FSBO Author believes in Bookswaps

Hi Noel,

I absolutely love your website, As an MS sufferer I intend to buy your book and get "Back onto my feet." My motto this year is, "Again Alive In 2005!"

I have published a book also. It is not specifically about Multiple Sclerosis, although one of the characters in "FSBO" does have this "Dread Disease."

I never have fully embraced the MS diagnosis I received about five years ago. The symptoms have ~ none the less ~ continued to become more severe. Having had more debility effects after following a Neuro' recommendation to shoot myself with Avonex, I removed myself from their "Benevolent" program which was being paid for by our government ~ to the tune of @ $1,200 a month ~for people like me who had exhausted all of our own resources. My neuro', the subsequent, neuro' and the Dr's all think I'm crazy. All of them want me to try another injectable which my SSDI will pay for now. "No thank you, very much!"

I have had experience with attempting to bring a needed medical mechanical device to acceptance by the medical community and after 7 (seven) years (the last time) of frustration, I finally went broke. I've always believed that when I am financial able, I will do it again with the money to throw at the "Researchers" to get past the gatekeepers. That's another story and perhaps we will discuss it later, if you are interested?

Anyway, to my question. Would you be interested in being linked to a new website I am creating which will be broad~based, I hope high traffic, and will meet the needs of a variety of targeted and web surfers. MS is one of a variety of sections, as is alternative medicine.

For your information, I too am a Christian and I do intend to advocate for Jehovah God and His Son, my savior~Jesus. That is not to say that I will bar non~believers and even cult advocates from feeling welcome to visit and receive any blessings offered too. My Jesus is not threatened and He can hold His own. My own understandings and positions will be available and website visitors may consider them, if they wish to. Certainly, I intend to have links to a number of "Christian" sites of likely several denominational persuasions.One of my teachers (from former times~Richard Lang) is nearly finished with his inspired translation of the New Testament, from the original Greek. I am convinced that God is much larger and even more merciful than we can begin to comprehend. He's not a push~over and we will each be held accountable for how we have treated the trusts He has bestowed upon us.

As an author of three books, my old poetry books (1978~79 vintage) and my new novel, For Sale By Owners:FSBO will be for sale, as will be Safespace, a Sci~Fi novel written by my brother, Robert. There may be links to many authors, we will see? As a writer of "Free Post" Articles, for reprint in ezines and anywhere, when I overcome this Evil disease, I should be able to get your book and message some press. Medical conspiracy is another section of my forthcoming website.

Respectfully,

Russ Miles, author

PS: As personal resources are in short supply at the moment, I would rather offer you a book swaps than fork out $29.00. My soft~cover "FSBO" editions are $17.95 of which I make $1.54 in royalty. I have no hard~bounds on hand. Please let me know if you are interested :))

This is a very brief, incomplete preview of what I feel I am led to do. It will be much easier when I am shed of these nesciences of MS.

Russ Miles is author of the novel, For Sale By Owners:FSBO. A &quot;Seasoned&quot; Real Estate NAR? Broker, he is &quot;Disabled&quot; by Multiple Sclerosis, FOR SALE BY OWNERS:FSBO ISBN 0-595-28703-4,in trade paperback, is available by phone or Internet:1-800-Authors to order direct! Adobe e-book & hard cover editions also available at Amazon.com at Barnes and Noble and other fine booksellers. For personal referrals to his publisher or comments, reach Russ at (360)694-6756. Or by e-mail <a href="mailto:MilesRuss@Gmail.com">MilesRuss@Gmail.com</a> Please clearly state your subject so as not bo be mistaken for SPAM and for proper processing.

Top 5 Book Selling Tips

TIP # 1

Online reviews are paramount in importance when it comes to drawing attention to your book. And the best part is, you're in control of your own destiny!

If you haven't yet submitted your own review on sites like Amazon and Barnes & Noble, what are you waiting for? This should be one of the first steps for every published author.

Encourage other family members and friends to review the book, too. They're inclined to be more generous than perfect strangers, but don't underestimate the effect of any honest review. Published reviews on sites like Amazon, Barnes &Noble, and the many other sites Outskirts Press books appear demonstrates interest in your book. And that's a good thing! Post a review for your book today, and ask others to do likewise.

