Book Publisher

How to Get Your Book Published -- A Step-by-Step Guide

© Copyright, Michael Lovas

The Big One! Probably the most important marketing project you ever undertake is the big one -- your book. It can be as long as 300 pages or as short as 50. Whatever the length, it's a simple and relatively easy process for you, if you understand the process. It should be easy -- your ghostwriter/editor will do most of the work. In some cases, all the work.

Why a Book?
A book can open more doors for you than any other project you could ever do. It will get you free publicity. It will get you more respect. And it will get you greater credibility than you've ever had before. Along the way, it will also get you more prospects. What more could you ask? Direct mail letters are not correspondence, though they may borrow some of its elements. Mainly the salutation and the signature.

Getting a book published involves the following 17 steps:
1. Getting organized. Together, you and your ghostwriter/editor determine what kind of book you want. You decide on the size and the approximate length. Then, you come up with a very basic outline.

2. You use the outline as a subject guide for compiling some information. That includes any articles, brochures or other marketing pieces you can find that explain the topics you want to include in the book. Use a file folder for each topic or chapter. Then send them to your ghostwriter/editor. This is also true when you consider finding some other professionals to contribute chapters to your book. (Contributors can also help underwrite the cost.)

3. Your ghostwriter/editor does extensive research to see what other people have to say about your subject. The search is vital because the more references cited in your book, the better you look. It shows that you're not just a person with a wild idea. Two things are important here. The references must be recent and they must be sources your target market will respect. The internet or the Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature at the library both afford you access to hundreds of credible journals and publications.

4. Your ghostwriter/editor compiles a chapter outline with rough copy ideas sketched in for you. He will ask you some questions along the way and send you some page layout ideas and layout ideas for the cover.

5. You go through the chapter outline and give your ghostwriter/editor your thoughts.

6. Drawing from the information, research and outline, your ghostwriter/editor produces a rough draft of your book. Typically, that is done in sections. (This is also a good time to submit articles to magazines your target market reads and/or respects.)

7. You go through the rough draft(s) and mark your corrections.

8. Your ghostwriter/editor makes your corrections and delivers a final draft to you.

9. You approve the final draft, page design and cover design.

10. Your ghostwriter/editor transfers the final version into the desktop publishing program for the printer. It's important that you understand this step. The printer will not print your book from a word processing program like WordPerfect or Microsoft Word. All book printers work with publishing programs like Quark ExPress and Aldus PageMaker.

11. Once your ghostwriter/editor knows what the cover will look like and exactly how many pages we're going have, he gets print estimates for you and determines which printer to use. (This is probably a good time to start sending news releases to local media, like newspapers, radio and TV stations).

12. You send your ghostwriter/editor a check for the printing charges.

13. Your ghostwriter/editor sends the final book package to the printer with the check.

14. The printer sends your ghostwriter/editor the "blue lines" for approval. "Blue lines" show exactly what the type will look like. Both of you should approve them.

15. The printer lets your ghostwriter/editor know what the final charges are. That's determined by the exact number of copies printed and if there were any unanticipated print production charges.

16. The printer's final invoice is paid.

17. The printer ships the books to you.

As you can see, you can be involved as much or as little as you want to be. Either way, the book you'll receive will be clear, easy to read, easy for your target market to understand. It will make you look like the penultimate expert on your subject. You'll be the accepted authority.

The success percentage. The exact number is difficult to gauge, but it is significant. In my research on what builds the credibility, I asked "authors" about the increase in business that they can directly attribute to book projects, the answer is overwhelmingly 50%!

How Much Publishing Your Book Will Cost

The confusion over how much publishing a book costs is tremendous. An insurance agent called me in January and wanted a complete book for $500. A financial planner was happy to pay between $20,000 - $30,000. To put the actual costs into perspective for you, I'm going to break your book into separate services and explain the services and their costs.

5 Steps. As you now know, there are 17 minor steps to getting your book published. Those 17 steps can be organized into five major steps: Research, Writing, Page Design, Print Production and finally Printing. I believe the most logical way to estimate the cost of a book is to spread the total over the length of the book. Thus, each page has a cost that is easier to understand.

1. Research. Finding magazine articles, reports and academic studies that support your topic can bring enormous credibility to you and your book. The question is, do you have time to spend a hundred hours in the library or on the internet? Of course not. But your ghostwriter/editor does. For instance, referring to a recent Wall Street Journal could add credibility. Quoting a study conducted at Duke or Stanford will certainly bring independent validation to your words.

