PARADISE. Exciting News about our Authors and Publishers. New Services Now Available. Prescriptions

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1 Editig Desig & Productio Foreig Rights Distributio Library Sales Author Tours Radio Prit Media Awards Reviews Edorsemets ebooks Social Media Author Websites Volume 3 December 2012 / Jauary 2013 Welcome to Blessigway s third bimothly ewsletter. This issue features ebooks, which some people feel will replace the books we have bee purchasig for years at brick-ad-mortar stores, the oly kid of books may of us have kow sice childhood. Everyoe has a opiio of ebooks may pro, may co, but oe thig is for sure, ebooks are here to stay. Excitig News about our Authors ad Publishers Prescriptios from PARADISE The sog You Have Forgotte Me by Ro Edwards, author of the forthcomig Dawig of the Age of Magificece ad a homeless vetera upo his hoorable discharge from the army i 1985, was adopted for the soud track of a video recetly preseted at the Supreme Court to brig the issue of vetera homelessess to the attetio of the justices. Japaese, Turkish, ad Simplified Chiese rights have just sold for Kiesha Crowther s Message for a Tribe of May Colors, icreasig her umber of foreig rights sales to 13. Carlos M. Viaa s Prescriptios from Paradise was amed a fialist i the USA Book News awards, i the category of Health: Alterative Medicie. Retur of Love to Plaet Earth, by Nia Brow, is a fialist i the USA Book News awards i the Spirituality: Ispiratioal category. Carlos Viaa ad Nia Brow both had articles appearig i magazies last moth. New Services Now Available To meet the growig eeds of authors ad self-publishers, we have expaded our rage of services to iclude audiobooks, SEO (search egie optimizatio), ad trasformatioal public speakig all with the help of experts at special Blessigway rates. Itroductio to Biocompatible Medicie A A-to-Z Compedium CARLOS M. VIANA, OMD (CHINA), CCN Aruba's Barefoot Doctor Cosider a audiobook if your fictio or ofictio title would led itself to this format, complete with origial music, professioal voice-overs, quality recordig, ad distributio if desired. SEO is the mastery tool for drivig traffic to a author, or publisher s website. Through SEO evaluatio ad trackig, your site ca get oto page 1 of the search egie results pages ad stay there amidst the chages costatly beig made by Google, Yahoo! ad Big. A upcomig teleclass a series of 3 90-miute sessios by phoe complete with callis is beig desiged for authors ad publishers seekig to preset book talks from the heart. We have see authors immersed i the weeked versio of this program trasform their speakig skills ad cofidece levels overight. Give us a call to fid out how these services ca ehace your sales ad outreach.

2 Happy Aiversary, Kidle! November 19, 2012 marked the fifth aiversary of Kidle, ad while sales have recetly begu to dip electroic books ow costitute about 25 percet of all trade book sales. But ot everyoe is elated. Cultural critic Joe Queea, i a essay headlied My 6,128 Favorite Books, otes: Electroic books are ideal for people who value the iformatio cotaied i them, or who have visio problems, or who have clutter issues, or who do t wat other people to see that they are readig books about parallel uiverses where ie-eyed sea serpets ad blid marsupials joi forces with deaf Valkyries to rescue high-strug albio virgis from the clutches of hermaphrodite cetaurs, but they are useless for people egaged i a itese, lifelog love affair with books. Books that we ca touch; books that we ca smell; books that we ca deped o. Books that make us believe, for however short a time, that we shall all live happily ever after. (Wall Street Joural, 25 Oct 2012) Novelist ad ofictio writer Ae Lamott cocedes, EBooks are great for istat gratificatio you see a review somewhere of a book that iterests you, ad you ca start readig it five miutes later. [But] to me, a prited book is like a cathedral or a library or a beach holy space. (New York Times Book Review, 25 Nov 2012) A Surprisig Message from Libraries People who check out ebooks from libraries ted also to buy books at a impressive rate, ad their buyig has accelerated over the past 6 moths. Accordig to a olie poll of 75,000 library patros, those who borrow ebooks also buy about 3.2 prit books per moth. Aother study foud that 41 percet of patros who borrow ebooks buy the last book they read. OverDrive, which powers library websites, reports that it is ow i two-thirds of US libraries ad is able to service 87 percet of the US populatio. 5 Ways to Sell More ebooks This Holiday Seaso Whether you write or publish fictio, childre s books, or ofictio titles that ca be give as gifts, December is your prime sellig seaso. To make the most of it: 1. Sed a to frieds, colleagues, ad customers o your mailig list remidig them that your book makes a great gift for [describe the kid of perso who would ejoy your book]. 2. Ask frieds ad family to recommed your book as a gift item or buy copies to give to others. The Chimpazee Chroicles Spellbidig Stories From Behid The Bars 3. P romote the book o your social etworks, takig care ot to soud aoyigly promotioal. Ecourage people to share the message with others. 4. If you sell directly to customers o your website or ship books to stores, lauch a holiday promotio, such as buy oe ad get oe at half price. If you sell through other olie veues, offer special bouses with the purchase of your book, such as half price o other titles you publish, ad have people or sed their sales receipt umber to you. 5. If you have a Kidle ebook, remid people to give it as a gift by simply clickig the yellow Give As a Gift butto o the right side of ay Kidle book page o Amazo. Debra Rosema If your book does ot led itself to gift givig, pla a promotioal campaig for mid-jauary to offset slow holiday sales.

