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Publishing A Book, 7 Simple Strategies For Self Publishing Success

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Here are a few tips for your self publishing success:

Do your research about the self publishing industry. There are a lot of major players in the self publishing arena and there are many successful and noteworthy local players. In order to get the best deal, and get the book you want, from any printer, it is important to understand the industry. For example, you will want to learn a bit of terminology like POD and vanity press. You will also want to understand the process. Editing, typesetting, fulfillment, graphics and design are all a part of many printers. When you understand the differences it will enable you to compare apples to apples and make the right decision for you, your book, and your business.

Do your research about your competition. Before you head to the printer you will have many decisions to make. You probably do not want to make these decisions blindly. What I mean is, you probably want to know how to position your book ahead of your competition. This means a bit of research. Find out, how your competition's books look. What do their covers look like? How are they titled? Do they have graphics inside? If so, what do they look like? Who printed them? How are they marketed? Who reviewed them? How are they sold? All of this information will help you make strategic decisions about the appearance and placement of your book.

Do your research about your audience. We talk a lot about this but it is incredibly important to know who you are targeting your book to. For example, if you have written a book on dog training then you will want to design your book to be friendly toward a dog loving audience. This will likely mean lots of pictures demonstrating training techniques and loving owners and their dogs. You will want to choose warm and friendly colors. Conversely, if you have written a book on how to choose accounting software for your small business, then you may have a few graphics showing how the software appears but you likely will not choose to have the same level of warm and fuzzy images that a dog training book will. You will also likely want to choose a more professional appearance for your cover with bright colors and clean lines.

Create a killer title. A killer title has two components: it is catchy, and it offers a benefit. For example, The Dog Training Book is certainly not very catchy nor does it offer a strong benefit. True, it does tell you what it is about but that is about it. However, "101Dog Tricks: Step by Step Activities to Engage, Challenge, and Bond with Your Dog," is a fantastic title because it not only tells you what you will accomplish when you read this book, it is catchy and appeals to your emotions as a dog owner. (By the way, I did not make this title up, I found it on Amazon.com. It is written by Kyra Sundance and Chalcy)

Edit, edit, edit. Simple spelling and grammar mistakes detract from your credibility as an author. Take the time to have your book edited. This does not mean you have to hire a professional. Editing your book yourself and requesting a handful of detail oriented friends, family members and associates to go through your book with a fine toothed comb can be extremely effective. I do want to add that the majority of spelling and grammar mistakes I have found in books I have read, have been published traditionally. It seems the self published are much more careful to make sure they are putting out a quality product!

Do not forget your Table of Contents. Your table of contents is a major selling point for your book. The more engaging and benefit driven you can make it, just like the title of your book, the better. Each chapter will have a strong title. Take a look at some of the bestsellers on Amazon.com and investigate their table of contents. The more successful books have very engaging tables of contents.

Promote, promote, promote. Before you have written your book, while you are writing your book and certainly after it is published - tell people about it. It is not bragging, it is promoting. The only way to sell a book is to make someone aware of it and you do that by promoting it. Promotion can and will take many forms from networking both online and off, to advertising, writing articles, direct mail and/or email campaigns, press releases and much much more. Promotion is an integral part of being a successful self publisher.

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