One day, I received a call from a customer. He said “I’m a chiropractor, and I recognize that while chiropractors are good at what they do, they are not good at running their offices. But I have solved that challenge. I have just finished my book titled How to Run Your Chiropractic Office.”

“Sounds good,” I said and I thought to myself: “now here is an author who can look into the mirror and see a refection of his customer. He knows who the customer is, what the customer needs and (most importantly) where the customer is.” Chiropractors are easy to locate because they have to have a license; they are on lists.

Then the doctor went on, “I have a packaging idea I would like to run past you”. I leaned back in my chair and listened. The caller said “once I sell this book to all the chiropractors, I’ll go through the manuscript with search & replace and change the word “chiropractor” to “dentist” and sell the same book to all the dentists. Next, I’ll sell to all the medical doctors. Isn’t that a great plan?”

“No,” I said, “It sounds great but it’s a terrible idea. First off, it will not be all that easy to sell your peers. It will take reviews in your magazines, displays at your conventions, lots of mail and telephone calls. Finally word-of-mouth from one doctor to another will sell the book.

“Do you really want to learn all about dentists: read their magazines, join their associations, and attend their conventions? You don’t have time for that.

“What you should do is publish this book. Then publish the advanced book, then the office forms book and then the little books chiropractors give to their patients. You want to become known as the publisher for the chiropractic industry.” Soon other chiropractors will approach you to publish their books.

New customers have to be bought; existing customers are free. Anyone who has ever been in sales will tell us, it is far easier to sell an additional product to an existing customer than it is to find a new customer. Stay in
one field and keep adding products until you own the territory.

Next: Combine your products in a “Power Pack,” a higher priced package.

Dan Poynter, the Voice of Self-Publishing, has written more than 100 books since 1969 including Writing Nonfiction and The Self-Publishing Manual. Dan is a past vice-president of the Publishers Marketing Association. For more help on book publishing and promoting, see http://ParaPub.com.

There is nothing wrong with unpolished writing, but there is no excuse for not having it cleaned up by an editor. Hire a wordsmith, a grammarian, a picky English pro. Look for them in the Yellow Pages under “writing”. Ask for them in places where people work with words: check writing clubs, local colleges and ask at photocopy shops (or see the sidebar in this article). Interview several editors and get referrals from satisfied customers.

The editor returned the manuscript and the pages were filled with red marks. Attached was an apologetic note saying, “I am sorry for the mess but I thought you would want to know about the errors.” The author called the editor and thanked her. “I would much rather that you find the mistakes now than have my readers find them later.”

I trust my editors. To save time, I send the file attached to email rather than the manuscript on paper. That way I do not have to enter the corrections to the manuscript. The editor edits and corrects at the same time.

Each book presents a different challenge. Some require punctuation corrections while others demand a rewrite. According to Brenner Information Group, editors average sixty-one hours of work per book. Yes, editing is a rewording activity.

Your book is a member of your family. You want the very best for it. Give it a checkup and dress it well so you can be a proud parent.

Dan Poynter, the Voice of Self-Publishing, has written more than 100 books since 1969 including Writing Nonfiction and The Self-Publishing Manual. Dan is a past vice-president of the Publishers Marketing Association. For more help on book publishing and promoting, see http://ParaPub.com.

The problem is that many POD vanity publishers are calling themselves “self-publishing companies.” They are trading on self-publishing’s good name to make their companies appear familiar and legitimate.

Self-publishing has early American roots and today there are more than 85,000 self-publishers in the U.S. Naturally, these dot-com, digital publishers want to use the name.

How to tell the difference. Some definitions.

Publisher: The person who puts up the money and make the book happen.

Vanity publishers are organized to sell books (and other services) to the author. They charge the author to publish the book. This is why they are also known as “subsidy publishers.”

Conventional publishers sell books to the public, usually through wholesalers and bookstores. They pay the author an advance and royalties for the right to produce and sell the book.

Would you write a book knowing that you would be the only purchaser?

How to spot scam vanity publishers. A literary attorney advises other lawyers.

According to Wikipedia, Self-Publishing is the publishing of books and other media by the authors of those works, rather than by established, third-party publishers.The only “self-publishing company” is you—by definition. If you pay a publisher, your book is not SELF-published.

Self-publishers, write, publish and promote their own books. We have been building name recognition for self-publishing for more than 35 years.

