What Writers Need to Know About Publishing and Imprints

 As writers and poets, after writing a poem, a piece, blog article, or book, our goal is to publish. Today there are three main paths to do that: traditional, hybrid, or self-publishing. These are besides submitting short pieces or poems to literary magazines or blogs and usually means seeking to publish novella length or longer manuscripts. Going from manuscript to published is a journey more complex today because of the many options. The term “imprint” is synonymous with publisher. You or a company you form could also be the publisher.

 

Traditional

Traditional book publishing is when a publisher offers the author a contract and, in turn, prints, publishes, and sells your book through booksellers and other retailers. The publisher buys the right to publish your book and pays you royalties from sales, typically 8-10 percent.

If you want to publish a book traditionally, most writers need to find an agent. To find one, you must identify the right category for your writing. If you are or want to be a non-fiction writer, you will need to submit a book proposal with three sample chapters and a synopsis of each chapter. If you are writing fiction, you must have a completed manuscript.

Once these steps are accomplished, you’re ready to write a query letter to send to potential agents whose job it is to ‘sell’ your book to a publisher. There are no guarantees that an agent will take you on. Their domestic fee is usually 15% of your book royalties.

The five biggest publishers in 2021 are Simon and Schuster with 16 imprints, Penquin/Random House with 23 imprints, Hachette Book Group with 16 imprints, Harper Collins with 5 imprints, and Macmillan, a German company, with 7 imprints. These imprints are sub-companies that publish under unique names.

Hybrid Publishers

A hybrid press or hybrid publisher is a publishing house that operates with a different revenue model than traditional publishing while keeping the rest of the practices of publishing the same. The revenue of hybrid publishers comes from both book sales and fees charged for the execution of their publishing services, such as editing, design (the cover also), layout, proofing, production and printing, and marketing. Some of these hybrid publishers offer package deals at different tier levels and costs, usually starting at $500 and going as high as $10,000. Also, the length of the manuscript adds to the cost the longer it is.

Others do it all for 50% of royalties like TCK Publishing with no author fees. Each hybrid, including some vanity presses, have different terms, so you must do your due diligence and compare. A list of 42 others can be found at https://www.tckpublishing.com/list-of-hybrid-publishers/

Self-publishing 

This is the publication of media by its author without the involvement of an established publisher. The term usually refers to written media, such as books and magazines, either as an ebook or as a physical copy using POD (print on demand) technology, which prints each book as ordered. In self-publishing, the author bears all the costs and risks but earns a higher share of the profit per sale, which could be as high as 70% (Amazon KDP) after printing costs are subtracted.

Steps on how to self-publish a book, all done by the author:

1. Write the book
2. Self-edit the book
3. Professionally edit and format the book (hire an editor)
4. Get illustrations (if you’re writing a children’s book)
5. Get a book cover design (you do it or hire)
6. pre-Market the book
7. Publish (print/ebook/audio)
8. Market and promote including Book Launch
9. Keep up with book maintenance
10. Work with a self-publishing company, order copies

 

Some self-publishers or aggregators you should check out are: Amazon/KDP, Digital2Digital, IngramSpark, Bookbaby, Lulu, Blurb, StreetLib, Barnes & Noble Press, PublishDrive, and Diggypod. Some only produce ebooks, like Rakuten Kobo or Smashwords, many produce print copies and ebooks both. They have different terms and prices, and in many cases offer services like hybrid publishers do. Also, they have varying royalty rates and distribution channels. There are over 1,000 to choose from, so again, perform due diligence.

These companies have platforms where you can upload your manuscript and cover, preview it online, hit approve, and your print book or ebook is available within 24-72 hours either for next to nothing in cost or for agreed-upon fees. If choosing to self-publish, it’s best to produce both print and digital ebook versions. Audio is trickier, and recommended.

About publishers and imprints

Firstly, don’t get copyright and publisher mixed up. You as the author are the copyright holder, whether you register your work with the U.S. Copyright Office or not. The publisher is the publisher, with certain rights that you as the copyright holder have ceded to them, such as permission to use your work, a percentage of your royalties on book sales, or where your book will be distributed. Any services the publisher performs are in a contract, especially with traditional publishers. With hybrid and self-publishing, the terms are usually what’s contained in your selected platform as you use their services. Usually, this means you abide by their stated requirements and formats to publish your book and there isn’t a separate contract.

