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- What to Write When an Employee Dies
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- 12 Ways to Plug the Email Productivity Drain
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Posts Tagged ‘ebooks’
I’ve decided to repost some hits from the past occasionally, because someone commented or wrote about the issue and I felt inspired to reply, but I had already, so why not open the vaults, though not like Disney, who used this approach to get away with exhoribant prices for movies my kids just had to watch, then whine about movie piracy. This is free.
Do not read this if, like me, you suffer from Shiny Object Syndrome, which presents as too many ideas and trouble picking and sticking with the best.
This is for all the people who have trouble coming up with ideas. Here are six easy steps to become an idea machine.
Enjoy and prosper.
Thanks for the photo, Jason Bechtel.
“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” I can still hear you, ancient Chinese philosopher Laozi, even though I’m hundreds of miles into my ebook journey.
As I’ve learned, an ebook demands a lolapalooza investment of time and expertise. If you too have dreamed about writing a nonfiction book, your first step is to determine whether you’re prepared for the long haul and sore feet.
If you are planning to self-publish, you will have to take on many of the editorial and publicity responsibilities once assumed by traditional publishers. So in addition to having the expertise to base your book on, you’ll need to assess other skills. Although many of these can be outsourced, budget constraints and quality control may encourage to handle some yourself. Besides, the more you know, the better you can evaluate and work with service providers.
Depending on your comfort with writing and the learning preference of your market, you may decide to abandon the book in favor of another medium or approach. You may decide it’s not worth the time. Or, map in hand and suitcase packed, you may be raring to go.
Here are the questions to ask yourself. I’m using them to create an assessment tool for smart people who are ready to move from dreaming to planning their book.
Note that I said “smart” people. People who are intelligent enough to have the expertise to write a book know that they can’t accomplish it in one of those “write-your-book-this-weekend” sessions that too many wannabes are falling for.
Questions
What are you an expert in?
Who would be interested in learning about this?
Which specific aspect or angle of your expertise would most appeal to them?
How would they prefer to absorb that knowledge?
- Paperback
- E-reader
- Video
- Online course
- Website
- Other
What would you suggest as a working title?
What is the competition? How can you do it better?
Why do you want to publish a book? You can pick more than one, but you should prioritize.
- Money
- Reputation
- Marketing tool
- Help specific individuals
- Save the world
- Share your specialized knowledge
- Other
Do you have existing content that could be edited or repurposed for the book? What form is it in?
- Blog posts
- Academic papers
- Curriculum
- Other
How do you best express your ideas?
- Writing
- Talking
- Visually
- Other
Describe your networks, including
- Organizations you’re active in
- Social media sites
- Well-connected people you know
- Other places you could find people who would know people who might be interested in your book.
Do you have experience with type and print production?
Are you familiar with Mobi, ePub or other e-book formatting tools?
Do you have skill in design, photography, video production, webinars, e-learning or other areas that can help you produce or promote your book?
If you have dreamed about publishing a book, what has prevented you from doing it? Include psychological, family, time and all other hurdles.
How are you prepared to overcome these obstacles?
What kinds of outside help do you expect to need most?
Do you have an adequate budget for these activities?
How much time could you devote to the book in a typical week?
Do you have additional chunks of time available, for example a teacher with the summer off?
If you’d like to discuss these questions, shoot me an email with your phone number and suggested times to call for a free consultation.
If you’re already on the journey, please add questions that you asked yourself or wished you had asked.
Thanks for the photo, Salendron.
Sue, I can’t do your question justice on Twitter so I’m answering here. I know I could have emailed or picked up the phone, and enjoyed chatting, but I think many other people are asking the same question. So here goes.
Yes. Publish in print, probably at Createspace. Like Kindle, where you’re working, it’s owned by Amazon, though don’t expect a smoothly functioning publishing family. And remember kerning and that other stuff you learned in your print days.
Lots of people still prefer print. Many reviewers will accept print only. You can sell them at speaking events. Friends, family members and business associates will feel so special when the postman delivers a gift-wrapped book that they’ll write a nice review. Which reminds me, Sue…
As you’re soon to find out, you need reviews to create buzz. Goodreads and some other book sites will do giveaways to generate reviews, but only if you pick up the cost of mailing and print.
Reviews without mailing costs?
That can be expensive. Danny Iny, fellow Canadian who recently published Engagement from Scratch, told Problogger readers he spent $2,000 on stamps. Among other frenetic activities, he offered a free PDF download, in exchange for an email address he can market more products to.
Although I have another list of people I know, or want to know, to mail print copies to, I’m concentrating on free e-copies. Unfortunately for you, Kindle does not allow that. That’s one of the reasons I also published the e-book with Smashwords. I have a free, limited-time download, coupon code BC25Q.
Fortunately, selling higher-margin products to people who read my book is not part of my strategy, though I wish I could remind them about a review. But then, our books are so fabulous readers will be seized with an uncontrollable urge to rave, right?
