So I did.

And now, I think, I'm done.

I mentioned yesterday I often look at Halloween as a day of closure, and of new beginnings.

This Halloween, I'm closing my experience, at least with Lulu and publishing. For the past several months, and for reasons I'll enumerate later, I've become more and more disillusioned with the way Lulu conducts business/treats its customers, and so I've decided to sever my relationship with both them and their community.

In the meantime, however, I had already made some very specific plans, and I intend to execute them as best I can. Since the beginning, I have always pledged a dollar from every sale to the United Way NYC, in honor of September 11th. I had planned to make a donation every year on the anniversary, but last year I had just begun teaching and my first priority was my students.

This year, I'm conducting a drive. From now until the end of October, all proceeds from the sale of my collection will go to the United Way. On this year's anniversary, I plan to post "What I Saw That Day (September 11th, 2001)," and several book reviewers/authors have said they would contribute in their own way, so I'll be noting their posts/links when they come.

To that end, I raised the price of the download to $2.50 (from: free) but lowered the price of the book to $9.99. Several hundred people have taken advantage of the free download; if you've done so, now's the time to buy a copy for you or a friend.

After November 1, the print version, at least, will no longer be available (though I may continue to host the download here).

If you've already bought the book or a download, I hope I can speak for Manhattan (and know I speak for myself) in gratitude. It's a cliche to say that every little bit, every little effort, helps, but cliches become cliches because they're so often true.

When I first set about publishing, a trusted advisor/mentor told me to be careful not to get too wrapped up in this project and the selling of it; to make sure that I kept my eye on future projects and what comes next. What comes next is The Prodigal Hour, and I think it will be very healthy for me, as a creator, to leave aside the past and concentrate more fully on my future.

(update: I totally realized I never linked my Lulu store, where you can actually, you know, purchase said book)

Well, in Review 30, I asked what happened to good ole books like the ones Judy Blume wrote, and with Misfit McCabe, I got my answer!

LK Gardner-Griffie is a clever author who has truly embraced the "tween" readers of today with a rambunctious young lady they will certainly relate to.  Katie McCabe, the main character, is a rebellious fourteen year old tom girl looking for trouble.  And most of the time, she gets exactly what she's looking for!

Timmy Lawrence (I can just hear that name being yelled out the back door by an angry mother!) is Katie's best friend and partner in crime!  Right from page one, the author shows you these two are up to no good.  They are in a neighbor's shed with a flask of rum to spike their Cokes...and they toast to their adventures in smoking as they light up cigarettes!  Like any child, they become entranced by the flame when they start playing with the matches and end up catching the hay in the shed on fire.

Playing with fire, drinking stolen booz, trying cigarettes for the first time...the friendship between Timmy and Katie definitely brought back memories.  I can recall the next door neighbor's grand daughter who only visited during the summer.  I was always anxious for her arrival, and even more anxious for her departure by the end of the season.  She was pure evil!

When she wasn't persuading me to steal eggs or kitchen matches to make magic potions, she was pulling me around the yard in a cardboard box and busting my head on the rocks when the box split open.  I seem to recall a collection of Garbage Pail Kid trading cards that also went missing from my room one year shortly after she visited!

More importantly, Katie does not lie about her involvement in the shed burning when her father questions her.  Very smart!  After all, her father is the town sheriff.  He sends Katie to live with his brother, her Uncle Charley who also happens to be very strict.  With a house full of cousins, the trouble has just begun.  But when Katie starts up a friendship with her older cousin, Sarah, who helps Katie through those "changes of life," Katie really begins to mature and change.  But this certainly doesn't happen in a day.

In the meantime there are new friends to make and new enemies.  A battle of wits pursues between Katie and and a nasty little snot named Harvey Denton Jr.  He's the local banker's son and enjoys letting everyone know it.  He also enjoys seeking revenge against Katie.  Cheating, lying, stealing...the list goes on and on of obstacles Katie must continue to face, even though she is trying her best to be the better person.

LK GG moves her story along with well versed dialogue and has penned an array of characters who are each interesting and unique in their own way.  Her descriptions of the predicaments Katie faces practically on every page are complex (and often seem unfair) to a 14 year old, but provide enough excitement and detail to keep a reader of any age interested.

Despite Katie being a few years younger than my own niece, I plan to purchase a copy of this book for her as she turns 17 this year.  There are situations and outcomes here that any teen could (and will) face, and Misfit McCabe is a character who high school readers will relate to and learn from.  This book would make an excellent gift for those just about to enter high school and begin that often troublesome phase of life.

Kudos to LK for embracing this age group.  Katie McCabe is a character who I hope to visit with again soon!

Mr. Correia is a monster B-Movie fan. He has more than a passing familiarity with firearms and the art of self defense. He is also a writer. Correia set about writing on those two topics in his novel.

MHI is a great book. It's tight and fast-paced, and the characters, even the bad ones, are fun. It is a monstrously (ha ha) entertaining book to read. How good is it? Well my wife, Dainty Little Southern Girl Blonde has started reading it, and she doesn't even like monster movies or guns. You can find the first chapter of MHI on his blog.

You can also read the full story on his search for a publisher and finally his contract through a major publishing house on his blog archives. I want you to consider this: I opened this post with information about Correia's book. At the end of the day, Correia had a sellable book, and against the odds he sold it. He self-pubished it and the novel drew attention, and then a major publisher picked it up.

Thus Larry wins. Correia Wins New-Writer Book. He is being published by Baen. Baen. That is BAEN folks.

I encourage everyone to put their internal biases aside and consider this: the book industry is more organic today then the past. As an outsider looking in, this is my observation: like the internets, it is impacted by globalization and market forces beyond the reach of traditional media. It will change. How much Print on Demand will change it remains to be seen. You cannot deny there are positive aspects of Print on Demand, anymore than you can deny Correia's business acumen.

Writing is our blood. Make every drop count.

A freelance author can make money by publishing his or her book length manuscript or a collection of articles. There are those however, who praise “self-publishing” but condemn those who go with a fee-based self-publishing POD company. This article will show that working with a good POD company is preferable.

In October, 2006 Peter Bowerman's article, “Pseudo Self-Publishing: The Unvarnished Truth about POD Companies,” appeared on the website of Independent Book Publishers Association (www.pma-online.org./). This article was adapted from his book, The Well-Fed Self–Publisher: How to Turn One Book into a Full-Time Living (2006).

I find it difficult to criticize anything written by Peter Bowerman since I greatly admire his very readable writing style and his grasp of book marketing.

