Trendy Tips For Writers and Publishers

By Bob Spear

The first year of Bob Spear's popular Book Trends Blog—2009 to 2010—is a compilation of articles and their comments arranged in subject matter order for ready reference.These are filled with helpful, pragmatic tips on how best to write, produce, market, and retail your books. Bob is an experienced, successful author, self-publisher, and independent bookstore owner who speaks from the trenches.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bob Spear
• Release date: Oct 31, 2010
• ISBN: 9781933117324

Bob Spear

Mr. Spear spent twenty-five years in and around the Military Intelligence business. He has personally trained over 11,000 people in self-defense throughout the world and has authored numerous books and videotapes on personal security and self-defense. As an American pioneer in the Korean art of Hapkido, he is considered one of the world's leading authorities on martial art theory. He holds a 7th Degree Black Belt.His wife, Barb, and he have owned a bookstore, the Book Barn http://www.abookbarn.com/in downtown Leavenworth since 1981 and in Junction City, KS since 1979. They have four beloved children who have flown their nest. Mr. Spear holds degrees in vocal music, business, and education. He has been a studio guitarist, a vocalist, and a bandleader since the early 1960s, and continues to record and perform with singing, guitar, bass, Native American courting flute, tin whistle, and rhythm instruments. A professional storyteller, Mr. Spear has been on the Kansas Fine Arts Commission's Touring Roster and portrays Buffalo Bill Cody and Burl Ives as a historic performer, http://www.historicperformer.com/He is also the publisher and chief reviewer for his online book review and book packaging (editing, book designing, book coaching, and project management) companies, http://www.heartlandreviews.com and http://www.sharpspear.com/

Book preview

TRENDY TIPS

FOR WRITERS AND PUBLISHERS

The first year of the Book Trends Blog

2009--2010

by

Bob Spear

Copyright 2010 Bob Spear

Published by Spear's Mint Editions at Smashwords

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Acknowledgements

Thanks to my many Twitter followers, fellow writers and publishers, and to the readers and especially the commenters to my blog. Your kind input has been appreciated.

Because of the strongly positive responses given by my blog’s readers and by the urgings of my followers on Twitter, I have created this ebook to help authors, small presses, self-publishers, and book retailers with the processes of book production and selling. Instead of putting them in the order of when each article was posted, I have arranged them in the following order of topics

:

Introduction

Readers

Writing

Book Industry

Book Designing

E-Book Formats

POD

Self Publishing

Book Marketing

Book PR

Book Retailing

Misc

I have included the comments because so many have excellent additional info, questions, or caused me to provide additional info.

Introduction

September 21, 2009, Hello World! by Bob Spear

Why a blog on book industry trends? Who cares? If you are a writer, a reader, a publisher, or a book seller, you better care. The technology, marketing, & public taste changes are having an enormous impact on what we read and publish, and how we do so. I have been a part of this industry as a bookseller (1979), writer (1974), self publisher (1989), reviewer (2002), and book packager (2002). Along the way I have watched the changes and considered their impact. As a retired professional military intelligence analyst (25 years) and futurist, I have decided to apply the analytical experiences to what I know and how I know it.

I am very open to questions and comments. It is my hope this blog can serve as a forum for book industry discussions. I receive a number of daily email newsletters from the industry. We are seeing customer activities and tastes change in the Book Barn, our independent bookstore where we sell both new and used books. I will pull all these trend sources together as a basis for not only what is happening but what it means for the future. You readers will certainly have your own observations to contribute and the nature of your questions will also provide meaningful data from which we all can benefit. I look forward to your participation.

1 Comment

1. I have used Bob Spear’s services for years. Without his multi-faceted, valued literary contributions, Maya would not be in the process of being made into a major, three-hour, epic motion picture. I cannot rate his services highly enough.

Comment by Dane Alexander — October 15, 2009 @ 12:14

September 21, 2009, Upcoming Threads by Bob Spear

In the near future, I intend to address and explain a number of topical themes. Some of them are topics du jour and some are important in the scheme of things but hover below the horizon. My purpose in addressing these is to benefit, readers, writers, indie booksellers (non-chain stores instead of Barns and Noble, Borders, and Amazon), and indie publishers (small to medium presses which are not owned and operated by huge conglomerates) to include self-publishers. The book playing field is certainly not level, but it helps to know where the pot holes are and what they mean. Some of my blogs will delve into history because mankind tends to repeat mistakes without learning what has gone on before. Here is a partial list of proposed themes. I welcome others of interest to you:

Death of the mid list and what resulted, good and bad

How agents came to be an overarching force

Self-publishing vs. vanity publishing vs. traditional publishing

Readership trends (this actually encompasses many sub topics)

The ever expanding technology

275,000+ books published last year. How do you get noticed among all those

Using the web

Author PR and marketing

Why booksellers must become destination marketing oriented

The dumbing down of America (and maybe the rest of the world?)

