Anyone For Coffee and Books?

Coffee and books—a natural partnership? No doubt this weekend many coffee addicts and book readers will combine the two in some leisurely spent hours by the fireside, in bed, or perhaps in a local coffeehouse or restaurant. Whether the location is Tokyo, London, Paris, New York or some quiet out-of-the-way location, millions will enjoy the indulgence throughout the world. I suspect the most concentrated period of coffee drinking and book reading happens every weekend. There is nothing unique in partnering both pleasures and many larger bookstores offer areas specifically for this, though I’m not sure I’d favour the idea on a busy Saturday afternoon.
 

One well-know bookstore in Dublin City, some years ago, used to employ an irate customer service assistant who would march around the store every Saturday and Sunday, just after 4pm, and instruct customers to ‘finish up there folks and kindly start moving toward the cash point with the book you’ve already half-finished reading.’ On a trip to London during the 1990’s, I dropped into a small, quaint bookstore on Charring Cross Road and became engrossed in a book by Robert Cullen (The Killer Department) for over half an hour until the store owner tapped me on the shoulder and announced, ‘Oi! You buying that or trying to memorise every word in it before you leave?’ I slammed the book shut, returned it to the shelf, and announced to the owner, ‘I was making some mental notes. I’m thinking of getting into serial killing myself.’ There was a brief standoff of several seconds, before he awkwardly put on a pair of thick brown glasses he had hooked onto the collar of his chequered jumper. Why do older men still insist on repairing glasses with blue or white insulation tape? ‘Right, well, I suppose I should get back to my book indexing.’ I still don’t know who would have made the better serial killer—him or me!

Earlier this month, I had the pleasure of attending the launch of Coffee & Books, an innovative new venture by Mark Levine, CEO of Hillcrest Media and author of The Fine Print of Self-Publishing. Long-time readers of TIPM will be very familiar with Levine and his explorative book on the self-publishing industry and critique and rating of many US-based self-publishing service providers. His book, now in its fourth edition, remains the seminal blueprint and charter for how self-publishing service providers should operate, and, often, don’t operate to service the needs of authors. Owners of service providers, as well as authors interested in self-publishing, would do themselves a great deal of good to read it.

Coffee & Books provides an opportunity for traditionally published and self-published books to be sold side-by-side in coffeehouses throughout the USA. There is nothing new in selling books in non-book retail outlets, or for that matter, selling self-published books under the same roof as traditionally published books. Except, for the most part, when self-published books do rarely find their way into brick and mortar stores, they are tucked away at the back of the store, hidden among thousands of other books, or placed on the shelf labelled ‘local authors’ in independent bookstores. The bookstore owner or buyer usually can’t wait to ship the remaining consignment copies back to the distributor or directly to the author after a book-signing event. The reality is that most self-published books, because they are printed as POD (print-on-demand) never get to experience an overnight speck of dust settle on them in a physical bookstore. The few high-quality self-published books deserving of a wider readership are sold through online sellers and certainly most don’t get the distribution and front-of-sale display marketing restricted to a limited amount of traditionally published titles.

This is where Coffee & Books is innovative. The best of self-published books sold alongside traditionally published books the reading public don’t always get to see in their bookstore chain. It’s a great opportunity for savvy self-published authors and independent presses and publishers. With the pressure on booksellers and publishers, and the competition from online book retailers, authors and publishers need to start thinking far beyond point-of-sale as just amounting to general high street sellers and what can be achieved through the traditional channels of placing books in front of readers. This requires a bit of lateral thinking and planning. The physical sales of books still dominate e-book sales. POD (print-on-demand) and e-books should still be an augmented way of selling books for self-published authors and independent publishers. Physical booksellers are fast becoming browsing networks, where readers touch and feel and experience a book as a purchase, and then purchase the book at a discounted price online later. It’s a weird reversed science for the book buyer. And much of that has to do with the reluctance of readers to let go of the physical experience of buying a new book combined with the continued lack of discoverability of books online. Unless you know what you are looking for—you won’t find it easily.

Amalie Howard, Don Shelby & Janet Shawgo

At the launch in Minneapolis of Coffee & Books, Levine revealed that the idea came to him several years ago, and he parked the Coffeeandbooks.com domain until the time was right. Levine is a shrewd businessman and entrepreneur. He’s had more ideas for business ventures than Imelda Marcos had pairs of shoes, and parked more domains than a Las Vegas valet attendant has parked cars. A meeting with an old friend and a recommendation that he speak to the CEO of one of the USA’s most-respected independent coffeehouse chains reignited his plans. In 2012, Dunn Bros, a Minnesota-based coffeehouse chain became the first primary partner in the deal to sell self-published and traditionally published books across the USA. This year, more independent publishers have come on board, and Levine plans to expand Coffee & Books to more coffeehouse chains and make the enterprise a global affair.

