WRITER'S FORUM

How to Sell Your Book
Monday, October 29, 2012

HOW TO PROMOTE YOUR BOOK

It is a great day; your book has been written, edited / ghost-written and online. All things considered the investment has been modest. Set against the indulgences of the less prudent you are now a published author. Their memories and photographs will fade as fast as their bank balances. Your book will be a fresh read for purchasers for many years to come. Yours is an investment as every book that sells will add to your bank balance.

There is just one more thing to do; promote it. As it is on Kindle-Amazon it is on counter of the world’s biggest bookshop. Unfortunately there are a lot of titles already there but you have equal opportunity.

If really prudent you will invest €100 in your book having its own website. It is important as a great means of sending your book’s website link to conventional publishers. You save a fortune in posting letters of introduction, synopsis, and author’s profile; pictures. The website does that for you and doesn’t cost a penny. If your book hits a publisher’s G-spot you have yourself a deal; your book will be conventionally published. You get royalties.

10 WAYS TO DRAW ATTENTION TO YOUR BOOK

Google is an author’s best friend. Use it to discover and use forums; social media etc to tell e-friends about your achievement and book.
Invest in a Press Release. I provide a synopsis, Press Release and author’s profile for just €50. E-mail or print it; send it to local media’s editors. They love space fillers about local achievers.
Encourage family and friends to send flattering reviews on your Amazon link.
Local radio stations interview locals making the news; opportunity to tell their listeners about what inspired you to write your book. Tell them a little about it; how and where they can purchase it.
It is a good idea to take one or two of your favorite chapters, turn them into pdf files and let browsers download them free of charge. A suck and see approach; damn, you should be done for enticement.
Start a blog and quote from your book; build a community of interest around your book. Invite comment. Get people talking about it.
Review Amazon books of similar genre. Use your own name: John Smith, Author of The Devil Turned Back each time you post a review. The curiosity or interest of some browsers will get them clicking to see your book.
If conventionally published do leave copies ‘sale or return’ at local shops. This means they do not have to buy them upfront; they pay only for those they sell.
Write letters to local newspapers. As long as it is not a shameless plug it is free publicity. Use your imagination. “Dear Editor, Why doesn’t the so-and-so dog charity publish a booklet on animals’ stories; they can sell the bock to raise funds. When I published my Pony Tales I found it a good way to promote a good cause.”
Offer conventionally published free copies of your book to local radio stations, magazines, news media, charities, social circles. They can auction or sell signed copies, offer them as prizes. This raises your profile and encourages buyers. Have a book signing at as many events as you can.

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STEAMY NOVELS BEAT J.K. ROWLING’S RECORDS
Thursday, October 25, 2012

Described as everything from mummy porn to holidays from husbands, steamy romantic novels are breaking records. Bored housewives are switching television sets off and switching on the bedroom light. Modern mums have their heads deep in fantasy romance; latest reports suggest they prefer reading about it to actually doing it.

EL James x-rated novel, Fifty Shades of Grey is now the fastest selling paperback since records began. UK sales eclipsed sales records set by J.K Rowling and Da Vinci Code author Dan Brown.

Michael Walsh, a ghost-writer who re-writes novels and biographies for many of the Costas authors says; “There are fortunes being made and seemingly an insatiable demand for steamy novels.”

The pursuit of easy money, he adds, is not fuelling the urge to get it down in writing. Most new authors are motivated by the need to get their life odyssey in print; if it becomes a blockbuster it is the icing on the cake. “Erotic fiction ticks more boxes, he adds: “It is easier to write and sales potential is greater.”

Author EL James, a 49- year old mother of two, whose real name is Erika Mitchell, describes her books as romantic fantasy. Her novel, Fifty Shades of Grey, the first of a trilogy is about a decadent self indulgent relationship between a young inexperienced female and her rich older lover. It has so far sold 32 million copies.

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BOOK PUBLISHING: ONLINE OR CONVENTIONAL
Saturday, October 20, 2012

As an author’s ghost-writer I am often asked my opinion as to which is best; conventional book publishing or publish online; Amazon-Kindle. There really isn’t a contest between the two; it is like comparing a typewriter with a laptop of 45rpm record with a CD. If e-readers are not familiar to you imagine an ultra slim book with page sized screen and small keypad you use to order books and read them. Turning the page is a fingertip’s effort.

If you are a writer you have three options. If you publish conventionally, using your letter of introduction and synopsis you can spend months looking for a publisher who might show interest. They might publish five titles each year; focus on established authors; most won’t even open your letter. In the event you strike lucky you receive 10% of the cover price in royalties.

Option two is do it yourself. You take delivery of 1,000 printed and bound books. You now have to sell them shop to shop. After publishing, marketing and distribution costs; not forgetting the retailer’s 33%, you will be lucky to get 20% of the cover price.

Your third option; your book is now written: I refer it to my partner who takes over from where my ghosting leaves off. He provides an appropriate cover and pulls it together so it is e-reader ready. Within days it is available for the world’s book browsers to buy and read.

You and your book now have its own beautiful website; wonderful pictures of you; book cover, synopsis, your sales pitch for the world to see. The internet does your packaging, selling and marketing, delivery; it takes and makes money. Your outlay has been my modest ghosting fee plus the €250 for online publishing.

