The Espresso Book Machine: Print A Book In 6 Minutes

The Espresso Book machine allows bookstores and libraries to print books on demand in about 6 minutes. This allows independent authors to buy print copies of their books; something that has been a boon even to traditional authors wishing to emancipate their backlist and sell it themselves.

The following is from the Bookshop Santa Cruz:

The EBM [Espresso Book Machine] offers Bookshop customers instant access to over eight million titles that are written in a variety of languages. With the push of a button, any book from EspressNet(R), On Demand Books’ digital catalog of content, can be printed, bound and trimmed, creating a paperback book that is virtually indistinguishable from the publisher’s version. Patrons can also use the EBM to self-publish their own work on-site and will have the option to make their book available for sale through EBMs worldwide. Bookshop Santa Cruz is the first location in the Bay Area to have an EBM and one of only twelve bookstores nationwide to have one.

Here's a video of the book machine in action:


Espresso Book Machine at Bookshop Santa Cruz from Vernon Alexander on Vimeo.

How much do POD books cost?
The Santa Cruz bookstore charges the following:

The base printing price for the EBM is $5.00 + 4.5 cents a page, although we do offer some bulk discounts and price breaks depending on the nature of the project.  We also have publishing packages which include various levels of service including graphic design, proof copies, obtaining an ISBN, etc. (Self Publishing at Book Santa Cruz ...)

Let's say we want to print one copy of a 300 page book:

$5 + (300 * 4.5 cents) = $5 + 1350 cents = $5 + $13.50 = $18.50

$18.50 for one copy of a book isn't too bad, but the writer would want to earn something on each sale, let's say 10%. 10% of $18.50 is $1.85, so the sale price would be $20.35. Before tax.

Another source, though, claims that an indie writer could use an Espresso Book Machine to print 100 copies of their book for an average cost of 8 dollars each:

[T]he prospect of a vast inventory of millions of titles to choose from and the excitement for authors of holding a book while still warm "with a laminated cover and bright white paper" at a price of $8 per book for 100 copies is a major attraction. (With This Machine, You Can ...)

This makes CreateSpace look attractive. If you go to this page and click the "Buying Copies" tab you'll be able to see how much you'd have to pay per book, as well as how much it would cost to ship your books. I've just taken out a Create Space account and, so far, the site seems very helpful.

I've never seen an Espresso Book Machine, but I'd love to! It would be an amazing experiencing having a book printed right before my eyes. Thanks to Kim for sending me a link to the article, Self Publishing at Book Santa Cruz Using the Espresso Book Machine.

Here is a link to a listing of all the Espresso Book Machines in the world! Thanks to Peter Smalley for the link.

Other articles you might be interested in:
- Amazon's KDP Select Program: The Power Of Free
- The Secret Of Learning To Write Well: Write
- Jim Butcher, Harry Dresden and the Dresden Files

Photo credit: Politics and Prose Bookstore

Jim Butcher, Harry Dresden and the Dresden Files

If you haven't read anything by Jim Butcher you should!

- Here's JB's first story featuring intrepid sleuth and kick-ass wizard Harry Dresden: Restoration of Faith.
- Vignette (A short short)
- Dresden Files reading order.
- The series was also made into a TV show: The Dresden Files Complete First Season and graphic novels.

Here's what else is happening in the universe of The Dresden Files:

Harry takes Bigfoot on as a client
I didn't know JB had a Bigfoot trillogy!
- B is for Bigfoot in Under My Hat: Tales from the Cauldron. Occurs between Fool Moon and Grave Peril.
- I Was A Teenage Bigfoot in Bood Lite 3: Aftertaste. Occurs around the time of Dead Beat.
- Bigfoot on Campus in Hex Appeal. Occurs a little after Turn Coat.

Cold Days
I know I've mentioned this before, bu the next installment of JB's Dresden Files series is due out November 27, 2012 and is available for pre-order from Jim Butcher's website.

