How To Sell Your Book

Your book is being published, and hitting the market. With all the thousands of books available, you need to master how to sell your book. There are several tricks of the trade you can use to sell your book more successfully.
Get a literary agent. Having a representative talking about your book is the best way to get it into the hands of an editor.

• Trust your book publisher to know the market and where your book might be more successful. But don't put them completely in charge. The best way to sell your book is to promote it yourself even to your publisher. Make sure it ends up in your favorite book store.
• Make sure, too, that you have plenty of copies for yourself. You can do a lot of things with them to sell your book.
• Give away a few copies. Word of mouth is the best advertising. If you can get people talking positively about your book, you can sell your book.
• Send a few copies to your college or university magazine, with an announcement you've been published. It is free publicity for your work, and colleges enjoy telling success stories about their alumni.
• Tell everyone you know that you've had a book published! The easiest way to sell your book is to sell it to friends, family, and colleagues. They will be the first to support and encourage you, and to tell their friends to do the same.
• Never lose an opportunity to promote your book. A conversation on the bus can lead to an opportunity to sell your book. Commit to your work with pride.
• Many online retailers such as Amazon have made it a fairly easy process for anyone who has published a book to sell it on their site. The process of actually selling your book on their site may vary, but the first step is usually the application process. You'll submit titles to your books and possibly even a little bit about your book. Once your title has been approved, that means that technically your book can be sold. Payments are usually made at the end of each month on books that have been sold the previous month, and are paid by electronic transfer.
• The powerful way to promote a book online is social bookmarking. With more than 100 million computers sold this year, social bookmarking will allow you reach more of these people who are logging onto the internet, searching for you.
  

(c) 2011 Bookpal Australia Pty Ltd - All Rights Reserved Worldwide
http://www.bookpal.com.au is helping self publishers all around the world to successfully self publish and market their books with cost effective solutions to create bestsellers. The website offers a free book for budding self publishers, and many other free resources.

Terence Tam is the founder of BookPal, he previously spent 6 years as an academic and was a contributing author for several academic books. Frustrated with the level of service he was getting with traditional publishers, he set up his own self publishing company to help other authors publish and market books with cost effective yet efficient solutions.

Build A Website To Promote Your Book

A website is an effective way for book marketing. You can locate and share your book from any computer in the world, and even sell your book online from your website. Building a website to promote your book is relatively easy and simple.

Building a website. You can start with one of the free web-hosting providers, like Geocities, which will give you a step by step process to get your website up and running.

Hosting site and domain name. Once you are familiar with web design basics, you may want to use a paid hosting site, and purchase your own domain name. You may hire a professional to set up your website.

Research. Once you have your website, using it to promote your book will take craft, and some research. Take time to research content that are interesting and related to your book's topic.

Feature your book prominently! First, make sure your book is easy to find on your website. You can't promote your book if your visitors can't find it! It is important to tell people too where they can buy your book aside from your website.

Post book excerpts. Uploading a picture of the book's cover will help, and perhaps excerpts that will make them want to view the entire manuscript. Do not forget to publish samples from your book!

Add a blog page. You must also consider what will bring people to view your site, when it isn't specifically what they're looking for. You can have a page dedicated in providing informative materials or tips that your visitors may benefit. You can post recent news and upcoming events. Share photos and links related to your book.

Check out other websites. To promote your book, try to pretend you are looking for exactly the information contained in your book. Run web searches, trying to find answers, and see what keywords guide you to sites like the one you are building. Examining these sites will help you generate content for your own website that will bring you increased traffic and promote your book more effectively.

Contact us page. Visibility is one goal; feedback is the other. You can also add a message board. Make sure your website has a comment page, and/or an email link so your visitors can contact you with questions.

FAQ page for your visitors. You can even generate a FAQ page on your website, to increase traffic and involvement in your material. Publishers appreciate attentive writers who are in dialogue with their readers.

About the author page. Tell your potential readers a bit about yourself. The more interesting your life story, the higher is the chances of getting a buzz about your book. Put yourself on your potential reader's shoes and ask yourself what's with a person's story that would make you buy his book.

Add mailing list. Why is it essential? This will help you reach your readers anytime for news, updates and even promote your next published book!

