Book Marketing Part 1 This is the big one: the one question all self-published authors want to know the answer to: 'How do I market my book?' We've broken this marketing report into five sections, and will discuss the following topics over the next few weeks: #1. Book Marketing: Beware the shark infested waters. #2. Do you need a website? #3. Blogging, writing articles, forums and book reviews. #4. Using Social Media Networks to market your book. #5. Building your brand. #1 Beware! As a self-published author and director of Publicious, I am constantly searching for that magic-bullet that will not only fire my books to success, but also those of my clients. In my early days, as a novice self-publisher, I was tempted by companies who offered 'marketing packages' and 'guarantees' that my book would be stocked in bookstores worldwide at wallet-deflating pri...

Online global distribution how does it work? Not so long ago, a self-published author would have to print a large quantity of books, and then post them out, one at a time, whenever a sale was achieved. This was very costly; especially if sales were being made overseas. With the varied options for online global distribution, this expense and limited delivery is now a thing of the past. Print On Demand (POD) works in conjunction with online stores so authors no longer have to purchase a stock of their books or worry about the high cost of postage. When a buyer purchases a book through one of the online stores, such as Amazon or Barnes and Noble, that one book is then printed at the POD facility closest to the buyer and posted to the buyer at the buyer's expense. Taking advantage of this method of book distribution launches your book to the world market and ensures it is for sale 24/7. Have you ever purchased a book from Amazon or one of the similar online stor...

  ISBNs, CIP, RRPs and Legal Deposits - Goodness me what does it all mean? It can be quite overwhelming when you're trying to get your head around everything you need to do to publish your book, can't it? Here's some stuff you'll need to know. ISBN An International Serial Book Number (ISBN) is required for all books and ebooks that are to be made available to the public for sale. A separate ISBN is also required for each individual format of the same book, such as softcover, hardcover, ebook and audio. ISBN's are issued by the ISBN agency, Thorpe and Bowker for Book Publishing Australia. When first applying for an ISBN, you will need to open an account with Thorpe and Bowker, register yourself as a publisher, and pay an initial publisher set-up fee. If you are publishing a book and an ebook or if there will be future books, my advice would be to purchase your ISBN's in blocks (minimum block of 10). This is a much more affordable op...

Book cover design People often talk about the importance of a book's cover design, alluding that a great eye-catching cover can attract buyers and influence their decision to purchase the book. It is true that a well-designed cover is critical to your book having a professionally published appearance, but remember, self-published books are rarely displayed in the high street bookstores. Buyers on the internet browse online bookstores differently than they would a high street store. In most cases, they already have an author or title in mind, or they are searching by keywords or phrases (see book marketing). The book cover design remains a vital selling point online, but its impact can be reduced. This fact behind the sales of your book cannot be under-emphasised. We all love a great book cover and we all want our book to look the best it can, but we need to keep the reality of what makes our book a great book firmly in the forefront:  the content. It is vital...