The Flash Publishing Report

http://authopublisher.com

The
Flash Publishing
Report

By
Ivin Viljoen
a.k.a The Authopublisher


Copyright

Copyright © 2013 by 5 Butterflies Media for Authopublisher

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or
transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, or mechanical, including
photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system.

Published by:

5 Butterflies Media for Authopublisher
Featherdale Estates, Louis Botha Street,
Bonaero Park, Johannesburg, South Africa.
Website: http://authopublisher.com
E-Mail: Visit us on the web at admin@authopublisher.com

This a FREE eBook! You may not charge for this eBook or add it to your bonuses,
unless an agreement has been made with the publisher. You are, however, given
permission to distribute this report freely to your readers, subscribers or friends and
family as long as you keep the book intact and in it's original format. You are
welcome to print one copy for yourself for personal reading but distribution is
prohibited and confined to electronic distribution methods in which the links within
this report remains intact and live for people to be able to access the resources
within.


Index

Introduction
Part 1: How I Wrote and Published my First Book in a Flash
Part 2: 6 Flash Writing Hacks

Freshkey for Profitable Book Topics
Writing a Book that's Publishable
5 Steps for Developing Staying Power as a Writer
Compiling a Manuscript from a Blog
Automating Your Writing through a Dragon
Scrivener: A Successful Writers Secret Weapon.
7 Reasons Why You Cannot Finish Your Book (Free webinar)

Part 3: About Self-Publishing

Advantages & Disadvantages of Self-Publishing
Top 5 Self-Publishing Stumbling Blocks
4 Considerations before Self Publishing
Sections Found in a Book

Part 4: Book Covers

4 Requirements for an Effective Book Cover
Cover Images
A Book Designers Approach to Book cover Design
10 Great Platforms for your Book Covers.

Part5: Publishing: Paperback & eBooks

Section a: Paperback Hacks

Getting in ISBN
Getting a barcode done
CreateSpace Solves Self-Publishing Stumbling blocks


Section b: eBook Hacks

eBook Publishing Secrets
10 Digital Publishing Tips
Kindle Publishing Tutorial
Publishing on the Nook Tutorial
Publishing on Smashwords
The Number One Book System

Part 6: Book Marketing

Book Trailers
Build a Book Site
Selling Your Book through Commenting
Press Releases $ Submission Platforms
Free eBook Promotion Sites
Radio interview Tips & Interview Opportunities
build a list of devoted book buyers
eBook Review Sites
DIY Besteller

Part 7 : Social Marketing Hacks for Self-Publishers

Social Media Marketing for Self-Publishers
Social Sites for Authors
Social Author Resources

Bonuses:

Creating an Audio eBook
Kindle eBook Generator Software

Service:

Make an author blog

Why you should Read My blog and Sign Up.
Care to Review?


Introduction

This report has been a long time in the making. I have, with the first couple posts on
my blog, desired to release a 'Flash Publishing Report' that would chronicle my
adventures into self-publishing. I became famous for this when I started blogging –
having written my first book in 3 days and having a printed copy in my hands after 11
days.

So, one of my methods being compiling my book from blog posts, I compiled this
report when I felt I had enough great content to offer my subscribers and for them
to easily make a success by following the tips I provide. If the name and the tagline
wasn't indication enough, I want to help aspiring authors (or experienced ones)
write their books in a flash and publish it in the sane quick fashion.

Below you'll find the best content you can find on the internet, anywhere, in a free
report, or a blog, except or perhaps a course or two, in which case I have the best
courses I am promoting here, for which, if you decide to join and purchase them, I
will make a buck or two.

I hope you find great value writing this report and remember that I wish you the
best in your publishing endeavours and I will always be available to assist you with
my support desk.


Part 1: How I
wrote and published
my first book in a flash


With this report I want to inspire you to think of the possibility of publishing your
book yourself. I’ll tell you how I did it, and then share some tutorials and resources
with you within this report, so that you have great self-help options available for
writing and publishing your first (or next) book.

Why self publish a book?

Well, this is the age-old question. I have heard of people self publishing out of
frustration because they were either being sent from pillar to post, or they didn’t
have time to accommodate the lengthy conventional process. Personally, my
experience is a little of the same. I self-published for the following reasons:

• I had time sensitive material I had to get into the hands of a certain group of
people. I couldn’t wait the 18 months it was going to take to get the book
published.
• The cost of even self-publishing (that’s when a company guides you through
the whole process, charging you exorbitant amounts of money for their
services) was simply too high for me at the time. I literally did it ALL myself.
• I had 100% control over my content and the process – allowing me to get
educated on the entire process. It afforded me the opportunity to share my
experiences and knowledge with my blog readers and email subscribers (that's
you!)
The mistakes I made the first time

Unfortunately my first attempt wasn't a great success and didn't come out roses. I
made some mistakes, and even though times have changed since then, the mistakes
are still applicable today.

• Because I was trying to save money, I didn’t push my book through a
professional editing process. So, unfortunately, a few grammar and spelling
mistakes slipped through the cracks. I am rewriting the book for a second
publish, so I’ll fix the problems there. This was the reason I have not
distributed my book too widely.
• I hadn’t let the index titles connect to the pages they actually appear on.
• I didn’t put a title on the spine with the details.
Minor mistakes really (except perhaps for the editing), but let’s have a look at the


skinny on how I did this.

The skinny on how I wrote and published my first book in 2 weeks

I’m going to make a couple points to cover the skinny on how I did this to just give
you an idea of what is involved.

• I got inspired and wrote my first book in 3 days.
• Then I had it proofread.
• I did some mild editing.
• I published it by getting an ISBN from a local library.
• I had a cover designed.
• I asked the printer for the size formatting so they could bind the book.
• I formatted the book in MS Word.
• I set them in sequence like for a book.
• I took the pages and printed them out, so that when they are in sequence it
follows like a book…
• I bought two boxes of A4 bond paper and copied all the pages in sequence.
• After copying all the pages on an office printer, I called a printer and got a
quote from them regarding the best price and quantities (for binding – I
already printed it)…
• I then had a 100 covers for my book printed.
• I then took it to the printer to be bound.
• I picked it up and voila!

I had a book! Well, it sounds simple, and in a way it was. I know it’s sort of cut and
paste with Cellotape and Prestic, but that was how I did it with my first book. So, if
no-one is behind you and you’re strapped for cash, you can still publish a book. In
this report I am going to give you a lot of tried and tested, step-by-step tutorials and
resources that will help you do it just as fast, if not faster, and tons easier.


Part 2: Flash Writing
Hacks.


FreshKey for Profitable Book Topics

FreshKey is a great software program made available by my buddy Ryan
Deiss. What it does is take a keyword of your niche that your interested in
writing an Amazon book in, and it returns to you a ton of keywords that
people are already searching for within the Amazon platform. Imagine
writing a book that already has customers!

This tool also works for Google Analytics results and even gives you the
trends graph for the keyword to see how 'green' the keyword is. It's really
an amazing tool Ryan spent hundreds of thousands in developing and
you're able to steal it at a great price. I'm not really able to do it much
justice, so you better watch the video below for the entire presentation.


Writing a Book that's Publishable.
Are you a writer who has only written web content or a writer who has only written
as a hobby? If you are, you may still have the dream of writing your own book, a
book that will get published. Despite the fact most individuals who consider
publishing a book have previously written a book, you may have yet to pull off this
important activity. The good news, anyhow, is that it may work in your favor.

If you have yet to write a book, there are a couple of important steps that you will
first want to take. These steps, a couple of which are remarked below, could help to
improve your chances of you writing a book that is publishable.

One of the first things that you will want to do, when seeking to write a book that is
publishable, is to pick a genre (if you're writing fiction) or to pick a niche (if you're
writing non-fiction). This involves picking who you wish to write for. Do you wish to
write for children, young adults, or adults? Next, decide what you wish to write
about. Do you wish to educate your readers or give them an irresistible story that
they just can’t put down? As for the topic or storyline that you pick, make sure to
choose something that interests you. A writer who is passionate about what they
write is more probable to see success.

Once you have an idea of what form of book you wish to write, and also an idea on
your theme, take the time to look into publishing companies. This is simple to do if
ou go search on my blog, Authopublisher. At the releasing of this report, it has more
than 560 posts on self-publishing. It clearly outlines what platforms to choose on
which to publish your book. For example, some platforms are great for non-fiction
and others may have a bigger audience for fiction. However it may be, you will find a
lot of your questions answered within this report.

Writing a book with a theme that interest you, and also a theme that is in demand
by publishers is one of the best ways to get your book published. That's why I shared
with you the software called FreshKey first.

As for writing your book, it is vital to set out with a plot . If you are writing a non-
fiction book, like a how-to guide, make sure to develop an outline for you to go after.
Fiction authors should first outline a plot. Unfortunately, numerous authors, mainly
new writers, just set out writing. Obviously, it is vital to get your thoughts on paper
or on your personal computer, but an apparent and solid plot is an essential
component of writing a book that will get published. Books that are just a collection
of words are probably to not get published.


