Catching Up

It's been awhile since I last posted and quite a bit has gone on in the world of self-publishing. Amazon's very public, or so it seemed, dispute with Hachette is over and time will tell who won that battle. If you want to read up on that entire debacle, visit J.A. Konrath's blog and you can read more than may want to about the entire negotiation and the various mudslinging battles that transpired. It's interesting reading, particularly if you are torn between self-publishing and attempting to obtain a traditional publishing contract. Simply start with one and work your way back, either one at a time or through links in the various posts.

Morris Rosenthal has returned to blogging and providing data about the world of self-publishing, particularly as it relates to Amazon and self-publishing. The latest incarnation of his blog is titled Publishing 3.0: Books in the Age of Amazon.

My current projects have included non-fiction in a brand new area for me in a topic I am passionate about, Italian Greyhounds! This project probably will be a success if it simply breaks even, but I feel like I need to diversify the types of books I write and self-publish in hopes to continue to earn a decent extra-income.

Finally, in what is probably a misguided effort on my part, is my attempt to sell paperback books directly from my own website using a Shopify store. It was easy to set up, but so far I have had very limited success in selling any books.

I hope everyone who visits my site has a GREAT Christmas this year!

Self-Publishing School - Great Blog Posts From the Past Week!

Excellent posts I have come across this past week about a range of topics related to self-publishing. Check them out, but please find time to return to The Self-Publisher's Notebook!

From Writer's Beware by Victoria Strauss

Publishers Settle With Google - But What About Authors?: A quick summary of what is going on with the class action lawsuit against Google for violating copyright by scanning in copyright books.

From The Creative Penn by Joanna Penn

Lessons Learned from One Year as a Full Time Author Entrepreneur: A great post about about making a living, running a business that is, as a self-publisher! Hard learned lessons are the best and Ms. Penn graciously shares these in this post.

From Self-Publishing 2.0 by Morris Rosenthal

Entering Stealth Blogging Mode: Mr. Rosenthal is a bit irritated with Google. I don't blame him. As authors we rely heavily on our blogs as a key component of our author platform. 

From Catherine, Caffeinated Guest Post by Mark Edwards

11 Ingredients of a Sizzling Book Description: Increase sales by writing irresistible book descriptions on your book's product page on Amazon or Barnes and Noble.

From The Book Designer by Joel Friedlander

15 Steps to Create Great Blog Videos: Since I am in the process of learning how to do this, I thought it would be good to share one of the better posts I have found on the topic. Very helpful.

From Futurebook post by Baldur Bjarnason

Ebook Publishing Platforms are a Joke: I wrote about this recently but it is of enough interest to include it again here for those who missed it.

From A Newbie's Guide to Publishing Guest Post by Anyomous on J.A. Konrath's Blog

E-Books in Libraries - They Still Don't Get It: This guest post is written by a professional librarian. Since we would all love to sell our books to libraries, this is worth reading.

Self-Publishing Blog Summary: Kindle Select Publishing, eBook Design Concerns, Subject Headings and More...

Experts in website design and SEO say it is not a good idea to provide ways for visitors to leave your blog or website. They might not come back. It's a chance I'll take.

Since I spend way too much time surfing the net trying to learn more about self-publishing and the skills needed to market my books, I can at least justify the time spent by sharing some of the better, or at least more interesting to me, blog posts I come across.

Just please visit The Self-Publisher's Notebook again!

From Amazon
Amazon Publishing Introduces Kindle Serials—Great Stories, One Episode at a Time
I don't write fiction but I always pay attention to anything Amazon announces about Kindle books. For fiction authors, this is worth checking out.

From Self-Publishing 2.0
Risks and Rewards of Kindle Select Publishing

Morris Rosenthal must love statistics and math. He is always looking at one statistical model of data or another and sharing his results with the readers of his self-publishing blog. Morris always has a unique way of looking at things as well. This post is a good one for self-publishing authors with books available as Kindle editions.

