Twitter Co-Founder’s Second Best Idea

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Square Credit Card Reader

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Imagine, you are at a function, such as a party or book signing and someone wants to buy a signed copy of your book directly from you, but has no cash on hand. How useful would it be to accept a credit card for your sales (besides that, spending increases more, when using credit cards). This transaction is now possible with a tiny device, you attach to your cell phone, called the “Square“.

It is the second revolutionary idea Jack Dorsey, co-founder of Twitter, has helped to create and transform into a viable business: Square Inc., a mobile credit card reader and business management system. Canada is the first stop in Square’s global expansion, after the successful launch in the States. “We want to carry out every transaction in the world,” he’s said – not a small dream.

A small, free (and yes, square-shaped) plastic card-swipe reader that plugs into an iPhone, iPad or Android. It allows registered sellers to accept Visa and Mastercard purchases, with a 2.75 per cent fee per transaction. Two million individuals and merchants now use Square in the U.S. to record $8 billion in annual sales. Starbucks added the Square payment system to 7,000 U.S. stores last fall, and bought a $25-million stake in the company.

Square’s free app gives retailers business tools to track sales, taxes, inventory and popular items; it can identify new customers and give them an incentive to return with discounts or loyalty programs.

Forbes, which recently added Twitter Co-Founder Jack Dorsey as a billionaire member of its famed list of the 400 wealthiest Americans, calls him “nerdier than Steve Jobs” and “a disrupt-er on an epic scale.” Certainly, he builds big dreams from small ideas: a tiny plastic dongle, or a blogging site designed so even those using the most primitive cellphones can tap out 140 characters and participate in the global conversation. BTW, Jack Dorsey’s favored writers are Ernest Hemingway, William Gibson and Margaret Atwood.

Not only writers can sell their books everywhere they are, performing artists for example can sell their records/DVD’s or any other art work right away after performances to their fans. It’s possibilities are endless: garage sales, antique shows, farmers markets … these tiny devices are tremendously useful just everywhere to do payment transactions. Anyone who’s selling anything, be it at a yard sale or a bake sale, collecting donations, or if you’re a music teacher or a gardener, you can now accept credit cards. Jack Dorsey expects individuals and small retailers will be the early adapters. You can start to accept credit cards today, get your free card reader for your phone at Square.

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If you would like to get help in all things publishing, have your book heavily promoted and learn how to navigate social media sites: We offer all this and more for only a “token” of $1 / day for 3 months. Learn more about this individual book marketing help: http://www.111Publishing.com/seminar

Please feel free to check out all previous posts of this blog (there are more than 730 of them : ) if you haven’t already. Why not sign up to receive them regularly by email? Just click on “Follow” in the upper line on each page – and then on “LIKE” next to it. There is also the “SHARE” button underneath each article where you can submit the article to Pinterest, Google+, Twitter, Chime.in, Facebook, Tumblr and StumpleUpon.

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Pingates

 

Reader Statistics: How to Use them for Your Book’s Success

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Did you know that the main driver of e-book purchases is “referral by a friend”.  Number two was Media (including Social Media) and number three of the answers was Goodreads – the world’s largest reader community – as well as the Goodreads Choice Awards. 
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Equally important for authors should be the follow-up question in this survey: “What do you want to do once you get to the end of a book?”
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83% wanted to see what else the author had written.
75% wanted to find more books similar to what they just read
69% wanted to discuss the book with friends
35% read other people’s reviews
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Why not give readers exactly what they are looking for?
How can you achieve this? Add a highly visible link to your upcoming e-book – and a link to your author page on Amazon, B&N, Kobo or wherever you sell your book, plus one to your website and your Goodreads page at the end of your first e-book!
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Equally important: link to your mailing list.
To be successful, you need to have a list of people who have signed up to hear about your new releases. You will benefit from more initial sales, which will boost your rank and push you higher on new releases lists, plus other genre lists on Amazon and in other retailers ranking.

To make sure, even people who browse only and read the “look inside” feature of the Amazon website, add these links at the beginning of your book as well.