The Most Important Thing an Aspiring Author Needs to Know
That's the title of one of JB's recent blog posts. A great article for a writer at the beginning of his or her career.

Quotations from the Dresden Files

Jim Butcher's Twitter Account: @longshotauthor

Jim Butcher on Goodreads

Jim Buther's Facebook account

If you know of a Jim Butcher/Dresden File related link that's not here, let me know. :-)

Other articles you might like:
- 5 Ways To Make Your Writing Better
- Peter V. Brett Wrote Bestseller, The Warded Man, On The Subway
- Diane Lefer's Writing Conference From Hell

5 Ways To Make Your Writing Better

I admire Johanna Penn. She was one of the first indie authors on YouTube and her blog, The Creative Penn, is a wealth of information for writers at any stage of their career.

Recently guest blogger Scott Bartlet dropped by The Creative Penn to share what he has learnt about writing. Here are his tips:

1) Write
"Only writing will make you a better writer"
Scott remarks that reading the sort of thing you like to write helps make one a better writer--as does reading about the business of writing, thinking about writing and taking writing classes--but that only actually putting pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard, as the case may be) will get one's book story to being published.

2) Be Yourself
"Every novels origin is different"
Some folks, like Stephen King, write without an outline (pantsers) and some do (plotters). It doesn't matter so long as it works for you.

3) Write every day
"Vibrancy comes from writing every day"
Scott writes:

To keep your characters alive on the page, you need to spend time with them daily. Cory Doctorow writes his novels at a rate of one page a day. His rationale? No matter how busy his day gets, he can always find 20 minutes to write one page. As a result, he stays in close contact with the people populating his stories.

4) Write down your ideas when you have them
"Become a perpetual note-taker"
Scott writes:

Your mind is a colander with large holes—if it functions anything like mine does, that is. Life’s experiences flow through, and, you being a writer, they probably generate some great fiction material in the process—snappy lines of dialogue, incisive observations, beautiful snippets of description, et cetera.

So write them down! An old-fashioned pad would do the job or you might want to use your cell phone if you already carry that with you wherever you go. Whatever works.

5) Edit
"Every novel's first draft needs editing. A lot of editing."
I think it was Stephen King who wrote that the first draft is for you and the second, etc., drafts are for the world.
Scott writes:

Hemingway had some choice words for first drafts. I won’t repeat them here, but the upshot was that they universally stink.

Amen! I've just completed the first draft of a novel and I know it needs a LOT of work.

I hope you found something useful. Click here to read Scott Bartlett article in its entirety: 5 Lessons Learned From Writing 3 Novels.

If you have a tip you'd like to share please do leave a comment.

Other articles you might enjoy:
- Peter V. Brett Wrote Bestseller, The Warded Man, On The Subway
- Amazon's KDP Select Program: The Power Of Free
- Book Promotion: Where's The Line?

Photo credit: *_filippo_*

Peter V. Brett Wrote Bestseller, The Warded Man, On The Subway

Peter V. Brett wrote The Warded Man, a novel which went on to sell 100,000 copies in 17 countries, on his commute to work.

[Peter V. Brett] wrote The Warded Man aka The Painted Man on the ‘F’ train riding from his home in Brooklyn to Time Square where he worked in medical publishing. Using his HP Ipaq 6515, a phone similar to a BlackBerry, he followed up with another book before quitting his day job to write full time.

Released as The Painted Man in Great Britain in 2008, Brett’s debut novel, The Warded Man, arrived from Del Rey Spectra in 20o9, and went on to sell 100,000 copies in 17 countries. The follow up, The Desert Spear, released in 2010 and is currently on bestseller lists. Four books are planned altogether in this Demon Cycle series, with the next chapter, The Daylight War, scheduled for a February 2013 release [...].

How did he do it? PVB says:

I write on Docs to Go on my iPad. It syncs wirelessly with my desktop, and I work in Word there. Shift back and forth constantly. Always, always music, though selections depend on my mood. I like to write on the subway. It is peaceful when the internet goes quiet. Takes getting used to, but now it is very natural. Anywhere I can put on headphones and not be bothered by anyone for thirty minutes or more works now.