Also, by selling over 50,000 copies of his self-published books within two years, he has encouraged authors who want to be published to pursue their dreams. His achievement has done a lot to show that a book not handled by a traditional publisher can be successful. We should all be appreciative.

However, I am in total disagreement with his opinion that POD companies are “pseudo self-publishers.”

In his article Bowerman refers to authors, like himself, who set up their own publishing companies as “self-publishers.” He refers to authors who publish through POD companies as “pseudo self-publishers.” In what follows, what he calls “self-published authors,” I will call independent self-published authors, and what he calls “pseudo self-publishers,” I will call POD authors.

What are the differences between the two kinds of publishers?

An independent self-publisher like Bowerman must do the interior formatting and produce the cover design, both of which require computer skills. He must then pay the printer to produce, let's say, 5000 copies of his book, and pay to have them delivered.

He must also handle fulfillment if he is not selling through the trade. He must take book orders, ship books, handle returns, and deal with customer complaints.

Of course, the author can pay people to handle these tasks but that would simply increase the author's total investment.

Now, let's take a look at Peter Bowerman's article where he presents what I think is a mistaken view as to the nature of “self-publishing” and POD publishing.

Section 1: He points out that most POD authors make little or no profit.

He writes that POD companies are all right if the target audience is friends and family.

He then argues that POD companies don't market the author's book.

All of this is true. The POD author makes little profit as he or she is selling mostly to family and friends. It is also true that the author must market his or her own book. It is also true that all of this applies to the independent self-publisher as well.

Section 2: Straight Talk on Sales

Here, he only addresses one important issue. He claims that the POD company's cover price of a book is high. As I indicated above, I will address the economic issues involved in independent and POD publishing later in this article.

Section 3: Compare and Contrast

Here, Peter Bowerman makes a few distinctions between independent self-publishing and POD publishing.

Royalties vs expenses and profits: Bowerman argues that calculating royalties can be confusing at POD companies. So, pick a company, like BookLocker or Xlibris that bases royalties on cover price.

Control: He argues that the ISBN will be in the company's name. A number of POD companies allow you to supply your own ISBN. Besides, if you switch publishing companies, the new company will have to supply their own ISBN. Much ado about nothing. See Richard Hoy's excellent article on the subject at publishing.booklocker.com, “What's Owning Your Own ISBN Good For? Absolutely Nothing.” July 20, 2007.

Rights: The POD company may keep your production files. So, go to Book Locker or Lulu where the ownership of the files is retained by the author.

Cost of copies: He argues that some POD companies demand that you buy a set number of copies. Most POD companies don't. Go to one that doesn't make this demand like BookLocker, Lulu, Author House, Xlibris etc.

The solution to all of the above is simply to choose your POD company carefully.

Bowerman then repeats a couple of times that POD authors have to market their books but, as I said above, so do independent self-publishing authors.

He concludes his article by referring you to websites which I don't think are particularly useful.

Now, let's turn to the most important factor involved in the issue as to whether an author should go with the independent self-publisher approach or go with the POD company approach.

The most important factor for the vast majority of authors seeking to publish a book is the author's upfront publishing costs.

The chief argument by Peter Bowerman and a multitude of other critics of POD companies is that when the author independently self-publishes, the author's cost of the book is a great deal cheaper than when the author publishes through a POD company. Bowerman informs us that he paid $2.50 per copy including delivery. He estimates that the POD author pays about $9 or $10 a book. Let's check these figures out.

I don't know who printed Bowerman's book or how many copies were printed. So let's see what his printing costs and delivery fees would be if he had hired Instantpublisher.com (IP) in Tennessee to do the job.

At IP, for 1000 copies the printing cost and shipping for a 300 page, perfect bound, black-and-white trade paperback book is $4.92 per copy ($4920 up front). The author's cost of the book is indeed about four dollars cheaper than the $9 charged by a good POD company.

Let's assume that the POD author goes to BookLocker.com. The author would pay $5,770 for a 1000 copies or $5.77 per book. But she or he does not have to shell out over $5,000 since this author can order one book at a time due to the POD technology – and then only after the book is paid for. The upfront publishing fees that the POD author has to pay is only $492 as against the $4920 that the independent self-publisher will have to cough up.

Of course, Bowerman & Co. can get the cost per book down to $3.57 if they order 5000 copies. But then again the independent self publisher will have to shell out $17,850!

Since the average self-published author only sells a couple hundred copies, one can see that you are likely to lose a lot of money by self-publishing independently. Of course most POD authors don't sell many copies either unless they thoroughly market their books, but they don't lose between $5,000 and $17,000 either.

Many critics of POD companies point out that Peter Bowerman sold over 50,000 copies in the first two years. Yes, but he could afford to put $15,000 or more up front. He also spent 10 or 15 years in marketing. Google his name for blogs and you come up with over 2600 hits and for websites, more than 49,000. These data show why he sold so many books.

True, his profit was greater because he independently self-published. We, too, could do the same if we had the marketing brilliance, and the money and time to do so. However, since most self-published books fail to clear expenses, it is far smarter for the freelance writer to test the waters with a POD company before risking a large amount of money. As I indicated above, if the author's book does not sell well, he or she will only be out about $500, as opposed to several thousand dollars.

By the way, the items he complains about as regard POD companies are not a problem if you go with BookLocker.com. But then he would know this since his e-books are listed for sale by this POD company. I suspect that he, like me, just dislikes certain overpriced and unethical POD companies.

So, now that you don't have to worry about digging up $17,950, you can finish that manuscript, pick a good POD company and get your book published.

And I can go back to Bowerman's wonderfully informative works – to learn more about marketing my book.

Hugs, Peter from Larry

Laurence E. Dalton is the co-author with Shirley Strutton Dalton, of the e-book, Self Publishing POD Companies: BookLocker vs AuthorHouse, iUniverse, Xlibris, Lulu, and BookSurge. The print book will coming out in September. The ebook is available now at BookLocker.com.

La stragrande maggioranza degli autori che si rivolge a Lulu e a Boopen lo fa convinta di aver trovato il veicolo perfetto per la corsa al successo. Poco importa che ci siano centinaia e centinaia di libri ormai nel dimenticatoio collettivo: loro possono farcela.

Non si rendono conto che questo è il pensiero di tutti gli autori che hanno pubblicato con Lulu e Boopen: tutti sono convinti di essere più furbi degli altri. Il che potrà anche essere vero, ma poco importa, per il semplice fatto che le persone che acquistano libri in internet sono poche. E quelle poche persone si affidano a librerie com IBS, dove almeno possono leggere le recensioni degli altri utenti e dove hanno la "garanzia" di trovare autori affermati e/o pubblicati da case editrici di un certo rilievo.

