In recent years the development of the internet, advances in print technology and changing reading habits, have made self-publishing a viable route for many writers. However, I now believe that the growing popularity of digital reading devices, such as the Kindle and Ipad, offer the Independent Writer a virtually risk free route into self-publishing.

This article will examine the old self-publishing model, look at what has changed and outline an almost risk free self-publishing model.

The Old Self-Publishing Model

As little as ten years ago publishers were all powerful. If a writer wanted to be published then they needed a publisher who would provide the finance to print the books, the distribution chain to get books into bookshops (where almost all books were sold) and the expertise to generate marketing and promotion. However, over the years, technology has gnawed away at each of these three pillars of the publishing world, until, finally, the power has swung into the hands of the writer.

The first pillar to go was printing. Technological developments made short run printing (less than a thousand copies) a reality, with Print-On-Demand later lowering this to just a single book. This meant that no longer were writers reliant on publishers to provide the finance needed to print a couple of thousand books. The arrival of the internet took care of the next two pillars. The rise of websites such as Amazon removed the power of the bookshops and the development of social media has given writers direct access to readers. Authors are now able to launch and execute their own marketing campaigns, without the support of a publisher.

The self-publishing model, though now well established, may be straight forward but is far from risk free, with writers still needing to find a significant amount of money to print the books for them to sell. Self-publishing is not cheap and risk comes in the fact that writers are required to print books that have no guarantee of selling. Even professional publishers are unaware of which book will sell and which will flop. However, these big publishers have the resources to find the best-sellers, which go onto support the poorer selling titles. Self-publishers don’t have this luxury and are therefore are presented with a far greater risk.

Yet, self-publishing writers have little choice than to layout the cash and take the plunge, delving into an untested market with fingers firmly crossed. It is true that the rewards can be huge, but the stark reality is that almost all self-publishing writers end up making a loss.

When you examine the self-publishing model, it is clear that the best way to reduce the risk would be to gain an initial assessment of the marketplace, in advance of any financial outlay. Imagine how much more prepared a self-publishing writer would be, if they were able to have an insight into the number of books they could expected to sell (if any) PRIOR to shelling out money for printing

I now believe that this is possible…

The Digital Revolution

So what has changed?

The answer, once again, is technology, but it is also reading habits. The rise of the digital reading device and the easy access to books, through apps such as iBooks, has left readers with little excuse not to read digitally. Over 3 million Ipads have already been sold and with the recent release of the next generation of the Kindle, the eReader market is set to keep on growing.

This is good news for readers and writers alike, yet there is one more piece of the jigsaw that should be bringing Independent Writers to a fit of excitement. This is the fact that both the Ipad (via companies such as Smashwords) and the Kindle, directly, allow writers to upload their own books and take a large share of the revenue produce!

This means that the digital platform is free and fully accessible to self-publishing writers. The reality is that the Ipad and Kindle have combined to produce a new and accessible market that is just waiting to be tapped by forward thinking writers.

The New Self-Publishing Model

What I find most exciting about the development of this digital marketplace is that it presents self-publishing writers with a free to enter test bed for their new books. In essence, the Ipad and Kindle can be used to assess the readability and commercial viability of your self-publishing project. Put more bluntly, with a minimum outlay, self-publishing writers can determine the demand for their book PRIOR to expensive printing.

So here’s my vision for an almost risk free route to self-publishing:

1. Pre-production:

The first step is to produce a book of high quality. I can’t say this too strongly. You are producing a product to sell. You are expecting readers to give you their hard earned cash to read your words, it is your duty to ensure that the product they receive is amazing. This means not only being well written, but also thoroughly edited, proofread and a cover that has been professionally designed. There are no shortcuts here. As a writer your skill and value comes in producing the text, but if you are to produce a book you expect people to buy, then you need to invest to ensure all other aspects are of the same professional level.

Getting down to the nitty gritty I would expect you to be able to get a 50,000 word novel through the pre-production process for less than £1000. Here’s an outline of some rough costs :

• Editing by BubbleCow is £5/1000 ($8) and would be £250 for a 50,000 manuscript. We are more competitive than most editors so ensure that you pay close attention to the pricing,
• Proofreading prices should be less than editing and you are looking at maybe £200 for a 50,000 word novel,
• You can get a cover designed from about £250 (though more expensive for very high quality covers),
• I would also budget at least another £100 for odds and ends such as an ISBN number.

This means that realistically you can push a book through pre-production for about £800 (250+200+250+100). At this stage I would suggest you don’t spend any money on typesetting since the formatting for both Ipad and Kindle is fairly easy to carry out yourself. However, should you go on to print the book, then typesetting is essential.

2. Writer’s Platform.

Much has been written about building a writer’s platform and for self-published writers this is an essential part of the process. In essence, a writer’s platform is an on-line presence designed to capture potential readers. These articles will help to explain more. I can’t over empathise just how important this is for an Independent Writer. A self-publisher is taking on all of the roles of a traditional publishing house, and promotion and marketing are just two of these roles. If you are unable to promote your book, then you will have no readers and no readers means no sales. I would also suggest that you consider whether you will need to invest money at this stage in employing a professional to help set up your network (website/blog etc.).

3. Digital Test Bed:

The next stage is to test the market and determine if there is enough demand to move onto the final step. This is the crucial stage between you and an expensive printing mistake, so go into the exercise wholeheartedly.

Having prepared your manuscript in pre-production, you should now upload it to both the Kindle and the Ipad. This article will explain how. The process of uploading is free. By using this Digital Test Bed you can assess if there is a readership for your book. The Ipad and Kindle offer a living, breathing marketplace and it provides you with an real life indication of your book’s potential.

The temptation at this point is to become carried away with ANY sales your book gets. It is very easy to extrapolate a few sales into millions of copies and start rushing to the printers, cash in hand, well before you have any meaningful data. I would suggest caution.

The point of this exercise is to do one thing, and one thing alone, assess the marketplace and you book’s potential. It is essential that you set a measurable sales target long before you upload the book. In the cold light of day you need to determine how many books you need to sell, over a set period of time, to deem the exercise a success and give you the green light to go onto traditional printing.

It may be that you decide to not move onto printing until you have produced enough revenue from ebook sales to pay for a print run. But you may decide that just assessing sales is enough. To put things into prospective, a traditional publisher would expect a book to sell between 1000 and 5000 copies a year. Taking the lower figure of 1000 books, this is roughly 80 books a month, about 20 a week. This is not a hard and fast rule, but if you are not selling this many book on a digital platform, then you are probably not going to sell them in the real world. Remember, the Digital Test Bed is a way to assess your marketplace BEFORE you invest money in costly printing.

