Interview with Aggie Villanueva

My guest today is Aggie Villanueva, author of Rightfully Mine (God’s Equal Rights Amendment), which I reviewed in my last post. I didn’t know Aggie when she contacted me to offer her book for review. Since that initial contact, however, it seems that I see her everywhere, and I’ve learned that she is a talented and active lady.

She’s giving away an electronic copy of Rightfully Mine to a lucky commenter today so be sure to leave a comment to be entered in the drawing.

Lillie: Welcome to A Writer’s Words, An Editor’s Eye, Aggie. You have quite a range of talents. You’re a photographer; a freelance writer, novelist, and blogger; an editor; a writing coach and teacher… Have I forgotten anything?

Aggie: I don’t think you’ve forgotten anything. Except that all writers and photographers also wear the hats of promoter, public relations, accountant, business manager, etc. But I’m talking to other writers here, so they well know all this. I also should scratch editor. I do edit for my blog, Visual Arts Junction, but when I publish my books I mostly hire out professional editing.

Lillie: Do you think of yourself primarily as a writer or a photographer?

Aggie: I’m equally a writer and photographic artist. But I have to admit, I write daily, even if it’s sometimes only for promotional material, etc. I don’t make it to the high mountains nearly as often as I’d like. Heck, I like to live there.

And I also don’t get as much time as I’d like to work on the images I take. But both writing and photographic art are the main hats I wear. And then I add blogger to the list. I didn’t realize when I started Visual Arts Junction last year that blogging is a career in itself. I work on and write daily for the blog too.

Lillie: I’m sure my readers would like to hear something about your photography and how you came to be known as the Grandma Moses of the Southwest.

Aggie: I’ve always been behind a point and shoot camera or camcorder for my family and for sheer pleasure. It wasn’t until 2007 that I made a decision to go pro and bought my first digital SLR professional camera. I had no idea how to use it.

But I’m one of those people who go whole hog into whatever I do, so within a year I was speaking in Santa Fe at the Marion College of Photographic Arts, showing a large body of my work. I’m now represented in several online and walk-in art galleries across the nation. I also sell licensing for people to use my images as book covers and other uses.

The Grandma Moses nickname came early on, too. Back when I had the time, I belonged to several photography forums where I learned so much from the other professionals there. Because my photo art is all from the southwest, and many, actually most, look more like paintings after I’m done with my digital darkroom work, plus the fact that they are mostly rural, they began calling me the Grandma Moses of the southwest. It stuck. I’m honored and humbled by the tag, but I have to admit I love it.

Lillie: Tell us about your home in the mountains. The photos included here show both the beauty and majesty of the scenery and your talent as a photographic artist. Have you always lived close to nature? How does your environment influence your creativity?

Aggie: Wow, Lillie. You’ll be sorry you asked that! I could talk forever about my beloved mountains. And I could write a book about your other two questions. Hmmm, maybe I will after this!

No, I haven’t always lived close to nature—quite the opposite. As a child in Kansas City I had severe asthmatic allergies. Spent most of my grade school years in a hospital, doing school work in an oxygen tent.

Besides being allergic to almost all foods and my own cold germs, I was also literally allergic to the outdoors. My grandparents who raised me, and my mother, used to call me a hothouse plant. Twice, after I’d purposely reveled in the outdoors, I was rushed to the hospital, each time the doctors saying I probably wouldn’t live till morning.

Then, because I wanted to change the world, I ran away at age 15 to do just that in the mountains of Colorado. I didn’t change the world. Not even close. But it changed me forever. And my asthma and allergies were almost non-existent in the high altitude.

Fast forward to chronic illnesses that left me mostly bedridden after 28 years of marriage, living in Kansas, and the accident of having to go to the mountains of Sedona, AZ, where I discovered anew how much healing I experience in the high, dry altitudes.

Next I got land in Madrid, NM, near Santa Fe. No water, no electricity, no phone, no house, just wonderful rolling arroyos and mesas. I loved living in Madrid. The people were just like me, a bunch of aging hippies. The town’s history is so rich; there are books about that too.

But, nevertheless, it is a tourist town. Though I lived in the hills outside of Madrid where I was so isolated I didn’t even have walls around my outhouse, I found it was just too crowded; too citified. So I sold the land and moved further north.

I now live in the more remote and forested foothills of the San Pedro Wilderness, surrounded by the Santa Fe National Forest. It’s a tiny four-room log cabin, less than 900 square feet. I’m about 20 miles from the nearest village, in a hamlet so small you can drive through it and miss it. There are two gas pumps and a quick-stop type store downtown.

As to how my environment influences creativity, living so remotely and so close to nature have great advantages and almost no drawbacks in every way, including enhancing creativity. In fact, just a few years ago, because I was in better health, there were no drawbacks. It takes two hours to drive to the nearest ANYTHING.

But, oh the advantages: fine art pictures taken on my own lil’ acre, living so close to my beloved mountains I can almost touch them, and can definitely walk to them, and so much more. An hour’s drive will get me to the peak of most of the ranges in my area. The Quiet. The Solitude. You can hear the air, especially when snowed in during winter. You almost believe you hear the echoes of the past. I wax poetic, but honestly, if you live here, how can you NOT!

Another enhancement to creativity is when you’ve learned how to live without what most consider necessities, such as phones, electricity, heat, water, even sounds such as TV and radio. At one time for a few months I had to survive on fresh fish caught daily as there was no other food, not even spices or salt.

But on a more esoteric level, I’d say living here taught me what I’m capable of. Never again will I panic if I don’t have the necessities of life. Money means far less to me. I know things about myself that I would never have figured out before.

I also know I can do anything, endure anything, become anything, all the while humbled daily by the harsh surrender of nature that surrounds me, and grateful to Spirit in all things. Each of these things, and all the hurdles to come, shows through every word I write, and also each piece of photo art I complete.

Lillie: Your passion is obvious, Aggie—in the description you just gave of your environment, in your photographic art, and in your writing. Rightfully Mine fascinated me. I’ve read the Bible through several times, so obviously each time I’ve read the passages in Numbers that inspired your story. However, they never made any impact on me until I read your book. What captured your attention in these few short verses to motivate you to tell the story of Zelophehad’s daughters?

