Selling Books by Giving Back

Promoting a book to make money doesn't mean you can't be human or caring. By giving back to the community, authors create positive images of themselves and get their faces and books in front of people who otherwise might not be interested in or ever hear about their books. Selling yourself by helping a good cause will not only help you to sell books, but in the end, you will feel good about yourself and feel more connected to your community and the world at large. You might also have some great experiences that will inspire your future books.

While you could go work in a soup kitchen or just donate money, authors can find ways to contribute to their communities that also will help to promote their books. Following are just six of hundreds of possibilities for how authors can give back:

• Visiting Senior Citizen Centers and Assisted Living Homes. Senior citizens represent a large portion of the reading public, largely because they have more time to read. They also appreciate visitors and interacting with others, and they are likely to tell all their friends and family members, who include children, grandchildren, great-nieces and nephews, in-laws, and cousins, about a book they like. In other words, senior citizens have a lot of connections and can provide great word-of-mouth referrals for your book. Especially if you are writing about history, healthcare, or topics especially of interest to seniors, you might find a group of seniors to be the perfect audience for your book and your message. Many senior centers, assisted living, nursing, and veterans' homes have reading groups and book clubs, and they are always looking for ideas for event planning. Authors might choose to volunteer to read to seniors at these facilities once a week or month, or simply visit and give a talk about their books. During the visit, be sure to pass out cards or book markers; seniors may not always have the best memories and might not remember your name, but if your book interests them, they will show books they buy or book markers to their visitors and tell them about your book. Seniors also enjoy engaging in the discussions, and if authors are willing to listen, they will have great stories to tell-material for future books.
• Speaking at Career Day Events for Students. Budding young writers are everywhere, and offering to speak to high school students or college freshman at career day events, or participating in events like Young Authors, can be a great way to give back to your community and provide the encouragement needed that you received or wish you had received as an aspiring young author. Besides speaking to aspiring writers, authors who have written non-fiction books might wish to speak to future historians, doctors, businessmen, or other groups of students whose field of study is relevant to their books' topics. While students don't typically have a lot of money to buy books, that doesn't mean they won't remember the encouragement you gave them and buy your books when they are older, and they might also tell their parents about your books or ask for them for their birthdays or holidays. Best of all, authors will be planting a seed in young people so that new "keepers of the flame" are born to carry on the gift of writing and storytelling.
• Public Radio and Public TV fundraisers. Public Radio and Public TV stations love to offer gifts to their listeners and viewers as incentives for donating to their stations. While your book may only cost $25, viewers who give the station $100 might receive it free with their donations, which sells a book for you and helps out the station so it can afford to buy more programming to enrich people's lives. These stations will want to buy your book at a discount, usually equivalent to what bookstores desire, such as 40 percent. You may not sell a lot of books or make a lot of money directly through this venue, although some authors have done very well this way, but it is a great way to advertise for your book, and while all the viewers might not donate the amount needed to get the free book, you can bet many will buy the book at regular price at bookstores or online. In addition, you'll now have media contacts at the station who might invite you back when your next book comes out, or interview you, or recommend you to other stations. Some authors have even had local PBS stations make films out of their books if their books are of local interest to their viewing audience.
• Donating Books. Donating a book may seem like a financial loss, but it can result in publicity that helps sell books, and again, it provides a benefit to an organization. Many libraries that receive donated books from authors have connections with the local media and will take a photo of the author donating the book for their newsletters or even the community spotlight sections of local newspapers-great publicity in exchange for one donated book.

Donating books as raffle prizes can also be effective. For example, if your book is donated for a church bazaar's raffle, everyone who buys a raffle ticket may see it listed as one of the prizes. That could be hundreds of people who see your book title, and while only one person might win the donated book, several others might decide to purchase the book for themselves.

Benefit dinners are another great place to donate books. Communities are always hosting spaghetti dinners and other events to raise money for people who have cancer, leukemia, or other health conditions that result in large medical bills. Donating a book to help with a raffle or auction at one of these events will not only help you get public attention, but it may help raise money that could save a life.

• Promoting Literacy. As authors, we love to read. But can you imagine not being able to read, or not having books to read? Illiteracy is a major problem from which poverty, prejudice, and many other social ills stem simply because people cannot read, and therefore, cannot be informed or educated. Multiple ways exist for authors to help with literacy.

Visit schools and talk to children about the importance of reading or make an author visit and read your children's book to them to get them excited about reading. Volunteer your time to help students by tutoring or helping them with a workshop. Tell children about your own experiences as a writer. Get them excited about the world that will open up to them once they are able to read. Explain to them how reading and writing are important for almost every job out there today.

Don't forget adult-education programs where you may find more people interested in your book. If your topic interests them, your book could be a stepping-stone for them in learning to read.

I know of one author who got a grant to offer a workshop where she'll help at-risk teens write and publish their own books. She's found editors and book printers who have agreed to donate time or print books at cost to help these students publish their books, which will give them the confidence that if they can write a book, they can achieve anything they want in life.

• Donate a Dollar for Every Book Sold. Many authors have donated a dollar for every book sold to a charity or cause that is important to them. This situation is especially true with non-fiction books. A book about Alzheimer's might result in a dollar per book sold going to the Alzheimer's Association of America. A children's book author might donate a dollar per book to causes that promote literacy. A wildlife book might result in one dollar for every book sold going to the American Humane Society. Beyond sharing their profits, authors are likely to sell more books, the volume of sales thereby making up for the loss of profit per book. Furthermore, you can speak at conventions for these causes or sign books at conferences. People are more willing to part with their money when they feel it will go to a good cause and they'll getting something for it, like a good book.

Many ways exist for authors to give back to their communities. Whether or not these avenues result in more books being sold, authors will come away feeling good about themselves and knowing they've made a difference, the results of which can never be measured or underestimated.

Irene Watson is the Managing Editor of Reader Views, where avid readers can find reviews of recently published books as well as read interviews with authors. Her team also provides author publicity and a variety of other services specific to writing and publishing books.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Irene_Watson

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How to Self Publish a Book on a Shoestring Budget

Let's say you want to know how to self-publish a book, and you want to do it in the least expensive and best way possible. Is this contradictory?

In fact, on my web site at Write and Publish Your Book, the two questions I'm asked the most are how to self-publish a book and how to do it on a shoestring budget. They also, coincidentally, want to know the BEST way to do this.

