Writers War Room—Blog

The Writers War Room is dedicated to two pursuits. One is commentary on the experiences of thriller writing—what’s involved, what works and what doesn’t, and tips for improving your product and chances for success. 

Also, stay tuned to this page to follow developments involving Whelan, Larsen, Stensen, Kirkland, Thomas, Almeida…and Christie, Levell, Maksym, Federov and others in the Sleeping Dogs series. CAVEAT: I'm not a daily, or even weekly, blogger. Unless I believe I have something of interest to share, I don't spam my own blog site.


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The Tyranny of the Rules

Attend any writers conference and many of the guest speakers will be writers who reputedly have achieved some measure of success. Their presentations are touted as designed to help you become successful by being a better writer. Often, they begin their presentations with the advice that you “ignore the rules and just write great stories.” Then they pepper their presentations by enumerating the rules you must follow in order to be successful.

A confusing state of affairs, right? So, what is an aspiring writer to do? Ignore the rules? Scrupulously follow the rules? My first piece of advice is to stop looking for someone to reveal a successful “path of least resistance.”  Ignoring the rules of writing, such as they are, certainly sounds easy. But I guarantee you very few, if any, writers achieved fame and fortune by turning out crap. The rules of writing provide a format or structure for producing good stories—setting the hook, pacing, conflict, escalating tension, fleshed out characters, realistic dialogue, etc. There probably are a few writers who dominate the top of the bestseller lists and can write what they want, rules or no rules. But they didn’t achieve their lofty status by doing that. 

If you self-publish without benefit of professional editing, you will turn out crap, and in the process give all self-published works a black eye. If you desire to go the traditional route in publishing, you’ll need to be represented by a literary agent. These people make their living by selling authors and their manuscripts to a publishing house. They can’t and won’t take crap to a publisher, or they’ll soon need to find another line of work. This, in part, explains why finding an agent seems to be next to impossible. Good agents are pros. They recognize good stories that are well written, something they can take to a publisher without jeopardizing their relationship.

So, before you elect to cast aside good writing techniques in hopes of finding the fast track to literary fame and fortune, accept that there is a proven system and it still works. 

Word Count vs Pages in the Final Print Edition

Writers, editors, and publishers live in a world of word counts. Readers usually think in terms of pages, perhaps even chapters. Is there a way to convert the word-count into the number of pages in the final print version?  So, with that challenge in mind here’s an exercise in TMI:

First, the number of chapters is meaningless. A writer could author a 100,000-word book that has but a single chapter. On the other hand, one of my favorite writers, the late Robert B. Parker, wrote the Spenser books typically using chapters of only four to six pages in length. So, the number of chapters didn’t tell you much about the length of the book. But it did make it hard to put it down. I mean, come on—just one more chapter!

Pages are a better indicator of the size of the book. But you have to factor in the dimensions of the book—larger pages accommodate more words, thus shorter books. The size and font of the print used also is a factor.

Let’s look at my manuscripts for an example. I use Times New Roman font in 12-point type in the initial draft. I space the lines at 1.15. This gives me on average 500 words per page. For the curious, I do double-space the final draft that goes to agents, editors, and publishers. BUT how does the 500 pages translate into the ultimate print version of the book? My Sleeping Dogs thriller Dogs of War is 112,000 words in final form. The print version is 345 pages in length. This equates to about 325 words per page in the print version.

So, if that metric holds, the working draft of my newest book is about 77,000 words so far. That’s 237 pages in a print edition. BUT:

- I still have a lot more material to add;

- Editing will eliminate some material and add some to it;

  • The book’s dimensions (usually 6”x9”), font, and print size will have an effect on the number of pages in the finished product;

- And then there is the “rule of thumb” that thrillers (other than those written by current bestselling authors who crank out 150,000- to 180,000-word tomes) should be about 90,000 words in length. For the record, I always break that rule. Look, I used to be an attorney; I’m wordy.