For example, on Amazon KDP I can utilize their Cover Creator software to make a front, back, and spine for my book, or I can upload one I might have created myself or hired a designer to do for me. I like Amazon KDP since they can produce a printed softcover, printed hardcover, and ebook version of my book.

Secondly, whoever assigns the ISBN number to your book is important. Every book and sometimes ebooks, needs its own ISBN. This number is available in the U.S. from Bowker for a fee of $125 for one or $295 for 10. My Company owns a block of ISBN’s and sells them at $60 apiece with the designation, like KDP, “independently published.” The publisher's name assigned to the ISBN is the imprint, or publisher. With many self-publishers like Amazon KDP, you can use their ISBN at no cost. However, as the registrant of the ISBN, they are the imprint unless specifically registered in your name as the author, i.e. independently published. Amazon also uses their own numbers called ASINs.

For example, below is how Amazon KDP treats ISBNs:

ISBN options	Cost	Publishing	Imprint	Publisher field in the Book’s detail page	Requirements
KDP Free ISBN	Free	Only with KDP	Automatically registered as “Independently published” in Bowker	It will show imprint name “Independently published”.	We’ll register your free ISBN, so no further requirements are needed from your end.
Your own ISBN	You cover the cost of the ISBN	You can publish outside of KDP	Register your own imprint with Bowker or local ISBN agency	It will show the imprint name you enter to publish your book.	When entering your book’s details ensure the information you are providing matches with the information you’ve registered in Bowker. You won’t be able to publish your book if there are any mismatches between this information.

 

Regarding the “Publishing” field: This is key. Many authors set up their own businesses just so they can be the publisher or imprint. In the chart above, although Amazon is the largest retailer for books (67% of ebooks), if you use their ISBN you are limited to them. If you have your own imprint or use ABLiA Media LLC, my company, you can publish on KDP and anywhere else you want.

It’s most advantageous, therefore, to have the ISBN under your control.

In a future post, I’ll describe how to set up your own “Publishing” company or imprint. It’s not that difficult nor expensive.

 

What are First Serial Rights?

The first goal of any writer or poet is to write, ideally something original in their voice that captures their readers. You can only capture readers’ minds or hearts if you publish and they can read your words. Luckily, thousands of literary outlets and journals exist to do just that and are eager for good content. When you first submit an original piece or poem and are selected, paid or not, they will require First Serial Rights.

Here’s a typical Term and Condition:

  “We are entitled to first serial and reprint rights. That is, we are allowed to be the first publisher of your work before the rights revert to you, and we are then allowed to republish your work if it is chosen for an award or an anthology. These publication rights extend to all formats (digital and print) and locations, and once your poem is accepted for an anthology, you agree it can be featured in our digital and print issues, which are sold to [publication name or org name] readers.”

By submitting, you are telling them they are the first to use your piece. Second, you are giving them the right to republish that piece. Sometimes it might say “First North American Serial Rights (FNASR)” meaning only pertaining to North America, but increasingly and with online publications and the internet, “world” is more common. In the example above “all formats and locations” means the world.

All writers or poets submitting their work to literary outlets or publications, whether print or digital/online, will have to agree to language similar to this in order to be published if selected. If you don’t agree, withdraw your submission, since it is unlikely the wording will change. This right of the publisher, “first serial and reprint rights” is always implied. It’s your job as the submitter to make sure there are limits when the publisher can issue your work, and for how long he holds the rights to do so. Generally, two years should be the limit. All rights revert to you (as in the example above), at some point, which should be clear.

During this time and afterward, it is not only courteous but accepted practice that if you submit the same piece to another publication; you state where and when it was first printed. This usually is done on the piece itself. Reprints of your work that previously appeared in another publication are “second serial rights.” These rights are nonexclusive, meaning you can submit or sell the piece to many publications at the same time.

In other words, your piece or poem is not “exclusive” to the publication that first printed it. If they ask for that, consider what that means to you and if you agree. Many publications accept reprints, so think of that too.

Other rights to consider are “simultaneous rights” that give you the ability to sell work to publications that don’t have overlapping circulations, and “all rights,” which means you sell all the rights to your work to the buyer, and you never get another nickel for the piece, no matter how many times they publish it.

One thing. You always own the copyright in the piece, and as the author that always remains with you.

One more thing. Don’t plagiarize. 