Coffee & Books was officially launched on January 11^th in one of Dunn Bros. coffeehouses in Minneapolis. Karina Taylor of Hillcrest Media explains the concept of the venture in the accompanying video and further details for self-published authors and independent publishers can be found on the Coffee & Books website. Several authors helped to launch the event, traditionally and self-published, including Janet Sawgo, Amalie Howard, Don Selby, Chuck Logan and Tim Forbes. Every one of them showed the power of the written word when they read. My only regret on the evening is not capturing more of the authors on video. After all, this was about coffee and books. My highlights of the evening were hearing the wonderful prose and delivery of Chuck Logan’s (no wonder he has struck a film deal for one of his books with Sylvester Stallone—Homefront), and a wonderful anecdote by the ever-consummate and professional news anchorman, Don Shelby, about the game of Basketball, and how you should never deliver your best game when it’s too late in the day.  

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Anyone For Coffee and Books?

Has Self-Publishing Stopped Being The Road Less Travelled?

I’ve been busy this week working on a video presentation for my consulting services provided through TIPM Media. I was working on a dialogue piece for insertion into the video about the shifting sands in self-publishing and where the road ahead now points for authors in 2013. It wasn’t too long ago authors were faced with two distinct paths—go down the traditional route through agents and publishers or forge ahead as an independent author through self-publishing. I think we are seeing a definite shift when authors look to the world of publishing for the first time. With the explosion and perceived ease of self-publishing, it’s no longer a case of the traditional highway or no highway at all. Self-publishing as an option for authors and self-published books are gaining much more attention in the media today, and not just the publishing industry media—mainstream media channels, too.
 

I’m less convinced all or even some of the critical stigmas attached to self-publishing have disappeared. The ease and immediacy of self-publishing—particularly with online e-book service providers—has, if anything, sometimes exacerbated the stigmas that self-published books are poorly designed and unedited manuscripts born several drafts ahead of their time. In recent years, the self-publishing community has had a habit of believing its own hype—that the growth of the savvy, independent author, full of professionalism, market knowhow and great sales figures, has transformed the greater view of self-publishing. That’s a bit like Boeing believing the tightening of a few nuts and bolts and a body-buff is going to transform the confidence airline clients have in its new 787 Dreamliner.

There is a tendency within the self-publishing community to believe that everything done to improve the standards and professionalism of self-published authors and their books improves the publishing industry as a whole, when in reality, the opposite is actually the case. The expansion and entry of large book retailers and distributors into the online market, combined with new print technology, is what has democratised the book industry, and as a result, reinvigorated and reinvented the option of self-publishing. Without it, every self-publishing service provider would still be lumbered under the weight of the vanity label, and thousands of authors would still be fretting every evening about how they were going to shift boxes and pallets of books taking space up in their garages.

Of course, what’s good for the goose is good for the gander. Traditional publishers still have a lot to learn from astute self-publishing providers and self-published authors. If the self-publishing community has taught the traditional industry anything over the past ten years, it’s that you can’t sit on your laurels for a few hundred years using the same basic model of business, treat authors to the same exclusive terms and poor share of profit as you always did, and still expect them to hold you in the same reverence as their literary predecessors.

The biggest challenge for the whole industry is now book discoverability and engaging the reading public directly on digital and community platforms, and less of a dependence on traditional marketing. This is where the democratisation of the industry has levelled the playing field for self-published authors. Now, legacy, whether for publishers or authors, doesn’t guarantee success or even survival. Brought up in an age of multimedia and continual distraction, for young authors and readers of today, legacy may not count for anything much at all. They want new and different things, but above all, they want it now, not tomorrow, or when publishers get their shit together.

So, back to where authors are today in 2013 and those shifting sands. Yesterday, I made a couple of pages of notes for this article when I took a break away from my video project I spoke about the start of this piece. Freelance editor Sarah Kolb-Williams must have been looking over my shoulder. I met her very briefly at the Coffee & Books launch earlier this month in Minneapolis. Sometimes you decide to pull together ideas for an article in black and white, and then discover someone else has presented the same stream of ideas in an article perfectly well, if not better than you could ever have done. In her article, Indie Publishing Divides and Conquers in 2013, Sarah brilliantly and concisely presents where authors are at the beginning of 2013. It’s no longer a case of traditional publishing or self-publishing in the eyes of many authors. It is about how do I best self-publish and what is the right option for me as an author?