Consequently, if the final draft of my current manuscript miraculously turns out to be 100,000 words, the print version should be 308 pages; 120,000 words will equal about 370 pages

Like I warned you at the beginning—TMI, but now you know.

Book Signings

Creating Book Signing Opportunities

Marketing your book is one of the most difficult aspects of being a self-published writer. Once you’re satisfied with the final draft following endless editing and rewriting, you must determine  how to reach as many readers/buyers as possible.  You can use all available electronic tools to to spread the word. In addition to those tools, you may want to consider how to set up personal book signings. The following is a list of possibilities.

1. Contact Barnes and Noble in your area. Some of them occasionally have events featuring “Local Writers”.  Caveat: These usually are scheduled well in advance.

A Deadlier Breed3

2. Find out if there are independent book stores (usually boutique) near you. Visit them in person and establish a relationship with the proprietor. Find out if he or she would be open to a book signing. Also ask if you could leave a few books on consignment.  If they agree, determine the following:

  • Date and time.  Try to determine the busiest time of day for foot traffic. The proprietor usually can tell you what the high-volume times are. Usually, a 4 – 5 hour span is sufficient.  
  • Will the signings be indoors or outdoors? Here in Florida, we sometimes have “sidewalk” signings because the weather often is suitable, except in the summer.
  • Determine a method of payment.  Typically, the store’s proprietor will scan the sale through a credit card machine.  At the end of the day, they tally the sales and provide a check for the author’s portion of the sales. Caveat: the store/author split should be determined in advance of the signing.
  • What will you need to bring versus what can the store owner provide, such as a card table, chair, table cover, posters, etc.?
  • Make yourself visible.  Don’t hide behind the table. Initiate conversations with people who stop to look at your books. Have a dynamite 10 second pitch. Stand your books upright on book stands. Have an item on the table that is eye-catching and ties into your book title.
  • If possible, use a full color poster showing your book cover, author name, and the caption “Meet the Author.”

TIP:   It is easy to make labels on your computer to put on your books that say “Local Author,” as readers/purchasers like to be aware of and read local talent.  Also put the labels on the books you leave with the book store owner on consignment. 

3. Local libraries also may be a source for book signings. Some have occasional events involving local author participation where the authors are invited to sign and sell their books. Caveat: Remember to have cash to make change or have a credit card scanner on your cell phone

Note:  Most cities have main libraries as well as branch libraries. Each library branch may schedule their own events – separate from the “main” library, so contact the branches as well.  

Note: There is a national Indie Author Day celebrated by many libraries around the nation and the world. Local authors are invited to sign and sell their books, participate in panel discussions, and address topics involving writing. It’s usually held in October, so check with your library to see if it observes this event. More information is available at:  Indieauthorday.com

4. Book clubs are another source for possible book signings. You may be able to Google book clubs in your area and request to be a speaker and discuss your novel. The same details for time and place and requirements listed above for book shops should be considered.  

If you are invited to speak, find out if the club requires members to read the book before the speaker appearance, of if you will be introducing your book and encouraging new readers and fans. Caveat: If the members of the club will be assigned to read your book and discuss it at the meeting, consider offering to provide free copies to them.

A nice gesture if invited to a morning program is to supply coffee, juice, or Danish for the group. This should be determined in advance with your contact.  

Please remember to thank your host or hostesses personally for allowing you to discuss your book and follow up with a thank you note.

Using Beta Readers to Improve Your Book

I haven’t posted in a while. I’ve been waiting to complete a task I wanted to share with you—the use of beta readers to improve your book. For a novelist, the use of beta readers is critical. What are they? Wikipedia defines them as: “beta reader is a test reader of an unreleased work of literature or other writing (similar to beta testing in software), who gives feedback from the point of view of an average reader to the author.”

This is an important stage in the publishing cycle because it’s your opportunity to find out where readers might have issues with your book. Those issues can lead to no reviews or, worse, bad reviews, and that can kill any chance of the book’s success. Good reviews sell books. The betas tell you what they liked and didn’t like, what confused or troubled them, where they got hung up on your verbiage, and other impediments to your success. They also are the source of your first posted reviews.