Aggie: Thank you, Lillie. I’m honored. I’m also showing my age here: In the early 80’s the big political issue was ERA. Feminists were pushing hard to get a women’s equal rights amendment passed. Debate within the church became particularly heated.

I had already written a slightly controversial novel with Thomas Nelson about a literal prostitute whom God chose to be the symbol of his beloved bride. I still chuckle about my editor, who was tense about the wedding night scene after reading my synopsis of a detailed portrayal, so I don’t think they weren’t surprised when I approached them about this book idea.

Still, they wouldn’t allow me to use the blurb, God’s Equal Rights Amendment. They told me it was too controversial a subject within the church, and might hurt my sales. I disagreed, as is evident from the present title, now that I’ve republished.

Lillie: How did you create three-dimensional characters based on the little information in the Bible? Your main character is based on the daughter called Noah in the Bible. You named her Rizpah in Rightfully Mine. Did you change the name just to avoid confusion with Noah the ark-builder or were there other reasons?

Aggie: Yes, Thomas Nelson suggested changing Noah’s name to avoid confusion. They were right, of course. The first thing I did was research the meanings of each daughter’s name. Names are quite revealing, and I gave them all characteristics accordingly.

I then got to know my characters as most writers do; I wrote reams posing as them, in first person, describing themselves, answering questions I asked them, etc. Ha. Now that I think about it, they were among my first interviewees.

As in any time period, the era and environment also shape personalities. So my research of the times added greatly to characterizations throughout. I traveled to Israel to deepen the reality of the research.

The men were easy to characterize, especially Caleb, Joshua, Moses and other biblical heroes, about whom much is written. The girls’ father was easy too. He had to be exceptionally insightful, loving, attentive, and even pro equality, even if that was an unknown concept to him, in order to raise a family of girls who would change history against all odds. These women set the stage for Israel to accept women leaders in battle and female prophets, all within the next few generations.

Nothing is said of his wife, so I had her die in her last childbirth. And actually, there is more information than those few lines in Numbers. In fact, I found Rizpah’s lineage. If I ever have the time, and I pray I will, I plan to write two more sequels to Rightfully Mine, stories of the two generations following her that are just as dynamic as she.

Lillie: I look forward to reading those sequels. Rightfully Mine was originally published by Thomas Nelson, and now you’ve re-released the book yourself. Can you share your perspective on the pros and cons of publishing through a traditional publisher compared to self-publishing? Were there advantages to having the book first published by a publisher who provided editing and other services?

Aggie: Everything is more immediate nowadays, such as POD, which is how I published Rightfully Mine. Some people cite lack of quality against self-publishing. I know my writing is of acceptable quality because, well…I’ve been accepted by standard publishers, but in truth, I think I would know that without their stamp of approval.

So I don’t abide by the criticism of self-publishing creating a sea of inferior writing. And let’s not forget how intelligent and discerning is the reading public, and they get more so with each decade. If a self-published book is of questionable writing quality, it won’t sell. The same goes for poor quality books from traditional publishing houses, of which there are many.

I have nothing but good to say about Thomas Nelson publisher—they were a joy to work with, but having been through the traditional publishing cycle, I also know that they do very little marketing unless you’re a big name author, and they take most of the money.

These days, even traditional publishers nearly require that you have already built your platform following before they will publish you, and request that you continue your marketing plan even more aggressively after publication. So why give them most of the money when you’ve done, and still do, most of the work?

It’s true that if you are a proven seller, they will invest in marketing you. But their promotional power is in the traditional bookstore, and our bookstores are changing. For one thing, if I ever sign with a publisher, I will retain all electronic rights, and I hear more and more authors agreeing.

Our traditional bookstores are even becoming their own print-on-demand publishers. More and more malls, bookstores, even county fairs. are installing the Espresso book machine, where you choose from a nearly unlimited list and watch while your book is printed, cut, bound, and delivered into your hands in about 10 minutes.

And the Espresso print-on-demand list isn’t limited to traditionally published paper books, but includes self published and eBooks converted into print form. What bookstore can stock hundreds of thousands of books and give you access to twice the titles that traditional publisher can offer? They can with the Espresso print-on-demand machine, and the number is already predicted to soon reach millions of books. And the Espresso is just the first in a long line of similar machines. See my short report on my blog.

Lillie: Another of your talents is being an exceptional interviewer, and you have a new book showcasing those talents. What is it that makes you such an outstanding interviewer? Who are the subjects of the interviews in your book?

Aggie: 2009’s Hot Authors: Interviews by Aggie Villanueva, available in both print and e-book, highlights authors I’ve interviewed at Visual Arts Junction.

I guess the difference is that I don’t just use the same list of questions for every interviewee. I research my subjects, as you did me, so that I can ask intelligent questions about their work and not waste their time on a standard set of questions or information I can find out myself if I take the time to research them thoroughly. I think you’ll notice (how could you not?!) how, because I can tell by your questions you’ve researched me, you got these (sigh) verbose, lengthy answers from me. Hopefully that is what you wanted!

I spend a lot of time researching in order to write in-depth introductions to each interviewee where I tell about their past, what prompted them to write, and anything else my research turns up, which can sometime be quite surprising, even to the subject. Including lots of pictures enhances the piece too.

I also contact their closest friends and loved ones for a short interview. I want readers to feel they know the person after reading my interview, especially the introduction. I’ve had a few subjects use my introduction in whole for their promotional material. Researching this fully also allows me to create the tone of my own writing to match the subject’s.

For instance, my interview with Larry Brooks. I discovered in my research that Larry is a hard-hitting, no-nonsense person who tells it like it is and shies away from nothing because it may be uncomfortable, but with a fabulous sense of wry humor that permeates everything he writes and all his professional relationships. This is why my intro is so tongue-in-cheek. Even the manner in which I asked some questions automatically takes on this tone.

But I want much more than that the reader feels they know the interviewee. I spend my own time putting together a picture of who and why they are for another important reason too: so that I need take only enough time from my subjects to grill them about the particulars of their specialty.

I can spend their limited time delving into asking the technicalities. I’ve had many interviewees, after finishing my interview, say things like, “Whew!” “You pulled more out of me than anyone.” “You really put me through my paces.” And they seem to love that I ask them to dig so deeply.