From The Skilled Workman
Your Book Better Not Look Like a Poorly Designed Website

Good advice on selecting an ebook conversion company. As always, I want to recommend the company I use, eBook Architects.

From Marketing Christian Books
Did You Forget the Subject Headings?

There are so many details you have to pay attention to as an author who self-publishes. Let's face it, we are the entire publishing company AND the author. This blog post brings up some good points about little details that many authors forget that could pay off in the area of book marketing.

From The Social Media Examiner
5 Ways to Go From Blogger to Published Book Author

I actually did this. On another of my blogs I realized I had about 30 different posts on a single topic. These posts had generated a fair amount of traffic according to Google so it seemed like a good idea to edit them all into a book on the topic. It has just been released for sale so it is hard to tell how this experiment in "blog to book" will go. But, for those who blog, particularly non-fiction, this might be of interest.

From The Savvy Book Marketer

The Biggest Mistakes Self-Publishers Make - Part One

This is the post that got my attention. Regular readers of my blog will know I mention on a regular basis that self-publishing is a business. This post tackles the issue of authors not taking the time to learn about the publishing and self-publishing industries from a business perspective.

From The Savvy Book Marketer

The Biggest Mistakes Self-Publishers Make - Part Two

This post tackles the issue of having a marketing plan. Most self-published authors don't and the results are a lack of sales.

Self-Publishing Blog Posts - Sales Data, Design and Industry News

I spent the evening catching up on reading about the self-publishing industry and came across some blog posts worth sharing. Konrath's in particular is worth reading as he provides data based on his actual sales as a self-publishing author.

Here are the blogs and the posts!

J.A. Konrath provides data, based on his own experience, on why you should self-publish - Kornath's Newbies Guide to Publishing

http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/2012/09/konraths-sales.html 

A long but interesting article from Forbes titled: Publishing is Broken, We're Drowning in Indie Books - And That's a Good Thing!

http://www.forbes.com/sites/davidvinjamuri/2012/08/15/publishing-is-broken-were-drowning-in-indie-books-and-thats-a-good-thing/

Converting your blog into a book - Joel Friedlander's The Book Designer

http://www.thebookdesigner.com/2012/09/blog2book/

Morris Rosenthal on fighting internet copyright infringement at Foner Books Self-Publishing 2.0

 http://www.fonerbooks.com/selfpublishing/?p=2123

White Might Not Be Right - Michael Marcus on choice of color for book covers.

http://bookmakingblog.blogspot.com/2012/09/for-book-covers-white-may-not-be-right.html

While it is from July, this post from Small Town Press is worth checking out because it actual sales data from a self-published author. The data is comparing Kindle versus paperback sales.

http://www.smalltownpr.net/2012/07/kindle-sales-outperform-paperback-sales.html

Trends, Reviews, Information and Some Self-Publishing History in the Making

I regularly read several blogs by individuals who are authorities on self-publishing, book marketing or book design in hopes of learning as much as possible. All of the individuals whose posts are referenced here and linked to are not only experts in the field, but are successful and experienced self-publishers themselves.

From Joel Friedlander's The Book Designer: The Biggest Secret of Book Marketing Success

http://www.thebookdesigner.com/2012/09/biggest-secret/#more-23674

An interesting post about book marketing. Joel reveals the method of book marketing that will produce the absolute best results.

From Aaron Shepard's Publishing Blog: Stumbling on Hyphenation

http://www.newselfpublishing.com/blog/#Wordhyphenation

A review of Microsoft's Word 2011 by Aaron, who among other things, is the author of Perfect Pages, and extremely proficient in the use of Word to lay-out book interiors for use in POD publishing. In this review, Aaron focuses primarily on the problems with the hyphenation feature of the 2011 version of Word.

From Aaron Shepard's Publishing Blog: Counting on Amazon

http://www.newselfpublishing.com/AmazonCounting.html

For you coding fans and anyone who sells their book on Amazon, this blog is worth reading. Aaaron examines the inner workings of many of the marketing tools for authors on Amazon. A blog post well worth reading from one of the experts in book marketing using Amazon.

