How Do I Approach a Book Publisher or an Agent?

Thanks www.Morguefile.com 

Last month we talked about how to find publishers who might be interested in publishing your book or agents who might want to represent you to publishers. Now that you've done your homework from last month and have your dream list of publishers and agents to approach, let's talk about how to actually approach them.

The first thing to do with your list of publishers and agents is to start looking them up in your market guide book and review the information about them there. If you missed the discussion in February on market guides, you can find it here: How to Write and Get Published by Magazines and Book Publishers.

Next, find their web site online. Their web site will be listed in the market guide, or if you don't have a market guide do an internet search.

You've already learned a great deal about them when you did your homework at the bookstore. Now, study further what each publisher is publishing and/or what each agent is representing. Does your project truly fit what they are doing?

Keep in mind that you are not looking for a book that is exactly the same as yours. If you find one that is too similar, realize that publisher won't want to publish a book that will compete with one they already published. Also, an agents won't want to represent an author who is going to compete with an author they are already representing. That might sound like bad news. But it can also be good news because other publishers and agents will want to have a book that competes with successful or popular books by other publishers. So you may not want to approach the publisher who published a book similar to yours, but you use that information to entice another publisher or agent with your competitive title by showing them how great a book is doing on that topic.

When you've found publishers and agents where your book would be a good fit, then find their writer's guidelines on their web site and print them.

Armed with this information from each publisher and agent, you will then fashion your query letter and book proposal for each of them individually. You'll also have their contact information.

Nowadays, most of the big traditional publishers in Christian publishing won't accept a proposal from you as the author (unless you meet them in person at a writer's conference, but few of them attend anymore). Instead they require submissions come through an agent. However some publishers will still consider queries or proposals from authors. Their guidelines will tell you if they will.

A query letter is a one-page letter (no longer!) which is a sales letter. Basically you will want to:

• introduce yourself,
• introduce your book,
• tell them who your book's audience is,
• and give your credentials for writing the book (work experience only if it's relevant to the book. Publishing experience, but if you've never been published you need not point that out).

I suggest you fashion about one paragraph for each of those four items. You might also include a paragraph that says, "This book is similar to [insert title of an already-published book] but is different [in this way]."

Your final paragraph lets them know your manuscript is complete and then will ask, "May I send you the proposal?"

You will need to have a book proposal already written in case they say yes.

Any publisher or agent will ask for a book proposal before they will ask for a manuscript (which is your completed, written book). So you need to have your book proposal prepared and ready to send before you send out your query letters.

How do you know what to put in the book proposal? Again, their writer's guidelines will tell you exactly what they want you to include.

There's a lot of leeway in book proposals--no one right way to do it. Just make sure all the needed information for them to make a decision on whether or not to request your manuscript is there, and written is really great, engaging, sparkling writing. Doesn't have to be long and involved. Sometimes less is more, if you know what I mean.

I suggest you create a "general template" book proposal for your book, then tweak it to personalize it for each and every publisher or agent you submit to according to their guidelines. Yeah, this takes a lot of work, but they want what they want and if you send them what they don't want it's too easy for them to reject your query or proposal and just move on to the next writer. You don't want them to do that! You want to make a great first impression in order to get their attention.

This, of course, presupposes you've already written a fantastic book manuscript.

Have I overwhelmed you yet? I hope not. You may find writing the book was the easy part. Remember publishing is a business. (Tweet that!) Publishers are in business and need to stay in business in order to publish the next book. So treat it like a business proposal and be a good and smart business person and you'll do fine. Take it one step at a time and don't get overwhelmed.

Now is the time to take off your creative author's hat and put on your business person's hat. Now is the time to grow very thick skin. Know that you are going to get "no thank you" after "no thank you" and rejection after rejection. That doesn't matter because you only need one "yes" from an agent and/or one "yes" from a publisher. So do not become discouraged. You're looking for the one person who wants to partner with you. That's all you need. (Tweet that!) When you get a "no thanks," that just wasn't the person.

Yes, it's a lot of work. But if you want to find a traditional publisher or agent, this is how it's done. Nobody told you it was going to be easy, did they? If they did, they lied. Or didn't know any better. But if you've gotten this far to where you're needing to know how to approach a book publisher or an agent, you got farther than the vast majority of people who claim they want to write a book. Keep going. You can do it.

Related Article: 

For your own protection, please make sure you know the differences between the different types of publishers and which one is right for you, which we talked about in January.

Tweetables: 

How do I approach book publishers about my book? (Tweet that!)

How do I approach literary agents about my book? (Tweet that!)

Special Note:

I'm very pleased to have started a new blog on the topic of my nonfiction book series: Prophecies Fulfilled. Please visit BiblePropheciesFulfilled.blogspot.com and join me in the Lenten countdown to Easter.

Getting Published:

Please check out my new e-book with all the basics for how to get published. Download it at Amazon today! Here on Amazon:  How to Get Published by Magazines & Book Publishers: Find Markets, Submit Your Work, and More.

Should I Find a Publisher for My Book On My Own? Or Should I Find an Agent?

Morguefile.com

Here’s a question I’m often asked by writers, whether they want to write a book or have already written one:

"Should I try to find a publisher for my book on my own first, and work directly with them? Or should I find a literary agent to represent me?"

My recommendation is that you work toward both. Simultaneously.

Years ago book authors were supposed to query or submit to one book publisher at a time. Simultaneous submissions (approaching more than one publisher at a time) were pointedly discouraged.

The same rule kind of held true for approaching agents, I think.

However the thing is, if we approach one publisher or agent and wait for six months...or twelve months...or longer to hear a "no thank you" (they are not interested in our book project), and then approach another publisher or agent and wait a year... Well, it could take years to find the one publisher or agent who is interested.

Let me note that today it seems many agents and publishers respond more quickly -- at least their guidelines say they do. They often say they respond in three months, or that after that time if we haven't heard from them they are not interested. My experience in the real world, at least the world that used to be, they often took longer than what they said it would to actually make a decision. The "if you don't hear from us by a certain time, we're not interested" is a somewhat new practice that started in recent years simply because agents and publishers have so many writers querying them that keeping up with responding to every query has become too much.

I think I can speak for most authors when I say we’d prefer not to be published posthumously. (Tweet that!)

So for myself, after years of querying or submitting proposals to publishing houses and agents one at a time, I realized there's no reason to not approach both. Simultaneously.

Furthermore, we can now approach multiple publishers and agents simultaneously. The industry is much more accepting of that now than it used to be. This is what I recommend you do.

So which is better to land first: a publisher or an agent? Either!

If you find a publisher who is interested, it might help you land an agent to negotiate that contract for you. If you land an agent first, their job is then to help you land a publisher.

So how do you go about doing this? To approach agents and publishers about your book, you need three things:

• a list of agents and publishers you want to approach
• a query letter
• a book proposal

Let’s talk about creating your dream list of publishers and agents you want to approach. Then next month we’ll talk about how to approach them through query letters and book proposals.

Special note: If you are writing a Christian book—whether for a “Christian” audience or for an audience which might not be Christian but your book contains the Christian faith, then you need to look for a Christian publisher. (Yes, even if you want your book to reach beyond Christian publishing and into the secular market. It is still only a Christian publisher who will be interested in publishing that type of book.)