I want my readers to learn something new about writing (or photography if that is my subject). Because this takes so much time is why I can only finish 1-2 interviews per month. But I feel that limitation, and the investment of my time, is worth it.

Time is so short for everyone; the reader, the interviewee. If I don’t waste their time; if I offer something of value to the reader’s professional life, that draws more readers and that gives valuable exposure to the subjects. Everyone profits.

I am honored every time someone reads my interviews and each time my subjects dig down further than usual for me. They’ve both invested something valuable, and I want them both to gain something valuable.

Lillie: Tell us about your family. Are they creative like you? What do they think of your creative endeavors?

Aggie: I think my family feels good about my creative endeavors. Yes, my children are all creative too, as are my grandchildren. They are in Kansas so I only get to see them once a year when I travel there for a special time of being together. I look forward all year to this time together.

My two boys, Eddie and Nicky (and his wife, Vanessa), are creative in the artistic areas of drawing and painting, writing, jewelry making, leather work, custom-made gravity bikes—the list is long.

My daughter, Angie, follows my mother’s path of what Mom calls creative financing. Angie just performed her artistic magic in that she found a hall to be married in, plus hold the reception, for less than one-fourth the cost of even less attractive buildings. I just took a virtual tour of the place and the grounds. I’m amazed that she accomplished this feat.

Lillie: It sounds like your family is as talented as you are. Where can readers learn more about you and your books?

Aggie: I’ll give you a list.

• Rightfully Mine blog and purchase pages
• Rightfully Mine available in 10 eBook formats at Smashwords
• Rightfully Mine (God’s Equal Rights Amendment) available in paperback from Amazon.com
• 2009’s Hot Authors: Interviews by Aggie Villanueva available in 10 eBook formats
• 2009’s Hot Authors: Interviews by Aggie Villanueva in paperback from Lulu.com
• Rightfully Mine mini movie
• Photo Art Trailer
• Join Aggie for a video virtual photo shoot
• Visual Arts Junction blog for writers, photographers, etc.

Lillie: Is there anything I’ve failed to ask that you would like to share with my readers?

Aggie: I do have a work in progress. I’m deeply into the research for a book on chronically ill and handicapped artists. Since I fit this category, I know it’s been therapeutic, and difficult, for me to thoughtfully compile a lengthy list of interview questions for the artists. So I get it when many have commented that it’s a good thing I gave them up to a month to complete the questionnaire, because it’s sometimes painful to plumb these areas.
I empathize, because I’ve been through it also. I want to bring these problems to the forefront that millions of artists endure daily, silently, heroically, with no accolades for their courage. Few people understand, sometime not even closest family members, friends and co-workers, who don’t quite always believe we’re really that sick. A possible working title for this project is Still We Dance: the Invisible Heroes of the Arts.

Lillie: Thank you so much for stopping by and sharing with us something of your amazing talents in such detail and with such passion. Readers will probably have more questions for you. Will you check in during the day to respond to comments and answer questions?

Aggie: Thank YOU so much, Lillie, for having me. I will love to hang around for the week. I look forward to meeting many great talents here.

Lillie: Readers, don’t forget to leave a relevant comment to be included in the random drawing for an e-copy of Rightfully Mine that Aggie has graciously donated. The drawing will be open for a week.

===================

Bio
Writing since the late 70’s, Aggie Villanueva’s first novel, Chase the Wind, Thomas Nelson 1983, was published before she was 30 and her second, Rightfully Mine, from Thomas Nelson in 1986. Villanueva freelanced throughout the 80s and 90s, also writing three craft columns and three software review columns, for national magazines. Villanueva was featured on the cover of The Christian Writer Magazine October 1983.

After teaching at writers conferences throughout the Midwest, she founded/directed the 3-day Mid-America Fellowship of Christian Writers conferences for four years until 1990. For the past several years Aggie has blogged. She is founder of Visual Arts Junction and is known for her in-depth interviews.

Photographic art entered in 2007, and within two years Villanueva was critically acclaimed and award winning. Dubbed the Grandma Moses of the American Southwest by her artistic peers, Villanueva is represented in several online and walk-in art galleries across the nation.

 Added 2/5/10: Congratulations to Helen, the winner of the drawing for an electronic copy of Rightfully Mine.

Amazon.com and Smashwords links are affiliate links.

Author Interview: Stacie Vander Pol

My guest today is Stacie Vander Pol, the author of Top Self Publishing Firms: How Writers Get Published, Sell More Books, and Rise to the Top: and Make Money Working from Home with the Best Print On Demand Self-Publishing Companies. That’s almost a complete book in the title.

 

 

Lillie: Welcome, Stacie. It’s a pleasure to have you here. As I mentioned in my review post, you and I define self-publishing differently. Explain what you mean by self-publishing and self-publishing companies.

Stacie: By self-publishing, I mean taking it upon yourself to get published (and pay for the expense) rather than leaving the fate of your book to someone else. You can self-publish with the assistance of an existing company or by setting up your own little publishing firm. I have pursued both routes and there are advantages and disadvantages to each, depending on the number of books you wish to publish and your inclination toward business.

Lillie: I notice that you have taken your own advice and published your book through CreateSpace at Amazon.com. Are you happy with the results?

Stacie: I have been very pleased with CreateSpace and will most likely use them again.

Lillie: I appreciate that you emphasize that a book must be well-crafted. Do you think it’s important for authors to have their work edited? If so, do the companies you evaluate in your book offer editing services?

Stacie: No matter who you are, how well educated, or how detail oriented, you must have your book edited, preferably more than once. It should be edited for content and flow, consistency in formatting, as well as grammar and punctuation errors. I am amazed at some of the things I overlook, even after multiple read-throughs.

Many of the companies in Top Self Publishing Firms offer editing services, but you can often find a student or acquaintance to do it for less money.

Lillie: Or you can hire someone like me. Your book is encouraging that self-published books can become commercial successes. Tell us a little about your research. You give examples of successful titles published by self-publishing firms and describe books as being in the top 2%, 5%, etc. The top 2% or 5% of what?