Investire su un libro pubblicato con i pod, infatti, è un rischio. Il possibile acquirente sa che editing e correzioni sono affidate all'autore e quindi rischia di trovarsi di fronte un testo illeggibile.

Tra l'altro, anche mettendoci tutta la buona volontà del mondo, trovare dei testi almeno apparentemente validi è una vera e propria impresa! Fatevi un giro tra le pagine di Boopen o quelle di Lulu: i testi che catturano l'attenzione sono pochissimi! La maggior parte delle opere pubblicate va catalogata come porcheria.

Da qui la mia riflessione: non sarà che tutti quegli autori che si definiscono "incompresi", "schiacciati dalla grande editoria" siano semplicemente degli incapaci? Possibile che in più di 100 pagine (Lulu) solo una decina di testi mi abbiano incuriosita?

Su Boopen avevo trovato un titolo apparentemente interessante: "occhi da orientale". Dovete sapere che la sottoscritta, quando sente parlare di "oriente", impazzisce. Adoro tutto ciò che viene da laggiù, per cui ero molto ben disposta verso il libro. Poi mi leggo la breve descrizione...

"Una storia semplice, scritta per ragazze semplici, che quando sognano, sognano storie possibili e non quelle delle fiabe"

...Va bene. Soprassediamo? Ok. Dopotutto il titolo dice "orientale"! Sacrifichiamoci un po'!!! Poi però approdo alla scheda dell'autrice, che parla dei suoi autori preferiti [cito testualmente]: Federico Moccia, Susanna Tamaro, Niccolò Ammaniti e Maria Venturi. Chissà che un giorno non riesca a diventare una scrittrice famosa come loro...

Direi che si commenta da sola. Moccia vicino a Ammaniti e alla Tamaro?! Io non apprezzo particolarmente nessuno di questi due autori, ma indubbiamente sono anni luce più avanti rispetto a...Moccia !!!

Penso di aver espresso il concetto: gli autori di valore che si autopubblicano sono pochissimi. Chi si autopubblica, di norma, o si è rivolto a case editrici sbagliate oppure non vale una cicca. E' inutile continuare a ripetere che in Italia ci sono una miriade di talenti incompresi che scalpitano per ritagliarsi un posto sulla scena: gli editori seri, piccoli o medi, che pubblicano esordienti ci sono, eccome se ci sono! Basta avere un po' di pazienza e criterio nel cercarli. Ovvio che se  ti limiti a cercare su Google "editori che pubblicano esordienti" compaiono praticamente solo i risultati delle editrici a pagamento! Ci vuole un po' di buon senso, nella ricerca. Prossimamente farò degli articoli in merito, nel frattempo andate a spulciare il nostro sito, il Writer's Dream, in cui sono inserite varie case editrici serie.

]]> http://podlerbookreviews.wordpress.com/?p=43 Mon, 25 Aug 2008 00:31:39 +0000 podlerbookreviews http://podlerbookreviews.wordpress.com/?p=43 Kristen Tsetsi wrote an informative piece about print on demand book publishing earlier this year. Why and when should you give print on demand a try?

There are a few reasons. The first is that the author doesn't want a third party making decisions that don't mesh with the author's vision.

Or the manuscript might be a business manual intended for internal distribution or a compilation of recipes a restaurateur plans to sell to customers. It might be a family history or a collection of personal letters or photos, meant for a small audience.

I first came across Mick Rooney's blog earlier this year during the whole Amazon/Booksurge/POD mess.  He, like many of us, was deep in the story with news and updates, writing and watching a small part POD history as it happened.  It seems, today, that story is history indeed but Mick's blog was one of the few that I kept up with after that whole charade.  Recently, he held a poll to find out which POD Publisher his readers preferred.  He took the top four results and outlined their pros and cons.  And in a recent post, he listed each of these publisher's best selling books from Amazon UK.  As I stated in a comment on that post, it was intriguing to discover that very few of these self-published best sellers were fiction.  The main focus of Mick's blog, like my POD Diary tab, is to record his own journey in self-publishing.  And wow, what a journey it has been for him.

At only 159 pages of actual text Mr. Rooney's book, Academy, is packed full of adventure and history.  I love a book that entices my curiosity so much that I end up spending hours Googling things and wish listing a ton of other books because of what I've just read.  Academy is indeed one of those books that will send you on a history lesson field trip!  I thoroughly enjoy Mick's own description of it...

Academy, like much of my writing, is highly descriptive, almost cinematic, and I often write while also researching linked themes to the book. I wrote the first draft of Academy between 1992 and 1995. In that time, I was reading about the life and work of Leonardo da Vinci, a book about the history and development of airships, books about the Third Reich and the Holocaust, Claude Lanzmann’s magnificent and poignant, ‘Shoa’ documentary, books on The Great Siberian Explosion of 1908, and several novels from South America in the magic realism genre. G. W. Pabst’s ‘Pandora’s Box’, a silent film from 1928 also features, as does the themes of photography and the cinema. Somehow in the writing of Academy, all this merged together.

Whoa!  For me, I could write a book on each of these subjects.  There are millions of stories from the Holocaust alone that have yet to be told, but somehow, Mick has indeed packed all of these subjects into one little book.  And he does it flawlessly!

The Academy is the big brother that is always watching.  In the beginning, when the reader is first being introduced to the narrator, we are given brief images of the Academy soldiers herding people in the streets.  It resonates of Nazi actions which we've read about and seen in movies.  Flash to our narrator sitting in a movie theater to escape the outside world...red velvet curtains drawn over the screen and the tinkling of a red-lit chandelier over head.  The author fills your head with so much imagery that it's like coming up after submerging yourself in a pool or hot bath.  You open your eyes and sound comes back to you as water leaves your ears.  You do it slowly in order to indulge your senses; which is why I suggest reading this book very slowly.

We soon discover that our narrator, Leonardo, works for the Academy.  He is a simple clerk, often having a day's work completely changed or thrown away by the Academy, simply as a reminder of who is indeed in charge and who pays him.  So, he lies about his work and says he is a historian or geographer.  Rooney's deep inner narrative voice of Leonardo balanced with intricate details of the Academy's hierarchy is simply haunting.  He hypnotizes you with Leonardo's dreamy thoughts, only to wake you up with a slap to the face when describing the crushed skulls of babies - a reminder of the power the Academy holds over its people; and the power this author holds over his reader.

