By getting to the point of having a publishable manuscript, you have already mastered the arts of writing and editing. If you have also sent out proposals or queries, ideally you have also learned how to do market research. All three of these skills are necessary whether you are attempting to sell your manuscript to a publisher or planning to publish it yourself. As a self publisher, however, you can make better use of your market research than would a mainstream publisher. Because you can give it the attention it deserves, there is a good chance that you will do a more efficient job of publicizing and distributing your book.

Since even the big publishers figure they make money on only three out of ten of their new titles, you can see that it’s easy for a book to fail to make a profit. There are, however, specific thing you can do — or neglect to do — that are guaranteed to kill a book. The most important of these is to fail to consider all the steps necessary for your book’s success and to then fail to take those steps at the proper time and in the proper order.

THE ELEMENTS OF SELF-PUBLISHING

The crucial elements you must pay attention to are:

1. Scheduling

2. Cover design (including spine and back cover)

3. Interior design

4. Pricing

5. Promotion (press releases, articles, interviews and features)

6. Marketing

7. Bar Codes

8. Dust jackets (on hardbound books)

9. Copyright

Since this is primarily a book on writing and not a manual on self-publishing, it is not possible to go into each of these in exhaustive detail. Your public library contains books that will fully explain each of the above elements of self-publishing, and you will find that many vendors, such as printers, are willing to show you the ropes. For online information about self-publishing, see www.acappela/advohouse.com

Let’s spend a little time talking about Promotion and Marketing. This does not have to be expensive since, if you know how, you can get a lot of free publicity for your book. In order to take advantage of this, you have to plan ahead.

SCHEDULING

Two to four months before publication:

Promotion should begin several months before publication with press releases, announcements to local stores, radio and TV stations, newspaper reviewers, etc. (See Self- Promotion). Pre-publication offers can be made before publication (see Self-Promotion), with ordering coupons. If you plan to offer an electronic version of your book, you may do that once the manuscript is completed and formatted. Electronic publishing and/or disk versions are good ways to generate income to cover the high expenses of print publication. Now is the time to get the word out about your electronic book over as many computer bulletin boards as possible. It is also time to get your on-line book reviews. Electronic publications come and go rapidly, as do their featured offerings. Surf the net for publications currently offering on-line book reviews.

Near publication date:

Send individualized letters to special interest groups, explaining why your book will appeal to the group (see Self-Promotion).

Send mailings which include:

1) news release

2) book jacket or dust cover

3) any advance endorsements, reviews or publicity the book has received (this could be included in the news release)

Upon publication:

Leave book covers with local bookstores. Ask for book signings and author events.

Send out review copies (see Self-Promotion). Put news of your hard-copy book on as many computer bulletin boards as possible (see Self-Promotion). When you travel, call leading bookstores at your destination and arrange book signings.

SELF-PROMOTION

Although your mind tells you that you are an author and not a publicity agent, the reality is that yours is only one among many of hundreds of books being offered just this season! You are competing for limited bookshelf space in bookstores. Also keep in mind that bookstores are not the only places to sell books. Only 15% of all books, in fact, are sold in stores created to do this job. This is partly due to the short shelf life books are given in commercial bookstores. Bookstore research shows that the average book stays on sale for only three to six months before being bumped from the shelves by a newer hopeful.

So how are the other 85% of books sold? In a variety of ways, all of which depend on getting out the word. Here are some proven tactics for successful self-promoting. Remember, the key is to obtain as much FREE publicity as possible through interviews, news mentions and book reviews. Be sure to note the correct timing for each of these efforts.

Local Publicity

Create a short, snappy press release along the lines of “Local Writer to Publish New

Book.” Include basic data such as publisher, price, date of publication and give a phone number for further information. About two months before publication mail the announcement to local stores, radio and TV stations, newspaper reviewers — anyone who might order and/or want to read the book. Chain stores and book distributors (listed under “Independent Distributors in the Yellow Pages) should be high on that list.

At publication time follow up with actual copies of the book and an updated release.

Make yourself available for interviews, book signings and calls for further information.

Pre-publication Offer: Make up a flier about your book, including a picture. The flier doesn’t have to be fancy; it can be in black-and-white (though you could dress it up by printing on colored paper.) At the bottom of your flier, print a tear-off order coupon which offers a free reading or review copy, and quantities at a discount. Mail it to your list of potential buyers, including:

*Special interest individuals, organizations, associations, corporations, museums, specialized stores, etc. (See below)

*Wholesalers

*Bookstores, especially those specializing in your subject

*The major chains

*Libraries (the second largest book buyers in the U.S., spending more than a billion dollars a year on books)

*Catalog companies (There are nearly 10,000. Choose the logical ones from a source such as Catalog of Catalogs at your public library.)

*Premium buyers (Books are given away with everything from cereals to automobiles. Wouldn’t it be nice if someone bought a million copies of yours for such a purpose? Look at magazines such as Incentive Marketing, Potentials in Marketing and Premium Incentive. They’ll teach you how to pursue this market.)

*Special Interest Groups: Will your book hold special appeal for photographers, parents, residents of Alaska, college students, dog breeders, pilots? List clubs, social organizations and other groups where likely customers are hiding. Starting with the general press release you’ve already written, create individualized letters that explain why your book will appeal to the group you’re approaching. Mail these when the publication date nears so that the book will be available in the stores when readers go to find it.