Once your book has been written, it is vital that you do the proper amount of
proofreading and editing. Numerous professionals vary on the amount of times that
a book should be proofread, but you should re-read yours no less than 3 times.
Likewise to doing your own editing, you may profit from the professional know-how
and expertise of an editor. Numerous have reasonable charges.

As earlier recommended, it is a smart idea to first see what the numerous self-
publishing platforms are built for. Additionally, as earlier stated, you can simply work
through this report or read my blog. . If you remarked or recorded the information
that you read, you may previously have a list of platforms you'd like to publish on.
Once your book has been proofread and edited, you are now prepared to send your
book to self-publishing platforms.


5 Steps for Developing Staying Power as a Writer.

In this portion I'm going to assume that you have written, published and marketed a
book before and you've downloaded this report because you hoped it was going to
help you be more efficient with your time. Time you'd rather be doing what you love
– writing.

Spending creative time on marketing is a very common problem (I know, it’s mine!)
And it can become quite scary: you always hear from savvy, professional writers that
the best marketing tool is your next book, and that all you need do is write, write,
write and forget about the rest.

Forget about marketing? After all you’ve put into it? It doesn’t seem either
reasonable or possible.

You’ve pushed yourself to the limit: you’ve set up a website and a blog and you post
at least 2 articles on it per day (you’ve heard the ideal is every day). You follow up on
every comment. You follow other writers’ blogs and comment on them. You
exchange blog rolls and links. You invite guest posts. You’re even thinking of a
discussion forum to engage with your readers. Because dang it! You’re going to be
the next Nathan Bransford !

And it doesn’t stop there. You do book trailers, you load videos on YouTube, you’re
on Facebook, who isn’t ? You visit FB everyday and post fresh content (and you try
not to get angry when friends latch onto your newsfeed page as if it were the village
square, and post annoying pictures of their beloved kittens and horses). You’ve
joined LinkedIn. And with the meteoric rise of Google+, a place you have to hang out
at if Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg is on it.

You’re also on Twitter, and tweet until your eyeballs start bleeding. You remember
that’s how Amanda Hocking made a fortune with her YA paranormal kindle books.
But you’re nowhere near a decent number yet. You’ve heard publishers won’t look
at you unless you’ve got 500 or 600 followers. Sure, your numbers are rising, but
your dream goal of 5,000 followers is still very far off…maybe in 2015? In 2020?

The main thing is: people are noticing you! People follow what you say! So when you
tweet , FB, YouTube and blog, with everywhere an easy buy button, people will rush
and click that button, right?

Wrong!


Sorry about that. There’s no evidence that people respond to direct marketing. Since
the times we watched soap ads on TV (and that was fifty years ago!), we’ve all grown
immune to it. When anyone tells you “I’m the best, my book is a masterpiece”..., you
close your ears and walk away, right?

First Step: Stop doing any direct marketing.

Okay, somebody might respond and buy your book, but so few people do. It just isn’t
worth your while. So relax and forget about it. Feeling better? Actually, that’s a lot of
stress out of the door, isn’t it? You don’t need to tweet or ask others to tweet for
you. Good-bye Twitter! You’ve gained at least half an hour a day or more for yourself.
For your writing! Which doesn’t mean you should stop tweeting. If you do it for your
own enjoyment, you’ll find it works much better, and, surprise! You’ll get a lot more
followers!

Step n. 2: Review your blog’s effectiveness

Blogging is the best tool to get ou exposure onilne as an author, right? Is it worth it?
Is it growing? Some writers are saying that ‘blogs are passé’, that they’re not worth
doing'. If so, then you would free yet another big slice of your life. But are blogs
really “passé”? Don’t believe anyone who tells you so. They’re not passé by a long
shot! And most certainly not those that offer so-called useful content. Useful to
whom? If you’re a writer, that means useful to your fellow writers.

Does your blog provide relevant, useful content to your readers, like Joe Konrath’s
Newbie Guide to Publishing? If yes, then you better keep it up: you draw good, solid
traffic to your site and people will see that “buy” button on your books. Mind you, it
works for him because

• He’s got a huge catalogue of books for sale (he was traditionally published
once).

• He’s got a clear promotional strategy via low prices (more on that below) and,
most importantly, he’s got 500,000 visitors a year.

Have you got 500,000 visitors a year? Take a hard look at your blog’s traffic flow: if
it’s good and rising, keep going. If bad, dump it. No need to waste time on it. Write
your next book instead but don’t disappear from Internet: make sure your website
and Facebook page look good (consider adding LinkedIn, it takes a minimum of
effort and time). Keep whatever sites you’re on updated as needed, and visit


occasionally. Keep it going at a healthy minimum. The point here is not to kill
yourself. Just let everybody know you’re not dead. But that will free a lot of time for
you and your writing!

Step 3: Pick a no hassle promotional ploy.

A low price is the easiest, no-sweat way to ensure impulse buying. If it’s the first
book in a series, pick 99 cents (or even offer it free), then raise the price on the next
ones. As Konrath has demonstrated (he’s very generous at sharing his personal
information), the price range that works has to be well below the “agency model”
followed by traditional publishers. They’re at $10 to 12 and up, so you, as an indie,
should be half that. That means $5 is the upper limit, $4 is better, $2.99 (where
Amazon starts paying 70% royalty) is probably safest. It’s a price that does the
marketing for you. Wow! What freedom!

Step n. 4: Focus on interviews and readers reviews, but don’t stress out !

Since direct marketing doesn’t work, indirect marketing will. Not easy, but it’s the
only one that really works. Interviews and reviews, especially reviews by critics in
respectable journals and newspapers – the New York Times is of course everyone’s
dream! But don’t stress out.

If you’re a newbie, the best way is to concentrate on readers reviews on your
Amazon book site (that’s the site that sells most, so efforts are best rewarded here).
And, if you can, get interviews on blogs. Friends can help you out at first, just to get
the ball rolling. But watch out! You don’t want to give the impression that there’s a
mafia manipulating readers. God forbid!

All interviews and reviews, especially any done by someone you know, have to be
completely honest, warts and all. So if a friend rates your book 4 stars or less, don’t
get angry. What’s fair is fair and you can’t expect everybody to like your book or
think that you’re the next Dan Brown. But it’s a review nonetheless and it does what
you need most: it ensures people talk about your book and will check it out!

Step 5: Take a day off every week!
This is really the most important step and the one I should have started with! Just
because you’re a writer and committed to your trade, doesn’t mean you should
work 7 days a week. Okay, you want to write? Write 7 days a week, but do your book
marketing and Online activities 6 days a week! Take Sunday off! Actually, that’s the


day with lowest traffic on Internet, you won’t be losing anything, if you just keep
mum that day. Have a happy Sunday and a beer in your patio. Resist opening your
Internet connections! Go ahead, don’t do it!


Compiling a manuscript from a blog.
Having a fair bit of success with your blog is wonderful. But as a writer, the pinnacle
of success is to be published. Although posting a blog post is effectively publishing a
piece of writing forever embedded in the web of cyberspace, you can blog a book by
easily compiling or writing specific blog posts within a niche, topic or category.
How to compile a manuscript from your blog.
At the risk of being repetitive, I have been advocating publishing a book from your
blog and blog posts for years, because it’s a great way to save time and serves as an
automation method for compiling a manuscript. The list below serves as a ‘How-to’
for both fiction and non-fiction writers.
• Consistently build great content – I have experience in doing this twice. The
first time I wrote articles around youth issues and wrote opinionated content
as I was inspired to write them. I wrote these articles for a considerable
amount of time and later saw the opportunity for these articles (which were
very targeted) to become part of a manuscript for my first book.
The second time I had also set out to do interviews which I knew I would
eventually sell. I got in touch with Haro and posted a request for interviews. I
was overwhelmed with the response and it took me close to two years to
interview every author that responded. After I thought I had done all the
interviews, I hired a freelancer to get it all together and compile the
manuscript, do the formatting and preparing it. All the content came from my
blog, tons of interviews spanned over 2 years.
For more on how to conduct valuable interviews, visit my friend Kristy’s blog,
Kikolani for my post on it.
• Compile your book (or chapters) from categories – Using WordPress as a
blogging platform is great, because each post could be categorized and easily
called up for reference. Let me show you an example:
How to inspire a generation (transformation, inspiration, generation)
How to reach young people (transformation, engaging, generation)
Connecting and engaging with young people (inspiration, engaging,
entertainment)
Keeping young people entertained (entertainment, generation, inspiration)
Seeing changed lives bear fruit (transformation, fruitfulness, generation)
If you wanted to compile a section of your book (or manuscript) on the topic
of inspiration, you’ll simply click on the word in your category and WordPress
would return all your posts in that topic. You can then either use a WordPress


plugin called Anthologize to choose your posts from that list, or copy/paste
your text into an Open Office doc for formatting.
• Easily compile a manuscript – If you keep on creating great, valuable, sticky
content on your blog on a specific topic, you’ll soon have a pretty
comprehensive manuscript for your book you can work from. The writing is
done already! The speed on which you have your book ready for compiling
depends on how often you post a blog post on the topic.
• Easy archiving – I used to have a USB device with articles-to-go, as it were, but
after around 250 – 300 posts on a topic, you may as well start a blog and see
what the feedback is on your content as well as your writing. When they’re on
a blog you can also get quick access to them and they have metrics to indicate
their worth and effectiveness.
• Judge a book by readers response – What better way, before publishing a
book with your content on it, to judge each piece on the amount of comments
it got, the sentiment in it, the amount of likes, ReTweets and shares across
social media networks etc. It may be a good idea to also share the writing your
considering for your book with your email list and see what is the feedback
like of your herd.