Morris Rosenthal's Self-Publishing 2.0:  The Decade of POD Publishing Gives Way to eBooks

http://www.fonerbooks.com/selfpublishing/?p=2101

I wrote about this post a bit earlier this week and linked to it. Thought provoking look at the changing nature of the industry of self-publishing as it relates to the technology of print-on-demand and ebooks.

From Dana Lynn Smith's The Savvy Book Marketer: Free Images for Your Blog or Website


http://bookmarketingmaven.typepad.com/book_marketing_maven/2012/09/where-to-find-free-images-for-your-blog-and-website.html

Free is good! Ms. Smith provides information about locating images for use to improve blogs and websites that cost nothing for the user.

Has POD Run It Course? Are eBooks the New POD for Self-Publishers?

Morris Rosenthal, one of the leaders in the print-on-demand business model for self-publishers, has written a very thought provoking post on his self-publishing blog about the POD business model he helped foster and promote. Rosenthal's piece, The Decade of POD Publishing Gives Way to eBooks, is a summary of his latest thinking about the world of self-publishing. 

In February of this year I wrote a less insightful post, Does POD Still Have a Place in Self-Publishing, that poses the same question Mr. Rosenthal is attempting to answer.

Technology has certainly changed how we consume our reading material and readers seem to be embracing the new ereader devices. This past Christmas season Amazon's Kindle was the most gifted item from retailers.

While the Kindle (and Nook) boom is great for authors who self-publish due to the increased access to readers and ability to experiment with pricing for best results, what place does paper edition books occupy in a business plan for a self-publishing author?

Just 18 months ago if I had been asked should an author bring out an ebook edition I would have responded with an unequivocal yes, but after the print version. Now I would advise either a simultaneous release or the release of the ebook version first. Some experts, which I am not, are starting to advocate releasing the ebook version and waiting to see if there is demand for the POD version.

For now, the type of non-fiction books I write are best served, for the most part, with paperback editions due to the graphics and photographs. Ebooks simply are not quite as good yet as traditional paper books in this area, though the technology is improving in leaps and bounds. Once the technology catches up, I am fairly certain I will follow the trend of ebook first and POD later, if ever.

For now, every author probably has a different experience, based on genre and type of interior the book has or must have. Do what fits your business model the best and will generate the most sales or the highest level of revenue.

At any rate, read what Morris has to say about the subject. It will make you think about the future of your self-publishing business.

Aiming at Something Other Than Amazon?

Aiming at Amazon, POD for Profit by Aaron Shepard and Print-on-Demand Book Publishing by Morris Rosenthal should be required reading for authors considering self-publishing. While things have changed in the industry significantly since these two books have been published, these three books are still excellent primers on the business of self-publishing and developing a market strategy.

Successful self-publishers have found numerous ways to market and sell their books. Aaron Shepard's strategy outlined in Aiming at Amazon focuses on "aiming" sales at Amazon, allowing Amazon's sales and marketing machine do much of the "heavy lifting" of promoting the book. This approach has the added benefit if POD or Kindle ebooks are the format your books are published with of Amazon doing all the collection funds, shipping of books, etc, leaving you the author free to write and engage in marketing efforts rather than fulfillment of orders and bookkeeping.

Mr. Shepard's basic premise in Aiming at Amazon is by directing all sales to Amazon and using POD for publishing, the author does not have to deal with fulfillment, collection of payment, maintaining inventory or many of the other potential drawbacks of self-publishing. Once the book has been set up for POD the author can focus on marketing and have the money deposited in the bank once a month.

Why direct sales to Amazon? In addition to the aforementioned services there is the advantage of the Amazon long tail, the effect of Amazon's search engine and software helping potential buyers of your book find your book (If you are considering self-publishing and can only buy one book to research the industry, Aiming at Amazon is the one to buy).