Use Your People Resources:

 If you have friends or relatives who can help, ask them. Journalists, typesetters, graphic artists, librarians — all can aid and advise. Are there vendors you work with who could provide you with at-cost services? Working with a printer and videotape producer, for instance, you might give away bookmarks to bookstores, using a promotional videotape during the contact to ask them for orders.

*Display: Those extra book jackets or cover flats you had printed in advance of publication can be used for many promotional efforts:

1) Include one in mailings along with your news release

2) Call on bookstores in your area. Leave a book cover if the store will display it, and offer yourself for a book signing session if the store is interested. Aggressive bookstores in your area are likely to say Yes if you propose a book’s signing and author introduction. Just ask. They know how to do it. But don’t become a nuisance. If a manager doesn’t seem interested, don’t press. The object is to become known as an author, not as a pest.

3) and if you’re traveling, call the leading booksellers at your destination and see if they would like to do the same.

*Review Copies: Reviews provide the greatest sales impetus of anything you can do.

Reviews are worth your greatest efforts and they might require them, because reviews aren’t easy to come by. More than 40,000 books are published every year in the United States. Fewer than 10% of them are reviewed. You will have to be timely, persistent and willing to make an investment in this endeavor if you are to succeed. As far in advance of publication as possible, mail copies of your new book to trade magazine, large newspapers, local newspapers and other reviewers. Send out as many as you can afford. Ideally, this should be done several months before your publication date because reviewers and columnists need reading time. Get these copies directly from your printer.

Reviews often contain words of praise for your book that can then be included in your further publicizing efforts. Short quotes from several reviews look especially good on the back of your book’s dust jacket, serving as endorsements.

*Computerized Promotions: Hundreds of thousands of modem users subscribe to bulletin board systems (BBSs), which post all kinds of messages. Get news of your book on as many bulletin boards as possible– anything from a basic news item to a provocative statement meant to attract debate and rebuttal. All BBSs count the number of times your item has been logged onto, so you’ll know what works and what doesn’t.

There are thousands of boards to choose from. Computer Shopper and other magazines list BBS numbers by area code.. To reach really large groups of readers with a single call, sign up with one of the commercial online services. These offer a combination of electronic mail, databases of various types, special interest groups, bulletin boards and online conferencing.

Uploading (sending information into a network) is free if you are a member.

All you have to do is surf the net (browse the various bulletin boards in your subject area), then upload appropriate messages on each bulletin board that reaches probably buyers of your book. It helps to create your own website (your personal internet address) so that anyone who reads your bulletin board message and wants to know more can go directly, through the internet, to a source of information. You can put whatever you want on a home page: biographical information, photos, graphics, further information about your book and information on how to order it. You can even become a credit card vendor, so that people can place orders directly over the net and pay for them with their credit cards. To find out more about this option, call your bank. You will be referred to the appropriate contact. Or have a book packager such as Advocate House (www.acappela/advohouse.com) set up your website and ordering services for you.

 There are specific procedures for selling to bookstores through wholesalers; selling to libraries; selling to non-traditional book markets such as premium buyers and selling through mail order.

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I spent the entire month of August last year restructuring our web site. As a result, sales have tripled — not an easy thing to achieve in our highly competitive field.

Let me explain: www.acappela.com is a site of resources and services for writers. As you know, there are probably thousands of such sites up, ranging from such biggies as iUniverse to small mom-and pop operations. Competition is fierce and writers are rightly cynical of such offerings.

The problem such sites face is how to gain the trust of writers, who are as protective of their works as they are of their firstborn. Many writers have been burned by sites that promised things they didn’t deliver, often disguising their disclaimers in very tiny print. Gaining trust isn’t easy when all you have is your web site presence to convince potential clients. We do offer hard product — books, audio books and online classes — and those have always sold well. The challenge we faced was to create a site that would convince writers to trust us with their works, and to convince them that what they got from us was significant and useful. The services involved are critiquing manuscripts, editing and/or book doctoring them, and, through our subsidiary, Advocate House, to actually turn those manuscripts (once in publishable form) into books. For most writers, this is equivalent to handing their precious newborn child to a total stranger.

Our increase in clients indicates that we succeeded. Here’s how we did it:

UNDERSTAND YOUR OBJECTIVE

Once we were clear on what effect we wanted to produce with our site (instilling trust and confidence in us), the rest was easy. We simply had to understand the following elements, and then restructure our site to include them.

TRUST

How do you establish trust with someone who knows nothing about you except what you present on your web site? How do you structure a web site in such a way that it assures people that you are legitimate, competent and trustworthy?

First, by giving them information they can use, whether or not they buy your services. Our site contains loads of information about publishing today, from how to write what sells to knowing today’s publishing options and how to choose the one that is best for your work. People are grateful for this, which leaves them kindly disposed toward us. We have clients who chose us over some of our biggest competitors. We also offer free samples on the site, through excerpts of all our products. No one is asked to buy a pig in a poke. And to assure them of our qualifications, we list our history of work positions held, publications and awards. When we sum up with “twenty five years of experience in every aspect of writing and publishing,” they have the facts to back up that claim.