The censorship argument (grist for Scopes Trials?)

And whatever else you suggest

I look forward to lively discussions and learning experiences for all of us.

1. Comment

1. Bob;I’m so glad you’ve decided to launch your blog site. The topics are important and your opinions need to be expressed and read. There are quite a few of us out there who have watched things in the publishing industry go to hell in a hand-basket, along with almost every other industry the corporate wonks have touched. I’ll be listening regularly, as any time I brought up topics and opinions like yours on several writer’s forums, I was shot so full of holes I couldn’t stand up. I feel safer discussing these ideas here, and learning what I can minus the sniping, etc.

Comment by Richard Sutton — October 28, 2009 @ 3:32 pm |

Answer: I’m so sorry you’ve been hassled. Darn shame that! I’m hoping this becomes an open forum for people to air their opinions as you have. I’m blessed for your interest, especially having seen your stuff on Proliteriat (sp. ?) and your website. I notice you sell Native American stuff. Do you have flutes? I play the 5 and 6 hole variety and love improvisation and playing impromptu tone poems on them. I’m looking for one tuned to E minor. I have both G minor and C minor flutes.

Answer by bobspear — October 29, 2009 @ 2:47 am |

Readers

October 23, 2009, Why Johnny Won’t Read and What To Do About It

by Bob Spear

More & more children do not like to read, especially boys. Why is that and what can we do about it? To answer these questions, I will address the following:

Developing a love of story

Lack of reading skills

Short attention spans

Competition for children’s time and attention

Lack of good, appropriate content

Each of these points presents problems as I see them and possible solutions. In addition to my book & writing background, I am a certified teacher and taught in a juvenile detention center as its school master for two years in 2000-2002. I’m also a professional storyteller (since 1997) who toured my state’s schools as a performer on the Kansas Arts Commission’s Touring Roster.

Developing a love of story

When I was a little boy in the late 1940′s and early 1950′s, My grandmother and my mother read to me or told me stories often. Each day I would anxiously await the Story Hour program on Purdue University’s radio station, when a story lady or man would read from an exciting children’s book—each day carrying the story along serial fashion until the book was finally finished and then a new one would begin. My favorite teachers were ones who would read aloud to our classes whenever they had the chance. All this developed my love of story and contributed to my love of reading. At one point, my mother and step-father (who were not readers of habit) actually took me to our family doctor with their concern that I was reading too much (is there such a thing?). Reading was my escape, my transport to other worlds and lands. Famous British children’s fantasy writer, Brian Jacques, understood that compulsion, when as a ragamuffin boy, he used to sneak into the library, grab a book, and hide back in the stacks to read until he was caught and they threw him out for being a dirty street kid. (He personally shared that story with me one night at an Author’s Dinner at the BEA).

Are we inculcating a love of story in our children today? Did we read to them until they learned to read at school and then assumed they would read now that they knew how? Did we stop reading to them? Did books cease to come alive for them in the hands of a skilled adult reader? I read aloud to my incarcerated juveniles 30-60 minutes a day and they loved it. In my own family, even when my kids were in their teens, we would take turns reading thrilling children’s books aloud as a frequent family activity.

Finally, are we good role models to our children? Do we allow them to catch us reading? How can we teach them a love of reading, if we don’t display that behavior ourselves? All this illustrates what I mean when I talk about developing a love of story and a love of reading them.

Lack of reading skills

I could always tell when a student had been taught to read by the whole word reading approach. As they stumbled along, guessing at words until the passages became utter nonsense, I cringed at their frustration. Teaching reading by whole word recognition is like teaching the very visual Chinese written language. Instead of teaching students how to sound out words for themselves, using phonics, the students are required to memorize the shapes of words and encouraged to guess what words might be. It just doesn’t work well and makes reading a hideous, frustrating chore. How can children love to do something that they don’t have the skills to do?