Betas are not a substitute for a professional editor. In fact, the betas should get the fully edited version so they don’t get hung up on the countless matters that your editor is responsible for addressing. Betas should be avid readers in your book’s genre. The best place to find them is among those who have become readers of your books. If this is your first book, google “where to find beta readers.” This article doesn’t have the room to address that issue.

They are unpaid, but, as a reward for their patience and participation, I send them a signed copy of the book when the print edition is released.

Okay, now on to my recent experience. This was my sixth book overall and the fifth in my Sleeping Dogs series of espionage thrillers. I have an email list of several hundred names for my occasional newsletter concerning the series. Most of the recipients are fans of the series and fans of the genre. I explained what a beta’s role is, when I needed their response, and asked for volunteers. I got twelve responses. That’s a workable number, but more would be better, as you’ll see. I contacted the twelve. Two never responded. One didn’t want to read it in ebook format (but later bought a print version and loved it.). 

I gave the remaining nine a code that would provide them with a downloadable ebook, in this case from Smashwords, which can make the book available in any format you choose from Kindle’s MOBI to EPUB to PDF etc. I asked for their critique in two weeks. I actually planned on three weeks, but it’s always better to have a built-in fudge factor—it’s the human nature thing. After three weeks, I had heard from eight of the betas. I incorporated their suggestions that I believed improved the novel. (You’re not obliged to incorporate all of them.) 

The second phase of the betas’ responsibility was to post a review as soon as the book was available for the posting of reviews. Ultimately, six of them did. To recap, I started with twelve prospects and ended with six posted reviews—five 5-stars and one 4-star. Remember, good reviews sell books. So, always start with a surfeit of beta prospects. With many of them it will be akin to herding cats, but worth it in the end.

Latest Book in the Sleeping Dogs Series of Thrillers

“Homo sapiens may not be the final step in human evolution.”


The latest book in the Sleeping Dogs series of thrillers

The Chinese believe world domination is their destiny. To cripple the West, they’ve armed Islamic terrorists with tactical nuclear weapons. One already has been used to destroy the Los Alamos National Laboratory and the surrounding town. The terrorists have moved the remaining weapons to a point just over the border in Mexico and plan to smuggle them into major American cities within days. 

To avoid the widespread panic that public knowledge of the situation would cause, the president of the United States turns to a secretive paramilitary group known as the Sleeping Dogs. Its members share a rare genetic attribute that makes them the world’s deadliest hunter-killer black ops team. They also are highly dysfunctional. Their leader, Brendan Whelan, has a marital crisis on his hands. Their handler, Cliff Levell, is being held incommunicado in jail for contempt of a grand jury. And a traitor within the administration is leaking vital security information to a treacherous entity supporting the terrorists. Compounding the threat, that entity has recruited a group of killers with the same rare genetic attribute as the members of the Sleeping Dogs. Their purpose is to eliminate the Dogs. 

Time is critical and Whelan and the Sleeping Dogs face their most dangerous challenge yet.

Blurbs, Taglines, Loglines, Descriptions, & Synopses

Writers use blurbs, taglines, loglines, descriptions, and synopses. Are they the same thing? Are they useful? Should you use one or more of them?

A blurb, as defined by Wikipedia, is a short promotional piece praising the book. It may be written by the author, some well-known writer, a reviewer, or another source. Print versions of books often have one or more pages of blurbs in the front of the book. Sometimes they appear on the back of the jacket. 

A logline is the book’s premise or concept summarized in a sentence or two.

A tagline is a short clever, statement of a few words. It usually doesn’t tell you anything about the book’s plot but piques your interest. Think about the tagline for Jaws: “Don’t go in the water.”

A book description, along with the title and the cover, is one of the three critical elements in making a book stand out from all the books competing for the reader’s dollar. As such, it’s an ad not a summary. It may be the most difficult aspect of writing a book because it must be short—150 to 200 words, so you can’t summarize the plot, subplots, various characters’ involvements, etc. Open with a killer first sentence then sell the reader on why they want to read this book.

