Home

Search form

  • Home
  • Getting Started
  • Inside Publishing
    • Editing
    • Design & Production
    • Marketing & Publicity
    • Rights
    • Distribution
  • FAQs

The POD Process Explained in 8 Simple Steps

by Julie-Ann Harper
Bowker | Tue Nov 20, 2018

Many authors and self-publishers would have come across the term ‘print on demand (POD)’ during the course of publishing, but there may be some confusion around what the term means exactly. How does POD work? How does it differ from other kinds of publishing or printing? And most importantly, should you do it? Self-publishing expert and founder of Pick-a-WooWoo Publishing Group, Julie-Ann Harper, gives us a breakdown of the terms used, the processes involved and the benefits of POD.

What is print on demand?

Inside Publishing
Design & Production
  • Read more about The POD Process Explained in 8 Simple Steps

7 Tips for Great Book Covers

by Ebony McKenna
Bowker | Tue Nov 13, 2018

As much as we try to rise above it all and not be judgmental, we really do judge books by their covers. With thousands of English-language books published every month, competition is fierce — your book needs an amazing cover to compete for readers’ money and time.

Here are some tips for finding a great designer so that your cover can outshine (or out-gloss or out-matte) the competition.

Inside Publishing
Design & Production
  • Read more about 7 Tips for Great Book Covers

To Print or Not to Print… Paperback, Hardcover, eBook?

by Cheryl Russo
Bowker | Tue Jun 5, 2018

You’ve written your book, you have your ISBN and barcode, but who will print your book?

Many Bowker customers ask us…do you print books? Do you know of a printer that I can contact? Since we service all the US, that would be a large list to keep and quite a job to maintain. So, I thought I would list a few things to aid our self-publishers with this process.

Before looking for a printer make a list of your specifications:

What type of book is it?  
Paperback, hardcover, maybe just a spiral bound. Will it have a dust jacket? How many pages are there? How many copies do you want to print? Will this be printed traditionally or digitally? This will get you started, and then you can search for a printer that can accommodate you.

Inside Publishing
Design & Production
Distribution
  • Read more about To Print or Not to Print… Paperback, Hardcover, eBook?

Put Off Your Procrastination

by Brian Jud
Bowker | Wed Jun 21, 2017

Have you ever thought, “There are so many things to do to market my book, and I’m not sure where to start or when to do them?” If so, you may be so overwhelmed that you don’t do anything. 

You can avoid this analysis paralysis and keep yourself moving productively toward the attainment of your goals. Creating a business plan is the best way to begin. But this can be a daunting task, one easy to put off. That can perpetuate one’s sense of futility and actually encourage procrastination.

Instead, try this simple technique. Make a list of all the things you have to do, organized in categories of similar actions, put a deadline on each, and start doing them one at a time. Use your pub date as the ending point, then work back to the present day. Here is a list of some actions to take – by no means exhaustive -- organized into five phases, and the approximate time it should be started so you reach your pub date, ready to sell. 

Inside Publishing
Design & Production
Marketing & Publicity
Distribution
  • Read more about Put Off Your Procrastination

Planning an Audio Book? Consider these 3 Things!

Penny C. Sansevieri's picture
by Penny C. Sansevieri
Bowker | Tue May 30, 2017

EBooks are everywhere these days. In fact, they’re so prevalent, it’s often easy to forget the “other” way to read books – by listening to them. Audio book lovers are passionate about their books. When you talk with them, you’ll probably hear that most can’t recall the last time they actually read a book word for word. In fact, some people listen to as many as five audio books each month – this is particularly common in people who spend long periods of time on the road, like over-the-road truck drivers. And you’ll also find that audio book lovers have a wide variety of tastes, listening to anything from world history to self-help and fiction.

Inside Publishing
Design & Production
Rights
Distribution
  • Read more about Planning an Audio Book? Consider these 3 Things!

