Each month, the Nonfiction Authors Association asks a burning publishing question of the industry’s best, brightest, and most innovative experts. Here’s what they have to say! NFAA: What is the best piece of advice you’d offer to an author about working with a book cover designer? LEWIS AGRELL — THE AGRELL GROUP When authors have […]
Authority Publishing provides custom publishing services exclusively for nonfiction books. Comprehensive services include editing, cover design, interior typesetting, ebook formatting, and distribution to Amazon, Ingram and other online retailers. Since 2008, Authority Publishing has built a solid reputation as an industry leader in personalized service and professional book production. If getting your book done right […]
New writers self-publish, and build their platform and community of fans until they prove their potential, and agents and publishers find them. Successful writers are among the most powerful people in publishing. They are CEOs of one-person, multimedia, multinational conglomerates–contentpreneurs who use craft, creativity, innovation and social media to create and sell their work, and […]
1. Your writing community: Ask writers and publishing people. 2. The Web: Blogs, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, other social media, Google, agents’ websites, databases such as publishersmarketplace.com, agentresearch.com, firstwriter.com, authorlink.com, predatorsandeditors.com, and agentquery.com, which lists 2,000 agents. 3. The Association of Authors’ Representatives (AAR): The 450 agents in AAR are the best source of experienced, reputable […]
Until a few years ago, before publishing a book it was important to get past the gatekeepers. These were the agents and the publishers who may or may not have looked at your manuscript and chapter samples before outright rejecting it. The writing arena has become crowded now more than ever. For instance, did you […]
Agent Katharine Sands believes that the writing you do about your writing is as important as the writing itself. A query is a one-page, single-spaced letter with three or four indented paragraphs with a space between each of them. Without being self-serving, it explains why, what, and who: the hook, the book, and the cook: […]
An agent is A mediator between you and the marketplace A scout who knows what publishers are looking for An editor who can provide guidance that will make your work more salable A matchmaker who knows which editors and publishers to submit your book to, and just as important, which to avoid A negotiator who […]
For authors with ebooks published via the Kindle Digital Publishing (KDP) program, there is an option to participate in the controversial KDP Select program. With this program, you can make your ebook (Kindle version) available in Amazon’s lending library where Amazon Prime members can borrow your ebook. In exchange, Amazon sends out checks each quarter […]
Amazon gives authors a fair amount of control and exposure by allowing you to create a free Author Central account: http://authorcentral.amazon.com/. As soon as your book is published and available on Amazon, you should create your account immediately. Once you launch your account and claim your book(s), you can build out your author profile by […]
1. You can self-publish your book by –Doing it as an ebook, a hardcover, a mass market book or trade paperback –Using print-on demand (POD) at no cost or by paying for services –Using print-quantity-needed (PQN) for short runs, offset for longer runs –Publishing it for free online as blog posts, articles, or a manuscript, […]
Maximizing the Value of Your Book Before You Sell or Publish It by Michael Larsen
Visibility is Salability: Making the World Ready for Your Book * Register your name as your website asap. If your name is taken, tweak it by, for example, adding your middle initial. * Use your name for your email address: [your first name]@[your first name followed by your last name].com. Keep your address clear, simple, […]
Techniques of How to Gather Information for Your Next Piece by Olivia Ryan
All nonfiction writers have to go through a writer’s block at some point of their career. This block may include struggles with ideas or the writing part, but the most common struggle is based on gathering information. After all, the information you will gather will influence the choice of topic, story, and even type of […]
What’s in It for You? Setting Your Literary and Publishing Goals by Michael Larsen
Create a portrait of the writer you want to be by describing your short- and long-term personal, literary and publishing goals and how you will achieve them by answering these questions. When possible, start your answers with the word “I.” Why do you want to write? What do you want to write–novels, nonfiction, children’s, MG […]
Name: Carolyn Glenn Brewer Book Title: Changing the Tune, the Kansas City Women’s Jazz Festival, 1978-1985 Your book’s Amazon purchase link: https://www.amazon.com/Carolyn-Glenn-Brewer/e/B006EQYDV What is your book about? The Kansas City Women’s Jazz Festival was the first jazz festival run by women. It challenged the pervasive attitude that jazz was a boys’ club by focusing on […]
Maximizing the Value of Your Book Before You Sell or Publish It by Michael Larsen
Visibility is Salability: Making the World Ready for Your Book * Register your name as your website asap. If your name is taken, tweak it by, for example, adding your middle initial. * Use your name for your email address: [your first name]@[your first name followed by your last name].com. Keep your address clear, simple, […]
Techniques of How to Gather Information for Your Next Piece by Olivia Ryan
All nonfiction writers have to go through a writer’s block at some point of their career. This block may include struggles with ideas or the writing part, but the most common struggle is based on gathering information. After all, the information you will gather will influence the choice of topic, story, and even type of […]
What’s in It for You? Setting Your Literary and Publishing Goals by Michael Larsen
Create a portrait of the writer you want to be by describing your short- and long-term personal, literary and publishing goals and how you will achieve them by answering these questions. When possible, start your answers with the word “I.” Why do you want to write? What do you want to write–novels, nonfiction, children’s, MG […]
Writing and Sharing Your Work as Labors of Love by Michael Larsen
The only way to do great work is to love what you do. – Steve Jobs Pour your time and passion into what brings you the most joy, your mission in life. –Marie Kondo, the life-changing magic of tidying up At their best, reading, writing, agenting, editing, publishing, reviewing, and bookselling are labors of love. […]
What Corporate Sponsors Want from Authors
While you may think that these corporate sponsorships are few and far between, I can assure you that they are easier to get than you might think. Corporations aren’t looking for a bargain. First, you should know that big companies have equally big budgets. On average they allocate 10% to 15% of profits toward marketing […]
(NOTE: This post is a companion piece to Peter Bowerman’s NFAA teleseminar on the subject to be posted on 8/17/17.) In late 2009, I released my fourth self-published book, the updated edition of my first, The Well-Fed Writer (TWFW), an award-winning how-to about my chosen field (since 1994) of lucrative “commercial” writing – freelancing for […]
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