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Navigate The New World Of Publishing

Anyone with access to a word processor and the Internet can become a published author, but most do not become successful authors. We all know the publishing industry has changed drastically since the introduction of eReaders, but how many authors (traditional, self, or aspiring) truly understand the changes and how to navigate this new world?

Step Away From The Treadmill

I belong to a few writers groups and am amazed at what great shape many of the authors are in. They run on the publishing treadmill like nobody’s business, so I reckon they should be in great shape.

With each book they pump out, they follow in the footsteps of Amanda Hocking and John Locke (authors who self-published and sold over a million copies of their eBooks) by working Facebook, Twitter and many other social networks to get the word out about their books. They combine resources with other authors to find low to no-cost ways to promote each others’ work. Run, run, run on the treadmill they go. Again, in excellent shape, but unfortunately, they are so busy running, they don’t realize they aren’t getting anywhere.

But aren’t they doing as Amanda and John did? No, not really. It’s time to step off the treadmill. There are proven, less exhaustive ways to become a successful author that actually get you to where you want to go.

The Field of Dreams

A decade ago I started in the publishing industry as an editor for Third World Press. This 40+ year old publishing house has released numerous NYT bestsellers, has a few million-plus-books-sold authors, and has way too many awards to count. Over the years, I’ve bounced around between publishing houses and become friends with authors who have nice-sized backlists and a good reader base. Ready to capitalize on the electronic age, many of my author buddies have self-published their backlists and—CRICKETS.

Well, not that bad. But their backlist and newly self-published titles don’t sell nearly as well as they expect. There are three teeny, tiny items they didn’t factor into their projected sells:

With a backlist, their reader base likely already has these titles so they are marketing to the wrong target audience.
When they self publish a book, they no longer have the reach of the traditional publishing house behind them. Publishing houses keep track of orders from their website and have extensive mailing lists and other opportunities to promote new works of authors who publish through them, not the authors’ self-published works.
They market as if the book is from a traditional publishing house or they join authors on the treadmill.

This is not the field of dreams. If you build it—well, write it—they will not necessarily come. It’s a new world, learn how to navigate it.

Now does this mean they can’t sell a decent amount of books? Nope. But they often join the treadmill and are so busy running they don’t realize the opportunities they are missing.

Divide And Conquer

I read publishing industry and author blogs daily, and lately I’ve come across quite a few self-published authors who bad mouth traditional publishing. There are pros and cons both ways, but this sounds more like sour grapes. Then you have the traditionally-published authors who have had it pounded into their heads (usually by the publishing industry) that self publishing is only for authors who aren’t good enough to sign book deals, that self-published books are low-quality and thus, so are the authors.

I need for everyone to take a step back, inhale, exhale and release. It’s a new day and age, folks. Do not allow insecurities or the industry to divide and conquer. Authors, you need to capitalize on the strengths of self and traditional publishing to build your own high-quality brand.

Number Crunching

Self-published authors love to point out Amanda Hocking’s success story as evidence of why they don’t need traditional publishing. I like to use her example to show why all authors should go both routes. Let’s break out the numbers. For argument’s sake, let’s say Amanda sold her million copies in one year. At $0.99, that would be approximately $333,000 in royalties from Amazon’s digital services. Wow, that’s great.

With her doing so well, why do you think she signed a traditional publishing deal? Here are a few reasons: James Patterson, $80 million, Danielle Steel, $35 million, Stephen King, $28 million, Janet Evanovich, $22 million, Stephenie Meyer, $21 million in sales last year. Self publishing is the new “agent” of the industry.

I’m sure I’ll have traditionally-published authors saying, “Wow, I need to stick with my publishing house.” Yes and no. The publishing world has changed so quickly that many traditionally-published authors aren’t in the position to self publish their books and keep all of the profits. This is more than not knowing how to put out a high-quality product, but also includes reaching the market they’d gotten used to their publisher reaching for them and finding new members of their target audience. Now don’t get me wrong. Many of them do have a direct connection to a portion of their base, but not a large enough reader base to reach multi-million dollar paydays.

Bring It All Together

So where do we go from here? What to do? What to do?

It’s time to bring the traditionally and self-published authors together. Whether you go the self or traditional route (you should do both), you need to release high-quality books and grow your loyal reader base. You need to become a brand.

But how?

