Feb 18

This past weekend, I had the privilege of spending time at Jerry B. Jenkins Christian Writers Guild conference called Writing for the Soul. This is a first rate conference and my second time attending. As was the case last year, I was extremely impressed with the quality of the faculty and the speakers. Jerry is on record as saying that he wants the conference to be known as one of the highest quality events on the calendar, and it showed. The conference featured keynote speakers Liz Curtis Higgs, James MacDonald, and Steven James, as well as a cast of industry professionals teaching writers how to become published authors. I would highly recommend for anyone thinking of attending a writer’s event.

The purpose of the Guild is to train writers how to become authors. This is in their DNA. They offer three courses that take a new writer through training and mentoring, with the intent that they are ready to present their writing to agents and editors. I don’t know of any other programs quite like it.

A few weeks ago, Jerry announced a new, advanced course called PUBLISHED. This ‘masters level’ type course adds a fourth layer to his already successful program…with a new twist. For writers who finish the course, and follow their mentoring, the Christian Writers Guild will provide the author services (editing, typesetting, design, etc.) that it takes to craft a quality book for market. The new publishing initiative is called Christian Writers Guild Publishing (CWGP), and takes the best of both traditional and self publishing and combines them in a model Jerry calls ‘come-alongside publishing.

Unfortunately, as often happens in Christian community, the idea was blasted from a number of sides. Jerry had been on record earlier in his career as being against self publishing (see his announcement for his own admission to this), and many looked at this new initiative as an attempt to cash in on self publishing. It’s too bad that people have chosen to attack what is being offered without understanding the full picture, which is still evolving.

In a Q&A session, Jerry shared that the Writers Guild has always been a labor of love, and struggles to break even every year. This new teaching program is not about making money, but about providing opportunity for writers. He said that that his most recent experience has shown that 1 in 1000 writers makes it to a traditional publishing contract, and that many of the students in the Guild program have publishable material, but for whatever reason, can’t get the traditional deal. It is for these students, that this new program is built. PUBLISHED is not for everyone.

I applaud the commitment Jerry has to writers. I hope this new initiative creates opportunities for Christian writers, and give their voices a chance to be published. As with all new things, there are most definitely going to be changes and updates to the program as it matures. Jerry made a point of telling the conference attendees that the program ‘isn’t for everyone,’  but will be a good fit for some.

I am pretty sure the program will eventually include a robust set of marketing and publicity tools, eBook conversion and distribution to retail, even though the current information doesn’t include this.

I would love to hear what you think about it!

Feb 14

Not too many months ago, I would have never considered writing this sort of post. I believe in the printed word, and love traditional paper books. I know that eBook reading is growing and I know that eBooks are helping new authors get discovered like never before. However, my business was book printing.

But the readers have spoken. With more and more regularity, they are saying they want options. They want to be able to download books and read them on devices. They want the flexibility.

At the time, I wasn’t able to help. Now I can.

I want to introduce you to a new eBook company specifically designed to serve Christian authors and independent publishers, along with authors who want a family friendly place to publish their eBooks. ChristianeBookPublishing.com, is the culmination of the desire to offer eBook services with a distinctly Christian worldview and a world class eBook publishing system, now available to authors and publishers.

Authors might only need a file conversion. We offer a tremendous value along with a quality product that is hand crafted by experts here in the US. Other authors might need help with editing and design. We can do that too. And a whole other group of authors and publishers will want to consider the advantages and efficiency of having ChristianeBookPublishing.com distribute their files to more than 30 retailers. We collect the royalty checks and compile the reports, all for a modest upfront fee…and the best part is that we don’t take a penny of your royalties. You get to keep 100%!

We invite you to give us a try and see the difference our professional services can make.

Do you have your books available as eBooks? What has been your experience?

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Nov 28

Over the past eighteen months, we have tried to provide you with information about the traditional publishing industry, print-on-demand, trends in publishing, and specifically, how Snowfall Press works and benefits both publishers and authors.

Many of the topics have been from our own personal/professional experience, with a scattering of guest blogs from other industry professionals and thought leaders. We would like to expand that. If you are an industry veteran, or a new publisher/author, we would love for you to share your experiences with Snowfall and our readers.