2011 Bookpal Australia Pty Ltd - All Rights Reserved Worldwide

BookPal is helping self publishers all around the world to successfully self publish and market their books with cost effective solutions to create bestsellers. The website offers a free book for budding self publishers, and many other free resources.

Terence Tam is the founder of BookPal, he previously spent 6 years as an academic and was a contributing author for several academic books. Frustrated with the level of service he was getting with traditional publishers, he set up his own self publishing company to help other authors publish and market books with cost effective yet efficient solutions.

Writing a Book That Sells

So you have decided you want to write a book, but the important thing is to write a book that will sell. There are some easy tips to writing an interesting book that readers won't be able to keep their hands off.

Type of book to write. Focus on something that will interest a broad market of people. Usually non-fiction works best for new authors. Write your non-fiction, self-help book first since it is more of a moneymaker for new authors, so you can finance your other efforts.

Have passion about your topic. A common refrain in writing circles is to "write what you know." Research might seem like a daunting undertaking, but if you have enough interest in the subject that you want to write about it, then you shouldn't worry. Finding someone who does know about the subject and talking with them about it is a way to learn more without having to brave dry, boring tomes. Getting a personal, human touch to the information may even provide some inspiration, or a story you can give as an example.

Knowing your audience. Know your audience before your write your book to keep it organized, flowing, and compelling. Write something interesting that will fulfill their needs and wants. When writing a book, don't write it for yourself. Write to serve your public. Write what your readers want to read. Your subject must benefit your audience or they won't buy your book. To successfully sell your book, you need to know your audience. Who do you intend to read this masterpiece? If you don't write it with them in mind, chances are they won't be interested.

Regular writing schedule. Remember that a book doesn't finish itself. A page a day equals a book a year. Think about your circumstances and evaluate your effort in finishing your book. Commit yourself to a schedule.

Appealing to eyes. Consider writing a book that has as many pictures of illustrations as your budget can afford. Eye appeal in a non-fiction book creates sales. That is one of the reasons tabletop photography books do so well. They are appealing to the eye and make great gifts which will help generate interest in your book and word of mouth about your book will help marketing and sales.

Avoid heavy subjects. Subjects such as controversial topics, social commentaries and scientific theories fall into a niche market, serving only those who agree with your theories and will gain you much unwanted criticism.

Book title. Make sure your book has a catchy title. Try to avoid boring and monotonous titles like, "How to Live Well", etc. An eye catching title that rolls off the tongue easily is a great starter for a good book.

Book Cover. Think about hiring a professional designer for the cover of your book. While the saying goes "You should never judge a book by its cover", people do and they will judge your book by its cover. Find out what designs and images appeal to the target market, and design accordingly. For instance, business books do well with images of lifestyle and money; horror novels do well with an element of blood on the cover.

In the end, you will find you have written a book that sells and that generates an income for you.

© 2010 Bookpal Australia Pty Ltd - All Rights Reserved Worldwide

http://www.bookpal.com.au is helping self publishers all around the world to successfully self publish and market their books with cost effective solutions to create bestsellers. The website offers a free book for budding self publishers, and many other free resources. To learn more about how BookPal can help you to get your book published, please register now for your FREE Self-Publishing Consultation.

Terence Tam is the founder of Bookpal, he previously spent 6 years as an academic and was a contributing author for several academic books. Frustrated with the level of service he was getting with traditional publishers, he set up his own self publishing company to help other authors publish and market books with cost effective yet efficient solutions.

Getting Your Children's Book Published

Once you've written your first children's book, the next step would be having it published. Just like mainstream book publishing, there is a lot of competition with publishing a children's book so you need to be able to offer something creative and unique to publishing companies that other authors haven't been able to bring to the table.

In getting your children's book ready for publishing, you need to consider the following:

Proofreading Your Manuscript

Be certain that there are no errors on your final manuscript, and have someone proofread your final work aside from yourself. In fact, having several people proofread it may be more beneficial.

Page Layout

Make sure your pages are double spaced with a one inch margin all the way around. Each page should not only have the page number, but also the title of the book and your name.

Print Copies

Once you have your manuscript perfected, you need to print out several copies that will ultimately be sent to publishers.

