Tag Archives: self-publishing

July 2, 2013 · 6:54 pm

Copyright – Do I or Don’t I?

I received the online proof for my book today so I thought now would be a good time to get my copyright. I strongly urge all the authors I work with to copyright their work. Technically, when you put an original thought down on paper, you own it. But what if someone steals something you did? You have nothing to back it up – which is exactly why it needs to be documented beforehand. The copyright document will hold up in court if it ever came to that.

It is a good idea to get a new copyright every time you make significant changes or maybe a second edition. You can get a copyright at anytime and it is fairly easy so there really is no excuse. Of course, if you change a typo or two – it may not be necessary then. It costs $35 every time you do it online. It is more costly and very slow to mail it in.

I went to http://www.copyright.gov and did it in about 30 min. Granted, I tend to graze pages quickly and only read a portion of what I am supposed too. I guess that is what comes from living in such a fast paced society these days. With that said, you will notice that it is a govt website because it is boring, not very advanced and not pretty at all. I went through a series of pages where I seemed to enter the same thing over and over. Maybe I’m an internet snob but I like auto fills and big ‘click here’ buttons. They did have a nice (very long) pdf tutorial on every step which I have available here: eco-tutorial

Once I went through the process of all the info, I had to pay the $35. Once I paid the money, they had me upload the files. I uploaded and expected a ‘yay congrats on uploading the files’ but nothing. So I waited and then went and watched an episode of Mad Men and then came back and had an email that they had uploaded. The email just said thank you for submitting – w/o any timeline as to when I will receive the certificate in the mail. I will be sure and keep everyone posted on that. If you have not already copyrighted your work – go and do it now. I will wait…….….no, j/k – but seriously go and do it asap!

Now, for a Library of Congress #. Can someone tell me why I would want to do this? It seems very old school to get an LOC. Maybe it is just for the recognition or status perhaps? Any help would be awesome. I will be looking into this as well but interested to know what you all think.

Check out my previous blogs on prelaunch marketing and cover/manuscript setup. If you are not following, just click the follow button on the right hand side to be emailed when new blogs are posted. My next ones will be a biggie on social media, yikes.

As always, I appreciate any comments, suggestions or feedback. If you have a blog topic you want me to cover – send it over.

…and in case I don’t see ya, good afternoon, good evening, and good night.

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June 28, 2013 · 5:10 pm

ISBN# and Barcodes – Never pay for a barcode again!

I guess I have to blog about boring stuff like ISBN#’s and Barcodes too. They are not nearly as fun to talk about as cover design and marketing – but I got to do it. Most people will need to buy an ISBN # for their book. I say ‘most’ because I have seen people who only want to print 25 books for a family reunion or something and I don’t think it is necessary in that situation. Some people may disagree. If you want to sell your book in a retail setting, you definitely need an ISBN. Most places will not accept your book w/o one and it will look unprofessional.

Bowker is the US ISBN agency. They are the source for ISBNs. You can purchase the # at www.bowker.com. Just go to Products and Services/Identifier Services/ISBN. You can buy one for $125 or a lot of 10 for $250. If you do more books, it makes sense to invest in the 10. It is super important to have a different number for each format too. So if you have an eBook, a printed soft cover and a hard cover – that would require 3 ISBNs.

An ISBN is a 10 and 13 digit number for your unique book. The reason it is so important is because this is how your book is cataloged in the thousands and thousands of books out there. Once you purchase the ISBN#, you will need to register it correctly. When Mira Publishing provides ISBNs to authors, we have asked for a form like this (ISBN Registration Form) to be filled out. The registration is essential because it places you properly in www.booksinprint.com. This is a database of all books – where libraries, publishers, bookstores, etc will go to search the marketplace for titles. You want to make sure you are on there and that your book is registered properly. Be sure to register each # for each format – eBook and print. You will also need an ISBN for other products such as audio books, DVD, CD, etc.

