Best Seller Authors

Book Marketing, Publishing, Author Resources

Author Sylvia Day: Traditional Publishers Disadvantages

publishers disadvantages
“I would not recommend authors go to traditional publisher for ebooks” says Sylvia Day

Sylvia Day was interviewed by Digital Book World about authors opportunities and publishers disadvantages

When it came to getting a book published and distributed to a wide audience, it used to be that publishing houses with editorial, production, marketing and distribution operations were in the driver’s seat. All but a select few authors could dictate where the relationship went, how fast and under what terms.

With the emergence of self-publishing as a viable option for wide distribution of books, things have changed. The number of authors who can plan their own route has increased and many authors who may have been at the mercy of agents and publishers had they been working decades ago are now selling hundreds of thousands of books on their own and making headlines with unprecedented publishing deals.

Publishers Disadvantages

“I don’t think publishers have any advantage whatsoever for ebooks. They’re at a huge disadvantage. They overcharge. They have complicated distribution agreements which limit them for offering ebooks in sertain areas. We have issues with ebooks being available to libraries. I honestly cannot say that it would be a wise decision for an author to sell a digital edition to a publisher unless they have some different terms in the contract to limit the disadvantages.”

See full story on digitalbookworld.com

David Mamet and Other Big Authors Choose to Self-Publish – NYTimes.com

David Mamet and other best selling authors choose to self-publish
David Mamet and other best selling authors choose to self-publish

This year, when Mr. Mamet set out to publish his next one, a novella and two short stories about war, he decided to take a very different path: he will self-publish.

When the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and author David Mamet released his last book, “The Secret Knowledge: On the Dismantling of American Culture,” with the Sentinel publishing house in 2011, it sold well enough to make the New York Times best-seller list.

Why Self-Publish?

Mr. Mamet is taking advantage of a new service being offered by his literary agency, ICM Partners, as a way to assume more control over the way his book is promoted.

“Basically I am doing this because I am a curmudgeon,” Mr. Mamet said in a telephone interview, “and because publishing is like Hollywood — nobody ever does the marketing they promise.”

Then there is the money. While self-published authors get no advance, they typically receive 70 percent of sales. A standard contract with a traditional house gives an author an advance, and only pays royalties — the standard is 25 percent of digital sales and 7 to 12 percent of the list price for bound books — after the advance is earned back in sales.

ICM, which will announce its new self-publishing service on Wednesday, is one of the biggest and most powerful agencies to offer the option. But others are doing the same as they seek to provide additional value to their writers while also extending their reach in the industry.

Since last fall, Trident Media Group, which represents 800 authors, has been offering its clients self-publishing…

See full story on nytimes.com

623 of the Best Books Ever Written

Best Books - Catcher in the Rye
Best Books – Catcher in the Rye

Can you build a reading list of the best books from a mathematical equation?

“A list of Books” takes best seller list collects dozens of 100 best books lists and combined them with a formula to bring you the best books of all time.

You be the judge. Look at this list of the 13 best books list and the 623 that they came up with.

Look at the process, and then comment below on whether it comes anywhere near to what you expected.

Could you read the all?

Would you want to?

13 “Top 100 Books” lists combined and condensed in to one master list, for the benefit of your reading pleasure. 623 books in all — can you collect them all?

13bestbooks

See full story on alistofbooks.com

This Book Made Me Think

My highest praise for a book is “it causes me to think in a new way about things.”

I read books to get a background on what is going on in the world rather than the sound bites on TV, which don’t tell the story with enough depth. But I refrain from writing reviews and getting into political discussion online. There’s just so much misunderstanding and emotion and the rhetoric rarely has anything to do with my illusion of reality.

Why I’m Writing Today

I love reading books because there’s a period of a few hours where I get to focus on a topic that someone spent real time on. It’s also the reason I write books and encourage others to write.

The events and interviews Trita Parsi shares in A Single Roll of the Dice: Obama’s Diplomacy with Iran are the best I’ve see on the subject of the US relationship with Iran. I’m sure I’ll be sharing the ideas with friends and quoting Parsi frequently.

Today, I’d like to share a different story about my new friend @TParsi.

My Story on How I Find Great Books

This story starts with me catching up on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. I watch all the episodes online and find that Stewart and Stephen Colbert introduce 3-4 good authors each week.

If Stewart didn’t read the book, it’s the best job of faking it I’ve ever seen. I don’t agree with Jon often on many things, but respect the intelligence behind the comedy. (and it’s more fun than any other news source). It’s a great interview. Parsi is smart, and Stewart show it.

In the short clip below, I learned a few things I didn’t know. That’s the first tip for authors,

Don’t hold back. Share as much as you can in interviews

 

After finishing the show, I jumped on my laptop and watched the second half of the interview. While watching, I used my iPad to download the book from Amazon

I read the book and got several insights that made me reconsider how I think about the situation. The book was very readable, but went into depth on all the points in the Stewart interview. The whole process didn’t take a trip to the store, a delay to get the book or any sort of planning. Connections happen in real time today.

How We Read Book’s Today

I consider myself informed, but there were some players in the stories told who I’d forgotten. I looked up a couple online and made a few notes about things I might tweet.. especially the quotations. (I’m hoping Kindle opens up cut/paste in the future. The issues there will be the subject of another blog post)

Here’s where the reading experience diverges from just reading the book.

I posted a tweet when I finished the book:

image

You might note I have a viewpoint, but I didn’t express it strongly nor expected to get into a discussion about geo-politics on Twitter or here.

Not long ago, this would have been the end of the story. What was different was this response from Parsi

image 

Trita Parsi is a busy guy. He’s leading a large organization, speaks and is on TV often. Still, he found time to answer my tweet.

At times I’ve gone out of my way to connect and follow a Twitter account of an author when I read their book. I’ve met some famous people and contributed to their blogs or online chats.

I didn’t have to this time. Parsi, or someone on his staff is monitoring conversations online.

Look at that response.. “Thanx!” wasn’t even a word and it made my day. I just had to write this review and share the experience. In that, Parsi gets another connection and who knows what will come from you reading this?

I’d like to think that I’m a big shot blogger and have so much clout that people treat me special. But the truth is, I was just one happy reader today. While I counsel clients to be on the lookout for radio show hosts, bloggers, and thought leaders. Everyone reading your book can be a contact that gets you to more readers and new connections.

More important that the press you get, the engaged readers you connect with are the kind of people who help spread a message. Despite my anti-political position, I’m now likely to talk to a dozen people about Iran in the next week. I may point a few back to this post (regular readers will know I will share this post Smile)

All it took to stand out what an abbreviated thank you.

Are You Talking To Your Readers?

The first thing we do with all new clients today is review online and social media. You’d think that everyone is online, but we find that most authors haven’t been able to get to this level of engagement.

The best authors have systems that make this happen. If you want to become a recognized thought leader and expert, make sure you are doing the same.

NOTE: If you want the Social Media Checklist I use with companies and celebrity clients, follow this link to get free (for a limited time)

Thank You Note from Terri Marie

cheercover_ok[1]Here’s a special message from Terri Marie:

Thank you so much for helping get "Your Inner Cheerleader" to the #1 spot in at least one category on Amazon, It’s pretty wild to see the book listed as best-seller in that category and "hot new title." We can’t tell you how much we appreciate you and your support. Thank you for being such great Cheerleaders! You are amazing!