Marketing Books: Do it Yourself

Congratulations! You have just published your amazing book you've been working on for SO LONG! Now its time to put it into your readers hands. How? I'm still learning that every day, but here is what I know so far:

Social Media
There are a lot of things you can do without spending money. There are so many social media things that do not require a fee that work wonders!!! Places like Facebook, GoodReads, LinkedIn,
Pinterest, websites, blogs, and so much more. Check out these sights for examples. All you need is a following so that, when people share what you are promoting, others will see, then more will see your work, and so on and so on. There are ways to sign up for these sites so that you are labeled as a business, which is what you want. Always be posting, commenting, sharing things so that your sites won't go stale. Always remind people you have a marvelous story you cannot wait to show them!

Bookmarks
I love to do everything myself because I like being the boss. But! That can cause a lot of problems when I don't know what I'm doing. So always be learning and know the first time around, it will be difficult and take longer then you expected.
With that said, I, again, like to do everything myself. That is why I use UPrinting for creating my bookmarks. They have several other marketing materials, like banners, fliers, and so on, but I haven't used them. I go somewhere else for that, which I will talk about in a moment. UPrinting is AWESOME because they do exactly what you say. So, if you order junkie bookmarks, it is because you did not do it right. (I did that. Not fun.) For 250, 2x6 " bookmarks, it would cost about $45, which is cheep! They have so many options and, once you select the size and specifications of your bookmark, you can design it online. You can upload your own PDF files of the bookmark, or use UPrinting's own, free images to create one from scratch. It is all very easy and, as I said, you are the boss. Love it!

Posters/Business Cards
You have to have both posters and business cards to promote your work. I use Vistaprint, a very user-friendly, low priced, high quality promotional services. They have everything from T-shirts to stationary, banners and posters, to websites and marketing assistance. They have everything! You want your book's title on a pencil? No problem! You want a picture of your characters on key chains? They've got that too! They don't have bookmarks though, which doesn't make scene to me. I love Vistaprint and they will always get my business.

Book Trailer
I'm going to have a book trailer soon (YEAH!) for "Hearts of Glass: Shattered Lives". What I did was go to the community college in my town and ask the film prophesier if he knew of anyone interested in filming a book trailer. He directed me to a student, who happened to be one of my friends, and, after a lot of planning and hard work, we shot the film and it's being edited right now.
The first thing you need is a screenplay. Don't think you can write a screenplay? Sure you can! You just wrote an epic book! You can condense it into a short story depicted by pictures instead of words. It is a lot of fun to write screenplays, you'll like it too!
First, download Celtix, a free screenplay writing software. Screenplays are formatted in an odd way, but Celtix makes it a lot easier.
If you don't want a film crew, look up royal free videos online. I have not fully researched into this because I have not needed them yet. But, I have watched a lot of the royal free videos and found some sites to be very good quality and interesting! There's always something out there, you must look for it first.

Book Signings
These are essential for selling books. I have had close to ten signings by now and have found that when I speak about the book first, people are more apt to buy it. People want to know you, to have a connection on a personal level. They don't want to see someone stand up and talk in a factual, script kind of way about how excited they are and how much they love stories. No! Get up with a grin on your face and tell them what's on your mind! Tell them the adventures you have in store for them and show them you are a person worthy of getting to know. Worthy of buying a book from.
Leading up to the book signing, promote it over and over on your several sites. People need to be reminded about the reminder reminding them to remember the book signing. Get the picture? Have fun with the signing and don't have expectations. They always get in the way.
As you plan out your book signing, make sure you scheduled it during the best time. Have it on a weekend or a time the most amount of people will be free to come and see your book. Make sure its not a holiday, with people out of town, or that there is another event going on at the same time that will pull potential buyers away from your books. Research, know what's going on, and be smart.

Give Away
Don't be afraid to give your books away or dock down the price lower then what you first had in mind. The best advertising is word of mouth. Because of this, when you give away books, people tell their friends they won such and such a book from you and that you are an awesome writer who is very nice. They may stay in contact with you to win other things as well.
Dock down the prices because the cheaper the book is, the more people will buy it, and the more people will tell their friends how great your book it. Word of mouth, always keep that in mind.

So there you have it! That's all I've got for right now, though in a month or so I may learn something else I need to share. There's endless resources out there, radio, TV, YouTube adds, and so on. Don't limit yourself. Go out and conquer!

Publishing: Do it Yourself

I love publishing books! It is so fulfilling and wonderful! Do it, you really should.
But! Did you know there is SO many steps that goes into publishing? Yes, there is! So, instead of you trying to figure it all out by yourself, like I did, I'll give you all the answers. Read and be enlightened:

Write a story.
If you need help in writing a story, check out my other blog posts. I'm going to assume from here on out your wonderful story is complete.

Read the book over.
Make sure everything is exactly how you want it.

Editing.
Good job! The story's all done! Now time for the real work. Writing the book itself makes up about 10% of the publishing processes. You can read more about it in my blog post called  Editing (When the Real Work Begins)
Step 1:
Here is when you need to rely on someone else to help out (I don't like this part). Find a trusted friend, preferably someone who knows the rules of grammar and spelling, who is willing to read all yous silly mistakes. Yes, you are an amazing writer who knows how to craft great stories, but do not think for a moment you can just skip this step. It is foolish to think you will see every error you write. You can't do that, your story is your baby and, just like a mother's blind love, a writer will never see all the flaws. Be humble and ask for help.
When you find a friend to edit your work, here's a tip. Instead of sending them the entire three hundred page manuscript, send them one chapter at a time. The entire book scares most people and, in the end, they don't finish editing. Give them one piece at a time until the book is done so that its not overwhelming . Besides, you can be reading over their editing suggestions as they work on the next chapter.