But for now, let's focus on this question of the best and cheapest way to publish a book. In fact, these are two entirely separate questions. The first question is, "What is the best way to publish my book?" Then, the second question should be, "What is the cheapest way to publish my book?"

See, most people who ask me this question are really just new to the business. It's a perfectly legitimate question, especially if you've slaved over writing your book for two or three months (again, the timeline for writing a quality book is the subject of another essay). So let's take these two questions apart.

What is the best way to publish a book?

Write an outstanding, must-read book that is unique, provocative, controversial, a literary masterpiece, or is endorsed by someone like Oprah. No, really. That's the best way to publish a book.

Take for example Joseph Finder, author of the best selling corporate espionage book, Paranoia. He'd had moderate success with his previous well-written CIA suspense novels, but didn't hit it big until he inadvertently created an entirely new genre with Paranoia. In his words, "All I was doing was trying something new - a thriller with a fresh setting, a fresh cast of characters."

Or, how about Nora Raleigh Baskin, popular author of middle-grade novels such as In the Company of Crazies (HarperCollins). She'd had a knee-high stack of rejection letters until she wrote the book she'd always wanted to write - not because she wanted to be published, but because she wanted to write this particular book. That one book, which she wrote from her heart, got her on the road to a successful writing career.

Many people have a great idea for a book, and many of these books are from their life experiences. They have no experience as a writer, but the strange thing is that they almost always ask first about publishing the book before it's even written.

Even if they do ask how to self-publish a book, they're still thinking in terms of publishing their best seller before they've even determined if there is a market for the book!

For example, remember the story about the guy who had to saw his own arm off with a dull knife in order to save his life? Aron Ralston didn't just come up with the idea to write his book Between a Rock and a Hard Place. His story was popularized well before the book was ever written.

Contrast that with the woman who wants to write about her experiences with domestic violence. Unfortunately, this is not an unusual story. As much as I'd like to see an end to this horrible sickness, the story won't necessarily sell books.

And selling books is what it comes down to. Will your book sell? That's the ultimate question you need to answer if you want your book published. The question of the salability of your book applies whether you're self-publishing or attempting to sell your book to a publisher. Either way, it's got to sell or it just won't go anywhere.

That said, let's get back to the original question: What's the best way to publish my book?

Self-Publish or Traditional Publisher?

There's no easy answer to this question, and the answer you get will depend on who you ask. I think a lot of it depends on you, the genre of your book, your experience as a writer and in sales, and your intentions for the book.

Self-publishing is ideal for a business person who wants to use the book as part of his or her overall business strategy. It's a great way to establish yourself as an expert in your field (assuming the book is well-written and informative). The book can be "repurposed" into E-books, teleclasses (telephone conference-call classes), Webinars (seminars held on the phone and Internet), and eventually advanced courses sold for thousands of dollars. Thus, the book itself is printed at a loss and is generally given away to seminar attendees.

Self-publishing is also an option for novelists who really believe in their books, but because they're new can't find a publisher for the book. The key here is that you've at least tried to sell your book to a traditional publisher.

Self-publishing with an aim toward eventual publishing with a major publishing house will require a tremendous amount of energy and perseverance to market and sell your book. If you can show that the book sells, you'll find a publisher. Just putting it on Amazon won't do a thing. You absolutely must work at marketing your book.

There are many self-publishing options, ranging from "free" (Lulu) to several thousand dollars. Perhaps the worst option is to go with what's called "Vanity" press. These are companies who will publish your book for two to ten thousand dollars, print 2500 or more copies, and do a minimal amount of marketing. You're stuck with a garage full of books and an empty wallet. Beware those companies who want to print your book in bulk.

Lulu is the most popular, but has its own costs. Most of the books published on Lulu sell no more than 10 copies - total. The books are amateurish, with home-made covers that look like something the dog chewed. The book print quality is good, but the printing prices are steep. For a fee you can have an ISBN number assigned and the book listed on Amazon.

On the other hand, for just a little more money you can buy your own ISBN number and have your book printed at Lightning Source for far less money per book. You'll make your investment back with less than 100 books printed.

Then, there's everything in-between, including "Print on Demand" book publishers who will create the cover, edit your book, and format the interior of the book so that it looks professional. Some POD publishers simply publish your book as-is. You provide the cover and the interior formatting.

Just consider that you generally get what you pay for, although some POD publishers will charge you high fees for what loosely resembles a marketing plan. Make sure you compare the options closely.

Traditional Publishing

Expect rejection. Seriously, the vast majority of books submitted to both big and small traditional publishers (publishers who either pay you up front or don't ask for any up-front money from you) are rejected. It's a fact of life simply because they're in it to make money. If they don't think the book will sell, they'll reject it.

The best way to ensure success is to write a beautiful, clever, provocative, inspiring, brilliant book. No, let me take that back. The best way to ensure success is to already be someone popular, well-known, famous, or influential. Think Donald Trump, Bill Clinton, or Paris Hilton (dread the thought).

If you're writing a nonfiction book, it's best to be someone important, have a track record in sales, or have excellent credentials. If you're not any of these, then consider co-authoring your book with someone who fits the above criteria.

Also, for nonfiction or a memoir, do your marketing research beforehand. If you can go into your book proposal or query letter armed with documented proof that people are buying your type of book AND that yours has a interesting and unique twist on a highly relevant topic, then you'll get their attention.

You'll need to write an excellent proposal. I've charged thousands to write nonfiction book proposals (and I have a good track record of success). It takes time to write a compelling lead that draws them into the benefits of publishing your book, and following that with a comprehensive plan for marketing your book. For nonfiction, you should have two solid sample chapters written.

But what about writing fiction?

The first thing you'll need is a good, well-written, and interesting book. We recently had a novel writing contest at the site, and you'd be amazed at how many books had basic grammatical errors and were poorly written.

What are people thinking? Obviously, this isn't you. So, take your great book and write an even better query letter. You'll need to have your book written. Don't say that "it's almost done," or that "I'm thinking about writing..." Ideally you will have gone through about a dozen drafts of your book before you send it to anyone.

It's far easier to get your book published if you've already been published. But if you're new, don't worry. There are ways... and there are certainly ways to do it on a shoestring budget. You can have cheapest, and you can have best, but you're going to have to work at it to have both!