Every time you publish a new e-book, update these front and back pages of your previous books, as well as your Author Central page on Amazon, and make sure that it is updated with every book.
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“What’s Going On With Readers Today?”

It was the title of the poll, which was introduced at the “Tools of Change Conference 2013” in New York last month. Interesting fact in these statistics: readers are about two times more likely to learn about a book on Goodreads, than on Amazon!

As you can see, this is exactly what Goodreads’ site offers to their 15 million book lovers / members:

• browsing all the books of the author they read
• finding similar books to what they liked
• seeing what their friends read
• reading other member’s reviews
• deciding what to read next
• discussing books in their numerous communities

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The best course of action for every author – if not already done – should be:

1. Join Goodreads and invite / add as many friends as possible, which is very easy, just read a former blog post where we described it.
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2. Don’t forget to add the “Top Readers”  and the “Top Reviewers”  on Goodreads to add as friends. Only friends can recommend your book to others, you can’t do it!
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3. Fill your book shelves on Goodreads with lots of books from your friends, read, review and recommend these books to others (and let your friends know about it : ) Most likely they will return the favor.
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4. Learn about and use the many free features on Goodreads, such as “events” for your book signings and KDP free days, join one or more of their book communities in your genre, create Listopia lists,  participate in “creative writing”, just to name a few fun activities on this site.
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5. Make sure that each of your books is listed on Amazon, even upcoming ones are mentioned and that your author page is updated. Don’t forget all these other communities you might have joined, and update the list of your books there, e.g. in Amazon communities.
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6. Add links for your next and all your already published books: on the first and the last page of your e-book, to send readers to your author sales pages of all online retailers your books are listed with, to your website / blog and to your Goodreads author page.
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7. Try to get as many reviews on Goodreads as possible, do frequent giveaways, garnering reviews and recommendations.
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What an easy and totally free way of advertising! Yet, many authors are not using this small trick … Have you prepared your digital books already with links to your other books?

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If you would like to get help in all things publishing, have your book heavily promoted and learn how to navigate social media sites: We offer all this and more for only a “token” of $1 / day for 3 months. Learn more about this individual book marketing help: http://www.111Publishing.com/seminar

If you enjoyed this blog post, please feel free to check out all previous posts of this blog (there are more than 700 of them : ) if you haven’t already. Why not sign up to receive them regularly by email? Just click on “Follow” in the upper line on each page – and then on “LIKE” next to it. There is also the “SHARE” button underneath each article where you can submit the article to Pinterest, Google+, Twitter, Chime.in, Facebook, Tumblr and StumpleUpon.

Thanks a lot for following:

@111publishing
http://pinterest.com/111publishing/
http://on.fb.me/TvqDaK
http://bit.ly/VmtVAS    111Publishing @ Google+

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Pingates

 

Discover How You Can Profitably Self-Publish a Book

Get all your publishing questions answered – self-publishing that is – at the 4th annual Self-Publisher’s Online Conference (SPOC) May 8-10, 2012 

Expert speakers include: Dan Poynter, Chris Garrett, Peter Bowerman, Joel Friedlander, Dan Janal, Sandra Beckwith, Susan Daffron, James Byrd, Dana Lynn Smith, Penny Sansevieri, Joshua Tallent, Carolyn McCray, Roger C. Parker, Andrea Vahl, Gary Barnes and Kathy Goughenhour.
Read about these speakers (they are the ”who is who” in publishing advice) at http://www.selfpublishersonlineconference.com/Agenda.aspx

Each day has a “theme” that is designed to help you reach your publishing goals.  Note: ALL Times are PACIFIC time.  SPOC is a virtual conference, so you can attend in your pyjamas if you like.

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Day 1 – WRITING / PUBLISHING May 8

9-10 am (PDT)
James Byrd & Susan Daffron
The Big Picture: How to Bring Your Book into the World

11am -12 noon (PDT)
Chris Garrett
Be More Productive and Build Your Authority

1-2 pm (PDT)
Writing & Publishing
Q&A Roundtable

3-4 pm (PDT)
Peter Bowerman
The “Write Way” to Publish and Promote

5-6 pm (PDT)
Joel Friedlander
Publishing Strategies for Self-Publishers

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Day 2 – PROMOTING YOUR BOOK May 9

9-10 am (PDT)
Dan Janal
Build Your Brand and Get More Prospects with Publicity

11am -12 noon (PDT)
Sandra Beckwith
What’s Your Hook?

