Produce, Price and Promote Your Self-Published Fiction or Non-fiction Book and e-Book

By Paul Lima

If you are interested in this book, I presume you have written a book or plan to write one, and are thinking of self-publishing it. If you self-publish a book of interest to a defined target market, you can market it to your audience. This applies to fiction, non-fiction, poetry--to anything you write.

I have sold close to 20,000 books (as of 2020). So while I'm no E.L. James (originally the self-published author of "50 Shades of Grey"), I am a happy and profitable self-published author. Perhaps you can become one too.

Having said that, it may not be all about the money for you. You may be looking to write a book to give to family and friends. You may be looking to gain the credibility that publishing a book often gives a speaker or workshop leader. You may have other reasons for publishing your book. No matter your reason, self-publishing lets you get your book out there.

With that in mind, this book will answer many of your questions. In short, as the title says, it will help you produce, price and promote your self-published book. - Paul Lima, www.paullima.com/books

• Language: English
• Publisher: Paul Lima
• Release date: May 11, 2020
• ISBN: 9781927710043

Book preview

Introduction

I presume you are reading this book because you have written a book, or are writing a book or plan to write a book, and are thinking of self-publishing it. Or you have written a book and have been shopping it around but have not landed an agent or publisher, and are now thinking of self-publishing it.

First off, so we can get it out of the way, allow me to give you the bad news—self-publishing using print on demand (POD) and/or ebooks is not a panacea to your publishing dilemma. It’s not a case of if you build it, they will come. In other words, self-publishing is no guarantee that you will sell millions, thousands, hundreds, dozens or even any copies. On the other hand, not self-publishing your book is a guarantee that you won’t sell any copies. So there is that to consider too.

Now let’s look at the good news. If you write a book, you can self-publish it. If it’s of interest to a defined group or target market (TM), you can self-publish it and market it to your defined audience. And if it’s a solid book that you market effectively, you might sell copies—perhaps many copies—of your book.

How much can you earn by self-publishing an effective book that is aimed at a defined target market? Take a deep breath and be patient. I’ll give you my take on that when we talk about pricing your book.

How much have I made self-publishing my books? I’m not going to give you dollars and cents figures. And no, that does not mean I haven’t made any money. I’m not a full-time book author. I am a freelance writer and business-writing trainer. Writing and self-publishing books is only part of how I make a living. But it’s becoming an increasingly important part. While I don’t reveal dollar figures, I can tell you that I sold close to 25,000 books (as of 2020). So while I’m no E.L. James (author of the originally self-published 50 Shades of Grey), I am a happy and profitable self-published author. And if you write a book that is truly of interest to a defined TM, perhaps you can become one too.

Having said that, it may not be all about the money for you. And that’s okay.

You may be looking to write a book to give to family and friends. That’s what I’ve done with my book of short stories, Rebel in the Back Seat, and I’ve sold a few copies too. You may be looking to gain the credibility that publishing a book often gives a speaker or workshop leader. Some of my books have helped me achieve that, and I’ve sold copies of them too. You may have other reasons for publishing your book. The fact is, no matter your reason, self-publishing lets you get your book out there. Yes, it takes time, effort and some money to self-publish a book, but if you have time and don’t mind investing a few dollars in your project, self-publishing might be for you.

You may have noticed that I’ve used the term target market above. When I give talks on self-publishing, people sometimes ask me why I feel having a defined target market is important. My answer is simple: If you try to write a book that will appeal to everybody, you will mostly likely write a book that will appeal to nobody. In addition, by having a defined TM, you will be better able to market your book once you have published it.

Some people ask me if having a defined TM applies only to non-fiction. My answer is a simple no. As you might imagine, my book How to Write a Non-fiction Book in 60 Days is targeted at authors who want to write non-fiction books. And my book (re)Discover the Joy of Creative Writing is targeted at people who want to write fiction. Two different books; two different TMs. When it comes to fiction, however, if you write romance you are targeting people who like to read romance. If you write murder mysteries, you are targeting people who like to read murder mysteries. If you write science fiction ... well, you get the picture. So no matter what you write, I am suggesting that you write with a defined reader, your target market, in mind.

If you’ve decided to go the self-publishing route, this book will answer many of your questions and point you in the right direction. There will still be work to do and things you need to learn, but this book will get you started and give you direction. If you are not sure if self-publishing is for you, this book will help you decide if you want to self-publish. Either way, I hope you find this book useful and perhaps even motivational.