Good luck and good writing!

Writing, publishing and marketing a book on a shoestring budget takes work, but it's possible. Visit us to earn How to Write a Book on a Shoestring Budget, How to Publish a Book on a Shoestring Budget, and How to Market a Book on a Shoestring Budget.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Sid_Smith

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/442520

Become an E-Book Author - Make Money from your Knowledge

"E-Book" is short for Electronic Book---an organized set of content delivered in an electronic format. There are many different types of e-books including packaged executables, PDF, and formats for the handheld computer.

As with so many of the original e-books, your e-book doesn't have to be about Making Money or Internet Marketing---people are interested in many other things. What makes an e-book valuable to a wide audience is that it provides information that people cannot easily find elsewhere.

Over the years, I've had the pleasure of writing numerous printed books and working on several electronic publications. From what I've seen, the e-book medium supports the greatest creative flexibility. Images can come alive, you can provide interactive forms and content, the user can access remote databases, and you can support dynamic updates whenever the content changes. There are, however, several steps involved in the process to properly develop and promote an e-book to your audience.

The Process

When developing an e-book, you have to perform several important steps to create quality content. Each step allows you to fine-tune your idea and the end-product so that readers will learn from and enjoy the content you provide.

- Brainstorm an Idea

Ideas are cheap, but good ideas take time to develop. To develop a good idea, you have to jot down as many ideas as possible, then go through the list to make sure that:

* you're interested in the idea;

* you're knowledgeable on the topic;

* you're hitting the greatest, potential market;

* people will purchase the information; and

* you can market to those interested.

Once you reduce the list to a few solid choices, go back through and examine the remaining topics to determine which topics you can write, by:

* determining what you know about the topic;

* performing market research to ensure that you have a market and an angle for that market; and

* performing competitive research to find your competition's products, successes, failures, and target markets.

While fine-tuning your product, remember that people will buy the product if it:

* solves a problem;

* improves an existing product;

* hits on a hot trend;

* creates a new niche; or

* fills a current need.

- Develop an Outline

Once you come up with the idea, you'll have to create an outline or table of contents to develop the idea. The best way I've found to do this is to break the idea down into blocks of contiguous information---similar to assembling a pyramid. At the top is the IDEA with each successive level providing a more detailed sequence of points that ultimately explain the top-level IDEA.

The outline itself should be at least four levels deep so that you can understand what you'll say for each section or chapter. Research each section and collect pertinent information so that you can develop a coherent outline and understand the depths of what it is you are writing.

- Develop the First Draft

The first draft is merely a "brain dump." Follow your outline and write as much as possible about each section. Don't worry about format, spelling, or grammar at this point, as you'll focus on resolving those issues later.

- Substantive Edit

A substantive edit is a review of the manuscript where you fine-tune the content. You have to make sure that the content is complete, contains pertinent information for the topic, and provides enough relevant information to explain the topic. At this point, you can perform additional research to verify the content or enhance the information for the reader.

- Content/Technical Review

Find some experts in your manuscript's topic area and have them review it for accuracy and readability. This type of review ensures that the information is correct and that the target audience will be able to understand the content. Many times, experts will take credit in the acknowledgements as opposed to a fee, but this is something you'll have to work out with them.

- Second Draft

The second draft takes into account the information from your reviewers as well as changes you need to make based on your own review of the content. Once this draft is complete, take a day or two off to give your brain a break. This way, when you return to the manuscript, you'll be fresh and able to catch any mistakes that you would've otherwise missed.

- Copy Edit

The copy edit allows you to check the grammar, spelling, and readability of the content. Make sure that everything is formatted appropriately and that your manuscript provides a professional presentation.

- Proof

In a publishing house, proofreaders will go through the product and check for any final production issues, wording, and problems with content. Do a pre-package of the product and send it out to a few people to have them read through the product. Ask them to check for any mistakes or errors that might have been missed.

- Packaging

Once you've completed the manuscript, you can package it in several different formats. The format choice depends on your target audience as well as your desired presentation. Of course, you can always have an e-publisher generate the package, but they too will use one of the formats discussed in this section.

Developed by Adobe (http://www.adobe.com), PDF is a document packaging format that is compatible across several platforms (i.e., Microsoft Windows, UNIX, Macintosh, etc.) A PDF document is viewed on the free Adobe Acrobat viewer, which is itself platform-dependent. When developing PDF documents, stay with standard writing practices involved in creating manuscripts. Adobe Distiller, which usually comes with FrameMaker, works with just about any word-processing environment (e.g., Microsoft Word, TeX, etc.) and generates a PDF of your manuscript directly from the application.

E-Book compilers take HTML files and package them into a single executable application. This format is, however, limited in its distribution as it will only run on its target platforms. For instance, one of the better compilers, Activ E-Book (http://www.ebookcompiler.com), is targeted to run on Microsoft Windows platforms. You will need a compiler that supports all of the major facets of HTML as well as password protection, configurability, and branding. Branding allows you to create e-books branded with your affiliates' or distributors' names. Note that the vendors for some of the more expensive compilers will not only charge for the compiler, but also charge royalties for distribution rights.

Handheld e-book reader formats are very wide because of the multitude of e-book readers available on the market today. In most cases, all you have to do is generate a solid manuscript and submit it to one of the e-publishers in Microsoft Word format. They will usually package the manuscript into one or more of the different formats acceptable for the more popular e-book readers.

Copyrighting Your Work

Once you've created your e-book, the last thing you want is for someone to illegally copy your work, or worse yet, claim it as their own. It's true that there are technical means (i.e., password protection) that can make this kind of theft more difficult, but none offer total security. No matter what you do, there's a chance that you could be a victim of this kind of theft---it could even go on for a while before you discover that it happened.

Even worse than discovering that you're a victim, is discovering that you're a victim with either no, or very limited, recourse. But there's a way to make sure that it doesn't happen to you---take steps to protect your work ahead of time. Visit the following sites for information on protecting your work as well as registering your work online:

* MediaRegister (http://www.mediaregister.com)

* Click and Copyright (http://www.clickandcopyright.com/)

* International Standard Book Number (ISBN)

If you're serious about publishing an e-book, you'll need to have your own ISBN number. The ISBN is a number that identifies book products published internationally. To distribute your work in books stores, online and otherwise, you have to obtain an ISBN number.

