How to Publish a Book: Changing Again

How to publish a book may finally be changing for the better. If you've been following my blog, or any publishing info at all for the last year or two, you know the publishing world is changing in twists and turns that most would not have thought of even 10 years ago probably. Some of it has helped but there's lots more to do in many people's opinion including mine. True, all of the upheavel remains exciting and somewhat daunting for authors and publishers alike, the thing is thing aren't going to settle down nicely any time soon.

One new project that will undoubtedly cause both encouragement and consternation is coming from Seth Godin, who is known for thinking ahead as well as doing something to fix the stuff that's broken. He has written several books and some have been published traditionally. Now he's going to try something else, a more direct to market approach. If it works, and I know it will to at least an extent, it will allow authors to get messages out in a more timely fashion and eliminate some of the nonsense that the traditional firms still hold to like returns and the ridiculously long time to actually produce a book.

If write non-fiction especially, I advise you to follow along. You can read the intro details to The Domino Project here and then follow along by subscribing or liking the page on FB.

As an author, why should you pay attention? Because the days of handing over a book to a publisher and then sitting down to write the next one while "they" do the rest are over. OVER. You are now a big part of "they" and you need to do your absolute best to play your part on the team.

Good Writing & God Bless,
Cheryl Pickett

Have You Been Thinking About It?

Have you been thinking about hiring me as your publishing coach? For those of you who may not know, one of my areas of expertise is helping authors solidify their publishing plans. Do you understand your options? Do you need some direction in choosing a good path? I can help with all of that. In addition, I do developmental editing as an extra pair of eyes for your non-fiction manuscript, helping to make sure your work is clear, flows well and really speaks to the audience you're trying to reach. Note: I only edit Non-fiction, but coaching is open to most any genre (exceptions are anything considered "adult" or excessively violent).

I truly enjoy doing both of these things and please know that I consider it such an honor to be a part of someone's publishing journey.

Have you been thinking about it? There's no time like the present! It's time to get on the right path and whip that manuscript in tip top shape.

One more thing, my business model is going to be changing over the next few months. It's highly likely that I will not offer the exact same services as I grow and look to serve you in new and exciting ways. If you want one of the basically ala carte' style services I offer now, don't hesitate too long.

Ready to go? Contact me via the Publishing Answers.com contact page and let's get things rolling!


Good Writing & God Bless,
Cheryl Pickett

A Million Titles Published

According to RR Bowker, the company that compiles and tracks publishing stats, more than one million authors saw their books published in 2009. Though some might be updates of established titles or reprints of titles in public domain, most of the titles are new. Besides that, at least half of those titles were produced by small or micro-publishers (like me) who utilize POD technology.

Think about that for just a minute. If someone wants to buy a new, current book, there are a million titles to pick from. Then there's the hundreds of thousands from 2008, 2007 etc. etc. Then there are the classics that have been on the shelf for decades. Even for the most avid reader and book lover, choosing could become a daunting task.

What does that mean for you the author or author to-be? Whether you are published traditionally, via a "self-publishing/POD" company or independently, if you want to sell books you need to understand you are one voice among thousands.

If you're writing just to write or for friends/family, not a problem. But, if you wish to sell books, to get anyone's attention at all, you and your work must stand out in a big way. "Publish it and they will come" could not be further from the truth for the vast majority of writers and books. There's a lot more to it these days.

Not trying to scare you or discourage you from trying to get a book out. On the contrary, this is the reality of today's publishing world and not being informed is, in my opinion, one of the quickest ways to failure. Learn as much as you can about your craft, put the "wow factor" into your book from the beginning, be a student of marketing and you'll have a much greater chance at success.

Lastly, if you like numbers and want to see how the million breaks down by category etc. you can find the full article at www.bowker.com

Good Writing & God Bless,
Cheryl Pickett

Authors and Illustrators

I recently had a mini coaching call with a new author and thought I'd share the information here as well. One of her questions was in regard to illustrations. She loves the illustrations a relative did for the children's book she's written and pretty much assumed that they could be used when she got the book published.