Self-publishing garners respect. Traditionally, when a book publishing CEO wrote a memoir, he or she would seek another publisher to release it so that the book would not appear to be a vanity work.

Times have changed. Self-publishing has become so recognized and legitimate that the vanity stigma from publishing your own Work has nearly disappeared.

Now that people know what self-publishing is, we find we have to reeducate the public to the fact that we are the real self-publishers and the other DotCom POD digital publishers are really just vanity publishers masquerading as us. They are trading on the good reputation we have built.

On the other hand, there are many digital printing companies. Most provide excellent prices, service and quality. They should refer to themselves as “book printers.”

For information on the choices for breaking into print, get the free Information Kit #2 on Publishing at http://parapublishing.com/sites/para/resources/infokit.cfm

Many of the DotCom vanity publishers help people to produce their books for a few hundred dollars. The low cost of entry attracts literary talent from the bottom of the barrel. With so little to invest, most of these authors don’t verify their research and don’t invest in editors, typesetters, book designers or cover artists. Both authors and publishers of these poor-quality vanity-published books give all book publishing a bad name.

These POD vanity publishers are leaving a trial of unhappy customers. See the list of unresolved complaints to the Better Business Bureau.

Due diligence. Writing a book is a creative act; publishing a book is a business. Before trying anything new, people should get educated.

Anyone who’s been in publishing for a while can share a number of stories of people who stumbled and blundered into the book game without getting sufficient information first. These pioneers have made just about every mistake imaginable. Profit from their (temporary) failures: don’t repeat their painful lessons.

Remember that in any new field, especially book writing and publishing, others have blazed the trail for you.

The book industry is full of helpful and supportive people. It may be unexpected because this kind of camaraderie does not exist in other industries. The reason that book people are so helpful, friendly and supportive is that every book is unique. There is little to no competition in book publishing. When it comes to marketing books, we are conspirators not competitors.

Let’s respect historical and common definitions. We can protect the newcomers to book publishing by helping them to understand the difference between conventional publishers, self-publishers, book printers and the vanity/subsidy publishers.

Dan Poynter, author of The Self-Publishing Manual, is the “Godfather” to thousands of books. He has written more than 100 books since 1969. Dan is a past vice-president of the Publishers Marketing Association. For more information on book publishing and promoting, see http://ParaPub.com.

Bottom up: The Traditional Method (8x)

Bottom up: You must price your book at least eight times (8x) the printing and trucking-in costs. This is your delivered production cost. Do not include the prepress (design, typesetting and layout) costs in your calculation. These are one-time charges that should be written off. In days past, we used to mark-up both prepress and production costs 8x, but those costs have been considerably reduced because of the computer—publishers can set their own type now, cutting down on some of the prepress expenses. Besides, your book will be around a long time; you will be able to spread those costs over many printings.

Neither the customer nor the retailer knows or cares what it costs to print the book. They only know what it is worth to them.
—Roger Pond

Why eight times? Because of distribution and promotion costs. If you charge less than the 8x mark-up, you won’t have enough money to promote the book.

Distributors (66%), wholesalers (50-55%) and stores (40%) have to be paid for delivering your book to the reader-buyer. Each takes a hefty cut of the list price.

Promotion is also expensive, and it is normal to invest 20 to 30% of the gross back into the process of selling your book. Depending upon the subject matter and the size of the potential audience, we often send out more than 500 review copies to appropriate magazines, newsletters, newspaper columns and opinion molders. Reviews are the most effective and least expensive promotion you can do for your book. Review copies are inexpensive promotion but they are books not sold.

Top Down: The Additional Method

Top down: The price you put on your back cover, embed in your bar code, put on the order blank on the last page of your book and list in all your promotion should be as much as the market will bear. Visit a bookstore and check out the prices of other books like yours.

Retail price is established by the marketplace not by the cost of production.
—Jerrold Jenkins, The Jenkins Group.

Yes I know?your book has “no competition”; all authors think their book is unique. Buyers do have a choice. And don’t fall into the trap of thinking your book is for everyone. For instance, I publish books on
skydiving. I would like everyone to jump out of a plane—to have fun, to skydive safely and to come back, make more jumps, join the club, buy equipment and (hopefully) buy more books. But, I am realistic. I know skydiving is not for everyone. (I am not sure why because gravity makes falling easy). Just because you spent the last year pouring your heart, soul and credit limit into your tome, that does not mean everyone is interested enough to buy it and read it. Now, that said, realistically determine the profile of the potential purchaser for your book.