An ISBN consists of 10 digits preceded by the "ISBN" prefix. The number is divided into four parts, with each part separated by a hyphen. The number establishes and identifies one title or edition from a specific publisher and is unique to that edition. This supports a more efficient marketing scheme for products by booksellers, libraries, universities, wholesalers, and distributors.

Currently, you must order a minimum of 10 numbers for a charge of $225. You can order online and it only takes a few days for delivery. For more information and to apply, visit:

* RR Bowker (http://www.bowker.com/bowkerweb/)

* ISBN Home Page (http://www.isbn.org/)

Sell or Free

As you package your e-book, decide if it will be distributed free of charge or for a fee. Usually, free e-books contain bits and pieces of information that induce the sale of other products and services and increase traffic to the host Web site.

- Free E-Books

A free e-book should be a leader to something better that must be purchased. If you create an e-book that you want to sell, it's always a good idea to either block certain pages with a password or distribute a subset of the main e-book free. When determining how to provide a free version of your e-book, think about the following questions:

* Which chapters will everyone be able to read?

* Do I create a free version and a for-pay version?

* How will I get people to pay for the e-book once they review the free one?

* How will I promote and distribute the product?

- For-Pay E-Books

As for the for-pay version of the e-book, you can use PayPal (http://www.paypal.com) or ProPay (http://www.propay.com) to accept payment because they are much easier to setup on a simple site. The only problem is that they are not very flexible when dealing with automating order processing. If you have the time and the funds later, you can always upgrade to a merchant account, order-processing environment.

You also have to develop a set of procedures for handling purchases. These procedures identify the steps for collecting funds, handling returns, and sending the password or key to unlock the e-book. An example of these procedures is as follows:

* User submits a purchase request.

* You accept the request and receive payment.

* You send the password, key, a URL to the complete product, or the complete product itself via e-mail.

* If the user wants to return the product, determine their reasoning and refund the money.

Selecting the Right Price

Selecting a price for the e-book is always a tough decision, but a very important one. Remember that the main advantage to e-books is in the inexpensive methods of production. You can usually write an entire e-book and have it published in a very short time. On top of that, when you generate the finished package, you can simply distribute that same copy instead of having to continually re-run the process to generate a new product---as in the print market.

To price your e-book correctly, research your competition's prices and determine if you have any added value above and beyond your competition. If so, either price it at their price or add 10%. With a good write-up and press release, you will draw readers because you are newer, have a larger footprint (i.e., more pages), and have more information.

Once it has been out there for a while, speak with your past customers or drop the price a little until sales begin to pick up. There are many tactics for setting the right price, but with proper market research, you should be able to come up with a solid price the first time around.

Promotion

Promotion is the key to getting your e-book noticed. You must be professional and diligent when handling the promotion of your work as one misplaced e-mail or posting could destroy credibility for you and your work.

- Web Site

If you don't already have one, you should consider assembling a Web site to present and sell your e-books. You'll need to obtain your own domain name and quality hosting to gain credibility with your customers and your competitors. You only need to assemble one page per e-book and provide a short blurb outlining what the e-book presents. Also, provide a way for the user to download, or purchase, the e-book as well as a way to contact you.

You've seen the small graphics scattered around the Web that depicts a book or box with the title of the e-book---this is called a "virtual book cover" or a "3D virtual box." Whether you're good with graphics or not, this is a great and simple way to advertise your work. You can view samples at eBook Cover-Art ([http://www.ebook-cover-art.com]) and Free E-Book Covers ([http://freeebookcovers.homestead.com/covers.html]).

- Free E-Book Sites

As we discussed earlier, it's always a good idea to have a free version of your e-book to help promote the for-pay version. One of the best reasons is that many e-book sites that allow free promotion will only promote free e-books. This way, you can promote the free version of your e-book on more sites and have it drive potential customers to your Web site. Some of the more popular free e-book promotion sites are as follows:

* E-Books Rock (http://www.ebooksrock.net)

* Free E-Books (http://www.free-ebooks.net)

* E-Book Directory (http://www.e-bookdirectory.com)

* E-Book 2000 (http://www.ebook2000.com)

* Abika ([http://www.abika.com/books/submitbook.asp])

* E-Book News (http://www.yahoogroups.com/group/EBook_News)

* E-Book Talk (http://www.yahoogroups.com/group/EBook_Talk)

- Review Sites

You can get the greatest amount of publicity by submitting your complete e-book to a review site. The reviewers will read your e-book and generate a public review for posting to their site. In this way, others can read the review and visit your site for a download of your e-book. Some of the more popular review sites are:

* EBooks 'n Bytes ([http://www.ebooksnbytes.com/reviews])

* Midnight Scribe ([http://geocities.com/midnightscribe])

* Reviewers' Int'l Org ([http://www.geocities.com/bookreviewers])

- Press Releases

A press release is another great way to bring notice to your new e-book. One of the more prominent e-book press release distribution systems is eBroadcaster (http://www.ebookbroadcast.com/). The site features press releases related to new ebooks, epublisher announcements, and handheld news. Another site is called PressBlast (http://www.pressblast.com/). If you're not up on writing a press release, it's time to get a handle on it because you'll need it!

- Free Content

Many writers abhor free content as they feel they are "writing for free." Actually, if you target your writing to define and present your knowledge as well as bring in clients, the small amount of time you spend putting together the free content is not wasted. Realize that people want information, and if you give them good information, they'll come back for more. Realize also that you already have a great source of free content right under your nose---your e-book. All you have to do is take excerpts from the various chapters and send them to a few posting sites listed below:

* Article Depot (http://www.yahoogroups.com/group/The-Article-Depot)

* Article Announce (http://www.yahoogroups.com/group/aageneral)

* Free Content (http://www.yahoogroups.com/group/Free-Content)

* Publish In Yours (http://www.yahoogroups.com/group/PublishInYours)

* Idea Marketers (http://www.ideamarketers.com)

* Author Connection (http://www.huginc.com)

Distribution

Once you've packaged the product and you feel that it's ready to go out to the world, there are several things you can do to expedite distribution. First, you can always approach a royalty publisher and let them handle the packaging and distribution for you. This is usually a good path to take, but it can be time consuming as they are back-logged with other e-books.