These are just a couple of the tips I gave her:

1. Most traditional publishers have their own team of illustrators and generally match an author with one of them. It is the exception rather than the rule for an author and illustrator to be accepted for publication together.

2. (If going pay to publish/POD or Independent) If the artwork was drawn/painted on paper not using a computer design program, a graphic designer would have to make them print ready by scanning them in and adjusting as needed. Cost would depend on how well the initial scans processed the artwork.

3. Soft cover is the only affordable way to print color at this point for small publishers who can't do thousands of copies at a time. Cost per copy is still fairly high though so that must be a consideration when setting cover price and projecting profit.

Could you use personalized coaching to move your book project along? We can do a "preview" session of about 15 min at no cost by phone or a brief email chat to and then you can decide if a full hour session or more would be beneficial. Contact me via my contact form at publishinganswers.com or find me at Facebook.com/cherylpickett.

Good Writing & God Bless,
Cheryl Pickett

What Does a Traditional Publisher Do for New Authors?

The world of publishing is changing almost on a minute by minute basis. Marketing strategies that used to work even a few years ago, probably don't now so publishers are shifting their risks and strategies as well.

Newbie author Kevin Daum is currently sharing his experience with a major publisher. I think it's worth following along to get a view of what's happening in the real world. True, it's only one person's experience, but it is still more helpful than looking at the careers of author's who've been at it a long time.

You can find the link here. Anything surprise you? Is it what you expected? More, less? Interested in your thoughts as always.

Good Writing & God Bless,
Cheryl Pickett

i Will Be Paying Attention

Those that know me well know the last thing I am is a tech wizard. Yes, I've accomplished social networking via Facebook & Twitter (feel free to friend or follow, I use FB most) but when it comes to the actual equipment needed, I'm not handy. I may be able to figure out something simple if it has been made "click here stupid" enough, but that's about where it ends.

That being said though, I still need to and do pay attention to technology to a point. Why? Because that's where our world, publishing is going and actually has been for a while to varying degrees. It just may happen faster in the next year or two than it has in the past several decades. What will change? If I knew that I could retire on the consulting fees. What is certain is that it will change-it has too. Tomorrow may be one such example and I'll be paying attention.

If by chance you don't know, Apple is releasing its newest gadget tomorrow, some sort of tablet computer which some believe will be a huge version of an i-touch or i-phone, somewhere in the 7-10 inch size range. Many also believe it could change how written media is both presented and read dramatically.

Maybe ebooks will be easier to read than on a Kindle or similar item. Maybe it will be so multi-functional that books will be able to include animation or video, audio or all of the above because that one device will now handle all of it. Even if by some chance people don't fall in love with it immediately, it will certainly make an impact; yet another step on the path where media is headed.

So, as authors/writers you and I have two choices, pay no attention and keep doing what we're doing hoping there's still a way to sell whatever it is we're working on, or pay attention and see where we fit in. Will it mean we have to turn on a dime? Maybe, maybe not. The thing is though, if we're not paying attention we may just get run over and wonder how it happened.

Good Writing & God Bless,
Cheryl Pickett

Major Christian Publishing House Announces POD (and my thoughts about that)

One of the things I like about the whole social networking phenomenon is that there are opportunities to talk to people you would never likely meet any other way. Case in point, I follow Michael Hyatt CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishing on Twitter, Facebook and I also subscribe to his blog. And while you may get the impression that this sounds obsessive, don't worry, he's amazingly open to interacting with those who wish to (as long as it's done professionally I'm sure).

Today, when he announced his company is teaming up with a major fee-based/POD company to provide those services under a new imprint, I saw it quickly and was able to pop over to see what was going on.
The vast majority of the comments so far are a combination of the angels singing allelujah and "way to go". Those of you who have been following me for any length of time are probably not surprised that I immediately checked out the site to compare it against those companies that are already out there that I've researched in the past. As with most things, good and bad with this new venture.