EASE OF USE

Though our site contains over 40 pages, it is user-friendly. From the home page, users can go directly to their area of interest. Each page links to related pages and/or other websites, to help users pursue their specific topic of interest without them having to wade through unrelated matter.

INTIMACY

This is an important element for any site offering personal services. How often have you called a phone number only to be frustrated by a recorded message of options, or had a question about a web site and been unable to find a way to make direct contact? It is vitally important to make your site interactive. Be sure to include an email address (and list it frequently) and perhaps even a phone number and street address. This cuts down on user frustration and helps assure users that you are established and legitimate, rather than one of those here-today/gone-tomorrow sites.

Another important element of intimacy is, of course, trust. We make no extravagant claims.

PROMPT SERVICE

No email to us goes unanswered for more than 24 hours. In some cases a final reply requires some research on our part so we email back, stating that we’re looking into it and will get back to them as soon as we have all the information requested.

LACK OF DISTRACTIONS

We have no advertising on our site. We want the experience of surfing our site to be a one-on-one experience, with no distractions. The money we might earn through banners, affiliations, ads, etc., would counteract the effect we want our site to have on prospective clients. Our clients range from housewives and retirees to CEOs, consultants and professional trainers. Our site objective is to gain their trust and establish confidence in us. While many will advise you to become an affiliate with other sites, to place banners and other ads on your site, if your service is as individual as ours, I think such things detract rather than add to a site’s credibility.

EASE OF ORDERING

 One of the big problems for sites today is dealing with the widely varying computer skills of those who enter the site. How can you make ordering swift and easy for those with sophisticated skills, while not losing those with limited skills? We chose to handle this by adding a shopping cart. With each service and product we offer, we provide for online credit card ordering as well as mail ordering. We also have a page devoted to explaining the use of the shopping cart.

This has allowed people to surf the entire site, clicking on products and services that interest them, then to look over their selections and totals before actually placing their order.

—–

Apparently our maverick approach works. We receive several emails each week telling us what a great site we have. Some of those kudos come from marketing professionals. Our clients are now global, from as far away as Finland and Turkey. Based solely on what we present in our site, these clients have contracted with us to help them turn their works into published books. If your services aren’t selling at the rate you want them to, consider revamping your site. Become clear on your site’s objective, then list the elements that help produce that objective. From there, look at each page of your site, asking yourself if it accomplishes what you want it to. Your objective will guide you to create a site that sells.

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Writing a book is a lot like getting married. It is intensely personal, it calls for a big commitment, and it requires a sustained effort. And like marriage, it carries no guarantee of success. Books and marriages often fail for the same reasons. The most common reason is that the writer doesn’t know enough about the four essential components of a successful book. It may surprise you to know that the first and most important of these components is the self.

1) self — Many writers get an idea and jump into writing about it, never giving any thought to the motive behind writing it. Yet why you want to write helps determine what you write. The second component is:

2) the subject –Do you know enough about your topic to convey how your (or your character’s) experiences felt? Do you know enough to teach your readers what they want to know about the subject? The third essential component is

3) the readers — Are you clear about who you are writing this book for? Do you know the profile of the ideal reader of this book? The fourth component is, of course, the actual writing of the book. This includes the format, mechanics, style, tone, etc.

4) the writing– Do you know the writing techniques that will create and sustain reader interest in your book? If you have sufficient knowledge about your motives, your subject and your readers, you’ve already solved many of the most aggravating problems of writing. Successful writing requires a harmonious blend of writer, subject and reader.

When this is achieved, an alchemy takes place. This alchemy informs the writing process, cutting through the common problems writers face. Once the alchemy is there, a writer can usually work swiftly and efficiently, avoiding many writing pitfalls and completing the book in less time than (s)he expected it to take. Achieving this alchemy depends on knowing a number of things about yourself, the writer, and your motives; about the subject to be written about, and knowing some essentials about the people you hope will read your book. Let’s take a look at each of them:

WHY YOU WANT TO WRITE:

Maybe you’ve always dreamed of achieving fame and fortune as an author. You’ve pictured yourself chatting with David Letterman or Jay Leno, or being interviewed on Good Morning, America. You see yourself autographing books for a long line of admiring readers or standing before large audiences, telling them about your book. Perhaps you see your book being made into a movie. Do you know what kind of book to write to turn this dream into a reality? Maybe you want to write as a means of self-actualization. You know you have things to say that others will find interesting but you’ve never taken the time to organize them into a meaningful text. Writing a book can create just the opportunity you need to organize your vast body of knowledge on a subject, or to explore your own psychological depths. Do you know who would be interested in reading this book? Or maybe you hope to gain immortality, to perpetuate yourself through your autobiography. Other reasons for writing an autobiography include creating a legacy for your family, to give children and grandchildren a sense of belonging and continuity. Your motive for writing a book might be to help others. You may have pioneered an experience (anything from a self-cure for cancer to roller-blading across the U.S.) or discovered a new or better way to do something. What you’ve done or learned could help others, and you want to write a book to share. Do you know who would welcome this information? Recording knowledge, experience or history is a valuable contribution. It can bring fame and fortune, help you self-actualize, advance your career or be a way to spend your spare time constructively. Your book could provide an important teaching tool. It is important for you to know which of the above motives are your reasons for wanting to write, because your reasons are tightly connected to whether or not the kind of book you write will be a success.