First things first. How are you going to find book publishers and agents to submit to?

I suggest you try traditional publishers first. But here's where I want to ask you to be really careful.

The problem here is that it is harder and harder for writers to figure out which publishers are truly traditional publishers.

When I talk about self-publishing companies that are not "traditional" publishers, I'm talking about companies like:

• Author House
• iUniverse
• Xlibris
• Outskirts Press
• Trafford Publishing
• Dog Ear Publishing
• Xulon Press

I'm not saying there's anything wrong with these publishers, nor am I recommending any of them. I'm just telling you these are not traditional publishers. If you want to self-publish your book, you need to check each one out for yourself and understand what you're getting into. Here's a directory of self-publishing companies from Writer's Digest.

My January blog post describes different types of publishers and how to tell the difference. If you haven't read it yet, you can read it here:  What You Need to Know about Book Publishers BEFORE Publishing Your Book. Some of the information listed below might be repetitive from that post.

So if you're trying to interest a traditional publisher in your book project, many of them will require you to submit through an agent. Some, however, still accept queries and proposals directly from authors. But before you can submit anything, first you must find who to submit to. So the question is, how do you figure out who you want to submit to? Here are three ways:

Find Publishers and Agents in a Market Guide

If you have a budget to invest a little, you can buy a market guide or borrow one from the library.

If you are writing for the general market, there is the annual 2014 Writer's Digest Market Guide.

If you are writing for Christian readers and looking for a Christian publisher, there is the 2014 Christian Writer's Market Guide.

Each is updated every year. You can buy them on Amazon. These books list many of the Christian agents and publishers along with their contact information, web sites, what they’re looking for, and oodles of more information.

Be aware, however, that besides listing traditional publishing companies, these books also list self-publishing companies and co-publishing companies. So just because it's listed in one of these books doesn't mean it's a traditional publisher.

Find Traditional Publishers by Visiting a Bookstore

Secondly, find publishers by visiting a large, chain bookstore and/or your local Christian bookstore (not an online bookstore, because online stores carry everything, not necessary only the traditional publishers). As a general rule, the brick-and-mortar stores carry only the "big" traditional publishers because shelf space is at a premium.

Check out the shelf where your book would be shelved. Find books that are similar to yours. Write down the classification of those books, the genre they are listed as. Look for this above the bar code on the back.

Look for books with similar styles, tones, topics, etc. Look for books that seem like that publisher would also be interested in yours. Then write down the title, author, and who published it.

You can also check the “Acknowledgements” section of the book, the preface, or “About the Author” and see if the author listed the name of their agent.

Make a list. If you want a traditional publisher, this is probably your top, most desirable, publishers to approach. Possibly you've also found some agents to check out also.

Find Publishers and Agents at a Writer’s Conference

Thirdly, if you have more in your budget to invest, you can attend a writer’s conference. For Christian authors, I highly recommend attending the Colorado Christian Writer's Conference in May.

At a writer’s conference you can take workshops, meet publishers and agents in person (very valuable), as well as mingle with, network, and make connections with other writers and authors who are also working their way through the publishing maze.

Get hooked in to the "system." Get to know how the publishing industry works. Make contacts. Network. Find other authors you network with. Form a team so you can help and encourage each other.

So your homework for this month is to follow these instructions to create your dream list of publishers and authors. Have that done by next month and then we’ll talk about what to do with your list and how to approach these publishers and agents.

~ * ~

If you haven't heard, my first e-book for writers in my new "Getting Published" series is now available exclusively on Kindle! You can find it here:

How to Get Published by Magazine & Book Publishers

Find markets, Submit Your Manuscripts, and More

$2.99  Exclusively on Kindle

How to Write and Get Published by Magazines and Book Publishers

© Medaphoto | Dreamstime Stock Photos  

I have some news to share that I'm very excited about! Very soon I'm going to release the first in a series of new e-books.

(Update 2/7/2014: This e-book is now available!)

The title of the first e-book in my "Getting Published" series for writers is:

How to Get Published by Magazines & Book Publishers: 

Find Markets, Submit Your Manuscripts, and More

How to Get Published by
Magazine & Book Publishers E-book

Last month I promised we'd talk about the basics of getting started in publishing whether you want to write for magazines or books. That information is below under the headline "The Basics of How to Get Published in Magazines and Books." It is excerpted from the new e-book. Between here and there is more information about my coming new series of e-books for writers. If you prefer to go straight to the "How do I get published?" information, please feel free to scroll down.

About My New "Getting Published" Series of E-Books

You may have noticed that sometimes in this blog I write on topics where I've learned something new and interesting and I think it will help you in your writing too (such as using social media like Twitter, Facebook, and Goodreads to promote our writing). Other times I post on topics that I've been asked over and over again in my twenty-five years in this business, One of the questions I get a lot is from people asking me how they can get started in writing for publication and get published by magazines and/or get their books published.

I always love to help someone else get started and I love to share what I've learned, but I find I'm giving out the same information repeatedly to one person at a time. Wouldn't it be great if I had some way to give people the information they're seeking without me having to go through it again and again? Wouldn't it be nice--and more efficient for me--to have a place to point people to where they would find all the information I have to offer already there waiting for them?

Through the years I've looked for, and have developed, ways to give the information. In 2003 I developed and wrote five pamphlets in my "Help for Writers" series that I printed on 8 1/2 x 11 inch paper, 8 to 12 pages each, and sold at writer's conferences for $3.95. Hopefully they are inexpensive enough that anyone who needed one could afford it. They have been, and continue to be, very good sellers and I've received many wonderful, positive comment from writers on how these pamphlets have helped them. While I intend to keep them available, I also intend to update and revise where needed since a more than a few things in publishing have changed in the past decade.

Also in 2003, I taught a one-day seminar a couple of times on "Writing for Publication." We recorded that presentation and I've sold that on cassette tapes bundled with the handouts.

I continue to offer the original five pamphlets and the taped seminar (though supplies of the seminar are limited). The titles are:

• The Basics for Beginners: How to Find Markets, Submit your Manuscripts, and Keep Track of it All (c. 2003, $3.95)
• Conquering the Dreaded Query Letter: How to Write Query and Cover Letters (c. 2003, $3.95)
• How to Market Your Reprints (c. 2003, $3.95)
• How Do I "Show, Don’t Tell"? (c. 2003, $3.95)
• Should I Become a Writer? How Can I Decide? (c. 2003, $3.95)
• and the "Writing for Publication: How to Find Markets and Submit Your Work" taped seminar (c. 2003, $24.99) 

  

Making the New, Revised "Getting Published" Editions More Easily Available!

While these products have been wonderful to take to writer's conferences or wherever I teaching writing seminars, making them available to many more people has been more challenging. I can and do ship them upon request and payment through PayPal, but that process is cumbersome, as is the job of simply letting people know they are available. (I haven't done much of that lately, so you may not have even known about these products.)

There has to be a better way, right? Well there is. I am converting these pamphlets to e-books, and revising and updating them in the process. The first e-book will release very soon--just as soon as I have it and the new cover ready.

