riting is the first part of the equation in article marketing. It is the part that directly determines if your marketing efforts succeed or fail.

Article writing is the creation of articles that are relevant to the subject matter of your site. This means creating articles with links to your site, and submitting them to article directories.Here they can be used by people as free content for their own websites.

Article writing is really a very small task when it comes to marketing, but it is a very important one. When you are not seeing the results you need in your business, start writing. Article writing is not about a particular style except your own. Use your own technique and say it in your own words.

Article writing is a great way to generate quality targeted traffic to a website especially when the reader finds the information valuable.You must therefore write as if you are the expert in your chosen field.

In order to make your article something a webmaster will want to publish, here are a few points to help you better sell your content.

For one, you’ll want to have an attention grabbing headline. The headline may in fact be the most important aspect of your story.After reading your headline people must be drawn to want to read more. Ask yourself some questions about your article: Find a headline that answers these questions in a way that summarizes the rest of the article. If you can make it clever and witty, so much the better. But don’t try to get too smart. Just be yourself.

Article Writing is more than just the ability to write without making grammatical errors or misspelling a lot of words. Article writing is a great way for webmasters to sell their thoughts and expertise for publication in many different internet arenas.

Not everyone who manages a website has the time or the talent to provide all of the written content. This is why there is such a demand for good solid ghost written text. Article writing is the best way to spread the word about your site, and establish you as an authority on a certain subject, or within your industry.

Writing your first article is probably the most difficult part of article writing. Article writing is a way to enter into a huge amount of different internet markets by using different keywords and key phrases.

Article writing is often considered a numbers game, the more articles you write the more likely it is that you will receive traffic to your website. It increases web site traffic and the number of back links to your website as people click on your resource links. Article writing is just one type of writing that can increase traffic and can be done online.If you are willing to take the time and make the effort to write,you can easily build an online business that will make you money for years to come.

Article writing is probably the best method of link building and more and more webmasters are following this approach. It’s free, it takes little time, it creates fresh content for the web, and it’s more rewarding than any other link building strategy.

Article writing is a definite way of getting free traffic. It is probably the favorite way of many marketers to generate traffic for their websites. Article writing is fun – and it’s easy too.

Search engines, particularly Google, set great store by one way links. They indicate to the search engine that your website is well thought off, and hence provides a good service to the search engine customers. Search engines love fresh and creative article content because the people who use their search engines demand it. Internet users want information and view it as one large database. Likewise, the search engines view it as resource for written material.

Web traffic is as important to an online business as content is to your website. It provides life and sustenance. Webmasters have a love-hate relationship with article submission. Some dread article submission because of the lengthy process of submitting manually to hundreds of article submission directories, others simply don’t have a flair for writing while others thrive on it.

Web articles are short,usually 500 to 1000 words, to the point and make their case quickly. They cannot be long-winded magazine-type articles.Web surfers scan pages, often choosing headline links almost subconsciously. Article writing is really a very small task when it comes to marketing, but it is a very important one. If you are not seeing the results you need in your business, start writing. Article writing is not about a particular style except your own. Use your own voice. Article writing is a great way to generate quality targeted traffic to a website especially if the reader finds the information valuable.

Article writing is the backbone to the success of your internet marketing business. Article writing is not just about writing highly affirmed dictionary words. It is also not about the usage and incorporation of “highly sophisticated” words. Article writing is the fastest way to make your product known to Internet users without directly introducing the product’s name or the company’s name. Articles communicate through good content and in turn make good exposure for the product.

Internet marketing is increasingly becoming a popular marketing strategy. More and more businesses are using internet marketing to gain recognition and attract more customers in return.

Internet surfers just can’t get enough information on various fields. Give them what they want and gain their confidence at the same time by writing articles. Providing information through these articles is a surefire way to drive hot traffic to your web site.To increase your website traffic and profits why don’t you give it a go.

Writing services are in vogue these days and come as a relief to the stressed out students. These services are offered for all forms of paper writing, including essay writing, term paper writing, critical writing, book report, and thesis and dissertation writing as required by high school and graduation students. The writing services providers have a team of experienced and well qualified writers holding masters degree and are proficient enough in all forms of custom paper writing.

Sometimes, it happens that students are not left with enough time to complete their paper writing projects or term papers. During such rush of an hour, students can take an assistance of writing services as provided by professional and experienced writers. These writing services also help in completing the paper writing assignments of those students who face the problem of poor writing skills, or are not able to carry out proper research or don’t have enough resource material.