If your book fails to sell on the Ipad and Kindle, then it is time for some soul searching. There are three reasons a book may not sell in the numbers that you need to move onto the next step. The most likely is that you have failed to market the book correctly. After all, if readers don’t know about your book why would they buy? The second is quality. It may simply be that your book is not good enough. However, if you have carried out the pre-production professionally, then this is probably not the reason. The final reason may be market size. It may be that the market for your book is just not big enough to support your ambitions,

Whatever the reason for your failure to hit your targets, I would urge you to attempt to correct the problem and return to the digital marketplace before moving onto expensive printing.

4. Printing:

The final stage is printing. If you get to this stage then you will have established that a viable marketplace exists for your book, and you will be pretty clear just how many you can sell and, therefore, how many you need to print. Much has been written elsewhere about this process so I will leave you to do your own research, however, I would offer one word of warning. Printing is expensive and many self-published writers have a garage full of books to prove just how risky it can all be. My advice is don’t move on this stage until you have proven with your Digital Test Bed that a market exists.

Just don’t.

If you are tempted, but don’t have strong sales on the Ipad and Kindle to back your gut, then consider a Lulu trail. Put the book on the Lulu website, and offer POD to your readers. See what the take up is like and wait for feedback. Only when you are sure a market exists, should you move onto the final stage of parting with money for printed books.

My final word of advice is that selling physical books is different from marketing yourself on-line. It is harder. It involves convincing book shops to stock your book, attending events and rounds of persistent marketing and self-promotion. So even if the Digital Test Bed demonstrates a market, still approach the final stage with your eyes wide open.

I would love to hear you feedback on this approach.

As the war of the eReaders hots up, writers are being presented with a new and potentially profitable route to market. For the first time, Independent Writers have a self-publishing avenue that is not only low cost, but also offers the realistic prospect of reaching a significant number of readers, whilst actually making a profit in the process.

This post examines the expanding market and offers a step-by-step guide to preparing and publishing your book on the Kindle and Ipad.

War Of The eReaders

Regardless of where you stand on the debate between dedicated eReader (e.g. Kindle) Vs third party tablet device (e.g. Ipad), the news is good for writers. Readers are increasingly opening themselves to reading books digitally and the mass sales of both types of devices has created a significant market. Amazon have been caegy about the sales of the latest generation of the Kindle, but even without accurate figures the sales have undoubtedly been huge. Apple, on the other hand, are understandably proud of the Ipad’s impressive sales and have openly confirmed that over three million devices have been sold. It also is strongly rumoured that Google intend to enter the tablet market with a device using Android. The result is that the market for digital books is set to expand.

Why Should Writers Care?

The first answer to this question is that it opens a new market for writers. However, that is a post in itself. What is important for writers wishing to self-publish their own work, is that neither Amazon nor Apple have set up barriers to publication for Independent Writers. It is perfectly possible for ANYONE to sell their digital books on both the Ipad and Kindle. This post will give advice and guidance on how best to prepare and submit your book for digital distribution.

Preparing Your Book For Digital Publication

Just because your book will not be printed on paper, it is still essential that you spend time and resources on the pre-production stages of the publishing process. Getting your book onto the Ipad and Kindle is just the start. You need to ensure that once readers download your book, that the reading experience is so good that they have no option but to mention your book to their friends. In order to do this you must ensure the book looks and reads the best it can be.

Editing

Editing is so much more that checking for errors and it is your first step to producing a great read. If your book was to be prepared for publication by a publishing house, it would pass through a four editing step process prior to printing:

• Structural editing,
• Stylistic editing,
• Copy editing,
• Proofreading,

If you intend to self-edit your work then you should read your manuscript on a line-by-line basis, whilst holding the following questions in your mind:

• Is the book’s organisation and content suitable for the intended audience, medium, market, and purpose? [Structural]
• How can the book’s meaning be clarified, the flow improved and the language smoothed?[Stylistic]
• Have you ensured the correctness, consistency, accuracy, and completeness of the document? [Copy]

Don’t underestimate the difficulty of this process – this blog post about self-editing will help.The reality is that you will probably need two or three passes to knock your manuscript into shape.

Once happy, I would suggest that you then ask two or three friends/family to read through your work and provide feedback. It is essential with this type of feedback that you firstly frame the type of input you require and secondly give the reader permission to criticise. This blog post will give you more insight into getting the most out of feedback from friends and family.

Yet, with all of the best intentions self-editing is a risky process for any self-publishing writer. The key is to see self-publishing your book as a business project. The aim is to make a profit. In order to do this you must have the best possible product to sell. Editing is a essential aspect to preparing your book and you should seriously consider investing money into having the book edited professionally. BubbleCow offers a professional editing service, but even if you don’t use us, I urge you to seriously consider paying for a professional edit, it will be money that you will not regret spending.

The final step in the editing process is proofreading. This should come at the very end of the process and is the final step once you have made all other corrections to your manuscript. The job of proofreading is to find the errors and typos. Once again you should be looking to friends and family, whilst also considering employing a professional.

Cover Design

Assuming that you are happy with the content of your book the next step is to think of cover design. It goes without saying that a good book cover will sell books. This is especially important for books being sold from bookshelves in book shops, but still applies to the digital market. It is essential that you have a good book cover. As with editing, cover design is a skill and you should seriously consider using a professional to design your cover. Here are just a couple of suggestions of companies that BubbleCow trusts – 2H Designs (UK) and The Book Designer (US).

Self-Publishing On The Ipad

Apple’s distrubtion system for the Ipad (and Ipod), is a free app called iBooks. Once installed on your device, iBooks allows you to buy, download and store your ebooks. Though Apple have little restriction on the books that can be uploaded to the iBooks software, individual writers are not able to directly upload titles. Instead, Apple have appointed a number of Apple-approved iBookstore aggregators. These companies will be familiar to most Independent Writers, but for the sake of simplicity this article will focus on Smashwords. The process of uploading your book to Smashwords is simple, and most importantly, free.

Here’s the step-by-step process SmashWords recommends:

1. REGISTER: Sign up for a free Smashwords account, if you haven’t already. Choose a “member name” that corresponds with the pen name or publisher name you will be using. Choose carefully, you cannot change it later.