Visit a bookstore and look for other books on your subject that would be purchased by the same type of person. Also look at the formats of those books: shape, color of paper, and types of binding.

You want to find what your potential buyer is willing to spend. If you are selling to teenagers, your price will have to be low and softcover. If yours is a business book, $34.95 and hardcover with a dust jacket may be right. If this is a professional book aimed at doctors, lawyers or accountants, a hardcover book without a jacket at $90 would not be out of line.

Please do not call and ask me how much you can charge for your book. For books on book promotion (such as The Self-Publishing Manual) and for books on parachutes (such as The Parachute Manual), I can make an educated guess. I do not know your field or your customers. I would have to visit a bookstore and check the shelves. You must do the same.

Prices should be based upon market factors first. What is the customer willing to pay for this product?
—Roger Pond

If you poll bookstore managers on pricing, remember that lower prices will sell more books, so they will often advise a lower price.

You do not have any control over the top-down price. Your cover price must be right in the middle of those sitting nearby on the shelf.

Customers will compare. If the cover price is too high, you will price your book out of the market and it won’t sell. If it is too low, the book will not be credible and potential buyers will think there is something wrong with it. You also won’t make enough to invest in further promotion.

Often, you will be surprised what people will pay for your book. There are many examples of people who raised the prices of their books and actually ended up selling more. But, in these cases the buyer was
somehow convinced of the value and benefit of the book.

Compare. Hopefully, your bottom-up price (8X) positions lower than your top-down price. If there is an overlap, you will have to reformulate the design of your book. In other words, cut back the size, leave out color photographs or use less-expensive materials.

Pricing your book is not hard. Calculate your costs and visit a bookstore. Do your homework.

Dan Poynter, the Voice of Self-Publishing, has written more than 100 books since 1969 including Writing Nonfiction and The Self-Publishing Manual. Dan is a past vice-president of the Publishers Marketing Association. For more help on book publishing and promoting, see http://ParaPub.com.

Some literary agents have a passion and a track record for certain kinds of books: cooking, travel, children’s, business, parenting and so on. To find the right agent for your manuscript, simply match the Work to the agent.

Look on that shelf in the bookstore where your book will be. Check the Acknowledgment pages of similar books; some authors mention their agent. Locate and call authors of works similar to yours. Ask who their agent is.

Agent Patti Breitman, (John Gray, Men are from Mars and Richard Carlson, Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff), is a confirmed and renowned vegetarian.

When she was new to the business, she attended many vegetarian conferences and let people know she was looking for manuscripts. After she sold a few, the word spread in vegetarian circles. Now, Patti represents the founder of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, Ingrid Newkirk (You Can Save The Animals); the founder of Physicians’ Committee for Responsible Medicine, Neal Barnard, M.D. (Foods That Fight Pain and Food for Life), the 4th generation cattle rancher turned vegetarian who got Oprah sued, Howard Lyman (Mad Cowboy) and several others.

Today, Patti receives several queries and proposals for vegetarian books. As she is not taking on many new clients, Patti must sometimes decline the chance to work with even the best vegetarian authors. Then she will suggest other agents and encourage the writers to persevere, as she shares their passion. eatplants@aol.com

At writers’ conferences, try this non-threatening way of approaching agents: Do not ask an agent to read your manuscript. Place them in a more objective position by saying, “You are an agent and know most of the other agents. I realize agents have a track record in certain types of work. Which agents would you recommend for this manuscript?” You will be astonished at the positive reaction you get.

Good agents specialize. Successful authors know where to look for agents.

Dan Poynter, the Voice of Self-Publishing, has written more than 100 books since 1969 including Writing Nonfiction and The Self-Publishing Manual. Dan is a past vice-president of the Publishers Marketing Association. For more help on book publishing and promoting, see http://ParaPub.com.

Use these opportunities to gather material for the book’s revision or your next book. Maybe you were not clear enough in your writing or perhaps the customer is interested in an important area you did not cover. Bernard (Bear) Kamoroff, CPA, of Bell Springs Publishing, displays at book fairs and other industry events for the express purpose of gathering user feedback for Small Time Operator (23 revised editions and 53 printings in 21 years). At one fair, a woman said the business book was not for her because she was self-employed. So, Kamoroff added to the cover: “For All Small Businesses, Self-Employed Individuals, Employers, Professionals, Independent Contractors, and Home-Based Businesses.” Also, due to customer feedback, he has increased the index from three pages to seven.

