First Word

I am available for more project work, and now is a good time. If you have a project you want to start for 2023, please contact me at info@3LPublishing.com and I’ll give you a 10% discount , which can add up to some significant dollars.   Today’s topic: Selling Books Off Your Author Website   A lot of authors have opted out of selling print books on Amazon. They use their author websites to promote and sell books. Privately selling your books has pros and cons. So, let’s explore it.   Amazon Advantage is no longer free. It costs $99 a year to have an Amazon Advantage account. In the big picture, $99 a year doesn’t seem like a lot of money. Now consider that your royalty from Amazon Advantage is 45 percent, plus the cost of postage and handling. A book sold for $19.95 receives $8.98 in royalties. Next consider postage. A typical book sent Media Mail costs about $3.50. Here’s the math:   Retail Price: $19.95 Gross Royalty: $8.98 Postage: $3.50 ...

    “Sometimes Happiness is a feeling… sometimes it’s a decision.” ~ Unknown   “Choose to be happy – that is the only way you’ll find happiness.” ~ Debasish Mridha   Ant Trails and Butterfly Dreams by Selwa Berbawy Hamati now available for sale on Amazon!

Today's topic: how do I price my book ? The question of price doesn't always come up until the end of the publishing process. It's an important question. If your goal is to make money, then price becomes an even greater imperative. I do know many authors whose goal isn't even about money. They want as many readers to be exposed to their books as possible. When an author isn't concerned about how much money he/she is going to make then price becomes less important. However, here are some important facts to know when it comes to pricing.   Suggested retail price is your profit margin no matter what Amazon does to mark down or put the book on sale . Authors sometimes get confused. Amazon will put their books on sale, and they will protest. They believe the sale price will affect their profits. The sale price on Amazon will not matter (this is for print books only). Amazon pays out based on suggested retail price.   Print books get undercut by resel...

What are the easiest ways authors can promote books on their own? Now many of you may read these 15 things and feel daunted. Just know that 3L Publishing (www.3LPublishing.com) offers marketing and public relations services, too. We can help you and guide you through this process. Social Media (it's free)-Facebook, Twitter are great starts. The jury is out on SnapChat and Instagram. Goodreads (social media for readers and authors to connect) Blog ( blogger.com )-blogging services are free, too, but you have to provide your own content Book launches -it's a party so why not celebrate your accomplishment and sell books Book signings via your regional independent bookstores. Leave some books on consignment if they're open to it or maybe they will purchase the books on their own. Newsletters like this one focused on promoting your book reviews and signings and sharing excerpts and experiences with your book. Regional nonprofit book festivals (not all boo...

Here is a scenario (and I bet you all can relate): Have you ever signed up for, say, cable service? They offer one of those contracts to lock you into service for at least a year and offer you a discount. Most of the time the "discount" is really a reasonable cost for service. I don't know anyone who pays the full amount anyway. Next thing you know, the contract ends and out of nowhere your cable bill goes up. Not only does it go up, but also they've ADDED extra services you never requested such as Cinemax. Now your cable bill is suddenly twice the amount. Sometimes it's such a small amount you don't question it. You keep paying it in good faith. Then it goes up again. They've added more service you never requested. Now you have to take time out of your day to straighten out their mess. Here is another scenario called Auto Renew. Many services will take your credit information and put in the fine print that the subscription will automatically renew eac...

As a publisher, the no. #1 comment I hear continually is ... "Everybody has a book in them." While it's true we all have a story to tell, that comment doesn't address the professionalism required to make a book a reality. Using the various methods available to others to get their books out of them, it's true everybody can, in fact, have a book published. But that requires the realization that to get a book into the popular culture, it needs to be treated like any business endeavor -- and any business endeavor requires professionalism to do it right. If you can't necessarily write, but do have a story to tell, you can do the following: Hire a ghost writer -- Did you know many books aren't written the author whose name is shown on the front. A ghost writer is a professional writer who can make your story not only structurally make sense, but also grammatically work. A ghost writer knows how a book is supposed to be written, and there is no guesswork...

  Available for Sale on Amazon in print and Kindle. Also on sale in Nook and Apple iBook versions. 5 Kale soon returned to Arizona for more on-set work. Other staffers from the office went with him so the place was quiet. I didn’t mind. I was able to get a lot of work done, and believe me, the pile of notes for rewrites had only grown. I’d heard, though, that they were actively casting the movie and that Johnny, the hot man I’d met in the hallway, had won the Drew part. As I rewrote Drew’s scenes, I wondered if he would see the movie. It occurred to me as I wrote the female lead that her words might make him feel the least bit repentant, but somehow I doubted it since Drew never expressed remorse. I was staring out my office window thinking about this when I heard a voice come from behind me. “ Are you busy?” I turned around to find Monica standing in the doorway, which surprised me since she had gone with Kale to Arizona and was obviously...