Stacie: Before I decided to write Top Self Publishing Firms, I was looking for a book like it and couldn’t find the information I needed compiled in a book, online, or anywhere else. I was curious about self-publishing companies, but I was only interested if I knew my book had a chance to succeed. I found plenty of information regarding publishing costs and distribution but nothing on sales performance. I started doing all of the cumbersome research on my own, and soon realized it would make a great resource for other writers.

To prove that self-published titles can succeed, I list hundreds of titles that are performing in the top 15% of sales on Amazon. This is based roughly on the 1.2 million titles ranked by Neilson BookScan. Using the top 1 million titles in the Amazon ranking system, one can draw a conclusion that books that consistently rank at 150,000 or better, are perfoming in the top 15% percent of books sold on Amazon. Several services are available that track and compile a title’s long-term Amazon sales rankings.

Because the industry is so tight-lipped about sales numbers, this method is the best one I know for determining a book’s performance.

Lillie: You provide a great deal of specific information about the services individual companies offer as well as the pricing options. How often do changes occur? Will you have to update your book to keep the information current?

Stacie: Likely because of the economy, the firms discussed in the book haven’t made many changes since the book was first published. I have noticed that several are offering promotions and special deals on their Web sites. In fact, when I published through CreateSpace, they were running a special that made it free to publish. I didn’t have to pay a dime to have my book published.

A book of this nature will need to be updated every year or two, depending on how quickly things change.

Lillie: You offer advice about leveraging Amazon.com that can be useful to all authors interested in promoting their books on Amazon.com, no matter how they are published. Give us a taste of some of the ways authors can increase their sales on Amazon.

Stacie: Start by ensuring your listing is accurate, and if it’s not, take steps to correct it. Next, take advantage of the ways in which Amazon allows authors to participate in the promotion process. For instance, you can submit search words relevant to your book that will help customers find your title. You can also create tags that do the same thing. Both of these can currently be accessed from your book’s detail page. The idea is to make your book easier to find and more likely to come up based on the search words most fitting to your title.

To give your book detail page a feeling of activity, set up a blog that will appear on the page and create at least one entry. A blog can make an otherwise, lonely detail page look full of life and interest. You can set up an Amazon blog through Amazon Connect.

Lillie: Amazon will even carry your existing blog on your book page. A Writer’s Words, An Editor’s Eye appears on the page with Dream or Destiny. You set up the RSS feed to Amazon at Amazon Connect just as you would create an Amazon blog. What else do you suggest?

I also recommend getting as many reviews for your book as you can. This can be difficult and requires some time commitment, but if your book is well written, you will be rewarded. Amazon reviewers can be found on the Amazon Web site. Many of them list an e-mail address in their profiles. Most will say no or ignore your email, but you will eventually get a few yeses.

Additionally, you can list a Web address or e-mail address on the copyright page or in your back matter. When you receive praise for your book, ask for a review.

Lastly, the most important thing you can do to sell more books on Amazon is to sell more books on Amazon, meaning that the more copies you sell on Amazon, the more likely they are to put your title at the top of the search results page, which almost guarnatees more sales.

Lillie: Where can readers learn more about you and your work? Where can they purchase Top Self-Publishing Firms?

Stacie: Readers can email me at topselfpublishers at gmail dot com. They can purchase the book on Amazon.

Lillie: I’ve added an Amazon link at the end of this interview to make it easy to buy the book now. Thank you for visiting A Writer’s Words, An Editor’s Eye, Stacie. Is there anything else you would like to share with us that I haven’t asked you?

Stacie: I would just like to encourage all of the writers out there to keep trying, to take a risk, and to put yourself out there. If you really want to be published, and you don’t want to wait years for it to happen, consider self-publishing. It’s an excellent option. If you write a great book, you can see outstanding sales results and often make more in royalties than you would with a traditional publisher.

I did, and I’ve been very happy with the outcome.

Stacie will be coming back throughout the day to respond to comments and answer questions. What would you like to know about Top Self-Publishing Firms?

Review: Top Self-Publishing Firms

Top Self-Publishing Firms: How Writers Get Published, Sell More Books, and Rise to the Top and Make Money Working from Home
with the Best Print On Demand Self-Publishing Companies
Stacie Vander Pol
Copyright 2008
CreateSpace
ISBN:1440407541
Paperback, 156 pages, $16.95
Nonfiction

In my Self-Publishing Primer, I differentiate between subsidy publishing and self-publishing. So when Stacie Vander Pol asked me to review her book Top Self Publishing Firms: How Writers Get Published, Sell More Books, and Rise to the Top: and Make Money Working from Home with the Best Print On Demand Self-Publishing Companies, I warned her that I had a quibble with her definition of self-publishing. However, she suggested that we agree to disagree on the definitions and that I read the book for the information it provides.

Stacie’s goal is not to convince the reader to publish their book through a self-publishing (or subsidy publishing) company. The book is designed for writers who have already done their research on publishing options and decided this option is right for them. Her purpose is to help writers choosing to publish through one of these companies to find the best company for them, and her focus is on how successful the companies’ clients are in selling books.

Chapter 1 begins this way:

This book profiles the top twenty-six self-publishing firms based on their sales results. Other factors in self-publishing are important, but without sales none of them matter. Book sales will determine how much money you make, how seriously you are taken as a writer, and how much recognition your book receives.

She gives examples of the Amazon sales rank of books published by the companies she profiles, and she covers services provided in the publishing packages offered by these kinds of companies.  Most useful for a writer choosing a publishing company, however, are the comparison chart and the profiles of individual companies.

Specific details, such as available packages and costs, may change, so I recommend that you verify the information before choosing a company. However, Top Self Publishing Firms is a valuable resource because you will have a list of the companies that consistently have the best sales, and you will have complete contact information (including Web site URL) to make it easy for you to confirm current services offered and prices.

Before using this book, you need to determine if publishing through what Stacie calls a self-publishing company and I call a subsidy publishing company is the best choice for you. If you decide to publish through one of these companies, then this book can help you choose the right company.

Stacie will be here on Wednesday for an interview and to answer your questions. Be sure to come back then to learn more.

Self-Publishing Primer

The Self-Publishing Primer started as a series of fourteen posts early this year.

To make the primer more convenient and accessible, I have compiled the posts into an e-book (PDF). You can download the file here.