Sarah underlines the myriad of choices available to authors today, but that there is also a distinct divide developing in the self-publishing community about self-publishing services packaged together under a one-stop-shop, against the more purist approach to self-publishing as an entrepreneurial business model. Both are entirely valid depending on the wishes of the author and the quality of services offered. I’ve spoken here and elsewhere about this growing divide in the self-publishing community, particularly those biased arguments driven by so-called publishing experts, and it is something that concerns me—as if one approach is right and the other is wrong. More on this throughout 2013, but for now, I’ll leave you in the capable hands of Sarah Kolb-Williams and ask:

Has Self-Publishing Stopped Being The Road Less Travelled?

 

“The question used to be: publish independently, or pursue traditional publishing?—but that question is so last year.

In 2013, the new question is: work with a self-publishing company, or choose your own adventure?

From a-la-carte publishing to complete packages (including everything from distribution to author websites), there’s a variety of models out there, and what it really means to publish independently is difficult to nail down.

But I see indie authors generally trending toward one end of the spectrum or the other, and I’d like to look closer at each extreme.”

READ THE REST OF SARAH’S ARTICLE

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Has Self-Publishing Stopped Being The Road Less Travelled?

Book Country, You've Been Book-Tango'd!

When Pearson bought ASI (Author Solutions), the self-publishing goliath and owner of multiple self-publishing imprints like AuthorHouse, iUniverse, Xlibris and Trafford, we had the usual gnashing of teeth and countless toys tossed from cots—none more so than from the self-publishing community. Savvy authors don’t like to see their fellow brethren, however naïve, fork out money on expensive, overpriced publishing packages with more marketing puff and promised dreams than reality and commonsense, and rightly so. ASI has long been accused by the self-publishing community of strong-handed and deceptive marketing to naïve authors. While ASI may be presented as the self-publishing provider everyone wants to hate, it hasn’t stopped them selling publishing packages to thousands of authors every year and entering partnerships with many traditional publishing houses, including Thomas Nelson, and more recently, Simon & Schuster. There was a hope that the acquisition by Pearson and the nestling of ASI alongside Penguin would amount to more than just another move by the publishing establishment to generate new revenue from the explosion in self-publishing. Perhaps Pearson could improve ASI’s practices and customer service, and maybe even put some manners on the unruly beast.
 

What many in the self-publishing community and the industry as a whole either conveniently ignored or glossed over was the real benefit Pearson and Penguin gained when former ASI’s owners, Bertram Capital, trousered $116 million and headed off into the sunset. Back in July 2012, on the day the deal was formally announced, I noted the following:

“Everyone directly connected with this decision will be happy. Bertram Capital has shifted a marque they needed to and trousered $116 million, ASI CEO, Kevin Weiss, makes the board of Penguin Group, and Penguin gets the keys to the ASI engine room and the resource of 1600 employees. That will help nicely with digitizing a lot more of the Penguin back catalogue, provide a further financial revenue stream, and who knows, maybe provide a very few new authors to the mothership which hitherto went under the radar of Penguin.”

Traditional publishers might put much PR stock in the claims that buying a self-publishing provider or developing a self-publishing imprint makes good sense for one and all; acknowledges self-publishing as a legitimate part of the industry; provides an alternative selection process to the dreaded slush pile based on sales and success; creates a much-needed additional revenue stream for publishers; and fosters new writing communities; but the real benefit here for Pearson, and in particular Penguin, was cracking open the hood and taking a very close look at ASI’s engine. While I’m sure many perspective buyers baulked at Bertram Capital’s valuation of ASI, and over several months of 2012 had a few tyre kickers come knocking on its door, Penguin may well have laid its hands on the jewel in the crown when Pearson adopted the problem child of the self-publishing world.

Book Country, originally launched in late 2011, is Penguin’s in-house self-publishing imprint and writing community. On the surface, after its launch, it proved to be an admirable but poor attempt to be a good self-publishing imprint—like an average-looking property on the outside, once inside, the cracks and bugs pretty quickly made you realise the cost was too high and the workmanship was pretty lame. Penguin then put Book Country on snooze during the summer of 2012 when Pearson adopted problem child and moved it over to the Penguin household. Rumours quickly circulated that Book Country was ‘not at all well,’ and by winter, speculation was rife that problem child had killed Book Country and was busy choosing a new colour scheme for its bedroom and putting new posters up on the walls.

