Publishing A short story collection

A collection of short stories contains many different stories in a single book. The best example is bedtime stories for kids. A short story writing is generally fiction work, which is written in descriptive prose. Frequently, portraying a few characters and focusing on the same mood or effect. Short story writing is challenging work, as you need to put everything, background, present and ending of the story, yet it should not be very comprehensive and long. It requires different techniques, which are different than writing extensive novels.

A writer requires good imagination and creative skills. Generally, short stories are for kids. Therefore, you need to be very careful on how and what you are writing. Many novelists start their careers as short story writers and then they go for more extensive types like memoirs or novels.

Today short stories are much in demand. The stories are short. People can read and finish them in less time. Kids love to hear the stories before going to bed, and short stories are best suitable for them.

Publishing a short story collection is not that easy and there are no fixed standards that will get the collection published. Still you can try a few tips given below to increase your chances to get the short story collection published

Magazines and Journals:

You can begin by submitting the stories to magazines and literary journals. If your story gets published in the magazines, then agents will consider your work more seriously. You can publish a few of your stories from your collection in the magazines. In this way, they will get noticed. You can show the story to the agent, which could be one of the stories from your collection. Websites are available online for free publishing and also you can go for paid ones.

Contests:

You can participate in short-story contests. This will increase your credits in the publication world. Competitions and contests will help to draw the attention of a literary agent towards your work. Participation itself will help you get noticed, but if you win an award, this will give you good encouragement and many editors and agents will take you seriously. An agent is here to publish your work and gain some commission from it. Therefore, if you win a contest, this can help to get your collection published more easily.

Story Grouping:

You must group your story into a specific form of collection. The theme and central character must complement each other. This is very important for marketing. The consistent setting and single theme will be helpful for an agent to market your work more effectively. You must arrange the stories into specific categories before presenting it to the agent. This will make a good impression and an agent will know how to market your product.

Small Press:

You can try in small presses initially. Small presses are often well established in local markets as compared to big agencies and therefore, they can take a chance of publishing your work, and be happy to gain small profits initially. This also can be a good break, and you can still show your work to agents.

Novel Formation:

The short story market is very much in demand today, but getting your work published is very difficult. If you have a good collection of short stories, which are cohesively and consistently outlined, you can think of converting your work into a novel. A long and complex story with different plots is more appealing for a literary agent. If your agent likes the novel, you can even show the short story collection. You can get the work published in both forms.

Self Publishing:

Self publishing can be a good option. You can create your book bound collection and pass it to your friends, relatives. You can request the book shops to keep your books on the shelves, and this way you can find the right company for your growth.

©2012-2013 Claretta Taylor Pam, Innovative Publishers Media Group & Innovative Publishers. All Rights Reserved

Publishing a collection of essays- Important Considerations

An essay is writing that gives the perspective of an author. Essays can be comprised of different varieties. It could contain political manifestos, arguments, criticism, observations, reflection and recollection according to the author.

Personal essays are philosophical. An author tries to find out an answer from life. There are essays, which involve a particular sector. The personal essay writing market is up and in demand. It is made of newspapers, literary magazines, trade, popular magazines, and professional journals, thematic collections with scriptures by selected authors and book length anthologies by a single author.

Publishing a collection of essays requires the following important considerations:

Essay collections look good, when they contain essays with a common subject. For example, some writers are famous for humorous essays, and some writers are better at a collection of religious essays. There are many other interesting themes like travel, women’s studies, city life, sports. You must have a peculiar theme, which will be liked by all. You can choose the most intriguing topic, but your work will get attention only if your writing is good.

The writing industry is all about sharing and talking with people around you. You will have the best experience of your life by sharing your work with people who are influenced by your words. Creativity and skillfulness are very important in order to get your collection published faster. If a publishing office is near your home, the work will be easy and the printing of the book will be possible in less time.

You can try the local newspapers and other literary journals will be more receptive of your work. You also will get good guidance from local editors if you are new in the writing business. Local publication can give a boost to your career. You will be recognized as a writer and you will be able to show your work to other agents.

