Book Launch in the Sunshine

Rosemary Holmes, author of Adaptation, an engaging multi-generational epic about life on the land in western Victoria, reports on a successful launch for her book:

It was a great day on Wednesday, the sun shone and morning tea was outside in the courtyard and Michael Ronaldson (former Federal minister) spoke beautifully.  After the launch there was a morning tea of  scones, tea/coffee, served outside on the lawn. The next book launch is to be the 29th November here in Ballarat, at the Midlands Golf Club and the literary person from the Ballarat Courier is to make a speech. There are about 30 people coming to this event. Collins Bookstore here in Ballarat will be taking responsibility for selling the books and they are to promote it in their windows and around the store. Hopefully the local paper will write something about it. 

I will be glad when the launches are over but it is all very exciting. My publisher has also suggested thatI submit the novel to the Foundation for Australian Literacy awards at James Cook University.

If You Build It, They Might Not Come — Promotional Realities Part 3

Guest Post by Jo Ettles

Public speaking and networking
I often speak at events both big and small. Some events are local and some of late have been interstate. This is an amazing way to get your books and your message out into the world. It takes a lot of energy to do this though so I tend to really only participate in events and networking opportunities where I know there will be genuine interest in my work. For obvious reasons, if you are asked to speak at an event to showcase your book, make sure it is a good fit!

Website
Invest in a good website. Create a beautiful website or blog and sell signed copies of your books from it. My website is actually a Wordpress blog combined with website design. I am lucky my husband is trained in this area so I can add and subtract information at any time. I post articles to my blog, I sell my books from my blog, I recommend other authors books from my blog and I also obviously promote my other services.

Your book is important and your website/blog should capture the essence of your work as well as who you are so invest some time and energy into this platform.

Keep going   
Recently, my publisher went into receivership. This was a devastating blow for not only me but also around 200 other authors, editors and talented designers. It would have been very easy to just call it quits but I decided that quitting would have been too easy. 

My thing is to write short, easy to read books that will inspire people to make positive life changes instantly. That desire has been so strong that I am now starting my third book. Imagine if I let my first publisher take that dream away from me through their miss management?

I was lucky enough to get picked up by another publisher recently and so the journey to get my work out into the world continues. 

Here is the thing though...

If you believe you can, you are halfway there. There are always going to be challenges, obstructions and hurdles that will set you back. If success was easy, well then everyone would be successful! 

Henry Rollins said, “You must do what others don’t to achieve what others won’t”. For that reason I am relentless when it comes to marketing my books. I make the time every-day to find a way to reach another reader, to connect with another person who may want to hear my message or share it with someone else.

If you have created a beautiful book that you are proud of, take steps every day to get it out into the world.  Think outside the square, take action and be consistent. Don’t wait for things to happen, make them happen.

Lightning Source versus Createspace

One of the benefits of digital printing combined with online bookselling is the capacity of printing books as they are ordered, rather than pre-printing and warehousing. This massively reduces costs for small presses and self-publishers. Two major players dominate this field — Createspace, owned by Amazon, and Ingrams Spark (Lightning Source in Australia). The two services offer a very similar level of functionality, but there are differences in pricing, approach, assistance and sales channel availability. Check out these interesting articles discussing  the relative merits of each service, and identify which one better fits your particular use-case.

Australian Society of Authors looks out for Self Publishers

The ASA has compiled a compact PDF booklet with practical advice for self publishers. Of particular note is their discussion re. pricing a book by factoring in production, distribution and bookstore costs, and a rather short list of distributors who may be willing to take on self-published authors (especially those with active promotional plans). The Arts Law Centre of Australia has also compiled an in-depth discussion of self publishing from their rights/legal perspective.