I'm very pleased that I'll be releasing not only these five pamphlets and the seminar in e-book form, but I also will make available several more products based on workshops I've taught and other writing I've done. Here's a glimpse of some of those topics:

• tools for marketing your books
• strategies for how magazine writers can sell more articles
• beginning screenwriting, as well as shaping your story to work great as a movie

I hope those topics excite you! Which would you like to see sooner rather than later? Leave me a comment and let me know.

I'm making these new products available as e-books for Amazon's Kindle, because that's the easiest, most cost-effective way for me to do this. Don't have a Kindle? No problem! Your PC, Mac, tablet, or smart phone can read Kindle books (Amazon's e-books) if you simply download a free ap. Please visit the page on this blog called "No Kindle? No Problem" for links to download what you need.

As with the forerunners of these e-books, my series of "Help for Writers" pamphlets, these new e-books will be inexpensive enough that hopefully anyone who needs them can afford them*. I also plan to put them on sale from time to time (as allowed and limited by Amazon), so do watch for that if you need even more of a break on the price. The pamphlet-length e-books will be priced as low as possible--mostly likely $2.99. The workshop-length e-books will be a bit more.

If you're not familiar with Amazon's Kindle pricing structure, the best opportunities for authors are when their e-books are priced between $2.99 - $9.99, so that is why most Kindle books fall within those prices. It is possible, though, to price e-books outside of those price points ($ .99 minimum), and so you'll see that for various reasons--even when the book is not on sale. Amazon also allows Kindle e-books to be put on sale or made available for free for a limited number of days per annual quarter.

When the e-books become available, if you get one it would help me immensely if you would consider leaving an honest review. Reviews let others know if the product is truly helpful, valuable, and worth their investment. Reviews can be short--even a couple of sentences will do. I thank you for that in advance.

(*If you need one of my e-books or printed pamphlets but cannot afford it, please contact me privately and we'll see what we can do.)

The Basics of How to Get Published in Magazines and Books

Last month I promised we would talk about the basics of getting started in publishing whether you want to write for magazines or books. Maybe you're far from a beginner. Then you probably get asked for help from beginners like I do. The next time you meet someone who wants to get started in publishing, now you can send them to this blog post for help in doing just that.

The following is excerpted and condensed from the first e-book I'll be releasing soon. For this first e-book, I revised and updated my "Help for Writers" pamphlet titled "The Basics for Beginners: How to Find Markets, Submit your Manuscripts, and Keep Track of it All." Besides updating it, I added information to that pamphlet by combining it with my taped seminar,"Writing for Publication: How to Find Markets and Submit Your Work."

How Do I Find Magazine, Book, and Online Publishers that Want My Work?

The main way professional writers find online outlets, magazine editors, and book publishers who want their stories, articles, novels and nonfiction books, is through a "market guide." In publishing, a "market" is a place where you can sell your writing, in other words a publisher that buys work from writers like you.

Two well-known market guides are:

• the Writer's Market, published annually by Writer's Digest. This book mostly contains publishers in the general market, although it contains some markets that want Christian material
• The Christian Writer's Market Guide which contains markets that want Christian material.

These guides are like phone books containing all sorts of information for hundreds of publishers, such as all their contact information, editor's names, mailing and e-mailing addresses, and web sites. They also list important and valuable information about what the market publishes, who their audience is, whether they pay and if yes, how much.

You can buy a market guide or borrow one from your library. My advice is that your first task should be to find and read the "how to use this book" section these guides usually include. Otherwise much of the entries will be like trying to read code.

How to Know What Magazines and Book Publishers Want You to Send

After you find markets to submit your articles, stories, or books to, the next thing you will want to do is either visit the publisher's web site or contact them, if necessary, to obtain or request their "writer's guidelines." You can often find these online today.

Writer's guidelines are the instructions the publisher wants you to follow when you submit to them. If you want to get published, you need to get these before you send them anything, and then carefully follow their instructions. This is a step many writers skip, and then they wonder why their submissions are rejected. If you submit without reviewing and following the guidelines, you're probably not going to make any friends at the other end. This could brand you as amateur and cause you problems right off the bat. Professional writers do it the smart way: they get the guidelines first...and follow them.

You will also want to obtain "sample copies" for magazines and periodicals (regularly published papers) or "book catalogs" (now online) from book publishers. You'll want to study these materials carefully to determine if your material will fit the publisher. If your material currently doesn't fit, you can either tweak it to fit the publisher or find a different publisher. Never try to get a publisher to bend to fit what you're doing--that simply doesn't work. Send them only what they'll be interested in.

"Theme Lists" are editorial topics that will be covered in future issues of a magazine. When publications use a theme list, you should see if your piece of writing will fit a future theme and then let the editor know. This increases your chances of placing your writing in that publication. Another way to use theme lists is to see what themes they'll be covering and write something especially for that theme. While it doesn't guarantee the editor will purchase it, you've increases your chances and the editor will appreciate it!

Included in the e-book is more detailed information on theses topics as well as how to send for these materials whether by postal mail or e-mail, a sample request letter, tips to organize these materials, and more.

Here's a hint: As you obtain writer's guidelines, record the date on them. Occasionally editors changes these and you'll eventually end up with more than one copy in your file. You'll need to know which is the most recent.

How to Submit Your Manuscript

What you do next depends on how the publisher wants you to submit your manuscript. Some magazines allow you to submit your manuscript to them directly and at any time. Some magazine and other periodical publishers want you to send a “query letter” first.

A query letter is a one-page sales letter “selling” the editor on your article or book idea and asking for permission to submit the full article manuscript or book proposal. How to write a query letter, what to include, etc., is a detailed topic of its own. I have a helpful pamphlet on this topic with several example query letters. I'll be creating an e-book from that pamphlet in the future. Contact me for the printed pamphlet if you need that sooner.

If you are submitting your writing to a magazine or periodical publisher who works in print, here are some basic guidelines for formatting your manuscript:

• Name, address, phone, e-mail in the upper left corner. (Don't include your SSN. Keep that secure. If they need it, they'll officially request it.)
• Rights* offered and number of words in the upper right
• Title, by, and name centered, each on their own line, about a half way down the first page
• About two thirds of the way down the page begin your article
• Indent paragraphs using the ruler at the top of your word processor (not the tab key and never, ever spaces)
• Double-space your submission from the title down. (This means set your line spacing to "2." Do not hit the enter key to skip a line.)
• If submitting a hard copy via postal mail, print on one side of white paper using black ink.
• When you open your word processor (such as Word), most likely you should just leave the margins, font, etc. alone. They are already set as they should be.
• On page 2 and beyond use a header to include the title of your article (or partial), your last name, and the page number. This way if your printed pages get separated someone can put it back together.

The e-book gives tips on if you need to mail a hard copy of your manuscript, which is rarely done anymore, but sometimes that's what a publisher or literary agent wants.

If you're submitting to an online publication, basic differences from the above are:

• Rights* offered and word count also go on the left side under your contact info. (Nothing in the upper right.)
• Title, byline, and all text are left justified (nothing centered).
• No indents for paragraphs. Use "block style" and insert an extra line between paragraphs instead of indenting.

