Vanity Press: How To Avoid Publishing Scams

Book publishing is currently at the beginning of the biggest shift since the rise of Amazon and self-publishing, and this episode explains both its present and future. The goal is to help you choose the best publishing path for you and tell you exactly how to launch your book once you choose your publishing path. In Part 1 of this episode, you'll learn what the current publishing landscape looks like right now. In Part 2, you'll learn the new things we see some Authors doing by presenting case studies with exact numbers. In Part 3, you'll learn how to pick the book publishing option that’s best for you. The truth is that there is no “right” publishing option; that all of them are right in different circumstances, and the “right” option depends on what you want to accomplish. Then, in Part 4, you'll learn exactly how to think about marketing your book, and the launch strategies that we see working for Authors right now (both with and without platforms). To access the full transcript of this episode, click here. To sign up for Scribe Book School's free courses, click here.

Want to write your book faster? Here are 8 simple tips to help you move through the writing process, beat writers’ block, and avoid many other common problems that  stand in a writer’s way. Free Template: Outline Your Non-Fiction Book If you need more help writing your book, check out our free courses at Scribe Book School.

If you’re a KDP Author and you’re wondering whether you should put your book in Amazon KDP Select, you’re not alone. It’s a complicated decision, and you could be leaving money on the table either way. Amazon KDP Select gives you some special Kindle promotional tools, and enrolling your book is free. But, of course, there’s a catch:  You have to enroll for a full 90-day period, during which Amazon has the exclusive right to sell your ebook.   In other words, you can’t sell your own ebook on iBooks, Kobo, Nook, or anywhere besides Kindle for the next 90 days.   So, is it worth it?  In this episode, we'll walk you through all the pros and cons of KDP Select for a self-published author of a non-fiction book. To access all of our free courses on writing, publishing and marketing your book, visit scribebookschool.com

Before you learn about turning your blog into a book, I want to make one thing perfectly clear: You don’t need a blog to write a successful book. At Scribe, we’ve helped thousands of authors write and publish books, and I’ve seen plenty of those books make a lot of money without a blog. So if you don’t have a blog, don’t build one just to write a book. That said, our co-founder Tucker Max did turn his blog into a series of New York Times bestsellers, so we are happy to share his advice on how to do it. So, if you happen to have a blog already, this episode will give you a step-by-step guide on how to turn it into a book. We'll also give you several examples of other people who turned their blogs into books.

The best way to write is the way you talk—at least for most writing. It’s conversational, and it’s easy to read. That’s exactly what you want in a book. The way we speak isn’t always grammatically correct, but that’s okay. Grammar rules are arbitrary and completely made-up. That said, we put together this shortlist of the most common grammatical errors, so you can fix them before sending your manuscript to your editor. To see all of our examples, check out the full article:  10 of the Most Common Grammar Mistakes to Avoid (& How to Fix Them)

Linkedin is a great marketing opportunity for authors. Because LinkedIn is a social media platform uniquely designed for professionals, it’s especially powerful for boosting your credibility, highlighting your relevant skills, reaching your target audience, and generating leads. In this episode, I’ll explain how you can optimize your LinkedIn profile to make the most of your status as an author. To learn more, check out our article: https://scribemedia.com/optimize-linkedin-profile/

How you tell a story will make or break your book.  A good story allows you to grab and hold the reader’s attention, teach them your ideas in an entertaining way, and relate those ideas back to their own lives.  So if you want readers to love your book and recommend it to other readers, listen to this episode and check out the accompanying blog post: https://scribemedia.com/narrative-writing And be sure to check out our free writing course at http://scribebookschool.com

Vanity presses thrive on ripping off self-publishing authors.  The good news is that you can avoid publishing scams with some basic knowledge about vanity publishing.   This episode will explain what a vanity press is, what the risks are, and how to spot and avoid publishing scams. We’ll also talk about why people fall for those scams, which publishers to avoid, and how you should publish your book instead. To learn more, check out this article: https://scribemedia.com/vanity-press

Many Authors want to get their book into hundreds (or even thousands) of bookstores across the country. It’s one of the most common dreams I hear from first-time Authors. But there have been many changes in the publishing industry since ebooks made self-publishing accessible to everyone. Today, being in bookstores doesn’t guarantee book sales—and it’s not the best way to make money with your book. Even if you can get your book onto thousands of shelves across the country (and most Authors can’t), you’re taking a huge financial risk—the kind that can bankrupt a self-published Author. And there’s absolutely zero reason to expose yourself to that kind of risk. You can publish a tremendously successful book and use it to make a lot of money without being on any bookstore shelves. It has already been done, thousands of times, by countless other Authors similar to you. Now, if you want to know the joy of walking into a bookstore and seeing your book sitting on the shelf, you can still make that happen. You just have to go about it the right way. This episode will tell you everything you need to know about getting your book into brick-and-mortar bookstores—while avoiding the risks that can come with it. We'll walk you through: Why bookstores are so risky, especially for self-published Authors What being in bookstores requires and what it won’t do for you How you can get bookstores to sell your book online A low-risk approach if you really want to see your book on a bookstore shelf How to approach bookstores to make that happen

Most writing exercises make your writing worse. That said, there are a few practices you can follow that will help you write a great book. They’ve worked for hundreds of Scribe Authors, and they’ll work for you.   To read the full post, click here.