Bowker seems to have jumped on this author services bandwagon like every other Joe on the street. I noticed a service for submitting your manuscript to publishers for $99. I have seen services like this numerous times and I think they are bogus. I don’t have the money (like most new authors) to try every single one of these services from various publishers/printers so I guess you have to decide if it is worth it yourself. If you find one that works, definitely let me know! In my opinion, once they have your money they don’t give a crap. You have to consider the return on your investment too. ROI is a real thing and now that your book is your business, then you have to consider – If you spend $400 on some product to get exposure or whatever then how many books do you have to sell to break even at best? After printing cost, editing, and the service fee – maybe you have to sell 150 books. Well, that doesn’t sound very appealing to me. We will talk more about this with marketing blogs but cannot stress enough good old fashioned grass roots.

Anyway, so on to barcodes. The barcode is generated from your ISBN#. When you have your book in a store, they will scan this barcode and it will keep track of inventory and sales. You can also put a price in the barcode if you wish – some people leave price blank if they are unsure. The barcode needs placed on your back cover. The proper size of a barcode at 100% is 1.469” wide x 1.02” high. This can fluctuate a little smaller or larger if needed. The proper placement of the barcode would be 3/8” from the bottom and 3/8” from the spine. This is recommended but not mandatory. In the self publishing world – I have seen barcodes all over the place and every size. Being a self-publisher, you can really do whatever you want with your book. If you want to appear more professional though, I say stick to what is recommended.

Barcodes usually cost about $25. This is my gift to you for reading this whole boring blog on ISBN#’s and barcodes. Never pay for a barcode again! Here is a super easy link to get a barcode yourself online: http://bookcovers.creativindie.com/free-online-isbn-barcode-generator/. All you do is put your ISBN# in and a price (if desired) and BAM – you got yourself a barcode. They will ask if you want a pdf or an .eps file. You can send this barcode file directly to your printer and they can place on book cover – usually for no charge. Be sure to scan and test barcode before printing!

Check out my previous blogs on cover and manuscript setup. If you are not following, just click the follow button on the right hand side to be emailed when new blogs are posted. My next ones will be about social media and getting your copyright.

As always, I appreciate any comments, suggestions or feedback. If you have a blog topic you want me to cover – send it over.

…and in case I don’t see ya, good afternoon, good evening, and good night.

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June 25, 2013 · 3:56 pm

Prelaunch Marketing – great idea!

The point of my blog is to note my progress and what I know and have researched about self-publishing. I don’t want this to become just facts and information that I get from other books or online. I really intend to keep this on a personal level – and keep in mind that this is what I am doing. Others have probably done different, better or worse. Just sayin’.

So now what am I doing? Well, I am really focusing on the pre-launch stuff. There seems to be so much to do and every time you talk to someone, you get another idea and add it to your list. I have attached my ‘to-do’ list so far. Just click here: To Do What I have highlighted, is already done. The list grows everyday and by the time I post this again, it will be twice as long – guaranteed. I will be the first to admit, this isn’t a very good system but at least it is a system. You need something to keep you focused and moving forward. I promise to develop a checkpoint of some kind for my authors so you feel like you have a handle on things.

My pre-launch consists of first – creating a website and blog. You have to direct people somewhere once you get their attention so a website has to be first. I went to wordpress because Mira (my work) had used it and I felt a bit more comfortable. There are other options for blogs and free sites (godaddy, blogspot, etc). I will actually be blogging about setting up a blog. LOL. Definitely start with what is free. You can get to all that fancy stuff later once you have made a few bucks.

Social Media – Wow. I have 2 small kids, a full time job and now this book. Who has time for this social media stuff? I am lucky to flip through facebook at 9pm for 10 minutes before I fall asleep. Anyway, this is the most challenging for me, by far. I have done the following (and will get more in depth with social media once I figure them all out) – Linkedin, facebook, twitter, reddit, tumbler and digg. I know nothing about reddit, tumbler and digg. Luckily, my brother is one of those guys that read a lot of articles about anything and everything so he is a pro with this site. I handed this job over to him so let’s see how it goes. I know that on my blog I instantly saw about 9 hits come through reddit. He also said that people see things on this site way before facebook and other sources. The point of this rant was – don’t be afraid to ask for help!

