Publishing Tips

I created Legacy Publishing for the sole purpose of publishing, distributing, and marketing my own works. The reason why I preferred self publishing is because first of all, I didn't have a choice. Initially, the major publishing companies weren't interested. Not willing to concede defeat, I decided to self publish. Within 8 months I had sold more than 50,000 books and was the Essence and Emerge magazines best sellers list. I figured, I may as well learn to enjoy it. And I do!

Self-publishing taught me the insides and outs of the business. And it also made it easier for me to assist others in getting their work self published. I never could have gained this much info being published through a major house. I was successful because I did a better job of promotion than everyone else. They may have had the clout, but I had the hustle. And hard work and persistence will win every time.

The A-B-C's of Writing a Best Seller

A) Relationships - Before you can write a good book, your life must be in order. This means that everyone in your life, be it friends, co-workers, relatives, or lovers, must be a positive and supportive force in your life. Most writers never pursue their dreams because of all the negative and jealous people surrounding them.

B) Attitude - Believe you are the best! If you think you are second rate, you will write second rate.

C) Motivation and Inspiration - Why do you want to write a book? Is it for fortune, fame? I'm a firm believer in a higher power. And this higher power blessed us with the gift of writing. The purpose of this gift is to inform and uplift our fellow man. So, before you set out on this long journey, ask yourself, will this book improve the lives of my readers. If you are truly inspired (in the spirit) you cannot fail.

Suggested Reading

"The Self Publishing Manual" by Dan Poynter - This will help you with all of the technical information about self publishing, applying for ISBN numbers, copyrights, etc...

"Story" by Robert McKee - This is a excellent book! It will assist you in creating better substance, structure, and style. Although it primarily deals with Principles of Screenwriting, it is a great book to study for writing novels. In my opinion, any great novel would make an excellent motion picture. In other words, try to see every chapter as a scene, not merely words on white paper. Make it come alive so that the reader can be there, feeling, smelling, and tasting the characters.

The most challenging chapters in this book deals with story content. Ask yourself these questions.

Who are these characters?
What do they want?
Why do they want it?
How do they go about getting it?
What Stops them?
What are the consequences?

Every successful movie script and novel answers these questions. If your story does not, it is incomplete. Remember, designing your story is 75% of labor. Writing dialogue and creating situations is much simpler once you know where all the pieces go. In other words, do a thorough outline so that your story has structure. Don't just peck away hoping everything will fall into place at the climax. Too often writers rush to finish a novel only to realize all the grammatical errors, story inconsistencies, and rushed endings.

A wise man once said, "Great things have no fear of time." What does that mean? It says to me that if you put the time, hard work, and passion into your work, it will be successful no matter when it is finished. Be patient and have faith in your story.

Understanding Self-publishing

The most important thing to understand about self-publishing is that it is a business. If you have bad organizational skills and don't want to deal with the frustrating collection process, don't consider this course of action, please! With that aside, let's deal with what self publishing is all about.

Self publishing means you are responsible for the production, distribution, and most importantly, the marketing of your book. The marketing aspect of this business is where most self publishing authors fall short.

Let's deal with Production first. The most important aspect of production begins with writing a good book. Sounds simple right, WRONG! Most books fail because they are poorly written. The characters are not well developed, the story is boring, or the issues are either uninteresting or out dated.

Writing a best selling book begins with understanding what the public will pay for. Too many authors write stories about what interests them and not the people whom they expect to sell books to. A perfect example is autobiographies. I don't mean to sound harsh, but nobody cares about your life story unless you are a celebrity. Sure there have been some exceptions to this rule, but for the most part autobiographies by the common man/woman don't do well. Also, consider the benefits of fiction. Fiction allows you to be creative beyond your own experiences but still allows you to deal with your issues. Food for thought!

Writing also consists of understanding story format. What that basically means is that your story must have a beginning, middle, and an end. Again, that may sound simple, but most writers do not develop these segments well.

The beginning for example deals with the introduction of the characters, their personalities, and their dilemmas. This is when the tone of the book is set. The beginning of your book, usually the first two chapters, are your first opportunity to get the readers attention. Most people have very short attention spans. If the first ten to twenty pages don't grab their attention, forget it! They will likely sit the book down never to pick it up again. But beware, many authors come off too harshly with profanity and heavy dialogue in an effort to get out to a fast start. That may get the readers attention, but it can also take away from your opportunity to set the tone and paint a vivid picture of the story.

The middle of the story is generally used to create tension, the conflict. This is where so many good books flop because the author fails to make the readers care about the characters dilemma. If the reader isn't completely involved with your character at this point, they never will be. A great way to avoid flopping at the middle is to outline your book before you begin writing so that you know in advance what the conflict will be. Outlining also helps you keep pace. Too many authors write books that don't move along well in time. For example, the book may start in 1980 and by the end they have reached the year 2000. Remember, you are not writing a history book, the story is important because of the characters, the issues, and the conflict, not because of how little or how much time it covers.

