Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Digital Publishing for Authors Workshop was a hit!

On Saturday, Jeff Moriarty and I talked for 8 hours. No, you're not surprised. But this time, it wasn't just to see which one of us got tired first.

That day marked the first of many workshops, classes and educational experience for a brand new company we started, ePublish Unum. The intent? To educate independent authors about the world of digital publishing. And by all accounts -- half the post-class surveys are in -- it was a smashing success. If you were one of our attendees, much thanks for coming out. We really enjoyed presenting to you.

I'm not going to wax poetically on the event here. I'm going to let Ruth and Dan do that, as they both have great posts on what the class meant to them. And no, we didn't ask them to say nice things about us, either!

If you missed it, fear not. We have many more planned. Yes, more full-day workshops like this one. Even some multi-day conferences. And a slew of smaller, much more highly targeted opportunities as well. And that's just the in-person stuff! We're scheming on a virtual options for those of you who don't live in the greater Phoenix area. Stay tuned for more.

Finally, a huge THANK YOU goes out to my lovely wife, Sheila Dee, and Jeff's lovely wife, Dannie Moriarty. Not only are they tireless (oh, but I can only be they get tired) supporters of the two of us, but they also quite literally built the workbook we used during the class. And it got rave reviews! Thank you, ladies. We could not have done this with out you.

Monday, July 25, 2011

Workshop Announcement: Platform Building Tools and Techniques for Authors in a Digital World

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="240" caption="bleachers full of Lego folks by Scorpions and Centaurs"][/caption]

Tomorrow, I'm teaching another workshop about digital publishing. Specifically, I'll be guiding a small class through a sort of aptitude test, helping them find their strengths and showing them how they line up with various promotional efforts. Yes, that sounds very amorphous, but it's based on solid business acumen I learned from Barbara Weaver Smith. She's the founder of The Whale Hunters, an internationally respected sales training organization. No, I have no interest in making authors into salespeople. That's someone else's job. But her lessons on key account planning inspired my workshop on helping authors choose the right "platform" with which to reach their audience. I call it Platform Building Tools and Techniques for Authors in a Digital World.


It's generally accepted that authors today must have a "platform" to help them build, communicate to and connect with their audience. It is through this platform that audience members make their decisions to buy one or more books (or other products) from an author. This platform isn't a technological build -- it's the new name for an activated and motivated audience.


There are many ways authors can build a platform. Some do it by blogging. Some do it by podcasting. Others with an active social media presence, and many prefer to "press the flesh" in person. I've identified 24different ways in which authors can build a platform. And that's just getting started. Some work better than others, but don't rush to jump on the one that is the most successful. You're missing an important part of the equation: you.


Your ability to build and leverage the "platform" matters. Complexity for you personally must be a consideration, as is your own aptitude.  Without the skills and understanding necessary to implement, even the most successful technique will fall flat. So rather than expending resources on something that doesn't work for you, this workshop helps you pick something you can do that will work for you. Once you've taken care of that, then you can start acquiring the skills to take on the rest of the techniques.
That's what I'm teaching tomorrow at Changing Hands bookstore in Tempe from 6:30p - 8:30p. I know this is rather short notice, but there's only limited room, and I don't want to overload them. When I taught this class two months ago it was full without me mentioning anything. Give them a call at 480-730-0205 and see if there are spots still available. I'd love to see you there!



Thursday, July 7, 2011

Being an indie author means more than just writing

I know things have been rather quiet over here. That's largely been the aftermath of launching a new venture in digital publishing with Jeff Moriarty called ePublish Unum. It combines our knack for training, education & presenting with our fascination of the changes in digital publishing. No, we won't edit your soon-to-be-penned blockbuster, but we will teach you how to go about finding someone who will. It's still in the infant stages, but is shaping up nicely.
Writer Wordart by secretagent007 on Flickr
Writer Wordart by secretagent007 on Flickr

Today as I was doing my morning reading, I came across an article written by Bob Mayer as he attended Thrillerfest, a big-deal writers conference / writing workshop event in NYC no one bothered to invite me to. Bob is a NY Times Best-Selling multi-published author and has his own publishing venture called Who Dares Wins. In that post, he was waxing poetically on the subject of being an indie writer these days. I'll dissect a key paragraph in his post:
Those who are finding success with it are finding they can’t keep it up on their own.

Here, "those who" refers to authors and the first "it" is a stand-in for publishing without the support of a publisher, big or small. I think I'll chose to read this sentence as simply "Guess what? Being a successful indie author is harder than some thought it would be." Granted. Let's move on.
Even outsourcing a lot of the work on one-time fees doesn’t really work because writing and publishing is an ongoing and evolving thing to be a career author now and make a living at it. Sure you can pay someone to do cover art, editing, formatting and uploading, but that’s only the foundation of the business.

I had to re-read that a couple of times to unpack it.1 Again I'll give Bob the benefit of the doubt and assume he's saying "Sure, you can outsource some of the things that a publisher typically does, but there's more to publishing than finding a good editor and cover artist. To have a career, you have to keep up with the changes and adapt to the industry." Granted again.

