Indie Authors - Secret One

Write a Great Book

“Write a great book” might strike you as common sense, but it’s the most common
mistake authors make. Some indie authors – intoxicated by the freedom to self-publish –
rush their book to market before it’s ready to be seen by readers.
Is your book ready? By considering this difficult question, you’ll find the path to a better
book revealed.

With the power to publish comes the responsibility to emulate the best practices of the
most professional authors and publishers.

If your book is poorly-conceived or poorly-edited, readers will reject it. If you write a
great book that satisfies readers, they will reward you with their word of mouth.

Honor your readers with a great read.

Readers value their time more than the money in their wallet or purse. Book marketing
has always been a word of mouth business. Your readers will market your book for you if
the book touches their soul, or inspires mad passion.

Ninety percent of your book’s success will be determined by the quality of your book.
The other ten percent is distribution, marketing and luck.

If you remember nothing else from this book, remember this: The very most important
marketing you can do is to write a great book that markets itself on the wings of reader
word-of-mouth. If you book makes the reader say, “WOW!” then they won’t just
recommend your book to their friends, they’ll command their friends to read it. “Pretty
good” isn’t good enough if you want to spark word-of-mouth.

Smashwords author Sarah Burleton, who spent over 12 weeks on the NY Times ebook
bestseller list in 2011 with her ebook, Why Me?, told me she did no marketing for her
book. The book took off at Amazon and Barnes & Noble thanks to reader word-ofmouth.
It’s not the first time I’ve seen books break out with little to no marketing.

Be fanatical about quality. Revise, revise, revise. Hire a professional editor if necessary,
but only if you can afford it. If you can’t afford a professional editor, seek out other free
alternatives, like bartering editing with your fellow writers. Join a critique group. Utilize beta readers. Beta readers are test readers (see the Glossary at the end of the book for
more on beta readers). Seek out critical, dispassionate feedback from beta readers,
preferably from strangers rather than friends and family. It’s difficult to obtain honest
critical feedback from friends and family because they’ll be awestruck that you wrote a
book, and they won’t want to hurt your feelings.

The Secrets to Ebook Publishing Success won’t tell you how to write a great book, but it
will give you tips on how to maximize its commercial success.


Smashwords Article

Indie Authors Rewrite the Rules of Publishing

Back in the old days of publishing (four or five years ago), many writers viewed self publishing
as the option of last resort. Self-pubbed authors were the black sheep of the
writing community. They were considered failed authors because they couldn’t find an
agent or sell their book to a big publisher. They were ridiculed as "vanity" authors. Sadly,
much of the most vitriolic criticism came from fellow writers.

We don’t hear much of that anymore. Self-publishing is finally earning the respect it
deserves. High profile indie author successes – utilizing the best practices contained
herein – are climbing the bestseller charts. Their commercial success is changing
perceptions about self-publishing one reader at a time.

Look no further than the bestseller lists at major retailers to see how the indie insurgents
are scaling the lists. Many Smashwords authors have landed in the top 10 bestseller lists
of major ebook retailers, and many more have topped genre-specific lists at #1. A few
have even landed in the New York Times ebook bestseller list.

Indie bestsellers are destined to become the norm in the months and years ahead. Don’t
misunderstand, I’m not implying it’s easy to become a bestseller. It’s difficult, and rare.
To get there you’ll need talent, smart decision-making, hard work, patience, and luck.

Even authors previously published by big New York publishers are starting to go
independent. These authors are questioning what Big Publishers can do for them that the
author cannot do for themselves. It’s only a matter of time before authors begin speaking
of the stigma of traditional publishing. Indie authors have the ability to publish faster,
distribute more broadly, price lower, sell more books at higher royalty levels, reach more
readers and earn more income than they can by surrendering their rights to a traditional
publisher.

If the indie author movement was a person, 2011 was the year the movement entered
adolescence and 2013 will be the year the movement reaches adulthood. These newly minted
indie ebook authors (old timers are the ones with three or four years of experience
with self-publishing) are experimenting with abandon. Through trial and error,
experimentation, and rapid information exchange with fellow authors, indie authors are
discovering the secrets of successful modern day publishing.

We're witnessing the rise of the indie author collective. The collective – warts and all –gives rise to an intelligence and sophistication that will redefine publishing for the better.

In The Secrets of Successful Ebook Publishing, I attempt to capture and distill the proven
best practices of authors who are reaching the most readers with their books.

My hope is that these secrets will spark your imagination as you work to become a more
professional, more successful indie author.

Five Big Trends Facing the Future of Publishing

The publishing world is in flux as multiple trends converge to challenge old rules and
create new ones.

Here are the five most important trends facing publishing today:

1. Bookselling is moving online as brick and mortar bookstores disappear.

2. Reading is moving to screens as ebooks replace print books.

3. New publishing and distribution tools empower authors to become professional
publishers while eroding the monopolistic edge once held by large publishers.

4. Digital distribution enables authors and publishers to efficiently reach a global
market.

5. An over-supply of books and alternative media content will place downward
pressure on ebook prices.

These trends create an environment where indie authors and small publishers can out publish
and out-compete the larger New York publishers.

A mere four or five years ago, publishers controlled the printing press and access to retail
distribution. Today, thanks to free ebook publishing and distribution tools such as
Smashwords, the ebook printing press is free and available to any author.

Distribution has become democratized, and global, thanks to the foresight of retailers
such as the Apple iBookstore, Barnes & Noble, Sony, Kobo, Diesel, and Amazon. These
retailers are hungry to carry the ebooks of indie authors. They want indie ebooks because
these books satisfy their customers and sell well. Retailers also understand that readers
couldn’t care less about the name of the publisher on the book’s virtual spine. Readers
simply want great books.