After the fact.
After going through the process explained above, I realized a couple things that
changed the way I work today.
• Prepare admin – When I published my interview book, I couldn’t include a lot
of the great interviews I did because I needed them to sign a release form. I
could either not find the authors to ask them to release the interview for the
book, or some authors were reluctant. Now, I add the release form with the
interview template and 9/10 the authors fill it in. So when I plan my next
edition or an update of the current one, I have less admin to do.
• Give it your all – You’ve written a lot of blog posts and waited a long time to
compile a great resource, better make the best of it. Therefore, the first time I
did the above promo plan, I gave it to a freelancer to do and didn’t work all
the avenues. The next time I was more hands on, involved and put a lot more
effort in. Needless to say my effort paid off better. I mean, if you’re giving
something away, you might as well go all out.
I hope you can see that if you’ve been blogging for a while, and specialized on a
specific topic, you may well have a great book on hand ready for formatting to be
published.


Automating your Writing through a Dragon.
I’m very excited because I’m writing this portion in my report with software that
makes my life a lot easier, my business more effective, and my entire office run way
more efficiently that it has before.

This is correct, because as I’m speaking I’m watching the screen dictate the words
that I’m speaking. Yes I’m using Dragon Naturally Speaking 11. I think it’s a great
product, because it’s going to make everything so much easier for me. You can see
that this is something that should have revolutionized our industry completely. I
actually don’t understand how everybody is not using. What will I use this product
for?

Writing books using Dragon Naturally Speaking.

By usingDragon Naturally Speaking 11, I can now write books at lightning speed, I
can write teaching material, and as you can see at the bottom of this portion, I can
provide you with the transcript of every single video I make.

Blog articles.

Yes, I am wrote this portion in this report, originally featured on my blog, using
Dragon Naturally Speaking 11, and this became the way that I will write my blog
articles and books from then on.

It saves a lot of time, effort, and as I think and talk the words are written on the
page. Imagine your self writing a book,… or a blog post. What do you usaully do,
how does the process work? You usually speak first and then type right? While now,
you can simply speak and it is written.

Freelancing.

Yes, of course we are going to talk about making money from this product. No, I
don’t have and affiliate deal with the guys from NSB 11. What it would do, is provide
me with the ability to double-time all my efforts, at least. Now, I can also bid $1-$2
50 per article on freelancer.com. I can now also compete, my work will not be of any
less quality, but I can do it fast.

What can Dragon Naturally Speaking 11 not do?


As of this moment, having version 11,Dragon Naturally Speaking cannot help me
type in Skype and I presume he cannot help me in forums or commenting on blogs. I
probably have to do that the old-fashioned way. But, as you can see I have written a
well executed portion of text of approximately 400 words (so far) in less than 10 min.
All I have to do now is give this article quick read through, edit it and typeset and
post into this report. DNS11 streamlines my business and makes me more effective
in the world of what ever I choose to write.
Get Dragon naturally speaking here.


Scrivener: A Successful Writers Secret Weapon.
I absolutely LOVE this software program. I usually dread writing new books because I
have a hard time making sense of my structure and my thoughts get lost in a sea of
words, chapters, and paragraphs. Scrivener sort this out for me.
Scrivener is a powerful content-generation tool for writers that allows you to
concentrate on composing and structuring long and difficult documents. While it
gives you complete control of the formatting, its focus is on helping you get to the
end of that awkward first draft.
A complete writing studio.

Writing a novel, research paper, script or any long-form text involves more than
hammering away at the keys until you’re done. Collecting research, ordering
fragmented ideas, shuffling index cards in search of that elusive structure—most
writing software is fired up only after much of the hard work is over. Enter Scrivener:
a word processor and project management tool that stays with you from that first,
unformed idea all the way through to the final draft. Outline and structure your
ideas, take notes, view research alongside your writing and compose the constituent
pieces of your text in isolation or in context. Scrivener won't tell you how to write—it
just makes all the tools you have scattered around your desk available in one
application.


Write, Structure, Revise.

Scrivener puts everything you need for structuring, writing and editing long
documents at your fingertips. On the left of the window, the “binder” allows you to
navigate between the different parts of your manuscript, your notes, and research
materials, with ease. Break your text into pieces as small or large as you want—so
you can forget wrestling with one long document. Restructuring your draft is as
simple as drag and drop. Select a single document to edit a section of your
manuscript in isolation, or use “Scrivenings” mode to work on multiple sections as
though they were one: Scrivener makes it easy to switch between focussing on the
details and stepping back to get a wider view of your composition.
With access to a powerful underlying text engine, you can add tables, bullet points,
images and mark up your text with comments and footnotes. Format as you go using
the format bar at the top of the page, or use any font you want for the writing and
let Scrivener reformat your manuscript after you're done—allowing you to
concentrate on the words rather than their presentation.


Create Order From Chaos.

Most word processors approach composing a long-form text the same as typing a
letter or flyer—they expect you to start on page one and keep typing until you reach
the end. Scrivener lets you work in any order you want and gives you tools for
planning and restructuring your writing. In Scrivener, you can enter a synopsis for
each document on a virtual index card and then stack and shuffle the cards in the
corkboard until you find the most effective sequence.
Plan out your work in Scrivener’s outliner and use the synopses you create as
prompts while you write. Or just get everything down into a first draft and break it
apart later for rearrangement on the outliner or corkboard. Create collections of
documents to read and edit related text without affecting its place in the overall
draft; label and track connected documents or mark what still needs to be done.
Whether you like to plan everything in advance, write first and structure later—or do
a bit of both—Scrivener supports the way you work.


Research is always within reach.

No more switching between multiple applications to refer to research files: keep all
of your background material—images, PDF files, movies, web pages, sound files—
right inside Scrivener. And unlike other programs that only let you view one
document at a time, in Scrivener you can split the editor to view research in one
pane while composing your text right alongside it in another. Transcribe an interview
or conversation, make notes on an image or article, or just refer back to another
chapter, all without leaving the document you’re working on.


Getting it out there.

Compile your draft into a single document for printing or exporting

Scrivener provides all the tools you need to prepare your manuscript for submission
or self-publishing. Once you’re ready to go, control everything from how footnotes,
headers and footers appear to fine-tuning the formatting of each level of your draft
—or keep it simple by choosing from one of Scrivener’s convenient presets.
Print a novel using standard manuscript formatting. Export your finished document
to a wide variety of file formats, including Microsoft Word, RTF, PDF and HTML—
making it easy to share your work with others. Or self-publish by exporting to ePub
or Kindle* formats to share your work via iBooks or Amazon, or for reading on any e-
reader.
* Requires KindleGen.


Who uses Scrivener then?
Scrivener is used by all sorts of professional and amateur writers, from best-selling
and aspiring novelists to Hollywood scriptwriters, from students and academics to
lawyers and journalists: anyone who works on long and difficult writing projects.
While many other writing project management tools impose their own workflows or
limit themselves to fiction-writing, Scrivener recognises that all writers of long-form
texts often face similar problems, and provides an array of flexible tools that allow
you to do things your way, no matter what kind of writing you do. Those currently
using Scrivener include:
• Novelists
• Short-Story Writers
• Screenwriters
• Playwrights
• Comedians
• Lawyers
• Journalists
• Lecturers
• Academics and Students
• Biographers and Memoirists
• Business and Technical Writers
• Comics and Graphic Novel Writers
• Translators
• And more…
Are you convinced? Get Scrivener to make your life easier and write your book in a
flash.

Get your copy of Scrivener here.


7 Reasons Why You Can't Finish Your Book.
Since this report is about 'Flash Publishing', I thought this to be a great resource to
share with you. Click on the image way at the bottom to get access to this free
webinar in which Garrett Pierson reveals an astonishingly simple 7-step secret that
instantly slashes the time to writing your book... even if you're not a writer, don't
know where to begin or don't think you have the time.
During this FREE online training webinar you'll discover:
• How everyday people, just like you and I, have finished and published their
book in record time...
• The ONE skill you need to master... and how to forget about all the confusing
and painful details of getting started FAST...
• How to architect a proven time management system to creating enough time
to write...
• How you can write your book in 2 weeks, 30 days, 90 days or as fast as you
would like, with a 7-step system that simply works...
• 5 roadblocks that 97% of writers encounter and how to overcome them
immediately...
• The BIGGEST MYTH of writing a book flattened and debunked instantly...
• A multi-channel market positioning technique that will take you from no one
to famous in no time at all... And much more.