WHAT YOU WANT TO WRITE

First, what types of books are there? Books can be broken down into fiction or non-fiction. Fiction includes general, romance, Gothic and historical novels; westerns; mysteries; suspense and adventure stories; children’s books. Nonfiction includes all factual books: how-to’s; cookbooks; books on history; art; travel, plus academic books on any area of knowledge. There are also hundreds of professional and trade journals which print articles in specific areas of interest. These can be written in any of the following nonfiction forms: news, feature, analysis, how-to, opinion, speculation, interview, inspirational, evaluative, study, narrative, history, journal, observations, creative nonfiction, summary, list or satire. Now, how can your motive influence the success of the kind of book you want to write? Well, consider these facts. According to the Writer’s Market, only 5% of writers earn over $80,000 a year. Your chances of attaining fame and fortune will be better, therefore, if you write the type of book that the greatest number of people want to read. It helps if it’s the kind of book that will translate well into film or video format.

The most popular kinds of fiction books are love stories and legal thrillers. The most popular non-fiction books are how-to’s, followed by books on health care; men/women relationships; business and management advice; spiritual and psychological works, and dieting If your motive is self actualization or to help others, the popularity of your book will be a minimal factor for you. You may already know that your book will appeal to only a limited market. Who over 40, for instance, will be interested in roller blading across the United States? How many people will be interested in reading the history of your home town, or your opinions, evaluations, or your life story? Perhaps your main motive is career advancement. Will this purpose be best served by targeting beginners in your field as your audience? Your peers? Those who have been in the field longer than you? Do you know what differences in approach are needed to write successfully for these three different markets? The same questions apply to those who want to write a book to help others. Who are these people? How much do you know about them? Is your reason for helping them to impress them, to encourage them or to inform them? These are all factors in determining the contents and style of your book. Now you need to know if you have what it takes to write that book.

IF YOU CAN WRITE

Do you have the time to write? Do you like to write? Are you an idea person? Do you have patience? Do you have the training to be a polished writer? Can you make the emotional commitment to the type of solitude and perseverance required to write your book? Don’t get discouraged if you’ve answered no to some of these questions. By following the step-by-step approach outlined in my book, you’ll find that a time commitment of as little as one hour a day can get the job done. The essential part is your emotional commitment. You’ve got to believe in your project and believe in yourself. You have to be convinced of the importance of writing this book. You have to commit to it, and the best way to do that is to make a contract with yourself. Your contract is your vow. Decide on a time of day when you can consistently devote time to writing. Then assess how much time you can spend at it daily. Don’t overestimate. It’s important for you to write consistently each day, at the same time and if possible in the same location. If all you can realistically expect to devote to writing on a daily basis is fifteen minutes, then contract with yourself for fifteen minutes. Then, if it turns out that you can spend two hours at it on some days, consider that bonus time. Once you’re clear with yourself about when, where, and what time you can give to your writing, write a simple contract with yourself: Here’s an example:

I am a writer, now engaged in the writing of a book about __________________. I pledge to devote __________(minutes/hours) to this project every day, from __________ (hour) to__________ (hour). Signed: Date:

Don’t over look this step. It seals your commitment to yourself to follow through on this project and solemnizes the importance of this task. It also formalizes exactly what part of your life you will carve out to make way for this accomplishment, and it commits you to getting into the habit of writing. Now inform your family, friends and associates that you will be unavailable at those times. It’s important that your writing time be uninterrupted. Other people will have to take it as seriously as you do, allowing you quality time for your work.

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You hold in your mind an entire tale. Millions of facts and details sit there, waiting to be written down. You want to share all this with your readers, who know absolutely nothing about your tale before they begin to read. What do you tell them first? How can you introduce them to all you have to say in a way that will grab their interest?

Openings create a work’s theme music and provide the first information readers receive. They should be wonderfully interesting and should raise questions in your reader’s minds. Your first few paragraphs should have readers wondering, Who/what is this about? Where is it? How did this situation come about? When? What will happen next? Once you’ve aroused their curiosity, they’ll keep reading. To decide what those questions should be, there are questions you must ask yourself. The first is, what do I want to say? When you can answer that in one sentence, you understand your plot.

Your next question, how shall I say It?, depends on knowing who your readers are and what effect you want your writings to have on them: If your intention is to inform — to tell readers how to make great widgets — you’ll want them to feel confident they can learn to do it. If you begin with something that inspires their belief in their ability, they’re likely to read on. If you intend to persuade through your writing, decide first whether your approach should be informative or questioning. This will depend on your relationship to your readers (older/younger, more/less knowledgeable, etc.) Begin by addressing these readers in your chosen tone.