Enjoy the read!

Paul Lima

www.paullima.com

Table of Contents

Introduction

HOW TO PRODUCE YOUR BOOKS

Self-publishing Overview

How Print on Demand works

POD printer

POD publisher

Vanity POD companies

Lightning Source

IngramSpark

Lulu

Kindle Direct Publishing

KDP vs. LS/IS

Getting books into bookstores

How ebooks work

Kindle

E-pub

Draft2Digital

Technical tools you need to self-publish

Print books

Electronic books

International Standard Book Number (ISBN)

HOW TO PRICE YOUR BOOK

Determining your retail price

Pricing ebooks

When do you get paid?

PROMOTING YOUR SELF-PUBLISHED BOOK

Five questions to ask before you write

Think about your TM

Book titles and SEO

What about fiction & poetry?

Link to your book!

Give-aways

Sell directly to the public

Do what publishers do

Book descriptions

Media releases

Media release template

Sample Media Release

Write articles on related topics

Sample query letter

Readings, speaking engagements, workshops and seminars

Websites and blogs

Electronic newsletters

Social media

YouTube

Circle of Social Media

Amazon and Chapters.Indigo profile pages

Paid ads, anyone?

Ads on Google

About the Author

How to Produce Your Books

This book is not a definitive technical guide to producing your self-published print book or ebook. It will give you, however, a solid overview of self-publishing print and ebooks and it will present various self-publishing technical requirements. In addition, it will review some of the tools you will need to produce your print and ebook.

If you are a do-it-yourself kind of person with some technical skills, you will be able to take the information presented here and run with it. If you are not a do-it-yourselfer, you will be able to download some of the online guides mentioned here, visit some of the websites mentioned and learn how to do it yourself. Or you may have to find a third party to work with, but you will know what the person has to do and why. The fact is, creating your book can take a fair bit of work. Not as much as writing it, but it does take work.

I am not a technical geek, not by a long stretch, but I have learned how to format the interiors of my print books, create PDFs (Portable Document Format files) and Kindle and epub ebooks, and (sort of) learned how to create covers. And yes, I have shamelessly asked for assistance, and paid for some assistance too, along the way. You will find your own level; this book should assist you in doing so.

Self-publishing Overview

Thanks to the Internet, could traditional book publishers be heading the way of traditional music companies, which are slowly, and some would say surely, heading the way of dinosaurs? They could be, but for different reasons.

For one, people are not endangering the publishing industry by downloading books for free over the Internet the way pirated music downloading has mushroomed. Although I’d be naïve if I were to say this is not happening at all. On the other hand, many authors are eschewing traditional publishers in favor of self-publishing, using print-on-demand (POD) and ebooks (Kindle, epubs and, to less of an extent, PDFs). Most self-published books are available through a variety of online retailers and the websites of authors, and not through bricks and mortars stores.

I am one of the many who is using self-publishing and avoiding traditional publishers and bricks and mortar retailers. I don’t have anything against traditional publishers or bookstores, or authors who use traditional publishers and have their books available in bookstores. However, as you will see, self-publishing means I have no need to work with publishers. They can take a year or more to publish a book. I also have no need to work with bookstores that often order too many copies of a book and then return them, or remainder them or simply toss them. (What a sad waste of trees, and books.)

Even many small presses, a number of university publishers and a few traditional publishers are sending fewer books to bookstores. They now use POD to print their books and make them available, one book at a time as they are ordered, through online retailers such as Amazon, Chapters-Indigo and Barnes & Noble.

When I first approached a traditional Canadian publisher with my how-to book about the business of freelance writing, Business of Freelance Writing: How to Develop Article Ideas and Sell Them to Newspapers and Magazines, I received tentative interest. One publisher wanted to know if I could guarantee 2,000 book sales. If so, the publisher was willing to print 4,000 copies and make the other 2,000 available to bookstores. This was not a vanity publisher (more on vanity publishing later); it was a legitimate publisher of popular fiction and non-fiction titles.

I could not guarantee the sales and was not willing to buy that many copies of my own book to flog at my business of freelance writing seminars, so I approached another publisher. By the time the second publisher replied, I had discovered self-publishing using POD. I did, however, listen to the second publisher’s offer. When