Yesterday, Book Country relaunched its services and website in the first stage of a number of changes and improvements. Significantly, it has dropped its POD (print-on-demand) service and will now be a digital-only imprint. Clearly Penguin has taken a close look at the competition, including ASI’s Booktango, and feels the days of self-publishing providers as paper-centric operations are numbered. I’ve been arguing this reality for the past year. I don’t think POD is going to disappear for publishing service providers by any means, but instead, augment the digital option. Book Country has also introduced a free publishing option (less 15% net sales—nothing is really free!) and reduced the cost of several other e-book packages, on average, by about 25% on the old prices. Packages will now shift in cost from free (limited time period), $59, $149, $249 and $399. Royalties are set at 85% (100% for $399 Prospect package). Royalties have been increased, up from 70% in 2012. Each package level will add on different features (image insertion, a formatting and correction service, and marketing copy polish) but all provide manuscript upload (Word only docs) and DIY publishing and formatting tools, ISBN assignment (registered to Book Country), online retail sales distribution across the major e-retailers (Amazon, Apple, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Google, Scribd and Sony), as well as access to the Author Learning Center (wasn’t that an ASI option?!). Come to think of it, Book Country also supply the author with a free download (didn’t the author pay for that with the package fee) of their book using BookStub (didn’t ASI develop and trademark this?!).

Okay, let’s call it as it is.

Book Country, you’ve been Book-Tango’d! This new Book Country bears a remarkable similarity to ASI’s Booktango e-book platform, but that might not be the worst thing ever to grace the self-publishing arena. Now, I can already hear the zombie-apocalyptic, self-publishing do-gooders pushing up the earth, rattling their chains and baying for blood and that I be sacrificed on a granite stone in the woods at midnight for the good of all that is self-published. But, actually, Booktango is one of the better creations ASI cast into the world. Book Country still offer expensive services you could get cheaper with a freelance professional—like a $99 copyright service for your book you don’t actually need, and even if you wanted it directly from the copyright office, you’d pay $35; or proofreading at a rate you could get a full copyedit for, but this Book Country is now an average digital self-publishing imprint trying to be a good one.

It remains to be seen whether Book Country Community Manager Colleen Lindsay can forge a proper identity for Book Country as a self-publishing imprint and writing community. With under 6000 registered community members last year, Book Country managed to convince less than one in seven writers to publish with the imprint. Lindsay spoke to Calvin Reid of Publishers Weekly this week:

“The launch of Book Country made Penguin the first big New York house to move into the self-publishing market. The move predates the acquisition of Author Solutions, Inc. by Penguin in July 2012. Since the acquisition, Lindsay said the Author Solutions technology team has worked with Book Country to improve the technical infrastructure of the Book Country site.”

I’d say that ASI technology team have been quite busy since last summer at Penguin and their insight taught Book Country just how far it was lagging behind the competition. Time will tell if Book Country can fully utilize the power of the ASI engine, create its own mark in self-publishing, or just become a new incarnation of problem child dressed up in new clothes.


UPDATE January 2013

Book Country, You've Been Tango'd!

RATING: 6.9/10     

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Book Country, You've Been Book-Tango'd!

CreateSpace - Reviewed (Update Jan 2013)

CreateSpace is the publishing engine of global online retailer and publisher Amazon, the company everyone either wants to love or hate. Createspace began life in 2002 as CustomFlix Labs (DVD), originally intended to make widespread distribution easier for independent filmmakers by providing on-demand DVD production. In 2000, a small group of writers pooled resources to form Booksurge with the intention of creating opportunities for authors to self-publish their books and retain content rights and sales profits. Both companies quickly flourished and in 2005, Amazon acquired them, with CustomFlix Labs changing its name to CreateSpace in 2007. By late 2009, Amazon took the logical step and merged CreateSpace and Booksurge under the CreateSpace brand name to form a single company offering on-demand manufacturing of books, DVD’s and music formats for independent artists and businesses. CreateSpace also support on-demand products for Amazon retail and their publishing imprints AmazonEncore (for deserving author slipping under the mainstream radar) and AmazonCrossing (for foreign language books deserving an English translation).

A few years ago CreateSpace might have seemed like any other POD (print on demand) service, but visit its site now and you will be in no doubt that you are dealing with a competent company connected to the Amazon brand. For several years CreateSpace was the main competitor to DIY self-publishing service, Lulu.com, but by 2009, CreateSpace surpassed the published output of the Tennessee-based self-publishing service.

Many readers will have followed my own DIY self-publishing experiences on this website with Lulu and Blurb throughtout the period 2008-2009 and wondered why TIPM did not offer a more expansive review of CreateSpace until now. We delayed doing a thorough review in 2010 because of the rapid development and changes at Amazon and CreateSpace.