Why blog?

  1. Share your own experiences!
  2. Establish authority and expertise
  3. Develop new relationships with readers
  4. Improve your writing skills
  5. Increase your industry influence
  6. Expand your current base of followers
  7. And, you get a chance to build your reputation and/or brand

Would you consider guest posting?

Because our blog focuses on specific areas, our readers expect to read helpful information about these topics. We know you have something to say. Everyone does. We would like to hear your story and learn from your own experience.

To help get you started, we have adapted this list of guidelines for guest posting.

  1. The subject of the blog post should be one that fits the blog. We want you to write about publishing, printing, writing, books, technology and marketing.
  2. Be original. We don’t want to reuse the same content that you have published somewhere else, nor do we want you to republish the same post after we do. Google actually penalizes sites for duplicate content.
  3. We want to hear your voice. Don’t try to imitate our style. Be creative.
  4. Be concise. Many times length equates to effectiveness. Keep your post between 500-700 words. Or less.
  5. Use visuals. The most effective communication includes art, pictures, graphs, etc. They help engage readers.  Just make sure you have permission or copyright to these before using them.
  6. Share liberally. Make sure to drive your own people to the post. This helps us, and you. You should use a byline at the bottom of the post with a link to connect back to you directly.
  7. Engage your readers when they comment.

Submission Guidelines

If you have a post that meets the guidelines above, you can send it to me on the email david.sheets@snowfallpress.com. Please include the post in the body of the email itself, or as an attachment.

Happy blogging!

Oct 17

Writer on the Tracks | Stock Photo © Trevor Goodwin #2220146

Every week, I consult with small publishers and authors who are choosing to self publish their own book. As I have written about in previous posts (best time to be a writer, good company, build your house) self publishing is a lot like being the general contractor on your own book project. Each step of the process can be contracted out to free lance professionals. Unlike companies who offer self publishing packages, which are kind of a one size fits all approach, an author can choose the help they need ala carte, and many times get a better product while reducing their overall costs.

I have worked directly with most of these professionals, or have interviewed them about their experience and each has a track record of success.

Note: Snowfall Press does not benefit financially from any of these relationships.

Copy Editing

Cover Design

Typesetting:

Marketing Services:

Social Media:

Publicity:        

Expanded Retail Distribution:

E-book conversion:

Out of Print file construction/conversion: (scan physical book to printable PDF)

Legal (publishing and copyright):

There are lots of other wonderful professionals out there in these different areas. If you are an expert in one of these areas, send me a note. We love to help our authors and publishers find new people to work with.

Oct 03

This is a guest post from Marika Flatt, founder of PR by the Book, wrote this blog post in late 2010. Because we now continue to hear the same questions from self-published authors—planning to have a late-year pub date, she wanted to update the article and run it again. Enjoy!

This blog post is for all you authors out there who are self-publishing, now or in the future! Let’s start with the big picture. There is a reason why it takes so long for the publishing process to roll out with publishing houses. It’s not unusual for there to be an 18-month window (or longer) between a publisher accepting a manuscript and the publication date. There are a myriad of reasons why this is. So much has to be done: editing, cover design, more editing, seeding the distribution pipeline, sales meetings, more editing, printing galleys (also called ARCs/ advanced review copies), etc.

http://www.sxc.hu/photo/439901

The publicity department starts working on a title approximately six months prior to the pub date. The reason for this is because they want to send galleys to publications that are book review publications, industry publications (for that topic, such as education magazines) and national media outlets (such as national TV programs). This process takes time. And, for six months leading up to pub date, the publicists are pitching, pitching, pitching (and lunching with producers for national TV shows).

So, self-published authors…what’s the big hurry? I talk to 1-2 authors per week who tell me that their pub (publication) date is this month or next month and what can we do?? First of all, you don’t want your pub date to ever be in November or December (unless it’s a holiday book).  Don’t get me wrong. Publicists stay busy during November and December, but not on books that are releasing those months. So, why?

