Twenty plus years ago, one of my author friends coined one of my favorite book titles: Sacred Cows Make the Best Burgers. It’s all about change and slashing through the things that continually hold people and companies back. A few years ago, I ran into Bob Kriegel at a conference we were both speaking at. He was still talking about burgers and he reminded me of a story he told me long ago about surfing and change. As I think about his works, they fit perfectly with today’s author.

Huge “waves of change,” are barreling in from every direction and shaking up the basic foundations of everything we thought we knew and know about publishing. There isn’t a week that goes by that some new tidbit has come to the surface. For some authors, that new tidbit has the capability of capsizing them.

Another phone call. Another author who is frustrated confused and stressed out. Another author who step into publishing without wearing the “author beware” hat.

“I’ve been taken.”
“My book looks awful.”
“The publisher hasn’t delivered on anything it promised.”
“There are too many hidden charges.”
“I’m not getting paid.”
“I thought this was a reputable publisher.”
“I’ve been screwed …”

Look in the mirror. Did you really check out the company? Did you go to Google and put in its name, then “problems,” “complaints” or “scams” after its name? Did you do your homework?

Some authors who get caught in the publishing maze think it’s insane. It’s not really insanity for the author—unless the author keeps repeating the same thing over and over again. It is insanity that these “publishing professionals” keep doing the same thing over and over—taking advantage, misrepresenting and basically delivering the shaft to the naïve and vulnerable author-to-be.

The Business of Publishing … Yes It Is!

When John Kremer, Rick Frishman and Judith Briles published Show Me About Book Publishing, they shared a story about Sally. Sally wanted to open a Sewing Shoppe. Her objective was to be successful.

What if you were Sally and wanted to open Sally’s Sewing Shoppe? Wouldn’t it make sense that you knew about sewing? About the machine and how it works? Maybe inkling about fabric types? How about sewing accessories?  If you wanted to open Sally’s Sewing Shoppe, your answer would be yes. And so must the other three questions that were asked: you should be answering yes, yes and yes.

Viva the Difference

When you self-publish, and you contract with an AuthorHouse, Author Solutions, iUniverse, Xlibris or a LuLu, you are sharing the profit.

Are You the Sardine in the Sea?

Yep, there are millions of books out there … is yours contributing to book pollution … or do you have a unique voice, something new to bring to the party, a twist to something old … in other words, can you break from the pack? Or, will you continue to be a sardine in the vast sea?

And the answer is … yes indeed.

There are a variety of ways to stand out from the crowd. Start with:

1. Decide you want to do it. Good idea … It will take some effort on your side to shine above, to create the hook and twist that allows others to see you in a different way. It doesn’t mean you have to spend a fortune in the process … what it does mean is that you have to bring some vision and passion to the process. Tis also a good idea to go with what you know … or at least have some expertise in … which leads to the next point.

Stop the Book Insanity …

Authors sometimes don’t want to hear what works in creating a successful book campaign—campaigns that include the creation, the marketing and the sales of a book … they would rather keep doing the same thing … the thing that has produced no results. Which is usually sitting on their tush. Or if they did try “something” and it didn’t work, that they then choose to sit on their tush because nothing else will work. Or, if they had cost overruns in creating the book (and just who is responsible for that?—yes, dear author—look in the mirror), they refuse to do anything to support/market their book once they have all those books sitting in the garage.

Stop the Insanity … And please, pass me the barf bag so I can continue …

The Magic, No … the Wonder of Perseverance

Sometimes it’s not easy being an author … there’s rejection—sometimes in a cascading abundance; sometimes we authors feel that everything attempted is a massive flop;  sometimes we think we should be committed for spending the time and money in creating our books; sometimes we think there’s no freakin way we can sell any; and sometimes we just think …

But then, a nudge comes into play. You love your topic. The cover makes you happy. You remember the unbelievable sense of pride when you held that first book in your hand. A kind word, email, or note comes your way that you’ve made a difference, solved a problem or just provided a new fan with a terrific story.

Authoring … what a journey.  Highs and lows. Hopes and fears. Tears and joy. And a journey that requires perseverance. Webster’s defines perseverance as continued effort to do or achieve something despite difficulties, failure, or opposition.

Your Book Success Is Up to You … and ONLY You!

This week, I send three emails to three separate authors that I had shephered and agreed to co-publish their books about the lack of sales. Publishers don’t love the term, “lack of sales.” None of these authors should have got the “Wake up and smell the book roses … possible death toll bell” from me.

I hated writing them … I hated sending them.

And, I had to do it. As the publisher, because it’s business. As The Book Shepherd, because they chose to ignore the hours of brainstorming about strategies to market, position and sell their books. As the publisher, I got the books into national distribution at all major channels—even Barnes and Noble ordered them.

And they failed. Two of them have done zip in marketing support. ZIP. The third did an announcement on her Facebook page and has created a few speaking engagements. Granted, those sold books on site, which is a great strategy and was part of the game plan. But, that’s it.

Several times a month, I get calls or emails from aspiring or just-ready-to-give-birth authors. Or so they think. Maybe they are ready for the book birth—but too many times, it’s a false labor, or should be. This past month, after an SOS from a book designer I work with, I literally pulled two books out of the “line” where the authors had jumped the gun and submitted theirs too soon and directly to him, bypassing my final round of input to save a few bucks. The authors didn’t see what the problem was … until they came into my offices to look at their books one more time. One had over 200 additional tweaks that I had recommended to get it to the final polish. If the book hadn’t been pulled … the result would be a trashy book, one that most readers would have thought, “poorly publishing, not edited, etc., etc.”

Book Publishing and ISBNs … Do You Need Them?

Do authors need ISBNs? If you plan on selling your book, the answer is yes. If you are creating something that is not for re-sale—from the family history to your high school reunion … most likely not. How many should you have … just the one for your book or do you need others? What about eBooks and other book formats? Below are answers to the top three questions that I frequently get:

Should you eBook have an ISBN?
Most will respond, “It depends.” If you plan to have your eBook available for iPad readers, than you must have an ISBN. Remember, your ISBN is the ID that the rest of the book retail world sees. It’s mandatory if your book is available in bookstores as well as with distributors and wholesalers. Amazon doesn’t require one—you get assigned the Amazon ASIN number–which stands for Amazon Standard Book Number. If you already have an ISBN, then you will enter that number during the publishing process with them–just click on the upload image tab. Others, such as B&N’s new PubIt doesn’t require it … they will assigned you a number

Book Publishing: Is There a Product After Your Book?

If you are an author, you have a product that can be morphed to other products. Books have covers. How would it look on a mug? a Tee-shirt? What about a canvas bag or a nifty pin? Illustrations can become products that you sell … are there any in your book? Can they be made into a sellable product that is low price and an add-on to a sale of a book or stand alone? To do this, you need to get permission of the illustrator or have it arranged up front that you own all rights for anything and everything. How about a bookmark that becomes a “tool” vs. just a placeholder?

Some will require payment—either a lump sum or royalty arrangement–it will depend if you create it yourself with your own product/material that your own outright or one that you have to make an arrangement with the holder of the copyright if it isn’t you.