Monday, February 26, 2007

Places You Can Go To Get Some Basics

Okay here's a reading assignment for anyone who is thinking about publishing a book.

You must completely understand ISBNs. You can find almost everything you need to know right here. http://www.isbn.org/standards/home/isbn/us/isbnqa.asp#Q11

Pete Masterson has links to everything about self-publishing at his website. http://www.aeonix.com/

If you wondered just how many small publishers there are out there visit the Independent Book Publishers Association. http://www.pma-online.org/

Learn about the No. 1 book event in the U.S. - Book Expo America. http://www.bookexpoamerica.com

Start thinking about how you're going to sell your book way before you ever print it. Find hard core info about that process here. http://www.midpointtradebooks.com/faqs.aspx

It will be overwhelming. But if you don't do your homework it's hard to pass the course.

Michael LaLumiere

Thursday, February 22, 2007

Your Time Versus Your Money Is An Interesting Equation

You've heard it from me before. Don't try to publish a high-end book without having a lot of money to spend on the project. Trying to publish using short cuts spells d-o-o-m.

I've also said that all the self-publishing answers are on the Internet courtesy of your buddy Mr. Google.

But I'm willing to admit that reading about something on the Internet isn't the same as being in pre-production on the biggest gamble of your publishing life. Naturally you may feel isolated and although you've been working on it for years you're still a newbie and you could do something stupid that might harm the project.

I recommend working with a self-publishing consultant. Here's an example of why.

I'm working on the final pre-production tasks for a novel I've written. I wanted to make sure I had everything I needed for the copyright page. I've done them for children's picture books but this was different and I didn't want to make a mistake. I could look at other novels and see what they did. But you don't always know what you don't know.

So I sent a copy of what I had to a consultant I work with. Later that day he reviewed and fixed what I had. That probably saved me a couple days of angst about whether I did it right or not.

Here's another example. You always want to list your book in Bowker's Books In Print because it's a data base that's respected and people can find out about your book there. But for a newbie the questions asked during the process are very difficult.

It's important that you have the right book info listed in this important data base but if you're not a hard core book merchant it will make you want to throw your computer out the window. Fortunately Pete the consultant is helping me get the right answers into my file. That's saving me days and heartburn.

So what do you have to pay these people? First of all there are more of them every day as the self-publishing business grows way faster than the standard publishing business. But expect to pay anywhere from $125 to $300 an hour.

I've found that certain people are helpful in very specific areas but few have everything you need. I've also found people who really shouldn't be consultants.

Bottomline: I believe two days of my time is worth a lot of money. So paying a consultant for me is a bargain. There's just too much at stake to screw around.

Michael LaLumiere

Monday, February 19, 2007

It's Dangerous To Learn As You Go

I admit it, when it comes to self-publishing, I only spend time learning those things I need to know right now. Time is always tight and I hate to spend it on research that I don't have use for within the next day or so.

For an old guy like me I use the excuse that for every new thing I let in my brain, something else has to come out. And I have no control over what comes out so I have to be careful.

But really I'm just lazy.

Unfortunately that bad habit can kill your project before you ever get a chance to sell a book.

Say you went through the process of printing a book. And you didn't buy the most basic of all book things - an ISBN number. The project is dead on arrival. No one will ever be able to buy your book except from you personally. What if you bought the ISBN number from the wrong place. The project is dead on arrival. Same reason. Everyone who sells books uses ISBN numbers.

Did you purchase a library code and put it on your publisher page? No. You just lost a gigantic market. Without that code a library can't buy the book.

Remember when we talked about cover design? Did you end up having a friend design the cover to save money? Dead on arrival. Neither a book wholesaler or distributor will take on a book that doesn't have a professional looking cover. That means no bookstores can buy the books.

Have you written out a marketing plan that talks about how many books will be sold and who will buy them? No? Neither a book wholesaler or distributor will take on a book that doesn't have a good marketing plan. That means no bookstores can buy the books.

All the information you need to stay ahead of the learning curve is easily found on the Internet. But you can't afford to be lazy because bad things will happen.

Michael LaLumiere

Thursday, February 15, 2007

More Talk About Book Covers

Last time I mentioned a little problem about Team Princess Caitlin's choice of a book cover. Since then the other members of the team haven't emailed me once. It's tough at the top, even in the self-publishing world.