I have also done the layout on postcards and business cards. They need to look similar to your book cover – same colors, fonts etc. This is what building your brand is all about. You have started a business now with your book, so treat it like one. You should always keep business cards and postcards on hand. Leave them anywhere you can w/o being too obnoxious. Don’t be afraid to spread the word. There will always be opposition to your success. Most great people faced this when they started. Ignore the haters and move on.
This is getting long so I will end on that note.

There are many other things to do pre-launch and that is all based around the genre and nature of your book. Be sure to check out my previous manuscript and cover blogs – just look to your right under ‘recent posts’. My next few blogs will be on ISBN, barcodes, LOC and copyright. Be sure and hit the little follow button on the top left of your screen.

As always, I appreciate any comments, suggestions or feedback. If you have a blog topic you want me to cover – send it over.

…and in case I don’t see ya, good afternoon, good evening, and good night.

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June 22, 2013 · 12:51 am

Will people judge my book by the cover?

Hell yes they will!   I hate to say it, but we all do it.  Every day we see things and immediately know if it is pleasing or makes us feel good, bad, ugly…whatever.  You don’t want to brush over the cover design and if you have someone helping or doing the cover for you – be sure to communicate as much as possible with them.

I did a lot of thinking first with my cover.  That sounds kind of silly but I just thought about what kind of elements I want on the cover.  Do I want an image? What kind of image?  Random person? Typical sky or book scene?  What colors or fonts do I want?  Hmmm…there is infinite options which is kind of scary.  I looked on my bookshelves and searched through similar books on Amazon and just did some good old fashioned brainstorming. I often refer people to www.istockphoto.com and have them put some key words relating to their book in the search box.  You can get some great ideas doing that too.

I have a background in design so I did the layout myself.  I graduated from Art School in 2002 so this was right before more fancy programs came out like Adobe InDesign.  I just used Illustrator – probably about 4 versions old – but it got the job done.  If at all possible, DO NOT use Word to layout the cover and definitely do not use clip art.  If you learn anything from my blog, let that be it!

First things first – what is the right trim size (height and width of finished book)?  Well, most books are perfect bound so they will require a spine.  The spine is that little piece connecting the front and back.  This is what people will see when the book is sitting on a shelf.  The spine size is figured with number of pages and type of paper.  Click here for a spine width calc: http://dev.mirasmart.com/spinecalc/.  You also want to add bleed to the cover as well when doing the layout.  Most printers will require 1/8″ of bleed.  What is bleed you say?  It is extending the cover outside of the trim mark so the images or color goes to the edge of the page.  My book size if 5.5 x 8.5 so my cover layout will be:

.125 (bleed) + 5.5 (back) + .10 (spine) + 5.5 (front) + .125(bleed) = 11.35″ wide

.125 (bleed) + 8.5 (height) + .125 (bleed) = 8.75″ high

It is a good idea to set guides where the bleed is and where the spine is.  That way you know the exact space you are working within with placing images/text on the front or back cover.  This is pretty confusing for most people – especially if they are unfamiliar with design layout.  So I hope this shed some light.

RESOLUTION!  You know when you are looking at an image and you can see a bunch of dots – that means the resolution of that image sucked.  NEVER pull an image off of the web.  A) you do not own it and can get in big trouble.  Imagine becoming a super famous author and someone coming back to sue you for some little image?  B) the resolution of images on the web are 72 dpi normally.  This is so they can load quickly on your computer.  They are not for printing.   It is ideal to have an image at 300 dpi to scale.  So for instance, if you take a picture with your camera and put it on your computer – you want to keep it at that size or maybe just a little larger.  If you go and blow it up to a poster size, all those pixels or bits of color get stretched out and now the picture isn’t crisp and clear, it is fuzzy and sucky.  I could talk all day about resolution but I think you get the point.