 

You can find additional helpful  information in my April 2013 blog post 8 Tips for Formatting Your Manuscripts So Editors Will Love (Not Hate) You

If you want to submit a book manuscript to a book publisher or literary agent, you will most likely need to produce a "book proposal" first. A book proposals tells the publisher or agent all about your proposed book and allows them to decide if they want to see the whole manuscript. How to write a book proposal is a huge topic of it's own. My e-book gives the basic information for what to include in book proposals. For in-depth information, there are many other resources, both books on the topic and online, to teach you how to write a quality book proposal.

Which Rights to Sell When

*A layman's discussion of the Rights you sell to your magazine or periodical articles and stories, and when to sell which rights, is included as a Bonus Article in the e-book. Here's some basic information:

• First rights means selling your piece to be printed for the first time
• Second or Reprint Right is selling a piece of writing that has been published at least once before
• One-time Rights means just that, selling your piece for one-time use. This could be your First rights or Second/Reprint rights.
• Simultaneous Rights means selling your article to more than one publication at the same time.

Know which rights you are selling and when to sell each type. In the e-book I go into when and how to use each of these types of rights to your best advantage as a writer.

Tracking Your Submissions

Once you start submitting your articles, stories, and even book proposals or manuscripts, it won't be long before you can't remember what you sent where and when. It's very important that you keep good records so you don't end up sending the same manuscript to the same editor, which really makes you look bad. So you need a good tracking system.

I use a double-entry system on index cards. For every manuscript that goes out, gets rejected, or gets accepted, I record that action in two places:

• on an index card for that manuscript
• on an index card for that market

This double entry system keeps everything I need to see what I've sent where at my fingertips. In the e-book you can see some sample mock-ups of my cards with details of how I use this system.


If you're looking to get started on your writing journey to getting published by magazine and book publishers, I hope this basic information in this blog post helps you get that solid start you're looking for. If you would like more details on each of these topics and much more, please check out my e-book, "How to Get Published by Magazines & Book Publishers: Find Markets, Submit Your Manuscripts, and More". (Now available on Amazon.com! Published February 7, 2014.)

Tweetables: 

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Related Articles

From April 2013: 8 Tips for Formatting Your Manuscripts So Editors Will Love (Not Hate) You

What You Need to Know about Book Publishers BEFORE Publishing Your Book

MorgueFile.com

Happy New Year! As 2014 begins, we look into the future with hopes and dreams. Perhaps your hope or dream is that this is the year you will publish your book. Whether this is the first time for that dream or you have dreamed that dream many years and continue to hope that this is the year, you need to know about Book Publishers, what types there are, and how they work BEFORE you publish your book. So let's talk about what you need to know about book publishers and book publishing before publishing your book.

I've wanted to write on this topic for a long time, but it is such a big, big, big topic that it's a lot to tackle...especially in a blog post. It's hard to know where to begin. So I'm going to give some basics here, and then I'm planning to write more on this topic elsewhere. When I have that more in-depth information prepared, I'll let you know.

There are two essential things you need to know before publishing your book:

• how publishing works, and
• the different kinds of publishers.

Here I'm giving some basic information which I hope will give you a good foundation of understanding about publishing. That foundation can then steer you in the right direction to accomplish your goals. My aim is to provide information that will:

• help you make good decisions about what kind of publishing you want to get involved in so you don't come out the other end hugely disappointed (which happens to authors all the time),
• help you avoid the worst (getting ripped off),
• help you find the success you're capable of.

I get asked about publishing books all the time.

"My husband just finished writing his book and he wants to get it published. How does he get a publisher?"

"I'm working on my life-dream of writing my book. How do I get it published?"

"I want to write a book. How do I find a publisher?"

Whenever someone asks me how to publish their book or how to get their book published, the answer they need is huge. That's because publishing is not the same as it used to be.

Publishing has changed

Publishing has changed vastly in the digital age of computers and the world wide web. The thing is, unless you've been in publishing for years and know how it used to operate, there's no way you can understand how things are different.

My expertise in publishing comes from being involved in publishing for twenty-five years and from watching it evolve during that time.

Most people seem to have an idea in their head of what "publishing" means to them, and they expect everyone else who uses that word to be thinking the exact same thing. This just isn't the case. So to get our bearings, let's first take a look at what publishing used to be, and then we can understand better what it has morphed into.

The way Publishing used to be

Years ago there were basically two types of publishing:

• Traditional Publishing, also known as Commercial Publishing or Mainstream Publishing
• and Self Publishing, also known as Vanity Publishing

Traditional Publishing

I believe "traditional publishing" is what most people think of when they want their book published. This is where a publisher wants to, and offers to, publish your book for you.

Traditional Publishers pay you an advance and, after your book sells enough copies to earn back what you have been paid in advance, the publishing company begins to pay you royalties.

A traditional publishing company takes all the financial burden of publishing your book. This includes hiring an awesome editor to take your very-good book and make it even greater, commissioning a professional to create a cover for your book, paying someone to design the interior and typeset your words, paying to copyright the work in your name, arranging for an ISBN and bar code, getting it into their catalog, and send out their sales staff to large bookstores to talk up your book and insure the stores carry it on their shelves. The traditional publisher also does a bunch of other things that need to be done that you're probably not aware of, but that's okay because they are the professionals and they know what needs to be done. And they're paying for it all.

You, as the writer, do not "hire" a traditional publisher. They "hire" (or better said: contract with) the writers they choose to publish.

Self (or Vanity) Publishing

Self Publishing is where you decide you want your book published and you set about to get that done.

You either do all the work of publishing your book yourself, or you hire people to do what you cannot or do not want to do (true "self publishing"), or you hire a company to do it for you (what I call a self-publishing company).

The big difference from traditional publishing is that you hire the people or company you need to help you publish your book. You pay all the costs. You'll also keep all the proceeds, should there be any.

Furthermore, when you self publish you can publish virtually anything.

In the old days this was called Vanity Publishing because it was believed to be done by people who couldn't get published by a traditional publisher because their work wasn't good enough. Therefore, being vain enough to only want to see their name on the cover of a book, they would hire someone to put their book together, or would do it themselves, and pay for a print run of hundreds or thousands of books. These self-published books had a reputation for being poorly written and lacking good editing, which created a lousy stigma for self- or vanity-published book. That stigma stuck for a long time. The quality of many self-published books has improved today. The stigma has lessened some, but it still lingers.

The way Publishing is Today

Traditional Publishing

Traditional Publishing remains the same as above. In order to obtain a traditional publishing contract for your book, you will need to find a publisher that publishes the type of book you are writing. Then you will need to approach them in the appropriate way, which is usually with a query letter. You can also meet publisher's representatives at writers conferences and often can "pitch" your book to them there. This "pitch" takes the place of a query letter and you may gain the opportunity to go to the next step, which is submitting a book proposal.

If the publisher is interested in your book (a very competitive long shot), they will ask to see your "book proposal." A book proposal is a very involved sales proposal with a lot of information about your book, including what it's about, an overview, an analysis of competitive titles, a brief description of each chapter (for nonfiction) or synopsis of your story (for fiction), and some sample chapters.

It's an involved document and the sale of your book to a traditional publisher depends on it. There are plenty of resources to teach you how to write a book proposal if that's what you need to do.