Costs. Research is traditionally contracted by the hour. Thus, to locate and reproduce 30 articles you can quote from could cost from $500 to $1,000. If you want a 100-page book (simply a hypothetical number), the research could cost from $5 - $10 per printed book page. Since the standard charge for intellectual work is from $60 - $100 per hour, $5 - $10 per page is a good deal.

2. Writing. Every professional writer knows that all good writing is really only skillful rewriting. Look, David Letterman's show is simply a rewrite of the old Ernie Kovak's show. All new rock music is simply a rewrite of 50's and 60's music. All encyclopedias . . . Your writer's job is to make your book easier to read and create more value than is in the other books on your subject.

The rewriting process is very important, because facts cannot be copyrighted; only interpretation of facts can. Let's say you take the facts from a document published by Medicare, or Vanguard. Then, you restate, explain and illustrate them, using easy-to-understand language, VOILA! you've interpreted facts. Do it successfully and you won't infringe on the copyright law. I suggest citing the original source, that will bring even more credibility to your work.

Writing and editing is very time-intensive. They also require great skill and years of day-to-day wordsmith experience. In the same way your dentist probably can't render quality insurance counseling, a recent college graduate can not produce your book. A friend who was an English major in 1972 can not produce your book. Your secretary can not produce your book.

Costs. Your ghostwriter/editor will estimate $50 - $75 per printed book page, depending on how much work he perceives will be required. The more work he has to do, the more it will cost you.

3. Page Design. This is very easy to visualize. Pick up any novel and open to somewhere in the middle of the book. What do you see? It's called the Wall of Gray. You don't know where any information is located. Your book needs to be different. It needs to be organized as logically as an excellent direct mail brochure. The reader needs to be able to find specific information immediately. The person skimming your book should be enticed to read something on virtually every page. That's what the page design effort accomplishes for you.

It involves the choice of type face families, type sizes, hyphenation styles, and the exact calculation of every page break. It involves breaking paragraphs into bulleted lists and creating subheads from the content. It also involves delicate editing to make your messages fit on the pages.

A word of warning: do not entrust a graphic designer with this job. Page design is a word-related task. Thus, it is best accomplished by your ghostwriter/editor -- period! That's because he is 1) intimately familiar with the intellectual messages and 2) capable of manipulating the words when necessary.

Costs. Page design should cost $20 - $30 per printed book page, depending on the complexity of the information. That brings the cost of your 100-page book to:
Per-Page Estimates: (Minimum Maximum)
Research = $5 - $10 per page or: $500 - $1000
Writing/editing = $50 - $75 per page or: $5000 - $7500
Page design = $25 per page or: $2000 - $3000

Now, when you see an estimate of $75 per printed book page, you'll have a clear picture of what kind of effort and services make-up those costs. If you find those numbers out of your budget, there are ways to reduce the total. First, think in terms of a shorter book. You ultimately get more work for less money. A fifty-page book is still a book, and can cost half as much as a 100-page book.

The following two steps involve costs that your ghostwriter/editor/publisher has no control over. They're relatively fixed costs because they're determined by outside influences. Namely, the cost of paper, labor and the demand for printing services.

4. Print Production. Most people understand that a book must go to a printer. However, they don't understand the process for making the book printable. In same way a roll of film in your camera must go through processing before the snap shots can be added to the photo album, the pages of your book must go through a similar process. Each individual page of the book will reside on a computer disk. The disk goes through a process that turns each page into a separate piece of film negative. Making that film negative is absolutely essential, and it adds a cost of from $5 to $10 per page. Without going through that process, you simply don't have a book. Other minor costs you might see would result from photographs, other artwork and extra colors you want included. A typical cost to process one black and white photograph is $15.

The printer turns the film negative into a blueline for each page. It shows the exact position of everything in the book. The blueline adds a cost of from fifty cents to a dollar per page.

Costs
Per-Page Estimates: (Minimum Maximum)
Film negatives: = $5 - $10 per page or: $500 - $1000
Bluelines: = .50 - $1 per page or: $50 - $100

5. Printing. Once you approve the bluelines, the printer can print the books, apply the covers, and ship the end result to you. But, before the printing press can be turned on, it has to be loaded with paper, and you have to choose the quality of paper. The cost of paper is probably the single most volatile variable in the cost of printing. It can change the cost of your printing by several hundred dollars. In fact, every printing estimate I've ever seen carries a disclaimer that reads something like, "Due to fluctuation of material and labor costs, prices are only effective 30 days from date of quotations."