 Guest Blog

How to Incorporate Feedback Without Destroying Your Story

By Chandra Shekhar, December 6, 2021

Feedback tells us what we are doing right and what we could be doing better. The advice and suggestions we receive from beta readers, fellow authors, and other sources can help us transform our flawed-but-promising story into a publishable piece or even a glittering masterpiece.

   Ideally, the process will be almost painless.

   The reality, however, is quite different, as any author who has ever attended a critique session can attest. You go into the session expecting to receive little criticism and lots of praise, but often it turns out to be the other way around. You find yourself assailed from all sides by brilliant suggestions that have one simple flaw — they will require you to completely gut your story and rewrite it from scratch.

It is a chastening experience. Even the thickest-skinned writers can’t help but feel disheartened at moments like these and fantasize about skinning their colleagues with a blunt knife.

   What’s the solution? How does a writer handle adverse—but well-intentioned—criticism?

   I don’t have an answer for this in the general case, but I have discovered one trick that’s helpful in certain situations when a reader points out what appears to be a serious or even fatal flaw in your text. This trick not only makes it almost painless to fix the flaw, it actually deepens the plot and strengthens the story.

   The trick I’ve found is to fix by incorporating. Let me explain with a couple of examples how that works.

   Example 1: Let’s say you’ve written a play in which the following dialogue appears:

                John: We should leave soon.

                Jane: Leave where?

                John: Where? To the reception at the Chamber of Commerce, or course.

                Jane: Oh.

                John: So will you go and get ready? It’s getting late.

                Jane: Let’s just stay home.

                John (staring at Jane): Are you kidding? Don’t you know how important it is for my job that I show my face at this event?

                Jane: Screw your job.

Someone in your critique group tells you that the dialogue doesn’t ring true, because Jane is not the type who will swear at her husband. The criticism is valid, you feel, and wonder whether you should change the dialogue slightly:

             John (staring at Jane): Are you kidding? Don’t you know how important it is for my job that I show my face at this event?

             Jane: Stop worrying about your job.

This addresses the criticism, but at the expense of losing some punch in the dialogue. Here is a better way to rewrite the dialogue:

                John (staring at Jane): Are you kidding? Don’t you know how important it is for my job that I show my face at this event?

                Jane: Screw your job.

                John (open-mouthed): What’s the matter with you? I’ve never heard you swear before. At least, not at me.

                Jane (beginning to tear up): Sorry, John. I’m not myself today. Ever since I got that letter from Cecilia.

                John: …

See what I did there? I incorporated the criticism into the dialogue, and by doing so, I not only fixed the flaw but also deepened the interaction between John and Jane.

   This is a simplistic example chosen for the purpose of illustration, but the point it makes is broadly valid. Whenever you encounter criticism that rings true but would be painful to address, try to incorporate it into the text itself. This will make your text critique-proof, at least as regards that particular flaw. The process will be relatively painless. And it will add depth to your narrative.

Example 2: This is a paragraph from my first draft of a short story about a serial killer:

      With the remaining officers out on emergency patrol, Fiona and Prince were left to man the precinct office. Prince moved his desk closer to the heating vent while Fiona kept her overcoat on. Both kept glancing at the loudly ticking wall clock, anxiously waiting for midnight.

In the story, the above scene takes place in a US city in August. One reader wondered why Fiona would wear an overcoat in mid-summer. For some reason, I had overlooked this very obvious flaw. Unfortunately, the plot requires the event to happen in August and Fiona to have her overcoat on. How to reconcile these two conflicting requirements?

My first impulse was to relocate this story to the southern hemisphere, where it would be winter in August. Then I realized many other elements in the story would make no sense if I did that.

Then I came up with this simple fix:

                With the remaining officers out on emergency patrol, Fiona and Prince were left to man the precinct office. The weather that summer had been unseasonably cold, and as the sun set and the evening shadows crept over town, the office grew chilly. Prince moved his desk closer to the heating vent while Fiona kept her overcoat on. Both kept glancing at the loudly ticking wall clock, anxiously waiting for midnight.

Adding that single sentence not only addresses the (valid) criticism but also brings in an eerie element that contributes to the feeling of dread that pervades the story.

                Mission accomplished!