This figure impresses me. The first time I saw it on an Amazon report I was really astonished. We had just had two Amazon top sellers (in the book's respective categories) in 2014. It seems the small publishers have inched out the larger groups like Random House where their statistical "winnings" were at 16 percent, according to that same Amazon report. In terms of market position and perception by the average author, the big publishers still retain their allure. My belief though is that new authors stand a much better chance at success by working with independent presses than the big houses. The barriers to the big publishers are numerous: You have to have an agent It takes time to get an agent You have to write a book proposal and prove your platform You have to have a platform You have to have a platform to prove you have a following (audience) Your agent has to build this case with a prospective publisher A prospective publisher has to build its case to acce...

Great article on book marketing and social media ( click here ). I don't know how many conversations I've had with clients about consumer behavior, but this article amplifies what I've said. We live in an unpredictable, crazy culture that loved unimportant things like pet rocks, Chia pets, clappers, and a host of funny as-seen-on-TV gadgets that sometimes but most of the time don't work. If I had a nickel for every time an author asks me, "Is this best-seller material?" I would be richer than Bill Gates. I know what I like to read. I know what my friends like to read. I know what people are generally reading. But asking me if you've got the next Harry Potter or fan fiction like 50 Shades of Grey is basically asking me to call the next pet rock. I mean who knew that "mommy porn" and S&M would set American women into a dither or excitement. I was pretty surprised when some of my women friends gushed their love for this book. So in the abo...

Before we publish any book, I always have to have the "talk" with authors. No, the talk isn't about the birds and the bees or "It's not you, it's me." The talk is about what I'll refer to as "Amazon World". In Amazon World all the rules of customer service and effective communication are obsolete. In fact, Amazon World has no such rules or cares to have them. You have to think of Amazon as this other planet where the laws of gravity do not apply. In Amazon World, the sign "Out of Stock" hangs on the doorknob to turn customers away. The irony is the more sales your book attracts, the longer the signs hangs. The ugly outcome is the same sign also repels sales, too. I give authors the Amazon World talk. I warn them. I explain, "It's not us, it's them." But no matter how many times I give the talk, the authors' frustrations ultimately override my words, and I always receive "the email". The email is a...

In promoting numerous books over the years, here are a couple things that I've learned that "are what they are," so to speak. If the tipping point never arrives ... it just doesn't arrive and dumping more money and resources will not change that situation . I compare this to survey. If you survey 100 people and come up with an answer that is perhaps between 10-12 percent it doesn't matter if you survey another 1,000 people, your answer will still roughly be 10-12 percent. So if you're marketing and your book finally finds its place in the market and starts selling, it will continue to sell if you continue to promote. If you're marketing and your book has gotten 10 reviews with no momentum it's not very likely 20 reviews will be any different. The buying mood, the topic or story isn't resonating for whatever reason in the marketplace. When I have a book that has received more reviews than we can count and yet still sales remain overall flat (even ...

In my recent dabbling in what most would call event planning but I would call "stumbling along with good fortune" I managed to put together my wedding at an unprecedented budget to be envied by the conservative-spending crowd. A few comments before I "sing my own praises". Marriage is sacred. Getting married is important and requires respect. What in my opinion it doesn't require is a debt the size of the deficit. Any couple who are getting started young or old really should get off to the best possible start. So, taking a second out on a house or extravagant spending that has to be "paid off" makes no sense to me. So if you're getting married and want to avoid the debt aftermath, here are some really great tips to help you along. eBay and my wedding dress (cost $100 + shipping) : This experiment was definitely an "experiment" in the sense when you buy on eBay who knows what you're going to get. The clues that it would be all right:...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE               MAY 20, 2014                                                             Contact: Michelle Gamble                                                             Mobile: 916-300-8012                           ...

Yesterday was a WHOPPER! My valuable operations manager changed jobs. My new operations manager really hasn't assumed her post yet. The last two weeks I've been juggling essentially two jobs. Yesterday I had to print up the Amazon orders and what happens? The printer breaks! Ugh! So now I have to go pick up books and stop at Kinko's to print up orders. I get to Kinko's and pull up the orders (this after picking up books) and darn it! They added a NEW order just that day. And I can't find the first order in the system. Now I don't have the right books to fill orders. Ugh! Thoroughly frazzled I do what I can and fill the second order since I can't find the first order. Oh, and my 2013 taxes have not come back in and no word from the accountant. To owe or not to owe is the question. I meet with my life coach who says I seem very "fragile" and I only laugh. Fragile because of so many personal and professional changes (some good some not so much). I...