For writing research paper and term paper, it requires an in-depth knowledge of the subject and an extensive research. So, for students who are not capable to carry out in-depth research or don’t know which resources to refer, can hire the term paper writing services where the experienced writers create good scoring research paper or term paper for you.

To sum up the benefits of writing services, they include:

1. Writing services are offered both at graduation and post graduation levels by professional experts.

2. Be ensured upon the originality of paper writing, as your writing projects are checked upon software to detect plagiarism.

3. The professional writers make use of best of electronic resources and furnish all the relevant information in your paper writing projects whether it is thesis writing or research paper.

4. The service providers offer on time delivery of the project as specified by students.

5. In case, the student is not satisfied with the quality of content then the professional writers re-check and re-evaluate the project so as to meet expectations of the students. Money back guarantee facility is also provided to the students who are not satisfied with their services.

Moreover, when it comes to essay writing, students mainly face the problem of understanding the subject, expressions and of language. But with essay writing service, you can get your essay done on time without taking any labor on your part. The writing services providers create essay on varied subject right from general essays to scientific or technical essays.

If you need more information on various types of writing services offered, log on to www.solidpapers.com

It has often been said that everyone likes humor and laughter on our planet. Well maybe not everyone, but almost every person who is normal will like humor provided someone else makes them laugh. And you can always enjoy reading a funny article or book written by somebody. But have you ever considered writing a funny article yourself, or maybe even write a funny book sometime? Even if you know how to write regular articles and books the very thought of writing something funny and showing it to others can turn your blood cold or make your hair stand straight. There are plenty of writers on our planet who can write countless topics in a serious, straightforward manner. But very few know how to add one magical component into their writing to make it more palatable and enjoyable. And that magical component is humor. If you want your writing to be enjoyed by your intended audience then you must add an acceptable dose of clean humor into it. It is the lack of humor that makes most articles and books tasteless even if it contains useful stuff. Writing about any serious topic you are familiar with is perhaps easy, but adding humor to it is very difficult and sometimes even dangerous if you take too many liberties. Hence you must learn some basic rules if you want to write humor and make your stuff enjoyable. And those top secret tips are outlined below.

1. The first rule for anyone who want to write humor is to become bold. Contrary to what most people think humor writers are actually very brave people. You need to develop a thick skin, nerves of steel and become brave slowly day by day. You cannot be funny if you are scared to poke fun at things, issues, people, etc. And you can’t be funny if you’re afraid of embarrassing yourself or lampooning a famous personality. Verbally anyone can be funny, but it takes guts to put the same in writing and let the public read, and maybe the entire world see it. So humorists need a lot of courage to write and publish something funny about an issue, person or a concept.

2. A humorous person has no limit on what he or she can think or write about. You must be able to think in atrocious, ridiculous, crazy, illogical and nonsense terms. Modern management consultants call this thinking out of the box, but I call it old fashioned creativity and humor that has existed from centuries.

3. What is important is that you should make your readers think what you have written is funny. But a person who writes humor you need not look funny, act funny or make goofy antics. You should become a person that nobody would suspect of writing funny and witty stuff. You can be a serious type of person and yet have the ability to write fantastic humor. This adds more spice and an aura of mystery to your personality.

4. Most people think writing humor is simply about saying and writing jokes about other people. But this is only partially true. Top humorists mainly make fun of themselves and not about someone. The best humor is always self directed. Direct the humor towards yourself that way you will not annoy anyone. People will laugh if you make fun of yourself, but they may be outraged if you make fun of them. The most important thing about writing humor is to allow your readers to laugh at you and with you, and then optionally at themselves.

5. Unless your article is for MAD magazine or a pure humor or satire piece with no restrictions, there are various do’s and don’ts that one should follow when writing humor. Don’t use bad language. Don’t make fun of religion, caste, race, physical disabilities, gender or language of anyone. Humor in these areas can start riots on the streets or even start a war. Don’t use real names of people, friends, relatives, co-workers, etc. You will never know how they may get offended. But no one will be offended if you focus on yourself.

6. When writing humor surprise your readers. That is, don’t tell or announce upfront about your funny intention. Don’t tell the reader that they will experience something funny. Let the reader discover that for himself. Use concise, direct and uses simple words that everyone can understand.

7. It is not funny to be always funny. There is a time to be funny and there is a time NOT to be funny. And this is something you need to observe and learn. Something that is extremely funny in one place may not be understood at all in another. Something that is funny on a rowdy football stadium may sound offensive inside a religious place. And in some situations or circumstances you should not indulge in anything funny no matter how irresistible it is to write something hanky panky.

