Posts tagged: editing

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Great way to find your Smashwords earnings!

I’m a publisher with a stable of six gifted authors, so knowing how many books each of them have sold at any particular time is a pesky problem. Especially if they want to know their Smashwords sales, where we had to wade through a mind-boggling list to make even an approximate tally. Until now it […]

Thursday January 29th, 2015 in , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off

Profits from reprints, rewrites, and reprints of rewrites

As long as you have written a fetching article that an editor wants readers to read on his/her pages, why not sell the same blend as reprints, then mix the same magical facts, quotes, and anecdotes into a rewrite or two with different slants? You could even sell some reprints of the rewrites later on! […]

Wednesday January 21st, 2015 in , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off

Want to read all your favorite blogger said about “X” topic?

Rarely, but always surprisingly, a reader of my blog asks me how they can read everything I’ve shared about a particular topic. (I bite my tongue not to ask, “Really? Why?”) Yet rather than grill them why, or suggest that they have far too much loose time on their hands, this is what I do, […]

Thursday January 15th, 2015 in , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off

How to make editors vomit…

I’ll tell you how in a second. A more important question is, “If you’re trying to put your kids through college by churning out magazine articles, and hoping to sell a couple of reprints from every original piece that you got in print, why in the world would you even put “editor” and “vomit” in […]

Monday December 22nd, 2014 in , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off

How to gracefully accept and pre-answer a complaint

Whether you’re a school principal, publisher, engineer, or whatever, have you ever been swept off your feet by some windbag (sometimes well-meaning) bellowing one or many complaints at you? And then had to think up some positive (and intelligent) response, right on the spot, to at least level the one-person-shouting field so their problem could […]

Wednesday December 17th, 2014 in , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off

Find a new, streamlined website domain among 600 choices!

Trying to find a grabber website domain ending in “.com” that contains less than an arm’s length of letters is a near-fruitless treasure hunt. You probably can’t use “.org” and will anybody come if it ends in “.net”? The hunt is over. Last February, the ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers), an international […]

Saturday November 29th, 2014 in , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off

Where self-publishing and ebooks stand in late 2014

(1) “Ebooks have grown exponentially and reached a healthy balance by 11/14,” says Mark Coker, head of Smashwords in a no-nonsense delivery at BAIPA (Bay Area Independent Publishers Assn) on Nov. 8. Here is a much-abbreviated summary of Mark’s very enjoyable 10-point presentation. When Mark began Smashwords, about it 8 years ago, ebooks accounted for […]

Wednesday November 19th, 2014 in , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off

The new Nook Press isn’t an “open” publisher

Nook Press just announced its new paperback and hardback print service. Its features look similar to those of “open” publishers, like Create Space, Kindle, Smashwords, and others (including Nook ebooks). But here you simply build your book, prep the files, and upload the print-ready PDFs for the interior and cover. They print the book and […]

Wednesday November 12th, 2014 in , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off

14 key ebook publishing tips

Mark Coker started Smashwords when a quarter of 1% of U.S. books sold were ebooks. Now it’s 35% of the total, and he’s a top spokesman in the field. Last year Smashwords authors sold ebooks worth $30-million at retail. Last Saturday (11/8/14) Coker spoke to BAIPA (Bay Area Independent Publisher Association) in Novato, CA (near […]

Tuesday November 11th, 2014 in , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off

Niche books are very profitable. How are their authors chosen?

I publish to niche markets, in my case to K-12 school administrators. All of those who write books for my firm must have a specific field of expertise of interest (and meet needs of) K-12 school administrators. Two examples, our two latest books, are The Art of School Boarding: What Every School Board Member Needs […]

Friday October 10th, 2014 in , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off