I get asked this question all the time…
“Should I publish an eBook or a print book?”
To answer the ebook vs print book debate, here’s a 2:36 minute video!
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Let’s face it: Publishing a book and claiming the title “Published Author” instantly boosts your credibility as an expert in your field. It helps you get new clients and attract attention of people who’ve never looked at you before.
And when you publish that book, be sure to explain why you were already an expert BEFORE you wrote the book. This is where your “About the Author” page really needs to highlight your knowledge, training, and degrees.
But what do you do if you’re just getting started and don’t have a lot of history, credibility, expertise to put on your “About the Author” page?
When I was working on a pet-project book where I had ZERO credibility about the subject I knew I was going to have to do SOMETHING to boost my credibility and help with sales. Before I go any further, it’s not a genre that really NEEDS a boatload of credibility. Plenty of people write successful, helpful titles with no more knowledge than I have. (I’m not writing about finance or romance or legal stuff.) But it is in the health industry and other than being healthy, I really don’t have any creds to offer.
What I did have is a friend.
Who’s a PhD.
In the health industry.
Now HE has credibility, right? Even without telling you exactly what his degree is in (pharmacy) just by telling you he’s got his doctorate you already view him in higher respect for this health-related-topic than me.
And you should!
This article first appeared on Ink Authors. Visit their website.
You’ve spent hours writing your book – rewriting, editing, getting feedback, and then writing some more. You’ve invested in the story arc and pulled your hair out over commas. You’ve navigated the murky trails (and trials!) of professional edits, layout, cover design, and book launching.
And the book is beautiful. It’s a work of art. And it’s here to change the world – starting with you!
All hyperbole aside, I know first-hand what goes into writing a book and getting it published. After all, I’ve got 16 titles to my name. And I know first-hand how holding your book in your hand for the very first time just never gets old. If anything, the lady at the post office is sick and tired of watching me rush out to the truck like a love-struck fool to caress the shiny cover on the proof.
But there’s something really important that is never told to authors – and it really should be.
So you’re ready to get your book published… Congratulations! This is a huge step. Here are 5 steps to help you go from just having the book written to having it published!
Are you ready to chat about your publishing options? I’d love to talk to you. Apply for a Discovery Session here.
1. Clean up your manuscriptGo through and look for idiosyncrasies and inconsistencies. For example, I know I’m a huge fan of starting sentences with conjunctions (and, but, so, yet) and I have an over abundance of phrases in parenthesis. These are my personal writing idiosyncrasies. I don’t want to get rid of them all, but I make sure that each use either furthers the writing or is needed to keep the writing in my “voice”.
I also clean up any inconsistencies. For example, in my cookbook I published, I found that I’ve used the following:
That’s four different ways to say the same thing!
Decide on one standard format and will be keeping it the same throughout the book. (And using the same format for cup, pound, and teaspoon!)
When I edit for clients, this is one of the main areas in which I focus. I don’t really care if you want to say fig. or figure but I want it to be the same throughout the book!
When you're ready to publish your book, here's a 5-part plan to help! #amwriting #publish Click To TweetThere’s more to your manuscript than the main bulk of the content. You also need your title page, acknowledgement and/or dedication page, copyright message, about the author blurb, and how to get more information instructions – which can be a list of your other titles or even your contact information.
As I work with clients to take their book projects from manuscript to published, I find we tend to forget the all-important “extra” pages that a book will probably have. So after a manuscript is turned over to me, I usually turn around and give the client homework.
If you write a blog, you know images can make all the difference in engaging readers, attracting their attention and conveying the message. And if you read traditionally published books, fiction or non-fiction, you know that they don’t have many images in them.
This was to keep publishing costs as low as possible, both in ink and in number of pages used. With self-publishing books, both print and digital, the rules of including images are changing.
Why do you want to have images in your book?
Humans are visual creatures. We are attracted to images. They keep our interest and our focus. And in an eBook, they break up the monotony of page after page of print.
When you’re thinking of adding images into your eBook there are five factors you need to keep in mind:
Amazon.com charges authors a file delivery cost (70% commission structure only) that goes up based on the total file size of the eBook. Adding in images will increase the total file size and increase the file delivery cost for your Kindle book.
Your images should be clear and recognizable, but also optimized for minimum file size.
5 tips to using images in your #eBook to maximize your impact. #AmWriting Click To TweetI’ve read eBooks with gratuitous use of images. They didn’t really add anything to the information the author was trying to get across. I think the author had the best intentions that he or she was engaging the reader but the images weren’t necessary to get the point across.
You’ve written a book (celebrate!)
You’ve published your book (MORE celebration!)
And now you’re getting reviews. This is awesome – people are reading your book and taking the time to comment on it. This is where you can break out the bottle of bubbly and enjoy that You. Have. Arrived.
But then… you notice that in addition to leaving reviews, you can actually RESPOND to them! When a reader leaves a review on Amazon, good or bad, there’s a little spot where other people can leave a comment.
As the author, whatever you do, don’t respond to a review. If you respond to a 1- or 2-star review you are seen as whiny and can’t take constructive criticism. If you respond to a 4- or 5-star review, congratulations, you have officially entered into creepy stalker territory.
I’m always teaching that you don’t have to start from square one to create the content for your book – you can and should start from within your own materials to create the book.
What I hear a lot of people teaching and preaching is to RECORD you speaking your book, have it transcribed, and make THAT into your book.
Great idea!
Have you ever actually READ a transcript? Like a word-for-word transcription of a lecture or interview?
It’s NOT easy reading! I have a client who leaves me audio recordings to use as the materials for her articles – and she’s used to “writing” this way and they’re STILL hard to read as a word-for-word transcription.
Which means that a transcription is a great place to start at for materials for your book, but it isn’t a book.
Let me say that again: don’t think you can just slap a cover on a transcription and call it a book!
You can't just slap a cover on a transcript & call it a #book! Click To TweetHere’s a word-for-word transcription from this client:
All of that sounds nice on the outside and like I said I’m not going to waste either of our time and energy talking about whether or not it should or should not be that way but here’s the important thing to remember, regardless of the criteria and regardless of the regulations, promotions really come down to a couple of things and most of us already know that at the end of the day promotions have very little to do with job performance.
Wow! And that’s just ONE sentence of a transcription!