Research and study are very important factors in order to get the best out of you. You can get help at libraries and local bookstores to get guidance on essay collections. There are many articles available to investigate for nonfiction writings like cooking, travel, or parenting. After that you can search for agents and publishers who are interested in this kind of work. You can get references from the acknowledgement section in the books. You can read book reviews and get collections of essays to understand the work and the publishing industry. You can also meet other writers by joining a writers’ group and attend the conferences and seminars which are being held. This will help you with networking yourself.

In order to find out about the markets for your kind of writing, you must be on the lookout. You must cultivate a habit of reading a lot of variety of subjects. You can search for an essay section in the newspaper and contact the office for your work.

You can distribute your written articles in places like delis and cafes for free. You can write on a huge variety of subjects from everyday life. Every day there is something new happening on the streets. The publication of such writings is more promising. You may write about arts, theater, local music, women and their independence, drugs, recovery, alternative therapies, spirituality, religion, families, environment, modernization, technology, employment, software, vacationing, etc. Such subjects have room for good and effective essay writings. People do take interest in such publications. You can put your own life experiences in such essays. You can successfully complete you essay collection work and get it published.

Press gives good exposure to your writing. You can search for magazines which come in different types. There are women's magazines, also men's magazines, magazines for teen, sports, housemaking, hobby magazines, gadgets and electronic magazines. These kind of magazines require frequent fresh articles. You must know the type of publication you are associated with, and depending on that you must create your work. Your essays must be suitable for that magazine and depending on that you must concentrate on creating a collection of consistent work.

©2012-2013 Claretta Taylor Pam, Innovative Publishers Media Group & Innovative Publishers. All Rights Reserved

Mistakes to avoid while submitting work to Online editors and agents

In today’s gadget oriented world, where people are more fond of online videos and TV programs, reading is still sustaining its big share of audiences. The books now have a brand new platform for display and that is the internet. Studies have shown that now mostly the books are purchased through online stores. Some books are also available in the form of ebooks, which you can download on your computer and read at your leisure.

So now writers have a huge market to get their books published. But it has increased the competition for publishing as well. Today, the brand publishers take the books through literary agents only. Even the literary agents are busy stabilizing their existing clients. They do not have any time to even look at your work.

The internet gives you numerous opportunities, but there are equal number of frauds taking place online. Therefore, whether you are submitting a story, poetry, prose, etc., you must be very careful. Writers must know the tricks to successfully submit their work on genuine websites. There is an online submission form available. If you want to submit your poetry or story, you can fill the form with details, attach it with your manuscript copy and sent it to an editor directly. If you are submitting a novel, you can also attach a query letter along with your e-mail. Knowing the technology and using it, is a wise thing, but writers must avoid mistakes which can harm their reputation.

Mistakes happen when people, without any experience, think that they know everything. Online video marketing is very useful, but you should do it in the correct manner. Online marketing will help you establish yourself in the midst of other competitors and change the way of your career, but you must be sure about the methods you are following.

Do not make haste: Take some time to go through the guidelines before submitting to an editor online. You must make sure that you have understood the process. You must know how much line count is required, and how to save your file, and what is the file format. Sending a wrong kind of file or manuscript, which is longer than expected can damage your image as a writer. All the options should be filled in correctly and checked before sending.

Uploading your work: The common mistake that people make more regularly is uploading the video in one place only. Uploading your video on a single website will help you get success. In order to attract many viewers and generate money out of it, you require strong marketing techniques. Just putting your work on one url is not enough.

Remember this: You must be careful while submitting your work. Many people go through the process very carefully, but make haste while submitting. You must verify that all the steps are followed properly. You must receive a completion message or receive a confirmation message about your submission.

Do it yourself: Most people opt for doing all the marketing procedures themselves. As a writer, you are expert in writing, but presenting oneself with good staging is very important. You do not want amateur presentations to be sent to your clients. Therefore, you must hire a professional to make the work impressive for clients. You can learn the tricks in the process.