FONTS – stick to what you have on the interior.   Like I said with the manuscript blog – too many fonts, too confusing.  That is all I have to say about that.

Speaking of manuscript blog – be sure and look to your right under ‘recent posts’.   Check out the last couple if you haven’t already.

As always, I appreciate any comments, suggestions or feedback. If you have a blog topic you want me to cover – send it over.  

…in case I don’t see ya, good afternoon, good evening, and good night.

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June 17, 2013 · 12:55 am

Manuscript

I will be the first one to admit that I should of created a blog the minute I had the idea.   That way I could record all the brainstorming and back and forth that I have done – and there has been a lot.  I have already done a bit of work with the book so I am going to backtrack a bit.  As previously noted, I am not a writer or an editor – you have been warned!

So my book is about marketing tips from authors (hence real answers from real authors).  I have collected what I feel is the best 60 tips to compile into one manuscript.  The very first thing you want to do is size your word document to the intended trim size of the book.  Trim size = height and width of finished book.  If you don’t have any idea, first Google most common trim sizes.  Or you can go to your bookshelf with a ruler.  Either way, you should come up with your answer.

So in word, go to page setup/paper/size and there you can put in the height and width and adjust margins.  Margins are good at about .5-.75″.  Okay so after that little step, I start to copy and paste each tip onto its own page (don’t worry – each author will get credit for their tip).  Since my page is already sized to my trim size, I know exactly the space I need to work within.

One thing you don’t want to do in word is be space bar happy.  This can screw with a lot of things – especially if you have someone helping you with formatting or editing.  I would suggest a simple tab if needed.

FONTS.  So many fonts, so little time.  What I did is take a paragraph, copy and paste multiple times into one separate document and then start changing each paragraph to a different font.  Always, always pick a serif font for easy reading.  Serif fonts have the little tails.  This is why everyone and their dog likes Times New Roman – although there are others out there that bear just as much as TNR but are a bit of the underdog in the font world.  I like Garamond and Palatino personally.  Anyway, sans serif fonts are good for titles because they are straight and more bold – this is more like Arial or Century Gothic.  So pick a font that gives you the warm and fuzzies and move on.  2 fonts total, 3 tops.  You don’t want to get font crazy – it’s confusing.

Font size – every font is a bit different in size even at the same point size.  I don’t know why everything has to be so complicated, but you will need to play with that too.  10-12pt is good.  14pt maybe for our older folk.

One thing that is a real PITA with word is adding page numbers to a document.  This I had to look up.  Instead of me re-typing all of this, here is a nice link: http://www.mirasmart.com/printing/publishing/how-to/how-to-insert-page-numbers-in-microsoft-word/

I realize that this blog is getting long so I will end on that note.  Will have more coming on manuscript and next up…cover design.

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June 15, 2013 · 1:25 am

Jumping In

Today I realize how important it is to involve other authors in the beginning stages of my self-publishing journey.  I was going to only blog about my book and how to market my book but I thought – that would be silly.  Why not start at the VERY beginning.  That way you all can see the trials and tribulations I encounter with preparing the manuscript, doing my cover, copyright, LOC, uploading to POD, printing, distribution, eBooks….the list goes on and on.  Boy it is overwhelming.  I find myself constantly thinking about everything I need to do and the order I need to do them.

The first thing to think about obviously is what are you going to write about and who is going to want to read it?  Well, I was a little lucky because my audience was right in front of my face the whole time.  I went out and asked all my authors what their best piece of advice or selling tip would be for a new author.  I received a great response from my authors and they were so supportive.  So I poured over many of these responses and picked 60 for the first volume.  The next blog will be about putting together my manuscript and dealing with Microsoft Word…Ugh.

 

 

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