CreateSpace, in spite of all the changes, has built up an extraordinary strong brand and it was no real surprise when Booksurge was subsumed into CreateSpace. Like Lulu, CreateSpace is the ideal place for an independent DIY artist to go and upload a book, film or album for on-demand production and publication.

For the purpose of this review, we will centre on CreateSpace for the services it offers self-publishing authors. The most significant move made by this company was the introduction of full global online distribution and availability package at $39 (Pro-Plan), costing almost half of what is on offer at Lulu for a similar deal. Books submitted and up-loaded must meet with CreateSpace’s technical requirements. Prior to the introduction of this distribution package, CreateSpace would have always been considered the second choice for serious self-published authors. Thankfully, that all changed in 2010 when CreateSpace introduced the package and it truly put the company on the map as a DIY self-publishing service. Of course, like Lulu, if an author has modest aspirations, and simply wants to have a printed book and use CreateSpace’s ISBN, and is happy with availability of his/her book on CreateSpace’s bookstore and Amazon, then setting up a book is technically free, outside of the cost of the final proof copy of the book before it is made available. Since TIPM did this review, CS has waived that requirement, but I would wholeheartedly not advise approving a book until you see a physical proof.

CreateSpace use online tools to upload a completed book PDF file, or allow the author to design his/her book using templates and widget tools. I found the Createspace application for book load-up not quite as easy to use as Lulu (I still feel the same way circa 2012), but that is purely personal taste. The quality of what you have and what you put in is what determines the quality of output on the finished book. The book samples I have purchased from CreateSpace were exceptionally good and on a par with anything I have got from Lightning Source.

From the CreateSpace website royalty video. Also the CS Expanded Distribution plan.

Timing

It may take up to six weeks for your title to begin populating in the distribution outlets you select. Additionally, changes to any details of your book including list price, selling information (such as your book's product description), or your book's files may take up to six weeks to update in all distribution outlets. Outlets don't update simultaneously, so your book's previous list price, selling information, or files will persist until the change propagates throughout the distribution outlets. (CS has improved this, 2012)

Book Update Fees

If you need to change the cover or interior files for your book for any reason, we can accommodate your request; however, there will be a $25 book update fee for each new file change request. This fee only applies to changes made for an EDC-enrolled title."

Calculating Our Share
Sales Channel Percentage
+    Fixed Charge
+    Per-Page Charge
=    Our Share

 "Upgrade your book toPro Plan to lower your book's fixed and per-page charges.

Sales Channel Percentage

A sales channel percentage is deducted from your book's list price depending on which sales channel the book is sold through."

Sales Channel Percentage
CreateSpace eStore	20% of list price per sale
Amazon.com	40% of list price per sale
Expanded Distribution Channel	60% of list price per sale

"Fixed Charges

Fixed charges vary depending on your book's page count, whether your book's interior is black and white or full-color, and if your title has been upgraded to Pro Plan."
 

Fixed Charges
	Standard	Pro Plan
Black and white books with 24-108 pages	$3.66 per book	$2.15 per book
Black and white books with 110-828 pages	$1.50 per book	$0.85 per book
Full-color books with 24-40 pages	$6.55 per book	$3.65 per book
Full-color books with 42-250 pages	$1.75 per book	$0.85 per book

"Per-Page Charge

Some books with higher page counts may also have a per-page charge."

Per-Page Charges
	Standard	Pro Plan
Black and white books with 24-108 pages	None	None
Black and white books with 110-828 pages	$0.02 per page	$0.012 per page
Full-color books with 24-40 pages	None	None
Full-color books with 42-250 pages	$0.12 per page	$0.07 per page

"Based on the above figures, if an author goes for the Pro-Plan distribution on our average example of a 200 page black and white interior and full colour cover books, then we are looking at the following royalty share for authors if they set a retail price at $10:

Through CreateSpace bookstore - $10 less 20% ($2) distribution, less fixed charge for Pro-Plan ($0.85), less page charge ($2.40) = $4.75

Through Amazon bookstore - $10 less 40% ($4) distribution, less fixed charge for Pro-Plan ($0.85), less page charge ($2.40) = $2.75

Through other expanded channels - $10 less 60% ($6) distribution, less fixed charge for Pro-Plan ($0.85), less page charges ($2.40) = $0.75"

"Total Design Freedom Standard

Let a team of professionals work their magic with your manuscript—we'll use your input to custom-design your book's interior and cover while maintaining your unique vision for your book.

