As reported in this blog, I set out on January 11, 2009 to write a book in 30 days in public. (Go to my Facebook group to see it.)

I chose the topic, showing how I did it. I laid out the structure, in detail; then I began to write.

I wrote for 45-90 minutes every day except Saturdays. By the 24th day, the manuscript was done.

And by the 30th day, you could actually buy a bound or PDF copy here.

My point in doing this was NOT to show off. It was to show you how simple the process is; how in 30 days, one hour a day (on average), you can have a published book.

Let’s say I’m 3 times as efficient as you, or that you only have 20 minutes a day, 6 days a week, to devote to your book. So you’ll be done in 3 months.

What’s not to like?

You can do this! And I am here to help you.

I attended a paid webinar ($79) with Jane Friedman, editor of Writer’s Digest, on non-fiction book publishing last week. If the recording becomes available, I will let you know. It was chock-full of useful info for aspiring non-fiction writers.

I was just sent a list of questions and answers that Jane did not have time for during the event. I think I can share one with violating copyright:

Q:  How do authors make money?

A:  In the most basic terms, authors make money when a publisher pays them an advance against
royalties for a book project. Then once the book starts to sell in the marketplace, the author has
the potential to earn more money (based on a royalty percentage specified in the book contract)
after the advance is earned out.

Most books do not earn out their advances, so usually the advance is the only money you’ll see
from a book project unless you are very good at marketing, promoting, and selling your own
work.

All of the information was at this level of directness. Hope they make the recording available; it was very powerful.

My friend and mentor Kevin Nations said, “Why don’t you not only produce a manuscript in 30 days, but actually have it available for sale by then? All you need is some quick editing, a cover, and maybe an ISBN!” Right on, Kevin! So that’s what I’m going to focus on today. As always, today’s post is viewable on Facebook, in “Joel’s book-writing mastermind group.”

Writer’s Digest editor Jane Friedman reports:

…We also closed the issue before the partnership announcement between Stanza and Smashwords. You’re probably thinking, Why do I care about the partnership of two companies I’ve never heard of?

True, it wasn’t until I had an iPhone that I became really aware of these two companies and understood what was happening.

Here are the basics:

• The iPhone is a mobile device that’s used by nearly 20 million people.
• Stanza is a popular e-book reader you can use on your iPhone (you download it for free directly from your phone).
• Smashwords is a self-publishing company that publishes e-books only. You can use their service without any upfront cost, plus you can make your book available for as little or as much as you want (even for free).
• Smashwords + Stanza means your self-published work can be available to millions of people, or at least the 1 million people who have downloaded the Stanza application onto their iPhones, as of January 2009.

More

The name of your book will cause it to be picked up — or not given a second glance. It includes a title and a subtitle. Here are some suggestions for picking good ones:

• Pick a title that’s a grabber: “1001 Ways to Market Your Books – For Authors and Publishers”
• Don’t let the lack of a title keep you from writing the book; you may need to finish the book before you find the title
• If appropriate, name it, “How to (solve a particular problem) in only x (days, hours, whatever)”
• Make an outrageous claim: “How to Write a Book in 14 Days!”
• Invent a word: “Publishize”
• The subtitle should explain the benefits: “The ABCs of Handwriting Analysis” has “Techniques and Interpretations” as subtitle. “Publishize” has “How to Quickly and Affordably Self-Publish a Book That Promotes Your Expertise”
• Make a promise: “Lose 13 lbs. This Week!”
• Brainstorm with friends or mastermind groups
• Run a naming contest on your blog
• Ask for feedback on Twitter, Facebook, etc.
• Browse Amazon.com, your local bookstore, your local library
• Keep a notebook with you to write down ideas

What are your ideas about book naming?

Comments

Susan Daffron commented on 29-Jan-2009 08:05 PM

Hi Joel, How cool to see my book title in your list I hope you enjoyed the book too. Happy New Year! – Susan Daffron

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I’ve been trying out the free version of Book Cover Pro, which lets you create book covers of any size. The simple version is $97 and comes with a single template; the fancy version comes with a library of templates for $187 and with software for creating all kinds of collateral materials for marketing your book — and for creating ebook covers, too. Pretty impressive.

The New York Times has this report from the book-publishing industry:

Talk about a business of extremes. In less than a week the book publishing industry has been set abuzz by the news that one publisher is so uncertain about the economic climate that it has temporarily shut its doors to most manuscripts while another is celebrating a banner year by handing out extra bonuses to all its employees.

The bad news came from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, a company formed from the union of two venerable publishers of authors like Philip Roth, Jonathan Safran Foer, Günter Grass and J. R. R. Tolkien.

More

An entertaining post on this “big” argument: “Books are dying: Yes or no?”

Ron’s company, selfpublishing.com, sells publishing and printing. But it is one of the best sources of education about printing and publishing on the web. This recent piece of his is typical of the no-baloney style of his articles.

What is the difference between a $149 cover design and one that costs $1500? The easy answer, of course, is $1351.  This is one of the most debated topics in many of the online news groups, although it’s mostly debated between designers who charge the $1500 price or more as justification for their pricing. In reality there is very little visual difference in the final product between the low end and the high end “design”.  It’s a matter of time… the designer’s time… and your money. More

With over a quarter-million Kindles out there (according to TechCrunch) and more than twice that number expected to sell over the coming year, that’s a big market. Especially when you consider that Amazon.com solves many of your marketing and all of your distribution challenges as an author.

Amazon.com gives you all the tools you need to convert your text to the html favored by the device.

As with other books you distribute via Amazon, you set your price, and get to keep 35% of it when Amazon sells a copy.

If you have written a book, I see no reason not to invest the few hours it takes to convert it for the Kindle. It’s almost pure gravy for you.