Proofreading: You must go through the formatting and text and grammar, before submitting. It should match the standards that are required and expected from you.

Promoting : When you put the video online, you think your task is over. Now, the people will come in flocks to visit your website. How will they know about your work? This requires promotion of your work. You will have to create a promotional video. You can use social media and other forms of marketing. This will make your work known to people and they will visit your website. People generally forget to promote their work and wait for the viewers to visit their website. Proper promotion is equally important.

©2012-2013 Claretta Taylor Pam, Innovative Publishers Media Group & Innovative Publishers. All Rights Reserved

Difference between essays, memoirs and stories

Essays, memoirs, and stories are different forms of writing. Principally, essay and story are names defining 2 ends of a continuum of focus varying from acting to thinking. In a story, you can imagine the characters in a more dramatic way. There are comprehensible plots and it includes detailed explanations on the background of the character and even the environment in which the character resides. The stories are quite intriguing and they take us in a totally different world.

Writing has evolved over the ages. Essays have gained fame in more recent times, especially the personal essays that show the values, beliefs, and opinions of the writer. The essay involves more meaningful topics. Essays generally contain the topics which lead us to self understanding and it is more articulate and delivered in an organized manner.

A memoir is an account from history or biography from personal learning. Memoirs can be long or in brief form. You can get a good variety of memoirs from your local library. Some you will find are in huge volumes and some may be a book of around 50 pages. On the other hand, story writing contains a fully evolved theme in the beginning. You can create a short story out of it, and you can even elaborate on the idea and generate a novel.

Stories may also involve a life story, which contains more of real life experiences and incidents. Customarily, essays will have strict limitations. Stories differ from the essays. They have lots of drama, dialogue, actions, different plots, and different elements, which make the reader more keen with heart pumping experiences and you get totally lost in the story. Whereas, the essays show us the way to self realization and understanding the condition in the topic.

In some common circumstances, the autobiography and memoir can be utilized by interchanging. An autobiography concentrates on the incidents of the writer’s life in a more organized sequence, whereas a memoir contains one particular part of the writer’s life. Both memoirs and autobiographies are narrated in the first person voice and both the forms of writings are inspired from true incidents from the writer’s life. They each hold personal information and are supposed to permit the reader to understand and realize the the author's point of view. In short, the reader starts thinking like an author. You will find detailed analyses in both memoirs and autobiographies, though memoirs are generally more personal as compared to autobiography.

More commonly, personal essays are well-matched to the complete purpose of story and making sense of perceptions and experiences. The essay writing procedure aids to organize reflective fragments into an impending and logical story. Once this fundamental understanding is well organized, it can be embroidered and refined into a work of good writing by utilizing dialogue, description, other forms of writing, and a good plot for good impact on the reader.

A memoir, unlike essays and stories, concentrates on one facet of the writer’s life. Many people compose memoirs to discuss their experiences in their careers, in war or their family life. Memoirs generally contain a comparatively short span of time of life. It concentrates on one or two incidents in a writer’s life. The main purpose of the memoir is to draw the reader’s attention to the particular incidence in a writer’s life.

Good stories help to connect with readers. It contains all the action, reflection and more artful manner and it contains all the components that impacts the readers and the reader gets more engrossed in the story. Stories can be a work of fiction, it could be inspired by true events, it can be science fiction, horror, social, etc.

You can start your writing with any of these forms. It depends on your creative skills. There is no standard formula for writing a great story, essay, or memoir. It is the writer’s magic, which creates a great work of art.

©2012-2013 Claretta Taylor Pam, Innovative Publishers Media Group & Innovative Publishers. All Rights Reserved

Webinar: an innovative way to sell your book

Having a book with your name on it is simply one of the most effective ways to boost your income and build your business. As a published author, you can establish your credibility and expand your reach.

