It’s all very well writing an article for a magazine, but how can you find out whether your message is engaging the right people and having the desired impact? Executive communications specialist Mindy Gibbins-Klein suggests that the first step to successful communication is accepting that writing very likely to be a one-way approach, at least at first…

A business colleague said something astounding the other day. He said he would rather speak to an audience of ten people than write for an audience of a thousand. I thought that sounded a bit strange, so I challenged him on it. It turned out that he had written an article for a magazine with a good circulation, but he hadn’t had any feedback at all from it. He felt he had spent his time crafting a wonderful, informative piece that no one appreciated. He also felt that if that message had been delivered in person, he could have seen the response from people immediately, in their eyes and their body language.

It’s true, what my colleague said, so how can we justify putting time into writing when we don’t get feedback? That, my friend, is the nature of writing. Sometimes you get to find out what your readers think of your material, and many times you don’t. It’s my view that we have to be OK with the fact that writing is one-way until we get a response, and we must continue to put good material into the market. There are some excellent guidelines for one- way communication that I have seen business experts use to their advantage. Here are my favourites:

1. Keep your outcome in mind at all times.

Hone your message according to what you have to say as well as what your reader needs to hear and decide what kind of information you are imparting. For example, if you need to teach people with your writing, you may choose a different style from writing which aims to influence or persuade. Make whatever you write clear.

2. Deliver your message as passionately and authentically as if you were speaking.

I prefer to see writing as an extension of speaking, and in fact, for people who will not get the opportunity to hear you in person or even on the phone, your writing must do the same job. It has become very trendy to write conversationally, spurred on by the advent of blogging and newsletters. That style can be used effectively in books and articles as well. It’s no secret that one of my favourite authors is marketing guru Seth Godin. I love the in-your- face, direct style he uses. It feels like he’s in my living room talking to me one on one. It seems from his book sales that others also respond to that style. And it happens to be the way I prefer to write, in case you hadn’t noticed!

3. Get feedback.

That may sound like it contradicts what I said earlier. Actually, there are some clever mechanisms to get people interacting with you, even though you are not there. You can get them to go to a web page and complete a survey – with or without an incentive. You can put an email address at the bottom of the piece, asking for comments – again, with or without an incentive. This can work equally well for books. I get a lot of clients excitedly planning to include CDs with their books, until I show them how they can still give away free CDs and capture people contact details and feedback at the same time. Never include bonuses with your book when you could engage with readers and get some indication of how many people read it and liked it at the same time. That’s plenty for you to be getting on with. If you know your subject and deliver your message well, if you write powerfully and authentically, they will listen. And they may even respond. Let me know all about your success by writing to me at mindy@bookmidwife. com – I offer lots of fabulous bonuses for my readers

While I was at the London Book last April, one lady stood up and gave a seminar on how there were an ‘awful lot of bad books out there’. Another said that more and more writers are now expected to bear more of the risk – and even go as far as to complete their books without getting paid themselves.

I feel really sorry for these people; I can’t tell you what a shame this is. It seems some authors are still not in the 21st Century when it comes to getting their books out there. When you think about the flat or falling book sales figures, the rising cost of production, add to this the uncertainty inherent in the industry, is it any wonder that publishers are reining in the budgets and take fewer risks?

As a publisher myself, I don’t have a problem with authors taking a risk. What I do have a problem with is the arrogance and condescending nature of some publishing people who still believe that they get to be ‘gatekeepers’, deciding which books deserve to be published and which don’t. One former publisher present at the seminar said “there were an awful lot of bad books that did not need to exist”.

The strap line at The Book Midwife for several years has been “Every Book Deserves to Be Written and Published”. I have never said ‘bad books’ deserve to be bought, read or liked. I just said we shouldn’t deny people the right to get their books into print.

I thought – wrongly, as it turns out – that people in the publishing industry were finally beginning to realize the benefits of democratic and open publishing, creating more opportunities for all. Self-publishing, cooperative or partnership publishing, publishing on the web – these are the vehicles which have allowed more people than ever to get their thoughts and ideas into the market.

So I am calling people everywhere. Business Owners, Entrepreneurs, Working Mums, First Time Writers, and even Second Time Writers that were unsuccessful at the publishers. If there is a book in you, let’s find it and get it out into the market. Happy writing!

Mindy Gibbins-Klein MBA FRSA is best known as founder of The Book Midwife® and co-founder and director of Ecademy Press. Her clients have successfully written and published more than 300 books and hundreds of bold and opinionated articles, positioning themselves as real thought leaders in their field. Mindy is an international speaker and thought leadership strategist. Her latest book 24 Carat BOLD: The Standard for REAL Thought Leaders (£10.99, Ecademy Press) outlines the four attributes found in true thought leaders. Mindy herself is a successful author, co-writing Amazon best seller BusinessWise, A Dance in the Desert and an ebook on self-publishing.

Are you ready to be a publisher? Do you have all the keys? Now that you have made the decision to become a publisher, you must take the reins. You are the maestro, the coach, and the head cheerleader. To understand your new role, it is essential that you understand each key, each step of the process.