A synopsis, unlike most of the foregoing which are designed to appeal to potential readers, is created to interest literary agents in offering to represent you. It generally runs 500 to 800 words. The agent’s website or response to your query letter should indicate the limitations. Its principal purpose is to convey the narrative arc, to show the agent that you have constructed a complete story.

What Are the “Rules of Writing?”

Most people have what is known as “rabbit ears.” Whether it’s the mechanics of your golf swing or the secret to making the perfect martini, most of us are susceptible to the opinions of others. Especially when the speaker is someone we admire or think we should admire because of their perceived status.

Writers are particularly afflicted with this ailment. We attend writers’ conferences and online classes, belong discussion groups, and search the internet for any tidbit that will provide us with the key to joining the just-out-of-reach NYT bestseller list. Convinced that we are so close, we are on an endless crusade to master the “Rules of Writing.”

Just how insane is this fixation? Google “The rules of writing” and you’ll find countless entries listing even more countless lists of such rules. Some are pretty good, such as:

·      Never use a verb other than "said" to carry dialogue. The line of dialogue belongs to the character; the verb is the writer sticking his nose in. Elmore Leonard

·      The first 12 years are the worst. Anne Enright

·      Write in the third person unless a ­really distinctive first-person voice ­offers itself irresistibly. Jonathan Frantzen

·      Read widely and with discrimination. Bad writing is contagious. PD James

Others are, at best, pedantic and at worst asinine:

·      Show don’t tell. Every useless academic teaching courses in any MFA program.

·      Never use the same word twice within two paragraphs of each other. See Show Don’t Tell.

·      Commas should be used only where an instructor in any MFA program would advise. Ditto. 

Interestingly, almost every writers’ conference you attend will feature, as speakers, published authors, many of whom you’ve never heard of. They invariably will say something along the lines of, “There are no rules when it comes to writing.” They’ll spend the rest of their allotted time telling you what the rules are. 

So, are there any “rules of writing,” and if there are what are they? I’ve achieved ever broadening success as a writer by acknowledging that there is one suggestion and one rule. The suggestion is simply that you write a terrific novel. You don’t have to in order to become a bestselling author, but it greatly enhances your odds. How do you write a terrific novel? You have to have a creative imagination, a genuine wordsmithing talent, and an intuitive capacity for what today’s readers want. That brings us to the first encounter with reality: not everyone is capable of becoming the writer of a terrific novel. Yeah, disappointing isn’t it?

That one rule I mentioned above likewise is simple: be the luckiest s.o.b. on the planet. Disappointed? Hell, now you’re devastated. The reality is that there are some bestselling writers whose bestsellers are poorly written, mostly because they can’t wordsmith a smooth-flowing, believable story. But with the right marketing and a (Southern metric system) shitload of luck, they’re weeping all the way to the bank. It just doesn’t seem fair that luck should assist bad writers and penalize good ones. Get over it, that’s just the way the business works.

But you can exercise some influence on Lady Luck. The first thing is: write a terrific novel, one that has conflict, escalating tension, plot twists, compelling characters, and doesn’t read like it was written by a grade school dropout who doesn’t have a first language—English or otherwise. The next step is to create product. The more books you publish, the greater the chance of being “discovered” by a significant segment of the reading public. Third, engage a professional freelance editor to do a line edit and a developmental edit. That’s not an in-law who taught English courses in middle school. It’s not a fellow writer who agrees to editor yours if you’ll edit theirs. FACT: people are either writers or editors, not both. It’ll cost somewhere around $0.04 per word for these services. Much more than that and you’re being screwed. Much less and you’re dealing with a lesser talent.