If your object is to entertain, you need a grabber opening. Is there a dramatic moment in your story that would make an irresistible opening? Could you start there and fill in earlier stuff with flashbacks later on? What tone do you want to set? Suppose you’re writing something historical. You might open with Daniel Boone standing on a mountaintop in 1800, surveying open prairies stretching as far as the eye could see. You could then write a chronological account from 1800 to today, when the view from that same spot reveals teeming highways and urban sprawl. If your opening scene took place at dusk, with nature’s creatures settling down for the day, it would contrast nicely with an ending that showed today’s electric lights shimmering like fairy dust as afar as the eye could see. No matter what your objective, you’ll need a riveting beginning for your work.

Your fiction, history, or how-to book must compete with the 60-second commercial. If readers aren’t captured by your first few paragraphs they’re likely to put down your work and reach for the remote control. Try out several openings. Ask yourself:

1. which of them will interest my readers?

2. which creates a scene or sets a tone that best launches what I want to say?

3. which speaks best to the readers I want to say it to?

Think of your story as a kind of strip tease. You hold the entire body of the work in your head, but reveal it only a little at a time. The revelation of your work begins with setting the tone (like the music the audience hears before the stripper comes on stage). Then you introduce your Main Character (the stripper) who begins some kind of action. A stripper doesn’t rush on stage and tear off all his/her clothes within seconds. The pleasure of the event is in its slow unfolding. In writing as well as stripping, anticipation is a large part of your audience’s pleasure. A good opening will launch your reader’s anticipation.

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Wondering why editors and publishers are saying no? Discover the seven writing problems that keep books from being publishable. In writing fiction, your opening should accomplish three things:

1)establish the scene

2) introduce the main character

3)let readers know what the character wants or needs – what the character will be reaching and struggling for that determines the action and direction of your story. If you’re writing non-fiction much the same applies.

Your beginning should be as clear, concise and straightforward as possible and it will still have to accomplish the three things that fiction must do:

1) it needs to establish the scene, but in this case instead of creating a fictitious scene your job is to report the scene – to ground readers immediately so they’ll know the who/what/why/when/where of what you’re writing about.

2) non-fiction often has a main character, a protagonist who will be featured in your work. As with fiction, you’ll want to introduce this person early on. That introductory hook you need could well be an image of your protagonist at some dramatic moment. It could be: a president being sworn in a prospector discovering a big vein of gold a scientist receiving the Nobel Prize a woman giving birth a man dying a lost child finding its home

3) such an image is an excellent way to start a story that will be about the protagonist’s long hard struggle to the point of success. There are essentially eight different types of openings for either fiction or non-fiction.

The first of these is the SUGGESTIVE SETTING:

If you’ll be working with a setting that lends itself to a vivid opener, start with a description of it. This will set the tone and mood of your work and give readers an immediate mental picture to get involved with: It is still dark outside her window. But she has been unable to sleep. Her fear is now a continual inner roar. “I don’t want to die,” she thinks. She cannot see the flag outside, drooping in the dark, but she knows it is inscribed, “Central Vermont Medical Center.” She knows every detail of the view from her window, every item in her room…. Does this sound like an interesting fictional opening? Guess again. These are the opening lines from “The Quality of Mercy,” an article about nurses who practice compassionate medicine. The article appeared in the April 1998 Smithsonian magazine. Let’s look at what this opening accomplishes: We are put inside the heart and mind of the woman in the hospital room ~ seeing what she sees and remembering with her what she cannot see in the dark. We are grounded, knowing we are in the Central Vermont Medical Center, and we are intimately aware of her fears. Of course she doesn’t want to die. Now that we’re there with her, we don’t want her to die, and we want to know what this threat to her life is. So we read on, hooked by the somber setting. This opening has accomplished the three main jobs of an opening:

1) It establishes/reports the scene

2) It introduces the subject character at a dramatic moment, grabbing readers’ interest

3) it informs readers what that character wants — to live! — which is such a universal longing that we are immediately in empathy with her situation. This is a wonderfully successful lead-in. Having gotten our minds and emotions into the character’s situation, the article then explains how such thoughts and feelings are dealt with through compassionate medicine.

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Digging into your family’s past and writing about the people and events you discover can be a fascinating endeavor. A family history also helps children and grandchildren develop a sense of belonging, a feeling of continuity between the generations. I’ve also found in my family history interesting people who act as a springboard for novels and non-fiction books. What began as simple compilation of information for future generations, became the spark for stories to share with others.

Research Began With a Relative

My research and writing began when my mother, at 91, asked me to take on the project of writing her memoirs. I’d heard some of the stories of her younger life, but had forgotten many and never knew about others. I soon learned she had nearly a century of living to relate, and I discovered I was learning the history of a remarkable woman.

Getting to Know Family
When you begin to search your family history, you’ll get to know your parents and grandparents in a different way. You’ll see them through their recollections and the memories of others, as they were while growing up, struggling to provide a living for a young family and contributing to their community to make a better life for others.
My great grandmother was one of these. I discovered that she, wife of a judge and mother of
seven, living in war-torn Hungary, elected to follow her first-born son to the United States —
and to bring with her the rest of her children, which included my grandmother. Until then my great grandmother was merely a picture in a photo album; now she has become for me a courageous intriguing woman, a woman who could inspire others if her story were told.

