Success
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Writing

$uccess

Your Path to a Successful Book

Our $uccess blog will feature writing, marketing, and publishing tips we continue to learn since writing our 2009 INDIE Finalist workbook $uccess, Your Path to a Successful Book keeping our readers abreast of the everchanging skills required to write, publish and sell a successful book. We will also have guest commentators. Achieving your goals as a writer is what matters. Anything we can do to help you get there is our goal. We welcome your comments and hope you will sign up for our bi-monthly (or whenever we have enough material) newsletter.

Archive for the ‘Publishing’ Category

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Discover the Secrets of Book Promotion with Dan Poynter

Friday, December 16th, 2011

Dan Poynter

Brenda, Norm, and I have all heard Dan Poynter speak as we took part in a writers conference with him in Santa Barbara and Pennsylvania. We were also fortunate to have him endorse our book on the back cover, Success, Your Path to a Successful Book. I cannot think of anyone who has book marketing for self-published and traditionally published authors down to a science better than Dan. That is why, I’m sharing the opportunity below–not for a commission, or any remuneration, just because he is GREAT.

I receive many requests as to promoting and marketing. Most authors are charting unfamiliar territory and many cannot afford publicists. Even with publicists, you still need to market yourself. I feel I know a lot, but it is miniscule compared to what you can learn from Dan.

Discover the Secrets of Book Promotion with Personal Guidance and Proven, Weekly Learning Opportunities.

Dan Poynter’s Para Promotion Program celebrates books and honors authors by bringing public attention to your books.

The Para Promotion Program is a series of book promotion projects the author can accomplish without leaving home. The weekly assignments show
the author what to do to reach his or her target audience.

For both fiction and nonfiction, there are readers who are as fascinated about your subject/category as you are. This program shows you how to find
them—all over the world.

Each week, authors receive a book promotion assignment from Dan Poynter.

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Each of the 42 book-promotion projects takes the author anywhere from five to 120 minutes to complete. The program not only shows the author how to promote his or her current book, it is a crash course in book promotion that can be applied to future books.

This program does not recite traditional book promotion. It is guided by Dan Poynter’s exciting, proven program of the future.

Meanwhile, Program PR expert Barbara Gaughen is spinning her electronic Rolodex to get notice for your books. Gaughen (“gone”) has been in the
public relations business for decades and she focuses on books.

Dan Poynter’s Para Promotion Program is not an overwhelming list of projects for authors; it is a collection of individual lessons with full
instructions and personal guidance by successful industry experts.

And there is an added bonus: authors who understand how to reach their audience tend to write books their readers want. They begin to understand
who their readers are, what their readers want, and how to reach their buyers. The Para Promotion program makes authors more successful.

Authors of one or more books may sign up for $497.
Publishers may sign up several of their authors for just $397 each.
That’s less than $12 a week to reach your buyers.

Dan Poynter has been in the book publishing business since 1969 and has written more than 125 books. He is often referred to as a “book futurist.”

The Para Promotion Program debuts on November 1, 2011, may be started at any time—and runs for 42 weeks.

For details, see: http://parapromotion.com and begin your book promotion today.

CityRoom, JustLuxe, The Epoch Times, Big Blend, Spa Review Magazine, Global Writes

Finalist in the Writing and Publishing category of the 2009 Next Generation Indie Book Awards, “$uccess, Your Path to a Successful Book,”

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Tips on Guidelines for Articles or Manuscripts

Saturday, June 25th, 2011

You may not feel guidelines are important, but they are. If you have done the work of writing an article or manuscript, than take the time to prepare it properly.

No matter how often this topic is covered, all writers need to remind themselves over and over again of its vital importance. Recently, I held a lengthy phone conversation with a good friend who has been working five years on her book. Unfortunately, her first proof from the publisher is a disaster. Even more unfortunately, much of this could have been avoided. My friend used a professional editor, but that was not enough.

Some of the necessary steps in preparation, frequently forgotten, include:

  • Read your work out loud. You may say you hear the words so you don’t have to say them. This is totally wrong. Believe me, it is because you know your own words that you are likely to miss things. When you read out loud, you stumble on errors no matter how good a writer you are.

Use a thesaurus before you submit. Frequently, when you get a proof, you will notice you used the same word over and over, as well as close together. When you are giving your manuscript or article a final read before submitting, look for this problem. If you can’t think of another word to replace, rely on a thesaurus. If you don’t have one, they are available online.

