How Kristine Schellhaas took advantage of Technology to self-publish, win awards, and ultimately sell to a publisher.

3. You’ve got a book inside you
• What questions do you get asked the most?
• What do you want your audience to walk away with?
• How can this bring you additional income?

5. Fastest way to write a book
• Pick a partner
• Split your topics into chapters
• Write questions and have a conversation
• Send recording to a transcriptionist
• Review
• Send to editor

6. Publisher
• Usually need to find an agent to pick up your work
• Publisher provides a team of support including editors and marketers
• Book takes substantially longer to publish
• Less money in royalties
• Book will be priority for roughly 90 days
• Deeper distribution channels, eligible for wholesale orders at Military Exchanges,
large stores

7. Self-Publishing (Indie Publishing)
• Everything falls on your shoulders
• Writing
• Editing
• Formatting
• Printing
• Distribution
• Marketing and PR
• Book Reviews
• Book Awards
• You need to find the right people to hire
• You get the final say in telling your story
• You set the price point
• You get all the 100% of the proceeds

8. Publisher vs. Self Publishing
• How much work are you willing to do?
• Do you want to get your book out as soon as possible?
• Are you willing to give up royalties for easier route?

10. Why I self-published
• Our story was deeply personal
• I wanted to choose the book cover
• I wanted to exhaust my connections and then pass over the book

12. Self-Publishing: Writing your story
• Write when you can
• Limit TV or write while you
• Set deadlines for yourself
• Stay under 120,000 words
• Hire amazing editors
• Developmental and Refining
• Recommendation: Veronica Jorden, firstpagelastpage.com
• Technical
• Recommendation: Terri Barnes, www.facebook.com/BarnesTerriL

13. Self-Publishing: Inside and Outside assets
• Set up a publishing company to look legit
• DBA under your current business name
• Buy your own ISBNs
• Bowker.com
• Get your Library of Congress PCA (Preassigned Control Number)
• You’ll need to send a finished copy ASAP
• Hire a Book Cover designer
• Complete your bio and book description
• Professional headshots taken

14. Self-Publishing: Designing your book
• Figure out your book size
• Most common 6x9
• Hire an interior book designer
• Highly recommend the designer uses In-Design
• Get the file upon completion
• Recommendation: Christopher Bell, atthisarts.com
• Hire an e-book designer
• Formatted for kindle, nook, ebooks
• Recommendation: Kella Campbell, ebooksdoneright.com

15. http://bookinabox.com/

17. Self-Publishing: Printing your book
• Make your book consistent
• Most common 6x9
• Cream paper (not white)
• Print black and white
• Figure out your price point and how much you’ll make
• Print on Demand – Physical copies of your book
• Create Space for Amazon
• Ingram Spark for Barnes & Noble, everywhere else
• Smaller printer
• 500-1000 copies

18. Self-Publishing: Amazon Printed Books
• Create Space: Print-on-Demand Books
• No hardcover books
• Ship copies directly from the warehouse (saves you shipping and time)
• My costs for one book $5.95 / shipping costs $3.59 = $9.54/book
• Set of 10 books $59.50 / shipping costs $8.00 = $6.75/book
• Media rate at USPS = $3.50
• Amazon Royalty
• My book retails for $16.99 / royalty of $4.74 per book (384 pages)
• Amazon Advantage: Selling Pre-Printed Books
• Amazon is seller
• They ship and fulfills orders with FREE 2-day shipping
• ‘Selling on Amazon’: Selling Pre-Printed Books
• You are the seller
• You ship and fulfill orders
• Fees are $1.20 per book + 15% commission
• You can have Amazon fulfill orders for an additional fee

19. Self-Publishing: Amazon E-Books
• Amazon KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing)– Electronic Books
• Price from $2.99 to $9.99 for 70% royalty, over $9.99 at 35% royalty
• $9.99 ebook = $6.99 (70%) vs $15.99 ebook = $5.60 (35%)
• KDP Select– sell e-books exclusively on Amazon
• Higher royalty
• More International publishing at 70%: Brazil, Japan, Mexico, and India
• No delivery fees
• Offers perks like targeted ads to sell more books
• Book can be borrowed
• Kindle Unlimited & Kindle Owners’ Lending Library program
• 2000 pages read = $7.06
• Locked in for 90 days
• KDP– e-book is sold across other platforms
• Lower royalty than KDP Select

20. Self-Publishing: Barnes & Noble / others
• Ingram Spark: Ship copies directly from the warehouse
• Book printing fee $5.87 to $7.63 (rush)
• Non-trackable shipping $3.80 / ground $12.48
• Handling fee $1.99
• Total to buy one book: $12.27
• vs Amazon Create Space $9.54
• Total to buy 10 books: 74.14
• vs Amazon Create Space: $67.50
• Ingram Spark Royalty
• My book is $16.99 / royalty of $4.32 per book (384 pages)
• vs Amazon $4.74

21. Self-Publishing: Ingram Spark sales channels

23. Finding an Agent or Publisher
• Figure out your genre
• Military books
• Consider Savas Beatie or Elva Resa
• Non-military books
• Ask for recommendations from friends
• Publishers Weekly is your best friend
• Build a powerful query letter
• Contact a list of agents in your niche
• Contact a list of publishers in your niche
• Novels/Memoirs need to be completed
• Most fiction you just need to complete a book proposal

24. Marketing: Before the launch
• Amazon
• Create an Amazon Author account
• Set up Amazon Advantage account to do presales
• Build/update your website
• Can sell unsigned copies for less than Amazon, you make more $$
• Sell for $15.99, costs $9.54 = $6.45 revenue
• vs Amazon $4.74 revenue
• Signed copies for same price as Amazon
• Sell for $16.99, costs $6.75+$3.50 shipping = $6.74 revenue
• Offer bulk pricing at various levels
• Decide if you want to offer speaking services
• Link to things you sell
• Create a Goodreads Author account
• Update your Linked In
• Create a ‘Sell-Sheet’
• Make post-cards for marketing your book
• Consider getting Google-Voice

25. Marketing: Before the launch
• Fundraising sites– consider if you want to offer up presales.
• Offers a powerful link to your website and books
• Media-- Create a list of newspapers/magazines/online media you’d hope to reach.
• Ask friends for introductions or referrals
• Book trailer
• Decide if you want one
• Social media loves video right now!

27. Movie Trailers: Free advertising on Facebook
• Filmora for videos
• Voiceover
• www.voice123.com
• Facebook engagement
• Comments: 48
• Reactions: 756
• Views: 52,000

28. Marketing: Book Reviews
• Big Media: Almost no one does Indie book reviews
• Consider sending a completed one or an exclusive article pre-written about your book
• Find your bloggers. Offer a fee if possible
• FOREWARD reviews: FREE but submit 4 months prior to publishing
• Book may not make the cut
• FOREWARD Clarion review: $499 for guaranteed review, can be purchased after publishing
• Indie Reader: $225
• Kirkus Reviews: $425-$575
• Midwest Book Review $50
• Military Writers Society of America: Member driven
• Publishers Weekly’s Book Life: Free
• Book may not make the cut
• Individual readers
• Remind them to review your book online at Amazon, B&N, Goodreads

29. Helpful Resources
Writers Win: www.writerswin.com
Jane Friedman: www.janefriedman.com
Publishers Weekly: www.publishersweekly.com
and PW Book Life (Indie)
Book Baby: www.bookbaby.com
Joel Friedlander: www.thebookdesigner.com

30. Questions?

31. info@KristineSpeaks.com
Book: 15 Years of War