8. A piece of writing can never be final and fully funny in one go. Like a diamond it needs to trimmed, improved and polished as much as possible. You need to review it in terms of using a better sentence, a more mischievous word, rearranging the sentences, modifying to a completely different angle or deleting something that does not seem right, etc. After you think you have finished writing a humor piece revisit it after a few hours or a couple of days. Suddenly you can discover new and better ways of writing the same article that can seem vastly superior to your previous article.

9. Think wild, think crazy but at the same time be moderate so that it does not put anyone, including yourself, in trouble. Often in your enthusiasm words and sentences can flow like a mad river and you may write something horrible that you momentarily think is funny or harmless. But it could be laced with trouble when reviewed carefully. So take care to frequently pause your writing to view it from different angles and from the reader’s perspective. Then you may need to give your writing a haircut and then continue.

10. The final piece of advice is writing humor takes time. To excel in humor is a lifetime job, and is not something that you can learn in a day or two. Don’t think you can read a joke book and start writing funny stuff an hour later. You will have to teach yourself how to be funny. The process is mostly by trial and error, observing other people’s comical situations, mistakes, laughing and applying it on yourself, etc. No one can teach you exactly how to write something funny, but the possibilities of creating humor on anything and everything are limitless.

Want to write more? You can, even if you think you have “no time.” Many writers write a book a year, in 20-minute sessions. Everyone has 20 minutes a day.

In this article, we’ll discover how you can make every writing minute count, so you can write whatever you want to write. You may well be surprised that you have much more time than you think you do.

So let’s assume that out of your busy life, you can carve 20 minutes a day for your writing. During those 20 minutes, you won’t browse news or shopping sites, or read your email: you’ll write.

Here are three tips to ensure that you do.

1. Set Process Goals, Because You Have Control of Them

You’re in control of your own writing process, so if you set process goals, you’re always assured of meeting them. A process goal may be to write an article a day, or 500 words of your novel, or a post on your blog.

You’ll have other goals for your writing of course, like getting published in Magazine X, or whatever, and you’ll need to map a path to achieving those goals.

However, unless you set and achieve your process goals, you won’t have any product to send to an agent or publisher, so those other goals are moot.

For many years I had a process goal of writing 1000 words a day. That became a habit, and although it’s no longer one of my process goals, I nevertheless scan my diary each evening and mentally tally up the number of words I’ve written that day.

So start today and set just one process goal, and decide that you’ll achieve it every day. Before you know it, that goal will be as much a part of you as every other habit you have, and you’ll be amazed at how much you write each week.

2. Writing Is a Process: Plan, Draft, Write

The best writing reads as a smooth mental transmission of ideas and images, but you can safely bet your nest egg on the fact that that the more easily a piece of writing reads, the more time went into its construction.

Writing is messy and chaotic; it’s a process consisting of planning, drafting, and finally writing. Most of my writing starts off as a mind map or cluster diagram. Then I write a very fast and careless draft. Finally I chop the draft to pieces and write a “first draft.” Depending on what the project is, that draft may be the first one of many.

So use strategies like mind maps and index cards to plan your writing, and write drafts quickly. All writing is a process of discovery. The more you think on the page, the more writing you’ll do.

3. “Writing Time” Is Your Time – Close the Door, or Wear Headphones

If you write at home, close your office door. Make it clear to everyone in the house that your writing time is your time. If you don’t have an office at home, wear headphones.

Alternatively, write in a coffee shop, or in your car before you get home. You’ll find that your family, friends and colleagues will take your writing as seriously, if you do.

I hope I’ve inspired you to use just 20 minutes a day, and write. You can do it – start today.

 

In order to read and study a book well, we have to first of all understand both terms.

 

What is reading a book?

 

Reading a book is the ability to look at what is written on its pages and understanding what is bieng explained. If a person is able to look at a book written in Chinese characters and he or she is able to undestand the meaning of what is being explained, then he or she can be able to read the book.

 

In order to read a book effectively, the following guidelines should be taken into consideration.

 

1. Understand the books Title.

 

2. Understand the books subject matter.

 

3. Understand the Titles, Subtitles, Headings and Subheadings.

 

4. Read the Book’s introduction from it’s  Author.

 

5. Devote your time to read the book. 

 

To understand the Book’s Title: This is the name of the book. It’s usually written on the books front cover. It explains to a reader what the book is all about. If you want to read a book named Astronomy, you should be able to understand that the book is about the Sun, Moon, Stars and the Planets.