The publishing industry has two big time frames for releasing books: the Fall (primarily September and October) and the Spring (primarily March and April). There are a few other months that are popular for releasing books, depending on genres/ topics: January for New Year’s resolution-oriented titles: February for relationship books and books from African-American authors since it’s Black History Month; May and June for beach reads, etc.

But, bottom line—the year of pub date matters most (the year is more important than the month)! I had 4 authors tell me this month that they were self-publishing and were planning to put a Nov or Dec  2011 pub date on it, and they’d done no publicity to date. WHY? When January 1st, 2012 gets here, your book is automatically “old” in the book sellers’ and book buyers’ eyes. If you just pushed it 1-2 months, it would have a 2012 copyright date and be current for another whole year. Yes, a few months makes a big difference! You want, and need, a 2012 pub date.

Now, on to the publicity end of things.  You want to give your book adequate lead time with your publicist. We need 2-6 months prior to pub date to lay the proper foundation for your book. Depending on how much time we have, we can “seed the media” in various ways and have media starting to hit during your pub date month. But, wait! What else must be done before that happens?

We must thoroughly research and read up on your materials and set you up in our system. Then we write a full set of press materials (multiple press releases, Sample Interview Questions, author bio, etc.). Then we must build our media lists: we use two separate databases. Then, and only then, can we even start pitching you to the media. The outlets must get our pitch, decide they are interested, obtain materials from us, sometimes read the book and/or press materials, decide to use it, write up their review/ feature, submit it to their publication (and if they’re a monthly, that all has to be finished at least one month prior to their issue date).

So, we could talk all day about publicity timelines and lead times, but you get the picture. Don’t rush it! One of the biggest advantages you have in self-publishing is that you get to designate your release date. Use that to your full advantage. Take your time! It’s going to benefit you in the long run to do it the right way and give your book the best chance for life.

Marika Flatt is the owner of PR by the Book, www.prbythebook.com, a publicity firm dedicated to helping authors and publishers achieve quality media exposure. After 10 years in business, PR by the Book has helped land their clients exposure in major media outlets such as TIME, NPR, and the Tonight Show with Jay Leno. You can reach them at info@prbythebook.com.

 

Sep 12

This is a guest post by Jay Echternach of Gotcha Marketing. Used with permission.

Unless you have been living under a rock for the past 5 years, you probably have noticed that your advertising dollars in newspaper, magazines, radio and TV have gained less and less traction with your existing and new clients. This is no surprise to a vast majority of us who have shifted our efforts to the larger social media formats like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

These forward trending and aware businesses jumped ahead of the curve and started posting content on these platforms and hoped for the best. The results, unfortunately, were and have been less then stellar. Fewer and fewer customers are following their brand and they are left to wonder if this new age of social engagement is just not a picture posting format for their wives and kids!

The reality is that well executed, social media IS the new frontier for engaging your customers, especially in the world of publishing. Self-publishing has grown exponentially in the past 5 years as waves of budding authors are now able to get their books in print digitally. Having lost (or avoided) the traditional publishing path, they are left holding-the-bag in terms of getting their book sold and marketed.

Many of these new authors and small publishers turned to the world of social media and began posting and looked for the orders to roll in…and they are still waiting! What happened then? Did the digital media world suddenly collapse before they got their message out? Quite the contrary as the social media world continues to expand with newer platforms like Pinterest, Wellwer and Xanga, which are bigger and bolder platforms with millions of daily users are looking for instant connections, resources or information that fits their lifestyle or needs.

These new stewards of content (first time or self-published authors) took the age old view of advertising (think newspaper ads dominated by feature or price messaging) and began posting this on their personal Facebook page. HUGE MISTAKE!

So let’s look at the 5 Easy Facebook Fixes for Your Business:

  1. Do not post business content on your personal Facebook page, set up a fan page. That allows you to install a fangate page to garner likes and get multiple eyeballs on your Facebook fan page quickly.
  2. Create a FREE offer (think e-book!) to acquire e-mail addresses of potential clients.
  3. Think 80/20 rule; 80% relational / 20% informational. Your clients like to see pictures of your family, grandkids or latest outdoor excursion!
  4. Post visual content Facebook and the web is a visual medium, post pictures OFTEN!
  5. Hire a fun, creative agency to handle your project. We know this seems like a shameless advertisement for hiring us, but really, your hands are full running your business on a daily basis. Additionally, just because your 15 year old daughter likes Facebook, does not mean she gets how to post daily to engage your clients!