Oh—I listen more and talk less. You can’t learn anything when you’re talking.
—Bing Crosby (1904-1977), American singer and film actor.

If people are asking questions, they like your work. Note their questions and your responses in a “correction copy” of your most recent edition and keep it on your shelf so you will be able to easily find the updates when the inventory runs low. Put the new information in your next revised edition—and sell the book to them again.

Listen to your readers. Your best customer is one you have sold to previously.

Dan Poynter, the Voice of Self-Publishing, has written more than 100 books since 1969 including Writing Nonfiction and The Self-Publishing Manual. Dan is a past vice-president of the Publishers Marketing Association. For more help on book publishing and promoting, see http://ParaPub.com.

Emergencies such as earthquakes, fire, and flood are interruptions we can accept. We may even weave the unexpected experience into our future work.

Telephone calls, visitors and unnecessary questions are interruptions that may make a writer a bit snippy. This is perfectly normal. If people do not want to hear you yell at them, they should leave you alone.

Novelist Judith Krantz places this sign on her door:

DO NOT COME IN. DO NOT KNOCK. DO NOT SAY HELLO. DO NOT SAY “I’M LEAVING.” DO NOT SAY ANYTHING UNLESS THE HOUSE IS ON FIRE.

Explain to your housemates: “I love you but I am working now. Working requires concentration and one brief interruption can cause me to lose a train of thought and lose an hour or more of time. Your brief greeting or question could cause me to lose a precious thought that will affect our income.” Set boundaries and unplug the telephone.

Sue Grafton lives in Santa Barbara. In 1993 she returned to the University of Louisville to accept an honor. On a lark, she went to look at houses—and bought one. Now she writes in both places. She says “It’s really quiet in Kentucky because no one knows when I’m there.”

Writing is a solitary occupation. Family, friends and society are the natural enemies of the writer. He must be alone, uninterrupted, and slightly savage if he is to sustain and complete an undertaking.
—Lawrence Clark Powell, author.

Whether you are crafting fiction or nonfiction, you must to be able to focus on the entire manuscript. You need and deserve not to be interrupted. As Sue Grafton says: “Writing has to come first.”

Dan Poynter, the Voice of Self-Publishing, has written more than 100 books since 1969 including Writing Nonfiction and The Self-Publishing Manual. Dan is a past vice-president of the Publishers Marketing Association. For more help on book publishing and promoting, see http://ParaPub.com.

Money. If your publisher prints 5000 copies, the book sells for $19.95 and your royalty is 6% of the cover price (12-14% of the net), your earnings will be less than $6000. If the book sells and goes back to press, you may do well. Otherwise, it is not worth the many hours at the keyboard for $6000. According to Publishing for Profit by Tom Woll, most initial print runs are 5,000 copies.

In self-publishing, you invest the money but you do not have to share the net. You get it all.

The Publisher is the person or company that invests in the book.

Speed. It takes a large publisher 18 months to move a book through its system of production and distribution. From the time you deliver the manuscript, it will take a year and a half before books are on the shelves in the stores.

You can have a book printed in 2-5 weeks. You must consider: Do you want to wait an eternity to get paid? Will your information expire in 18 months? Will someone else beat you to the market with the same information? Do you want to let a publisher delay the publication of your book?

18 months? You can make a baby faster than that!

Control. Some of the larger publishers have surrendered to their bean counters. Many of their books are on pulp paper, the margins are narrow and the type is small. Your publisher may leave out some of your illustrations to save money.

As the (self) publisher, you can design the book to convey your information to your reader in the best-possible way.

A poorly-produced book lacks credibility.
People won’t buy the book and will never be exposed to the message.

Covering your bases. Today, with the computer and digital printing, it is possible to approach publishers and publish yourself. You can print 500 copies very reasonably (144 pages, 5.25 x 8.25, soft cover for $1,500). Then you can send the (example) book to agents and publishers.

Those who circulate a proposal, query letter or manuscript are treated like a writer.
Those with a book are treated like an author.

You will also send copies of your book to magazines for review, to book clubs for adoption and to foreign publishers for translation and publication.