More than Kindle
Of course, the other reason I published with Smashwords was the need to offer different versions for different e-readers and manage various etailers. With Seth Godin blogging for them and their author enticements, Kindle is trying to own the e-market. But let’s not kid ourselves. There are many players out here. It’s too early to pick a winner.
With Google also trying to own everything, you’d think they would be quick off the mark with e-books. But no. When I checked out Google Books today, I laughed when I saw their book “programme.” That’s how Brits and some colonials spell it. Most Canadians, except art galleries, museums, librarians and other snobs, prefer the leaner American “program.”
I was listed because Google had found my Createspace link, though no cover image. No Kindle or Smashwords. No Amazon.com or Amazon.ca reviews. I added more info and will check back later. But clearly they are not at the head of the pack.
Change takes time
On their forum, people sending in print books for digitizing asked if they would have them returned. The fact that people who see the advantage of e-books but don’t have ePub or PDF of the manuscript just shows you we have one foot still firmly planted in the past.
We keep hearing comparisons to Gutenberg, when books jumped from hand-written to machine-printed. But at that time, there was only one inventor of the printing press. Even then, the transition took decades.
Today, we have many contenders. And many media. As lawyers now state in contracts “media invented or yet-to-be-invented.”
So start with Kindle. Publish in print. And be prepared for anything.
My only complaint about publishing on Smashwords, which is now distributing my book for all e-readers, was the waiting. I followed the instructions for preparation and formatting provided in clear detail by Mark Coker in the free Smashwords Style Guide. Then I waited for more than a week.
In contrast, the Kindle prep took me way more time, largely because their instructions weren’t as precise. I had to figure out a lot by trial and error. Mark gave me more advice than I needed, after my many years as a professional communicator and days with Kindle. Fortunately, it was easy to zero in on exactly what I wanted to know.
I’m not a detail person, so I was pleasantly surprised when no mistakes were revealed by the first checking step, the autovetter Mark calls Meatgrinder. I was shocked and elated when I aced the manual premium review, which covers the higher standards demanded by Apple before you can sell for the iPad.
Kindle, in contrast, had simply posted the book, within hours of me deciding I was satisfied with the e-version. No human being checked it. In fairness, though, the only place where I can see a big boost in quality is the linked Table of Contents. Thanks again, Mark.
Points to Amazon, which owns Kindle, for much better advice to me, a Canadian, on what to do with the U.S. Internal Revenue Service.
Waiting for Smashwords
While I was waiting, I would check the site several times a day. I have lots of marketing plans, that Mark is also helping me with through the Smashwords Book Marketing Guide. In addition, I am picking and choosing from the strategies and tactics of authors I’ve been following. And I intend on falling back on a few old skills, especially media relations.
But I wanted to wait until everything was ready before I open the floodgates.
A watched pot never boils, right? Last night, when I was chuckling over Parks and Recreation with my daughter, the approval came through. Wanting a break after two evenings of business events and an exhausting week polishing my pideo and other marketing prep, I had turned off my computer.
I found out about the approval this morning, only after I had submitted a guest post to promote the book to a big-shot blog. The post, by the way, was accepted almost immediately. I am buying a lottery ticket today.
Then I’m going to go away for the weekend, so I’ll be refreshed when the big push starts on Monday.
I waited for the two main e-reader versions to be ready before I send the book to reporters, reviewers, bloggers, small business groups, college profs and the many other people on my list. Just before Christmas, I had mailed many festively wrapped paperbacks to thank people who had helped and encourage some reviews at Amazon. I’m glad I did, but I can’t see the point of spending tons on stamps.
I could go on about my marketing plans. I probably will go on here, as they proceed.
I know my love for Smashwords will be tested when I get tired of waiting for them to pay, which I’ve read takes ages. But after I scanned the long form from Kobo, I knew I didn’t want to keep going through this stage, like an e-publisher’s Groundhog Day.
I’m going to be busy, just as busy as I was when I was writing the book, just as busy as I was with editing and formatting. But busy pouring my heart and soul into something I have created is the best kind of busy there is.
You can read Write Like You Talk Only Better on an iPad, Kobo, Sony and other readers. Check it out. Would-be authors, stay tuned for a post about the joys of publishing with Smashwords.
When I first came across the term “engagement,” it referred to employees whose personal identity was tied to their jobs, who would do almost anything to delight customers, care for patients or invent mind-blowing technologies. Taken down a notch or five, it could cover employees who make an extra effort or those who aren’t looking for another job.
Engagement caught fire after studies confirmed that companies with deeply engaged employees made higher profits. So most businesses now take actions to raise these levels, from volunteering for causes on company time to voting on corporate decisions to encouraging little guys to come up with big ideas.
Contagious
Engagement quickly spread to the online world, where people interact, offer opinions, share personal moments, spread excitement and more. Like employee engagement, it hinges on individual identification with a larger force and manifests in concrete, contagious actions.