Short attention spans

It is a great temptation to use the electronic babysitter (the TV) to occupy our children while we focus on getting the housework done. The next time you watch TV, note how often the camera shots change, about every 3-5 seconds. This constant stimulation of the brain at the unconscious level programs it to expect to be stimulated often. When that doesn’t happen, boredom immediately sets in. Is it any wonder we have so many children with ADD problems. The TV has trained them to expect constant stimulation on a very shallow level. Responsible parents should limit TV watching to few favorite shows per week instead of a constant bombardment of the senses. Books don’t hold up well in the competition for the senses because they require thought, visualization, and imagination. TV, movies, and video games offer immediate and constant gratification which doesn’t require any of these brain skills. In my early years, TVs weren’t available yet, so I sat and told myself stories I made up by the hour for my own entertainment. From this came my imagination and creativity in my adult years. Turn off the boob tube!

Competition for children’s time and attention

When I grew up, there were very few organized activities. Playdate? What the heck is that? Our biggest complaint as kids was there was nothing to do. Today, there are way too many things for our children to do: gymnastics, dance, music, horseback riding, sports, you name it. Moms and dads are worn to a frazzle just trying to keep track of all the schedules and transport there to. When is there quiet time just to read? When a child is constantly stimulated with physical activities, how can a non-physical activity such as reading compete in that environment?

Lack of good, appropriate content

My last point is directed more toward young boys than girls. There is not enough good content to read. That is slowly starting to turn around, although way too many children’s book authors tend to only write fantasies for boys and a wider range of literature for girls. Writers and publishers, you must consider your target audience/market! What do boys like to do? That’s what needs to be written about. Like their fathers, many boys tend to prefer nonfiction. They like true life tales, sports stories, history, as well as fantasies. There are a few authors championing this cause; however, they are too few. Make a difference! provide interesting, fun content boys can identify with.

Conclusion

If you go back over the above material, the common theme is adult responsibilities. The child can’t and won’t make these fixes. YOU have to. Hopefully, this has given you some ideas as to how a love of reading can be inculcated. From my experience with wayward juveniles, it’s never too late, but the earlier you start, the better your chances will be. Our civilization is threatened. Remember what the old cartoon character, Pogo, once said: We have seen the enemy, and he is we.

5 Comments

1. Hi Bob, Thanks so much for writing on several topics. The first is particularly useful in that my neighbor just asked me to tutor her son, a 7th grader…I’ve also e-mail your blog so that I can finish reading later today. You’re a real Sweetheart!!

God Bless, Sherry

Comment by Sherry Brennan — October 23, 2009 @ 4:42 pm |

2. Wow—I haven’t heard that Pogo quote in a very long time!

I tutor local children and teens in English Language Arts. I start out with some grammar and punctuation—I teach them a little punctuation, basic parts of speech, and why a complete sentence has to have both a subject and a verb—to make their parents happy. Then I show them that that simple structure works on all levels, from sentences clear up to stories: a subject performs an action. A protagonist does something interesting.

Next thing I know, we’re up to our eyeballs in creating characters and planning plotlines. The parents hire me for English Language Arts. They keep me because their children are suddenly excited, creative, happy reading, writing, storytelling, all of it. They can’t stop talking about the story they’re writing or looking for similar stories in fiction. The parents didn’t know what was going wrong before. But they sure know how to tell when it’s going right.

It’s so simple. Pay attention to your kids. Sit around making up stories with them. They’ll read!

Victoria

Comment by Victoria Mixon — October 23, 2009 @ 11:22 pm |

3. We raised a daughter a number of years ago — she’s 43 now — and she became a middle-distance runner all the way up through College. I’d never suggest that her sports involvement did not make her a tougher, smarter adult. It did. But, back in the day, we never denied her equal support when it came to her writing, and her interest in music. There was always time. She still writes really well, and is a teacher of reading at the Community College level.

Her sons, both of whom have showed great interest at times in writing and reading as well as music (I once had hoped for a family string band) have now given themselves over entirely to their pursuit of sports. Sports is encouraged constantly and reinforced in the school environment so that they have no time left for anything else besides schoolwork. They are happy, well-adjusted, smart kids just the same.

I hold my opinion that there are other things equally important in a child’s development — not just the pursuit of physical/sports pastimes, but I don’t express it much anymore, because I’m always shot down; besides, it’s not my responsibility to tell their parents how to raise their own children. But it has worried me, and it will continue to.

I’m afraid for the future of independent, imaginative thinking. Children’s educational life now seems to be pre-programmed and designed to fill all their waking hours with little left over. The demands of activities are immense, and put a huge burden upon their parents as well.

When I was a little boy, with many hours each day to