Part 3: About
Self Publishing


Advantages and Disadvantages of Self-Publishing.
Self-publishing is an option authors may decide to take when they don’t have time to
wait 36 months to get their work out. He may also decide to self-publish because he
is tired of working through the red tape because he “is still new, haven’t a following
or his book doesn’t fit into his immediate profile and direction”.

A self-publishers will oversee the entire process from its conception all the way to
marketing the book when it is printed. They wear all the hats that publishing needs;
writing, editor, proofreader, typesetter, printer, distributor, marketer, and promoter.
They don’t necessary have to do all of it themselves, so they may outsource the
work to other individuals or companies. So, the self-publisher becomes a publisher
in his own right of his own work.

It is a clear entrepreneurial enterprise because the self-publisher takes all of the risk
but will reap all the rewards coming from it. He has therefore the freedom to make
the decisions and market his book in conventional or unconventional ways, be it
selling door-to-door, or going through a specialist distributor. In the end, they're
responsible for their books' success or failure.

Let’s look at the advantages and disadvantages of self-publishing.
Benefits of being a self-publisher
Through self-publishing, you are able to get a book into the marketplace in a flash.
Depending on the speed in which you work, you can publish your book in 14 days.
Going though conventional publishing you may wait 12-18 months after your book
proposal has been accepted.

• Self-publishing allows the self-publisher to execute his creative ways to market
his book to a focused niche market. He has the control and freedom to do as
he seems fit.

• As a self-publisher, publishing your book yourself offers you great income
potential. You can make upward from 35% depending on your cost opposite of
the 5-8% royalties publishing companies offer you.

• Depending on the success of your book you can expand your earning potential
by selling international and digital rights to your book. You own the rights to
your book, where going through a publisher will give them the rights until
either the contract expires or your book doesn’t sell anymore. Owning the


rights to your book you can reach many different markets and with 6 billion
people in the world, there is unlimited potential for your book.

• The responsibility to keep the book on shelves is yours. You may do this
through hiring a distributor. With so many possibilities offered through the
Internet there is no reason your book cannot stay on the shelf more than 3
years.

• If you own the rights to your manuscript you retain creative control deciding
on cover design, title, printing, marketing, and all other areas of production
and distribution. This is of course not possible through conventional
publishing where your rights are virtually nothing.

• Being a self-publisher you can go wild and sell in different locations, libraries,
and websites, on speaking engagements, and retail and corporate outlets. The
world is your oyster.

• self-publishing offers you the opportunity to say what you want in whichever
way you want, within professional confines of course. You may also decide to
generate leads by promoting additional products or services.

• You also have the opportunity to pre-sell your books to take advantage of
covering your full costs before the first sale, thus taking the pressure of
yourself to ‘perform’. If you are free from financial strain you can be free to be
creative and enjoy publishing.

• Every experience you have added to your expertise as you grow wiser and
more experienced. These are things no-one can take away or steal from you.

Disadvantages of being a Self-Publisher

• According to the quantity of your first print, you will have to incur all of the
initial cost of printing, designing and distribution. The bright side of funding
the project is that you receive all the financial gain. When it comes to digital,
these costs are significantly less and later in the report I will show you how to
evade this completely, even if you want a printed copy of your book available.
• It may be difficult to do if you don’t have things like negotiation skills, the
ability to communicate costing you money in the end. You may not have the
necessary experience or expertise in the publishing process and therefore may


need to hire professionals to do the work on your behalf.
• You take a great risk by self-publishing by financing the entire project with no
guarantees or promise of reward. Therefore the ability to manage finances is
crucial.
• There hasn't been a lot of respect for the self-publisher, as he is not deemed
to be in the same league as conventional publishers. Their prestige stands like
a mountain over the self-publishers effort and dedication. This is changing
rapidly, though.
• It could eat a chunk of your time, especially if it is your first time and you’re
still learning the ropes. Questions you will have to ask are if you will outsource
or handle every aspect yourself depending on how much time you have.
• There are no guarantees that you will be able to distribute your book which
will greatly influence sales and customer service. Along with this you will need
warehousing and storage. Options are to store your product in your house or
get someone to do it on your behalf. Once again, there is a solution I will share
later in this book.

The main reason for you to self-publish your book as an authopublisher, is because
the industry works like banks do. You have to share your market research in your
book proposal and commit to buying at least 100 copies of your book as an
‘investment’ that will show you can take responsibility for your book.


Top 5 Self-Publishing Stumbling Blocks

I have had this dream to write (forget publish) my first book since I was a young lad.
Starry eyed I used to scribble story arcs on paper and even stared at the computer
screen trying to capture in word format what was going on in my head.

A couple years ago I eventually wrote my book and published it in a span of two
weeks. It sounds pretty far fetched, but it was an amazing as I got some experience
and even learned what not to do. However, the biggest obstacle between an
aspirant writer and his/her book is what is called entry barriers. Here are five to look
out for:

You’re broke

Don’t get fooled by flashy sales pages promising you the heavens what publishing
your book is concerned. Any businessman will tell you that you need money to make
money, end of story. If you just want to publish your book so you can stock it in your
business or perhaps in your home, there are ways you can do it on a shoestring
budget. Many affiliate marketers will tell you that you can make money overnight
and well, I have found from personal experience, it is just not that easy. Stop putting
pressure on yourself and get a job.

Am I the boss?

To have a self-publishing company for your own products, or to publish your friends'
– any business' really, is a great responsibility and it is best to have shadowed
another person in the fields you will try working before you go it commando.

Is my book worth it?

The biggest question any author almost always ask him/herself is ‘Will people want
to read what I wrote?’ I say focus on writing, get your feet wet, write a book you love
writing and publish 10 – 100 copies. Get your foot in the door and go from there. No
need to spend years researching a market so that your book may sell. If that is your
approach you are a businessperson creating products, not an author writing books.
Books should flow from the heart, not from flowcharts.


Having no end vision with publishing

I found it’s easier writing a book if you can see the end product, imagine your first
fans reading your book and you doing your first book signing. If you can’t do that
now, stop writing immediately. You have to be able to visualize the end product;
otherwise you’ll be stuck on the first page for a long time.

Perfectionism

I have this problem. I will mull over a piece of writing and write and rewrite until it’s
‘perfect’. Let me let you in on a little secret. (Whispering) ‘It’s never going to be
perfect, and the other part is, it will never really be finished’. As soon as you can get
over that, you will write and publish with ease.

Now, start writing and get that book published. Be eager to see your first
masterpiece in your hands. Remember, everybody is a critic these days. If it is good
enough for you (and your friends’ honest opinions positive), then it should be good
enough.


Four Considerations Before Self Publishing

The ease of self publishing these days mean that more and more authors and would-
be authors are publishing their work every single day. Most people however, do not
see the potential challenges and hurdles that are just ahead.

Self publishing may seem easy, but it is not as easy as it seems! Traditional publishing
houses provide a whole host of services which are carried out by people who are
professionals in their fields, meaning that the writer only has to focus on what he is
good at, producing the words. In self-publishing, you have to take on multiple tasks
and responsibilities to ensure that the most professional version of your book is out
there for the public to read.

Whether you use print on demand or go straight to digital publishing, most
customers will not necessarily be aware that you are self-published, unless they look
for that information specifically. Your book will, in most cases, be toe-to-toe with
traditionally published books. It is essential that you learn all that you can about self-
publishing before you jump in at the deep end.

The self-publishing world is a rapidly changing one, so things are bound to change
after the publication of this article. Things will be updated on a regular basis via my
blog to accommodate for such changes. In the mean time, assuming you think your
book is ready for publishing, below are five things that you should consider before
publishing your book yourself.

Publishing Platform

This is the most obvious consideration and as soon as you start looking into self-
publishing, a quick Google search will throw this one up instantly. The platform you
use to publish your book will depend to a large extent on what format you want your
book to be published in. Do you want to have just digital downloads, or do you want
your books in print? Assuming you want to go straight to digital publishing, think
about what publishing platform you want to use. If you think you are going to sell a
large number of books, I would avoid using eBook aggregators which take a cut of
your profits, on top of what the publishing platform takes.

Some authors opt to spread their books over many platforms, however, the deals
offered by some platforms such as Amazon offer incentives which restrict authors
from doing this and require exclusivity. Below are some of the most high profile self
publishing platforms which are worth considering.


• Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP).
• Smashwords
• Kobo Writing Life- In beta at the time of writing.
• Lulu (Pint On Demand).
• Barnes and Noble Publt.
• Booktango
• BookBaby
Print on demand self publishing companies

• Espresso Book Machine (EBM)
• Createspace
• Lulu
• Lightning Source
You are welcome to research all of them and see which one works best for you. In
this report, however, I'm going to share the best platforms that will allow you to do it
ion the quickest time.