 

To understand the Book’s subject matter: This is what is being written about and explained in the book you are reading. If you want to read a book on Astronomy, you should know that the books explains the Sun, Moon, Stars and Planets, hence the book’s subject matter is about the bodies found in Outerspace.

 

To understand the Titles, Subtitles, Headings and Subheadings contained in the book: They help readers to know more of what is being explained of the books subject matter hence if you are reading a book about  Astronomy and you find the heading THE MOON, a reader should understand that the moon is being explained about in a certain chapter or paragraph.

 

To read the book’s introduction: It is very important for readers to read the book’s introduction. It is usually written on one of the front pages of the book.It is an introduction of the book to readers by the author. The introduction does help readers to understand what the author was writting about so it’s important to read it.

 

 Time devotion: Finally, Readers should devote their time, attention and thoughts to read the book they are reading. It is very important for readers so that the may Understand what they are reading. One cannot read a book effectively while holding a book in one hand and holding a baby in the other. The reader’s  attention and time will be divided between the two.

 

What is studying a book?

 

In order to study books effectively, one has to understand what the process is all about. Studying books involves the following three steps.

1. To read the book one is studying.

2. To understand whatever is being read.

3. To actually study the book.

To read a book is the ability to look at what is on the pages and to understand what is written or printed on it. To understand what one is reading in a book is to have the ability to know the meaning of what is bieng explained. To study the book is to devote your time, attention and thoughts to read and understand the contents of the book.

The above steps are what readers of books should apply to read effectively

Because people are different, People study books for different reasons.The main reason why people study books is to acquire the vast amounts of knowledge that they contain, For instance, How much can a person learn from any Encyclopaedia?

Are you unclear on where to begin on writing term papers on sociology? Not well versed enough with the subject matter at hand? If history is a lesson which would teach us to emulate the great leaders of yesteryear and learn from their mistakes, we have to take the first step, which is to learn.

Researching the internet, reviewing professional publications and texts from your local library will not help you much if you do not wish to learn. Writing term papers on sociology comes naturally to those who are knowledgeable with their chosen subject matter and the topic at hand.

Writing about an individual or a group of people requires simply an analytical approach and review of the biography of the person(s) involved. Another idea is to review a professionally published and write a critical analysis on it. Researching published facts and writing a review will prove to be an easy task for any American student.

Term papers “http://www.flashpapers.com” on sociology can be about theories developed and recorded by experts. Most courses on sociology require that the students compile a study based on previously published articles, books, journals, etc. Using the concepts published therein and testing them on present settings and situations. An in-depth analysis of the concepts first and the situation to be reviewed second, lead to a great written report.

All the ideas listed above are only a general indication of the requirements of this course in relation to various principles, disciplines, development peculiarities and a number of sociological issues.

Courtesy: Flash “http://www.flashpapers.com”

If you’ve optimized your Amazon profile, including choosing an Amazon signature that appears every time you post a book review on Amazon, you’re ready to move to the second stage of optimizing yourself and your book on Amazon. And this second stage starts with your book’s page on Amazon.

Your Book’s Amazon Page

First, check that your name is spelled correctly and the product info is correct. If your co-author was left off or there are other errors, scroll down the page to “update book info” and do so.

Second, if you have a blog and you have entered your blog feed into your Amazon account, your blog posts will automatically appear on your book’s page.

Now let’s look at a basic opportunity. Does your Amazon book page offer the LOOK INSIDE feature? If not, ask your publisher to provide this to Amazon.

Next, is your book available in a Kindle format? If your publisher doesn’t automatically provide this format, do so yourself. You can follow the instructions on the Amazon site – scroll down your book’s page until you see this headline “Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store.” Or you can supply the version yourself. (If you do have someone create the digital version of your book, make sure that this version is optimized. Otherwise you’ll have a digital version that is very hard to read.)

Obviously you want to get as many good reviews for your book as possible. This can be achieved in a variety of ways. One way: If you take a virtual book tour on book blogs and get good reviews, you can ask the book bloggers who gave you good reviews to also put their reviews on your book’s Amazon page. And there are many book bloggers who offer to review books even if you’re not on a virtual book tour.

A second way: You can ask your friends to read your book and post good reviews. (If a friend doesn’t like your book, don’t ask him/her to post a review.) A third way: Look for reviewers on Amazon who have written good reviews of similar books to yours. Then contact those reviewers if you can find their contact info.