Read the book over.
Just to make double-y sure its wonderful (which it is).

Editing (continued)
Step 2:
Next, find a professional editor who knows what they are doing. You will have to pay them. Editors charge either by the number of hours they work or a standard charge per page, like $1.50 per page. It is wise for them to read it over more then once. Again, be humble and know that you made A LOT of mistakes, and that's OK. Try your best not to be sensitive during the editing process. Unpleasant things will be said about your book, not to hurt you, but to improve the masterpiece you have been working on for a long, long time.

Read the book over.
Before giving it to a publisher, make extra, extra, extra sure its how you want it. Mind you, there will always be a sentence to correct, a word not quite right, or a line that needs to be moved. There comes a time to just let go and know the book will never be 'perfect'.


Find a publisher.
There are several ways to publish these days, some are traditional where as others are self-publish.
I strongly suggest to not go the traditional rout. Most of the time, a publishing house takes the book's rights and doesn't give the book a chance to catch the eye of the public. Plan on your book to take years, yes I said YEARS, to become noticed by the public. Publishers don't have that time, even though that's what your book needs. I have never gone this rout, and I never plan on it.
Self-publishing is so much better because you are the boss. Everyone wants to be the boss, especially when it involves something dear to their heart. You can make it into an e-book through Amazon Publishing and Smashwords. I have not used these sights personally, but I have fellow author buddies who have who are very pleased. This is vital for publishing because everyone wants a book as an e-book. This is a MUST HAVE.
Another thing you must have is a hard copy available to your readers. There are old fashion people, like me, who need to feel a book, watch the pages turn, and don't like the idea of staring at a screen. Because of this, a successful writer must have both formats, electronic and physical. There are endless houses for self-publishers, but I will tell you about the one I use, because I like it a lot!
CreateSpace
This is THE BEST publisher! I don't plan on using anyone else because they are so awesome! Why? Because they offer to help out with everything, formatting to book's interior and exterior, is so user friendly, very ease, and there is no contract.
I don't like to rely on other people when it comes to my books. Sorry, that's just how I am. If I've been working on a project for, oh, four years or so, I want it done right! And that's what CreateSpace allows, for the author to do everything his/herself. This is good and bad at the same time.
Good, because I have total control.
Bad, because I'm a writer, not a book cover designer, or know how to take good pictures, or how to format a book. I have taught myself though, and I will teach you.

Formatting.
Interior:
A book's insides are difficult to format. It took me forever to figure it out! Actually, I didn't figure it out, I found a program that will do it for me. Book Design Wizard saved my butt big time. It is only $40, instead of paying CreateSpace $200 something to do it for you. You plug in the information needed, what's the title, what font is it, how big, do you want page numbers on the bottom of sides, and so one, then hit 'create book'. In what used to take me 4-5 months now takes me 4-5 days! (You see why I love it?)
Once the book if formatting, you can copy and paste your book under the correct chapters, and please be careful to put the right chapters in the right spots. I didn't last time and got really confused. The book looks great now, but there were some issues. Also, be sure to scroll through every page, yes, EVERY, so that it all looks great. Sometimes, and I don't know why, the book wizard messes a few things up. Its probably operator error, but we can blame it on the software for now. Once that's done, save it as a PDF, because that's all CreateSpace accepts.
Exterior:
The cover! Ah, I love making a cover! The face of a story, the thing that draws readers in! Therefore, make is count and attractive so that people will want to read the story. Give some clues about the book, but not all, and leave a potential reader wondering. CreateSpace has the option to make a book cover for you, but you can supply your own. .
After you come up with a design, get the photos/graphic art you need. I use Dollar Photo Club because, well, its good pictures for cheep. There is no extra fees for using a photo for commercial purposes, but its always good to read the Terms before signing up. There is a monthly fee of $10, but you can create an account, get a pic, then cancel the account right afterwords. Be careful though, I tried to do that, almost a year ago, and they kept withdrawing $10/month. Now its stopped, but that means I have like 100 free photos to pick out, so that's good.
I used this site for my book Hearts of Glass: Shattered Lives, as well as an awesome friend's photography expertise. So, if there's a local photographer who wants to try something new, or a friend who knows what they're doing behind a camera, ask them for help. 
Once you have the photos you need, its time to design the cover. I use Gimp. It is a free photo editing software. Its not classy or full of whistles and bells, but it gets the job done. One thing to keep in mind is to figure out how big your book cover needs to be. If its a standard 6x9, you can't make the cover that size. The spine needs to be factored in as well. A spine's width is calculated by how many pages you have, if its a black and white book or a book with pictures, and if it is going to have white pages or cream pages. CreateSpace has the calculation for that on its submission requirements page.
Gimp cannot save a photo as a PDF, which is what CreateSpace needs. So, go to Open Office and save it through that software. Go to The World of Ryallon to read how to format your finished book cover in Open Office so that it will turn out.
Once that's all done, submit it to CreateSpace. There's not membership fees, no fee every time you submit a book. The only charge is when you buy the books themselves. That's it!
CreateSpace takes 24 hours to go through someone's book and see if it meets the requirements or not. Make sure to read over EVERYTHING so that you understand the requirements. Once that's all done, you can buy a copy to make sure you love how it looks. If the book is to your liking, tell CreateSpace to put it onto Amazon.
ISBN:
There's one thing you have to buy before publishing your book through CreateSpace. An ISBN is a book's ID number, it tells who the author is, when it was published (I think), and who published it. A book cannot be published without it. CreateSpace offers to give one to you, but don't do it! If you use their ISBN, the book instantly belongs to them! Instead, check out their channels and buy your own ISBN for the outrageous amount of $10. Just thought you should know this part.

Congratulations! Your wonderful story is for the entire world to see! But how will people read it if they don't know about it?

The next blog post will be about marketing.