A Pep Talk From Hugh Howey

As I’ve noted in past posts to this blog and elsewhere, good writing skills are nice to have, but luck is the real key to becoming successful as a writer. That’s disheartening because luck is, well, fickle. But there are things a serious writer can do to “enhance” luck. One of the best and most successful writers on the scene in recent years is Hugh Howey. Hugh has been innovative and creative in marketing his books and talents, as well as enormously successful in selling them. He frequently shares his insights on what it takes to beat the odds as an aspiring writer. The following is excerpted from his Writing Insights Part One: Becoming A Writer that was published in Amazon Author Insights. Parts 2, 3, and 4 also are published on Amazon Author Insights at: http://amazonauthorinsights.com/post/165774835635/writing-insights-part-one-becoming-a-writer

Many of the challenges and frustrations you’ll encounter along the way are the exact same as those felt by every other writer. The exact same. Writing requires long stretches of uninterrupted concentration. This sort of time has always been difficult to carve out. We have children, pets, and spouses who require our attention. We have day jobs to work around. We have the stress of bills, mortgages, student loans, rent, empty gas tanks, empty stomachs. We berate ourselves for not writing more. We judge ourselves when our works don’t sell. We watch as other writers get ahead, as markets change, as retailers come and go.

Every generation of writer thinks that their challenges are unique, and that every other cohort of writer had it easier in the past or will have it easier in the future. That’s because the past highlights those who succeeded there, and their success seems to have come all at once, without the failures, frustrations, and challenges that all writers feel in the moment. The present for a struggling writer is certainly suffering, but this never stops being true. It’s always been true.

The only thing that truly changes over time is the stories and rationalizations that we tell ourselves when we feel these universal pangs of self-doubt, envy, and exhaustion. We tell ourselves it’s because Barnes and Noble is killing indie bookstores. Or that it’s Amazon destroying B&N. Or that it’s Amazon introducing a new program. Or the Nook not doing enough to compete. Or James Patterson and his stable of co-authors. And so on and so on and so on.

The excuses and the stories we make up vary. The challenges don’t.

The fact is that the writing landscape today is as vibrant and viable as it’s ever been in the history of mankind. Authors have more power and control over their careers than ever before. They have more access to readers, to each other, to foreign markets, to the tools of publication, and to the infinite manufacture of goods at almost zero cost. Ten years ago, it was almost impossible to reach readers. Ten years from now is a complete unknown. Seize the day, my friends.

Three Steps to Creating A Successful Novel

Many elements go into creating a novel that sells well. For all writers, these include: time, effort, dedication, money, talent, a strong plot, pacing, and well-developed characters. For a writer who elects to self-publish, there are some additional important steps. Among these are engaging the services of an experienced professional freelance editor, utilizing beta readers, and soliciting critiques by fellow writers. I’ll address the first of these, professional editors, in this post. We’ll discuss the other two in following posts. 

Let’s start by identifying who not to use as an editor. For one, Mrs. McGillicuddy, the retired middle school English (Language Arts) teacher who lives down the block. In all likelihood, she will destroy your creative masterpiece by grading it like a classroom essay. Don’t ask a friend or family member to do it. While their services probably come pretty cheap, they lack the right experience and likely will add nothing of value to your work.

The person you want is someone who has a lengthy work history as an editor or acquisitions editor, preferably with a major publishing house. Their bio should list the names of the major authors he or she has worked with, and the titles of the bestselling books they’ve edited. Equally as important, at least some of their editing experience should have been in the same genre as your book. Also, it’s absolutely mandatory that you insist on the editorial candidates providing you with a sample of their work before you sign their contract. This would be about 10 pages of your manuscript.

Where do you find these editors? For starters, you can Google professional freelance book (or thriller or romance or sci-fi or whatever) editors, or some combination of those qualifiers. You can search through the online résumés on websites such as book-editing.com. You can ask other self-published writers for recommendations, but stick to those within your own genre. If your book is a techno thriller, for example, an editor steeped in romance or Young Adult (YA) is not a good fit. Also, many magazines aimed at writers have classified ads in them where freelance editors advertise.