 

Chandra Shekhar came to the US from India in 1987 to study Artificial Intelligence. After a decade of work on self-driving vehicles, facial recognition, and video surveillance, he switched to the less lucrative but more benign field of journalism. After studying science communication at the University of California, he worked for several years as a freelance writer for the Los Angeles Times, Cell, Princeton University, and other outlets. He taught for a year at the writing program at Stanford University, which inspired him to write his first novel, Mock My Words, and launched his career in fiction writing. 

   He is currently working on Thirst for Power, a novel about the intertwined lives of an idealistic young man, a scheming politician, a romantic professor of English, and an enigmatic social worker, set against a background of political, social, and climate change.

   Chandra is also a prolific writer of short stories, flash fiction, and humorous verse. An illustrated collection of his shorter works titled Unintended Consequences, Illogical Extremes, and Other Ironies of Life is in progress.

Here are links to his novels: 

Mock My Words and Unlight, both on Kindle 

 

Creating Grandpa: Guest Blog

 Dr. Michael P. Riccards, educator, administrator, three-time college president, and ex-Executive Director of a New Jersey think tank, is our guest writer today. Notably, Mike has written and published over thirty books and numerous plays, some produced on stage. He has written about Presidents and met some. His stories are interesting, varied, true life or fictional. 

CREATING GRANDPA

I always used to avoid fiction.  The best of it seemed wordy, overly romantic, and generally hard to follow from one day to another.  It took me a year to read  MIDDLEMARCH.  So I stayed with my major interest: political history and biography.  After I retired I decided to write a personal memoir which was moving slowly until I saw in the Hamilton NJ Public Library a notice on a bulletin board near the men's room for the establishment of a group of people interested in memoir writing led by Rodney Richards.  

I joined the group. At times I would grow weary of retelling my life and even was going to ditch the whole thing and go back to the American presidency which was the area I was most at home in.  When I got a note of congratulations from President Bill Clinton, that only solidified my dedication.

So in the group, I read short segments of my memoir, sometimes with minimal enthusiasm.  The group, especially the American consul to Trenton from the Italian government, Dr. Gilda Rorro, was especially wonderful in her critiques, especially on my Italian American roots,  Suddenly I decided to finish up my life story just after my retirement, which was on my birthday, October 2.

The group continued on, and some of my colleagues asked me to read their life stories and even offered to pay me for that review. I insisted that I did not charge friends and was pleased to take several of those fine pieces with me for a long boring winter in Florida. I was delighted to see them published as well over the coming years.

The group continued on and began to change: it became more interested in the genre of fiction, exactly what I had so avoided.  But I decided to start with a simple short story about my maternal grandfather who was born in Naples and came over to the United States in 1898 at 16.  As I searched out more information, I suddenly found that he developed a character of his own, as he faced the trials of living as a paterfamilias in the twentieth century.  I freely mixed fact and fiction, and in the process members of my family said they remembered this or that particular incident about Grandpa.  How could they?  

One cousin even told me that his funeral was interrupted by a poor woman whom he had given vegetables, wood, and flowers to in her later years.  She came to a sacred funeral and screamed out "God bless him, we shall not see his likes again."  That was not how I wrote, but it came about in real life.  When I showed Grandpa in one story in a less than flattering light, one of my fellow students complained that this was not in character for him, so I should changed the story.  Actually, it was a true story, but by then Grandpa had become a real persona in her mind, someone noble and decent and paternal, the way men used to be, or so we thought before the fractures our time.  

Anybody starting fiction should give it some time to grow.  I try to create characters and also have the stories end with some moral for our confused lives.  Sometimes the moral is too subtle, but such is life.  Give yourself a chance to make mistakes, for that is realism.  Look around at the symbols and metaphors that exist in your vision.  Grandpa had a tiny rosebush in the middle of his garden.  Surely it was out of place?  But I learned that he planted it when his 25-year-old daughter died unexpectedly.   That was how he remembered her.  

It really happened.  

"The Ordinary Duties of the Day": The Collected Grandpa Stories

by Dr. Michael P. Riccards and Ms. Cheryl A Flagg is available on Amazon

Some others on Amazon are 

The Odes of DiMaggio

The Ferocious Engine of Democracy: A History of the American Presidency (Volume 1)

The Collected Plays of Michael P. Riccards https://www.amazon.com/Collected-Plays-Michael-P-Riccards-ebook/dp/B0795857SJ/

And his autobiography A Hero of My Own Life https://www.amazon.com/Hero-My-Own-Life-2015-08-25/dp/B01K3JKEOE/

More of Mike's books and plays can also be found there.