2. STUDY: Study every link at the How to Publish at Smashwords page. If you carefully study the links and resources, you’ll find it’s much easier and faster to get your book approved and distributed to Apple.

3. FORMAT: Study and implement the Smashwords Style Guide so you can learn how to format your ebook to the requirements of Apple and our other retailers. Your book will not get distributed by Smashwords unless you follow the Style Guide. Your book must be uploaded to Smashwords as a Microsoft Word .doc file. No, you cannot upload a PDF or EPUB or MOBI as your source file.

4. COVER IMAGE: You will need a quality book cover image (JPEG file), and it must be a vertical rectangle shape, at least 600 pixels tall, and the cover should include both the title and the author name. The cover cannot be a greyscale image (i.e. black and white only), and it cannot contain hyperlinks or web site addresses (it’s not considerate to Apple to direct your prospective customers elsewhere).  As with all Smashwords ebook covers, keep the image PG-13 (no nudity).

5. STUDY PREMIUM CATALOG PROCESS: If you haven’t already done so in Step 2 (naughty writer!), click to the Smashwords Distribution Information page to learn how Smashwords distributes books, how the Premium Catalog evaluation process works, and how to fast track your books. If you follow the instructions carefully, you could see your ebook in the iPad iBookstore within a few days, and usually no longer than a week or two!

6. CONTENT RESTRICTIONS: To publish on Smashwords, you must be the original author or the exclusive digital publisher or distributor. Your book must satisfy the Smashwords Terms of Service. Smashwords, as well as Apple and our other retailers, strictly forbid content that encourages illegal activities, promotes intolerance or discrimination, invades the privacy of any person, or that slanders or libels a person or organization. Erotica that depicts underage persons engaged in or witnessing sexual acts is stricty prohibited, and may result in immediate Smashwords account deletion, forfeiture of earnings, and banning from our distribution channels. Common sense, folks.

7. PRICE, ATTACH & UPLOAD: Once you have carefully formatted your book to the Style Guide, click the Publish link at the top of any page. Carefully fill out the information. Apple prices ebooks in 99 cent increments, so we encourage you to do the same, otherwise we will round up your price to the nearest 99 cent increment. Triple check every field is completed before you click the publish button at the bottom of the page. If you experience problems uploading, this troubleshooting FAQ will help.

8. MEATGRINDER CONVERSION: After you click the publish button, your browser will pause as it uploads your information to our servers and our Meatgrinder conversion service.  Once we receive the book (usually takes ~30 seconds), you’ll see it progress to a conversion page with a spinning wheel. You can watch the wheel turn, or you can click away. If you watch, at the end of the conversion you may see AutoVetter messages, suggesting probable formatting problems. Take these recommendations seriously. If you decide to click away and not watch the conversion (if the system is backlogged, it can take hours to process), you can wait until you receive an email confirmation of your completed conversion.

9. CHECK FOR INSTRUCTIONS: Check your Dashboard. What does it say under the “Premium Status” column? You want it to say “Pending review” or “Accepted.” It usually takes a week or less for us to manually approve your title for the Premium Catalog. If it says “Requires Modification,” click the link for instructions, where you’ll find AutoVetter messages and/or personal notes to you from our reviewers. If your book requires modification, it means you probably did not accurately implement the Smashwords Style Guide. You’ll find additional tips if you scroll down that page.

10. UPLOAD NEW VERSION (ONLY IF REQUIRED): If you were asked to revise the book, after you’re done with the revisions return to your Dashboard and beside the book title, click “Upload new version.” NEVER NEVER go back to Step 6 to re-publish a book you already published. This can get you banned from the Smashwords service.  However, you are welcome to upload updated versions via the “upload new version” link as often as you wish.

11. VALIDATE YOUR EPUB: Once your ebook conversion completes, we’ll output your book in multiple formats, including EPUB.  Apple requires that your EPUB file pass the EPUBCHECK validator.  Here’s how you can check:  Go to your book page, download the complete (not the
sample) EPUB, then upload it to a free validator such as http://threepress.org/document/epub-validate.  Most books pass 100%.  If your book fails, it’s usually caused by easy to fix (though sometimes difficult to diagnose) problems such as poorly
formed hyperlinks.  Learn more about EPUBCHECK error messages by clicking here.  After you fix your book, return to your Dashboard and click “upload new version.”

12. ASSIGN AN ISBN: Apple (as well as Sony) requires your book have an ISBN. Go the the ISBN Manager page to learn about ISBNs and assign one to your book. Your ebook ISBN must be different than the print book ISBN. We can assign you a free or low cost ISBN, or you can obtain one from your local ISBN registrar.

13. OPT-IN TO APPLE CATALOG: Go to your Dashboard and click on the Channel Manager link where you must manually opt-in to the Smashwords-Apple distribution channel for each book. You will be asked to carefully review and agree to special terms, required by Apple, in order for them to list your book in the iBookstore.

14. WAIT: After your book is accepted to the Premium Catalog, and you’ve assigned your ISBN and have opted in to the Apple channel, then your job is done. Now you wait for Smashwords to distribute your book to Apple. We typically ship abount once per week. After we ship, it will usually appear in the iPad iBookstore within a day or two, although erotica can take longer because it can be subject to manual review at Apple. Check the shipment status in your Channel Manager.  If you notice that ship dates pass you by (even after your book has been approved for the Premium Catalog, and you’ve opted in to the Apple channel and attached an ISBN via the ISBN Manager), then it could indicate your EPUB file is failing to pass the EPUBCHECK validator, as required by Apple.  See Step 11 above.

15. PROMOTE YOUR BOOK: Download the free Smashwords Book Marketing Guide for an extensive list of book marketing ideas, all of which are free to implement. Learn what Smashwords does to market your book, and what you can do for yourself.

16. GET PAID: For all sales at Apple, you will earn 60% of the retail price you set. Smashwords pays quarterly on all monies received by Smashwords on your behalf by the end of each quarter. Keep in mind this means there is a lag time between the time a customer purchases a book at Apple and that money is transfered to Smashwords. To learn more about how we pay you your earnings, and the royalty rates for all of our different sales channels, see this Smashwords Royalty FAQ.