You may want to publish across a spectrum of platforms in order to maximize your
exposure. Be careful here though because Amazon’s KDP Select program restricts
you from publishing to other platforms for a certain period of time. The process can
seem daunting if you are new to self publishing, so it may be advisable to try
publishing one eBook on one eBook platform initially, before progressing to other
platforms and formats such as print on demand.

Marketing

Just publishing your books will not get them sold! You need a comprehensive
marketing strategy going forward. I am going to share a few marketing strategies
with you in this report.

The first thing you need before anything else is a website. The website should be
fully integrated with all of the current social media platforms to enable easy sharing.
I'm also going to share some resources with you regarding this later in this report.


This is not a necessity, but it is not difficult to do and puts you at an advantage when
it comes to sharing your website online. The website should be content rich, user
friendly and easy on they eye. In addition, you will need a blog which is linked to
your website and you need to blog regularly.

I would say, at least once a week, so that you can start to build an audience. A good
social media presence is a must, especially if you have a limited marketing budget.
You'll also receive some social media training later in this report specifically targeted
at self-publishers. Set up Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube and Twitter accounts linking
all of them back to your website and blog. In addition, your website and blog should
be linked to all of your social media channels. This is called deep linking and helps
with your website rankings. Every time you post to your blog, share the link via your
social media channels.

You can automate the process to make it easier, so that every time you post, it is
automatically broadcast over all of your channels. You build an audience by following
people who are interested in your field of work and engaging with them on a regular
basis. Over time, word spreads. Social media networks have become today’s
recommendation machines! Assuming you have a good product, it is only a matter
of time before you build up a loyal following who do your marketing for you by
recommending your book to their friends.

Potential Expenses

It is entirely possible to publish your book without spending any money. However,
the only way that this can be done is if you do EVERYTHING by yourself. This includes
editing, proof reading and cover design. While you may be an excellent writer, even
the most successful authors have their books edited by an external person who is
experienced in doing so.
It is strongly recommended that you hire an editor and potentially someone to
design your cover. There is nothing worse than a book cover which looks like it was
created using clip art! Decide what you are comfortable doing by yourself, then
research potential costs like editing, proof reading and cover design so that you have
an idea of what costs you are looking at going forward.


Sections Found in a Book

Following is a list of sections into which your book needs to be organized to make
ideas flow structurally and provide information to your reader in a way that makes
sense. When I did a rewrite for the second edition of my first book, I had to go
through TONS of books to find the right sections which will help my book look and
flow better. Here is a comprehensive list.

Title Page.

I think this page is unnecessary as it was in earlier years. I mean, the readers already
know the title of your book, even the browser picked up the book because of the
title right? Well, in recent years it became imperative that you include this
information, besides the title and author, your website URL. Having a website is
absolutely imperative if you want to promote your book Online. About that in a later
post.

Review/Testimonial Page.

Whatever you do, don’t make these up. If you don’t have any yet, give a couple
copies of your book to friends, colleagues and peers and ask them to give you a
review when they’re done. A page or two would be great to include. This helps the
readers get excited about the content and salivating for more.

Copyright Page.

Here, a reader would usually find licensing rights, the Library of Congress
information and other info that may be appropriate for the reader to know.

Acknowledgments Page.

On this page, the author generally acknowledges people that assisted in the
production of the book. These individuals may include the authors’ editor, proof
reader, publisher, personal assistant and more.

Dedications Page.

Here the author may choose to dedicate his book to someone, perhaps a loved one,
a spouse, children etc.


Table of contents Page.

Being quite self explanatory, this section needs to be accurate and you don’t want to
direct your reader to the wrong page. A lot of word processors create these
automatically from the headings that it finds in your book.

Introductions Page.

This serves as a section to tell people what to expect of the book. It should establish
your expertise and provide the reader with a little bit of your background to
strengthen your authority in their eyes.

Forewords Page.

This is usually a page/section written by someone else other than the author giving a
testimony to your expertise and character. Usually, it serves well to have another
thought leader in your field/niche that is respected in the community write this.

Preface Page.

A preface serves to set the scene for the rest of the book.

Main Chapters and Content Pages.

Being the meat of your book and content, this is best served as chapters that follow
each other logically. This needs to obviously be of good quality.

Epilogue.

This is also sometimes called the conclusion, summary, endnote, next steps…
whatever you want. Here you may summarize the content of your book and tell
people where they can go next. Depending on the kind of content you have, you may
want to present people with an action plan to work through.

Afterwords Page.

Here you could include some additional advice or information to the reader.


Appendixes.

Generally, the Appendix will include additional information that was too lengthy or
not relevant enough to be included in the main content.

Index.

Most word processors will also do this for you automatically. This section could be
handy in non-fiction books or fantasy novels where they could quickly find relevant
information.

‘About the Author’ Page.

This is highly recommended as this is where there’ll be a picture of you and some
background information for your readers. Here you can probably feature your
website URL again so you may funnel readers to your website.
Please note that a lot of these sections are optional for your book. Read their
descriptions to see what they’re uses are. You don’t have to put all of them in and
each section need only be included if necessary for it to be there. This section list is
useful for print and electronic copies of your book and will serve you well to make
your book look more professional.


Part 4:
Book covers


4 Requirements for an Effective Book Cover
For many self-publishers, preparing a book for sale means stepping into unfamiliar
territory. Once the comfortable tasks of writing and editing are complete, the next
step is usually book cover design.
It’s always a good idea to ask for help and direction whenever we’re learning, but
when it comes to book cover design, it’s important to ask for help from the right
people, so that the advice you receive won’t interfere with book sales down the
road.
Book cover design is considered “simple” by many, but there is “art” and “science” in
every cover design. If you want your book cover to be an effective sales tool for your
book (and who doesn’t?) it’s important to balance the two.
Most experienced designers adhere to standard book cover design principles while
creating concepts. Chances are good that when you show these concepts around to
your circle of acquaintances, they will suggest changes – partly because they want to
help, and partly because it’s just plain fun to participate. The problem is, their
opinions are usually subjective and not informed by book marketing experience.

Elements a Book Cover Requires
To ensure that your book cover design is not destroyed in this process, here are a
few objective elements that every book cover must have.
1. The title should generally be large and easily readable (with some exceptions
for literary titles).
2. There should be good contrast between the title and the background. Simply
put, this means a light title against a dark background, or a dark or colourful
title against a light background.
3. The simpler the design, the better. Covers that are too busy or that contain
overly ornate fonts or too many elements will confuse the buyer. The cover
must tell the story in one quick glance. As Steve Jobs said, “Design isn’t about
decoration, it’s about communication.”
4. The title should be readable when the cover is shown in very small sizes or in
black and white, as it may appear online or in catalogs. Print the cover about
an inch tall in both color and black and white to test this.

The Book Cover Designer
Your book cover designer balances a host of considerations when creating a
successful cover, including colour, proportion, style appropriate to the genre, and
much more. The four rules above form the basis upon which a solid cover design is


built. Keeping them in mind when you receive feedback from friends and family will
ensure that your cover design doesn’t veer off track.
An effective book cover is a critically important part of your book marketing effort.
For this reason I also recommend soliciting opinions from professionals in the
publishing industry. Unlike comments from friends and family, feedback from
industry professionals tends to be more objective and based on real-world book
sales experience.


Cover images.
It may be a bit of a cliché to start of a post with, but truth be told people do judge a
book by its cover and so do you. To make matters even worse, Amazon images are as
tiny as postage stamps, so your images have to be of really good quality and grab the
attention of prospective book buyers.

Cover Image “rules”
In the list below we look at some of the “rules” that you have to follow in order to
have the best book cover that will sell in online bookstores, and probably also in
traditional book stores, provided you choose to print your book.

Book cover words and pictures
In non-fiction books, it has always been important to have big and boldly written
titles with a clear font on the cover; as you want your readers to be able to read your
title easily. The reason is that you want your readers to be able to tell the difference
between your subtitle and your title. Secondly, the idea is to have your title stand
out on the cover page.
In fiction books, the background image should to tell the story, more than any of the
other elements found on the cover. To make a great impact and steer away from
copyright issues, your cover image has to be unique and cannot just be any picture
downloaded from the internet. It’s generally best to take the pictures yourself or to
purchase them from good and recognized photographers. This will cost you, but the
best images are worth every cent. You may also want to use stock image sites.

Book Colour
Since you are not trying to blend in with other books, you have to use bold colors.
Bold does not mean hazardous warning colors like red, unless the topic of your book
is of that nature. Plain and beautiful oranges or greens (that being colors, not foods),
have always worked for many bestselling titles that just have text in the cover page.
If you are a designer or you are going to use a designer for your book cover, then you
can use as many colors as you’d like. However, if you are NOT a designer and do not
intend on using one, then you will be restricted to no more than three colors. This
restriction is for your own good because too much of anything can turn off the
attention and attraction of your readers to your book, even if the content is great.