Price: $728.00*

Total Design Freedom Essentials

Having high-quality content and a top-notch design are essential to the success of your book. With Total Design Freedom Essentials, you'll receive great savings on our copyediting and book design services to create a professional, polished, one-of-a-kind book.

Price: $1,737.00*

Total Design Freedom Advanced

Want to create a polished, great-looking book and get a head start with marketing? Total Design Freedom Advanced offers a round of copyediting to help refine and prepare your manuscript for publication, the flexibility of a custom-designed book cover and interior, plus a press release with distribution to help get your book noticed.

Price: $2,315.00*

Total Design Freedom Marketing Pro

Launch your book in style with Total Design Freedom Marketing Pro. This comprehensive publishing solution comes equipped with multiple rounds of copyediting, custom book design including a Signature Book Cover, and an assortment of effective marketing tools.

Price: $4,634.00*"

PLEASE CHECK CS MOST RECENT PRICES IN RELATION TO ABOVE

It is obviously worth making a Kindle version available with Amazon if you are going to use CreateSpace to publish your book. The service itself does not come at a fee and the author gets 30% royalties on the retail price.

 

Like competitor Lulu, CreateSpace offer access to a thriving online community of CreateSpace authors well worth browsing if any author is seriously considering using this service. CreateSpace offers an abundance of other services from design and layout to editing, but again, CreateSpace’s strength lies in being a provider of DIY self-publishing services for authors who can provide print ready files and I would like to think that they will not go the way of Lulu and start to place more of an emphasis on some of the expensive packages listed above.

CreateSpace is now at the forefront of DIY self-publishing and the introduction of the Pro-Plan at $39 makes it a difficult choice to ignore. Short of working with Ingram's Lightning Source (a more complex undertaking for the DIY self-publisher), CS beats Lulu hands down on front end pricing, and lacks some of the frustrations authors experience with Smashwords.

CS is still not for the faint-hearted, but with a well-edited and complete print file, you really won't find a better DIY service. I'd take a lot of the added packages, bells and whistles, with a pinch of salt. Go to a freelance designer or marketer if you want those services.

UPDATE: Nov 2010 -CreateSpace announce service improvements.

UPDATE: May 2012 CreateSpace Fully Rolls Out Distribution on Amazon Europe

RATING: 8.5/10

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CreateSpace - Reviewed (Update Jan 2013)

Self-Publishing Cover Design Survey and Some Wise Words

Book cover design is something we regularly discuss on The Independent Publishing Magazine, and along with a lack of professional editing, they are two fundamental areas where self-published authors often fall short. I've always insisted that authors should never approach self-publishing as the poor man's take on traditional publishing. If you do fail to invest in professional editing and design, then you risk severely limiting the chances your book has for success.

 

Matador is one of leading UK self-publishing service providers and the company has been a top 5 mainstay in TIPM's Publishing Index for past few years. In short, Matador actually try to do what many other publishing providers claim to do, but don't – provide proper distribution and sell books! Matador has launched an online survey to find their best cover of 2012. You can take a look at the best of their book covers and vote for your favourite. The author of the book voted best cover 2012 will receive a book token, but the real winners of the survey will be Arthritis Research UK who will receive a donation from Matador as soon as the voting reaches one hundred.

Thanks to Harry Bingham of The Writers' Workshop for bringing the survey to my attention. Harry has also blogged some very wise words about cover design and professionalism in self-publishing this week and it is well worth a read. Here is just a snippet from his piece.

"One of our long-standing gripes with self-pub has been that most self-pub covers look like self-pub covers. They have tended to look more visibly amateurish than the things you find in bookshops – and if you’re selling a product that has a vastly smaller marketing budget / distribution network / name recognition / media support, why on earth do people add this extra encumbrance to success?

 

But of course the issue there isn’t that people choose to publish themselves – we’ve always been keen on the freedom that offers – it’s that too many people choose to publish badly. And nothing, but nothing, about self-pub needs to be anything other than immaculately professional.

 

That means (A) proper editorial work, (B) proper copy-editing, and (C) proper production values, with cover design the most prominent part of that."


UPDATED MARCH 2013

Winner of Best Matador Book Cover of 2012 Announced!

Matador are delighted to announce that Journey to Peace by Adam Joe Lawton has won their 2012 cover design competition – a competition set up to showcase the best Matador-designed book covers from 2012 while supporting the valuable work done by Arthritis Research UK.

Journey to Peace stormed to victory in the competition, taking over 40% of all votes cast. In second place was Steve Millward’s Changing Times, followed closely by Roses Under the Miombo Trees by Amanda Parkyn.