The other path is to distribute it yourself. There are hundreds of sites available on which you can post your packaged e-book. Users will come to the site and download your e-book then either purchase it or visit your site to see what other products you have available.

- For-Pay E-Book Distribution

One method for distributing an e-book you intend to sell is through one or more of the following Web sites. Some of these sites require that you sign an exclusivity contract which prevents you from selling your e-book elsewhere, so pay attention to what you sign. The vendors will usually provide a merchant mechanism so that they can collect a fee for you and, out of that fee, they take their cut. Also, note that many of these distributors will either take your manuscript as a Word file and convert it themselves or they accept only PDF.

* E-Books 'n Bytes (http://www.ebooksnbytes.com)

* 1st Books ([http://www.1stbooks.com])

* BookLocker (http://www.booklocker.com)

* MightyWords ([http://www.mightywords.com/])

* iBookTime (http://www.ebookshoppe.com)

* EBooks on the Net (http://www.ebooksonthe.net)

* MyPublish ([http://www.mypublish.com])

* Amazon (http://www.amazon.com)

* Borders (http://www.borders.com)

- Free E-Book Distribution

The free distribution sites for free e-books provide the mechanism for distributing your free version of your e-book. They take just about any format that can be read on a computer.

* Free EBooks (http://www.free-ebooks.net)

* E-Books 'n Bytes (http://www.ebooksnbytes.com)

* ZDNet (http://www.zdnet.com)

* Download (http://www.download.com)

* Upload (http://www.upload.com)

* Softseek ([http://www.softseek.com/submit/index.html])

* EBook News (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Ebook_News)

* EBook Talk (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Ebook_Talk)

* EBooks Rock (http://ebooksrock.net/)

* EBook 2000 (http://www.ebook2000.com/)

What's next?

When you write and package an e-book, you must have some sort of plan. Don't just write an e-book and "throw" it out there. What is your objective with the e-book? A good plan involves a targeted marketing approach to creating and distributing the e-book.

Make sure that the product attracts people and that the information is useful. Some publishers tend to sell information that is already free on the Web. Make sure that if you use information from the Web that you're not duplicating---always add value to maintain a professional presentation and a respectable reputation.

Once you finish your masterpiece and implement your marketing plan, you'll be well on your way to being known as an "e-book author."

Edward B. Toupin, Ph.D., is a published author, life-strategy coach, counselor, Reiki Master, and technical writer living in Las Vegas, NV. Edward works with people to help them strive for a richer life. He also authors books, articles, and screenplays on topics ranging from career success through life organization and fulfillment. Check out some of his recent print and electronic books as well as his articles covering various life-changing topics! Contact Edward at etoupin@toupin.com or visit his site at http://www.make-life-great.com.

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A Brief History of the Book

"The free communication of thought and opinion is one of the most precious rights of man; every citizen may therefore speak, write and print freely."

(French National Assembly, 1789)

I. What is a Book?

UNESCO's arbitrary and ungrounded definition of "book" is:

""Non-periodical printed publication of at least 49 pages excluding covers".

But a book, above all else, is a medium. It encapsulates information (of one kind or another) and conveys it across time and space. Moreover, as opposed to common opinion, it is - and has always been - a rigidly formal affair. Even the latest "innovations" are nothing but ancient wine in sparkling new bottles.

Consider the scrolling protocol. Our eyes and brains are limited readers-decoders. There is only that much that the eye can encompass and the brain interpret. Hence the need to segment data into cognitively digestible chunks. There are two forms of scrolling - lateral and vertical. The papyrus, the broadsheet newspaper, and the computer screen are three examples of the vertical scroll - from top to bottom or vice versa. The e-book, the microfilm, the vellum, and the print book are instances of the lateral scroll - from left to right (or from right to left, in the Semitic languages).

In many respects, audio books are much more revolutionary than e-books. They do not employ visual symbols (all other types of books do), or a straightforward scrolling method. E-books, on the other hand, are a throwback to the days of the papyrus. The text cannot be opened at any point in a series of connected pages and the content is carried only on one side of the (electronic) "leaf". Parchment, by comparison, was multi-paged, easily browseable, and printed on both sides of the leaf. It led to a revolution in publishing and to the print book. All these advances are now being reversed by the e-book. Luckily, the e-book retains one innovation of the parchment - the hypertext. Early Jewish and Christian texts (as well as Roman legal scholarship) was written on parchment (and later printed) and included numerous inter-textual links. The Talmud, for example, is made of a main text (the Mishna) which hyperlinks on the same page to numerous interpretations (exegesis) offered by scholars throughout generations of Jewish learning.

Another distinguishing feature of books is portability (or mobility). Books on papyrus, vellum, paper, or PDA - are all transportable. In other words, the replication of the book's message is achieved by passing it along and no loss is incurred thereby (i.e., there is no physical metamorphosis of the message). The book is like a perpetuum mobile. It spreads its content virally by being circulated and is not diminished or altered by it. Physically, it is eroded, of course - but it can be copied faithfully. It is permanent.

Not so the e-book or the CD-ROM. Both are dependent on devices (readers or drives, respectively). Both are technology-specific and format-specific. Changes in technology - both in hardware and in software - are liable to render many e-books unreadable. And portability is hampered by battery life, lighting conditions, or the availability of appropriate infrastructure (e.g., of electricity).

II. The Constant Content Revolution

Every generation applies the same age-old principles to new "content-containers". Every such transmutation yields a great surge in the creation of content and its dissemination. The incunabula (the first printed books) made knowledge accessible (sometimes in the vernacular) to scholars and laymen alike and liberated books from the scriptoria and "libraries" of monasteries. The printing press technology shattered the content monopoly. In 50 years (1450-1500), the number of books in Europe surged from a few thousand to more than 9 million! And, as McLuhan has noted, it shifted the emphasis from the oral mode of content distribution (i.e., "communication") to the visual mode.