If you download the primer, please let me know if you find any errors. As I’ve said many times, it’s difficult even for an editor to edit her own work.

Ask any questions you have or let me know what other information you’d like in comments. I’m planning to write more about POD as this subject has come up at the Weekend Writers Cafe at Grow Your Writing Business.

[tags]self-publishing[/tags]

Answers to a Writer’s Questions, Part 3: Marketing a Children’s E-Book

In the last post, we talked about self-publishing a children’s book on CD. This is the final installment in the answers to questions posted by a writer.

Patti McQuillen wrote in answer to my follow-up questions:

I don’t have a clue about making my children’s book available online as a download. I am working on a website through Google Page Creator. I cannot afford to have a professional one yet.

I’m glad you’re setting up a Web site, but I think you will have more marketing success if you have your own domain name and site rather than xxx.googlepages.com. I set up sites for my clients for less than ten dollars to register the domain name and as little as forty dollars a year for hosting. You can use WordPress (which is free) as a template and have a blog and Web site that you can create and maintain yourself. I created the site for GASLight Publishing on WordPress.

You can then sell both the CD and download versions of your book. Although the ideal option is a shopping cart with secure download features, that is expensive and not necessary for a single product or even a few products.

Updated: I have recently learned of E-Junkie, a shopping cart for digital products that is very reasonable (only five dollars per month for up to 10 products). You can even try it free for one week.  

One simple process that works when you have a fairly small number of sales is to store a zip file containing all the e-book formats in a password protected area of your site. When you make a sale, have an autoresponder send out a link for the buyer to download the file. You can accept payment through PayPal or Google Checkout.

Selling Digital Products Online: Why? How? at MoreBusiness.com has a lot of information about selling digital products.

Another option is to sell through Lulu or PayLoadz. Lulu will also create and ship CDs, but I believe PayLoadz offers only digital downloads. There are other options as well, several of which are listed in the MoreBusiness.com article mentioned above.

Once you have your site and distribution set up, then you start blogging and commenting on other blogs and look for other opportunities to participate in forums and other places – perhaps educational sites and writing sites – frequented by people who would be apt to buy your children’s book.

I hope these posts have given you some insight into the next step … or several next steps, Patti, and that this information has also been helpful to other aspiring writers.

If you have a question or a particular topic you’d like me to write about, please ask in the comments below.

Answers to a Writer’s Questions, Part 2: Children’s Book on CD

This is the second in a series of three posts answering questions posed in comments to an earlier post.

Writer Patti McQuillen asked:
I have a book I finished for encouraging kids to write. It is available on CD. I self published (my first one ever) and I know that phrase makes some people run! The name of the book is 100 Things To Try, Writing Activities For Kids in Grades 2-5; it is a book of ideas covering a range of subjects. … My book for kids is computer and it is basic – no talking characters or fancy stuff. I did it in Microsoft Word to begin with, then finalized it in Power Point. What is the next best step?

The word self-published doesn’t make me run. Most of the clients I work with self-publish, and while it’s not for everyone, self-publishing is a valid way to bring a book to market.

The first thing I would do with your children’s writing activity book is to make sure it’s easy and fun to read. If you haven’t already done so, get someone else to proofread it for you. None of us can catch our own mistakes, and one reason there is a stigma attached to self-published books is that many are produced without editing. No matter how good a writer you are or how well-written the book is, you need to have another pair of eyes go over it. You’ve probably done this already, but I want the answer to your question to be helpful to other writers as well.

Although you don’t have talking characters or fancy stuff, you will want to have color and graphics. One of the great advantages of publishing electronically is that you can use as much color as you want without increasing the cost of production. You can find lots of free and reasonably priced clipart and photos online to add graphics so you don’t need an illustrator.

Then I would put the book into a more user-friendly format. Not everyone has PowerPoint, so you’re limiting your market if that’s the only format you offer. Adobe Acrobat PDF is the most popular format (though not my favorite because it can’t be read on my e-book reader). Acrobat Reader is on just about every computer there is. If you don’t have the program to create PDF files, you can sign up for a trial offer and convert five files to PDF for free.

You can also save the PowerPoint file as a Web page and create an HTML document. Some people prefer to read in their Web browsers, and most e-books readers can display HTML. Of course, most children aren’t going to have an e-book reader, but their parents might, and the more options you have the more potential customers you have.

You can even save your original Word file as RTF (rich text format), which can also be read universally. I think it’s a good idea to give buyers all formats (PDF, HTML, RTF, and PowerPoint). It reduces complaints from people who ordered the wrong format, and it makes it easier for you manage sales and distribution.

In the next post, I’ll talk about marketing your children activity book.

Self-Publishing Primer: Part 14 – How can I market and distribute my books?

You will find links to the other posts in the series at Self-Publishing Primer.

To cover marketing and promoting would require volumes. We’ve talked in previous posts about building a platform, creating a Web site, and lining up speaking events and other promotional events. In this final installment of the series, I’ll highlight a few suggestions that I consider most important in marketing and promotion.

Top tips for successful self-publishing authors:

