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DT – Your book can become many products. Before you start decide what products you want it to become.
022 hours ago
by Glen
in Daily Tweets
At one time, it was possible to charge a fair price for books and even eBooks. There were two distinct markets for eBooks especially. One charged a premium price for high quality work. These eBooks charged $47, $97, $157, $197 and up to as high as $297 for the information contained in the book. These books competed with hard covered print books of the traditional publishers. The other class of eBook typically sold on Clickbank for $1 to $7 and sometimes as high as $17. Generally, it was of inferior quality, poorly written and often poorly edited.
Unfortunately (or fortunately), Amazon imposed a new price structure on eBooks. Suddenly $9.95 was the maximum price a publisher could charge for an eBook. The free book promotion was king. eBooks at ninety-seven cents are now common. Regardless of the validity of Amazon’s action, the Kindle has undercut the business model for publishing.
While it is still possible to make good money from selling a single book, it is less likely simply because the margin is so low. However, it is possible if you think in terms of profiting from a product line rather than from a single book. The new paradigm to survive in this market environment is a post-sales funnel. This consists of an entry level product (such as a low priced eBook), followed by a series of moderately priced products (printed copies, and higher priced eBooks). The funnel then continues on to a series of high margin products (such as speaking engagements, consulting, and coaching).
Like this tweet? Get the complete collection from Amazon “101 Writing Tweets: 101 Tips and Tweets about Writing How-To Books for the Kindle” by Glen Ford
DT – Books are not essays. You need a system when writing long pieces like books or eBooks
01 day ago
by Glen
in Daily Tweets
One of the problems with our educational system is that we train students to write essays and then leave them with the impression that writing a book is the same. There are many types of writing forms and each of them has a unique set of needs. The system each writing form requires reflects those unique needs.
Short pieces such as essays, articles, reports and white papers need a system which is easy to use, easy to learn and doesn’t represent a great deal of effort. After all, these are simple pieces and the overhead of a complex system is neither justified nor wise. Outlining is the typical process that we are taught in school.
However, in fiction terms, a short story is about the maximum that this technique will support before it begins to break down. Book length pieces have their own requirements that a simple outline will not be capable of providing. And because these are longer pieces representing weeks of effort, they can justify you expending greater effort on the design stage of the book.
But size isn’t the only consideration. Time-based writing such as fiction or screenwriting has its own set of requirements. After all, you need to coordinate time, characters, setting and plot. Information-based writing such as how-to books and other non-fiction is focused on organizing facts, ideas, and concepts. It is this type of writing that this book and my own writing system are focused on. If you are interested you can find my book on the writing system I use and a series of videos on selecting the right writing system for you at http://www.learningcreators.com.
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Bye, bye Wiley We’re going to miss you. (Another one bites the dust).
02 days ago
Wiley Canada has been a major figure in the Canadian book publishing world for as long as I can remember. I can remember back in Kindergarten reading Wiley books. In fact, it was established back in 1807, which makes it rather older than I am. Amongst other titles it sells the ubiquitous ‘Dummies” line of books and is the publisher for half of the top 20 bestselling retirement titles on Amazon Canada. (Canada is a big producer and consumer of business and finance books.)
Recently, it sold off its line of consumer books to other publishers in order to focus on the education for professionals market. Last year, its parent, John Wiley & Sons, sold off its Travel and Cookbook lines including the famous Frommer and Betty Crocker series. Today, The Toronto Star announced that it was closing and consolidating the remnants to its U.S. parent as of May 31. Several editors are now looking for work. (You can find the ‘Wiley closes’ news article here.)
Earlier this month, Oxford University Press also closed shop to focus on educational titles.
This is a problem that most publishers are facing. And most professional writers and agents, too. The dinosaurs are dying. They’re being killed by the eBook and self-publishing.
One of the changes that has occurred in the publishing market is that the large companies have become gun shy. They are no longer willing to buy books that haven’t already become best sellers. For example, I have a friend who is a major author of fantasy books. She recently lost her agent and so has been focusing on ‘agent search mode’. Despite a list of previously published books, she has been turned away. She doesn’t have a best seller currently so they have no interest in her.