The implications of this revolution are profound. Writers are now in charge. Readers are
the new curators.

You, the writer, decide when your manuscript graduates to published book. You are your
own gatekeeper. You will bypass the traditional industry gatekeepers and publish directly
to your readers around the globe.

Along with this power shift also comes the responsibility of authors to honor the best practices
of the best traditional publishers. You must publish a quality, professional book that is as good as, or better than, what’s published by traditional publishers. Readers have
little tolerance for anything less, which is how it should be.

We live in an age of media abundance. Consumers have unlimited access to myriad high quality
sources of entertainment and knowledge. Much of this content is available for
free. Yet despite the prevalence of free content options, readers will still purchase your
book because your book is unique.

Darwin is in charge. This is a game of survival of the fittest. Writers who honor readers
by publishing great books will reach the most readers.

The Secrets to Ebook Publishing Success will help you up your game, even if you’re
already a successful author.

Before we get started, a simple reminder: It’s tough to sell any book, even a great book.
Keep your sales expectations low, then work to exceed them. Focus on the long term.
Successful indie authors must do many things well while avoiding mistakes that can
undermine their opportunity.

Article From Smashwords.

Spain's Route 66 - Ruta de la Plata

Spain's Ruta de la plata, is being referred to as a smaller version of North America's Route 66. The Silver trail stretches 800km, snaking down the west side of Spain, parallel to Portugal, passing through 4 regions and 7 provinces. The route, features 25 municipalities that are cooperating to market their gastronomy and top level places of interest. It starts in the beautiful coastal town of Gijón, with views of the Bay of Biscay, including towns like, Ribera de Arriba, Lena, La Pola de Gordón, León, La Bañeza, Benavente, Zamora,  Plasencia, Casar de Cáceres, Calzadilla de los Barros, Fuente de Cantos, Montemolín, Carmona, to  name a few, with Seville being the last city on the route.

The network will be promoting the whole silver trail as a tourist attraction, through local travel agents, social media and tour ops. In the past, the majority of travellers were predominantly from Spain and Portugal. There are plenty of hotels, hostels and campsites along the route as it is not just solely for hikers and bikers to make the journey, motorist are also welcome too.

Part of the adventure along the way to your destination is stopping off at new places and exploring; you never know what you might find or what will happen. They say a stranger is a friend you have not met yet.

 

I have also written another Squidoo lens on my Cockerel Collections which has been growing since the 90’s and from all over the world.

Valentine's Day Gifts

35 Dollars, which at the time of writing is around 26 Euros or 21.50 Pounds, that's how much they want nowadays for a 12 piece bucket of Kentucky fried Chicken here in Spain, and they don't do beans. With Valentine's Day approaching I thought I would write a few Squidoo lenses on gift ideas, first, starting with gifts for her and then gifts for him.

Gifts for her are all under 20 Euros.

Grow your own unique Rose and then name it, either after yourself or a loved one. The rose is then registered at the British library.

Name a star, again either after yourself or someone special. There are millions of stars still to be named you can get a box set gift here.

Become a Laird or Lady of a Scottish castle by purchasing some Scottish land, you are legally entitled to use the title Laird. Females can choose to be a Laird or a Lady, when you have registered you will have free access to the castle and can enjoy all it has to offer, a box set is available here.

For the guys on Valentine's day I've included some red letter days, which are named after religious holidays that are marked in red on calenders. Nowadays they are general referring to as memorable days out. For example, a track day, white water rafting, golf lessons with a pro and Segway rally day. It could also be a dinner for two in an up market restaurant, weekend away in Paris or a $200, 000 space travel ticket from Virgin.

Mysteries of the Arctic – The Flight of the Eagle

The explorers S. A. Andrée (1854–97), Nils Strindberg (1872–97), and Knut Frænkel (1870–97). Set off from Norway in 1897 on a journey to the North Pole by Hydrogen Balloon. Merchandising and heavy promotion in Sweden did not sway the majority opinion, that this was a dangerous and risky venture with a high fail probability. Disregarding many signs, Andrée went ahead with the expedition in an almost Polly-Anna optimistic flurry and some would say over confidence.  

They communicated with the rest of the world with steel buoys wrapped in cork and homing pigeons.

A buoy was found with a message from Andrée, saying that so far all was good. Two days later they disappear.

For years people speculated on what had happened and their disappearance was shrouded in mystery. Decades later their bodies were discovered in 1930, with journal entries, equipment and photographs proving that they had landed safely, so now they had the task of finding out what had happened.

Not far from their last camp was the carcass of a polar bear, it was tested and found to have trichina worm…..

There are some great pictures of the ill-fated exhibition that was found in 1930 here

Read More

 

Grinding it Out -The Making of McDonalds

My Latest lens is a book review about Ray Kroc’s book, ‘‘Grindingit out’’, it’s a great motivational tool, with positive messages through out, and like Ray Kroc at 52, when he started expanding McDonalds; it is never too late to learn and succeed.

Ray Kroc, born Raymond Albert Kroc on the 5^th October, 1902 in Oak Park, near Chicago met the McDonald brothers when he sold them several Prince Castle multi-milkshake machines and became intrigued at their success in such a small town.

Ray Kroc started franchising the restaurants for the brothers as they had no interest in more work.

Eventually he became frustrated with the two brothers because of their unwillingness to run with the business and expand more rapidly, so in 1961, Ray Kroc bought the company for $2.7 million (which was enough to pay each brother $1 million each after taxes).