A fourth way should be considered with caution: There are book review companies that offer book reviews for a fee. It’s probably best to get recommendations from other authors rather than randomly choosing such review companies.

Under “Tags Customers Associate with This Product” you’ll find “your tags.” You can add a tag for your book and then you will be asked to write a brief reason why the tag is relevant for your book. Amazon then reviews your reason for the tag and decides if the suggested tag is appropriate for your book.

You can write an article on your own book under “Product Information from the Amapedia Community.” You can read Amazon’s explanation of Amapedia – but for now think of it as a Wikipedia-type entry about your book.

Also on your book’s page you can “Create a Listmania! list” (instructions included) that can turn up on other book pages with your Amazon signature included with the list

Or on your page you can “Create a guide” for the “So You’d Like to …” feature. Again, the benefit for an author of doing the work to create the guide is that the guide will turn up on other book pages with your Amazon signature.

Other Book Pages

And, of course, you can get exposure by posting reviews on other book pages. Your Amazon signature will automatically appear at the top of your review, and you can manually include a signature at the end of the review. These can be the same signature or different signatures.

The more reviews you do on Amazon the more places that people can run across your name and the title of your book. If people like the way you write reviews, they may be more inclined to be interested in your own book.

Yes, writing reviews of books you’ve read does take time. And doing the other Amazon optimizer techniques in this article also takes time. Yet, if you’ve spent all that time writing a book, it makes sense to optimize your book’s Amazon presence. Who knows who might discover you online?

First, your e-Book needs to have an attractive title. The title should grab the attention of your intended target audience. The more appealing the title, the more your e-Book will be downloaded. Your e-Book needs to have quality content. You can contact other business owners and ask them if they would like to include their ad in your e-Book. Just ask them in return to advertise your free e-Book on their web site or in their e-zine for a set period of time. This method will get your free e-Book marketing campaign off to a fast start. For more details you can also visit at www.ebook-creation-toolkit.com you can write your own content or ask permission to use another author’s content. Your e-Book will be read more if the content is original.

You will want to put your ad on the title page or on the table of contents. It’s important to put your e-Book in as many formats as possible. Most e-Book software only allows the e-Book to be read by certain brewers and software. People may not take the time to download a new software program in order to read your e-Book. Other versions of your e-Book could be in HTML, auto responder and downloadable text format. This will give the most exposure for your web site or the products you’re selling.

It’s important to put your e-Book in as many formats as possible. Most e-Book software only allows the e-Book to be read by certain brewers and software. People may not take the time to download a new software program in order to read your e-Book. Other versions of your e-Book could be in HTML, auto responder and downloadable text format.

You can contact other business owners and ask them if they would like to include their ad in your e-Book. Just ask them in return to advertise your free e-Book on their web site or in their e-zine for a set period of time. This method will get your free e-Book marketing campaign off to a fast start.

Allow the people who download your e-Book to give it away to their visitors. This will multiply your free e-Books’ exposure. You can contact other business owners and ask them if they would like to include their ad in your e-Book. Just ask them in return to advertise your free e-Book on their web site or in their e-zine for a set period of time. This method will get your free e-Book marketing campaign off to a fast start. Submit your e-Book to the growing number of free e-Book directories on the internet. You can also visit at www.make-your-ebook-sell.com

These web sites also offer more information about e-Book marketing. It’s important to put your e-Book in as many formats as possible. Most e-Book software only allows the e-Book to be read by certain brewers and software. People may not take the time to download a new software program in order to read your e-Book. Other versions of your e-Book could be in HTML, auto responder and downloadable text format. Some of them also have e-Book discussion forums where you can ask questions and learn more about e-Book marketing.

Most writers claim that ‘writing’ is the painless part of being a writer- the real challenge begins when you attempt to publish your masterpiece. The book industry can be a really hard one to crack, especially if you’re a newbie. No need to panic though – if you’re reading this, all your publishing problems are nearly over!

This guide explores; Publishing thorough an Agency, Mainstream Publication, Self Publishing, Local Publishing Companies and eBook Publication. It furthers to explore life after your book has been published. So whether your interests lie in large international exposure for you book, or self publishing, simply read on for a detailed tour of the publishing industry.

Option 1) Publishing through an Agency

The Process

The first step to saving time whilst publishing is making sure that you avoid writing something that will never be read! My advice to anyone who aspires to publish something is to find a literary agent . This is a great time saver as, when you have an agent, you will never again waste time writing something that may be defined as ‘unmarketable’. To further explain – the literary network is very closely knit i.e. in order to have your book published; you would need to go through specific channels. A strict system has been designed to maintain a sense of order in the realm of literature.