I know what you’re wondering: how much do these editors charge? As a general rule, they charge by the word. The amount typically varies greatly from around two cents per word to eight cents. This is a very good reason not to be verbose. Forget the 200,000-word tome. Keep it succinct, pithy, and short. Why the variation in fees? Many reasons: experience, availability (current workload), reputation, etc. Personally, I think the sweet spot is around four cents per word. Less than two to two-and-a-half cents per word and they probably aren’t very good and may be desperate to get work in the door. More than five-and-a-half to six cents and you probably are getting screwed.

Also, keep in mind that you can minimize the strain of this cost by submitting your manuscript in sections as you create it. In the long run, the cost is the same, you just won’t be paying it all at once. Speaking of which, how do you typically pay the editor? Usually a portion, such as half, up front and the balance after you’re satisfied with the completed job.

This was just the basics of identifying and working with a professional freelance editor. You should check the subject out in more detail, as there is a great deal of information on the internet.

NEXT POSTING: BETA READERS

WHAT DOES IT COST TO SELF-PUBLISH: PART 3


In the most recent postings to this blog, we discussed various costs involved either in self-publishing your novel or going the traditional route but without the readership of Lee Child, Dan Brown, Danielle Steel, and those few superstar writers. Yeah, I know, you think that as soon as a publisher sees your efforts, you’ll shoot into that hallowed stratosphere. My advice: buy a Powerball ticket; your odds are better.

Last week, the topics were the costs for obtaining a copyright, Library of Congress Control Number, and professionally done book cover. This week, we’ll finish up the basic costs and see what the projected total costs might be.

Professional Editor. This is critical, regardless how talented a wordsmith you may believe you are (or your friends and family tell you).

a.     Professionalism. There are approximately 3,000,000 books published each year. How is your book going to stand out in that crowd? By being professional in appearance (remember my advice regarding the cover and formatting?) A major part of that professionalism is the realm of the professional editor. This is not a retired middle school English teacher that lives down the block. This is a person who has actually worked as an editor for one of the major publishing houses, and now is working as a freelance editor. 

b.     The Right Editor. Equally important: They will have edited books in your genre. They should be willing to edit a sample of your book—say, the first 10 or 20 pages—without charge. This is very important. You’ll be working with and paying this person in an effort to make your book the best it can be (meaning, sell the most copies). Before you commit, you’ll want to get a feel for what they will bring to the table, compatibility issues, stylistic issues, etc.

c.     The Cost. Most genuine freelance editors charge by the word. Think about that. Do you really want to write a 200,000-word epic? If so, figure out how to break it up into 3 or 4 books in a series. Your bank account will thank you. Remember, even if the editor trims that tome down to 100,000-words, you still pay for the editing of the 200,000-word mess. So, numbers please. The costs vary by editor from about 2 cents-per-word to 8 or 10. Do the quick math: a 100,000-word book will cost anywhere from $2,000 to $10,000. My advice, based on experience and research, is to avoid the outliers. Somewhere in the 4 to 5 cents-per-word range is sufficient to secure the services of a first-rate editor. Much less than that, and you may get someone who isn’t capable of helping you improve your novel. BUT, in any event, always ask for the “free sample” before committing to any editor.

Formatting. There are two connotations here. One addresses the actual style of the book, the way it’s laid out. Pick up a print version or look at an ebook version of any current bestseller by an author of renown, and look at how it’s laid out. Very professional looking. You may not yet be a member of that privileged cadre, but you want to be. So, make sure your book compares with theirs in every way. The other aspect of formatting refers to what you are going to upload to the POD (print) publisher as well as the multitude of ebook sellers such as Amazon and iBooks. While there are two major formats for ebooks, MOBI (Amazon) and EPUB (everyone else), each online bookseller has their own prescribed format. If you have the time, patience, and skill sets, do it yourself. Otherwise, you’ll need to hire a formatter. You can find them by Googling, and their charges are all over the place. The formatter I use charges me about $150, and formats all ebook formats as well as the print version for CreateSpace. There are apps that can do conversions too, but I’m not sure they can do all the idiosyncrasies plus you still have to learn the program and apply it—time consuming; you’re not writing when you’re doing other things.