As Rooney stated, he's weaved a variety of his own historical interests into the tale, of which I too was completely fascinated.  From Count von Zeppelin, a German aircraft manufacturer in a wheel chair, to Leonid Kulik, a Russian mineralogist who was studying meteorites, Rooney treats each character with a sincere respect and honors their story (hero or villian) where textbooks may have forgotten.

Dan Brown "Code" fans will enjoy seeing Da Vinci's inspiration in this story, as they will certainly take note of the small nuances and facts that Rooney has hidden throughout the story like a puzzle for his reader.  As we read of our narrator's daily plot to discover the truth of the Academy at any cost, the reader also finds themselves on a magnificent quest on every page.  The author sent me the PDF for this review, but I had to print it out just to underline all of the things I wanted to go back to again.

In closing, I found another quote on Mick's blog that sticks out in my mind and is worth taking note of as a writer and a reader...

It’s strange, books are like children. You give birth to them, nurture, develop them, and one day, suddenly, they are adults. You think back as a parent how you could have done something differently, made it all better, but, the fact is, the books become adults when published; and like adults, you cannot unlearn, forget the memories and the experience; once borne, once a child, you step forward, and you can never go back.

If Academy is indeed Mick Rooney's child (all grown up), he did a fine job as a parent!

And I am certainly looking forward to his next, Filigree & Shadow, due next month.

Trends suggest we are reading less, yet more books were published last year than ever before. In fact a greater percentage of Americans would rather write a book than read one. I doubt this phenomenon exist with any other product on the market today.

So what is our love affair with writing, and ultimately publishing? Why is there a seemingly compulsive need to be an author in America when there’s arguably a relatively small market for books? It is a desire based on a lie or at the very least a misconception. Popular culture would have you believe that an author lives a life of leisure and luxury. They attend parties and rub elbows with celebrities from every walk of life. People want to publish for the same reason they want to be on reality shows. It seems less work and more like being the center of attention.

If you want to write to be famous, put away that story idea. There are easier ways to be famous. Becoming a doctor and separating conjoined twins in a 27 hour surgery may be easier. It is certainly less time consuming. Training everyday for the Boston Marathon may be easier than achieving fame through publishing. You’ll certainly be in better shape than 99.9% of writers. Winning the nomination for presidency from one of the major parties may be easier than becoming famous through the written word. You will at least get to do less work and attend those parties with celebrities that you wanted to attend.

Writing is hard work. Publishing is hard work. Selling books is hard work. The rewards are not usually commensurate with the amount of work you will expend. Write because you love it not because you think there is a pot of gold at the end of the publishing rainbow. If you’ve ever said, “I need to publish this book because I have to pay some bills.” Back away from the computer keyboard and start flipping through the classifieds.

Publishing should come from a place of passion. If you want it to be your main source of income, then plan to do the following:

1. Practice your craft.There are enough crappy writers on the market.Don’t be one of them.
2. Hire a professional designer for the interior and cover.Don’t be all things to your book.You’re the writer.Leave the rest to more qualified artists.There are rare cases where one person can write and design the book, but chances are you’re not one of them.
3. Work with an editor you trust, and by all means don’t be your own editor.
4. Invest time and money in marketing.If you think the book can sell itself, you’re wrong.If you don’t have a lot of money, spend a lot of time marketing your book.If you don’t have a lot of time, spend a lot of money on marketing your book.If you don’t have either, don’t plan on selling a lot of books.
5. Read books.If you’re not a reader, don’t kid yourself, you’re not a writer.
6. Give it time.Don’t measure in months here.Measure in years.

If you follow these six simple rules, you can succeed in publishing even if this new publishing revolution is too late in coming. The reading public is hungry for books of high quality. Give it to them. It’s your duty as an author. You’re part of the revolution. Act like it. Write like it.

 I am here desirous to find a faithful publisher for my book.... What useful counsel can you give to me.

I'm not sure what is meant by faithful publisher but finding a publisher is a mixture of you wanting them and them wanting you. There are literally thousands of publishers. There are some that publish all types and genres and others that specialize. So the first thing to do is figure out if your book is a how-to, a biography, history, fantasy, romance, literary, sports, spiritual, etc.

Once you know who your reading audience is, you can then research publishers. Writer's Digestputs out a series of books on markets. They're specific, such as, literary markets, short story markets, romance markets, etc. These books give good information on how to write a query letter, which is the first step to what to include in your submission package. Some publishers only want a query letter. Others want a letter, a synopsis and the first three chapters. Some only want agented submissions, which means you must go through the process of querying agents first. It's best to read up on what the publisher wants first. They received hundreds of manuscripts and someone who hasn't bothered to research the market and sends something in the wrong format or way is likely to piss off an editor and have their manuscript tossed.

Writer's Digest also lists publishers and markets, giving short descriptions, addresses and editor names. It's good to read up on the advice and then to start submitting. It's important to make sure you submit your manuscripts in the proper format, which in most cases is double spaced text, no extra space between paragraphs, regular font and size, no right justification, word count, page numbering and name. There is enough information out there that tells you what to send and what not to.

Outlines by chapter, or synopses also are often required so make sure they're laid out well and contain what is the main action/point of each chapter. Taking courses or workshopping manuscripts as well as outlines is not a bad idea. And of course, making sure your manuscript is polished and free of as many grammatical and spelling errors as possible does improve your chances.

Besides researching the right publisher for your manuscript, it's not a bad idea to check the legitimacy and publishing record of a publisher. Find out what they've published and do internet searches both on the publisher name and the book titles they've put out. There are vanity presses that charge you to put everything together. Your chances of making a profit are small. There are print on demand publishers that will work out a deal for self-publishing but depending on how they're set up, you will need to figure out how to advertise and distribute your book. Unless you know what you're doing, you could have some very expensive doorstops and going with established well known publishers with marketing departments and established distribution is worth it's weight in gold.

I once edited a book for a friend who was writing a guide on places to walk your dog. He did his own layout and found a printer. Then he found a local book rep who would market it to the bookstores and see to distribution through a local book distributor. That worked well but the book was locally focused. In most cases you're going to want national distribution if you hope to make any money or sell your book.