But if you're going to take this self-publishing business seriously the cover is such an important issue. So I wanted to dedicate a few more words to it.

Here's the link to a cover that was recently designed for a novel I wrote. http://staggerleebooks.com/CLComp17lores.pdf

That cover was No. 17 in the process which really isn't that many for a novel. It's not like a children's picture book because in that case you likely already have the cover illustration somewhere inside the book. With a novel you're starting with AIR.

After I OK'd the cover I sent it to a self-publishing list/group to critique. The designer cringed because she knew a lot of weird stuff was about to be said. While most of the feedback was positive there was a few jokers complaining about the typeface, the type placement, the lake was too blue, there wasn't any contrast, the image was out of focus, the title was too sad, whatever.

I really do take all critiques seriously. You have to in any business because it shouldn't be about your ego it has to be about the best possible outcome.

But I rate this cover as nearly perfect for this particular novel. I'm even willing to say I've never seen a better cover for a self-published novel. People who know me just gasped. I never say stuff like that.

My rating is based on reaching the No. 1 goal - getting people to pick up the damn book. That's the only goal there is for a book cover. They don't have to buy it. That's the job of the story description on the sleeve, a lot of marketing, a very well-written story, a hundred other things. The book cover simply needs to get the potential buyer to pick it up. And you know what? The buyer doesn't care about typefaces or leading or a lot of other things. Are they interested enough to pick up the book is all that matters.

In this case the photograph does at least 75 percent of the job. It's a stunning, moody image that thousands of people in the Northwest will relate to. I licensed the image from a well-known landscape photographer. The book designer wanted me to buy a much less expensive image of the lake because she felt she could manipulate any image to whatever we needed and then I wouldn't have to pay the big dough for this particular photo.

I looked at a thousand images of Crater Lake. She was wrong. We needed a photo just like this one for this particular book. I think the difference in cost was $350. She was just trying to help me out. But if I had done that I would have made the same mistake I made on the Caitlin book.

I believe that choice will end up being critical to marketing this book.

The headline works too. It's provocative and many people will stop and wonder what that's about. I relieve confusion by having "A Novel" right there so they know. More than one person tried to talk me into a two-word title - that's a trend today. Some people believe that a question headline is a cheap device. Sometimes it obviously is but not in this case. When you learn more about the story it fits perfectly on a couple different levels. The only better marketing device would have been "Written by Nora Roberts'' or someone like that. (Now that would have been a cheap trick as she didn't write it.)

So I think this cover is going to work. I might be proven wrong.

But I believe the moral of the story is if you don't think something is just right for YOUR book you absolutely have to try something else.

Michael LaLumiere

Monday, February 12, 2007

It's So Easy To Make A Bad Cover Decision

Let's talk about book covers for a moment.

I'm thinking a lot about covers right now because I'm going through that process on a novel I've written. So many of the tasks are different when doing a novel but one thing remains the same. The most important page of most books is THE COVER. At least if you're interested in marketing or selling more than one or two copies a year.

Ginger the artist and my crazy co-writer persuaded me to use the current cover on our "Princess Caitlin's Tiara'' (See below) picture book. It was a bad decision on my part. I was responsible and I made a bad decision. Not because I thought it was the greatest cover ever but because I was just giving my friends the benefit of the doubt. Remember this rule: NEVER BE NICE WHEN IT COMES TO CHOOSING YOUR COVER. The goal of writing the book is to have people buy it.

So what's really important is how enticing that cover is when it's sitting on a bookshelf or being represented online by a small cover image.

Now, both Ginger and Kim read this blog so they will be annoyed with me but what I say is the truth. The image is nice but they both got emotionally involved with it. Ginger is a fantastic artist. She's working on another one of our books now. But almost every illustration in the Princess book would have had more impact on the cover than the one we chose.

Darn it.

They still don't agree with me but it's a burden I must carry. If you check out the other book -"Birthday Snow'' - that's the effect a cover should have.

When we do the next printing of the Princess Book it will have a different cover. More people will read it because of that. Again, THAT'S WHAT'S MOST IMPORTANT.

Not only that I broke a rule I mentioned earlier. If you have a feeling something is wrong change it.

Michael LaLumiere

Thursday, February 8, 2007

Once You Commit To A Press Run Everything Is Serious Business

So, we're looking overseas for an offset printer to do our children's book.

