AuthorHouse Blog

If you attended the WriteStuff Writers’ Boot Camp in Lyndhurst, Ohio on Friday or the Midwest Writers Conference in Muncie, Indiana on Saturday, here is a download of my presentation entitled “How to Leverage the Internet to Market Your Book.” I suggest you read through this blog for more detailed information on pay per click, search engines, how to pick a domain name, and other topics of interest. Thanks for coming!

Tom Britt Internet Book Marketing Presentation

Watch the presentation online without downloads

For authors trying to promote their books on Amazon.com, a solution is on the horizon: Clickriver ads. Much like the infamous Google AdWords and Yahoo! Search Marketing programs, Clickriver looks to deliver targeted pay per click advertising on Amazon.com for anyone selling products or services (including books!). While the program is in beta right now, look for a full release in late August. In the meantime, learn from your Google and Yahoo! campaigns and sign up for Clickriver now so you can be the first to bid on search terms around your book’s subject and/or genre.

A great public service to you writers out there looking for an agent: Writers Beware.

The Science Fiction Writers Association has compiled a list of over 400 questionable or fraudulent agents that received the most complaints from writers. Practices such as fee-charging, paid editing services, referral fees, non-standard agreements, and misrepresentation of skills are all common pitfalls to avoid when contracting with an agent. Surprisingly, I know of a few of these on the list.

Before you go down this road, do your due diligence! Check out the thumbs down list.

Many people that I meet on the road that are looking to publish their books have no idea what to expect by way of costs. Visions of finding an agent that will take you on a contingency, friends that will edit for free, and landing a publisher and getting a six-figure check advance dance in many people’s minds.

That just doesn’t happen folks.

Whenever people ask me how I think they should get published, my first questions are very simple:

1. How much money do you want to spend?
2. How many books will you sell?

Based on these two variables, I can pretty much rule out or in many of your options. In an abbreviated manner, here is the skinny on four different publishing routes based on these two variables.

Traditional publishing: If you have a lot of time (2+ years), have at least $2,000-$4,000 to invest, and can handle rejection, have a non-fiction book with national appeal, do well on camera or on the radio, and think you can sell at least 5,000 copies to people you don’t know this might be a good route to pursue. Keep in mind only 2 out of 100 manuscripts are actually published traditionally so the odds are working against you already. Your advance will be less than you ever dreamed, you probably won’t earn out your advance, and you will give up your rights. Pessimistic? Not really. Realistic? Probably.

Cost: $2,000-$4,000 (editing help, postage)
Upsides: marketing support, vested partner in promotions, distribution, sales support
Downsides: give up rights, low royalties, long turnaround time

Vanity publishing: If you have a lot of money, not a lot of time (up to one year), have a platform already such as a speaker consultant or professional, know a good designer, and are willing to take the risk on selling the minimum print run of 1,500 books this might be a good option for you. Generally, people that choose vanity printing are wealthy people that don’t really care if they sell all their inventory, but they do want to be in control of the design, hiring the printer, inventory, and selling books in the back of the room. While the initial cost is high, the return can be huge if you sell all your books. Don’t think about bookstore distribution unless you are doing signings. There are a lot of these one-off authors beating down the bookstores’ doors, your book might be beautiful but so are the other 75,000 books they have on consignment in their stores.

Cost: $20,000-$40,000 (layout, printing, 5,000 books)
Upsides: retain ownership, low cost per book, control look & feel of book
Downsides: initial cost, distribution, Internet sales hard to do

Self publishing: For a low cost entry point, low sales volume, and busy authors self publishing is a good option. Several self publishing companies (over 80,000 in the US) can help you in the design, layout, distribution, and promotion of your book. If self publishing is the route you take, finding the right one is probably the hardest part. I would recommend AuthorHouse (of course) and iUniverse myself. Both companies are large, well-funded, and give authors the ability to name their own royalty schedules.

Cost: $1,000-$2,000 (layout, 25 books)
Upsides: retain your rights, distribution, Internet sales,  customization
Downsides: limited trim sizes, higher per unit cost, marketing support