E-books are threatening to do the same. "Book ATMs" will provide Print on Demand (POD) services to faraway places. People in remote corners of the earth will be able to select from publishing backlists and front lists comprising millions of titles. Millions of authors are now able to realize their dream to have their work published cheaply and without editorial barriers to entry. The e-book is the Internet's prodigal son. The latter is the ideal distribution channel of the former. The monopoly of the big publishing houses on everything written - from romance to scholarly journals - is a thing of the past. In a way, it is ironic. Publishing, in its earliest forms, was a revolt against the writing (letters) monopoly of the priestly classes. It flourished in non-theocratic societies such as Rome, or China - and languished where religion reigned (such as in Sumeria, Egypt, the Islamic world, and Medieval Europe).

With e-books, content will once more become a collaborative effort, as it has been well into the Middle Ages. Authors and audience used to interact (remember Socrates) to generate knowledge, information, and narratives. Interactive e-books, multimedia, discussion lists, and collective authorship efforts restore this great tradition. Moreover, as in the not so distant past, authors are yet again the publishers and sellers of their work. The distinctions between these functions is very recent. E-books and POD partially help to restore the pre-modern state of affairs. Up until the 20th century, some books first appeared as a series of pamphlets (often published in daily papers or magazines) or were sold by subscription. Serialized e-books resort to these erstwhile marketing ploys. E-books may also help restore the balance between best-sellers and midlist authors and between fiction and textbooks. E-books are best suited to cater to niche markets, hitherto neglected by all major publishers.

III. Literature for the Millions

E-books are the quintessential "literature for the millions". They are cheaper than even paperbacks. John Bell (competing with Dr. Johnson) published "The Poets of Great Britain" in 1777-83. Each of the 109 volumes cost six shillings (compared to the usual guinea or more). The Railway Library of novels (1,300 volumes) costs 1 shilling apiece only eight decades later. The price continued to dive throughout the next century and a half. E-books and POD are likely to do unto paperbacks what these reprints did to originals. Some reprint libraries specialized in public domain works, very much like the bulk of e-book offering nowadays.

The plunge in book prices, the lowering of barriers to entry due to new technologies and plentiful credit, the proliferation of publishers, and the cutthroat competition among booksellers was such that price regulation (cartel) had to be introduced. Net publisher prices, trade discounts, list prices were all anti-competitive inventions of the 19th century, mainly in Europe. They were accompanied by the rise of trade associations, publishers organizations, literary agents, author contracts, royalties agreements, mass marketing, and standardized copyrights.

The sale of print books over the Internet can be conceptualized as the continuation of mail order catalogues by virtual means. But e-books are different. They are detrimental to all these cosy arrangements. Legally, an e-book may not be considered to constitute a "book" at all. Existing contracts between authors and publishers may not cover e-books. The serious price competition they offer to more traditional forms of publishing may end up pushing the whole industry to re-define itself. Rights may have to be re-assigned, revenues re-distributed, contractual relationships re-thought. Moreover, e-books have hitherto been to print books what paperbacks are to hardcovers - re-formatted renditions. But more and more authors are publishing their books primarily or exclusively as e-books. E-books thus threaten hardcovers and paperbacks alike. They are not merely a new format. They are a new mode of publishing.

Every technological innovation was bitterly resisted by Luddite printers and publishers: stereotyping, the iron press, the application of steam power, mechanical typecasting and typesetting, new methods of reproducing illustrations, cloth bindings, machine-made paper, ready-bound books, paperbacks, book clubs, and book tokens. Without exception, they relented and adopted the new technologies to their considerable commercial advantage. It is no surprise, therefore, that publishers were hesitant to adopt the Internet, POD, and e-publishing technologies. The surprise lies in the relative haste with which they came to adopt it, egged on by authors and booksellers.

IV. Intellectual Pirates and Intellectual Property

Despite the technological breakthroughs that coalesced to form the modern printing press - printed books in the 17th and 18th centuries were derided by their contemporaries as inferior to their laboriously hand-made antecedents and to the incunabula. One is reminded of the current complaints about the new media (Internet, e-books), its shoddy workmanship, shabby appearance, and the rampant piracy. The first decades following the invention of the printing press, were, as the Encyclopedia Britannica puts it "a restless, highly competitive free for all ... (with) enormous vitality and variety (often leading to) careless work".

There were egregious acts of piracy - for instance, the illicit copying of the Aldine Latin "pocket books", or the all-pervasive piracy in England in the 17th century (a direct result of over-regulation and coercive copyright monopolies). Shakespeare's work was published by notorious pirates and infringers of emerging intellectual property rights. Later, the American colonies became the world's centre of industrialized and systematic book piracy. Confronted with abundant and cheap pirated foreign books, local authors resorted to freelancing in magazines and lecture tours in a vain effort to make ends meet.

Pirates and unlicenced - and, therefore, subversive - publishers were prosecuted under a variety of monopoly and libel laws (and, later, under national security and obscenity laws). There was little or no difference between royal and "democratic" governments. They all acted ruthlessly to preserve their control of publishing. John Milton wrote his passionate plea against censorship, Areopagitica, in response to the 1643 licencing ordinance passed by Parliament. The revolutionary Copyright Act of 1709 in England established the rights of authors and publishers to reap the commercial fruits of their endeavours exclusively, though only for a prescribed period of time.

V. As Readership Expanded

The battle between industrial-commercial publishers (fortified by ever more potent technologies) and the arts and craftsmanship crowd never ceased and it is raging now as fiercely as ever in numerous discussion lists, fora, tomes, and conferences. William Morris started the "private press" movement in England in the 19th century to counter what he regarded as the callous commercialization of book publishing. When the printing press was invented, it was put to commercial use by private entrepreneurs (traders) of the day. Established "publishers" (monasteries), with a few exceptions (e.g., in Augsburg, Germany and in Subiaco, Italy) shunned it and regarded it as a major threat to culture and civilization. Their attacks on printing read like the litanies against self-publishing or corporate-controlled publishing today.

But, as readership expanded (women and the poor became increasingly literate), market forces reacted. The number of publishers multiplied relentlessly. At the beginning of the 19th century, innovative lithographic and offset processes allowed publishers in the West to add illustrations (at first, black and white and then in color), tables, detailed maps and anatomical charts, and other graphics to their books. Battles fought between publishers-librarians over formats (book sizes) and fonts (Gothic versus Roman) were ultimately decided by consumer preferences. Multimedia was born. The e-book will, probably, undergo a similar transition from being the static digital rendition of a print edition - to being a lively, colorful, interactive and commercially enabled creature.