Now, an agent can help you weave your way through the system – especially if you are a first timer. An agent is an individual who is able to help you through much of the information filtering process. A recommendation from an agent almost guarantees that your manuscript will be read by a publishing house. Essentially, the role of an agent is to read and approve your manuscript or any ideas that you may have i.e. queries and proposals.

The agent will then decide whether your venture could be successful. If so, the agent will further to draw up a contract with you. Contracts of this nature usually express the agent’s promise to use his/her best efforts to get your manuscript into a publishing house – the exchange is usually about 15% of the entire deal. Your new agent will then work extremely hard to sell your idea.

Agent Hunting

There are usually 2 types of agents – those who work with fiction and those who work with non-fiction. The easiest way to find your match is by paging through a publishing guide/directory, which lists the functions of a variety of agents in great detail i.e. ‘Guide to Literary Agents’. It is important to take note of any previous books that have been published by the agent/s that you are interested in – usually an agent will take interest in a particular theme, and stick to working with ideas along its lines.

Contacting an Agent

Once you have compiled a list of potential agents, feel free to start contacting them. The best way to do this is via a query letter. In essence, a query letter a short introduction of yourself and your idea – it should feed the agent enough information to arouse interest, but not too much to bore him/her. This is a suggested letter structure:



The Teaser

Your introduction is usually the aspect of the letter sells you – so make it an attention grabber. Ideally, you would want to describe the compelling fit between the person that you are and your idea for a book.

Develop Your Idea

Use your next few sentences to explore your idea, explaining what it is that you want to write about. Feel free to add in a snip-bit of your writing that best exemplifies your idea.

Self Description

Your third paragraph should be based on you. Try to reiterate the connection between you as a person and your idea. You should also feel free to show-off your academic or intellectual achievements.

Wrapping Up

Be sure to personalize your concluding sentence- making the agent feel unique and valuable to you in your selection process. Conclude by sharing your contact details and preferred method of communication.



 

Remember, this letter is merely an ‘appetizer’ so keep it short and simple.

Proposal Preparation

After sending your initial query letter to an agent, he/she would normally follow up by requesting a proposal. Essentially, your proposal is a document that accurately outlines an idea for a book. Here’s idea of what your proposal should contain:



The Overview

The first 2 pages of your proposal should contain a broad summary of the book. Non-fiction: Explain your intentions in terms of contents and topics. Fiction: Provide a general outline of your plot.

Target Market

Your next 3 pages should contain a description of your prospective target market. You should define this in terms of; age, socio-economic, and educational characteristics of you potential audience.

Market Threat and Competition

This section allows you to define what type of threats your book may face in terms of competitors and other books that cover a similar topic. Be careful to do all your homework here, because this section is really important to an agent as it dictates your books marketability.

Authorship

Use this section to write up a brief description about yourself and your co-authors, if any. Take this opportunity to brag as much as possible, as this section will help your agent convince a publishing house to pay you for your idea.

Summary of Chapters

This should be the largest part of your proposal – it contains an outline of what you intend to cover in each chapter of your book. Non-fiction: Provide a minimum amount of information i.e. outlines. Fiction: Provide definite samples of your writing.

Delivery

This section is relatively small – it simply contains the number of words you think your finished book will contain and the approximate time you will take to write it.



 

Contracts

Happy Day! So your proposal finally earns you a thumbs up…now what? It’s time to get into some paper work. The best part about this section is that you are not bearing the work load anymore. Your new agent will now send you a contract. These contracts are usually short documents that you can probably work though on your own, so no need for an attorney.

You just need be careful about two things – firstly, that your agent is not looking to exclusively represent you for over 12 months, and secondly that you are not going to billed for the cost of office overhead if your book does not do well on the market.



Once the contract has been signed, your agent will send you a copy of your original proposal with a few editorial suggestions. As soon as you finalize your proposal’s contents, your agent will start pitching your idea to the ‘big boys’ i.e. publishing companies. Once you get the go-ahead as well as the funding, feel free to start writing…Microsoft Word will be your new home!

Option 2) Mainstream Publication

The Process

This option is slightly similar to the first; however the two do have a few minor differences. The primary difference is that the ‘middle man’ or agent is no longer involved i.e. the first step that you need to take in the field of mainstream publication, is directly locating a publisher. Once again, you can feel free to look through a publishing directory or make use of a search engine. This way, you can choose a publisher, that best suits you. As soon as you have made contact with a publishing house and managed to spark a bit of interest, you might be requested to ‘pitch’ your book to the company in person.