The competition raised over £300 for Arthritis Research UK, as Matador donated money to the charity as part of the competition. ‘It's a charity close to our heart as a member of staff has been diagnosed with Psoriatic Arthritis and Ankylosing Spondylitis,’ observes Matador Managing Director, Jeremy Thompson. ‘We’re thrilled that so many people voted in our online competition and helped raised the profile of self-published books as well as some money for a fantastic charity.’

Terry Compton, Matador’s head of production, who oversaw the design of the winning cover, comments: ‘We place a huge amount of importance on cover design at Matador and I think that the variety and quality of the designs shortlisted for the competition shows that.’

 

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Self-Publishing Cover Design Survey and Some Wise Words

Guest Post: Overcoming The 7 Deadly Sins of Writing | Tom Corson-Knowles

1. Fear

Fear is the #1 killer of success as a writer. It’s why most people wake up every morning and work in a 9-5 job they hate. It’s why more heart attacks happen on Monday mornings while people are on their way to an unfulfilling job. It’s why writers will throw away their manuscript instead of self-publishing or dealing with the rejection of pursuing a publishing contract. It’s why we put off making the important decisions in our life. It’s why we’re more concerned with what other people think of us than we are with what we think of ourselves.

We’re afraid of what others will think and say about us. We’re afraid of failing. We’re afraid of succeeding. We’re afraid of getting rejected. We’re afraid of getting published and not selling, or having readers hate our work. We’re afraid of 1-star and 2-star reviews.

Well guess what! Harry Potter Book 1 has 94 1-star reviews and 88 2-star reviews and I don’t even have those many negative reviews on my 20+ books combined! And guess what else? J.K. Rowling sells way more books than I do.

Fear is just an illusion. It says that you shouldn’t finish your book because others might not like it. The truth is if your book becomes successful, changes the world and helps millions of people live a happier life, millions of others probably won’t like it! Some will hate it and some will love it. That’s just how the world works. If you just try to please everyone, you end up pleasing no one.

A parable in the bible says Jesus gave a great speech one day to thousands and thousands of people. At the end of his incredible presentation, there were some believers, some mockers and some who just didn’t understand. If Jesus couldn’t get 100% positive response then why would you ever expect your book to get a 100% positive response? That’s just not how the world works.

Successful writers understand that fear is an illusion and they act in spite of fear. Are you willing to take action even in the face of your fear?

2. Procrastination

Procrastination will murder your success and rob you blind if you let it! You have to have the self-control, self-motivation and self-discipline to keep making progress with your writing. Procrastination is a simply a habit and we all suffer from it to some extent.

The reason we procrastinate is because we associate more pain with taking action than we do with not taking action. For example, if you’re procrastinating on publishing your book, it’s probably because you associate pain with the unknown aspects of publishing, potential rejections and other challenges. That pain you anticipate is stronger than the anticipated pleasure of publishing your book. That’s why you don’t do it!

If you want to do a quick exercise to get rid of your procrastination instantly, just grab a piece of paper and a pen right now. Write down at the top of the blank page of paper what action you’re procrastinating and putting off. For example, “publishing my book.” Then, on the right side write “pain” and the left side “pleasure” with a dividing line down the middle. In the pain side, write down all the reasons why taking action could be painful, such as “I’d rather watch TV” or “I don’t want to be rejected” or “what if it doesn’t sell?” – but the catch is you have to write in the tiniest possible handwriting you can. Write the painful outcomes as small as humanly possible – if you can’t read it then you’re doing it right.

Now, on the side under pleasure, write down all the reasons why taking that action will bring you pleasure such as “I could become a best-selling author” or “I could earn a great income from my royalties” or “I would gain the respect of my peers and readers.” Write the pleasurable outcomes in your normal handwriting or maybe even a bit bigger than normal – you want it to take up the whole pleasure side of the page.

When you’re done writing the pain and pleasure outcomes, look at the paper. You should clearly now see that you’re going to get a lot more pleasure from getting it done than by putting it off. Now you have reframed your perspective and you should be excited now to go get it done rather than anxious about it.

3. Indecision

Indecision will also murder your success and rob you blind! Indecision comes from insecurity in us as well as old habits. Indecision is really just another form of procrastination – but instead of hesitating to take action, we’re hesitating to decide something. You might be indecisive about what the title of your book should be or whether to self-publish or find an agent.

General Colin Powell said, “Indecision has cost the American government, American businesses, and the American people billions of dollars more than the wrong decision.” And he’s right!