In his new book Engagement from Scratch!, Danny Iny of Firepole Marketing brings together the advice of more than 30 contributors, from well-known experts such as Brian Clark and Guy Kawasaki to people I had never heard of, with insights ranging from heavy-gauge profound to gossamer tactical.
Strategic
Like the blue-chip engagers, Danny and friends know that engagement has to produce strategic results. As he told me in a recent telephone interview, there’s no point in worrying about engagement if you’re hawking a commodity whose main appeal is the lowest price.
As he said: “Engagement depends on your goals. A lot of people want to start a business and want to know what they should do, how engagement fits in. I tell them it’s not an end, but a means. You have to look at how engagement is going to fit your business model. You don’t want to engage with everyone, but you probably need to engage with the people who may be important to your business. If you want people to like you, to have a relationship that’s meaningful, you need engagement.”
Hard, quick work
Danny cautioned that “engagement is not a light switch. You don’t flip it on. It’s gradual, a crystallization of how everyone fits together.” He hopes readers will be left with a better understanding of the concepts and tools of engagement. And prepared for hard work.
It’s up to them, to supply the strategic thinking and fast action. “In the world of entrepreneurship, so much is new,” he said. “There is not one step-by-step method that is guaranteed to work for everyone.”
After matching tools to strategy, Danny recommends a quick trial-and-error approach. “Some things won’t work for you and that’s perfectly fine. If you’re taking your time, you’ll make little progress. If you accelerate and do more, you’ll learn faster what works for you. Your returns will compound in an interesting way.”
If you want to sample the range of concepts and tools Danny has compiled, you can download a free PDF of Engagement from Scratch! at his book site Or you can buy the print or Kindle book at Amazon.com.
Now that you click away on your computer so much of the day, you had better learn to love writing. Here’s how.
Today I’ve posted at Toronto IABC. Think small, act big for your book.
Only Toronto members can comment there, so if you have anything to add, and I hope you do, please share here.
I’m guest posting at Problogger today, with The Questions My Dad Would Ask Before You Start that Ebook. Check it out.
Lately public libraries have been taking a shit kicking from debt-ravaged politicians. Here in Toronto, our right-wing mayor Rob Ford had to back down from his more extreme proposals because of push back from Margaret Atwood and other well-known local authors and taxpayer petitions.
While I agree with the library fans, I also think that libraries need to do more to rethink their role as information filling stations,book lovers’ social hubs and knowledge curators. For guidance, they should look to the banks, bookstores and museums.
And they should think about how book lovers like me have changed. I haven’t updated my library card in years, partly because I share books I love with friends. I rarely go to bookstores either. For years, I ordered exactly what I wanted online. This year, I started downloading to my e-reader instead.
But I still love the concept of public libraries, as fonts of knowledge shared by all. My favorite is the main reference library, where my daughter goes for sheet music she can’t find on the internet. On my last visit, to hear a speaker rather than conduct research, I was struck by all the computers.
My local branch, which I used to frequent with my kids, is full of computers too, mostly used by students, often playing games. Many are new Canadians who don’t have computers at home, the digitally divided.
Instant lenders
I would probably renew my library card if libraries made books as easy to acquire as money from the bank. For a long time, I’ve loved the convenience of 24/7 instant teller machines and, more recently, online banking services. I can pay bills or withdraw money in minutes. But if I order a library book online, it can take days to reach my local branch. I can download it to my Kobo in seconds and I don’t have to worry about late fines.
Libraries could be as easy as banks if they lent e-readers or laptops to the people who can’t afford them. It’s lovely that the library is letting people download digital books, but little help to those who don’t own the hardware. And think of the money the school boards could save if everyone could download their texts.
People who want more than a quick info fill could hang out in the 24/7 book lovers’ social hubs. Like automated banking machines, these would take up a fraction of the branch’s floor space and be monitored by remote cameras or librarian/security guards.
Social clubs for bookworms
Or maybe the baristas would keep an eye on things, and add revenue, if these hubs added Starbucks, like the large bookstores have. I would love to socialize more with people who read the same books as me, so much better than the emails from Amazon about the buying habits of people who have bought the same books.
Of course there will still be a place for hardcover books. But with fewer people borrowing physical books, shorter branch hours or fewer full-service branches won’t be as much of an issue.
Collect and select
In addition to becoming 24/7 information filling stations for families who can’t afford the technology and money-making social hubs for people who love to read, libraries should expand their role as information curators. With coming onslaught of e-books, the reading public will desperately need someone to sort through the new titles and curate those that are worthwhile.
With so much information out there, we already need trained experts to help us prioritize and organize. While searches are extremely helpful, algorithms cannot judge quality and relevance the way smart. objective people can.
I visit my city’s Royal Ontario Museum and Art Gallery of Ontario mostly when there’s a specially curated exhibit. I wouldn’t enjoy the exhibits if knowledgeable people hadn’t picked out the best examples to display. Can you imagine wandering through their storage areas? That’s exactly how I feel on the internet some days.
So please, librarians, become knowledge curators as well as information filling stations and book lovers’ social hubs. We still need you—but in a changing way.