The Pitch & Self Marketing

Now if consider yourself to be a great public speaker, this could be your moment to shine – if not, just remember that you will only be speaking to a few suits! The pitch is almost a verbal explanation of everything you would express in a proposal – if you happen to be unfamiliar with the guidelines for a proposal, simply follow the outline mentioned in option 1.

If you choose to publish via mainstream publication, it is important to note that you must be able to market yourself. Even if you do get lucky and a publishing house chooses to publish your book, you will still have to do a major part of the marketing – keep that in mind when it comes to your budget as it will help to have some additional money to use for publicity.

Risks/Benefits

The obvious benefit of publishing via a mainstream company is the possible exposure that you and your book could attain. On a large scale, the scope of various mainstream publication houses extends from local to international. The greatest risk involved in using this method of publication, is the risk of rejection. You may even be rejected before publication as well as after. It is not often that a well-known publishing company would risk a dollar on an unknown author – so prepare yourself for possible rejection after your pitch. Even if your book does get accepted for publication, rejection is still a factor in terms of your book’s marketability and it is highly unlikely that your publisher will pick up the bill should your book not be successful.

Option 3) Self Publishing – (POD) Print/Publish on Demand

The Process

This option refers to printing a book at the time of purchase. It is an innovative method of publishing books that saves money, time and supplies. The printing industry is ecstatic about this method of publication as it means that books no longer need to be warehoused until purchased.

This method of publication allows you to handle the design work of your book or opt for a service/package that offers cover design, formatting and editing. Various companies offer these services. These companies will assist you in the areas that you may need help – from the time that your book has been ordered to the delivery. The POD will actually help you list your book on Barnes and Noble, Amazon.com and other major bookstores by hooking you up with an ISBN. Here’s how the process works:



Submit the final draft of your book to a company that offers POD. Make sure your draft is formatted in the way that you want it to look in its final publication.

You will be requested to wait until your file has been added to the data system of that company.

The printing company receives an order for your book according to its ISBN.

An operator at the printing company accesses your file in their system. Ensuring all editing and formatting is correct; the book is released to the printer and binder system. Your book is printed in less than 5 minutes.

Your book is then packaged and addressed to the customer. It is then sent directly to the customer. This entire process takes approximately 10 working days – thus your book can hit the market as soon as possible.



 

Budget

While this type of publishing has become increasingly popular in the industry, it is important to note that it requires you fork out a bit of your own money – each book will cost you approximately $5.

Risks/Benefits

This option has various benefits. Firstly, most of the companies involved will accept any type of work, no matter who you are – so rejection is not something that you will have to worry about. Secondly, if you are involved with the design and formatting personally, your book automatically will gain a unique edge. Finally, the POD handles distribution and order fulfilment. This means that when you book has been ordered; the POD will print a copy of your book, ship it and pay you a royalty of approximately 30% of the purchase price – leaving you with less grey hair! With regards to the risks involved, it is important to note that the owner of the ISBN also owns the book’s copyright, so be careful with that and make sure that you purchase your book’s ISBN under your name, not the vanity publisher.

Option 4) Local Publishing Companies

The Process

Local commercial printing companies use the same technology as PODs. Feel free to browse through a publishing directory or just your local directory for a list of companies that offer publishing services. Your next step is to contact the publishing house that you have chosen.

Budget

While prices may vary, expect to pay 3 cents per black and white page i.e. a 200-page book could cost you approximately $6.50.

Print Style Options

Your first choice in terms of printing style is between color printing and black & white printing. This will dictate the cost that you will need to budget for. Most companies offer digital printing, so you can choose the amount of copies that you want printed at the time of publication. In terms of cover design, you are only limited by your own creativity – once again you are free to take charge of your own design. Binding on the other hand, will be handled by the company and is included in the original price per page.

Risks/Benefits

When you publish through a local company, you must take note that the printer will print precisely what you send – this is without any revision or editing. It is crucial that your book is proofread before submission. Also with this option, you will still have to promote your book, fill and ship all orders.

Option 5) eBook Publication

What is an eBook?

An eBook is an electronic copy of your book that may be purchased, downloaded and read immediately online. It can serve a variety of purposes i.e. advertising, the gathering of potential customer’s information and the generation of interest. Not only does this option provide the media for a sample publication of you incomplete book, but it also allows for full publication of your book once it is complete – thus you can sell the electronic version of your book, as if it were a hard copy.