. . . .

Now, the producers behind the Residential Evil Hollywood films franchise have taken an interest, calling a planned trilogy “the next Lord Of The Rings.” Brett has signed a lucrative deal and discussions and plans are underway to start filming later this year.

British producer Jeremy Bolt said the first film would have a budget of up to $100 million and be shot in 3D with director Paul W.S. Anderson attached. He couldn’t believe the book was typed on  a phone.

All information and quotations are from: One Novelist Composed His Best-Selling Novel on a Cellphone – While Commuting to Work on the Subway Every Day. Thanks to the Passive Voice Blog for the link.

* Sigh * I love reading success stories but they can be a tad demoralizing. In any case, The Warded Man seems like a great book--I wonder why I haven't read it all ready!--and I'll keep my eyes open for more news of the movie(s).

Other articles you might like:
- What To Write About: Fiction That Sells
- Indie Writers: 10 Things Not To Do
- 8 Tips For Blogging Success

Diane Lefer's Writing Conference From Hell

From Diane Lefer:

I think it was Muriel Rukeyser who said offer your work to publishers. A writer must never submit. Never never never submit. 

Ms. Lefer gives us a funny, whirlwind account of her writing conference from hell. At one point she was trying to "get people to explore the emotions of their characters". She writes:

“I can’t do that,” said one woman, “All of my characters are dogs.” 

“Don’t your dogs have personalities?” 

“Oh, no,” she said. “They’ve all passed away.”

A good read: The Terms of Success—Guest Post by Diane Lefer.

Other articles you might like:
- Amazon's KDP Select Program: The Power Of Free
- 8 Tips For Blogging Success
- Stephen King's Latest Book: A Face In The Crowd

Photo credit: petesimon

Becoming An Organizational Genius: The Tickler File

Want to organize your blogging? Try using a tickler file. The Daring Novelist writes:

A tickler file is made up of 43 folders, always.  It doesn't matter how big or small, or how complicated the jobs it is designed to take care of.  It's always that length, because it's actually a physical manifestation of a perpetual calendar.  It helps any production office keep it's editorial calendar in order.

There are 31 folders representing the days of the month (numbered 1- 31), and 12 more folders representing the months of the year.

As you come up with stories and material, you schedule them by dropping them into the appropriate folder.  For things more than a month away, you don't worry about the exact date, you just drop it in a month folder.  For things coming up in the next 31 days, you drop it in the days folder.

Each day you begin by pulling out the folder for the day, and taking out the items to be worked on.  Then you cycle the empty folder to the back of the stack of days, so it's ready for next month. When you're ready to schedule a new month, you pull that folder, distribute what's in it to the right "days" folders, and then stick it in the back of the "months" batch, to be ready for next year.

Productivity gurus (such as David Allen of Getting Things Done) love to use tickler files to organize their whole lives.  It's designed, after all, to make simple order out of the chaos of a busy production office.  However,  the tickler file was designed for deadlines, and that's where it really shines.  With a newspaper office you have to put the issue out every single day -- so it's not just a to do list, it's a must do list.

This emphasis on publishing and deadlines makes it a natural for a blog.

Read the rest of this wonderful article here: Organizing the Blog - The Tickler File.

Other articles you might like:
- Fifty Shades of Alice In Wonderland: Sales Peak At $1,000 Per Day
- Creativity: Use It Or Lose It
- Are You Writing The Right Book? 5 Ways To Find Out

Photo credit: benchristen

5 Ways to Spot a Trustworthy Amazon Review

With all the fake reviews floating around out there can Amazon reviews be trusted? Janet Boyer says, "Yes!" and tells us want to look for.

1. Look for the Real Name badge.
She writes:

In order to have a Real Name badge as an Amazon.com Reviewer, an individual must VERIFY her identity via credit card. When an individual puts her name on a review, she is saying "I stand by my review and will put my reputation on the line for it."