Does this mean authors should avoid selling their books via other avenues. Not at all. I sell books on Barnes and Noble, Amazon Europe and a specialty retailer. But I direct all of my sales to Amazon and Mr. Shepard's approach has worked extremely well for me, particularly with the Kindle editions of my books. If I were to direct sales to Barnes and Noble and the specialty retailer though, I would lose much of the impact of the concept of pushing sales to Amazon to encourage the Amazon machine to push and promote my book(s). The more a title sells, the more Amazon promotes it.

Still, there are lucrative markets out there that I, as a niche market author, would like to tap into. Libraries are one such market. Selling one or two copies of a book at a time to a library does not sound like it would be very profitable concerning the amount of effort and time it would take. I would earn more money over the long haul by spending that time writing more books.

Thus the question of how to sell my book to libraries? Book distributors who deal with libraries! While I have not had a lot of time to spend researching this, I have managed to find a couple of distributors who serve the library market. Here is my list so far:

http://www.brodart.com/
http://www.quality-books.com/
http://www.midwestls.com/

As I investigate and pursue this possible avenue for sales, I will share what I learn here at The Self-Publisher's Notebook.

I would love for anyone who had had success selling books to libraries through a distributor or through direct sales efforts, please post a comment and share your experiences with the readers here so we can all benefit.

Protecting Your Copyright - Free Book Available for a Few Days

Morris Rosenthal has done a lot for self-publishing authors. He has pioneered the way and shared his experiences with us. He has helped many an author develop an author platform, answered questions beyond number and fought many a battle for us all.

One of his current struggles is with internet piracy and copyright infringement. This is an issue all authors must take serious.

I cannot speak for an author of fiction, but as a writer of non-fiction, my book sales are directly connected to the potential buyer's need for my information. If someone pirates that information and makes it available for free or at a lower price on the internet, that person is stealing money from me!

Morris has also researched the negative impact piracy has on internet search results. Since so many self-published authors need their web site for a wide range of reasons to be found easily by potential readers, Google's rewarding the pirates with higher search result rankings hurts.

Morris has posted an interesting piece about fighting copyright infringement, internet piracy and Google on his self-publishing blog.

He is also offering for free, for five days, his Kindle book on how to fight internet copyright piracy and copyright infringement.

Take him up on his offer. This is something all authors need to be concerned about.  Click here to read his article and take advantage of his free Kindle book offer.

Sites for New and Veteran Self-Publishers to Visit

I really appreciate every author, or individual considering taking the leap and becoming an author, who visit this blog. It has been an uphill struggle to learn everything I need to know to make this a successful business and like any endeavor worth engaging in, you can never afford to stop learning.

Many individuals have taken the time to share their experiences, both good and bad, in the field of self-publishing with the intent of helping me along and to shorten the learning curve for me. I feel an obligation to do the same.

There are certainly readers of this blog who probably get a chuckle out of my mistakes as they are more experienced in the field of self-publishing. Then there are the authors who are new to the game and I hope they learn information of value from reading this blog. The third group are probably authors who are at about the same state I am in the learning process.

So, in an effort to share sources of information, here are a few sites I visit regularly and I have learned a great deal from.

Aaron Shepard's Publishing Blog

Aaron is the author of Aiming at Amazon and the guru of self-publishing when it comes to the business model of selling self-published books via Amazon. He is also the author of POD for Profit and the creator of "Plan B" since Amazon has revised its dealings with Lightning Source. Aaron is just a treasure trove of information and views it as both a creative endeavor and a business.

Aaron has a realistic view of Amazon, how it works and what truly drives this company. In other words, he sees Amazon's good and bad points, of which there are both.

Morris Rosenthal's Self-publishing Blog

Morris is another of the leaders of the self-publishing movement and the use of print-on-demand as a business model for self-publishing. His book Print-on-Demand Book Publishing is another book self-publishing authors should read, even with the rise of the ebook. It describes the business model of POD for self-publishing. Remember, self-publishing is a business!

Morris writes about a lot of things on his self-publishing blog, ranging from understanding Amazon Sales Rankings, dealing with copyright violations, building an author platform and some just off the wall stuff that is really funny if you get his sense of humor. I have learned a lot by reading his blog and the archived posts.