Then all you have to do is keep submitting your book to publishers until they bite. Sometimes they'll ask to see a few chapters, and then they may ask to see a full manuscript. This process can take months. Expect the average of three months before seeing a reply to even a query. It's best to send out query letters to many publishers at once. Persevere. Like writing it takes work to get published and some is just the persistence of sending out your manuscript until you hit the right publisher at the right time.

http://www.writersdigest.com/GeneralMenu/

Trends suggest we are reading less, yet more books were published last year than ever before. In fact a greater percentage of Americans would rather write a book than read one. I doubt this phenomenon exist with any other product on the market today.

So what is our love affair with writing, and ultimately publishing? Why is there a seemingly compulsive need to be an author in America when there’s arguably a relatively small market for books? It is a desire based on a lie or at the very least a misconception. Popular culture would have you believe that an author lives a life of leisure and luxury. They attend parties and rub elbows with celebrities from every walk of life. People want to publish for the same reason they want to be on reality shows. It seems less work and more like being the center of attention.

If you want to write to be famous, put away that story idea. There are easier ways to be famous. Becoming a doctor and separating conjoined twins in a 27 hour surgery may be easier. It is certainly less time consuming. Training everyday for the Boston Marathon may be easier than achieving fame through publishing. You’ll certainly be in better shape than 99.9% of writers. Winning the nomination for presidency from one of the major parties may be easier than becoming famous through the written word. You will at least get to do less work and attend those parties with celebrities that you wanted to attend.

Writing is hard work. Publishing is hard work. Selling books is hard work. The rewards are not usually commensurate with the amount of work you will expend. Write because you love it not because you think there is a pot of gold at the end of the publishing rainbow. If you’ve ever said, “I need to publish this book because I have to pay some bills.” Back away from the computer keyboard and start flipping through the classifieds.

Publishing should come from a place of passion. If you want it to be your main source of income, then plan to do the following:

1. Practice your craft. There are enough crappy writers on the market. Don’t be one of them.
2. Hire a professional designer for the interior and cover. Don’t be all things to your book. You’re the writer. Leave the rest to more qualified artists. There are rare cases where one person can write and design the book, but chances are you’re not one of them.
3. Work with an editor you trust, and by all means don’t be your own editor.
4. Invest time and money in marketing. If you think the book can sell itself, you’re wrong. If you don’t have a lot of money, spend a lot of time marketing your book. If you don’t have a lot of time, spend a lot of money on marketing your book. If you don’t have either, don’t plan on selling a lot of books.
5. Read books. If you’re not a reader, don’t kid yourself, you’re not a writer.
6. Give it time. Don’t measure in months here. Measure in years.

If you follow these six simple rules, you can succeed in publishing even if this new publishing revolution is too late in coming. The reading public is hungry for books of high quality. Give it to them. It’s your duty as an author. You’re part of the revolution. Act like it. Write like it.

That's it.  So get posting!

Good luck!

I'm reprinting an old post because this subject has actually come during a couple of conversations lately.

…I would start a “commercial” publishing company. Let me amend that a bit – a small “commercial” publishing company. “Commercial” publishers, for those of you who don’t know, are publishers who purchase the rights to manuscripts and employ a staff to get the book into publishing shape and peddled to various distributors. In most cases a small advance on royalties is paid to the author and once the book earns back its advance in sales, the author is paid a royalty ranging from 10 – 15 percent.

The success of a “commercial” publishing company relies on three things. They are as follows:

One - the competency of the staff. This is not unique to publishing. All businesses have to start from the ground up. Every employee is crucial to the company’s success. In the case of publishing, there are a number of different hands that touch the book before and after it goes to market. Each one has to be highly trained and passionate to make sure the book sells.

Two – the source material. As much as the truly cynical would have you believe otherwise, the quality of the writing is absolutely essential to a books success. If the words on the page are nothing more than uninspired tripe, it’s not going to sell no matter how well it’s packaged. Word of mouth can kill a book.

Three – the author. In this age of instant information through the internet and television, the person behind the words is extremely important. Let’s face it, we live in a celebrity driven culture. Author’s can’t shelter themselves from this aspect of media and entertainment any longer. Most people buy authors not books. An author has to be willing to put themselves out there. In addition, an author should know the publishing business and what it takes to sell a book. Can a well-packaged author save a poorly written book? Initially, maybe, but book sales would eventually drop off because of the word of mouth phenomenon we discussed above.

Let’s assume I’ve put a crack staff in place and I have every confidence in them. Because of the measly salary I will be able to offer them, they will be in it because they love books not money. I have an obligation to reward their sacrifice in riches, by building the business by carefully selecting source material and authors. So, for their sake, I would put the following rules in place:

1. We will not accept unsolicited manuscripts
2. We will not accept manuscripts at all from first-time authors.
3. We will actively seek first time authors

How can you have a publishing company that doesn’t accept manuscripts from first-time authors but actively seeks first-time authors? Easy, I would only take self-published books represented by an agent from first-time authors. Now, for those of you who aren’t “commercially” published let me explain to you what just happened. An author who was fortunate enough to secure a deal with a “commercial” publishing house by submitting a manuscript to a publisher (in most cases through an agent) just did a spit take. In other words, there is coffee all over their computer's screen because they can’t believe what they just read. Self-published books used to be the doormat of the publishing community. Terms like “vanity press” were created to set them apart from books that were published through legitimate “commercial” houses.

In the days of old (or back in the day, if you prefer), it was extremely difficult to sell a self-published book by any means other than from the trunk of your car. Distribution was a huge stumbling block. Bookstores didn’t want the book because they were perfectly happy stacking their shelves with the latest offerings from Simon and Schuster, Little Brown Books and Random House. Who can blame them? Their shelf space is valuable and the bigger houses had money to market and move books. A one-man operation rarely has that kind of fiscal muscle to rely on. A self-published author would go broke buying a warehouse full of books leaving no money for marketing.

Then two things happened in the mid to late 90’s that changed the landscape of self-publishing. First, the internet became a reliable, convenient place to shop and second, a method for printing books one-at-a-time (print-on-demand) was developed. Over the next decade both of these technologies grew and advanced until their two paths converged. Suddenly, it isn’t necessary to warehouse books. They can be stored virtually. And happily, it is no longer necessary to beg for shelf space at the local bookstore. The internet offers unlimited shelf space.

With distribution and warehousing, no longer an issue, the self-published author is free to spend money and creativity on marketing. People rightly point out that most print-on-demand books don’t sell more than a handful of copies. I believe that is because we are currently caught in the gap between two publishing eras. The old era built around the brick and mortar model and the new era built around the digital model. The old era mindset still exists with most self-published authors. They are struggling to get their book into the local bookstore when they should be concentrating on digital retail outlets.

