I was a guest on Page Turners / Red River Radio with good friends Nancy Denofio and Meg Collins June 17, 2011. It was strange being on the other end of the questions. After a beginning of chatting, I addressed a lot of questions from listeners.
The “chat” is over an hour and covers a lot of information regarding ebook, marketing, promotion and cover design.
And, at any time, if you have questions, feel free to email me as I am here to help.
Listen to Radio Interview with Page Turners.
About Me
I graduated from the University of Washington in 1981, and began my graphic design career in 1985, learning computer graphic design on my own, as computer design classes were not available at the time. IN fact, I am completely self-taught, and the first program I started on was Aldus PageMaker 1.0, and Aldus Freehand 1.0.
In 1988 I started OneWay Advertising and when the Internet came into play in 1999, again I self-taught myself. So my background is graphic design and marketing.
In 2010, I was talking with my friend Roxanne, and we talked about this new “ebook” craze involving Kindle and EPUB. For years we had written and published several PDF ebooks, but we wanted to look into EPUBs and MOBIs and offer our findings to readers on Unruly Guides.
How I came up with the name Unruly Guides, isn’t due to being uncontrollable or “unruly”. Giving away information free is not the norm — it really is unorthodox, but people can’t spell that, so I chose Unruly.
E-publishing versus Self-publishing
EPublishing is part of the Self-Publishing, but only one part. Self-publishing can include printing in a tangible format, such as offset or POD (print-on-demand) formats. It also includes the marketing and promotion required to sell your book.
Print on Demand is a green product; books are not printed until they are ordered. however, ebooks are purely green, and quite easy to publish. However, “turn-key” systems are great, just know what you are getting and if you have to purchase your own book for $9.99, then I recommend you do, so you can actually see the formatting results.
Book Promotion
I know marketing and promotion, but it is not my forte. The aspects I so know you need:
- A blog or Website. The hardest part is to get the author to maintain the blog themselves. Even publishers will ask how you are promoting yourself?
- Domain Name. Your name as the author (.com, preferably). You are branding your name, not your book. Once they get to know you, readers will be looking for you — your name. The cost of domains are inexpensive, about $11/year.
- Social Networks. Join Twitter or Facebook. Start with one until you are comfortable with maintaining, and you can even connect your social network to your blog, so your posts are connected to your social accounts.
- Marketing. Start marketing your book before you are done with your book. You need to start a repori with readers, start a buzz, and get the interest generated prior to release.
- Ask for reviews. Give away a free copy for honest reviews, not just friends and family. And NEVER, NEVER reivew your own book.
- Author Pages. Set up an author page on Amazon, Smashwords, B&N, everywhere you can promote yourself.
- Gravatar.com. Set this up so that when you post a comment anywhere, your bio, photo and URL will post with your comment, creating more links to your site.
I started promoting my Kit, for example, over three months prior to its release. if you look at the retail world, they start up their campaigns 3 months prior. It also sets a deadline for you to complete; however, if you promise the product and then delay the launch, then that could hurt you in the short run. You need to time this just right.
E-Readers
There are several e-reader devices, that I cannot say that one is better than another. I personally own a Kindle, is because it is not a lighted device. I spend so much time on the computer, I want a real “book” experience. I recommend you visit a store, like Target, so you can actually see the devices before you purchase.
Book Cover Designs
The book cover comes after the book is written, during the final polish is a good time. It also needs to be professional-looking, and include elements of the story without giving it away.
Your MS is your “baby”. It is your labor of love, and you don’t want to wrap your baby in dirty clothes. You don’t need to spend thousands, but you need to hire or create a cover that works well, and entices readers to pick up your book and buy it.
The cover needs to look well in both color and grayscale, and also work at about 2 inches high – the size that is commonly displayed in e-tail storefronts.
- In color
- Work well in black and white
- Include the author’s name
- Readable Font
Links to sites we discussed
Smashwords
FastPencil
Gravatar