Writers love their words too much when...

The one thing all good writers and poets seek out before they publish is feedback on their work. They know it catches mistakes, identifies misconceptions or confusion, offers better word choices, improves clarity, or cuts needless words. Also, when written well, critique offers confirmation.

  Writers know they can't please everyone, yet should want to reach as many readers as possible. But readability, regardless of subject matter, is in the mind's eye of the reader. At times we can forget that.

  Writers always, always, can accept or reject criticism. But sometimes we writers can be so invested in our work that we cannot acknowledge our own mistakes or what needs improvement.

  Based on my experience in over 3,000 writing and poetry critique sessions and working closely with authors, I've come up with the following stumbling blocks or traps some writers fall into:

Writers love their words too much when…

 

They ignore suggestions to switch POV or tense

They like excessive dialogue tags with adverbs

They use adverbs instead of verbs to show action

They skip necessary punctuation or have too much

They insert too many exclamation points

They insist on twenty-five cent words no one understands

They fall back on tired old cliches

They tell what happens instead of showing it

They pooh-pooh the idea of changing words or phrasings

They think their writing is perfectly understandable

They explain and defend what they’ve written

They know their book will sell well when published

They think they’ve told a brand-new story

They can’t see why their writing is boring

They refuse to cut out vague or extraneous words

They use the same pronoun to start every sentence

They care little about metaphors and similes or use too many

They don’t appreciate that criticisms are meant to help them

They think beta readers are overrated

They won’t spend money on a good editor

They believe the book will sell itself

 And the number one reason writers love their words too much is because…

  They are in love with themselves and not the reader

Know your target audience. Be in love with those readers. 

How to Detach from Our Writing Using Stephen King

 

Introduction

 

Writers must choose between attachment to what they’ve written and detachment. Attachment means we are satisfied with our word choices and stop there. Detachment means we are always looking for better words or phrases to convey our meaning. Stephen King, in his interwoven memoir, part craft book, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft, lays out his advice to writers. I’ve chosen some of his quotations to show the benefits of detachment over attachment.

 

Reasons for attachment or detachment

 

When we’re alone writing, we usually have a goal, purpose, theme, plot, or audience in mind. We write and write and write, then edit and revise. We can be obstinate or stubborn when it comes to altering the words we’ve written. This may be for valid or not so valid reasons.

   Valid reasons: They say what I am trying to say.

   I understand what the words mean.

   I don’t care what others think.

   I think or feel they are the best words I could have chosen.

   Invalid reasons: Everything else.

 

   Let’s debunk the so-called valid reasons.

   1. The words I’ve used say what I am trying to say.

   That may or may not be the case. It depends on your target audience.

   Do you have a target audience, or is this something you feel or believe? If it is something you feel or believe, then I have no right to tell you to change your words. Just like you have no right to tell me to change my feelings or beliefs. You or I can be closed about this, not wanting to hear or read something that might change our minds, or we can be open to other viewpoints and at least listen.

   I’m not talking here about what is right or wrong, simply the feelings or beliefs themselves. They may be based on three foundations: education and facts, prejudice or ignorance, or experience. I believe education and facts stand strong and firm unless changed by updated education and facts. Ignorance or prejudice is the lack of updated education and facts. Experience can go either way. It is a teacher but can turn out wrong.

   Regardless, assuming the words I’ve used express how I feel or what I think, they are true for me. Does that mean other people understand them the same way I do? As writers, it’s not enough to write what we feel or believe if others are unsure of what it means, or worse, are confused. The goal of every writer and poet is to be understood by the reader, whoever the reader is. That’s why every writer needs to find out their target audience.

   The key to effective writing is clarity. Clarity for the reader, not just you.

 

2. I understand what the words mean.

You may well understand the words because you’ve lived them, or know the definitions, or think a reader should understand them. That doesn’t guarantee a reader will. The only way to be sure is to ask. Writing groups are great for this, or a beta reader. You share your work and receive comments. The comments tell you if your words and meanings are clear or not, or if there are gaps. If you write solo without feedback, you risk not being understood. You won’t know what’s good or bad or should be changed.

   We writers write to be read. If not, then no one cares what we write or how we say it.