TIP #2

Enhance your online listing with Amazon.com by participating in their "Search Inside the Book Program."

Sign up to join this revolutionary new way to merchandise your book on Amazon.com. When customers search for books on Amazon.com, actual words from inside your book -- not just the author or title -- are engaged to return the best possible matches. With this powerful new search feature, customers can discover books that may never have surfaced in previous search results!

With "Search Inside the Book," customers can also browse sample pages and do additional searches inside a particular book to confirm that the title is just what they're looking for. All of this helps authors like you sell more books.

Once you sign Amazon's Publisher Participation Agreement and are accepted into the program, you will need to provide Amazon.com with a physical copy of each book you would like to include in the program.

TIP #3

Become an "expert" in your field and book sales will follow. It's true that promoting a book requires a great amount of resolve, but it is also true that working smarter, rather than harder, can help reap those rewards.

By projecting yourself as an "expert" in the genre in which you write, you can open new doors for networking, doors that often remain shut without that expertise status.

How does one go about making himself or herself an expert? Easy! You already are one. The name on your published book proves it. Now just use that book as a calling card to line-up speaking engagements, freelance writing gigs, and other opportunities at a variety of venues.

Two good places to begin are AOL and the ABOUT.COM information network. Both have category-specific forums in which you can participate, and by mentioning that you are the "Author of such-and-such" within the scope of your communication, you begin to label yourself as an expert to fellow participants.

Being recognized as an expert in a technical or "non-fiction" category is admittedly easier than the largely subjective category of "fiction expert" but even if you have written a work of fiction, becoming a recognized expert is conceivable.

Whether you've penned poetry, horror, or romance, there is a forum in which to voice your opinion. The Internet is full of chat rooms, use groups, genre-sites, and more -- all thirsty for content from published writers. You just have to know where to look. Start selling books tomorrow by being an expert today.

TIP #4

"Pay For Performance" internet advertising is making big waves lately. While most search engines feature such sponsored links, there are currently only a number of engines providing the back-end technology, and of those, only one serves the majority of search engines used by the public: Overture.

The way pay-for-performance (or p4p) works is simple. You bid on search terms (either words or phrases or a combination of both). Your webpage link then appears in search engine results relative to the price of the bid. If you're the highest bidder, your webpage appears at the absolute TOP of many search engines. Remember the frustration of typing in a search for your webpage and never finding your link? No longer!

But that's not even the best part. The best part is this -- you only pay if someone actually clicks on your link. And since you've defined the search term, the people clicking on your link are already predisposed toward your subject. In essence, they're already pre-sold.

Let's look at an example. Say you've published a mystery novel about the death of a land baron in Louisiana. Not exactly a new plot, and yet millions of "whodunit" readers would be anxious to read it. Your solution? Open an Overture account and bid on search terms like "Louisiana Mystery Novel" and "Mystery Book Plantation" and similar terms. Counter-intuitively, the more vague the term, the better, since very specific searches deliver very motivated buyers to your page, and since you're paying for each click, you want those people to buy!

That brings us to the down-side. You have to be very careful managing your bids, or it can be expensive. Do not bid on ridiculously vague and popular words like "book" because you will never recoup your money. Instead, focus your search terms as specifically as possible.

If you've been clamoring for more traffic to your free Outskirts Press webpage, Overture may be just your ticket. To sign-up, click below. They'll even give you a $10 credit to begin. Visit Overture at their website for more information.

Tip #5

Use ebooks to help promote and sell your paperback or hardback edition.

Think of e-books as a teaser. With a lower purchase price and more immediate gratification, many people are inclined to give an e-book a try when they might pass on a traditional paperback. Furthermore, if they like the e-book, 80% of people end up purchasing the "real" book, too!

There are three schools of thought concerning the way in which e-books should be sold.

1 - Some believe that e-books should have a very low purchase price, somewhere in the neighborhood of $3.00 for the entire book.

2 - Other believe that e-books should only contain excerpts, or sample chapters of the full book, and that they should be provided for free.