For the self-published author who has switched to the new era mindset, it is a much better sales experience. These authors are not focused on distribution. They are focused on utilizing new media marketing trends (many of which are discussed on this blog). This author is an educated publishepreneur (Wow, I just made up a word). They know what it takes to sell a book and they are putting themselves out there as the face of the book. They are the kind of author I was referring to in point number three above.

Currently 70% of all books published by “commercial” publishers do not earn back their advances. Seventy percent! Is the risk worth the reward? How can it be? Why do so many books fail? Because there are too many unknowns when a publisher takes a manuscript from the slush pile to print. Remember point number two. Source material is essential to a publishing company’s success.

That’s why I would put a call out to agents to bring me self-published material. The book has been test-marketed. The author is motivated to sell books. The degree of risk is greatly reduced. I would be open to paying a bigger advance and attracting real, proven talent. I would then turn my resources toward building the existing fan base. A volunteer sales force (fans) is in place, and I would use them to help my publishing company sell books. And finally, I would be able to pay my people a livable wage.

I know this post is long, but what do you want? It takes time to save the publishing industry.

Und aus diesem Grund werde ich jetzt auch eine neue Serie ins Leben rufen, nämlich "Gestalterwissen". In jedem Eintrag will ich versuchen, zu einem bestimmten Thema etwas zu schreiben. Wenn ihr Fehler oder Ähnliches entdeckt, dann lasst es mich wissen, damit ich dies sofort korrigieren kann. ^^

Für Fragen stehe ich euch natürlich auch gerne zur Verfügung. Und wer weiß... vielleicht möchtet ihr auch ein spezielles Thema behandelt haben? Dann werde ich das natürlich auch gerne hier aufgreifen.

Ach ja, das rechts benutzte Bild stammt nicht von mir, sondern vom Bundesverband Druck und Medien. Es handelt sich hierbei um das Titelbild der Infoschrift zum Ausbildungsberuf Mediengestalter (Art.-Nr. 84530), welche unter folgendem Link erhältlich ist: http://www.bvdm-online.de/ueberuns/lv.php

Kommen wir nun zum eigentlichen Thema "Book on Demand" (Buch auf Anfrage) oder besser noch "Print on Demand" (Druck auf Anfrage), ein relativ neues Produktionsverfahren für Kleinauflagen. Um dieses Verfahren zu erläutern, muss ich kurz ausholen.

Früher war es nämlich so, dass Bücher in einer bestimmten Auflage gedruckt wurden, um einigermaßen rentabel zu sein und kostendeckend zu arbeiten. Sagen wir mal in einer Auflage von 20.000 Exemplaren. Außerdem muss man auch bedenken, dass vielleicht ein Buch für die Schule irgendwann nicht mehr aktuell ist und womöglich als Ladenhüter endet. Da müssen die Verlage abwägen, ob sich Kosten und Aufwand rechnen, aber das sind kalkulatorische Dinge, die ich hier jetzt nicht breit treten will.

Nur kurz: Kleine Auflagen sind einfach unrentabel. Warum? Nun, die Produktionskosten wie Vorstufe, Druckplattenherstellung, Einrichten der Druckmaschine, eigentlicher Druck und Weiterverarbeitung etc. werden beim Verkaufspreis entsprechend auf die 20.000er Auflage verteilt. Würde man nur 100 Exemplare drucken, kann man sich vorstellen, dass der Preis für ein Buch bedeutend steigen und dadurch unerschwinglich werden würde. Keiner würde freiwillig ein überteuertes Buch kaufen, oder? Vor allen in Zeiten, wo "Geiz geil ist". ;-)

Wenn eine Auflage vergriffen ist, muss der Verlag abhängig von der Nachfrage entscheiden, ob sich ein Reprint (deutsch: Neuauflage, ja ich weiß... Anglizismen klingen einfach nur toll, mehr aber auch nicht) lohnen würde oder nicht. Ist diese zu klein, müssen die Nachfrager leider akzeptieren, dass das Buch vergriffen ist. Außerdem darf man nicht vergessen, dass die Druck- und Lagerkosten bezahlt werden müssen, die vor dem Verkauf des letzten Exemplars nicht vollständig gedeckt sind.

Mit dem Einzug des Digitaldruckes und günstiger Binde- und Veredelungsmöglichkeiten waren nun auch kleine Auflagen zu günstigen Preisen möglich. Bei "Book on Demand" werden beim Verlag keine Exemplare eingelagert, sondern Bücher gezielt gedruckt, auch Einzelexemplare sind ohne Probleme möglich. Im digitalen Zeitalter können die digitalen Druckvorlagen schnell von A nach B versendet und entsprechend verarbeitet werden. Und sollten einzelne Teile nicht digital vorliegen, dann werden diese eben eingescannt... ich weiß wovon ich spreche. Ich durfte kürzlich viele... ich meine verdammt viele Bilder für ein Buch einscannen, aber das ist eine andere Geschichte. ;-)

So sind nun auch selbst zusammengestellte Bücher, beispielsweise ausgewählte Kapitel aus verschiedenen Publikationen für das Studium, möglich. Oder wenn man als freier Autor einen Roman veröffentlichen will, kann man das in kleinen kostengünstigen Auflagen ohne Probleme tun. Diese Entwicklung ist mir in den letzten Jahren besonders aufgefallen, weil wir in der Redaktion desöfteren Werbung zu solchen Selbstpublikationen erhalten. ;-)

Hier kann man beispielsweise Book on Demand machen. Es gibt sicherlich noch hunderte andere Seiten, aber ein Beispiel muss ich ja machen. ^^

Die weitere Entwicklung dieser neuen Technik zu beobachten, wird sicherlich sehr interessant sein...

Gott grüß die Kunst, euer Long

P.S.: Wer noch mehr wissen will, findet im Internet unzählige Websites zum Thema. Ich hoffe, dass ihr euch nun unter dem Begriff "Book on Demand" etwas vorstellen könnt. Wenn noch Fragen offen sind, dann schreibt einfach einen Comment.

First, the prize!  We're giving away a brand new copy of 1001 Ways to Market Your Books by John Kremer.  It's a brand new copy of the 6th edition of this powerhouse book of tips and tricks on marketing and selling your book!  Every Lulu author should have a copy, but since you are probably investing time and money in marketing your book and can't afford to pick up a copy, we're giving away one!  So, here's your chance to get your hands on it if you need some new ideas to pick up sales.  The list price of this book is $27.95, so here's a chance to get a copy for free!