Cover Contrast
You wouldn’t buy a book whose title does not go with its background would you?


Then, why would you expect your readers to? Contrast doesn’t mean that your cover
image has to blend in with your title, but everything has to be incorporated in such a
way that your cover stands out as a whole and all the elements work together.

Changing Covers
The good thing about books, especially eBooks, is that they can be updated and the
covers changed so there is really no need to beat yourself up about having high-end
covers, because there is a lot of class and sophistication in simplicity.

Your Book Market
Looking at the kind of covers that top sellers have in your industry could lead you in
the right direction. Also there are certain book image elements that readers are
attracted to, these include kittens, cleavage, puppies, six packs etc. You just have to
know your target market really well to know what will entice them to buy your book.
If you are not prepared to take the risk with images like these, then you are better
off with the simplicity we spoke about earlier on.
Lastly, unlike with traditional print media, when you publish your book with Amazon,
you can change your book cover almost every day. So do a survey on your book for
online and offline opinions. When it comes to book designers you can even use
applications like Fiverr.com to help you out if your cash is tied down, although I
would not personally recommend it.


A Book Designers Approach to Book Cover Design.
So after a few months of hunkering down and writing, I’ve come up for air, and
decided to give back a little of my time to the NOBC members who have helped me
so much.After publishing my first 3 books, I’m ready for a break!
I have seen so many people asking about cover design. What size should it be? What
font should I use? What resolution or dpi do I save it in… It can be overwhelming!
And when all you want to do is get your book out there, it can be easy to skimp on
the cover and put out something that you are less than happy with.
So here are a few pointers I’ve picked up over the many years I’ve worked as graphic
designer for both print and digital media.

Don’t Judge a book by it’s cover?
How many times have we heard that… But as smart little people who have followed
Ryan's fantastic course, we all know that when you have a postage stamp’s worth of
space on Amazon, in which to ‘get the click’ – the cover is the single most important
thing.
Particularly when people are scanning a list of literally thousands of books… It’s the
truly punchy covers that grab your attention!
A huge part of this can be done with a great cover image.

What’s that title say?
I had a look over a few pages of Amazon, and I’d invite you to do the same before
you start working on your next cover. Scan through the covers and stop at the ones
that grab your attention. Chances are they have one of two things – A great cover
image, or a punchy title that is clear and easy to read.
Now image you are a little older, your eyesight is starting to give out a little… so
squint your eyes just a touch and try reading them now! Funnily enough, at least two
of these books are put out by a major publishing company… Makes you wonder…
When choosing a font for your title, it must read easily. Not every sub-title or author
link will be readable, but if your main title isn’t readable… about 85% of people will
just skip it — I mean they have thousands to choose from right?

What on earth is a .JPG and how do I get one?
So you have an image you like, you have a good font – now what? What program do
I use to create it? How do I re-size everything, how do I make a .jpg file? What
resolution do I save it as?


I have found in all my years on this earth… wait, that makes me sound a lot older
than I am — scratch that…
I have found out bycareful research that it’s one thing to know what you need to
do… It’s quite another thing to have the skills to pull it off!
So here you have a few choices:
• Learn how to use a program like Illustrator, Fireworks or the like.
• Pay someone 5 bucks on Fiverr to spend 3 minutes preparing you a generic
cover.
• Spend a few hundred bucks for a professional designer to spend a few weeks
doing you a cover.
I guess this is the part where I step in…
As someone who has worked in the graphic design field for many years, I know how
frustrating it can be when you have a great idea, but don’t have the tools to pull it all
together. I also know how easy it can be to get so blinded by your own efforts that
you don’t even see the mis-spelled word in your title, or how it will be completely
unreadable in greyscale (like most kindles).
So here’s the deal. If you need some help with your cover design, or just some
simply feedback, please let me know through the support link below!
I have really benefited from everyone’s help with my own books, and hope to be
able to return the favour to others in some small way!
I look forward to helping you create your next ‘Best Selling’ cover…

Promotion.
If you want me to design your book cover from scratch, I look at your area of
Amazon to study what books of your competitors are selling, and what is not. I use
this info to create you a standout design, with the main goal of ‘getting the click’ so
that your description/reviews can take them further. I will purchase any stock images
needed, and again put it all together for you. This normally takes just a few days, and
of course I encourage your feedback throughout the design draft process.


10 Great Platforms for your Book Covers.
I am really fortunate to be part of a mastermind or support club where we discuss
various different aspects of self publishing, especially around ebooks, Amazon and
Kindle. What’s happening in this group is that we’re meeting various authors over a
spectrum of professional fields. This varying in genres, niches and targeted fields.
This make it great not just as a support group fro authors, but getting exposed to so
many different professionals.
What I’m trying to say is that I cannot really take credit for this post. What happened
is that we were discussing Book covers, and one lady even told us how she had to
fork out $2500 for a professional book cover design. Well, the wise word is that you
don’t have to pay that much for a professional book cover. Sure, there are
professional book cover designers that make a science of it, and that is probably
where you’re going to fork out a pretty penny. But if you simply want a recognizable
and marketable cover fro your Amazon ebook, here are seem tips on some platforms
you may want to utilize in your next publishing endeavor.

Fiverr
I am not too familiar with Fiverr, except that I posted some jobs on Fiverr for work on
social media accounts. The results are great but have no real value. So, I’m
wondering what quality you’ll get on Fiverr what book covers are concerned. Well,
Fiverr was one of the first platforms I started freelancing, so I can’t badmouth the
platform, and I can say that m,any internet marketers swear by it as a great and
affordable platform to outsource your micro-tasks to.


Go to Fiverr.

Freelancer
I am both an employer and a job seeker on Freelancer. I have been fortunate to have
gotten 5 star reviews as an employer and my freelancer records is also good. So, I
have a fair bit of experience on Freelancer and it’s inner workings. On Freelancer you
have to be clear about every single detail of the project, so you only get the correct
bidders. If you’re pressed for time, the more information you give, the better your
candidates will know what’s expected of them. Make sure you take the time to look
at each freelancers reviews, complete records and exams they have completed. Then
you’ll be fine. I would give the job to 3 different freelancers, pay the fees to make
sure I get the best cover.
Freelancer has a facility called ‘Contests’. Here you can launch a contest, putting up
the appropriate prize money and freelancers will all work on the project and you can
choose the best design. The cost here is way more than what you would pay
otherwise. In principle, it makes sense and it’s a great idea. I have tried this method
before, and I have found that by putting up so much money, I hardly got any entries.
I must admit, mine was a video contest, so not sure how many of those professional
hang out on GAF, but I was disappointed by the outcome and having my money
stuck in their system was an inconvenience for me.

The interface is a bit different in this video than it is today, but the format is still the
same.
Go to Freelancer.


Odesk
I have heard a lot of people recommend this platform and is apparently great for
internet marketers. I can’t say that I have any experience of this platform at all, so I
can’t give you a lot of educated advice based on my own experiences. Only thing I
can say is that it comes recommended both by Im’ers and self-publishers.

Go to Odesk

Elance
As the world’s leading platform for online employment, Elance helps businesses hire
and manage in the cloud. For businesses looking to staff-up a team on an hourly or
project basis, Elance offers instant access to qualified professionals who work online
and provides the tools to hire, view work as it progresses and pay for results.


Go to Elance.

Powerpoint
Powerpoint is a software platform created by Microsoft and should have been part
and parcel of your Office package for you PC. If you have experience with making
presentations on Powerpoint, you won’t really have any problems designing your
book covers with this. Just make sure you export the image as the right format or
take a screenshot of your creation to save.

Get Ms Home Office 2013 here

Photoshop
Photoshop is a great platform and anybody who is anybody in the I(m world uses
this as a standard platform for designing anything: web banners, graphics, and…
book covers. Now, if you don’t know this platform, I suggest you use one of the
freelancing platforms above and hire a professional.That’s what I’m doing – even
though I’m proficient with designing graphics, my time is more valuable to me. If you
have soem time on your hands, want executive control over your book cover design,
then I suggest the following:
• Get Photoshop CS6 – I presume this is the latest version and should have all
the bells and whistles in it. With it there is very little you won’t be able to do.
So, this being step 1, I suggest you get your copy here.


• Then get yourself the Adobe Photoshop CS6 Software Training Tutorials

Bannermaker pro
Banner Maker Pro is software that quickly (and easily!) allows you to create web-
based banner ads, Facebook banners, web buttons, web headers, animated gifs,
logos, image ads and other web graphics.It’s not just for banners. It’s an animated
banner ad maker, button maker, and logo maker all in on.
By using a wizard-like interface, Banner Maker Pro allows you to easily create
professional looking banners, buttons, and graphics for web pages in just minutes.
Simply follow the tabs at the top of the program to go step-by-step in the image
making process. When you have completed the image, just save it as a GIF, JPEG, or
PNG and add it to your website. Create an animated banner or button in under 5
minutes! No graphics expertise needed.
Design your book cover with Banner Maker Pro here.