3 - Still others believe that e-books best serve their purpose when the entire e-book is given away. This encourages word of mouth about the author and the book, which in turn helps support additional book sales and really shows dividends when a subsequent book is published by the same author.

Whichever course you follow, there is little doubt that e-books are beneficial to your promotion efforts. If you don't yet have an e-book, what are you waiting for?

Brent Sampson is the President & CEO of Outskirts Press Publishing at <a target="_new" href="http://www.outskirtspress.com">OutskirtsPress.com</a> and author of Publishing Gems: Insider Information for the Self-Publishing Writer. Information at <a target="_new" href="http://outskirtspress.com/publishinggems">http://outskirtspress.com/publishinggems</a>

Top Ten Ways to Promote Your Books Through Flyers

A flyer is an excellent, inexpensive way to promote your book. What makes one flyer so much better than another? Use these top10 tips to make your flyer stand out from the crowd.

1. Include a colored picture of your front cover.

People want to see what your book looks like. Color is great, but not always necessary. Make sure your colored book cover copies well in black and white. If you do use color, make your book cover background white with colored lettering, so you don't go through a $35 ink cartridge too fast.

2. Hook your prospective buyers with the headline in the top line of your flyer just as you do for your back cover.

Here's a few gems: Why Not Publish Yourself? Read About SEX as it Really Is! Imagine Thousands of Readers Buying your Book Next Month! Quadruple your Income in Four Months! Give your audience a reason to buy--Show those benefits.

3. Include some juicy excerpts from your book.

Prospective buyers want to see a sample of your writing, especially if it's fiction. Use an analogy or short story to illustrate your book's main point if non-fiction.

4. Include your picture with a brief biography near it.

People want to see what the author looks like. Place it on the right side of the flyer if possible.

5. Add praise from others.

Testimonials are the most significant way to market your book. The praise doesn't have to be from famous people. Use a man/woman on the street opinion. One client/author added a testimonial from a convict!

6. Put ordering information on a coupon at the flyer's bottom.

Include your book's ISBN number, Web site URL, your email, toll-free number and discount information.

7. Make it easy for your reader to buy.

Offer easy ways to buy: credit cards, checks or money orders. Include your toll-free 800 number. Many prefer a coupon they can fill out and mail or fax.

8. Give your prospective buyers all the ways to stay in touch with you.

Some people will not buy online or use a credit card. While most small business people are ready for these, it's a good idea to include your street address, e-mail, Web Site, local phone and fax number, and 800 number.

9. Carry at least 25 flyers with you in a folder at all times.

Keep them in your car, so that when you pass a place that will post them for you, they are handy. Give one to every person you meet. Remember the "law of seven." After seven exposures, you have a buyer! Flyers are better than a business card because they have more detailed information on them to help the potential buyer make a decision.

10. Use the backside of the flyer.

You really waste this space if you don't put it to use. Multiply buying results with more testimonials on the back. Include a longer excerpt from your book there.

Your flyer is a detailed extension of you and your book, and one of the least expensive ways to market your book through print. Print hundreds, even thousands, so your book buying public can easily purchase your book.<BR>

Judy Cullins, 20-year book and Internet Marketing Coach, Author of 10 eBooks including "Write your eBook Fast," and "How to Market your Business on the Internet," she offers free help through her 2 monthly ezines, The Book Coach Says...and Business Tip of the Month at <A target="_new" href="http://www.bookcoaching.com/opt-in.shtml">http://www.bookcoaching.com/opt-in.shtml</a> and over 140 free articles. Email her at <a target="_new" href="mailto:Judy@bookcoaching.com">mailto:Judy@bookcoaching.com</a>

8 Ways to Find Good Reviewers for Your New Book

Review Your Reviewer: You will be sorry if you do not take the time to get a pretty good picture of your reviewer. Use e-mail, snail mail or anything else you've got to pop a few questions to your reviewer. If the review is on radio or TV place a few phone calls in advance. Why? You must get a fix on your reviewer's position and general inclination. If your writing is in religion, check the doctrinal position of the reviewer. A Pentecostal book is bound to come up short in a conservative catholic review. If your book is written with a conservative political bent, it will not do well under the scrutiny of a liberal democrat. You must check out every aspect of the reviewer's mindset that you can by any means you can. If you disregard this advice you will suffer for it.

