Self Published Author | Category

Survey Says!

by Laura Dawson
Bowker | Wed Apr 9, 2014

DCL & Bowker are interested in your digital publishing plans for 2014! As the demand increases for materials of all types to be available on mobile devices, publishers and authors are challenged with providing a quality eBook experience while managing costs and standards.

We'd be delighted if you'd answer the survey we've created, just to explore what we might be able to do for you. Enter to win a $100 American Express Gift Card!

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Audiobooks - An Amazing Untapped Market for Self Published Authors

by Arthur Q. Gutch
Bowker | Fri Apr 4, 2014

First there was hardcover, then there was paperback, and now there are eBooks. Books are always evolving for the needs and desires of the readers. Along the way, somewhere on the side, the concept of audiobooks continued to grow. First on cassette tape, then CDs, they now exist in a digital form for audio only MP3 players and computers of all shapes and sizes.

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Audiobooks

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New YouTube Channel for Self Published Authors

by Laura Dawson
Bowker | Thu Apr 3, 2014

Piers Blofeld, a literary agent with Sheil Land Associates, has launched a new YouTube channel to help writers understand the publishing business. On the BookMachine website, he states:

I’m hopeful it is something people will find useful and it rather amazes me how little there is out there that is like this – it surprises me that more of my colleagues haven’t done something similar. But that’s a good thing. This is a great opportunity to reach large numbers of people and my hope is that by doing so I will be able to help writers navigate the sometimes trick waters of their writing careers.

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MFA, NYC, and the Book Editor

by Laura Dawson
Bowker | Mon Mar 31, 2014

Maxwell Perkins, editor of Fitzgerald and Hemingway

The New Yorker today has a great post by Barry Harbaugh about the role of the book editor in book culture.

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When negotiating a large book sale, focus on what the buyer wants to accomplish

by Brian Jud
Bowker | Thu Mar 27, 2014

Corporate buyers want to solve their problems, not yours. As a consultant, your job is to show them how they can use your content to improve their circumstances in some way. For a marketing director this could be increased sales, revenue or profits. An HR manager may seek a better trained, informed or motivated workforce. Focus on minimizing their troubles as a means to solving your own.

How can you discover their problems? Ask questions about their objectives. What do they want to accomplish with a promotional campaign? What went right (or wrong) with their previous promotional campaigns? One question that can elicit that information is, “If you could wave your magic wand, how would you describe the ultimate sales promotion?”

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Top 5 Tips to Starting a Writing Group

by Chris Robley
Bowker | Thu Mar 20, 2014

Running your own informal writing workshop can be a difficult but rewarding experience. It ain’t easy to get a group of people together who are promising writers AND critical readers, who are honest but nurturing in their feedback, who are committed to meeting frequently, and who don’t smell like cheap wine all the time.

But think of the American expats meeting at 27 Rue de Fleurus. Think of the Inklings congregating in the corner of some Oxford Pub. You could be the founder of a similar literary club that makes history! And even if you don’t make history, you’ll be making each other better writers. And THAT would seem to be the true measure of its success.

5 tips to starting a successful writing group:

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4 tips to help you take criticism like an adult

by Chris Robley
Bowker | Wed Mar 19, 2014

I’m flawed. You’re flawed. We’re all flawed.

You know the feeling; someone critiques your writing, and you flash them the evil eyes while thinking, “You complete moron! You’ve missed the point of my piece entirely, and of course you did– you’re an idiot and I hate everything you’ve written anyways, so what do you know?”

Hmmm. Maybe they have a point?”

The other day I posted a link to an article from the Poetry Foundation about the worth of MFA programs. While I’ve never been “officially” enrolled in any creative writing program, I did take three MFA workshop classes in poetry as a post baccalaureate at Portland’s lovely State University when my schedule (and $$!!!) allowed.

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writing

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How to Get Your Book in Brick-and-Mortar Stores

by Steve Elizalde
Bowker | Thu Mar 13, 2014

As distribution manager for Greenleaf Book Group, one of the questions I’m asked most frequently by authors is “How do I get my book in Barnes & Noble or my local grocery store or even my favorite indie bookstore”? It seems like there would be a simple answer, but there are many industry challenges to navigate before a book finds its way onto the shelves of a brick-and-mortar store and I’ll shed some light on those challenges today.

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Vook Releases Free Daily Sales Tracking for Any Author, Any Book, and All Major Retailers

by Laura Dawson
Bowker | Tue Mar 4, 2014

Leading ebook technology company Vook today launched Author Control, a daily market intelligence dashboard that allows authors to track the sales and unit downloads of their books in Amazon, Amazon KDP, iBooks, Barnes & Noble, Nook Press, Kobo Writing Life, CreateSpace, Smashwords, Google, and Samsung, and display their results in a secure, easy-to-use online and mobile-accessible dashboard. Learn more about the new service at http://vook.com.

“Author Control is the next step in our vision to empower authors with the best digital publishing services and the right data,” said Matthew Cavnar, co-founder of Vook. “For the first time, authors can get the complete picture of their sales across the major retail channels in one dashboard, helping them take control of their publishing initiatives.”

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Who Is Your Customer?

by Brian Jud
Bowker | Fri Feb 28, 2014

Who is your customer? Are you sure?

Your first response is probably, “That is a pretty silly question.” Of course, your customer is the person who buys your books. But if you interpret the question differently, your answer could have significant impact on your business future, since it determines your business model and where you will invest your resources.

In a retail setting, your customer could be the retailer who ordered your book to place on the shelf. And, it could be the distributor from which the retailer ordered your book. In non-retail segments people buy books not for resale, but to use as tools to sell more of their products, motivate their employees, generate more members for their association or educate their students. Couldn’t they all be considered customers?

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