Publishing

I consult with authors and manage the services they need for self publishing. The work includes planning and strategy, scheduling, creation, and collaboration. I've worked in publishing since before the Internet. It's only gotten bigger across those decades, and every advantage brings more opportunity to authors. The regimen I use to guide authors is Real Self Publishing.

When your book deserves a good life, a pro author makes the debut a reality. Real self publishing works just like traditional publication. It demands quality, establishes distribution, and promotes a book for discovery. You produce and polish, present for sales, and promote your book through influencers, endorsements, and media. You manage discounts and sales campaigns.

Media Opportunities

Books that emerge from real self publishing are discovered through personal recommendations and all types of media.

Earned media is reviews and interviews.

Paid media is advertising and paid reviews.

Owned media are the assets you control to spread the word about your book. It's your website, blog, or email newsletter. Anything you use to reach readers directly is owned media.

Then there's the special case of social media. You don't pay for it, you can't control it, but you use it to connect and promote. Social media poses interesting challenges for an author. You want to make your presence known, but you limit the share of direct pleas to buy your book. Your goal is to engage and exchange, building your tribe one click at a time.

Social media relies on expanding and exploiting an author's network of influencers. Social media waves your flag, but the social accounts of better-followed authors are the primary target in building a following.

Editorial Marketing

For a writer who will self-publish, I can spark, manage and polish the work that spreads your editorial marketing into the world of readers. Editorial Marketing is your writing about your book and its subjects, created to entertain and entice, that builds your following. Like any kind of marketing, this includes images and video. Blogs that are part of a website create billboards for your content. A reader magnet, giving away bonus material, is another example of editorial marketing.

Author Newswire

A regular newsletter promotes your work. It comes down to attracting subscribers to a steady feed of enticing and playful articles, short and captivating. I train authors in newsletter creation and curating content. I've been in the subscriber business since 1981.

Production Editing

Whenever the last edits are complete on a book, it's time to take it into production. I've managed words onto paper and onto the Web for the last 40 years, across a constantly-growing range of media. Building a book to sell involves tools, cover and interior designers, plus printers and logistics. If the whole enterprise starts and ends at Amazon, the real self publisher still needs help learning to employ it on a tight budget.

Proofreading, indexing for nonfiction, interior design, and ebook crafting are not sexy. They're the pillars of publishing, though. Together we will tackle the essentials to give a self published book the best chance it deserves.

I create, as well as contract for help, in Real Self Publishing projects. Your book remains your own. Outside services are paid at the provider's rate and not marked up. You pay for the services you need: Writing summaries and sales copy. Establishing your own ISBN account and listings. Establishing an account at a printer like IngramSpark for POD, or with an indie press. Making a funnel for your review copies to generate endorsements. I'll help with locating and submitting for earned media, as a former journalist of many years.

Your covers flow from pro designers that you contract with directly. You enjoy payment and wholesale distribution accounts to control your compensation. You can even explore the paths to an audiobook, the fastest-growing segment of publishing.

Taking your best shot

There are limits in choosing self-publishing, but many are falling away. An agent's contract can be a prized accomplishment, just like a publisher deal with a press who'll work hard for you and your book. The realities of marketing and sales can arrive quickly in many traditional deals. You look for one, then measure the time you'll hunt, and judge what comes your way. Most publishers expect nearly all of their authors to promote their own books. Nearly all of the best selling self-publishers take a leading role in keeping the world on notice about their books.

Investing in a book as if it's a startup can win you great success. Automated self publishing is always an option, too. With so many books in the world, though, getting special notice for yours will require special treatment. It took you years to create the book you're choosing to publish. Give it professional treatment, so it reaches the biggest audience that it can.

Call me at 512-657-3264, or use the Let's Connect form on this page, to map out a program for any of the following publishing missions. The sooner you start Real Self Publishing, the more time you have to build your engine of discovery to power your book sales.