Authors and promotion. Some authors do not want to publicly flog their books. You may be looking forward to the day when your work is recognized and you won’t have to promote it. You may wish to be a celebrity and above all this crass commercialism. Be advised that Frank McCourt (Angela’s Ashes) spends some six months each year making appearances on behalf of his books. He is a best-selling author because he promotes his books.

Whether you sell out to a (NY) publisher or publish yourself, the author must do the promotion. Publishers do not promote books. They have the books manufactured and they place them in bookstores. It is up to you to let potential buyers know your book is available.

There are four stages in the life of a book: writing, publishing, distributing and promoting. Giving birth to a book is like bringing a child into the world—you have an obligation to raise it. Fortunately, the book is not a twenty-year commitment and you do not have to send it to college. But, you do have to promote it.

You will write and promote your book and your publisher will produce and distribute it. You can deal with typesetters, printers and distributors yourself to get your finished book into the stores. You might as well self-publish.

Publishing increases the value. No one can be an expert in every book—some 100,000 titles are published each year. Everyone specializes or, at least, has a track record with certain categories of books. If you are turned down by an agent or publisher, that is not a reflection on the ability of the writer or the quality of the work. That agent or publisher just does not get it. With this New Model, if industry people fail to recognize the need and market for your book, it does not matter because your book is launched. It is out for review, it is be considered by book clubs and evaluated foreign publishers. If an agent or publisher “discovers” your book after you have proven it in the market, it is now worth more. For examples, see the sidebars.

This New Book Model is the best approach for you, your book and your writing future. Send your finished book to agents and publishers. Do not send a proposal, query letter or manuscript. Don’t let the agents and publishers hold you back.

Dan Poynter, the Voice of Self-Publishing, has written more than 100 books since 1969 including Writing Nonfiction and The Self-Publishing Manual. Dan is a past vice-president of the Publishers Marketing Association. For more help on book publishing and promoting, see http://ParaPub.com.

When Maryanne Raphael first read about the international Three-Day Writing Contest, she thought it was a joke. But the idea of writing a book in three days fascinated her. So several years later she signed up, got a sponsor, and arranged to spend Labor Day weekend at her keyboard day and night.

She began typing as fast as she could, writing her best at all times because there was no chance for rewriting. The subconscious was in control with the conscious mind in the dark much of the time. The same powerful curiosity that keeps readers turning pages kept her writing them.

She finished the manuscript, The Man Who Loved Funerals, by the deadline with short breaks for stretching and naps. It is now in New York with her agent who thinks it is her best work. And she spent ten years writing her nonfiction book, How to Write a Novel in Three Days.” http://www.WritersWorldInternational.com

For many authors, the writing of the book is not grueling; it is a journey to be enjoyed. Many writers like to set aside a few hours for their writing each day; they establish a schedule and stick to it religiously. A few have the luxury of writing full-time or of getting away to concentrate on their writing. They find marathon writing is more fun and avoids the challenge of getting back to the manuscript each day. Still others have to fit in their writing whenever they can.

Nat Bodian decided to write his first book in 1979. Finding time was difficult because he worked full-time as a marketer at a New York publishing house and commuted from New Jersey. He did some writing on the bus to and from New York, some was done on a pad of paper walking across Manhattan and some was done during his lunch hours. Then, evenings after his kids were in bed, he continued in a basement typing room until the wee hours of the morning and on weekends.

The Book Marketing Handbook was published by R.R. Bowker 20 months later and it is still selling. This and several more industry books led to his nomination to the Publishing Hall of Fame.

Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King wrote powerful articles and books about their activities or causes while behind bars. Make effective use of your most valuable asset: your time.

Dan Poynter, the Voice of Self-Publishing, has written more than 100 books since 1969 including Writing Nonfiction and The Self-Publishing Manual. Dan is a past vice-president of the Publishers Marketing Association (now IBPA). For more help on book publishing and promoting, see http://ParaPub.com.

Check quantity. When the books arrive from the printer, count the cartons. The packing slip will be in an envelope pasted to the side of one carton. Compare the carton count with the amount on the packing slip and Bill of Lading. Sometimes printers short-ship and sometimes books disappear in transit. Separate the carton with the cover over-runs and the short carton, it will be lighter. You do not want these on the bottom of the inventory stack.

