Can I spit poison into your life just by speaking words into your skin? Or can I speak life into your life by cultivating peace into your heart? Words. So important and potent, life threatening and life creating. We must never forget the power of words, their motives and intentions, their power and potency. I marvel at how easily we curse one another. Every day there is someone trying to clean up the blood they spilled by gossiping behind someone’s back, or begging for wishful deaths to go back to its chamber of meaning. Never tell someone you wish they’d leave this earth, or that you hate their guts. You may indeed be charged with murder before the words escape your mouth. I often wonder why I have taken on the task of this kind of bravery, to become a professor of words. To become part of a community where the next murderer is just one page away from me. Perhaps I have a death wish, releasing words into the air with only the hope that they will bring back life. I publish each post with shaking hands, a trembling finger; a focused mind. Carefully crafting and considering the words I put into the air. Writers. The bravest people I know. Managers of the potent word.
I am sooo inspired by this post I just read! I also found it even more inspiring since I just published a post about reaching out and asking. Too bad I didn’t see this one until just now, I would have used it. Well, it’s either now or later. I’ll go ahead and use it now! First, here’s the link to the post. Check it out: 2 Easy Steps to A Massive Blog Tour
So following my recent post on asking. I’M ASKING FOR YOUR HELP. No, not a blog tour. More like a challenge.
I am trying to increase my number of book reviews on Amazon for The Road to Freedom – (Click Here to Learn What This Book Is About) in celebration of its 6 month birthday! The 3rd Book in the Stella Trilogy (also read as a standalone) was born on February 26, 2016. August 26th will make 6 months. In celebration, as I finish up the manuscript to my next book, I’d like to have a little fun. Right now I’m at the humble number of 8 Reviews. I am trying to at least make it to 15 which is just 7 reviews away! I know, I know, who am I? Well, nobody. But, like, you can help a nobody out right? Anyways, I have 3 Options for those who’d like to help:
Incentive: In response I’ll send you an e-copy of The Road to Freedom – Joseph’s Story AND the first Chapter to my upcoming novel, Renaissance which I have only released to my newsletter family.
…..AND
That’s not all. Finish the book and write the review and I’ll send you a signed paperback copy with my special author seal (must have written and posted review before I send the paperback copy)
Time: Time is a valuable resource. For this reason, I am pleased to know it will not take up so much of your time to read this book. It’s only 65 pages long. Yea, you can read it in one day if you wanted to. That’s right, if you hate it I haven’t wasted much of your time. Though I seriously doubt you will ; ).
Deadline: I am asking for the reviews to be in no later than August 15th.
Serious Inquiries: I respect everyone’s time so I am asking for serious inquiries only. I have sent free e-copies of my book out before and I’ve never gotten a response back. Please only email me if you seriously want to read the book and are willing to provide an honest review. An honest review means you don’t have to like it, you just have to review it. The only true thing we have is our word. I don’t want to send my book to those who have no real intentions of helping me. If you are not interested in reviewing the book, please read on to the other options:
Option #2:
Can’t make my deadline? Not interested in reviewing the book? Interview me! Invite me as a guest on your blog and interview me about my writing process, Self-Publishing, Travel, Online / Offline Promo, whatever you want! Email ahouseofpoetry@gmail.com with the email header: Book Review Challenge – Option #2.
Option #3:
Yes! There is a 3rd Option. Not interested in Option 1 or 2? Mention me on Twitter! Don’t forget to follow me as well. I’ll follow you right back and RT your mention (This option is also open for those who have already reviewed the book). Just click the Tweet This Below:
Review Challenge: Check Out The Road to Freedom – Joseph’s Story by Yecheilyah @ahouseofpoetry– Tweet This
That’s it! That’s the challenge. Remember that you can participate using Options 1-3 if you want. Or use 1 and 3, or 1 and 2, whatever you like.
I am not sure if this will work, but I am excited. We shall see. Anndddd…..go! (LOL)
When I developed a passion for writing, I could not foresee what the publishing industry is like today. My vision was always to hold a book in my hands, feel the pages against my fingertips, and smell the fresh ink. It was always to see my name on the cover and read my words behind the pages. And more so, allowing others to take part in this journey by having them to read my words. With eBooks trending, it is no question what the increase and development of technology has done for authors. In short, Self-Publishing would not be where it is today. So it is without question that eBooks and Amazon Kindle has changed the game. However, I read something today that disturbed me a little bit. In one of the Facebook Writing Groups in which I am a part of, a writer was seeking advice on Book Promo. His question had to do with promoting his paperback book. One of the commenters told him he should do away with his paperback and stick to eBook only. Obviously, there is more money in the eBook game.
I do not believe this and I also do not believe this person’s advice is very wise.
As I always say, advice is subjective. It’s always personal. You can take it or leave it because not all of it may apply to you and not all of it is true. However, when it comes to advise or tips about someone’s career path or livelihood, I believe its important to know what you’re talking about. So in this case, it would have been more wise to tell the person (as many people did) to have BOTH an eBook AND paperback version of his book than to say to just do away with the hard-copy.