1-2 pm (PDT)
Book Promotion
Q&A Roundtable

3-4 pm (PDT)
Dana Lynn Smith
Top 10 Book Promotion Strategies for Authors

5-6 pm (PDT)
Penny Sansevieri
Fans, Followers and Friends: Maximize Social Media to Sell More Books

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Day 3 – E-BOOKS, INFOPRODUCTS & BEYOND May 10

9-10 am (PDT)
Joshua Tallent
Ebook Design, Formats and Workflow

11am -12 noon (PDT)
Carolyn McCray
Maximize Your Book Sales on Amazon.com

1-2 pm (PDT)
Ebooks & Beyond
Q&A Roundtable

3-4 pm (PDT)
Roger C. Parker
Leveraging Your Book into Prospects, Products, & Profits

5-6 pm (PDT)
Andrea Vahl
Build Your Expert Status with a Powerful Social Media and Publishing Combination.

All passes give you access to the virtual SPOC Exhibit Hall and seminar recordings. They will give you access to the SPOC Exhibit Hall and seminar recordings.

$147.00 – SPOC 2012 Standard Pass.
Enter the coupon code FFW12 at checkout and you will save 10%!

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Giving Speeches Helps Selling Books

Writers tend to be shy types, happy to hole up in basement offices, remote cabins or messy dens, turning down social invitations in favor of a computer and lots of coffee (or whiskey: ) Why on earth should they speak publicly?

How speaking can help your writing career:

• You will sell more books after your talk. Attending a writer’s conference as a speaker / expert is much better than attending as a participant. You get instant credibility, even before your work is examined.
• The more you speak, the better you get, and the better your speaking resume gets – the more writers’ conferences you will be invited to speak at.  Speakers are looked upon as subject matter experts, even if they aren’t.  Plus, you get to sit at the editors and agents’ table!
• Speaking enhances your author’s brand and extends the efforts you make through social media because your audience is very likely tweeting or blogging about the conference. Public speeches help even to promote your online platform.
• People who have heard you speak are more inclined to like you and your writing. There is a kind of celebrity involved with speaking. When you speak, no one else is talking; YOU are talking, and the audience listening. That dynamic illustrates a premise that you are someone important who can be learned from.  If you give out business cards or bookmarks with your information on it – blog site, Amazon book page, website – people will see it valuable, because you have been set apart as a VIP.

How do you achieve this desirable state of feeling comfortable when speaking publicly? 

Toastmaster’s for sample is a great way to learn this skill in a friendly, supportive way.  Everyone at the meetings is working to be a better speaker so you are in good company. After a few months of having a helpful, friendly group of people listening to and critiquing your speeches, heading out to a public forum will give you lots of confidence. The more you speak, the easier it gets. Isn’t it worth a try?

Get some encouragement with these videos: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtL8gTEuwvU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7i_H3epgd4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDnNZfGbNeE&feature=relmfu

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qm1hCGWWwzc&feature=relmfu

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From a Moderate $ 33.000 Advance to $1 Million a year

 

A good part of the seminars last month at the San Francisco Writers Conference centered the topic of self-publishing. Three authors talked about their experiences:

Bella Andre, a romance author, has written for many of the big six in New York. A year and a half ago, she wanted to write a spin-off story to one of her print novels that readers had requested for five years, which led her into the self publishing arena. Today, Bella has 12 self-published books that she has translated into five languages and 29 contractors working for her worldwide. Her highest advance from a New York house during her traditionally published career was $33,000. Last year she made over $1 million dollars in self publishing, selling 400,000 e-books.

There are many aspects of self publishing that mesh with Bella’s entrepreneurial spirit, but in addition to enjoying running her own business, she loves the freedom to write whatever sounds like it will be the most fun.