There are no guarantees, but there are proven steps you can take to help you become a successful author. With the advances in technology, anyone can be a published author, but not all authors are successful. This is not a traditional or self-publishing issue. Keep your focus: Increase quality, credibility and visibility of your brand. Become a successful author.

Deatri King-Bey
If you found this post helpful, please use the share buttons to spread the word about it.

Don’t have a copy of Become A Successful Author? What are you waiting for? Become A Successful Author will be used in the “How To Write That Novel” course at Chicago State because it covers everything from branding to writing to editing to formatting and uploading electronic and print books to marketing and so much more. Your time is money. Look at all the time, thus money, you’ll save by ending your search for answers: Purchase Become A Successful Author (eBook) for only $4.99 from: Amazon (US), Amazon (UK), Barnes & Noble or print copies for only $7.99 by using the Contact page of this website and tell Dee know how many copies you’d like and shipping address. She’ll email the ordering information.

Official Website Launch

The official launch of this Website is Sept. 8, and I can hardly wait. I’ve been editing and conducting workshops on the craft of writing and the publishing industry for a decade and can’t believe I didn’t think of creating a site sooner. I’ve called upon a few others to drop by and blog from time to time, so be sure to subscribe to the newsletter so you don’t miss anything.

To celebrate the official launch of this Website, I’ll be giving away a few advance review copies of the print version of Become A Successful Author, which is due for release February 2012. Be one of the first to hold a copy in your hot little hands. I will also be giving away a copy of Guide to Writing & Publishing Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror by Rob Shelsky and a copy of Book Marketing & Promotions on a Budget: Quick Tips by Shelia Goss . All you have to do to be eligible is comment on the blog posts Sept. 8 – 12, 2011. The more you comment, the greater your chances of winning a copy. Shy, don’t want to comment? Be sure to sign up for my newsletter. Besides notices of the articles, you’ll receive goodies like a chance to receive an advance review copy of Become A Successful Author.

The electronic version of Become A Successful Author is available now. No need to wait to get started down the road to success.

Become A Successful Author Table of Contents

Purchase the eBook from: Amazon, Barnes & Noble

Happy Reading and Writing

Deatri King-Bey

Become A Successful Author

Dee, how do I …fill in the blank with anything to do with publishing from research to the craft to formatting an eBook to self publishing to marketing to creating a website…? In the decade that I’ve been in publishing, I’ve answered the questions to the best of my ability and done everything I can to help my fellow authors, but since I began self publishing titles, the questions have increased ten-fold. I’ve been spending so much time answering the same questions for numerous published and aspiring authors that I decided to write a book. Now that’s a novel idea, an author writing a book. LOL.

I often teach workshops and learned a long time ago that I can’t tell you everything you need to know in the confines of a workshop. Same goes for a book. In order to tell you everything you need to know, I’d have to write an ever changing publishing encyclopedia. I can’t tell you everything, but I can tell you enough to get you well on your road to Become A Successful Author.

I begin this journey with aspiring authors and work all the way through marketing of your brand. Yes, I said “brand” on purpose. I want you to be in the writing game for the long haul and building a reliable brand is the key. Below is the Table of Contents for Become A Successful Author. Once you all have your book, I know many of you who are published will be tempted to jump down to Chapter Eight where I begin explaining “How To” self publish. I’ve accepted that and tried to write in a way that if you skip around, you won’t miss too much. Go satisfy your curiosity, but then please go back and read the rest of the book, especially the Branding section and the Developmental Editing chapter. Actually, just read the entire book. It’s okay to review things you already know, and you may find new nuggets of information.

On this website, I’ll have guest bloggers from time to time to help you Become A Successful Author, so be sure to spread the word and sign up for the newsletter. The newsletter will be released a maximum of once a month. If there are topics you’d like covered or questions, use the contact page of this website and let me know.

The publishing industry has shifted 180° in the decade I’ve worked in it. The traditional route is no longer the only way to become a legitimate published author, and self publishing is no longer a dirty little secret. As an author, should you travel the traditional or self published route? Become A Successful Author does not tell you to pick one over the other or pit one against the other. Become A Successful Author gives you steps to capitalize on the strengths of both to build a strong brand readers can’t get enough of.

What is branding? How do you grow a large, loyal reader base? How do you break into traditional publishing? How do you publish your backlist? How do you format a book? How do you find your target audience? How do you market your books? It’s all in there and a whole lot more.