3 Thigs to Remember Whe Publishig a ebook 1. Sales fluctuate. A bestseller this moth may drop off ext moth ad agai be a bestseller two years from ow. Remember, ebooks are forever. 2. Proficiecy couts. Books that sell best are well writte, professioally desiged iside ad out, priced low, ad carry good product descriptios. 3. Exploit all platforms. Kidle is still the most well-kow platform, but remember to also upload your ebook to CreateSpace, BN.com, Smashwords, Overdrive, ad select others. 4. The more the merrier. The more books you have for sale ad the more you keep addig to your virtual shelf-space, the better you will do. The Rules for Success Have Chaged Whether you are a digital-first publisher or a self-publisher who has released oe or more prit books, be aware that the rules for successful book publishig ad marketig have shifted. Old Rules That Do t Work 1. Advertisig. Few people purchase a ebook because they see it i a Facebook, Google, or prit ad, or ay other kid of ad. It appears ebooks sales, ulike those of hardcovers ad paperbacks, are ot ad drive. 2. Author appearaces. While book talks ad author presetatios sell prit books, they do t sell ebooks. Travel is expesive ad your time is better spet promotig your title. 3. Usolicited bulk mailigs. Remember spam. No oe appreciates a hard sell. New Rules That Work 1. Use your fas. Sed advace ebooks to your dedicated fas, social etwork followers, folks o your mailig list, ad iterested parties foud o Goodreads. com, offerig a freebie i exchage for a hoest review. 2. Social etwork. Takig full advatage of Twitter ad Facebook meas focusig o what you have to offer, ot what you have to sell. 3. Lower your price. Put your ebook o sale if it is ot sellig as fast as you would like. The more ebooks you have available, the easier it is to do this without hurtig your pocketbook. Patiece is required sice you may ot see istat results. 4. Write more. The best advertisemet for your writig is your writig. The larger your virtual shelf-space, the more you ll be discovered. 5. Diversify ad experimet. Explorig ew geres ad playig with ew formats may help you sell more books. 6. Collaborate with peers. Do guest blogs; trade edorsemets; review each other s ebooks; ad buy each other s ebooks. Support oe aother you re all i the same boat, ad you all eed to row.

