WRITER'S FORUM

Tip of the Month:
Prepare your Book(s) for the Holidays

“The holidays are fast approaching, and that means millions of Kindles will be delivered over the next several weeks. There are some simple steps you can take to be sure your book(s) are ready for all these new readers that will be looking for books to read.

“Be sure that it is well edited, proofread, and properly formatted. Upload a compelling cover and write a great book description.”

The second paragraph is very important. The biggest mistake an author can make is to presume their content is to retail standard. It is common for frustrated readers to say, ‘the writing was absolute crap.‘

Does it matter? Yes! When your book goes online potential buyers get the first chapters free of charge to whet their appetite. If they are put off by poor writing they will not buy your book.

Imagine going to the effort of writing a book only to see buyers turned off by amateurish content. What a waste of time. The ghost should be able to write your book in an engaging way. Browsers will have the plastic in their hand before they look at other books on offer.

This is why most successful big name authors engage ghosts. If they need them you sure do. It is like doing your own photography at your son or daughter’s wedding. Leaving out the ghost is fatal; it is a false economy.

The trend is for book buyers to download books onto their electronic hand-held screens and laptops. It is here to stay but it is not the end of the conventional book. At the dawn of the television age it was said that radio was finished. Today more people listen to the radio than watch television. Advances in technology are swinging back in favour of conventional books.

Because books are heavy there is a distribution problem; technology has the answer. The second hurdle is how to pay the author his royalties. Technology has the answer for that too.

Here is the old way of doing things: 1,000 + copies of your book are delivered. Don’t celebrate; this is where your troubles begin. You set out to sell and deliver them to outlets on a sale or return basis. The money comes in dribs and drabs; for customers further away you post. It is soul-destroying. So what has changed?

Books are no longer held in stock; they are printed and bound on demand. As soon as you order it is printed, packaged and posted. How do you get paid? The online supplier, Amazon for instance forwards your royalties when they reach a certain amount; £100 for instance.

Here is the future and it is in place as I write. Let us use me as an example; you will understand better and it will inspire your own ideas.

My poetry collection: Swallows, Swifts and Flights of Storks is popular in Latvia. One million people live in Riga. More than a million tourists visit each year; at least half speak English. The potential for sales of my attractively bound book is impressive.

Here is how it works: The bookshop or online browser wishes to buy Swallows. He or she goes to the counter, as in Argos and similar stores. They fill out a little form; name and address; book title; they pay. A day or so later the book is delivered to their address or that of the person they have gifted it to.

How do I get paid? Simple; the bar code when the book is scanned and sold, automatically distributes to the appropriate bank accounts; Amazon, retailer and author. It is not the future; it is now. When it happens struggling authors will find their books selling much faster. Happy Christmas and a Prosperous New Year. Michael.

www.michaelwalsh.es

Bestselling author Wilbur Smith is following the example of novelists like Jeffrey Archer by engaging ghost-writers to write his books. The South African born writer’s novels have so far sold over 122 million copies.

The deal, worth £15 million, ensures that the 79-year old writer will produce six further titles over the next three years. He will outline each title’s plot and then hand it over to a ghost. Each story will be then fleshed out in the same style as that of the writing maestro.

Ghosting books is common practice; Stephen King, Tom Clancy, Clive Cussler and James Patterson are just some of the famous authors whose names appear on books written by unknown writers. It is estimated that 40 percent of books are ghost-written; 80 percent in the case of celebrities.

Local ghost-writer Michael Walsh is unsure of the morality of the trend. “Ghosts are needed, but my clients provide far more than a scribbled plot. They provide at least 40 percent of the content. I flesh it out by adding dialogue and flair.”

Wilbur Smith is estimated to be worth £100 million plus. He recently abandoned PanMacmillan for HarperCollins. The first book will be a sequel to his 1993 novel River God. Its publication will mark his half a century as an author.