With the advances in technology, anyone can be a published author, but not all authors are successful. Keep your focus: Increase quality, credibility and visibility of your brand. Become a Successful Author.

Become A Successful Author Table of Contents

Purchase the eBook from Amazon or Barnes & Noble. The print version will be available February 2012. Don’t have an eReader and can’t wait until February for the print? Amazon and Nook offer free applications for reading eBooks.

Note: The first time you comment on this website, the comment must be approved before it shows. After it’s approved, your subsequent comments will post automatically.

To celebrate the official launch of this Website, I’ll be giving away a few advance review copies of the print version of Become A Successful Author, which is due for release February 2012. Be one of the first to hold a copy in your hot little hands. I will also be giving away a copy of Guide to Writing & Publishing Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror by Rob Shelsky and a copy of Book Marketing & Promotions on a Budget: Quick Tips by Shelia Goss . All you have to do to be eligible is comment on the blog posts Sept. 8 – 12, 2011. The more you comment, the greater your chances of winning a copy. Shy, don’t want to comment. Be sure to sign up for my newsletter. Besides notices of the articles, you’ll receive goodies like a chance to receive an advance review copy of Become A Successful Author.

Unrealistic Expectations

Below is a post of mine that was published a few years back, but the information is still valuable. Enjoy.

The other evening I was at the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff minding my own self’s business while waiting in line to see Saturn through their HUGE telescope. I’ve lived in Phoenix two years now, and we rarely have cloudy days or nights. It’s great for star gazing if you can get away from the light pollution of the city. Anywhoooo, it just happened to be one of Flagstaff’s partially cloudy nights when I was standing in the block-plus long line to see the ringed planet. When we’d entered the observatory, we’d been told of the cloud situation, but I held out hope. I’d come to see Saturn, so I’d see Saturn. No cloud would stop me!

So an hour into the line, I’m about twenty people from the entrance and getting excited because I’ve only seen pictures of Saturn and now I would be seeing the real thing. Then it happened. The clouds moved over this area of stars. I wasn’t worried. With the billions of stars out there, what were the chances this bunch of clouds had covered my view of the planet Saturn? One of the astronomers came out and said something on the lines of, “We didn’t want you all in line expecting to see Saturn, and not see Saturn. The clouds are moving and may be covering Saturn when you go inside, so let me give you a tour of what you’re seeing now.”

I was disappointed. I came to see Saturn and those dang blasted clouds were trying to stop me. I was disappointed because my expectations weren’t being met. He proceeded to whip out this way cool laser pointer that seemed to reach all the way to the stars. He pointed to different constellations and even Saturn. I was like, wow, I thought Saturn was another star.

By the time it was my turn to look through the telescope, I’d resigned myself to possibly not being able to see the rings of Saturn. Why set unrealistic expectations and then be disappointed? So I’ll give you one guess what I saw when I looked though the telescope—SATURN! Yeah baby, no stinking clouds would stop me. LOL. Seriously though, if I hadn’t of been able to see Saturn, I would have been slightly disappointed, but fine because I’d dropped my unrealistic expectations of seeing Saturn through the clouds.

How many times have you set your self up for disappointment by having unrealistic expectations?

Here are a few unrealistic expectations I hear way too often from authors looking for traditional publishers:

Unrealistic Expectation: I won’t have to worry about marketing my book because the publishing house pays for marketing.
- Reality check – For most authors, unless you are bringing in Stephen King type money, the publishing house’s main goal is to get your novel into the bookstore and you will need to do the overwhelming majority of the marketing. The distributor for the publishing house usually creates a catalogue and presentation for book sellers such as Barnes & Noble to purchase your novel for their bookshelves. Many publishing houses have newsletters and websites that also promote the authors work, but for the most part, authors are on their own. You are responsible for your writing career.
Unrealistic Expectation—My publisher is going to send me on an all expense paid book tour.
- Reality Check—Book tours are GREAT, but it’s usually the author who has set this up. The publisher may pay a little supporting role, but don’t expect a lot of cash to help you out. Expect flyers and sometimes they’ll give you contacts. At times book clubs will pay the authors expenses to come speak to their book club or the author pays out of their own pocket for conferences and such. Many times, authors choose to do a book tour, but to save on expense, they tour the region they live in or if they are on vacation, will do a signing or whatever while they are in that area.
Unrealistic Expectation: I’ll be able to live off my advance and subsequent royalties.