Fundamentally, we are indecisive because we have low self-esteem. Maybe we’re repeated negative thoughts in our head or we were unconsciously taught as a child not to be decisive. Maybe we got punished in the past for making a decision that someone else didn’t like. Whatever it is doesn’t really matter. The key is to understand that you can ALWAYS change your decisions later. You can publish your book today on Kindle and then two days from now, change the title. It’s okay to make changes! But the good news is, when you start being decisive and making decisions quickly, you’ll find you don’t need to change your decisions very often. Most of the time, you’ll do it just right and you will have saved yourself a lot of time, worry and energy by making a good decision without procrastinating. And when you do have to make a tough decision to change something important, you’ll get it done right away so you can move on with your life.

Are there any important decisions you’ve been putting off? Write them down write now in your notebook and commit to making a decision before your head hits the pillow tonight.

4. Perfectionism

Perfectionism is highly related to procrastination and indecision as well. Oftentimes, it’s our perfectionism that keeps us from finishing a project or publishing a book. “It’s not quite ready yet...” we keep telling ourselves. But the truth is it will NEVER be ready according to your perfect standards! THERE IS NO PERFECT BOOK AND THERE NEVER WILL BE.

If you’re trying to write a perfect book, you’ll die before you ever reach that goal. Look at all the New York Times bestsellers. I’ve read many professionally published books that had typos, grammatical errors or phrases or sentences that didn’t make sense or were even just factually incorrect. Despite having a whole publishing house and a team of editors, those New York Times bestsellers still aren’t perfect! So how could little old you possibly write a perfect book? You can’t! So don’t even try.

Here’s what you can do: write the best book you’re capable of writing today. Then publish it. If you want to make changes or edits to it later, that’s totally fine. You can come out with a 2^nd or 3^rd or 797^th edition. You don’t have to be perfect to become a bestselling author – but you do have to finish writing and editing and publish your book.

5. Lack of Money

A lot of would-be authors say they don’t have enough cash to write and publish a book. Nonsense! It’s cheaper today to publish a book than it ever has been in the history of the world.

I’ve published books on Amazon Kindle for as little as $5 – that’s right, just five dollars! If you learn how to write the book yourself, edit it yourself, format it yourself, publish it yourself, and hire a cover designer on Fiverr.com for $5, then you have a $5 book. Heck, if you use the GIMP graphic design software and know some graphic design skills, you could even publish it for free.

Now, I’m not telling you to go the ultra-cheap route, but if money is an issue then why not? Don’t let money stop you from writing and publishing a book. There’s no excuse for that anymore!

6. Lack of Knowledge

Knowledge can be a huge stumbling block for new authors. I know it was knowledge combined with fear that stopped me from publishing my first book over 6 years ago! It took me 6 years to publish my first book because I didn't know how to.

You don’t have that excuse anymore! You can learn how to format and upload your book to Kindle in less than an hour with the free Kindle formatting guides from Amazon.

7. Lack of Vision

Lack of vision can be just as deadly to your success. It means you can’t see where you’re going. You have no goals or dreams you’re shooting for. You can’t see how it’s going to happen. You can’t even imagine writing a book – where would you start?

Jack Canfield tells a wonderful story that illustrates this concept. Imagine you were driving from California to New York at night in your car. Your headlights on your car only show about the next 200 feet of road. You can’t possible see what’s beyond the next 200 feet. But you can still drive from California to New York at night without a problem. Why? Because you have a road map or GPS. You have directions. And, even more importantly, you just know in your mind that you’re going to get there if you keep moving forward.

If you can see your goals and dreams in your mind as clearly as you can see that driving your car will get you from point A to point B, you’ll have no problem becoming a successful writer. With a great vision, when challenges or obstacles come up, you just go over, under, around or through them. You do whatever it takes to succeed because you know deep down in your heart that you have what it takes.

Do you have a strong vision for your life and your writing career?

 

About The Author:

Tom Corson-Knowles is an entrepreneur, blogger and international bestselling author. He started his first business at age 13, manufacturing SAD lamps out of his father's garage. By the time he graduated from Indiana University Kelley School of Business at age 22, Tom was earning a full-time income from his business marketing whole food nutrition supplements. He then decided to share what he had learned on his way to becoming a successful businessman through writing. Today, Tom teaches new and established authors and writers how to have incredible success by writing and selling ebooks.

His other books include The Kindle Publishing Bible and The Kindle Formatting Bible, among others. You can learn more about Tom at his marketing blog. Connect with Tom on Facebook and Twitter @Juicetom

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Guest Post: Overcoming The 7 Deadly Sins of Writing | Tom Corson-Knowles