Kindle Noise... You Still Need Professionals

The noise in the ebook market has gotten so loud it's hard to hear yourself think. It's not so easy to generate a viable income. So how do you do it?

HIRE PROFESSIONALS-People do judge a book by the cover, especially ebooks!
Get a proper book cover done.
Get it edited by a professional
Have it laid out for print by a professional too (because print and ebook covers different markets), especially if you are a non-fiction writer. If you are a fiction writer and this is your first book, then go straight ebook... but don't skip the other steps.

MARKET, MARKET, MARKET-that's all there is too it... become your own advocate and never stop
Before you publish a book you need to start marketing. You should be on Facebook and Twitter, have a webpage and an idea of what your longer term plan is for an author brand (that's you) and platform (that's your body of works). Sounds easy, but it's a full time job if you want to earn a living as a publishing author.

MY EBOOK BUYING RULES
I have several ebook readers - I use them to test files mostly. I am old-school and don't particularly like the ebook reading experience...(I'm always terrified I'll drop the darn thing in the bathtub, even though I've never dropped a real book in!) I miss the feel of a paper book when I'm reading on the devices. But I do download content all the time. After a while I had to develop a list of "ebook reading rules" because I kept downloading stuff that turned out to be, quite frankly, crap. So I made my rules up to guide my purchasing habits:

• Book must have a professional cover, with a professional sounding "about this book" - complete with punctuation and proper styling
• Book needs to be published by a viable publishing company - that means if it says Smashwords, I don't buy your book. If there is something that looks interesting, I look the publisher up, so they should have a website
• Ebook needs to cost less that the print book, since my first love is paper books, and if it costs less to buy a paper book, well, I'll go buy a paper book (and get a latte at the same time!)
• Book should have a balance of reviews - I don't care if they are all good, I like to have an idea of how the book speaks to people
• Must cost less than $15
• Short stories should be indicated as such. I feel quite ripped off if I think I'm ordering a novel and get a short story - I don't mind paying for shorts, I just like to know what I'm getting
• There should be something about the package that entices me to share my hard earned money (and I do work very hard for what little I have!)
• The book must look and feel like a proper book

So those are my basic buying rules. I'd be curious to know what your rules are, if you have any?

Free Resources for Self-publishers

There are many free resources available that can help you with the burden of book production, promotion and selling. Most independent publishers are already aware of these sites and services, but if you’re just starting out, this list might come in handy.

1. Dan Poynter’s ParaPublising. Poynter is often referred to as the guru of self-publishing and he has been in the business for decades. His site offers articles, a free newsletter and PDF downloads that will explain many of the technical and promotional aspects of book publishing to the novice. Several of the PDF information packets are free.
http://www.parapublishing.com/sites/para/information/index.cfm

2. If you are creating your own book cover, you can make your barcode for free here:
http://www.tux.org/~milgram/bookland/
Just plug in your ISBN and follow the instructions. We’ve tested this service repeatedly and feel confident recommending it to others.

3. Books usually have subject headings on the back cover that help bookstores shelve them appropriately. To find the right subject heading for your book visit,
http://www.bisg.org/bisac/subjectcodes/index.html

4. For information on a variety of topics concerning small publishers, download a free copy of the PDF eZine, K is for Black, at http://www.bookcoverexpress.com/ (The download is on the upper right corner).

5. Need some old photos for your book? Check out http://www.flickr.com/photos/smithsonian/sets/ The Smithsonian has put hundreds of its images online and their usage agreement seems favorable for publishers.

6. NASA also has a great collection of images and most (not all, so read the conditions carefully) are free to use. http://www.nasaimages.org/ Some of these are the same space images you’ll find selling for hundreds of dollars on stock art sites.

7. Muddy River Media, http://www.muddyrivermedia.org/ offers a large collection of images, videos and other materials for non-profit, Christian projects.

8. There are a number of companies that will send out a press release for you, for free. If that’s something you’re interested in, check out http://www.i-newswire.com/submit.php

9. Need to receive faxes? We’ve been using eFax for many years (the free version) and love it. Faxes come right to your eMail. The free service (not to be confused with the free 30-day trial) does not allow you to send faxes, and you have to take any number they assign to you. http://www.efax.com/efax-free

10. Having trouble moving large files for book covers and interiors? We recommend You Send It. You can send files up to 100 MB in size, for free. https://www.yousendit.com/cms/liteaccount

Information provided by Cathi Stevenson, www.bookcoverexpress.com