Now, what do you have to do it enter this contest?  That's the easy part.  All you have to do is post feedback on any of the books that have been reviewed on this site.  It can be on any of the past reviews, or on any of the upcoming reviews as well.  Tell the author you liked their cover.  Tell the author you downloaded their Ebook (only if you actually did).  Tell us your thoughts on the review...would you buy this book?  Would you not buy it and why?  But please be honest and sincere no matter what you decide to post.

Authors, you can get in on the action too!  Take time to post on someone else's book or post updates on your own review.  Tell us about a reading you did.  Tell us where your upcoming book signing is, or how many copies sold this week.  Direct us to another outstanding review on another website or a 5 star review over at Amazon.

The contest starts when the visitor count reaches 9,000, and every worthy post on this blog is an entry into the contest.  The winner will be announced when the visitor count reaches 10,000 or on October 31st, whichever comes first.

So, let the fun, and the marketing begin.  Start posting...

On the negative side, print-on-demand publishing will not get you the same exposure that a traditional publisher will, services can be a bit on the expensive side with extra costs, and there are sometimes delays in getting the copies out.

Before you get into print-on-demand self-publishing, get to know a few companies and all of the details.

read more on P-O-D self-publishing

Internationally bestselling author M.J. Rose serves up some sage advice in the latest edition of Writer’s Digest. In her article Why Authors Must Be Marketers Too she rightly points out that writing the book isn’t the end of the road for writers. It is the beginning of the journey. You have to pimp your own book. You have to pimp yourself. There were over 400,000 books that made it to market last year in this country alone. You have to make your own space on the shelves (real and/or virtual). If you don’t want to market your book (and I’ve talked with authors who don’t), fine, but be prepared to not sell any books. It’s as simple as that. Or as M.J. Rose puts it:

Some authors are good at self-promotion and others shouldn’t bother. You have to figure out what you want to do, what you can do and what you can’t. You have to figure out if you want to promote your own book or if you want to hire someone else to do it for you. Or you can take your chances and do nothing.

I can tell you that it will take a miracle for you to find a spot in the market if you do nothing.

This attitude seems to be most prevalent among those who decide to print using the true print-on-demand capabilities of digital printer Lightning Source Inc. LSI is not doing exactly what the publisher wishes LSI would do and, as a result, the publisher decides to drop LSI in favor of some other printing option.

For some, that might be a good idea. For others, it makes no real sense.

You never have to pick one printer for your book and print all copies of it with them. A book printer provides a service to handle the manufacturing of your book. Period. Although some provide other services -- warehousing, fulfillment, etc.

In the case of LSI, the publisher gains one other advantage (a significant one, actually) -- immediate listing in and through the Ingram Book catalog. Ingram Book is the largest book wholesaler in North America, one used by bookstores and libraries across the country. In fact, Baker & Taylor (the other major wholesaler) will even get books from Ingram if necessary. Oh, and Amazon.com (and most other online book retailers) will buy books directly from Ingram and/or LSI, frequently drop shipped to their customers.

No other book printer can provide that access. (Not to mention UK printing and distribution throughout Europe from the LSI UK plant.)

People have complained about poor packing of books by LSI, resulting in orders for inventory copies being damaged in transit. For some reason, in over four years of using LSI, we have never had that happen to any shipments. Those people are oh-so-willing to just cancel their LSI account and print elsewhere.

Why?

Instead of losing those LSI advantages, go ahead and buy some short print runs from another digital printer -- or even a longer run from an offset printer, for that matter -- but leave the book in the LSI system so it remains available to all those outlets.

In fact, you could have the book in the LSI system, buy short runs through a different digital printer, and buy longer runs through an offset printer (although LSI and many other digital printers offer offset printing capabilities from the same book files).

Just remember, LSI provides a lot of advantages and the kind of access unavailable elsewhere. But it does not have to be an either-or proposition. Run the numbers, evaluate your options, weigh the pros and cons.

Then make a good business decision.

You are welcome to join our critical discussions as to what is the best POD (Print on Demand) company for you.

The Purpose of This Blog

Have you been searching for a fee based self-publishing POD company to assist you in publishing your book?

In doing so have you been, like me, frustrated by incomplete publishing information, deceptive tactics and confusing mathematical formulas and prose?

Have you found it difficult to evaluate publishing packages from different companies? Do the company websites clearly and honestly deal with author's royalties, the cover price of the book, author's cost of book, bulk and trade discounts, the written contract, etc.?

In selecting a good POD company, it is absolutely essential that sufficient publishing information be clearly presented to you on the company website. If you have found that these companies have been less than clear, comprehensive and honest, you have come to the right place.

The purpose of this blog is to help authors avoid being ripped off by the deceptive tactics and confusing prose of self–publishing POD companies. This will be accomplished by critically comparing what I consider to be the best POD company, BookLocker.com, with five of the biggest POD companies on the planet: AuthorHouse, iUniverse, Xlibris, Lulu, and BookSurge, what I call the Big Five.

You may wonder about the 100 POD companies other than the Big Five. I have surveyed them all and found that the tactics used by them are the same as those used by the Big Five. Thus, the discussions on this blog will enable you to critically evaluate any POD company that you may run across in your search for a perfect company to assist you in publishing your book.

Some of the visitors to this blog may think that my recommendation of BookLocker exhibits a bias on my part. This is not so. The only connection I have with BookLocker is that I list my book for sale at its bookstore and at Angela Hoy's e-zine, WritersWeekly.com. I have recommended BookLocker because it agrees with my idea of a great POD company.

I did not give it five stars so that I could get my book listed there. I could have got more exposure for my book by praising the Big Five. If I had done so, I would have been able to place advertisements for my book on the tons of sites which make money by accepting ads from the Big Five POD companies.

Should the visitors to this site bring to my attention a POD company that they believe deserves a recommendation, I would be more than happy to critically evaluate that company and decide whether a recommendation is justified.

My ebook

The blog is based on my ebook, Self-Publishing POD Companies: BookLocker VS AuthorHouse, iUniverse, Xlibris, Lulu, and BookSurge. Much can be learned from the blog alone, but your experience will be richer if you combine the blog with the more detailed e-book.

Important note on attribution

Please note that some of the content of this site is excerpted from my ebook. Where no attribution is given, all page numbers on this blog refer to my ebook, Self-Publishing POD Companies: BookLocker vs AuthorHouse, iUniverse, Xlibris, Lulu, and BookSurge. Some of the quotations are slightly modified.

