Archive for publishing
Find Your Best Publishing Path
Posted by: | CommentsAs I was thinking through the most valuable things I could give you as “your book publishing coach,” what hit me was that the most important thing you need to know is which of the three publishing paths is right for you.
What, you don’t know what the three publishing paths even are?
Don’t feel bad, few do. Until recently, there weren’t really more than one publishing path.
But as you know if you’ve been reading me at all, things in publishing have changed tremendously.
Now there are three pretty distinct paths of publishing, and if you don’t know what they are and which one you’re on, Read More→
“Which Publisher Will Get Me into the Bookstores?”
Posted by: | CommentsSomeone listened to the interview I did with Terry Whalin about publishing and Intermedia, and asked me if Intermedia is on a par with traditional publishers in terms of its relationship with brick and mortar stores.
As far as I can tell, yes, they are. (Which is more than most if not all other “publishing services” companies can say.)
However, you must understand that huge changes are happening in the retail sales world. Read More→
Email Overload & New Era Publishing Strategies: Publishing Coach Weekly Replay Ready
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Listen to the latest Publishing Coach Weekly teleseminar replay to find out how many emails I had in my inbox (before I started using Randy’s book, Taming the Email Beast), how to conquer YOUR email overload, and what common practice brings your IQ down by 10 points–that’s part 1.
Part 2 reveals the fascinating (and encouraging) story of how Randy got published, how his amazon campaign went for the launch of his book, the “new era publishing” strategies that are working for him, and more.
http://www.wordstoprofit.com/tamingemailbeast.html
For this week’s Publishing Coach Weekly article, I asked Jimmy D. Brown to write a guest article because I ALWAYS learn something useful from Jimmy.
In this case, he’s talking about what makes information sell in an age where, as you well know, we’re all inundated with too much information. What he says here is an important piece of what I call “the new era of publishing.”
Please read the article and my follow-up suggestion. (Jimmy is always practical, and offers great resources.) I also included comments on Jimmy’s ideas in a couple of places.
I want you to add a new word to your business vocabulary…
The word is “specialization”.
A new age has dawned in information marketing. And it’s the age of “specialization.”
Before I explain how this will help you create information products that sell like crazy, let me give you a very brief history lesson. Click to continue reading.
How to Get a 6-Figure Book Advance
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It’s almost unheard of these days in publishing for an author to get a high five-figure book advance, let alone six figures.
It’s difficult even to get any literary agent to take on your book, let alone one of the top literary agents in the country.
Yet one author managed to do both.
On Thursday, I’m going to grill this author, Noah St. John, on how he did this.
And YOU also get a chance to ask Noah your question as well.
I plan to ask how long it took him to find an agent, what his book proposal was like, how he made contact with his agent, what it was like to have his book go on auction, what he’s doing now to promote his book, etc.
The “etc.” means YOUR questions.
So go ahead, ask Noah and sign up for the very first “great author promotions” teleseminar, in which we’ll learn from successful authors what their proven secrets are.
The teleseminar is at the usual Publishing Coach Weekly time: Thursday at 1 pm Eastern, noon Central, 11 am. Mountain and 10 am Pacific. There will be a replay is you miss it, but attending live means you can ask Noah questions that occur to you during the interview.
One more thing: No doubt a big part of Noah’s success is his actually doing what his book is about. Title: The Secret Code of Success. It’s not your typical “success/self-help book”; there’s real meat here beyond the kind of “believe it and it will happen” advice so prevalent today. You can get his great insights for less than $14 at amazon.
Then, you’ll be eligible to attend his free bookinar and really put into action what you learn. We’ll tell you how to access the bookinar on the teleseminar.
How to Get Readers to Actually Read Your Book: Case Study of a Bookinar
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Noah St. John’s new book, The Secret Code of Success, just came out, and he’s doing some innovative things to promote his message that are worth studying.
(By the way, he got a six-figure advance for the book from a major publisher, no doubt on the strength of the content, the platform he’d already built, and his marketing plan.)
Noah is currently doing a “bookinar” in which, over the course of 4 or 5 modules, he is being interviewed by Alex Mandossian about the content of the book. The book is your “ticket” to attend the webinar, which makes sense, since the book is the curriculum. On the bookinar Noah explains the book, and gives exercises that will enable you to get the most out of the content.
It’s a lot like a Virtual Book Tour, but it goes a step beyond by becoming an interactive course, based on the book.
Brilliant. This is “New Era Publishing” strategy at its best. Noah is providing a way for readers to Read More→
Who Might Steal Your Idea?
Posted by: | Comments“How do I protect my book idea from being stolen?” is a question I’m often asked.
My answer is usually two-fold.
First, once you have your words down on paper, you are protected by copyright law. So if you sent me (or a literary agent or an editor) your manuscript, you are already protected from anyone stealing your idea. If someone put out your exact words with their name on it, you’d have a pretty strong case for their plagiarizing your work.
However, remember that copyright law protects only your expression–the exact words-not the ideas. (Note too: You cannot copyright book titles. So someone can use your exact book title.)
Second, you have to realize that people you would send your book to–a publishing coach like me, or an agent, or an editor at a publishing house–have no reason to steal your ideas. We are way too busy doing our work (if we’re reputable, and most of us are), to take your work and run with it–especially if you’ve already developed it and are known somewhat for your idea. (There’s that platform thing again. If you already have a following around your idea, how on earth could I or someone else compete? Why would we want to?)
Also, we do have our reputations to protect. What’s in it for us if we take your idea?
Seth Godin, in his recent blog post, makes another excellent point. Book publishing is an industry based on buying ideas. “A company that likes buying ideas has a process,” Seth says. “They make it relatively straightforward and they have no upside in stealing from you. A company that isn’t in that business puts up barriers. They troll around trade shows looking for ideas to take.” (Seth adds that he doesn’t think there’s anything wrong with that, legally or morally.)
The people who might steal your ideas are not those in publishing, but people in your own industry. If your idea is complicated, patent it, Seth says. If it’s simple enough to dream up in a week, Seth says “the only way you’re going to protect it is to build it, fast and well.”
That is, develop it, get it out there to your following (through ezine articles, blog posts, or podcasts, for example), and get known for it. Then you can organize it into a book format you can publish (either by convincing a traditional publisher to publish you, or by self-publishing).