How To Begin

How do you begin your family history?
*Talk with your parents and record their memories on paper, on audio cassette or video tape.
*Visit other relatives and get their recollections about life in days ago.
*Take photos of living relatives, of old homes where they lived, of the cemeteries where ancestors are buried. Search old photo albums for snapshots of other relatives.
*Don’t rely solely on your memory as your parents and relatives relate their stories of younger years. Write down or put on tape what they tell you.
*Go through any old letters you might have saved from your parents and relatives, as well as those you’ve written them. These will give you insight into common everyday events that most everyone has forgotten.
*Go to the cemeteries where your ancestors are buried and jot down the dates and names for your family tree.

Publishing a History

You may want to collect this history solely as a family record for yourself and your children. Or you might want to have it printed in booklet form for family and any others who are
interested in what your family has done. Nowadays, with desktop publishing programs, you even can publish the family history yourself, without having to take it to a printer. Keep Memories Alive

Family histories are fascinating. Don’t let yours be forgotten because someone neglected to write down the tales of yesteryear and record the family tree. If you don’t do this now, some day you’ll say, “I wish I’d written all that information down for my children and future generations.”

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Writing your life story is embarking on a journey through the past. It’s a unique journey, one no one else has ever taken. That’s because the road you’ll travel is built from your very own memories and experiences ~ your very personal reactions to all the situations and events you’ll be remembering.

Your life will pass before your eyes. You’ll re-experience its pleasures and pains, longings and achievements, loves and hates. This is not a journey for the squeamish, but those with the courage to walk this road will be wonderfully rewarded. These rewards will radiate out, from you, to your family, to your entire society.

“How can that be,” you ask? “I’ve led such an ordinary life.” Well, that’s what you think! In reality, your life is unique. It is a bridge to the past. Your life story is your finest legacy and an invaluable gift for your family. Members of your family want to know more about your life than you realize. They’ll treasure every word you write. To them, you are the connection, the bridge, between the remarkable past and the present. You are history, and history disappears if you don’t record it.

You’ve been living through one of the most event-packed periods of human history. From splitting logs to splitting atoms, the 20th Century has brought immense change. You’ve seen it first hand and have thoughts and feelings about it. Now’s your chance to tell about them. There’s little opportunity today for kids to hear the stories of their family’s past. Not only don’t they experience the lifestyles their parents and grandparents lived, too often they don’t even know about them. Most of today’s kids exist in isolation from their own pasts.

When we’re marooned from our ancestors and traditions that have evolved — within the family, the tribe, the nation, the culture from which we sprang — we’re separated from a meaningful sense of SELF. Kids need the connectedness that comes from knowing their grandparents as people; from understanding their heritage and the basis of their family’s values.

So that brings us to the first reason for writing your life story: to create a legacy for your family. Writing your life story is the perfect way to link generations. It’s a voyage of self-exploration – a way to discover more about yourself and how you came to be the person you are today. It’s equally important for society, allowing others to experience another historical period. In offering younger people the chance to participate in life as you’ve known it, you make it easier for them to understand the forces and values that shaped your life. It can give kids courage. The message they receive is:

Some things in life never change. Some things are scary, but you can get through them. Look at me! I was just as scared as you are, and I made it. You can, too.

OR:

Okay, so you goofed. It isn’t the end of the world. Let me tell you about a goof I made at your age…”

Writing your life story also offers you the possibility of PERSONAL TRANSFORMATION. As you journey backward through your life you’ll gain new insights. With the passions of earlier moments now behind you, you can review them more calmly. You can begin to look back on your life with more understanding and sympathy — to understand not only your place within your family but your place in history. Not only can you begin to forgive others, you can also begin to forgive yourself. You’ll see your life-so-far in new ways.

You’ll begin to see patterns and threads of continuity you hadn’t been aware of. You’ll recognize themes, life-long desires and preferences. Through these recognitions, you may discover hidden meanings and even missions in your life. You may discover that your personal mission is as family historian. Or this may be only the first stepping stone toward a life of greater awareness, fulfillment and satisfaction in a work which you are yet to discover. In either case, prepare yourself for this journey’s personal adventure of self discovery!

 www.acappela.com

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Replying to a comment earlier today got me all fired up. I replied with four good reasons to self-publish, but they are just the tip of the iceberg. So here’s a longer list, with more details. Enjoy!

I’m often asked by authors whether they should seek publication with a major publishing house or self-publish. Given the industry changes over the past 20 years, I almost always recommend self-publishing.  Here’s why:

1) SAVE TIME.  Most commercial publishers work on an 18-24 month production cycle.  Self-publishing will take only 2-4 months once your manuscript is completed. This becomes especially important for time-sensitive material.

2) KEEP CONTROL.  Self-publishing gives you total control of your book.  Commercial publishers are interested in your book as a money-making property and may have less allegiance than you to the integrity of the work.  If you are unwilling to have changes made to the title, the contents, the illustrations of your work, or feel you can’t live with a possible sensationalizing of it, you’ll want to retain the control that self-publishing offers.

3)  BIGGER PROFITS.  A large publisher will finance your project, but may only offer a 5-15% royalty.  Since most authors have to do their own promoting anyway, why not self-publish and earn a 40 to 400% margin?  Ironically, self-publishing has become one of the surer roads into a major publishing house.  If your self-published book becomes a hit, publishers will come calling.  So after raking in 40-400% on your initial self-published printing, you will have the upper hand in negotiating the sale of second printing rights to your book.