The nice folks at Gotcha Marketing are web and social media guru’s and avid readers having spent many years in the publishing world. Let them lend you a hand in creating and developing your next marketing campaign. To follow Gotcha Marketing’s blog simply click this link: www.gotchamktg.com/blog.

Jay Echternach is a web marketing strategist with Gotcha Marketing, located in Portland, Oregon. Jay’s contact info: jay@gotchamktg.com or 503.967.5646.

 

 

Aug 21

ICRS is the place to meet with the greater industry, including hundreds of international publishers, retailers and authors. Many times, the international market is overlooked by small publishers, but larger publishers rely on more than 10-15% of their revenue to come from both export sales as well as foreign licensing.

If you are interested in selling your books to international distributors and retailers, here are some contacts.

Dan Wright Publisher Services, danwrightpublisherservices@gmail.com
aBridge International

If you are interested in licensing your books to international publishers (for both English reprints as well as foreign language translation publishing, here are some contacts:

Gospel Literature International (GLINT)
Riggins Rights
Fred Rudy and Associates

Mar 26

This is an interview with Les Bradford and Andy Blanks, Co-Founders and Publishers at youthministry360. Both Les and Andy have years of youth ministry and product development between them.

Q: Can you tell us a little about your organization?

A: youthministry360 is a Christian publishing company that produces a variety of Bible study curriculum for churches. We also focus on training and community building through a daily blog and social media initiatives.

Q: How did you learn about Snowfall Press?

A: We had a pre-existing relationship with Snowfall’s Vice President of Sales, Dave Sheets, through previous experiences in publishing. We heard Dave talk about Snowfall for a couple of years before the right project came along to take the plunge with.

Q: What sort of publishing model do you use?

A: At the time of writing this, we’re still relatively new as an organization, less than two years old.  We publish all our own resources through a variety of methods and vendors, depending on the product. We’re primarily e-commerce though we do have some titles in the trade channels.

Q: Why does the print-on-demand (POD) service fit your publishing model?

A: It offers us a ton of flexibility when it comes to cash flow and inventory. With traditional printing, there are set-up fees and, of course, accounts due. Because you have to order large quantities, it puts a burden not just on actual sales, but on innovation, as well. There are some ideas that are too big of a risk to commit to printing thousands of copies on the front end. It makes it easier to take the risk in a POD model where you don’t have to pay for or warehouse large quantities.

Q: What strategic steps did you take to make POD work?

A: For us it was waiting on the right title to test the waters with. We wanted to have a concept we thought would sell well so we could really observe how our systems would work, in terms of being able to market and fulfill orders. We work with quite a few vendors. We wanted to see how well POD would work with multiple logistical needs. We have been very pleased with the results.

Q: What types of books are you publishing?

A: We’re publishing books for adults who work with teenagers in the local church. And we’re publishing books that help teenagers develop their faith. We’re a company that puts a high value on quality and creativity. One of our concerns going in was whether or not the POD model with Snowfall would allow us to deliver on these values. We’ve been very pleased with the results.

Q: How do you currently work with authors?

A: We operate in a content rich environment. So many youth ministers are producing content, whether it is through a personal blog, or for their church services with youth. Youth ministry in general also values peer-to-peer training. And so there is just a lot of content development going on. We seek out some of these better writers and engage them in what it might be like to grow some of their ideas into book-length projects. We’re moving to a place where we will also entertain unsolicited manuscripts, but we’re not there yet.

Q: How are your books distributed and what sales channels do you focus on?

A: We operate as the publisher and provide commerce in a direct-to-consumer model (whereas in this case, the consumer is the church or the youth minister). We also have other partners selling our products, as well as some limited sales through traditional retail channels.

