Essay Online

What IS a best-selling author?

You have to answer that in your own mind.

Technically, it’s any book that makes it into the Top 100 list at ANY online or offline bookstore.

However, what does it mean to you?

Is it someone who sells 300-500 books in a day through online bookstores like Amazon.com and makes the top 10?

Is it only the person who makes it to #1?

Is it the person who sells their book from their own website and makes $10,000 in a few months?

Or does it have to be a specific list… like the New York Times best seller list?

What does it mean to you?

It’s a tough call. But you CAN have it all.

Selling your book through an online or offline bookstore will mean less money for you upfront, but will provide you far more leverage in the long run.

Selling your book from your own website and taking your own orders will mean far more money in the bank for you initially, but you’ll have to work a little harder on the back-end to get the recognition you deserve.

Both ways work. Neither way is right. It’s really what’s right for you.

Let’s talk about the steps necessary to make your book a bestseller whether you want to do it through an online bookstore or from your own website.

1) Pick the specific day you want to become a best seller.

Focusing on a specific day is what provides you the leverage to sell a large amount of books quickly. Selling 500 books over 6 months is not as impressive as selling 500 books in one or two days.

2) Create your “what’s in it for me?” offer.

Your book is a valuable resource for your clients. But selling it alone puts it up against all the other books already on the market for your subject. I don’t like those odds.

What you need is something “extra” — something that really let’s the perspective buyer know that you want to help them.

If you were to sell your book (for let’s say $20) and then offered everyone who purchased your book on the specific day you decided on in step 1 around $200 in bonuses from experts… do you think they’d be more likely to buy? And buy on that day?

Of course they would.

This is the step where you stop thinking about you and start thinking about the group of people you want to help by writing this book in the first place. Think of everything you can possibly offer to add value to your book and build a powerful arsenal of tools and resources.

When the potential buyer asks, “What’s in it for me?” (which they always do)… give them TONS of answers.

3) Use the 12-step method to create a promotional sales letter.

Now that you’ve answered the “What’s in it for me?” question, use the 12-step process to build a sales letter site for your book that explains it to the potential buyer.

They have a problem in their life. Your book is going to give them a solution for their problem… and a whole lot of “extras” if they buy on the specific day you’ve selected.

Tell them &ndash using the proven 12-step process.

4) Leverage the relationships you’ve built.

Now, simply go back to the experts who provided you the bonus items for your book promotion, let them know the day you have picked as your bestseller day and ASK them if they would help you promote it on that day.

GIVE THEM A FREE COPY OF YOUR BOOK.

Don’t be stingy. These are experts who have earned the right to be called an expert. You are asking them for a favor. Be generous enough to let them read your book first.

If you can afford it, send them a physical copy. If you can’t, email them a digital copy with a short, concise explanation of what you are doing.

Pick a specific day to target your focused effort. Give an overwhelming amount of bonus reasons for people to buy your book on that day; and then leverage the relationships with experts to get them to help you promote your book.

Why would they want to? Some will want to give back for the success they’ve earned. Some will want to because by doing so their bonus item is getting in more people’s hands (and their bonus item promotes them).

What will these experts use to help promote your book?

You guessed it… the “list” of their current clients.

Authors 25, 50 or 100 years ago would buy out their own first printing to make it appear their book was popular. Many “best sellers” used this tactic to get the Best Seller status so publishers would contract with them for future titles.

Tricky? Maybe. Successful? Absolutely.

Now it’s your turn.

Now that you know HOW to become a best seller, let’s address where to become a best seller.

Right now the 2 most popular bookstores for running best seller campaigns are Amazon.com and BN.com (Barnes and Noble).

To get your book listed in Amazon.com you can either:

Purchase the $149.95 option from Lulu.com for Global Distribution. This will get you listed in all major online and offline bookstores or go to Amazon.com and do it yourself.

If you take the “do it your self” route at Amazon, be sure to join Amazon.com’s Advantage Program. They will walk you through the process of signing up and getting your book listed in their store.

If you want to get listed in Barnes and Noble (online or offline), then visit BarnsandNobel.com.

Lulu.com will make both of these a simple process because you’ll already have an ISBN and you can order just a few books initially to get started with Amazon.com and/or Barnes and Noble.

Let’s talk through a few examples of how the Best Selling promotion may work:

1.) Leverage experts

We’ve already covered this one.