   It depends what your goal is. To produce something readers will understand and want more of, or to make a statement and be done with it. Anyone can share their views, which may or may not hold weight. It’s harder to produce a piece or book readers enjoy, praise, want more of, or share with others.

3. I don’t care what others think

Then you may be a writer, but few will appreciate your work, want more, or share what you’ve written. If you ignore others’ views and feelings and merely spout your own, readers will not feel a kinship with you. They will think you only care about yourself and not them. Readers need their feelings and experiences validated and recognized. The lone wolf is left in the forest alone to howl, drawing no response.

4. I think or feel they are the best words I could have chosen.

The English language has over two million words. Do you know all of them?

   Words often have more than one meaning or context, and there are synonyms with slightly different or more distinct meanings. That’s why there are thesauruses and other people, especially other writers, to help find more accurate, more meaningful words. MS Word has a Thesaurus built in. Mark Twain said, “The difference between the almost right word & the right word is really a large matter—it’s the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning.” - Letter to George Bainton, 15 October 1888

   Words are symbols for something abstract or concrete, have context and syntax, and can fire one’s imagination or dull it. Words have the power to change hearts and minds or cause action.

   Let’s talk about readers.

   Every writer should write to the intelligent reader. What does that mean?

   One definition might be that reading is an active dialogue between the author and the reader, and the basic tool for learning in all subjects, entertainment, even enjoyment. To be an effective reader, comprehension is a necessity, because if one understands he or she can then construct judgment. These judgments result from critical reading; it occurs only when comprehension is fully realized. Every normal-functioning human possesses imagination, thought, comprehension, memory, and a common faculty to connect the rational mind to external elements.

   Therefore, words and phrases chosen by the writer to tell a story are critical to a reader’s absorption in it and of it. For example, if reading an Agatha Christie murder mystery, the intelligent reader looks for clues too, because they also want to catch the murderer.

   If a writer cannot detach from their word choices or phrases, they will not change them for better ones. Words are a double-edged sword — they can unite or divide the reader’s attention. The writer must choose. To do that, the writer calls on vocabulary to help state the writer’s thoughts or feelings clearly or tell the story such that the reader is invested.

   In Stephen’s opinion, “If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot. There’s no way around these two things that I’m aware of, no shortcut.” I agree, and wish I read more, although articles on the Internet keep me busy. Both reading and writing increase vocabulary for sure.

   He also wrote, “Words create sentences; sentences create paragraphs; sometimes paragraphs quicken and begin to breathe.” They come to life, what we want as writers, and that is not always easy to do. That’s why writing is really editing.

   And, “Description begins in the writer’s imagination, but should finish in the reader’s.”

Often what is not said on the page is just as powerful as what’s there. Since we know our reader is intelligent, we know they can fill in all the things we want them to. Understanding imagination is key to writing good stories.

 

How Do We Become Detached?

 

Stephen King, one of the most successful authors in the world, has also advised writers to: “Kill your darlings, kill your darlings, even when it breaks your egocentric little scribbler’s heart, kill your darlings.”

   The reality is this: words may mean something to you but mean nothing to anyone else unless they are shared. We all need a beta reader at least, and Stephen’s is his wife, Tabitha. To be an excellent writer you must consider your reader and audience. That doesn’t mean you have to lie or hide the truth as you know it. It means you give that truth in a way that the reader can accept it or be willing to consider it. Like Stephen’s novels, the worlds he constructs and his characters are believable.

   Stephen: “In many cases when a reader puts a story aside because it ‘got boring,’ the boredom arose because the writer grew enchanted with his powers of description and lost sight of his priority, which is to keep the ball rolling.”

   He also wrote, “The road to hell is paved with adverbs.”

   And “The most important things to remember about back story are that (a) everyone has a history and (b) most of it isn’t very interesting.” That means our own or our character’s.

   When writing, our uppermost thought should be, “Does this move the story forward?” If it doesn’t, it should be omitted. To Stephen’s points above, I agree,

   Following these basic rules and others, we become detached and can look at our story objectively with the reader’s, not ours, eyes.

 

What Happens When We Use the Right Words?

Again, Stephen has advised, “Writing isn’t about making money, getting famous, getting dates, getting laid, or making friends. In the end, it’s about enriching the lives of those who will read your work, and enriching your own life, as well.”