  • If you are using print-on-demand or a small local press, be sure your work is formatted to the publisher’s specifications. Insist on knowing their exact specifications, as it will save you time in the proofing process. This is especially important if you are including charts or photos. Formatting requirements apply to the following:
  • Margins.
  • Line spacing.
  • Paragraph indenting or not.
  • Only hit enter at the end of a paragraph. Using this command at the end of a line on your screen will cause a mess.
  • Use a font that is easy to read. I learned this the hard way. Pretty is not always clear.
  • Keep your layout simple. When you have more than one or two levels of indentations, they do not transfer easily to a different program. Frequently, a great deal of your copy will not be lined up properly. If you don’t have a choice, then it will be worth the hours of proofing to make adjustments due to program conversion. If you possibly can write so you only have two levels of indentations (like this article), you will be happier with the finished result.
  • Be sure your graphs, photos, charts, etc. are sized to fit the space available.
  • Prepare your chapter headings the way your want them. Be consistent, otherwise one will show up with all words capitalized and the next will have some of the words capitalized.

    • If you are being published by a traditional publisher, you may think the above doesn’t apply. It does. The more responsibility you take yourself for the material you submit, the happier you will be with the finished product.

    The above article was originally published in my “Successful with Words” column on The Big Blend Magazine as Preparing Your Manuscript for the Printer or Article for Publication. I have added a paragraph at the beginning.

    CityRoom, JustLuxe, Big Blend, Spa Review Magazine, Global Writes

    Finalist in the Writing and Publishing category of the 2009 Next Generation Indie Book Awards, ”$uccess, Your Path to a Successful Book,”

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    Posted in Guidelines, Publishing, Tips, Writing | 1 Comment »

    Preparing Your Manuscript for the Printer or Article for Publication

    Saturday, April 2nd, 2011

    This was first printed in my column $uccessful with Words, in The Big Blend Magazine.

    No matter how often this topic is covered, all writers need to remind themselves over and over again of its vital importance. Yesterday, I held a lengthy phone conversation with a good friend who has been working five years on her book. Unfortunately, her first proof from the publisher is a disaster. Even more unfortunately, much of this could have been avoided. My friend used a professional editor, but that was not enough.

    Some of the necessary steps in preparation, frequently forgotten, include:

    • Read your work out loud. You may say you hear the words so you don’t have to say them. This is totally wrong. Believe me, it is because you know your own words that you are likely to miss things. When you read out loud, you stumble on errors no matter how good a writer you are.
    • Use a thesaurus before you submit. Frequently, when you get a proof, you will notice you used the same word over and over, as well as close together. When you are giving your manuscript or article a final read before submitting, look for this problem. If you can’t think of another word to replace, rely on a thesaurus. If you don’t have one, they are available online.
      • If you are using print-on-demand or a small local press, be sure your work is formatted to the publisher’s specifications. Insist on knowing their exact specifications, as it will save you time in the proofing process. This is especially important if you are including charts or photos. Formatting requirements apply to the following:
        • Margins.
        • Line spacing.
        • Paragraph indenting or not.
        • Only hit enter at the end of a paragraph. Using this command at the end of a line on your screen will cause a mess.
      • Use a font that is easy to read. I learned this the hard way. Pretty is not always clear.
      • Keep your layout simple. When you have more than one or two levels of indentations, they do not transfer easily to a different program. Frequently, a great deal of your copy will not be lined up properly. If you don’t have a choice, then it will be worth the hours of proofing to make adjustments due to program conversion. If you possibly can write so you only have two levels of indentations (like this article), you will be happier with the finished result.
      • Be sure your graphs, photos, charts, etc. are sized to fit the space available.
      • Prepare your chapter headings the way your want them. Be consistent, otherwise one will show up with all words capitalized and the next will have some of the words capitalized.

      If you are being published by a traditional publisher, you may think the above doesn’t apply. It does. The more responsibility you take yourself for the material you submit, the happier you will be with the finished product.

      You can see the original post on Successful with Words.

      Maralyn D. Hill, President
      International Food Wine & Travel Writers Association
      Books By Hills Success With Writing Where & What in the World
      Member: Society of Professional Journalists

      Finalist in the Writing and Publishing category of the 2009 Next Generation Indie Book Awards, ”$uccess, Your Path to a Successful Book,”

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    Posted in Editing, Guidelines, Publishing, Tips, Writing | No Comments »

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