Promotional Copies. This refers to print versions you buy from the POD printer, in my case it’s CreateSpace, an Amazon affiliate.

a.     Why would you want to buy print copies of your own book? There are a number of reasons, including:

·      You need copies for a book signing because attendees may want to buy them and have them signed;

·      You want to give copies to friends, beta readers, etc.;

·      You want to have a contest to raise awareness of your book or to get subscribers to your newsletter (more about that in a future post).

b.     What do the copies cost? CreateSpace charges based on the number of words, or length, of the book. This is another very good reason to avoid the 200,000-word monster. For example, my book Endangered Species is 113, 952-words and costs me $5.33 per copy plus shipping. My book The Year of the Dog is 71,727-words and I pay $4.73 plus shipping per copy.

Conclusion. Using my own experiences, here is an example of what it costs to publish a book of about 100,000-words:

ISBN—$29.50 (I purchased a block of 10 for $295.00

Copyright—$35.00

LCCN—$0.00

Book Cover/Designer—$135.00 (this included the jpg or the ebook thumbnail and the pdf for the            

                  print version)

Book Cover/Images—$29.00

Professional Editor—$4,500.00

Formatting—$165.00

Copies of Print Version (25 + shipping)—$140.00

TOTAL: $5,033.50 (If it were easy and cheap, everyone would be doing it.)

So, at a sale price of $3.99 and royalties of 70%, I have to sell 1,802 ebooks in order to recover my invested capital. Can it be done for less? Sure, you can shop for less expensive editors and formatters and cover designers. Or you could design your own cover, spend considerable time formatting for uploads, and hire the cheapest editor out there (or skip editing altogether). But now you have a cheap-looking, unprofessional product. Good luck selling even 100 copies. And, BTW, statistics show that most authors don’t sell 100 copies in their lifetimes. The reason? Poorly written, unprofessional-looking product. The message there just may be that the investment in editors, designers, and formatting may explain the difference between writers who succeed and those who don't.

What Does It Cost to Self-Publish: Part 2

Last week’s edition reviewed the various elements in creating a novel that involve costs to both the self-published writer and the traditionally published writer who isn’t an A-lister with one of the few remaining major publishing houses. This week, I’m going to put numbers to those tasks.

ISBN Number. The International Standard Book Number is a unique global identifier for many intellectual properties including novels, whether print, digital, or audio. You can acquire the ISBN from a number of sources, but only Bowker (https://www.myidentifiers.com/isbn/main) is authorized to sell them. Other sources will provide one for a fee, but you won’t own the number. Buy it from Bowker and it’s yours forever. One ISBN costs $125. But you will need one for the ebook, another for the print version, and a third for the audiobook. The good news is you can buy 10 of them for $295, or $29.50 apiece.

Copyright. Register the novel with the U.S. Copyright Office by completing the lengthy online form, paying $35, and sending a copy of the book (https://www.copyright.gov/registration/).

Library of Commerce Control Number (LCCN). In the words of the Library of Congress: “The purpose of the Preassigned Control Number (PCN) program is to enable the Library of Congress to assign control numbers in advance of publication to those titles that may be added to the Library's collections. The publisher prints the control number in the book and thereby facilitates cataloging and other book processing activities. The PCN links the book to any record which the Library of Congress, other libraries, bibliographic utilities, or book vendors may create.” The good news is it’s free. https://www.loc.gov/publish/pcn/