Joel Friedlander's The Book Designer

This site is a great source of information about the design end of self-publishing as well as a wide range of topics that deal with self-publishing and publishing. Joel constantly provides new blog postings addressing topics both of interest and importance to authors who self-publish. Like Aaron and Morris, Joel views self-publishing as a both a creative and a business endeavor.

Joel also provides courses designed to teach new authors and veteran authors venturing into self-publishing learn the process and business of self-publishing. Joel also designs books as a service to self-publishing authors.

J.A. Konrath's A Newbie's Guide to Publishing

Konrath is a leader among the fiction authors who have become successful financially through self-publishing, primarily via Kindle ebook sales.

I don't always agree with his worldview on a range of topics, but I always come away from visiting his blog having learned something about the publishing industry. I write non-fiction and doubt I could ever write anything fictional worth publishing.

I have learned a great deal about the ebook explosion from his blog. Like the other three bloggers I have listed, Konrath views self-publishing as a business, and this from a very creative author. I have read many of his thrillers, particularly the Jack Daniels detective thrillers, and can attest Mr. Konrath knows how to spin a thrilling tale.

Michael Marcus's Book Making

I don't quite know how to describe this blog.  Sometimes I visit and exit the blog with my blood pressure about to come out my ears telling myself I will never visit again. I always do though and I am pretty sure if Marcus could see me turn red in the face he would get a good chuckle out of it. If you already read this blog, you know exactly what I mean. Marcus loves to yank a chain, anyone's chain.

Why do I go back time after time? Because as mad as Marcus can make me, he also makes me laugh and often he writes about issues that are both important and informative for authors who self-publish.  Perhaps I just need thicker skin.

Like the other sites, I learn from the information Marcus shares and that is what makes the site worth putting on your list of self-publishing blogs to read.

In all fairness, if you wind up on the sharp end of Marcus' wit, you might have done something to deserve it. Just as quickly has he can take a poke at you, if you have done something praiseworthy, Marcus will be one of the first to point it out. He will also take a poke at himself from time-to-time.

Also, Marcus likes The Rolling Stones, The World's Greatest Rock 'n' Roll Band. So do I.

Kindle Nation Daily

All things Kindle. If you plan on making ebooks, Kindle in particular, part of your business plan, this site needs to be on your list of blogs and sites to visit. 

The focus of late is largely on books selling well on Kindle and the technology itself. While I am not trying to compete with best selling authors, it is a way to track what is going on with different topics and niches as well as changes in the technology. Something we all need to be aware of as authors who sell Kindle books.

If anyone knows of a site or blog that would be a good addition to this short list, please share it via the comment sections for this post.

Updates on Self-Publishing

There are so many blogs about self-publishing it can be hard to keep up with reading about the industry. Of course, there is the added issue of which blogs are worth visiting on a regular basis. Aaron Shepard is one of the foremost experts on self-publishing. 

Periodically Aaron posts interesting articles about issues of importance or interest to self-publishing authors as well as updates to his books about self-publishing. To save the readers of this blog a bit of time, here are links to some of Aaron's recent posts about the industry as well as some updates to his books on self-publishing.

The "Biggest Problem with Lightning Source"

www.newselfpublishing.com/blog/#LightningSourceproblem

Updates for "Perfect Pages"


http://www.newselfpublishing.com/blog/#Pagesquickies


"Is Lightning Source Cheating You?"


http://www.newselfpublishing.com/LightningSourceCheating.html

Quickie Updates for POD for Profit

http://www.newselfpublishing.com/blog/#PODquickies


Plan B


http://www.newselfpublishing.com/PlanB.html

Morris Rosenthal is another interesting individual who is a valuable source of information on self-publishing and entrepreneurship as an author. Authors who sell their books online and offer non-fiction ebooks to specialty topics would do well to visit his site often to see what Morris has to say. Lately, Morris has been focused on the changes in Google and the impact this has on rankings for non-fiction authors, ebook sales and the impact on changes in use of information.