99designs
99designs claims to be the #1 marketplace for crowdsourced graphic design. They
connect passionate designers from around the globe with customers seeking quality,
affordable design services.
Go to 99Designs.
Special, limited Authopublisher, flash publishing report offer.
We’re in the business, so we have to tell you about it. We have experienced
designers on staff that have designed numerous book covers for our various media
projects. We take the hassle out of the design for you and we do revisions until you
are satisfied. Our standard book cover design price is $49.00.


Part 5:
Publishing: Paperback
and eBooks.


Section a:
Paperback Hacks


Getting an ISBN
When HTML, CSS and javascript form part of code essential for anything online and
web development, an ISBN code is an essential code to any self-publisher. Let’s look
at the ISBN closely.

What is an ISBN code?
The ISBN is short for International Standard Book Number. It’s a thirteen digit
number uniquely identifying books or book like products published internationally. It
is often shortened to ten digits in the United States Because it is possible for a book
to have the same title as another book, or the same author, this number makes it
possible to order the book you want without confusion.
It allows efficient marketing of products by booksellers, wholesalers, libraries,
universities and distributors. In the ISBN code, the first three digits are typically 978,
indicating a book. After that, there is a group code, which indicates the language of
the book. If a given group code has used up all its numbers, another one will be
assigned to that language. For example, English language books have a group code
of 0 or 1.
After the group code is the publisher code. Publishers are given blocks of codes with
a certain publisher code. When that block is used up, they get new blocks with
another publisher code. An active publisher may have used up thousands of blocks
with as many publisher codes.
After the publisher code, the title code appears. This specifies the exact title being
marked. Finally, there is a check digit at the end. Other than the first three digits, the
number of digits in each part may vary. That can make it hard to decipher where one
part begins and another ends.

Do you need to own the ISBN code?
Yes you do. The ISBN code identifies you as the publisher. Yes, you are a publisher,
even if it’s an independent one. The only difference between you and Random
House Publishers is the quantity of titles. When it’s assigned to your book, it stays
with that edition for life, even if you change printers, distributors, wholesalers or
retailers. So, orders coming through ten years from now will go directly to you.

Where can you get an ISBN?
You can get an ISBN code by buying it directly from R.R. Bowker who is the licensed
agency to sell them in America. When outside the US, you may consult the
International ISBN code website to find the agency assigned to your country. We


here in South Africa are privileged as we can simply get in touch with the National
Library and request one.
An ISBN code is available single or in blocks of ten. It is better to buy the bulk as
every edition (second, third and fourth) will need a new ISBN code. You will also, as
you become more successful, publish more and more books until you hit that Midas
bestseller. When you gained some experience and you venture out to help a friend
or colleague publish their book, you have some ISBN number ling around to assign to
your new joint venture.

Can’t you just get a single ISBN?
Of course you can, they are available from R.R Bowker or a handful others. You can
get a list of the many authorized agents on the R.R Bowker website. Buy from these
vendors and preferably not from a vanity press. They make you believe that your
ISBN code is registered in your name and you retain the rights. What happens is that
you actually use one of their numbers but you don’t own it. So, when orders come
through the owner of the ISBN get it. Then, it’s a shlep when you want to change
publishers and all your marketing has been for nothing.

What is an ISBN code for?
If you started a publishing company and published your first book, assigned your first
ISBN code to it, do back to R.R Bowker or the agency that assigned it to you and list
your book in their books in print. This directory is very important as it’s used by
many bookstores. Therefore, it is advisable to put your ISBN on all promotional
literature.

Where does the ISBN code go?
Your ISBN goes on the copyright page of a hard/softback of your book, also on the
lower portion of the back cover of the softbackbook above the bar code. It’s
translated into a globally compatible bar code called a Bookland EAN (European
Article Number. All bookstore chains and smaller bookshops use this bar code to
scan book products at the checkout counter. Placing the number on your book is the
book designers task by using a software program. This doesn’t mean retailers have
to charge the full price, Using Bookland they can tie any price to it they seem fit as
that will show on the book when it is scanned.

ISBN codes on Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing
Ebooks also need ISBN codes. All the same rules apply, with one exception. If you
publish using Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing, and you do not have an ISBN code,


they will assign an ASIN. This is their proprietary control number and most other
retailers will not sell a book using that number.
I used an ISBN I got from the print on demand company I use, Lulu.com, which lists
them as publisher. For the ebook, I distribute it through Smashwords.com and have
a separate ISBN for it. I did also list it with Amazon Kindle Direct, since
Smashwords.com was having some trouble formatting things for Kindle at that point.
I get royalties from all three places, although I have not made my fortune yet.
However, my book and ebook are available through all the major retailers.
The ISBN codes goes on the back cover and on the copyright page of the book. Be
sure to list it both places.
Buying an ISBN Code

The significance of the ISBN code is that most bookstores will not carry a book
without one. Buying an ISBN code listing yourself as publisher costs $125. These list
those publishers as the publisher.
We have ISBN numbers available at a discounted price. When you get one from us,
the author owns the copyright and to the book. We simply supply the the ISBN code
and will be listed as the publishing company, but won't make claims on any rights to
your book.


Getting a Barcode Done.
A barcode is a graphical representation of your book's ISBN number and price. It is
included on the back of a hard copy book to allow automated scanning and point-of-
sale transactions. Most of the largest book retailers and wholesalers require books
to display the Bookland EAN bar code, which is the only barcode that encodes the
ISBN as well as the book's retail price. You can easily purchase, customize and create
your own bar codes, and also store them for future access in your dashboard when
you need them. To purchase or customize bar codes, you will need:
• An ISBN Number
• Retail or List Price Information
By obtaining your bar codes from Bowker, the ISBN Agency in the US, you can be
certain they meet the latest industry requirements.
Why Do I Need A barcode?
Booksellers prefer to use a machine readable or scannable version of the ISBN
number in their systems processing. The Bookland EAN symbol is the most widely
used barcode format in the publishing industry as it encodes the ISBN number and
can also include the price.
The largest book retailers, as well as many book wholesalers, require books to
display the Bookland EAN barcode graphic symbol which carries the ISBN. At the
point of sale in a bookstore, the ISBN is scanned and all related information about
the title is accessed in their sales system -- identifying the price correctly and
subtracting a copy from their inventory etc. The Bookland EAN Barcode is an
essential component of booksellers handling of the book.
What are Bookland EAN Barcodes?
While most retail products in the US are marked with a UPC symbol, virtually every
other country uses the European Article Number (EAN). To provide world wide
standardization in the sale and handling of books and because the book industry
produces so many products annually, a special "country" with its own EAN prefix just
for books has been designated in the EAN system -- 978 for "Bookland" -- which is
used in the universal barcode system.
Any EAN which begins with the 978 prefix is called a Bookland EAN barcode and is
used on books and book related products internationally. This 978 prefix precedes
the first 9 digits of the ISBN and then a check digit is calculated in order to form a 13-
digit number which is then encoded to create the barcode symbol used on books. As
part of the barcode service, our software assigns the 978 prefix and the check digit
to create the new 13-digit number. Given the rapid rate at which ISBNs have been
assigned, a new prefix, 979, is also being used for books in some cases.


Is the ISBN always printed above the barcode symbol?
Yes. Positioning it somewhere separately from the symbol requires a scanner
operator to search for the ISBN in those situations where key-entry is necessary and
valuable seconds are lost in the transaction. The file we prepare from our software
will include the ISBN.
What is the price-add on?
The Bookland EAN barcode displays a set of two barcodes side by side. The first
barcode on the left is the EAN derived from the ISBN. The barcode of the right,
which is smaller, is a 5-digit add-on which often encodes the retail price of the
publication. This is referred to as an EAN-5.
You must provide a retail price for your barcode.
In the US, the first digit of the add-on data indicates which currency the price is
expressed in -- so for US dollars, the designated digit is a 5. So an add-on of 51995
indicates a price of US$ 19.95. The largest US retailers such as Barnes and Noble now
require the use of EAN-5 barcode on books they handle. Scanners in American
bookstores cannot read the Bookland EAN code without the corresponding 5-digit
add-on. Publishers who don't comply with this requirement may be penalized.
What happens if I change the book's price after the barcode is made?
You must purchase a new barcode. Once a barcode is made, the price on it cannot
be changed. You would use the same ISBN on the new barcode because the book
itself hasn't changed. You can purchase new barcodes here whenever you assign a
new price to your book.
Does the barcode have to appear on the back cover?
Yes. The standard location is the bottom right-hand corner. A major motivation for
the development of barcodes for books was the need to speed up transactions. A
standard location is therefore necessary to save the operator's time in searching the
product for the code.
What is meant by Size Requirement?
The magnification can range from 80% to 200% for a Bookland EAN code. The largest
size used is typically a 100% code, although 92% is standard. The standard 92%
symbol needs a total area of 2.00" x 1.25". The smaller ISBN Bookland EAN symbol is
an 80%, which needs a total area of 1.75" x 1.0".
How do I apply barcodes to cloth cover books that don't have jackets?
A barcode label must be applied to the back board in the specified location. These
can be produced by specialist barcode label printers, by litho from artwork, from a
barcode label software package with laser, or thermal transfer output.