But here's where it goes off the rails for me.
Doing promoting, marketing, trying new things, foreign rights, audio, etc. etc. while still doing the most essential thing which is producing more books is almost impossible for an individual to accomplish alone.

This is a typical example of old thinking from back when publishers actually did things like promoting, marketing and trying new things. I'm sure that Bob received support like this from his publisher during his career. That's the only logical reason he assumes publishers do this for every author. They don't. While publishers may spend some energy today on their tried-and-true authors, they generally expect new and unproven authors to do the lion's share of marketing and promoting. And new things? Please. There are few industries more risk-averse than publishing.

Authors in the world of digital publishing today must do all of those things, and they are all essential. The good news is that the tools to do all of those things (with the possible exception of foreign rights, which is quickly becoming a moot point) are becoming more and more accessible to indie authors every day. Publishers won't. Authors now can. And must. And are.
... Some of the authors who have indie success are now banding either with agents, publishers or other entities to take the heavy lifting on with those things so the writers can focus on the writing. That’s simply a reality.

Yes, many collectives are forming. And it's working well. Some publishers are even responding to pressure. But the days of old where an author can simply "focus on the writing" and leave everything else to someone else are long gone. For the new author, at least. Writers must understand all aspects of the publishing world. They don't get to sit in the corner and write, feeding pages to someone else to sprinkle with magic dust so other people feel compelled to trade them for money.

You, the indie author need to recognize the new reality. Don't want to do all this? Well.. tough shit. You have to. Deal.

1. Not a slight on Bob's writing, as this is a blog post written, as I said, at a conference. I tend to spend much of my down-time at cons in the hotel bar in "business meetings", which is why you don't see much from me when I'm on-site.
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Monday, April 18, 2011

Soon ebook pricing will cease to be relevant

There has been more than a little freaking out buzz regarding ebook pricing. Specifically, this freaking out buzz is bi-directional. One side features authors and/or publishers pissed at morons who have lowered the value of ebooks by pricing them as low as $.99. The other side features consumers pissed at moronic authors/publishers who price ebooks higher than their dead-tree versions.


[caption id="" align="alignright" width="240" caption="Image by evo_terra via Flickr"]Five O'Clock Shadow 50[/caption]


So who's right, and who's wrong?

Neither.

Welcome to the world where no one controls the price. No one. Not the author. Not the publisher. And not even the customer. That world is just around the corner, where a complex algorithm figures out the right price point for the book (e, audio, enhanced, print, holographic, etc.). And that price point will be different tomorrow. Hell, it might be different five minutes from now. It's demand-side pricing, and it's dynamic. And doable. And it's coming.

So keep buzzing freaking out if that is important to you. Venting is good for the soul. But ultimately futile.

Because number of books sold takes a back seat to number of dollars earned in a post-scarcity world. Would you rather sell 10,000 books and make on average two dollars profit, or 100,000 books and make thirty-cents each on average? Do the math. I'll wait.

The good news is that you won't have to figure it out. Someone will come along and create the Google Adwords analog that works for book pricing. Its job will be to maximize the bottom line. For the author. For the publisher. For everyone.

I, for one, welcome our algorithmic overlords.
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Friday, April 1, 2011

Self-publishing and big-publishing work together for one author

I'm a big fan of authors who work their way around the system. Take my friend and New York Times Best Selling novelist Scott Sigler. Even though he landed a sweet 3-book deal with a major publishing house a few years back, he didn't sit back and start smoking expensive cigars. Nor did he assume that the big publisher would be his meal ticket forever.

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="150" caption="It started with THE ROOKIE"][/caption]

Instead, he started working in parallel. Sure, three books were snatched up, but Scott has lots of books. And many of them just weren't of interest to his big publisher. That's not too surprising, since one of his series of books looks at professional football 700 years in the future. You know, when aliens play along side humans. Really, really big humans.

Again, it's kinda hard to fault the publisher too much for passing on that. I mean, what sort of road has been paved in that world? Will scifi geeks be able to handle the sports-talk? Will sports nuts be able to handle the scifi? And how can they get kids interested, when fans of either side at that age don't mingle all that much? So... they passed.

But Scott didn't give a shit. He already had tens of thousands -- no, I'm not exaggerating -- of fans already hooked on the first book, THE ROOKIE, released as a serialized free audio book. Many of them wanted to hold a copy in their hands, or to share it with a younger member of their family who more a reader of books than a listener.

So he did it. Though an ingenious system of pre-ordering, a dedicated team of pros to help him crank out a top notch product, and the business acumen to make it all happen, he launched his own publishing company and started cranking out limited edition hardcover books. And it's worked out. Big time.

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="150" caption="... and then there was THE STARTER"][/caption]

Is he selling NYT-best-selling numbers of these self-published books? No, no he's not. But he doesn't have to. When he sells 5,000 limited edition hard cover for a premium price, he gets a premium amount of profit. Way better than typical royalty rates. And this isn't some cheap, run-of-the-mill POD pulp. This is serious quality that you can stack against any new release hardcover in the bookstore. It smells like quality.