Some will buy it but even bestselling authors cross their fingers and say three hail Marys. The maximum profit is 70%; the rest goes to Amazon, which is only fair. You can decide on both the cover price and profit. Do not expect to sell at the same price as retail. One of the reasons e-books are popular is because they are cheaper. A conventional book might set you back €19.95; online €9.95.

Many drop the price on the principle of stack it high and sell it cheap. The math adds up; 1,000 copies at 95c are better than 10 copies at €7.95. The object of the exercise is to quickly get those sales in. When that starts to happen you go on the ‘buyers also bought’ grade; this fuels sales. You will even get book buyers’ reviews. You can cheat; I am not into moralising but you have to be careful. Amazon chucks cheats out. Go on, get typing!

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THE RIDE OF A LIFETIME
Wednesday, October 17, 2012

THE RIDE OF A LIFETIME

Mike Walsh

Does your job ever give you the creeps? Mine often does. Spiritually I fall into the ‘don’t know’ category. I do believe we have lived before and that souls survive mortal death.

I was more skeptical about something called ‘fate’. I blithely thought that whatever happened in life was my decision and never determined by outside influences. That belief has been shaken. There have been far too many baffling mysteries to my life. I cannot dismiss the likelihood that my life is pre-determined; I am just here for the ride of a lifetime.

As I write under a pen name there was no way a new author, living in Fuengirola, could have known that 40 years earlier I was his work colleague with whom he shared a Cheshire apartment. He insisted I re-write his book.

On another occasion an Irish writer insisted I re-write his story about an Irish Catholic children’s correction institution where abuse, physical and sexual was rife. Emotionally upset as I re-wrote it I preferred never to touch the subject again. The next two books to be ghosted recounted abuse by missionaries in the South Sea Islands and Central Africa.

I have studied World War 2 from a German perspective; I was also a seaman. The German gent who wanted me to re-write his biography was born in Hamburg in 1938; later he was a seaman in Britain’s Merchant Navy. I identified with both topics but he could not possibly have known that. Why did he choose me to ghost-write his book?

Equally strange one of the books I am currently working on is a true story of a man whose partner is a woman twenty-five years his junior. Although the marriage was untroubled, mutually affectionate and satisfying she decides the grass is greener elsewhere.

Unable to reveal her true feelings to her husband she lies and tells him she is to visit an ill friend in England. In fact she intends to leave him and to re-settle there. He is under the illusion that she will return. This happened in Fuengirola.

The account surrounding his wife’s departure was exactly what happened when my common law wife left me on November 27, 2011. Even their personalities are the same; theatrical and given to impulse.

My loss was also twenty-five years my junior. She said she was going to England to find temporary work but vowed that we would shortly work and live together where we had jobs and a home waiting. We lived in Fuengirola close to the apartment where the couple I am now writing about lived.

How can such coincidences as these be explained? I have no wish to dwell on it. It is mystifying but proves again that truth is stranger than I fiction.

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DO YOU HAVE A STORY TO TELL
Monday, October 15, 2012

You have either written your story or you are about to; fine. Because writing doesn’t come easy to everyone most stories that are sent to me are perfectly fine but they are not yet of retail standard. They need the skills of a storyteller who can add flair and flow to the narrative. There will be drama; again your characters and their experiences need to come alive to engage and excite the reader. It is what I do. I turn your story into a cracking good read, as good as anything you will find in the bookshops; better than most.

Do not concern yourself with how badly you have written it; if you were to write well I would be unemployed. When you get in touch with me you will find me friendly and helpful; I will give you an honest opinion. I am quite busy so I will not flatter you to get work.

If the story has merit you can send part or all of it to me. Perhaps you have so far written only the beginning. This is the time to work with me to its completion. You know my fees; a very reasonable €23 per 1,000 words. Feel free to check the fees and quality of others.

Free of charge I will re-write about 1,000 words; if you appreciate the difference we proceed in 10,000 word sections. The average paperback by the way is about 80,000 words in length. I can re-write, edit, and improve at the rate of about 5,000 words per week; slower if you wish. You pay by bank transfer as each section is delivered to you.

You will see the work progressing and be very much a part of it; we are co-writing your book. When completion is reached this is the time for final tweaking and within reason, modification. When final payment is made the copyright becomes yours; it is your name on the book’s cover.

Theoretically my work is complete. However, you want to see your book published. You have a choice. It is easy enough to avail yourself of a list of publishers who focus on your type of book; fiction, romance, erotic, biography, history, business etc. You send to each a letter of introduction and synopsis I provide free of charge. If you get lucky your royalties will be 10% of the cover price.

Alternatively you can publish online; Amazon-Kindle in which case you typically receive 70% of the ‘cover price’. Don’t get excited; online books are cheaper to buy. Nevertheless, online publishing is the most popular option. I have associates who can help you with various packages starting at just €150/£150 to get your book online.

Look on the bright side; it may be a blockbuster and you may have movie producers kicking you door in. The worst case scenario; you are a published author and that is quite an achievement. You are recouping some or all of your investment; possibly making a nice little killing. There is much kudos; your story has been told and because of the internet it will be available to read by everyone for hundreds of years ahead.

Believe me, there are far worse ways to invest your money so go on; you know you are worth it.

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