4)  SOLE OWNERSHIP.  As a self–publisher, you own all rights to your book.  If you use a traditional publisher, the publishing house will own the rights to your book.  They will decide how long it will stay on bookstore shelves (usually 3 to 6 months).  If they lose interest in it, you won’t be able to print additional copies unless you purchase back these rights.

5) FILLING A NICHE.  You may not be able to interest a major publisher in your book if it deals with a special topic with a limited market.  Books that deal with educational material or specific religious themes, hobbies, or other interests which generate limited interest in the national  market, for instance, may not be found in the mass market because the demand for them may not be great enough a  warrant a large press run.  Yet your book may fill a niche that has not been met. You can test the market with a short-run printing.   If you already understand or are willing to learn about that market, you can target it precisely.  You won’t need to print a million copies to make a profit, because you’ll be likely to sell every book you print.

6)  LOCAL ADVANTAGE. Books about local or regional topics, i.e., historical books about certain towns, projects, localities, etc., are generally produced by local authors in short-run quantities.  Large publishers are unlikely to publish such books because of their limited sales potential.

7)  BE IN PRINT.  Making money is not the only reason to publish.  Sharing what you have leaned or leaving a legacy to your family are other admirable motives. So is offering hope or inspiration to others who face a situation you have successfully dealt with.  A book is an expression of yourself and a gift to others.

AVOID THE CHAOS. Publishing companies are merging like medfield in mating season.  In the final months of 1998, Random House, Bantam, Doubleday, Dell, Holt, St. Martin’s and Farrar Straus Giroux were all German owned. British companies held Putnam, Viking and Addison Wesley, and an Australian company controlled Harper Collins. (some have been sold or traded to other international conglomerates since then.) Then Barnes & Noble bought Ingram, not a month after they had themselves sold 50% of barnsandnoble.com to Bertelsmann. Along with these acquisitions, of course, comes policy and personnel changes.  It’s hard to know who is publishing what these days, and who works where.  Manuscripts can get lost in limbo during this game of musical chairs.

I’ll stop here, but  if you want to know more about self-publishing, see my online class, Is Self Publishing For You? at www.acappela.com/classes.htm

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Ever wonder how a writer becomes a published author? Or how a book makes it to the top? You see the same authors over and over on Best Seller lists. They’re not necessarily the best writers: their success has more to do with today’s publishing realities.

Publishing is a whole new ball game today and the old rules don’t apply:
Major publishing houses are being gobbled up by international cartels
Bookstores are giving way to superstores
Accountants now decide who gets published
Editors acquire, they don’t edit
Literary agents handle authors as “properties”, rarely talking to anyone unpublished

So what’s an aspiring writer to do? Opportunities do exist for new writers. You just have to know how to find them.

“Publishing today is market driven,” says Patrika Vaughn, the world’s first Author’s Advocate. “Before you write the first word, you have to know who is the audience for your work.”

She ought to know. Vaughn is a published author and ghostwriter. She has been a literary agent, an editor with several national publications, and is currently president of A Cappela Publishing. She explains:
“I quit agenting because agents can’t serve the true interests of new writers these days. Writers want to get published, achieve recognition and make money. The publishing market has gone through huge changes in the past decade, making it difficult for agents to do the wonderful things they used to in order to help writers get published.

“About 40% of today’s agents won’t read manuscripts by unpublished authors. Those that do usually charge a fee. Eighty percent of agents won’t represent profesional books; 93% won’t touch reference works; 99% won’t handle technical books, and 98% won’t handle regional books, satire, musicals, or other specialized manuscripts. Although most agents will handle novel-length fiction, only 20% are willing to take on either novelettes or short stories. Most amazing of all, only 2% have a special interest in literature or quality fiction!

“This creates a Catch-22 for writers: agents won’t look at many types of manuscripts and the larger publishing houses tend to only consider works that come through agents. This results in fewer and fewer books by new writers on their lists. Most bestselling authors were already well established. An unknown author is probably wasting time and money by hiring an agent to pursue this market.

“Midsize to small publishing houses are more receptive to new writers. Most of them will read manuscripts submitted directly by authors, without agent intervention. So why bother with an agent?

“It’s a new and different market out there. Th big news is niche marketing, electronic publishing and self-publishing. Writers today are finding that they have to be marketers, too, in order to successfully publish ~ and this is true regardless of the publishing option they pursue. All publishing companies are placing increased emphasis on market analysis in book proposals. More and more, authors have to be willing to do anything and everything that will help promote their books.

“Since authors have to get involved in marketing and promoting even with a publisher, many are opting for self-publishing. As long as they have to do all that work, they might as well keep up to 80% of the profits rather than settle for a 6-10% advance on royalties ~ especially since their books’ shelf life in bookstores is probably going to be only three to six months if they go through a major publisher.

What if they self publish?

“Shelf life is much longer. If your book is selling, bookstores and superstores will keep it on the shelf. Strangely enough, that’s bringing writers full circle. Books such as The Celestine Prophesy and The Christmas Box were originally self-published. It was only after they generated large sales that Warner and Simon & Shuster bought the rights to them. Larger publishing houses now ask their reps to scout out locally successful books. It seems they no longer know what the changing public wants, so they rely on writers with a track record, adding new writers only after they’ve proven successful.”