Can I trim the barcode symbol on the right to save space on the cover?
No. The purpose of the mark is to ensure that space is not used by any image in a
color which could interfere with the barcode scanning process. A space to the right
of the symbol is required to tell the scanner that the symbol is complete. The clear
area to the left is already protected by the protruding '9' prefix to the EAN.
What colors can I use for the barcode symbol?
Reds, yellows, and white are suitable background colors if there are no black, blue or
green constituents. Blues and greens, provided they are not too pale, and black are
good colors for the image. Browns and purples, etc, need special attention however
as those with a reddish hue will probably not be successful. If in doubt, seek
specialist advice or run a print test. Avoid metallic inks.
How do I apply barcodes to cloth cover books that don't have jackets?
A barcode label must be applied to the back board in the specified location. These
can be produced by specialist barcode label printers, or by litho from artwork, or
from a barcode label software package with laser or thermal transfer output.
How is a barcode file opened?
Please do not try to open a barcode file. Barcode files are inserted, not opened. Do
NOT doubleclick on the barcode to begin working with it. Open the book cover file
and insert the barcode file from the tool bar as you would a picture file. The barcode
file will automatically open at the correct size. Do not try to open the barcode file
first and then attempt to move into the graphic design application you are using.
What are some common commands?
• Adobe Illustrator: File, Place. Locate the barcode file and select Place
• Adobe PageMaker: File, Place.
• Adobe Photoshop: File, Import
• Microsoft Publisher: Insert, Picture, From File.
• Microsoft Word: Insert, Picture, From File.
• Quark Express: Create a Picture Box, go to File, and select Get Picture.
• In Design: Click File menu and select Place. Locate the barcode file and click
Open.
• Freehand: Click the File menu and select Import. Locate the barcode file and
click Open.
Why does the barcode look bad?
There can be several reasons for this. If the barcode looks fuzzy on screen, please
remember that most computer screens have a resolution of either 72 or 96 DPI.
What matters is how the barcode will print out. DPI is a property of the printer and
the printer's software and not the graphic design program you are using.


Not knowing how to work your graphics application properly is the biggest reason
why designers and self-publishers struggle with their barcode files, and frequently
have problems with barcodes looking blurry or having lines crossing through them.
Unfortunately, there's not just one reason for this.
In some software applications, when a barcode file is imported, the dpi is
automatically changed to the screen dpi (72 dpi) instead of maintaining the original
dpi of the file (ex., 300 dpi or higher). You will need to reset the dpi of the barcode
file.
When you import an eps file into Photoshop, the file is changed, the dpi is lost, the
size is lost, and the image opens on a transparent background (you need to place it
on a white background), among other problems.
Other potential problems include "anti-aliasing" during the conversion of the
encapsulated postscript to an image and the "jpeg" compression that will generally
occur in PDF creation. These can damage your barcode and make it scan with errors
when printed. Jagged steps on the numbers of the barcode are due to the lack of
"anti-aliasing," a technique for using shades of gray on slants and curves to make the
edges seem more smooth to the eye. Do not use grayscale. Import as black and
white. Importing as black and white might in fact be better for some applications.
Many applications do not provide an accurate preview of barcode graphics. Instead
determine the quality of the image ONLY by the actual printout of your barcode.
Never judge your barcode from the onscreen preview.


CreateSpace Solves Your Self Publishing Stumbling Blocks
I myself am constantly researching and trying new things in the industry to find out
great and easy ways to publish, market and distribute books. Since I am on this
mission, I thought it good to review the services I think could help different
author/writers publish their books as different individuals mean they have different
needs.

Most writers/authors just starting out experiences some self publishing stumbling
blocks when they enter this grand new world. And leaning up to those stumbling
blocks are factors out of their control, until now. They include:

• Having to buy hundred or even thousand copies of your own book that gets
stuck in your garages until you decide to do some promotion. Because there is
no support structure you end up giving most of your stock away. For those not
quite understanding business, it means you make NO PROFIT.
• There’s storage problems. Where are the thousands of books you had to buy
going. You can’t store them anywhere because that will hike the cost of the
book even more. You’ll have to pay to sell the book.
• They may have only bought a couple hundred of their books, magically sold
most of them and feel okay being stuck with ten or fifteen. Then a big order of
a 1500 copies come in and you just pushed your profits into a new project
you’re launching. How are you going to get the sale?
• You’re no designer or artist, therefore don’t quite know how you’re going to
get the book looking presentable enough that people will want to buy it.
• E-books are all the3 rage these days, but you would like an authentic
paperback you can hold in your hand when you speak at conferences. Besides,
how do you sign an eBook?
• When you self publish there is no one helping you and giving you assistance.
All the so-called ‘self publishing‘ companies depend on your vanity so they can
sell you overprices printing, book designing and editing.
• An ISBN can cost quite a lot. Working in the $99 some companies ask you for
them this brings the cost of your book way up if you’re printing in the smaller
numbers.
• You are the only soldier on the battlefield selling your book. No one else feels
your pain or experiences the rejection you have to endure on every phone


call. This is the makings of situations that will have you quit.
Now that we’ve dealt with a lot of the negatives of self publishing (trust me, there
are many, many more) we can focus on a solution courtesy of Amazon. Let’s look at
the solutions their CreateSpace program offers us.

CreateSpace, A self publishing solution for dummies.

• You are free from keeping an inventory. You can write as many books as you
can possibly churn out, you never have to worry about storage space or
damage to stock. CreateSpace is a Print-On-Demand solution, which in
layman’s terms mean that Amazon only prints your book when it is ordered
/sold.
• They offer a lot of Do-It-Yourself tools like for instance their ‘Cover Creator’
which is pretty much an Online creation tool to help you evade the cost of
hiring a designer.
• They offer affordable services to assist with for instance your editing, all the
designing needing done and of course marketing of your book.
• They are always also standing by to offer you support, after all, you are using
their platform. So no more daunting professional costs that demotivates you
to even get started on your book project.
CreateSpace is a program where you come out the winner

• The CreateSpace Program offers some of the best royalty percentages you can
get in the industry. Royalties that are competitive and rewarding your efforts.
• They have very affordable prices for you, the author, if you wanted some for
your book table or promoting yourself offline in book shops. This offer stands,
no matter how many copies you are interested in getting.
• The Do-It- Yourself option removes the hurdles and stumbling block I spoke
about so you can focus on the important things, like publishing and
distribution.
• You can also be proud of this book, especially at industry talks and trade
shows where Amazon prints library quality, professional trade paperback
books.
• ISBN’s can be expensive, so Amazon CreateSpace offers you a free option
where you can have them custom-assigned or Amazon gives one specially for


use on Amazon CreateSpace.
Spread your wings with CreateSpace

• You can sell from your own or partner websites through a special CreateSpace
estore link.
• Make your book available trough millions of Amazon customers and affiliates.
• This great program also allows you to broaden your distribution to bookstores,
online retailers, libraries and academic institutions.

Some bonuses to using Amazon is that they also have an affiliate program. So you
can do a lot more sales using the power of affiliates to sell more of your books when
you target niche affiliate bloggers and other people interested in making some
money.
Self Publishing Revealed is the top course of Createspace and has 11 videos to guide
you through the process.


Section b:
eBook Hacks


eBook Publishing Secrets
The term E-book can mean a variety of different things in varied context; however
the most basic reference would be that it is a source of information done in a digital
file. This book gives you the tools to publish yourself.

The Basics
Initially these E-books were designed to only address a limited audience which
consists mostly of technical information for those related to the world of computers.
However today E-books can be written on every topic imaginable as it is accessed by
an equally wide array of people with much diversified interests.
Even the very special place of books known as libraries has started providing the
facilities to allow a visitor to indulge in this style of sourcing for information.
E-books are the rave now as most people have access to the electronic gadgets that
facilitate the experience. Everyday numerous amounts e-books are written and sent
to various publishers in the hope of getting their material recognized and published.
Sadly this is proving to be more and more difficult because of the sheer numbers of
available material. Also being the wide medium that it is, the internet is better able
to reach the target audience when compared to the more conventional printed
books in the market.
Also another compelling reason for the switch to E-books is that it is not as pricy as
the more conventional books.

E-books are also comparatively easier to access as compared to having to lug around
a variety of conventional books to gather the same amount of information. Because
the topic found on the many e-books available it is also a better choice when doing
research and presentations.

The Purpose
E-books are an excellent and cost effective way of promoting anything. As the target
audience is varied and wide, using this form of promotion to reach people is very
beneficial indeed.
This unique collection of information is always available and accessible for all at any
time and place where there is internet or other electronic gadgets accessibility.
The E-book style of information feeds the general need for information and is a
tremendously growing platform of delivering information. Basically E-books can be
used to promote regular businesses particularly an online business.

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