The commercial lending library and, later, the free library were two additional reactions to increasing demand. As early as the 18th century, publishers and booksellers expressed the fear that libraries will cannibalize their trade. Two centuries of accumulated experience demonstrate that the opposite has happened. Libraries have enhanced book sales and have become a major market in their own right.

VI. The State of Subversion

Publishing has always been a social pursuit and depended heavily on social developments, such as the spread of literacy and the liberation of minorities (especially, of women). As every new format matures, it is subjected to regulation from within and from without. E-books (and, by extension, digital content on the Web) will be no exception. Hence the recurrent and current attempts at regulation.

Every new variant of content packaging was labeled as "dangerous" at its inception. The Church (formerly the largest publisher of bibles and other religious and "earthly" texts and the upholder and protector of reading in the Dark Ages) castigated and censored the printing of "heretical" books (especially the vernacular bibles of the Reformation) and restored the Inquisition for the specific purpose of controlling book publishing. In 1559, it published the Index Librorum Prohibitorum ("Index of Prohibited Books"). A few (mainly Dutch) publishers even went to the stake (a habit worth reviving, some current authors would say...). European rulers issued proclamations against "naughty printed books" (of heresy and sedition). The printing of books was subject to licencing by the Privy Council in England. The very concept of copyright arose out of the forced registration of books in the register of the English Stationer's Company (a royal instrument of influence and intrigue). Such obligatory registration granted the publisher the right to exclusively copy the registered book (often, a class of books) for a number of years - but politically restricted printable content, often by force. Freedom of the press and free speech are still distant dreams in many corners of the earth. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), the V-chip and other privacy invading, dissemination inhibiting, and censorship imposing measures perpetuate a veteran if not so venerable tradition.

VII. The More it Changes

The more it changes, the more it stays the same. If the history of the book teaches us anything it is that there are no limits to the ingenuity with which publishers, authors, and booksellers, re-invent old practices. Technological and marketing innovations are invariably perceived as threats - only to be adopted later as articles of faith. Publishing faces the same issues and challenges it faced five hundred years ago and responds to them in much the same way. Yet, every generation believes its experiences to be unique and unprecedented. It is this denial of the past that casts a shadow over the future. Books have been with us since the dawn of civilization, millennia ago. In many ways, books constitute our civilization. Their traits are its traits: resilience, adaptation, flexibility, self re-invention, wealth, communication. We would do well to accept that our most familiar artifacts - books - will never cease to amaze us.

Sam Vaknin is the author of "Malignant Self Love - Narcissism Revisited" and "After the Rain - How the West Lost the East". He is a columnist in "Central Europe Review", United Press International (UPI) and ebookweb.org and the editor of mental health and Central East Europe categories in The Open Directory, Suite101 and searcheurope.com. Until recently, he served as the Economic Advisor to the Government of Macedonia.

His web site: http://samvak.tripod.com

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Book Publishing on Demand or Publish your Own Book

Whether you book publish your own book, try book publishing on demand, or try traditional publishing, you should look into the details of the deal before you leap.

What's the Best Path to Publish Your Book?

Your print or ebook is soon to be finished. You wonder if you should try to get an agent to represent you to the publisher. Maybe you've already sent out your query letter to some agents. You dream "how great it would be to be taken under a publisher's wings."

What's wrong with this picture? Even if an agent has given you the go and asks for a book proposal that has specific marketing information in (it takes three-seven months to write), you still have to face reality.

FACT: Like Oprah, publishers and agents choose only 1-2% of proposals submitted.

Let's say for now, you are chosen. The point is, are you fortunate to be chosen?

Are you willing to wait on the traditional publishing process 2 years? Are you willing to accept around 2-5% of the profits? Do you realize that after a few months of one initial book tour (of which you must pay all costs from your book sales), you are on your own? And, if you don't put a lot of time into promotion, your book will fade away within 2 months from the brick and mortar book store shelves. All unsold and coffee-stained books left will be returned, and the cost is deducted from the author's royalties. Unless you are a favored celebrity or famous author, publishers put little time or money into your book's promotion. Without that benefit, why go this way?

Get the Right Help the Right Way

Who says you can't publish your own book? It will certainly cost you less than you imagine, under $1000 for a print version and close to nothing for your eBook. Self-publishing will bring you all the profits. It will put you in charge to make suitable and favorable writing, publishing, and promotion decisions.

With a little help from professionals! These entrepreneurial experts such as book coaches, book designers, and eBook specialists can guide you through publishing success. These people may give teleseminars, small group coaching experiences, and other inexpensive ways to learn the ropes. These pros will shorten your learning curve too, so you get the right help right away to write the right book right away.

When you think you still have to promote your books, even with a publisher, why not keep most of the profits and do some of the work yourself? Learn from your bookcoach's experiences, "Do What You Do Best -and Hire the Rest!" (That doesn't mean you can't barter for services). Check out the methods below and see which one suits you best, is more rewarding, and far more profitable.

Why Self-Publishing?

You can self-publish your print or eBook.

In self-publishing, you are the boss. You get to choose the cover, the style, the layout, the message, even the format (eBook or Print Book). Since you are the one enthused about it, you will be able to capitalize and can promote far better than many publishers.

In self-publishing, who do you think can sell your book the best? You, the passionate author in love with his or her book, or the rookie publisher's employee in charge of publicizing your book?

On Demand Book Printing (POD)

1. Hire the Publisher/Printer yourself to just print your book from your word file. POD companies like Deharts.com do short runs from 1 - 2500 books. They will put your files into Portable Document Format (PDF) to sell on your web site or another site you choose to sell your books. A complete explanation of these opportunities are included in the How to Write your eBook or Other Short Book--Fast!

Referred to as POD, many companies who say they are POD Publishers are really printers. With a company like Deharts, you keep all of your book's rights. This method helps you make much more profit from your effort and you will get your book out to the buyers so much faster, making faster profits. The turnaround is around 6-8 weeks ( instead of the traditional publisher's two years) so it pays to plan ahead. A $15 book may cost $4-$5 to print for a small run of around $100 . Your book coach recommends you print only what you can sell in three-four months. These you can sell at the back of the room or on your own web site and make $11 each book. When you order 500 books, the price drastically drops and your profit rises.

2. Hire Full-Service Print on Demand Publisher/Printers who each charge you an up front fee to set up. They too take your word files and put into Portable Document Format.