Keeping up-to-date

While I will try to update the ebook quarterly, I will keep the blog current. The idea is to keep you up to date when critically evaluating the Big Five POD companies as well as BookLocker.

POD (print on demand) Company:

POD publishing companies are so called because they use print on demand technology which enables them to turn out books one at a time, usually after the book has been ordered and paid for.

A great difference between POD and traditional publishing companies is that the vast majority of POD companies will publish any book, no matter what the quality.

Another major difference between the traditional publisher and POD companies is that many of the latter engage in massive deception and other unethical behavior in the pursuit of a buck.

Why then do I recommend self-publishing POD companies, “companies who assist authors in publishing their books?” My answer is threefold:

1. The upfront costs are minimal — generally about $500 to $1000.

2. The dishonesty of the POD companies can be handled if you inform yourself about their tactics. That is why I created my blog and my book.

3. As I indicated above, I wholeheartedly recommend only one POD company, BookLocker. I do this because Angela Hoy, the co-owner and publisher, does not engage in the deceptive practices which are characteristic of most POD companies.

We did keyword searches for things like "apple pie" and "red, white, and blue."  We read preview after preview, and finally narrowed the search down to 3 Lulu books which we believe best represent the type of book we were looking for.  So, here they are in no particular order. An American celebration of POD books...

Open America
by Kristin Abraham
Copyright: © 2007
$34.99 Paperback
$5.00 Ebook

In 2005 artist Abraham and her musician husband set out across the country determined to visit all 50 states, attempting to unite the country through art, a journey they called The Nomadic Project.  They worked out of their car and Abraham created a painting in each state to capture its essence and beauty.

This book is a collection of all 50 paintings accented with entries from her travel journal.  If you love a good coffee table book or you are a travel enthusiast, this book offers some nice insight to our beautiful country.  There are local backroads here you'll want to see for yourself one day!

6333 Miles - A Strange Journey Through Small Town America
by Nico Ammann and Rebecca Barkin
Copyright: © 2008
$34.90 Hardcover
$9.90 E-Book
ISBN: 9780615206899

Yep, this is another travel story, but instead of all 50 states we are treated to the backroads of only 5 small towns across the southern US starting in Jerome, Arizona, going down to Luckenbach, Texas; then crossing over to New Orleans, up to Clarksdale, Mississippi, and ending in the outer banks of North Carolina.  This is a haunting travel log reminiscent of great southern lit geniuses such as Truman Capote and Flannery O'Connor, accompanied by odd angle photographs of the local sites and local folk.

I think I was drawn to this book, not just because of the brilliant cover depicting the familiar blinking arrow sign (often missing letters in the true south, if teenagers haven't rearranged the letters to spell bad words), but because there is a part of me in this book.  Being from Tennessee, I know these places.  I know these people, and I know this dirt roads.  Just as the back cover suggests....bikers, bibles, and bad decisions.  With a touch of murder mystery, some downhome fried cooking, and those strange front porch banjo playing strangers who you are afraid to ask for directions, this book is a brilliant rebel flag waving farce.

4th of July Recipes
by Timm Miller
Copyright: © 2008
$6.95 E-Book

Besides sparklers and bottle rockets, the 4th of July for me as a kid meant barbecue and watermelon.  It wouldn't be an American holiday without the food, right?  That's why I've chosen Timm Miller's 4th of July Recipes as my third "America" highlight.

There's a nice history of Independence Day for an introduction, followed by Red, White, and Blue Pie, baby back ribs, macaroni salad, and much more, and that's just in the preview.

Your picnic table will be overflowing with yummy treats and hot eats from this book.  Many of our holidays follow traditions.  Each of our families have their own when it comes to certain events, and many of those holidays and traditions would not be complete without certain comfort foods.  Miller does an excellent job of helping you to try new simple recipes, and maybe create some new traditions of you own.  Check out his bookstore for more of those cool 3D covers too!

So that's it!  Yeah, these three books focus mainly on travel and food, but it doesn't get more American than that, does it?

Moonbeam Children’s Book Awards

“Celebrating youthful curiosity, discovery and learning through books and reading.”

• Entry now open - Just $95 per category until August 15th
• New categories include Children’s Poetry, Environmental Issues and Spanish Language Book

Click here to download complete guidelines and entry form:
http://www.moonbeamawards.com/MoonbeamGuidelines.pdf

Announcing the call for entries into the second annual Moonbeam Children’s Book Awards www.MoonbeamAwards.com, designed to honor the year’s best children’s books, authors and illustrators. The new book awards program is accepting entries until August 16th, 2008 for books with 2007 or 2008 copyrights or that were released in 2007 or 2008, and is open to authors, illustrators, and publishers of children’s books written in English and intended for the North American market.

Presented by Jenkins Group and IndependentPublisher.com, the Moonbeam Children’s Book Awards are intended to bring increased recognition to exemplary children’s books and their creators, and to support childhood literacy and life-long reading. Awards will be given in 30 categories covering the full range of subjects, styles and age groups that children’s books are written and published in today.

“The inaugural Moonbeam Awards were a huge success, says Jim Barnes, Awards Director at Jenkins Group. “We had a great turnout of support from the children’s book publishing community, and we’re going to make this year’s awards even better. Last year we recognized a wonderfully diverse group of authors and publishers, from first-timers to seasoned veterans, and the award-winners make up an amazing ‘must-read’ list of books for kids.

Click here to view last year’s results, photos, etc: http://www.independentpublisher.com/article.php?page=1192

Jenkins Group has been involved in book packaging, marketing and distribution since 1988, and many of its founders and employees now have children and grandchildren who strongly influence the company culture with their youthful exuberance and love of books.

“We all have kids, grandkids, nieces and nephews, and we all recognize the role books play in enriching children’s lives, says company founder Jerrold Jenkins, father of four children ranging from ages 5 to 15. “As our society has gotten more complex and growing up has become more complicated, children’s book authors and publishers have risen to the occasion, creating books that not only celebrate the joys of childhood, but also help families deal with its challenges. We want to recognize and reward the best of these books and bring them to the attention of parents, booksellers, librarians – and to the kids themselves.

Click here to enter online:
http://www.moonbeamawards.com/entry.php

Click here to download complete guidelines and entry form:
http://www.moonbeamawards.com/MoonbeamGuidelines.pdf

To learn more about the Moonbeam Children’s Book Awards visit www.MoonbeamAwards.com

Questions? Contact Jim Barnes, Awards Director
email: jimb@bookpublishing.com
phone: 1.800.644.0133 x1011

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