Some blog articles of interest:

ebook Sales Multipliers

http://www.fonerbooks.com/selfpublishing/?p=1706

The Disposable Information Culture

http://www.fonerbooks.com/selfpublishing/?p=1469

Using Free Kindle Books for Marketing

http://www.fonerbooks.com/selfpublishing/?p=1661

I hope you find these links interesting and helpful.

Leap Day Blog Posts to Read!

I know, I must be getting a bit lazy. But these are some informative posts on other blogs on self-publishing that are worth reading.

The first is from Morris Rosenthal who always has great information. This post is about strategic use of free Kindle books to promote your books.

Post number two to check out is on Joel Friedlander's blog and is about creating organic traffic for your author blog site.

I have to include a third post from Joel as he updated his list of great self-publishing blogs and The Self-Publisher's Notebook made the cut!

Finally, I am starting to think about converting a few more of my books currently available in Kindle format to ePub and see if this will increase sales for the Nook. My lone book available in Kindle and Nook formats sells well on the Kindle and has produced embarrassingly low numbers for the Nook. Perhaps a few more books being available will help.  This post by Liz Castro is about the ePub format.

Some Blog Posts to Read: eBook Pricing, Bookflation and JA Konrath Stirs the Pot!

These three blog posts were interesting, informative and in the case of some of Mr. Konrath's post, entertaining. Worthwhile reading regardless for authors who self-publish.

Interesting blog piece from Ireland on pricing for eBooks:

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/features/2012/0221/1224312113036.html

Morris Rosenthal's look at book prices and book sales over the past ten years:

http://www.fonerbooks.com/selfpublishing/?p=1644

In his own unique style, eBook pioneer J.A. Konrath stirs the pot for those who think legacy publishing is a good deal. The comments are worth reading as well.

http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/2012/02/do-legacy-publishers-treat-authors.html

Does POD Still Have a Place in Self-Publishing?

In just a few short years the publishing industry has changed dramatically. So has self-publishing. The eBook is radically changed both industries. Technology, history has shown, simply has no feelings when it comes to people and the inevitable march forward shows no mercy it would seem.

I am fairly certain when Gutenberg began printing books with his press, particularly the Bible,  some people decried the certain loss of the beautiful books painstakingly produced by skilled and artistic scribes. Technology won that battle fairly quickly as evidenced by the quick spread through Europe of the printing press.

With Kindle sales in the millions this past Christmas and the Nook generating some much needed revenue for the struggling BandN, eBooks have been a boon to the industry, the reading public and the self-publishing author. So much so, some self-publishing authors are beginning to question if print versions of books, even using print-on-demand, still has a place in self-publishing.

For many self-published authors, print-on-demand was what allowed us to publish our books and at least have a chance of recouping the money invested, and if nothing else the joy of holding a copy of the finished book in hand.

But has POD print publishing become a form of vanity publishing? Joanna Penn takes an interesting look at the role POD and print books have in the life of self-published authors in a guest blog on Joel Friedlander's blog The Book Designer.

Ms. Penn argues print books are now vanity publications, but in a good sort of way. While I understand the point she is making, which primarily are for authors of fiction, I am not so sure POD paper books no longer have a role in the business of self-publishing for non-fiction authors.

The term "vanity publishing" used to refer to an author's work that was so poor the only way it would be published is if the author paid to have the book printed. These books were indeed often horrible and did little to help the reputation of any author who self-published. When legitimate author services companies began to crop up, most of whom used POD to print their clients books, these companies were often labeled as vanity publishers.

With the advent of Amazon allowing self-published authors to have access to customers, the POD business model, made popular by Aaron Shepard and Morris Rosenthal, helped many self-published authors be able to not only market and sell their books successfully, but to make money in the process.

Times change and so does business. The advent of the eReader has made a huge impact in the self-publishing industry. In my case, my Kindle sales outnumber my POD sales by a ratio of 200 to 1 as of last month! On the surface it would seem Ms. Penn is correct in her thinking the day of POD and print editions are over for self-published authors.