Weigh one full carton and multiply the number of cartons. Then weigh a pallet. Compare your totals with the weight on the bill of lading. We recently found a shipment that was off by several thousand (expensive) pounds.

Check condition. Open random cartons and check for damage. If the books were packed loose in the carton, the top ones will be scuffed.

Check quality. If you find defective books, call your printing service representative at once. Do not sell the books. They are either salable or unsalable. Settle with the printer first. If the defect is major, such as an up-side-down signature, the printer will offer to do the job over. If it is minor, such as light inking on some pages, most printers will offer a settlement; to rebate some of the purchase price. You must decide whether a lower price will make the books salable.

If you find a significant percentage of poorly manufactured books, do not agree to sort the good from the bad; that could take several hours for 5,000 books. Send samples to the printer and offer to destroy the books or return the entire batch. You have agreed to pay for good work. You have not agreed to open each and every carton, sort the good from the bad and repackage them.

Repairing production errors. Every now and then it happens. Even with both the publisher and the printer doing their best work—something goes wrong. There are so many tiny but essential variables of paramount importance in book production that range from the elementary (spelling the author’s name correctly) to the technical (bubbles in the cover). Anyway, the mistake is made, the book is wrong—what can we do now?

Always, cover yourself. Make all specifications and any changes in writing. If you make a change in a telephone call, follow it up with a fax or letter. You may need written proof of your instructions later.

First, establish who is at fault (and who, therefore, will pay to correct it).

Here are some corrective alternatives.

Rip and tear is the removal of a single page and the “tipping in” of a replacement. A very narrow strip of glue is placed at the edge of the page. Done well, you have to look closely to tell a page was tipped in. But the book must also be retrimmed. Check your margins and cover art to see if the book will look strange if 1/16″ or even 3/32″ are trimmed off all three sides.

Adhesive stickers will correct a wrong ISBN or barcode. This is a fairly common remedy. It may be used to correct a bar code but you wouldn’t want to correct the name of the author on the cover this way.

Rubber stamping. If your book was printed in Hong Kong and you left this notation off the copyright page, you will have problems with the US customs officials. Have the printer rubber stamp the required wording for you.

Grind and rebind is used when you have major errors (one up-side down signature) or have to replace the covers. The glued binding (spine) is cut off, the covers are removed, the spine is reground and a new cover is installed. But the book must also be retrimmed. Check your margins and cover art to see if the book will look strange if 3/32″ are trimmed off all four sides. Grind and rebind is cheaper than reprinting the entire job but often results in an odd-looking (unbalanced) book.

Most important, ask your printer. They have seen it all and know what they can do to repair problem jobs. When the damage is major, most printers turn to an outside expert.

Dunn and Company specializes in turning printing problems into good salable books. They do everything from changing pages to changing hardcover to soft. Contact

Dunn & Co.
Dave Dunn
75 Green Street
Clinton, MA 01510-3017
Tel: 978-368-7238
Fax: 978-368-7867

Disputes. Occasionally something goes wrong because either the publisher or the printer made a mistake. Here are a few things you may do:

Check with the Independent Book Publishers Association before awarding a bid.

Find out if any other members are involved in a dispute with your lowest bidder and if so, call those members for details. If you have a dispute with a printer, call the IBPA and relay the details so you will be helping the next publisher. Being on IBPA’s temporary blacklist will encourage the printer to settle with you.

You may have the book tested by a commercial testing laboratory to determine whether it meets industry standards. Test findings can be used to settle disputes. One is:

SGS US Testing Company, Inc.
Jim Spry
291 Fairfield Avenue
Fairfield, NJ 07004-3833
Tel: 973-575-5252

Printing Industry Association arbitration boards exist in some areas. See your telephone directory.

The publishing industry is fortunate to be served by many book printers. These are businesses that specialize in books; they do not print anything else. They consistently deliver on price, service and quality. When a book turns out bad, 95% of the time it is not from a book printer. It is because the publisher went to a local job printer who tried to make a book.

Hopefully your books will always arrive in perfect shape. Keep this article in your shipping area to guide you when you receive your next shipment.

Dan Poynter, the Voice of Self-Publishing, has written more than 100 books since 1969 including Writing Nonfiction and The Self-Publishing Manual. Dan is a past vice-president of the Publishers Marketing Association (now IBPA). For more help on book publishing and promoting, see http://ParaPub.com.