The all important ending. How many books have you read or movies have you seen where there was a great beginning, a great middle, but the end was a big dud? Too many! The best way to avoid this is to know the ending before you begin writing your book. Once again, share your ideas for your ending with your friends, family, and avid readers. It is very important that each character, especially the main character, has an ending that does two things: causes an emotional reaction and that resolves a moral or ethical issue.

For more information about developing your writing skills, read books on screen writing. The same principles that applies to books, also applies to movies. You can also get an idea for how executives in hollywood would view your story idea when considering it for a movie deal. We all want a movie deal.

10 Most Common Mistakes in Writing

1) Bad story formatting - No defined beginning, middle, and end.
2) Too many Characters
3) Writing too ethnic - A good story is not about race, it's about content. Why limit your market?
4) Not enough conflict! Make your readers excited and curious about what's going to happen. People in this society love drama! i.e. Jerry Springer
5) Is the villain a worthy adversary? If the bad guy, or girl is not threatening enough, they become uninteresting.
6) Story doesn't move along in time. - Outline how much time your chapters and your book will cover.
7) Inconsistency with the character's personality, education level, and appearance.
8) Too many flashbacks.
9) Bad research. Make sure you research the place, time period, occupations, and lifestyles of the characters you write about.
10) Last but not least, avoid typos. Critics and haters are always looking for reasons to put down your hard work. Don't give them more ammunition.

Advice: Rent Movies - A book, just like a movie is a collection of scenes. Make sure your scenes connect and that they serve a purpose in the larger story. Also, looking at your book as a movie helps you become more visual about opening and closing chapters. And it will also help you move the story along in time.

Advice: Your outline should include which chapter the characters will be featured in, especially the main character. Also, which chapters your characters will come together in. Be careful not to leave one character out of the story for a length of time. The reader must be kept up to speed on what is going on with the other characters.

It has been said that, to write well is the most difficult task in the entire world. Never settle for a chapter, a page, or even a paragraph that is not your very best work. It will show in the end product. Ex: My second book, Men Cry in the Dark, was a 305 page novel. But it took over 600 pages of writing before it was complete.

The Importance of Titles

Coming up with a title for your book is one of your most important decisions. It is the first influence to the potential customer. Too many authors get emotional and sentimental about their titles without consideration for how it will affect the sale of their product. If it doesn't interest eight strangers out of ten, change it!

Note: A good book can sell thousands through word of mouth. A good title can interest the customer enough to pick it up off the shelf to discover that it is a good book. When a book has both, it has the potential to sell millions.

Sub-Titles

Although many titles are provocative and marketable, they don't do enough to explain what the book is about. This is particularly important if your book is non fiction or self help book.

Example: Never Satisfied: How and Why Men Cheat

Most of the people who purchased this book were unfamiliar with the title, Never Satisfied. But they remembered, Why Men Cheat. Get the picture?

Front Cover

1) Color - The color of a book attracts attention just like a peacock's feathers. The next time you go into a bookstore pay attention to which books stand out. Ask yourself, why?

2) Graphics - Images are powerful influences in our society. Ex: The Nike Symbol, McDonald's golden arch, etc... This is an area where you don't want to pinch pennies. An attractive, professional looking cover can be the difference between success and failure. Just because a book is self published doesn't mean it has to look self published.

Back Cover

Although this is the last issue of self publishing, it is one of the most important. Why? Because a customer's first impulse when buying a book is to turn the book over and read the back matter. Many authors make the terrible mistake of placing a huge picture of their smiling face on this very important area. Your beautiful face and charming smile may sell a few books. But a well written and provocative paragraph can sell thousands.

Note: Testimonials are great, if you can get them. But they aren't necessary. It certainly didn't stop me from getting on the best seller's list or national talk shows.

Pricing

Deciding on a price for your book is one of the most important decisions of publishing. There are three basic factors to consider.

1) Paper back or Hard Cover?
Hard cover usually ranges from $21.95 to $24.00. Soft cover $9.95 to 14.95. For first time authors, I always suggest somewhere in the middle. Never ask for more than the best selling authors.

Note: All Prices based on 1999 averages

Note: I always suggest to first time self published authors to print soft cover. It is less expensive to produce and to ship. Besides, the reading public won't think any less of you as a writer because your book isn't a hard cover edition. What's important is the quality of the writing. In fact, they are more likely to support a first time author if they don't have to invest $22.95. (Remember, success is based on volume, not high pricing.)

Note: Printing soft cover allows you more flexibility if you sell-out to a large publishing house. Publishers prefer to republish books in hard cover to increase their profit margin.

2) How many pages?
It never cease to amaze me how many first time authors write 200 page books and demand $23.95. Do yourself a favor and go into the bookstores and research prices. Page count is an important consideration when deciding on a fair market price. Remember, success is based on volume, not high pricing.

3) What Genre?
Fiction, non-fiction- relationships, horror, suspense, coffee table, children's books, and poetry. These are the major categories in literature. Do your research. Check to see what the publishers of the best sellers are charging. It is the most accurate way to avoid pricing yourself out the market.