As far as good, the premise behind starting the POD is good hearted. Hyatt admits there just aren't enough slots at traditional publishers to accomodate everyone who wants to be published and that won't change anytime soon. This is their way of trying to do something about that, to be proactive and that's definitely good. It might not be quite the right answer, but it's movement in a positive direction.

Also in the positive column, unlike most PODs, they are offering a version of full service distribution (see more about distribution in my series on it a few weeks ago) along with the typical online distribution. And that's were the not so good starts. Westbow (the new company) has some of, if not the most expensive packages in that market. Part of that is said to be because of the association with Thomas Nelson and an implied trust factor you don't have if you pick another company just from Google. I'd say that's true unless the POD experience falls apart as it has with so many other firms.

A couple other current issues are that there's no royalty info, nor book price/cost to author info in any of the packages which makes no sense to me. Be upfront, there's no reason to hide it. Don't make people jump through hoops to get such a important info.

Going back to my earlier statement, cool thing about Michael is he really likes interacting, so I made the above comments on his blog where the announcement was made-and he answered within a hour or two. He also asked a rep from Author Solutions to do the same. If you scroll through the comments to about the last third or so (as of now), you'll see the conversation. Pretty much standard stuff from the POD rep which was disappointing. He trotted out the same tired example that's been used for quite a while now as far as a success story. If I didn't respect Michael so much, I probably wouldn't pay much more attention to this, but we'll see how it goes, if they can really be different in a good way.

Check out the whole deal here Would love to know what you think, if you make a comment over there.

Good Writing & God Bless,
Cheryl Pickett

What Business Are You In?

What business are you in? Well, considering this blog is aimed at writers and authors, your answer is probably going to include something in that realm. Your business is selling your writing, selling books. To an extent that's true, but because the world of publishing, authoring, and even how and what we read has changed quite a bit, it's probably not the full answer.

I've touched on this topic before, but today I came across a video by Seth Godin that puts it in a way I haven't seen before (or if I did see it, it didn't sink in). In case you don't know who Godin is, he's a well respected, world renowned expert on marketing, particularly in figuring out why people do what they do when it comes to buying along with other social trend type stuff.

The premise of the video is this: you're not necessarily in the book business, you're in the souvenir business. To put it another way, some people will buy your physical book because they want to own a part of the experience that is you or your style or your story. Just like you go to a concert, play or Disneyland, love the experience and then want something to buy to take a bit of it home with you. Your job as an author either on your own, or hopefully in tandem with your publisher, is to create that desire.

The video runs 35min but in my opinion it's worth at least one view, maybe even two. Here's the link.

When you're done, let me know what you thought okay?

Good Writing & God Bless,
Cheryl Pickett

The Art of a Cover

Take a minute to pop over and see the design recently picked for Pastor Rick Warren's newest book about the Lord's Prayer. Don't read the accompanying article just yet please (go ahead, I'll wait...).

Now I've got three thoughts for you:

1. It is widely accepted that today readers take only a few seconds, like less than 10 to decide if they want to pick up or look further at a book based on its cover.

2. On first impression, what do you think of it? Did anything stand out? How about the "O" in the middle? In the article, the comment is made that by design, the "O" appears you could fall right through it. If you didn't notice before, now that you read that comment, look again. I definitely feel that and I find it intriguing how such a simple sparse design accomplishes it. So often designers/authors think the more stuff, the more info you can cram on the better. Sometimes maybe, but a good designer will not only think about the information to be conveyed, but also the tone and feel of the book. If the cover can communicate that from the get go to a potential reader, it's probably a winner.

3. The cover art design was chosen through a contest. Whether you suggest it to your publisher or do it yourself as an independent, or maybe even fee-based, holding a similar contest can help you in at least a couple of ways. First, you can get a wider variety of ideas or new resources. Sometimes the more heads on a project the better. Typically, if you work with a designer you'll only get 2 or 3 unless you pay for more. Next, you can use it to build pre-publishing buzz. I didn't happen to hear about the contest itself ahead of time, but with the ease of Twitter and Facebook, as you asked for entries, it would also alert potential readers to follow you and stay tuned.

