Gaining Visibility for Your BusinessThrough Publication

What Can a Book Do For Your Business?

Visibility

What Can a Book Do For Your Business?

Credibility: It establishes you as the expert

What Can a Book Do For Your Business?

An impressive business card to give your clients

What Can a Book Do For Your Business?

Publishing can be life-changing

What Does It Cost?

• Can range from practically free if you do it all yourself• An average self-publishing package costs about $2100 (ours is a bit less!) and up, depending on what you need.

•If you DIY, expect a high learning curve for book and cover design•Consider if this is a worthwhile use of your time•Remember, the book is important in making you look good…make sure it reflects professionalism.

What if I’m Not a Writer?

• We have editors with techniques to develop your content.• We can take your blog, organize it, and turn it into a product that you can use for your business.

How do you know when

you’re ready to publish?

Are you

Ready to Self-Publish?

• Start with your log line.• Make sure that you are satisfied with the ending of your book. • Is your writing tight? • Weed out meaningless dialogue, clichés, too many metaphors, overuse of adverbs, passive verbs, flowery or bodice-ripper descriptions, and redundancies.• Can people identify with my characters or the point?• Proofreading is essential.• Believe in yourself.• Do you have time and money to invest in your book?

Five Mistakes to Avoid

• Not Using An Editor or Proofreader• Have Bad Cover Design• Be Unsure Who Your Audience is• Charge Too Much For Your Book• Don’t Have A Marketing Plan

What’s the

Process?

What’s the Process?Two Versions

Version 1: YOU do it

• Write the best book you can• Get feedback from trusted sources• Format your manuscript in Word• Design Your Cover with your bio, photo and synopsis• Upload to a publishing company • Get a proof and approve it• Your book will be sent to Amazon at least• Format your eBook • Open accounts for Kindle and Nook and upload your books• Start a blog and a website and social media

What’s the Process?Two Versions

Version 2: WE do it

• Write the best book you can• Get feedback from trusted sources and our editors • We format your manuscript and ebook• We design your blog, website and social media and advise on content• We design your cover with your bio, photo and synopsis and fit it to the proper template for your book’s size• We upload your book for a proof after you approve your final PDF’s• Get your proof and approve it• Your book will be sent to Amazon, Barnes and Nobles & the Ingram List• We give you an interview on The Author Connection, an author radio show• We do an email blast to announce your book to our list, do a blog post, and use social media to announce it• We help you with your marketing plan, arrange blog tours, reviews, and events• We can help you crowdfund your book

What’s the Process?Two Versions

Version 2: What you do when WE do it

• Write the best book you can• Write your blog

Your Online Presence Starts Here:

YourWebsite/Blog

& Social Media

WordPress

Websites and Blogs

Every author should honor themselves and their writing with a smart-looking, informative site that makes a reader come back for more. Since 57% people “talk” online, give them a place to click to find you.

• An author website is the first place a reporter will go when they receive a press release.• If an agent reads a stellar query letter, they’ll go to the author website to read more• And, without a website, authors would miss the traffic naturally generated online by people all over the world searching for a book on a particular subject. • A good website helps generate sales.

WordPress

Websites and Blogs

WordPress let’s you format dynamic templates, combine your blog and website in one place, and has amazing functionality. Best of all, you can update your site yourself.

• WordPress.com versus WordPress.org• Social Media connectivity built in• Allows for easy installation of video, galleries, and eCommerce• Premium templates versus free templates

Successfully

Building anAudience

Building

An Audience

• You have a shiny new blog. Use tags and descriptions to come up in searches and enticing titles lure visitors to your site• Do searches for groups that might be interested in your book and engage• Try a blog tour• Broadcast your blog posts on your social media platforms• List your book on free sites like Good Reads and Smashwords• Use simple tools like a business card that shows your book and the url for your website where it can be purchased. Ditto for bookmarks. Give them to everyone!• Offer to do a reading at your local library, book group, or religious affiliation or create a special event relevant to your book.

