Texting while driving is another of the long list of driver distractions that are dangerous. Why have a law against texting without covering all the other distracting activities? We should consider a law against Driving While Distracted: DWD. We drivers are all guilty on occasion. (more…)
A few years ago I was searching for a firm footing for my religious beliefs.
My 1953 Chevrolet pickup had died on me half way between Big Spring and Abilene, so I was standing in the hot sun beside the road with my thumb out. (more…)
All the politicians in Fort Worth (and in the country) are going to be agonizing over the promises made for pensions which are tough to fulfill when the city’s revenues are dropping.
One major change that FW should consider (more…)
ENGINEER’S GUIDE TO
DIETING
Engineers don’t diet. At least not willingly.
It usually involves their POSSLQ. That’s an old acronym that is not in fashion anymore that meant your spouse or someone you were living with.
Anyway, my POSSLQ often goes on a diet when she thinks something makes her look fat. This is usually the latest diet in fashion. It’s always a new, different diet. But the new eating menu affects me, of course.
Now why don’t engineers diet? Because they are too organized, structured, focused. We have to be to produce dependable designs.
I’ll give you an example. (more…)
CHAPTER ONE
Amour Perdu (Lost Love)
He should be happy.
Six months earlier his colleagues of twenty-five years had honored him for outstanding performance in running the engineering department.
He stood in front of almost one hundred fellow workers and their spouses like a blond Viking in a tuxedo. They had lavished praise on him to send him off to the great retirement airship in the sky. He and his team had helped design the latest fighter plane for the Air Force, the YF-16. But what now?” (more…)
Self Publish
Promoting Your Book
It is known from some authors’ experiences that even with an agent and a publisher, if your book doesn’t take off in ninety days, they will go on to another new author, and drop you. Sales drop to nothing. So from any approach, an author has to take a very active part in selling a book. And this is especially true if it is your first book, or you are not a “known” name.
How to promote yourself and your book. You will have to learn all about social networking. This is in addition to all the old avenues: radio interviews, getting on Oprah’s show, etc. Blogging, Facebook, Tweeting, etc. is the latest way all products are “promoted.” Even a publicist that I hired hasn’t yet got it completely.
So you first have to have a good website. Christine Rose has helped me fix my website. Go to her website (Christine and Ethan Rose). A social media expert is the first place to start. It will take you weeks and weeks to learn how to navigate all these, but just be patient and your will slowly figure out how to use them.
SELF PUBLISHING #5
Find out what format your printer wants and be sure that you have prepared all the text in the format you like. A printer may use a ten font if you don’t choose. I think 12 is a better size for printed books, but you should insist on the size you like.
I had my printer offer a different cover design than I had developed. After showing the two possible designs to a number of people, the printer’s design won. Look on my web site for the final design with a swastika. Some people I have shown it to comment that it is offensive. A reminder of the Nazi cruelty. But after contemplating this, my final idea was that I hope that it is bad enough to attract attention. Maybe even an article in the newspaper on how offensive it was. So I might hope that it would be “banned in Boston.” Even bad publicity is good for sales, unless your story is no good.
It is very important to have your copy edited by as many experts as you can get. The best editing is not free. You need to plan on paying for content editing and copy editing. Some readers of your finished book enjoy pointing out any typos that they find. Helpful if you sell enough to print more books, but a little embarrassing, especially since you self-published.
More in my next blog on the next step. The importance of promoting your book.
SELF PUBLISH EXPERIENCE
BLOG #4
One item that I failed to mention in previous blogs, is a book by James Thayer, The Essential Guide To Writing a Novel . This book basic information that a Self Publisher should consider before deciding. It will help you decide if your book is good enough to spend your hard earned money on.
I decided to go full bore and invest in my book. My wife earns a comfortable living for us and there is disposable income that could be used. If a male has a midlife crisis, he usually invests in a sports car. But in my case I drive a five year old van and invest in a book.
If you find a printer that seems to offer a per copy low price, watch out for other charges. Even if you use a standard Word format, there may be add charges for:
Cover design
Typesetting
Formatting
Light proofing, line editing
Cataloging in production (whatever that means)
Cover design for dust jacket
Page proofs
Page restripped on blueline copy
Mailings
Shipping
These item can run into hundreds of dollars each. My hard cover book ended up costing 57% more than the quoted unit price.
My only consolation is that if I can sell thousands of books, the next printing will be the unit price quoted, or close to it.
BLOG #3, PRINT YOUR BOOK
If you have decided you want a printed version of your book, you should Google “book printers” on the internet to see what the costs might be for the following options:
1. Do you just want to have a book to show to your relatives and friends? This might cost about $500.
2. Do you want to invest the smallest amount possible and still sell some books? This might be in the neighborhood of $5,000. In Blog #4 or 5 I might have some actual costs on my Aunt’s book that she wrote at age eighty-five. Her granddaughter self published it through Lulu in a limited number.
3. Are you prepared to invest some of your savings and try to make a serious profit? This can run $20,000 or more. They say promotion of a book can be three times the cost of printing.
If you have selected #1, then you are trying to stroke your vanity—hence this is called “Vanity Press.” You get ten books to hand out to your friends and brother-in-law. But you will have to make a small investment.
But when you decide on #2 or #3, you are going into a business, so be able to do the numbers. The costs will go up if you don’t include all the costs in your plan. I have a schedule showing some of the cost that I had.
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EXPENSES FOR WRITING |
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AMOUR ET VENGEANCE |
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DATE |
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ESTIMATE |
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RESEARCH IN FRANCE |
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WRITING CLASSES |
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EDITING |
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French Editors |
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German Editors |
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Content Editor |
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Proofreading Editor |
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PRINTING |
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Formatting |
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Cover Design |
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Printing |
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Freight |
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PROMOTION |
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Business cards |
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Post cards |
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Book signing placards |
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Set up Web Site |
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FULFILLMENT SERVICES |
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TOTAL |
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COST PER BOOK |
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In Blog #4 there will be some new ideas to consider.
If you decide to self publish, you may be satisfied just to get your work out on the e-book market. This is the easiest, fastest and by far the cheapest way to go. This takes a day, a printed version might be three months, if all goes well.
If you want to have a printed copy of your book, this will be discussed in my Blog #3, PRINT YOUR BOOK.
If you think your book is ready, you can make it available on a number of outlets in a few hours. But first you need to go to bowker.com and buy a ISBN number. It will cost you $100 for one number and $125 for ten. I recommend purchasing ten, since you have to have a different number for printed and e-book versions.The biggest sellers now are Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Both make it easy to get your title on their sites. You should have a cover ready and the text in pdf. There may be more than one number for each e-book format. You can also make your book available in e-book off your website with one click purchase. I am checking this out and will cover this in a later blog.
Unless you are a very knowledgeable person about computers and the internet, you probably want to have a helper looking over your shoulder when you get ready to enter your work in the e-book market.
I read a publication that was five years old that stated Barnes & Noble was going to drop their e-book sales option. How things have changed. They now seem to be the easiest to work with and your take of the price (which you set) is 65%. On $9.99 price this would be $6.49. The Lulu percentage is 56% to the author. I haven’t been able to get the Amazon percentage.
But you can see, no matter what price you set, there is no further cost to you, beyond publicity costs, which you control.
Next blog is on my experience on getting a printed copy of your book.
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Official Website of Author J. Fred Beckman |
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