4 7 Reasos for Flaggig ebook Sales If you are ot sellig may ebooks ad woder why ad how to reverse the situatio, it may be because: 1. Nobody kows the ebook exists You might be strugglig with obscurity, especially if you re just gettig started ad steppig ito the digital world without a established fa base. To gai ame exposure, give away a free ebook (the best way to promote your title), advertise o Goodreads (higes o umber of clicks o your title); ad guest blog (which gets your ame ad book title out to a much wider audiece). 2. The writig eeds work Potetial ebook buyers ca dowload samples before purchasig. Therefore, if your writig is ot compellig i the opeig chapters, browsers will ot covert to buyers. To evaluate whether your writig eeds further developmet, ask yourself: Do my other titles occupy top slots i Amazo s Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought sectio? Are the majority of reviews positive? Do readers write to say they ejoyed my work? If your aswers to all three questios are o, it is probably time for a upgrade. Rushig to publish is ever a good idea, especially sice it s impossible to accurately evaluate our ow writig. Participatig i writers workshops, where stragers critique your work (ad you critique theirs), is almost always elighteig. Your fellow writers may become your toughest critics, the whe they start suggestig that your material is early ready for a readership you ca feel comfortable placig it i the hads of a professioal editor to fie-tue it for publicatio. 3. Your cover art ad blurbs eed work First impressios cout, so if your cover is amateurish potetial buyers might assume the writig is too. Have your cover professioally desiged the get as may blurbs as you ca ad cherry pick the best to use for promotio. 4. Your work is t easily categorized If you write fictio ad your work is difficult to defie, choose a popular category that best represets it. Subcategories are welcome too. 5. There s too much frot matter before the cotet starts Whe dowloadig samples, prospective buyers ca easily be tured off by excessive frot matter. If you have a log dedicatio or ackowledgmets sectio, a list of other works, a ote to the reader, or a log licese statemet, prospective buyers may ot have eough time to get ito the story or cetral idea of the book. 6. Your ebook is priced too high If you have a established fa base, you ca get away with chargig more for your work, but if obody has heard of you a high retail price forces the reader to take a risk. The higher the price, the greater the risk. If you are a ukow author, cosider retailig your book at $2.99, the the better kow you become the more you ca charge. 7. This is your first ebook, ad it was just published Most ebook success stories reveal that authors do t sell may ebooks their first six to twelve moths after publicatio. However they evetually reach a tippig poit where sales take off. The timig of the tippig poit ofte depeds o the release of book reviews.

5 Haressig the Power of Book Reviews to Sell More ebooks Reviews help get your ebook oticed by potetial customers, persuadig a certai percetage to buy it. Followig are a variety of sources for reviews that ca appear throughout the life cycle of your book, the most positive of which should ultimately be posted o your website. 1. Edorsemets. Edorsemets ca usually be posted i the review sectios of olie retailers sites, as well as appearig i prited promotioal material for your book. 2. Critical reviews. Traditioally, critical reviews appear i media such as book review jourals, ewspapers, literary magazies, ad other publicatios. It s geerally best to start locally the brach out. 3. Customer reviews ad testimoials. Ofte people who ejoy readig a particular book will post a review or a brief testimoial (recommedatio) o sites like Amazo, Goodreads, or Facebook, or eve write a ote to the author. So, make it easy for your customers to provide reviews ad testimoials. 4. Book blogs. Thousads of blogs post book reviews o a regular basis. Research book review blogs ( to determie the types of books featured, estimated size of the audiece, ad submissio requiremets. 5. Topical blogs ad specialty media. Opportuities aboud for reviews of ofictio books i blogs ad publicatios that are geared to a particular topic or aimed at a particular target audiece. If you are a ofictio author seekig book reviews, offer to provide articles for the relevat blogs ad publicatios. 6. Virtual book tours. Book blogs, topical blogs, podcasts, ad olie radio shows are potetial hosts for virtual book tours, where authors visit a differet site each day promotig their book ad garerig reviews. Keep a eye out for other opportuities to get reviews for your ebook. For example, offer review copies o reader etworks like Goodreads ad LibraryThig. Also ask people who sed you a ice ote about your book if they would be willig to post their commets o sites like Amazo or Goodreads. To your digital success! Our sicere best wishes for a festive ad lovig holiday seaso. I the comig year, may your visios for your book come true. Blessigway Authors Services blessigwy@aol.com (tel) (fax) 134 East Lupita Rd. Sata Fe, NM USA