Vanity Publishers

Excerpts from an email concerning Raider Publishers:

I hadn't heard of Raider Publishers, so did a check on "Preditors and
Editors" (http://pred-ed.com/) a well-known site where you can check out
possible dodgy sites or organisations in the writing world. They list Raider
as a "Vanity Publisher".

I then Googled Vanity Publishers to find something I could send you on the
subject. Here's one that is straight-forward and tells it like it is:
http://www.writersservices.com/res/ri_vanity_publishing.htm

Basically Vanity Publishers are not well regarded. They are similar in some
ways to self-publishing BUT you have to figure out a way to check up that
they produce the goods - and it costs you a LOT of money. If you're going to
go that way, you would be safer with straight self-publishing or even e-book
publishing. And Val's your lady to talk to in that area.

However I would urge you not to give up on traditional publishing. You're
young and have a long time ahead of you. Now is the time to build up your
platform so that when you get to the point that you ARE ready to publish,
you have a marketable proposal and a presence on the Internet. Start working
on short articles: devotions, anthologies, blogs, etc, so that when you get
to sending out a query letter/proposal for your book, you have a list of
published articles you can give to impress potential editors.

Re traditional Christian markets (and non-Christian) - You're right that
most only want solicited manuscripts, but not all of them. There are some
that are open to new writers.

Re. agents - you should NEVER pay an agent to market your work. This is a
problem here in S.Africa in that the few agents I have heard of DO charge -
so any others of you with a different experience are welcome to shout me
down on this. Overseas agents do not accept money up front. (Some will
charge you for postage, but I imagine with emails today that is no longer
likely.) They get their money out of commission from the sale of your book -
a payment that goes on as long as the book is in print.

Problem is again - many of them don't take on unsolicited writers. Sigh.

FOR THOSE USED TO BLOGGER

Here's how to publish to the blog without going online. If it appears on the
blog, it worked!

Log into the CWOSA blog dashboard and click on settings

Choose Email & Mobile

Under Posting Address put a unique name where it shows.

Check "Publish emails immediately" and save settings.

Anything you email to this address will be published on the blog "as is".
The subject line of the email becomes the heading and the content goes in
the body.

This can save time - but again I emphasise it's just for those of you who
know what you're doing with blogger.

Thanks Val!

How To Sell Lots of Books

John Locke is a self-published novelist who has sold over a million copies of his e-books so far this year. He's had as many as 8 of his novels on the Kindle Top 100 list at one time, all priced at $.99.

 

How did he do that? In his Kindle book "How I Sold A Million Books In 5 Months" he shares some of his methods and I thought this group might find it interesting. Here's
a short link to the description page on Amazon: http://ow.ly/64amA

 

Briefly, this is what he advises:

 

* Define your General Target Audience - the people who love the kind of books you write and would buy them if they knew about them.

 

* Create your book - write specifically for your General Target Audience. He very consciously writes a novel that he believes will delight his General Target Audience -- and nobody else. He really doesn't care if he offends everybody else.

 

* Create your platform - when you create your platform (including a web site, blog, Facebook page, etc., you should do everything in your power to make it as appealing as possible to your General Target Audience.

 

* Launch your book - when you launch your book, you should do everything in your power to reach those people in your General Target Audience. If you accidentally reach other people too who somewhat like your book, that's fine, but your General Target Audience will be the ones who love your book and spread the word.

 

* Grow your platform - continue to focus on building an online presence that makes your General Target Audience happy. You'll focus on adding them to your e-mail database, and they'll be delighted to be there, because there's nothing they want more than to hear when your next book comes out.

 

* Market your book - focus on crafting a message designed to appeal to people in your General Target Audience. You reach them; they'll reach everybody else. Use Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.

 

I think he really makes a good point. He's not just "going fishing" and hoping for the best, but specifically going after a particular niche of people within a targeted group.

 

Something to mull over...

 

Val

 

Val Waldeck
Author of "Kindle Publishing Made Easy"

 

 

Sample Devotions for Winners

Here are three sample devotions I wrote for previous Winners. We await details on the wordcount for the next version - but this will give you an idea of what is wanted. 

BORDER CROSSING

John 3:16  (CEV) God loved the people of this world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who has faith in him will have eternal life and never really die.

To travel between South Africa and Zimbabwe, or any other African country for that matter, you have to go via an official border post and produce the correct documentation. The Kingdom of Heaven is no different. To cross from Earth to Heaven we have to go through the border post. Jesus Christ purchased our passport on the cross. But without Him, we will not be able to cross into the Kingdom of Heaven.

PRAYER: Lord Jesus, thank you for my passport to Heaven. I accept it from you now.