Review the Reviewers Reviews: Read carefully everything you can find that your reviewer has previously written. They can be aggressive without being hyper critical or belligerent. Some reviewers have a pompous attitude. Usually they are not writers themselves. If you find some that are writers they will be far easier to work with because they know all the problems and pitfalls in this profession. A reviewer has opportunity to rub elbows with some people that the rest of us will only know in name only. This does tend to give them an exploded sense of their own importance. How will you know if this is the case with your reviewer? Simple, read their stuff. An attitude is an easy thing to spot. Don't get the idea that your book is so good that no one could possibly find anything bad to say about it. Cranky people are usually very consistent, don't take a chance.

Avoid the Reviewer who is Too Personal: When reading a reviewers work see if they are comparing what they are critiquing with other writing that contrasts the book under review. Also do they find similarities to the book under discussion and other books perhaps in the same genre? If every reflection they make comes from their own position, emotion or mindset you should be very careful about submitting your work to them. Remember you spent weeks, months or years putting together your book; they may spend only a few hours at the most perusing your labors. Don't let someone who is having a bad hair day remove your first chance to get a little press for the great American novel.

Grammar and Spelling Snafus: It goes without saying that all grammar and spelling issues should be covered before the publication of your book. It also goes without saying that no matter how hard you try, they are not. If you self publish or use a (POD) print on demand publisher there is a greater chance of these errors breaking through un-noticed. The galley proofs offered by these publishers may be very hard to negotiate and it is usually the author doing every bit of the work. Most authors getting published for the first time are duly excited and such mistakes are prone to make it across the bar. Remember that the best authors in the world will have spelling and grammar problems at times. Even in the major publishing houses where a mile long group of proof readers have taken up to a year to finish a book, mistakes are made. Here is the bottom line when it comes to a reviewer noticing and dancing with your mistakes in a review. It stinks. First it is the sign of a very unskillful reviewer, especially when it comes to first time authors with POD books. It is almost understood that first tries will have a few more mistakes than the veterans do and for a reviewer to make a big deal of those problems is hitting below the belt by any standards. Don't even approach such reviewers if you see they make a practice of this. If they feel a need to say that a book is a self published work they are miserably out of touch. This is the day of the POD and thousands of books are coming through this conduit that can stand beside any of the big boys from the major houses.

Don't Forget Online Newspapers: Online newspapers usually follow the same editorial guidelines of the printed paper. They are far more forgiving than online reviewers. These are the people who make corrections daily of things misquoted, misspelled and missed completely. They deal with writing and John Q Public everyday and that daunting task makes them more understanding of fellow journalists. Follow all the same rules for approaching web review sites and above all get to know all you can about your critic before you bundle up a dozen review copies and slide them off the runway to the papers.

Look for the Honest but Skillful Reviewer: An honest reviewer won't hide the negatives and failings of your book but they will skillfully blend them into a larger picture without burning down the city. Such people are artist experienced in balancing of literary achievement and fledgling endeavor. How do you find such people? Once again review the reviewer's reviews!

Let The Public Be Your Reviewer: Amazon has a program that allows some of the pages of your book to be seen as a means of drawing the reader into your material. You will receive responses from this, that can be perused, archived and used on your website, your publicity efforts, and your letters and anywhere you choose. Google also has a wonderful program called, Google Print. They put up the cover of your book, a bit of an author bio and not more than twenty percent of the content of your book to be seen by anyone worldwide. Links can point directly back to your site or any other place where the book may be purchased. You will receive various responses that can be archived for press releases, short web reviews, blogs or whatever.

Beware Of Blogs: For a new author to submit the contents of their new release to a blog in whole or in part is like running the gauntlet. Blogs are all too much of a free for all. Every Tom, Dick and Harry has got an opinion. They are certainly entitled to their opinion but be sure of one thing, an opinion does not a review make. The chance of getting a fair review on a blog is in general about zero. What you will have is a lot of people passing around a lot of second hand information. You may have someone praising your stuff and in the next minute calling you something that is several notches hotter than PG-13. Till you have a better rep as an author, do not expose you're writing to the free for alls.