• Start building your platform early. Although this has been said before, it’s too important not to mention it again. You have to find an audience of people interested in the genre of your novel or the subject of your nonfiction book.
• Always wear your marketing hat. Take every opportunity to let people know about your book – standing in line at the grocery store, networking at a business meeting, sending out your Christmas letter…everywhere and everybody. People are fascinated with writers, and you never know when you’re going to meet someone who will not only buy a copy of book but also tell others. Hand out lots of business cards with your contact information and where to buy your book.
• Carry books with you wherever you go. If you start up a conversation waiting in the post office and find someone interested in your book, don’t expect them to remember – and get around to ordering it. Offer to sell it to them on the spot.
• Create a brand identity. My client David Bowles has built an identity around The Westward Sagas. That’s the name of his Web site and part of the subtitle of each of his family history books.
• Target your marketing. Don’t imagine that everyone will be interested in your book. Figure out who are likely buyers and focus your marketing efforts on those groups. If you’ve written a book about retirement planning, your audience might be professionals and entrepreneurs several years from retirement. If you’ve written about how to stay active during retirement, your audience will be people who are nearing or already retired.
• Find as many distribution channels as you can. Join the Amazon Advantage program to sell your books through the popular online bookstore. If you have also published your book in electronic formats, search for e-bookstores. If you want to sell you book in offline bookstores, look into Baker & Taylor or regional distributors in your area. Look for outlets other than bookstores that attract your target market: veterinarian offices for a book about pet care, park gift shops for a book about the area, hobby stores for a book about the world’s largest baseball card collection.
• Join organizations that offer educational and promotional opportunities to small publishers: PMA, The Independent Book Publishers Association; Small Publishers Association of North America (SPAN); Small Publishers, Artists, and Writers Network (SPAWN).
• Be creative and realize that you can’t use the same marketing methods the large publishers do. As a self-publisher, you aren’t likely to get reviews in major newspapers or get booked on Oprah to talk about your book. Focus your efforts where they will be most effective. Submit your book for reviews in trade journals or association newsletters related to your subject, and aim for media coverage by your hometown newspaper or local TV station.
• Share your knowledge and expertise. Volunteer to speak at civic organizations if the membership is a good match to your target market. Submit articles to the community newspaper or business journal or other publications whose readers would be interested in the subject of your book. Ask for permission to sell books at your speaking engagements and for brief information about you and your book for publications.
• Look for unusual venues to sell books. Grace Anne Schaefer, who writes novels about prehistoric Indians, does very well selling her books at Indian pow-wows.
• Added 10/1/07: Take advantage of online communities and promotional sites. Four of my favorite places to promote, network, and learn about marketing are Authors on the Net, Books We Love, Book Marketing Network, and Nothing Binding.
• Use promotional materials that are unusual, appealing, and identified with your book or you as the author. Many authors give away pens, pencils, and bookmarks, but your promotional item is unlikely to stand out from other pens. One novelist gives away small packages of tissues with a label: “Other readers say you’ll need these when you read My Book.” Another whose book has a heroine who loves tea gives away tea bags with a tag about her book. If you wrote a book on growing wildflowers, you might consider giving a pack of seeds with a short tip on planting them and the purchase information for your book.
• Use your Web site and e-mail list to stay in front of people who are interested in your subject or your books.
• Stay enthusiastic about your book and always share that enthusiasm with others.
  • Book Marketing Tip of the Week by John Kremer, the author of 1001 Ways to Market Your Books, Sixth Edition (1001 Ways to Market Your Books: For Authors and Publishers)
  • Selling Books Outside the Bookstore by Fern Reiss, author of The Publishing Game: Bestseller in 30 Days (The Publishing Game)
  • Writers Write: Book Promotion, articles, blog, and resources

For other views on promotion and marketing, read these articles:

You will continue to market and promote as long as you want to sell books, but we’ve come to the end of this series. I hope you find it helpful. If you have questions or suggestions, please leave a comment. I’d like to hear from you!

Related Post:
What Do You Think of Virtual Book Tours?

[tags]publishing, self-publishing, writing[/tags]

Self-Publishing Primer: Part 13 – Do I need a Web site … and should I make my book available as an e-book?

You will find links to the other posts in the series at Self-Publishing Primer.

Writers who expect to sell their books in personal appearances or through brick-and-mortar stores may not see the value of having a Web site. But even if you don’t want to sell your books online, it’s important to have your own Web site:

• Readers and the media expect writers to have Web sites. Journalists are using the Internet more and more for sources, and you want to be findable if a reporter is doing a story related to the subject of your book.
• You can provide more information about your book and yourself than what is on the back cover or in an online bookstore. Readers love to find out “inside information,” like why you came to write your story, and they like to read excerpts -which can lead to sales when they get hooked on the story and want to know what happens.
• You can use your Web site content to demonstrate your expertise and establish credibility. A blog or articles about something related to your book provide a valuable service to Web site visitors searching for information. When readers find the information you provide interesting or helpful – or both – they are more likely to buy your book.
• You can use your Web site and an e-mail list created from site visitors to keep readers informed of your booksignings, speaking engagements, and other events … and you can promote your next book.
• You can sell books from your Web site, or, if you prefer not to take orders online, you can link to an online bookstore that carries your books. However, remember that you will give a 40% to 55% discount to the bookstore, and you will be selling the book at retail on your Web site. Selling your own books on your own Web site, like personal selling, will be more profitable than selling through other distribution channels.

Many authors don’t see the need to publish their books in electronic formats because they don’t really understand the advantages of e-books:

• The costs of production and distribution are negligible. Once you create an electronic file, you can offer it for download over and over again with no printing, shipping, warehousing, or distribution expenses.
• E-books can be read on numerous devices, not just at the computer. eBookMall and Fictionwise have information on a number of different devices, including PDAs, handheld computers, and dedicated reading devices. Readers who enjoy e-books usually have a favorite device. I prefer to read e-books because my eyesight is very bad, and I can adjust the font and lighting on my eBookWise reader for more comfortable reading than most print books.
• Some avid readers prefer to buy e-books because they cost less and don’t take up space on their bookshelves. They can buy more books with their book-buying budget.
• The lower price of e-books encourages readers to try new authors and publishers – if they don’t like the book, they haven’t wasted a lot of money. If they really like the book, these same readers will often buy a print copy as well for their “keeper shelf.”
• Readers who are looking for something to read NOW may order an e-book online when they wouldn’t (or couldn’t) make a trip to a bookstore or wait for delivery of a print book from an online store.
• E-book stores will carry your book for you if you prefer not to, but it’s fairly simple to deliver e-books on your own Web site.
• Publishing your book in electronic format will give you more opportunities to sell more books to more readers.

For other views on Web sites and e-books, read these articles:

• How They’ll Find Your Book Online (or) Winning at Search Engine Optimization by Fern Reiss at The Publishing Game
  Ten Top Reasons Authors NEED a Web Site by book coach Judy Cullins
• Do You Need an Author Website? by Moira Allen, an excerpt from her book Writing.Com: Creative Internet Strategies to Advance Your Writing Career
• Do You Need An Author Web Site? by Dawn Seewer on FictionFactor.com
• Use an Email Newsletter to Promote Your Book by Fern Reiss at The Publishing Game
• E-Book Resources on my Web site – follow the links to helpful sites about e-books

Next, in the final installment of this series, we’ll talk about promoting and marketing your books.

