Category: product development

Test your book with experts after you’ve finished the first draft

Your book has been written, you have given it a no-nonsense proofing, and it’s just about ready to go to your paid (final) proofreader so it will be properly and correctly written before you submit it for printing. Letting others read your book at this stage is controversial, but probably wise if it’s your first [...]

Saturday November 23rd, 2013 in 1 Shopping Cart, articles, Blurb, digital publishing, e-publishing, editing, fiction, iPad, Kindle, Lightning Source, LSI, Lulu, newsletter writing, niche publishing, Nook, novel writing, open publishing, product development, proofreading, publishing, self-publishing, small publishers, Smashwords, webmarketing, writing | Comments Off

Do you need or want artwork or illustrations in your book?

Artwork is a general term that includes the whole range of illustrations, like photos, line drawing, images, graphs, charts, diagrams—those things you add to make the text more interesting, less dull, or more clearly understood. Or to add beauty or visual clarification to the pages. There’s an issue with some forms of open publishing and [...]

Wednesday November 6th, 2013 in articles, Blurb, digital publishing, e-publishing, editing, fiction, iPad, Kindle, Lightning Source, LSI, Lulu, niche publishing, Nook, open publishing, product development, publishing, Smashwords, travel writing, webmarketing, writing | Comments Off

7 solutions for submission snarls for ebooks and CreateSpace

For the past couple of years I’ve been trying to eliminate all the expenses one encounters when compiling and publishing an “open” book. Those are the books that CreateSpace, Nook, Kindle, Smashwords, and Scribd will accept from you, prepare, and market. Their part is free ($25 or so for CreateSpace). As I’ve found free-arounds I [...]

Monday October 28th, 2013 in 1 Shopping Cart, articles, Blurb, digital publishing, e-publishing, editing, fiction, iPad, Kindle, Lightning Source, LSI, Lulu, niche publishing, Nook, open publishing, product development, publishing, self-publishing, small publishers, Smashwords, webmarketing, writing | Comments Off

When should I quit editing and send my book to press?

That’s the question that a consulting client, now many months later, just asked. You might have the same question, and while my reply isn’t much of a surprise, here it is, after 46 published books. (Alas, my earliest books I almost tinkered to death!) “That’s a tough question. There will always be new news that [...]

Thursday October 17th, 2013 in articles, Blurb, digital publishing, e-publishing, editing, fiction, iPad, Kindle, Lightning Source, LSI, Lulu, niche publishing, Nook, novel writing, open publishing, product development, publishing, self-publishing, small publishers, Smashwords, writing | Comments Off

Eight ways you can correct book errors in print!

We’ve just published a book (The Art of School Boarding) that probably reached the printer (McNaughton-Gunn) yesterday. I’ll double check tomorrow to be sure the text we sent and the artwork (from Pakistan) are there. It used to be that once a book reached the paper or hard back printer (here, to Saline, Michigan, from [...]

Monday September 23rd, 2013 in ancillary publishing, articles, Blurb, digital publishing, e-publishing, editing, fiction, iPad, Kindle, Lightning Source, LSI, Lulu, newsletter writing, niche publishing, Nook, open publishing, product development, publishing, self-publishing, small publishers, Smashwords, webmarketing, writing | Comments Off

“Treasure Hunt Clues” free book reminder 8/23-5

If you are at all interested, from Friday through Sunday, Aug. 23-25, 100 Ready-to-Use Treasure Hunt Clues will be downloaded free from Amazon.com. These are a follow-up to my Treasure and Scavenger Hunts: How to Plan, Create, and Give Them book (in the third edition) that was very popular a few years back. Since folks [...]

Wednesday August 21st, 2013 in articles, digital publishing, e-publishing, Kindle, open publishing, product development, scavenger hunt, treasure hunt | 1 Comment »

Give your book order, an angle, and a table of contents

Since you’ve got the core of your book ready in rough form, with its structure written on an envelope that keeps disappearing, you’ve actually interviewed a couple of people (sort of) who in fact knew something, and you know why you’re writing it and how it will end, it’s time to sort all of that [...]

Tuesday August 13th, 2013 in articles, Blurb, digital publishing, e-publishing, editing, fiction, iPad, Kindle, Lightning Source, LSI, Lulu, niche publishing, Nook, novel writing, open publishing, product development, prostate cancer, publishing, scavenger hunt, self-publishing, small publishers, Smashwords, treasure hunt, webmarketing, writing | Comments Off

What should the insides of your book look like?

Since you’ll start thinking about the inside layout and format as you are writing the book, take a quick look at my blog from a few weeks back, Don’t write dumb; read five more books very similar to yours first. You’ll see that what you want in your book is hiding inside the five or [...]

Friday August 2nd, 2013 in articles, Blurb, digital publishing, e-publishing, editing, fiction, iPad, Kindle, Lightning Source, LSI, Lulu, niche publishing, Nook, open publishing, product development, prostate cancer, publishing, self-publishing, small publishers, Smashwords, webmarketing | Comments Off

Your book’s back cover must be created early and properly

Back covers used to be almost the first place book buyers would look to see what was inside the book they had in hand, in a bookstore, at a convention stall, in the library, or from a colleague’s bookshelf. Was it worth flipping through the book’s pages? What could you get out of it? Would [...]

Monday July 29th, 2013 in articles, Blurb, digital publishing, e-publishing, Lightning Source, LSI, Lulu, niche publishing, product development, publishing, self-publishing, small publishers, webmarketing | Comments Off

Our “best practices” for general market book publishing in mid-2013

Isn’t the idea to get your book out right now so the words are available for immediate purchase by others? Your PDF ebook downloads first, the Kindle-Nook kind of reader ebooks can see light in minutes once their submission is completed. And your core printed paperback, plus CreateSpace’s version, are a week or two behind. [...]

Thursday July 25th, 2013 in articles, Blurb, digital publishing, e-publishing, fiction, iPad, Kindle, Lightning Source, LSI, Lulu, niche publishing, Nook, novel writing, open publishing, pre-testing, product development, publishing, self-publishing, small publishers, Smashwords, treasure hunt, webmarketing, writing | Comments Off