So what, I asked, does all this have to do with Author Advocacy?

“Everything! Writers today are wandering around in a confusing publishing landscape. The sands keep shifting under their feet and they have no signposts to guide them out of the desert into an oasis. Agents and large publishing houses won’t touch the majority of new writers. Few writers are marketers or financial analysts . . . they just don’t know how to go about matching up subject matter, writing style and reading audiences. New writers don’t have a reliable way of finding out if what they’ve written is any good and if there’s a buying public for it. They don’t have the publishing savvy to determine their best route toward publication. They need advise from a knowledgeable advocate who can inform them on each step, from conception to sales.

“To be a successfully published writer today, writers have to know what they want and what their audiences want. They have to know why they want to write, who they want to write for, what they want to say and what effect they want to have on those audiences. Because there are so many publishing choices today, each with predictable outcomes, writers need clearly focused goals. They also need to know a lot about their readers in order to write a book that will appeal to them.

My job as an Author’s Advocate is to help writers determine what they will write and how to choose the most appropriate presentation style for their audiences; how to select the best publishing option for each work, and how to get the word out to the book-buying public. All these things are required today whether a writer self-publishes or works through a publishing house, and few writers have the background to take these steps.”

So what advise do you have for hopeful writers today?

“Choose your subject, audience, and approach thoughtfully. Research before you write, even if it’s fiction, to find out what people want to read today. The public is fickle and may no longer be interested in what excited them a few years ago. Then write the best book you can. Determine your publishing option based on the size and targetability of your audience. Then get news of your book out to them, in as many new and creative ways as you can.”

But what about writers who don’t have the time or skills to do these things?

“They’ll either have to acquire these skills or hire an expert to help them. There’s a lot of material available to learn from. I’ve tried to cover the basics in my book and audio books, and there are several other good sources available (see sidebar).

“The point is that it is possible for new writers to succeed. They just need to take a new path, and they need a new roadmap to guide them through the changing complexities of today’s publishing world.”

 www.acappela.com

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The Kindly, Caring Literary Agent is probably extinct.

Today’s agents are more likely to treat you like paychecks than like the sensitive creative person you are. You won’t get your hand held when you’re blue. You won’t have your manuscript lovingly edited. Even worse than this cold, business-like treatment, you’re unlikely to get your works placed with a publisher by an agent today if you are a budding author. Today: 40% wont read manuscripts by unpublished authors (those who do usually charge) 80% won’t handle professional books over 90% won’t handle regional books, satire, reference or technical works only 2% have a special interest in literature or quality fiction.

Agents have changed, along with the publishing industry. They can no longer do the wonderful things they used to for their clients. As publishing houses have been absorbed by big conglomerates, decision-making has moved from editors who love words to accountants who love healthy bottom lines. Their criteria: will it sell? They tend to stick to writers with track records, so the same authors appear year after year on best seller lists. Few new voices are emerging from the big publishing houses which once brought us Faulkner and Hemingway.

Ironically, the best way to get their attention is to turn your back on both agents and big publishers! The large publishing houses now rely on their sales reps to scout out self-published and small-imprint books that are selling well. They then approach the authors about printing a second edition of their self-published books. This often results a lucrative book contract if an author decides to go for the deal.

But many authors are saying no to the Big Boys. Why settle for 6-15% royalties when you can keep up to 80% of the profits from your book sales and retain the rights to TV and video productions, foreign rights, book clubs, etc? Especially since you’re going to have to do most of the marketing work yourself anyhow.

No, authors have too many other options today to accept whatever big publishing houses offer. And you don’t need an agent to pursue them. There are niche publishers and coop publishers (they will work directly with an author) ; there is self-publishing and/or electronic publishing (you become your own publisher). There are also lots of traditional ways to get out the word about a book without spending a dime, and the Internet has added a whole new dimension to cost-free marketing. 

The problem is that few authors have the information they need to successfully maneuver today’s brave new publishing world. They need advise on each step. That’s why I gave up being a Literary Agent in favor of becoming the world’s first Author’s Advocate. I found that most writers don’t start thinking about marketing until they have a finished manuscript – which often means a complete rewrite is needed to get a marketable manuscript. I like to work with authors from concept to sales, helping them make the essential decisions that lead to publishing success. 

To write a book that will sell today, you have to be very clear about:

1. what you want to write (and what will sell)

2. the most appropriate writing style for your targeted audience

3. your best publishing option

4. how to get your book out before the book-buying public

Armed with up-to-date information on buying trends and publishing options, you can save yourself a lot of time and grief. The information is readily available in such publications as

Writer’s Digest, Publishers Weekly, The Library Journal, The New York Times’ and the Los Angeles Times’ Book Review. For self-publishers there is The Small Press Review and membership in the Publishers Marketing Association. The information is out there for anyone willing to do the research. Add to this a clear understanding of your audience and what you want to say to this audience and you’re launched on writing a book that will sell. Writers today have to be able to think like editors and publishers and book distributors. Publishing today is market-driven, and the reality is that a big publishing house may not be your best choice.

www.acappela.com

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