Usually, the design for a cover is referred to as "cover art" and as you can see, the term "art" definitely applies.

How did you/will you choose your cover art?

Good Writing & God Bless,
Cheryl Pickett

Distribution Part 4 - How Do Wholesalers Fit In?

If you delve into the topic of distribution, you'll most likely come across the term wholesaler (or sometimes wholesale distribution). Wholesalers are an important piece of puzzle, so let's jump into this topic today.

The main difference between distributors and wholesalers that you need to grasp is that wholesalers do not have reps that contact buyers (stores and libraries); marketing is not their function and most do little beyond having information about titles and maybe telling buyers what's new. They are not in the business of getting stores to place orders-they fill the orders. They serve as a supply point (think "w" wholesale & warehouse). They stock physical copies of books for hundreds if not thousands of publishers. In the case of print on demand, they may just have the title in a database and can get the book from the print source whenever there's an order.

In the U.S., the two major wholesalers are Ingram and Baker & Taylor. While they both serve many outlets, each has a focus. Retailers, including independent bookstores, generally turn to Ingram and B & T serves the library system.

Can your book be in the database or warehouse of a wholesaler if you are not working with a a full-service distributor? Yes. If you print or publish with certain vendors, your package may include a listing. In addition, you can apply to be a book supplier via an application on the B & T website. I don't know exactly how stringent the requirements are, but I am aware that independent publishers with as few as one book can appear in their system.

A couple of other items to note:
1.Ingram also offers full service distribution (and you must have at least 10 books to qualify), it is not the same program as what we're talking about today.

2. Wholesale orders and companies are part of the general concept of distribution which is getting books to the seller or end user. B & T refers to themselves as distributors on their website, however, they also state that they do not provide "distribution services" to their suppliers.

Again, to keep things straight on the most basic level, distributors try to get bookstores and other outlets to order books from publishers and wholesalers fill those orders.

To get a real world glimpse of what the process looks like check out Amber Polo's blog. It talks about author's expectations and interactions with independent bookstores and discusses some of the ordering process. Be sure to read the comments as well for more info.

More on distribution soon.

Good Writing & God Bless,
Cheryl Pickett

Distribution Part 3

In parts 1 & 2 I talked about the basic definition of distribution and about full-service distribution which generally involves sales reps and other strategies to get store buyers to place orders. This time let's touch on the other kind of distribution known as digital or online distribution.

First, the big difference is evident in the name itself-digital distribution. It means your books are not typically stocked physically in stores, but they are available virtually-in a database along with tens of thousands of others.

Generally, digital distribution programs make your book available for special order in brick-n-mortar stores, appear on most, if not all, major online sites (like Amazon, B & N) and in the main database libraries use for acquiring books.The goal of distribution is to get books to customers, and online programs do satisfy that need, it just isn't in the traditional sense of how it has worked in the past.

Still to come: what kinds of companies provide distribution, pros & cons.

Questions, comments?

Good Writing & God Bless,
Cheryl Pickett.

Distribution Part 2

In the first installment of this series, we talked about a basic definition of what full service distributors do:they get books to the stores and other outlets that then sell them to the public. Today, let's talk a little about how they do this.

Distributors make life easier in many ways for publishers because they handle at least some, if not all of these kinds of tasks: creating and then taking and fulfilling stock orders from stores, creating marketing materials, representing books at trade shows, processing returns from stores.

In addition, some provide fulfillment for orders directly from the publisher's website or even via phone number they provide. The distributor receives books shipped from the printer, stores them and then packs each individual order as it comes in. If the distributor has collected the funds from a customer as well, they then pay the publisher their portion on a set schedule.

As far as the customer is concerned, all of this happens seamlessly behind the scenes and that's the idea. Once in a while you might here the phrase "distributed by such and such company", but if you're like me, it makes absolutely no difference as long as your purchase experience is good/you get what you want.