Q: With Snowfall’s emphasis on technology, how does this help your organization?

A: Being able to manage the supply to meet demand through the Snowfall account repository is a huge benefit. It gives us all the control we need to keep inventory as it should be. One of the biggest bonuses for us is the drop shipping (i.e., virtual warehouse) component of printing with Snowfall. For a light and lean company like us, this is a huge benefit. We’re also extremely excited about the upcoming Snowfall gateway to Facebook. Snowfall’s commitment to technology is part of why we publish with them.

Q: What types of marketing have you found to be successful, especially direct to consumer?

A: The most successful marketing we’ve done has been to offer incentives to our mailing list. Cultivating a strong email list is crucial. How this is done for various authors and/or publishers will vary. But for us, we’ve made growing and managing a healthy email database a priority. We’ve seen very good success when we have emailed our database with a special discount for being “insiders.”

Q: What marketing ideas would you recommend for other new publishers?

A: You can have the best content around, but if you don’t have an audience and/or a pipeline to an audience, it’s very challenging to move units. Maybe in the past the cream rose to the top. But in our experience, you have to have solid content and you have to be able to communicate directly with the purchaser. Direct communication for us happens mostly through social media, a daily blog, and as previously mentioned, a growing email database. I would also add that it’s important to go where your audience is. Utilize Facebook ads (they work). Comment on blogs your customers frequent. Aggregate content your audience may find useful and disseminate it through twitter, email, and blogs. And, don’t underestimate the importance of SEO (search engine optimization). If you can generate organic search engine traffic or even pay for some ad words, you’ll find you can bring in an audience that is primed for your message.

Q: What advice do you have for other publishers considering POD?

A: I would challenge them to consider what it would look like to in their projections (especially as it pertains to cost of goods and obsolescence) if they were to have a number of their titles in the POD model. For us, and for the other publishers using Snowfall (whom we’ve talked with!), it has opened up a creative solution for publishing that has provided us with flexibility and a new way of generating revenue. It’s a simple model to learn and adapt to. We’ve been very pleased.

For more information about youthministry360, join them on online at youthministry360.com.

Mar 21

Because the publishing industry is usually focused on sales and profits, and the big news tends to be about award winning authors, and books that hit the best-sellers lists after sales in the hundreds of thousands, and even millions of units; it is refreshing to hear stories of books published after years of diligent work, that eventually pay out more than money could ever buy.

Recently, we received a letter from a missionary in Peru who shared this story with us. I hope that it impacts you like it did us:

…I’m writing from Lima where we arrived last night with the Ticuna Bibles…the Ticuna language is the mother tongue for some 50,000 people living along 600 miles of the Amazon River in the 3 countries of Peru, Colombia and Brazil which involves 2 national languages in addition to the Ticuna language. The Peru/Colombia and Brazil versions of the New Testament were dedicated in 1987 and have gone through two reprints since then. The Peru/Colombia version of the Old Testament selected portions (40%) was dedicated in 2007 and the dedication on the Brazil version took place in May 2009. And now, thanks to…you Snowfall Press, we have both the New Testament and the Old Testament selected portions in one book.

The Ticunas have their own Bible Institute…and we’re now planning to give each of the graduates of next year’s cycle one of the Ticuna Bibles you have so wonderfully made available.

Blessings on you and the work there at Snowfall Press…

It is stories like this that help us get up each morning, and serve our publishers. Thanks for the work that you do. If you have another story about your book, and the impact it has made on someone, please share it with us.

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Feb 23

For many new publishers and authors, the notion of retail sales is like either the Holy Grail, or like that sermon at your grandparent’s church when you were young, that you had to endure, but certainly didn’t enjoy or understand. Retail placement can be the culmination of years of work writing, editing and finally publishing a book. Retail placement is the final stop, the pinnacle of a publishing career…or is it.

Bookstores have been favorite haunts for book lovers, and for writers who have been called to share their message. Traditional publishing has always relied on the retail store to be the link from the author/publisher to the consumer. So naturally, an author/publisher is very interested in getting their book in retail stores, whether they be bricks and mortar, or online.

