Publishing Archives - Page 9 of 11

5 December, 2012

It’s the End of the Publishing World as We Know It (and I Feel Fine)

By Sam Henrie|2023-06-09T11:34:51-07:00December 5, 2012|News, Publishing|Comments Off on It’s the End of the Publishing World as We Know It (and I Feel Fine)

I’m sure most of you are aware of the popular theory that the ancient Mayan calendar predicts the world will end on December 21 of this year—yes, that all life on earth may be extinct shortly.

I’ll make a bold prediction: the Mayans got it wrong . . . or people are misinterpreting their calendar!

I will tell you what is going the way of the dodo, however: big traditional publishing houses. (Could the Mayan calendar be predicting their demise?)

In October, Penguin and Random House announced that they will merge, bringing the number of large global publishing houses from six to five. Give it a couple more years and that number will likely drop even lower as a result of further mergers and acquisitions.

What does this have to do with authors? Nothing if you’ve self-published your book or plan to do so. But if you’re holding out for a call from that […]

13 November, 2012

3 ways to identify your audience before you publish a book

By Grael Norton|2023-06-09T11:36:09-07:00November 13, 2012|Marketing, Publishing, Resources|Comments Off on 3 ways to identify your audience before you publish a book

The first thing you must know before you decide how to publish your book is the age of your target audience.

If your audience is below 18 or over 50, paperback or hardback is still a more viable option.

An article from the 2012 Pew Internet & American Life Project stated that “those who read e-books are more likely to be under age 50, have some college education, and live in households earning more than $50,000.”

Does that fit your target market? Although it is certainly cheaper and faster to go digital, if that’s not where your market is you won’t make many sales.

Children’s books, especially picture books or read-a-loud books, are best in a print format.

While more and more readers are turning to digital readers it may not necessarily be where your audience is. So even though print book sales dropped by more than 9 percent in 2011 and […]

9 November, 2012

Getting your book in the Library of Congress

By Support@wheatmark.com|2023-06-09T11:36:20-07:00November 9, 2012|Publishing, Resources|Comments Off on Getting your book in the Library of Congress

There’s some confusion as to what role the Library of Congress (LOC) plays for a properly published book. This is because the LOC not only provides cataloging information for most published books, but also houses the US Copyright Office, which has nothing do to with cataloging. Let me briefly elaborate on a couple of different reasons your book and the Library of Congress may cross paths.

Wheatmark sends one copy of your book to the LOC upon publication for cataloging purposes. We do this to fulfill an obligation we incur every time we request a Library of Congress Control Number (LCCN) prior to the book’s publication.

Why do we put an LCCN in your book?

Local librarians want to be able to shelve a new book correctly as soon as they receive it. They don’t have the time to catalog books upon receipt, so they turn to the Library of Congress for […]

31 May, 2012

A Game Changer

By Sam Henrie|2023-06-09T11:36:38-07:00May 31, 2012|Marketing, Publishing, Resources|Comments Off on A Game Changer

Ninety-nine degrees is the average high temp in June here in beautiful Tucson, Arizona. As you might imagine, we Tucsonans do just about anything we can to stay indoors during this time. So, while most of the country is outdoors hiking, picnicking, camping, and playing softball … we’re indoors reading books, watching movies, playing volleyball and, yes, bowling. How appropriate then that our current bestselling book is The Game Changer: A Simple System for Improving Your Bowling Scores by Mark Baker. Published in early April, The Game Changer sold over two thousand copies by the end of that month, qualifying it for our Great Expectations program, where we financially reward the author by issuing a credit. In Mark’s case that’s $2,000. At the rate the book is selling it will soon cross the five thousand-copies-sold mark and qualify its author for an additional $5,000 Great Expectations credit. (At Wheatmark […]

16 April, 2012

Give Away My Book for Free?

By Sam Henrie|2023-06-09T11:37:05-07:00April 16, 2012|Authors Academy, Marketing, Publishing|Comments Off on Give Away My Book for Free?

It’s one of the most common misconceptions in marketing: that a marketing tactic is the same as a marketing strategy.

Not understanding the difference between the two leads to a whole lot of pain and frustration for many authors as well as entrepreneurs, speakers, and other professionals who use the written word to grow their businesses.

The blueprint for your book’s marketing strategy is your book’s marketing plan.

This is the single most important piece of marketing collateral for your book you will create – besides the actual book itself!

Join us on Friday, May 11 as marketing plan expert Echo Surina walks us through “How to Create a Strategic Marketing Plan for Your Book.”

During this LIVE online presentation, you’ll learn the secrets to:

Creating your big picture
Applying SWOT analysis to your project
Identifying your target audience
Crafting your key messages
Selecting your outreach methods
Evaluating your […]

6 March, 2012

Do You Know Why People Buy Your Books?