Self-Publishing On The Kindle

Amazon have taken a different approach to writers uploading their books for sale on the Kindle. Instead of using aggregation companies, they allow Independent Writers to upload their books directly. This gives writers more control over the process, but does mean they don’t have any third party support. The foundation of Amazon’s self-publishing system is their Digital Text Platform. Below is a step-by-step guide to publishing on the Kindle but I strongly recommend that you read the information on the Kindle forums before actaully uploading your book.

1. CREATE AN ACCOUNT: Go to the Digital Text Platform (DTP) and create an account.

2. FILL IN BOOK DETAILS: Once logged into the DTP, click the “add a new item” on top, left-hand side of the page to publish a book. This will open a dashboard, from which you need to do the following:

• Enter the product details: Add the Title, Language, Categories and Authors. Plus also add ISBN, Description, Publisher, Publication Date, Search Keywords, Edition Number, Series Title, Series Volume and Product Image (cover page) where possible.
• Confirm the content rights: Assuming you own the rights choose “Worldwide rights – all territories.”
• Choose format: The Kindle only supports Word (.doc), MobiPocket (.mobi and .prc) and HTML files. Be wary of formatting.
• Choose price: Enter the price of the book.
• Publish your book:Hit the “publish” button. It will take Amazon 24 to 72 hours to process.

This post offers the bare bones of self-publishing on the iPad and Kindle. Therefore, I would be very interested in hearing any advice writers who have already used the services can provide.

The explosion of Twitter in recent years has lead to a number of writers experimenting with the format to produce varying kinds of fiction, which range from full novels to snippets of stories. One interesting incarnation that was persisted is Twitter Fiction.

This post sets out to examine Twitter Fiction, looks at where it can be found and read, and even offers advice for writers looking to experiment.

What Is Twitter Fiction?

Twitter is a communication method limited to exchanges of just 140 characters in length. Therefore, Twitter Fiction is complete stories told in just 140 characters. For the sake of this article I have not classed stories that are told in a series of 140 character chunks as Twitter Fiction (these are Twitter Novels).

Where To Read Twitter Fiction

There are a number of writers using twitter to publish Twitter Fiction, but below is a list of sources I suggest you use to begin your journey into Twitter Fiction. They all have websites that list examples of Twitter Fiction and Twitter streams that publish the Twitter Fiction live.

Thaumatrope

This site and twitter feed describes itself as:

Thaumatrope is a twitter fiction magazine for Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror fiction under 140 characters—edited by @nelilly.

This is a moderated site/feed with a number of contributes. However, @nelilly acts as editor ensuring the quality remains high. I suggest the best place to start is by taking a look at the site, which contains a stream of their latest tweets. If you like what you see you can follow then on Twitter at @thaumatrope.

Nanoism

Nanoism is a slick website/feed dedicated to Twitter Fiction. They describe themselves as:

Nanoism is an online publication for twitter-fiction: stories of up to 140 characters. Shorter then traditional flash fiction, it’s both a challenge to write and quick as a blink to read. Call it nanofiction, microfiction, twiction, twisters, or tweetfic—it doesn’t matter: It’s the perfect art form for the bleeding edge of the internet revolution.

They post three times a week and you can follow either on Twitter or at their site. Nanoism is ran by Ben White.

6 Word Stories

6 Word Stories takes the Twitter Fiction concept one step further and limits the writer to just six words! The idea was inspired by Ernst Hemingway’s response to
colleagues who bet him that he couldn’t write a complete story in just six words.

In responce Hemingway wrote:

For sale: baby shoes, never used.

The site uses multiply writers and anyone can submit a story. You can follow them at their site or via Twitter.

Very Short Story

Very Short Story is a site/feed run by @sean_hill. He creates Twitter Fiction tweets, which are then sent live on Twittter, whilst also being collected on the website. I found a lot of good feedback for this site/feed and it comes recommended for anyone trying to ‘get in to’ Twitter Fiction.

Very Short Stories also created a hash tag called #vss (very short story), which helps promote and distribute Twitter Fiction.

Twitter Fiction Hash Tags

For those unfamiliar with hash tags I suggest you have a quick read of this blog post about hash tags for writers.

Twitter Fiction lends itself perfectly to hash tags and below are a collection of some of the most popular hast tags:

• #vss
• #twitfic
• #6wordstory

Tips For Reading And Writing Twitter Fiction

In preparation for this post I engaged in a brief Twitter conversation with Twitter Fiction enthusiastic and writer @Namenick (you can check out his site Password Incorrect here). Below is some of the advice he gave. You can read the full conversation here.

Question: Why Twitter Fiction?

The power of Twitter fiction – you need several tweets to talk about a great 140-character story.

Twitter fiction is a phenomenon. It show that literature can make its way into a digital world.

The more you say the better. A novel told in 140-chars in a way to make you feel the same as after reading 300 pages.

There was a time I thought the literature is on a withdrawal. Twitter fiction proves it is advancing.

Question: What advice would you give writers looking to write Twitter Fiction?

Be a narrator. Tweeple need to feel they read literature. Tell a story.

Don’t talk in 1st person, talk in 3rd person. “What they were doing?” – it’s what fiction is about, right?

What I LOVE about tf is that writers are instantly improving. There’s no faster way to learn what works best.

NameNick also provided a couple of feeds he suggests those new to the genre follow @arjunbasu and @Suitov.

Give It A Go…

If this article has inspired you to have a go a Twitter Fiction then please post your stories into the comments and tweet them out on twitter using the hashtag #twitfic.

Book publisher Penguin (UK) have announced that between August and October 2010 they are accepting unsolicited manuscripts from writers. This means that unpublished, un-agented writers have a chance of landing a book deal with a big publisher.

In this post I will provide you with the step-by-step guidance and advice you need to prepare your book for submission to Penguin.

Before we start with the nitty gritty of just how to prepare your book pitch email, let’s have a look at what Penguin are actually saying about the process.

This extract is taken from their website:

For a limited three-month period from the beginning of August until the end of October 2010, we will be inviting submissions to be sent in electronically to the following address: submissions@uk.penguingroup.com.

We ask that email submissions comprise a brief covering note and synopsis and not a full manuscripts. Please do not send attachments, please write out your cover note and synopsis in the body of the email. We will not contact you with feedback on your submission and will only enter into email correspondence with you if an editor within Penguin is keen to progress your idea.

WOW!