One other thing that you should note is that occasionally, the terms distribution and fulfillment are used somewhat interchangeably. Generally though, fulfillment means filling and shipping orders, it doesn't usually involve marketing activities.

Who are the distributors, what does it cost to use their services? More next week.

Good Writing & God Bless,
Cheryl Pickett

Trying to Figure Out How to Get Attention for Your Book? You're Not Alone

Sometimes, we writers like to dream ourselves into the land of bestsellers. We think about what it might be like to be on the big lists, how we'd be set for our next book and the next one after that. All we'd have to do is write, our publisher would release the book and all is well until the next one is ready-lather, rinse, repeat.

In some ways, it kinda makes sense. If your writing continues along the same path as the first big book, those who bought the first, would likely flock to future books too. Launch it and they will come kind of thing, right? Well, not exactly.

There's a competitive dynamic that occurs even at the bestseller level, that I hadn't thought about until I read this about Dan Brown's upcoming book and what it means to other big name books.

In a nutshell, even the big players worry about whether their book will get attention. That's how much publishing has changed over the years. Readers have so much to choose from, even well-known names are not exempt from a little hand-wringing and stressing out at the point of a book's release. There are no guarantees at any stage of the game.

What does all this mean to you? Be prepared.
Even if you have an agent, or are picked up by a large publisher, be prepared for plans to change and that you may not totally understand why or believe the changes to be fair. Also, understand you may not get all the attention you think your work deserves. Be willing to grow.

If you aren't going the traditional route, be prepared to compete. You may or may not directly be competing with Dan Brown or others in that realm, but you may be indirectly. Be aware of the possibility and prepare as much as you can so that you aren't blindsided if it happens.

And if any of the above does happen, be prepared to be knocked back a bit, or maybe even knocked down. Most importantly, be prepared to get back up and to take more steps forward no matter how big or small.

Good Writing & God Bless,
Cheryl Pickett

Publishing Terms Glossary

Short and sweet today. There's a lot of unique terminology to know in any industry and publishing is no different. It is also more important than ever to at least understand the basics because these days, an uniformed author can easily be a scammed, frustrated or disappointed author in no time.

To help you out, Agent Nathan Bransford has posted a great list of some of the stuff you need to know. Find it here Still have questions? Post them here and I'll do my best to clarify or find someone who can.
Enjoy your weekend!

Good Writing & God Bless,
Cheryl Pickett

Dislike Change? Don't Get into Publishing

There are authors and publishers (readers and agents too) who love to hang on to what has always been in the publishing industry. Things like: all real books are dead tree books, POD is the scourge of the industry and nothing good is ever produced that way, that your book must be proclaimed worthy to be published, and if it isn't, it'll never amount to anything.

You can't blame them too much really. Most of us aren't fond of change-just ask my husband how much yours truly likes it (though I think I'm getting better). Unfortunately, few things in life stay the same forever whether we like it or not. The same goes for publishing. It's taken quite a while, but some are finally not only realizing it, they're not afraid to tell others in the inner circle that they see what's coming and they're fine with it.

What are some of the changes that are coming for the publishing industry? Agent Chip MacGregor talks about a handful of them here. They aren't the only ones by any means, but if they don't appeal to you, as the title of this post indicates, I suggest you choose something else besides writing books and trying to get them published to fill your time. If on the other hand, you're willing to see where the road will take you, secure your safety belt as they say, it could be one heck of a ride!

Good Writing & God Bless,
Cheryl Pickett

It Says What?

A couple of posts ago, I talked about the importance of making sure your intended book title is unique online and if people search for just part of it, no nasty surprises come up.

Another consideration along this same line is how does your prospective title read when it's all smashed together as a url? Here's an example: Northwest Ink Slingers: Murder, Mystery and Ugly Tattoos. (Note- I just made this up, didn't check, I have no idea if it exists in any way shape or form).

If you set up a domain to point to a book page or wanted to build a site around the book, a logical shortened form for the url might be nwestinkslingers.com Notice any other words that you didn't intend to be there?

