectively. Just be very, very careful here. Many of these operations are scams that take your money and run. They over promise and under deliver.

The lines are starting to blur with vanity presses. Westbow, for example, is a self-publishing arm of Thomas Nelson Publishers. This publisher does have certain standards, offers a variety of services. One of the most interesting service it offers is this: Every book published by Westbow is read by the editors at Thomas Nelson with a view toward traditional publishing at Thomas Nelson. Depending on your book, that might be a way to get your foot in the door if you can’t get an agent interested.

Self publishing is the best choice for most new authors. It gets your message out there rather than enduring months of frustration trying to get an agent or a traditional publisher interested in you and your work. It gives you control over design, manufacturing, marketing, pricing, sales and promotion. You can earn a much higher profit per book as a self published author. But, in most cases, you will also sell fewer copies.

 

Types of self publishing
Conventional printer You can self publish a hardcover or paperback book using a conventional printing service. My personal first choice would be Total Printing Systems, Newton, IL (tps1.com). They do nice work and their rates are consistently below anything I’ve ever seen for press runs of 250 to 5,000 books. Let them know that Dwight Clough referred you. If you go this route, then you need to supply your own cover file and interior file. You’ll also need to get your own ISBN number and generate your own bar code. If you’re wanting 1,000 or more books at a time, then this is probably the route to go.

Publish on demand If, however, you don’t want or need that kind of inventory, then you will probably want to go with a publish on demand service. I prefer Amazon’s digital publishing platform. You maintain all rights over the material. They supply ISBN and bar code. You don’t need to stock a single book. You can send customers to Amazon, and they will manufacture, pack and ship your book for you. It costs little or nothing to get set up. You can also order any number of books for your own supply or to sell. The cost per book is very reasonable. You set your own pricing. I will explain how to publish on Amazon’s platform in later lessons.

Amazon vs. Ingram Spark Ingram Spark is another player in the publish on demand world. While they offer some advantages that Amazon does not (e.g., hardcover books), my experience with them has not been positive. Here’s an article comparing the two:
clearsightbooks.com/kdp-ingramspark-which-publishing-platform-is-right-for-you/

E-book publishing I recommend you publish on Amazon’s platform (Kindle). (I’ll explain how in later lessons.) However, you can also create e-books and offer them for sale on your website. There are a variety of e-book formats. Here’s an article comparing some of them:
makeuseof.com/tag/ebook-formats-explained/

 

Marketing, sales, distribution and promotion
Here the options abound.

• You can stock books and sell them yourself online or in person.
• You can direct customers to Amazon where they can buy your book and you receive a royalty.
• You can sell in bookstores and outside bookstores.
• You can sell to corporations, nonprofits and/or directly to readers.
• You can sell through catalogs and book clubs.

And I’m just getting started. I cover a variety of promotional strategies later in this course.

 

Coming up!

In our next lesson we answer the question: Is your writing good enough to be published? (If not, what can you do about it?) And I’ll explain why some best selling authors are terrible writers, and yet author wonderful books.

Course index and link to next lesson are below

 

Recommended resources and sample books

Yes, these are referral links so there is a danger that I might make money if you click through and purchase…

 

More resources

LibreOffice, a free alternative to Microsoft Word (scroll down for the most recent stable version)

Download GIMP, a free alternative to PhotoShop

AWeber, an email list management service—I’ve experienced excellent customer service from these folks (and, yes, this is a referral link)

How I Sold 1 Million eBooks in 5 Months

Dan Poynter’s Self-Publishing Manual: How to Write, Print and Sell Your Own Book (Volume 2)

1001 Ways to Market Your Books: For Authors and Publishers, 6th Edition

 

About Dwight Clough

I am a national award-winning writer, published author (20+ books), ghostwriter, and publishing consultant. Since 1983, I have worked on a wide range of writing projects for thousands of enthusiastic clients. I’ve helped clients write, rewrite, and publish their books.

I specialize in Christian inspirational, life story, devotional, educational and leadership books, but I’ve worked on other book projects ranging from microbiology to mental health.

You can reach me here:

 

 

 

 

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