The Process

This option may be deemed the most convenient and economical way to publish a book. Here is a basic outline of the process:



The Final Draft

To prepare you book for eBook publication, you have to format it exactly the way that you want your readers to see it. This will be easy if you are using a word processor such as Microsoft Word.

The Format

Unless you know exactly what you want in terms of formatting, I suggest that you stick to a standardised type of book formatting – the outline of a manuscript format is included later on in this article.

Proofreading

Sorry to say, editing will be your worst nightmare – just when you think that it’s over, go back and proofread again and again. Also try and get others to read your final draft too. Don’t skimp on the quality of your writing simply because you are publishing electronically.

Copyrighting

Copyrighting your book is your next move. Don’t stress out too much about the ISBN, as you are actually the publisher now, so you will be in charge of the distribution and price setting.

Designing the Cover

If you happen to have an arty side, this is your chance to bring it out! Feel free to extend your creativity but remember to keep your design, appropriate with regards to your book’s contents. You can also make use of external services should you need help i.e. graphic designers do freelance their services for this type of thing.

Publication

Now it really gets interesting…There are various programs available that generate self-executable eBooks. It is however important to note that most people are cautious when it comes to downloading new programs. I therefore recommend that you publish your eBook in plain old .pdf format. Adobe Acrobat Reader is a well established brand which is both safe and also free for anyone to download. Visit Adobe Online and register for their online PDF Creator to publish an ebook or feel free to do a Google search for a few more eBook publishing programs.

Your Account

Set up a business account with an ecommerce site like PayPal. You will then have to add your book’s ISBN to your ‘product list’. PayPal will then generate an html code that you can copy and paste where ever you would like to promote your eBook. You will in turn be notified via email, when someone purchases your book. Your last move is to reply to that email by attaching the .pdf of your book and sending the mail directly to your customer…and voila! Your first eBook is sold.



 

Risks/Benefits

There are various benefits related to this new wave of publication. Firstly, it requires you to spend little to no money out of your own pocket. Thus, there is very little financial risk involved. Secondly, your book can be published from the comfort of your own home…a few clicks here and there is all that it takes. Finally, from a marketing perspective, an eBook opens up various avenues for advertising – it allows you to add links within your book, directing the reader anywhere that you would like i.e. this gives you a chance to expand your business network. Once again, you must remember that you are in charge of your book’s marketing.

Irrespective of the method of publication that you choose, you will need to master manuscript writing…Here’s a handy guide on how to correctly format your manuscript.

Try to make use of this type of formatting prior to submitting it to an agent or publisher. At first glance you may think that these standards may not be aesthetically pleasing, but don’t stress, your publisher should send your original manuscript to a ‘formatter’ that standardizes the format during publication.

Basic Formatting Rules



Use 1 inch margins around all your text – repeat this on each page.

Double spacing should be used throughout your manuscript. This type of spacing enhances your manuscripts readability and makes it easier to edit.

If you want to italicize something, don’t do it now. Only highlight this before the final version is published – anything that you want in italics should be underlined in your manuscript.

All numbers should be spelt out i.e. type out four instead of 4.

Most symbols should also be spelt out i.e. don’t use the ‘%’ sign, instead type out ‘percent’.



 



Life After Publication

Even though your book is now on its way to mass production, you need not let your relaxation period be short lived – don’t become overridden with anxiety about publicity, marketing and even worse, sales!

For a stress free way to boost sales and keep abreast of your new book’s performance you should consider subscribing to a promotions and sales tracking company.

With modern publishing methods, like self-publishing and eBook publication in mind, it is easy to understand why sales tracking has become a common pastime for most writers. Because most publishing options force you to take charge of your book’s marketing, it may be a good idea for you to make use of an online service to help you track the sales of your book and handle do a bit of book promotion on your behalf.

Taking this into consideration, let’s take look at the sales ranking and promotions company, RankTracer. This company will do some online promotion and track your book at the same time – giving you on-the-hour sales rank information, graphs, reports and actual sales estimates.

With an external company tracking your sales and offering you a bit of extra help with book promotion, you are left with more time on your hands to use as you please – feel free to explore book-signings, tours, public talks and even blog about your new book!

So now you know! I trust that you found my walk through the publishing industry informative. Hopefully it has answered a few of your publishing queries and has helped you find the perfect publishing fit for you. Good luck and happy publishing!