Many authors think that their task is over, once they complete the book. However, book editing and promotion are integral aspects of your success. You have to define your unique brand. You have to choose the correct publishing method, which will help develop your business. All in all, being a published author, you have to learn the secret ingredient, which will transform readers into clients. Nowadays, webinars are one of the effective ways authors can reach out to present to followers and get some new ones. Let us have a look at the different benefits of webinars-
• Build relationships with your audience.
• Raise your image as an Expert or Thought Leader.

• Order Taking or Selling.
• Finding Prospects – Whether you want to connect with a client, reader or customer, you can expect a constant flow of interested people.
• Demonstrating — explaining how something works.
• Informing and Teaching – Present information to your audience and increase their understanding and knowledge.

All in all, webinars can be an important tool for you. Let us have a look at 3 ways you can use webinars to help you as an author.

Market research- you have to think from a reader’s point of view. Understand what a reader is looking for. Generally, readers are looking for an author to help them with one or more of following things-

• Answer their questions
• Achieve their goals
• Solve their problems
• Meet their challenges

You can use a free Question and Answer webinar. For this, invite everybody in your network and turn up on the day. Spending an hour answering the queries asked by people can be an effective way to spread the word.  Keep in mind not to promote anything. Focus on giving answers to their questions. By providing an extremely valuable service, you will surely find out precisely what your target audience or market wants to know.

You can make it easier yet interesting by adding a few extra features:

• Ask attendees to email you their questions in advance. This will help you have time to prepare your answers.
• If you have prepared some structure for your book, then arrange the questions in a similar broad structure.
• Record the webinar correctly.  Get it transcribed. Here you can get some new material for your book.

You can even use webinars for encouraging people to purchase your book as soon as it is launched. You can offer a bonus webinar for your customers who purchase it before a specific date. In such a bonus webinar, you can present an outline of the main concepts of the book along with the answers of readers’ questions. It is true that a webinar is just one of the many ways to promote “early bird” sales. However, it offers multiple benefits including-

• As a webinar has a date fixed, this creates a deadline naturally.
• It is not needed to restrict the offer to a specific number of readers as you can serve all these readers at the same instance.
• The recording can be a product in its own right that you can sell independently or as part of a pack with the book.

Another option is a webinar series. The objective of your webinar series is not only to promote book sales; rather it should continue positioning you as an expert. This will help you remain in front of your target market’s mind.

Get ready to present your books to readers in a smart way now!

©2012-2013 Claretta Taylor Pam, Innovative Publishers Media Group & Innovative Publishers. All Rights Reserved

Vanity publishing: explore the truth in a Nutshell?

Have you heard about vanity publishing? Do you know what it means exactly? Vanity publishing is like a a double-edged sword. It is very natural for writers to be eager to get published. However, it pays to be cautious about the vanity publishers who will cheat you by taking your money and giving you very little in return.

In 1959, Campaigner Jonathan Clifford coined the term ‘Vanity’ to cover type of activity where the author is efficiently deceived into paying a sometimes fairly considerable sum by the publisher’s willingness to publish their book. After handing over the money, the publisher produces the book; however, usually very little is done to promote and market it and the sales can be very small.

For writers, vanity publishing is a way to get their books into print; however as mentioned above it comes with a cost. Vanity publishing is meant to make money by printing books that nobody else will publish. Numerous good vanity publishing companies are around us in the last few years; however, many disreputable ones are also creating a buzz.

A vanity publisher is supposed to do much more than marketing the writer’s book. You will find numerous companies claiming to do this for you. However, the fact is that the story ends there once you pay for your book to be printed. You have to do the job of selling your own book to stores. Many bookstores clearly state that they will not buy books from vanity publishers, though they may purchase books from local authors, provided that they meet certain criteria.

The main objective of the traditional publisher is to make money from selling the work of a writer. Besides printing the book, they have a team of skilled and experienced people in marketing books. With years of experience in this field, resources and contacts, they know how and where a book will sell. On the other hand, vanity publishing is aimed to gather a fee for printing the book. The writer can specify how many copies of the book she or he wants. Further, the writer can contribute in the art design of the book cover.