(90 words)

CHANGE OF HEART

Matthew 23:25-26 (CEV)  You Pharisees and teachers are show-offs, and you're in for trouble! You wash the  outside of your cups and dishes, while inside there is nothing but greed and selfishness. You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of a cup, and then the outside will also be clean.

Poverty in Africa is a huge problem. Years ago, the Barbers' Union of Chicago picked out a filthy hobo and gave him a complete makeover. They cleaned him, dressed him in new clothes, and called him a “new man”. A short time later a journalist following up the story found the man. He had reverted to his old self. It wasn't enough to clean him on the outside. He had to want to be different. We need to motivate people to change from the inside. 

PRAYER: Lord, show me habits I need to alter. Help me change from the inside.

(99 words)

GUARDIAN

Rom 8:39  (KJV)  Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

A baboon family scampered across the road. Babies clung to their mothers' underbellies. Youngsters stopped to play. One curious little guy plonked down in the middle of the road and studied our car. A loud bark sounded from the top of the tree, and the animals scurried for the trees. The senior member of the troupe, perched atop the highest tree, was warning them of danger. I thought of God, our Father, watching over us at all times. Am I always as quick to obey?

PRAYER: Lord, help me to listen for your warning call, and to obey immediately

(98 words)

Congratulation! Val is a Star!

Val, how wonderful to get recognition for all the hard work you have put in. I pray that recognition is turned into First Prize. That would be superlative! God be praised for the work you are doing to encourage all writers to get to grips with the new technology of ebooks. Well Done!

Val Waldeck's Books nominated for Global eBook Awards

*** Press Release ***

VAL WALDECK’S BOOKS NOMINATED FOR A GLOBAL eBOOK AWARDS
DURBAN, SOUTH AFRICA – 11 July 2011 – Two of Val Waldeck’s books have been nominated for Global eBook Awards. Val’s “Kindle Publishing Made Easy” eGuide has been nominated in the Writing/Publishing – Non-Fiction category and her moving devotional“When The Storms Come” in the Christian eBook category.

“Kindle Publishing Made Easy” is the 
Step-by-Step Guide To Turning Any Book
Or eBook Into A Kindle Edition and Publishing It With Amazon’s Popular Kindle Direct Publishing.

“When the Storms Come” is the account of one man’s faith in the midst of incredible trials, and his triumph over sin, sickness, and death. A 31-day Encouraging Devotional.

“Everyone is talking about eBooks,” said Dan Poynter, founder of the Global eBook Awards. “eBooks have reached the tipping point and are outselling books on paper in several categories. eBook are not replacing paper books; they are in addition to. The eReading devices such as the Kindle are increasing the amount of book reading.”

According to Joseph Dowdy, the Director of Awards, the category with the largest number of entries so far is Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Paranormal. The next largest number of entries is in Historical Literature, Autobiography/Memoirs, and Writing/Publishing Nonfiction.

The Awards have 79 categories in fiction, nonfiction, poetry, illustration, and multimedia. See http://awardsforebooks.com/categories/

The Global eBook winners will be honored at a star-studded ceremony on August 20 in Santa Barbara, California. USA.

Encouragement

I had a wonderful experience this morning. I went to Sandton for a meeting and while waiting for it to start got into a conversation with a Security Guard. We chatted about many things and he especially said that every day is a blessing to him. I was able to share "The Prayer of Jabez" with him, and he pulled out a little scrap of paper to write the Bible Reading down. We chatted till I went into my meeting, and on coming out he was waiting for me. He insisted that I share in the Mandela Birthday Cake that was in the foyer. God gives us  unexpected meetings - which are such blessings. What an encouragement it was!

Testing as Crystal

Checking to see this is okay. Looks good.

testing

trying again

Its hard to live when nobody cares if you die

A high school student in the USA committed suicide.  He left a note saying, "It's hard to live when nobody cares if you die." 

 His classmates were badly shaken by this traumatic event.  Realizing the opportunity to help these young people through this troubling time, a teacher talked to the students about how important it is that people feel valued. So, he told them to imagine they were about to die. Then he gave an assignment: "Write a note to tell someone how important he or she is to you."

Sandy, who had a rocky relationship with her mother, was especially moved by the idea that she might die without telling her mom how important she was, so she wrote a note: "We've had some rough times and I know I haven't been a very good daughter but I know I'm lucky to have you in my life. You  are the best person I've ever known. Thanks for not giving up on me."

 

 She told her mom about the assignment and gave her the note. Her mom cried and hugged Sandy but said little. The next morning Sandy found a note on her mirror. "Dearest daughter," it said, "I want you to know how much you are valued. Being your mother is the most important thing in my life. The truth is I've felt like such a failure I was seriously considering ending it all. I thought you'd be better off without me. Your appreciation makes my life worth living."

"Let us think of ways to motivate and encourage one another to acts of love and good works." (Hebrews 10:24, NLT)