The Results Are In: Quality Is King

by Mark Gross
Bowker | Thu Jan 5, 2017

The results are in. We have finalized the results of our DCL/Bowker survey, and interestingly enough, the submitted answers point to worries over quality and consistency when content goes from print to digital.

This year was our third joint survey with Bowker, and together we probed digital publishers and self-publishing authors to find trend lines across a wide swath of important topics.

As with our 2015 survey, a topic that continued to stir interest was quality, with more than 56 percent of respondents saying it was a major concern. Other concerns were “retaining formatting” (55 percent) and “errors caused by automated conversion” (46 percent).

Inside Publishing
Design & Production
  • Read more about The Results Are In: Quality Is King

How to Think About Content Differently and Reach New Audiences through eBooks

by Devorah Ashlem
Bowker | Tue Nov 17, 2015

When you write a book, you want to get it into as many hands as possible. Technological innovations make it possible to reach more than just hands by enabling you to produce audible books and accessible, portable content for a variety of mobile devices. More than ever, readers demand a high-quality user experience with content, and, through social networking vehicles, they have more ways to complain or share with others when it doesn’t go so well.

In a 2015 survey covering trends in digital publishing, conducted by Bowker and Data Conversion Laboratory (DCL), 72% of respondents indicated that they currently publish digital content and 79% plan to in the future. Whether you author non-fiction, fiction or technical material, you can leverage opportunities to distribute digital books via your own website, Amazon, Apple, and other ebook distributor sites.

Inside Publishing
Writing
Design & Production
Distribution
  • Read more about How to Think About Content Differently and Reach New Audiences through eBooks

Recognizing and Overcoming Limitations with Automated Conversions to eBook Formats

by Devorah Ashlem
Bowker | Tue Oct 20, 2015

You’ve probably encountered a less-than-desirable content experience on a mobile device, like not being able to “pinch” the screen to zoom in and out, or rotating a device and not getting the content to follow suit. You were left with a less than positive impression of that content (and its author), because you couldn’t consume it your way. Time to think about what you can do to avoid giving your readers a less than optimal impression of your work.

Inside Publishing
Design & Production
  • Read more about Recognizing and Overcoming Limitations with Automated Conversions to eBook Formats

Preparing Your Books for the Digital Marketplace – Clean Up Your Content and Understand the Tools

by Devorah Ashlem
Bowker | Tue Sep 22, 2015

You’ve done it—you’ve written a book. Chances are that you understand the process for getting the book to readers to enjoy in a print version, but then you’re met with questions such as, “When will this be available for my Kindle, iPad, or smart phone?”

If the world of publishing content for mobile audiences is new to you, you need to consider a few things before starting the process. If you’re self-publishing, you assume all of the cost and effort, and need to know what challenges exist to get your book findable and readable to meet varying audience requests (and sometimes, demands). If you choose to work with a publisher, you need to meet a high standard of quality with the delivery of your book to all formats. Let’s take a look at some of the common considerations you’ll need to make when you transform your books into mobile-ready content.

What kind of book did you write?

Inside Publishing
Design & Production
Distribution
  • Read more about Preparing Your Books for the Digital Marketplace – Clean Up Your Content and Understand the Tools

Book aggregators and distributors: A short primer

by Carla King
Bowker | Wed Aug 27, 2014

The purpose of this post is to define the terms aggregation and distribution and to introduce you to the tools and services I recommend so that you set out on the right publishing path.

Indie authors can upload ebooks to each online ebook retailer directly, but we might instead choose to distribute them using an ebook aggregator like Smashwords, IngramSpark, Vook or BookBaby. Likewise, we can upload our print book to Amazon via CreateSpace directly but distribute to other online print book retailers and brick-and-mortar bookstores via a distribution service like IngramSpark.

Yeah boy, that is a lot of geeky publishing terms! So let’s wind it down and go through it in slo mo… 

Inside Publishing
Design & Production
Distribution
  • Read more about Book aggregators and distributors: A short primer

Pages

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • next ›
  • last »

© 2021 R.R. Bowker LLC. All rights reserved.
Contact Us | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use |