Vanity publishers have to seek out authors and the traditional book publishers do not have to. Many magazines and the Internet feature advertisements for vanity publishing. Keep in mind that Vanity publishing companies, which claim the sale of huge quantities of books are not to be trusted. Never get fooled with a promise that you will find fame and fortune with the publishing of your book.

Usually, vanity publishing companies are not choosy in the books they print. Money is their prime concern and these companies will print anyone’s book, without considering the quality. An author considering vanity publishing has more say in the royalties and book content but there is no assurance that the book will sell.

If you are considering vanity publishing, then wait. First send the book to enough traditional publishers and literary agents. Various popular authors have had their first book rejected several times prior to publication. Keep in mind that getting a book published is like winning the lottery.

If you are serious about a vanity publishing company, then you should think of it as a hobby. As a writer, you enjoy your work and finally a book being printed is an expenditure that could be applied to any hobby. Keep in mind that the main objective of vanity publishing is money, without any literary greatness.

Watch out for the vanity presses. Consult the acknowledged expert to find out specific information.

©2012-2103 Claretta Taylor Pam, Innovative Publishers Media Group & Innovative Publishers. All Rights Reserved

Using social media to promote your books

Are you looking for innovative ways to create buzz about your book? Do you know that you can quickly propel your business beyond the competition through social media? Well, according to recent research, over 75% of businesses are using social media to get the word out about their services or products. If you are not using it to promote your books, then it is time to jump on the bandwagon.

Why Social Media for Books?

A few years back, book promotion largely relied on the traditional press. Reviews from the right publications were a major constraint for the success of a book promotion. Obviously, it meant spending thousands of dollars, along with time and efforts. Social media is a very effective way for authors and publishers to develop relationships and expand their reach with potential customers around the world. Now, authors can have a collective audience who is just one click away from sharing your work with their friends on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.

You can put as much, or as little, effort and time into online book promotion. Remember, the power to connect with potential readers is in your own hands.

It is true that no one-size-fits-all plan exists to promote books on social media sites. However, there are some important points to consider in connecting with your target audiences.

Blog- Blogs are easy to set up. Google and WordPress offer free blog hosting, with premiums costing just a few bucks per year. There is no need to write a line of code. You can choose free templates or can add functionality with free third-party plug-ins. Such plug-ins can be installed easily with just a few clicks. A successful blog is one with many frequent readers. It is very important to maintain a successful blog. For this, you have to post often. Further, you should respond to comments on your blog. Remember, a blog is beyond a diary or log. A blog needs the most work, as you design it, create it and shape the community.

Facebook and twitter-

Facebook and Twitter are the buzzwords today. You can post a link and it will reach all your friends and some of your friends’ friends. Create a Facebook page for your book to expand your reach. You can also think about a Facebook Ad. Of course, you have to pay for it, but you can get the results worth your investment. Twitter is a very popular network and just 140 characters can work miraculously. While setting up your account, make your user name quickly identifiable.

Rather than selling, learn the skill and art of sharing on social media sites. Further, sharing includes providing information to others when you can.  Remember that even when you are tweeting or posting about someone else’s book, this online activity still gets you in front of others as an author.

You have to enjoy your own social media activity. Remember, you have to invest time and effort in online book promotion. If you believe in your capabilities and writing skills, then spare a little time each day to connect with prospective readers online.  Choose the platforms that align best with your time commitment, interests and abilities.

Respond positively and constructively to criticism. Remove inappropriate or spammy comments. Observe conversations about you and your company.  Use social media to promote but not sell.  Nobody is interested in following someone on Twitter just to hear “Buy my book” over and over again. By providing discreet links to your sample chapters or book excerpts, you can sell it indirectly.
All above tips will help you use the powerful tool of social media to sell your books effectively.

©2012-2013 Claretta Taylor Pam, Innovative Publishers Media Group & Innovative Publishers. All Rights Reserved