by Sherrie Wilkolaski
The holidays are here and it’s my favorite season. What I really love is that when it comes to publishing it is one of the busiest times of year. There is so much energy it’s hard to not want to be a part of it. You’re either an author who just published in time for the holiday rush or you’re gearing up to get your book ready for the next year. Let’s take charge of your publishing destiny and get you energized to sell more books or get your book ready for publication in 2013! I’m also going to tell you what I learned this summer at the Yale Publishing Course.
If you had a new title published this year or if your book has been out for a while, don’t let this holiday season pass you by, you still have time to sell more books! Everyone is looking for great book ideas for the holidays, so don’t be shy. Give your audience the top five reasons your book makes a great gift. Write it up as a blog post and then hit publish. Too embarrassed to do your own promotion? Blame it on me. You can be serious (book includes delicious recipes) or you can get creative (makes a great doorstop) it’s all up to you. People are looking for last minute gift ideas...give them a great reason to buy YOUR book today!
Plan to Publish in 2013.
Now is the best time of year to plan for your 2013 publication. It’s the busiest time of year for book buying and publishing. If you’re self-publishing, the indie platforms are running their best sales and promotions right now. You can get some incredible discounts on everything from editing and publishing packages, to marketing and PR and yes…pre-orders on bulk book orders. You can save a bundle.
What I learned at Yale.
This summer I attended the Yale Publishing Course and the theme off the week-long program was “change”. It was the second best week of my life. The first was the week I spent in Paris, summer 2006. You might be wondering, how Paris could compare to New Haven, but it was the people and the exchange of information. Publishing professionals travelled from five contents to attend the 2012 program and there were 30 different speakers who presented on everything from eBooks to indie bookstores. It was a bridge between traditional publishing and the new world of independent publishing and POD technology, with the discussion of what changes lay ahead for everyone; authors and publishers.
Biggest surprises. Traditional publishers are still apprehensive about the independent publishing market. I was sitting at dinner one evening and was asked two very interesting questions, “What is this indie publishing you keep talking about?” (Answer: Publishing independently of a traditional publishing house, the author is the publisher.) and “What is print-on-demand?” (Answer: Printing technology to print one book at a time vs. doing a large print run.) and both questions continued to surface throughout the week. At the same time, they are aware that change is inevitable and taking the steps to grow. There is no us vs. them, we’re all in this together.
Publishing for me, is a wonderful blend of old and new. No matter if how you’re getting your book to publication, it needs to be published properly; developing a solid product. From there, how you decide to get it out to the world is the key to your book sales success. Print-on-demand technology allows any publisher the advantage of printing one book at a time. Need more, great. Publish as many as you need, as the orders come in.
Book discovery is imperative. Having your book in as many distribution channels as possible will position any book to compete next to any “big six” traditionally published title. Of course, that is if you have a professional cover design. Where authors are distributing and promoting their titles is what will give them a competitive edge. Infinity Publishing provides global distribution, everything an author needs.
Independent publishing is a wonderful alternative.Or is traditional publishing becoming the new alternative? I was lucky enough to meet Terry and Kathy Sullivan, of www.winetrailtraveler.com at the IFWTWA Las Vegas conference in February of this year. We talked about their idea to write a book and by the end of the conference they had made the decision to go for it. We’ve been keeping in close touch throughout the process and I’m thrilled to say they have finished the book and decided to publish with Infinity Publishing. We talked about their publishing options and going the independent route made the most sense for them. They were focused on keeping with their writing schedule. design.
Independent publishing can be just as rewarding and lucrative as having a traditional publisher pick you up.
Happy Publishing!
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Image courtesy of Jayanta Behera.