2. Hall of Fame Reviewer or Top Reviewer badge
In order to get these badges the review will have to have written a lot of posts combined with thousands of 'helpful' votes.

For her other points read Janet's article: 5 Ways to Spot a Trustworthy Amazon Review.

Thank you Janet for all your wonderful, and wonderfully honest, reviews!

Are there other ways to spot a trustworthy review? Please share!

Other articles you might like:
- Amazon's KDP Select Program: The Power Of Free
- 8 Tips For Blogging Success
- Book Promotion: Where's The Line?

Photo credit: qthomasbower

Writing: Contract Negotiation Horror Stories

This is from the blog of Kris Rusch:

... I got something from a New York Times bestseller who, in the middle of a contract negotiation, was promised 10 and 12.5% royalties on a mass market paperback as a deal sweetener in a contract negotiation. The publisher added this sweetener in lieu of better terms elsewhere in the contract, terms the writer had asked for and the publisher refused. The writer then discovered through another source that the publisher never planned to publish a mass market edition of the book.

In other words, the sweetener became sour. The great royalty rate was only added to get the writer to sign on, not because the publisher ever planned to publish that kind of book. If the writer had been a little less savvy, he would have lost some other positive contract terms by believing that this one was important.

Not illegal or even unusual these days, but still, bad enough to make the writer feel cheated in the midst of negotiating a new contract. Dumb on the publisher’s part, but only because the publisher got caught.

Read other stories as well as how to avoid this happening to you: The Business Rusch: A Good Offense.

Other articles you might like:
- Amazon's KDP Select Program: The Power Of Free
- 8 Tips For Blogging Success
- Book Promotion: Where's The Line?

Photo credit: Unknown

Should You Use A Pen Name?

When I stared writing, one of the questions I asked was: should I use a pen name? One of the first people I posed this question to was an enormously helpful mid-list author of spicy romance novels. Her response: Don't do it! She had been forced to take a pen name by her traditional publisher who had then used her real name on the first book in her trilogy and her pen name on the subsequent two. The result: lots of emails from fans complaining they couldn't find her books!

In his most recent blog post Dean Wesley Smith gives the pros and cons of using a pen name.

Why use a pen name?

1. Your output exceeds what your publisher can use
If you're a prolific writer and your publisher will only buy two books a year, writing under a pen name allows the creation of another income steam. Dean writes:

At one point, Kris and I were joking around at a conference and actually counted the career income streams coming into our home at that moment in time. We had nine writers’ incomes coming into the house. That was more than we had cats at that point.

Today we have about that many, maybe a few more, but some are not making much, at least not enough to live on. Luckily the pen-name writers don’t eat much.

The key is the same with all aspects of the publishing industry: Diversity and a lot of product. If you have three or four writer’s incomes hitting your house, it’s a ton better and safer than only one. And nine or ten incomes just makes things much easier.

2. You write in multiple genres
It's a good idea to create a pen name for each genre you write in, that way your fans know what to expect when they pick up one of your books. For instance, if you write brooding vampire mysteries under the moniker Alice Darkbody and then go ahead and write a comedic western under that name your goth readers are not going to be happy.

3. You have a day job and don't want to get fired
If you're a medical doctor, or a psychiatrist, or psychologist, or social worker, and so on, your clients may believe you have used them in your book. If anything can help save you a trip to the courthouse, even if you're sure you'll win, it's probably a good idea. (This was a different kind of suit, but it reminds me of what happened with the Hurt Locker.)

4. Your sales numbers go down and your publisher drops you
I've heard countless stories about book sales tanking even when the book is terrific. What do you do then? Start writing under another name! Traditional publishers use what Dean calls "the produce model". He writes:

In traditional publishing, they have to gamble that your book will sell a certain number in a certain amount of time. Remember the produce model? In traditional publishing, your books spoil, so if they paid you too much in comparison to your sales numbers, you can’t sell another book UNDER THAT NAME.