I always recommend an author attempt to land a traditional publisher for their book before they self publish.

Self Publishing

Self Publishing, sometimes called Independent Publishing, has morphed into many varieties of self-publishing companies and subsidy publishing.

True "self publishing" (verses self-publishing companies) means you do everything needed to put together your own book and publish it. It's as if you are remodeling your house and you act as the Genera Contractor. You line up all the people you need from the foundation to the shingles. You hire someone to do everything you either cannot do yourself or do not want to do yourself.

You will have complete control over every decision. You will take all the risks. You will pay for everything involved in publishing your book. And you will keep 100% of the proceeds. (I did not say profits because you've a long way to go to sell enough books to recoup your money before you start earning a profit, and many self-published authors never get to the profit stage.)

Thanks to today's technology, authors no longer need to pay for large print runs. Instead there is Print On Demand (POD) technology, so you can order a much small quantity of books. While they will cost more per each, you won't have the huge outlay of money for a large print run and you won't be stuck with a basement, closet, or garage full of books if they don't sell. (Be sure to see the information about required purchases under Subsidy Publishers.)

Self Publishing Companies

In recent years what I call "self publishing companies" have sprung up until there is an incredible number of these companies...all competing for your business. (And what does that tell you? That tells us there is big money to be made by these companies, and all of them want to publish your book so you they can get your money. I'm not saying they are not reputable. But there are a lot of people wanting to publish a book right now, and willing to pay for it. And many don't know this is not the traditional way to publish a book!)

These companies either help you self-publish your book or say they are publishing your book for you. But this is still self publishing because you are paying them to do so. In this case, the company you hire is acting as your General Contractor, providing or hiring the whole team you need to get your book published. And you are still paying for all the work.

Sometimes you do not pay outright for the work. Instead, the company gets paid by keeping a large portion of the proceeds to earn back the costs and hopefully make a profit too. (This looks a lot like a traditional publisher, and it can be really hard to tell the difference. I'll tell you some ways to tell the difference below.)

Sometimes these companies have you contracted with them for several years so that they are the exclusive publisher of your book, which makes business sense and also looks like a traditional publisher.

Here are just a few of the self publishing companies. Please know I'm not endorsing or recommending any of these companies. I'm just giving some examples:

• Outskirts Press
• Author House
• Xulon (Christian books)

If you see ads for companies in writers magazines or online saying you can publish your book through them, this is not a traditional publisher. Traditional publishers acquire books through submissions and, most often these days, through literary agents. They have more than enough books to publish. They don't need to advertise for more.

Before you decide to use any publishing company, it is vitally important that you check them out to see how others have liked working with the company. Search for information (and complaints) about them online. Absolutely check with the Better Business Bureau.

Subsidy Publishing

Subsidy Publishing usually means you are paying part of the costs and the company is paying part of the costs. These companies may also be called "cooperative publishers," "book packagers," "custom publishers," or "boutique publishers."

Sometimes you have to pay money out of your pocket. Sometimes you pay nothing out of pocket, but the company keeps a larger portion of the proceeds to recoup their costs and, hopefully, make a profit. (Sometimes the fact that you are paying the cost of publishing your book is "hidden" because there little or no cash outlay.)

Some Subsidy Publishers require authors to purchase a certain number of books. I've seen the required purchase to be as many as 5,000 copies.

Most authors don't have a clear idea of how many copies of their book will actually sell. It's hard to tell until we've done it at least once. We all want to sell thousands of books. But the reality is it's more likely you'll sell hundreds at most. Reality check: Unless you speak multiple times in a year to hundreds or thousands of people per engagement, you're not going to sell 5,000 copies of your book.

If you purchase a large quantity of books, the subsidy publisher is going to make money off of you and you will most likely be stuck with thousands of books you will never sell (or recoup your investment from, let alone make a profit).

Plus, do the math: How much money is that number of books going to cost you? Even if they are only costing you $4 or $5 each, look at what a large investment that is, money that is out of your pocket until you sell to the break-even point. And look at how much money the Subsidy Publisher is making off of you!

Small Publishers Publishing on the Traditional Model

Many publishers today state they publish using the "traditional model." This usually means that they will pay the expenses of publishing your book. You won't pay any part. (Remember, if you're paying anything at all, you are not with a traditional publisher. And sometimes when you're not paying any part of the publishing costs, you're still not with a tradition publisher.)

These publishers will pay you royalties on the sales of your book. There is usually not an advance, because the publisher is too small to have funds to offer authors advances.

Small publishers often pay a larger percentage of each sale in royalties, but there will be fewer sales because of the limitations of a small company.

One of those limitations is that the books produced by small companies will most likely not be on the shelves in brick and mortar chain bookstores because small traditional publishing companies don't have a sales staff to meet with chain store buyers and convince them to elbow over some of the big boys' books to make shelf space for this smaller company's books.

Brick and mortar stores most often can and will order your book published by a small publisher in if a customer walks in and requests it (and if the publisher has its books available through a major distributor, such an Ingram), but your book won't be on the shelf where browsers might see it, pick it up, flip through it, read a few pages and decide to buy it.

Some small publishing companies use companies like CreateSpace to publish their books. CreateSpace is part of Amazon's group of companies. Many stores won't carry CreateSpace books because Amazon is their biggest competitor and they obviously don't want to be helping their competition, plus CreateSpace doesn't allow a big enough discount for the profit margin required by larger stores.

Small publishing companies usually offer virtually no traditional marketing (ads in magazines, on radio, etc.), but many do have a variety of ways of capitalizing on internet marketing and social media.

In the end, a small traditional publisher offers authors the advantages of an increased likelihood that they will publish their books. Authors often enjoy a more personal working relationship with the publisher and won't "get lost" as they might with a large traditional publisher who might give more attention to their big name authors. Drawbacks are the limited marketing help (much of which the author is expected to do anyway, even when published by a large traditional publisher), not being on the shelves in brick and mortar stores, and no advances.

Muddying the Waters

Book publishing can get very confusing because self publishing companies and subsidy publishers now use terms that have long been used in traditional publishing. They often call themselves "traditional publishers," sending you an "acceptance letter," say they will "publish your book" for you, and pay you "royalties."

Many of these companies will also tell you that they offer "distribution." They promise they will get your book on Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble.com, and other outlets. Many new authors think this means their book will be in bookstores like Barnes & Noble.

There is a huge difference between:

• having your book in a Barnes & Noble store
• and being on BarnesandNoble.com.

The language is so close that many authors don't notice the difference...until it's too late.

You can get your own book on Amazon.com for a minimal fee (it was a one-time fee of $25 a dozen years ago when I put my first book, Dear America, on Amazon).

My self-published book, Deliver Me, is also on BarnesandNoble.com because it is distributed by Ingram (because I printed it through LightningSource.com, which is owned by Ingram). So there are ways to do this yourself. You do not need to pay anyone to do this for you. (Getting your  book published as a Kindle, Nook, or other e-book is a whole different animal. But you can also do this yourself, or hire it done. Google it to learn how.)

These companies have muddied the water by using the same terminology as true traditional publishers. We're using the same words but we're not speaking the same language. This is why you have to get savvy before publishing your book!