Rev Bresciani has written many articles over the past thirty years in such periodicals as Guideposts and Catholic Digest. He is the author of two books available on Amazon.com, Alibris, Barnes and Noble and many other places. Rev Bresciani wrote &quot;Hook Line and Sinker or what has Your Church Been Teaching You,&quot; publisher, PublishAmerica of Baltimore MD. He also wrote a book published by Xulon Press entitled &quot;An American Prophet and His Message, Questions and Answers on the Second Coming of Christ.&quot; Rev Bresciani's website is <a target="_new" href="http://americanprophet.org">http://americanprophet.org</a>

Writing a Book?s Marketing Plan for Maximum Profit

Much has been written about book proposals. But less has been written about book marketing plans. This is wrong!

What happens after your book is published has a great deal to do with whether you become published and profitable? or just published.

A book proposal is a direct-marketing document intended to persuade publishers to edit, print and distribute your book. It's a sales piece intended to communicate the inevitability of your book's success.

Your book's marketing plan, however, is intended for an audience of one ? You! It's not intended for your publisher. Rather, it's intended to identify the revenue streams that you will develop after your book is published.

Your marketing plan should describe profits you will earn above and beyond royalties from sales of your book. It should describe in detail your market and the steps you will take to earn this income.

The reason to prepare your marketing plan now, before you sign a publishing contract or write your book, is that the success of your marketing plan depends on the way your book publishing contract is negotiated.

Coaching and consulting

Let's assume, for example, that you plan to use your book as a way of enhancing your visibility and credibility among your target market. At the simplest level, you will want to include your web site address at several points in the book. Knowing this goal, you can insist that the publisher agrees in writing to include your web site address in specific locations in your book.

Remember: promises don't make it! Let's take the worst case scenario. You and your acquisition editor agree that you can include five mentions of your web site address in the book. However, as often occurs, the acquisition editor, after signing the contract, fades out of the picture.

The new development editor then informs you that author's URL's can only appear in one place, in the author biography hidden toward the rear of the book. When this happens, what happens to your coaching and consulting plans?

Likewise, you may have planned to buy books in case lot quantities for resale and/or distribution to your prospects and clients. Understanding this before you sign the contract, you can include the right to purchase books for resale at trade discounts in your contract, ensuring your 'book pipeline' won't get turned off.

If you know you want to offer telephone coaching at $75.00 a call, for example, you can negotiate written permission to promote this service within the body of your book.

Remember: promises are written on air. Only written agreements count!

Other back-end profit opportunities based on your book's title include:

<ul>

<li>Articles, columns, newsletters

<li>Yearly updates

<li>Special Reports

<li>Teleclasses and seminars

<li>Speaking and training

<li>Audio/video recordings

<li>Choosing a web site address based on your book's title

<li>Free downloads of sample chapters from your web site

<li>Fee-based web site services

</ul>

The possibilities are endless, but nothing can happen if, after signing the contract, the publisher limits your ability to promote your business and your website in your book.

Thus, it's imperative that you start by preparing a marketing plan that analyzes post-publication profit opportunities and describes the steps needed to make them happen. Only then are you in a position to decide if the publisher's 'boilerplate' contract meets your needs.

The stronger your book proposal and the more experienced your agent, the more likely you'll get what you want (need) in your contract.

Jay Conrad Levinson says the first volume of his Guerrilla Marketing series earned him thirty million dollars. But only about $35,000 came from the book itself. All the rest came from back-end profits.

That's how important this issue is!

About The Author

Roger C. Parker is the $32,000,000 author with over 1.6 million copies in print. Do you make these marketing and design mistakes? Find out at <a href="http://www.gmarketing-design.com" target="_new">www.gmarketing-design.com</a>

Authors Should Be Optimistic

A client wrote me recently and asked what I thought of his using a publicist to promote his book - to the tune of $4,000 per month. In my usual blunt fashion, I responded by telling him most self-published books never sell more than 100 copies, that 2000 sales is considered excellent in the industry and that the number of people who sell between 50,000 and 100,000 can probably be counted on one hand. I just wasn't sure the publicist would give him the facts, since said publicist stood to make a lot of money off this author, whether he sold a book or not.

