publishing

3 Reasons You’re Hung Up on the “Unknowns” of Publishing Your Book (and what to do about it!)

99.9% of people want to KNOW about publishing their book. But only about 15% of them are actually READY to have that conversation. Mostly because the book isn’t done yet! In many cases, an aspiring author wanted to jump straight into asking me all about publishing and they hadn’t even STARTED their book.

Let me make a confession:

I used to accept people into my Assisted Self-Publishing service no matter where they were in the process. Yep, even if the book wasn’t written yet! They’d pay for the publishing services and we’d wait… and wait… and wait…

I finally figured out that this didn’t help ANYBODY. Books weren’t reaching the people they were meant to reach because THEY WEREN’T WRITTEN. Holding space for publishing is all well and good – except for a lot of really cool books, I’m still waiting.

I get it:

Publishing is exciting! It’s the final step in getting your words out into the world.

It’s fun to think about.

You can dream about having your book be on Oprah’s Book Club.

You can think about claiming your moment as a Best-Selling Author.

It IS fun.

But it can also be exactly what’s keeping you stuck, in this moment, and preventing you from writing your book.

There are three reasons why you might be attracted to publishing – and allowing yourself to be stuck and overwhelmed with your book:

1. You’re “Wasting” Time

In your heart of hearts, you know that all this “research” about publishing is a stalling tactic that you’re allowing to keep you from writing your book. You’re deep in the minutia of the publishing industry – and you know, on some level, that you don’t even NEED to know this information.

But continuing to spend endless hours on Google, researching how to publish your book, allows you to convince yourself that you’re “working” on your book.

Even when you know you’re not!

Keep Reading!

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Join Me for a Client Book Launch

Summer for me is a period of high activity. The longer days, extra time outside, and stupid-hot weather all create the perfect storm for me to Get. Things. Done.

And summer to me always makes me think of sitting in the truck, nondescript brown cardboard package in my lap, taking a deep breath before opening it to find the very first copy of my very first book. Mom and I cried.

Last week, one of my clients got to experience that feeling too.

I always wish I could be there for that moment…

When she saw the cover for the first time – her text message said she was in tears.

When get got the notification from Amazon that her book was live…

That moment, the first moment, when she held her book in her hands and IT WAS REAL.

My fellow author, nothing feels quite the same.

Keep Reading!

Should You Pay a Vanity Press OR Self-Publish?

First off, let’s take a look at the differences between a vanity press and self-publishing your book.

Vanity Press Recap:

  • You pay them to publish your book
  • They use an ISBN number that belongs to them
  • The vanity press takes a percentage of the cover price
  • Strict rules your book must adhere to, like title, cover design, and content
  • You’ll probably be charged for any and all changes
  • You will have to buy, store, market, and sell copies of your book
  • They may or may not own the rights to your book

I’ve never found a reason why using a Vanity Press is a better deal – time or money – than self-publishing. So to answer the question posed in the article title:

No, you should NOT pay a Vanity Press. Yes, you should self-publish your book.

After all, when you self-publish your book, all the rights are yours and so are all the profits. You completely own the work – and have all the business decisions like title, cover design, internal layout, sales price, and marketing.

Now, if you’re like many of the authors I work with, writing isn’t your only gig.

Which means that navigating the murky waters of self-publishing is something you know you need to do but you’re not excited about doing.

But don’t despair!

Just because you’re self-publishing doesn’t mean you’re on your own, flapping in the wind.

Keep Reading!

Let’s Talk About Perfectionism

There are two places where authors get tripped up by wanting to be “perfect.”

The first is when you’re writing your book. You want every word to sing on the page, to have the exact amount of gravity – and levity.

You want your writing to be clear, concise, witty, and professional.

And yet…

When you’re not actually that clear, concise, precise, etc. IN YOUR FIRST ATTEMPT, you give up.

Don’t believe me?

The average author who I speak with has been working on their book for MORE THAN TWO YEARS. Many as long as three or five. (And if you’re at this for more than ten… you probably will NEVER finish.)

So here’s a news flash for you, friend:

You book will NOT be perfect as you’re writing it.

You’ll struggle. You’ll lose interest. You’ll write in circles. You’ll be redundant. You’ll have bad habits all over the place.

Striving for perfection WHILE YOU’RE WRITING is a waste of time – and will drive you nuts.