As if all this hasn't muddied the waters enough, you also need to be aware of a newer entry to publishing in recent years. That is, self-publishing companies that are owned by either larger traditional companies or big name authors or other organizations. Two examples are:

• Thomas Nelson (a traditional Christian publishing company) owns the self- or subsidy-publishing company WestBow Press.
• Author Jerry Jenkins, owner of the Christian Writers Guild, opened a company formerly called Christian Writers Guild Publishing. That company has now merged with Bethany Press (not the same as the large traditional Christian publisher, Bethany House), Believers Press and more to form what is now called 1Source.

Being published by WestBow Press is not the same as being published by the traditional publisher Thomas Nelson, which owns WestBow. (For more on this you may want to read literary agent Chip MacGregor's blog post "Thomas Nelson and Self-Publishing" and "Responding to Self-Publishing." )

See how confusing this can get? This is why you need to know what you're doing and who you're working with before you publish your book.

An Analogy

In order to communicate to you the difference between Traditional Publishing and all other types of publishing, let's say instead of publishing a book, your big dream has always been to play baseball.

You've learned to play and you're fairly good at it. But there are only so many spots available on all the Major League teams combined, and there's a ton of really stiff competition because lots of other people want to win one of the relatively few spots available on a major league team, too. So you try out.

What happens if you do win a place on a Major League Baseball team's roster? Congratulations! You get to play with the big boys! More than that, you get to play in front of a huge audience. Your name will be announced by the game announcers and people will hear your name and get to know your name and will get to see you play. You'll get to play in the big baseball stadiums all around America. You've made it to the big times!

But what if you don't win one of those relatively few spots on a Major League team?

Well, you have some choices. You can continue to try, and thank goodness in publishing, unlike baseball, age and gender don't matter. The playing field is pretty level and you can keep trying to win a spot with the big boys as long as you breathe. But you also can make some other moves.

You can play baseball on other teams, in other leagues, and on other fields. You can join a team in a city league. There's still some competition but there are enough teams that you can probably find one that will let you play. Or you can form your own team, or even your own league if you have the resources to do that. And then you play all you want.

You might be playing because you love the game and you're out to have fun. Or you might be taking it all more seriously than just having fun. But the point is, if you want to play baseball badly enough, and if you can't win a spot on a Major League team, then there are still some things you can do to make your dream of playing baseball come true.

Even so, there are obviously some really big differences between playing in your local league and playing for the Major Leagues:

• You won't be paid as much as a major league player
• Chances are you won't get paid much at all, if anything. And chances are even better that you're going to have to fork out some money because you're going to be paying your own way and paying for all your equipment, your travel expenses, etc.
• You won't be playing in the big stadiums, unless you can make some kind of special arrangement for a special event. (Think stadium = brick and mortar stores here.)
• While you may be playing for fun or for fulfillment or even to make a bit of money or for another reason, there are people who will never see you as a "real" baseball player because you're not in the Major Leagues.

I think you can see the similarities between the baseball analogy and publishing.

How can you tell which League a Publisher is in?

You probably know names of some of the large, long-existing truly-traditional publishers, such as Simon and Schuster, Random House, Bantam, Dell, Double Day, and Putnam.

In the arena of Christian book publishing, names of big traditional publishers include Thomas Nelson, Zondervan, and Bethany House.

But if you can't tell by the name, how do you tell whether a publisher is a traditional publisher or not? Here are some hints:

Walk into any brick and mortar chain bookstore such as Barnes & Noble, and the books on their shelves will most likely be from traditional publishers. Looking to see if a particular book or publisher is carried by Amazon.com does you no good at all because Amazon, God bless them, will carry just about anybody's book.

In the Christian book publishing arena, Christianbook.com pretty much carries only books from the large traditional publishers. They do not carry self-published books nor even many smaller publishers.

Conclusions

I hope this information has been, and will be, helpful to you as you seek publication for your book. I know it can be complicated and confusing, which is why I want to write more on this topic via another venue. I'm working on that now and will let you know when it's ready.

Before you publish your book, be sure to ask good questions, including:

• How is this company making their money? Off of you? Or off of selling copies of your book?
• Are this company's books sold in brick and mortar chain bookstores? (Independent stores have the decision making and bookkeeping to carry anything, including self-published books.)
• Are you required to purchase books?
• Are you required to pay any part of the publishing costs?
• What will the company really do for you? Can you do it yourself for much less?

These questions will help you determine what type of publishing company you're looking into, and what your publishing experience will look like when it's done.

Educate yourself about publishing. Know what your getting into. Discover all your options, and chose the best one for you. Learn what you need to know about book publishers and book publishing before publishing your book. Then when it's done, you won't be disappointed and you'll be able to create your own success.

Tweetables:

How do I publish my book? http://ow.ly/s9MJF @DianneEButts   Tweet this

How do I get my book published? http://ow.ly/s9MJF @DianneEButts   Tweet this


NEXT MONTH: I feel we've been neglecting beginning writers and have been talking about book publishing a lot. So next month we'll talk about the basics of how to get started in publishing, whether you want to write for magazines or books.

Wishing You "A Ruby Christmas"

A Ruby Christmas
a collaborative novella by authors of
Write Integrity Press and Pix-N-Pens Publishing

Last month I promised you we'd do something fun and different this month--put away the "all business" on this blog (although we'll do a little business below and talk about why do a collaborative novel?). But for the most part, we'll relax a little and enjoy a special treat for Christmas.

I promised you a free sample of my fiction and free chapters from other Write Integrity Press and Pix-N-Pens authors. Here are all the details.

A Ruby Christmas is...

...a collaborative novel featuring authors from Write Integrity Press and Pix-N-Pens Publishing. Earlier this year an idea for a character and a story line was batted around. The idea had to include a character who would travel the world in search of ... something.

Each author involved, then, would write one chapter.

This year, Ruby Joy Buckner travels the world in search of all the pieces needed to put together a Nativity scene for her widowed father.

The first and last chapters are written by the same author--J. A. Marx--because (I believe) the storyline was primarily her idea. Fay Lamb co-wrote the last two chapters with J.A.

Eight of the nine authors were already published by either Write Integrity Press or Pix-N-Pens Publishing. The publishers held a contest to include one addition author, and Phee Paradise won that contest and joined us with her chapter.

Participating authors received the storyline and character information last spring and wrote their chapters. Then this summer and fall the chapters were edited together to form a book published by our infamous (to us, anyway) publisher.

Read chapters free!

Here's the fun part for you: the publisher is releasing almost all of the book - 9 of the 11 chapters - for free, one chapter at a time! Don't worry. You'll be able to get the rest of the book - the last two chapters - for free too, if you act quickly enough. I'll tell you how in a minute. Even if you miss the free days you'll be able to get the entire book for a low cost later on.

So here's how it will work:

The first chapter of the book officially releases Monday, December 2, with the first chapter being posted on the Write Integrity Press blog.

Then a new chapter will release each week day on the same blog through chapter 9.

I wrote Chapter 2, so mine will be featured Tuesday, December 3.