5. To hide your work from your family
Melinda DuChamp, author of the erotic romance Fifty Shades of Alice in Wonderland, writes under a pen name. Here's why: "My mother reads all of my books, and I decided this one was a bit too spicy for her." (That's from the post Fifty Shades of Alice in Wonderland.) I think that's a great reason! Why make Christmas dinner any more uncomfortable than it has to be? ;)

6. You have the same name as a celebrity
There are lots of folks named Stephen King but only one of them can be published under that name--at least when it comes to works of fiction.

7. You think your book makes Dick and Jane seem intellectually stimulating
Dean writes that if you think your book is awful, publish it under a pen name and let readers decide. Although this advice makes me cringe, I think he's right. (And, of course, Dean has written hundreds of books and knows vastly more about publishing than I do!) I think that we can be our own worst critics. If the book doesn't sell, it doesn't sell. You gained valuable experience writing the book, and no will ever know you wrote it  ... not unless you tell them!

Okay, so, let's say you've decided to write under a pen name. You might have some questions.

- Do you have to keep the name a secret? Only if you want to. If you have a pen name because you don't want your family to find out you write erotica, then secrecy is probably a good idea, otherwise list your pen names on your website so your fans can find your other books.

- Do I have to have separate Twitter accounts, etc., for each of my identities? No! Dean advises setting up a static website for each identity so that your fans have somewhere to go to see what books you've written, how they can get in touch with you, etc., but you don't need to do social media for each identity, especially if the identity isn't secret. Just post the link to your blog and explain that you use a pen name.

- Should I get a separate domain name for each pen name? Yes! The more you use a pen name the higher it will rank in Google, etc., so someone else will buy it if you haven't. It's only about $10 a year, well worth the investment.

Dean's parting advice:

So when deciding about which name to publish a book or story under, think first of your readers.

Then think about your readers some more.

And then decide which name would be best for them. And which name you can live with the rest of your life.

And then have fun.

Sounds about right to me! You can read Dean Wesley Smith's article here: The New World of Publishing: Pen Names

Other articles you might like:
- Stephen King's Latest Book: A Face In The Crowd
- Are You Writing The Right Book? 5 Ways To Find Out
- Fifty Shades of Alice In Wonderland: Sales Peak At $1,000 Per Day

Photo credit: bert23.com

Amazon's KDP Select Program: The Power Of Free

From Forbes regarding Amazon's KDP Select program:

... Amazon is using “free” in a novel way – to level the playing field between large publishers and self-published authors. The open question is whether this is just to improve Amazon’s store of proprietary content or if it’s a radical play to totally disintermediate publishing. Either way, Amazon has built an economic and promotional model for self-publishing that is too compelling for any author not signed with a six-figure advance by a big publisher to ignore. Remember that Kindle books are not just read on Kindles but on any device with the Kindle app – including iPads, iPhones and Android phones.

. . . .

The second reason an author might choose KDP Select and promote his book for free has to do with cross-selling. Many of the most successful indie authors are selling a series, not a single book. (Barbara Freethy is a good example.) By using the KDP select program, they effectively “sample” their newest book for free, enticing readers to engage in the series and purchase the previous books.

Read the rest here: How Amazon Quietly Subverts Bestseller Lists With Kindle's KDP Select. Thanks to PG for the link.

I think a verdict, a consensus of sorts, is emerging regarding KDP Select. If you're an author who is relatively unknown then KDP Select is well worth trying out, especially since it only requires a three month commitment. You'll have five free days and, with any luck, you'll get thousands of downloads. This will give you much needed exposure and you might be into some "also bought" lists.

On the other hand, if you already have a following then having your books in every online store may have more value since you've already been discovered and your readers are actively looking for your work.

Ultimately, I think a mixed strategy will probably be the way to go.

Other articles you might be interested in:
- Stephen King's Latest Book: A Face In The Crowd
- Creativity: Use It Or Lose It
- Writing, Publishing and Productivity: Links

Photo credit: Unknown. I altered the picture a little.