   If we write to keep the reader engaged, or to sway them, or to affect how they view a thing or even life itself, or leave an impression, and our writing does that, then our purpose is achieved. If we also raise a call to action and the reader responds, we have succeeded. If we make money too, we feed our family.

   Closing with Stephen’s words, always focusing on vocabulary and word choice to determine the effectiveness of any piece of writing, he writes:

   “If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others:

read a lot and write a lot. There’s no way around these two things that I’m aware of, no shortcut.”

   He also wrote what writers strive for: “Books are a uniquely portable magic.”  That “magic” is grabbing the reader’s attention and their imagination, for no matter how well we craft words into images, they will never be as concrete as a reader’s heart and mind.

What You Should Know About ISBNs

 Your book, to be identifiable and to be "found" by buyers, librarians, bookstores, etc. needs an ISBN. The International Standard Book Number (ISBN) is a numeric commercial book identifier that is intended to be unique. Publishers purchase ISBNs from an affiliate of the International ISBN Agency. In the United States, that agency is Bowker. 

An ISBN is assigned to each separate edition and variation (except reprintings) of a publication. For example, an e-book, a paperback, and a hardcover edition of the same book will each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is ten digits long if assigned before 2007, and thirteen digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007. The method of assigning an ISBN is nation-specific and varies between countries, often depending on how large the publishing industry is within a country.

Usually, your publisher gets your ISBN. If self-publishing, you buy your own from Bowker. Just one costs 125.00. Ten cost $295.00, and 100 cost $575.00. Most likely you should buy at least ten for multiple versions of your book. You can easily see that what country your book is distributed in may require unique ISBNs.

That is unless you use Amazon/KDP or another hybrid company for self-publishers. KDP will offer to "give" you an ISBN OR you can use your own. Other hybrid companies may do likewise. In the old days if Amazon gave you an ISBN, they were the imprint (publisher), but no longer. You are the publisher, the book is in your name, and you retain all rights. With Amazon's (or others) Expanded Distribution, your book is listed or findable on Amazon.com or their platforms in multiple countries, probably the U.S. and U.K. being the biggest markets.

Amazon/KDP assigns every book or ebook its own number called an ASIN regardless if you have an ISBN or not. Another thing too about KDP, they don't require or assign an ISBN to ebooks, so if you want an ISBN for your KDP ebook you must own one. Because I own a block of ISBNs, I assign one to every book or ebook I publish, again, for the purpose of easy identification, especially in markets other than Amazon/KDP.

It's very important to list your ISBN on the Important Notices page of your book, along with your copyright and other info. So make sure you add the ISBN there before uploading your manuscript to a self-publishing service like KDP. A Library of Congress LCCN number is also good to have there. It's free, but you need the ISBN number to get it. Librarians use the LCCN to find books.

If an author I'm working with needs an ISBN I provide one for $60.00. I also get the LCCN for authors I work with.

A word about Barcodes: A barcode is on every back cover of every paper print book or hardcover book jacket. It has metadata and the book's price. A barcode from Bowker may cost $25-30. Again, the publisher gets it. If you use KDP et al. they get it/make it. So unless you are creating your own front/spine/back cover, you usually don't need to worry about the barcode. Retailers use/scan the barcode when they sell the book.

The above info is general, specifics may vary, but it fits most cases.

How Writers Should "Edit" their PC

 Since you have and use a PC or laptop, it's important to maintain it. Your PC needs editing just like any good piece of writing or poetry.

  Here are some things I do to keep mine lean:

1. First thing when I go on my PC in the morning, I go to Windows Settings, Update and Security, and click Check for Updates. If any, they will load automatically. Most are Security Updates. This keeps Windows in tip-top shape. Sometimes new versions come out, for example, I am running Windows 10, 21H1. Go to Windows Settings, System, About to find yours. New versions take about 20 minutes or more to load but do it. You'll have to Restart.

2. I run virus/malware protection software 100% of the time. There's McAfee, Norton, AVG, Avast, and more. It should run on your system and check all files, and run on your browser/network. Never turn it off. Make sure it automatically updates continually. This loads new virus definitions that prevent infection. Make sure you set up scheduled scans to run daily or weekly. Run a manual scan anytime you think something weird is going on, like a black screen flicker, or pop-up messages appear. Scans run in the background and you can use the system while they run.