Many Self-Publishers underestimate the power of hard-copy in this digital world and I do think it is to our disadvantage. The truth is that the paperback has potential to earn you more money than your eBook. The reason is because there’s diversity to the paperback that the eBook just does not have. I’ll explain that more deeply later. For now, let’s look at this:
The stats tell us that the average self-published author will sell fewer than 250 books, and the average published author will sell fewer than 2,000 books. Books are now more cost-effective and easier to access, which has created a wealth of competition. Estimates tell us that one million books are published every year.”
In addition, it is my belief that this less than 250 book sell has a lot to do with a reliance on strict eBook sales. I believe this because an author can sell hundreds of paper-book copies alone at a book signing. First, let us establish something about Amazon Kindle. It’s not hard to become a bestselling author. For some categories all you have to do is sell maybe 100 copies (or less) of your eBook to make the #1 spot. This, according to The Millionaire Digest, is called gaming the system:
You can pick low-competition categories in Amazon and sell as few as ten books (in a particular period) and become a “#1 Amazon best-selling” author. Authors even make their book free through Amazon’s KDP Select program and claim “bestseller” status.
While I think selling 100 books is great, 100 copies of a book sold is a failure in the Traditional Publishing world as compared to, let’s say 10,000 or 100,000 copies. And even that, in Traditional Publishing, is funny. If a publisher printed 15,000 copies, shipped 10,000 and returned 8,000 then technically the author only “sold” 2,000 copies. This is what makes people Self-Publish. Ain’t nobody got time for all of that.
As for my personal opinion, I think one book sold is a success. If you sold 100 you’re a star in my book. But I digress.
The point is that I’m sure we all envisioned that making it to Amazon’s #1 spot requires selling much more than 100 eBooks. This isn’t to say those authors didn’t put in hard work, but that Amazon’s ranking is “iffy” to use an EC term. “Iffy” meaning ranks are not calibrated based solely on books sold alone. The truth is that Self-Publishing is hard work and for this reason many people have chosen the Hybrid Publishing method, which I actually think is interesting. I don’t have a lot of knowledge about it because I’ve yet to try Hybrid (I’m not a middle ground type person) but nonetheless, Hybrid Publishing is:
The hybrid author is someone who has book deals with traditional presses, but also self-publishes, or publishes in some other nontraditional way. Hybrid publishing encompasses the middle ground between traditional and self-publishing.”
Publishing using a combination of Traditional and Self-Publishing methods is an interesting thing. Though I’m Indie all the way, I don’t play the cool kid game. Traditional or Self-Pub, I like them both and I think Hybrid Publishing is on the come up. But this is precisely my point. (Though I am learning now that Hybrid Publishing is nothing more than Vanity Publishing. I don’t have the facts on that so I’ll just stick to what I know, but this is what I’ve heard.)
Because Self-Publishing is hard work, Indie Authors miss out on A LOT by opting out of print books. Someone in the group mentioned that the only people who will purchase your paperback are family members. This is also not true. According to Publishing expert Lou Aronica, self-publishers cannot afford to ignore print, as it still accounts for some two-thirds of book sales overall. “Print is not going away,” Lou said, “and outside of the US print is seriously not going to be a minority percentage anytime soon.” Lou goes on:
Ebooks are the preferred method of reading for a large percentage of readers and that will only get larger as the international markets reach their inflection point.
People won’t pay $12.99, but they’ll pay $9.99 — for e-books I’ve seen absolutely no price resistance up to $9.99. In fact $2.99 sometimes sends the wrong message. (With the exception of romance, because romance readers are different, the velocity of reading is different.)
It’s clear that publishers are raising e-book prices to make print more appealing.
It is clear that the increase in technology is not slowing and that authors are wise to have both an eBook and paperback copy of their book. Not only does it look more professional but you have options on sells. I’ve made over $1,000 in one night at an event selling paperback copies of my books. In fact, I make more in one day selling paperbacks than I ever did in eBooks. That’s because book promotion should go beyond social media and when it does, you need to be ready for it. It’s a lot more professional to sell a paperback to someone face to face with a business card and bookmark than it is to tell them to go to amazon and buy the eBook. Who’s to say they will remember to do that when they get home? I for one cannot afford to depend on your memories people (smile).
It is what makes publishing fun to me, hard-copies. Just this week I had to deliver some packages to the UPS Store and made a connection with the Notary there. I found it refreshingly exciting to verbally discuss my book as opposed to writing about it which I do most of the time. I started to think about public speaking and how this plays a role in book publishing.
With paperbacks, Indie Authors have the opportunity to network almost anywhere. Heck, you can sell books out of the trunk of your car if you wanted to, and set up various events to which your book is the star. As much as you need an eBook version as well, you cannot sign an eBook. As much as we’d like to push it away in the background, paperbacks are making a comeback. Well, at least in my neck of the woods.