Printing charges can vary greatly. We normally think of the corner QuickPrint as inexpensive. If you're interested in photocopies, they might be a bargain. However, for printing a book, they would cost an arm and a leg. Even large printers can vary in their charges by thousands of dollars. True story. By researching printers and getting many estimates, I saved Jim Hollon several thousand dollars on his 128-page book The Deferred Compensation Plan.

Here's a true example. The following estimates are based on the same basic book: 7 x 10-inch hardcover/128 pages/1000 copies)

Printer A -- $3,877
Printer B -- $6,524
Printer C -- $7,433

As you can see, the printing costs can indeed vary greatly. That's why it's important to know which printers to get estimates from, and what print specs to base the estimates on.

Time Frame. The entire of process of publishing a book should take from four to six months. Add another month for the print production and printing process. The time element actually works in your favor. It gives you ample opportunity to perfect everything before you send it to the printer. Trust me. You want that time to add everything you can think of to the book. You certainly don't want to say, "If only I'd added such-n-such to my book."

Publishing a book can be a huge and daunting undertaking for an anyone . Or, it can be simple and invigorating. No matter how much or little effort you put into it, the final product will be a trophy you'll be proud of. It will help you get more publicity for your business than you've ever had before. And it will help you get considerably more business.

If you want help putting it all together, call me. I'll save you some money and make sure you get a superior book!

About the Author

Michael Lovas is the author of The World's Best Prospecting Letters and Capitalizing on Credibility. He is also the primary ghostwriter in the insurance and financial industry. He specializes in writing, editing and publication of books, articles, and prospecting projects for business people. Naturally, there's a great deal of one-on-one consultation involved with all clients.

Michael has written projects for: State Farm, Southwest Business Corporation, Programmed Insurance Marketing, J.C. Penney Life, Guardian Life, CIGNA, Transport Life, Garden State Life, National Association for the Self Employed, Hospital Corporation of America, American Quarter Horse Association, Zig Ziglar, Central State University, BEST Products, Federal Home Loan Bank, Sheraton, the Dallas Symphony, and many others.

Michael's articles are published nationwide under his and his clients' names in nearly every insurance magazine in America, including: Broker World, LIMRA's Managers Magazine, CPIA's The Selling Edge, IAFP's Planning Matter, Life & Health Insurance Sales, Life Insurance Selling, Merritt Insurance Pro, Texas Insurance Journal, Birmingham Marketeer, Birmingham Business Journal, Arizona Agent, Nevada Agent, Illinois Broker, Wisconsin Broker, Transport Times, Marketing Concepts, and Credit Union Times.

He is a speaker to the Million Dollar Round Table, and speaks on Credibility and Direct Marketing at conventions and training seminars.

As a ghostwriter and author, his books include:

How to Master the Art of Lead Generation
For Prestonwood Press

Leads Leads Leads -- How to Set Insurance Leads and Appointments
For Jessica Armstrong & Telemarketing Today, Inc.

The Deferred Compensation Plan
For J.R. Hollon, CFP

The Exploding Senior Market--How to Triple Your Income this Year!
For Moreland Educational Services

How to Avoid Accidental IRA Sabotage
Ffor Sylvia Roberts, CPA, CFP

Protect Your Income--Protect Your Assets
Ffor Artie Goldstein, J.D.

The World¹s Best Prospecting Letters
Available on disk from Lovas Company Publishing

Capitalizing on Credibility
Available on disk from Lovas Company Publishing

Prospecting Letters--Better than the BEST!
Michael Lovas and Allyn Kramer for Prestonwood Press

Wave Marketing--Wave "Hello" to Increased Sales!
Michael Lovas for Lexington House Publishing Co.



He can be reached at:
Michael Lovas
G H O S T W R I T E R
Ideas and Strategies for Insurance and Financial Professionals
404 W. Graham Street
McKinney TX 75069
Voice (972) 562-1126
Fax (972) 548-1184

Published Book Online

Distribute Your Self-Published Book Online (Part 2)
By: Judy Cullins

If you are discouraged because traditional methods of
distribution haven't brought you the profits you wanted, think
Internet distribution. This method is good for the long haul and
costs you the author little time or money. With Online distribution
the author gets to keep all the money.

Whether you have a Print on Demand (POD) book or an
eBook, you the author can become your own distributor these
ways:

1. Distribute through two-step email promotion campaigns.

You don't need a Web site to sell products. Benefit from the
easy and preferred way to buy by many people out there in
cyberspace.