[tags]publishing, self-publishing, writing[/tags]

Self-Publishing Primer: Part 12 – What do I need to do and when do I need to do it?

You will find links to the other posts in the series at Self-Publishing Primer.

Many of the tasks you will need to accomplish to publish your book must be done simultaneously, and you can self-publish a book much faster than the timeline below. In fact, Fern Reiss has a book, The Publishing Game: Publish a Book in 30 Days (The Publishing Game), that tells you how to self-publish your book in 30 days.

But this is my suggested schedule designed for a first-time self-publishing author who has a busy life and doesn’t want to be caught in a time crunch:

• Start building your platform. Even before you write your book, begin marketing activities to build your audience. In How to Pump UP Your Blog to Sell More Books – Pt. I, Dorothy Thompson at Pump Up Your Online Book Promotion says “EVERY AUTHOR NEEDS A BLOG” – and she means every author, published or not. Become active or increase your visibility in organizations that are part of your platform. Always think about how to extend your influence and enhance your credibility. Marketing will be an ongoing activity as long as you want to sell books.
• Research, write, and self-edit your book. The amount of time it will take you to take your manuscript from an idea to a polished final draft depends on how much you have to research, how fast you write, how much time you devote to writing, and how much revising you do. You can learn to write faster by following the advice in books such as Write Your Ebook or Other Short Book – Fast! or Writing FAST: How to Write Anything with Lightning Speed. However, most writers I work with seem to take a year or more on average to finish their books.
• Create your own deadline. Decide when you want to publish the book so you can schedule all the tasks you need to complete at the right time. Look for an event that you can tie to your book launch. Is there a professional meeting or a trade show in your industry that would be a good place to introduce the book? Is the book, a character, or a main event in the book tied to a particular holiday or season? My client, David Bowles, author of Spring House (Westward Sagas, Book 1) (The Westward Sagas), scheduled his book release around the 225th Observance of the Battle of Guilford Courthouse – the battle was a major event in the story, the observance was taking place at the national military park that includes his ancestor’s farm that became part of the battlefield, and he had the opportunity to speak at a Mitchell reunion about the family history that is the basis of his book.
• Set up your company and get your ISBNs during the time you are writing your book. If you will be incurring significant expenses for research (such as traveling to specific locations), you will want to set up company up early in the process to be able to take advantage of business expenses. The process or creating a company, even a corporation or LLC, takes only a few weeks, but give yourself plenty of time to consult with your attorney and accountant long before you are ready to publish your book. Allow a month to get your ISBNs before the book is ready for the designer.
• Research and make decisions about your book. How long will it be? What formats will you publish? What kind of cover will you have? To make good decisions, you will need to learn about publishing (you’ll find many good articles, Web sites, and books listed throughout this series) and talk to publishing professionals – editors, designers, and printers.
• Choose an editor. Some editors prefer to wait until the manuscript is completely finished before they begin editing. However, I like to work with authors from very early in the project. Usually I find that the last chapter of the book takes a lot less time to edit than the first because the writer has improved his writing significantly by following the advice I gave earlier in the process. When I edit chapter-by-chapter, I still do several more rounds of edits on the complete manuscript, but there are fewer problems than there would be otherwise. And whether you are going to have the manuscript edited chapter-by-chapter as you write or wait until you finish the manuscript, allow several weeks – even months – to find an editor. You want to check out the competence and price, but just as importantly, you want to find someone who is passionate about your project, someone you trust, someone who you are comfortable with. And many editors like me have waiting lists, so you need to get on the schedule or your preferred editor may not be available when you need him.
• Select a layout and cover designer and printer. Whenever possible, get recommendations and ask for samples of books designed or printed by the artists or companies you are considering. Compare quality, prices, and turn-around times to find the suppliers that best meet your needs, then get on their schedule so you can meet your deadline. You can work on this a little at a time as you write, or you can do it while you set your manuscript aside for a time as part of the editing process. The less you know about publishing, the longer it will take you to gather information and make decisions. I recommend you allow yourself three months for this process. If you plan to use original artwork, you will need more time (as well as more money) to find an artist who can create your vision.
• Have the book edited and read by others. If you do not work with an editor throughout the writing process, you will send the manuscript to your editor when you have finished writing and self-editing. You may also want to ask other people to read the draft and give you feedback. If you belong to an organization related to your topic, for example, and have been building your platform within the group, some of the members may be willing to read and comment on your manuscript. This can be particularly helpful for books that contain information that the editor may not know – professional knowledge, historical facts, family history. People with the same interests may make suggestions to strengthen the book that an editor unfamiliar with the topic wouldn’t. If you get favorable comments, you can also ask if you can use the quote on the back cover of the book. Often, people are flattered to be asked for their advice and delighted to be quoted on a book cover. Depending on the editor’s schedule and how many readers you use, you will need to allow one to six months for the initial stage, then another few weeks to incorporate any suggestions from the readers into the edited copy.
• Send advance reading copies (ARCs) of the book to reviewers. Many newspapers, magazines, and book reviewers won’t review self-published books, but some reviewers – especially online review sites -welcome self-published books. And you can also get reviews in specialty publications – genealogy publications for family histories, professional journals for your industry, alumni magazines from schools you have attended, and newsletters of organizations related to your subject. To have the reviews available when the book is published, you need to send the ARCs as early as possible – but not until the book is fairly well-edited. You can put a disclaimer that the book is still being edited, so a few errors won’t cause a bad review – reviewers are accustomed to reviewing ARCs. However, don’t send it before the book has been through a professional edit (at least the first round) because excessive errors will result in a bad review.
• Deliver the book to the layout and cover designer. I usually use one person for both of these tasks, but you may choose two different people. Again, time required will vary with the designer’s schedule, but I usually allow at least one to two months for design work and approval of proofs. Even though you feel confident that the manuscript was perfect when you sent it to the designer, you need to proofread carefully. You may find errors that were missed until the book is in the final format, and designers make mistakes, too.
• Set up your distribution channels and Web site and get your merchant account. While you are waiting for the designer to finish, you can get serious about marketing. When you have a Web site you can take advance orders – which will help you raise money to pay production costs – or at least start collecting names for a mailing list. You then have permission to notify your mailing list when the book is available. You can also take pre-orders from your platform – your family and friends and the people in your industry or affinity organizations.
• Line up promotional activities. You may find it difficult to schedule a booksigning in a chain bookstore, but independent stores often welcome local writers. If you are willing to speak in public, check out opportunities to speak to groups interested in the subject of your book that will allow you to sell the book at the events. Look for special events to promote your books. One of my clients, Janet Kaderli, author of the children’s book Patchwork Trail, has signed books in a quilting store as part of a special promotion by a quilter’s organization. The young girl in her book learns to make a quilt, so even though the book is fiction, she was able to sell books at an event that drew people interested in the theme of her story.
• Have the book printed. Your choice of printers and formats as well as the printer’s schedule will determine how long it will take to get your books from the printer. And remember, here again, you will want to approve a proof before a thousand or two books are printed. If you use a POD printer, you can have the first copies in a few days. If you use a printer in another state, you may have to allow a week or more for shipping. Usually, you can expect to have your books printed and ready for you in one to two months.