Submitting To Penguin: Covering Note

It looks to me as though Penguin have attempted to make the submission process as simple as possible and they are NOT asking for an extract of your book. At point of initial submission, all Penguin are interested in seeing is a cover note and a synopsis – simple. No attachments, no extracts and no full manuscripts. I don’t know for sure, but I suspect that they will simply delete any emails that have attachments, so be careful.

This means that the first step to preparing your submission is to construct a cover note. This is your one and only chance to impress the Penguin editors, so I would strongly suggest that you spend a significant amount of time getting this part of the submission correct.

The aim of the cover note is to demonstrate that:

• You understand the marketplace,
• Your book fits into their current list,
• Your book will sell enough copies to make it worthwhile printing it in the first place,
• You, the author, can support and promote your book.

Here is the structural outline we suggest to all writers who come to BubbleCow looking for help with their book pitch:

Paragraph 1:

The aim of the opening paragraph is to hook the Penguin editor, spark some interest in your book and explain to them rapidly what your book is about. All in one paragraph!

The opening paragraph is split into two sections. The first is the elevator pitch, which consists of a couple of lines that capture the essence of the book. This is a concise and targeted summary of the book in just a couple of sentences.

You can’t choose who you fall in love with and that’s especially true with football teams. (The Bromley Boys, Dave Roberts)

Belle de Jour is the nom de plume of a high-class call girl working in London. This is her story. (Belle de Jour, The Intimate Adventures of a London Call Girl)

Grosvenor HouseDeep in the City something had been woken, something so old and so ordinary that people had been walking past it for centuries without giving it a second look…(Stone Heart, Charlie Fletcher)

The concept of an elevator pitch is borrowed from the business world. The idea is that an elevator pitch is a brief two minute presentation that can be given to a potential investor during an elevator ride. Though in the case of a writer, the pitch becomes the sharp and snappy description you can give to the hundreds of friends who ask ‘what’s it about?’ when you inform them you are writing a book!

There are a couple of ways to construct an elevator pitch, but this post focuses on a method developed from Randy Ingermanson’s Snowflake concept for writing a novel. I have taken the essence of the Snowflake Method and stripped it down for use in elevator pitch writing.

Here are the Five Elements you must consider:

• Character: Who’s the main character?
• Situation: What is the situation that is forcing the main character to take action?
• Goal: What action does the main character need to take to resolve the Situation?
• Conflict: What is stopping the character from achieving their goal?
• Disaster: What is the pinnacle of the story, the moment at which the character’s goal may be lost for ever?

Before we go on I just want to say a brief word about conflict. In simplistic terms a novel is about the main character trying to achieve a goal. The plot tension comes from the conflict that develops. However, the conflict may not be in achieving the goal, it may come from a situation that stops the goal being achieved.

For example: Imagine the story of a kid from the slums trying to make it as a concert pianist. He is talented, has a piano at home and an educated teacher. Yet, his skills get him bullied at school, his father thinks he should get a ‘real’ job and his mother is too interested in home life to care. The conflict would not arise from him learning the skills needed. Instead, the conflict would come from his environment, which frowns upon his desires, seeing them as sissy. The pay off for the reader would not be the main character developing his skills, but the manner in which he beats his environment to succeed.

The second part of the opening paragraph is a brief summary of your book. This is not a synopsis just a very brief taster of what your book is about. At this stage you are simply showing Penguin the type of book you have written and giving them a chance to see if it will fit into their current list. Here is an example for the classic fairy tale, The Three Little Pigs:

This coming of age fairy tale, sees three little pigs leaving home to build a new life. Yet faced with the problems of building regulations and a vicious serial killer known as The Big Bad Wolf, each pig must find their own solution!

Paragraph 2:

The aim of the second paragraph is to present your book as a viable product. Having established your book’s theme and content, you must now demonstrate to Penguin that you understand the market and have a realistic commercial proposition.

This paragraph should include the following:

• The book’s genre,
• The book’s word count,
• An indication of the market with one or two representative titles,
• Notes of any images, illustrations or unusual requirements,
• An indication of if the book is written and if not when it will be finished.

The representative titles are important and should not be missed. The best way to decide on these is to think what readers of your book may also read. The examples will give Penguin a good indication of whether your book is the kind of product they can publish/sell. Please don’t rush this section. The competitive titles are important and should not be ignored.

Paragraph 3:

This is a very brief outline of your book’s plot. Do include the key characters, the problem they face and the point of conflict. But do not expand this to a full blown synopsis. Short and sweet is the key here.

This builds on the first paragraph and will drive home your book’s narrative and give the publisher a better feel for your story.

If we carry on the The Three Little Pigs story we get:

Set in the fairy tale land of medieval Europe, this tale sees three pigs leaving home to make their way in the world. However, their coming-of-age is overshadowed by the presence of the serial killer known as The Big Bad Wolf. The first pig opts to build a house of straw, but it offers little protection from the Wolf. The second pig tries sticks, but with the same results and he ends up as the Wolf’s second victim. The third pig develops a plan that involves a brick house, a chimney and a pot of boiling water – but will it be enough?

Paragraph 4:

This is about you as a writer. In the modern world of internet driven marketing the writer is increasingly becoming an important part of the process. Include a brief biography, containing any relevant information such as previously published titles. I would also suggest that you add information regarding your web presence.

My advice is to keep this submission as brief as possible, whilst including all essential information. However, here are a few topics that you might wish to include:

• Marketing ideas: If you have a strong web presence, or if you have a solid vision for the marketing and promotion of your book then this can be included. However, simply saying ‘I will do ten book signings’ is not the kind of thing that will get anyone excited. This said, making it clear to the Penguin that you firstly, understand that marketing is part of the writer’s job, and secondly that you as a writer are prepared to get your hands dirty is always a positive. This is also where you should include any unique media contacts you may possess.
• A book series: Another situation that may lead to an expanded book proposal is if you are pitching for a series of books. In this case it may be appropriate for you to include a one page synopsis for each title, plus an expanded description of your series in the query letter. This is especially true for non-fiction works that are more likely to NOT be written at point of proposal. However, unless your series is already written, I would not include an extended synopsis, instead simply say that you see the book as part of a series.

Submitting To Penguin: Synopsis

The aim of the synopsis is to give the Penguin editor a full outline of your book. This means explaining the complete plot, with all major character and plot twists – briefly. If you are pitching a non-fiction book then the synopsis becomes an outline of the key concepts and a chapter-by-chapter guide.