Sometimes no matter what you do barriers just stand in the way of productivity. I started my day off with 30 minutes of meditation (I try to meditate daily). I get up. I had nonstop barriers yesterday too. Our new operations manager is gone, and I realized our Amazon orders weren't being addressed. So I have to go out to our storage unit to get books, but then realized I don't have the key. Our inventory is at my operations manager's house so I contact her and now I have to go retrieve books. Then I try to print up the invoice sheets and the printer fails. Now I'm frustrated naturally and the cat won't stay off my desk. I throw him out and go to retrieve something and come back, and he's gotten back and spilled Diet Coke on my desk and narrowly misses my new keyboard that I bought last week because he spilled water on the previous one. I throw him out again (after a few choice words). Later I go to retrieve something else and make the mistake of not closing the ...

You want to hear the no. #1 complaint made by authors after working with my company 3L Publishing ? Authors have a seamless experience working with my team, and then when the book comes off press and it gets posted to Amazon and starts selling, the upset starts. So I thought I would take a moment to blog about the perils and realities of Amazon. Lesson no. #1: I don't own Amazon . Yes, tis true. If I owned Amazon I promise this blog post wouldn't be written. Amazon does what Amazon does. They are an enormous corporation. Think of me like an ant compared to a redwood tree. Ants have very little power or influence over the tree. They can walk along the bark and up the tree, but they can't make a dent in the wood. Lesson no. #2: If it's "Out of Stock" it's not 3L's fault . Amazon orders in metrics based on demand so that they don't keep a large on-hand inventory. This means they order "as necessary" with a few extra copies. Books that be...

I don't watch much television, but every now and then I catch a show. Well, the other day I was mindlessly sitting on the sofa when a commercial came on. It was an "Author's Kit": everything you need to be an author. Wow! My mouth dropped, and I wondered since when did my chosen profession become a Tinker Toy set? We ALL can be authors, and here' the kit. I imagined an engineering set: here is your Build a High Rise kit complete with concrete and hammer. You too can build a downtown high rise just use our handy kit. Dear friends and prospective authors if publishing has now come down to a KIT we're all in for a lot of really bad books. Do-it-yourself publishing kits do not replace professionals. Each part of publishing is a profession. Editing is a skill. Writing is a talent. Graphic art another profession. People go to college and attain degrees to perfect these skills. What I think happened is the eBook revolution has created a slippery slope. An area that...

This strange change started happening with the book sales. We used to rarely get book sales through the 3L Publishing website vs. Amazon. Out of nowhere, sales for all books began to spike and add up. In order to give you a benchmark, we used to get 3L sales about once every two months when a major book wasn't in release. In the last two months, we get near-daily if not daily sales. Not just of one book in particular but across the board with the new books. What are we doing differently with marketing and sales? I actually can't say any one thing in particular. We do continual and habitual marketing through book promotion and PR. We blog, send out a weekly newsletter, and update social media on a regular basis. I haven't been out networking as often as in the past, but I'm finding that social media has replaced the need to network as habitually as I used to do. I will just say one thing: persistence. Make sure you keep your marketing activities persistent. I believe th...

"I guarantee an Amazon best-seller," is the promise that should a publisher make run for the hills. In a recent meeting with a prospective author, he asked me what I thought about that promise. Could I do the same? I stared at him and thought about what I wanted to say, but the look on my face must have given away the sarcasm waiting patiently on my tongue to escape. I finally relented and said, "I too can make that promise. I'll have my staff buy up 10 copies of your book in one afternoon. Boom! How's that -- you're an Amazon best-seller. Does that work for you?" Any publisher that suggests their group can make your book and Amazon best-seller, or more like "promises" they can do so can only deliver with a guarantee what I just suggested. The value of the contract this author was looking at was $10,000 and a promise. I smiled and told him, it would cost probably $150 for that publisher to deliver his/her guarantee. He nodded and agreed he th...

With so many self-publishing choices, many authors confuse something very important: the ability to publish OR the ability to publish it RIGHT . Many different "distribution mechanisms" like Create Space enable authors to publish on the cheap (and I use the word "publish" loosely since Create Space is not a publisher but a "publishing tool"). Authors write the book and find the tool (they call the tool their publisher, which again it is not a publisher), and they call their books published. They also believe they got such a deal, and this cheap publishing tool enabled it. The book might sell to friends and family -- and that's all the audience it will ever find. It wasn't even done professionally. It's often not professionally edited (the author is a professional writer and their English teacher friend proofed it). They didn't have a graphic designer design it, they hit "format" in Word and it is "formatted" and not d...