3. Download the free Glary Utilities 5 to quickly delete temporary files and fix registry errors at the click of your mouse. And do those often. The Pro version costs $19.99 plus tax for 1-year and comes with Malware Hunter which I also recommend and use. Malware Hunter has the ability to reduce my Ram Memory usage dramatically with one click. GU5 is easy to use, convenient, and very powerful with many other options. When you click Disk Cleanup it will find hundreds of megabytes of files that can be deleted.  

  When you run Registry Repair it will always find 2 or 3 that should be repaired, mainly Obsolete Software or File Extension problems. The Registry is Windows' index for all your important Windows and other file accesses. If you find more than a few click on the type and look at what they are. But if your system is maintained, you won't find a lot of Registry errors. GU5 also has Duplicate Files Finder (so you can delete them and save space), Empty Folders Finder (delete them), Optimize, Security, Repair System Files, Backup and Restore Options, and much more.

  Your PC is a hog, Windows is a hog, applications are hogs. They eat up your Ram and Disk space. You probably have a million files like me if you've been using a PC for years. You should be constantly deleting unnecessary files, like temporary log files or internet search files. Using GU5 will really help your PC. It is the best PC software utility I've found to keep my system clean and in top shape.

Best

Rod

How to Create an ebook for Amazon in 2021

 Circa July 2021 BookBaby will charge you $138.00 to create a 300 page ebook. That’s $138 wasted if you have a few hours and the intelligence (and confidence) to do it yourself. At a minimum, you want your ebook on Amazon, and KDP is their platform for doing that. Sign up for a free Amazon/KDP account here. If you already have an Amazon account, use your Amazon login and password.

There was a time when you needed deep technical skills to create an ebook. No longer. There was a time when you had to know the difference between epub and mobi formats. No longer. In the past, you needed specialized software like Canva to do so, and although Canva still exists, you can still do it yourself by following step-by-step KDP instructions. And there aren’t many of those to follow once you understand that an ebook is formatted differently than a print book.

In fact, what you need, all you need, is to know how to use MS-Word properly. All you need to do is to create a properly formatted docx document ready for upload. Most services today worth their salt, like Amazon KDP, accept a docx and they do the rest.

Writers should spend time learning MS-Word the proper way through its tutorials and Help screens. Click MS-Word Help in your ribbon, then Show Training, then select a tutorial. At a minimum, go thru the following. Each has topics you need to get familiar with. Look through them.

• Write and edit. You can also use MS-Word’s Editor, Autocrit, Grammarly, or ProWritingAid to help as you type and edit your work.
• Format text. Important: choose Normal for most text, Heading 1 for Chapter headings, or create and set the Style yourself. Automatically generate the Table of Contents links. Create links for other things as well.
• Lay out pages. Set line spaces, indents, margins, gutter, mirror image etc. Do not add page numbers. Insert Page and Section breaks. Do not have any blank pages in an ebook.
• Insert tables, pictures, and watermarks. All pictures or inserts must be jpg.
• Save and print. With OneDrive on, you don’t even have to click Save. And you should not print a 200-page book on your printer. Staples online print services will do it for $.15 per page, or $30.00, saving you printer cartridges and paper, aggravation, and time.

Always remember WYSIWYG. What You See on your Screen Is What You Get when viewed. In Previewer you can toggle between phone or tablet views to see how it looks.

Trust it.

When your docx manuscript is done, and your ebook/docx formatted, click File in your Ribbon on top-left corner, Options, Save, and check “Embed fonts,” and Save.

Then your ebook docx manuscript is ready for upload to Amazon KDP.

Amazon KDP has three screens to complete, the first with the title, your name etc. The second where you upload file and cover or use KDP Cover Creator. On this page launch Previewer to see your epub book page by page. The third screen is where you set the price, generally between $2.99 and $3.99. You will see how much royalty you will make as you set the figure. On this page also you click “Approve” when its perfect for you. It takes KDP 1-2 days to review your submission and approve it/load it for sale on Amazon. They will notify you by email.

PS And if you do have to change something inside, you can do that, reload, and KDP will do it and review/accept it after a few days.

Creating the front cover, spine, and back cover in one document are different stories entirely and require much more effort to specify and set up. I recommend against doing that. Use KDP’s Cover Creator templates instead, since they are good enough for most purposes. Your back cover will have your author picture (small), short author bio, book blurb, and room for the ISBN/price barcode.

Then, your marketing tasks begin, actually they should have already begun before.