It is true I have not purchased a single print edition of a fiction book since receiving my Kindle. The same is not true for non-fiction books. While I do purchase non-fiction to read on my Kindle, I still purchase print books for research (I still want to be able to write in the book the old fashioned way and dog ear pages to find easily) or when I know the content will be image and graphic intensive.

In the case of my own non-fiction books, I will continue to publish my large, meaning 8.5 x 11 and 200+ page books in a POD print edition as well as a Kindle and Nook edition (even though my Nook sales have been laughable) precisely because my books are both image and graphic intensive. I also know my reader population and many of my potential readers will be slow to adapt to the new eReader technology. If I want to sell books to that segment of my potential market, I must continue to offer a print edition.

I should mention that while my Kindle sales went through the roof last month, I also had the best month ever in selling print editions. While the percentage of total sales was low, it was still lucrative and worth the time, effort and cost to have those titles available in POD print editions.

Will I change my approach to how I produce my new books in the future? Yes. I plan to offer a series of short, informative books, designed to introduce a topic and then promote my full length book at the end of the short version. These books will be text only and sell for .99 cents as Kindle shorts. These books will be targeted at potential readers who are just entering the market and are already technology oriented, not the older, more experienced potential readers.

Does POD still have a place in a self-publishing author's business plan? I think the real answer is "it depends." The author must know his or her potential readers and the quality of book the technology can support and still have the reading experience be enjoyable or informative in an easy to understand and use fashion. If I were in the fiction writing business, I would always release a Kindle version first and depending on sales and target audience follow up with a print version.

The real issue is not whether or not POD still has a place in the self-publisher's business model. It is being market savvy enough to know what the author's readers want and need from their reading experience and matching the book production to meet those wants and needs.

Guide on Fighting Internet Copyright Infringement Available

Morris Rosenthal, one of the original experts on self-publishing using print-on-demand and marketing books using the internet, has published a Kindle book, An Author's Guide to Fighting Internet Copyright Infringements.

Morris is making the book available for free for several days. My guess is it will be available for a fee after the FREE purchase period is over. Update: The guide is now available for .99.

Copyright violations are bad for all authors, particularly non-fiction authors. Google now seems to penalize authors of original content in internet searches whose material has been pirated, giving the pirates higher rankings in search results. For those of us who rely on our websites and content to drive book sales, this is not just theft of our work, it is further punishment for making our work available to the public.

Morris has written about this problem on his blog several times and has spent considerable effort fighting internet copyright infringement of his own material. He shares what he has learned about the process in this short book.

Is Self-Publishing Still Self-Publishing?

Morris Rosenthal, one of the "godfathers" of the self-publishing industry has a really thought provoking blog post this week. He makes an interesting argument that many self-publishers are really Amazon publishers or write for Amazon Publishing. 

It is well worth reading and thinking about what Morris has to say.  Click here to go to his blog post.

Books for the Author Considering Self-Publishing Part I

Self-publishing is more than just writing a manuscript and getting the book into print. It is an entire business and a growing industry. Technology plays a huge role in today's self-publishing industry, allowing a single author to build a successful small business.

Self-publishing is also a jack-of-all trades industry. Not only does the author have to write a good book for the book to succeed, the book has to be designed, both the interior and the cover, a method of printing selected, a business model devised, accounting procedures set-up, a marketing and distribution plan created and put in place, book reviews obtained and entire host of other skills learned, mastered or at least aware of.

I have read dozens of books, some really good, some really bad and some in between. For my next few posts I am going to post the books I strongly suggest authors considering self-publishing obtain and read as part of their self-taught learning curve.

The first suggested books are essentially mandatory reading if you are going to self-publish. Aiming at Amazon, Perfect Pages and POD for Profit are all written and self-published by Aaron Shepard, one of the foremost authorities on today's self-publishing industry. Aiming at Amazon focuses on selling books through Amazon.com and provides an entire business and marketing model for self-published authors using this approach.