By Sam Henrie|2023-06-09T11:37:12-07:00March 6, 2012|Marketing, Publishing, Resources|Comments Off on Do You Know Why People Buy Your Books?

Do you know why people buy your books? It seems like a question that any author should be able to answer in their sleep. Unfortunately many authors and book marketers (one and the same in my view) don’t know the real answer to this question at all. Most authors can tell you in exacting detail what their books have to offer readers, but often don’t have the first clue what actually motivates purchases of their books.

Take sports books, for example. My friend Rich Wolfe, the number-one selling sports book author over the last decade, once told me that that the majority of his books were purchased by women, even though the majority of rabid sports fans are men.

Counterintutive, huh?

It turns out that most sports books are purchased as gifts (by women) for the rabid sports fans in their lives (usually men). Think about just a few of the implications of […]

31 January, 2012

Why You Don’t Want to Delay Your Ebook Any Longer

By Support@wheatmark.com|2023-06-09T11:37:25-07:00January 31, 2012|Publishing, Resources|Comments Off on Why You Don’t Want to Delay Your Ebook Any Longer

You may remember that a little over three years ago we asked you if now you thought ebooks were going to make a difference to you as an author. That is the time when Amazon released its Kindle reader.

I know what your answer is now. But back then, we had spent the previous decade waiting for ebooks to come of age, to no avail. There were multiple formats and substandard readers that few people wanted. The early Kindle could have seemed to some as simply the latest untested entrant into an otherwise failing e-reader market.

There were early signs, however, that an e-reader like the Kindle would actually stick. You see, the biggest obstacle ebooks had faced prior to this was the inability for people to download them to their readers without having to hook them up to a computer first.

That all changed in late 2007 when Amazon introduced the […]

2 March, 2011

Using Your Book to Position Yourself as an Expert

By Sam Henrie|2023-06-09T11:37:49-07:00March 2, 2011|Marketing, Publishing, Resources|Comments Off on Using Your Book to Position Yourself as an Expert

You’re an entrepreneur or business professional, and you recently published your first book.

As you make a business offer to one of your qualified prospects, how do you make it stand out from all of the competing offers your prospect may be getting from your competitors? How do you make your prospect feel safe selecting yours? The answer to both questions is by positioning yourself as the expert. Buyers want to buy from experts. Buyers feel safe buying from experts.

You need to prove your expertise to truly position yourself as an expert. Proof of expertise includes academic degrees, client testimonials, books, keynote addresses, articles, white papers, speaking gigs, etc. Experienced marketers will tell you that of all these different kinds of proof, a book by far is the best. It’s the ultimate showcase for your expertise, because it demonstrates both your comprehensive knowledge of, and your dedication to, your subject.

Bernie Borges […]

13 February, 2011

An Amazing Resource: Workflowy

By Support@wheatmark.com|2023-06-09T12:03:02-07:00February 13, 2011|Marketing, Publishing, Resources, Social Media, Writing|Comments Off on An Amazing Resource: Workflowy

I make a lot of lists and, frankly, they have gotten out of hand lately. Grocery list in the pocket. To-do list for home improvement at home in a drawer. To-do list for the Wheatmark website on my work computer. A list of books I want to read on my home computer (but I’ve forgotten which folder). A list of topics to be discussed in our next Authors Academy event … in a Word file somewhere. A list of things I want to accomplish this year … well, that list is in the back of my brain, waiting to be typed up.

A few weeks ago I realized I couldn’t keep all of my lists straight and said, “Enough!” That’s when someone introduced me to Workflowy.

It changed my life. My list-making life, that is.

Workflowy is a free online application that lets you turn your whole life into one giant list. Instead […]

27 February, 2010

The Published Author Lifestyle

By Support@wheatmark.com|2023-06-09T11:38:20-07:00February 27, 2010|Publishing, Resources|Comments Off on The Published Author Lifestyle

You wrote a book. You followed the steps:

You had it professionally edited
You had it professionally designed
You made sure it was distributed with full returnability to sites like Amazon.com and Barnesandnoble.com
You even did a book signing at a local indie bookstore just for fun
You created a website and blog for the book

But the sales are just not rolling in. At least not at the level you had expected. What went wrong?

One possibility is that you haven’t transitioned your lifestyle to that of a published author. You are most likely still in “writer” mode.

When people ask you about your experience and hobbies (say at a church potluck), do you still self-consciously say, “Well, um, I actually recently wrote a book,” or do you smile, rummage in your pocket for a business card, and say, “I published my second book last month! Check out my website and read […]