If I was writing the Pet Name book, I could find experts who are currently providing products and services to pet enthusiasts. Ask for bonuses and/or content from them. Then let them know the day I’m going to promote it and ask for their help.

I would provide them a digital or physical copy of the book to review. I would also ask what I could do to assist them. I’ve got to make it worth their while to help me.

2.) Leverage businesses

Rather than relying on 1 sale at a time from individual readers, I could approach businesses that sell pet-related products and see if I could get a licensing agreement with them where they buy a large quantity of books at one time.

I could sell 500 books to 500 different readers or I could sell 500 books to 1 or 2 pet stores.

3.) Leverage home town support

If it’s a localized subject &ndash like a travel guide to North Carolina beaches &ndash you could focus on specific businesses along the North Carolina coast to promote your book.

You could also contact local radio and/or TV stations to get publicity for your book promotion.

The biggest key to your best selling book promotion… don’t just go through the motions. Make It An EVENT! And have FUN with it.

Do you like to write letters to those who have meant something to you? Do people like receiving your letters? Have others said they always look forward to your letters?

If you answered yes to any of the above questions you could be an Epistolary Novelist.

This novel approach to fiction writing is unique in that the entire novel is composed with letters written between main characters or a solitary writer.

One of the classic Epistolary Novels in Christian fiction is the Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis. In this work two demons are conversing by letter to learn ways to frustrate Christians. These letters provided unique insight into the lives of Christians and how we respond to the world around us and the frustration we sometimes feel when dealing with other Christians.

One element that is totally removed from an Epistolary Novel is the narrator. Each chapter is composes specifically of a letter from of the novel’s main characters and presents a perspective unique to that author. There is no tool to lead the reader in any particular direction; they are influenced only by the words of your fictional character.

Another benefit of an Epistolary Novel is that you can present many unique points of view because each letter contains a prospective unique to the fictional author.

It may be difficult to think about how to manage a series of letters, you must learn how to take your plot and direction through the use of one or more voices. You have to work at keeping the characters and voices separated so each letter (chapter) bears the unique stamp of the character you have developed.

It is possible to develop an Epistolary Novel using only one character. In this scenario the novel may read much like a journal with an entire series of events being passed along in a time stamped dateline.

You will find there are several issues in the story that may not be resolved in subsequent letters. It may be several letters before an issue addressed in one letter is finally clarified. The intent is to present a realistic representation of the manner in which letter writing takes place.

A few authors have used the Epistolary Novel approach using email correspondence instead of standard form letters, but the truth is you can set your work of fiction in virtually any time period you choose.

Before you begin writing your book, you must research your idea and see if it is in-demand with readers. Who is going to read it? To whom are you trying to appeal with your words? You must have a general idea of who your intended audience will be. Check out other books. Is there a book already published that resembles your book? What will make your book unique from theirs? If there are similar books already out there, what is going to make your book different and make people want to buy it?

When you are ready to begin your book, decide on a schedule that is best for you, one that you can stick to. Your schedule should begin before your research and carry through to the completion of the book. Make a detailed outline with the main plot, events leading to that plot, and explicit detail about the characters. An outline is also a good reference point to double-check your timelines and details.

ONE IDEA IS NOT ENOUGH

Part of the reworking process is changing direction within the writing. Many beginning writers aspire to write a book. They have an idea and a vague plan to turn the idea into book. Picture a first grader telling you she wants to write a book about horses. Although you can collect a lot of information about horses to write several books, the vague idea is not enough for an adult writer to create a marketable book. To write a book, you need to start with a topic. You may or may not be an expert on the subject. After you have the first vague ideas, you need to start asking yourself questions to focus in on a specific, marketable topic. Answering those questions will lead you to more questions, and so on. Even if your original idea is unique and leads you to write new information that the world does not yet have access to, you will need to add to that original idea to create an intriguing finished product. If you are not an expert, or you have not created any new information, it will take more time and effort to produce a unique piece of writing. Fiction is the same as non-fiction. Many stories have been told before. If you want to become a published author, you need to come up with an engaging and new journey for your readers to take.

RECYCLING OLD IDEAS

There is always room in your book for old ideas. Your readers will need a familiar starting place within your writing. As you are putting together your ideas for a complete book, you will probably publish smaller pieces of work in magazines and newspapers. It is okay, as long as you cite yourself, to reuse some of that work. In that way, you can publish as you go along while still making progress towards your end goal in book publishing. After several months or even years, you will have poured out your effort and knowledge into a completed book.