Today, he's starting pre-order for his third book in the series, THE ALL-PRO. Order your copy here and use the discount code EVO to save a little cash. Even with the discount, it's not the cheapest book you'll ever buy. Nor is it intended to  be. But it is intended to get you thinking about ways you could work outside the system, and start making the math work better for you, too.

Way to go, Scott. Keep cranking out great titles (I think I own them all, and I know I've listened to them all) and I'll keep buying them. So will others. Oh, and when you get my pre-order notice for THE ALL-PRO, write something inspiring about me, OK? Thanks, buddy!


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Sunday, March 20, 2011

7 tips for authors attending SXSW 2012

My badge from SXSW 2011I recently returned from SXSW Interactive, the giant geek-fest that happens in Austin, Texas every year. For my money, it's the place to be to see what is happening in the interactive space. And I think that many authors could benefit from attending next year.

But let's be clear: SXSW isn't a publishing conference. It's not a convention. So if you're not writing books about interactive or digital things, you may wonder why I recommend you go.

Here's the reason: the world is changing faster than you imagine. This conference exists on the bleeding edge. Go, and you stand a much greater chance of not being left behind. Go to forward your knowledge and expertise in the interactive world. That needs to be your goal.

Often times authors have their own ideas on how to maximize their benefit of attending conferences and conventions. Remember when I said this was neither? Pack away your assumptions, authors. I'll give you 7 tips on how authors should approach and engage at SXSW 2012.

  1. Leave your books at home. You aren't here to sell. You're here to listen and learn. So don't schlep. Don't pack that extra bag full of books. Forget burning CD-Rs. Skip the thumb drives. This isn't where you will sell books. Unless you're fortunate enough to land one of the coveted speaking spots. In that case, the on-location bookstore will probably carry your titles. If you are lucky enough to find someone in the industry or with something that looks promising, you still shouldn't sell. Instead, take this as an opportunity to tell them about you - specifically - and find out how they can help you. If they can't, be nice about it and bring up your concerns. If what they offer is not for you, that's OK. Keep their product or service  in mind and maybe you can share with someone else.

  2. Stay close to the hotel. That means booking your hotel early. Things will change for you so fast, it's nice to be within a short walking distance to the convention center.

  3. Watch the gadgets. Loads of new stuff get launched at SXSW. Most of it won't be of interest to you as an author. But some certainly will. Pay attention to anything that lets readers interact with books, stories, and authors. Think about how you can capitalize on those.

  4. Go to publishing panels/keynotes. Even though this isn't a conference about publishing, plenty of the people in attendance and speaking are in the industry. They know their audience lives on the bleeding edge, so they'll craft their talks accordingly. Go. Listen. Learn.

  5. Don't be an author. You're going to meet a lot of people. And most of them are going to ask you what you do. When asked, say you're in publishing or interested in changes to publishing. Resist the temptation to claim to be an author. Not because it's something to be ashamed of, but so you don't have to carry out the typical "oh, and what is your book about?" conversation. Remember -- you're not selling here. You're learning.

  6. Plan ahead. Then abandon your plan. SXSW puts out a series of tools -- official and less-so -- to help plan out your activities while in Austin. They're great, but of-the-moment things happen. Don't be a slave to your schedule. I attended about half the panels I was planning. Every time I skipped one, I got substantial value out of that which caused me to skip. Let SXSW happen to you, too.

  7. Open your mind. Digital is more than ebooks and .mp3 files. This field is always in flux. You will never have your arms around it. All you can do is toss in a grappling hook and try to hang on.


Been to SXSW before? Please share your tips for authors in the comments below. See you in Austin in 2012! Book it now...


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Friday, March 4, 2011

When is your next book coming out?



[caption id="" align="alignright" width="160" caption="Image by niznoz via Flickr"]duly ignored[/caption]


The world is full of wannabe would-be authors. Encouragement is nearly everywhere, with an entire month dedicated to showing people that they can, in fact, write a book.

Big deal.

If you want to impress me, tell me about your next book. Because if your first book is your only book, your next step towards becoming a real author is clear: write another one1.

Here are four truths you probably don't want to hear:

  1. Statistically speaking, your first and only book won't impress an agent.

  2. Statistically speaking, your first and only book will never get picked up by a big publishing house2.

  3. Statistically speaking, your first and only book won't sell more than a handful of copies.

  4. Statistically speaking, your first book is the worst book you'll ever write.


So keep going. Take that next step. Write the next book. Develop new characters. Tackle a different problem. Illustrate a new path. Explore a different genre... a new perspective.

The most successful authors are always working on their next book3. So why aren't you?

1 - This isn't an endorsement of ignoring editing, cover design, interior layout and everything else that went along with that first book. If you're going to try and sell that first book, you have to do those steps. I'm just trying to convince you to not sweat the sales just yet. Keep writing.

2 - Yes, I recognize that there's more to success than getting an agent or a big house. Much more, in fact. But it's still a goal for the majority of authors I meet, right or wrong. Wrong, mostly.

3 - I use "book" in the most subjective way here. Substitute "project" and the same holds true for all sorts of new opportunities beyond the typical page.
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