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Blog # 3 – The Best Format And Price For An eBook

Geri Clouston
      Continuing our discussion of our presentation at SPBE this slide shows the formats that our readers prefer.     As you can see, 56% of the readers we surveyed prefer the eBook format. This is not surprising. According to amazon.com during the past two years eBooks have outsold print books. The convenience of eBook readers and the lower cost of eBooks are the main drivers of this trend. Slide 7 also shows that if an author also wants a print book, a trade paperback is the most desirable format. We believe that an indie author should offer both but if he or she only publishes their book in one format, it should be as an eBook.This next slide shows the best price points for an eBook.   The above chart shows that 32% of the readers we surveyed will pay up to $4.99 for an eBook while 39% are willing to pay up to $9.99. The slide also indicates that 92% of readers will pay more than 99 cents. This is very important because there is anecdotal evidence from other sources that pricing a book at $.99 does not generate sufficient sales to warrant the loss of…

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SPBE Blog #2- Editing a Self-Published Book

Geri Clouston
    As I said in my previous blog, copy editing errors are the reason that most self-published books are rejected during the indieBRAG screening process. An indie author must not edit his or her own book. Although professional copy editing can be expensive, it is the single best use of an author's money. There are also other less expensive ways of doing this such as by using beta readers or joining writers' groups. Here are two slides from our presentation that address this issue: As you can see in Slide 19, our readers ranked copy editing as fourth in importance of the characteristics in their liking a book. BUT as Slide 20 shows, it is the number one reason why readers dislike a book. In other words, good editing alone will not make a book but bad editing will certainly kill it! In conclusion, we cannot emphasize enough that an author rarely gets a second chance at a good first impression!

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The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

Geri Clouston
Blogs from the Self-Publishing Book Expo Our trip to the Self-Publishing Book Expo, held in New York City on November 9th, was a huge success! Our presentation, titled "THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY" of self-published books was well attended and well received. We were the only panel (out of seventeen) that was filmed by C-SPAN's Book TV and we will let you know when the segment will be aired, likely later this month. indieBRAG team members Robert Clouston and Stephanie Hopkins joined me in the presentation and over the coming days we will blog about what we covered. This will include the results from the surveys we conducted among our readers and B.R.A.G. Medallion authors, the findings of which formed the basis of our presentation. We think you will find it all very interesting. We will also discuss some of the things we learned from other presenters at the expo, which further support our survey findings. So here we go- To begin our presentation, I shared some rather stark statistics that out of the over 1,500 books we have considered since indieBRAG began in April of last year, 50% were rejected during the initial screening process. Strictly for…

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The Importance of Imagination

Geri Clouston
  With Halloween just past and Christmas soon upon us, I am intrigued by the world of fantasy that children delve into at this time of year. Childhood specialists know the importance of a child developing a healthy imagination. Imagination enables a child to be better at problem solving and more capable of handling stress and emotion. It is also critical for future personal and academic success. It is the dreamers in history who have given us some of our greatest technological advances. And having the free time to daydream, create fantasies, read, or just sit and think is vital to building the future leaders of society. But sadly this is becoming rare as children are barraged by a host of other activities that place heavy demands on their time including homework, music lessons, sports, school clubs, TV, video games, computers and the Internet. These are all important in small doses but should never take the place of free time to play and dream.Great thinkers have always known about the importance of imagination: "They who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night."- Edgar Allan Poe"You see things and you say Why?…

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Have you ever added song lyrics to your story?

Geri Clouston
  Have you ever added song lyrics to your story? Popular songs can set a mood or even a time. Beatles music puts you into the Hippy days of the 60's. But, can you include these lyrics in your book? Here is some important information from Jason Boog, writer and GalleyCat editor- Have you ever quoted song lyrics in your book? Music can set the mood, evoke a certain setting or channel a particular emotion.However, writers need to be aware of copyright issues surrounding music in books. We caught up with Copyright Clearance Center's author and creator relations director Christopher Kenneally, discovering the key questions authors should ask before including a song. Kenneally explained:Consider not quoting the song. Lyrics, like all creative expression, are copyrighted. Copyright gives the author or creator the exclusive right to republication of the work. Any writer who wishes to quote lyrics, or for that matter, passages from another's book, must obtain permission first. It's probably worth asking how necessary or vital such quotation is to any particular creative work.Kenneally added:If it's used to set a mood or establish a period, it's easy enough to refer to song titles, which, under U.S. law, are not copyrighted.…

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A LAST SHOUT OUT!