First Step:
Send your different email lists a freebie. Think of
your groups--customers, clients, ezine subscribers, ePublishers,
teleclass groups, and networkers. Offer a free answer for a
question with your expertise. Offer a free "Special Report," or an
excerpt from your book. This will start your relationship off on a
good foot. (Increased sales come from trust developed during
relationship marketing more than anything else)

Second Step:
Follow up the freebie with your sales letter for
your product or service. Each sales message includes: headline
to capture attention, background of problem, where the potential
buyer wants to be, benefits and features of how to get there.
Add testimonials and be sure it's credible and sincere.

Be sure to ask for the sale and include several easy ways to
buy--toll free number, fax or mail an order form placed at the
end of the sales letter, or if you have a Web site, a link to where
they can buy with a secure provider.

2. Distribute through your own ezine.

If you want to attract more credibility, trust, and sales, then write
your own ezine. Your potential clients and customers expect a
lot of free information, so give it to them. In your ezine include a
feature article, editor's note, resources and tips. You'll get to be
well known as the "expert." In each ezine, add your sales
messages for your products or service. Keep your ezine regular-
once every two weeks or once a month to start. Keep it
short--a real challenge to many of us.

3. Distribute by submitting how-to free articles to top opt-in
ezines.

Online readers love free information. They subscribe to ezines
that you can submit your well-written article to. After learning
acceptable article formats from a book coach, start subscribing
and submitting them. Collect 5-10 edited articles before you
send. Thousands, even 500,000-targeted potential buyers will
see your article with your signature file on it every time you
submit it.

Be sure your product is already up on a Web site. Many Web
publishers will take your e or print book, sell it, and distribute it
for you for a commission of 50% or so. This is great for people
who do not have their own site.

4. Distribute through your signature file on every email you
send.

At the bottom of each email is a signature file. It should have
your name and title, your top benefit, a free offer, a link to where
your book is sold, your email and Web address, and your local
phone number. Everyone on the net accepts this subtle
promotion form. If you do not include it, you are passing up an
easy way to draw attention to your product.

5. Distribute through your own Web site.

Creating your Web site with marketing pizzazz. Don't just be
creative and put up colorful graphic. Put up order pulling ad
copy that convinces your visitor to buy. Create a sales letter that
includes links to the buying page where your customers can buy.
Be sure your sales letter is long enough to include your
customers' resistance, benefits and features of your book, and
multiple testimonials. Ask a book or Web coach to guide you.

6. Distribute through someone else's Web site.

Other ePublishers want your books--both print and eBooks.
Each wants you to write a 100 word or less blurb (including
benefits and testimonials). They will sell, distribute, and keep
track of your sales, sending you a check every few weeks or so.
They take different commissions. Most give you royalties of
30-50% depending on whether it is a print or eBook. You may
want to investigate www.bookcoaching.com.

7. Get an ISBN number.

When you put an ISBN number on your book, you are listed in
"Books-in-Print." Libraries, bookstores and Amazon.com ISBN
require it. For the money and amount of work this is, you may
do better than putting your energy into other Online venues. You
pay $225 for 10 or $800 for 100 today.

8. Distribute through a sales letter straight from your email.

Every time I want to promote my teleclasses, I send a sales
letter. The letter follows the free report I already sent a few
weeks ahead to the same egroup. You may already have your
ezine subscribers in a list. Collect all kinds of lists of emails to
include satisfied customers, teleclass participants, ePublishers, or
fellow networkers.

Send sales letters that promote your books, your classes, or
your service. Once, I learned this follow-up method of staying in
touch with my target audience, sales rose from $75 a
month to $3000 a month in about a year. Each month, count
profits, not numbers of books sold! Internet authors get to keep
all the money!

After several years of research and submitting to traditional
publishing and distribution venues, I got discouraged and
decided to become an author's advocate. I turned to the Internet
2 years ago, and find that with a little delegation, a little study
with a knowledgeable coach, a little attention, and a little money,
my great-selling eBooks earn enough for me to make my living
this kind, gentle, and easy way. I encourage you to try it!


About the Author

Judy Cullins: author, publisher, book coach
Helps professionals manifest their book and web dreams
eBook: _Ten Non-techie Ways to Market Your Book Online_
www.bookcoaching.com/products.shtml
Send an email to Subscribe@bookcoaching.com
FREE The Book Coach Says... includes 2 free eReports
Judy@bookcoaching.com
Ph:619/466/0622

A competitive and cutthroat look at writing

By: Rose DesRochers

Let me start by saying, humor that is hurtful or at the expense of other writers has no place in the writing industry. Board fights and flame wars do not belong in the writing community. This should be about writing. Online writing communities have become a cutthroat, often uncaring part of cyber world.

