19: John Burke, Pub Site, an easy-to-use website builder just for authors and books
Release Date: 11/07/2018
#21: Steven Spatz, BookBaby for full-service publishing
Author Friendly
Learn about BookBaby's a la carte self-publishing and complete do-it-for-you packages, in-house printing on the latest equipment, how printing is done and why the self-publishing industry is plagued with variance in print quality and how they solved that problem. Though they print a lot of plain text books like novels and business books they print more full-color children’s books, cookbooks, travel books, and textbooks than ever. BookBaby sets a 55% discount with returns program that attracts bookstores.
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20: Rob Price, Gatekeeper Press for full-service publishing
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Gatekeeper Press provides full-service publishing and a la carte services for authors. They offer a wide and varied distribution network to protect you against possible distribution outages. They also offer lowest-cost printing I’ve seen in an on-demand service, and you’ll learn why. In this episode, we walk through the publishing process from editing, design, and distribution. You’ll learn how long each step takes so you can schedule your book launch.
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19: John Burke, Pub Site, an easy-to-use website builder just for authors and books
Author Friendly
Pub Site is a super easy-to-use website builder just for authors and it only cost $20 a month. Husband and wife author and publisher marketing team John and Fauzia Burke developed it after 20 years of creating author websites. Among the big names they’ve designed websites for are Alan Alda, Clive Cussler, and Tom Clancy.
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#18: Robin Cutler, IngramSpark (Part 2)
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In part 2 of my talk with Robin Cutler, Director of IngramSpark, we focus on distribution. IngramSpark has the widest distribution in the world, but we also talk about why you'd want to go direct with Amazon KDP Print and how to make that happen. You'll also learn how long it takes the stores to populate your book information and how this affects your book launch plan. Also, find out what bookstores expect a creative way to sell to your local independent bookstore..
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#17: Robin Cutler, IngramSpark (Part 1)
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Learn about IngramSpark, the professional publishing tool from Ingram. In my talk with Robin Cutler, Founder and Director of IngramSpark, you'll find out about free resources for cover design templates, standard trim sizes, and how to calculate your costs and profits. We also talk about trim sizes, paper color, weight, "spot" color, "full" color, hardcover book choices, and so much more. This is just the first half of my talk with Robin. Next week, in part two, we talk all about distribution.
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#16: JoEllen Taylor, FirstEditing, on the different kinds of editors and how to find them
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What kind of editing does your book need? JoEllen Taylor takes us through all the different kinds of editing: copy editing, line editing, and content editing. We talk about character and story editing, structural editing, narrative arc, editing tools, common editing problems and misconceptions about what editors do. She also has tips on how to hire an editor.
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#15 Kristina Stanley, Fictionary, a mystical magical story editing app
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Fictionary's software appears magical and in this episode, you'll learn how Stanley (who is also an editor) figured out how to transform her story analysis spreadsheets to create Fictionary with the help of her co-founders. It's a family business with her husband, who watched her wrestle with the spreadsheets while they were on a long sailing journey, and her brother, who works in software and is also an author.
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#14: Laurie McLean, San Francisco Writers Conference
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Laurie McLean is the Director of the San Francisco Writers Conference, a literary agent, Founder of Fuse Literary, and a former Silicon Valley marketing and PR professional. I asked her to talk about the February 2019 conference and the return on investment for the money and the time for this or any conference. You’ll learn what makes the San Francisco conference different and how to get the most out of the sessions, exhibitors, and the agents, other participants, pre- and post-conference workshops.
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#13: Angela Bole, IBPA talks hybrid publishing and professional standards
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Angela Bole is CEO of the Independent Book Publishers Association, a non-profit membership organization for self-publishers and independent publishers that provides resources, education, advocacy, connections, and tools for success. We discuss the role and responsibilities of the publisher, no matter whether it’s you as an author who is self-publishing, or if you’re publishing via a hybrid publisher or even a traditional press, and why publishing standards matter.
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#12a: Draft2Digital Announces D2D Print
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In this addendum to my interview with D2D Marketing Director Kevin Tumlinson (episode 12), he announces D2D Print.
info_outlineThis episode with Pub Site is for you if you don’t have an author website yet or if you’re struggling with your website. Even if you have a great website you'll learn some things. Promise!
Pub Site is a super easy-to-use website builder just for authors and it only cost $20 a month. Husband and wife author and publisher marketing team John and Fauzia Burke developed it after 20 years of creating author websites. Among the big names they’ve designed websites for are Alan Alda, Clive Cussler, and Tom Clancy.
They showed me Pub Site last year and I‘ve been enthusiastic about sharing it with authors ever since. John and I talk through a few sites that Pub Site authors have created and the different customizations they’ve chosen and why. I’ve linked to them in the show notes.
We also talk about how to configure your email newsletter, create header images for your site, how the BUY buttons work (a particular pain point they solved nicely), getting a domain name (John recommends GoDaddy and so do I) and why you need to keep your domain name separate from your hosting account.
Author and book websites are not like other product sites and, though builders like Wix and Squarespace are pretty and easy to use you’ll learn about their weaknesses as author site builders. And the weaknesses and difficulties of Wordpress sites, too.
Finally, we get into mistakes authors make with their websites and top tips for creating an effective website and what’s important to Google.
It’s a lot to pack into a half an hour, and subscribers get a link to some bonus content from this and other episodes. You can subscribe at SelfPubBootCamp.com and that way you can also let you know when I publish a new episode.