The simple fact is that the business model that the major publishers have relied on for two centuries or more is obsolete. And the publishers (and agents) failed to recognize the change. Like the frog in the pot, they failed to recognize that their market had turned and that they needed to change the very concepts that supported their business model. They needed to innovate and they couldn’t do it.
The result is the slow toppling of these ancient examples of Victorian business. And for those of us who read (and write) it represents a time of uncertainty. Once we could rely on the quality enforced by these bureaucratic monsters. Our books were generally well-written because their editors corrected the mistakes of new writers (and sometimes the experienced). Not everyone could publish a book, and so having a published book meant that we were experts (or at least authorities) in our field. And of course, selling a book meant we would receive an advance on our royalties. We’d eat tonight (even if it was beans and cheesy-macaroni from a box) while our publishers waited on a return on their investment.
All that is gone now.
The bookshelves (or memory sticks) are filled with poorly written crap. Having a published book still has cache — but for how long? And we writers must spend our dreamt-of riches on bringing our hopes to market, while waiting for years to see any returns.
The good news in all this is that self-publishing has become easier than ever. Even if you don’t want to do it yourself (or are afraid to), there are now ‘publishing consultants’ (TrainingNOW.ca is an example). These companies provide the project management necessary to bring your book to market without taking most of the income from it. They can even provide an imprint for you if you want to maintain the fiction of dealing with a publication house.
But whether you believe the change to be good or bad … you must react. Or join Wiley behind the shutters.
DT – Writing Books can be a crucial element in your Expert Marketing strategy. Or it can be just a way to vent.
02 days ago
by Glen
in Daily Tweets
There are many reasons you might have to write a book. One of the best reasons is as part of an expert marketing strategy. Expert marketing is a concentrated effort to build a brand for yourself based on your expertise in a particular product or market segment (or niche). In essence, it is a mass method of giving away a taste of your expertise in order to build awareness and interest. It’s like using a ‘freemium’ or giveaway, and then charging for it.
The trick is that even if you aren’t writing in order to build your brand, you are still building your brand with every book you write. So don’t use the medium to vent. Always remember that your readers will form their opinion of you based on your book or books. Think twice before committing your opinions to paper.
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DT – Writing begins with a good book but ends with great marketing.
03 days ago
by Glen
in Daily Tweets
Thousands of great books are written every year. And even more are never written because the last book didn’t sell. Books only have value when they are read. No matter how great they are, no matter how important the ideas they contain, until someone reads the book it means nothing.
If you listen to the “Make a Mint by Publishing on Kindle” hype, you might believe that all that’s necessary is to write the book, publish it to Amazon and then sit back and collect the cash. But that’s just not true. You need to gain the awareness of readers. You need to convince them that they should read your book. The tool to gain awareness is marketing.
Like this tweet? Get the complete collection from Amazon “101 Writing Tweets: 101 Tips and Tweets about Writing How-To Books for the Kindle” by Glen Ford
DT – Good editing takes time. Bad editing costs sales. Your book is worth the time to edit.
01 week ago
by Glen
in Daily Tweets
The purpose of editing is to catch errors which you, as a writer, might miss. These errors sometimes occur because you aren’t aware they are errors. However, they also occur because you are seeing what you expect to see rather than what is actually there. And sometimes because you are human and you will make mistakes. Unfortunately, mistakes are inevitable and when they are caught by your reader they have a negative effect on your credibility. But we can limit the number of those mistakes.
The faster anyone works the more likely it will be that they make a mistake. That applies to you as a writer. That applies to your editor. That even applies to your doctor, lawyer and television repair person. Your editor is a key defense in preventing your reader from finding your mistakes. It is important that they do a good job. So give them the time to do that job right.
Like this tweet? Get the complete collection from Amazon “101 Writing Tweets: 101 Tips and Tweets about Writing How-To Books for the Kindle” by Glen Ford
DT – It’s easier to write the middle first. Leave the introduction and conclusion until the end.