In order to succeed in writing, I've always believed that we must come together and help each other. I do not understand the attitude many writers have adopted of stabbing their fellow writer in the back. I've always looked at the other writing communities and other writers out there as a part of my community, rather than competitors. I don't pretend to know everything and though I run a writing community; I'm still learning like many of you. It is sad though that many writers don't share the same opinions as me. They would rather compete than bridge together. Am I the only voice saying," As a writers it is time we bridge together as one?" “It is time that we helped one another."

Some may be looking at our community of writers and thinking," I'm not going to join Today's Woman because it's too cutthroat and it won't be a community." “It will be like the rest that I have joined.” Well you are wrong because we are a community. The more I look at the bickering and flame wars on some of the other writing communities, I have found Today’s Woman writing community to be very supportive. We're like a big happy family as opposed to some of the other communities, which are cutthroat and competitive or filled with trolls and writers insulting their fellow writers.

Don't ever let anyone tell you that we don't have some exceptionally warm, caring, and professional people who choose to submit their content to Todays-Woman.net. Most importantly don't let anyone tell you that you can not write. I've enjoyed working with and getting to know the members within my community , as well as so many others in the writing industry. Over the past two months I have met more authors and writers with simply no values or no morals. I have seen writing communities that were suppose to be there to help writers become infested with bickering, name calling and flame wars.

Don't let your career go down in flames. The reason is that your reputation speaks for you and you never have to badmouth anyone in order to make yourself look better. The way you carry yourself speaks volumes. Don't put your reputation on the line by getting into flame wars. I have learned that in writing your credibility is everything. I also want to thank my husband who gave me an important bit of advice he said, “They are critiquing you not because there was anything wrong with your writing but it was because you wrote it." As a writer we should never second guess our writing because of what someone said. Professional writers will help you improve your writing not make fun of your writing.

Also don't ever belittle another writer to save your own behind. Recently I had the members of a well known writing community email another website, regarding one of my articles . They sent 43 complaints so that the editor of the website would remove it. One of the letters stated," The article contained many typos, and I didn't feel the author communicated her ideas very clearly." When I received wind of this I contacted the editor of the website and she replied, “But I did receive no less than forty-three (43) emails complaining about the spelling errors and the grammatical problems. That's much higher than we are used to dealing with." "We generally don't receive complaint emails." “The members in the forum you pointed me to are now criticizing me and the quality of my sites." That should have been her first clue that this was nothing more than a witch hunt to get my article removed. Therefore she fed me to the witches instead of supporting me as a writer.

One of my own members recently submitted an article to me that had a few spelling and grammar errors. He and I worked together to improve the errors in his article. The article was very well written I might add. However that is what we do as writers, we help one another. Would it not of been better for that editor to point out that I had errors in my article and they would need to be fixed before she could publish it on her website?

To be a successful writer you need three things: Belief in yourself, a strong backbone and a good reputation. You can be the greatest writer ever but if you are in the market for backstabbing and getting into flame wars on message boards, then you might as well put up your notebook and pen and join a chat room. There you can let your fingers run aimlessly over the keyboard as much as you like.

I have gotten into enough flame wars on message boards defending my website reputation and my writing. I shouldn't need to defend my writing to anyone and neither should you. I realize that spelling and grammar may not be one of my best qualities however that is why we have editors. I appreciate nothing more than someone coming to me and pointing out in a polite manner that I have a spelling or grammar mistake. This way I may improve on the quality of my next article.

This is a cutthroat world and there are going to be those that tell you that you can't write and that your publishing company is a joke and they will take your most compassionate poem and make it resembles something they would wipe their butt with. I have learned you need one tough back bone in this cutthroat industry. I also have learned that the ones doing the insulting have no more of a reputation than you in this industry. They have gone with pod publishers or have never been published outside of the web or made some bad career choices regarding who they published with.

In closing some advice, you need to tell yourself "I am a writer first and foremost and I'll be damned if I ever let anyone tell me different." To the 43 writers who felt it necessary to poke fun at some serious articles that I wrote all I can say is poke away. Some of those articles were on some serious issues, like keeping your child safe on the internet. While you are only questioning my grammar, spelling and the structure of my sentences; someone is reading my article and taking my important advice to heart. That same advice might just save their child's life. Belittle away if it makes you feel better. I write because I love to write and I have something to say. If you don't like what I have to say, don't read it.