Here's the whole world-tour schedule:

• Monday, December 2: Texas by J.A. Marx
• Tuesday, December 3: Colorado by Dianne E. Butts
• Wednesday, December 4: Cocoa Beach, Florida, by Fay Lamb
• Thursday, December 5: Virginia by Ruth O'Neil
• Friday, December 6: New York City by Jerusha Agen
• Monday, December 9: London by Jennifer Fromke
• Tuesday, December 10: Paris by Marji Laine
• Wednesday, December 11: South Africa by Debbie Roome
• Thursday, December 12: Guatemala by Phee Paradise
• Friday, December 13: read Ruby's return home when the entire book releases on Kindle

Over on my other blog, www.DeliverMeBook.blogspot.com I'm going to post each day with a bit of information about the featured author, some links, and a direct link to her chapter. So please visit over there for more fun and information each day from December 1 through the 13th, and all the links.

Many of the authors are also guest posting on blogs on their featured days, so I'll include links to those articles as well, over on my Deliver Me Book blog.

Get the whole book for free

The final chapters will release with the entire book exclusively on Amazon's Kindle and will be free on Kindle from December 13 through the 16th.

After that, the book will be just $ .99 for the rest of the month.

Don't have a Kindle? No problem. You can get the free program to make your computer a Kindle reader. Here are the links to do that. The program is direct from Amazon and therefore should be safe to download:

• Free Kindle for PC download.
• Free Kindle for Mac download.

I hope you won't mind, but I just might send a mid-month post as a reminder to get the free book and to give you a link to the e-book when it's released.

Get the first collaborative novella from 2012...

This isn't the first collaborative novella Write Integrity has done. The idea debuted last year with A Christmas Tree Treasure Hunt.

I didn't take part in that project, but I enjoyed the story. It's still available and is climbing the Amazon charts again this year. So if you simply can't wait for the next chapter of A Ruby Christmas, grab that one and enjoy!

One more thing...

Get in on the Contest and Prizes!

And oh yea...did I forget to mention there's a contest for prizes? Well of course there's a contest and prizes! Something about seeing a photo that has been altered on the daily featured author's blog... Then finding the same un-altered photo on the publisher's Pinterest page... Then sending the publisher an e-mail with the differences... And you're entered in a drawing for a prize?

Gosh, you'll just have to visit www.WriteIntegrity.com for those details.

Hmmm, I wonder what the prizes are going to be...

Why do a collaborative novel?

Well of course I can't let my writing blog go without talking a bit about business. That is, after all, why this blog exists: to share what I've learned (or am learning) about publishing and to help you with your writing and publishing.

So I thought you might like to ask me, "Why do a collaborative novel?" Well I'm so glad you asked.

When I first thought about jumping on board with the project this year, I was quite intimidated by the whole thing. Build a story off of someone else's idea? Would I be able to come up with a story for my chapter?

Would my fiction-writing be up to snuff compared to the other authors who have published more fiction than I have?

You know, all the usual writer-ly insecurities.

But going on faith that I would be able to overcoming all those concerns, I started to think of the benefits to being involved.

First of all, I'd be able to offer all of you who have followed my monthly e-zine for so many years, and then this blog, something free for your enjoyment... Well that sounded like fun (and maybe a bit intimidating, too).

Then I thought about the exposure. Based on how much exposure A Christmas Tree Treasure Hunt got last year, there would be a lot of people reading my one chapter.

Add to that the fact that at the end of the book, each author gets a page for a bio, photo, and links to my other books and, well, that moved the opportunity into the "it's a no-brainer" category.

Plus, with nine authors involved, all of us working to let our readers know about the project, and it seemed like a great way to earn more readers for my other books. I will be exposed to those people the other authors get to read the book, just as I'm introducing you to the other eight authors, if you don't already know them.

The whole thing just seemed like a great opportunity. So I took the plunge.

Have you ever taken part in a collaborative novel or other project? How did it turn out for you?

Please leave a comment and let us know what you think of A Ruby Christmas. And if you feel inclined, it would be great if you'd write a short, honest review on Amazon.com also. Thank you!

Wishing you "A Ruby Christmas"

That's my way, this year, of saying Merry Christmas. I hope A Ruby Christmas helps you kick off the holiday season with many good things and mighty blessings.

Next month we'll get back to business. But until then, I pray God blesses your Christmas and New Year with reminders of Him and His love for you and yours.

Tweetables:

Discover "A Ruby Christmas." www.ButtsAboutWriting.blogspot.com @BAboutWriting @DianneEButts #WIP #PNP #ARubyChristmas  Tweet it

Read free chapters "A Ruby Christmas." www.ButtsAboutWriting.blogspot.com  @DianneEButts #WIP #PNP #ARubyChristmas  Tweet it

For more updates on A Ruby Christmas, please Like my Facebook Author page: https://www.facebook.com/DianneButtsAuthor

Related Articles:

At www.DeliverMeBook.blogspot.com December 1 - 13, 2013

A Special Note

As if all this with A Ruby Christmas isn't enough... I also have a new book of my own releasing soon! Watch for Prophecies Fulfilled in the Life of Jesus, the third in my nonfiction "Prophecies Fulfilled" series. This new book should be out in December from Pix-N-Pens Publishing. Watch for it on Amazon and other outlets. Thank you!

Discovering Goodreads

www.Goodreads.com
logo used with permission

If you haven't discovered Goodreads yet, you're missing out on a golden opportunity. Whether you're an author with books to promote or a reader who loves to read, Goodreads is the premier place for book lovers to gather and discuss the books they are reading, writing, reviewing, and loving.

Goodreads currently has 20 million members. They have added 570 million books to their site and members have generated 24 million book reviews. Its a book-lover's paradise.

Goodreads used to be privately owned but in a surprise move it was bought by Amazon.com on March 28, 2013. The acquisition of Goodreads by Amazon shocked many business people who had previously seen Goodreads as giving some competition to Amazon's Shelfari (and winning that competition. Seriously, is anybody on Shelfari?). Perhaps some also saw it as a conflict of interest with Amazon getting rid of the competition by buying them out. But that's a fair move in business. Either way, Goodreads is alive and thriving.

I've been a Goodreads member for a few years now, but honestly I'm still learning a lot about it and how to use it. For example, just a few weeks ago, via their newsletter, I learned I could send a "status update" to all my followers and fans. Who knew?! I sure didn't know I could do that.

Whether you've been on Goodreads for a while yourself or you're new to Goodreads, let me share what I've learned and discovered about what we can do there. There is so much, surely there's something here that's new for you.

www.Goodreads.com
logo used with permission

Join for free

Goodreads is free to join, and you can sign in with your Facebook which makes it easy.

Connect with Friends

Similar to Facebook, you send Friend Requests and the person on the other end can accept your request or not. I found a lot of friends by reviewing the Friend lists of others and sending requests from there. But beware, Goodreads frowns on sending mass Friend requests and you can reach a daily limit.

Since I joined in January 2008, I had accumulated 466 friends...until a few weeks ago when I realized I had never used their link to send Friend invitations to my Twitter Followers. I clicked that and the Friends started coming! In less than two weeks, I added over 200 new Friends to my list.

I have yet to send invitations to my Facebook friends or e-mail lists, although those options are there, too. Find them on your Friends page. (Click the little people icon at the top right by your photo and you'll see it on the right: "Find Friends From.")