After a while I started thinking that I'd painted a rather bleak picture of the entire industry and realized that while yes, many self-published books make very little money, there are exceptions, and his book - or your book, could well be the exception.

Success stories are not hard to find. There's MJ Rose for instance, who published her first book electronically and later sold it to Doubleday. Since then, her career as an author has taken off and she recently announced the sale of three paranormal thrillers.

One of my former clients, Paul Clayton, used Booklocker to produce his war novel Carl Melcher Goes To Vietnam and it was picked up by traditional publisher, Dunne Books. Likewise, Marnia Robinson whose Peace Between the Sheets, was also purchased by a traditional publisher after its release through Booklocker.

I had another client, also published through Booklocker, interviewed on both 48 Hours and Good Morning America. Yet another sold almost 1000 books in two days, although he did not use any self-publishing company and managed the project independently.

According to industry experts (read: those who stand to make gobs of money if you self-publish) there's little chance that a new author will be able to sell a book to a traditional publisher in today's market. At least one company owner will quickly assure you that even if you do manage to sell your book, you won't get a large advance, if you get one at all. Perhaps. Whether it's true or not, this certainly wasn't the case for 27-year-old Marisha Pessl whose first novel recently sold at auction for hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The fact is that if you have a good book and there's a market for it, there's no need to let others dissuade you from trying to find an agent or traditional publisher, if that's the way you want to go. There are also many reasons to self-publish (particularly if you have a niche market). Just make sure the advice you're receiving is unbiased.

Cathi Stevenson is a former newspaper writer and editor who has more than 2,000 published articles to her credit. In publishing since 1981, she opened her own book cover design company in 2000 and since then BookCoverExpress.com has created more than 650 book covers for independent publishers and presses of all sizes. Read more of Cathi's articles about publishing at: http://www.thoughtblog.net

How Many Ways Can You License Your Tips Booklet?

You've been thinking about writing a tips booklet. After all, it's shorter, faster, and easier than writing an entire book. A single tips booklet manuscript can be recycled over and over again, developing a new income stream with each deal you make. The booklet can be distilled from a book you've already written, a newsletter you distribute, or from sound bites you continually share with clients, audiences and anyone who will listen.

When that booklet is done is when the fun really begins. You can sell it as single copies or as large quantities that you produce for your clients. Or, you can sell the rights to the contents, on a non-exclusive basis, in many ways. Think about all the languages in the world. That can be a starting point. Find someone who is interested in licensing the right to your material to translate into another language, reaching a non-English speaking population in your own country or in a different country.

They get to do the translating, editing, production, marketing and distribution, and pay you for that right! You could also license the rights to your information to a company who wants to purchase 10,000 or more copies of your booklet. They can generally buy print less expensively than you can sell it to them. You will once again license them the right to do all the work, and pay you for it.

You may also find other venues interested in your manuscript. What about an audio CD publishing company? You can hire yourself out to record the program as part of the licensing deal or the audio publisher can bring in their own speaking talent.

What about licensing the use of your content to a catalog company to pepper their catalog pages with your tips? Or a public relations firm can bring your booklet manuscript to a client of theirs to use as a radio, television or print commercial: 'This organizing moment has been brought to you by XYZ Office Supply Company.' Do your tips work individually on posters, coffee mugs, tee shirts, screen savers, or computer mouse pads as advertising specialty items? What about a tip a day on a calendar or as a CD or even as the premise of a board game? Would some tips work as a needlepoint design?

These are just some of the many ways one single tips booklet manuscript in your area of expertise can be recycled over and over again, reaching a larger audience and generating thousands of dollars for you, with your client doing all the production. Think of what other ways you can license your booklet content. The possibilities are endless!

Paulette Ensign has personally sold over a million copies of her 16-page tips booklet, '110 Ideas for Organizing Your Business Life,' in four languages, without spending a penny on advertising. That includes several licenses. Her company, Tips Products International, has products and services to assist you in writing and marketing your own booklet on any topic. <a target="_new" href="http://www.tipsbooklets.com">http://www.tipsbooklets.com</a>