Reality Check—Most new authors do not understand how advances and royalties work. Here are a few facts.

Advances for new authors usually range in the low thousands to the high hundreds. That’s not enough to live off.
If an author makes eighty cents royalties off each book sale, they are ahead of most.
Advance means advance on money you will be earning in the future. I have always thought of an advance as a payday loan without interest. Many authors do not understand that you must pay back the advance before you receive royalties. Don’t worry, the publishing house will not send you a bill. Let’s say you received $1000 advance and make fifty cent royalties from each novel sale. You’d need to sell 2000 novels to equal $1000. After you’ve sold 2000 novels, you will receive royalties on additional sales.
Most authors (new or seasoned) do not sell enough novels to actually receive royalties. This is why many publishing houses are considering dropping advances.

Let’s move on to some unrealistic expectations in editing

Unrealistic Expectation—The publishing house wouldn’t have picked up my novel if it needed developmental editing. Proofreading is all they’ll do.
- Reality Check—Your book may be fantastic, but there is no such thing as a perfect manuscript. ALL manuscripts go through editing, even the big name authors. True story. I was asked to edit this novel for a publishing house that was purchased as a traditional romance but was written as a mainstream fiction. I have NOOOOooooo idea what possessed them to pick up this novel as traditional romance and asked them to reconsider publishing it as mainstream. They still wanted it to be romance. Romance follows a formula, and this manuscript didn’t come close. Needless to say, when the author finished the rewrites, it was a different novel with a little of the flavor of the original. I felt so bad for the author, but when you sign that contract, you agree to make the edits. Granted, this horror story is rare, but once was too much for me. Many times authors have to change names, titles, settings, plots, eliminate characters, eliminate subplots…
Unrealistic Expectation: When I work with a developmental editor, they’ll perfect my book.
- Reality Check—The developmental editor is not a ghost writer unless you pay them to be a ghost writer. The developmental editor can give you guidance on characterization, consistency, plot, setting, voice… and give suggestions on how you can make your novel the best it can be. But at the end of the day, the writing is yours. Not everyone has the same abilities. So when you complete your rewrites, you may not have that great American novel. Some write better than others. Some take comments and build on them, make them their own or come up with ideas that are even better. Some don’t. Some can’t. If you have comments from the editor you don’t understand or you need further elaboration on, don’t be afraid to ask.
Unrealistic Expectation: When my novel is traditionally published, it won’t have any errors in it.
- Reality Check—Back in the day, novels went though seven to eight different pairs of trained eyes before they went to print and at times mistakes still slipped by. Those days are gone. No one can catch all of the errors, which is why so many pairs of eyes used to check to ensure the manuscript was correct. But not anymore. Cost cuts hit proof reading years ago. I HIGHLY SUGGEST everyone take a grammar/punctuation class at least every other year. Clean your novel up the best you can.

Whew, I’m tired. There are a TON more unrealistic expectations, but I thought I’d let you chime in. Come on, tell folks what unrealistic expectations you’ve come across and what the reality is.

Peace

Deatri King-Bey

Note: The first time you comment on this website, the comment must be approved before it shows. After it’s approved, your subsequent comments will post automatically.

To celebrate the official launch of this Website, I’ll be giving away a few advance review copies of the print version of Become A Successful Author, which is due for release February 2012. Be one of the first to hold a copy in your hot little hands. I will also be giving away a copy of Guide to Writing & Publishing Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror by Rob Shelsky and a copy of Book Marketing & Promotions on a Budget: Quick Tips by Shelia Goss . All you have to do to be eligible is comment on the blog posts Sept. 8 – 12, 2011. The more you comment, the greater your chances of winning a copy. Shy, don’t want to comment. Be sure to sign up for my newsletter. Besides notices of the articles, you’ll receive goodies like a chance to receive an advance review copy of Become A Successful Author.

Don’t miss out on future posts. Be sure to subscribe to the Become A Successful Author newsletter.
Become A Successful Author Table of Contents
Purchase the eBook version of Become A Successful Author from: Amazon, Barnes & Noble

Under Construction

Sorry for the mess, but this site is under SERIOUS construction. I’m in the hunt for some fantastic guest bloggers who will help you become a successful author, so be sure to sign up for my newsletter over to the right and my Twitter and Facebook pages. The official launch of this website is set for Mid August.