01 week ago
by Glen
in Daily Tweets
I know it sounds strange. With a how-to book you will need to tell the reader what you will tell them (and why), then tell them and then tell them what you have told them. The former is the introduction, the latter is the conclusion and the middle is the main content. You’ll find that you spend more time designing the main content than you will the introduction or conclusion. You may also find as you write that your thoughts jell. After all, that’s why people are told that if they want to really learn a subject, teach it to someone else. By doing the main work first, you’ll find that you will have a much clearer idea of what to include in your introduction and conclusion to build interest in your book.
Like this tweet? Get the complete collection from Amazon “101 Writing Tweets: 101 Tips and Tweets about Writing How-To Books for the Kindle” by Glen Ford
DT – No one wants to read the book without an end. Always plan your readers’ trip first.
01 week ago
by Glen
in Daily Tweets
I remember being a member of a local writer’s group many years ago. One of the members was a successful writer with dozens of fiction books in his portfolio. I’m going to call him Mike. Another member was an aspiring author of romance. Let’s call her Mary. The two would get into massive brawls over this topic. Mary believed in letting the characters go where they would. Of course, she had never finished a book. In fact, she had been writing the same book for the half dozen years I was a member. As for her story, it meandered on and on seemingly without a goal. Much like many people live their lives. Mike on the other hand, regularly produced mystery and other genre books on a bi-weekly basis. His books were tight, enjoyable and carried the reader along until they reached an inevitable conclusion. At least, inevitable to the reader in retrospect. This wasn’t by accident. Mike always knew exactly how the crime was committed, where the clues were left, how the clues would be found and how the criminal would finally be discovered. He did this because he didn’t want to reach the end and find that there was no way his hero could save the day. You may not be writing mystery but the same rules apply to your how-to books. You need to know how the book ends so that you can move your reader along the path to where you want them to be.
Like this tweet? Get the complete collection from Amazon “101 Writing Tweets: 101 Tips and Tweets about Writing How-To Books for the Kindle” by Glen Ford
DT – It’s not just about your reader. Why do you want to write a book? It matters.
01 week ago
by Glen
in Daily Tweets
Stephen R. Covey said, “Start with the end in mind.” A well designed planning process for your book begins with your overall goals related to the book. It then develops a vision and a set of detailed goals and objectives for your book from there. When I wrote “How to Document Your Project Plan”, I wrote it to support a course that VProz was going to give to potential customers in partnership with another company. This was all well and good. At that time the course was aimed at my customer and the book was only to help fill in the blanks — and help fund the course.
However, when the course failed to proceed, I found that I had targeted the wrong customer. The book was focused on people who were new to project management and needed a leg up on developing a project plan. What I needed was a book that attracted my target customer — small and medium business senior managers and entrepreneurs. Without the course to attract those customers, the book was targeted to the wrong customer.
It all comes down to why I had written the book. When I used the book to support the course, it worked. When I tried to use it to get new customers it failed. So your book’s success will stem from how closely it meets your reason for writing it in the first place. And by the way, to make money is acceptable as a reason but often it indicates that you aren’t exploring your reasons for writing this book deeply enough.
Like this tweet? Get the complete collection from Amazon “101 Writing Tweets: 101 Tips and Tweets about Writing How-To Books for the Kindle” by Glen Ford
DT – Be creative with your ideas not your process. Books need a writing system to prevent failure.
01 week ago
by Glen
in Daily Tweets
A formal system doesn’t have to be complex or frightening. In fact, it shouldn’t be. It also shouldn’t involve a great deal of effort on your part. All that is necessary for it to be a formal system is for it to be written down and to be followed. The word ‘formal’ comes from the word form. As in filling in forms. And your writing system should be a matter of simply filling in the form. Of course, forms are a matter of taste. Personally, I find they make the process easier by taking away any tendency to rethink the process. However, you can go that far or you can simply always follow the same formats.
The big advantage to a formal system is that it handles change so well. I know it sounds counterintuitive. However, a formal system limits change to particular points in its process. And a good system will provide some form of review of its effectiveness and efficiency. In quality management we call that continuous improvement. Because it is controlled improvement, the movement is always towards doing things better. Changes which work will be introduced with intent. Those changes which don’t work will not be allowed to unintentionally creep into the system over time.
Like this tweet? Get the complete collection from Amazon “101 Writing Tweets: 101 Tips and Tweets about Writing How-To Books for the Kindle” by Glen Ford