In my opinion, either the book title needs to be reworked or, at minimum, there should be another try at a domain name. In addition, I believe this kind of analysis is particularly important if you write for kids or even young adults. If a four letter or unacceptable word can be found within a url, they're probably going to find it and I doubt that's what you'll want them to focus on.

It has been said that any publicity is good publicity, but I don't think you'd want that publicity to come from people passing around your link just to make fun of it. Take the time to do this extra step and you'll have one less thing to worry about.

Good Writing & God Bless,
Cheryl Pickett

What Is it Like to Have a Bestseller?

How many of us haven't pondered this question? What's it like to have a bestseller? Other questions that follow would likely be: How much would I make? How many books do I have to sell?

As with most of the publishing industry, there's a lot of misinformation out there about bestsellers. While I'm not going to attempt to cover all the definitions in one post, I will say that just about every bestseller award is calculated differently. For example, for the NY Times list, bookstore sales are the main qualifier. Even if you sold a huge number of books from your own website (but not in stores) you would not make the list (you'd probably be approached by a publisher, but that's a whole other discussion).

Also, a lot of people, non-authors especially, think that once you hit that list, the money just starts rolling in. Well, depending on how many books you sell to get there, and what your advance was (if any), that's not necessarily the case.

It's not often that publishers or authors give up information about the reality of how bestsellers really work, but recently author Lynn Viehl did just that on the Genreality Blog

Beyond the eye-opening math there are a couple of other points I think are of note:

1. She does next to no promotion on her own because she's an established author and she started when promotion and publicity were handled differently (publishers did a lot more for more of their authors). This will not be the case for most new authors today.

2. Even though she's an experienced, successful author with a following of fans, she still may not earn out her advance.

3. Doing a comparison of the math with smaller sales numbers, but higher profit margins (as you'd have in independent self-publishing) is an interesting, potentially enlightening exercise.

Can you be a NY Times bestseller? Maybe. Now the question is, do you want to be? No matter what the answer is, start mapping your path accordingly. It's a lot easier to arrive at your destination, if you're really clear on where it is you'd like to be.


Good Writing & God Bless,
Cheryl Pickett

A Look at the Future of Book Publishing

If you've been looking into publishing a book for even a little while, you are likely aware that the industry is going through a lot of change right now. How books are made, who gets them to readers, and how they're written is shifting, morphing into things unknown only a few years ago. Full novels written on cell phones, readers participating in all or part of the writing process, buying a book chapter by chapter are just a few of the recent developments.

Does this mean the print book is going away? Probably not anytime soon because there are so many of us who grew up with and still appreciate the feel of paper in our hands. But what will books be for our children's children, many of whom have no idea what it was like not to have cell phones and ipods? That remains to be seen. It's a little scary, but also exciting. Who knows what they'll invent? Some are already saying it will involve 3D and holograms, that could be just the beginning.

So where does that leave you the author or author to be? Hopefully, open to the possibilities.

If you'd like to read more on this topic, there was a conference recently where the future of books and publishing was the focus. You can find it here at High Spot


Good Writing & God Bless,
Cheryl Pickett

Author Success Story- From POD to Tradtional

The story of Lisa Genova's book has been floating around the web for a few days, but I hadn't seen this version of the story until now. I like it and chose to share it because it's a clear example of:

1. How fiction authors can publish outside of the traditional channels to get things moving (in fact she even used a fee-based publisher instead of going independent)

2. How to tie in a non-fiction theme in your fiction book to get recognition, publicity and support

3. How not to give up

Now, I know there will be a few who read this story who'll say, "but she's one in a million". Maybe. But does that mean what she did can't be accomplished by anyone else? That she took the only such slot that will ever be available? Or does it rule out the possibility that someone else can't follow her example adding their own spin and also be successful? I don't think so and I hope you don't either. One thing I can guarantee though, as the saying goes- You definitely won't hit the target if you never take a shot.

Good Writing & God Bless,
Cheryl Pickett