No publisher should be without this highly readable, nuts-and-bolts guide to the ins and outs of book publishing. The Midpoint team has more than a century of combined book publishing experience, which will prove invaluable to all publishers, from seasoned professionals to those new to the game. The book concisely discusses the editorial process, design, printing, pricing, sales and distribution, marketing and publicity. It also includes success stories from authors, publishers, and others in the industry who relate the strategies that helped them rocket their books to bestseller status.

After you have learned the elements of your trade, you will be prepared to take on the turbulent and challenging world of book publishing.

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The First Ten Steps- Ten proven steps to build a solid foundation for your ebook using free social networking by International Bestselling Independent Fantasy Author M. R. MathiasOK…. Your ebook is published. You did some tweets about it and you posted on Facebook. Now what?The First Ten Steps lays out several PROVEN methods for using free social media sites to get your ebook in front of eager readers. But more than that, after a few months of following the easy 10-15 minute a day steps, you will have built a solid foundation for your pen name and created the one thing new authors have to have: NAME RECOGNITION.You will learn how to use and maximize time on sites such as Goodreads.com, Wattpad, and Twitter to immediately draw readers to your work.You will learn how to use twitter #hash tags effectively, and how to grow and nurture your following of READERS; you will also find out how to put your new eBook in front of tens of thousands of people.Contests, Blog hosting, Do’s and

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Having gained significant experience of print-on-demand self-publishing by publishing his own books using Lulu.com and CreateSpace, and by offering publishing assistance services to other authors, Tony Loton now shares his experience with you in this completely revised and updated second edition of… BOOK PUBLISHING DIY Packed full of tips, tricks, and real world experience, this book shows you how to: * format your manuscript in Microsoft Word or another word processor. * create a high quality book cover using Microsoft PowerPoint or a simple paint program. * publish your book as a print-on-demand paperback using Lulu.com or CreateSpace. * publish your book as an Amazon Kindle e-book. * sell your print and e-book editions from your own web site or blog. * sell your book via retail web sites including Amazon with an ISBN. * take payment of your revenues and royalties. * reach your target audience through effective marketing. You can be a publisher!

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Stacie Vander Pol has done exhaustive research to uncover the self-publishing firms that sell more books, pay the highest royalties, and provide the best overall value for writers. Company profiles include: Sales Results ranked from Poor to Excellent. Amazon royalties, bookstore royalties, and publisher website royalties. Distribution channels including online registration, Books in Print registration, and wholesaler access. An Overall Value rating factors in the cost of publishing with sales results and royalty payments. Trade discounts available for stocking in stores. Timeline to expect. Book Pricing – who decides the price for your book. Cost for Author Purchased copies. Author Rights and Contract Cancellation policy. Hundreds of examples of top-selling books published by the firms profiled are presented. A head to head chart makes it easy to compare firms in one

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Once referred to derisively as “vanity publishing,” self-published books are finally taking their place alongside more accepted indie categories such as music, film, and theater. Indie Publishing is a practical guide to creating and distributing printed books regardless of your background, skill set, or ambition. It will help you realize projects of every scale and budget, from the traditional bookmaking techniques used to create zines to the more ambitious industrial production methods required to produce hardcover books in large quantity. Indie Publishing’s special focus on the visual design of books makes it unique among publish-it-yourself manuals. Readers are taken step-by-step through the process of designing a book to give it personal style as well as visual coherence and authority. Design principles such as scale, cropping, pacing, and typography are explored in relation to each example, along with commentary on how to create effective title pages, tables of contents,

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With the advent of technology, writers have numerous options when it comes to publishing. If you’re blessed to get a book deal with a traditional publisher (i.e. Random House, Simon & Schuster, HarperCollins), you’ll get an advance, royalties and a marketing allowance. Given the volatility of the book industry and emergence of e-books, landing a deal with a traditional publisher is a rare feat.

Tons of vanity presses make it easy to publish a book. These companies charge tens of thousands of dollars by preying on the fact that naïve authors will pay and do just about anything to be in print. I know of companies that charge $12,000 for 500 books. That’s $24 a book! As Solomon said in Ecclesiastes, “Vanity, vanity all is vanity!”

Subsidy presses will offset, or subsidize, a portion of the publishing expenses. The author pays for editing and printing, the press pays for marketing; however, they will also participate in the proceeds for each book sold.

An independent or small publisher usually focuses on a specific genre. These publishers may or may not pay advances and often have fewer than twenty authors on the roster.

Print-on-demand (POD) publishers are better described as high-priced printers than publishers. These companies charge exorbitant fees and act more like the middle man on a book project. One of my clients paid $150 to copyright her title through a POD. Had she done it herself, the cost would have been $35 (that’s a markup of almost 500%).

I am a proponent for self-publishing because you control the process. You decide when the book releases, the cover and content, the retail price, the printer and the marketing strategy. As a self-published author (self-pub), you can expect to spend about $3,000 to publish 1,000 copies of your title (or $3 a book). And if you sell those copies for $10 each, you’ll gross $10,000!