Speaking of which, I’ll be in San Antonio this weekend at The La Quinta Hotel on 850 Halm Boulevard by the airport. I’ll have copies of my books if any of you are in town. Just approach the front desk and ask for Yecheilyah. I’m in town on business from Friday to Sunday time permitting. In the meantime, I have dropped the Kindle price again and am extending the Amazon sale through Thursday. If you want to check out my writing for cheap, The Road to Freedom is available now for $0.99 until Thursday.
I stopped by OMs place today. See what I had to say about book promo. Remember: Book Promotion sites only work if the author does. To get the most out of any promo site you choose to use is to contribute to that process.
After posting my EC Quote Friday a thought struck me: “It’s not just book cover design, but even how your books are presented makes a big difference.” Here’s what I mean:
You’ve poured everything but the breath of life into your work. You’ve gotten it edited, formatted, converted, typesetting is tight, book cover is banging, everything. But what about presenting your book to the world? What about posting it online, presenting quotes, sample chapters, and all of that good stuff? Because I’m a person who strives for excellence, it can take me hours to produce just the right photo to post online. It can take me days to produce just the right image to parade up and down your social walls and timelines. Everything about writing to me, from penciling my soul into a blank piece of paper, to showing off my book cover requires the very best that I can give even if it doesn’t produce the result I want. At least then I can say that not only did I try, but I did and I did to the very best of my ability. Sometimes our books are not attractive to potential readers because we don’t take the time to put in the work that is necessary to produce our absolute best. Even sample chapters and excerpts should be presented a certain way. If you understand people, you know that we are, for the most part, lazy. A picture of a whole bunch of words on a screen is not exciting (Remember, less is always more). No, I’m not going to read your IG chapter post of 100 words screenshot from your smart phone. Boring. Below are some exclusive tips on how to increase your books online visibility by making sure the book looks as good as the writing:
Book Cover Design
So the most obvious thing here is to ensure you really do have an attractive book cover. If there is nothing else that you pay for in the publishing process, make sure it’s editing and book cover design. These are probably the two most important investments you’ll make. Not the only, but the most important. Plus, book cover reveals are fun!
Photoshop
Go to YouTube and learn how to use Photoshop to add special effects to those photos. No, seriously. I learned how to use Photoshop watching How To videos on YouTube. If I can learn, so can you. Then, go online and purchase Photoshop. This is probably your 3rd most important investment. OK well, maybe your fourth but you get the point. You don’t have to get the fancy versions either. I pay $10 a month to produce most of the images you see me posting, including the ones on this blog. Not bad for lunch money.
Subscribe
Subscribe to free mock-ups sites! What I love about technology is that you don’t have to be a professional photographer anymore. I do not, at this time, have a fancy camera. I want one but wants and needs are two different things. I’ll get one eventually. Until then, Book Mock-Ups are my best friends, especially when I find those people who are giving away free Book Mock-Ups. One person I absolutely love is Mark from Covervault. His book mock-ups are free and he always has freebies for those subscribed to his list. He also offers paid book mock-ups that are also off the chain. Because he does such excellent work, I would recommend supporting his paid mock-ups as well because he gives away so much for free. I would caution that in the editing phase, edit the mock-ups so that they’re original and uniquely you. One thing about Book Cover Designs and Mock-Ups is that, if they’re free it means lots of people are using them. To avoid having book twins, edit the mock-ups so they have your special signature. They’re editable so you don’t have to use the exact same format. However, Book Cover Mock-Ups is just a fraction of it. Subscribe to all kinds of mock-ups! Coffee, Computer, go crazy with it.
Photo Editing Websites
Don’t stop at Photoshop! Also look into photo editing websites. I like to combine more than one element to produce the best unique quality. Some you can explore are:
Free Version of Photoshop (Adobe offers a free, online version of Photoshop with scaled down features that include those needed for basic photo editing).
Remember, everything about your book, from the writing, to the editing, to the book cover design all the way down to how your baby is presented online, it all matters and shows readers the level of effort you are willing (or not willing) to put into your work.
Very interesting article here. We are all familiar by now with how important Book Reviews are for authors. We are also familiar with how damaging a bad review is. As a Book Reviewer, I can admit that I only read certain genres. My restrictions are not large, but there are a few books I will not read. I also have my specialty area (African American History / Literature), or the books I especially enjoy reading. What’s the connection between book reviews written by those who are not particularly fond of your books genre? Is that why the reviews are so negative? Is your book reviewer actually enjoying reading your book? Are you targeting the wrong audience by having someone who does not particularly like your books genre to review your book? This article is a must read!
(BTW, I can’t let you go without some shameless plug. COMPLETE THIS FORM to schedule a book review from me. My Genre preferences are listed).
Hi guys! Guess what’s on sale today? The Road to Freedom will be just $1.99 from now until next Tuesday, July 19, 2016. Just click on the button below to check it out. Buy or read the reviews for a better understanding of what the final book in The Stella Series is about.
The PBS Blog 