Geri Clouston
Saturday, November 9th We're just weeks away from the 2013 Self-Publishing Book Expo and the excitement is contagious! This year we are proud to report that C-Span's Book TV will be attending and filming the event! Some of the amazing incentives offered this year include: • A terrific line-up of 18 workshops, lectures and panels, led by some of the biggest and brightest names in publishing, including: a Keynote speech on how a leading traditional publisher views the rise of self-publishing, panels on crowd-funding and social media, workshops on creating ebooks, uploading and creating image-rich books, how to make money from audiobooks, the importance of good book design, and much, much more. indieBRAG will be presenting - The Good, The Bad and The Ugly of self-publishing Stop by ouR table in the exhibition hall and enter to win a Kindle or Nook! • FREE professional author photos for every attendee. • FREE 15-minute publicity consultations for all ticket holders. • A chance to win an Amazon Kindle Fire HD, an iPad mini and a Nook HD. • A chance to win a publishing package valued at $1,999. The Exhibition room will showcase the many goods and services available to all,…

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The Self-publishing World

More Halloween Fun with Too Many Witches!

Geri Clouston
Join us for more Halloween fun with Too Many Witches!   IndieBRAG Kids Blogger, Ava, would like to introduce you to Bobby (6years old) Bobby, Thank you for sharing your interview with Mr. Lee Davis and Mr. Scott Nicholson, illustrator and writer of Too Many Witches. Hello Mr. Davis and Mr. Nicholson,My name is Bobby and I am 6 years old and I liked your book Too Many Witches. Your pictures are pretty and the story is fun. LEE: Thank you, Bobby! I'm glad that you enjoyed the book! Mr. Davis, are you an artist and do you paint other things or just books? LEE: I like to consider myself an artist! It's what I love to do. Most of my artwork lately has been for comics and children's books. It's taken up a lot of my time and space for creating, but I'm looking forward to getting back to painting single pieces when I can make the time, maybe with oils or water colors. Last time I did that I wasn't very good, so I'd like to see how I may have (or not have) improved with some new pieces! Mr. Davis & Mr. Nicholson, how did you come…

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indieBRAG Kids

The Wild West of Self-Publishing!

Geri Clouston
  I like the phrase used by Husna Haq from the Christian Science Monitor- "The Wild West of Self-Publishing"! As you all know, self-publishing has opened a door to a whole new world for aspiring independent writers, but there is a dark side to this opportunity. Pornographers have slipped through the door and now book sellers are trying to walk the fine line between banning such material outright and selective censorship. One immediate outcome is that this week I tried to send a self-published book to a Kobo reader and found their store shut down. They have removed all self-published titles until they can get a handle on this problem. And apparently Amazon and Barnes and Noble are also reviewing their titles, looking for any offensive material. Of course, there are those who feel we should be able to buy and read what we want; and who balk at such censorship. The enormous success of Fifty Shades of Grey has fueled a firestorm of copycat writers who are trying to out-shock readers and produce the next big money maker. But there is a difference between erotica and pornography; with the former having at least an element of artistry to it,…

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An interview with Lisa Ard- author of Saving Halloween!

Geri Clouston
  Ms. Ard, I loved reading your book Saving Halloween and would like to ask you a few questions- Ms. Ard: Hello Ava, Thank you so much for reading Saving Halloween. I'm glad you enjoyed it! I'm happy to answer your questions. 1.When did you know you wanted to be a writer? Did you write stories when you were a girl? Although I wanted to be an author as a child, I don't recall writing stories. I did read a lot. It was only after reading to my own children that I decided to give writing a book a try. 2.Do you like Halloween best of all the holidays? Do you dress up and go trick or treating? I do love Halloween! I wait until October 1 to put out my decorations – some I've bought and some have been passed down from my mom and grandmother. I dress up, almost always as a (good) witch and greet kids at the door with candy. I wear my favorite red witch's hat on my school visits too. 3.What kind of books did you like best when you were my age (9)? I loved anything by Roald Dahl, my favorite author. Fantastic…

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indieBRAG Kids

Join us at SPBE in November!

Geri Clouston
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 9TH Come join the fun as we celebrate five successful years as the only exclusive home forself-published books and authors.The Self-Publishing Book Expo is celebrating our 5th Anniversary! This year, in addition to an all-star line-up of some of the most knowledgeable speakers in the business, the Expo will feature some inter-active sessions, and some extended sessions allowing for attendees to have more access to the information they need to successfully publish. We are also introducing a special coffee hour for attendees to mix, mingle, compare notes, and askone-on-one questions of some of our speakers, sponsors, exhibitors and partners. At 12 noon, be sure to join us to discuss- THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY: What Makes a Good Self-Published Book?indieBRAG represents a group of 150 readers who have reviewed 1,000+ self-published titles. They are not editors, publishers, or literary experts; they are simply ordinary people who love to read. Members of the indieBRAG staff will uncover what they have learned in the process of choosing their B.R.A.G. Medallion winners. What does a book need in order to make it worthy of the reading public's time and money? What are the important things to weed out of…

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