During my career working in traditional publishing, I had the opportunity to call on just about every sales channel in the industry, including the retail trade. I have represented both large publishers and self published authors to these same channels. I have consulted with scores of content providers and in almost every case, have had to consult with them by answering these questions or correcting misconceptions about how the retail channel works:

1. No matter how you are published, you better have a marketing and business plan before you are done.

Serious writers and publishers are in business to make money. I am sorry if this bursts the creative/artistic bubble, but it is true. If you are in business, you have to have a plan that takes you from content (creative) to profit. Retail distribution can be a part of this plan. Pricing, promotion and other placement is also very important. Can you leverage your own network? Can you sell direct? Do you speak to small or large groups of people? How can you build relationships with others who will do your promotion for you?

2. Your marketing materials need to be ready eight to ten months in front of my release date.

What? The book isn’t even finished. “How can I possibly get the marketing onto a pitch page? I don’t even have a cover finished.” Refer to point number one. If you already have a business plan, you will have thought about covers and marketing copy before you got to this point. Retailers work far in advance of what most authors realize. They are planning for fall releases (books that are releasing in September through November) in March and April. They have to plan catalogs and other in-store promotions and merchandising for your book. Unfortunately, these are the retail rules and publishers who do not follow these timelines will struggle to get retail placement.

3. Retailers will not buy your book just because it was pitched by a sales team.

Retailers do not have to buy your book. There are many reasons why a buyer will pass on a book. They may not like the cover. They may have had bad experiences with content like yours. They may just be having a bad week. Sales teams can help tremendously because they have build relationships with their buyers that bring a trust level to the sales call. However, this doesn’t guarantee anything.

A typical independent store might carry 50,000 titles, and a typical chain store might carry 150,000 titles. This includes all the backlist and incoming frontlist. There are more than 300,000 traditionally published titles each year. If a store can absorb 10,000 frontlist titles, this means that only 2-3% of these new titles are going to make it into most independent retailers. Online retailers will likely ‘stock’ your book on their ‘shelves’ because they have unlimited shelf space, however, the competition for consumer dollars increases with more choice.

Any book can find success if there is demand. Retailers will stock just about anything that has enough demand – and it is your job to create that demand.

4. Build your platform and your tribe as soon as possible.

There are lots of great articles about this topic. If you want to be successful selling your message, start with the people who love you the most. Build relationships with people who resonate with your message. Encourage these people to share it with others. Publishers can be very successful with just a few hundred or few thousand people who want to buy what you have published, and want to tell all of their friends about it.

5. You can be successful  even if you are not selling through retail.

Speakers who write, will sell more books themselves to their listeners, than will retail. Bloggers, who have lots of followers, can offer their book and reap the benefits of these direct relationships. If your topic has a specific niche market, there are likely businesses or non-profit organizations who would love to use your book (expertise) to help build relationships with their own customers. Find markets for your book that are not already crowded with thousands of other choices, and you will find buyers.

6. Amazon can sell your book, but the numbers are smaller than you think.

I used to sell directly to Amazon on behalf of a publisher that I was working for, and we had some best-sellers. These same best-sellers might be ranked in the top 500 or even 100 in the book category, or sub category and the authors would always be very excited (and should have been). The sales numbers, however, even at these high rankings, were only in the hundreds of books per week. Amazon sells millions of titles and gives the consumer millions of choices. These choices spread the purchasing dollars over a broad array of books. Even the Amazon best-sellers are not going to make any publisher or author rich, in almost all cases.

7. Selling through retailers is expensive.

Average retail discounts are 50% of the suggested retail price. Every book is fully returnable (if you really want it to be stocked, this is required), and the publisher bears almost 100% of the risk. Returns can be damaged. Retailers will take months to pay their invoices. Shelf placement and in-store promotion can cost thousands of dollars with some chain stores and many times the resulting sales do not cover the marketing expenditure.

Bookselling is changing and more publishers are developing direct-to-consumer models which help them leverage new sales channels against the traditional retail model. This will be an ongoing shift in the way books are sold into the future.

What are some other tips/tricks/observations about selling books through the retail channel?

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