Book Cover. Obviously, a print book needs a cover. But what about an ebook? Some online booksellers may require them, but that isn’t the point. Yours is just one of millions of ebooks available. You need to stand out from the crowd. One of the best ways to do that is to have an eye-catching cover and not a blank thumbnail like so many unprofessional writers settle for. The print book cover will have a front, back, and spine. It will be in PDF format. The ebook and audiobook covers will be thumbnails in jpeg format. There are two aspects to the cover:

a.     Images. Unless you are using an image you created or photographed, you’ll probably have to buy it/them from one of the online sellers such as Shutterstock or iStockphoto. Using someone else’s copyrighted materials will only get you sued or enjoined or both. The cost will range from about $30 for 2 or 3 images to several hundred dollars for a large batch.

b.     Designer. Unless you are a highly skilled graphic artist, leave the design work to a professional. You need to produce the most professional looking product possible in order to compete effectively with the millions of other books out there and capture the eye of potential readers. You can search for a book cover designer online using Google or another search engine. Or, you can use Mark Coker’s Smashwords list of low cost cover designers (https://www.smashwords.com/list). That’s where I found the designer I use. She’s talented, reasonably priced, and fast on the turnaround. Mark’s list also includes prices. They typically run from less than $50 to more than $100, depending on what your needs are.

NEXT POST: Still to be discussed are the necessity and costs for the services of a professional editor, formatting, and promotional copies.

What Does It Cost to Self-Publish?: Part 1

A couple of my recent postings have discussed agents and publishing. The strong implication is that most writers hope to become published in the traditional way (viz., one of the few remaining big publishing houses pays you a six-figure (or higher) sum and signs you to a multi-book deal. This would leave you free to work solely on writing, while the publisher takes care of everything else including promotions and signings. Unfortunately, there now are only five major publishing houses left. Regardless how talented you are as a writer, your chances of success here are approximately the same as winning the PowerBall grand prize. Worse, these publishers limit those lucrative contracts to their A-list writers such as Stephen King, John Grisham, J.K. Rowling, and other perennial New York Times top bestselling authors. Any other writers fortunate enough to be signed by a Big Five publisher, or any lesser publishing entity, must do all of the things required of a self-published writer, which means EVERYTHING. And to add insult to injury—at your expense.

So, what does that involve? Among other things, it includes acquiring the ISBN number, copyright, and Library of Congress Control Number. You’ll need a cover, even for an ebook. Unless you’re a master of Photoshop or similar graphic arts software, get a professional to do this—covers sell books; or don’t. This means you’ll also likely have to shop for and purchase the images you want to appear on the cover. The book should look professional, not like it was slung together by a chimpanzee. If you can’t do this, you’ll have to hire someone who can.

What else? Easily the most critical factor, and the most expensive, is the services of a professional editor. Not little old Ms. McGillicuddy, the retired middle school English teacher. This person should be a professional who has worked as an editor in your genre for a major publisher. I’ll get into the various types of editing in a later posting. This is one of the most difficult decisions. There are good editors and there are quacks and charlatans.

Your book will need to be formatted for each of the online booksellers you plan to use. There are two major formats for ebooks: MOBI (Amazon) and EPUB (everyone else). Unfortunately, there are some differences among the EPUB users. If you can’t or don’t want to spend time on formatting, you’ll have to hire someone to do it for you. AND don’t forget the print version. There are two major players in the print-on-demand (POD) field: CreateSpace (Amazon) and IngramSpark. Your manuscript will have to be formatted for uploading to them too, even though it may be in Word.

For promotional purposes, such as signings (which you’ll have to set up yourself), you’ll need to purchase a supply of printed books.

You’ll need to develop relationships with a group of beta readers—people who read voraciously in your genre. They’ll tell you what works and what doesn’t in your book before you make it available to the public. This can be the difference between a book that sits and a book that sells. You also should join or form a group of fellow writers, IN YOUR GENRE, to critique each other’s work.

There are other tasks you’ll have to do, or hire someone to do for you, but these are the principal ones. And, none of this includes the basics such as a computer, word processing and other software, backup systems, writing apps such as Scrivener 3, and other programs and equipment, but you would need those even if you were an A-lister for one of the Big 5 publishers.

Next week: The Financial Cost of Self-Publishing.

© John Wayne Falbey 2018 All Rights Reserved