The upside of this choice? Some will list you with Ingraham, one of the largest book distributors in the U.S., linked to most bookstores. For a fee from $750-$1000, these companies will give you an ISBN number if you plan to sell your book on someone else's web site. They will offer your book at their site among the other 25,000 titles. They may list you in BooksinPrint.com, and some will format your book.

The downside? Check to see if you need these services. You don't need an ISBN # if you sell from your own web site. You probably won't sell your book in a brick and mortar book store. (because it's not where your audience goes for you book's topic-They go online to buy) Think about your book and where your best market is. Opinions from Dan Poynter, John Kremer, and myself say, "Bookstores are a lousy place to sell books." Walk ins are not looking for an unknown author's book.

Be aware these sites list books, but don't promote or market them. They give you a 100 words description. That's usually not enough to show you the reasons to buy this book. Your coach recommends you write a sales letter for your site, and a shorter one for email promotion. If copy on their site doesn't sell your book, you could have taken that money to be listed there to make your own one-page book web site you can get designed by a pro for around $500. Then, you can get targeted free traffic to your web site with advanced article marketing and use social media like facebook and twitter to partner with.

The biggest down of these printers/publishers is you don't have any control over your book. Here, you must buy back each book from the printer/publisher at a wholesale price--almost half of what you will sell it for. So, your profits are limited.

I'm reticent to even send you to POD Publishers, because when your investigate, you find that the author loses and the publisher wins. Ask around of other authors who have gone this route. What kind of money are they making on their book? Has it branded their business to make them known as the savvy expert?

Here's a few. Check the deals to see if you win.
1. http://www.IUniverse.com
2. http://www.infinitypublishing.com

Buyer Beware

Before you buy any marketing packages from these POD businesses, know that they won't promote your book at all.

Consult a book and book marketing coach and learn how you can put together a simple plan and action steps that are mostly free. They brought your coach over $3000 book sales a month for her first year's efforts. After that, in the next many years, much more.

For instance, if you sell online, you'll have hundreds of thousands of eager book buyers ready to buy when you apply the number one, free way to promote your book--submitting articles to high-traffic article directories and blogs like HubPages.com.

Book Publishing Information - On eBooks

If you sell your book as an eBook on your web site or link it to other publishing web sites, you will make 100% of the profit.

FACT: In traditional publishing for print books, you must get a distributor, and a wholesaler to get brick and mortar bookstores to carry your book. The bookstore gets a percentage too. Maybe these costs will add up to 85%! What's left for the author, the one who wants to make a difference in people's lives? The one who put his/her blood, sweat, and tears into the book?

I recommend writing an eBook to test your audience an get the kinks out before a print version.

Is there a drawback to self-publishing?

If you print it, you must pay for the printing yourself, but remember that could be as low as $300 for 50 plus books. Print on Demand short runs from one to 500. Depending on how many that could run from $4-$7or a book you can sell for $20 up.

When you write a book your audience already wants, you can charge a lot more. You'll only have to make a small investment, you won't have a huge inventory, and you can apply your extra cash to book promotion, the most important part of the book's journey.

If you write an eBook, here are some of the benefits...

You make all the money, can make ongoing, passive profits for life, spend much less time writing and promoting, retain total control, share your unique, important message with 1000's daily, brand your business and build your client base and credibility, reach your target audience easily and distribute yourself, spend less money and have more cash flow, finish your book within 30 days, make ongoing, passive profits for life, can update your book when it needs it, become the savvy expert in your field, gain trust, credibility and friends. Did I mention profits? You'll make more than you dreamed of.

Note: Create good will by updating your eBooks each 2 years and give them to customers free.

More benefits: you don't have printing or inventory costs, can use word in 8 ½ by 11 format and PDF, don't have to travel, don't have to tell or sell, don't have to package and mail books. When you distribute and sell online from email or a Web site you'll have no packaging and no mailing. For the reluctant marketer, you won't have to dress for success, give book talks, and give them to audiences who are not pre-sold that your book is just right for them.

What this means is that online promotion is reasonable, fast, and easy.

Promotion is always at least as important, if not more important, than your book. Without marketing, your book will not sell. You won't be known as the "go to" person in your niche. Drawbacks are starting to look like profits and a low cost investment for you. With certain POD printers, you can keep control and distribute the books as you print them. Now, you won't have hundreds or thousands of unsold books in your garage gathering dust. And eBooks? Even simpler.

Many people feel it's a drawback to have to market and promote their books. Yet, you can learn skills such as the sixty second "tell and sell," the promotional article or power press release, and the sales letter for your Web site from an already successful author-coach. Some publicists charge a lot of money and tend to overdo the media kit, (media editors and reporters usually throw everything away except the news release).

You need to learn how to talk about your book in a few sentences, a few paragraphs, and a longer sales letter. You need someone who has authored and sold many books, one with long-term copy writing experience. But even if you spend $700 for coaching, editing and printing, you'll still be able to realize a larger profit than the traditional route.

You the author need to decide what publishing path is best for you. Be sure to make it the most profitable!

Judy Cullins is a full-service, veteran book coach who is an advocate for her business clients.To get her popular free eBook "20 High-Octane Tips for Writing and Marketing your Book" http://www.bookcoaching.com/help-writing-a-book.php

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E-BOOK EARNER

Create your own on-line business selling e-books

CLICK HERE to download a FREE e-book explaining how

Death is nothing at all

Death is nothing at all
I have only slipped away into the next room
I am I and you are you
Whatever we were to each other
That we are still
Call me by my old familiar name
Speak to me in the easy way you always used
Put no difference into your tone
Wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow
Laugh as we always laughed
At the little jokes we always enjoyed together
Play, smile, think of me, pray for me
Let my name be ever the household word that it always was
Let it be spoken without effort
Without the ghost of a shadow in it
Life means all that it ever meant
It is the same as it ever was
There is absolute unbroken continuity
What is death but a negligible accident?
Why should I be out of mind
Because I am out of sight?
I am waiting for you for an interval
Somewhere very near
Just around the corner
All is well.
Nothing is past; nothing is lost
One brief moment and all will be as it was before
How we shall laugh at the trouble of parting when we meet again!




Death is nothing at all

Canon Henry Scott-Holland

1910