I’m going to be talking about the writing process non-stop the ENTIRE month of August. AND I’ll be bringing you a special opportunity to improve your writing and get a jump on writing your book. No more waiting, wishing, wallowing.

Now here’s the OTHER place where authors mess up with the perfectionism…

Keep Reading!

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3 Self-Editing Tips to Catch the “Little” Things

I’m opening up sales for my all-new product, “The Complete Self-Publishing Toolkit: Easily Format & Publish Your Book for Print & Kindle” so I wanted to bring you a few editing tips.

When I was in the middle of editing one of my books, “Pitch Your Tent: A family’s guide to tent camping” I paid special attention to the “little” things that can mean the difference between a professional manuscript and looking like an amateur.

See if you can spot the problems:

  • Most public campgrounds in have paths between sites to the bathrooms, trash, etc.
  • When the sun begins to sweat you’ll get a chill.
  • Fist Aid Kit
  • I recommend packing in a duffle big.
  • And never underestimate the importance of a pair of slip of shoes.

None of the sentences (or chapter headings) above have any grammatical error that will be caught by a spelling or grammar checker. It’s up to a real editor who carefully reads each sentence to find them.

So how do you spot things like this in your own writing?

1. Read the manuscript backwards. I start with the last sentence (reading it from start to finish). And then the second to last sentence; the third to last sentence, etc. By reading the manuscript this way, I’m able to focus on one sentence at a time and my brain isn’t “assuming” it knows what will come next.

2. I print out the entire manuscript, grab my tea and red pen and go to town. Looking at the project in a different format really causes errors to jump out at me.

Keep Reading!

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Create a Plan BEFORE You Get a Bad Book Review

#truthbomb

Some people aren’t going to like your book.

Yes, that sucks. It’s hard to hear. But there it is.

Because I get it:

You’re really proud of that book. You know it (and your message) is here to change the world.

And you’ve done a good job in the whole process: rewriting, editing, getting feedback, and then writing some more. But there’s something really important that is never told to authors – and it really should be.

Somebody will hate it. They’ll hate it so much, they’ll leave you a one-star review. And IF you’re lucky, they’ll keep their comments to how dumb the book was (and maybe how much they didn’t like the writing.) If they’re a true Troll, or simply having a Really.Bad.Day, their one-star review will ALSO be a personal attack.

What happens when you get your first 1-star review?

Take a deep breath. Because let’s be perfectly honest here: it’s going to happen. Somebody is going to hate your book – and if you let it, that little 1-star review will have the power to obliterate all the 4- and 5-star reviews that came before it.

Your best defense is… a plan.

It’s not a plan for how you’ll plead with Amazon to remove it.

It’s not a blueprint for how you’ll hunt down the reviewer and make him change his mind – and publicly apologize.

It’s not a plan for how you’ll fire off a witty comeback that is not only the perfectly placed literary knife to the ribs but also makes you look brilliant, beautiful, and 15 pounds lighter.

Here’s the thing about reviews: there’s not a single way you can respond that leave you looking classy. If you argue with a “bad” review, you’re whiny; if you thank the reviewer for a “good” review, you’re a creepy stalker author.

#authortip Never respond to your Amazon reviews. Nothing you say will make you seem classy. Click To Tweet

Still, you need a plan for how you’re going to handle it.

Here are some tips:

1. Don’t check on your reviews right before bed.

I’ll admit, when my first book was newly published, I checked sales stats and if there were any new reviews about every three hours. All. Day. Long.

But I knew from past experience, a nasty email from a client had the power to ruin a good night’s sleep. A bad review from a stranger… no WAY I’d be able to sleep. Keep Reading!

No Credibility? Have an Expert Write Your Foreword (here’s how!)

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?

Then call in a third-party expert!

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!

I asked him to write the foreword to my book: Drink Up! 100 Recipes for Fruit & Herb Infused Water

Out of all the other books in this niche, mine stands out because I have a foreword written by a person who can start his name with “Dr.” and end it with “PharmD” (his actual degree).

And trust me, that boost of credibility means an added boost in sales. (And getting people to drink more water – which was WHY I wanted to write the book!)

How did I get him to write this foreword for me?

It was super hard and took a lot of work and effort and was scary and…

Keep Reading!

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