Another author, Barbara Freethy, has written romance novels for 20 years. In 2011, she decided to self-publish her backlist. (When a book goes out of print, the rights return to the author and they are free to reprint or resell the work.) She has also just released three foreign editions in French, German and Spanish of some of her most popular titles.

Elizabeth Jennings, who lives currently in Italy, explained how self-published authors benefit from fewer obstacles in foreign distribution, allowing their work to reach a wider audience faster. She best described the vast potential in global self publishing as, “…the crest of a tsunami – catch the wave.

Read the whole SF Writers Conference report. 

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Hyper Smash

 

FREE Publishing Business Virtual Conference

Mark your calendar:

Thursday, October 27, 2011

10:00 AM to 5:00 PM

Where? On your computer!

This FREE Publishing Business Virtual Conference is designed to uncover real opportunities in digital content for book and magazine publishers.

Features are: 
LIVE WEBINARS with industry experts in a virtual auditorium
Interactive EXHIBIT HALL with fully staffed sponsor booths
RESOURCE CENTER including downloadable collection of materials
NETWORKING LOUNGE to exchange ideas with your peers via live chat

http://virtual.publishingbusiness.com/?s=&what=conference
MORE EVENTS (not free

PubWest Conference 2011
November 3-5, 2011 in Henderson, Nevada
Beating the Odds: Making Money Making Books

Digital Book World 2012
January 23-25, 2012 in New York City

Publishing Business Conference & Expo 2012
March 19-21, 2012 in New York City
Cashing in With Cross Media Content

 

Show Your Book to the World!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The world’s biggest book exhibition, the Frankfurt Book Fair, will take place in Frankfurt/Main, Germany from October, 10. till 14. October 2012.
Mark your calendar!

To accurately describe the Frankfurt Book Fair, one word cannot be avoided: “overwhelming.” The numbers alone are daunting: 9 huge show buildings, more than 6700 exhibitors, publishers from 100 countries, and a stunning 150,000 attendees. With excellent train / metro services, ample hotel space, and the famous German efficiency, Frankfurt is the perfect place for such an event.

What better place for independent publishers to show off their books? By exhibiting your book in a cooperative booth, your titles may “potentially” generate foreign rights interest from any number of publishers. Prices are $175 per title or $ 600 for a shelf with 5 books.

Foreword Reviews is only one of several companies who offer this kind of service for publishers and independent authors.  Other exhibitor booths that can be used by independent publishers include:

http://www.americancollectivestand.com

http://www.combinedbook.com

http://www.globalbookshows.com/bookfairs.html

These companies are also exhibiting at the

• Sharija International Book Fair
• Bejing International Book Fair
• Bologna Children’s Book Fair
• London International Book Fair
• Book Expo America (BEA) in New York
• American Library Association (ALA)

Why should you participate? 
Book trade shows are commonly known as book fairs and serve several purposes:  They provide a venue for publishers to display new titles to an audience of librarians, foreign publishers and booksellers, they enable publishers of all sizes including indie publishers to showcase titles in front of foreign rights agents to discuss “possible” rights deals and they serve as a “book event” enabling all forms of media, software develops, printers, wholesalers etc. to exhibit and to discuss book-publishing news.

If you cannot attend these international book fairs in person it might be a way to show your book to the publishing world – but no guarantees…

 

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Hyper Smash

 

“Old School” Comment on BEA

BEA Review from a Different Angle:

Here are some almost amusing excerpts from an article about the last BEA (my inner comments in brackets)

… to witness the digital revolution turn yesterday’s “gentleman’s business” of publishing into everyman’s global printing press. (Now we have to deal with the plebs)

The lines are blurring between what used to be called “gray publishing” (nowadays e-books and self-publishing) and traditional publishing such as trade, academic, scholarly and professional books.

Software companies, suppliers and distributors held prominent booth space near doors and at the end of aisles.  Many larger publishers either didn’t attend, or had private curtained rooms at the side of the show floor.  I hadn’t seen that hideaway routine at earlier shows. (Are they hiding from their customers, writers or from the digital progress?)

Well, I liked the expression “gentleman’s business” best, it sounds so wonderful old-fashioned arrogant.