 

What you can do as a Reader

Here are just some of the activities Readers find and can take part in on Goodreads that I've discovered. But I don't think I've listed everything:

Friend others.

Follow people and get followers.
The difference between Friends and Followers is that you send or receive a Friend request and accept it or not. It's a two-way relationship. A Follower doesn't need your permission to follow you and read your reviews. (I think I got that right. It's confusing.) You can be Friend, a Follower, or both.

See which books our Friends are reading.

Read reviews. Write reviews.

Challenge yourself to read a certain number of books and keep track.

Shelve books, including books you want to read, books you are reading, books you own, and more.

Track the books you are reading, want to read, etc.

Enter a Goodreads Giveaway. There are tons of them and you might win a free book. These are often newly released books. If you win a giveaway, a review is appreciated but not required.

Join a group. There are tons of these too -- for every genre you can think of, for reviewers, for Christian books, and so much more. There are discussions and networking opportunities and more.

Get book recommendations. Based on what you've read and reviewed, Goodreads will recommend other books you might like.

What you can do as an Author

Sign up for the free Author Program Goodreads has an author program where you can set up your own Author Page. You can add a photo, a bio, links to your other sites, and more. Fans can follow you.

Goodreads says, "The Goodreads Author Program is a completely free feature designed to help authors reach their target audience — passionate readers. This is the perfect place for new and established authors to promote their books."

There are guidelines for authors you should read when you set up your page. If you don't find your book(s) already on their site, they will add them for you. Self-published books are welcome here. (Although I think they need to be available online somewhere, not just from your garage. But if that's your situation, check it out.)

Connect your blog, so it appears on your author page.

Add a video or trailer for your book.

Host a Goodreads Giveaway. You set it up and choose the dates it will run (maximum 90 days),  how many books to give away, and where in the world the giveaway will be available. You'll add a description of the book. People can enter to win a copy of your book. Goodreads will randomly choose the winners and send you the list with addresses. You are responsible for getting the book to the winners in a timely manner. (If you choose to make your giveaway available outside the U.S., such as in Canada and the U.K., you can deliver the book by buying it as a gift and having it delivered through Amazon.) Goodreads Giveaway are for print books only, not e-books.

Goodreads Giveaways generate fantastic exposure for your book. Not only can members enter to win, many more of them mark it as "want to read," which generates more exposure for you, getting your book title and cover in front of more potential readers and book buyers.

List your Events. Similar to Facebook, Goodreads has an "Events” function. I use it to list every upcoming author event and appearance I'm planning. To list an Event, click on the “Explore” menu, then on “Events,” then on “Add an Event.”

List some Quotes. On my Author Page I can add both "Dianne's Quotes" and "Quotes from Dianne." I guess the first would be my favorites from other sources and the latter from myself? I want to find some interesting quotes from my books and add them here.

Click "quotes" on the Explore menu, then click "Add A Quote."

Send a General Update. I just learned about this! As an author, I'm now trying to send an update about once a week. Here's quoting from the Goodreads newsletter:

Want to let people know that giveaway winners have been selected or that you're in the process of reviewing the edits on your manuscript? Tell them in a status update!

Status updates are a quick way to broadcast a short message -- up to 420 characters -- to your followers on Goodreads. Updates appear in the news feed, where you friends and followers can like them and comment on them.

Create a status update from the "Currently Reading" section of your home page when logged into Goodreads.

You'll find it in the upper right corner of the "Currently Reading" box. It's a link called "add a general update."

Put a Goodreads widget on your blogs and sites. They give you the code to copy and paste into your html so people can Friend you or enter your Goodreads Giveaway. To see mine, look in the right hand column (you may have to scroll up to see it), or click this link: "Giveaway" or click on the "Giveaway" tab at the top of this page. But come right back because we're not quite done!

What Authors and Readers can do

At least I think both Authors and general members can do these next three things. It's hard for me to tell because as a Goodreads Author, certain things show up on my pages that general members don't see and I can't tell whether some of these things are available to general members or not. If you discover they're not available to everyone, please leave a comment and let us all know.

Find these next three under the Explore menu.

I've also seen links to these next three on other pages, but I can't tell you where because I can't find them again! (Which is one of the drawbacks of Goodreads. I've seen interesting things but then later have no idea how to find them again. But I'm learning...)

Listopia. Great fun for general members.But Authors can also make good use of these to add their own books, so make a list of your favorite books or genre then include your own books!

Trivia. If you're a general member (meaning not a Goodreads Author), can you see this one? I'm working on finding some interesting trivia in my Prophecies Fulfilled books to post here. 

Click "trivia" on the Explore menu, then click "Add a question" on the Trivia Question bar.

Quizzes.  Again, if you're a general member I believe you can see this one. I'm working to figure out some good but challenging questions from both the Christmas story in the Bible and the Easter story. It will be fun to see if my quizzes bring more attention to my Prophecies Fulfilled books.

Click "quizzes" on the Explore menu, then click "create a quiz." Also take a few of the quizzes. They are fun and they'll spark some ideas for creating your own.

Please enter my Goodreads Giveaway

If you're already a member of Goodreads, you're all set to enter my Goodreads Giveaway. You can click to enter from this page.

If you're not yet a Goodreads member, now that you're familiar with it, why not give it a go? Once you join or login, look me up here: https://www.goodreads.com/DianneEButts

Send me a Friend request and I'll be your first friend. Or Follow my author page as a Fan if you want.

After you join, don't forget to enter my Goodreads Giveaway. You can come back here to enter, or you can find my Giveaway in the many other Giveaways. Go to the Giveaways from the Explore menu. Then find "Browse by Tag" on the right-hand side. Click "More..." at the bottom and then choose "Christian" and you'll find my book in there somewhere. I think they put the newest on top, so you'll have to scroll down to find mine and maybe even go to the next page. I hope you win!

Related Goodreads Article

Thinking you don't need one more social network to keep up with? This article by literary agent Janet Kobobel Grant gives great advice for authors to make the most of Goodreads in only one visit per week: 5 Ways To Increase Visibility Through Goodreads

Here's a short video with Otis Chandler, CEO and Co-founder of Goodreads:

 

December: Something fun and different coming next month

For December, we're going to do something a little different. Call it a special Christmas treat, my Christmas gift to you.

You're going to get treated to a free sample of my fiction ... as well as free chapters by other Pix-N-Pens / Write Integrity Press authors. Then we're going to put all these chapters together to make one e-book and, if you're paying attention, you'll be able to get the whole e-book for free for a limited time. So please tune in on the first of December for all the details. You'll know:

• where to find the free chapters
• when and where my chapter will appear
• and when and how to get the whole book for free (and later for a great discount)

It's going to be fun. Instead of being all business, we're going to take some time to relax and enjoy the holiday season. It will be a great way to kick off your Christmas season. We hope you'll be blessed!

Tweetables:

Discovering #Goodreads http://ow.ly/qcQm7 @DianneEButts   Click to Tweet

How to promote your #book through Goodreads http://ow.ly/qcQm7   @DianneEButts   Click to Tweet

#Authors discover all the ways to #promoteyourbook at #Goodreads! http://ow.ly/qcQm7  @DianneEButts Click to Tweet

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