Promote … market … sell books.

For other views on what to do and how to publish your book, read these articles:

• Publishing Basics – free e-book from Self-Publishing.Com with subscription to newsletter, which I find very helpful
• Preparing Your Book for Publication by Moira Allen, author of Writing.Com: Creative Internet Strategies to Advance Your Writing Career
• Design Crimes by Jonathan Gullery of RJ Communications’ Book Design Service – Jonathan has done a beautiful job on the interior and cover design for several of my clients
• Finding and Working with a Cover Designer from 1106 Design
• John Kremer’s Personal Filing Cabinet for Book Publishing, Self-Publishing, Selling Books Online, Book Promotion, Print-on-Demand, Book Publicity, and Marketing Bestselling Books by the author of 1001 Ways to Market Your Books, Sixth Edition (1001 Ways to Market Your Books: For Authors and Publishers)

Next, we’ll talk about Web sites and e-books.

Related Posts:
Working with a Professional Editor (2-part series) 

[tags]publishing, self-publishing, writing[/tags]

Self-Publishing Primer: Part 11 – How much does self-publishing cost?

You will find links to the other posts in the series at Self-Publishing Primer.

Every author considering self-publishing wants to know how much it will cost. I’ll give some general ideas, but there is a huge variation in costs based on many factors: the length of your book, the method of printing, what kind of cover art you want to use, how much editing your book requires, and more. Marketing is another important element for success in self-publishing, but I’m not going to include those costs in this here.

The major expenses to take a book from the final draft of your manuscript to a published book include:

• Editing: No matter how good a writer you are, you need another pair of eyes reviewing your manuscript. Editors commonly say, “I can catch everyone’s mistakes but my own,” and that’s true for all of us. The cleaner your manuscript is before you hire an editor, the less it will cost. So use spell and grammar check and edit your own work several times. Follow the advice I’ve given in previous posts: Ten Tips for Self-Editing and Editing: Turning Dreck into Prose. Then shop around for a freelance editor; ask for sample edits and price quotes so you can evaluate both the quality of the work and the cost. Some editors charge by page, some by the word, and some by the hour. Rates can range from a low of $ 4/page, .01/word, or $20/hour to a high of $40/page, .20/word, or $ 125/hour. Editing a book can range from $500 to $20,000, but if you have done a good job of self-editing, you can expect the cost to edit a 50,000 word book to be $ 1000 to $ 2500.
• Copyright and ISBNs: We covered these items in the last post. You will spend a little over $ 300 for these two items.
• Layout: If you’re on a very tight budget, you can lay out the book yourself in Word by following the instructions in Perfect Pages: Self Publishing with Microsoft Word, or How to Use MS Word for Book Design, Typesetting, and Page Layout in Formatting Your Books for Desktop Publishing and Print on Demand by Aaron Shepard or The Non-Designer’s Design Book, Second Edition by Robin Williams. However, you may be happier – and less frustrated – with a professional designer who has experience in book design. Like editing, the prices vary considerably, but you can find a designer who will do an excellent job for $ 250 to $ 500.
• Cover design: Here again, you can spend a lot of money or a relatively small amount of money. The cover is no place on skimp on quality. In spite of the wisdom that “you can’t judge a book by its over,” people do. Your cover has to be eye-catching to capture readers’ attention and make them want to pick up the book and read it. However, you don’t have to have original artwork (which can be very expensive) – personal photos for a memoir or family history or stock photos can be turned into beautiful covers by a creative designer. If the designer doesn’t include the bar code in his fee, you need to add that cost to your total. A cover design using a stock photo should cost you $ 250 to $ 500.
• Printing: The unit price and total outlay will vary greatly depending on the printing process. If you use a POD printer, you will probably pay a set-up fee of $ 100 or $ 200, then pay $ 3 to $ 10 per copy of your book. Your initial cost is low, but your unit price may be too high to be able to make a profit selling through retailers that require a significant discount. If you use a printer, your initial investment is considerably more, but your unit cost is significantly less: about $ 1.50 each for 3,000 copies ($ 4500), $ 2.00 each for 2000 copies ($ 4,000), or $ 3.00 each for 1000 copies ($ 3,000). Many self-publishers begin with a print run of 1,000 copies ($ 3,000).

So, what’s the total?

• $ 4800 on the low end for 1000 copies
• $ 8000+ on the high end for 3000 copies

Remember, this does not include marketing and distribution costs – this is just the cost to go from a manuscript to a printed book. And these are average numbers; your costs may vary, but if any of the items is far out of the ranges described above, you should take a closer look.

For other views on the cost of self-publishing, read these articles:

• Pre-Press:Book Design, Typesetting & Layout by Dan Poynter
• How much does it cost to self-publish a book? by Ron Pramschufer on Publishing Basics – this describes the cost for a “casual hobbyist”
• How much does it cost to self-publish a book? Part 2 by Ron Pramschufer on Publishing Basics – this describes the cost for a “serious hobbyist”
• How much does it cost to self-publish a book? Part 3 by Ron Pramschufer – for the “professional”

Next we’ll talk about what you need to do when.

[tags]publishing, self-publishing, writing[/tags]

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