Research Available Publishers

Spend some time researching the available publishers, and plan to contact only the ones who publish children's books. Find a publisher willing to take a chance on a new writer. This can prove to be frustrating as the publishing market is inundated with children's book authors. The best thing is to do your homework first. Know about the publishers you are sending your work to. What do they typically look for when selecting a children's book to publish? Familiarize yourself as well with the company's submission requirements.

Write a Cover Letter

Write a compelling cover letter as to why they should consider your book and what sets it apart from others. Remember this will be the first impression, so make it good.

Send Out Your Manuscript

Once you have done your homework, start sending out your book to potential publishers. For first time authors, it is probably best to stick to smaller publishing houses or local companies. With each manuscript that you send, make sure you follow each publisher's requirements to the letter. Send your manuscript to each publisher, making sure that you address the envelope according to the guidelines.

Keeping Track

Keep a record as to which publishers you've written, the date, and other pertinent information. Once several months have passed since you sent the original manuscript, you can write a brief, polite letter informing them you sent a manuscript and you hope they'd received it. In order to make correspondence easier, include a self addressed stamped envelope.

Now the hardest part is the waiting. Publishers get thousands of manuscripts every day from known authors as well as unknown authors. Be patient if you don't hear anything at first. If you have a good story, you will eventually get a reply.

If it takes a while, don't become discouraged. The publishers have many manuscripts to read, but in the meantime you can continue to send out manuscripts to other publishing companies in hopes of one of them finding interest in your book.


2010 Bookpal Australia Pty Ltd - All Rights Reserved Worldwide

http://www.Bookpal.com.au is helping self publishers all around the world to successfully self publish and market their books with cost effective solutions to create bestsellers. The website offers a free book for budding self publishers, and many other free resources.

Terence Tam is the founder of Bookpal, he previously spent 6 years as an academic and was a contributing author for several academic books. Frustrated with the level of service he was getting with traditional publishers, he set up his own self publishing company to help other authors publish and market books with cost effective yet efficient solutions.

Print On Demand Publishing Is It For You?

When it comes to publishing your book, there are many options available. For several reasons, Print On Demand publishing is gaining popularity as a publishing medium.

Print On Demand publishing is a technology by which copies of a book can be printed on an as-needed basis. This avoids the need to mass-produce books, leaving crates of surplus copies in storage. Print On Demand publishing was made possible with the development of digital printing.

The largest advantage to Print On Demand publishing is that items such as books and magazines can be printed at a fixed cost per copy, no matter how many copies are being printed. With smaller print runs, this makes Print On Demand much more economical than traditional offset printing. For larger jobs, offset printing can still be the money-saving method, but for many new writers there is not the demand for the number of copies that will make offset printing the wiser choice.

In addition, Print On Demand publishing has a quicker technical setup time, making it more convenient. Since the print run can be as small as a single copy, there is also little or no waste from copies that are not sold or used, and there is little to no need to store a large inventory of printed copies. This reduces storage and accounting costs, and eases the strain of tracking large amounts of stock.

Print On Demand is an excellent resource for new authors. They will print and ship copies directly to an author, with small fees for the service, as well as for managing royalties and, in many cases, listings in online bookstores. Some companies will even offer proofreading and editing services.

Though many authors crave the "big publisher's" stamp of approval on his book, and the credibility that comes with having a professional publishing relationship, there is more than one road to success. There also many success stories with Print On Demand companies.

David Lee Thompson is a 65 year old man living in West Virginia. He was tired of fighting to get his book published, and he felt he was too old to weather the storm of rejection letters that would come his way from the huge publishing houses. He chose to self-publish using a Print On Demand publisher, and he has massively overreached his expectations in selling his book. He was so encouraged that he's now writing a second book.

An ex-police officer in Boston, Frank DeSario, wanted to tell the story of his time in the police force. He had seen some of the most famous and infamous events in Boston's long history, and saw a story worth telling. Because of the specific market he was targeting, he chose to self-publish his book using Print On Demand. His book has not just been successful among his friends and police colleagues. He has sold copies of his book online, to people who saw it and took an interest based on his cover art and synopsis. He continues to draw royalties from his book. Mr. DeSario is a true Print On Demand success story.