During this whole process the best helper I've had is Google. It almost never fails me. No matter how specific a question I have or how broad an issue I need training on, I type the words in and I instantly have good leads in finding help.

This is because the self-publishing business is getting so big. There are many highly-qualified experts out there with websites that list many helpful articles and tips. There are also list groups. The best one I've found is self-publishing@yahoogroups.com. I wish I'd found it a year ago. Do these searches and you won't have to learn everything the hard way.

Through these websites and groups you can get an already screened list of potential print vendors.

When using an overseas printer you'll either contact a broker here in the U.S. or deal directly with a rep from the company. Dealing direct saves you money. A broker saves you gray hairs. But as you might suspect you'll pay more for that help. You'll pay nearly 2/3rds more if you use a U.S. printer.

Downsides for printing overseas are the potential communication and shipping problems. Plus it takes two to three months from the time you hand over the file until the time you get books on your driveway.

Like many other industries, China is taking over the offset printing business. I had my first two books done in South Korea.

Something you may not be thinking about is formatting. In a children's picture book an experienced illustrator can do most of the formatting. But artists aren't book formatters. That's not their expertise. In my case I've had good luck because the artists I worked with were patient and could handle most file issues. But if that printer doesn't get a problem-free file they're going to charge you. Because of the sketchy communication you really don't know if you caused the problem or they did. Either way you're going to pay for it.

I suggest you take the file from your artist and have a professional print formatter do the work. They'll also probably find some content errors because of your inexperience. That's a good thing. But again it's expensive. If you can't pay for professional services don't publish a high-quality book.

One of the things that constantly comes up on the self-publishing blogs is self-publishers asking for advice on how to do things themselves and for shortcuts.

We've been over this right? The book will absolutely fail if you're under capitalized. Don't do it. If you do a job a professional should be doing it just won't work. I know.

Michael LaLumiere

Monday, February 5, 2007

Okay It's Time To Get Serious, What Do You Do First?

I guess I couldn't convince you to rethink your idea about publishing books.

But first, again, i'd like to say I think everyone should publish a book. I do believe the world would be a better place if everyone wrote a book. I just don't want people thinking they can make money at it except in very, very specific cases.

The first place to start is www.bowker.com. Read everything on this site. This is the starting place for making your book official. You buy ISBNs here. This is the number that identifies your book for everyone in the book industry. As I mentioned earlier I made the mistake of buying an ISBN from a POD publisher. Don't do it.

You have to buy ISBN numbers in blocks of 10 or 100. Remember that each version of a book - paperback, hard cover, etc., - requires its own ISBN number. That's why the numbers are sold in blocks.

You need an ISBN before you print your book. It's like the book's social security number. It's always printed on the book.

There's a lot of discussion on the Internet regarding the relative quality between offset printing and digital printing. Digital printing is the future. Its quality is getting better almost every day. Its magic is one book at a time can be printed.

But the following is still the final word on this discussion today. If you're doing a full color children's book, test it with a digital press, but when you're ready to do the press run have it done on an offset press. There's not a single picture book at your local Barnes and Noble that's printed on anything but offset.

If money is a factor then you'll have to use a press that's outside the United States. Your homework assignment is to go to http://www.aeonix.com/ . Pete Masterson has a list of printers there that will give you an idea of who is doing what.

Michael LaLumiere

Thursday, February 1, 2007

It's Still Not Too Late To Stop The Craziness

Just because I decided to go all in doesn't mean you should.

If you've done your book the right way and hired a professionally good illustrator you've spent a few thousand dollars at least up to this point. Not to mention all the time and anxiety you've put yourself and others through.

I read a column the other day that was so true about Americans in general. It was in reference to George Bush. The gist was that most people can't seem to make the decision to cut their losses even if there's no reasonable chance of success. Pride takes over and bad decisions become horrible decisions.

The idea that you can't stop now because of all the money and time you've put in is faulty logic if the chances for success are bleak.

You still have to pay someone to format the book, print the book, ship the book and if it hasn't been executed at a top professional level nothing you do can make it successful. Much more money will have to be spent just to sell a book.

So if you want to get 1,500 children's books printed for some other reason that to get your money back then go ahead. But the old saying don't throw good money after bad is very true.

Smart, successful business people can make that tough decision but generally people like us who are caught up in the allure of being in the book business can't.

Michael LaLumiere