You may want to turn off your editing software for your first draft. Mesh the plot, the characters, and everything together, without using your spellchecker. You can fix your grammar, spelling, and punctuation later. Most authors don’t write their books from front to back. By writing different chapters or events, it may be easier for you to come back and connect them later. Sometimes having the words on paper makes it easier to fill in the blanks.

FIRST DRAFT

You have finished your first draft. Now is the time to read it. Reading the rough draft allows you to zero in on the timeline, link the plot with the characters, and ensure everything makes sense and flows together. Once you have accomplished these tasks, use your editing software. It is time to fix your grammar, spelling, and punctuation mistakes. Two widely used grammar programs for authors include WhiteSmoke Software (.WhiteSmokeSoftware.com), and a book formatting software called WizardsForWord (.WizardsForWord.com).

Now put you book aside. Let it sit for 7-10 days or so before you pick it up again. This will give your mind time to clear. Now read the book again. Does it still flow and make sense? Do you need to add something or change it? Now is the time.

Choose someone to proofread your book for you. If possible, hire a professional editor to do this or someone with a writing or English background. Besides editing your manuscript, a professional copyeditor can also offer you unbiased opinion and advice.

Lastly, create the final draft. The final draft should be error free. This is your last chance to change anything before it goes to the publisher. Now is when all that time you spent writing a book comes together to make its trip to publication.

Unlike other areas of expertise, book writing is a different process for everyone. As you set out to write a book, you can follow some basic guidelines, but getting your ideas from your head to the page is an invention of your own. Not only will you have to get the information onto the page, but also you will have to write in a way that thousands or even millions of readers can relate to and understand.

The point of view in any story is important because it provides a guide to manage the execution of your story. Most works of fiction use one point of view although a second perspective can be brought into the story for a short period of time.

Third Person Perspective is the most common method of conveying a work of fiction. This method allows the narrator to have at least limited omniscience. The narrator has limited access to the knowledge and feelings of the characters in the story and can take the reader from one character setting to another easily. There is no questioning of how the narrator knows so much about each individual; it is a premise that is simply accepted by most readers.

Unlike first person perspective that conveys the story from the perspective of a cast member, third person perspective narration does not allow the narrator to actually participate in the action. They are simply the mechanism that operates outside the story to bring the various story threads together.

If a writer were to give the narrator full access to all feelings and thoughts of the cast of characters the story would be a little flat because nothing would be left to the imagination.

Third person narratives can be spotted by the predominate us of words such as they, he, she and it. The narrator talks about others - never about himself.

The least common perspective is Second Person Perspective. Very few novels can utilize this approach throughout an entire work.

This type of fiction relies on words like you and you’re. The use of this type of perspective either assumes you will connect with the story as if it is written to you or that you will understand you are reading a private story written to and about someone else. It is rare to find a full manuscript that uses this perspective although an Epistolary Novel such the C.S. Lewis masterpiece “Screwtape Letters” may likely be considered second person perspective in its entirety.

The trouble many writers get into is an unintentional shift in perspective. This can be used effectively under certain circumstances, however the shift in perspective needs a breaking point to allow the reader to gain some understanding that a shift has taken place. Without a break to qualify the shift in point of view the story becomes confusing because the reader has to work hard at discovering who is actually telling the story.

Size doesn’t matter. Such is the case with the memo. Isn’t it amazing how one relatively short document can be such a huge pain? Memos are an overlooked office document. We assume the least amount of words on a sheet of paper makes it least important. How wrong we are. Memos are as important as a ten-page business letter autographed by Brad Pitt. A poorly written memo can be irritating to readers (who really just want to get back to work) and damaging to the sender (who has no idea how he or she managed to come off sounding so careless). Learning to write concise and effective memos is a skill vital to any business person. The following tips show you how to construct a formidable, readable memo.

BE SHORT, BUT SWEET

The most common problem with memos is their length. Regardless of the topic, a memo should never be more than two pages; any longer and the memo begins to ramble on like a report. Unless you’re reprimanding every person in the department, there’s no reason to be aggressive or rude. Keep it short, be polite and get to the point as quickly as possible.

STAY AWAY FROM THE CLICH