Fiction

The starting point of your synopsis is a chronological outline of the plot. However, before you start plugging away I would offer two pieces of advice:

• 1. Split your plot into scenes,
• 2. Squeeze your plot into a three act format – start, middle and end.

It is essential that you resist the temptation to write down every little part of your plot. The key here is to stick to the essentials. Your synopsis should only contain the scenes that are essential narrative to the plot.

This process will be helped if you go back to the Five Key Elements of your book.

As a reminder:

• Character: Who’s the main character?
• Situation: What is the situation that is forcing the main character to take action?
• Goal: What action does the main character need to take to resolve the Situation?
• Conflict: What is stopping the character from achieving their goal?
• Disaster: What is the pinnacle of the story, the moment at which the character’s goal may be lost for ever?

By using your Five Key Elements you should be able to determine which scenes are the most important. Personally, I would start by making a list of these scenes in order, perhaps pencilling in how each relates to your Five Key Elements.

This process will help you establish which scenes you are going to include, you now need to flesh them out. This is a very personal process. You should write a brief description of what happens in the scene. As you introduce new characters, try to include a brief sentence regarding their relationship to the main characters. The key is to stick to the facts, don’t include any ‘the character was thinking this’ or ‘the character did this because her father left her when she was five.’

Our brains have a natural tendency to see narratives in three acts – the start, the middle and the end. This is often referred to as the narrative arc. (I would suggest that if this is something of interest that you do a bit of background reading, if nothing else it will strengthen your skill as a writer. A simple Google search will give you loads of links.)

It will help you, when constructing your synopsis, to determine the narrative arc of your own story. This awareness will help you to pace your narrative, whilst determining which sections are essential and which are padding (if they are padding do you really need them!) As a general rule, I would not make direct reference to the narrative arc when writing a descriptive style synopsis.

The synopsis is a very personal document and it is very difficult to write a ‘how to’ guide. My advice is to dive in and start typing away. This said here’s a couple of guidelines that may help:

• Don’t talk about too many characters,
• Keep it super simple,
• Keep it brief,
• Get someone who hasn’t read your novel to read the synopsis and see if it makes sense.

Non-Fiction

The approach to writing a non-fiction synopsis is different. The reality is that with most non-fiction book submissions, the book has NOT been written and is simply an idea. Therefore, the key to the non-fiction synopsis is to clearly outline what your book is about and how the chapters will be structured.

The first step is to provide a detailed rationale of the thinking and concept behind your book. Explain what the book is about, clearly identifying the points of interest that are unique and will separate your book from the competition.

The second part of your non-fiction synopsis is a chapter-by-chapter guide. For each chapter you should include the chapter header and any sub-headers. You should also include a brief one paragraph explanation of what will be included in the chapter. The key is to be concise but detailed enough that your argument/debate/view point is clear to follow.

One of the most important aspects of a non-fiction book proposal is that your establish the market and your credentials to be the writer of the book. This can be done partially in the cover note and partially in the synopsis.

So what do Penguin publish?

This should leave you with a long(-ish) email ready to fire off to Penguin. However, before you hit the send button, you first need to determine if Penguin are the correct publisher for your book.

It goes without saying that it is a waste of time pitching a book to Penguin if they don’t publish your genre of book. I strongly advise that you spend some time researching Penguin and the books they publish. The list below should help.

Penguin UK consists of the following imprints:

Penguin Press

• Allen Lane
• Classics and Modern Classics
• Penguin Reference
• Particular Books

Penguin General

• Fig Tree
• Hamish Hamilton
• Michael Joseph
• Viking

Children’s

• Ladybird
• Puffin
• Frederick Warne

eBooks

• ePenguin

Illustrated titles

• Dorling Kindersley

Travel and Music

• Rough Guides

BubbleCow can help

Since this process means that no agent will be involved, BubbleCow have developed a temporary service to help writers with their submissions.

For just £25 we will provide detailed editorial feedback and advice for your book pitch. You can get an idea of the level of feedback we provide here. To submit, just complete the form below.

Rejection is part of the life of EVERY writer and it often feels as though they are coming up against nothing but locked doors. In this post I look at rejection and show why it is essential to rationalise and react correctly to the rejections that will certainly appear.

The very nature of seeking to get a book published means that rejection is part of the business. Writers sit at one end of the process thinking up ideas, whilst publishers sit at the other looking for products they can sell. Writers often have little opportunity to learn exactly what it is that a publisher is looking for. So, what appears to be a great idea to a writer, may not be the product a publisher requires. I still find that even though I have an agent and a publishing track track record, ideas and book pitches I produce continue to get rejected. That is just the way of the business.

In 2009, Literary Agent Janet Reid decided to make public the reason why she had rejected or accepted 124 manuscripts. The results make very interesting reading

• Just plain not good enough: 21 (a novel needs to be in the 99th percentile-these were closer to 90%–not bad, but not good enough)
• Good premise, but the rest of the novel didn’t hold up: 11
• Not compelling or vivid, or focused; no plot/tension: 10
• Slow start or the pace was too slow: 9
• I didn’t believe the narrative voice: 5
• Structural problems with the novel: 8
• Interesting premise, but not a fresh or new take on familiar plots/tropes: 7
• Had caricatures rather than characters: 2
• Boring: 3
• Grossed me out: 2
• Major plot problems: 2
• Needed more polish and editorial input than I wanted to do: 2
• Good books but I couldn’t figure out where to sell them: 7
• Got offer elsewhere; I withdrew from scrum: 2
• Great writing, just not right for me: 2
• Not right for me, refer to other agents: 9
• Not quite there/send me the next one: 1
• Sent back for revisions with editorial suggestions and I expect to see them again in 2010: 9
• Getting second read at FPLM: 1
• Got offer from me: 2

You can see her post here

If you look closely at this list two things jump out. The first is that being ‘not good enough’ presents only a relatively small percentage of the nos. The second thing of interest is that most of the rejected manuscripts had problems that could have been fixed.

What is important is the way you think about, and react to, the certainty of rejection.

Rejection is not always a function of quality. As we cans see from above, books get rejected for many reasons and not being good enough is just one. Therefore, you mustn’t take rejection personally, you must not assume that when an agent/publisher has said no, it is because your work is sub-standard. NO is not a reflection on your work…unless it is!

It is essential that you spend as much time and effort as possible, in making your work the best it can be. Only this way can you go forward with the confidence in your manuscript.