Print On Demand publishing is an ideal resource for an author just getting started in the publishing world. A number of authors consider it a great cost-effective way to have their book published without having to invest major cash that can better be utilized on marketing ideas.

It is really up to you to decide whether a print on demand option will work for you and your book. Before making up your mind, it is necessary to educate yourself on all options and make an informed decision based on what you've learned. Also remember that all print on demand companies aren't created equal, so if you decide this is the best option for you, research the companies and choose one which best suits your needs.

© 2010 Bookpal Australia Pty Ltd - All Rights Reserved Worldwide

http://www.bookpal.com.au is helping self publishers all around the world to successfully self publish and market their books with cost effective solutions to create bestsellers. The website offers a free book for budding self publishers, and many other free resources. To find out more about how the Bookpal team can help you get your ideas into print, click here for your obligation free self-publishing consultation.

Terence Tam is the founder of Bookpal, he previously spent 6 years as an academic and was a contributing author for several academic books. Frustrated with the level of service he was getting with traditional publishers, he set up his own self publishing company to help other authors publish and market books with cost effective yet efficient solutions.

Self Publishing: Truths & Lies

Are you anxious to get your book published?

Being anxious to see your work bound and printed is a feeling that all authors have experienced at some point or another, but being too anxious may result in poor decisions that you’ll regret later. So before you join the bandwagon in self publishing your book, let us consider the truths and lies about self publishing.

Lie: Self publishing is expensive. Some writers and authors say that starting with your own cost too much financially.

Truth: Self publishing is easy and affordable. Contrary to the popular belief among new authors, self publishing isn’t hard to break in to and cost little too. Since self-publishing is an evolving industry with lots of competitors, publishers are continually upgrading their facilities, offering higher quality services, and affordable pricing at your convenience.

Here's how it works. You select a size for your book, format your Word manuscript to fit that size, turn your Word doc into a PDF, create some cover art in Photoshop, turn that into a PDF, and upload it all to the self-publisher of your choosing. Depending on the level of service you choose, it can be as easy as uploaded an unformatted word document to the self-publishing service provider, and voila! They produce a completed book for you!

Lie: Self publishing companies offer low-quality services.

Truth: Self publishing firms are here to stay. They have been in business for quite sometime now and are continually changing for the better offering high-quality services for new authors like you. The standard of many self publishing companies are quite solid. The sole giveaway that you are offering a self-published book would be if the cover were poorly designed so you have to make sure the company you work with has a great track record to back them up such as testimonials/ feedbacks from their clients.

Lie: All self-publishing companies don't care whether you believe they're your ticket to instant fame and fortune. They will make you believe how easy it is to make it to Oprah’s book club.

Truth: A reputable, honest self-publishing company will tactfully attempt to manage your expectations. They will inform you that it's nearly impossible to make Oprah's book club even if you're traditionally published. They'll explain how much sweat and toil it would take to sell any copies of your book at all once it's published but will assure you of their support and assistance in marketing your book.

Lie: Your book will sell right away as soon as it’s off from the printing press.

Truth: Even if your book is great, there's a great chance it will not sell. Book sales will be slow at first which is very common among new authors. This is where your marketing plan comes into effect. Don’t give up, persistence is the key to sales when you self publish a book.

Lie: Only use services of big publishing companies.

Truth: Should you elect to self-publish, you're encouraged to shop around. The big guys aren't always your best bet. Many smaller publishers offer excellent service at affordable prices. It all depends on your needs and how much assistance you are looking for.

Self publishing is easier to learn than you may think if you take the time and do your research and take things one step at a time.

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© 2010 Bookpal Australia Pty Ltd - All Rights Reserved Worldwide

http://www.Bookpal.com.au/ is helping self publishers all around the world to successfully self publish and market their books with cost effective solutions to create bestsellers. The website offers a free book for budding self publishers, and many other free resources.

Terence Tam is the founder of Bookpal, he previously spent 6 years as an academic and was a contributing author for several academic books. Frustrated with the level of service he was getting with traditional publishers, he set up his own self publishing company to help other authors publish and market books with cost effective yet efficient solutions.