Building

An Audience

• Capture emails of interested readers on your website with forms to build an audience• Lead with an offer to give something for free – perhaps a chapter download, for email addresses• Track opens from your website and social media to learn what is effective• Use SEO: build your copy by using keywords in it (searchable terms)• Make sure your blog is on your website to have your audience coming to one place• Make social media links prominent

Some Scenarios That work for

Selling YourBook

Book

Sales

• Sales You Do Yourself locally• Bookstores• Online Stores• Non-retail sales• Book clubs• Sales through national wholesalers (Ingram, Baker & Taylor)• Sales through regional bookstore chains• Special Promtions (Amazon, Goodreads, contests)• Speaking Events

Book

One Author’s Sales Plan: A Case Study

• Sales made locally• Bookstores• Online Stores• Non-retail sales: Campsites, craft fairs, historical societies• Sales through national wholesalers (Ingram, Baker & Taylor)• Sales through regional bookstore chains

Selling

Your Book

• Most bookstore orders are on consignment or are returnable• Non-returnable, commission-based sales to buyers in corporations, associations, schools and government agencies are available• Print on Demand is ideal for single orders• Think beyond the bookstore for large retail orders

Book Cover

Endorsements

Promote Your Book

Endorsements

Who do you ask to endorse a book or give you a promotional blurb for the cover? • These are not necessarily people you respect, but people your audiences respect, with an emphasis on the different audiences you’re trying to impress: distributor/wholesaler, bookseller, librarian, reviewer, conference attendee, educator, reader.• How do you identify experts/authorities that will be recognized and respected by your different audiences?• How do you approach the experts/authorities? • How do you get each one to praise different aspects of your book• How do you get comments from satisfied users?

The basics of

Book Design

Simple Rules of

Interior Design

• Odd and Even PagesChapters always start on facing pages (odd numbers) and your book must end with an even number of pages.

• BleedsPhotos that are bleeds on the page require the page margins to be set 1/8” beyond the page size to allow for cutting.

• Bleeds with ColorIn the interior gutter, bleeds with color must be blank 1/8” in to prevent the printing of color ink which might present the glue on a perfect binding from sticking.

Book Cover

Design & Typography

Fonts

What type are you?

• Reflect the feeling of your book: Serif (type with feet) or Sans SerifChoosing your font is like picking out clothes. Make sure it’s appropriate for your book as your clothes would be appropriate for an event.

• Beware of Using : Fonts With Too Much Personality

• Beware of Using : Fonts That Are Not Legible

A A A A A A A

Book Cover

Design

Simple Rules of

Cover Design

• Make your type big enough to reduce for thumbnails on the web

• Use professional design tools: If you can use Photoshop, InDesign, or Illustrator, you can do this… otherwise, do not try this at home! Spend the money and have a professional do it.

•Make sure that your colors, design, and images convey the right emotion and message for your book

• It’s more than the front: Include your marketing synopsis, bio, photo on the back and the book title and your name on the spine

Simple Rules of

Cover Design

Develop Your

Media Kit

Fund Your Book

The Crowd-FundingOption

Is Crowd Funding For You?

• Can you make a compelling one minute video? • Can you write a compelling pitch in 3 paragraphs?• Can you write a list of effective rewards for contributions?• Can you put together a social media strategy?• Can you tweet twice a week for 4 weeks?

Develop your audience and use that to fund your book.

• Collect pre-orders• Tangibly market and build a buzz around your book pre-publication• Raise funds for your publishing and marketing costs• Build and engage with your reader database, which can be used for future promotional efforts• Collect reader data and analytics; know your audience and how to market to them• Drive traffic to the sale of your book once it’s published • Brand yourself as an author

WhatHolds You Back?

Benefits

• Most authors recover their investment• Many find their books become a new

trajectory and can open doors to new clients, speaking engagements and validation as an expert in their field

• Time is money. You do it yourself, but we can help.

Merrimackmedia.com978.710.8075

jenny@merrimackmedia.com

Merrimack_Media merrimackmedia http://linkd.in/1iKj2EJ