If you read Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers (and you should) it demonstrates that in almost every case the success of a project is not dependant on the quality of the work. In other words, though a book being good enough is essential for it to be published, it is not the determining factor. Other factors, beyond quality are almost always the deciding factors. In fact, Gladwell goes on to suggests that being good enough is enough. Being better than required is often just a waste. In other words, Gladwell’s research suggest that being better than ‘good enough’ does not increase your chances of success. So, as long as your book is ‘good enough’ then other factors will determine if the book is offered a deal.

It would be impossible to list all the possible factors, but here are a few common, key reasons a manuscript is rejected:

• Your book is not correct for the publisher or agent. It is very common for writers to pitch their work to the wrong people. Take a look at this company…They publish history books. In all their years, they have never published a fiction title. This means that Osprey could be pitched a potentially award winning fiction book and they will still say no! This is an extreme example, but the same remains true when pitching a romance to a publisher specialising in Science Fiction.
• The book does not fit the future plans of the agent/publisher. This is a tough call for writers but they may have work rejected by a publisher, simply because the thrust of the publisher’s future output has changed. Perhaps the publisher has published three vampire novels in succession. The writer sees this and pitches their vampire novel. However, the week before the pitch the company make an internal decision to not publish any more vampire novels, since they feel a new vampire novel would impact the sales of their current list. The writer will get a rejection, despite it looking from the outside that they were a perfect fit.
• The marketing and distribution are not right. Publishers will be painfully aware that they need to sell the book to book buyers (and even readers). If the publisher fails to ‘get’ the writer’s work, or can’t come up with a suitable marketing and distribution approach, they will say no. The result is a rejection…
• Finally, the agent/publisher may not have the time or budget to take on new titles. This happens! Publishers spend their budget but continue to accept submissions, writers get rejections but never really stood a chance in the first place.

This means that getting published is all about being in the right place at the right time. Luck plays a big part. The result is that writers needs to do two things. The first is to make sure their book is good enough, the second is to be persistent. To not become down hearted but to keep submitting. In fact the best (and most healthy) way to view each rejection, is as just one step closer to finding the agent/publisher that will say yes!

Keywords: A writer’s guide to attracting more traffic to your blog

Ten Reasons To Keep Writing

Surprising Truths From Richard Nash’s Publishing Talk

The Book Shelf Test or How to Research Your Market Part I

Publisher Tips: Gylphi

Q and A with Faber editor, Sarah Savitt

How My Mom Landed on Oprah and Launched a Publishing Career

What Motivates the Book Buyer?

Is this useful? The plan is to do the same each Friday with a list of the links we have posed on Twitter and Facebook that week. Do you want to see it again, but in full next week?

Experts will agree that one of the most effective tactics for driving traffic to your site is to maintain a regular blog. However, it is possible to maximise the traffic your site generates by the careful use of keywords.

What are keywords?

Keywords are words or phrase that search engines use to navigate the web. When a user types in a phrase, say writing a book proposal, the search engine will consult its database for that word and show you a list of results.

The order in which these results are displayed is based on some clever (and secret) mathematics carried out by the search engine. The simple reality is the higher you rank for your chosen keywords on the list the engine produces, the more traffic you will attract.

The good news is that it is possible for writers to influence the results. By following the simple rules below it is possible to improve your chances of being ranked higher for any particular keyword.

Picking keywords

This is very much part of the magic and requires you, the writer, to decide on what keywords or phrase you will target with each page. The simplest way to do this is to determine who you wish to reach and try to second guess the keywords they are most likely to type into a search engine.

Making keywords work for you.

This is where the magic happens. Once you have decided on your keywords or phrase, you can follow these simple rules to ensure that your page is as search engine friendly as possible:

• Make sure your keywords are in your title tag.
• Ensure you page’s h1 tag contains the keywords. If writing a blog post, the blog’s title is normally the h1 tag. However, it can depend on the software you are using. Please note the blog’s title and the blog’s title tag are not the same thing. If you look at the title of this blog post (h1 tag) and the title shown on the bar at the top of the page (title tag), they are different…
• Include your keywords at least three times in the text. I tend to go for at least once per paragraph p tag.
• Try to put the keywords in bold at least once. Use the strong or b tags.
• Images are invisible to search engines. Make sure you put the keywords in the images tag.

I have used these simple methods to optimise this page for the phrase – keywords.

A word of caution

A well optimised page is only part of the jigsaw. By far the most important influencer to search engines (especially Google) is the number of external links you manage to generate to particular page. The more quality external links, the higher your ranking.

This means that to produce traffic worthy pages, you need to be producing pages optimised for keywords, that also contain link worthy content.

If you want more information about Search Engine Optimisation, I suggest you start with this Beginners Guide.

There are two sets of rules for getting published – those for unpublished writers and those for writers who already have books in print. One of the big secrets that agents, publishers and published writers don’t want you to know is that you can skip the slush pile and pitch your book with just one email.

Let’s all face the reality – agents and publishers make it harder than it needs to be for writers to submit their work. They all have their systems and submission guidelines for unsolicited book pitches. Yet no matter how closely a writer follows these guidelines the chances are that their book will end up on the slush pile. Unfortunately most books that get published don’t come from the slush pile. Agents and publishers prefer writers they know, writers with a proven track record.

This means that you as a new writer are up against it from the start.

So what’s the answer?

Fight dirty!

If you are a new writer, without an agent, you can forget about getting anywhere near the really big publishers. They are not interested in your work – so don’t even try. Instead you need to focus on agents and smaller publishers. The beauty with these people is that they are more approachable. They provide real postal addresses and more importantly, working EMAIL contacts.

So if you are going to get your work in front of the right people you need to start fighting and the place to start is with an email. Forget all the guff you have heard about not approaching publisher and agents directly. Just do it.

So here is an outline for your book pitch. The key is to keep it compact and to NOT include any attached documents. At first contact keep it simple.

Paragraph 1: This is your elevator pitch – you need just a few lines to sell your book. It is essential that these are concise and to the point. You just need to give the publisher/agent a feel for your narrative; this will give them an indication as to whether your title is something that will fit into their current list.

Paragraph 2: More details about your book. Remember to be concise and to the point you need to include the following:

• The book’s genre,
• The word count,
• An indication of the market with one or two representative titles,
• An Indication of if the book is written and if not when it will be finished,

Paragraph 3: This is about you as a writer. Include a brief biography, containing any relevant information such as previous published titles.