Sidebar: Regardless of the publishing option you choose, your books will not automatically fly off the shelves. You will have to market, promote and sell, sell, sell!

Let’s take a look at some differences between self-publishing and PODs:

1. Many PODs do not provide a comprehensive edit although they charge like a professional, developmental-writing editor who’s providing personalized coaching and a manuscript critique. Self-pubs can find competent editors for a fraction of the cost.
2. PODs use templates for book covers. I have a client whose inspirational book has the same cover image as a book about demons, witches and warlocks. She was horrified by the discovery. Self-pubs can contract with graphic designers to create customized one-of-a-kind covers for as little as $300.
3. Now for the real deal: making money!
   1. If you’re in business to make money, it’s almost impossible with PODs. Thorough self-pubs can acquire books for less than $2 each; however, the POD cost for a comparable book often exceeds $10. Doesn’t sound like much, but when authors try to market to bookstores, libraries and distributors, they soon learn that it’s not cost effective. To make money, bookstores charge 40% of the retail price and distributors up to 70%. So, if a book is priced at $15 and the author has to give up 60% (or $9) to a distributor, the gross profit is $6 ($15 retail price – $9 to the distributor). If a POD printed the book, the loss is $4 a book ($6 gross profit – $10 POD print cost). As a self-pub, each book sold results in a net profit of $4 ($6 gross profit – $2 printing cost). I have a client who went with a POD—against my recommendation—because she wasn’t charged any upfront fees. I admonished her to find out her cost to purchase books, but she was too ecstatic about “the savings” to read the fine print. Well, as I expected, they got her on the back end. The POD charged her $25 to buy her book which should retail for $12.95. The cost made the book a hard sell, so she packaged it with trinkets to enhance the perceived value, sold it for $20 and lost lots of money.
   2. PODs don’t pay royalties on books purchased by the author and most books sold through PODs are purchased by the author. Go figure! For the few books that are sold by the POD, the author earns a whopping $110 in royalties on average. The earning potential for self-pubs is limited only by the author’s persistence and ability to creatively market and sell books.
   3. PODs charge excessive fees for promotional material and marketing. One of my clients purchased business cards through her POD. They charged her $200 for 200 cards (at $1 per card, they’re too expensive to give away) that didn’t even have her contact information. To add insult to injury, the cards directed the consumer to the POD’s site, so she paid to advertise for the POD. Awful!

The only plus to PODs is the ability to print small quantities. For writers who want to test the market or print copies for family history, POD may be a viable option. If you absolutely must go POD, go straight to the source, Lightning Source. Most of the PODs contract with them to print books and then markup the fee to authors.

If you’d like a FREE list of PODs or want us to rate your publisher, visit the Contact Us page at PenOfTheWriter.com.

As a bestselling author and award-winning publisher, Valerie J. Lewis Coleman has helped thousands of aspiring authors navigate the challenges of self-publishing. With over ten years of experience in the book business, this expert divulges industry secrets on avoiding the top five mistakes made by new authors, pricing your book to sell and identifying dishonest publishers. Her dynamic presentation and knowledge of the business takes writers from pen to paper to published as they master self-publishing to make money! To learn more about Valerie, her books and succeeding as a self-published author, visit ValerieJLColeman.com, PenOfTheWriter.com and QueenVPublishing.net.

Copyright © 2010 by Valerie J. Lewis Coleman

CreateSpace uses it. Lulu.com uses it. So do AuthorHouse, iUniverse, Xlibris, and almost every other self publishing company in the U.S., Canada, and the U.K. What is it? Lightning Source, the printer and distributor at the heart of the “print on demand” industry. For the work those companies can’t handle themselves, it’s Lightning they most often depend on. So, why pay a middleman? In this follow-up to his groundbreaking book “Aiming at Amazon,” Aaron Shepard explores how to double your profit by working directly with Lightning. If you’re serious about making money with POD publishing, this book can show you the way. ///////////////////////////////////////////////// Aaron Shepard is a foremost proponent of the new business of profitable self publishing through print on demand, which he has practiced and helped develop since 1998. Unlike most authorities on self publishing, he makes the bulk of his living from his self-published books — not from consulting, speaking,

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“A fine book for self-publishers set to take advantage of today’s best entry to self- publishing.” Aaron Shepard, author of Aiming at Amazon.This book cuts through all the hype that surrounds the publishing industry.  Learn how to register your own publishing imprint and reap the benefits of passive income that successful writing provides. This book shows you, step-by-step, how to set up your own publishing company and self-publish your own nonfiction book WITHOUT the expense of inventory or pricey “writing services” that bogus vanity publishers sell to authors. Using CreateSpace, an Amazon affiliate company, you can self-publish with very few costs up front. Stop dreaming and start living; get your book published and distributed the easy way, and keep ALL the profits for yourself!See the official website for this book and learn more about the authors at:

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