Perfect Pages describes how to use Microsoft Word to design and create the interior file of a book for use with a print-on-demand printing and distribution service.

POD for Profit focuses on using Lightning Source as a print-on-demand printer and distributor. The book also discusses all the ins and outs of this business model and using LSI effectively and dealing with the quirks of this POD printer and distributor. Even if CreateSpace is to be used as the POD printing service, this book is mandatory reading.

Morris Rosenthal's Print-on-Demand Book Publishing: A New Approach to Printing and Marketing Books for Publishers and Self-publishing Authors is the best overview of the print-on-demand business model. This book is essential reading in order to understand the business side of self-publishing using print-on-demand.

For those authors who are considering using CreateSpace for POD service and distribution I suggest two books. My own Self-publishing With CreateSpace: A Resource Guide for Authors Considering Self-Publishing and Christie Pinheiro's Step-by-Step Guide to Self-Publishing for Profit!:Start Your Own Home-Based Publishing Company and Publish Your Non-Fiction Book with CreateSpace and Amazon.

Morris Rosenthal's Kindle Formatting in Word: Illustrated Kindle Tag Tips to Accompany a Blog Post - A Review

As promised, I have read, several times, Morris Rosenthal's short Kindle title, Kindle Formatting in Word: Illustrated Kindle Tag Tips to Accompany a Blog Post. For $.99 you simply cannot beat this little guide on converting Word to Kindle.

I must readily admit I don't learn new tricks on computers easily. Having said that, if (read when) I work up the courage to publish a short title as a Kindle book, I will use Rosenthal's book to work through the process in a step-by-step manner.

I have read several of Rosenthal's books and this one is written in the same style, short and to the point. Morris seems to avoid being wordy and does not use excess and unnecessary wordage. I find this helpful in making a subject, or skill if you choose to look at it as such, that intimidates me seem much less daunting to learn and execute.

In addition to providing clear and concise guidelines that are easy to understand, Rosenthal includes diagrams, charts and other illustrations to show the reader what you will see on your computer screen during the conversion process.

This is a can't lose purchase and at 99 cents Morris is basically giving away the information for authors who want to venture into the Kindle market.

Kindle Sales Continue To Grow - Get On The eBook Express!

I make it a point to read Morris Rosenthal's blog on self-publishing weekly. Morris is one of the founding fathers so to speak of the current state of self-publishing and has many insights into the business of self-publishing, something most authors seem to avoid.

His blog this week concerns Kindle Sales by Amazon during a one week period, namely the week of December 26-January 1. Based on Morris' numbers, Amazon sold over 3 million Kindle books during the aforementioned time span. Morris always has some interesting commentary and insights about the publishing industry, technology and how the rapid changes we all face as self-publishing authors will impact our industry. 

In fact, Morris tracks Amazon sales rankings of both paper and Kindle books and provides charts that allow interpretation of sales rankings and what they mean in terms of actual sales. 

Morris and his math models aside, just what does the current trend in Kindle sales mean for authors who self-publish? Simply it means you better get on board the eBook express. Either learn HTML and convert your files for your POD books for Kindle publication as well as the ePubit format for Nook and other similar eReader devices or pay a qualified professional to do it for you.

I don't think the POD business model is going to go away any time soon and as authors we will need to continue to take advantage of the POD technology to get our books into print in traditional book form. At the same time we will need to embrace the new eBook technology. 

As the technology grows in popularity with younger readers, and yes, I can vouch for younger readers in today's world (my real job is teaching high school history and coaching basketball) and their embracing of technology as the means by which they obtain information, I have to believe more and more books will be sold as eBooks and not as traditional paper books.

Just as the eBook seems to be growing in popularity with fiction readers, it is growing in popularity with schools and school districts. Our math department uses eBooks almost exclusively. The history department I work in uses eDocuments for many of our primary source documents, saving the department a great deal of expense allowing us to maximize our limited budget.

All of this seems to indicate an ever moving push towards the eBook as a commonly excepted format for books and other forms of information.