I absolutely want to know about you. I love pithy bios because it tells me a bit about the person behind the words. I don’t care if you’re the president of your dart club unless your book is about darts.

Behler Publications

Paragraph 4: This is a loose outline of your book’s plot – just remember to keep it brief.

Good luck – do let me know if you have any success with this approach. It has worked for me on numerous occasions.

All writers know that if they are to stand any chance of successfully pitching their book to an agent or publisher, their book needs to be perfect (or as close to perfect, as possible). To do this, a writer must learn how to self-assess their own work. This article looks at why self-editing is so important and offers tips on ways to produce the best results.

Stiff competition makes self-editing essential

Agents and publishers are inundated with manuscripts on a daily basis. In fact, they see so many manuscripts, and have so few publishing slots available, that they are in fact looking for reasons to so no, not yes. It is easier for an agent/publisher to discover fault with a book and find an excuse to reject, than it is to say yes. This means that it is your duty, as a writer, to give the agent/publisher no reason to say no!

In reality this means getting the basics right. Correctly identifying your book’s genre, and precisely targeting the correct agent/publisher is a good start. However, standing out from the crowd of manuscripts can be difficult.

This puts agents/publishers in a very strong position. A few years ago, you would often hear of an agent/publisher working closely with an author. They would nurture the writer, working on the novel, moulding it into shape. However, these days are quickly disappearing. For an agent/publisher, any time spent editing a book simply costs money, and cuts into profits. (You could blame booksellers insisting on major discounts for this position, but that is another blog post.) As it stands any time spent working with a writer, is time that could be spent publishing books or negotiating deals. The result is that agents/publishers are looking for books that are as close to ‘publication ready’ as possible.

This means that a well edited book, which needs little in-house editing input, is a very interesting prospect for any publisher. Therefore, all other things being equal, a well edited book stands a far better chance of publication over a book that needs work.

This may not be fair, and may not be good for the industry, but it is the current situation. It means that it has become a writer’s duty to make their book as close to ‘publication ready’ as possible.

Understanding the editing process is key

If your book was to be prepared for publication by a publishing house, it would pass through a four editing steps process prior to printing.

• Structural editing,
• Stylistic editing,
• Copy editing,
• Proofreading,

The aim is simply to produce a book that is accessible and readable. Yet, the editing process is as much an art as a science and includes a large amount of ‘gut feel’. This said self-editing (and even professional editing) hangs around three key questions. These questions are constantly posed in the editor’s mind (be that the writer or a third party). Only by consistently applying these questions can a good edit be performed.

• Is the book’s organisation and content suitable for the intended audience, medium, market, and purpose? [Structural]
• How can the book’s meaning be clarified, the flow improved and the language smoothed?[Stylistic]
• Have you ensured the correctness, consistency, accuracy, and completeness of the document? [Copy]

Tips for self-editing

This post about editing your own novel gave some solid outlines on which to build your self-edit. However, as an addition I wanted to offer some boarder advice.

Perhaps the biggest problem writers face, when editing their own work, is simply getting too close. Even when holding the questions listed above in your mind, writers can still find it just too hard to detach themselves. But this is understandable, in fact I would go as far as saying this is essential. Just how a writer detaches themselves from the tangle of their own narrative is hard to explain and I suspect it is very personal skill. I would be interested to hear any writer’s experiences or tips on doing just this.

The essence of any COPY edit is grammar and spelling but this is NOT an edit. An edit is so much more. It is important that a writer avoids becoming obsessed with spelling. Yes, spelling is important, and yes you must be as accurate as possible. However, grammar is just part of the puzzle. A good edit consists of all three questions listed above – spelling is just one aspect.

One potentially powerful option open to writers is to use friends and family to help with the edit. My advice here is clear. Firstly, be very precise with friends and family in just what you require from them. They can act as great proofreaders, but if this is the job you want them to carry out, then be clear. Tell them all you want is feedback on grammar and spelling only. Secondly, be selective about what you implement from friends and family feedback. Even the best intentioned feedback can be damaging and ill advised. Be prepared to listen, but also be prepared to ignore. After all, it is your book.

My penultimate snippet of advice is consider to professional help. Of course you would expect that kind of advice from a professional editing company, but I say it with the best of intentions. If you want your book to be the best it can possibly be, then a professional edit will help you to do just that. Yes, I agree that a writer having to pay to help get their book published is not a great situation for the industry, but that it is the situation that exists today. After all, agents/publishers see books as products, so you, as a writer, should also. Once you have this mind set, you can begin to see why gaining professional help to make your product saleable is just sound business practice.

Finally, I offer one last piece of advice. Don’t pitch your book too early. A poor pitch will result in rejection. Most agents keep track of the submissions they receive and once they have rejected a book, they will not look at it again. So, please, please, resist the temptation to submit early, and take that extra few weeks to make sure everything is just right.

I would be interested in reading your own tips, hints and experiences of self-editing. Just pop them in the comments.

I recently had a conversation with a non-writing friend regarding my own writing. As the conversation progressed I explained that I wrote children’s history books, aimed mainly at boys, aged 9-12, who were reluctant readers, but could hopefully be inspired to read more.

This got me thinking… Just how many writers know their audience this well?

I am not talking about a general understanding, but a real in-depth, get into their heads, kind of knowledge.

There are three key reasons why an understanding of your readership is essential.

Writing

I would be the last person to suggest the marketplace should fundamentally influence the content and topic of a book. However, I do feel that an acute awareness of the readership, a knowledge of the current market and a feel for the ‘type’ of books your reader is already reading can only be an advantage.

Pitching

When submitting your book to a potential agent or publisher, pin pointing the correct agent/publisher is part of the battle. Correctly placing the book in a genre and matching this genre with an agent/publisher is just the start. As a writer, who has an in-depth knowledge of their reader, you will be able to go beyond this, picking out the perfect agent/publisher and presenting a focussed and tailored pitch.

Marketing

Creating buzz about your book is often achieved by targeting a small market niche and dominating until it spills out into the wider market. For example, children’s books are mostly sold, in the first instance, with writers visiting schools and talking directly to the children. The problem is that until you know your reader, where to find them and how to access them you have no market plan.

The aim of this post was to just get you, as a writer, thinking. A secure and in-depth knowledge of your reader will make you a better writer, a better prospect for an agent/publisher and a better marketer.

What tips do you have to identifying your reader?

Do you think readership is really as important as I suggest?