Someday Box – Page 34 – You know you want to write a book. I can help.

5 Things I Believe About Pricing Your Digital Book

Posted on September 6, 2013 by Joel D Canfield

[image: photo http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1243714 by floretan http://www.sxc.hu/profile/floretan” width=”200″ height=”282″ class=”alignright size-full wp-image-2005]Smashwords did extensive research and discovered that, all other things being equal, the price that sells is $3.99.

A few thoughts:

I don’t buy digital books. I don’t even download them free, or, well, when I do, I don’t bother to read them. I’m a book in my hands guy. So as a buyer, digital price is irrelevant.
The market expects that digital books will cost less than print. For good or ill, we have to be aware of the expectation, and if we defy it, we have to manage it, not just ignore it.

… more … “5 Things I Believe About Pricing Your Digital Book”

Commonsense zero-cost DIY marketing for authors

Posted on September 5, 2013 by Joel D Canfield

[image: photo http://www.sxc.hu/photo/784024 by H Berends http://www.sxc.hu/profile/hberends” width=”200″ height=”409″ class=”alignright size-full wp-image-1994]I mentioned this a few days ago.

It’s a book, but first, it’s a project.

I believe that the marketing methods which have made my businesses successful will work for my books — but I haven’t tested them yet. (Alex Zabala, author of Treasure of the Mayan King certainly has. Over 3,000 sales to date.)

I need to test and prove these methods, using anodyne as a guinea pig. When I know what works and what doesn’t, I’ll codify it in the book which will be called, surprise, Commonsense Zero-Cost DIY Marketing for Authors.

Here’s Where You Come In

What have you tried that didn’t work? What worked, but not well enough? What have you heard of folks doing, and wonder about it?

Please, tell me anything and everything you think or believe or don’t believe or tried when it comes to marketing your book. Wild or conventional, curious or convinced, tested or tempting.

I have hundreds of ideas, but it’s easy to create an echo chamber, especially if you’re someone who talks REALLY LOUD like me. I want more than my own ideas to experiment with.

Why Children’s Books Aren’t as Easy as You Think

Posted on September 3, 2013 by Joel D Canfield

A novel is somewhere near 100,000 words. The Cat in the Hat was 1,629.

Who wouldn’t choose to finish 98.4% sooner?

Many authors have pointed out that shorter does not equal easier.

Anyone with small children can tell you that “young” does not equal “unsophisticated consumers of mental pabulum.” Or ask the producers of Sesame Street. Keeping a child’s attention is difficult under the best circumstances.

I’ve read children’s books which assumed that making up meaningless words and rhyming while hammering home a moral lesson equaled Dr. Seuss.

Here’s what the good doctor did which makes his work unique:
… more … “Why Children’s Books Aren’t as Easy as You Think”

7 Reasons Copyrighting Your Art is a Waste of Time

Posted on September 2, 2013 by Joel D Canfield

[image: photo http://www.sxc.hu/photo/666175 by Daniel Duchon http://elduchon.es/blog/” width=”220″ height=”220″ class=”alignright size-full wp-image-1960]Someone stealing your book seems to be every author’s nightmare.

Let’s think this through:

someone finds your book or song
they think it’s worth stealing in its entirety
they publish it as their own
it becomes a big hit and makes them lots of money

For that to happen, we have to get past all this:
… more … “7 Reasons Copyrighting Your Art is a Waste of Time”

Repetition. Habit. Disruption. Pattern.

Posted on September 1, 2013 by Joel D Canfield

Looks like I consistently have a hard time posting on Sundays.

When habits fail we look at causes; disruption, patterns, outliers.

Sunday morning my schedule is different from Monday through Friday.

Ah ha!

Except, it’s almost identical to Saturday’s schedule, and I don’t have a problem posting Saturdays.

But I post on Saturday afternoon. And Sunday afternoon ends in supper at my Mom’s, which doesn’t happen Saturdays.

I think I need to dig some more.

What’s disrupting your habits? How does it affect your writing?

[image: photo http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1166177 by Dora Pete http://www.sxc.hu/profile/porah” width=”444″ height=”200″ class=”aligncenter size-full wp-image-1949]

If You’re Pantsing Without Planning You’re Wasting Time

Posted on August 31, 2013 by Joel D Canfield

If you start writing before you know how your novel ends you are wasting time.

Unless you know the ending, once you arrive you won’t have built in foreshadowing. Your characters will have unrealistic inconsistencies. Scenes will make the wrong points. Your theme won’t be emphasized.

You’ll have to go back and rewrite the whole thing to have any hope of making it right.

“Writing is re-writing!” you shout with glee.

And I say, that’s ridiculous.

[image: photo http://www.sxc.hu/photo/770264 by Shuné Pottier http://www.sxc.hu/profile/Shune]
… more … “If You’re Pantsing Without Planning You’re Wasting Time”

Engineering Best-Sellers (Are Your Pants on Fire?)

Posted on August 30, 2013 by Joel D Canfield

[image: photo http://www.sxc.hu/photo/118553 by martin louis http://www.sxc.hu/profile/martinl]Smashwords has a new feature: people can pre-order your book, but the sales can be tallied all at once on launch day.

From the Smashwords blog:

During the preorder period, customers place advance orders. At some retailers such as Apple, these advance orders accumulate in the days and weeks prior to the official onsale date and then credit all at once on the date of release, which causes the title to spike in the retailer’s bestseller lists.

Here’s an easier method: if you want the label “best-selling author” why not just lie about it?
… more … “Engineering Best-Sellers (Are Your Pants on Fire?)”

What if I Don’t Want to Play by the Rules?

Posted on August 29, 2013 by Joel D Canfield

When my middle daughter was taking an interest in music, I tried to teach her some piano basics, and a bit about music theory. Nothing elaborate. Things like chord patterns that work well, melodic structure, lyric writing.

She dismissed it all. “I know what I want to do, and I don’t need all that stuff.” To me, her playing sounded like she was just picking two keys at a time, stringing pairs of sounds together, vaguely timed against some clock that didn’t exist.

No lyrics. She was a poet, and I guess the lyrics were going to stay in her head, not come out of her mouth.

Fast forward 5 years. I mentioned that, at the time, it sure seemed like all she wanted was to “let her genius flow unhindered” rather than learning a few basics that could turn her meandering into real songs.

She said, “Yeah, I was just being lazy and pretentious. I need all that stuff. Will you teach me now?”

Her lyrics never fail to make me cry or laugh out loud. Her melodies are mature. She’s a decent piano player. And one of the finest singers I’ve ever known.

Lateral arabesque to a location somewhere in my head.
… more … “What if I Don’t Want to Play by the Rules?”

Interior Design: An Invisible Art, Until It’s Not

Posted on August 27, 2013 by Joel D Canfield

Some functions are hygienic: just as you don’t notice when someone has taken a shower, you don’t notice if windows are clean, you don’t notice if a musical instrument is in tune, and you don’t notice if a book’s interior is properly designed.

The opposites are also true.

If you’re a music-lover, a shop-owner, or an elevator-sharer, you’ll notice all right.

And if you’re a bibliophile, a poorly designed book is painful. It, well, stinks.

I just finished reading a book which could have been marvelous. Fascinating stories from inside an industry I appreciate.
… more … “Interior Design: An Invisible Art, Until It’s Not”